Blended Value Investing: Capital Opportunities for Social and Environmental Impact

This paper is offered not as a fully comprehensive survey of the emerging area of blended value investing, but rather as a set of examples of how such investing practices are being developed and applied around the world. The paper's intent is not to provide a single answer for all investment challenges, but to demonstrate how groups of investors are mobilizing capital on new terms to meet the challenges of emerging investment opportunities, as well as the demands of investors seeking out new asset classes in which to place their capital.This paper presents innovations in capital finance that promise to bridge market-rate interests with strategic opportunities to create blended value that benefits shareholder and stakeholder alike. The following examples speak to an evolving capital convergence wherein mainstream capital markets and investing will increasingly become drivers of new solutions to historic problems. Blended value investing funds and instruments offer financing strategies a set of tools that go beyond traditional philanthropy or market rate investing and which complement the vision we all share of a world with greater equity and opportunity for its members.This paper also identifies several areas of research that would help advance the field of blended value investing. Finally, the paper concludes with words of caution that suggest a prudent approach to developing blended value capital markets. It offers a critique of the state of the markets, presents a strategic vision for the blended value capital markets, and suggests specific steps that participants might take in moving toward the ideal

Emergence of life:Physical chemistry changes the paradigm

Origin of life research has been slow to advance not only because of its complex evolutionary nature (Franklin Harold: In Search of Cell History, 2014) but also because of the lack of agreement on fundamental concepts, including the question of 'what is life?'. To re-energize the research and define a new experimental paradigm, we advance four premises to better understand the physicochemical complexities of life's emergence: (1) Chemical and Darwinian (biological) evolutions are distinct, but become continuous with the appearance of heredity. (2) Earth's chemical evolution is driven by energies of cycling (diurnal) disequilibria and by energies of hydrothermal vents. (3) Earth's overall chemical complexity must be high at the origin of life for a subset of (complex) chemicals to phase separate and evolve into living states. (4) Macromolecular crowding in aqueous electrolytes under confined conditions enables evolution of molecular recognition and cellular self-organization. We discuss these premises in relation to current 'constructive' (non-evolutionary) paradigm of origins research - the process of complexification of chemical matter 'from the simple to the complex'. This paradigm artificially avoids planetary chemical complexity and the natural tendency of molecular compositions toward maximum disorder embodied in the second law of thermodynamics. Our four premises suggest an empirical program of experiments involving complex chemical compositions under cycling gradients of temperature, water activity and electromagnetic radiation.</p

Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90

Emergence of life: Physical chemistry changes the paradigm

Abstract Origin of life research has been slow to advance not only because of its complex evolutionary nature (Franklin Harold: In Search of Cell History, 2014) but also because of the lack of agreement on fundamental concepts, including the question of ‘what is life?’. To re-energize the research and define a new experimental paradigm, we advance four premises to better understand the physicochemical complexities of life’s emergence: (1) Chemical and Darwinian (biological) evolutions are distinct, but become continuous with the appearance of heredity. (2) Earth’s chemical evolution is driven by energies of cycling (diurnal) disequilibria and by energies of hydrothermal vents. (3) Earth’s overall chemical complexity must be high at the origin of life for a subset of (complex) chemicals to phase separate and evolve into living states. (4) Macromolecular crowding in aqueous electrolytes under confined conditions enables evolution of molecular recognition and cellular self-organization. We discuss these premises in relation to current ‘constructive’ (non-evolutionary) paradigm of origins research – the process of complexification of chemical matter ‘from the simple to the complex’. This paradigm artificially avoids planetary chemical complexity and the natural tendency of molecular compositions toward maximum disorder embodied in the second law of thermodynamics. Our four premises suggest an empirical program of experiments involving complex chemical compositions under cycling gradients of temperature, water activity and electromagnetic radiation

Electron and proton heating by solar wind turbulence

Previous formulations of heating and transport associated with strong magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence are generalized to incorporate separate internal energy equations for electrons and protons. Electron heat conduction is included. Energy is supplied by turbulent heating that affects both electrons and protons, and is exchanged between them via collisions. Comparison to available Ulysses data shows that a reasonable accounting for the data is provided when (i) the energy exchange timescale is very long and (ii) the deposition of heat due to turbulence is divided, with 60% going to proton heating and 40% into electron heating. Heat conduction, determined here by an empirical fit, plays a major role in describing the electron data

Edith Abbott Was Right: Designing Fieldwork Experiences for Contemporary Health Care Practice

Successful social work practice in the contemporary, economically driven, health care environment demands unprecedented levels of technical competence, initiative, creativity and conceptual sophistication. Fieldwork plays a critical role in social work education for such demanding practice by providing interns initial opportunities to apply their newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities. This article discusses the contribution of fieldwork to the preparation of social work practitioners and presents two programs that may serve as alternative models of fieldwork. Observations of the impact of these models, including a summary of two evaluations of one model are presented. We contend that a fieldwork structure using rotations may increase the value of fieldwork for students both academically and in the employment process. Correct citation for final version of manuscript is: Spitzer, W., Holden, G., Cuzzi, L. C., Rutter, S., Chernack, P., & Rosenberg, G. (2001). Edith Abbott was right: Designing fieldwork experiences for contemporary health care practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 37, 79-90

Water, O2 and Ice in Molecular Clouds

We model the temperature and chemical structure of molecular clouds as a function of depth into the cloud, assuming a cloud of constant density n illuminated by an external FUV (6 eV < E < 13.6 eV) flux G_0 (scaling factor in multiples of the local interstellar field). Extending previous photodissociation region models, we include the freezing of species, simple grain surface chemistry, and desorption (including FUV photodesorption) of ices. We also treat the opaque cloud interior with time-dependent chemistry. Here, under certain conditions, gas phase elemental oxygen freezes out as water ice and the elemental C/O abundance ratio can exceed unity, leading to complex carbon chemistry. Gas phase H2O and O2 peak in abundance at intermediate depth into the cloud, roughly A_V~3-8 from the surface, the depth proportional to ln(G_0/n). Closer to the surface, molecules are photodissociated. Deeper into the cloud, molecules freeze to grain surfaces. At intermediate depths photodissociation rates are attenuated by dust extinction, but photodesorption prevents total freezeout. For G_0 < 500, abundances of H2O and O2 peak at values ~10^(-7), producing columns ~10^(15) per cm^2, independent of G_0 and n. The peak abundances depend primarily on the product of the photodesorption yield of water ice and the grain surface area per H nucleus. At higher values of G_0, thermal desorption of O atoms from grains enhances the gas phase H2O peak abundance and column slightly, whereas the gas phase O2 peak abundance rises to ~10^(-5) and the column to ~2x10^(16) per cm^2. We present simple analytic equations for the abundances as a function of depth which clarify the dependence on parameters. The models are applied to observations of H2O, O2, and water ice in a number of sources, including B68, NGC 2024, and Rho Oph.Comment: 70 pages including 17 figure

A pilot study of an integrated mental health, social and medical model for diabetes care in an inner‐city setting: three dimensions for diabetes (3DFD)

Aims We examined the effectiveness of a service innovation, Three Dimensions for Diabetes (3DFD), that consisted of a referral to an integrated mental health, social care and diabetes treatment model, compared with usual care in improving biomedical and health economic outcomes. Methods Using a non‐randomized control design, the 3DFD model was offered in two inner‐city boroughs in London, UK, where diabetes health professionals could refer adult residents with diabetes, suboptimal glycaemic control [HbA1c ≥ 75 mmol/mol (≥ 9.0%)] and mental health and/or social problems. In the usual care group, there was no referral pathway and anonymized data on individuals with HbA1c ≥ 75 mmol/mol (≥ 9.0%) were collected from primary care records. Change in HbA1c from baseline to 12 months was the primary outcome, and change in healthcare costs and biomedical variables were secondary outcomes. Results 3DFD participants had worse glycaemic control and higher healthcare costs than control participants at baseline. 3DFD participants had greater improvement in glycaemic control compared with control participants [−14 mmol/mol (−1.3%) vs. −6 mmol/mol (−0.6%) respectively, P < 0.001], adjusted for confounding. Total follow‐up healthcare costs remained higher in the 3DFD group compared with the control group (mean difference £1715, 95% confidence intervals 591 to 2811), adjusted for confounding. The incremental cost‐effectiveness ratio was £398 per mmol/mol unit decrease in HbA1c, indicating the 3DFD intervention was more effective and costed more than usual care. Conclusions A biomedical, psychological and social criteria‐based referral system for identifying and managing high‐cost and high‐risk individuals with poor glycaemic control can lead to improved health in all three dimensions