Home Appreciation Participation Notes: A Solution to Housing Affordability and the Current Mortgage Crisis

This paper introduces Home Appreciation Participation Notes (HAPNs), an innovative new housing finance tool. Housing is a commodity providing two distinct utilities: shelter and investment. Traditionally, buyers have had to purchase both elements in tandom. HAPNs allow buyers to purchase these elements individually. Thus, buyers can focus on purchasing housing units that best fit their shelter needs, investing in housing appreciation to whatever extent is appropriate for the needs of their investment portfolio. HAPNs are different from previous financing tools in three key ways: there is no payment burden until ownership of the home is transferred, the risk of housing price declines is shifted to investors, and the final payoff is indexed to the appreciation rates of local housing prices. With these three features, HAPNs considerably improve the affordability of homeownership while reducing the risk of default and avoiding the moral hazard associated with shared appreciation instruments.

FARMERS' PREFERENCES FOR CROP CONTRACTS

An empirical approach combining elements of principal-agent theory and transaction cost economics is used to determine farmers'Â’ preferences for contract terms in crop production. The approach is tested by asking grain farmers to rank contract choices and specify price premiums in simulated case situations. The statistical results indicate that farmers'Â’ preferences for rates of cost sharing, price premiums, and financing arrangements are significantly influenced by asset specialization and uncertainty associated with the case situations, and by selected business and personal characteristics.Farm Management,

Machinery Investment in Illinois: A Study Examining Existing Investment Motivations

In this study, we attempt to prove some previously held ideas of machinery investment decisions using farm level data from Illinois. Investment decisions are analyzed taking into consideration past investment decisions in the county and on the individual farm. The results show there is a correlation between county level purchases and individual farm purchases and investment levels decrease the following year after an initial investment. These results display how non-traditional drivers for investment also play an important role in the investment decision.machinery, investment, keeping up with the Jones', treadmill theory, Farm Management,

Free-piston Stirling engine conceptual design and technologies for space power, phase 1

As part of the SP-100 program, a phase 1 effort to design a free-piston Stirling engine (FPSE) for a space dynamic power conversion system was completed. SP-100 is a combined DOD/DOE/NASA program to develop nuclear power for space. This work was completed in the initial phases of the SP-100 program prior to the power conversion concept selection for the Ground Engineering System (GES). Stirling engine technology development as a growth option for SP-100 is continuing after this phase 1 effort. Following a review of various engine concepts, a single-cylinder engine with a linear alternator was selected for the remainder of the study. The relationships of specific mass and efficiency versus temperature ratio were determined for a power output of 25 kWe. This parametric study was done for a temperature ratio range of 1.5 to 2.0 and for hot-end temperatures of 875 K and 1075 K. A conceptual design of a 1080 K FPSE with a linear alternator producing 25 kWe output was completed. This was a single-cylinder engine designed for a 62,000 hour life and a temperature ratio of 2.0. The heat transport systems were pumped liquid-metal loops on both the hot and cold ends. These specifications were selected to match the SP-100 power system designs that were being evaluated at that time. The hot end of the engine used both refractory and superalloy materials; the hot-end pressure vessel featured an insulated design that allowed use of the superalloy material. The design was supported by the hardware demonstration of two of the component concepts - the hydrodynamic gas bearing for the displacer and the dynamic balance system. The hydrodynamic gas bearing was demonstrated on a test rig. The dynamic balance system was tested on the 1 kW RE-1000 engine at NASA Lewis

Writing in your own voice: An intervention that reduces plagiarism and common writing problems in students' scientific writing.

In many of our courses, particularly laboratory courses, students are expected to engage in scientific writing. Despite various efforts by other courses and library resources, as instructors we are often faced with the frustration of student plagiarism and related writing problems. Here, we describe a simple Writing in Your Own Voice intervention designed to help students become more aware of different types of plagiarism and writing problems, avoid those problems, and practice writing in their own voice. In this article, we will introduce the types of plagiarism and writing problems commonly encountered in our molecular biology laboratory course, the intervention, and the results of our study. From the evaluation of 365 student reports, we found the intervention resulted in nearly 50% fewer instances of plagiarism and common writing problems. We also observed significantly fewer instances of severe plagiarism (e.g. several sentences copied from an external source). In addition, we find that the effects last for several weeks after the students complete the intervention assignment. This assignment is particularly easy to implement and can be a very useful tool for teaching students how to write in their own voices. © 2019 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 47(5):589-598, 2019

Agreement between methods of measurement with multiple observations per individual

Limits of agreement provide a straightforward and intuitive approach to agreement between different methods for measuring the same quantity. When pairs of observations using the two methods are independent, i.e., on different subjects, the calculations are very simple and straightforward. Some authors collect repeated data, either as repeated pairs of measurements on the same subject, whose true value of the measured quantity may be changing, or more than one measurement by one or both methods of an unchanging underlying quantity. In this paper we describe methods for analysing such clustered observations, both when the underlying quantity is assumed to be changing and when it is not

Falloff of the Weyl scalars in binary black hole spacetimes

The peeling theorem of general relativity predicts that the Weyl curvature scalars Psi_n (n=0...4), when constructed from a suitable null tetrad in an asymptotically flat spacetime, fall off asymptotically as r^(n-5) along outgoing radial null geodesics. This leads to the interpretation of Psi_4 as outgoing gravitational radiation at large distances from the source. We have performed numerical simulations in full general relativity of a binary black hole inspiral and merger, and have computed the Weyl scalars in the standard tetrad used in numerical relativity. In contrast with previous results, we observe that all the Weyl scalars fall off according to the predictions of the theorem.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Labor Earnings, Discrimination, and the Racial Composition of Jobs

This paper examines the effect of the racial composition of labor markets on wage rates and the racial wage gap. The wage rates of white as well as black workers are significantly lower in industry- occupation-regional groups with high densities of black workers, while the racial wage gap does not vary systematically with respect to racial density. Interpretation of racial gap estimates can be sensitive to inclusion of a racial density variable, particularly in sparse specifications. An explanation for the wagedensity relationship cannot be established, but results are most consistent with a quality sorting explanation and, to a lesser extent, the crowding hypothesis

Unions, Wages, and Skills

Studies uniformly conclude that union wage effects are largest for workers with low measured skills. Longitudinal analysis using 1989190- 1994195 Current Population Survey matched panels produces union premium estimates equivalent across skill groups, following appropriate sample restrictions and control for worker-specific skills. Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth on aptitude scores confirms that union workers with high measured skills have relatively low unmeasured skills. Differential selection by skill class and skill homogeneity in union workplaces results from employer and employee sorting in response to wage standardization, union organizing where skills are homogeneous, and unionized employers\u27 reluctance to hire the most as well as least able workers

Underpaid or Overpaid? Wage Analyses For Nurses Using Jobs versus Worker Attributes

Nursing shortages are common despite the fact that nurses earn far higher wages than other college-educated women. Our analysis addresses the puzzle of high nursing wages. Employee data from the Current Population Survey are matched with detailed job descriptors from the Occupational Information Network. Nursing requires high levels of compensable skills and demanding working conditions. Standard log wage regression estimates indicate nursing wage advantages of about 40%. Accounting for job attributes reduces estimates to roughly 20%. Rather than transforming ordinary least squares log gaps to percentages, alternative methods measuring Mincerian gaps produce estimates of 15% or less. We conclude that nurses receive compensation that is much closer to opportunity costs than that seen in standard analyses, narrowing the shortage puzzle. Supply constraints in nurse licensing can produce wages above long-run opportunity costs but that are too low to clear short-run labor markets during periods of growing demand. The analysis provides broader implications for the conduct of wage analyses