Meanings of limited equity homeownership in community land trusts

Abstract

Discourses regarding homeownership in the United States emphasize housing as an economic investment. This focus fosters a number of problems, including inflated housing values, increased segregation, economic divisions, and the foreclosure crisis. Community land trusts (CLTs) put land in a non-profit trust to keep it affordable long-term. We examine CLTs as affordable housing organizations where individual residents own homes in the trust and lease the land underneath from the CLT. Interviews of CLT homeowners and staff in Minnesota, USA, show that the use value of CLT housing creates opportunities for different life choices. CLT homeowners cite stability and autonomy as the primary benefits of homeownership. They expressed newfound confidence and freedom to pursue personal goals and live less restricted lives after moving into CLT homes, a finding also emphasized by CLT staff. Limited equity housing such as CLTs can both reinforce dominant meanings of homeownership as providing security and autonomy, while also fostering access and affordability for low-income residents.     

Smoke production,radiation heat transfer and fire growth in a liquid-fuelled compartment fire

A detailed investigation is described of the interaction between fire development, smoke production and radiative exchange in a half-scale ASTM compartment in which the source is a heptane pool fire. Measurements of heat flux, fuel mass loss rate, ventilation flow rates, temperature and soot volume fraction are reported for the compartment for varying door widths. Data from the compartment are compared with open pool fire measurements using the same equipment. The confined geometry is shown to exert a strong influence on pool fire development and suggests that considerable caution is needed in employing open pool fire data as boundary conditions for CFD simulation. Numerical simulations based on the direct calculation of radiative exchange between the liquid fuel surface, the smoke-laden environment and bounding walls do reproduce the behaviour observed when combustion, soot production and radiation are modelled in detail and finely resolved spatially.     

Television as a Design Tool

Television is not only the most powerful medium of communication that our age has produced; it is also the most flexible. Yet its common role in education is that of a mere substitute, called in to mitigate the effects of the shortage of teachers or (to look at the matter historically) the excess of students. That it can be more than that is shown by two University of Nebraska faculty members, describing an experiment in the creative use of television as a tool in the development of that awareness of the characteristics of space which is among the architect's indispensable qualifications.     

A Brief Review on the Biology and Effects of Cellular and Circulating microRNAs on Cardiac Remodeling after Infarction

Despite advances in diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment modalities, myocardial infarction (MI) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Impaired cellular signaling after an MI causes maladaptive changes resulting in cardiac remodeling. MicroRNAs (miRNAs/miR) along with other molecular components have been investigated for their involvement in cellular signaling in the pathogenesis of various cardiac conditions like MI. miRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression. They bind to complementary mRNAs and regulate the rate of protein synthesis by altering the stability of their targeted mRNAs. A single miRNA can modulate several cellular signaling pathways by targeting hundreds of mRNAs. This review focuses on the biogenesis and beneficial effects of cellular and circulating (exosomal) miRNAs on cardiac remodeling after an MI. Particularly, miR-1, -133, 135, and -29 that play an essential role in cardiac remodeling after an MI are described in detail. The limitations that will need to be addressed in the future for the further development of miRNA-based therapeutics for cardiovascular conditions will also be discussed.     

5-Benzylidene-4-Oxazolidinones Are Synergistic with Antibiotics for the Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Biofilms

The failure of frontline antibiotics in the clinic is one of the most serious threats to human health and requires a multitude of novel therapeutics and innovative approaches to treatment so as to curtail the growing crisis. In addition to traditional resistance mechanisms resulting in the lack of efficacy of many antibiotics, most chronic and recurring infections are further made tolerant to antibiotic action by the presence of biofilms. Herein, we report an expanded set of 5-benzylidene-4-oxazolidinones that are able to inhibit the formation of Staphylococcus aureus biofilms, disperse preformed biofilms, and, in combination with common antibiotics, are able to significantly reduce the bacterial load in a robust collagen-matrix model of biofilm infection.     

Evaluating ten years of energy performance of HERS-rated homes in Alachua County,Florida

This paper evaluates the performance of 1,346 homes in Alachua County, Florida that were Home Energy Rating System (HERS)-rated between February 1998 and December 2009 for participation in various energy-efficiency programs for new residential construction. The primary analysis objective is to measure the energy-efficiency performance of these HERS-rated homes against conventionally built homes using metered energy consumption data for calendar years 2000–2010. A secondary objective is to assess performance of the four major builders of HERS-rated homes. In calendar year 2000, average energy savings for all HERS-rated homes was 18 %. However, over the following decade average savings degraded steadily, stabilizing around 7 % in the last 5 years of the analysis. We conclude that, while HERS-rated homes in the study area are performing better than similar conventionally built homes, the average HERS-rated home is not achieving the level of savings anticipated based on its HERS score and related energy-efficiency program participation. Differences in savings among builders of HERS-rated homes suggest that variations in program implementation and construction practices can yield significantly different energy performance results. Of the four builders tested, the least efficient averaged 3 % less energy consumed than conventionally built homes, while the most efficient averaged 21 % less. Overall, findings of this study indicate the need for re-examination of the HERS-rating process as a primary benchmark and for increased emphasis on direct measurement and verification of performance using historical energy consumption data.     

Synthesis and reactivity of aluminized fluorinated acrylic (AlFA) nanocomposites

Fluorinated materials, such as poly(tetrafluoroethylene) and its co-polymers, have attracted significant interest throughout the energetic materials community due to their strong reactivity with aluminum powders. Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel composite material produced through the in situ polymerization of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorodecyl methacrylate in the presence of aluminum nanoparticles which have been previously functionalized with phosphoric acid 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate ester to promote chemical integration into the polymer matrix. These materials, which we have termed aluminized fluorinated acrylic (AlFA) composites, have been prepared with particle contents ranging from 10% to 70% by weight. At particle loadings of 60 wt.% or less, the AlFA composites exhibited thermoplastic behavior and were able to be processed by melt extrusion. The AlFA-50 composite demonstrated the highest reactivity (most intense flame and shortest time to achieve complete deflagration) during air combustion experiments performed on consolidated pellets. Chemical analysis of the char indicated the presence of AlF₃, in addition to Al₂O₃, Al₄C₃ and residual Al, indicating that reaction with the fluoropolymer matrix does result in fluorination of the aluminum during the deflagration, however, this mechanism competes kinetically with air oxidation and carbide formation at higher particle loadings.     

Encoding modality can affect memory accuracy via retrieval orientation.

Research indicates that false memory is lower following visual than auditory study, potentially because visual information is more distinctive. In the present study we tested the extent to which retrieval orientation can cause a modality effect on memory accuracy. Participants studied unrelated words in different modalities, followed by criterial recollection tests that selectively oriented retrieval toward one study modality at a time. Memory errors were lower when oriented toward visual than toward auditory information, thereby generalizing the modality effect to an explicit source memory task. Moreover, these effects persisted independent of the test presentation modality, indicating that retrieval orientation overrode the potential cuing properties of the test stimulus. An independent manipulation check confirmed that visual recollections were subjectively experienced as more distinctive than auditory recollections. These results suggest that retrieval orientation is sufficient to cause a modality effect on memory accuracy by focusing monitoring processes on the recollection of studied features that are diagnostic of prior presentation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Linear Thermal Expansion of Bulk Nanocrystalline Ingot Iron from Liquid Nitrogen to 300 K

The linear thermal expansions (LTE) of bulk nanocrystalline ingot iron (BNII) at six directions on rolling plane and conventional polycrystalline ingot iron (CPII) at one direction were measured from liquid nitrogen temperature to 300 K. Although the volume fraction of grain boundary and residual strain of BNII are larger than those of CPII, LTE of BNII at the six measurement directions were less than those of CPII. This phenomenon could be explained with Morse potential function and the crystalline structure of metals. Our LTE results ruled out that the grain boundary and residual strain of BNII did much contribution to its thermal expansion. The higher interaction potential energy of atoms, the less partial derivative of interaction potential energy with respect to temperature T and the porosity free at the grain boundary of BNII resulted in less LTE in comparison with CPII from liquid nitrogen temperature to 300 K. The higher LTE of many bulk nanocrystalline materials resulted from the porosity at their grain boundaries. However, many authors attributed the higher LTE of many nanocrystalline metal materials to their higher volume fraction of grain boundaries.