Drive ‘Til You Qualify: Credit Quality and Household Location

A deeper understanding of the credit-sorting process is essential when considering the extent to which home foreclosures are driven by price contagion or an underlying spatial pattern of mortgage quality. Adapting household location theory, we find that credit constrained households follow “drive-\u27til-you-qualify” behavior leading to rising credit quality with distance from the CBD while unconstrained households exhibit declining credit quality. Individual level mortgage loan-to-income data for the 100 largest MSAs show credit constrained behavior either throughout the urban area or concentrated in the suburbs. Meta analysis of the credit sorting estimates identify MSA characteristics associated with each pattern

The administration of the Royal Navy from 1660 to 1673

The intention of this thesis is to provide a study of the administrative developments in the navy from the Restoration to the resignation of the Duke of York as Lord High Admiral in 1673. The administration is examined closely and this reveals the weakness, failures and the difficulties facing those associated with the navy; the attempts at reform as well as investigation of naval affairs are also discussed. It is obvious that naval administration cannot be seen in isolation from the rest of Restoration government. Accordingly the period from 1660 to 1673 is also evaluated in these terms; firstly the purely naval developments, and secondly, the number of administrative and constitutional advances which were taking place during the seventeenth century

STR-847: WESTMINSTER DRIVE UNDERPASS – ACCELERATED BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION USING GIGO (GET IN-GET OUT) BRIDGE CONCEPT

The Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO), in partnership with consultants and contractors, developed a method for accelerated bridge construction called Get in-Get out Bridge or GiGo Bridge. The GiGo Bridge concept is an Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) technique for replacing bridges over freeways, in 45 days or less, with a full closure of the crossing road. The concept requires that bridge components be prefabricated in advance of the on-site work. This has the advantage of shifting a substantial portion of the work into the winter months, freeing up staff resources and equipment for the summer months. Additional benefits of GiGo Bridge include shorter disruptions to traffic as well as enhanced safety, since workers have less contact with traffic during the project. In 2014, the Westminster Drive Underpass on Highway 401 in London, Ontario, was successfully replaced using the GiGo Bridge concept. The new, two-span integral abutment bridge consists of a number of prefabricated elements, including precast concrete abutments, wingwalls, and pier cap; and steel box girders. However, the accelerated bridge construction feature that is of primary interest in this project, and that is key to the GiGo Bridge concept, is the use of 6 prefabricated, 95-tonne supermodules, each of which consists of a steel box girder with a cast-in-place concrete deck. Based on the success and lessons learned from the Westminster Drive project, MTO will be using the GiGo Bridge concept on other projects, including the replacement of the Highway 401/Highway 19 Underpass in Ingersoll in 2017

Safety, play, enablement, and active involvement: Themes from a Grounded Theory study of practitioner and client experiences of change processes in Dramatherapy

Objective: This study aims to investigate how dramatherapists and dramatherapy clients experience change in therapy and whether change processes identified are consistent across dramatherapeutic approaches. Method: Seven dramatherapists and seven dramatherapy clients were interviewed about their experiences of dramatherapy. Using a grounded theory method three core themes were constructed from the data. Results: The resulting core categories – 1. working within a safe distance; 2. the client being allowed and allowing self to play and try out new ways of being and 3. being actively involved in therapy: creating something visible and having physical experiences using the body, capture the experience of change for both dramatherapists and clients in therapy. Key change mechanisms were also proposed, these included: developing new awareness and finding a language to communicate. Main conclusions: A focus on developing new awareness and increased insight into self are important outcomes for therapy and need to be clearly communicated as such. Future research should include further exploration of the key themes identified and the client developing increased reflective functioning as a key change mechanism during dramatherapy

Investigating the exogenous application of 5-Aminlevulinic acid to improve turfgrass (Lolium perenneL.) surfaces grown in shade

The quality of turfgrass playing surfaces can be severely compromised when grown in the modern sports stadia environment. Shade from the large grandstands prevent direct sunlight from reaching most of the pitch and Grounds Managers are using lighting rigs to replace natural light. Other solutions are required to reduce the high energy costs of this equipment yet maintain the essential high quality of the playing surfaces. This study investigated the effect of exogenous applications of 100mg L-1e 5-Aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) to turfgrass Lolium perenne L. grown in 100% daylight (Light) and 50% daylight (Shade). Two experiments were setup to investigate a number of parameters. Experient One consisted of turfgrass L. perenne grown in tubs containing a sand rootzone overlying gravel to replicate the modern sports pitch construction. Clippings were analysed for chlorophyll content (NDVI), % Dry Weigh and leaf nutrient content (mg kg-1). Experiment Two used the same rootzone and grass seed as in Experiment 1 but grown in 3 inch pots. Fluorescence parameters measurements concentrated on the effects of exogenous applications of 100mg L-1 on Photosystem II (PSII): Maximum Quantum Yield (Fv/Fm), Quantum Yield (ØPSII or Fq’/Fm’), and Non-Photochemical Quenching (NPQ). Exogenous applications of 100mg L-1 5-ALA resulted in significant increases in chlorophyll (NDVI) in treated plants compared the Control (non-treated) in both Light and Shade on Days 7 and 14 after treatment, and in Shade on Day 14 after treatment. % Dry Weight increased only on Day 7 after treatment in Treated Shade grown plants. There were significant differences of some nutrients due to 5-ALA treatments: Mg and Zn on Day 0 (4 hours) after treatment; Mn and Zn on Day 7 after treatment. There were some effects on fluorescence parameters, but significant differences were mainly attributed to whether the plants were grown in Light or Shade, not applications of 5-ALA

Saturated gain spectrum of VECSELs determined by transient measurement of lasing onset

We describe time-resolved measurements of the evolution of the spectrum of radiation emitted by an optically-pumped continuous-wave InGaAs-GaAs quantum well laser, recorded as lasing builds up from noise to steady state. We extract a fitting parameter corresponding to the gain dispersion of the parabolic spectrum equal to ?79 ± 30 fs2 and ?36 ± 6 fs2 for a resonant and anti-resonant structure, respectively. Furthermore the recorded evolution of the spectrum allows for the calculation of an effective FWHM gain bandwidth for each structure, of 11 nm and 18 nm, respectively

COEUR: developing business creativity and Europreneurship in European university networks.

This paper analyses the operating process and participants' feedback of a network of European universities that was set up in 2004, initially to organise annual week-long conferences for the development of students' entrepreneurial competences within a European context and in intercultural teams. Named COEUR - Competence in EuroPreneurship - the project builds on three assumptions: (1) open change and process-orientation require entrepreneurial competences rather than managerial qualifications; (2) business planning builds on a frequently neglected prerequisite: business creativity; and (3) entrepreneurial culture may exist on an intermediate level: EuroPreneurship. Soon the concept was extended to be integrated into regular university curricula as a full semester course - the Business Creativity Module (BCM) - which was developed and implemented with the support of the European Union between 2006 and 2008. Until now around 1,000 European students have participated in various COEUR/BCM programmes. A recent survey among former participants confirmed that not only was their immediate impression genuinely positive, but also, with the benefit of hindsight and after the first experiences in their professional lives, students judged the core values of the concept positively and believed that they had profited from it substantially. By exposing the process and results of the programme, this paper aims to contribute to the awareness of what higher-education institutions can do to enhance the creative and entrepreneurial potential of their students, and possibly serve as an inspiration too

Transmitochondrial embryonic stem cells containing pathogenic mtDNA mutations are compromised in neuronal differentiation

Objectives:  Defects of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) cause a series of rare, mainly neurological disorders. In addition, they have been implicated in more common forms of movement disorders, dementia and the ageing process. In order to try to model neuronal dysfunction associated with mitochondrial disease, we have attempted to establish a series of transmitochondrial mouse embryonic stem cells harbouring pathogenic mtDNA mutations. Materials and methods: Transmitochondrial embryonic stem cell cybrids were generated by fusion of cytoplasts carrying a variety of mtDNA mutations, into embryonic stem cells that had been pretreated with rhodamine 6G, to prevent transmission of endogenous mtDNA. Cybrids were differentiated into neurons and assessed for efficiency of differentiation and electrophysiological function. Results:  Neuronal differentiation could occur, as indicated by expression of neuronal markers. Differentiation was impaired in embryonic stem cells carrying mtDNA mutations that caused severe biochemical deficiency. Electrophysiological tests showed evidence of synaptic activity in differentiated neurons carrying non-pathogenic mtDNA mutations or in those that caused a mild defect of respiratory activity. Again, however, neurons carrying mtDNA mutations that resulted in severe biochemical deficiency had marked reduction in post-synaptic events. Conclusions:  Differentiated neurons carrying severely pathogenic mtDNA defects can provide a useful model for understanding how such mutations can cause neuronal dysfunction