Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development: Annual Performance Report, 2007

This document is the State of Iowa's Annual Performance Report (APR) for the period beginning January 1, 2006 and ending December 31, 2006 (Program Year 2006). This report is intended to fulfill the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements that require the state to annually review and report the progress made in carrying out its Consolidated Plan for Housing and Community Development. This report, and the supplemental documentation included with it, replaces several year end reports submitted individually in the past.

Human capital and regional development

We investigate the determinants of regional development using a newly constructed database of 1569 sub-national regions from 110 countries covering 74 percent of the world s surface and 97 percent of its GDP. We combine the cross-regional analysis of geographic, institutional, cultural, and human capital determinants of regional development with an examination of productivity in several thousand establishments located in these regions. To organize the discussion, we present a new model of regional development that introduces into a standard migration framework elements of both the Lucas (1978) model of the allocation of talent between entrepreneurship and work, and the Lucas (1988) model of human capital externalities. The evidence points to the paramount importance of human capital in accounting for regional differences in development, but also suggests from model estimation and calibration that entrepreneurial inputs and possibly human capital externalities help understand the data.

The hotel industry and its importance in the technical and economic development of a region : the Lake Geneva case (1852-1914)

The historiography dedicated to tourism has emphasised how some socio-economic evolutions such as urbanisation, mechanisation of transport or the advent of leisure time in society have supported pleasure trips and therefore the development of the hotel industry. On the contrary, the research has too often neglected or at least minimised the impact of the hotel sector on a region's development. This contribution seeks to fill this gap by analysing the Geneva Lake region, one of the most important birthplaces of the European tourism. In this space not much touched by the first industrial revolution, the hotel business has in fact played the role of an economic motor, stimulating investment and employment. This dynamism provoked a domino effect on several other sectors of the economy (industry, bulding sector, banking). To please their customers, the hoteliers have not only given impulses on housing modernisation, but also to the revitalisation of transport, energy and communication networks. The necessity to remain on the state-of-the-art of technical issues, with the concern of competitiveness, has called forth an acceleration of the technology transfer and stimulated the constitution of technical know-how.

Balance Between Investment Protection and Sustainable Development in BITs: the Example of Switzerland

The objective of this article is to examine how substantive and procedural rights granted to foreign investors by Swiss bits are gradually being balanced with social and environmental provisions. Switzerland has enjoyed a long bit practice, as it signed its first treaty with Tunisia fifty years ago. Swiss bits rely on the post-establishment model and include usual standards of treatment. From 1981, they also systematically provide for a dispute settlement mechanism for disputes arising between an investor and a host State. Since the Switzerland - El Salvador bit in 1994, sustainable development concerns have been expressly inserted in some Swiss bits, as well as in several recent free trade agreements. Provisions on this theme are however far from being systematic in Switzerland's bit practice and essentially remain declaratory in nature. The trend towards wider inclusion of sustainable development provisions in bits still faces several practical and political challenges.

Economic and Workforce Development Task Force Report, August 2008

The 2008 disasters devastated businesses, farms, homes, schools, non-profit institutions, entire communities, and people’s lives across the state of Iowa. The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission (RIAC) is charged by the Governor to guide the state’s recovery and reconstruction process. The Economic and Workforce Development Task Force is respectfully submitting this report to be included and considered in the deliberations of the RIAC. While economic and workforce development are two issues that are inextricably linked and critical to Iowa’s rebuilding strategies, each also requires extraordinary attention in determining what needs to be considered in the very immediate and longer-term recovery.

Annual Report of the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Commission for Fiscal Year, 2007

FY2007 was a productive year for the Iowa Grape and Wine Development Commission. Fourteen proposals were recommended for funding totaling over $390,000 in outlays. Included in the approved proposals were funds for the establishment and staffing of a Midwest Grape and Wine Institute at Iowa State University, a newly created viticulturist position at Des Moines Area Community College, funding for the first annual Mid-American Wine Competition, and marketing and promotion of four regional cooperative wine events and one wine trail. Commission funding supported a survey of commercial wine producers and grape growers and a new brochure on Iowa’s vineyards. A committee was formed to provide details for a Scholarship Program to aid vineyard and winery staff with the expenses of accredited coursework. Based on the survey conducted and from other governmental and industry sources, the Iowa grape and wine industry appears to continue to be very viable and growth continues at a strong pace. Wine produced in the state for 2007 was estimated at a market value in excess of $12.3 million. A tabulation of the budget revealed that just over $800,000 in wine gallonage tax appropriations have been received into the Grape and Wine Development Fund from 15 FY2003 through FY2007. Expenditures have totaled just over $607,000 during that same time. Just over 80% of expenditures have gone to “Technical” spending. Over time, funds invested in “Technical” programs will translate into an increasingly educated and institutionally-supported industry. Local, regional, and statewide events also appear to be increasing in popularity and the Commission plans to continue and increase support for these events. It is hoped the Scholarship Program will be up and running and funding will need to be appropriated for that project. The Commission also believes many projects and events will become more and more self sustaining as they develop and mature. As they continue to support Iowa’s grape and wine industry, the members of the Commission look forward to working with individuals, commercial enterprises, state and federal agencies, and industry-sponsored institutions in the upcoming year and in years to come.

Higher education and national identity : Polish student activism in Russia 1832-1863

Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki

Fat oxidation in nonobese and obese adolescents: effect of body composition and pubertal development.

OBJECTIVES: To measure postabsorptive fat oxidation (F(ox)) and to assess its association with body composition (lean body mass [LBM] and body fat mass [BFM]) and pubertal development. DESIGN: We studied 235 control (male/female ratio = 116/119; age [mean +/- SD]: 13.1 +/- 1.7 years; weight: 45.3 +/- 10.5 kg; LBM: 34.3 +/- 7.1 kg; BFM: 11.0 +/- 4.5 kg) and 159 obese (male/female ratio = 93/66; age: 12.9 +/- 2.1 years; weight: 76.2 +/- 19.1 kg; LBM: 47.4 +/- 10.9 kg; BFM: 28.8 +/- 9.2 kg) adolescents. Postabsorptive F(ox) was calculated from oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production, and urinary nitrogen as measured by indirect calorimetry and Kjeldahl's method, respectively. Body composition was determined by anthropometry. RESULTS: Postabsorptive F(ox) (absolute value and percentage of resting metabolic rate) was significantly (p < 0.001) higher in the obese adolescents (76.7 +/- 26.3 gm/24 hours, 42.3% +/- 18.7%) than in the control subjects (40.0 +/- 26.3 gm/24 hours, 28.7% +/- 17.0%), even if adjusted for LBM. F(ox) corrected for BFM was similar in control and in obese children, but was significantly lower in girls compared with boys (control male subjects: 62.1 +/- 29.1 gm/24 hours, control female subjects: 51.6 +/- 28.4 gm/24 hours, obese male subjects: 57.3 +/- 29 gm/24 hour, obese female subjects: 45.0 +/- 28.4 gm/24 hours). BFM and LBM showed a significant positive correlation with F(ox). By stepwise regression analysis the most important determinant of F(ox) was BFM in obese and LBM in control children. There was a significant rise in F(ox) during puberty; however, it was mainly explained by changes in body composition. CONCLUSIONS: Obese adolescents have higher F(ox) rates than their normal-weight counterparts. Both LBM and fat mass are important determinants of F(ox).

The Middle East in the American quest for world order : ideas of power, economics, and social development in United States foreign policy, 1953-1961

Doctoral dissertation, University of Tampere

A reflection about the social and technological aspects in flood risk management - the case of the Italian Civil Protection

The right of a person to be protected from natural hazards is a characteristic of the social and economical development of the society. This paper is a contribution to the reflection about the role of Civil Protection organizations in a modern society. The paper is based in the inaugural conference made by the authors on the 9th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms. Two major issues are considered. The first one is sociological; the Civil Protection organizations and the responsible administration of the land use planning should be perceived as reliable as possible, in order to get consensus on the restrictions they pose, temporary or definitely, on the individual free use of the territory as well as in the entire warning system. The second one is technological: in order to be reliable they have to issue timely alert and warning to the population at large, but such alarms should be as "true" as possible. With this aim, the paper summarizes the historical evolution of the risk assessment, starting from the original concept of "hazard", introducing the concepts of "scenario of event" and "scenario of risk" and ending with a discussion about the uncertainties and limits of the most advanced and efficient tools to predict, to forecast and to observe the ground effects affecting people and their properties. The discussion is centred in the case of heavy rains and flood events in the North-West of Mediterranean Region.

Small Cities, Neoliberal Governance and Sustainable Development in the Global South : A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

Development and environmental issues of small cities in developing countries have largely been overlooked although these settlements are of global demographic importance and often face a "triple challenge"; that is, they have limited financial and human resources to address growing environmental problems that are related to both development (e.g., pollution) and under-development (e.g., inadequate water supply). Neoliberal policy has arguably aggravated this challenge as public investments in infrastructure generally declined while the focus shifted to the metropolitan "economic growth machines". This paper develops a conceptual framework and agenda for the study of small cities in the global south, their environmental dynamics, governance and politics in the current neoliberal context. While small cities are governed in a neoliberal policy context, they are not central to neoliberalism, and their (environmental) governance therefore seems to differ from that of global cities. Furthermore, "actually existing" neoliberal governance of small cities is shaped by the interplay of regional and local politics and environmental situations. The approach of urban political ecology and the concept of rural-urban linkages are used to consider these socio-ecological processes. The conceptual framework and research agenda are illustrated in the case of India, where the agency of small cities in regard to environmental governance seems to remain limited despite formal political decentralization.

Supplement Information to the August 2008 Economic and Workforce Development Task Force Report, August 2008

The 2008 disasters devastated businesses, farms, homes, schools, non-profit institutions, entire communities, and people’s lives across the state of Iowa. The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission (RIAC) is charged by the Governor to guide the state’s recovery and reconstruction process. The Economic and Workforce Development Task Force is respectfully submitting this report to be included and considered in the deliberations of the RIAC. While economic and workforce development are two issues that are inextricably linked and critical to Iowa’s rebuilding strategies, each also requires extraordinary attention in determining what needs to be considered in the very immediate and longer-term recovery. Supplement Information to the August 2008 Economic and Workforce Development Task Force Report