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Since the 1980s US city governments have increased their use of more speculative means of financing economic redevelopment. This has involved experimenting with a variety of financial and taxation instruments as a way of growing their economies and redeveloping their built environments. This very general tendency, of course, masks how some cities have done well through the use of these instruments while others have not. The work to date has tended to pivot around a “winner-loser dichotomy”, which emphasises either the capacity of US cities to be able to experiment and speculate through the use of one financial instrument or another or their failings with these instruments, resulting in bankruptcy and fiscal crisis. This paper presents a case study of Lexington, Kentucky and using archival research and interviews we argue that speculative financial instruments are harder to choreograph for some cities than for others. We draw particular attention to US cities beyond those that tend to be over-represented in the metro-centric academic literature. This argument has conceptual significance. Building theory out of the experiences of US cities such as Lexington, Kentucky turns attention to the work required by city governments as they seek to finance the redevelopment of their downtowns. We make the case for a continued appreciation of the messy politics around the use of financial instruments, and its indeterminate, open and unpredictable nature in an era of fragile and uncertain entrepreneurial US urban policy-making.

The local economic development practice of attracting industry, investment, and employment is a long-standing one in the United States. Yet the manner in which this investment is mediated has always been shrouded in mystery. The mediation of investment and the particular role of site selection consultants in facilitating corporate location decisions is the principal focus of this commentary. The authors draw on a series of recent interviews to illustrate how economic development organizations view the role of site selection consultants and their contribution to the practice of industrial recruitment. The authors conclude that, while location consultants bring certain welcome efficiencies to the practice of industrial recruitment, their presence also raises important questions concerning interplace competition for mobile investment and the general landscape of local economic development in the United States.

In this paper, we examine the location consulting industry as a set of intermediaries that promote globalization when brokering between a demand for suitable sites for direct investment projects emanating from multinational enterprises and the supply of locations produced by host country governments. We outline three themes composing a research agenda: the nature of the knowledge mobilized by these intermediaries and its implications for the organization of the industry; the role of intermediaries as a neglected aspect of coupling within global production networks, and; the globally uneven contribution of intermediaries in different national political economies. We illustrate these themes empirically drawing on original interview research with location consultants and related companies based in Europe. In conclusion, we note how these intermediaries associated with ‘old’ economic geographical knowledge nevertheless continue to evolve practice in ways that shape the global distribution of investment.

Settlements variously termed ‘ex-urbs’, ‘edge cities’, ‘technoburbs’ are taken to signal something different from suburbia and as a consequence might be considered post-suburban. Existing literature has focused on defining post-suburbia as a new era and as a new form of settlement space. Whether post-suburbia can also be delimited in terms of its distinctive politics is the open question explored here. The paper begins by considering the need to make urban political theory more tailored to the different settlements that populate the heavily urbanised regions of nations. The paper stresses the structural properties of capitalism that generate differences within the unity of the urbanisation process. It then discusses what is new about a class of post-suburban settlements, concentrating on what the increasing economic gravity of post-suburbia, the difficulty of bounding post-suburban communities and the continuing role of the state imply for understanding urban politics and the reformulation of urban political theory.

Background: Planned or unplanned reconstruction of the common femoral artery (femoro-femoral crossover and/or patch closure) may be required following endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) stent graft deployment for arterial closure or maintenance of limb perfusion. The aim of this study was to examine the incidence of common femoral artery reconstruction (FAR) following EVAR and examine the effect on patient survival. Methods: A total of 178 patients undergoing EVAR were studied retrospectively. Results: In all, 31 patients (17.4%) underwent FAR; 16 (51.6%) femoro-femoral crossover, and 15 (48.4%) endarterectomy and patch closure. All cause survival in patients undergoing FAR was significantly poorer than those undergoing direct closure (P = .010).A total of 3 factors: the need for FAR (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.435, P = .006), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ([COPD] HR = 0.424, P = .002), and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) size (HR = 1.414, P = .005) were significantly and independently associated with survival on forward conditional analysis. Conclusions: Femoral artery reconstruction was performed in almost 1 in 5 patients undergoing EVAR and associated with decreased survival. Multidisciplinary teams should be aware of these findings when planning EVAR, especially in borderline candidates.

The emergence over the last 30–40 years of what is variously termed edge city, edgeless, and postsuburban development in North America and elsewhere raises a set of challenges for urban theory and existing ways of understanding the politics of urban growth and management. These challenges and their global import have been outlined in their broadest terms by members of a ‘Los Angeles School’. In this paper we try to develop the detail of some of these challenges in ways that might allow for comparative analysis. We begin by considering three analytical dimensions along which distinctively postsuburban settlements might be identified. These dimensions are not without their limitations but we regard them as a heuristic device around which to centre ongoing comparative research. We then go on to highlight three political contradictions attending postsuburban growth which appear to flow from some of these defining dimensions. To the extent that such postsuburban growth and politics are distinctive, they pose important challenges to established theories of urban politics. We briefly consider these challenges in the conclusion of the paper.

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic - relational approach in examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance context in Britain. In the analysis, the focus is directed particularly at the changing context within which business politics operates in the British regions and, importantly, on the perceptions of business actors and interests of their position in these changing contexts. In this way, we seek to move beyond established structuralist and agency-oriented approaches to business interest representation, which have tended to underplay the influence and complexity of business perceptions in exploring the changing form of business representation. Subsequently, we present some further brief comments on the respective capacities of groups and organisations representing business, and the strategic processes that underlie business responses to the new governance arrangements, which will be important to the further development of analysis founded in the strategic - relational approach. In broad terms, we argue that business perceptions of the devolutionary context have underscored a limited restructuring of business interest representation in Britain, as business groups register the ongoing centralism that characterises the British polity. In addition, the organisation of business interest representation displays a strong path dependency, reflecting a degree of institutional stasis and the strength of perceived structures in this sphere. However, a series of relatively modest changes are underway as a variety of business interests adopt particular kinds of strategies given their specific aims and capacities.

The paper comprises an examination of the material inputs of a sample of 70 small firms in the Sheffield metal-working cluster and an assessment of the extent to which purchases are accompanied by face-to-face (embodied) transactions. It is shown that there are no significant differences between the level of embodied transactions accompanying local (intra-cluster) material links and those associated with non-local flows. It seems that, on this measure at least and within this cluster, the Sheffield metal-working cluster lacks the dense network of embodied transactions with local suppliers suggested in the wider literature. The lower-than-expected measures of embodied transactions suggest that one of the mechanisms for the transfer of knowledge between buyers and suppliers within an industrial cluster is poorly developed in this particular case.

Community economic development (CED) initiatives expanded rapidly in urban and regional policy in the 1990s. Traditional evaluation methodology has, however, proved to be extremely difficult to apply effectively to CED. This paper examines existing monitoring and evaluation procedures for CED, the problems faced in applying traditional methodology and possible ways forward to ensure that more effective monitoring and evaluation can be undertaken. Evidence is drawn from four detailed case studies of urban CED projects funded as part of the 1994-96 Yorkshire and the Humber Objective 2 Structural Funds programme. These case studies were deliberately designed to experiment with alternative quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.

This case explores how the presentation of a perforated duodenal ulcer is masked by a preceding anterior spinal artery infarction.

The implicit aim of neuroprotection is to rescue neurons within distressed but still viable tissue, thereby promoting functional recovery upon neuronal salvage. The clinical failure of this approach suggests that previous efforts to develop stroke therapies lacked means to predict success or futility in pre-clinical and early clinical studies. A key translational medicine strategy that can improve predictability relies on imaging methodologies to map the spatiotemporal evolution of the ischemic penumbra. This could serve as a biomarker indicative of neuroprotective potential and could increase likelihood of success in clinical studies by allowing selection of patients who are most likely to respond to therapy.

The broad concern of this paper is the development of modes of cooperation in competitive contexts. The concrete vehicle for examining this is local economic development policy in the United States, in particular the projects of inward investment that have been its primary expression. This foregrounds the character of social organization as necessarily spatial organization: organization in this case for mediating inward investment. The paper shows how the socio-spatial contexts of agents result in problems of social integration and how they influence the particular forms of cooperative structure adopted in order to solve those problems.

Interest has grown again in recent years about the long-term and cyclical nature of building investment and its effect on the macroeconomy. This paper investigates the nature of building trends and cycles from the 19th century to the present day for eight major OECD economies. Focusing predominantly on non-housing structures, the Kalman filter is used to decompose the series into trends and cycles. It was found that building cycles exist in all countries, though with considerable variation. Comparisons of volatility between countries and between the different types of fixed investment are made. The long-run share of fixed investment in structures as a proportion of national income is investigated. Consideration is given to whether international building investment trends are coincident, and an analysis made of the long-term correlation between structures investment cycles.

There are a number of recent trends in the organisation of local economic development activities that are seen to point to a general convergence between UK and US contexts. Various attempts have been made to encompass this convergence, primarily through the application of a set of common concepts such as the 'growth coalition' and 'urban regime'. This paper draws on a recently completed research project to highlight differences in the organisation of local economic development activities between the US and the UK. These differences are subsequently used to provide a critical window on existing theoretical frameworks and to elaborate on the concept of local dependence as a means of analysing and understanding the politics of local economic development in different contexts.

Childhood emotional and behavioural problems are widespread [ 1 ] and each year thousands of families seek assistance from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) around Australia. The overwhelming demand means that families often have to wait months for their first appointment [ 2 , 3 ]. As a result, troubled children can be denied timely help and family patterns of dysfunction can become entrenched. In South Australia, consumers and referrers have advocated change towards a more streamlined intake system. This prompted the South Australian CAMHS Program Committee to introduce Initial Consultations to triage new referrals.

The purpose of this article is to compare health risk factors and rates of absenteeism of employees at General Mills, Inc. after participating for two years in a voluntary, self-directed health promotion program, called the “TriHealthalon.” Twelve hundred field sales employees were initially targeted to participate in this program, which focused on improving participants' physical, mental, and social well-being. Participants were asked to fill out a computerized lifestyle appraisal form before they started the program in 1985, and again in 1986. The rates of absenteeism were monitored for each individual in the participant and nonparticipant groups for the years 1984 (before the program started), 1985, and 1986. T-tests were performed to compare the rate of absenteeism between the two groups. Observations show that after two years in the TriHealthalon program, there was an increase in healthy lifestyle behaviors in the participant group, with a five percent decrease in the number of smokers, a 37 percent increase in the number of people who use their seat belts, and a 23 percent increase in the number of people who exercise three times a week. There was no significant difference in absenteeism between the groups in 1984, before the program began. Absenteeism was significantly (p < .05) less in the participant group during 1985 and 1986 after the initiation of the program.