Neighborhood Policy Options The Reagan Agenda

Abstract

Although neither articulated a clear, coherent neighborhood policy, presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan both came into office advocating neighborhood revitalization and increased neighborhood self-sufficiency as key elements of their urban policies. These common policy goals and shared vocabulary prompt two basic questions: How do the Carter and Reagan administration's policies toward neighborhoods differ? And are the differences important? This article uses three criteria to describe the Reagan administration's neighborhood policy and compare it to that of the Carter administration—the level of public spending on neighborhood-level activities, the process used to allocate assistance, and the mechanisms used to implement policy goals. Comparing budgetary appropriations shows that the Reagan administration's cuts in spending on spatially targeted programs and withdrawal of direct funding of neighborhood groups are major changes from Carter policies. The increasing use of tax expenditures and the reliance on market forces to achieve neighborhood policy goals, however, appear to have more significant political consequences for neighborhood groups.     

The Seniors’ Outdoor Survey (SOS Tool): comparing ratings and reliability between Italy and the USA

To test applicability of an environmental assessment instrument in new settings, the ratings and reliability of the SOS Tool were compared in diverse settings with a similar climate: Milan, Italy; and Bryan/College Station, Texas, USA. This instrument evaluates physical environment support for outdoor usage by residents at senior facilities. Two trained raters assigned ratings (using a 1–7 scale) to the 60 instrument items at each setting (Italy: 94 outdoor spaces, 67 facilities; US: 22 outdoor spaces, 12 facilities). Overall mean ratings were similar across both sites (6% difference), and three of the five domains had comparable mean ratings. Mean inter-rater reliability was good in both settings but higher in Italy (ICC = .97 versus .82). Despite geographic/cultural differences, mean ratings for most items and domains were surprisingly similar between Italy and the US. This finding, and the high inter-rater reliability found in both settings, suggest this instrument may be useful in a wide range of settings.     

Sorption Properties of Organo Modified Montmorillonite Clay for the Reclamation of Chromium (VI) from Waste Water

Silicon - The natural Montmorillonite (Mt) clay was modified with three newly synthesized cationic surfactants such as 2-(dodecanoyloxy)-N,Nbis(2-hydroxyethyl)-N(oxiran-2-ylmethyl)ethane-1-ammonium...     

Fuzzy community detection on the basis of similarities in structural/attribute in large-scale social networks

Artificial Intelligence Review - Community detection aims to partition a set of nodes with more similarities in the set than out of it based on different criteria like neighborhood similarity or...     

Residential energy supply market: Unmet promises and needed reforms

This article explores the market distortions and behaviors that have undercut the promise and performance of residential energy markets. Market trends are discussed, and possible paths forward are identified for reducing these market distortions. If policymakers are unwilling to eliminate residential energy markets, aggressive and extensive reforms of residential energy markets are warranted.     

A Role for TGFβ Signaling in Preclinical Osteolytic Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer Bone Metastases Progression

While tumoral Smad-mediated transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) signaling drives osteolytic estrogen receptor α-negative (ER-) breast cancer bone metastases (BMETs) in preclinical models, its role in ER+ BMETs, representing the majority of clinical BMETs, has not been documented. Experiments were undertaken to examine Smad-mediated TGFβ signaling in human ER+ cells and bone-tropic behavior following intracardiac inoculation of estrogen (E₂)-supplemented female nude mice. While all ER+ tumor cells tested (ZR-75-1, T47D, and MCF-7-derived) expressed TGFβ receptors II and I, only cells with TGFβ-inducible Smad signaling (MCF-7) formed osteolytic BMETs in vivo. Regulated secretion of PTHrP, an osteolytic factor expressed in >90% of clinical BMETs, also tracked with osteolytic potential; TGFβ and E₂ each induced PTHrP in bone-tropic or BMET-derived MCF-7 cells, with the combination yielding additive effects, while in cells not forming BMETs, PTHrP was not induced. In vivo treatment with 1D11, a pan-TGFβ neutralizing antibody, significantly decreased osteolytic ER+ BMETs in association with a decrease in bone-resorbing osteoclasts at the tumor-bone interface. Thus, TGFβ may also be a driver of ER+ BMET osteolysis. Moreover, additive pro-osteolytic effects of tumoral E₂ and TGFβ signaling could at least partially explain the greater propensity for ER+ tumors to form BMETs, which are primarily osteolytic.