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This paper examines long-term recovery outcomes of businesses impacted by major natural disasters. Data were collected via two large-scale mail surveys—one administered to Santa Cruz County, California businesses 8 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake and the other administered to businesses in South Dade County, Florida, 6 years after Hurricane Andrew. Based on the results of OLS regression models, we argue that long-term recovery experiences of businesses are affected by various factors, including the economic sector in which a business operates, its age and financial condition, and the scope of its primary market; direct and indirect disaster impacts, including physical damage, forced closure, and disruption of operations; and owner perceptions of the broader economic climate. Previous disaster experience, level of disaster preparedness, and use of external sources of aid were not found to significantly affect the long-term economic viability of businesses in the two study communities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article offers information on a study on why arsenate seemed to support bacterial growth by Murray P. Deutscher and colleagues at the University of Miami in Florida. In this study, the authors used a common laboratory strain of Escherichia coli with radioactively tagged RNA. They demonstrated that there was significant breakdown of ribosomes in the bacterial cultures grown in the presence of arsenate.

Policymakers have suggested and implemented work requirements for safety-net programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). If these work requirements impact program participation, they may lead to greater food insecurity. This paper investigates the effects of implementing the work requirement for the SNAP on emergency food assistance usage. Data were used from a cohort of food pantries in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, which imposed the SNAP work requirement in 2016. Event study models were run in 2022, leveraging geographic variation in exposure to the work requirement to measure changes in the number of households served by the food pantries. The 2016 introduction of the SNAP work requirement increased the number of households served by food pantries. The impact is concentrated among urban food pantries. On average, an urban agency exposed to the work requirement served 34% more households in the 8 months after the work requirement than an agency with no exposure. Individuals who lose SNAP eligibility owing to the work requirement remain in need of assistance and seek other sources of food. SNAP work requirements thus increase the burden on emergency food assistance programs. Work requirements for other programs may also lead to increased emergency food assistance use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban street networks are poorly served by existing network analysis techniques. • During disasters, street travel rules are significantly different. • A grid-based approach better evaluates a region's traversability during a disaster. A variety of real-world infrastructure systems, including power grids, telecommunications, roads and social networks can be conceptualized and modeled using basic concepts from graph theory and network science. The abstraction of real-world systems into an edge-node topology enables analysts to quantify and characterize a range of network properties, including structure, connectivity, and modularity, as well as the attributes of individual nodes and edges such as degree, criticality, and betweenness. One major problem with the abstraction process associated with traditional network analysis is that edges and nodes are stripped of important proximal, contextual information that is critical for understanding how network elements operate in situ. For example, the geographic context of an elevated causeway is significantly different than a landlocked residential street, yet they are both simply represented as edges in traditional network modeling. The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications associated with network abstractions, including the loss of geographic fidelity, and why it matters for vulnerability analysis and emergency response during extreme events. Specifically, this paper introduces an alternative network conceptualization that preserves important on-network information, but also provides in situ context for local network elements, helping to deepen our understanding of local operating conditions. A case study for hurricane storm surge flooding in Volusia County, Florida is utilized to highlight how the developed approach better captures the realities of how evacuees and emergency response teams can leverage information for both on- and off-network space during a major disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Property acts as a mode of abstraction in environmental offsetting decision-making. • More-than-humans are often only viewed in a property lens by decision-makers. • Property moves through a logic of exchangeability that differs from animal mobility. • Realizing the different ways animals move can lead to more just decisions. A web of species interdependencies, movements, and relationships exist within areas targeted for development. However, these areas hosting a multitude of more-than-human beings' liveliness that are often only viewed by decision-makers in terms of the property regimes that encompass them. This paper examines this phenomenon in a case study of the conflict between gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) conservation and the proposed Osceola Parkway Extension in Central Florida. Gopher tortoise conservation in Florida offers a window into how conservation, mitigation strategies like offsetting, the exchangeability of property interact. The paper highlights what happens when decision-makers assume a property lens to understand and mitigate for conflicts between development and more-than-human relations to the environment. Understanding the two distinct, out of sync movements – that of gopher tortoises and that of conservation properties in offsetting – demonstrates the ways a multitude of more-than-human relationships are obscured and abstracted into transactional pieces through a property lens that moves through a logic of exchangeability. This suggests more-than-human lives, mobilities, and relationships need to become more fully part of the discussions and decision-making processes surrounding development-environmental conflicts. Only then can we begin to work towards more just multispecies decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interorganizational coalitions or collaboratives in healthcare are essential to address the health challenges of local communities, particularly during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. However, few studies use large-scale data to systematically assess the network structure of these collaboratives and understand their potential to be resilient or fragment in the face of structural changes. This paper analyzes data collected in 2009–2017 about 817 organizations (nodes) in 42 healthcare collaboratives (networks) throughout Florida, the third-largest U.S. state by population, including information about interorganizational ties and organizations' resource contributions to their coalitions. Social network methods are used to characterize the resilience of these collaboratives, including identification of key players through various centrality metrics, analyses of fragmentation centrality and core/periphery structure, and Exponential Random Graph Models to examine how resource contributions facilitate interorganizational ties. Results show that the most significant resource contributions are made by key players identified through fragmentation centrality and by members of the network core. Departure or removal of these organizations would both strongly disrupt network structure and sever essential resource contributions, undermining the overall resilience of a collaborative. Furthermore, one-third of collaboratives are highly susceptible to disruption if any fragmentation-central organization is removed. More fragmented networks are also associated with poorer health-system outcomes in domains such as education, health policy, and services. ERGMs reveal that two types of resource contributions – community connections and in-kind resource sharing – are especially important to facilitate the formation of interorganizational ties in these coalitions. • Collaborative healthcare resilience was assessed by analyzing key players, core-periphery structure, and fragmentation centrality. • ERGMs were estimated to examine the link between resource contributions by organizations and inter-organizational tie formation. • Florida healthcare collaboratives showed high vulnerability to fragmentation through structural changes. • Key players identified via fragmentation centrality were crucial providers of resources to healthcare coalitions. • Higher fragmentation centrality of coalition structure was associated with achievement of fewer health systems outcomes by the coalition. • Contributions of community connections and in-kind resources were most strongly associated with inter-organizational tie formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temporal and spatial scales controlling the morphodynamics of barrier-inlet systems are critical components of regional sediment management practice. This paper discusses regional sediment management methods employed at multiple barrier-inlet systems, with case studies from West-Central Florida. A decision-support tool is proposed for regional sediment management with discussion of its application to barrier-inlet systems. Connecting multiple barrier islands and inlets at appropriate spatio-temporal scales is critical in developing an appropriately scoped sediment management plan for a barrier-inlet system. Evaluating sediment bypassing capacity and overall inlet morphodynamics can better inform regional sand sharing along barrier-inlet coastlines; particularly where sediment resources are scarce and a close coupling between inlet dredging and beach placement is vital to long-term sustainable management. Continued sea-level rise and anthropogenic activities may intensify the need for investigating longer-term processes and expanding regional planning at a centennial timescale, and are acknowledged as challenging tasks for RSM studies. Specifically, we suggested that a regionally focused, multi-inlet study were necessary for management plan of individual inlet for the west-central Florida case studies. Key recommendations based on the case studies include: 1) allow the natural sediment bypassing to be re-established at Blind Pass inlet through reduced ebb-tidal delta mining, 2) reduce the interruption to sediment bypassing at John's Pass and Pass-a-Grille inlets through an improved design of the dredged mining areas located along sediment bypassing pathways, 3) allow for continued natural sediment bypassing at Bunces Pass, and, 4) incorporate the cyclic swash-bar attachment sediment bypassing into the management plan at Bunces Pass and adjacent barrier-islands. • This paper discusses regional sediment management methods employed at multiple barrier-inlet systems. • A decision support tool is proposed for regional sediment management with application in barrier-inlet systems. • Evaluating sediment bypassing capacity with inlet morphodynamics can better inform regional sand sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban stormwater managers have traditionally used pipes, ditches, ponds and other gray infrastructure elements to quickly divert runoff away from its main sources—buildings and roadways. In contrast, proponents of green infrastructure attempt to manage stormwater near its origin, utilizing natural drainage pathways and best management practices (BMPs) to reduce runoff and increase infiltration. In doing so, stormwater is retained where it is needed to support urban vegetation. This vegetation, in turn, helps reduce future runoff, while producing a whole range of environmental, economic, and social/human health-related benefits. Despite the many advantages of green infrastructure, retrofitting the infrastructure of a city is a costly process that requires careful planning. The transition from gray to green infrastructure requires communication between managers from different disciplines and a willingness to stray from management strategies that have defined stormwater management for centuries. The Gray to Green (G2G) green infrastructure planning tool is designed to facilitate these conversations—showing both technical and non-technical users how green infrastructure BMPs can work within the urban forest to manage stormwater on existing or proposed development sites. This paper details the data sources and research at the core of G2G—documenting all methods, equations, and assumptions used in its creation to provide users with a fully-transparent and peer-reviewed planning tool. The paper concludes with descriptions and user insights from two case studies from Tampa, Florida (United States) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (United States). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Overstory, midstory, understory/regeneration and groundcover data were collected in over 37,000 nested plots from 73 Florida state parks and 15 ecoregions. • Most communities that were supposed to have pine in the overstory did. • Midstory was primarily dominated by non-pines; mainly deciduous hardwoods. • Pine seedlings and saplings were scarce. • Overstory hierarchical clustering grouped some of the similar community types within ecoregions in the same group/subgroup but midstory and regeneration clustering produced mixed results. Plot based forest/vegetation data is used to establish current conditions and inform natural resources management decisions. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection – Division of Recreation and Parks (DRP) manages 175 state parks. As part of its mission, DRP strives to restore landscapes and natural communities by reintroducing dynamic natural processes such as fire. DRP also uses other methods of active management to achieve desired future conditions (DFCs) in multiple communities including those characterized by longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) and native groundcover (GC) species. To meet the challenge of managing natural resources across the State, DRP initiated an objective and repeatable forest/vegetation inventory system. The primary objective of this paper was to analyze and summarize the resultant data and compare current community type (ComType) vegetation conditions. Current conditions were quantified using nested plots distributed within sample areas across 73 state parks and 15 ecoregions via the line-plot method. Over 37,000 plots were inventoried; 36% were in pine flatwoods. Ten actively managed and dominant ComTypes were central to this paper and when aggregated by ecoregion, 76 ComType by ecoregion (CTER) groups were examined. Descriptive statistics for various measurements, e.g., diameter at breast height, height, and density, were calculated for overstory, midstory and understory (vegetation layer) separately per CTER. Mean importance value index (IVI) was calculated by species or species-group per vegetation layer and CTER. Community classification was conducted via hierarchical clustering of CTERs per vegetation layer using mean IVI scores. Across CTERs, pine overstory and midstory abundance/stocking levels were generally low, non-pine overstory and midstory stocking levels were high, pine regeneration was sparse, and GC was dominated by leaf litter, pine straw, and non-pine woody seedlings. Results strongly suggest that some ComTypes were similar within certain ecoregions. Various pine species are considered dominant or one of the prominent overstory species for eight of the ten ComTypes. The ability to manage upland pine ComTypes using natural regeneration systems will become increasingly challenging in the near- to medium-term given relatively low overstory pine stocking for most CTERs, and the virtual lack of young pines within midstory and understory layers. Further investigations could help identify potential causal agents concerning low young pine stocking levels, e.g., timing and frequency of prescribed fires, frequency of logging, and/or increased competition from high densities of midstory non-pines and appropriate natural regeneration systems, e.g., seed tree, shelterwood, or group selection, or underplanting longleaf pine, that would accelerate understory pine recruitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Conduct an empirical driving simulator study to assess the effectiveness of speed reduction measures for pedestrian crossing treatments. • Proposed a comparative assessment component to analyze drivers' speed adjustment under different pedestrian crossing treatments types. • Proposed a random parameter hurdle beta model to analyze the proportion of speed reduction with pedestrian crossing treatments types compared to a base condition. • Identified significant environment and driver-related characteristics for speed adjustment behaviors considering the heterogeneity of each driver. Pedestrian crossing treatments, such as Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons (PHBs) and Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), are traffic control devices implemented to help pedestrians safely cross busy or higher-speed roadways at midblock crossings and uncontrolled intersections. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of the PHB and RRFB by analyzing drivers' speeding behavior under different roadway types with real-life traffic conditions. In order to understand the effect of pedestrian crossing treatments (i.e., PHB and RRFB) have on drivers' speeding behavior, this paper analyzes four zones (i.e., one upstream zone and three consecutive downstream zones). For the four analysis zones, different indexes were computed which corresponds to the differences in drivers' speed when encountered with the pedestrian crossing treatments. A grouped random effect hurdle beta regression model is estimated for the indexes, with a fixed effect hurdle beta model used for comparison and validating the importance of considering the grouped random heterogeneity across participants. The proposed analysis framework was validated by the means of an empirical driving simulator study, based on two urban roads in the Central Florida region, North Alafaya Trail (SR-434) and South Orange Blossom Trail (US-441). The results revealed that the proposed modeling framework reflects drivers' difference in speed for the different pedestrian crossing treatments. The results suggest that with proper understanding of the PHB, the PHB can reduce drivers speed even beyond the location of the PHB. Meanwhile, the RRFB does have some effect in speed reduction beyond the location of the RRFB, however many drivers failed to acknowledge the RRFB. It is suggested that when drivers' have proper education on the use of the PHB to reduce speed safely and for the installation of RRFB be on roads with two or less lanes and a speed limit less than 40 mph. While the main purpose of the pedestrian crossing treatments is to help pedestrians cross safely, speed reduction can be considered a byproduct as revealed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This protocol paper describes the overall design for HPV MISTICS, a multilevel intervention to increase human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination initiation and completion rates among adolescents aged 11–17. We will conduct a hybrid type 1 implementation-effectiveness trial using a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in eight federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) in Florida. Intervention components target three levels: system, providers, and parents. Outcomes will be assessed using quantitative (e.g., vaccination data, survey data) and qualitative methods (e.g., staff and parent interviews). We expect to quantify changes in HPV vaccine series initiation and completion rates for adolescents ages 11–17 in the eight FQHCs. We have hypothesized a 20-percentage point increase in HPV vaccine series initiation and a 10-percentage point increase in series completion. We also anticipate being able to explore factors at the system, provider, and patient levels as potential covariates. Implementation outcomes, barriers, and facilitators identified in the study will help characterize the implementation process and inform potential future intervention scale-up. The project is ongoing; effectiveness and implementation outcomes will be determined following project completion. Findings will provide evidence of an equity-informed research design and implementation procedures that could help improve HPV vaccination rates in similar health systems. Clinical trials identifier: NCT05677360 (date registered: 2022-12-22); https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05677360?lead=Moffitt%20Cancer%20Center%20&aggFilters=status:rec&page=2&rank=17 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managed treatment wetlands technology is now used around the world to treat wastewater and stormwater by removing nutrients and other contaminants to obtain a desired water quality. In this paper we present a brief review of a large-scale application of the nature-based technology known as stormwater treatment areas (STAs). These STAs were constructed to treat agricultural and urban runoff to reduce outflow total phosphorus (TP) concentrations to <20 μg P L−1, which is required to protect downstream water quality and preserve the remaining Everglades ecosystem. Five STAs with a total area of approximately 25,000 ha were built at strategic locations to reduce TP loads to the Everglades Protection Area. For the past three decades, these Everglades STAs have done remarkable job by 70 to 85% TP load reduction, with an average outflow TP concentrations of 15-40 μg P L−1. In this Everglades STAs special issue, we present research findings on the influence of both external and internal drivers influencing STA performance and potential adaptive management strategies to enhance treatment efficiency to further reduce outflow TP concentrations. • Introduction of the Everglades STAs – largest constructed treatment wetland network in the world. • Everglades STAs serve as 'kidneys' of the Everglades ecosystem by reducing phosphorus loads to downstream waterbodies. • Phosphorus loading is one of the key drivers regulating treatment efficiency STAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in stormwater treatment processes is a continuous challenge because of the intertwined nature of its decomposition, bioavailability, and biodegradability and its unclear molecular characteristics. In this paper, 21 T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) in combination with quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to elucidate the molecular change of DON and microbial population dynamics in a field-scale water filtration system filled with two specialty adsorbents for comparison in South Florida where the dry and wet seasons are distinctive annually. The adsorbents included CPS (clay-perlite and sand sorption media) and ZIPGEM (zero-valent iron and perlite-based green environmental media). Our study revealed that seasonal effects can significantly influence the dynamic characteristics and biodegradability of DON. The microbial population density in the filter beds indicated that three microbial species in the nitrogen cycle were particularly thrived for denitrification, dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium, and anaerobic ammonium oxidation via competition and commensalism relationships during the wet season. Also, there was a decrease in the compositional complexity and molecular weight of the DON groups (C n H m O p N 1 , C n H m O p N 2 , C n H m O p N 3 , and C n H m O p N 4), revealed by the 21 T FT-ICR MS bioassay, driven by a microbial population quantified by polymerase chain reaction from the dry to the wet season. These findings indirectly corroborate the assumption that the metabolism of microorganisms is much more vigorous in the wet season. The results affirm that the sustainable materials (CPS and ZIPGEM) can sustain nitrogen removal intermittently by providing a suitable living environment in which the metabolism of microbial species can be cultivated and enhanced to facilitate physico-chemical nitrogen removal across the two types of green sorption media. [Display omitted] • ZIPGEM media mix performs better than CPS media mix for nitrogen removal. • DON decomposition deeply affects the removal rate of nitrogen in the surface water filtration system. • Photoammonification and mineralization are the key steps of the DON partial fraction decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the ecology and management of two flow-through created wetlands that, in turn, defined 30 years of research by Bill Mitsch, 20 years in Columbus, Ohio (1992–2012) and 10 years in Naples, Florida (2012−2022). The Olentangy River Wetland Research Park was built in several stages from 1993 through 2010. The first stage was the creation of dual 1-ha kidney-shaped wetlands primarily fed by pumped Olentangy River water. A pattern of inflow that depended on river stage was maintained for 17 years. The two experimental wetlands were established by planting one of the wetlands with a variety of wetland macrophytes and leaving the second wetland unplanted to ultimately determine whether human introduction of wetland plants matter in the long run. In addition to maintaining data collection for hydrology, water quality, and other functions, these wetlands and several others constructed on the 20-ha floodplain site were heavily used as was the mesocosm compound, mostly for short-term (2 to 3 year) experiments by graduate students. Another 20-ha created wetland complex, called Freedom Park Wetlands, was constructed in 2007–2008 in Naples, Florida, at an abandoned citrus grove, to seasonally treat urban stormwater runoff. During that wet season, the design calls for an average water detention time of 18 days. The wetland system included a 1.9-ha deepwater pond for temporary storage of the urban stormwater pulses from what is mostly an urban watershed, followed by 2.7 ha of shallower vegetated wetland ponds designed to sequentially improve water quality. Within each wetland, there are three deep-water cells and two shallow-water cells. The water eventually exits the treatment wetlands via a rectangular and travels diffusely through a restored bottomland forest to the Gordon River and ultimately toward Naples Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. During our tenure at Florida Gulf Coast University's (FGCU) Everglades Wetland Research Park, Freedom Park was a venue with active mesocosm experiments in a constructed mesocosm compound. Several of these mesocosm experiments were the subjects of master's theses from FGCU and doctoral dissertations from our partner, University of South Florida. Our students also contributed to the local environmental communities by giving tours of the Freedom Park wetlands and our mesocosm research. • This paper describes the ecology and management of two created wetlands. • The Olentangy River Wetland Research Park in Ohio, USA has provided data since 1994. • The Freedom Park wetlands in Florida, USA were constructed in 2007–2008. • Both wetlands offer ecosystem services (i.e. nutrient reduction and flood protection). • These wetlands provide the framework for thirty years of wetlands research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longitudinal panel studies are effective strategies to assess the personal impact of child welfare work, as well as employment outcomes of workers over time. However, longitudinal studies encounter obstacles such as disproportionate attrition that threaten the validity of findings. This paper provides an overview of the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (FSPSF), a 5-year longitudinal panel study of newly hired workers into the child welfare workforce. The purpose of this paper is three-fold: 1) describe the study methodology and recruitment and retention techniques for the FSPSF; 2) illustrate Estrada and colleagues' Tailored Panel Management framework (2014) through FSPSF methodological decisions; and 3) provide guidance and time estimates of key tasks for those interested in undertaking similar projects, with a particular focus on electronic data collection and communication strategies. Initial results are excellent – 84% of all eligible workers completed baseline surveys ( n = 1,451). At Wave 2 (6 months), 81% of those workers were retained, with preliminary findings of 84% retention of the original baseline respondents at Wave 3 (12 months). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare resource availability is potentially associated with COVID-19 mortality, and the potentially uneven geographical distribution of resources is a looming concern in the global pandemic. Given that access to healthcare resources is important to overall population health, assessing COVID-19 patients' access to healthcare resources is needed. This paper aims to examine the temporal variations in the spatial accessibility of the U.S. COVID-19 patients to medical facilities, identify areas that are likely to be overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and explore associations of low access areas with their socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. We use a three-step floating catchment area method, spatial statistics, and logistic regression to achieve the goals. Findings of this research in the State of Florida revealed that North Florida, rural areas, and zip codes with more Latino or Hispanic populations are more likely to have lower access than other regions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our approach can help policymakers identify potentially possible low access areas and establish appropriate policy intervention paying attention to those areas during a pandemic. • The temporal variations in the spatial accessibility of COVID-19 patients to ICU beds in Florida are examined. • A spatial accessibility method, spatial statistics, and a statistical method are performed. • Rural areas are more likely to be a low access area across all time periods. • Areas with more Latino or Hispanic populations are likely to have low access during the early and spreading periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present AquaNutriOpt, a user-friendly Python package designed to tackle a complex combinatorial optimization problem aimed at optimizing nutrient management for the control of harmful algal blooms. This optimization process involves the identification of optimal Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Treatment Technologies (TTs). AquaNutriOpt is constructed based on a novel integer programming model, which we present in this paper. The package can accommodate various user inputs, automatically transforming them into an optimization model, and then solving it using a free solver. To demonstrate AquaNutriOpt's efficacy, we conduct a series of experiments on two watersheds around Lake Okeechobee in Florida, USA. These experiments illustrate that the optimal BMPs/TTs obtained by AquaNutriOpt can significantly reduce Phosphorus loads into the lake across various budget scenarios. We validate the results by running simulations with the process-based Watershed Assessment Model (WAM), confirming that the estimated percentage reductions closely align with the reports from WAM. • We study controlling harmful algal blooms (HABs) through nutrient optimization. • We develop a novel mathematical optimization model for nutrient optimization. • We develop a software package in Python based on the proposed model. • We show the efficacy of the package in a case study in Lake Okeechobee in Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes the 2009/2010/2011 American Community Survey to examine spatial patterns of later-life relocation from the state of New York into Florida. Given that the first-wave of the Baby Boom generation reached the retirement age of 65 years in January 2011 and many more will continue to do so, examining the mobility/subsequent residential choices of this group is a worthwhile undertaking. This research paper is also a noteworthy contribution because it offers an interdisciplinary study of spatial statistics and population geography. Exploratory spatial analysis and multinomial regressions suggest older adults from New York leave select origins, such as Capital District, Mid-Hudson, and Lower Hudson. In addition, these older adults select preferred destinations in Florida, such as Fort Myers, Fort Pierce–Stuart, and West Palm Beach. This finding can inform planners, policy analysts, and social workers about how to best address issues related to health and community services since not all older adult migrants seeking coastal and recreational areas in Florida maintain greater wealth and better health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Church-based interventions have been shown to improve the dietary health of underserved populations, yet few studies have examined sustainability of health behavior change over time. This paper examines dietary outcomes over a 24-month period (baseline and 6, 18, and 24 months) for fruit and vegetable and fat consumption behaviors of African-American participants in the Health for Hearts United church-based intervention in North Florida.Study Design: This quasi-experimental, longitudinal trial was conducted from 2009 to 2012. Data were analyzed in 2018.Setting/participants: Six churches in a 2-county area (3 treatment, 3 comparison) were selected for the study using community-based participatory research approaches. Participants were African-American adults (aged ≥45 years; n=211 at baseline) randomly selected from the churches, stratified by age and sex.Intervention: Health for Hearts United intervention was developed by the 3 treatment churches. The 18-month intervention was implemented in 3 6-month phases, framed around 3 conceptual components, which included 4 types of programs and 4 key messages.Main Outcome Measures: Fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed using a single item (fruit and vegetable intake) and the National Cancer Institute Fruit and Vegetable Screener. Fat consumption was determined using a single item (fat intake) and the National Cancer Institute Fat Screener. Background characteristics included age, sex, educational level, and marital status.Results: Significant time effects only were found for daily fruit and vegetable intake (p<0.001), fat intake (p<0.001), and the Fat Screener (p<0.001) with dietary improvements in both treatment and comparison groups across the intervention phases. Fruit and Vegetable Screener results showed that time (p<0.001) and the interaction between time and treatment (p<0.01) were significant, with increases in fruit and vegetable consumption over time for both the treatment and comparison groups and with the increase differing between groups. Post hoc analysis revealed that the treatment group had greater increases in fruit and vegetable consumption than the comparison group between Phases 1 and 3 (p=0.03).Conclusions: Dietary behaviors of mid-life and older African Americans can be improved and sustained over 24 months using a church-based heart health intervention, with similar improvements noted for both comparison and treatment participants.Trial Registration: This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.govNCT03339050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigate the contamination issue in SSR in Florida analyzing the audit data. • High reject rate in inbound streams is the main driver of the contamination issue. • Grit/fines/sweepings, mixed plastics, scrap metals are the main contaminants. • Contamination rates in glass and colored HDPE streams can be up to 45%. • None of the obtained 266 ONP and only 31.4% OCC samples meet the mill standards. The single stream recycling (SSR) program is a process in which all recyclable materials are deposited into a single collection bin. SSR has gained popularity in the U.S. due to its inherent abilities in waste collection, and specifically, in Florida, more than twenty counties have recently switched their recycling program from dual stream recycling (DSR) to SSR. Despite a more efficient collection process, mixing all recyclable materials into a single bin can lead to cross contamination even before reaching material recovery facilities (MRFs). This study aims to provide a better understanding of the sorting process and equipment in MRFs, and the impact of the SSR program on contamination rates in outbound materials that were processed through Florida's recycling systems. First, we investigate the audit data obtained from a currently operating MRF in Florida using mass flow analysis to identify the most problematic recyclable streams and the processes with low efficiency and high false separation rates. According to our results, the sorting rates of mixed paper, glass and plastics are under the industry standards. Moreover, we investigate the outbound contamination rates of 35 old corrugated cardboard (OCC) and 266 old newsprints (ONP) samples obtained from four currently operating MRFs in Florida. Based on the results, only 31.4% of OCC samples and none of the ONP samples were within the accepted mills' standards for contamination rates. This study provides valuable insights for lowering contamination and raising the end-product quality by identifying the problematic contaminants and processes in sorting and separation in MRFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Solid waste management presents a policy venue of "green economic development." • There is a 0.4% SWMR employment growth upon a 1% point recycling rate increase. • Presence of strong environmental groups influences SWMR employment growth. • Labor force and unemployment rate result in scrap materials business growth. • Popular tourist destinations attract more recycling processing jobs in Florida. Recycling solid waste not only produces environmental and health benefits, but also generates economic benefit. This paper empirically evaluates the employment impact of Florida county recycling programs from 2000 through 2011, applying a fixed effects regression model. The results indicate that a one percentage point increase of county recycling rate leads to a 0.4% job growth in overall solid waste and recycling industry. However, the impact of recycling programs on green jobs are not uniform across the recycling subsectors: the effect is concentrated in the recycling processing sector while the solid waste collection sector and scrap materials businesses are unlikely to be influenced by county's recycling performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Demonstrates the use of LBSN to guide managers during natural disasters. • Method for content extraction and sentiment analysis from LBSN data. • Supervised machine learning techniques used to classify tweets. • Tweets joined with ACS 2017 to study the context where tweets emerge. • Longer, less re-tweeted content from less popular tweeters is likely to be useful. Location-based social networks like Twitter can relay not just what is happening but where. To enable efficient resource allocation during natural disasters, managers need to know what citizens are experiencing and where. During Hurricane Irma in 2017 in Florida over six million people were asked to evacuate. The hurricane caused widespread damage. We utilized geospatial and machine learning techniques to categorize geolocated tweets, which were both about Hurricane Irma and located within Florida. We employed sentiment analysis to classify tweets about damage and/or transportation into negative, neutral, or positive groups. We used the American Community Survey (ACS) 2017 geography to provide socio-economic context, and relied on a multinomial logit specification to examine which features of the tweet, tweeter, or location were likely to be associated with negative or positive sentiments. We found that longer tweets were more likely to have useful sentiment-based content. We also discovered that popular tweeters were likely to tweet positive sentiments, and that popular tweets were less likely to have useful information about the disaster. The ACS backdrop suggested that the likelihood of tweets with negative sentiments was higher in census block groups with younger families. The probability of tweets with useful positive or negative sentiments dropped in locations with higher property values or median rents. This paper offers a methodology for extracting information embedded within social media data, and suggests ways to develop a probability-based understanding of needs to guide disaster managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the impacts of physician-patient race-match, especially Black patients paired with Black physicians, on patient mortality. We draw on administrative data from Florida, linking hospital encounters from mid-2011 through 2014 to information from the Florida Physician Workforce Survey. Focusing on uninsured patients experiencing unscheduled hospital admissions who are conditionally randomly assigned to physicians, we find that physician-patient race-match for Black patients reduces the likelihood of within-hospital mortality by 0.28 percentage points, a 27 % reduction relative to the overall mortality rate. An alternative identification strategy relying on instrumental variables provides a similar finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) are constructed wetlands used to reduce the total phosphorus (TP) level in water discharged to the environmentally sensitive areas of the Everglades Protection Area. Analysis of high temporal frequency TP data reveals that TP concentrations discharged from selected STA flow-ways exhibit diel and seasonal cyclic patterns and are most affected by discharge rate and water depth. The objective of this paper is to describe the diel TP pattern and evaluate the possibility of using it to reduce TP in STA discharge. The amplitude of diel TP pattern ranged from 0.7 to 1.5 μg L−1 (3–6% deviation from daily mean) at three flow-ways, peaking in the early afternoon and reaching lowest concentrations between midnight and 4 am. To assess the possibility of further reducing TP concentration discharged from the STAs by increasing the proportion of daily flow discharged at night when diel TP is at a minimum, a General Additive Model (GAM) was created with discharge rate, water depth, year, location, day-of-year, and time-of-day as covariates. While time-of-day was a statistically significant factor in the model (p < 0.001), its average marginal effect was smaller than all other significant model covariates: discharge rate, season, and water depth. Modeling suggests that within specific ranges of discharge rate and water depth, the opportunity exists to provide additional TP reduction in STA outflow by discharging a greater proportion of the daily flow at night when TP concentrations are lower. Further research is needed to quantify the effect of increasing nighttime flow on annual flow weighted mean TP. Additionally, an evaluation of the practicality and logistical cost required to redistribute flow is needed before attempting to take advantage of this natural cyclic pattern to improve STA TP retention. • A diel pattern in totla phosphorus (TP) was found in south Florida wetlands. • Peak diel TP occured between noon and 3 pm, a minimum concentration between midnight and 4 am. • Amplitude of diel pattern ranged between 0.7 and 1.5 μg L-1 TP or 3–6% from daily mean TP. • Under certain hydrologic conditions increasing the proportion of overnight flow could reduce TP in wetland discharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the correlation between pedestrian crashes and sidewalk gaps within the Central Florida region. • The presence of sidewalk is one of the main factors that have significant impact on the expected number of pedestrian crashes along a roadway segment. • The number of crashes increases with the increase in the gap length where shorter segments less than 2 miles in length with no sidewalks had no crashes. • The likelihood of a pedestrian crash along roadways with no sidewalk is 1.67 times greater than the likelihood of a crash with the presence of a sidewalk. • The likelihood of a pedestrian crash per mile along roadways with no sidewalk is 3 times greater than the likelihood of a crash per mile with the presence of a sidewalk. In recent years, pedestrian safety has emerged to be of major concern to selected States in the US and at the national level. With the transition to the mobility of people, pedestrian safety has become more prevalent for governmental agencies to address and prioritize for strategic implementation. It was crucial to address the pedestrian-vehicular conflict within Florida as it was reported as having the highest four pedestrian incident locations in the country. Many pedestrian sidewalks in Florida are not continuous and there is a concern among planners and engineers in the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) that these gaps constitute discontinuity of flow and are potentially posing threats to pedestrian safety. This paper investigates the correlation between pedestrian safety and sidewalk gaps within the Central Florida region. A sidewalk gap is defined as a length of a roadway segment with missing or absent sidewalk between existing sidewalks (before and after) along the same segment. "Missing" sidewalks are locations where the sidewalk is not only absent, but there is a desire to have one constructed or it would be used if it were constructed. The missing sidewalk can be on one side of the road or both sides. A wide array of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) information associated with the sidewalk gaps and the safety data were secured by FDOT. The data included all the Roadway Characteristics Inventory (RCI) within the district. Crash data combined with other geometric design data, traffic data, and census data were used to develop a statistical model. The results showed that presence of sidewalk along roadway segments is one of the main factors that have significant impact on the expected number of pedestrian crashes at a specific location. Other factors included daily traffic volumes, roadway category, specifically along urban two-way divided and undivided arterials with four to six lanes as well as the population within half-mile radius surrounding the crash location. The model results revealed that the Incident Risk Ratio (IRR) of a pedestrian crash along roadways with no sidewalk is 1.67 times greater than the likelihood of a crash with the presence of a sidewalk at 95% Confidence Interval (C.I.). The analysis also concluded that the likelihood of a pedestrian crash per mile along roadways with no sidewalk is three times greater than the likelihood of a crash per mile with the presence of a sidewalk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Catastrophe models help to evaluate the vulnerability of the building stock exposed to a hazard. This paper presents a history of the hurricane risk models in Florida, and discusses their relationship to the building codes. The first models were econometric, and failed to predict the insured building losses produced by hurricane Andrew. This led to a change in the loss projection paradigm and to the advent of modern catastrophe modeling. Advantages and challenges of the current methodologies are discussed, including the quality of input, validation, uncertainty, and scope of the outputs. The paper concludes with a brief overview of current and future research in vulnerability modeling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Building sustainability assessments are driving greater market demand for sustainable buildings in the developed world. However, do such assessments actually demonstrate building sustainability? Some critics of building sustainability assessment argue that the methods should evolve toward an “absolute” assessment of building sustainability. That is, rather than assessing a building relative to a average like-type building as is typically done, the assessment should be made to whatever is deemed sustainable using a credible science. One possible form of absolute assessment is using the indicator of sustainability known as carrying capacity. After discussing the opportunities with a carrying-capacity-based assessment of buildings, this paper proposes a computational model that provides such an assessment. There are four main components to the presented computational model. The first is the amount of carbon (C) stored on the building site in its native state. This native-site carbon storage is defined as the baseline carbon storage and represents the carrying capacity of the building project. The second is land use change, which accounts for the removal or addition of vegetation and other carbon storing elements to the project site. The third and fourth carbon emissions sources in the model are building construction and operation. A building is considered sustainable in the model if by the end of its expected lifetime the total amount of carbon emissions are completely offset. Building designers and their clients can use this model to more comprehensively account for carbon emissions and identify options for reducing and offsetting them. To drive greater adoption, the model has been developed into an online resource, Green Footstep (www.greenfootstep.org). To demonstrate the usefulness of the model, this paper presents a case study of an institutional building in Lake Placid, Florida, USA. The case study shows that the design team used the model to better understand what it means to have a “low-carbon” goal. The model showed them that over one hundred years, the building project must reduce and offset carbon emissions at a rate of 16 tonnes C per year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Crash spot–residence location distances were examined spatially and statistically. • Crash spot–residence distances were used to assess risky perimeters for analyzed groups. • Clear differences among the groups with respect to varying factors were identified. • Spatial crash distribution of individuals can be integrated into crash prediction. This paper investigates the proximity of crashes to the residential locations of the crash occupants. To this end, two years of crash data was disaggregated by the crash occupants' ZIP codes for a study area in Southwest Florida in order to calculate the roadway network distances between their residential ZIP code area centroids (origins) and crash spots (destinations). These distances are then used to create multiple O-D vectors, so that several different groups can be analyzed controlling for non-motorist types (e.g. pedestrians, cyclists), rural vs. urban origin ZIP codes, different levels of crash severity, DUI involvement, and different age groups. Then, the best-fitting statistical distributions were identified for each group to assess the proximity of crash spots to the residences of crash occupants. Finally, a selection model was implemented to identify the effects of several factors on the distance between the crash spots and the residence locations. Results indicate clear differences in crash involvement among the groups with respect to varying urban densities, people's ages and modes of travel. These findings can help in the development of more accurate crash prediction methods, as most current approaches only implement variables associated with traffic and roadway geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the key finding is that all the examined first classic Initial Breakdown (IB) pulses in tropical flashes within the reversal distance were found to be initiated by a clearly detectable Initial E-field Change or IEC (45 –CG, 32 normal IC, and 3 IC initiated by +NBE). The durations of IECs for both –CG and IC flashes in tropical storms were longer than in Florida storms. On the other hand, for the magnitudes of the E-change, the values were smaller compared to Florida storms with averages of 0.30 V/m compared to 1.65 V/m for –CG flashes, and −0.81 V/m compared to −6.30 V/m for IC flashes. The IEC process of lightning flashes in tropical regions took longer to increase the local electric field in order to produce the first IB pulse because of the smaller magnitude of E-change. On the other hand, in Florida storms, the IEC process took a shorter time to increase the local electric field to produce the first IB pulse because of the larger magnitude of E-change. We found that very high frequency (VHF) pulses for tropical thunderstorms started sometime prior to the onset of the IECs. They started between 12.69 and 251.60 μs before the initiation of the IEC for two normal IC flashes. The first two VHF pulses were detected alone without narrow IB pulses (fast antenna and slow antenna records) or any pulses from the B-field and dE/dt records. Furthermore, the VHF pulses for three IC flashes initiated by +NBEs were also detected before the onset of the IEC. The IEC started immediately after the detection of the +NBE. It is clear that the IEC is initiated by VHF pulses. It can be suggested that lightning is initiated by Fast Positive Breakdowns or FPBs (which emit strong VHF pulses and large +NBEs) and is followed by several negative breakdowns (weak VHF pulses and/or weak NBE-type pulses) before the IEC started. For the case of normal IC flashes, several weaker VHF pulses (mean values of 41.97 mV and 46.4 mV compared to the amplitudes of the VHF pulses of +NBEs of around 800 mV) were detected before the onset of the IEC. As FPBs can occur with a wide range of VHF strengths and E-change amplitudes, it can be suggested these weak VHF pulses accompanied by narrow IB pulses or weak NBE-type pulses detected before the onset of IEC are actually FPBs followed by negative breakdowns or several attempted FPBs. • The first classic IB pulses of 80 tropical flashes within reversal distance were initiated by IEC. • VHF pulses detected before the onset of IEC for two normal IC flashes. • IECs started immediately after the first VHF pulse of three IC flashes initiated by +NBE. • IEC is initiated by VHF pulses. • A lightning flash is initiated by fast positive breakdown and followed by negative breakdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the chemistry of suspended particulates collected in waters of the southeastern US continental shelf off the coasts of North Florida and South Georgia. Approximately 350 suspended sediment samples were analyzed for particulate organic carbon and nitrogen (POC and PON), particulate aluminum and calcium and a suite of trace metals which included particulate alkaline earths (magnesium, strontium, barium), particulate rare earth metals (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium and dysprosium), particulate transition metals (cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, nickel. scandium, titanium and vanadium) and others: particulate cadmium, zinc, thorium and uranium. The samples were collected in the fall of 1987 during a multidiscipline expedition (FLEX) focused on cross shelf exchange of water and materials during northward wind stress and fall Gulf Stream intrusions. Although samples were analyzed shortly after collection, archived data have not been previously presented. Results are interpreted with regard to how they relate to particle provenance, transport and fate. Results indicate that significant influence of terrestrial sources of suspended particles is limited to the inner shelf, however the concentrations of some metals, such as rare earths, appear to reflect this provenance across the entire shelf. Mid-outer shelf particles are dominated by re-suspended biogenic carbonates and biogenic organic carbon rich particles formed in response to Gulf Stream up welled nutrients. Particulate trace element concentrations and primary production in mid-outer shelf waters are interpreted as a response to not only nutrient, but also trace metal enrichment of up welled Gulf Stream water intruded onto the shelf. Based on particle chemistry, micro nutrients such as Fe in upwelled waters may be limiting in sustaining mid-outer shelf production. Other trace metals such as Sc appear to be enriched due to adsorption on organic rich particles. And the formation SrSO 4 particles, originating from Acantharian spicules, appear to create an environment for the precipitation of barite in outer shelf surface waters. • Carrier phases are biogenic, terrigeneous solids and resuspended carbonates. • Mid, outer shelf is dominated by suspended carbonates and biogenic particles. • Metals in upwell waters accumulate in particles by active uptake and adsorption. • Micro nutrients (eg.Fe) in upwelled waters may limit mid-outer shelf production. • Biogenic SrSO 4 formation-degradation leads to BaSO 4 formation on outer shelf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Sea-level rise (SLR) has drawn unprecedented attention from coastal communities around the world. In fact, many are already being affected and, in response, SLR vulnerability assessments have increasingly emerged in the US as the local communities' first attempt on the adaptation planning agenda. However, to date, little is known about these early planning endeavors in terms of how vulnerability is conceptualized and operationalized. By reviewing the current local SLR vulnerability assessments in the US, we find that most are only focusing on their biophysical exposure to SLR overlooking other important vulnerability factors including sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The limited number of SLR scenarios and the lack of consideration for extreme events are also considered as the major deficiencies. To fill these gaps, we propose a conceptual vulnerability assessment framework to operationalize the full concept of vulnerability and test it through a case study in the Tampa Bay region, Florida. By comparing the vulnerability results of the common practice with our proposed framework, we find large variances in the resulting findings stressing the importance of selecting the proper assessment approach. This paper finally concludes with urban planning and governance implications and future research directions. Coastal planner and managers wanting to improve their understanding of the communities' vulnerability to SLR will benefit from this study. Highlights • How coastal localities conceptualize and assess vulnerability varies. • Most of the existing sea-level rise vulnerability assessments only consider exposure. • A conceptual sea-level rise vulnerability assessment framework is developed. • The assessment approach can significantly affect vulnerability findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Domestic minor human trafficking (HT) is a growing social justice concern, particularly among youth in the child welfare system. This paper uses administrative data to describe the characteristics and experiences of a population of youth in the child welfare system considered to be at particularly high risk of victimization: youth who have run away from foster care. Analyses are based on nearly 37,000 youth with at least one foster care placement in Florida at age 10 or older between 2011 and 2017. We examine the characteristics of youth with and without at least one foster care runaway episode, and the characteristics and experiences of youth with and without one or more HT allegations while on runaway status. Of the youth with at least one foster placement at age 10 or older, approximately 19% (n = 7039) had at least one foster care runaway episode, and of these youth, 7% (n = 542) had an HT allegation while on runaway status. Youth with HT allegations (compared to those without) during a foster care runaway episode were more likely to: be female, experience prior physical, psychological and sexual abuse, run from care at a younger age, experience more foster care placements since entry into the child welfare system, and experience more foster care runaway episodes. For most (70%) youth with a HT allegation during runaway status, the first identified trafficking allegation occurred during a foster care runaway episode. Most (67%) youth did not have another HT allegation up to a year later. Implications for research and child welfare policy and programs are discussed. Highlights • Among youth with a foster care placement at age 10 or older, 19% ran away from foster care at least once. • Among youth with at least one foster care runaway episode, 7% had an allegation of human trafficking (HT) while on runaway status. • Child, maltreatment, and placement characteristics differentiate youth with and without HT allegations during a foster care runaway episode. • For most (70%) youth with a HT allegation during runaway status, the first identified victimizaqtion occurred during a foster care runaway episode. • Most (67%) youth with HT allegations during a runaway episode did not have any additional trafficking allegations up to a year later. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Over the years, as the roadway networks have been developing gradually to improve transportation accessibility to various facilities, the probability of traffic crash occurrences has also increased consequently. With an increasing transportation demand, the traffic safety needs to be improved in order to reduce the crash rates and the exposure of the population to crash-prone regions. This paper aims to conduct a spatiotemporal analysis to quantify the exposure of population to crash-prone locations focusing on different age groups, and to statistically analyze the decision-making process for possible improvement. For this purpose, first, the crash-prone locations for different population age groups and various time intervals of a day were identified by using a geographic information system (GIS) hotspot analysis. This was followed by an Origin-Destination (OD) analysis applied on a case study in Tampa Bay region (Florida, District 7) to calculate the roadway network-based travel times between census blocks centroids (origins) and crash hotspot locations (destinations) along the least-cost roadways. Later, the results were utilized in an exceedance probability analysis to simplify the decision-making process for improvement. The results showed that the time-based analysis provides more accurate and detailed information than the distance-based analysis. The Weighted Hotspot Exposure Measure parameter introduced for statistical analysis showed that the senior age group (over 65 years old) are more exposed to the risk of being injured in a crash compared to other age groups. Highlights • Time-based analyses created more accurate results than distance-based analyses. • The risk of crash injury varied substantially across different age groups. • Minors were the least exposed age group to the risk of crash injury. • There is a need to improve the safety of the Seniors in District 7, Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Low carbon cities. What, exactly, are we talking about? Are we talking about lifestyles, activities, or enterprises? Are we talking about individual or group voluntary behavior change or a policy framework that seeks to encourage behavior change by regulatory force? Faced with an enormous literature that mixes related topics like sustainable development/climate change/energy conservation/low carbon, it is not surprising to hear about local governments’ or planners’ “climate change initiatives”. This paper describes/reflects on how officials in Broward County, Florida, are dealing with issues of awareness, governance, measurement, and instruments for challenges arising from the combined threats of energy depletion and climate change. The overriding objective of this paper is to provide some pith for the discussion of planning for low carbon cities. To this end, we describe and reflect on the planning management responses of Broward County, Florida, USA – as an illustrative local government – in dealing with climate change challenges (CCC), energy conservation (EC) and greenhouse gas reduction (GHG). Both description and reflection are important as it is primarily the latter that provides the critical perspective necessary for assessing both potential and effect. The paper is organized into five sections. The first two sections address the “contextual” questions raised above: what is the level of knowledge and/or awareness among the collection of planners and/or local governments; and, what are/is appropriate responses of different levels of government. In the next section, we review overall levels of knowledge and awareness of basic science and policy dimensions, with particular attention paid to (a version of the) US planning profession. This is followed by a discussion of “theoretical” prescriptions for actions at different levels of government. The third and fourth sections focus on Broward County. The third section describes the county and presents a current measurement of its carbon footprint (at least at the level to which it can be measured). The fourth section describes the operational response of Broward County government. The final section returns to the original questions of knowledge and appropriate types of responses and argues that while the Broward response is generally effective in certain aspects, the current policy paradigm contains both strengths and weaknesses, which are generally outlined and discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Projecting the space needed for the disposal of the dead is often overlooked as a planning function, but the permanence of allocating land to cemetery use makes it critical to long range land use planning. There is very little contemporary guidance for planners on the variables which should be considered when projecting the land use needs of the dead. In this paper we present a method that illustrates the complexities of projecting landscapes of death. We then apply this method to the case of Palm Beach County, Florida, a county of over a million residents, many of whom are elderly, that may experience a shortage of cemetery land in the coming decades. This paper raises important issues when planning for the land use needs of the dead including burial migration and problems in estimating existing capacity. This work demonstrates that planners need to take a more active role in planning for the dead, especially given the lack of information on interment capacity in most locations in the country. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper explores the consequences of the expiration of charity care requirements imposed on private hospitals by the Hill–Burton Act. We examine delivery care and the health of newborns using the universe of Florida births from 1989 to 2003 combined with hospital data from the American Hospital Association. We find that charity care requirements were binding on hospitals, but that private hospitals under obligation “cream skimmed” the least risky maternity patients. Conditional on patient characteristics, they provided less intensive maternity services but without compromising patient health. When obligations expired, private hospitals quickly reduced their charity caseloads, shifting maternity patients to public hospitals. The results in this paper suggest, perhaps surprisingly, that requiring private providers to serve the underinsured can be effective. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Evidence-based continuums have become a guide for identifying the level of evidence in evaluations of home visiting programs conducted to determine their effectiveness in preventing child abuse and neglect. While randomized controlled trials are required for the highest levels of evidence, quasi-experimental designs have also been specified as an appropriate alternative. Using a quasi-experimental evaluation of a home visiting program to prevent child abuse and neglect that adheres to the Healthy Families America model, this paper describes and illustrates how types of validity can be improved. More specifically, we address how threats to internal validity can be identified and reduced through statistical techniques; how construct validity may be strengthened using state records to measure the outcomes; and how external validity is affected by including or excluding study participants. After applying a variety of statistical adjustments to reduce selection bias, we found that the outcomes favored the home visiting program and increased after accounting for covariates that contributed to child abuse and neglect. This was true across the statistical techniques (traditional covariate and propensity score adjustment) used. For evaluations using quasi-experimental designs, recommendations relevant to the illustrations in the paper are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In 2003, the University of Florida (UF) College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) created an Office of International Programs (OIP) in response to one of ten initiatives of the UF Strategic Plan: internationalization of the curriculum. The OIP has developed coursework that provides students with an opportunity for international exposure during the veterinary curriculum at three levels. In Level 1 (on campus) students can participate in a seminar series in global health: www.ufglobalhealth.org. This is an elective course offered to professional students at the UF Health Science Center (Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Veterinary Medicine). In Level 2 (abroad), students can participate in structured study abroad programs under the supervision of UF faculty and international scholars from collaborative institutions abroad. In Level 3 (on campus and abroad), students can participate in a certificate program in international veterinary medicine. This is a 15-credit program, parallel to the veterinary curriculum. By offering courses on campus and abroad, we want to empower the curriculum with a global perspective of the veterinary profession, as well as with a humanist education that can help students recognize the importance of respect for cultural differences and the reasons for different degrees of development and growth in the world. In addition, this paper presents the need for veterinary medicine and other disciplines in the health sciences to communicate with other disciplines in the social sciences and natural sciences to create development practitioners equipped with cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills needed to formulate, implement and evaluate solutions aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and disease in low income societies. Finally, this paper makes a call to the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education to assess the need to recognize the importance of internationalization of the veterinary curriculum as a key standard for accreditation of colleges or schools of veterinary medicine. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper describes an assessment program for paratransit buses concerning their crashworthiness and safety of passengers. The program developed by the authors was approved by the Transit Office of the Florida Department of Transportation as a part of the Florida Vehicle Procurement Program (FVPP) in August 2007. Several valuable, worldwide vehicle safety standards were adopted in it with modifications addressing the bus construction process and relevance of particular structural components in crash events. Passenger compartment structure, which needs to be protected against the most dangerous accidents such as a side impact and a rollover, is a major area of concern in the standard. Lack of such standards may result in poor crashworthiness characteristics of the bus structure and in severe injuries and possible passenger fatalities. Either full-scale experiments or numerical standardized simulations were proposed as equivalent approval methods for paratransit buses. Selected results for partially validated Finite Element (FE) models and the nonlinear explicit dynamic code LS-DYNA were used to demonstrate a numerical approach for a bus structure approval. The FE models can also be used to assist the bus manufacturer in an effort to improve the crashworthiness of the new bus designs. The procedure described in this paper was implemented to monitor crashworthiness resistance of the paratransit buses distributed and operated in the state of Florida. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Santa Rosa Island is an 85 km-long, wave-dominated low-lying barrier island situated along the northwestern Florida coast, facing the Gulf of Mexico. The entire island was severely impacted by Ivan, a strong category 3 hurricane that made landfall about 45 km to the west in September of 2004. Ten months later in July of 2005, Dennis, another category 3 hurricane, made landfall about 30 km east of the western tip of the island. Santa Rosa Island is characterized by well-developed but relatively low dunefields, described in this paper as incipient and established dunes, based on the presence of grassy and woody types of vegetation, respectively. The dunes were severely eroded by the two hurricanes. This paper investigates the factors controlling the regional-scale destruction and survival of the dunefields. Dune survival is controlled by: 1) hurricane characteristics, including intensity, duration, and frequency, and 2) morphological parameters including width of the barrier island, height and width of the dunefields, vegetation type, distance of the dunes to the ocean, and continuity of the dunefields. Three processes of dune destruction are described including, from most to least severe, inundation, overwash, and scarping. The interaction of all the above factors determines the different dune responses to the storm impacts. In general, the extensive and densely woody vegetated dunefields near the bay-side shoreline survived the storms, while the discontinuous dunes with grassy vegetation near the Gulf shoreline were almost completely destroyed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes in detail the platform and equipment used to make airborne measurements as part of the Bay Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (BRACE). A De Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration''s Aircraft Operations Center, was used to measure chemical and meteorological parameters during the BRACE field intensive in May, 2002. The Twin Otter flew more than 90h on 24 missions during BRACE, measuring a suite of positional (latitude, longitude, altitude, azimuth, roll, pitch, velocity), meteorological (temperatures, pressure, 2D wind fields, dew point, UV radiation) and chemical/physical (O3, CO, SO2, CO2, NO, NO2, NO Y , HNO3, CN, HCHO, H2O2, PAN, NMHCs, aerosol ionic composition, aerosol size) parameters. This manuscript describes the chemical and meteorological measurement systems, calibration procedures, and instrument performance specifications. Companion papers in this special issue present an overview and summary of results from the aircraft flights. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts of research papers presented during Society for Nutrition Education 38th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, on July 23-27, 2005. According to the paper "Understanding Diabetes Self-Care Management Pathways in Low-Income Women With Type 2 Diabetes," type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease that requires complex, lifelong, daily decision-making. This qualitative study was conducted to understand the process of diabetes management over time and was guided by Corbin and Strauss's Chronic Illness Trajectory Model. The paper "From "Unconcerned Healthies" to "At-Risk Uncertains": Segmenting Audiences for Nutrition Education to Prevent Obesity," describes obesity as taking center stage as one of the biggest threats to the health and welfare of adults and children alike, not only in the United States but also on a global scale. Consequently, the energy and resources of the public health community are being focused on the issue of obesity prevention and control. In order to plan effective programs and interventions, more information about specific target audience segments is needed.

This paper provides an overview for this special publication on the geologic framework of the inner shelf and coastal zone of west-central Florida. This is a significant geologic setting in that it lies at the center of an ancient carbonate platform facing an enormous ramp that has exerted large-scale control on coastal geomorphology, the availability of sediments, and the level of wave energy. In order to understand the Holocene geologic history of this depositional system, a regional study defined by natural boundaries (north end of a barrier island to the apex of a headland) was undertaken by a group of government and university coastal geologists using a wide variety of laboratory and field techniques. It is the purpose of this introductory paper to define the character of this coastal/inner shelf system, provide a historical geologic perspective and background of environmental information, define the overall database, present the collective objectives of this regional study, and very briefly present the main aspects of each contribution. Specific conclusions are presented at the end of each paper composing this volume. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Forests of the southeastern United States are home to large timber industries with substantial contributions to global round wood production and paper products. Despite the success of plantations and the large timber industries in this area, pine growth remains constrained due to the competition between planted pine and the species in the understory. Moreover, effective control of this interspecies competition had shown a significant two- to four-times increase in stand productivity. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the use of laser scanning derived data from Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) to assess understory vegetation biomass, as conventional methods utilizing optical imagery have yet to be effective in quantifying and mapping evergreen understory in the southeastern coastal forests of the United States. For this study, we utilized TLS to scan the entire forest profile within 60 sample plots of an operational loblolly pine plantation in Nassau County, Florida, and collected understory biomass data through destructive sampling. We compared three TLS-based volume estimation methods for predicting understory biomass and applied the Adaptive Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (ALASSO) regression method to derive an optimal model by integrating the most efficient volume estimation methods and other TLS-derived standard metrics. Our study identifies the 20th percentile of the echo height and a 3D volume metric based on mean height and understory cover as the most significant explanatory variables for the optimal model. The model exhibits high accuracy, with Adjusted R-squared (Adj. R2) of 0.80 and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 234.8 g per square meter (g/m2). Additionally, the mean height and understory-based volume estimation method outperformed other methods, such as voxel count and three dimensional (3D) alpha hall-based method, with Adj. R2 of 0.79, 0.47, and 0.57, and RMSE values of 288, 448.6, and 413 g/m2, respectively, when used as a single variable in the model. The resulting model successfully predicted and quantified understory vegetation, showcasing TLS's potential to accurately capture biomass variation, particularly in evergreen-dominated pine plantation forests in the southeastern United States coastal regions. As a tool for monitoring understory, TLS can be used to aid plantation forest managers in identifying areas that require control measures for enhanced management practices. • Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) derived data were used to predict evergreen understory biomass in pine plantation forests. • An efficient Model (R2 adj = 0.80) based on TSL-derived variables was proposed to predict understory biomass. • The mean height and understory cover-based volume estimation method outperformed voxel and 3D alpha hall-based 3D methods. • TLS data demonstrates the potential for accurately quantifying biomass variation in the forest understory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The trends of surface runoff and flood area changes were different. • Rainfall change is the dominant driver compared with land use change. • There are coupled effects from rainfall and land use changes on both surface runoff and flood area. • The easily flooded areas would experience negative coupled effects under future rainfall and land use conditions. • The areas with inadequate drainage and low elevation variation would be of high probability to suffer flooding issues. Future rainfall and land use are two important factors for flood management since they both directly and indirectly affect the functionality and performance of urban stormwater drainage infrastructures. Although some studies have already examined the coupled effects of future rainfall and land use conditions, they have not concluded how such effects on both surface runoff and flood areas would change with regional surface elevation variation and infrastructure conditions. This paper analyzed the coupled effects of future rainfall and land use on urban drainage systems in terms of surface runoff quantity and flood area changes using EPA SWMM. Future downscaled and bias-corrected precipitation projections for 2040–2060 and 2080–2099 from "Downscaled CMIP3 and CMIP5 Climate and Hydrology Projections" Archive and future land use for 2050 s and 2090 s from EPA ICLUS project were used for the City of Tampa in Florida (USA). It was shown that potential runoff volume and flood area changes ranged from −40% to 160%, and −40% to 400% due to rainfall change, while potential changes induced by land use change ranged from 0% to 3.5%, and 0% to 18% respectively. Additionally, this study examined the coupled effects of future rainfall and land use changes on flood area variations, considering the capacity of drainage infrastructure and elevation variation of study site. Results showed that flood area variations are not solely influenced by runoff quantity changes due to the two external drivers, but also by other factors. Specifically, in low-relief areas with inadequate drainage infrastructure and less elevation variation, these two drivers have no additive effects on the percentage of flood area changes. In contrast, in areas with adequate drainage infrastructure and greater surface elevation variation, there are additive effects from rainfall and land use changes on flood area expansions. These findings have important implications for stakeholders involved in city planning and flooding control, particularly for urban areas facing future precipitation and urbanization challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to describe and compare several reproductive parameters for Florida largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus) inhabiting the St. Johns River and exposed to different types and/or degrees of contamination. Welaka was selected as the reference site in this study because of its low urban and agricultural development, Palatka is in close proximity to a paper mill plant, the Green Cove site is influenced by marine shipping activities and Julington Creek site receives discharges of domestic wastewater and storm water runoff from recreational boating marinas. For this study, bass were sampled both prior to (September 1996) and during the spawning season (February 1997). In order to characterize chemical exposure, bass livers were analyzed for up to 90 trace organics and 11 trace metal contaminants. Reproductive parameters measured included gonadosomatic index (GSI), histological evaluation of gonads and plasma concentrations of vitellogenin (VTG), 17β-estradiol (E2) and 11-ketotestosterone (11-KT). In general, the sum of organic chemicals was highest in livers from Palatka bass and bass from Green Cove and Julington Creek had higher hepatic concentrations of low molecular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and polychlorinated biphenyls when compared to fish from Welaka. Metals were more variable across sites, with highest mean concentrations found in bass from either Julington Creek (Ag, As, Cr, Cu, Zn) or Welaka (Cd, Hg, Pb, Se, Tn). Female bass from Palatka and Green Cove had lower concentrations of E2, VTG and lower GSI in relation to Welaka. Males from Palatka and Green Cove showed comparable declines in 11-KT in relation to males from Julington Creek and GSI were decreased only in Palatka males. These results indicate a geographical trend in reproductive effects, with changes being most pronounced at the site closest to the paper mill (Palatka) and decreasing as the St. Johns River flows downstream. Since reproductive alterations were most evident in bass sampled from the site closest to the paper mill discharge, it is possible that exposure to these effluents might explain at least some of the results reported here. However, the presence of reproductive alterations in fish sampled at a considerable distance from the mill discharge (Green Cove, 40 km) would suggest exposure to chemicals released from sources other than the paper mill plant. It is clear that additional studies are needed to evaluate the potential impact of these reproductive changes in populations of Florida largemouth bass inhabiting the St. Johns River. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper aims at exploring the viability of the Florida snail kite population under various drought regimes in its wetland habitat. The population dynamics of snail kites are strongly linked with the hydrology of the system due to the dependence of this bird species on one exclusive prey species, the apple snail, which is negatively affected by a drying out of habitat. Based on empirical evidence, it has been hypothesised that the viability of the snail kite population critically depends not only on the time interval between droughts, but also on the spatial extent of these droughts. A system wide drought is likely to result in reduced reproduction and increased mortality, whereas the birds can respond to local droughts by moving to sites where conditions are still favourable. This paper explores the implications of this hypothesis by means of a spatially-explicit individual-based model. The specific aim of the model is to study in a factorial design the dynamics of the kite population in relation to two scale parameters, the temporal interval between droughts and the spatial correlation between droughts. In the model high drought frequencies led to reduced numbers of kites. Also, habitat degradation due to prolonged periods of inundation led to lower predicted numbers of kites. Another main result was that when the spatial correlation between droughts was low, the model showed little variability in the predicted numbers of kites. But when droughts occurred mostly on a system wide level, environmental stochasticity strongly increased the stochasticity in kite numbers and in the worst case the viability of the kite population was seriously threatened. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Researchers have increasingly paid attention to the impact that the administrative component of elections has on voter behavior. Existing research has focused almost exclusively on the effect that legal changes--such as voter identification laws--have on turnout. This paper extends our understanding of the electoral process by exploring how one aspect of the precinct experience--standing in line to vote--can shape the turnout behavior of voters in subsequent elections. I demonstrate that for every additional hour a voter waits in line to vote, their probability of voting in the subsequent election drops by 1 percentage point. To arrive at these estimates, I analyze vote history files using a combination of exact matching and placebo tests to test the identification assumptions. I then leverage an unusual institutional arrangement in the City of Boston and longitudinal data from Florida to show that the result also holds at the precinct level. The findings in this paper have important policy implications for administrative changes that may impact line length, such as voter identification requirements and precinct consolidation. They also suggest that racial asymmetries in precinct wait times contribute to the gap in turnout rates between white and non-white voters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In Southwest Florida, a variety of human impacts had caused widespread losses of seagrass coverage from historical conditions. St. Joseph Sound and Clearwater Harbor lost approximately 24 and 51%, respectively, of their seagrass coverage between 1950 and 1999, while Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay had lost 46% and 15%, respectively, of their seagrass coverage between 1950 and the 1980s. However, over the period of 1999 to 2016, the largest of the six estuaries, Tampa Bay, added 408 ha of seagrass per year, while the remaining five estuaries examined in this paper added approximately 269 ha per year. In total, seagrass coverage in these six estuaries increased 12,171 ha between the 1980s and 2016. Focused resource management plans have held the line on nitrogen loads from non-point sources, allowing seagrass resources to expand in response to reductions in point source loads that have been implemented over the past few decades. Highlights • Seagrass coverage has increased in six contiguous estuaries in Southwest Florida • Increases in coverage have occurred in response to sustained nutrient management • Patterns of change vary, as not every estuary was equally impacted by development • The most impacted estuaries had the greatest recovery of seagrass coverage • Lag periods between nutrient reductions and system responses can be years [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural nonpoint source pollution remains a pressing environmental problem despite decades of policy and environmental initiatives. Cooperative local actions are a crucial element of effective multilevel governance solutions to such problems, but securing farmer participation for water quality protection remains challenging. Social capital—relations of trust, reciprocity, and shared social norms within and between key stakeholder groups—has been found to enable cooperation for environmentally desirable outcomes. However, the downsides of social capital remain under-examined in multilevel governance, where cooperation within one stakeholder group (bonding social capital) may undermine cooperation with other stakeholders (bridging social capital). Given this important gap, researchers need to examine how bonding and bridging social capital may be formed, maintained, or undermined through stakeholder interactions, and the corresponding environmental consequences. In this paper, we address these gaps through a case study of south Florida’s sugar-producing region, whose drainage water flows south into the Florida Everglades. In contrast to persistent water quality impairment elsewhere, Everglades water quality has improved steadily over the past 20 years. These improvements have taken place under a complex set of governance arrangements that established a mandatory long-term numeric water quality target but which relies on shared compliance among farms. These dynamics encouraged interactions among three key groups of stakeholders—farmers, agricultural extension agents, and state regulators—to implement management changes. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, we find that bonding social capital among farmers encourages them to improve their management through a sense of shared responsibility, while also potentially limiting restoration by maintaining perceptions that the regulations are unfair. Bridging social capital helps to legitimize new management efforts, while court-mandated water quality targets incentivize farmers to draw on multiple forms of social capital. We also discuss the relevance of this case for governing agricultural nonpoint source pollution in similar settings elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]