Low Housing Research Articles

제1공화국 후반기 자유당-민주당 갈등과 양원제 실현 논쟁

This paper examines the debate between the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party on bicameralism from 1956 to 1960, explaining why the realization of bicameralism failed. Bicameralism was adopted in 1952, but it was not realized. This gap between the constitution and reality became a major issue after the 1956 presidential election. When Liberals proposed a parliamentary amendment, Democrats opposed it and argued for the reinstatement of bicameralism, accusing Liberals of ‘unconstitutional’ neglect of bicameralism. After dropping the amendment, Liberals and Democrats enacted election laws for both the lower and upper houses. But after their defeat in the general election of 1958, Liberals claimed the futility of bicameralism. Democrats, on the other hand, urged the organization of the upper house, convinced of victory in the election. A massive dispute on bicameralism was violently ended, when Liberals used force to neutralize the enforcement deadline of the election law of the upper house. No further debate on bicameralism ensued in any degree of seriousness, and a bicameral system was not realized in ROK until the collapse of the Syngman Rhee regime.

Indian National Congress’s Hits and Misses in General Elections 2024

The General Elections 2024 miraculously halted the declining political graph of the Indian National Congress and doubled its presence (seats won) in the lower house of parliament since the national hustings in 2019. The strategies implemented for reviving the party, like ‘Bharat Jodo Yatras’ (walkathons led by Rahul Gandhi), had an erratic pan-Indian electoral impact; as a result, it partly reclaimed its lost political space. The mandate failed to reverse the deinstitutionalization process of the grand old party, and its fragmentary legitimization seems to be by default rather than design. It failed to register a win and make a comeback primarily due to the absence of party offices in several states and hesitancy in overhauling the Congress system. The way ahead for revivification includes tweaking its archaic ideology, designing a populist model of governance, promoting subaltern leadership, creating a perennial connectivity with citizens, embracing digitalized politicking, and practising aspiration-centric developmental politics.

Impact of different housing densities combined with Environmental enrichment on the production of Japanese quail

This study evaluated the zootechnical performance, egg quality, and behavior of Japanese quails in the laying phase housed in cages of different densities and with or without environmental enrichment. A total of 224 quail were used and distributed into two groups: one with a housing density of 122.7 cm2 bird-1 and one with a housing density of 157.8 cm2 bird-1, each with and without environmental enrichment. The results showed that environmental enrichment did not influence the zootechnical performance parameters of the quail. However, housing density independently affected performance, except for egg mass and bird viability. A lower density (157.8 cm2 bird-1) resulted in greater specific egg weight, albumen percentage, and shell thickness. The interaction between density and environmental enrichment revealed that eggs from quail housed at higher density without enrichment had a greater yolk percentage, while quails housed at lower density without enrichment had a greater shell percentage. The tonic immobility time of the quails was not affected by treatment with different densities or environmental enrichment agents. It can be concluded that a lower housing density, with seven quail per cage (157.8 cm2 bird-1), regardless of environmental enrichment, provides better zootechnical performance and egg quality.

Modeling of the effect of transportation system accessibility on residential real estate prices: The case of Washington metropolitan area, USA

Deep learning accurate predictions of house prices are essential for prospective homeowners, investors, appraisers, and insurers. However, some studies lack accuracy as they overlook critical factors like accessibility and economic attributes that influence house prices. This paper aims to predict house prices by considering structural, locational, accessibility, and economic attributes, while also exploring the effect of accessibility on housing prices. The dataset contains 2,019,663 real estate transaction records from 1975 to 2018 in the Washington metropolitan area, obtained from the Zillow website. In this study, the accessibility index is calculated using Distance, Cumulative Opportunities, and Gravity measures, with the gravity measure surpassing others due to its consideration of both land use and transportation aspects. Economic attributes are then utilized to predict the average monthly house price using deep learning algorithms such as LSTM, GRU, and Simple RNN, with the Simple RNN demonstrating superior performance. Following the amalgamation of structural and locational attributes with the accessibility index and average house prices, various machine learning algorithms—including Linear Regression, Lasso, Ridge, Random Forest, GBM, LightGBM, XGBoost, Decision Tree, AdaBoost, Artificial Neural Network, and Stacked Generalization—are employed for prediction. Subsequent evaluation reveals that Stacked Generalization (ANN + LightGBM) provides the best performance, with an R-squared value of 0.96 and RMSE of $23,290. Moreover, this paper identifies accessibility index thresholds (80,003 for large buildings and 160,103 for small buildings) and demonstrates that a higher accessibility index leads to lower housing prices, attributed to noise pollution, decreased privacy, and increased supply responses.

Feasibility of aging in place clinics in low income senior housing

The purpose of this study was to describe the feasibility of implementing interdisciplinary senior housing clinics. Feasibility was based on evidence of resident participation, services provided, improvement in clinical outcomes and sustaining clinics over time. Data were collected prospectively in four senior housing communities which included approximately 375 residents 60 years of age and older. Over the 12-month implementation period, 228 residents were seen, 61 % of all residents. We gave 131 immunizations, checked 576 blood pressures, completed 92 foot care treatments, 69 hearing evaluations and cerumen removal, completed 16 advance directives, 119 Annual Wellness Visits, and 13 assessments for acute medical problems. Overall, 87 individuals (38 %) had a decrease in their blood pressures, 121 (54 %) maintained their pressures and 19 (8 %) had increases in blood pressures. We reached over half of the residents living in these communities and estimated we could financially maintain the clinics with reimbursement based on billing.

Analyzing Thailand’s Amendments to the Civil and Commercial Code on Marriage Equality: Progress, Shortcomings, and the Struggle for LGBTIQAN+ Rights to Family Establishment

Thailand’s proposed amendment of the Civil and Commercial Code (“CCC”) on marriage equality, recently passed by the lower house of Parliament on 27 March 2024, marks a historic milestone and represents a significant step towards recognizing the rights of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex Queer Asexual and Non-Binary+ (LGBTIQAN+) individuals to establish families. This commentary article critically examines the draft legislation through the lens of international human rights law and domestic constitutional principles of equality and human dignity. Situating the Act within Thailand’s international obligations, the article traces the legislative history and highlights the progressive vision of the Civil Society Draft, which developed from the thesis-based research of Chawinroj Teerapatcharaporn, School of Law, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU). It commends the shift towards gender-neutral language in marriage eligibility while critiquing the retention of binary “father/mother” terminology as falling short of genuine inclusivity. Drawing from parliamentary debates, the commentary engages with objections raised by religious party MPs, countering them by reasserting the primacy of constitutional equality and secular human rights principles over religious precepts in civil law matters. The article concludes by assessing the Act’s potential impact and the ongoing struggle for fully realizing LGBTIQAN+ family rights, calling for further reform that embraces gender neutrality and equality regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC).

The Journey of Women Reservation Bill as 108th Amendment Bill In Rajya Sabha

The Women Reservation Bill seeks to reserve one third of the total number of seats in Lok Sabha, state legislative assemblies and Delhi legislative assembly for women. It means that the Bill will increase women representation by bringing at least one third women in the legislatures. Women Reservation Bill will not only be helpful in increasing the number of women representatives in the decision making but it will also help to improve their lower status and position in the society. Therefore, the Bill was introduced many times since 1996. But never got the approval of the lower house. In 2008 it was introduced in Rajya Sabha, a permanent house. Though passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010, it never got the approval of lower house till 2023. Main reason for not supporting it seems that all political parties had their own political interests that is why they took so long to make it a legislation by amending the Constitution. It got the approval of both the houses of Parliament in September 2023. In this paper an attempt is made to discuss the behavior of political parties supporting and opposing the Bill at the time it was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2008.

Is the clean energy transition making fixed-rate electricity tariffs regressive?

Wholesale electricity prices can rapidly change in real-time, yet households usually face fixed-price electricity tariffs. In markets with large amounts of solar electricity generation, households that predominantly import energy in the daytime when wholesale prices are low implicitly cross-subsidize households with energy use that is more weighted to the higher-priced evening. We map substation data on electricity use to demographic data, to identify the household characteristics associated with this cross-subsidization in a high-solar setting. We find that households in areas with low house prices and high levels of renters are the net funders of this implicit subsidy. These households currently have the lowest average energy cost for retailers to service, and could be the greatest immediate beneficiaries if real-time retail tariffs are made available, before accounting for price-responsiveness. Finally, we present evidence that cross-subsidy magnitudes have grown significantly in recent years, coincident with rapid solar generator penetration.

Institutional opportunism: How electoral fortunes shape preferences for power‐sharing institutions in Latin America

AbstractDrawing on approximately 4000 face‐to‐face interviews with lower house members from seventeen Latin American countries, this article demonstrates how partisan considerations shape legislators' preferences for power‐sharing institutions. Distributive models argue that reforming parties derive preferences based on potential advantages in power allocation, yet the role of individual legislators remains underexplored. The evidence reveals that legislators favor institutional arrangements that maximize their party's influence. Representatives from larger parties prefer electoral rules that reduce the number of parties in the House, while incumbent lawmakers support a stronger executive. Notably, party positions often shift following changes in electoral fortunes: Parties become more favorable of proportional representation after losing seats and advocate for reinforced congressional authority upon leaving office.

Canadian Senate Reform: Lessons from Its First Decade, 1867–78

During the 19th century and through the 20th century, the role of the parliamentary upper house (especially, but not exclusively, within the Westminster system of government) changed in subtle, yet dramatic, ways. Among those changes was increasing deference to elected lower houses of parliament, a reduction in partisanship in its actions and legislative goals, the development and pursuit of greater specialization of interest and function, appeals to the public interest beyond the electoral mandate, and greater practical attention to technical overview and improvement of legislation and policy, especially through the engagement of the committee process. This article argues that the role of the current Senate of Canada is a result of that historical transformation and was evident as early as the first decade of its existence (consistent with an institutional evolution that continues through the 21st century) and should be strongly considered in relation to current and future proposals for its reform.

The Impact of Digitization on Housing Prices: Evidence from China

Issues: The housing prices (HP) in China has been rising over the past 20 years, which is too extremely high to afford for citizens. Also, high housing prices results in various problems, such as increasing financial risks, a shift from physical economy to virtual economy, innovation obstacles, crowding out residents’ consumption, among others. Objective: This study strives to investigate the impact of digitization on HP, with an aim to explore an effective way to tackle high housing prices issue in China. Theoretical Framework: Digitization can essentially effluence the HP through various channels, such as promoting the economic efficiency, improving the infrastructure, affecting the population agglomeration, and increasing the availability for residents to work remotely, etc., whereby it plays a substantial role in curbing the housing prices. Method: With a sample of 279 cities covering the period from 2011 to 2019, a dynamic panel method, General Method of Moment model (GMM) is adopted to run the empirical analysis. Results: The empirical results confirm an inverted U-shaped relationship between the HP and digitization, which indicate that digitization (DIG) acts as an impetus to increase HP at the first stage, but when the digitization surpasses the turning point, it may exsert a powerful force to lower housing prices. Implications: Improving the digitization is among the solutions to curb high housing prices, as long as the digitization exceeds the inflection point. Originality: This study first concludes digitization can be a considerable effluence on housing prices, providing a new insight into solving high housing prices.

Foreign Policy Aspects of the Activities of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the First Convocation (on the 30th Anniversary of the Start of Work)

The article considers the foreign policy aspects of the activities of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation of the First convocation. The specifics of the main results of parliamentary votes of this period, which were related to international-political realities, in the context of their relationship with the conceptual foundations and implementation of Russian foreign policy, have been characterized. Features of the composition and nature of the activities of the lower house of the Russian parliament of this period have been identified. The conceptualization of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy has been analyzed. The initiatives and decisions of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the First convocation in the field of foreign policy and international relations have been assessed. It is shown that these were due to the specifics of its personal composition, where there was no strict factional discipline and a clear advantage of any political force, which determined the need for situational interaction. The normal work of the lower house of parliament became possible largely due to the efforts of its Chairman, who took a centrist position. It is substantiated that the State Duma, operating in conditions of complex socio-economic problems and the colossal weakening of Russia’s international political positions, demonstrated significant activity in international political initiatives that covered a wide range of topical issues with an emphasis on the situation in the states of the post-Soviet space. These decisions were relatively balanced, which was explained by the approximately equal distribution of resources between the so-called “left”, “right”, “centrists” and “national patriots”, as well as the presence of “common bloc” issues, positions on which coincided or did not cause obvious contradictions. The international political initiatives of the State Duma of the First convocation were distinguished by greater realism and emphasis on the protection of national interests than the content of conceptual documents and the foreign policy course pursued by the state. This happened against the background and simultaneously with the beginning of the process of rethinking the foreign policy approaches of the Russian Federation, which had a significant influence on it.

Expanding Affordable Middle Housing Options in Single-Family Neighborhoods

Problem, research strategy, and findings By examining the Residential Infill Project (RIP) in Portland (OR), this study addressed the ongoing debate on single-family zoning reform, focusing on the effectiveness of legalizing middle housing in expanding housing options in single-family neighborhoods. The analysis revealed a substantial increase in the proportion of middle housing in residential developments in single-family zones, from 13.4% before the RIP implementation to 44.7% in the 2 years after RIP’s adoption. Almost 40% of these post-RIP middle housing permit units were replacements for existing homes. Compared with single-family housing developments, middle housing projects were more likely to be in neighborhoods with greater density, better walkability, and lower income. The RIP broadened middle housing accessibility by allowing their development on non-corner lots, at greater distances to the city center, and in medium-density single-family zones. The RIP’s approach to regulating development density and building size significantly reduced the average size of middle housing units in single-family zones to less than half that of single-family homes. Given the strong correlation between home sizes and prices, it seems reasonable to infer that middle housing units have become considerably more affordable since the enactment of the RIP. Takeaway for practice Eliminating single-family zoning represents an initial step in expanding housing options in single-family neighborhoods. More comprehensive zoning reforms are essential for meaningful improvements in housing affordability and diversity. Cities must reassess and amend zoning codes, particularly development standards, to foster innovation in middle housing development and encourage developers to build smaller homes to lower housing costs.

Evaluating Intensity, Complexity, and Potential for Causal Inference in Social Needs Interventions

Interventions that address needs such as low income, housing instability, and safety are increasingly appearing in the health care sector as part of multifaceted efforts to improve health and health equity, but evidence relevant to scaling these social needs interventions is limited. To summarize the intensity and complexity of social needs interventions included in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and assess whether these RCTs were designed to measure the causal effects of intervention components on behavioral, health, or health care utilization outcomes. This review of a scoping review was based on a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded evidence map of English-language US-based RCTs of social needs interventions published between January 1, 1995, and April 6, 2023. Studies were assessed for features related to intensity (defined using modal values as providing as-needed interaction, 8 participant contacts or more, contacts occurring every 2 weeks or more often, encounters of 30 minutes or longer, contacts over 6 months or longer, or home visits), complexity (defined as addressing multiple social needs, having dedicated staff, involving multiple intervention components or practitioners, aiming to change multiple participant behaviors [knowledge, action, or practice], requiring or providing resources or active assistance with resources, and permitting tailoring), and the ability to assess causal inferences of components (assessing interventions, comparators, and context). This review of a scoping review of social needs interventions identified 77 RCTs in 93 publications with a total of 135 690 participants. Most articles (68 RCTs [88%]) reported 1 or more features of high intensity. All studies reported 1 or more features indicative of high complexity. Because most studies compared usual care with multicomponent interventions that were moderately or highly dependent on context and individual factors, their designs permitted causal inferences about overall effectiveness but not about individual components. Social needs interventions are complex, intense, and include multiple components. Our findings suggest that RCTs of these interventions address overall intervention effectiveness but are rarely designed to distinguish the causal effects of specific components despite being resource intensive. Future studies with hybrid effectiveness-implementation and sequential designs, and more standardized reporting of intervention intensity and complexity could help stakeholders assess the return on investment of these interventions.

Assessing seromuscular layer and serosa removal on intestinal permeability measurements in weaned piglet everted sac segments.

The integrity of the intestinal barrier is crucial for regulating the passage of pathogens and toxins, while facilitating nutrient absorption. The everted gut sac technique, an ex-vivo technique, can be used to study interventions on barrier function. This cost-effective approach utilizes relatively large gut segments to study specific intestinal regions. Typically, intact (non-stripped) intestinal segments are used, but their use may underestimate permeability due to the medial positioning of blood vessels relative to the seromuscular layer and serosa. However, removing these layers risks physical damage, resulting in an overestimation of intestinal permeability. Therefore, we investigated the impact of stripping jejunal segments on permeability to fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC, 4kDa) and tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate-dextran (TRITC, 40kDa), and on the absorption of glucose, lysine, and methionine in jejunal segments from 80 piglets at 8 d postweaning. Piglets were subjected to either high or low sanitary housing conditions and diets provoking intestinal protein fermentation or not, expected to influence intestinal permeability. Stripping of the seromuscular layer and serosa increased the passage of 4kDa FITC-dextran (stripped vs. non-stripped; 1.1 vs. 0.9 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), glucose (40.0 vs. 19.1 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), lysine (2.5 vs. 2.0 nmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001), and methionine (4.1 vs. 2.7 pmol/cm2/min, P < 0.001). As permeability increased, the differences in methionine passage between stripped and non-stripped intestinal segments also increased (slope = 1.30, P = 0.009). The coefficients of variation were comparable between stripped and non-stripped intestines (over all treatments, stripped vs. non-stripped 38% vs. 40%). Stripping, by isolating mucosal processes without introducing additional variation, is thus recommended for studies on intestinal permeability or absorption.

Do households value lower density: Theory, evidence, and implications from Washington, DC

A substantial literature demonstrates that zoning restrictions on building height or density lower supply and increase housing prices. However, negative externalities due to household preferences for lower neighborhood density could justify restrictions on private developers. Thus building density in a laissez-faire city may be above the welfare maximizing level. The potential external costs of height and density are tested here and found to be substantial. Increased building separation appears to mitigate the external cost of height. This implies that some level of density or floor regulation (FAR) may be welfare-enhancing, and that the gap between price and marginal construction cost may overstate the social cost of zoning because households value lower density. The analysis considers residential density and not employment density which can give rise to other types of externalities.

Structural analysis for a slab-on-grade cellular concrete foundation to reduce heat losses in temperate climate residential buildings

Reducing the energy requirements of buildings is imperative in the face of global warming and the imminent need to build low or zero-carbon housing in the following decades. This research proposes the design of a structural foundation to reduce heat transfer between the ground and the house to improve thermal comfort, thus reducing the incidence of low interior temperatures and lower energy requirements. The proposed foundation consists of a waffle slab system incorporating on-site cellular concrete fabrication for a residential home. The foundation proposal was evaluated over a year through simulation to quantify the heating demand reduction for four cities with temperate semi-arid and temperate sub-humid climates. The analysis shows that the prevalence of low temperatures is reduced when applying any of the proposed foundations. However, the benefits must be weighed for cities like Durango and Puebla since the reduction of hours with low temperatures is minimal, and they show an increase in energy for cooling. The city with the most significant benefit in reducing the incidence of low temperatures and the heating demand is Toluca, followed by Zacatecas, which are cities showing prevalent heating demands. Based on the results, it is observed that it is viable to apply foundations with a lower overall heat transfer coefficient, with the addition of lightened materials produced on-site. However, it is still necessary to conduct more experimental studies on these prefabricated systems applied to foundation slabs and care for their implementation in mixed climates.

Aging and real estate prices in Germany

AbstractExploiting regional heterogeneity in population dynamics across more than 10,000 municipalities in Germany, we provide robust empirical evidence that population aging depresses real estate prices and rents. Using millions of individual real estate listings and detailed demographic data at the municipality level, we estimate that average sales prices in 2020 would have been up to 12% higher if the population age distribution had been the same as in 2008. We show that population aging not only reduces prices but also increases the availability of real estate. In addition, we document substantial heterogeneity in price responses across dwelling type, property characteristics, and urban-rural status, suggesting that lower housing demand and life-cycle dissaving are driving our results. We predict that population aging will continue to exert downward pressure on house prices and exacerbate regional disparities in Germany.

A study of political party affiliation as a means to enhance gender equality and women’s political participation in Kazakhstan

PurposeThe article aims to identify the main mechanisms for promoting more Kazakhstani women participation in the legislative authorities based on a study of the competition of political parties in 2023.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing the structural-biographical method, the article investigates the ways of increasing women’s participation in the political life of Kazakhstan. This empirical study comprises a total of 18 biographies of women deputies / candidates on party lists who were elected to the legislative body. Content analysis was also conducted to investigate the pre-election programs of the political parties.FindingsThis study has identified that political party is the main resource for promoting gender equality and involving women in the decision-making process. All 18 women deputies of the Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament, are members of political parties. The findings show that women candidates without party affiliation were unable to get into representative body. The results of the election campaign of 2023 provided evidence for determining the gender order in the Kazakhstani political space. The party has become an effective channel for promoting women participations in the parliament of the country. By comparison, in single-mandate constituencies no woman was able to pass to the elected body.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature of gender equality and women’s political participation in Kazakhstan and may be relevant for other countries. It also has practical significance and policy implications for the government and political parties.

Leaving the Big City: New Patterns of Migration in Canada

Big cities have always been attractive places for people to settle. However, recent trends, including work-from-home and hybrid work arrangements, along with the rising cost of housing in big cities, mean more Canadians of all age groups are relocating to smaller communities. Much of this movement is to smaller areas within the same province, so that communities which traditionally saw an out-migration of population are now dealing with the challenges createdby a significant influx of new residents. Focusing on the exodus from the three largest Canadian Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, this paper examines the challenges and consequences for smaller communities. The proportion of people living in these three CMAs has grown from 28.9 per cent in 1981 to35.5 per cent in 2021. This increase reflects the fact that the fastest growing industries, suchas finance, technology and communications, are located in major urban areas. However, the pandemic, combined with the technology that allows people to work from anywhere, means that more people are moving to smaller communities where they can enjoy lower housing costs and other benefits that less dense places offer. While younger people willing to tolerate the occasional commute to the city in hybrid working arrangements are relocating to smaller communities, some retirees are downsizing and also leaving the big city behind. This out-migration has created challenges for big cities. With workers resisting a return to the downtown office, urban cores are left with vast amounts of empty office space. Companies are thus reducing the size of their leased space or not renewing current leases. Public transit and shopping malls have seen usage drop, and a subsequent rise in crime and social disorder in some cities is encouraging even more people to consider moving elsewhere. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly contributed to the increasing exodus from the largest cities.A post-pandemic return to normal economic activity could slow departures from the big cities. The largest CMAs are still growing, due to an increasing number of immigrants, many of whom prefer to settle in big cities where people who arrived previously from their homelands have located. Canada’s commitment to expanded immigration has meant continued growth for major urban centres while the exodus of people from those centres has renewed the growth of mid-size and smaller communities. For the community of Cowansville, Quebec, for example, the flow of people out of Montrealhas produced renewed growth. The newcomers, especially those who bring significant resources with them, stimulate the local economy. Greater demand for products and services helps local businesses and can create employment opportunities for local residents. It will be important to monitor these migration trends in the coming years in order to ensure that infrastructure, funding and services adapt to the challenges so that everyone, whether they choose to live in a big city or in a small community, has access to the services and infrastructure they need in order to enjoy an optimum quality of life.