Five-Hundred-Year Flood Plains and Other Unconstitutional Challenges to the Establishment of Community Residences for the Mentally Disabled

This article examines the impact of state statutes and local ordinances on the establishment of community residences for the mentally disabled. While some states have policies advocating for community residences, these policies are often undermined by barriers such as neighborhood opposition and statutes and ordinances that impede development. The author analyzes the application of the equal protection clause to statutes and ordinances affecting the mental disabled, ultimately concluding that many are unconstitutional. Finally, the author discusses the impact of City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center on state statutes and local ordinances that limit the establishment of community residences. The author ultimately proposes a model statute that prohibits strategies used to bar community residences

Museums in former residences: castles, palaces and manor houses

The article concerns former residences in Poland and their contemporary use as museums. The authors present the history of Polish residences, the development of museums in castles, palaces and manor houses, their spatial distribution and the relations between the type of building and that of the museum collection

Five-Hundred-Year Flood Plains and Other Unconstitutional Challenges to the Establishment of Community Residences for the Mentally Disabled

This article examines the impact of state statutes and local ordinances on the establishment of community residences for the mentally disabled. While some states have policies advocating for community residences, these policies are often undermined by barriers such as neighborhood opposition and statutes and ordinances that impede development. The author analyzes the application of the equal protection clause to statutes and ordinances affecting the mental disabled, ultimately concluding that many are unconstitutional. Finally, the author discusses the impact of City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center on state statutes and local ordinances that limit the establishment of community residences. The author ultimately proposes a model statute that prohibits strategies used to bar community residences

'Location, Location, Location' : effects of neighborhood and house attributes on Burglars’ target selection

Objectives To empirically test whether offenders consider environmental features at multiple spatial scales when selecting a target and examine the simultaneous effect of neighborhood-level and residence-level attributes on residential burglars' choice of residence to burglarize. Methods We combine data on 679 burglaries by 577 burglars committed between 2005 and 2014 with data on approximately 138,000 residences in 193 residential neighborhoods in Ghent, Belgium. Using a discrete spatial choice approach, we estimate the combined effect of neighborhood-level and residence-level attributes on burglars' target choice in a conditional logit model. Results Burglars prefer burglarizing residences in neighborhoods with lower residential density. Burglars also favor burglarizing detached residences, residences in single-unit buildings, and renter-occupied residences. Furthermore, burglars are more likely to target residences in neighborhoods that they previously and recently targeted for burglary, and residences nearby their home. We find significant cross-level interactions between neighborhood and residence attributes in burglary target selection. Conclusions Both area-level and target-level attributes are found to affect burglars' target choices. Our results offer support for theoretical accounts of burglary target selection that characterize it as being informed both by attributes of individual properties and attributes of the environment as well as combinations thereof. This spatial decision-making model implies that environmental information at multiple and increasingly finer scales of spatial resolution informs crime site selection

Excess or wasteful commuting assessed by sex and socio-economic group: London, Birmingham and Manchester, England

This research considers the application of an urban zonal travel optimisation model to the actual commuting patterns between residences and workplaces in the three largest English cities in 1981 and 1991. The model produces an estimate of the average commuting distance required if individuals could exchange residences and workplaces to minimise distance travelled. In contrast to previous work published by these authors (Transportation Research) individuals in this paper are classified separately by socio-economic group and by sex. Residences and workplaces can be matched only by persons of the same socio-economic group or sex. The proportion of the actual commuting distance above the optimum is defined as excess or wasteful commuting. The existing literature using this methodology can be criticised on the grounds that individuals of different socio-economic groups (essentially based on employment type) have had their residences and workplaces coupled prior to the excess commuting calculations. This is certainly not how urban labour markets work. This paper is the first example to undertake the matching by separate segments of the labour force and as a consequence achieve a better approximation of reality. The results are surprising and counterintuitive - there appears to greater wasteful commuting (according to this methodology) for individuals travelling shorter distances - most often equated with women and lower socio-economic groups.

Solar heating and cooling systems design and development

The development and delivery of eight prototype solar heating and cooling systems for installation and operational test are outlined for single-family residences, and commercial applications

Late Antique Residences at Golemo Gradište, Konjuh, R. Macedonia

The systematic excavations that began at Golemo Gradište in 2000 were the first major, legal investigations on the site itself. Through survey of the site, researchers had reached a number of conclusions and hypotheses about lines of fortification walls, location of gates, and roads associated with the site. But almost nothing was known about the buildings or the internal arrangement of the site, and there were questions about dating. Therefore, both on the acropolis (2000-2004) and on the northern terrace (2005-present), the first step was to set trenches in several places, to investigate the architecture and the urban plan and to establish a chronology of the settlement. Given the discoveries in those initial trenches, excavation was later focused on a few areas. One consequence of this approach was limited excavation in several areas that were probably residential (or a combination of residential with industrial or commercial), but only a few examples of extensively investigated residential complexes. [excerpt

Estimating magnetic fields of homes near transmission lines in the California Power Line Study.

The California Power Line Study is a case-control study investigating the relation between residences near transmission lines and risk of childhood leukemia. It includes 5788 childhood leukemia cases and 5788 matched primary controls born between 1986 and 2007. We describe the methodology for estimating magnetic fields at study residences as well as for characterizing sources of uncertainty in these estimates. Birth residences of study subjects were geocoded and their distances to transmission lines were ascertained. 302 residences were deemed sufficiently close to transmission lines to have non-zero magnetic fields attributable to the lines. These residences were visited and detailed data, describing the physical configuration and dimensions of the lines contributing to the magnetic field at the residence, were collected. Phasing, loading, and directional load flow data for years of birth and diagnosis for each subject as well as for the day of site visit were obtained from utilities when available; when yearly average load for a particular year was not available, extrapolated values based on expert knowledge and prediction models were obtained. These data were used to estimate the magnetic fields at the center, closest and farthest point of each residence. We found good correlation between calculated fields and spot measurements of fields taken on site during visits. Our modeling strategies yielded similar calculated field estimates, and they were in high agreement with utility extrapolations. Phasing was known for over 90% of the lines. Important sources of uncertainty included a lack of information on the precise location of residences located within apartment buildings or other complexes. Our findings suggest that we were able to achieve high specificity in exposure assessment, which is essential for examining the association between distance to or magnetic fields from power lines and childhood leukemia risk