Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program

Approximately $30 billion (2000$) has been spent on Superfund clean-ups of hazardous waste sites, and remediation efforts are incomplete at roughly half of the 1,500 Superfund sites. This study estimates the effect of Superfund clean-ups on local housing price appreciation. We compare housing price growth in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites to be cleaned up through the Superfund program to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these clean-ups. We cannot reject that the clean-ups had no effect on local housing price growth, nearly two decades after these sites became eligible for them. This finding is robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the benefits of Superfund clean-ups as measured through the housing market are substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund clean-ups.

Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program

Approximately $30 billion (2000$) has been spent on Superfund clean-ups of hazardous waste sites, and remediation efforts are incomplete at roughly half of the 1,500 Superfund sites. This study estimates the effect of Superfund clean-ups on local housing price appreciation. We compare housing price growth in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites to be cleaned up through the Superfund program to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these clean-ups. We cannot reject that the clean-ups had no effect on local housing price growth, nearly two decades after these sites became eligible for them. This finding is robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the benefits of Superfund clean-ups as measured through the housing market are substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund clean-ups.Valuation of environmental goods, Hazardous waste sites, Environmental regulation, Regression discontinuity, Superfound, Externalities

Does Hazardous Waste Matter? Evidence from the Housing Market and the Superfund Program

This paper uses the housing market to develop estimates of the local welfare impacts of Superfund sponsored clean-ups of hazardous waste sites.We show that if consumers value the clean-ups, then the hedonic model predicts that they will lead to increases in local housing prices and new home construction, as well as the migration of individuals that place a high value on environmental quality to the areas near the improved sites. We compare housing market outcomes in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites chosen for Superfund clean-ups to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these clean-ups.We find that Superfund clean-ups are associated with economically small and statistically indistinguishable from zero local changes in residential property values, property rental rates, housing supply, total population, and the types of individuals living near the sitesThese findings are robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the local benefits of Superfund clean-ups are small and appear to be substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund clean-ups.

Insurance and government assistance means that homeowners often have less debt following a flood disaster

Hurricanes like Harvey and Katrina can have a devastating cost for those affected. But how much of this cost is financial? In new research which examines the impact of Hurricane Katrina, Justin Gallagher finds that the total debts of those worst affected by flooding fell compared to those who were not flooded, largely due to a reduction in mortgage debt. ..

Homeowners forget about past floods when assessing flood risk and are then repeatedly caught unprepared by the next flood

How do homeowners learn about environmental risks such as flooding? Social scientists have long observed the phenomenon that individuals appear to be surprised and unprepared for uncertain, but predictable natural disasters. New research by Justin Gallagher finds that homeowners use the incidence of a new flood to update their belief about the risks of a future flood, but do so in a way that doesn’t include all of the available past flood information. As a result, homeowners tend to forget (or “unlearn”) lessons from the past and are repeatedly caught off guard by the next flood

Robot Space Coordinate Representation of Objects in Euclidean Space

Robot motion control strategies generally center around trajectory planning schemes which are point-to-point. This paper explores the problem of planning robot trajectories which sweep an area in a two-link robot\u27s work space. A diffeomorphism which transforms the linear coordinates of Euclidean space to the non-linear angular coordinates which represent the displacements of the joint motors is developed. It is used to determine the distortion of an object\u27s area at different locations in the robot\u27s work space and for different robot link length geometries. Study of such distortions may lead to an optimization scheme by which the placement of the object in the work space and/or choice of a robot link length ratio will lead to enhanced performance of the robot

Characterization of a Single Photon Sensing and Photon Number Resolving CMOS Detector for Astrophysics

Next-generation NASA missions, such as the LUVIOR and HabEx concepts, require single photon counting large-format detectors. Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) have typically been used for optical applications in similar flagship missions of the past. CCDs have excellent properties in most metrics but have their own challenges for single photon counting applications. First, typical CCDs have a read noise of a few electrons, although recent modifications (EMCCDs) use an on-chip gain to amplify the signal above the read noise. Secondly, the signal is carried by charge that is transferred across the detector array. While CCDs for NASA missions are carefully fabricated to minimize defects, continuous bombardment from high energy radiation in space will damage the detector over the lifetime of the mission. This will degrade the charge transfer efficiency and in turn, reduce the single photon counting ability of the CCD. CMOS devices offer a different architecture that mitigates some of these problems. In CMOS image sensors, each pixel has its own charge to voltage converter and in-pixel amplifier mitigating issues found with charge transfer efficiency. Additional circuits that are critical to operation of the sensor can be incorporated on chip allowing for a parallel readout architecture that increases frame rate and can decrease read noise. This thesis is a collection of work for the characterization of a room temperature characterization, low-noise, single photon counting and photon number resolving CMOS detector. The work performed in this thesis will provide the framework for a technology development project funded by NASA Cosmic Origins (COR) program office. At the end of the two-year project, a megapixel CMOS focal plane array will be demonstrated to satisfy the stated needs of the LUVOIR and HabEx future astrophysics space mission concepts with a launch date near the 2040s

Does hazardous water matter? : evidence from the housing market and the Superfund program

This paper uses the housing market to develop estimates of the local welfare impacts of Superfund sponsored clean-ups of hazardous waste sites. We show that if consumers value the clean-ups, then the hedonic model predicts that they will lead to increases in local housing prices and new home construction, as well as the migration of individuals that place a high value on environmental quality to the areas near the improved sites. We compare housing market outcomes in the areas surrounding the first 400 hazardous waste sites chosen for Superfund clean-ups to the areas surrounding the 290 sites that narrowly missed qualifying for these clean-ups. We find that Superfund clean-ups are associated with economically small and statistically indistinguishable from zero local changes in residential property values, property rental rates, housing supply, total population, and the types of individuals living near the sites. These findings are robust to a series of specification checks, including the application of a quasi-experimental regression discontinuity design based on knowledge of the selection rule. Overall, the preferred estimates suggest that the local benefits of Superfund clean-ups are small and appear to be substantially lower than the $43 million mean cost of Superfund clean-ups

NeuroTracker Cognitive Function and its Relationship to GPA in College Students

Abstract Introduction: The NeuroTracker system is a training tool used to enhance one’s cognitive abilities. It has been previously tested to improve athletic performance and core cognitive abilities in a variety of populations, but it has yet to be used as a cognitive test to examine its ability to distinguish academic ability in college students. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between a student’s grade point average (GPA), major, minutes exercised, and visual tracking speed utilizing the NeuroTracker System. Methods: Forty-five students volunteered for the study (20 male and 25 female, 20.2±1.09years, ht=170.44±9.48cm, wt=70.98±15.66kg) and were tested with the NeuroTracker system to obtain a baseline visual tracking speed. Each participant performed 1 session of 20, 8-second trials where they had to track 4 of 8 balls in a 3-dimensional queue. If they succeeded, the speed would increase, and if they failed, the speed would decrease. Their final score was calculated by averaging variable trial successes and failures dependent on performance throughout the session. Results: There was no correlation found between tracking speed and GPA, major, and minutes exercised. Moderate correlations were found between age and tracking speed (r=0.378; p=0.011), sex and tracking speed (r=-0.448; p=0.002). Discussion: The results suggests that there was no correlation between GPA, college major, minutes exercised, and cognitive tracking speed, but older students did better and men had faster tracking scores. Additional testing is warranted to determine if cognitive tracking speed is related to athletic ability and academic success

A N A S Y L U M : design specificity for the spectrum of cognitive conditions

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 81).This thesis seeks to re-engage the intimate connection between architecture and the minds of its inhabitants through design that addresses specific cognitive needs. Architecture fundamentally shares a connection with the mind. Through its inhabitants' subjective experience, architecture necessarily interfaces with their cognitive conditions, but to varying extents. This connection was demonstrated most intimately in the architecture and history of the asylum. It was then, when perception was conceived as universal conditions that the built environment participated in the cure of the insane. The result of this attitude was colossal, centralized institutions where those considered insane would be treated. The architectural response to the patients reflected the generalized understanding of the mind at the time--homogenous. Today, the role of architecture has been marginalized as the conception of the mind is strictly chemical and neither environmental nor spatial. As a result, these once colossal institutions are now extinct. Treatment of mental illness is now primarily behavioral therapy and psychoactive drugs, which grow more and more pervasive. Currently, 1 in 4 people have a diagnosable illness. This figure has been used to support the claim for a Mental Illness Crisis in America. And while there maybe be an increase in mental instability, the statistic is more likely a consequence of a new, developing understanding of the mind. That is, through this pursuit to decode our very being into chemical formulas, modern science has revealed a diverse spectrum of cognitive or experiential conditions. The new normal is: there is no normal. The urban condition has already begun to respond to this with the growing network of hospitals, pharmacies, and therapists attending to the mentally ill. However, this thesis projects that soon the mind will be so demystified, that all people will register on a spectrum of cognitive conditions. As a result, architecture will need to respond to not only specific physical requirements such as environment, human body, site, program etc. but to the specific cognitive or experiential needs of the inhabitants. These needs will not longer be recognized as illnesses, but rather as "mindstyles" of the individual. Through the design of three domestic spaces for specific mindstyles--SAD, OCD, and APD--this thesis posits the ability for architecture to behave with the localization and specialization of a pill.by Justin Gallagher.S.B