Center for Population Dynamics Quarterly Brief September 2017: Repopulating Cleveland from the Inside Out

How can Cleveland repopulate? Generally, there are two theories of thought: by focusing on regional economic development, so that people follow jobs; and by focusing on local economic development, particularly in housing and quality of place. Here, jobs follow people. While the oft-heard question in city building is whether people follow jobs or jobs follow people, recent research suggest it is likely both. Cleveland needs both a jobs strategy and a housing strategy to incur repopulation. This report brief sketches out the framework of a housing strategy, while an upcoming report by The Center for Population Dynamics called “The Healing Economy: An Economic Redevelopment Framework for Cleveland” details a jobs strategy

3D LiDAR Scanning of Urban Forest Structure Using a Consumer Tablet

Forest measurements using conventional methods may not capture all the important information required to properly characterize forest structure. The objective of this study was to develop a low-cost alternative method for forest inventory measurements and characterization of forest structure using handheld LiDAR technology. Three-dimensional (3D) maps of trees were obtained using an iPad Pro with a LiDAR sensor. Freely-available software programs, including 3D Forest Software and CloudCompare software, were used to determine tree diameter at breast height (DBH) and distance between trees. The 3D point cloud data obtained from the iPad Pro LiDAR sensor was able to estimate tree DBH accurately, with a residual error of 2.4 cm in an urban forest stand and 1.9 cm in an actively managed experimental forest stand. Distances between trees also were accurately estimated, with mean residual errors of 0.21 m for urban forest, and 0.38 m for managed forest stand. This study demonstrates that it is possible to use a low-cost consumer tablet with a LiDAR sensor to accurately measure certain forest attributes, which could enable the crowdsourcing of urban and other forest tree DBH and density data because of its integration into existing Apple devices and ease of use

Climate Change Planning: Soil Carbon Regulating Ecosystem Services and Land Cover Change Analysis to Inform Disclosures for the State of Rhode Island, USA

The state of Rhode Island (RI) has established its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals, which require rapidly acquired and updatable science-based data to make these goals enforceable and effective. The combination of remote sensing and soil information data can estimate the past and model future GHG emissions because of conversion of “low disturbance” land covers (e.g., evergreen forest, hay/pasture) to “high disturbance” land covers (e.g., low-, medium-, and high-intensity developed land). These modeled future emissions can be used as a predevelopment potential GHG emissions information disclosure. This study demonstrates the rapid assessment of the value of regulating ecosystems services (ES) from soil organic carbon (SOC), soil inorganic carbon (SIC), and total soil carbon (TSC) stocks, based on the concept of the avoided social cost of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for RI by soil order and county using remote sensing and information from the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) and Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) databases. Classified land cover data for 2001 and 2016 were downloaded from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) website. Obtained results provide accurate and quantitative spatio-temporal information about likely GHG emissions and show their patterns which are often associated with existing urban developments. These remote sensing tools could be used by the state of RI to both understand the nature of land cover change and likely GHG emissions from soil and to institute mandatory or voluntary predevelopment assessments and potential GHG emissions disclosures as a part of a climate mitigation policy

Preparing for Growth: An Emerging Neighborhood Market Analysis Commissioned by Mayor Frank G. Jackson for the City of Cleveland

In anticipation of the development of a Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, in 2016, Mayor Frank G. Jackson commissioned Cleveland State University’s Center for Population Dynamics to analyze the City of Cleveland housing market. The resulting study, “Preparing for Growth,” provides a foundation for the Mayor’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative acknowledging neighborhoods where private investment is strong but, and most significantly, identifying emerging neighborhood markets where focused planning and the leverage of public dollars will attract private investment to the benefit of existing residents and businesses in these neighborhoods

Cyclic-AMP mediated drugs: differential or global reduction of eicosanoid synthesis in the isolated rat lung?

In this study the question was addressed whether cAMP mediated drugs induce a differential reduction of branches of the arachidonic acid metabolism rather than a global reduction of eicosanoid synthesis. The isolated lungs of actively sensitized rats were employed to study prostaglandin and leukotriene release in the presence and absence of the cAMP mediated drugs theophylline, milrinone, sulmazole, isobutyl-methylxanthine and salbutamol. The release of eicosanoids as measured by RIA was predominantly basal and continuous, with a mild antigen induced stimulation only for TXB2 and the leukotrienes. All drugs reduced eicosanoid release globally. It is concluded that cAMP mediated drugs interfere with arachidonic acid metabolism at a site proximal to the branching into lipoxygenase and cyclo-oxygenase pathways

Iowa Influenza Surveillance Network: Weekly Activity Report, Weeks 40, October 8, 2016

The Iowa Influenza Surveillance Network (IISN) was established in 2004, though surveillance has been conducted at the Iowa Department of Public Health. Schools and long-term care facilities report data weekly into a Web-based reporting system. Schools report the number of students absent due to illness and the total enrolled. Long-term care facilities report cases of influenza and vaccination status of each case. Both passively report outbreaks of illness, including influenza, to IDPH

Probucol Prevents Early Coronary Heart Disease and Death in the High-Density Lipoprotein Receptor SR-BI/Apolipoprotein E Double Knockout Mouse

Mice with homozygous null mutations in the high-density lipoprotein receptor SR-BI (scavenger receptor class B, type I) and apolipoprotein E genes fed a low-fat diet exhibit a constellation of pathologies shared with human atherosclerotic coronary heart disease (CHD): hypercholesterolemia, occlusive coronary atherosclerosis, myocardial infarctions, cardiac dysfunction (heart enlargement, reduced systolic function and ejection fraction, and ECG abnormalities), and premature death (mean age 6 weeks). They also exhibit a block in RBC maturation and abnormally high plasma unesterified-to-total cholesterol ratio (0.8) with associated abnormal lipoprotein morphology (lamellar/vesicular and stacked discoidal particles reminiscent of those in lecithin/cholesterol acyltransferase deficiency and cholestasis). Treatment with the lipid-lowering, antiatherosclerosis, and antioxidation drug probucol extended life to as long as 60 weeks (mean 36 weeks), and at 5-6 weeks of age, virtually completely reversed the cardiac and most RBC pathologies and corrected the unesterified to total cholesterol ratio (0.3) and associated distinctive abnormal lipoprotein morphologies. Manipulation of the timing of administration and withdrawal of probucol could control the onset of death and suggested that critical pathological changes usually occurred in untreated double knockout mice between approximately 3 (weaning) and 5 weeks of age and that probucol delayed heart failure even after development of substantial CHD. The ability of probucol treatment to modulate pathophysiology in the double knockout mice enhances the potential of this murine system for analysis of the pathophysiology of CHD and preclinical testing of new approaches for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease

Stochastic Spanning

This study develops and implements methods for determining whether introducing new securities or relaxing investment constraints improves the investment opportunity set for all risk averse investors. We develop a test procedure for “stochastic spanning” for two nested portfolio sets based on subsampling and linear programming. The test is statistically consistent and asymptotically exact for a class of weakly dependent processes. A Monte Carlo simulation experiment shows good statistical size and power properties in finite samples of realistic dimensions. In an application to standard datasets of historical stock market returns, we accept market portfolio efficiency but reject two-fund separation, which suggests an important role for higher-order moment risk in portfolio theory and asset pricing. Supplementary materials for this article are available online

Service delivery in older patients with bipolar disorder: a review and development of a medical care model

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72872/1/j.1399-5618.2008.00602.x.pd