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This article provides a systematic review of the quantitative social science research on broadband Internet technology in rural areas. Specifically, we summarize the literature on 1) rural broadband availability and adoption behaviors and 2) the implications of these behaviors for rural businesses, public policy initiatives, and regional development. In the studies reviewed, rural areas suffer from both lower availability and lower adoption rates compared to their urban counterparts. However, researchers disagree on whether supply frictions inherent to rural areas or heterogeneous demand and adoption behaviors are the major cause of this outcome. Researchers widely agree that high-speed Internet improves economic outcomes of rural areas, whether it is through increases in business activity or in more general economic development measures (e.g. productivity, jobs, income). Impact evaluations of rural broadband policy initiatives produced mixed results, highlighting the need for a better understanding of agents' incentives. This review points to four areas for future research. One, assessments of the long-term impact of broadband on rural economies. Two, analyses of the net effect of broadband on economic development outcomes (e.g. migrants, job creation). Three, assessments of economic development impacts associated with broadband speed. Four, assessments of the efficacy of broadband policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This focused issue entitled "Universities and Regional Development" contains three papers. All three papers focus on universities and their involvement in translating research for commercialization, which in turn supports economic development that often extends beyond the local region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising infrastructure costs for water providers and the rising cost of water for households pose several challenges for water providers, policy makers, and the research community. Consumers may utilize several strategies for coping with rising water costs including reduced water use or spending reductions on other household goods and services. To provide a first glance at the link between rising water bills and consumer spending, this study analyzes data from a household survey in the United States to understand how consumers may change spending behavior given various water bill increase scenarios. Results of this analysis provide insights into the demographics of households likely to be affected, the industries that could be affected, and at what bill increase levels these trends are most pronounced. While additional research on this topic is needed, these results suggest a stronger emphasis on long-term water management planning and allocation of resources to building and maintaining water infrastructure may be required. For utilities, this means a consideration of nonrevenue sources of funds to pay for rising water costs and strategies for making water more affordable for customers without deferring infrastructure improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate actions taken to implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the primary goal of which was to foster competition in the industry, the FCC created a standardized form (Form 477) to collect information about broadband deployment and competition in local telephone service. These data represent the best publicly available record of broadband provision in the United States. Despite the potential benefits offered by this database, there are several nuances to these data related to shifting geographies and reporting requirements that uncorrected, prevent them from being used as an uninterrupted time series for longitudinal analyses. Given the analytical challenges associated with the FCC Form 477 data, the purpose of this paper is to present a solution to the fragmented nature of these data which prevents meaningful longitudinal analyses of the digital divide. Specifically, this paper develops and describes a procedure for producing an integrated broadband time series (BITS) for the last decade (2008–2018). This includes the procedures for using these data, their value to social and economic analysis, and their underlying limitations. The core contribution of this paper is the creation of data infrastructure for investigating the evolution of the digital divide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to pay for water and wastewater services is a growing issue in the developed world. To this point in time, utilities have helped customers grappling with affordability issues using different types of customer assistance programs (CAPs). Income‐based billing approaches differ from CAPs in that bills are structured so as to be affordable for customers at the outset. Recently, the City of Philadelphia implemented an innovative program to work towards resolving the affordability problem in their city using income‐based billing. This tiered assistance program or TAP structures bills for water, wastewater, and stormwater services to program enrollees' income. Given the innovative nature of the program, this paper describes the rollout of TAP and assesses the impact of the program on customers and utility revenues. The paper closes with a critical assessment of TAP and considerations for utilities evaluating the implementation of similar programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Remittances implicated in land system maintenance and transformation. • Remittances and land change seldom a primary focus of research. • Four non-exclusive pathways identified for impacts of remittance expenditures on land systems. • Remittance expenditures associated with six types of land system changes. • Four avenues for future research identified to advance understanding of remittance-land dynamics. Remittances—funds sent by migrants to family and friends back home—are an important source of global monetary flows, and they have implications for the maintenance and transformation of land systems. A number of published reviews have synthesized work on a variety of aspects of remittances (e.g., rural livelihoods, disasters, and economic development). To our knowledge, there are no reviews of work investigating the linkages between remittances and land change, broadly understood. This knowledge gap is important to address because researchers have recognized that remittances flows are a mechanism that helps to explain how migration can affect land change. Thus, understanding the specific roles remittances play in land system changes should help to clarify the multiple processes associated with migration and their independent and interactive effects. To address the state of knowledge about the connection between remittances and land systems, this paper conducts a systematic review. Our review of 51 journal articles finds that the linkages uncovered were commonly subtle and/or indirect. Very few studies looked at the direct connections between receipt of remittances and quantitative changes in land. Most commonly, the relationship between remittances and land change was found to occur through pathways from labor migration to household income to agricultural development and productivity. We find four non-exclusive pathways through which households spend remittances with consequent changes to land systems: (1) agricultural crops and livestock, (2) agricultural labor and technologies, (3) land purchases, and (4) non-agricultural purchases and consumables. In the papers reviewed, these expenditures are linked to various land system change outcomes, including land use change, soil degradation, pasture degradation, afforestation/deforestation/degradation, agricultural intensification/extensification/diversification, and no impact. These findings suggest four avenues for future research. One avenue is the use of the theoretical lens of telecoupling to understand how remittances may produce wider-scale changes in land systems. A second avenue is further examination of the impacts of shocks and disturbances to remittance flows on land change both in migrant sending and in remittance receiving areas. A third avenue is scholarship that examines the extent that household uses of remittances have a "ripple effect" on land uses in nearby interlinked systems. A fourth avenue for future work is the use of spatially explicit modeling that leverages land cover and land use data based on imagery and other geospatial information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the regional economic implications of rising water and wastewater services is important, because these services are household necessities. To date, however, there are few (if any) studies examining the link between water costs and indicators of economic vitality such as jobs, output, and regional income. To advance work on this particular topic, this paper proposes a novel methodology that estimates changes in household spending information from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) for a particular change in water prices. This vector of final demand changes is then linked to multi-regional input-output (MRIO) models to estimate the regional economic impacts associated with changes in consumer spending patterns. To demonstrate this methodology, three water price increase scenarios are derived, and associated changes in final demand estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inner city revitalization efforts centered on fostering new business activity are controversial because they assume that the job creating capacity of new businesses is capable of impacting aggregate employment levels in inner city neighborhoods. Given this controversy, this article examines the link between new business activity and inner city employment growth in Phoenix, Arizona. Analytical results highlight job creation from new business activity but a net negative association between new business activity and employment growth stemming from the loss of jobs from large employers in inner city neighborhoods. This relationship highlights that encouraging new business activity is not necessarily a bad idea for local residents and customers, but should not be viewed as a panacea for all inner city problems. Instead, new business activity should be viewed as one component of multifaceted initiatives to revitalize inner city neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews sources of uncertainty in broadband provision data from Federal Communications Commission's Form 477 database, which is the largest publicly available broadband database for the United States. This uncertainty analysis reveals that reporting thresholds result in understating of broadband in rural areas serviced by smaller providers in the 1999–2004 ZIP code area dataset. In this same time series, the routine used to aggregate data to larger spatial units (i.e., counties) produces variations in the amount of autocorrelation detected by diagnostic spatial statistics. The amount of autocorrelation in the data also varies with the strategy implemented for interpolating suppressed data. This investigation also highlights the value of a spatial approach to visualizing and analyzing the impact of uncertainty on broadband availability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are concerns across government, industry, and academia over the inadequacies of data on broadband Internet connections. These inadequacies are important to consider because government policies and regulations, industry strategies, and scholarly research can be impacted by inaccurate or distorted data. Given that there are ongoing discussions about policy initiatives to improve these data, this article sets out to critically review publicly available data, identify important limitations of these data, and profile studies that have used these data successfully. In this review, the dynamic nature of broadband data will be discussed and the tradeoffs of pursuing further investments to create better databases evaluated. This evaluation suggests a more fruitful research path would be to recognize and work around existing data drawbacks, using the studies profiled in this article as examples, to explore a multitude of issues related to broadband availability, adoption, and use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite burgeoning interest in entrepreneurial ecosystems, there is little information on metrics for studying the actors and interconnections within these systems. The increasing availability of data and metrics for characterizing entrepreneurial activity in recent years provide opportunities for analyzing EE in more holistic ways. A critical first step in advancing work on this topic, however, is to critically review the use and limitations of currently available data with a focus on the very recent ecosystems literature, as well as constituent topics such as entrepreneurial heritage and spinoffs, entrepreneurial culture, and studies of emerging ecosystems in peripheral regions. In this review, the problems and prospects of available data are discussed, particularly the spatial scales (national or subnational) at which they are available. The paper closes with a critical discussion of the data needed to move the field forward in the four ecosystem‐related topical areas and answer important questions related to the nuanced geographies of EE at the subnational level. This discussion suggests present gaps may be related to a poverty of data‐sharing efforts rather than a poverty of available data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent issue of I Critical Care Medicine i , Maharaj et al ([1]) aims to quantify the impact of decisions to withdraw, withhold, or discontinue life-sustaining therapies on mortality in ICU patients. Communication along the continuum of care and at the end of life is a learned and challenging skill which is essential to the humane treatment of our patients. The "withdrawal of care" terminology has been scrutinized ([3], [4]), and alternative accurate phrasing may include withdrawal or discontinuation of life-sustaining or ineffective therapies. [Extracted from the article]

Over the years, research on relocation activity has provided insights about the characteristics of firms and regions that drive relocation. The spatial dimensions of these relocation decisions, however, particularly within states or metropolitan areas, remain an understudied aspect of the relocation literature. There is also little work comparing the destinations of relocations originating from within metropolitan areas compared to relocation activity from other states. Given the theoretical and practical importance of higher resolution, comparative research on relocation activity within metropolitan areas, this article uses both areal and point-based spatial statistics to test hypotheses about similarities and differences in the relocation behavior of locally oriented and out-of-state businesses within the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area. Analytical results highlight distinct differences in the destinations of relocation activity originating from within the metropolitan area compared to out-of-state relocation activity. Intrametropolitan relocations tend to locate in less expensive and racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, whereas out-of-state relocations locate in wealthier, well-known locations of the metropolitan area. Out-of-state relocations are also less likely to locate in the downtown core. This suggests that expensive smokestack-chasing efforts directed at attracting businesses from out of state are unlikely to help revitalize the downtown core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Food access is a global issue, and for this reason, a wealth of studies are dedicated to understanding the location of food deserts and the benefits of urban gardens. However, few studies have linked these two strands of research together to analyze whether urban gardening activity may be a step forward in addressing issues of access for food desert residents. Methods: The Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area is used as a case to demonstrate the utility of spatial optimization models for siting urban gardens near food deserts and on vacant land. The locations of urban gardens are derived from a list obtained from the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension office at the University of Arizona which were geo located and aggregated to Census tracts. Census tracts were then assigned to one of three categories: tracts that contain a garden, tracts that are immediately adjacent to a tract with a garden, and all other non-garden/non-adjacent census tracts. Analysis of variance is first used to ascertain whether there are statistical differences in the demographic, socio-economic, and land use profiles of these three categories of tracts. A maximal covering spatial optimization model is then used to identify potential locations for future gardening activities. A constraint of these models is that gardens be located on vacant land, which is a growing problem in rapidly urbanizing environments worldwide. Results: The spatial analysis of garden locations reveals that they are centrally located in tracts with good food access. Thus, the current distribution of gardens does not provide an alternative food source to occupants of food deserts. The maximal covering spatial optimization model reveals that gardens could be sited in alternative locations to better serve food desert residents. In fact, 53 gardens may be located to cover 96.4% of all food deserts. This is an improvement over the current distribution of gardens where 68 active garden sites provide coverage to a scant 8.4% of food desert residents. Conclusion: People in rapidly urbanizing environments around the globe suffer from poor food access. Rapid rates of urbanization also present an unused vacant land problem in cities around the globe. This paper highlights how spatial optimization models can be used to improve healthy food access for food desert residents, which is a critical first step in ameliorating the health problems associated with lack of healthy food access including heart disease and obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of unplanned admissions, 11% were posted on the overnight OR list, 53% were called in by a perioperative team member the day of admission, and 29% appeared to the PICU without any type of communication to the team. B Methods: b Over 45 days, a daily REDCap survey was administered to PICU charge nurses aiming to identify new admissions from the operating room, whether they were considered planned, how the team learned about the new patient admission (overnight OR list, bed reservation email, call from perioperative team day of admission, etc.), and if the intended destination was posted on Epic. B Introduction: b The lack of a standard communication process around anticipated postoperative destination for patients leads to inefficiencies and staffing challenges in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). [Extracted from the article]

Relationship Between Spike IgG and Timeframe of MIS-C (r=0.61), Peak Ferritin and Anakinra (r=0.63), and Peak Ferritin and Timeframe of MIS-C (r=0.34). B Conclusions: b The Timing of MIS-C Diagnosis in Relation to the Index of COVID-19 Infection does Vary by Variant with a 6.9 Day Increase in Average Since the Start of the Pandemic. COVID-19 Variant Timeframes Were Defined by Dominant (>50% cases) Strand in the United States (Alpha/Beta/Gamma 1/21/20-6/25/21, Delta 6/26/21-12/17/21, and Omicron 12/18/21-Present). [Extracted from the article]

Background: The fast-changing labor market highlights the need for an in-depth understanding of occupational mobility impacted by technological change. However, we lack a multidimensional classification scheme that considers similarities of occupations comprehensively, which prevents us from predicting employment trends and mobility across occupations. This study fills the gap by examining employment trends based on similarities between occupations. Method: We first demonstrated a new method that clusters 756 occupation titles based on knowledge, skills, abilities, education, experience, training, activities, values, and interests. We used the Principal Component Analysis to categorize occupations in the Standard Occupational Classification, which is grouped into a four-level hierarchy. Then, we paired the occupation clusters with the occupational employment projections provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We analyzed how employment would change and what factors affect the employment changes within occupation groups. Particularly, we specified factors related to technological changes. Results: The results reveal that technological change accounts for significant job losses in some clusters. This poses occupational mobility challenges for workers in these jobs at present. Job losses for nearly 60% of current employment will occur in low-skill, low-wage occupational groups. Meanwhile, many mid-skilled and highly skilled jobs are projected to grow in the next ten years. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate the utility of our occupational classification scheme. Furthermore, it suggests a critical need for skills upgrading and workforce development for workers in declining jobs. Special attention should be paid to vulnerable workers, such as older individuals and minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although broadband Internet infrastructure is acknowledged as a key ingredient to competitiveness, an unfortunate aspect of current work is the dominant focus on households. Given the need for more research on the multidimensional relationship between broadband and businesses, or the broadband-business nexus, this study estimates econometric models to evaluate the impact of early broadband availability on future levels of business activity. Model results suggest regions with an early advantage in broadband provision had more business growth than other regions. Model results also highlight long-lasting spatial effects on business activity stemming from broadband spillovers from core hubs to neighboring areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is recognized that the Internet and entrepreneurial opportunity are linked, the majority of studies analyzing business use of the Internet focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To address a need for adoption studies focused on new ventures, which differ from SMEs in terms of organizational stage and number of employees, this study analyzes survey data from entrepreneurs to understand factors that influence the adoption of multiple Internet and social media platforms, and the role of business incubation facilities in providing information technology assistance to these ventures. Regression analysis of survey data reveal that prior entrepreneurial experience was the most important factor in explaining a diverse number of Internet application and social media use. This finding likely stems from differences in cognitive frameworks between novice and experienced entrepreneurs, which impacts their ability to recognize opportunities and respond to technological change. The location of a new venture within a business incubation facility did not help in the diverse use of Internet applications. This result did vary by gender as model results highlighted that women in business incubation facilities were more likely to use a diversity of Internet applications than those not located in these facilities. These findings point to policy implications regarding the implementation of technology training programs for female entrepreneurs, and digital awareness/ training for novice entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neonatal growth can have lasting consequences on survival and reproduction. In many taxa, larger, faster growing neonates experience higher survival, reach sexual maturity more rapidly, and achieve higher lifetime fecundity. In contrast to their closest relatives, Lake Erie watersnakes grow slower, mature later, and may delay feeding until after their first hibernation. To determine if Lake Erie watersnakes do indeed delay feeding until after their first hibernation, we compared age class 0 (between birth and first hibernation) and age class 1 (emergence from hibernation and through the first full season) snakes in the field and in the laboratory. In the field, only 0.6% of pre-hibernation neonates were found to contain prey, while 11.9% of post-hibernation neonates contained prey. During captive feeding experiments, the probability of eating was positively correlated with age (binary logistic regression, Wald [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the ubiquity of mobile phones around the globe, studies are beginning to analyze their influence on health. Prior work from developed countries highlights negative mental health outcomes related to overuse of mobile phones. However, there is little work on mental health impacts of mobile phone use or ownership in developing countries. This is an important gap to address because there are likely variations in mental health impacts of mobile phones between developing and developed countries, due to cultural nuances to phone use and distinct variations in financial models for obtaining mobile phone access in developing countries. To address this gap, this study analyzes survey data from 92 households in sparse, rural villages in Uganda to test two hypotheses about mobile phone ownership and mental health in a developing country context: (i) Mobile phone ownership is higher among more privileged groups, compared to less privileged groups (ie, wealth and ethnicity); and (ii) mobile phone ownership is positively associated with a culturally-relevant indicator of mental health, ‘feelings of peace’. Results indicate that households with mobile phones had higher levels of wealth on average, yet no significant differences were detected by ethnicity. As hypothesized, mobile phone ownership was associated with increased mental well-being for persons without family nearby (in the District) (p = 0.038) after adjusting for wealth, ethnicity and amount of land for crops and land for grazing. Mobile phone ownership was not significantly associated with increased mental well-being for persons with family nearby. These findings are consistent with studies of mobile phone use in other sub-Saharan African countries which find that phones are important tools for social connection and are thus beneficial for maintaining family ties. One might infer then that this increased feeling of mental well-being for persons located farther from family stems from the ability to maintain family connections. These findings are quite different from work in developed countries where mobile phone use is a source of technology-related stress or technostress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While basic access to clean water is critical, another important issue is the affordability of water access for people around the globe. Prior international work has highlighted that a large proportion of consumers could not afford water if priced at full cost recovery levels. Given growing concern about affordability issues due to rising water rates, and a comparative lack of work on affordability in the developed world, as compared to the developing world, more work is needed in developed countries to understand the extent of this issue in terms of the number of households and persons impacted. To address this need, this paper assesses potential affordability issues for households in the United States using the U.S. EPA’s 4.5% affordability criteria for combined water and wastewater services. Analytical results from this paper highlight high-risk and at-risk households for water poverty or unaffordable water services. Many of these households are clustered in pockets of water poverty within counties, which is a concern for individual utility providers servicing a large proportion of customers with a financial inability to pay for water services. Results also highlight that while water rates remain comparatively affordable for many U.S. households, this trend will not continue in the future. If water rates rise at projected amounts over the next five years, conservative projections estimate that the percentage of U.S. households who will find water bills unaffordable could triple from 11.9% to 35.6%. This is a concern due to the cascading economic impacts associated with widespread affordability issues; these issues mean that utility providers could have fewer customers over which to spread the large fixed costs of water service. Unaffordable water bills also impact customers for whom water services are affordable via higher water rates to recover the costs of services that go unpaid by lower income households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we begin to understand who uses particular social media platforms, this user information represents a way forward for understanding the types of research questions for which big data might prove valuable. In this respect, the use of social media data for analyzing entrepreneurial networks represents a promising research domain. Not only does the user profile of social media users overlap substantially with the profile of entrepreneurs, but research highlights that the entrepreneurial process is a fundamentally networked activity. Given this research promise, this study analyzes digitally mediated interactions using Twitter data collected about a variety of actors engaged in entrepreneurial networks for the United States over an eighteen-month period. Analytical results reveal that the hashtags used in this analysis (#smallbiz and #entrepreneur) do capture (albeit not exhaustively) well-known actors in entrepreneurial networks, as well as important subtleties in the geography of locales engaged in these networks. The article closes with an agenda for big data research on entrepreneurship that highlights the important role of geographers in unraveling these networked geographies given the complexities of ground-truthing geographic information from big data sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE) consist of interacting components, which foster new firm formation and associated regional entrepreneurial activities. Current work on EE, however, focuses on documenting the presence of system components, which means there is little understanding of interdependencies between EE components and their evolutionary dynamics. To address these issues, the objective of the present study is to develop an evolutionary framework of EE development that integrates important components from prior work and describes how critical elements of an entrepreneurial system interact and evolve over time. The value of this framework in understanding the evolutionary dynamics of EE will be demonstrated by profiling the EE of Phoenix, Arizona. The evolutionary perspective developed is valuable because it provides a sense of how history, culture and the institutional setting impact EE. It also provides stakeholders with action points to help maintain or propel an EE to the next level. This is a distinct improvement over static approaches that provide a list of EE ingredients with no sense of their relative importance over time. The proposed framework may also be used in a comparative context to compare and contrast the evolutionary trajectory of EE to better understand why particular places remain trapped in a specific phase of growth or continue to evolve over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates econometric models to evaluate the linkage between broadband Internet connections and firms in counties across the urban hierarchy within the continental U. S. Industry-related variations in this relationship are also explored using varied definitions of the urban hierarchy. Model results indicate broadband presence in remote areas is not an explanatory factor of establishment presence. Results also suggest the manner in which the urban hierarchy is defined matters. Traditional metropolitan/nonmetropolitan and urban/rural splits of locales are insufficient to capture the geographic and industrial nuances behind this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including issue related to entrepreneurship, relationship between tourism and housing and relationship between knowledge and innovation across the urban hierarchy.

While disparities in broadband in rural areas are well documented, little research exists about broadband in tribal communities. This gap means we lack information about the trajectory of broadband deployment in tribal areas. It also means we lack comparative information about the similarities or differences in the trajectory of broadband deployment in tribal areas compared to non-tribal areas (e.g. urban and rural areas). To address this gap in our knowledge, this study utilizes longitudinal tract data constructed from information in the FCC Form 477 database to analyze broadband provision in tribal areas from 2014 to 2020. Empirical results show that rural tribes may be falling further behind the rest of the nation in broadband provision, while metropolitan tribal areas now enjoy better provision levels, on average, than their non-tribal counterparts. Additionally, the nuances of broadband distributions across tribal, rural, and urban areas make clear that a one-size-fits-all policy to aid tribal communities is inappropriate to address these and other related challenges. This is especially true as concerns about the intersection of federal broadband policy with tribal sovereignty and self-determination emerge. • This study is a longitudinal analysis of broadband provision in tribal areas. • Rural tribal areas falling behind rest of the nation in broadband provision. • Metropolitan tribal areas enjoy better provision levels than non-tribal counterparts. • Need for a policy focus on rural, tribal areas. • Customized policies that work in concert with tribal sovereignty needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problems with currently available broadband data sources highlight the pressing need for novel data analytical methods and tools that enable policy makers to explore broadband market dynamics. Given this pressing need, the goal of this paper is to discuss the current state-of-the-art in geovisual analytic tools that could be applied to broadband analysis and demonstrate how these toolkits may be applied to answer important policy questions about the spatio-temporal evolution of broadband markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From May 2019-April 2020, there were a total of 11 PIBERT activations and 3.26 DARTs per 200,000 worked hours, and May 2020-April 2021 had 10 PIBERT activations, with 0.83 DARTs per 200,000 worked hours. Inspired by the PBE cohort within Solutions for Patient Safety, we developed a pediatric inpatient behavioral event response team (PIBERT) composed of a pediatric intensivist, pediatric critical care nurse, chaplain, and security. B Introduction: b Patient behavioral events (PBE) contribute to patient and staff harm, job dissatisfaction, increased costs, and turnover. [Extracted from the article]

Land-grant universities are distinctly American institutions of higher education in two respects. First, the establishment of a land-grant university was an independent act by the US federal government that endowed specific counties across the country with a university. Second, their mission of inclusion, with an emphasis on the agricultural and mechanic arts, was designed to educate the industrial class for professional life. Despite these institutions' unique founding and mission, however, land-grant universities have received little specific attention in the broader literature on university impacts. Given the comparatively little attention devoted to these institutions, the goal of this study is to use a descriptive and exploratory quasi-experimental analysis to evaluate the potential impacts of land-grant institutions on their local communities. The results of this analysis suggest that land-grant universities do impact their local communities, but that these impacts did not begin to appear until approximately sixty years after their initial founding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial composition of places has received considerable attention because of the widespread belief that industrial diversity buffers regional economies from economic shocks. Subsequently, a variety of toolkits and indices have been developed with the goal of better capturing the compositional dynamics of regions. Although useful, a key drawback of these indices is their static nature, which limits the utility of these indices in a space-time context. This paper provides an overview of and applications of an interface called interactive visualization tool for indices of industrial diversity, which is a visual analytics tool developed specifically for the analysis and visualization of local measures of industrial composition for areal data. This overview will include a discussion of its key features, as well as a demonstration of the utility of the interface in exploring questions surrounding diversity and the dynamic nature of composition through space and time. A focus of this demonstration is to highlight how the interactivity and query functionality of this interface overcome several of the obstacles to understanding composition through space and time that prior toolkits and comparative static approaches have been unable to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the relationship between the spatial distribution of broadband providers and the presence of knowledge intensive firm clusters in US counties. Results highlight this relationship is heterogeneous and localized. In some places, broadband appears to be an essential link that enables knowledge firms to strategically locate in lower cost counties and in close proximity to major knowledge centres. In other places, the availability of broadband Internet connections are unable the negative externalities associated with locations in more remote areas of the country. From a policy perspective, this suggests that broadband should be viewed as a key component, but not the only component, of comprehensive local economic development plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In addition to highlighting improvements in the availability and speed of broadband as a national priority, the National Broadband Plan also includes several recommendations for improving access and use of broadband by small businesses. The plan also recommends economic development officials include broadband in their local development strategies. While these are certainly import goals, more research is needed to evaluate how broadband impacts the regional business environment, and regional capacity to retain and attract businesses in particular industries. In order to further our understanding about the linkages between broadband and businesses, and the ability of places to retain and attract businesses in particular industries, this study will develop and estimate econometric models to better understand the linkages between broadband and firms in the knowledge intensive sector. Specifically, 54 metropolitan area specific models will be developed to examine regional variations in the linkages between broadband and firms in the knowledge intensive sector in 2004. Model results highlight the importance of broadband to knowledge firms in all but five metropolitan areas across the U.S. They also reveal variations in the impact of broadband on knowledge firm presence related to metropolitan area size and industrial legacy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

While the productivity paradox has been largely resolved, debate persists about the impacts of information and communications technologies on productivity, particularly as regards broadband Internet connections. To date, the bulk of the literature has not addressed the impacts of broadband provision on regional variations in productivity. This study develops a series of spatial econometric models that examine the link between broadband provision and productivity for US counties. The models developed not only consider the link between productivity and broadband provision, but they also evaluate the variability in broadband impacts that are related to the quality of human capital stock within counties. The results of the models are evidence of skill-based technological change and suggest that in general, broadband has a positive impact on productivity only in locales with high levels of human capital and/or highly skilled occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Remittances are an important source of cash flows for lower-middle income countries, but may also enhance vulnerability to shocks if these financial flows are concentrated among a few sources. We utilize descriptive statistics and panel econometric models estimated via generalized least squares (GLS) to investigate whether remittances are a source of vulnerability for the newly independent states (NIS) arising from the dissolution of the former Soviet Union, who receive a substantial proportion of remittance flows from the Russian Federation. Analytical results reveal remittance inflows from the Russian Federation to the NIS, are more significant than remittance inflows from the Russian Federation to all other countries. Model results also indicate remittances to the NIS are more susceptible to geopolitical and economic shocks affecting the Russian Federation than are remittance inflows to other countries. From a policy perspective, our results suggest policymakers should strive to eliminate barriers to migration between countries to reduce the likelihood of concentrated financial flows, since concentrated remittances sources represent potential exposure to economic and geopolitical shocks of sending countries. [Display omitted] • Investigate remittance network vulnerability when inflows are undiversified. • Focus analysis on newly independent states (NIS) from dissolution of Soviet Union. • Remittances do not enhance economic vitality of NIS relative to other countries. • NIS remittances from the Russian Federation more significant than other countries. • NIS remittances more susceptible to shocks to Russian Federation than other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Common to all tests of space–time interaction is the assumption that the population underlying the events of interest exhibits a trajectory of growth that is consistent through time and across space. In practice, however, this assumption is often untenable and, when violated, can introduce population shift bias into the results of these tests. While this problem is widely recognized, more work remains to compare its effect across tests and to determine the extent to which it is a problem for study short periods. This paper quantifies and compares the population shift bias present in the results of the Knox, Mantel, and Jacquez tests of space–time interaction. A simulation study is carried out which quantifies the bias present in each test across a variety of population movement scenarios. Results show a positive relationship between population shift bias and the heterogeneity in population growth across all the tests. They also demonstrate variability in the size of the bias across the three tests for space–time interaction considered. Finally, the results illustrate that population shift bias can be a serious problem for short study periods. Collectively, these findings suggest that an unbiased approach to assessing the significance of space–time interaction test results is needed whenever spatially heterogeneous population change is identified within a study area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Jacquez k nearest neighbor test, originally developed to improve upon shortcomings of existing tests for space-time interaction, has been shown to be a robust and powerful method of detecting interaction. Despite its flexibility and power, however, the test has three main shortcomings: (i) it discards important information regarding the spatial and temporal scales at which the detected interaction takes place; (ii) the results of the test have not been visualized; and (iii) recent research demonstrates the test to be susceptible to population shift bias. This study presents enhancements to the Jacquez k nearest neighbors test with the goal of addressing each of these three shortcomings and of improving the utility of the test. Data on Burkitt's lymphoma cases in Uganda between 1961 and 1975 are used to illustrate the modifications and enhanced visual output of the test. Output from the enhanced test is compared with that provided by alternative tests of space-time interaction. Results show the enhancements presented in this study transform the Jacquez test into a complete, descriptive, and informative metric that can be used as a stand-alone measure of global space-time interaction. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces two new methods for the exploratory analysis of the spatial and temporal dynamics of residential burglary patterns. The first is a conditional spatial Markov chain which considers the extent to which a location's probability of experiencing a residential burglary in a future period is related to the prevalence of residential burglaries in its surrounding neighborhood in an initial period. The second measure extends this conditional perspective to examine the joint evolution of residential burglary in a location and its surrounding neighborhood. These methods are applied to a case study of residential burglary patterns in Mesa, Arizona over the period October 2005 through December 2009. Strong patterns of spatial clustering of burglary activity are present in each year, and this clustering is found to have an important influence on both the conditional and joint evolution of burglary activity across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior analyses of stadium-focused economic development efforts suggest these projects are multifaceted in scope and one-size-fits-all approaches are rarely successful. This study builds upon prior analyses of stadium development projects and provides a comparative analysis of two stadium projects in Denver and Phoenix, with a focus on the role urban form has on the opposing outcomes of the two projects. Results suggest urban form has an impact on the prospects for success of these projects and that strategies to deal with the urban form of a city should be incorporated into comprehensive plans to revitalize downtown areas. A consideration of urban form is particularly important for polycentric urban areas where the success of downtown economic redevelopment efforts remains largely unexplored and unproven. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of three different modeling approaches for exploring structural theories of violence. Specifically, ordinary least squares regression, geographically weighted regression and data envelopment analysis will be utilized to evaluate violent crime. This type of analysis expands upon traditional theory testing by deepening our understanding of differences in crime generation and its underlying demographic and socio-economic stimuli via different methodological lenses. A case study for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio is presented and the results suggest that a combination of approaches is likely the best strategy for evaluating violence in urban areas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Univariate indicators such as employment are often used to benchmark economic growth at the local and regional levels. However, the tremendous technological and industrial changes in the U.S. economy in the second half of the twentieth century suggest this practice may be outdated. In fact, the singular use of univariate indicators to benchmark regional development may obscure a much richer and more complex web of economic processes. Given the potential complexities associated with regional benchmarking in the current global economy, this paper will explore the numerical differences in economic performance presented by popular univariate indicators of regional growth. Results demonstrate a univariate approach to benchmarking presents an incomplete snapshot of regional performance that is incapable of capturing the multifaceted nature of economic growth in today’s global knowledge economy. Although job creation remains an important component to development efforts, many other factors should be considered in evaluations of regional performance, including the industries in which jobs are created and their associated wages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite the growing body of research examining the collateral consequences of legislation governing sex offenders, a complete understanding of their residential choices post release remains elusive. This paper develops a predictive-analytical framework that helps determine which demo- graphic and socioeconomic factors best forecast the residential choices of convicted sex offenders. Specifically, a derived index of social disorganization (ISDOR) is implemented in both statistical and nonlinear data mining approaches to predict the presence of sex offenders in a community. The results of the analysis are encouraging, predicting nearly 75% of registered offender locations correctly. The utility of this framework as a tool for public policy and law enforcement is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are often cited as an important factor in firm location decisions. This is especially true for firms engaged in information intensive activities and those that have a strong need for advanced services such as broadband. Despite the suggested importance of these technologies, quantitative work evaluating the link between firm location and broadband provision is sparse and existing knowledge remains largely theoretical and speculative. However, theoretical evaluations of the impact of ICTs on firm location do provide a foundation for quantitative analyses of this relationship and may be grouped into three schools of thought: the deconcentration school, the concentration school, and the heterogeneous effects school. The predictions made by these three schools of thought will be analysed in an exploratory context to better understand the relationship between firm location and ICTs, with a focus on broadband service provision. A combination of basic spatial statistical analytical tools and geographic information systems (GIS) will be used in an exploratory spatial data analysis framework to evaluate the relationship between firm location and broadband provision trends from 1999 to 2004 in the state of Ohio. Results suggest that changes in broadband provision have no relationship with changes in firm location. However, a disaggregated, firm level analysis of this relationship does provide statistically significant results for a subset of industrial sectors. Firm size is also found to impact the correlation between firm presence and broadband provision. These results suggest that firm size and industry are perhaps critical components in determining the relative importance of ICTs, such as broadband, in firm location decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a renewed interest in the analysis of crime hot-spots has emerged in the social and behavioral sciences. Spurred by improvements in computing power, data visualization and geographic information systems, numerous innovative approaches have materialized for identifying areas of elevated crime in urban environments. Unfortunately, many hot-spot analysis techniques treat the spatial and temporal aspects of crime as distinct entities, thus ignoring the necessary interaction of space and time to produce criminal opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utility of statistical measures for identifying and comparing the spatio-temporal footprints of robbery, burglary and assault. Functional and visual comparisons for spatio-temporal clusters are analyzed across a range of space–time values using a comprehensive database of crime events for Cincinnati, Ohio. Empirical results suggest that robbery, burglary and assault have dramatically different spatio-temporal signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanoscale, zero-valent iron is a promising reagent for in situ reduction of a variety of subsurface contaminants, but its utility in full-scale remediation projects is limited by material costs. Iron nanoparticles (20-100 nm diameter) supported on carbon (C-Fe0) were synthesized by reacting iron salts, adsorbed or impregnated from aqueous solutions onto 80 m²/g carbon black, at 600-800 °C under Ar. Similar products were obtained by heating the reactants under air in a covered alumina crucible. X-ray powder diffraction patterns show that Fe3O4 particles are formed at 300-500 °C in the initial stage of the reaction and that these particles are reduced to a mixture of α and γ-Fe nanoparticles above 600 °C. When C-Fe0 was combined with carboxymethylcellulose in a 5:1 weight ratio in water, the resulting material had similar transport properties to previously optimized nanoiron/polyanion suspensions in water-saturated sand columns. At a 10:3 Fe/Cr mole ratio, C-Fe0 reduced a 10 ppm Cr(VI) solution to ∼1 ppm within three days. The surface area normalized first-order Cr removal rate was 1.2 h-1 m-2 under these conditions. These results demonstrate that reactive nanoiron with good transport properties in water-saturated porous media can be made in a scalable process from inexpensive starting materials by carbothermal reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]