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Latin American nations are highly urbanised around a small number of megacities that account for the majority of these nations' productivity and population. Scholars of urban planning and economics argue these cities may be overly large, leading to environmental, transportation and housing issues that depress growth and increase economic inequality. We use fine-grained satellite data from 1992–2018 to document urban concentration in Latin America. We argue political decentralisation creates incentives to distribute urban populations more evenly throughout the territory. Our results demonstrate a strong empirical relationship between political decentralisation and lower urban concentration. We link our findings to literature on economic geography, political institutions and urbanisation, with broader implications for the politics of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of skill acquisition has long been of interest to music educators. This study considers the research context for relationships between aural dictation, sight singing, performance and composition skills. Then, relationships between these skill areas are quantitatively investigated using data from the Australian New South Wales Music 2 2010 and 2011 HSC examination tasks, which take place in the final year of secondary schooling. The results from the HSC data were analysed in three ways: raw results for each isolated skill, correlation analysis for each skill combination and comparative analysis of only top-achieving students. The study found that the highest correlations were between aural dictation and sight singing. Further analysis of top achieving students found that high achievement in multi-part aural dictation was the best predictor of high achievement in the other skill areas.

AMS student chapter at UD The University of Delaware's Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences launched a new meteorology and climatology major in the fall of 2015, creating a curriculum [...]

Objective: We examine the role of local election officials in voter suppression of Native Americans and opportunities for legal redress using state law. Methods: We present a case study of the Shoshone and Paiute Tribal leaders, Native activists, and lawyers in Elko County, Nevada, to provide electoral access on the Duck Valley Reservation. Results: We document the successful legal strategy against Elko County officials in state court following a newly adopted provision of the state constitution that committed Nevada to providing "equal access to the elections system without discrimination." Conclusion: This case study is a reminder of the discretionary power wielded by local election officials in the United States, and it presents a potential roadmap for fighting voting abuses using state laws and courts following the Supreme Court's Brnovich v. Democratic Central Committee (2021) ruling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 2020 election, voting by mail greatly expanded due to concerns with COVID-19. While voting by mail is relatively easy for most individuals, who have United States Postal Service (USPS) residential mail service, it is much more difficult for those with nonstandard mail service. In this article, we examine how decisions made by the USPS in the latter part of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have resulted in deeply entrenched structural inequities in the access to mail services on the Navajo Nation in Arizona when compared to rural nonreservation communities. Most (89 percent) of current Post Offices were established during the settler colonial period, during which sites were chosen primarily to advance military objectives and serve the interests of Anglo-American settlers. The resulting inequitable pattern of postal access remains, resulting in inferior mail service on the Navajo Nation and adversely impacting many aspects of life. Post Offices are fewer and farther from each other on reservation communities; there are fewer service hours; and we show in a mail experiment that letters posted on reservations are slower and less likely to arrive. This research fits within the growing body of American political development research on path-dependent processes and "spatial racism" within geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Predictive testing for BRCA1 or BRCA2 allows at-risk individuals to engage with appropriate screening and treatment services if a pathogenic mutation is identified. Previous studies have shown uptake of predictive testing to most commonly range between 20% and 40% (Table 2). This represents a missed cancer prevention opportunity. Possible explanations for this low uptake include lack of disclosure of at-risk status to relatives, lack of awareness of cancer genetics services, or patient preference. The goal of the current study was to investigate the uptake of BRCA1 or BRCA2 predictive testing in an Irish population. Methods: We performed a multicentre, retrospective analysis of 63 pedigrees from two Irish tertiary referral hospitals over a five-year period (2012-2017). Family pedigrees were reviewed to identify at-risk family members eligible for predictive BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation testing as per international guidelines, and testing rates were determined. Results: A total of 1048 eligible individuals were identified, 318 (30.4%) proceeded to BRCA1 or BRCA2 germline testing including [215 (37.5%) females and 99 males (21.5%)]. Women were significantly more likely to test than men (T = 3.7, p <.0002). Uptake of testing was significant higher amongst first-degree relatives 45% (150/323) compared to 20% (50/258) amongst second degree relatives, and 10 % (33/317) amongst more distant relatives (F = 25.32, p < 0.00001). Conclusions: Uptake of BRCA1 OR BRCA2 mutation testing in Ireland is suboptimal, particularly amongst Irish males and distant relatives. Further research is needed to identify strategies which may improve uptake within current legal and ethical frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An emergency legal injunction in Nevada granted two Indian reservations on-site early voting locations in the 2016 general election. These locations were two of four remote reservations participating in an academic survey to examine Native attitudes toward government and voting. The granting of only two locations out of the four creates reasonable conditions to treat the four cases as a natural experiment in on-site early voting. These cases also add to very limited existing knowledge about factors affecting voting behavior on Indian reservations and the impact of early voting sites in rural locations. We find that on-site early voting substantially increased voter turnout in the general election on the two reservations that received access in comparison to the two without satellite voting. We find little evidence that the reservations that received the voting sites were particularly likely to have high turnout in 2016. These findings provide supportive evidence that reducing the cost of voting by providing convenient locations and longer periods to cast a ballot increases voter turnout, including in groups with limited means to vote and low government trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To examine the evidence surrounding how the implementation of pharmacist discharge counseling affects the number of readmissions. DATA SOURCES: A search was conducted using EBSCOhost and the National Library of Medicine databases for articles published through December 2020 with the keywords "discharge counseling," "discharge teaching," "discharge education," "patient education," "patient teaching," "medication reconciliation," "pharmacist," and "readmission rates." The authors independently screened citations and applied inclusion and exclusion criteria. STUDY SELECTION: A total of 32 articles were reviewed and analyzed. Inclusion criteria included articles published in the English language with human subjects, and adults (18 years of age and older) involving pharmacist-led discharge counseling and assessment of readmission rates were included. DATA EXTRACTION: Study characteristics, intervention type, and outcomes with statistical significance where reported were included in the literature analysis. DATA SYNTHESIS: Studies examined reported varying health care improvements postdischarge with the implementation of pharmacist services in the discharge process. Not all results were significant for reduction in readmission rates, but a downward trend was observed. CONCLUSION: Implementation of pharmacist discharge counseling may decrease the number of hospital readmissions, particularly in older people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]