Housing and the Household Wealth Portfolio: The Role of Location

There is little doubt that cities can provide many benefits, such as greater employment and business opportunities, which tend to result in higher income and wealth for urban households. In addition, there may be a number of non-pecuniary benefits, including greater access to education, infrastructure and services. But these benefits are accompanied by an urban premium on house prices, thus possibly affecting the composition of the asset portfolios of households living in different locations. Using a recent cross-section of wealth data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey we test whether urbanisation, when controlling for other factors, has a significant effect on the share of assets that households hold in housing. For owner-occupiers, the effect is found to be significant and positive, suggesting that housing is more expensive in larger cities even once we allow for the higher incomes and asset holdings of these households. In fact, the effect is quite large with a 100 person per square kilometre increase in urbanisation increasing the share of assets held in the home by 0.4 percentage points, on average. Further, we find that this effect is not linear but declines at higher levels of urbanisation. Hence, for example, for an average owner-occupier household moving from Cairns to Brisbane city – an increase in urbanisation of around 2 000 persons per square kilometre – the increase in their housing share of total assets is estimated to be 5.6 percentage points.HILDA; owner-occupiers; household survey; households; wealth shares

The Fabric of Genius: Examining the Material Choices of Creative Writing Graduate Students

In recent years, the material culture of writing has been an important topic of study for composition scholars. Though many studies examine the material choices of many types of writers, including creative writers, researchers have yet to examine whether or not individuals use different implements to perform different writerly identities. This case study, examining three graduate students in Utah State University’s department of English, asks which writing implements individuals choose to complete creative writing tasks, and whether those differ from implements chosen to complete critical or academic writing tasks

ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF MACROALGAL COMPETITION AND PARROTFISH GRAZING ON CORAL COVER IN THE MIDDLE FLORIDA KEYS

The coral reefs of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) are diverse ecosystems that support thousands of marine organisms. Unfortunately, the live coral cover on these reefs has dramatically decreased over the last 30 years even in the most protected areas of the sanctuary. Environmental changes have contributed to this decline in coral cover by creating optimal conditions for macroalgal growth. These macroalgae species are fast growing and out-compete slow growing corals for space and nutrients. Herbivores known to forage on macroalgae, including long-spined sea urchins and parrotfishes, have decreased in abundance. A synthesis of data from across the Caribbean has suggested that this decline in coral is due to a top-down cascade where a decrease in herbivores has led to increase in macroalgae which out-competes corals. For my thesis research, I tested this Herbivore Cascade model by conducting surveys across 34 reef sites in the FKNMS and by an herbivore-exclusion coral transplant experiment. At each reef, macroalgae and coral cover was estimated by analysis of photo quadrants and parrotfish density estimated by a diver survey. Reefs were then classified into four reef types based on their depth, structural complexity and substrate composition. Analysis of all reefs together did not find negative correlations of macroalgae vs. corals nor parrotfish vs. macroalgae. However, these relationships varied within each of the four reef types. For example, within Hawk’s channel patch reefs, I found strong evidence of macroalgae - coral competition, where percent coral cover was significantly lower on reefs where macroalgae cover was high. I also found a significant positive relationship between macroalgal cover and total parrotfish biomass on offshore shelf reefs. These patterns were also corroborated by the results of my herbivore-exclusion coral transplant experiment. Eighty-four corals of two different species were transplanted to seven different reefs and placed within either open or closed topped cages with and without macroalgae addition. Pictures of each transplanted coral were taken immediately after transplanting and then quarterly for one year. Net coral growth for both species was essentially zero and not influenced by macroalgal abundance, parrotfish herbivory, or reef type. The results of these two studies do not support the predictions of the Herbivory Cascade Model and suggest that coral survival may be influenced by different factors on different reef types depending on their community structure. By identifying the factors that limit coral growth at each reef type, I can make better conservation decisions about strategies for transplanting corals or the benefits of increased protection for herbivorous fishes

The ATM Reforms - New Evidence from Survey and Market Data

Following the introduction of direct charging in March 2009, ATM pricing has become more transparent and flexible. Cardholders continue to respond to the clearer price signals by changing their cash withdrawal behaviour to avoid paying direct charges, and newly available data indicate that behaviour varies across age groups and geographic locations. For the small proportion of transactions that do incur a direct charge, flexibility in ATM pricing has led to a distinct pattern in these charges across different types of ATM locations. Variations in business models between ATM owners mean that most consumers have access to a large number of ATMs on which they pay no direct charge, while it remains possible for ATMs to be profitably deployed in high-cost or low-volume locations.ATMs; ATM reforms; ATM fees; foreign fees; foreign ATMs; direct charging; ATM surcharging; interchange fees; ATM Access Regime; ATM Deployment; payments reform; consumer use study; payment patterns; consumer behaviour

Refugee Composers of the Twentieth Century: The Impact of Displacement on Musical Identity During World War II

Kurt Weill, Bela Bartok, and Arnold Schoenberg are all influential composers of the twentieth century who immigrated to the United States to escape persecution during World War II. Their refugee experience, however, is not often taken into account when studying their musical works. This project examines how their immigration affected their compositional output, and how the pressures of the time shaped them as composers. This project aims to bring light to an underappreciated factor of these composers\u27 lives and inform the way we support refugee musicians in the future

Declining Output Volatility: What Role for Structural Change?

The decline in output volatility in a number of countries over the past few decades has been well-documented, though less agreement has been reached about the causes of this decline. In this paper, we use a panel of data from 20 OECD countries to see if there is a role for various indicators of structural reform in explaining the general decline in output volatility. We suggest that reforms in product and labour markets can reduce volatility of aggregate output by encouraging productive resources to shift more readily in response to differential shocks across firms and sectors. In contrast to other studies, we include direct measures of product market regulations and monetary policy regimes as indicators of structural reform. We find that less product market regulation and stricter monetary policy regimes have played a role in reducing output volatility. Our estimates are reasonably robust to a number of alternative specifications, including those that attempt to control for a possible trend in common (unexplained) innovations to output volatility such as a possible decline in the magnitude of global shocks.business cycles; volatility; panel regression; structural reform; monetary policy; OECD

The Moth Effect

This thesis is the start of what I envision to be a full-length memoir. I address multiple themes, specifically family and generational trauma and mental illness. I explore these themes non-linearly, through personal narrative, scientific research, and scene recreations. I begin with an introduction and then move into an essay that explores my experience meeting my estranged sister from the first time. Throughout the essay, I move in and out of this meeting, weaving the encounter together with my own struggles with mental health, research about the Peppered moth species, and scene recreations from the lives of other women in my family. Through each of these subjects, the deeper theme of generational trauma is explored

Pictures of Words: The Importance of Visual Strategies in Tutoring Writing

An estimated 65% of people are visual learners. Additionally, research suggests that most people are more likely to remember learned concepts when those concepts are attached to visual aids. Unfortunately, Writing Center tutors often forget the importance of using visual strategies when tutoring writing concepts. The implementation of quick and simple visual strategies in tutoring sessions will help students retain information and help them become independent writers for life

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Healthcare professionals have a moral obligation to provide pro bono services in order to meet the health needs of their community. However, there are several obstacles and factors that make implementing pro bono practices very difficult. The purpose of this essay was to discuss both the pros and cons of providing pro bono health care services as a means of bridging the gap of health disparities in society

The relationship between residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place in a Western Australian urban planned community

Residential satisfaction is important as it contributes to a person‟s psychological wellbeing and quality of life. Residential satisfaction develops due to physical factors such as the provision of parks and amenities within a community, social factors such as a feeling of belongingness to the community and social support within the community and personal factors such as homeownership and length of residence. Sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place also influence residential satisfaction; however, the extent that these contribute is unclear. As a result, this study investigated the contribution of these constructs to the development of residential satisfaction in the planned community of Ellenbrook, designed to promote these concepts. Additionally, this study investigated the relationship between residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place as well as the factors that comprise of these constructs. A quantitative approach was utilised in which 300 residents completed published questionnaires measuring residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of place and sense of belonging. to examine the extent that social, physical and personal predictors contributed to the development of residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place, a Kruskal-Wallis analysis was undertaken. The findings indicated that the social and physical factors: feelings of belongingness, community attachment, community participation, minimal fear of crime, community layout and design and housing density contribute to the experience of high levels of residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place. Regarding personal factors: age, ethnicity, homeownership, length of residence and educational level did not contribute to the development of residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place. However, marital status contributed to the development of sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place but not residential satisfaction. Household income and number of people known in the community contributed to the development of sense of community and sense of belonging, while gender contributed to the development of residential satisfaction and sense of community. These findings indicate that a community developed with sensitivity to people‟s social and personal needs as well as specific spatial planning elements, contribute to the development of residential satisfaction. The interrelation of sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place and their impact on residential satisfaction was explored through factor analysis. Results showed nine factors to emerge. One factor consisted of several residential satisfaction items along with the attraction to neighbourhood components of sense of community, and the place attachment components of sense of place, indicating the communality of these items. Despite efforts to use distinctive measures of these concepts, there is to a certain degree, an inseparable nature of the dimensions of residential satisfaction, sense of community and sense of place. The sense of belonging items emerged as a separate factor indicating it to have a unique identity from residential satisfaction, sense of place and sense of community. Additionally, three of the four place identity items emerged on one factor, as did the residential satisfaction items referring to feelings of dissatisfaction, suggesting the uniqueness of these items. To examine the relationship between residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place, regression analyses were performed. There was a significant positive relationship between residential satisfaction and sense of community χ2 (1,300) = 40.127, p \u3c .05; residential satisfaction and sense of place χ2 (1,300) = 56.805, p \u3c .05 and residential satisfaction and sense of belonging χ2 (1,300) = 25.848, p \u3c .05. This indicates that sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place contribute to the development of residential satisfaction, supporting previous research. The examination of these concepts in conjunction is a new concept. As a result, this research provides a theoretical understanding of the interrelation, as well as the uniqueness, of residential satisfaction, sense of community, sense of belonging and sense of place. Practically, this research assists policy makers and planners to develop communities that encompass these concepts to avoid issues faced by unplanned communities