Willingness-to-Pay for Improved Air Quality in Hamilton-Wentworth: A Choice Experiment

Prepared for Hamilton-Wentworth Air Quality Initiative pursuant to a memorandum of understanding among McMaster University, the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy and the Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth, dated November 5, 1996.

The Persistence of Employee 401(k) Contributions Over a Major Stock Market Cycle: Evidence on the Limited Power of Inertia on Savings Behavior

Many middle-income workers save for retirement through 401(k) plans. This study addresses the concern that low account balances of older workers may indicate that these vehicles are not sufficient to insure adequate retirement savings. In particular, the study shows that workers are not persistent (continuing once a worker has started) in contributing, and a weak stock market exacerbates the problem.The study suggests that the concept of inertia, which is in vogue in behavioral economics, does not seem to hold for 401(k) saving behavior. Furthermore, the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging does not seem to hold, either. Using panel data (Panel Study of Income Dynamics) covering a six-year time span from 1999 to 2005, the study presents descriptive and econometric evidence about the persistence behavior of individuals with 401(k) accounts. In particular, the PSID data that were analyzed come from four biannual waves in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005. Descriptive data show that of the sample of household heads aged 21-65 in 2005 who were employed in every time period, only about one-third (35 percent) contributed to their plan in all four waves. Job changing had an impact. However, even for individuals in the sample who did not change jobs, less than half (46 percent) contributed in all four years of the survey.An equation modeling 401(k) contribution behavior was estimated using logit regression analysis. When this model was estimated with the sample of individuals who were employed in each panel and with the sample of individuals who were employed in each panel and never changed jobs, the coefficient on the Dow Jones Industrial Average was positive and significant. Workers contributed to their plans when the market was up. This investment error is called herd investing, where individuals get into the market when it is high and not when it is low.The study concludes that the findings have important implications for the pension system and adequacy of retirement income. Projects of future retirement income readiness that assume that workers persistently contribute over their working lives greatly exaggerate the future levels of pension assets workers will have accumulated

Economic Impact Study: United Methodist Community House Expansion

In 2019, United Methodist Community House (UMCH) commissioned IFF, a real estate consulting firm, to perform a strategic facility plan. This strategic plan’s needs assessment included the following: A new senior center, expanded child development center, and relocation of administrative offices. Seidman Research Office at Grand Valley State University was retained by UMCH to perform an economic assessment of the IFF strategic facility plan. This economic assessment will: (A) evaluate the economic impact of construction of proposed senior center; (B) evaluate the economic impact of UMCH operations; (C) evaluate the economic impact of expanded child development center; and (D) quantify the economic impact of the new senior center (magnet effect)

The Persistence of Employee 401(k) Contributions Over a Major Stock Market Cycle: Evidence on the Limited Power of Inertia on Savings Behavior

Many middle-income workers save for retirement through 401(k) plans. This study addresses the concern that low account balances of older workers may indicate that these vehicles are not sufficient to insure adequate retirement savings. In particular, the study shows that workers are not persistent (continuing once a worker has started) in contributing, and a weak stock market exacerbates the problem.The study suggests that the concept of inertia, which is in vogue in behavioral economics, does not seem to hold for 401(k) saving behavior. Furthermore, the investment strategy of dollar cost averaging does not seem to hold, either. Using panel data (Panel Study of Income Dynamics) covering a six-year time span from 1999 to 2005, the study presents descriptive and econometric evidence about the persistence behavior of individuals with 401(k) accounts. In particular, the PSID data that were analyzed come from four biannual waves in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005. Descriptive data show that of the sample of household heads aged 21-65 in 2005 who were employed in every time period, only about one-third (35 percent) contributed to their plan in all four waves. Job changing had an impact. However, even for individuals in the sample who did not change jobs, less than half (46 percent) contributed in all four years of the survey.An equation modeling 401(k) contribution behavior was estimated using logit regression analysis. When this model was estimated with the sample of individuals who were employed in each panel and with the sample of individuals who were employed in each panel and never changed jobs, the coefficient on the Dow Jones Industrial Average was positive and significant. Workers contributed to their plans when the market was up. This investment error is called herd investing, where individuals get into the market when it is high and not when it is low.The study concludes that the findings have important implications for the pension system and adequacy of retirement income. Projects of future retirement income readiness that assume that workers persistently contribute over their working lives greatly exaggerate the future levels of pension assets workers will have accumulated

DNA-guided establishment of canonical nucleosome patterns in a eukaryotic genome [preprint]

A conserved hallmark of eukaryotic chromatin architecture is the distinctive array of well-positioned nucleosomes downstream of transcription start sites (TSS). Recent studies indicate that trans-acting factors establish this stereotypical array. Here, we present the first genome-wide in vitro and in vivo nucleosome maps for the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila. In contrast with previous studies in yeast, we find that the stereotypical nucleosome array is preserved in the in vitro reconstituted map, which is governed only by the DNA sequence preferences of nucleosomes. Remarkably, this average in vitro pattern arises from the presence of subsets of nucleosomes, rather than the whole array, in individual Tetrahymena genes. Variation in GC content contributes to the positioning of these sequence-directed nucleosomes, and affects codon usage and amino acid composition in genes. We propose that these ‘seed’ nucleosomes may aid the AT-rich Tetrahymena genome – which is intrinsically unfavorable for nucleosome formation – in establishing nucleosome arrays in vivo in concert with trans-acting factors, while minimizing changes to the coding sequences they are embedded within

The mass and density of the dwarf planet (225088) 2007 OR10

The satellite of (225088) 2007 OR10 was discovered on archival Hubble Space Telescope images and along with new observations with the WFC3 camera in late 2017 we have been able to determine the orbit. The orbit's notable eccentricity, e$\approx$0.3, may be a consequence of an intrinsically eccentric orbit and slow tidal evolution, but may also be caused by the Kozai mechanism. Dynamical considerations also suggest that the moon is small, D$_{eff}$ $<$ 100 km. Based on the newly determined system mass of 1.75x10$^{21}$ kg, 2007 OR10 is the fifth most massive dwarf planet after Eris, Pluto, Haumea and Makemake. The newly determined orbit has also been considered as an additional option in our radiometric analysis, provided that the moon orbits in the equatorial plane of the primary. Assuming a spherical shape for the primary this approach provides a size of 1230$\pm$50 km, with a slight dependence on the satellite orbit orientation and primary rotation rate chosen, and a bulk density of 1.75$\pm$0.07 g cm$^{-3}$ for the primary. A previous size estimate that assumed an equator-on configuration (1535$^{+75}_{-225}$ km) would provide a density of 0.92$^{+0.46}_{-0.14}$ g cm$^{-3}$, unexpectedly low for a 1000 km-sized dwarf planet.Comment: Accepted for publication in Icaru

Almost Linear B\"uchi Automata

We introduce a new fragment of Linear temporal logic (LTL) called LIO and a new class of Buechi automata (BA) called Almost linear Buechi automata (ALBA). We provide effective translations between LIO and ALBA showing that the two formalisms are expressively equivalent. While standard translations of LTL into BA use some intermediate formalisms, the presented translation of LIO into ALBA is direct. As we expect applications of ALBA in model checking, we compare the expressiveness of ALBA with other classes of Buechi automata studied in this context and we indicate possible applications

The Life and Death of Dense Molecular Clumps in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We report the results of a high spatial (parsec) resolution HCO+ (J = 1-0) and HCN (J = 1-0) emission survey toward the giant molecular clouds of the star formation regions N105, N113, N159, and N44 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The HCO+ and HCN observations at 89.2 and 88.6 GHz, respectively, were conducted in the compact configuration of the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The emission is imaged into individual clumps with masses between 10^2 and 10^4 solar masses and radii of <1 pc to ~2 pc. Many of the clumps are coincident with indicators of current massive star formation, indicating that many of the clumps are associated with deeply-embedded forming stars and star clusters. We find that massive YSO-bearing clumps tend to be larger (>1 pc), more massive (M > 10^3 solar masses), and have higher surface densities (~1 g cm^-2), while clumps without signs of star formation are smaller (<1 pc), less massive (M < 10^3 solar masses), and have lower surface densities (~0.1 g cm^-2). The dearth of massive (M >10^3 solar masses) clumps not bearing massive YSOs suggests the onset of star formation occurs rapidly once the clump has attained physical properties favorable to massive star formation. Using a large sample of LMC massive YSO mid-IR spectra, we estimate that ~2/3 of the massive YSOs for which there are Spitzer mid-IR spectra are no longer located in molecular clumps; we estimate that these young stars/clusters have destroyed their natal clumps on a time scale of at least 3 x 10^{5}$ yrs.Comment: Accepted to ApJ 3-19-201

The BAH domain of Rsc2 is a histone H3 binding domain

Bromo-adjacent homology (BAH) domains are commonly found in chromatin-associated proteins and fall into two classes; Remodels the Structure of Chromatin (RSC)-like or Sir3-like. Although Sir3-like BAH domains bind nucleosomes, the binding partners of RSC-like BAH domains are currently unknown. The Rsc2 subunit of the RSC chromatin remodeling complex contains an RSC-like BAH domain and, like the Sir3-like BAH domains, we find Rsc2 BAH also interacts with nucleosomes. However, unlike Sir3-like BAH domains, we find that Rsc2 BAH can bind to recombinant purified H3 in vitro, suggesting that the mechanism of nucleosome binding is not conserved. To gain insight into the Rsc2 BAH domain, we determined its crystal structure at 2.4 Å resolution. We find that it differs substantially from Sir3-like BAH domains and lacks the motifs in these domains known to be critical for making contacts with histones. We then go on to identify a novel motif in Rsc2 BAH that is critical for efficient H3 binding in vitro and show that mutation of this motif results in defective Rsc2 function in vivo. Moreover, we find this interaction is conserved across Rsc2-related proteins. These data uncover a binding target of the Rsc2 family of BAH domains and identify a novel motif that mediates this interaction