Re-imagining Transit Development In Toronto: Assessing The Development-based Land Value Capture Potential For Funding Transit Oriented Investments

As transit agencies and municipalities are facing financial stress and political pressures to expand transit, many jurisdictions are starting to use non-traditional funding methods like Land Value Capture to fund transit oriented investments. Land Value Capture is useful because it allows for the transit agency to tap into publically created land value increment. In particular, Development-Based Land Value Capture is favoured by many transit practitioners as a popular non-traditional funding source for its high revenue potentials, low financial and political risks, and low implementation costs. It can be facilitated through the direct transaction of properties whose values have been increased by public regulatory decisions or infrastructure investment. The main objective of this paper is for transit planners to gain a practical understanding for the benefits and challenges of using Development-Based Land Value Capture to fund transit oriented investments in the City of Toronto. Section 1 sets the context for Development-Based Land Value Capture by introducing the history and evolution of transit development and finance in Toronto. Section 2 describes what Development-Based Land Value Capture and Tax- or Fee-Based Land Value Capture are, while also outlining the rationale for using Land Value Capture. This section also highlights some of the enabling factors for successful Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation. Section 3 expands upon this discussion by providing an analysis of the Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation challenges surrounding the Eglinton Crosstown Light Rail Transit project (ECLRT) and Metrolinx's request for proposal (RFP) to sell the development rights at four station properties along the ECLRT corridor in Toronto. The main takeaway of this paper is that Development-Based Land Value Capture is a useful tool that transit planners can engage in to finance their transit-oriented investments. However, even the most basic forms of Development-Based Land Value Capture can be difficult to implement in practice. Based on a reading of this paper, transit planners should be able to anticipate some challenges that they may face in implementing Development-Based Land Value Capture in a city like Toronto. This paper should also open up the discussion amongst transit planners about Development-Based Land Value Capture implementation in Toronto

Non-invasive minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)

Introduction: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous disease with genetic diversity and variable outcomes. It arises from a mature clonal B cell population that exhibits clonal immunoglobulin (IG) gene rearrangements. The current standard for monitoring DLBCL response to therapy relies on the estimation of tumor reduction by CT or PET/CT scan. Clonality analysis using a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based approach is a powerful tool not only to detect clonal B cells in lymph node tissue but also to track minimal residual disease (MRD). In this context, one major obstacle is the absence of circulating cells. cell-free DNA (cfDNA) might be the best analyte for MRD assessment, as it is easily accessible from peripheral blood (PB). MRD analysis is of great interest since it could help to identify patients at high risk of recurrence and to guide treatment decisions. Aims: to test IG heavy (IGH) and light (IGK) chain rearrangements as target of clonality using NGS on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) lymph node biopsies and on cfDNA extracted from PB, in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients; to explore if tracking IG clones by NGS on cfDNA samples during/after treatment can be a valid non-invasive way to study MRD; to study the correlation with radiologic assessment of early and final response and with clinical variables. Results and methods: NGS-based clonality testing was performed using the LymphoTrack assay (Invivoscribe Inc, San Diego, CA) in 53 patients provided with DNA from the tumor biopsies and with cfDNA extracted from PB samples. Tumor-specific clonotypes were detected in 88.5% of 52 evaluable FFPE samples and 80.5% of 46 cfDNA samples. Clonality identification rate on cfDNA at diagnosis correlated with disease stage and a trend for association with extra-nodal disease was observed. MRD was performed by tracing the disease-specific clonotypes in plasma samples collected at interim, at the end of treatment (EOT), and at follow-up. MRD at interim was positive in 8 of the 26 evaluated cases and 67% of them subsequently relapsed; it was negative in 18 patients and 12% of them relapsed (p<0.0001). MRD at interim allowed to better categorize the 15 cases with partial response assessed by CT scans: 8 patients were MRD negative and two relapsed, 7 were MRD positive and 5 relapsed (p=0.08). MRD at EOT proved promising for the identification of patients at high risk of relapse, as the best PFS was observed in patients who achieved MRD negativity at this time point (p=0.001). Indeed, MRD was positive in 7 cases and all relapsed; of these 7 patients, only one had a positive PET/CT at EOT. Nine patients were MRD negative and never experienced relapse; 2/9 showed a PET/CT false-positive result. Finally, we showed that cfDNA was detectable in the plasma before clinical progression in most cases. Conclusions: NGS-based assays are suitable for IG-based biomarker identification and MRD analysis in plasma samples of DLBCL patients, since this analysis identifies patients with a high risk of relapse. MRD evaluation both at interim and at EOT allows to better stratify DLBCL patients’ outcome. The role of cfDNA for MRD detection and its impact on prognosis has to be further explored in larger series of DLBCL patients, in order to validate these results and to explore the possibilities of MRD-adapted therapy regimens that can ultimately improve patients’ care

The Oregon Watershed Health Program: Local Empowerment to Restore Watersheds

9 pages

The Role of Signaling Identity in the Adoption of Personal Technologies

We explore symbolic determinants of technology acceptance to complement more functional frameworks and better predict decisions to adopt information appliances. Previous research has investigated such variables as “need for uniqueness” and “status gains” to capture relevant aspects of technology acceptance. However, the more we move toward personal and ubiquitous technologies, the more we need to broaden and deepen our understanding of the symbolic aspects of adoption. This study reinterprets the symbolic dimension of adoption by broadening its scope to include the self-concept. Results support a prominent role for self-identity in predicting intentions to adopt mobile TVs. Self-identity is shown to complement the effects of “need for uniqueness” and “status gains” in this regard

Mobility as a Service: An Exploratory Study of Consumer Mobility Behaviour

Key challenges in transportation need to be addressed to tackle the problems of fossil fuel emissions and worsened air quality in urban area. The development of a more efficient and clean transport system could benefit from mobility as a service (MaaS). The present paper aims to understand the determinants of the intention to adopt such a service. We test the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) on mobility behavior and intention to adopt mobility as a service, and we analyze the role of perceived cost saving as a determinant for the perceived ease of use. Data were collected through a survey on a sample of 201 potential adopters. The findings show that for such a technology, perceived usefulness fully mediate the influence of perceived ese of use on the intention to adopt. Moreover, the effect of perceived cost saving on perceived ease of use is moderated by the life cycle of the technology. Implications for marketing managers and policy makers are discussed