The New England rental market

New England’s rental prices are high but relatively affordable to most residents.Housing - New England ; Housing - Prices - New England ; Rental housing - New England

The future of skilled labor: New England’s supply of recent college graduates

One of New England’s greatest assets is its skilled labor force which has historically been an engine of economic growth in the region. Yet the population of recent college graduates—the skilled labor force of the future—has been growing more slowly in New England than in the rest of the United States. Thus, the need to attract and retain recent college graduates has become a salient issue in every New England state. Policymakers and business leaders alike are concerned that an inadequate supply of skilled workers will hamper economic growth by creating barriers for companies looking to locate or expand in New England. Yet few steps have been taken to tackle this challenge because of lack of information on the extent of the problem, its root causes, and how best to address it.College graduates - New England

What is creative to whom and why? Perceptions in advertising agencies

The authors apply recent advances in creativity theory to discover perceptual differences in the factors of strategy, originality, and artistry among creatives and noncreatives. It was found that current advertising position influences subjective perceptions of what constitutes creative advertising. Creatives tend to perceive advertisements as more appropriate if they are artistic, but account executives tend to perceive advertisements as more appropriate if they are strategic. The study also indicates that creatives have a distinctive preference for a strong originality component to strategy. To be original within the confines of a tight strategy is perceived as the most creative by advertising creatives. Account executives are so focused on strategy, they will often accept artistic advertisements as a substitute for truly original work. The authors consider future research implications of the study and its limitations

The Impact of Antihypertensive Drugs on the Number and Risk of Death, Stroke and Myocardial Infarction in the United States

Estimating the value of medical innovation is a continual challenge. In this research, we quantify the impact of antihypertensive therapy on U.S. blood pressures, risk and number of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. We also consider the potential for further improvements. We estimate the value of innovation using equations relating blood pressure to adverse outcomes from the Framingham Heart Study. Our results show that without antihypertensive therapy, 1999-2000 average blood pressure for the U.S. population age 40 plus would have been 10-13 percent higher. 86,000 excess premature deaths from cardiovascular disease (2001), and 833,000 hospital discharges for stroke and heart attacks (2002) would have occurred. Life expectancy would be 0.5 (men) and 0.4 (women) years lower. At guideline care, there would have been 89,000 fewer premature deaths (2001) and 420,000 fewer hospital discharges for stroke and heart attack (2002) than observed. Our analysis suggests that antihypertensive therapy has had a significant impact on cardiovascular health outcomes but that mortality gains would have been approximately twice as high if guideline care had been achieved for all.

A gender strategy for pro-poor climate change mitigation

The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Research Program (CCAFS) of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Resources (CGIAR) CCAFS “seeks to overcome the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate, exploring new ways of helping vulnerable rural communities adjust to global changes in climate.”1 The CCAFS Gender Strategy (Ashby, et al. 2012) makes the case for gender analysis as critical to increased production, improved outcomes for poverty alleviation and increased well-being, and a fairer distribution of burdens and benefits in agriculture among women and men. This report proposes a gender strategy for climate change mitigation and the promotion of low emissions agriculture—the focus of CCAFS Theme 3: Pro-Poor Climate Change Mitigation. Specifically, we provide a strategy for assuring that mitigation efforts meet the goals of poverty alleviation and food security, and do so in ways that benefit poor women materially, personally and socially. We focus on women because of their historical and contemporary disadvantages, and recognize that benefits for women are generally broader and more durable to the extent men embrace those benefits, whether out of their own material interests or from commitments to family and community well-being. Although CCAFS has separated mitigation, adaptation, and risk management into three distinct research themes, we suggest these must be addressed in an integrated way to meet farmers’ needs. Farmers are primarily concerned with their well-being and that of their families and neighbors, rather than larger global environmental issues. Many also hold a ‘landscape-view’ of their home places in which water and energy sources, forests and grasslands, farms and fallows are all considered in relation to one another in contributing to farmers’ livelihood strategies, even though strategies for adaptation may emphasize one part of the landscape and mitigation another (Shames and Scherr, 2011). Initiatives to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions should therefore ideally enhance and at least not harm adaptation and risk management. Similarly adaptation should aim to minimize GHG emissions where possible

Fibrisoma limi gen. nov., sp. nov., an orange pigmented filamentous bacterium of the family Cytophagaceae isolated from North Sea tidal flats

An orange pigmented Gram-staining-negative, non motile, filament forming rod-shaped bacterium (BUZ 3T) was isolated from a coastal mud sample from the North Sea (Fedderwardersiel, Germany) and characterized taxonomically using a polyphasic approach. According to 16S rRNA gene sequence data it belongs the family Cytophagaceae, exhibiting low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (<90%) to members of the genera Spirosoma, Rudanella and Fibrella. The G+C content was 52.0 mol%. The major fatty acids were summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1{omega}7c and/or isoC15:0 2-OH), C16:1{omega}5c, and isoC17:0 3-OH. The major polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, and several aminolipids. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, it is proposed that, strain BUZ 3T represents a strain of a novel genus and species, for which the name Fibrisoma limi gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BUZ 3T (= DSMZ 22564T = CCUG 58137T

Modeling the tensile behavior of fiber bundles with irregular constituent fibers

In this paper, the effect of fiber dimensional irregularities on the tensile behavior of fiber bundles is modeled, using the finite element method (FEM). Fiber dimensional irregularities are simulated with sine waves of different magnitude. The specific stress-strain curves of fiber bundles and the constituent single fibers are obtained and compared. The results indicate that fiber diameter irregularity along fiber length has a significant effect on the tensile behavior of the fiber bundle. For a bundle of uniform fibers of different diameters, all constituent fibers will break simultaneously regardless of the fiber diameter. Similarly, if fibers within a bundle have the same pattern and level of diameter irregularity along fiber length, the fibers will break at the same time also regardless of the difference in average diameter of each fiber. In these cases, the specific stress and strain curve for the bundle overlaps with that of the constituent fibers. When the fiber bundle consists of single fibers with different levels of diameter irregularity, the specific stress-strain and load-elongation curves of the fiber bundle exhibit a stepped or &ldquo;ladder&rdquo; shape. The fiber with the highest irregularity breaks first, even when the thinnest section of the fiber is still coarser than the diameter of a very thin but uniform fiber in the bundle. This study suggests that fiber diameter irregularity along fiber length is a more important factor than the fiber diameter itself in determining the tensile behavior of a fiber bundle consisting of irregular fibers.<br /

Erasmus Language students in a British University – a case study

Students’ assessment of their academic experience is actively sought by Higher Education institutions, as evidenced in the National Student Survey introduced in 2005. Erasmus students, despite their growing numbers, tend to be excluded from these satisfaction surveys, even though they, too, are primary customers of a University. This study aims to present results from bespoke questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with a sample of Erasmus students studying languages in a British University. These methods allow us insight into the experience of these students and their assessment as a primary customer, with a focus on language learning and teaching, university facilities and student support. It investigates to what extent these factors influence their levels of satisfaction and what costs of adaptation if any, they encounter. Although excellent levels of satisfaction were found, some costs affect their experience. They relate to difficulties in adapting to a learning methodology based on a low number of hours and independent learning and to a guidance and support system seen as too stifling. The results portray this cohort’s British University as a well-equipped and well-meaning but ultimately overbearing institution, which may indicate that minimising costs can eliminate some sources of dissatisfaction