Residential Properties Taken Under Eminent Domain: Do Government Appraisers Track Market Values?

Local governments often use powers of eminent domain to take residential properties for public use. In such cases the local government will use their appraisers (in-house or independent) to calculate an offer on the property. If the goal of the government is to avoid costly (use of administrative resources) litigation it may have an incentive to over-appraise the residential properties. Such over-valuation would transfer the cost to taxpayers. We compare the appraised value of sixty properties taken through eminent domain in Clark County, Nevada to comparable properties sold in free market transactions. We find evidence of over-appraisal of the properties taken by eminent domain. By valuing individual property characteristics differently from the market, the government over-appraised properties by approximately seventeen percent. We also provide evidence that the government may use simple rules for appraising the properties, whereas the market employs more complex rules.

Mass spectra correlations and the appearance potentials of the major tobacco alkaloids

The main objectives of this investigation were three­ fold: (1) to design and fabricate a heated inlet system for the mass spectrometer; (2) to obtain the mass spectra of the major tobacco alkaloids under normal operating conditions; and ( 3) to determine the ionization potentials of the alkaloids as well as the appearance potentials of some of the major fragment ions derived from the alkaloids. The mass spectrometer is designed to analyze only materials in the vapor state . Since some materials do not exert sufficient vapor pressure at room temperature under reduced pressure to be analyzed directly, it is necessary to heat these materials before the analysis is possible. The tobacco alkaloids are among the many organic compounds which cannot be analyzed maaa spectrometrically at room temperature and at a pressure of l X 10 -6 mm. of Hg. or higher. Since this is the case, a suitable heated inlet must be improvised in order to vaporize the alkaloids. From the mass spectrum of the alkaloid, it is then possible to arrive at a positive identification of the material if it is present in a sample of unknown composition. The ionization potential of a molecule is simply an additional physical constant similar to a boiling point, melting point, etc. Generally speaking, it cannot be used as a direct method of identification, but it can serve as an additional parameter for substantiating the proposed structure of a compound. The appearance potential of a fragment ion may lend itself useful in determining such entities as bond energy and heat of formation

Pricing and eminent domain takings: A case study of residential property in Las Vegas, Nevada

This case study tests whether compensation for eminent domain takings equals estimated market prices for residential property located near McCarran Airport in Clark County Nevada. The hedonic model provides evidence that takings compensation was often less than estimated market price, a discount was paid to owners of smaller homes, and a premium was paid to owners of larger homes. Although data constraints, estimation issues and lack of previous studies hamper broad conclusions, the robust data set, consistency of model specification results, and the explanatory power of economic thought is evident in these results. The results are somewhat surprising in that McCarran International Airport is very much an integral aspect of Las Vegas. It is recommended that hedonic analysis be considered as a component of estimating fair market value. Further research will hopefully expand this preliminary effort and eventually improve understanding and executing the responsibilities of eminent domain

Mesoscale monitoring of the soil freeze/thaw boundary from orbital microwave radiometry

The fundamental objectives are to test the feasibility of delineating the lateral boundary between frozen and thawed condition in the surface layer of soil from orbital microwave radiometry and secondly to examine the sensitivity of general circulation models to an explicit parameterization of the boundary condition. Physical models were developed to relate emissivity to scene properties and a simulation package was developed to predict brightness temperature as a function of emissivity and physical temperature in order to address issues of heterogeneity, scaling, and scene dynamics. Radiative transfer models were develped for both bare soil surfaces and those obscured by an intervening layer of vegetation or snow. These models relate the emissivity to the physical properties of the soil and to those of the snow or vegetation cover. A SMMR simulation package was developed to evaluate the adequacy of the emission models and the limiting effects of scaling for realistic scenarios incorporating spatially heterogeneous scenes with dynamic moisture and temperature gradients at the pixel scale

Ultralow Power Energy Harvesting Body Area Network Design: A Case Study

Citation: Zheng, C. Y., Kuhn, W. B., & Natarajan, B. (2015). Ultralow Power Energy Harvesting Body Area Network Design: A Case Study. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks, 11. doi:10.1155/2015/824705This paper presents an energy harvesting wireless sensor network (EHWSN) architecture designed for use within an astronaut's space suit. The contribution of this work spans both physical (PHY) layer energy harvesting transceiver design and low power medium access control (MAC) solutions. The architecture consists of a star topology with two types of transceiver nodes: a powered gateway radio (GR) node and multiple energy harvesting biosensor radio (BSR) nodes. To demonstrate the feasibility of an EHWSN at the PHY layer, a representative BSR node is implemented. The BSR node is powered by a thermal energy harvesting system (TEHS) which exploits the difference between the temperatures of a space suit's cooling garment and the astronaut's body. It is shown that, through appropriate control of the duty cycle in transmission and receiving modes, it is possible to operate with less than 1 mW generated by the TEHS. This requires ultralow duty cycle which complicates MAC layer design because a BSR node must sleep for more than 99.6% of overall operation time. The challenge for MAC layer design is the inability to predict when the BSR node awakens from sleep mode due to unpredictability of the harvested energy. Therefore, a new feasible MAC layer design, GRI-(gateway radio initialized-) MAC, is proposed and analyzed

The significance of detailed structure in the boundary layer to thermal radiation at the surface in climate models

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95310/1/grl7683.pd

Searching for the Kuhnian moment : the Black-Scholes-Merton formula and the evolution of modern finance theory

The Black-Scholes-Merton formula has been put to widespread use by options traders because it provides a means of calculating the theoretically 'correct' price of stock options. Traders can therefore see whether the market price of stock options undervalues or overvalues them compared with their hypothetical Black-Scholes-Merton price, before choosing to buy or sell options accordingly. As a consequence of this close relationship between options pricing theory and options pricing practice, a strong performativity loop was activated, whereby market prices quickly converged on the hypothetical Black-Scholes-Merton prices following the dissemination of the formula. The theory has therefore had significant real-world effects, but how should we characterize the initial instinct to derive the theory from a philosophy of science perspective? The two books under review suggest that a Kuhnian reading of the advancement of scientific knowledge might well be the most appropriate. But, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the publication of the Black-Scholes-Merton formula should not be seen as a Kuhnian moment with paradigm-shaping attributes. It is shown that, at most, the formula acts as an important exemplar which, via its use in the training of options pricing theorists and options pricing practitioners, reinforces the entrenchment of finance theory within the orthodox economics worldview

Pathways of Understanding: the Interactions of Humanity and Global Environmental Change

How humans, interacting within social systems, affect and are affected by global change is explored. Recognizing the impact human activities have on the environment and responding to the need to document the interactions among human activities, the Consortium for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) commissioned a group of 12 scientists to develop a framework illustrating the key human systems that contribute to global change. This framework, called the Social Process Diagram, will help natural and social scientists, educators, resource managers and policy makers envision and analyze how human systems interact among themselves and with the natural system. The Social Process Diagram consists of the following blocks that constitute the Diagram's structural framework: (1) fund of knowledge and experience; (2) preferences and expectations; (3) factors of production and technology; (4) population and social structure; (5) economic systems; (6) political systems and institutions; and (7) global scale environmental processes. To demonstrate potential ways the Diagram can be used, this document includes 3 hypothetical scenarios of global change issues: global warming and sea level rise; the environmental impact of human population migration; and energy and the environment. These scenarios demonstrate the Diagram's usefulness for visualizing specific processes that might be studied to evaluate a particular global change issues. The scenario also shows that interesting and unanticipated questions may emerge as links are explored between categories on the Diagram

Three Dimensional Polarimetric Neutron Tomography of Magnetic Fields

Through the use of Time-of-Flight Three Dimensional Polarimetric Neutron Tomography (ToF 3DPNT) we have for the first time successfully demonstrated a technique capable of measuring and reconstructing three dimensional magnetic field strengths and directions unobtrusively and non-destructively with the potential to probe the interior of bulk samples which is not amenable otherwise. Using a pioneering polarimetric set-up for ToF neutron instrumentation in combination with a newly developed tailored reconstruction algorithm, the magnetic field generated by a current carrying solenoid has been measured and reconstructed, thereby providing the proof-of-principle of a technique able to reveal hitherto unobtainable information on the magnetic fields in the bulk of materials and devices, due to a high degree of penetration into many materials, including metals, and the sensitivity of neutron polarisation to magnetic fields. The technique puts the potential of the ToF time structure of pulsed neutron sources to full use in order to optimise the recorded information quality and reduce measurement time.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Probabilistic and Entropy Production Modeling of Chemical Reaction Systems: Characteristics and Comparisons to Mass Action Kinetic Models

We demonstrate and characterize a first-principles approach to modeling the mass action dynamics of metabolism. Starting from a basic definition of entropy expressed as a multinomial probability density using Boltzmann probabilities with standard chemical potentials, we derive and compare the free energy dissipation and the entropy production rates. We express the relation between the entropy production and the chemical master equation for modeling metabolism, which unifies chemical kinetics and chemical thermodynamics. Subsequent implementation of an maximum free energy dissipation model for systems of coupled reactions is accomplished by using an approximation to the Marcelin equation for mass action kinetics that maximizes the entropy production. Because prediction uncertainty with respect to parameter variability is frequently a concern with mass action models utilizing rate constants, we compare and contrast the maximum entropy production model, which has its own set of rate parameters, to a population of standard mass action models in which the rate constants are randomly chosen. We show that a maximum entropy production model is characterized by a high probability of free energy dissipation rate, and likewise entropy production rate, relative to other models. We then characterize the variability of the maximum entropy production predictions with respect to uncertainties in parameters (standard free energies of formation) and with respect to ionic strengths typically found in a cell