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Efficient use of natural water resources in agriculture is becoming an important issue in Florida because of the rapid depletion of freshwater resources due to the increasing trend of industrial development and population. Reliable and consistent estimates of evapotranspiration (ET) are a key element of managing water resources efficiently. Since the 1940s numerous grass- and alfalfa-reference evapotranspiration (ET[sub o] and ET[sub r], respectively) equations have been developed and used by researchers and decision makers, resulting in confusion as to which equation to select as the most accurate reference ET estimates. Twenty-one ET[sub o] and ET[sub r] methods were evaluated based on their daily performance in a humid climate. The Food and Agriculture Organization Penman-Monteith (FAO56-PM) equation was used as the basis for comparison for the other methods. Measured and carefully screened daily climate data during a 23-year period (1978–2000) were used for method performance analyses, in which the methods were ranked based on the standard error of estimate (SEE) on a daily basis. In addition, the performance of the four alfalfa-based ET (ET[sub r]) equations and the ratio of alfalfa ET to grass ET (K[sub r] values) were evaluated, which have not been studied before in Florida’s humid climatic conditions. The peak month ET[sub o] estimates by each method were also evaluated. All methods produced significantly different ET[sub o] estimates than the FAO56-PM method. The 1948 Penman method estimates were closest to the FAO56-PM method on a daily basis throughout the year, with the daily SEE averaging 0.11 mm·d-1; thus this method was ranked the second best overall. Although 1963 Penman (with the original wind function) slightly overestimated ET, especially at high ET[sub o] rates, it provided remarkably good estimates as well and ranked as the third best method, with a daily average SEE value of 0.14 mm·d-1. Both methods produced peak month ET[sub o] estimates closest to the FAO56-PM method among all methods evaluated, with daily peak month SEEs averaging 0.07 and 0.09 mm·d-1, respectively. Significant variations were observed in terms of the performance of the various forms of Penman’s equations. For example, the original Penman-Monteith method produced the poorest ET[sub o] estimates among the combination equations, with a daily SEE for all months and peak month averaging 0.50 and 0.35 mm·d-1, respectively and ranked 11th. An average value of 1.18 was used to convert ET[sub r] estimates to ET[sub o] values for alfalfa-reference methods. The K[sub r] value of 1.18 resulted in reasonable estimates of ET[sub o] throughout the year by the Kimberley forms of the Penman equations. Another ET[sub r]-based equation, Jensen-Haise, gave consistently poor estimates. The Stephens-Stewart radiation method was the highest-ranked (10th) noncombination method overall. The temperature-based McCloud method (ranked 19th) produced the poorest ET[sub o] estimates among all methods with a daily SEE for all months and for the peak month averaging 1.93 and 1.22 mm·d-1, respectively. In general, the results obtained from the temperature methods suggest that all of the temperature methods, with the possible exception of the Turc method, can only be applicable for these climatic conditions after they are calibrated or modified locally or regionally. The FAO and Christiansen pan evaporation methods (ranked 17th and 18th, respectively) produced poor ET[sub o] estimates and had the largest amount of point scatter in daily ET[sub o] estimates relative to the FAO56-PM ET[sub o]. Both methods resulted in the highest daily SEE of 1.18 and 1.19 mm·d-1 for all months, after the McCloud method (1.93 mm·d-1), and with the highest SEE of 1.30 and 1.24 mm·d-1 for the peak month of all methods evaluated. The FAO56-PM method uses solar radiation, wind speed, relative humidity, and minimum and maximum air temperature to estimate ET[sub o]. It has been recommended that the FAO56-PM be used for estimating ET[sub o] when all the necessary input parameters are available. However, all these input variables may not be available, or some of them may not be reliable for a given location if the FAO56-PM equation is used, and one may need to choose other temperature, radiation, or pan evaporation methods based on the availability of data for estimating ET[sub o]. The results of this study can be used as a reference tool to provide practical information on which method to select based on the availability of data for reliable and consistent estimates of daily ET[sub o] relative to the FAO56-PM method in a humid climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue reports on papers presented at a simulation user group meeting held in association with the University of Florida, Gainsville. This is the sixth in a series of special issues that have reported on driving simulator applications presented at simulation users conferences [1 - 5]. The meeting attracted 32 attendees from 5 different countries. This special issue includes 8 papers covering a wide range of research topics. The papers in this volume address in-vehicle systems, simulator sickness, simulator validation, driver behaviour and investigation of rider behaviour with a novel motorcycle simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trochosa sepulchralis (Montgomery 1902) is recognized as the senior synonym of Trochosa acompa (Chamberlin 1924) based upon careful examination of critical morphological characteristics. In addition, Trochosa abdita (Gcrtsch 1934), once considered a junior synonym of T. acompa, is now recognized as a valid species. Trochosa sepulchralais and T. abdita are fully illustrated and described, and essential information regarding species identification, morphological dimensions, and geographic distribution is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: During the COVID-19 pandemic, immigrants faced new challenges that increased their precarity which often perpetuated existing social and health-related inequities. This compounded inadequate access to healthcare, harsh working conditions, marginalization due to legal status and fear of deportation, all of which were worsened during the height of the pandemic. This article aims to examine how existing social factors that marginalize immigrant populations were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic based on a study with immigrant farmworkers in Apopka, Florida. Design/methodology/approach: The author analyzes how they were affected by stress both before and during the pandemic, and how these factors affected their mental health. Findings: The author concludes that im/migrants' often precarious status negatively affects their experiences with mental health, and that this was heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the long-term nature of precarity for this vulnerable population, this study captures these issues as they were experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: This research contributes to emerging scholarship concerning social factors and mental health during the pandemic by examining the experiences of one of the most marginal populations in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a report of the sanctions and divisions within the Administrative Law Section of the Florida Bar Association. Topics include Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH) continuing legal education (CLE) seminar, the Florida Bar Annual Convention, and the updating of the Florida Administrative Practice Manual.

The Florida bonneted bat Eumops floridanus is a rare, endemic bat of South Florida that roosts in woodpecker cavities and anthropogenic structures such as roofing tiles, chimneys, and bat houses. The northernmost occurrences of the bonneted bat are from mature pine forests at the Avon Park Air Force Range, Florida. We used ultrasonic acoustic recorders to understand bonneted bat activity and habitat occupancy. We modeled occupancy using a hierarchical Bayesian analysis and included site- and time-specific covariates of detection probability and site-specific covariates of occupancy. Probability of detection was low throughout Avon Park Air Force Range but increased with Julian date. In most habitats, occupancy was poorly estimated, except for flatwood mature pinelands where occupancy was low (0.23 ± 0.06). As distance from red-cockaded woodpecker colonies increased, occupancy decreased (β = −1.19 ± 0.26 SD). At the northernmost extent of the range, and throughout much of the historic range, increasing the expanse of mature, fire-maintained forest systems will increase habitat for the bonneted bat and lead to faster population recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Since 2010, three spatially disjunct reef fish video surveys have provided fishery‐independent data critical to the assessment and management of reef fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. Although analytical approaches have recently been developed to integrate data from these surveys into a single measure of relative abundance and size composition, a more parsimonious approach would be to integrate survey efforts under a single Gulf‐wide survey design. Accordingly, we conducted a retrospective analysis of historical video‐ and habitat‐mapping data to develop a novel stratified random sampling design for conducting surveys of natural and artificial reef habitats. Methods: We conducted a series of classification and regression tree analyses to delineate both spatial and habitat strata, and conducted simulations to assess the performance of an optimized survey design. Result: Spatially, classification and regression tree results identified three depth strata (10–25 m, >25–50 m, >50–180 m) and three regional strata (north‐central Gulf, Big Bend, southwest Florida) in the eastern Gulf. For both natural and artificial reefs, habitat strata were delineated based on a combination of relative relief (low, medium, high) and size of the individual reef feature, although reef scale differed markedly between natural (<100 m2, 100–1000 m2, >1000 m2) and artificial habitats (<25 m2, 25–100 m2, >100 m2). To optimize effort among sampling strata, effort was allocated proportionally based on a combination of habitat availability and managed‐species richness for each stratum. Simulation results indicated that relative median biases were <10% and relative median absolute deviations <30% on estimates of abundance for most species examined on natural reefs under the optimal design, except Greater Amberjack Seriola dumerili. These measures of bias and imprecision were similar or higher for most species simulated using simple random and stratified random survey designs. Estimated relative median bias and relative median absolute deviations were notably higher for artificial reef surveys. Conclusion: Based on these results, survey efforts were integrated as the Gulf Fishery Independent Survey of Habitat and Ecosystem Resources (G‐FISHER) in 2020. Impact statementData from reef fish video surveys were analyzed to develop a new survey design in the Gulf of Mexico. The new design provides better estimates of reef fish abundance from natural and artificial reef habitats and will improve the assessment and management of multiple reef fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in access to high-quality schools. The school's priorities are formulated following a Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) approach with several scenarios including geographic, family, academic, and socioeconomic variables. The matching is simulated using student preferences, multiple assignment algorithms, varying school capacities, and changing priority profiles. The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) logistic regression approach is used to examine how far from, or how close the admission is to being an equitable assignment, i.e., one that gives equal opportunities to children with different backgrounds. The analysis is based on choice admission data from a large specialized (magnet) middle school program in Florida. The results suggest that how the school priority is designed slightly affects the equality of opportunity. The second impact is due to the algorithm used to perform the selection. The availability of places in high-quality schools has a big impact and is tightly correlated with the parents' satisfaction with their most preferred school choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaporative fraction (EF) is the ratio of latent heat (LE in W m−2) to available energy at the land surface. It can aid in partitioning the Sun's energy available at the Earth's surface into surface energy fluxes to understand land–atmosphere interactions as well as monitoring Evapotranspiration and terrestrial drought conditions. In this study, the feasibility of estimating instantaneous, diurnal, and daily EF with minimal satellite and meteorological inputs based on the temperature difference-vegetation index framework is explored in South Florida, United States (US). The model performance is assessed against the ground observations collected at three flux stations between 2008 and 2011. It was found that the energy balance closure was improved by 9% at the long hydroperiod marsh site (i.e. US-Elm) and 6% at the short hydroperiod marsh site (i.e. US-Esm) after water heat storage (W) correction was applied on energy fluxes since W is more important than soil heat flux (G) for wetland ecosystems. The results further indicated that the model produced accurate EF estimates and performed the best on diurnal, then instantaneous, and lastly daily periods. Overall, the model can be used to produce spatially continuous EF and ET maps since the flux towers are no longer active. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several new bermudagrass cultivars are available and commonly used on golf course fairways. However, little is known about their cultural requirements or how these cultivars perform under lower inputs regimes. A 2‐year study was conducted at University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, to assess performance of four hybrid bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon L. Pers. X Cynodon transvaalensis (Burtt‐Davy)] cultivars ('Latitude 36', 'Tifway 419', 'TifGrand' and 'TifTuf'), and 2 common bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L. Pers.) cultivars ('Bimini' and 'Celebration') irrigated at either 50% or 80% reference evapotranspiration (ETo) and fertilised at either 0, 146, 244, or 342 kg N ha−1 year−1. Plots were evaluated monthly for turfgrass quality, dark green colour index (DGCI), normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), and Chlorophyll Index, and seasonally for N tissue content. Plots watered at 80% ETo enhanced bermudagrass quality compared to 50% ETo, DGCI and NDVI only in two months out of 24. Latitude 36 and Celebration were the top‐rated cultivars, and their quality was not affected by no N fertilisation. Conversely, TifGrand, TifTuf and Tifway that received no N fertilisation resulted in insufficient quality during the second year of the study. Insufficient quality may be linked to reduced N metabolization compared to the highest rated cultivars. Results show that new cultivars such as Latitude 36 and Bimini could be maintained at sufficient quality levels with reduced water and N inputs in South Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical, field-based, and experimental research all suggest that animal populations remain relatively stable under increasing habitat alteration until a critical threshold is reached, after which small changes to habitats result in large negative responses. However, there are few empirical examples demonstrating this in marine fishes, making identification of such thresholds difficult. Here, we synthesized long-term (25 + year) fisheries and habitat datasets across four estuaries in Florida (USA) to examine the combined effects of a once in ninety-year cold spell and habitat alterations on populations of an estuarine dependent fish, common snook (Centropomus undecimalis). In Florida, common snook support an important recreational fishery where harvest is well-managed. Common snook populations in three estuaries with less severe habitat alterations recovered to pre-disturbance levels within 4 years of the cold spell. However, in the estuary with the most extensive habitat alteration—including 34% loss of mangrove habitats, near complete loss or fragmentation of saltmarsh habitats, a 65,000 acre seagrass die-off, and eutrophication—the common snook population had yet to recover 8 years after the cold spell. Using a life-stage explicit approach, habitat alterations affecting early life history processes (i.e., juvenile survival and larval settlement) may be responsible for decreased resilience. This study highlights the need for fisheries management to consider habitat loss and disturbance, along with harvest in stock assessment and management processes. Adopting policies to protect and restore habitats will improve fish population resiliency to disturbance, thereby mitigating non-linear and costly declines to fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses white emotionality to critically conceptualize recent legislative efforts to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). This undertaking is theoretically motivated by immunitary whiteness and is methodologically informed by Black whiteness studies, particularly the importance of W. E. B Du Bois' reflections on education. These reflections form the basis for biopolitical interrogations of how the current moment negates but might otherwise affirm educational life. The former is analyzed both historically by the Kanawha County textbook controversy of 1974 and presently through Florida's 2021 change to the state's Required Instruction Planning and Reporting statute. Toward the latter, this article posits Black sociality as way of affirming educational life against presenthistorical negations embodied by the current wave of anti-CRT legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fecundity, the number of young produced by a breeding pair during a breeding season, is a primary component in evolutionary and ecological theory and applications. Fecundity can be influenced by many environmental factors and requires long‐term study due to the range of variation in ecosystem dynamics. Fecundity data often include a large proportion of zeros when many pairs fail to produce any young during a breeding season due to nest failure or when all young die independently after fledging. We conducted color banding and monthly censuses of Florida scrub‐jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) across 31 years, 15 populations, and 761 territories along central Florida's Atlantic coast. We quantified how fecundity (juveniles/pair‐year) was influenced by habitat quality, presence/absence of nonbreeders, population density, breeder experience, and rainfall, with a zero‐inflated Bayesian hierarchical model including both a Bernoulli (e.g., brood success) and a Poisson (counts of young) submodel, and random effects for year, population, and territory. The results identified the importance of increasing "strong" quality habitat, which was a mid‐successional state related to fire frequency and extent, because strong territories, and the proportion of strong territories in the overall population, influenced fecundity of breeding pairs. Populations subject to supplementary feeding also had greater fecundity. Territory size, population density, breeder experience, and rainfall surprisingly had no or small effects. Different mechanisms appeared to cause annual variation in fecundity, as estimates of random effects were not correlated between the success and count submodels. The increased fecundity for pairs with nonbreeders, compared to pairs without, identified empirical research needed to understand how the proportion of low‐quality habitats influences population recovery and sustainability, because dispersal into low‐quality habitats can drain nonbreeders from strong territories and decrease overall fecundity. We also describe how long‐term study resulted in reversals in our understanding because of complications involving habitat quality, sociobiology, and population density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate socioeconomic disparities in air quality at public schools in the contiguous US using high resolution estimates of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations. We find that schools with higher proportions of people of color (POC) and students eligible for the federal free or reduced lunch program, a proxy for poverty level, are associated with higher pollutant concentrations. For example, we find that the median annual NO2 concentration for White students, nationally, was 7.7 ppbv, compared to 9.2 ppbv for Black and African American students. Statewide and regional disparities in pollutant concentrations across racial, ethnic, and poverty groups are consistent with nationwide results, where elevated NO2 concentrations were associated with schools with higher proportions of POC and higher levels of poverty. Similar, though smaller, differences were found in PM2.5 across racial and ethnic groups in most states. Racial, ethnic, and economic segregation across the rural‐urban divide is likely an important factor in pollution disparities at US public schools. We identify distinct regional patterns of disparities, highlighting differences between California, New York, and Florida. Finally, we highlight that disparities exist not only across urban and non‐urban lines but also within urban environments. Plain Language Summary: We find that, nationally, US public schools with higher proportions of impoverished and racially/ethnically marginalized students are associated with higher average concentrations of two types of air pollutants, particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), relative to schools with lower proportions of marginalized students. Disparities in pollutant concentrations are also more pronounced in some regions of the US where marginalized students are concentrated in urban areas and non‐marginalized students are concentrated in rural areas, such as the state of New York. We find that larger relative disparities exist for NO2 compared to particulate matter, but qualitative results are similar. Key Points: US public school students from ethnically/racially marginalized groups are likely exposed to higher air pollutant concentrationsUS public schools with higher poverty levels are associated with higher air pollutant concentrationsAt public schools within urban areas, we still find some disparities in pollutant concentrations across racial/ethnic groups [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evapotranspiration (ET) plays an important role in agricultural water management and crop modeling. The highest mean annual ET values (889–1016 mm) in the United States (US) occur in Florida where there is a combination of ample rainfall (R) and warm air temperatures. Therefore, it is crucial to know the synergistic influence of meteorological variables (MV) on ET variability. This study aims to evaluate how reference evapotranspiration (ET0) over Florida from 2008 to 2018 was influenced by MV using simultaneous changes in all variables. These changes were evaluated interannually, seasonally, monthly, and daily using trend analysis. We used weather information including R, relative humidity (RH), solar radiation (SR), wind, and temperature parameters as well as ET0 from 33 synoptic stations over Florida recorded by the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN). Results of this study showed that SR had the strongest positive annual correlation with ET0 for all climate regions over Florida. However, temporal analysis showed that during December and January, temperature was the dominant factor to control variations of ET0 which was highly consistent with anomalies of ET0 and temperature parameters in December. The correlation coefficients between ET0 and RH were negatively higher than −0.6 from May to September, compared to the entire year, where RH was negligible (between −0.1 and −0.2). The significant trend of air and soil temperature, SR, and RH might be considered as an early alarm system for climate variability over Florida. Finally, sensitivity analysis revealed that ET0 changed at least 1% for 16–18% variations of MV in 67% of the weather stations (22 stations); this range (16–18%) can be assigned as an average range to force ET0 to change at least 1% across Florida. The results of this study can be used as a guideline to assess the annual, seasonal, and monthly relationships between the most influential MV and ET0 across Florida, as a source to identify the most sensitive MV in the modeling of ET related studies, and as the base to develop climate-based management plans for agricultural water management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Florida spring complexes (springs and their associated runs) represent patches of clear, cool freshwater habitat in a landscape of tannin-stained wetlands, streams, and rivers. These spring complexes differ in morphology, water quantity and quality, and biotic characteristics as well as in their connections to other water bodies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether watershed effects or emergent physical, chemical, and biologic properties of Florida spring complexes would predict fish assemblage structure. Spring complex morphology and water quality metrics were collected from water managers or from the literature, with the exception of dissolved oxygen, which was measured in situ. Fish data were collected by video surveys using GoPro® cameras on stationary tripods at 2 to 5 locations on the banks of each spring complex. Videos were analyzed for the total number of individuals of each species/video, species richness, and diversity. The environmental characteristics of spring complexes differed between watersheds, as the St Johns River spring complexes, which are near the east coast, differed from watersheds closer to the west coast of Florida. However, specific characteristics that discriminated between springs, like low dissolved oxygen concentration or abundant macrophytes, crossed watershed boundaries. Fish assemblages also differed between the St Johns River and western watersheds, but the differences were more subtle than the differences in environmental characteristics, and the characteristics of individual spring complexes also predicted fish assemblage structure. Conductivity, dissolved oxygen concentration, and macrophyte coverage best explained the variation in the fish assemblage structure among spring complexes. The overlap in spring complex fish assemblages across watersheds may be the result of the geologic youth of the freshwater fish assemblages, the high degree of hydrologic connectivity between water bodies, and possible impairment of spring complexes in Florida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity and consequences of development in marine invertebrates have, for a long time, provided the opportunity to understand different evolutionary solutions to living in variable environments. However, discrete classifications of development can impede a full understanding of adaptation to variable environments when behavioral, morphological, or physiological flexibility and variation exist within traditionally defined modes of development. We report here novel behavioral variability in hatchlings of a marine gastropod, the Florida crown conch (Melongena corona), that has broad significance for understanding the correlated evolution of development, dispersal, and reproductive strategies in variable environments. All hatchlings crawl away from egg capsules after emergence as larval pediveligers. Some subsequently swim for a brief period (seconds to minutes) before crawling again. From detailed observations of 120 individuals over 30 days, we observed 28 (23.3%) hatchlings swimming at least once (8%–50% per maternal brood). The propensity to swim was unrelated to time spent encapsulated or size at hatching and lasted for 22 days. We manipulated hypothesized environmental cues and found that the proportion of hatchlings that swam was highest in the absence of cues related to habitat or juvenile food and lowest when only habitat cues were present. The relative growth rate of hatchlings was highest when habitats contained a putative juvenile food source. About 44% of hatchlings were competent to metamorphose at emergence but did not metamorphose at this time in the lab or the field. The rate of metamorphosis increased with age and depended on the presence of unknown cues in the field. Crawl-away larvae with prolonged swimming ability may be an adaptation to balance the unpredictable risks of exclusively benthic or pelagic development and to allow the option to disperse to higher-quality habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initial legalization of medical marijuana (MM) in Florida required providers to submit initial and follow-up treatment plan forms to the University of Florida to support research on MM safety and efficacy. This study retrospectively analyzed all treatment plan forms submitted between program inception (August 2016) through July 2017 and describes early Florida MM registrants by clinical conditions and prescription drug utilization. Among 7,548 unique treatment plans, the initial visit was characterized by registrants who were mostly white (83.7%), 52.3 (SD 16.4) years of age on average, and who were assessed by the provider as at least moderately ill (79.6%). Musculoskeletal and spasticity-related conditions (44.8%), chronic pain (41.9%), and mental health disorders (17.0%) were the most frequent medical complaints for seeking MM treatment with more than one condition per patient possible. One in four (25.9%) patients reported use of prescription opioids and over one-fifth of patients frequently utilized at least one psychotropic medication as well as cardiovascular agents. There were 2,075 unique follow-up plans available which were mostly characterized by clinical improvement and reported reductions in utilization of some drug classes. Further research is needed to guide clinicians on the risks and benefits of MM used concomitantly with prescription drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paradigm for understanding the accumulation of organic carbon in vegetated coastal "blue carbon" habitats holds that burial of organic carbon (Corg) slows decomposition and leads to stability of carbon stocks. Further, it is generally assumed that the presence of the plant communities contributes to the buried organic matter and the stability of the carbon stocks. In this study, these assumptions were tested and the lability of soil organic carbon was examined as a function of environmental and plant community drivers. Samples of surficial sediment and seagrass community characteristics were collected at 93 locations across the ca. 15,000 km2 of seagrass beds in south Florida. Ramped pyrolysis was used to describe the relative lability of soil organic carbon across the landscape. Organic matter (OM) was lost at all temperatures from 180 to 600 °C, suggesting that even the relatively high combustion temperature of 550 °C underestimates OM content by ≈ 10% on average. Additionally, deployments of model substrates (canvas strips) were used to examine decomposition rates of buried and surficial organic material at a subset of these sites. On average, finer, muddier soils contained slightly higher Corg stocks than coarser sediment sites, but the relationships between sediment grain size and seagrass community structure was weak. The lability of soil organic carbon varied with sediment grain size; as much as 80% of the Corg was refractory in coarse-grained soils compared with less than 30% in muddy soils. In muddy soils, burial decreased cellulose decomposition rate by an average of 22–39% compared with surficial breakdown, but in coarse-grained soils, burial enhanced cellulose decomposition rate by at least 55%. Taken as a whole, this study suggests that burial does not enhance Corg storage in all blue carbon environments, and that soil C stores are only weakly correlated with seagrass biomass at the landscape scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is excess amenable mortality risk and evidence of healthcare quality deficits for persons with serious mental illness (SMI). We sought to identify sociodemographic and clinical characteristics associated with variations in two 2015 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures, antipsychotic medication adherence and preventive diabetes screening, among Medicaid enrollees with serious mental illness (SMI).Methods: We retrospectively analyzed claims data from September 2014 to December 2015 from enrollees in a Medicaid specialty health plan in Florida. All plan enrollees had SMI; analyses included continuously enrolled adults with antipsychotic medication prescriptions and schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Associations were identified using mixed effects logistic regression models.Results: Data for 5502 enrollees were analyzed. Substance use disorders, depression, and having both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder diagnoses were associated with both HEDIS measures but the direction of the associations differed; each was significantly associated with antipsychotic medication non-adherence (a marker of suboptimal care quality) but an increased likelihood of diabetes screening (a marker of quality care). Compared to whites, blacks and Hispanics had a significantly greater risk of medication non-adherence. Increasing age was significantly associated with increasing medication adherence, but the association between age and diabetes screening varied by sex. Other characteristics significantly associated with quality variations according to one or both measures were education (associated with antipsychotic medication adherence), urbanization (relative to urban locales, residing in suburban areas was associated with both adherence and diabetes screening), obesity (associated with both adherence and diabetes screening), language (non-English speakers had a greater likelihood of diabetes screening), and anxiety, asthma, and hypertension (each positively associated with diabetes screening).Conclusions: The characteristics associated with variations in the quality of care provided to Medicaid enrollees with SMI as gauged by two HEDIS measures often differed, and at times associations were directionally opposite. The variations in the quality of healthcare received by persons with SMI that were identified in this study can guide quality improvement and delivery system reform efforts; however, given the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics' differing associations with different measures of care quality, multidimensional approaches are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of reproductive characteristics and performance (RCP) is necessary to estimate a species' breeding output and provide indicators to evaluate population health. Long-term data are important because they provide insight into the roles of intrinsic and extrinsic factors in determining RCP and lifetime breeding output of individuals and productivity of populations. Here, I examine the RCP of the Florida panther Puma concolor coryi by using an extensive data set collected from 1981 to 2019. My objective is to establish baseline RCP parameters and to determine the factors that affect lifetime breeding output. Briefly, the results from a variety of data analyses show the following: 1) Florida panthers exhibit a spring (March–May) birth pulse; 2) minimum age at sexual maturity does not differ between sexes; 3) mean annual proportion of females reproducing, litter size, and birth rate progressively decrease with increasing maternal age; 4) mean litter sex ratio is male biased; 5) mean birth interval differs between successful and unsuccessful litters; 6) proportion of kittens that recruited into the breeding population is small; and 7) distribution of parentage and mating partners among individuals in litters of known mothers and fathers is right skewed. The results indicate that breeding output is limited both by low birth rate and small proportion of offspring recruiting into the breeding population. The decreasing RCP with increasing maternal age suggests that costs of reproduction and progressive body condition senescence are important factors limiting lifetime breeding output. Despite these inhibiting factors, the data came from a period of substantial population growth and expansion since 1995, so the RCP shown is productive for this species. Outcomes from this study provide important RCP information for wildlife managers to implement measurable criteria to assess trends in Florida panther breeding output and population health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The farming of hybrid Striped Bass (HSB; White Bass Morone chrysops ♀ × Striped Bass Morone saxatilis ♂) has been an established aquaculture industry in the United States for decades, but high production costs associated with performance variability remain a significant problem. To investigate the paternal effects on hybrid performance, Striped Bass males from Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Texas and a fifth‐generation domestic strain selected for growth were used as sires in a half‐sibling, hybrid growth study. Eggs from individual White Bass (n = 11) were divided equally and fertilized with the fresh sperm from different Striped Bass sires (n = 18) to produce 53 hybrid families. Resulting larvae were stocked communally into ponds, seined as fingerlings, and separated into large‐grade, small‐grade, or ungraded groups for grow out. Juvenile HSB representing the three size‐grades were stocked into replicated indoor recirculating systems and grown until they attained market size (680 g [1.5 lb]). An additional group of the large graded fish was grown in outdoor tanks at a separate facility to observe genotype × environment interactions. Fin clips were collected during final measurements for genotyping and parentage assignment. The results indicated that large, small, and ungraded hybrids required 12, 14, and 17 months, respectively, to attain market size indoors. Wild‐strain‐sired HSB displayed a lower range in final weights compared to domestic fish and grew larger in the ungraded treatment only. Florida‐strain‐sired fish were the largest and had the greatest condition factor (K), Virginia‐strain‐sired fish generally had the lowest K, and the other strains had intermediate K‐values. No differences in final weight were found in the small or large graded fish from recirculating systems, but the domestic strain produced the largest HSB grown in outdoor tanks. These results demonstrated that HSB growth is influenced by sire strain, culture environment, and grading strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to the creation of higher education policy, state legislators are challenged with addressing the diverse academic needs of college students enrolled across a spectrum of institutions. In this paper, we explore how 203 individuals at five rural‐serving colleges in Florida engaged in state‐wide developmental education (DE) reform using the theoretical framework of "situated cognition." Specifically, we ask whether the colleges implemented DE reform in unique ways that may have differed from their non‐rural counterparts and what their rationale was for doing so. Our work indicates that institutional culture and capacity generated a combination of strengths and constraints in how reform played out in a rural context. In some ways, a rural‐serving identity made colleges more flexible and better able to adjust their advising and curricular structures to comply with the mandates of SB 1720. But in other ways, rural‐serving institutions lacked the resources necessary to adequately support students and campus personnel through this dramatic transition toward new ways of providing DE. In looking toward the passage and implementation of future education reform, we call upon policymakers to consider more deeply the design of policies to ensure they support rural and non‐rural colleges alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering evapotranspiration takes a basic role in the hydrologic cycle, water resources management, and irrigation water requirements. Evapotranspiration estimation is not an easy case because of the number of direct and indirect effects. The ability of the M5 model tree (M5T); adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS); support vector machines (SVM); Hargreaves-Samani, Ritchie, Turc, and Penman FAO 56 empirical equations; and multilinear regression (MLR) for modeling daily reference evapotranspiration is investigated. Daily climatic data, air temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (U), and solar radiation (SR) from De Soto County, Florida, USA, station are used as inputs for the training of the models and calculation of equations. Mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and correlation coefficient statistics are computed to evaluate the performances of the created models. A total comparison is done between all results to underline how effective is soft computing techniques. Also, the impact of each meteorological parameter on evapotranspiration is investigated by using ANFIS, MLR, and SVM methods as a part of the parameter effect study. According to the error calculations and correlation coefficient, Turc empirical formula found better than other empirical equations. All data-driven techniques gave better results than empirical equations. The highest correlation coefficient is calculated for ANFIS, and the minimum errors are calculated for radial basis function SVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In North Florida, increasing nitrogen loads and water quality declines have become a major concern, in part as result of anthropogenic non-point source activities such as agriculture. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of irrigation strategies and nitrogen (N) fertility rates on maize biomass, yield and water productivity in sandy soils. The field experiment was conducted 2015–2017 in Live Oak, Florida using a randomized complete block with a split plot design and four replicates. Treatments evaluated five irrigation strategies: (i) GROW, mimicking grower irrigation practices in the region, (ii) SWB, using a soil water balance to schedule irrigation; (iii) SMS, using soil moisture sensors to schedule irrigation; (iv) RED, applying 60% of the GROW treatment; and (v) NON, non-irrigated, and three N fertility rates: (i) low (157 kg N/ha), (ii) medium (247 kg N/ha), and (iii) high (336 kg N/ha). In comparison to GROW, the SWB, SMS and RED irrigation treatments showed no differences in final biomass, N uptake nor grain yield; however, these treatments achieved on average 41, 47, and 36% irrigation reduction, respectively, without impacts on yield during the three maize seasons evaluated. For most of the variables, statistical differences were found between the low and the high N rates, but no differences compared to the medium N rate. A 26% reduction of N fertilizer was achieved using the medium N rate without negative impact on N uptake, biomass nor yield in comparison to the high N fertilization rate. During this experiment, maize N uptake reached a plateau; thus, potential N losses resulted from applications exceeding recommended rates. Furthermore, the implementation of these more efficient irrigation and N fertilizer management strategies reduced irrigation and N fertilizer applications without negative impacts in yield. Thus, these practices may prevent potential N leaching to waterbodies while improving profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of Florida bass, Micropterus floridanus Lesueur, are stocked annually into populations of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides Lacepède, to increase trophy fish abundance. However, little effort has related the role that resultant hybrids make to angler catches. Largemouth bass were sampled from an important recreational fishery subject to extensive Florida bass stocking to address the hypothesis that anglers capture Florida bass, largemouth bass and hybrids at rates equivalent to their overall abundance in the population. Fin clips obtained from tournament angling events (n = 348) and boat‐mounted electrofishing sampling (n = 219) were screened at 38 species‐diagnostic markers and individuals were assigned to genealogical classes using Bayesian clustering algorithms. No significant differences were identified between angler and electrofishing catches providing evidence that hybridised individuals stemming from a long‐term stocking programme may constitute an important contribution to tournament angling catch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, we examine prosecutorial decisions that affect the certainty, celerity, and severity of punishment at the county level in the state of Florida. Leveraging a unique data set, we investigate the effect of the rate at which prosecuting agencies within each county filed formal charges against offenders (certainty), the swiftness of criminal case resolution (celerity), and the rate at which cases were pled to less severe punishments (severity). We test for the effect of those covariates on aggregate county-level crime rates over a 5-year period. We find that prosecutors' effect on the certainty and celerity of punishment was associated with lower levels of crime, whereas their effect on the severity of punishment was not. Together, these findings highlight the role of the prosecutor in shaping the general deterrent environment within a county. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) is an important structural component of many aquatic ecosystems that also affects a broad array of biogeochemical and ecological processes. In the spring-fed rivers of Florida, where SAV is the foundation of healthy community structure and function, environmental controls on SAV growth remain poorly understood. This lack of knowledge complicates the evaluation and prioritization of management and restoration activities. Our goal was to explore the relative influences of environmental drivers on annual patterns of SAV productivity in 2 spring-fed rivers (Silver River and Alexander Springs Creek) with contrasting nitrate concentrations (1.4 vs 0.05 mg N/L, respectively) but otherwise similar physical and chemical attributes. We used monthly measurements from 16 fixed plots in each river to observe spatial and temporal heterogeneity in SAV growth. Mean growth rates between the rivers were statistically indistinguishable, suggesting that SAV growth is not controlled primarily by water column N concentrations. Despite representing most of the autotroph biomass, measured SAV growth rates were only 25% of contemporaneous estimates of open-channel net primary production (i.e., gross primary production minus autotrophic respiration). This result indicates that the epiphytic assemblages that grow primarily on SAV dominate overall ecosystem metabolic activity. Pairwise associations between measured SAV growth and a suite of physical (light, redox potential, temperature, sediment texture) and chemical (porewater and water column solutes) variables revealed that no single factor can accurately predict SAV growth. Instead, 2 complementary multivariate approaches (regression trees, general linear models) yielded useful models to predict SAV growth. While we constructed models independently for each river, their best-fit model formulations were remarkably similar—light (+), sediment redox potential (−), and porewater orthophosphate (−) predicted over 50% of the variation in SAV growth. System managers could use these model results to aid in screening restoration sites for SAV suitability. Further, these results underscore the need for a broad systems approach to springs management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population of Immokalee in Southwest Florida is 75% Latinos, with nearly half being foreign-born. Several documented stressors contribute to poor mental health among Latinos. However, little is known about Latinos' mental health in this region. This study sought to assess self-rated mental health (SRMH) and acculturation stress (AS) and predict SRMH based on stress from life events, AS, sociodemographic characteristics, and social support among U.S.-born and foreign-born Latinos. Face-to-face interviews and assisted self-administered surveys were used to collect information among 158 Latinos on sociodemographic characteristics, AS, major life events that caused stress, social support, and SRMH. AS was elicited by asking three questions (Cronbach's α = .84), total stress level was determined by 10 major life events, and social support was elicited by 14 questions (Cronbach's α = .76). Results indicated that foreign-born Latinos 36-75 years old, with minimal social support, U.S.-born Latinos with lower educational levels, minimal social support, and high-moderate stress levels reported statistically significant low SRMH. AS was significantly higher among foreign-born 36- to 75-year-olds, with lower educational levels, minimal social support, who preferred the Spanish language and lived ≤15 years in the United States. Linear regression analysis showed social support, educational levels, and life stressors to be significant predictors of SRMH among U.S.-born Latinos, whereas social support was a significant predictor in foreign-born Latinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To evaluate horizontal violence and bullying in the nursing workforce of an oncology inpatient and outpatient academic centre and to test the Horizontal Violence Scale in an outpatient setting. Background: Horizontal violence (HV) and bullying in the workplace are dysfunctional behaviours that can affect nursing staff and patient care. The impact of bullying and HV is multilevel, affecting patient safety and satisfaction, nursing retention and employee satisfaction, while creating poor patient outcomes. Methods: A quantitative cross‐sectional descriptive design was used to examine prevalence of HV and bullying and the relationship between HV and bullying of nursing department personnel in an oncology setting. Results: The study findings revealed significant positive relationships between bullying and HV in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Conclusion: Nurses experience diverse workplace violence, which could decrease their professional quality of life and affect their turnover intention no matter the work setting. Implications for nursing management: The findings of this study clearly link the presence of bullying and HV, which includes, emotional, physical, verbal and defiant behaviours to both inpatient and outpatient workplace settings. A positive organisational culture, which can be shaped by nursing leaders, can create a work environment that can thwart workplace violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interspecific interactions can play an essential role in shaping wildlife populations and communities. To date, assessments of interspecific interactions, and more specifically predator-prey dynamics, in aquatic systems over broad spatial and temporal scales (i.e., hundreds of kilometers and multiple years) are rare due to constraints on our abilities to measure effectively at those scales. We applied new methods to identify space-use overlap and potential predation risk to Atlantic tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) and permit (Trachinotus falcatus) from two known predators, great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) and bull (Carcharhinus leucas) sharks, over a 3-year period using acoustic telemetry in the coastal region of the Florida Keys (USA). By examining spatiotemporal overlap, as well as the timing and order of arrival at specific locations compared to random chance, we show that potential predation risk from great hammerhead and bull sharks to Atlantic tarpon and permit are heterogeneous across the Florida Keys. Additionally, we find that predator encounter rates with these game fishes are elevated at specific locations and times, including a prespawning aggregation site in the case of Atlantic tarpon. Further, using machine learning algorithms, we identify environmental variability in overlap between predators and their potential prey, including location, habitat, time of year, lunar cycle, depth, and water temperature. These predator-prey landscapes provide insights into fundamental ecosystem function and biological conservation, especially in the context of emerging fishery-related depredation issues in coastal marine ecosystems., (© 2022 The Ecological Society of America.)

Social judgement theory was utilized to determine if men and women showed different acceptance of messages about genetically modified (GM) foods. The primary objective was to determine if females and males had a different latitude of acceptance toward statements about GM foods. Researchers found significant differences between males and females with more males accepting messages about GM foods than females. Additionally, there were several statements with wide latitudes of acceptance across genders. These statements represent a common ground and are a good starting point for conversations about GM food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents first person accounts from vigils organized all over the U.S. to mark the June 12, 2016 massacre at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida. The accounts highlight the complex interplay between racism and homophobia and how people of color express their solidarities with multiple struggles. Accounts presented include that of Joseph Allen Ruanto-Ramirez, Harjant Gill, Lucas Bulgarelli and Aniqa Raihan.

Drought index is a useful tool to assess and respond to drought. However, current drought indices could not fully reveal land use effects and they have limitations in applications. Besides, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), strongly influences the climate of Florida. Hence, understanding ENSO patterns on a regional scale and developing a new land use drought index suitable for Florida are critical in agriculture and water resources planning and management. This paper presents a 32 km high resolution land use adapted drought index, which relies on five types of land uses (lake, urban, forest, wetland, and agriculture) in Florida. The land uses were obtained from National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data from 1979 to 2002. The results showed that Bowen ratio responded to land use and could be used as an indicator to monitor drought events. Then, an innovative regional land use drought index was developed from the normalized Bowen ratio, which could reflect not only the level of severity during drought events resulting from land use effects, but also La Niña driven drought impacts. The proposed new index may help scientists answer the critical questions about drought effect on various land uses and potential feedbacks of changes in land use and land cover to climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of a predecessor rain event (PRE) over the Straits of Florida ahead of Tropical Cyclone (TC) Isaac on 25 August 2012 is presented. This PRE is unique compared to previously documented PREs in midlatitudes because it occurred over the oceanic subtropics and impacted the track of an approaching TC. The Isaac PRE developed in conjunction with a tropical moisture plume with precipitable water values over 60 mm that intersected a region of mid- and upper-level frontogenesis and warm air advection on the southeast flank of an upper-level trough. The PRE occurred in an environment with more abundant tropical moisture and weaker synoptic-scale forcing for ascent compared to the environments in which midlatitude PREs developed. The Isaac PRE contributed to the fracture of the upper-level trough through negative potential vorticity advection by convectively driven divergent outflow. Fracture of the upper-level trough and midlevel cyclonic vorticity amplification associated with the PRE acted to steer Isaac south of Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasts from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Global Forecast System (NCEP-GFS) initialized at 0000 UTC 21-24 August 2012 failed to predict the PRE and as a result recurved TC Isaac over Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico rather than continued Isaac on a northwest course toward southeast Louisiana. Vorticity inversion and detailed diagnosis of the NCEP-GFS TC track forecast initialized at 0000 UTC 22 August is also presented to assess the relationship between the PRE and TC Isaac's track. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops new Bayesian estimation procedures for a nonlinear panel data model with a fractional dependent variable which is bounded between zero and one. Specifically, estimation is outlined for a panel data fractional probit model (PFP) and is presented in both a baseline case which assumes strict exogeneity as well as in a more complex simultaneous equation model which allows for potential endogeneity. We also present a new data augmentation technique which allows us to transform the likelihood function of a binary probit model into one which allows for a fractional response. In contrast to Frequentist estimation of the PFP models, Bayesian methods allow for direct evaluation of the joint likelihood of the fractional response, thereby leading to gains in estimation efficiency. Furthermore, transitioning from the strictly exogenous case to the case of endogeneity only requires slight adjustments and this allows for straightforward model specification tests. Combining data from the Florida Department of Education, National Center of Education Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau, the model is applied empirically in order to examine the relationship between school spending and student achievement among Florida elementary schools. The study finds that greater spending has a positive and statistically significant effect on student achievement. Though, this effect is roughly 50 % larger in the model which allows for endogenous spending. Specifically, a $1,000 increase in per-pupil spending is associated with an increase in standardized test pass rates ranging from 6.2 to 10.1 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Hydrodynamic properties of rivers and streams are primary controls on the abundance and structure of algal communities. In Florida, USA, filamentous macroalgal proliferation in spring-fed rivers has largely been attributed to nitrogen enrichment; however, changes in hydrodynamics and other potential mechanisms have not been thoroughly evaluated. This study tested whether macroalgal abundance (primarily Lyngbya wollei) was related to hydrodynamics in Gum Slough, a sub-tropical Florida spring-fed river. Flow velocities and macroalgal cover were measured at three transects bimonthly between June 2010 and January 2013, a period during which river discharge fluctuated in response to a drought and a tropical storm. Temporal variation in macroalgal cover was significantly inversely related to flow velocity, excluding fall/winter sampling events when light limitation was likely. The results indicate a velocity threshold below which macroalgal cover increased substantially, and a lower threshold below which complete cover frequently occurred. Local differences in channel morphology and substrate type (i.e., aquatic plant beds) seemed to affect the relationship between macroalgal cover and velocity at each transect. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and other water chemistry parameters were not associated with variation in macroalgal cover. Overall, this study suggests that hydrodynamics can strongly control filamentous macroalgae in Florida spring-fed rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the existence of long term remotely sensed datasets, change detection methods are limited and often remain an obstacle to the effective use of time series approaches in remote sensing applications to Land Change Science. This paper establishes some simple statistical tests to be applied to NDVI-derived time series of remotely sensed data products. Specifically, the methods determine the statistical significance of three separate metrics of the persistence of vegetation cover or changes within a landscape by comparison to various forms of ?benchmarks?; directional persistence (changes in sign relative to some fixed reference value), relative directional persistence (changes in sign relative to the preceding value), and massive persistence (changes in magnitude relative to the preceding value). Null hypotheses are developed on the basis of serially independent, normally distributed random variables. Critical values are established theoretically through consideration of the numeric properties of those variables, application of extensive Monte Carlo simulations, and parallels to random walk processes. Monthly pixel-level NDVI values for the state of Florida are analyzed over 25 years, illustrating the techniques' abilities to identify areas and/or times of significant change, and facilitate a more detailed understanding of this landscape. The potential power and utility of such techniques is diverse within the area of remote sensing studies and Land Change Science, especially in the context of global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study analyzes the spatial persistence and temporal patterns in vegetation cover across Florida by utilizing the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer from 1982 to 2006. Specifically, mean-variance analysis and persistence metrics are used to discern the significance of vegetation patterns, the significance of land cover and land-use change, and the relevance of climate variability across time and space. Results demonstrate a consistent, increasing pattern in the mean NDVI and its variance, especially during the late fall and winter season. A possible explanation of this increasing pattern is based on the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, which switched from cold to warm phase after 1995 and is associated with increased winter precipitation. Additionally, the impacts of the El Nino Southern Oscillation can be detected through the decreased spatial variances of NDVI in warm-phase events, compared to cold-phase events, and the more pronounced nature of the pattern in fall/winter. This study proposes a novel set of techniques applied to satellite-derived vegetation data, which effectively discerns fine, statewide vegetation dynamics at appropriate spatial and temporal scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the population of Roseate spoonbill has increased in the past eighty years in Florida to re-establish about 1,400 pairs statewide after wide extirpation of Spoonbills population in the 1930s. Now about 60% of the population live in the Everglades drainage basin, 20% nesting in 11 colonies in the Tampa Bay region of west-central Florida, 17% in the Indian River Lagoon, and 3% at a few other small colonies. They are strong fliers and can disperse widely after breeding.

The article focuses on reddish egrets sighted in Pinellas and Citrus counties in Florida. The expansion of reddish egret nesting in dredged spoil material islands in Clearwater Harbor and St. Joseph Sound (CHSJS), Pinellas County, is described in a study made between 1991-2011 wherein annual mean nesting effort was 2.5 occupied sites and 9.3 nests. Citrus county recording its first reddish egret nesting in 129 years in 2009 is discussed.

This paper describes a program that was established by Florida Medicaid to improve the quality of prescribing of psychotherapeutic medications. It relates the process used for defining quality medication treatment including the definitions of unusual psychotherapeutic medication indicators (UPMI). It details the results of analysis of FY 2007-2008 pharmacy claims data using these indicators that enabled the Program to identify practices and prescribers that required targeted interventions. The most frequently triggered UPMI for adults involved the use of 2 or more antipsychotics for greater than 60 days; high doses of psychotherapeutic medications was the indicator most frequently triggered for children closely followed by the use of 2 or more antipsychotics for more than 45 days. Prescriptions that triggered UPMI were concentrated in a small number of prescribers. These results led to the Program focusing on these high frequency practices and on the prescribers most associated with them. They also led to the implementation of new quality improvement initiatives like the implementation of a psychiatric telephone consultation line for pediatricians who are treating children with serious emotional disturbances who do not have access to child psychiatrists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the first statewide data regarding correctional officers' attitudes about and personal experiences with domestic violence. Online surveys were administered to Florida correctional officers asking a series of questions, including their beliefs and attitudes about the prevalence of domestic violence among colleagues, and their childhood and adult experiences with domestic violence. Results from 710 officers revealed that 33 % of respondents knew about correctional officers who had committed unreported domestic violence; 30 % reported that they had directly experienced domestic violence as children; and over 11 % reported that they had been physically violent with an intimate partner. Multivariate statistics showed that age, race, and childhood experiences with domestic violence were significantly related to correctional officers reporting being physically abusive to an intimate partner or family member. These and other findings highlight the need for increased agency prevention efforts and research on the phenomenon of correctional officer-involved domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past ten years, smart irrigation controllers have been developed by a number of manufacturers and have been promoted by water purveyors in an attempt to reduce excessive irrigation. Legislation has been introduced in California and Texas and passed in Florida mandating or incentivizing the use of these controllers. As a result of the interest in smart controllers, their use is increasing in new installations and retrofits of residential and light commercial irrigation systems. A number of controlled research studies using formal experimental design and statistical analyses indicate substantial water savings of anywhere from 40% to more than 70% when using these devices; however, real-world savings in larger pilot-scale projects indicate savings of typically less than 10%. Reasons for the divergence between the apparent potential savings and the realized savings in pilot projects are related to the lack of: targeting of high irrigation users (on either a relative or absolute scale), education for contractors and end users, and timely follow-up to assess water savings. In addition, much of the scientific research on smart controllers has been conducted in humid regions where higher potential savings are likely due to irrigation needed only to supplement rainfall. Future pilot projects should include comprehensive educational components aimed at irrigation sites with potential irrigation savings based on estimated landscape irrigation demand from climatic variables (i.e., high irrigation users). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reference evapotranspiration and solar radiation estimation methods that use only measured temperature have been demonstrated to require regional calibration for acceptable performance. This study was conducted to evaluate regional calibration of incoming solar radiation and reference evapotranspiration in Florida, USA. Using satellite-derived estimates of solar radiation and reference evapotranspiration as the standard for comparison, regional calibration of the Hargreaves-Samani solar radiation model and the Turc temperature-based reference evapotranspiration equation were evaluated using monthly temperature data from 22 weather stations in Florida. Station-specific and regional calibration of the Hargreaves-Samani solar radiation model was found to produce comparable results, indicating the validity of this approach in regional calibration of radiation estimates. Using the regionally calibrated radiation estimates, the original Turc equation was found to underestimate reference evapotranspiration, indicating an overall negative bias for the equation in the region. Using the regionally calibrated radiation estimates with the calibrated Turc equation was found to produce comparable error but considerably lower bias compared to the original Turc equation and the original Hargreaves-Samani solar radiation model using coefficients recommended by the Food and Agricultural Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Florida has been among the top foreclosure markets in the United States, but little research has explored whether this market presents different dynamics compared to other metropolitan areas. This research chooses Broward County to explore whether socioeconomic characteristics and certain public policy instruments relate to subprime lending and mortgage foreclosure patterns. Results indicate areas bounded by linear highways and railroads have a concentration of low-income black population and subprime loans. The spatial distribution of subprime loans is mostly explained by a higher percentage of minority and/or Hispanic population in a neighborhood. Yet, racial minorities, instead of Hispanic origin, contributes mostly to the concentration of subprime loans. The spatial pattern of foreclosures is more complex, determined not only by subprime loans but also possibly other factors associated with the mortgage crisis. This suggests that disadvantaged neighborhoods are disproportionally lacking favorable opportunities due to institutional and sub-cultural forces shaping the geography of subprime and foreclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potato/tomato psyllid, Bactericerca cockerelli (B. cockerelli), and the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri (D. citri), are very important plant pests, but they are also vectors of phloem-limited bacteria that are associated with two devastating plant diseases. B. cockerelli is the vector of Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous (solanacearum), which is associated with zebra chip disease of potatoes, and D. citri is the vector of Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus, which is associated with the Huanglongbing (citrus greening) disease that currently threatens the entire Florida citrus industry. Here we used EST sequence information from D. citri to identify potential targets for RNA interference in B. cockerelli. We targeted ubiquitously expressed and gut-abundant mRNAs via injection and oral acquisition of double-stranded RNAs and siRNAs and were able to induce mortality in recipient psyllids. We also showed knockdown of target mRNAs, and that oral acquisition resulted primarily in mRNA knockdown in the psyllid gut. Concurrent with gene knockdown was the accumulation of target specific ∼ 21 nucleotide siRNAs for an abundant mRNA for BC-Actin. These results showed that RNAi can be a powerful tool for gene function studies in psyllids, and give support for continued efforts for investigating RNAi approaches as possible tools for psyllid and plant disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared youth in the Florida Medicaid system prior to entry into treatment foster care or treatment group care, and compared outcomes in the 6 months after treatment. Florida Medicaid data from FY2003/04 through 2006/2007 along with Department of Juvenile Justice, Department of Law Enforcement, and involuntary examination data were used to examine youth receiving out-of-home treatment. Propensity score matching was used to examine the effect of out-of-home treatment on outcomes. Males, older youth, and youth with prior involuntary examinations, felony charges, misdemeanor charges, or inpatient psychiatric treatment were more likely to be placed in treatment group care. Treatment foster care placement was more likely for youth with prior treatment foster care episodes. Propensity matching results indicated that youth in treatment foster care had greater reductions in felony charges, and were less likely to return to out-of-home treatment in the following 6 months. While often placed in group care settings, youth with prior criminal justice encounters, especially for felony charges, may be better served in treatment foster care programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]