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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]

• 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]

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]

• 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

• 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]

[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]

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]

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]

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]

Home visitation programs offer a unique opportunity to implement a novel digital early childhood obesity prevention program. Evaluate usability of a digital infant feeding nutrition education module with key stakeholders (N=21) of a home visiting program in Florida. Home visitors (n=11) and enrolled mothers (n=10) of a home visiting program in Florida participated in a one-time, 45-minute qualitative interview via Zoom with a trained researcher using a semi-structured script based on constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). Participants also completed a modified version of the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ). Interviews were audio-recorded, deidentified, transcribed verbatim and coded by two trained researchers using an inductive thematic analysis approach based on TAM and SCT constructs to develop themes. MAUQ subscales were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Most participants noted that they liked the digital format, and specifically mentioned the visual or interactive components, convenience and accessibility of the information, and general preference for digital information over paper handouts. Home visitors were interested in content related to food allergies and readiness for solid foods, whereas mothers were interested in all of the infant feeding topics. Nonetheless, the majority (90%) reported that they would be very likely to use information in the learning modules as part of home visits. Usability of the module was high across all three MAUQ subscales (mean ratings out of 7±SD: ease of use = 6.88±0.2, interface and satisfaction = 6.90±0.4, usefulness = 6.78±0.1). Limited access to technology by parents, compatibility of the module with various phone types, and necessity of keeping information updated were mentioned by home visitors as limitations that may impact usability. The results revealed that a digital nutrition education module to prevent early childhood obesity was deemed usable by both staff and parents of a home visiting program. Future research is needed to determine impact on parental feeding behaviors and child health outcomes. University of Florida Mowery Innovative Research Fund [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central eastern Florida shelf edge is a highly dynamic area that supports an important yet vulnerable deep-sea coral reefs ecosystem, the Oculina Coral Habitat Area of Particular Concern. Rapid and large short-terms (days to weeks) changes of bottom temperature (up to 9 °C) and p CO 2 (up to 180 μatm) were observed at the shelfbreak during a two-month (May 13-July 10, 2017) deployment of a lander package. An analysis suggests that these changes are the combined results of tides, the Gulf Stream meandering, and submesoscale eddies and filaments. The processes responsible for sub-tidal variability may include 1) the Gulf Stream frontal movements, 2) upwelling/downwelling of slope waters in association with the Gulf Stream variability, and 3) submesoscale processes and associated vertical movements. Satellite images also frequently show a narrow plume of elevated chlorophyll concentration that stretches from the coast northward up to >200 km along the Gulf Stream front during late spring and early summer. Our analysis indicates that these phytoplankton blooms in the plume are likely supported by the nutrient supply from the nutrients-rich slope waters to the shelf edge and subsequent local vertical mixing. Carbon export associated with these blooms can be an important food source to the Oculina corals. Upwelling of slope waters, on the other hand, will lead to increased CO 2 and reduced pH and aragonite saturation state along the shelf edge. Therefore, these dynamic processes may have strong impacts on the health and sustainability of the Oculina coral ecosystem. • Rapid short-terms changes of bottom temperature (up to 9 °C) and p CO 2 (up to 180 μatm). • A high chlorophyll plume stretches from the coast northward along the Gulf Stream front. • Short-terms variability are associated with GS meandering and submesoscale features. • The biogeochemical processes may have strong impacts on the deep coral ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest owners in Florida are often natural advocates of wildlife conservation. Unfortunately, some landowners choose to remain silent about imperiled species on their lands, which challenges government efforts to track species recovery. It is often assumed that landowner resistance towards wildlife regulations is economic in nature. However, when motivations for certain management behaviors are not economic in nature, the effectiveness of governmental regulations and incentives are not well understood. This paper is the first to investigate the economic and intrinsic motivations of family forest owners to protect imperiled wildlife species by defining landownership as a cultural ecosystem service, giving rise to personal identity benefits. We used a choice experiment format and Likert scale questions to characterize the personal identity constructs of family forest owners and their response to wildlife policies. We found many family forest owners are skeptical of government involvement, despite offers of a cost-share and a regulatory assurance. We conclude that when costs are low, or not well understood, forest owners' are more often motivated by the cultural values that uphold their personal identity constructs. Key in explaining changes in forest owner welfare was the importance placed on autonomy in making management decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates economic loss from South Florida croplands when usage of agricultural irrigation water is altered. In South Florida, 78% of the total value of farm products sold is comprised of cropland products. The majority of Florida citrus and sugarcane are produced in the area, and agricultural irrigation was the largest sector of water use in 2010, followed by public water supply. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced in December 2012 that traditional sources of fresh groundwater will have difficulty meeting all of the additional demands by 2030. A shortage of water will impose significant damage to the rural and agriculture economy in Florida, which may lead to higher prices and costs for consumers to purchase citrus or other Florida agriculture products. This paper presents a methodology for estimating economic loss when usage of irrigation water is altered, and examines economic values of irrigation water use for South Florida cropland. The efficient allocation of irrigation water across South Florida cropland is also investigated in order to reduce economic cost to the South Florida agricultural sector. [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]

School buildings have a great potential for carbon emission reduction since their annual emission is about 72 million metric tons. Currently, more than 30 % of school buildings were built before 1960 and are underperforming. To effectively reduce carbon emissions via school building retrofits, it is critical for policymakers to understand the carbon intensity reduction potential of retrofitting school buildings in different regions. Hence, this study develops a method to comprehensively assess the long-term carbon intensity reduction potential of aggregated commercial buildings on a county-by-county basis in the continental U.S. We apply this method to the K-12 school buildings including primary and secondary school buildings. This paper predicts the carbon intensity reduction potential of K-12 school buildings with eight building retrofit measures from 2022 to 2050 in the continental U.S. The results reveal several interesting findings: (1) In the approximately 3,000 counties of the U.S. from 2022 to 2050, the carbon intensity reduction potential of retrofitting K-12 school buildings in each county ranges from 0.41 kg/m2 to 40.00 kg/m2. (2) Even in the same climate zone, the trends of carbon intensity reduction potential from 2022 to 2050 are different depending on their electricity sources. For example, in a hot and humid climate zone, the carbon intensity reduction potential in Florida will decrease from 2044 to 2048. However, in Mississippi, the carbon intensity reduction potential from 2044 to 2046 will increase due to the termination of the nuclear energy usage. (3) Generally, reducing lighting power density leads to more carbon intensity reduction in most states, but it might not be applicable for states with high clean energy penetration, such as Washington. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares for- and non-profit management of charter schools in Florida using a unique dataset combining enrollment and student proficiency data with the annual independent financial audits filed by all charter schools. Comparisons reveal that independent for- and non-profit charter schools locate in similar markets and serve similar student bodies, whereas for-profits belonging to a network locate in lower income, denser, and more Hispanic areas. Bearing out the concerns of parents and policymakers, regression estimates indicate that, among independent charters, for-profits spend less per pupil on instruction and achieve lower student proficiency gains. By contrast, among charter schools belonging to a network, for-profits spend approximately 11% less per pupil, but expenses on student instruction are not being cut. The estimates, which control for differences across schools in student composition and other characteristics, imply that an equivalent level of per pupil expenses purchases about 0.03 σ higher student proficiency at network for-profit charter schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyzes the risks associated with using mitigation banking for the conservation of wetlands in Florida in the United States. First, we attempt to identify and summarize the main ecological and socio-economic risks regarding mitigation banking that have been discussed in previous studies. Then we analyze the institutional responses adopted by US regulators to limit these risks. We have used empirical evidence including interviews and data analysis to assess the effectiveness of these responses. Our main findings are that the recent regulatory responses adopted to face risks associated with mitigation banking seem to be more effective than what is often assumed. These responses are underpinned by the emergence of a hybrid mode of governance that combines market characteristics and regulatory constraints, and which contributes to enforcing wetland compensation in Florida. However, we also observed some risks inherent in this system, in particular the redistribution of ecosystem services, as the distance between impact sites and compensation sites seems to have increased in Florida in the last several years. In addition, the question is still pending regarding whether or not No Net Loss of wetlands is really achieved through mitigation banking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews a peer-to-peer energy market for prosumers of a regulated utility. Utilities pay retail prices to prosumers regardless of demand, forcing utilities to pass the cost of distribution to other consumers. As prosumers grow in numbers, utilities need a better compensation method. A real-time peer-to-peer energy market application may provide higher incentives. Utilities adopt the service because it would allow for compensation of overhead. By including the utility, a micro-grid is not needed for a peer-to-peer market. The prosumer community can be virtual. The proposed implementation can become an intermediary step to decentralized energy markets. The application shall leverage the real-time demand of consumers and adjust payment instantly to prosumers that can meet that demand. A shared cloud account can allow the community to manage the application and create transparency and trust. • A fully decentralized peer-to-peer energy market can replace net-metering. • The NRG-X-Change algorithm is simulated for small and large markets. • We simulate prosumers exploiting the system using cooperative game theory. • Data is based on real-world conditions for prosumers in Florida during 21′-22′. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates geospatial modification of the USGS methodology for assessing geologic CO 2 storage resources, and was applied to the Pre-Punta Gorda Composite and Dollar Bay reservoirs of the South Florida Basin. The study provides detailed evaluation of porous intervals within these reservoirs and utilizes GIS to evaluate the potential spatial distribution of reservoir parameters and volume of CO 2 that can be stored. This study also shows that incorporating spatial variation of parameters using detailed and robust datasets may improve estimates of storage resources when compared to applying uniform values across the study area derived from small datasets, like many assessment methodologies. Geospatially derived estimates of storage resources presented here (Pre-Punta Gorda Composite = 105,570 MtCO 2 ; Dollar Bay = 24,760 MtCO 2 ) were greater than previous assessments, which was largely attributed to the fact that detailed evaluation of these reservoirs resulted in higher estimates of porosity and net-porous thickness, and areas of high porosity and thick net-porous intervals were incorporated into the model, likely increasing the calculated volume of storage space available for CO 2 sequestration. The geospatial method for evaluating CO 2 storage resources also provides the ability to identify areas that potentially contain higher volumes of storage resources, as well as areas that might be less favorable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The devastating disease Huanglongbing (HLB) has greatly affected citrus in Florida and other growing regions. Detecting dropped fruit is one method of estimating the presence and severity of the disease. The purpose of this study was to develop a machine vision system that can detect dropped citrus on the ground in varying illumination conditions and identify decaying stages of the dropped fruit. In this paper, a novel method for image brightness correction using a contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization was developed to produce constant image brightness levels between and within images. Objectives of this study were to: (1) solve the varying illumination problem and create a consistent brightness level between and within the images, (2) develop an algorithm to eliminate multiple detections of a single fruit from the circular Hough transform, (3) design an algorithm to evaluate decaying stages of the dropped citrus, and (4) demonstrate ability to create a fruit drop map of citrus at each decaying stage in a commercial citrus grove. The result shows all processed images had desired brightness levels (152 out of 255) with a standard deviation of 1.0. Correct identification of fruit and false positives were measured as 89.6% and 5.0%, respectively. False classifications of decay stages of fruit were as low as 4.2% and 18.5% for recently dropped fruit and rotten fruit, respectively. The techniques developed in this work could be further developed into a commercial machine vision system for a real-time dropped fruit mapping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We measured the electric field waveforms produced by both RTL and NL at comparable far distances using same instrumentation, where the radiation field is dominant. Compared to previous work done by Mallick & Rakov (2014), we increase the sample size of RTL data and compare with NL data. • The majority of the parameters show comparable values. The distributions for 10%-to-90% risetime and HPW show less scatter for RTL than NL. The plateau type slow front occurs in RTL strokes more often than in NL strokes. The initial electric field peak and the various time parameters of field waveforms are very low. • For subsequent strokes in NL and field propagation over land, HPW values are typically of the order of 10 μs. • For 184 subsequent strokes in NL and 139 strokes in RTL, we found that the field zero-crossing time for RTL is slightly smaller than for NL. • The smaller electric field pulse widths that we measured for RTL compared to NL could be due to: 1. A faster current decay with height in RTL return strokes. 2. The bottom part of the channel for RTL is straighter than for NL. Using wideband electric field records obtained at the Lightning Observatory in Gainesville (LOG), Florida, we examined in detail the characteristics of far electric field waveforms produced by two categories of lightning return strokes. The first category includes return strokes of any order in lightning flashes triggered by a rocket extending a grounded wire toward the overhead thundercloud, which we label RTL (rocket-triggered lightning) strokes. The second category includes return strokes of order 2 and higher (that is, only subsequent strokes) in natural cloud-to-ground lightning flashes, which we label NL (natural lightning) strokes. Properties of RTL and NL strokes are expected to be similar. A total of 139 RTL strokes from years 2013 to 2016 and 184 NL strokes from years 2013 to 2015 were examined in this study. All strokes transported negative charge to ground and occurred at similar distances from LOG. Similarities and dissimilarities of waveform parameters for the two categories of strokes and their possible explanations are discussed in this paper. This is the first detailed comparison of electric field waveforms of RTL and NL strokes recorded at approximately the same distance (some tens of kilometers) and with the same instrumentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Component fragilities are derived from fusion of heterogeneous post-disaster datasets. • Subroutines enable generalized sample building selection and damage data integration. • Bayesian approach supports data-scarce use cases and fragility model refinement. • Roof cover fragilities developed using data produced after Hurricanes Michael and Irma. • Identifies intensities/building classes to be targeted in future data collection. Widespread, disaster-related damage to buildings often results in severe economic, environmental, and societal impacts for the affected regions. The design of targeted mitigation strategies and policies to reduce disaster-related losses at community scale would benefit from building-specific, component-level loss estimations across regional building inventories under realistic hazard scenarios. However, such highly granular loss estimations face a unique challenge in sourcing reliable fragilities to project likely damage to specific buildings in a given inventory, especially for the case of wind-vulnerable structures. Notably, increased accessibility to post-disaster datasets, particularly those that standardize damage quantifications at the component-level, are quickly advancing the utility of this data for the development of observation-informed fragilities. In response, this paper offers a Bayesian data integration framework to guide the development of component-level fragilities derived from the fusion of multiple post-disaster datasets. This framework advances the utility of Bayesian approaches to fragility model updating for applications to high-granularity regional loss estimation by contributing subroutines that (1) generalize the process of sample building selection and (2) formalize the query and integration of heterogeneous open disaster data. These contributions then enable automated model updating of component-level fragilities, taking advantage of an object-oriented data model to facilitate efficient building data management across the framework's subroutines. Such a Bayesian approach to fragility development not only allows for continuous refinement of model parameters as post-disaster data becomes available, but also creates opportunities for the framework to support fragility descriptions for classes of buildings that comprise smaller proportions of the building inventory, and are thus unlikely to have large sample sizes. The framework is applied to two case studies in the state of Florida, utilizing datasets produced after Hurricanes Michael and Irma to update fragility models for roof cover components in residential and institutional buildings. The case studies not only demonstrate the proposed framework's rational approach to generating observation-informed fragilities in support of regional damage assessments, but also how this data-driven Bayesian approach can in turn inform hazard intensities and building classes to be targeted in data collection after future hurricanes to further refine the fragilities for use cases/damage measures/wind speeds that have limited observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hurricanes are a major driver of disaster losses in the United States; these losses can be minimized through the development of open-source scientific workflows that conduct site-specific, building-specific and component-level loss assessments across entire regions. While today's open-source workflows provide parcel-level granularity, common use of non-specific building characterizations limits the fidelity of these representations, particularly with respect to site-specific effects of wind and windborne debris (WBD) hazards. In response, this paper presents a new framework that utilizes publicly available data to enable modeling and analysis capabilities necessary to (1) capture site-specific, building-specific exposure to wind and WBD hazards and (2) propagate these demands through the building envelope's load path. The proposed data-driven framework is applied to an office building located in Florida's Bay County, the landfall site of Hurricane Michael. Leveraging a new building data model for regional loss estimation, this case study demonstrates the framework's use of open data to automate population of site models, WBD missile environment, wind pressure distributions, and component capacities to enable fault tree analyses for target and source buildings. The proposed approach can be utilized to identify hazard- and building-specific, component-level damage consistent with actual damage observed in Hurricane Michael. • Simulates site-specific effects of wind and windborne debris hazards on buildings. • Utilizes open data to generate site- and building-specific, component-level features. • Enables fault tree analyses to propagate demand through building envelope load path. • Compares simulated pressure and debris damage to observations in Hurricane Michael. • Reveals damage with granularity necessary for targeted mitigation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Sinkhole is one of major geohazards in karst area where soluble carbonate bedrock is underlain by cover soils (e.g., sandy or clayey soils) and active groundwater circulation is present. Groundwater recharge easily erode the overburden soils away into cavities in the bedrock, and ultimately structural collapse in ground. The induced ground collapse/subsidence may pose a great threat to human safety, environment, and buildings and infrastructure. The goal of this study is to develop a method/tool to spatially assess the possibility of sinkhole occurrence. The paper presents two main taks: (1) development of a probabilistic spatial prediction model of sinkhole susceptibility and (2) a geographical information system (GIS)-based regional-scale sinkhole susceptibility map. The study area is the east central Florida (ECF) region that has been experiencing more abrupt and larger cover collapse sinkholes. The research methodology employs two statistical methods for the spatial prediction model, frequency ratio (FR) and logistic regression (LR), accounting for six criteria that are soil erosion, mechanical stability, distance, geology, human activity, and climate condition. The final section of factors includes head difference, soil permeability, thicknesses of aquifer systems (overburden, surficial/intermediate aquifer), distance to karst features, surficial geology, lithology, land use/land cover, and rainfall. Once the models were constructed, both models were validated and compared by using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis. The results indicate that the LR model better delineates high susceptibility areas of sinkhole and hydrological factors (recharge and head difference) are more accurately reflected on the model of the LR. • Develop probabilistic spatial susceptibility model of carbonate karst sinkhole. • A regional-scale sinkhole susceptibility map for the east central Florida region. • Evaluate the performance of Frequency Ratio (FR) and Logistic Regression (LR) methods in the sinkhole susceptibility model. • Statistical analysis on the impact of sinkhole contributing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Drone-based delivery of aid items in humanitarian logistics. • Studied demand location uncertainty in disaster-affected areas. • Developed a chance constrained programming model to address the uncertainty. • Proposed multi-stage solution approach procedure. The paper introduces a stochastic optimization-based approach to address the logistics for the timely delivery of aid packages to disaster-affected areas utilizing a fleet of drones when the set of demand points is unknown. The major problem addressed is to locate a set of drone take-off platforms so that with a specified probability α , the maximum total disutility (or cost) under all realizations of the demand locations is minimized. A set of discrete scenarios defines the uncertainty set of the demand points. A Chance Constrained Programming (CCP) formulation is developed to select a set of platform locations whose disutility distribution produces minimum α percentile. For each platform location set, and each demand scenario, the total disutility is defined as the total delivery time for serving the demand points plus a penalty for unvisited demand points. For every set of drone platform locations, referred to as a candidate combination of platforms, the resultant disutility distribution is obtained by solving a space-time drone scheduling subproblem for all possible demand scenarios. The drone scheduling subproblem optimally schedules and sequences a set of trips for each drone so that the total disutility is minimized. Owing to the computational complexity of the proposed approach, an approximation method is developed that decomposes the problem into three tractable stages. The first stage identifies a set of most preferable platform combinations. The second stage develops an approximation algorithm based on a greedy approach to mitigate the extensive computational requirements for solving the large number of drone scheduling subproblems. The last stage builds upon the properties of a Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method and of the CCP formulation to select the optimum set of platforms. Finally, the performance of the proposed stochastic approach is evaluated through a series of computational experiments and a case study of Central Florida. The results reveal interesting insights and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed logistics system for drone delivery of humanitarian aid packages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In recent years, studies have indicated that consumers of alcohol mixed with energy drink (AmED) are more likely to drink heavily and experience more negative consequences than consumers who avoid these beverages. Although researchers have identified a number of plausible hypotheses that explain how alcohol-energy drink co-ingestion could cause greater alcohol consumption, there has been no postulation about reverse causal relations. This paper identifies several plausible hypotheses for the observed associations between AmED consumption and greater alcohol consumption, and provides initial evidence for one such hypothesis suggesting that heavy drinking may be a determinant of AmED use.Method: Data collected from 511bar patrons were used to examine the plausibility of one of the proposed hypotheses, i.e., AmED is an artifact of heavy drinking. Associations between the consumption of an assortment of alcoholic beverage types and total alcohol consumption were examined at the event-level, to assess whether AmED is uniquely related with greater alcohol consumption.Results: Increased alcohol consumption was associated with greater odds of consuming most alcoholic beverage types; this association was not unique to AmED.Conclusions: Results support the overlooked hypothesis that AmED use is an artifact of heavy drinking. Thus, AmED consumption may be a consequence or marker of heavier drinking. Much of the existing research on alcoholic beverage types is limited in its ability to implicate any specific type of drink, including AmED, as a cause of increased alcohol consumption and related harm. More rigorous study designs are needed to examine causal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Technology has transformed our lifestyles in dramatic and significant ways, including new and less expensive options for recruiting study participants. This study examines cost and participant differences between two recruitment sources, Craigslist (CL), and print newspapers (PNs). This paper also reviewed and compared studies involving clinical trials published since 2010 that recruited participants using CL alone or in combination with other methods.Method: Secondary data analyses from a parent study involving a randomized controlled trial of a mail-based intervention to promote self-change with problem drinkers.Results: Significant differences were found between CL and PN participants on most demographic and pretreatment drinking variables. While all participants had AUDIT scores suggestive of an alcohol problem and reported drinking at high-risk levels, CL participants had less severe drinking problem histories, were considerably younger, and had a higher socioeconomic status than PN participants. The total advertising costs for the 65 CL ads ($275) were significantly less than the 69 PN ads ($33, 311). The recruiting cost per eligible participant was vastly less expensive using CL ($1.46) compared to print newspaper ads ($116.88).Conclusions: Using CL is a viable recruitment method for soliciting participants, particularly those that are younger, for alcohol intervention studies. It is also less expensive than newspaper ads. When CL participants were recruited, they reported being slightly more confident to change their drinking than PN participants. Limitations of using CL are discussed, including that some initial ad responders gave inconsistent answers to similar questions and a few tried to enter the study more than once. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from sensitivity studies conducted using the Distributed Generation Build-out Economic Assessment Tool (DG-BEAT). The viability of meeting commercial building loads with a stationary fuel cells is studied under different conditions of electricity pricing, dispatch strategies, and complementary technologies. Key findings support the notion that fuel cells are becoming economically viable alternatives in California, New York and Connecticut at installed costs of $7000–10,000/kW. Michigan is identified as another state well suited to fuel cell development with heat recovery. Fuel cell installations reduce net carbon emissions for commercial buildings by 20–30% when compared to local, time-resolved, grid emissions. Grid sell-back, at 50% retail price, significantly improves the economics of a base load fuel cell, but has little impact for a dispatchable system. At installed costs below $5000/kW, load following capability results in significant additional cost reductions as the generating capacity is increased beyond the building's base load requirements. Complementary technologies such as chillers and thermal storage have a pronounced impact, particularly in warmer climates. Installing fuel cells paired with electric chillers and thermal storage in Florida at buildings with exceptionally high air conditioning demands can achieve the same economic benefit as a typical New York building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper reviewed field and modeling studies in the Woodville Karst Plain (WKP). • Diving and tracer tests mapped karst conduit networks and explored connectivity. • Three-phase conceptual model explained the interaction of seawater and freshwater. • Numerical models simulated groundwater flow and transport through karst conduits. • New models were developed to improve seawater intrusion simulation in karst aquifer. This paper provides a review of over thirty years of research and investigation in the Woodville Karst Plain (WKP) in northern Florida, which is representative of the Floridan Aquifer system, a karst aquifer in the southeastern United States. The WKP is a well-developed karst region where over 40 km of subsurface conduits are mapped by divers and tracer tests, and connected to Wakulla Spring, one of the largest freshwater springs in the U.S. Furthermore, the conduit networks expand and interact with seawater via the connection to a submarine spring, and impact groundwater flow cycle in the aquifer. Numerical models, based on multiple field investigations, have been developed to quantify the understanding of hydrogeologic processes in the WKP. Novel modeling approaches with capabilities were developed to simulate seawater and groundwater interaction in this dual-permeability aquifer. The WKP site has served as a valuable natural observatory for a series of studies documented in this paper to understand groundwater flow, contaminant transport and seawater intrusion in the well-developed karst subsurface system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The middle Santonian-lower Campanian carbonate-mud dominated succession deposited in the northeastern margin of the South Iberian Ramp (La Cañadilla Fm, NE Spain) shows a complex set of interfingered facies developed in a low-energy and low-gradient shallow-marine to coastal environment. Three facies belts characterize the environment reconstructed in this work: (1) a low-energy shallow marine lagoon dominated by radiolitid rudist limestones and miliolid-rich facies with variable carbonate-mud content; (2) a transitional belt with a patchy distribution of ponds and mudbanks. This belt mostly consists of miliolid-rich limestones with variable amount of fenestral porosity, which are interfingered with charophytes and gastropod marls and limestones usually mixed with miliolids; (3) a coastal plain with strong freshwater influence characterized by the sedimentation of marls and limestones with charophytes, gastropods and root traces and intraclastic/black pebble limestones. The studied succession is arranged in high-frequency sequences, including meter-scale parasequences bounded by widespread flooding surfaces, which stack in five larger-scale shallowing-upward sequences (6–20 m thick). The time calibration of these sequences obtained from strontium isotopes and biostratigraphic data (benthic foraminifera) suggests a major control in the sedimentation by climate-driven low-amplitude sea level oscillations formed in tune with the long- and short-eccentricity orbital cycles. Cyclic sea level rises controlled the existence of widespread flooding events in the low-gradient carbonate ramp at the onset of parasequences, which in the studied marginal areas of the South Iberian Ramp were mostly sourced from the southern Tethyan realm. Therefore, the La Cañadilla Fm provides an example of a complex shallow marine to coastal system giving rise to a mosaic distribution of carbonate-mud dominated facies, with sedimentation mostly influenced by external factors resulting in a well-defined stratigraphic architecture. The similarities with modern analogous systems such as the Ten Thousand Islands of the Florida Bay are discussed in this paper. • La Cañadilla Fm deposited in a carbonate mud-dominated coastal plain to lagoon • A transitional facies belt with mudbanks and ponds is compared to Florida analogues. • A mid Santonian-early Campanian age is precised by strontium data. • Sea-level changes driven by eccentricity cycles had major control in sedimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital heart disease occurs in approximately 1% of all live births and accounts for 30–50% of all infant mortality due to congenital malformations. Infant mortality related to congenital heart disease has significantly decreased over the last 20–30 years due to improvement in surgical procedures, introduction of interventional procedures, and more accurate ultrasonic and advanced imaging diagnostic studies. With the multifactorial improvement in mortality outcomes, it is difficult to demonstrate a survival benefit for infants based on prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease alone. However, prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease is associated with significant improvement in postnatal morbidity including reduced duration of mechanical ventilation, length of hospital stay, end organ dysfunction, and improvement in neurodevelopmental outcomes. Additionally, there is still considerable variation in mortality outcomes across races and geographical locations within the United States with increased mortality associated with increased distance from top pediatric cardiac surgical centers. This paper describes a comprehensive perinatal cardiology program model at a stand-alone children's hospital with a referral base that encompasses a large geographical region of the state with variable limitations in access to tertiary care. A comprehensive perinatal cardiology program with a multispecialty team of fetal cardiologists, maternal fetal medicine physicians, nurse coordinators, pediatric cardiology subspecialists, and supportive services for patients with wide and diverse community partnerships is an essential component in providing accessible prenatal cardiac care and complex delivery planning regardless of socioeconomic status or geographical location, limiting disparities in care and improving overall outcomes. • Congenital heart disease accounts for 30–50% of all infant mortality due to congenital malformations. • Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease is associated with reduced morbidity such as: duration of mechanical ventilation, length of hospital stay, end organ dysfunction, and improvement in neurodevelopmental outcomes. • Development of perinatal cardiac centers with access to maternal fetal medicine, high risk obstetrical, neonatology and pediatric cardiology as well as other pediatric subspecialties is vital for the management of infants with critical congenital heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploitation impacts and management options for 15 coral reef fish species central to the commercial and recreational fisheries of the southern Florida USA coral reef ecosystem were evaluated using a length-based risk analysis (LBRA) framework. Population abundance-at-length composition data were obtained from several regional federal-state sampling programs. These and updated life history demographic data were integrated into a length-based numerical cohort model to generate LBRA fishery sustainability metrics from a probabilistic perspective. Three of five groupers, eight of eight snappers, and two of two grunts were below the 40% spawning potential ratio (SPR) stock sustainability minimum; ten of these stocks are at < 20% of their historical spawning biomass, some as low as 5%. Therefore, to ameliorate overfishing for the 13 stocks with sustainability risks ≥ 98%, fisheries management requires increased minimum sizes of first capture L c and significant reductions in fishing mortality F . To achieve sustainability and reduce sustainability risks area-time protections are also needed. While lack of data often limits the evaluation of management options, this paper establishes benchmarks from which data-limited approaches can move forward. In addition, the approach can be used to cross-check other data-rich analyses. A goal of this work is to effectively balance sustainability risks with fishery production to mitigate overfishing likelihoods and to increase the probability of sustainable fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest exists to standardize and improve data collection and coding in Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) classes by switching from a paper-and-pencil 24-hour recall to the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Recall (ASA24); however, it is important to address the feasibility of putting this into practice. To do an initial pilot test to compare the use of ASA24 with paper-and-pencil recalls with EFNEP participants. Ten EFNEP paraprofessional educators were recruited from three states and trained to use ASA24. Participants were randomized at the class level to complete either ASA24 or a paper-and-pencil recall at program entry and the alternate method at exit. Participants (n = 37 entry, n = 30 exit) and paraprofessionals completed questionnaires about usability, confidence, preference, and perceived accuracy at entry and exit. Seven paraprofessionals participated in online focus groups or qualitative interviews. Questions about usability, confidence, and perceived accuracy were scored on a Likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5); scores were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were transcribed, and two researchers coded and developed themes using inductive content analysis. Average scores for usability, confidence, and perceived accuracy were very similar for ASA24 and the paper-and-pencil recall. When asked which method they preferred, both the participants and paraprofessionals were evenly split. In the qualitative interviews, almost all of the paraprofessionals felt that ASA24 would result in more accurate recalls. The major barriers mentioned were lack of computer literacy of some participants and problems with internet connectivity. ASA24 may be comparable to the paper-and-pencil recall in usability, confidence, perceived accuracy, and preference for both EFNEP participants and paraprofessionals. Qualitative analysis indicates that ASA24 may work better with participants who are computer literate, and may yield more accurate results. USDA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional mainline toll plaza (TMTP) is considered the most high-risk location on the toll roads. Conversion from TMTP or hybrid mainline toll plaza (HMTP) to an all-electronic toll collection (AETC) system has demonstrated measured improvement in traffic operations and environmental issues. However, there is a lack of research that quantifies the safety impacts of these new tolling systems. This study evaluated the safety effectiveness of the conversion from TMTP or HMTP to AETC system. An extensive data collection was conducted that included hundred mainline toll plazas located on more than 750 miles of toll roads in Florida. Various observational before-after studies including the empirical Bayes method were applied. The results indicated that the conversion from the TMTP to an AETC system resulted in an average crash reduction of 76, 75, and 68% for total, fatal-and-injury and property damage only (PDO) crashes, respectively; for rear end and lane change related (LCR) crashes the average reductions were 80 and 74%, respectively. The conversion from HMTP to AETC system enhanced traffic safety by reducing crashes by 24, 28 and 20% of total, fatal-and-injury, and PDO crashes respectively; also, for rear end and LCR crashes, the average reductions were 15 and 22%, respectively. Overall, this paper provided an up-to-date safety impact of using different toll collection systems. The results proved that the AETC system significantly improved traffic safety for all crash categories; and changed toll plazas from the highest risk on Expressways to be similar to regular segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]