Transportation Conformity Demonstration: Connections 2040 Long-Range Plan and FY 2017 TIP for Pennsylvania

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) demonstrates transportation conformity of its Connections 2040 Long-Range Plan, Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Pennsylvania Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). A transportation conformity demonstration is required at least once every four years or when an metropolitan planning organization: (1) adopts a new Plan or TIP; or (2) amends, adds, or deletes a regionally significant, nonexempt project in a Plan or TIP. This conformity finding of the DVRPC Plan and TIPs shows that they meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards requirements governing ozone, carbon monoxide, and fine particulate matter. This conformity finding reflects all amendments to the Plan and TIPs through June 2016

Transportation Conformity Demonstration: FY 2011 Pennsylvania TIP, FY 2012 New Jersey TIP, and Connections Long-Range Plan

Transportation conformity is the process by which Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) or Departments of Transportation demonstrate that transportation projects included in a region's Long-Range Plan (Plan) or Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP) do not cause new air quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Transportation conformity is a requirement of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in areas that do not meet the NAAQS or have previously been in violation of the NAAQS. Areas currently not meeting the NAAQS are known as nonattainment areas and areas that previously have not attained the NAAQS are known as maintenance areas.A transportation conformity demonstration shows that the region's TIPs and Plan are following or "conforming to" the State Implementation Plan (SIP) to meet the NAAQS. In nonattainment areas that do not have federally approved SIPs, the current conformity guidance, known as the Final Rule, issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) establishes guidelines for conducting transportation conformity demonstrations.The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) region is in nonattainment for two of the NAAQS (ozone and PM2.5). Portions of the region are maintenance areas for a third NAAQS (carbon monoxide or CO).Since ozone is not directly emitted, but is formed by the combination of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the presence of sunlight, conformity is demonstrated by analysis of the component pollutants. PM2.5 is directly emitted and precursor pollutants--in this case NOx--are also analyzed to demonstrate transportation conformity. This Executive Summary highlights DVRPC's conformity demonstration for:Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) meeting the eight hour ozone NAAQS requirements in:the DVRPC portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City Ozone Nonattainment Area; Direct Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Precursor NOx meeting the PM2.5 NAAQS requirements in:the DVRPC portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE Annual PM2.5 Nonattainment Area; andthe DVRPC portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE 24-hour PM2.5 Nonattainment Area; and E-2 Transportation Conformity Demonstrationthe DVRPC portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT Annual PM2.5 Nonattainment Area; andthe DVRPC portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT 24- hour PM2.5 Nonattainment Area. Carbon Monoxide (CO) meeting the CO NAAQS requirements in:the Philadelphia-Camden CO Maintenance Area;the City of Burlington in Burlington County, New Jersey CO Maintenance Area;the City of Trenton in Mercer County, New Jersey CO Maintenance Area.This summary serves as an inclusive document that demonstrates the transportation conformity of the DVRPC TIPs and Long-Range Plan with all applicable SIPs and NAAQS requirements for the above pollutants within the noted areas

A Tale of Three Cities: Crime and Displacement after Hurricane Katrina

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005, it greatly disrupted both the physical and social structures of that community. One consequence of the hurricane was the displacement of large numbers of New Orleans residents to other cities, including Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix. There has been media speculation that such a grand-scale population displacement led to increased crime in communities that were recipient of large numbers of displaced New Orleans residents. This study was a case study of three cities with somewhat different experiences with Katrina\u27s diaspora. Time series analysis was used to examine the pre- and post-Katrina trends in six Part I offenses (murder, robbery, aggravated assault, rape, burglary, and auto theft) to assess any impact of such large-scale population shifts on crime in host communities. Contrary to much popular speculation, only modest effects were found on crime. Social disorganization theory was used to frame both the analysis and the interpretation of these result

Combinatorial search of superconductivity in Fe-B composition spreads

We have fabricated Fe-B thin film composition spreads in search of possible superconducting phases following a theoretical prediction by Kolmogorov et al.^1 Co-sputtering was used to deposit spreads covering a large compositional region of the Fe-B binary phase diagram. A trace of superconducting phase was found in the nanocrystalline part of the spread, where the film undergoes a metal to insulator transition as a function of composition in a region with the average composition of FeB_2. The resistance drop occurs at 4K, and a diamagnetic signal has also been detected at the same temperature. The superconductivity is suppressible in the magnetic field up to 2 Tesla.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

A Short Guide to Impact Investing

This guide is intended to help bring newcomers into the game. It intends to help high net worth individuals, family offices and others to know some of the questions, if not the answers, to determine what's right for them and what to do next to move toward meaningful, measurable impact.It has been developed with a flexible framework and a simple taxonomy to help people get their arms around impact investing. Several profiles of impact ventures, funds and investors that can be seen at ImpactAlpha have been included.The guide builds on the work of great champions for this movement. The Rockefeller Foundation, Omidyar Network and many others that have been pioneers in supporting the development of the field

Observation of the superconducting proximity effect in the surface state of SmB6 thin films

The proximity effect at the interface between a topological insulator (TI) and a superconductor is predicted to give rise to chiral topological superconductivity and Majorana fermion excitations. In most TIs studied to date, however, the conducting bulk states have overwhelmed the transport properties and precluded the investigation of the interplay of the topological surface state and Cooper pairs. Here, we demonstrate the superconducting proximity effect in the surface state of SmB6 thin films which display bulk insulation at low temperatures. The Fermi velocity in the surface state deduced from the proximity effect is found to be as large as 10^5 m/s, in good agreement with the value obtained from a separate transport measurement. We show that high transparency between the TI and a superconductor is crucial for the proximity effect. The finding here opens the door to investigation of exotic quantum phenomena using all-thin-film multilayers with high-transparency interfaces

Imaging Extended Emission-Line Regions of Obscured AGN with the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam Survey

Narrow-line regions excited by active galactic nuclei (AGN) are important for studying AGN photoionization and feedback. Their strong [O III] lines can be detected with broadband images, allowing morphological studies of these systems with large-area imaging surveys. We develop a new technique to reconstruct the [O III] images using the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) Survey aided with spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The technique involves a careful subtraction of the galactic continuum to isolate emission from the [O III]$\lambda$5007 and [O III]$\lambda$4959 lines. Compared to traditional targeted observations, this technique is more efficient at covering larger samples with less dedicated observational resources. We apply this technique to an SDSS spectroscopically selected sample of 300 obscured AGN at redshifts 0.1 - 0.7, uncovering extended emission-line region candidates with sizes up to tens of kpc. With the largest sample of uniformly derived narrow-line region sizes, we revisit the narrow-line region size-luminosity relation. The area and radii of the [O III] emission-line regions are strongly correlated with the AGN luminosity inferred from the mid-infrared (15 $\mu$m rest-frame) with a power-law slope of $0.62^{+0.05}_{-0.06} \pm 0.10$ (statistical and systemic errors), consistent with previous spectroscopic findings. We discuss the implications for the physics of AGN emission-line region and future applications of this technique, which should be useful for current and next-generation imaging surveys to study AGN photoionization and feedback with large statistical samples.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures, MNRAS submitte

Routine Crime in Exceptional Times: The Impact of the 2002 Winter Olympics on Citizen Demand for Police Services

Despite their rich theoretical and practical importance, criminologists have paid scant attention to the patterns of crime and the responses to crime during exceptional events. Throughout the world large-scale political, social, economic, cultural, and sporting events have become commonplace. Natural disasters such as blackouts, hurricanes, tornadoes, and tsunamis present similar opportunities. Such events often tax the capacities of jurisdictions to provide safety and security in response to the exceptional event, as well as to meet the “routine” public safety needs. This article examines “routine” crime as measured by calls for police service, official crime reports, and police arrests in Salt Lake City before, during, and after the 2002 Olympic Games. The analyses suggest that while a rather benign demographic among attendees and the presence of large numbers of social control agents might have been expected to decrease calls for police service for minor crime, it actually increased in Salt Lake during this period. The implications of these findings are considered for theories of routine activities, as well as systems capacity