The constructivist paradigm was used in the research study to focus on the challenges with affordable housing and concentrations of Housing Choice Voucher recipients in a county in Southern California. Viewed through the lens of Social Stratification posed by Max Weber, ones opportunities in life are based on his/her position of class, status and power, where by those with lower positions are excluded from opportunities. The literature discusses the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to deconcentrate poverty and provide opportunities to move to higher income areas in order to provide opportunities for social upward mobility. Residential socioeconomic segregation has considerable consequences for public health. Keeping in mind the sensitivity of this controversial topic, the researcher protected and maintained confidentiality through the research process. Thus, the member‑checking meeting in which the joint construction is shared with the study participants was held on a secured internet website. Data was gathered by interviewing a diverse group of participants from various levels of agency, including government agencies. This qualitative data was analyzed by identifying “units” of information that were then grouped into categories of topics relevant to the research focus. The result of the final data analysis was a formulation of sixteen categories which was then interpreted in the form of a social construction which concludes that there is a lack of affordable housing in the county, and concentrations of subsidized housing in lower income cities versus affluent cities is due to the demographics of cities as well as exclusion brought on by NIMBY occurrences. Implications for macro Social Work practice included community organizing and policy advocacy at various governmental levels. The termination of the study did not result in the study participants planning to move forward with the solutions that were formed during the research process. A “Thank you” email was sent to the participants with the final joint construction attached as well as the instructions on where to find the final report. The researcher invited the study participants to contact her in the future regarding any opportunities related to affordable and public housing in the County.

Small business owners with 50 to 100 employees in the physical and mental health care industry face a primary challenge of implementing health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) while sustaining their business. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies small business owners use to provide health insurance coverage under the ACA and sustained business operations. Semistructured interviews took place in Northeastern Ohio with 3 business owners in the physical and mental health care industry to acquire health care without increasing service cost. The conceptual framework for this study was strategic organizational change. Data were collected by semistructured interviews and business documents. The data were analyzed with a methodological triangulation and member checking collection method to bolster trustworthiness and credibility. The themes that emerged from the study included the importance of cost associated with health care plans, high employee turnover rates, and large insurance company participation. Purchasing affordable health care requires small business owners to make decisions that include resources and employees' reactions to change. The findings of the study may lead to social change because they include information that may benefit small business owners in the process of providing health insurance coverage to full-time employees and reducing insurance costs. The application of the results of the study may reduce the number of uninsured individuals.

Stefan Naumann Master of Architecture Mynewhome.com.au Exploring New Ways of Delivering Architecture;- Creating a Design Interface for Sustainable and Affordable Houses The aim of this research project was to explore new ways of delivering architecture and the engagement of architects in everyday, affordable, sustainable housing in Australia. This dissertation speculates on the possibility of a design system integrated with a design interface, where customers can self-configure or customise their home online with the help of embedded programs and an architect consultancy service. This can be seen as an alternative option for the homebuyer to the volume built, standard house. The design system displayed in this masters research was developed in three testing modes: speculative designs, site specific designs and user experiments. The system consists of modules and components that would have the embedded knowledge of the architect. They are intended to allow non professionals to self-arrange their homes. This was then integrated into a user interface. A construction system which allows prefabrication was then applied, but the main focus of the research was on the delivery of design and client engagement and not on the technicalities, or the realisation of a prefab system. The aim was to combine as much of the quality and advantages of a one off architecturally designed house, in particular, the consideration of user and site needs with the affordability and predictability of a completely pre-designed volume builder house. Digital design, production and marketing have the potential to make this challenge a success. This new digital way of delivering architecture could lead to houses that are more adaptable to different users and site needs than volume builder housing. The knowledge of the architect could be applied to ordinary housing, without the huge financial cost of the one off, architect designed house. The web based interface would allow customer interaction as tested in user experiments. The internet widens the possibility of the clients' involvement in the design process. These new online procurement processes are more instant and accessible and could result in an enlightened purchaser. There is the possibility to educate people, so informed decisions could be made. It could lead to houses with better orientation, engagement with new building materials, prefabrication technologies and the promotion of smaller houses resulting in more sustainable homes that are still reasonable in price. This is a very complex issue in which different experts would have to work together. However, there is a real possibility for a design interface to open up a dialogue between the architect and the general public.

<p>The objective with this thesis project was to with the simulations software Delmia make a working build philosophy for the new concept of the fixed leading edge for the Airbus A320 airliner, but also to make two conceptual fixtures in the modular framework BoxJoint for pre-drilling of two sub assemblies.</p><p> </p><p>Everything started with a study in Delmia to both recap on previous knowledge and to learn more about it. This was followed by early simulations on the new concepts that were provided by project partners. Then a study was made in the Affordable Reconfigurable tooling, ART-concept. A suggested build philosophy was created and possible areas for automation were identified. These areas were all the drilling and fettling operations except the drilling in the last stage where the pre-drilled holes are opened up. More investigations needs to be done to see if a robot can install and remove slave pins that are used in the last stage. Two conceptual designs on fixtures were created where one uses two industrial robots with vision systems to get the correct accuracy when drilling the product. The other was build to be able to use a Tau-Gantry robot solution together with a vision system.</p>

Improving access to affordable housing is often approached through efforts to increase the supply of such housing, as the need to make better use of existing resources and coordinating the efforts of housing providers is often overlooked. A central housing registry in Winnipeg would be one approach to improving coordination and better access for low-income households to affordable housing. This study explores different examples of housing registries that exist in Canada and the United States. It provides insight into the benefits and challenges of housing registries through web searches and a survey. A focus group was also used to gain insight on the local context for developing a central housing registry. This research will increase the awareness of the benefits of a central housing registry and provides recommendations on how to approach the development and implementation of a central housing registry. / October 2005

The objective with this thesis project was to with the simulations software Delmia make a working build philosophy for the new concept of the fixed leading edge for the Airbus A320 airliner, but also to make two conceptual fixtures in the modular framework BoxJoint for pre-drilling of two sub assemblies.   Everything started with a study in Delmia to both recap on previous knowledge and to learn more about it. This was followed by early simulations on the new concepts that were provided by project partners. Then a study was made in the Affordable Reconfigurable tooling, ART-concept. A suggested build philosophy was created and possible areas for automation were identified. These areas were all the drilling and fettling operations except the drilling in the last stage where the pre-drilled holes are opened up. More investigations needs to be done to see if a robot can install and remove slave pins that are used in the last stage. Two conceptual designs on fixtures were created where one uses two industrial robots with vision systems to get the correct accuracy when drilling the product. The other was build to be able to use a Tau-Gantry robot solution together with a vision system.

Primary care physicians are the first point of contact for patients entering the formal health care system. A shortage of primary care physicians in the United States has left approximately 60 million people without adequate access to a physician, resulting in lowered health care outcomes and excess stress on the health care safety net. Texas has one of the most severe shortages of primary care physicians with more than 5.7 million people living in rural and urban areas considered to be underserved. The state’s rapid population growth, as well as the wide geographic distribution of its residents, makes it particularly vulnerable to health care disparities. Although there is a decisive need, factors like high medical school debt and low anticipated salaries are leading more students to specialize instead of pursue a primary care career. A variety of solutions have been proposed to address this problem including: rethinking the physician reimbursement structure; expanding graduate medical education opportunities for primary care students; and incentivizing primary care with loan repayment. In 2014, the new insurance exchanges created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will begin operating, giving millions more Texans access to health insurance. The current Texas primary care physician workforce shortage will be exacerbated once the major components of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are fully enacted; therefore, state policymakers must take steps to increase Texas’ primary care physician workforce by making primary care a more attractive and accessible career path for medical students. / text

In light of the increasing need for affordable housing in cities, and because many city centers, especially older US city centers, are home to abandoned industrial buildings, this paper explores the potential for creating affordable housing through the adaptive re-use of such structures. Through a study of the current literature of both the current needs of affordable housing and the availability of the transition of adaptive re-use, this paper answers the questions of where this type of conversion has already taken place and explores what funding is available to make such a conversion financial possible. The paper then looks to three case studies in the United States to attempt to begin to answer under what local conditions adaptive re-use for affordable housing can succeed. Ultimately, this paper finds that under compliant circumstances, there is indeed a place for the adaptive re-use of abandoned structures to be developed into affordable housing. / text

This paper traces the effects which federal policy has had on home mortgage finance in the United States. In the past, the phases of intervention have been described as 1) the New Deal responses to the Great Depression, 2) the creation of the Government- Sponsored Enterprises and promotion of the secondary market, and 3) the deregulation of the banking industry. This paper uses the historical backdrop to examine the current era of intervention, including the Making Home Affordable initiative. The paper concludes with policy recommendations that tie past experience with current problems and explores shared equity homeownership as a sustainable model for the future. / text

Design has played a complicated role in affordable housing in both the U.S. and the UK. These two countries have had fairly different approaches towards their affordable housing policy in the past, but now have both converged to using mixed income housing as a primary method of delivering affordable housing. This report will investigate the role that design plays in the ways that each of these countries administers its mixed income housing programs. Specifically, it will look at how design is used to achieve the goals behind mixed income housing, as well as specific decisions regarding exterior treatment and siting of the units in a mixed income housing development. I will use a case study approach in my research process, focusing on two case studies in the UK, and two case studies in the U.S. In order to obtain my findings, I used key informant interviews, key policy and program documents, and on-site observations. Ultimately, I found that design factors need to be carefully balanced between social equity goals and financial feasibility, and it is important to recognize the limitations of what mixed income housing can achieve for social goals. / text