171 research outputs found

    Portfolio Implications of Apartment Investing

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    In this article, we examine the portfolio implications of apartment investing. In particular, we explore the sector’s relative stability, liquidity, and current market outlook. In general, we find support for many of the advantages attributed to apartments relative to other property types. The apartment sector has historically offered high risk-adjusted returns and a relatively low correlation with other property sectors. These features, combined with the attractive demographics and stable space market fundamentals, suggest that the current environment should be favorable for apartment investing. However, the popularity of the sector, aggressive rent growth assumptions, and potential limitations on future immigration provide sources of performance risk.

    Sleep as an Occupation: Perceptions and Assessment Behaviors of Practicing Occupational Therapists

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    Abstract Date Presented 3/30/2017 People spend a considerable portion of time engaged in a bioneurological state termed sleep. Sleep loss impacts physiological, cognitive, and mood functioning. This study examined whether occupational therapists view sleep as an occupation and the extent to which they assess sleep precursors and sleep dysfunction. Primary Author and Speaker: Randy P. McCombie Additional Authors and Speakers: Ralyn Wolfe</jats:p

    An Anzaldúan Triptych: with Homage to Federico García Lorca

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    In perhaps her most well-known poem, “To live in the borderlands means you,” Gloria Anzaldúa insists that “hondenying the Anglo inside you / is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black.” That Gloria foregrounded her Chicana—or ChicanX—identity in her writings is indisputable, as even her title Borderlands: La Frontera: The New Mestiza indicates. I must admit, however, that sometimes it concerns me that, even if she played a role, perhaps unwittingly, in the construction of such, her identity has been largely reduced to that of “Chicana,” with “queer” occasionally thrown in for good measure, while other aspects of her complex identity—her Leftist politics, her Pagan spirituality, etc.—have been obscured

    From Antislavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable but Forgotten Career of Salmon P. Chase

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    The name Salmon P. Chase is barely known and his career is largely forgotten. In this paper, the author seeks to revive his memory by tracing the arc of his career from antislavery lawyer, to antislavery politician, to Chief Justice of the United States. In addition to explaining why this is a career worth both remembering and honoring, the author offers some possible reasons why his remarkable achievements have largely been forgotten

    Influence of radiographic techniques on the measurement of femoral anteversion angles and a conformation score of pelvic limbs in L abrador retrievers

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    Objective To determine repeatability of and correlation between 2 radiographic measurements of femoral anteversion angles (FAA) and to determine their influence on a score derived from tibial plateau angle (TPA) and FAA to predict the risk of cranial cruciate ligament disease (CCLD). Study Design Prospective clinical study. Animals Forty-eight Labrador retrievers with or without CCLD. Methods FAA and CCLD scores were calculated for each limb from extended pelvic radiographs (t-FAA) or angled (a-FAA) projections of the femur by 3 investigators. One investigator repeated measurements twice. Data were analyzed for repeatability, correlation between t-FAA and a-FAA, and their influence on CCLD scores. Results FAA correlated most strongly with the distance between the femoral head and the femoral axis on mediolateral radiographs, a measurement with excellent repeatability. t-FAA and a-FAA correlated with each other (r > 0.79, P < .0001), although t-FAA were about 1° greater than a-FAA (P = .01). Intrainvestigator and interinvestigator repeatability of the CCLD score was fair when derived from t-FAA and good to excellent when derived from a-FAA. CCLD scores differed between radiographic techniques but led to different predictions in only 9 (10%) limbs, all with lower TPA and CCLD scores than the rest of the population. Conclusion a-FAA correlated strongly with t-FAA and improved the repeatability of CCLD scores within and between investigators. Clinical significance A craniocaudal angled beam projection of the femur is a suitable alternative to a ventrodorsal pelvic radiograph when measuring FAA and may improve the repeatability and positive predictive value of CCLD scores

    Rheology of complex fluid films for biological and mechanical adhesive locomotion

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    Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-143).Many gastropods, such as snails and slugs, crawl using adhesive locomotion, a technique that allows the organisms to climb walls and walk across ceilings. These animals stick to the crawling surface by excreting a thin layer of biopolymer mucin gel, known as pedal mucus, and their acrobatic ability is due in large part to the theological properties of this slime. The primary application of the present research is to enable a mechanical crawler to climb walls and walk across ceilings using adhesive locomotion. A properly selected slime simulant will enable a mechanical crawler to optimally perform while climbing in the horizontal, inclined, and inverted positions. To this end, the rheology of gastropod pedal mucus is examined in greater detail than any previously published work. The linear rheological response of pedal mucus is examined with flow, oscillation, and creep tests. Nonlinear rheology is examined with large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS), and analyzed with Lissajous curves, Fourier transform rheology, and a new measure of non-linear elasticity. In addition, pedal mucus is examined with a flexure-based microgap rheometer, which can test the sample at the biologically relevant gap of 10-20lim, the measured thickness of pedal mucus under a crawling slug.(Cont.) Adhesive locomotion of a mechanical crawler is modeled in order to find the criteria for an optimal slime simulant. After developing the selection criteria for the ideal simulant, a range of candidate materials are examined including polymeric gels, particulate gels, emulsions, composites, and field-responsive fluids. Two promising simulants are examined in detail and compared with native gastropod pedal mucus.by Randy H. Ewoldt.S.M

    Operation S.A.V.E.: An African-centered church and media model for alcohol prevention, 1999

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    This final document addresses the need to empower participants to bring about social Justice in a municipal district plagued by the chemical enslavement of alcohol abuse. In addition to combatting cultural racism, a subordinate concern was the development of an African-centered media and coalition building model for alcohol prevention and intervention to counter mass media imagery associating alcohol with success, wealth, and having fun. This includes the deadly influence of renegade gangster rap artists who have popularized risk-taking behavior which has contributed to the erosion of the cultural fabric of the community and its morals and values. Social justice, personal and communal development were at the heart of my concerns. The ensuing learning experiences were framed by ethnographic, historical, sociological, biblical, psychological, theological and from a pastoral care perspective

    Chao Yuen Ren (1892–1982)

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    Y. R. Chao is easily the most famous linguist to have come out of China. Born before the end of the last dynasty in China, he received a traditional Confucian education, but was also one of the first Chinese people to be sent to the West for training in modern Western science (under the Boxer Indemnity Fund). The remarkable breadth and scope of his studies included physics, mathematics, linguistics, musical and literary composition, and translation, and he was a pioneer in many of these fields

    Author response

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    Planar cell polarity (PCP) requires the asymmetric sorting of distinct signaling receptors to distal and proximal surfaces of polarized epithelial cells. We have examined the transport of one PCP signaling protein, Vangl2, from the trans Golgi network (TGN) in mammalian cells. Using siRNA knockdown experiments, we find that the GTP-binding protein, Arfrp1, and the clathrin adaptor complex 1 (AP-1) are required for Vangl2 transport from the TGN. In contrast, TGN export of Frizzled 6, which localizes to the opposing epithelial surface from Vangl2, does not depend on Arfrp1 or AP-1. Mutagenesis studies identified a YYXXF sorting signal in the C-terminal cytosolic domain of Vangl2 that is required for Vangl2 traffic and interaction with the μ subunit of AP-1. We propose that Arfrp1 exposes a binding site on AP-1 that recognizes the Vangl2 sorting motif for capture into a transport vesicle destined for the proximal surface of a polarized epithelial cell.</p

    Nonlinear viscoelastic materials : bioinspired applications and new characterization measures

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Vita.Includes bibliographical references (p. 297-313).Viscoelastic materials, such as biomaterials and non-Newtonian fluids, typically experience mechanical loading which evokes a nonlinear rheological response. Rheologically complex materials can provide novel functionality in biological and engineered systems. However, it is found that standard characterization techniques are insufficient to appropriately describe nonlinear viscoelasticity. The goal of this thesis is to transcend the limitations of current characterization methods as well as demonstrate applications of nonlinear viscoelastic materials, including reversible adhesion and snail-like wall climbing. PART ONE of this thesis introduces a complete language and framework (or ontology) for characterizing nonlinear viscoelasticity using large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) deformation. The LAOS protocol spans the 2D parameter space of deformation amplitude and frequency, known as a Pipkin space. Physically meaningful material measures are proposed, corresponding to clearly defined language such as strain-stiffening/softening and shear-thickening/thinning. The new ontology is general enough to be applied to any viscoelastic material, mapping behaviors from purely elastic to purely viscous, and any complex response in-between. The framework has been packaged into a distributable data analysis program (MITlaos) to widen its use in both academic and industrial settings. PART TWO examines the nonlinear rheological response of various soft materials and constitutive models.(cont.) The new framework is illustrated by examining prototypical nonlinear constitutive models (Giesekus, pseudoplastic Carreau, and elastoplastic Bingham). Various soft materials are tested experimentally, including pedal mucus gel from terrestrial gastropods, a wormlike micelle solution, ultrasoft hagfish slime, and an oilfield drilling fluid. PART THREE describes the use of nonlinear rheological behavior to enable unique functionality, specifically for bioinspired snail-like wall climbing and tunable adhesion using magnetorheological fluids. Yield stress fluids are examined here to enable the bioinspired adhesive locomotion of a self-contained mechanical device (Robosnail, developed by Brian Chan, Ph.D. '09). Field-responsive magnetorheological fluids are analyzed in the context of providing fast-switching reversible adhesion for use with adhesive locomotion devices and shape-changing soft robots. In conclusion, interest in soft materials is increasing across many disciplines. The contributions presented here provide the means to a better understanding of biological and engineered systems which involve complex viscoelastic materials.by Randy H. Ewoldt.Ph.D
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