The Evolution of Securitization in Multifamily Mortgage markets and Its Effect on lending Rates

Loan purchase and securitization by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and private-label commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) grew rapidly during the 1990s and accounted for more than one-half of the net growth in multifamily debt over the decade. By facilitating the integration of the multifamily mortgage market into the broader capital markets, securitization helped to create new sources of credit as some traditional portfolio investors—savings institutions and life insurers—reduced their share of loan holdings. A model of commercial mortgage rates at life insurers, expressed relative to a comparable-term Treasury yield, was estimated over a twenty-two-year period. The parameter estimates supported an option-based pricing model of rate determination; proxies for CMBS activity showed no significant effect.

Investigating the Role of Stakeholders in Agile Information Systems Development Projects: A Mixed Methods Approach

Agile information systems development (ISD) strives for a high amount of interaction between the agile team and stakeholders to ensure that high quality software within commonly defined project goals is produced. The literature has acknowledged that agile ISD significantly changes the work of team members. How do agile practices affect the work of stakeholders? Unfortunately, little theory exists to answer this question. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the effect of agile practices on stakeholders’ job satisfaction. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, we use a review of the literature with an exploratory case study to develop the theoretical model, which was evaluated with a survey among stakeholders in agile ISD projects. We contribute to agile ISD literature by providing empirical evidence on stakeholders’ job satisfaction and highlight the relevance of interaction and collaboration between team members and stakeholders in agile ISD projects

Scientific Computing Meets Big Data Technology: An Astronomy Use Case

Scientific analyses commonly compose multiple single-process programs into a dataflow. An end-to-end dataflow of single-process programs is known as a many-task application. Typically, tools from the HPC software stack are used to parallelize these analyses. In this work, we investigate an alternate approach that uses Apache Spark -- a modern big data platform -- to parallelize many-task applications. We present Kira, a flexible and distributed astronomy image processing toolkit using Apache Spark. We then use the Kira toolkit to implement a Source Extractor application for astronomy images, called Kira SE. With Kira SE as the use case, we study the programming flexibility, dataflow richness, scheduling capacity and performance of Apache Spark running on the EC2 cloud. By exploiting data locality, Kira SE achieves a 2.5x speedup over an equivalent C program when analyzing a 1TB dataset using 512 cores on the Amazon EC2 cloud. Furthermore, we show that by leveraging software originally designed for big data infrastructure, Kira SE achieves competitive performance to the C implementation running on the NERSC Edison supercomputer. Our experience with Kira indicates that emerging Big Data platforms such as Apache Spark are a performant alternative for many-task scientific applications

The Escherichia coli glycophage display system

We describe a phage display technique that allows the production and selective enrichment of phages that display an N-glycoprotein (glycophages). We applied glycophage display to select functional glycosylation sequons from a pool of randomized acceptor sequences. Our system provides a genetic platform to study and engineer different steps in the pathway of bacterial N-linked protein glycosylatio

Subsurface Microbial Ecosystems and The Origin of Methane In Serpentinites of The Samail Ophiolite, Oman

Serpentinization of ultramafic rocks can produce hydrogen (H2), a strong electron donor that microbes can react with electron acceptors such as carbon dioxide (CO2) to produce methane (CH4) and yield energy. This type of chemosynthetic process is relevant to life on Earth and potentially on other silicate bodies of the Solar System. However, serpentinization results in high-pH (&gt; 11), low-CO2&nbsp;conditions that can be challenging to life. This dissertation assesses relationships between hydrogeochemical parameters and subsurface microbial communities at a site of low-temperature serpentinization in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman. We pumped groundwaters from deep wells, determined fluid chemical compositions, analyzed taxonomic profiles of microbial communities, and measured isotopic compositions of hydrocarbon gases. For some work, we used a packer system to pump discrete intervals as deep as 108 m to 132 m from two 400 m-deep wells, isolating multiple aquifers ranging in pH from 8 to 11. 16S rRNA gene sequencing of deep groundwaters revealed the presence of an ecosystem dominated by microbial sulfate reduction coupled to oxidation of H2&nbsp;and small organic acids. In shallower, oxidized groundwaters, heterotrophic aerobes or denitrifiers were more prevalent. However, the majority of this dissertation focused on the origin of CH4 in hyperalkaline fluids. Although it has been argued that CH4&nbsp;in the ophiolite is abiotic due to its 13C-enriched composition (&delta;13C commonly &minus;10&permil; to +5&permil;&nbsp;VPDB), we found that 16S rRNA gene sequences affiliated with methanogens were widespread and in high relative abundance in some samples. Further, we measured clumped isotopologue (13CH3D and 12C&nbsp;H2D2) relative abundances less than equilibrium, consistent with microbial CH4&nbsp;production. Relationships between CO2&nbsp;concentrations and &delta;13CCH4&nbsp;suggest that the C isotope effect of microbial CH4&nbsp;production is modulated by C availability, and strongly suppressed at pH &gt; 11. CH4&nbsp;samples from two wells had 14C contents significantly above analytical blanks, and one well had CH4&nbsp;of up to 0.304 fraction modern. This is the first proof of active (&lt; 10 ka) conversion of atmospheric CO2&nbsp;to CH4&nbsp;in a serpentinizing setting. Although we do infer a second abiotic source of CH4&nbsp;from high &delta;13C values of co-occurring ethane and propane, we attribute substantial CH4&nbsp;production to microbial activity despite high pH and C limitation.</p

Ptolemaic Orbs in Twelfth-Century England: A Study and Edition of the Anonymous Liber de motibus planetarum

This article offers the first study and critical edition of the Liber de motibus planetarum (Lmp), a neglected Latin text on planetary theory that appears anonymously and without any clear indication of date or place of origin in nine manuscripts of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. An analysis of its sources and parallels to other Latin treatises and translations from Arabic indicates that the Lmp originated in England in the third quarter of the twelfth century. A plausible terminus post quem is provided by the appearance of similar passages in the anonymous treatise Ptolomeus et multi sapientum (1145), which can be linked to Abraham Ibn Ezra and his astronomical tables for the meridian of Pisa. The Lmp would appear to be historically significant for its relatively detailed textual and diagrammatic presentations of Ptolemy’s planetary models as composed of multipart physical orbs. While it is generally accepted that physicalized or ‘orbed’ versions of these models entered Latin astronomy through the influence of Ibn al-Haytham’s Maqāla fī hayʾat al-ʿālam (On the Configuration of the World), the early history of this idea in a Latin context has not been studied to any deeper extent. In this regard, the Lmp offers clear evidence that Ptolemaic orbs and diagrams representing them already were a part of Latin astronomy three centuries before Peuerbach’s Theoricae novae planetarum (1454)

Geologic map of the Samail Ophiolite, Oman and United Arab Emirates

A geologic map of the Samail Ophiolite in Oman and the United Arab Emirates has been georeferenced and digitized. The data are provided in GeoPackage (.gpkg) format that can be imported into GIS software such as QGIS and Arc. The GeoPackage contains vector layers for lithologies and faults. Five lithologies are represented: Dunite/Wehrlite, Harzburgite, Mafic, Metamorphic Sole, and Plagiogranite. Further, a QGIS project file is provided, which should allow for layer styles to be preserved if opened in QGIS. The map data (not georeferenced) were originally published as &nbsp; Nicolas, A., Boudier, F., Ildefonse, B., Ball, E., 2000. Accretion of Oman and United Arab Emirates ophiolite - Discussion of a new structural map. Mar Geophys Res 21, 147&ndash;179. doi:10.1023/A:1026769727917 &nbsp; Please cite both works if you use the georeferenced data. A GeoTIFF of the original Nicolas et al. map subdivided into greater lithological detail is also provided in the GeoPackage.</div

Assistência de Enfermagem a um paciente alcoolista aplicando a Teoria do Alcance de Metas: relato de experiência

O alcoolismo destaca-se como problema social sendo assim, a assistência de enfermagem deve ser utilizada para abordar o problema, promover o relacionamento interpessoal, sensibilizar o indivíduo para o tratamento e se responsabilizar pela melhora na sua qualidade de vida. Este estudo objetivou relatar a experiência da assistência de enfermagem a um paciente alcoolista com base da Teoria do Alcance de Metas de Imogene King. Trata-se de um relato de experiência sobre a assistência de enfermagem ao paciente alcoolista, tendo como base teórica e metodológica a Teoria do Alcance de Metas de Imogene King. Com a experiência, observou-se que a família é tão afetada quanto o alcoolista, tendo papel fundamental para o sucesso do tratamento. Utilizando a Teoria do Alcance de Metas de Imogene King, evidenciou-se que o tratamento deve envolver os aspectos pessoais, sociais e interpessoais, indicando que o cuidado e o tratamento devem ir além de fármacos. Cuidados estéticos, estímulo aos bons e novos relacionamentos sociais, ao autocuidado e, especialmente a reconstrução das relações familiares, envolvendo todos os componentes da família nos cuidados, possibilita a que a assistência de enfermagem seja fundamental no processo de recuperação do usuário

The Chitobiose-Binding Protein, DasA, Acts as a Link between Chitin Utilization and Morphogenesis in Streptomyces Coelicolor

Streptomycetes are mycelial soil bacteria that undergo a developmental programme that leads to sporulating aerial hyphae. As soil-dwelling bacteria, streptomycetes rely primarily on natural polymers such as cellulose, xylan and chitin for the colonization of their environmental niche and therefore these polysaccharides may play a critical role in monitoring the global nutritional status of the environment. In this work we analysed the role of DasA, the sugar-binding component of the chitobiose ATP-binding cassette transport system, in informing the cell of environmental conditions, and its role in the onset of development and in ensuring correct sporulation. The chromosomal interruption of dasA resulted in a carbon-source-dependent vegetative arrest phenotype, and we identified a second DasR-dependent sugar transporter, in addition to the N-acetylglucosamine phosphotransferase system (PTS(GlcNAc)), that relates primary metabolism to development. Under conditions that allowed sporulation, highly aberrant spores with many prematurely produced germ tubes were observed. While GlcNAc locks streptomycetes in the vegetative state, a high extracellular concentration of the GlcNAc polymer chitin has no effect on development. The striking distinction is due to a difference in the transporters responsible for the import of GlcNAc, which enters via the PTS, and of chitin, which enters as the hydrolytic product chitobiose (GlcNAc(2)) through the DasABC transporter. A model explaining the role of these two essentially different transport systems in the control of development is provided