Metropolitan Growth Policies and New Housing Supply: Evidence from Australia\u27s Capital Cities

This paper empirically examines the relationship between house price change, metropolitan growth policies, and new housing supply in Australia\u27s five major capital cities. Our hypothesis suggests capital cities with tighter regulations on new development will have fewer housing starts and price elasticities than those in less- regulated markets. The empirical procedure used in this paper utilises the Urban Growth Model of Housing Supply developed in Mayer and Somerville (2000a and 2000b) and employed in Zabel and Patterson (2006) by using quarterly data on housing approvals and house prices from 1996-2010. Data on metropolitan growth policies in Australia is borrowed from Hamnett and Kellett (2007). Preliminary findings indicate that new housing supply in Australian capital cities is elastic to housing price changes, as a one per cent increase in prices leads to an approximately 4-6 per cent increase in housing approvals over five quarters. While this indicates a properly functioning housing market, the estimated elasticity is about a third of other developed countries, such as the United States. Furthermore, the use of established growth policies, such as urban growth boundaries and urban consolidation, appears to have a greater impact on new housing approvals than adoption of new-style growth policies, such as development corporations and infrastructure levies. However, both types of policies decrease new housing supply

Benefit-Cost Analysis for Transportation Planning and Public Policy: Towards Multimodal Demand Modeling

This report examines existing methods of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in two areas, transportation policy and transportation planning, and suggests ways of modifying these methods to account for travel within a multimodal system. Although the planning and policy contexts differ substantially, this report shows how important multimodal impacts can be incorporated into both by using basic econometric techniques and even simpler rule-of-thumb methods. Case studies in transportation planning focus on the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), but benchmark California’s competencies by exploring methods used by other states and local governments. The report concludes with a list and discussion of recommendations for improving transportation planning models and methods. These will have immediate use to decision makers at Caltrans and other state DOTs as they consider directions for developing new planning capabilities. This project also identifies areas, and lays groundwork, for future research. Finally, by fitting the planning models into the broader context of transportation policy, this report will serve as a resource for students and others who wish to better understand BCA and its use in practice

Does State Growth Management Change the Pattern of Urban Growth? Evidence From Florida.

This paper evaluates growth management in Florida by using a land use based regional adjustment model to project adjustments toward equilibrium densities of population and employment at the county level. The analysis utilizes a unique data set that contains detailed information on initial outcomes of the 1992 plan review in the State of Florida. These plan review outcomes are interacted with adjustment variables to test the hypothesis that Growth Management-specific policies have affected equilibrium adjustments in the following time period. The analysis is motivated by three specific research questions: Has Florida’s (1985) Growth Management Act increased changes in density during any of the three year time periods? Does plan compliance affect the growth trajectories of approved counties? And, finally, does the inclusion of optional plan elements further affect these growth trajectories? The findings suggest that compliance with state growth management mandates in Florida may push the adjustment process toward higher population densities in the1992-1997 time period. Additionally, the inclusion of an optional educational plan element may also push adjustments toward higher density. The results indicate that growth management efforts to address the technical planning process, as well as human capital needs, can increase the desirability, and thus the density, of sprawling counties in the Atlantic Southeast. Finally, because population and employment growth are jointly determined in the Atlantic Southeast, the long-term sustainability of economic development in Florida may depend on policies that preserve its desirability as a place to live. This paper elaborates upon work by Carruthers, McLaughlin, and Boarnet (2006) that shows Florida’s growth trajectory during the early 1990’s was significantly different than the Atlantic Southeast region.

A Model for the Internal Structure of Molecular Cloud Cores

We generalize the classic Bonnor-Ebert stability analysis of pressure-truncated, self-gravitating gas spheres, to include clouds with arbitrary equations of state. A virial-theorem analysis is also used to incorporate mean magnetic fields into such structures. The results are applied to giant molecular clouds (GMCs), and to individual dense cores, with an eye to accounting for recent observations of the internal velocity-dispersion profiles of the cores in particular. We argue that GMCs and massive cores are at or near their critical mass, and that in such a case the size-linewidth and mass-radius relations between them are only weakly dependent on their internal structures; any gas equation of state leads to essentially the same relations. We briefly consider the possibility that molecular clouds can be described by polytropic pressure-density relations (of either positive or negative index), but show that these are inconsistent with the apparent gravitational virial equilibrium, 2U + W = 0 of GMCs and of massive cores. This class of models would include clouds whose nonthermal support comes entirely from Alfven wave pressure. The simplest model consistent with all the salient features of GMCs and cores is a ``pure logotrope,'' in which P/P_c = 1 + A ln(rho/rho_c). Detailed comparisons with data are made to estimate the value of A, and an excellent fit to the observed dependence of velocity dispersion on radius in cores is obtained with A = 0.2.Comment: 33 pages, LaTeX with 3 PS figures; ApJ in press (October 1 1996

Birds of Sarcpa Lake, Melville Peninsula, Northwest Territories: Breeding Phenologies, Densities and Biogeography

Forty species of birds were observed during field studies at Sarcpa Lake, Melville Peninsula, N.W.T. during the summers of 1981 and 1982. Evidence of breeding was found for 22 species and the first definite breeding records for the Melville Peninsula were obtained for Glaucous Gull, Pectoral Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper and Semipalmated Sandpiper. A hybrid pair of gulls (Glaucous x Herring Gull) also nested and this appears to be the first definite North American record of such a hybrid nesting. Fourteen additional breeding species expected to be present, based on maps in Godfrey (1966), were not found. Average breeding bird density (35 pr/sq km) was comparable to that on Bylot Island, but considerably higher than that measured at other High Arctic sites. Neither average breeding bird densities nor phenologies changed appreciably from year to year despite a late spring melt in 1982. In both years birds began their breeding activities as soon as suitable nesting and feeding habitat became available. A biogeographic analysis based on the occurrence of breeding birds at 25 other sites across the Canadian Arctic indicates that the avifauna at Sarcpa Lake is more similar to those of High Arctic island sites than to those of mainland sites, but includes none of the species whose ranges are mainly within the Arctic Archipelago.Key words: arctic biogeography, birds, phenology, nesting density, Melville Peninsula, multivariate analysisMots clés: biogéographie arctique, oiseaux, phénologie, densité des nids, presqu'île Mclville, analyse à plusieurs variante

Abortion provision in Northern Ireland: the views of health professionals working in obstetrics and gynaecology units

Introduction: Abortion became decriminalised in Northern Ireland in October 2019. Until that point there existed no evidence concerning the views of health professionals on decriminalisation or on their willingness to be involved in abortion care. The purpose of this study was to address this lack of evidence, including all categories of health professionals working in obstetrics and gynaecology units in Northern Ireland. Methods: The online survey was targeted at medical, nursing and midwifery staff working in the obstetrics and gynaecology units in each Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust in Northern Ireland. The survey was issued via clinical directors in each Trust using the REDCap platform. Results: The findings showed widespread support for decriminalisation of abortion up until 24 weeks’ gestation (n=169, 54%). The majority of clinicians stated they were willing to provide abortions in certain circumstances (which were undefined) (n=188, 60% medical abortions; n=157, 50% surgical abortions). Despite regional variation, the results show that there are sufficient numbers of clinicians to provide a service within each HSC Trust. The results indicate that many clinicians who report a religious affiliation are also supportive of decriminalisation (n=46, 51% Catholic; n=53, 45% Protestant) and are willing to provide care, countering the assumption that those of faith would all raise conscientious objections to service provision. Conclusions: The findings of this study are very encouraging for the development, implementation and delivery of local abortion care within HSC Trusts in Northern Ireland and should be of value in informing commissioners and providers about the design of a service model and its underpinning training programmes

Supersonic turbulence, filamentary accretion,and the rapid assembly of massive stars and disks

We present a detailed computational study of the assembly of protostellar disks and massive stars in molecular clouds with supersonic turbulence. We follow the evolution of large scale filamentary structures in a cluster-forming clump down to protostellar length scales by means of very highly resolved, 3D adaptive mesh refined (AMR) simulations, and show how accretion disks and massive stars form in such environments. We find that an initially elongated cloud core which has a slight spin from oblique shocks collapses first to a filament and later develops a turbulent disk close to the center of the filament. The continued large scale flow that shocks with the filament maintains the high density and pressure within it. Material within the cooling filament undergoes gravitational collapse and an outside-in assembly of a massive protostar. Our simulations show that very high mass accretion rates of up to 10^-2 Msol/yr and high, supersonic, infall velocities result from such filamentary accretion. Accretion at these rates is higher by an order of magnitude than those found in semi-analytic studies, and can quench the radiation field of a growing massive young star.Our simulations include a comprehensive set of the important chemical and radiative processes such as cooling by molecular line emission, gas-dust interaction, and radiative diffusion in the optical thick regime, as well as H2 formation and dissociation. Therefore, we are able to probe, for the first time, the relevant physical phenomena on all scales from those characterizing the clump down to protostellar core.Comment: 35 pages, 17 figures, mnras style, accepted by MNRAS, a high resolution version can be found at http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~banerjee/TurbulentSF.pdf or http://www.physics.mcmaster.ca/~banerjee/TurbulentSF.pd

Gravitational Collapse and Star Formation in Logotropic and Non-Isothermal Spheres

We present semi-analytical similarity solutions for the inside-out, expansion-wave collapse of initially virialized gas clouds with non-isothermal equations of state. Results are given for the family of negative-index polytropes, but we focus especially on the so-called logotrope, P/P_c=1+A ln(rho/rho_c). The formalism and interpretation of the present theory are extensions of those in Shu's (1977) standard model for accretion in self-gravitating isothermal spheres: a collapse front moves outwards into a cloud at rest, and the gas behind it falls back to a collapsed core, or protostar. The infalling material eventually enters free-fall, so that, at small radii, the density profiles and velocity fields have the same power-law forms in logotropic and isothermal spheres both. However, the accretion rate onto a protostar is not constant in a logotrope, but grows in proportion to t^3 during the expansion wave. Thus, low-mass stars are accreted over longer times, and high-mass stars over shorter times, than expected in isothermal clouds. This result has implications for the form and origin of the stellar IMF. We also find that infall velocities grow more slowly with time in a collapsing logotrope. These results lead to older inferred collapse ages for Class 0 protostars in general, and for the Bok globule B335 in particular.Comment: 39 pages, LaTeX with 5 ps figures, uses aaspp4.sty. ApJ, in pres

Relationship Between Time From Diagnosis and Morbidity/Mortality in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Results From the Phase III GRIPHON Study

BACKGROUND: Early initiation of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) therapies is associated with improved long-term outcomes, yet data on the early use of prostacyclin pathway agents are limited. In these post hoc analyses of the Prostacyclin (PGI(2)) Receptor Agonist In Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (GRIPHON) study, the largest randomized controlled trial for PAH to date, the prognostic value of time from diagnosis and its impact on treatment response were examined. RESEARCH QUESTION: How does time from diagnosis impact morbidity/mortality events and response to selexipag treatment in patients with PAH? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: The GRIPHON study randomly assigned 1,156 patients with PAH to selexipag or placebo treatment. Patients were categorized post hoc into a time from diagnosis of ≤ 6 months and > 6 months at randomization. Hazard ratios (selexipag vs placebo) were calculated for the primary end point of morbidity/mortality by time from diagnosis using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Time from diagnosis was ≤ 6 months in 34.9% and > 6 months in 65.1% of patients. Time from diagnosis was prognostic of morbidity/mortality, with newly diagnosed patients having a poorer long-term outcome than patients diagnosed for longer. Compared with placebo, selexipag reduced the risk of morbidity/mortality in patients with a time from diagnosis of ≤ 6 months and > 6 months, with a more pronounced effect in newly diagnosed patients (hazard ratio, 0.45 [95% CI, 0.33-0.63] and 0.74 [95% CI, 0.57-0.96], respectively; P = .0219 for interaction). INTERPRETATION: In the GRIPHON study, newly diagnosed PAH patients had a worse prognosis than patients with a longer time from diagnosis. The benefit of selexipag treatment on disease progression was more pronounced in patients treated earlier than in patients treated later. TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01106014; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov

Growth of CZT using additionally zone-refined raw materials

N/