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A substantial literature has developed on the topic of excess commuting. This paper discusses school travel in Xi'an (China) in the framework of excess commuting. Questionnaires, Baidu Coordinates Finder, Baidu Map API and Python module were used to collect and extract school travel data. The analysis is based on 2358 student samples from 16 junior secondary schools. Results indicate that: (1) More than half (54.2%) of school travel distance is excessive, and as many as 60% of students travel to school excessively. Large amounts of excess school travel indicate a relatively low degree of school-housing spatial matching in Xi'an. (2) Home relocation , prioritized school quality , Hukou status and school district contribute to excess school travel in varying degrees, and motorized mode availability may lead to an increase of excess travel. (3) To a certain degree, the school district system is effective in reducing school travel distance. (4) The study also confirms that school travel is well-suited to analyze with excess commuting approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Access to abortion care in the United States is limited by the availability of abortion providers and their geographic distribution. We aimed to assess how far women travel for Medicaid-funded abortion in California and identify disparities in access to abortion care. Methods We obtained data on all abortions reimbursed by the fee-for-service California state Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) in 2011 and 2012 and examined distance traveled to obtain abortion care by several demographic and abortion-related factors. Mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to examine factors associated with traveling 50 miles or more. County-level t-tests and linear regressions were conducted to examine the effects of a Medi-Cal abortion provider in a county on overall and urban/rural differences in utilization. Results 11.9% (95% CI: 11.5–12.2%) of women traveled 50 miles or more. Women obtaining second trimester or later abortions (21.7%), women obtaining abortions at hospitals (19.9%), and rural women (51.0%) were most likely to travel 50 miles or more. Across the state, 28 counties, home to 10% of eligible women, did not have a facility routinely providing Medi-Cal-covered abortions. Conclusions Efforts are needed to expand the number of abortion providers that accept Medi-Cal. This could be accomplished by increasing Medi-Cal reimbursement rates, increasing the types of providers who can provide abortions, and expanding the use of telemedicine. If national trends in declining unintended pregnancy and abortion rates continue, careful attention should be paid to ensure that reduced demand does not lead to greater disparities in geographic and financial access to abortion care by ensuring that providers accepting Medicaid payment are available and widely distributed.

Objective: Delayed repair of cleft palate is associated with worse speech outcomes. Social determinants of health may influence the timing of surgery; however, there are no population health investigations to evaluate factors such as travel distance, language barriers, and payer. This study sought to identify factors that may interfere with timely cleft palate repair., Design: Retrospective cohort., Setting: National/multi-center., Patients/participants: All cleft palate repairs within California were extracted from 2000-2021., Main Outcomes Measures: The primary outcome was age at surgical repair, which was modeled with linear regression. Covariates included race, primary language, distance from patient home to hospital, socioeconomic status, primary payer, and managed care enrollment status., Results: 11 260 patients underwent surgical repair of a cleft palate. Black race was associated with delayed repair (22 additional days, P  = .004, 95% CI 67.00-37.7) along with Asian/Pacific-Islander race (11 additional days, P  = .006, 95% CI 3.26-18.9) compared to white race. Spanish-speaking patients had significantly later cleft palate repairs by 19 days, ( P  < .001, 95% CI 10.8-27.7) compared with English-speaking. Further distances from the hospital were significantly associated with later cleft surgeries with out-of-state patients undergoing surgery 52 days later ( P  < .001, 95% CI 11.3-24.3). Managed care plans and Medi-Cal were significantly associated with earlier surgical repair compared with private insurance., Conclusion: Black, Asian Pacific Islander, and Spanish-speaking patients and greater distance traveled to hospital were associated with delayed cleft palate repairs. These results underscore the importance of addressing structural and social barriers to care to improve outcomes and reduce health disparities for patients with cleft palate., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Travel burden is a poor prognostic factor for many cancers worldwide because it hinders optimal diagnosis and treatment planning. Currently, the impact of travel burden on survival after surgery for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Japan is largely unexplored. We examined the impact of travel distance on the postoperative outcomes of patients with NSCLC in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The data of 1212 patients who underwent surgical resection for NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into quartiles based on the travel distance from their home to the hospital (≤ 13 km, 13-40 km, 40-57 km, and > 57 km) in Ehime Prefecture. We found no significant differences among the quartiles in baseline clinicopathological characteristics, including sex, smoking status, histology, surgical procedure, clinical stage, and pathological stage. Overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) also were not significantly different among the travel distance quartiles. We conclude that travel distance did not impact OS or RFS among patients with NSCLC who underwent surgical resection at our institution., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

This paper examines the impacts of road network density on motor vehicle travel through traffic flow and network analysis of cities in China from three perspectives: multi-city comparison with traffic flow data, multi-city and multi-period comparisons with structural characteristics. When we examine the correlation between road network density and traffic flow characteristics including the travel time and speed of 35 major cities in China, no correlation exists between them which may result from different network structures, dynamic traffic demands, traffic control plans, driving behaviors, and so on. It inspires us to explore the correlation between road network density and static travel indicators. Then structural characteristic of road networks can be treated as a fixed relatively attribute and becomes the next research emphasis of this work. Comparative analysis results of three current cities (Xiamen, Washington D.C., San Jose) indicate that the average travel distance in different cities with the similar land area will not increase significantly as road network density increases. Results of an analysis of road network evolution of Changchun, China show that the increase of road network density shortens the average road segment length as well as travel distance in general. This impact on average travel distance is also related to evolution periods or modes of urban road networks. These findings provide important empirical support for planners and policymakers to understand the impacts of road network density on transport performance and design more effective urban road networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generational cohorts can differ in their consumption patterns and preferred travel behavior. As the millennial generation represents an important economic force and influences new consumption trends, this study utilizes nationwide data and almost ideal demand system (AIDS) approach to examine expenditure patterns of Korean travelers during holidays. In this process, the joint effects of travel-related characteristics are also examined. The results of the AIDS estimation on data from 871 domestic travelers reveal significantly different travel expenditure patterns for cohorts. The findings contribute to furthering the understanding of how different generational cohorts allocate their travel budgets to respective travel expenditure categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The first study on the effects of long commutes during pregnancy on infant health. • Unique data on women's home addresses and their employers' addresses during pregnancy. • A 10-mile increase in travel distance raises the probability of low birth weight by 0.9 percentage points. • A 10-mile increase in travel distance raises the probability of intrauterine growth restriction by 0.6 percentage points. • Increased maternal stress and under-utilization of prenatal care could be the potential mechanisms. We conduct the first empirical study to examine the health impact of long commutes to work during pregnancy on fetuses and infants at birth, using unique data that contain information on not only a woman's home address but also her employer's address during pregnancy, which allows us to calculate the maternal travel distance during pregnancy. Our study contributes to the literature on the relationship between maternal stress during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes by focusing on the understudied chronic stress induced by long commutes, rather than the stress triggered by a one-time significant event, such as a natural disaster. We find that among long-distance commuters, increasing the maternal travel distance during pregnancy by 10 miles is associated with increases in the probabilities of low birth weight and intrauterine growth restriction by 0.9 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively. In addition to the maternal stress induced by long commutes being one potential biological mechanism, we find suggestive evidence showing that maternal long commutes during pregnancy are also associated with under-utilization of prenatal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the functional geography of the metropolitan region, and developing location criteria for smart growth, requires analysis of subcentres and their effects. Subcentres were identified in the Copenhagen area based on spatial analysis of micro-level employment and retail data. Subcentres' effects on transport in addition to regional centrality were studied with regression analysis of work and nonwork travel behaviour data. Distance to employment subcentres with a minimum of 10,000 jobs and distance to subcentres identified from retail data and having a minimum of 400 retail jobs affects residents' daily travel distance and/or transport modes. A short distance to a subcentre allows for shorter daily travel distances and, in the case of retail subcentres, for a higher probability of using public transport or walking/cycling. However, the effects of subcentres are well below the still strong and significant effect of regional centrality upon travel distances as well as mode choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the incompressible Euler equation in the plane in the case when its initial vorticity is the characteristic function of a bounded open set. We show that the travel distance grows linearly for most of fluid particles initially placed on the set when the area of the symmetric difference between the set and a disk is small enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women Veterans who experience homelessness are at high risk of unintended pregnancy and adverse outcomes. Contraception could mitigate risks, yet access barriers exist across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). We identified all US women Veterans, age 18–44y with evidence of homelessness in VHA administrative data between fiscal years 2002–2015, in order to document the geographic distribution of ever-homeless women Veterans in relation to VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and assess geographic associations between long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) or permanent contraception (PC) use. We calculated VAMC travel distance from last known ZIP Code. We used multivariate logistic regression models to explore contraceptive method associations. We included 41,722 ever-homeless women Veterans; 9.2% had LARC exposure and 7.5% PC. We found 29% of ever-homeless women Veterans resided >40miles from the nearest VAMC and increasing drive distance was negatively correlated with contraceptive exposure, especially for Veterans residing >100miles from a VAMC. Increasing distance to the nearest VAMC results in a geographic barrier to the most effective contraceptive options for women Veterans. The VHA is uniquely positioned to leverage its rural and homeless healthcare expertise to address geographic barriers and integrate comprehensive contraceptive services into established programs for high-risk Veterans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data on the impact of hospital volume and travel distance on patient outcomes after major abdominal surgery remain poorly defined. We sought to characterize the relationship of travel distance, hospital volume, and long-term outcomes of patients undergoing surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: The 2004-2015 National Cancer Database was used to identify patients who underwent resection of HCC. Patients were stratified according to travel distance and hospital volume quartiles, and multivariable regression models were utilized to examine the impact of travel distance, hospital volume, and travel distance/hospital volume on overall survival (OS).Results: Among the 12,266 patients identified, procedures included wedge/segmental resections (N = 7354, 59.9%), hemi-hepatectomy (N = 4003, 32.6%), and extended hepatectomy (N = 909, 7.5%). Stratifying data into quartiles, travel distance to surgical care was ≤ 5.7 miles (mi), > 5.7-14.2 mi, > 14.2-44.4 mi, and ≥ 44.4 mi, while hospital volume quartiles determined on the hospital level were ≤ 1 case per year, 1.1-4, 4.1-12.5, and ≥ 12.5. On multivariable analysis, increased hospital volume was associated with decreased hazard of mortality (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.45-0.82, p < 0.001). Travel distance was not significantly associated with hazard of mortality. Furthermore, only hospital volume was associated with mortality (HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.56-0.80, p < 0.001) after controlling for both travel distance and hospital volume.Conclusions: Only hospital volume was associated with increased hazard of mortality. The benefits of undergoing resection for HCC at a high-volume hospital appear to outweigh the inconvenience of longer travel distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the influence of transit pass ownership on daily transit service usage behavior under a flat fare system. The transit system of the City of Toronto is investigated to evaluate the factors that influence the choice of owning a transit pass and at the same time whether or not a pass ownership influences different transit ridership behavior. Data from a household travel survey are used to estimate a joint econometric model of the choice of owning a transit pass as a function of benefits/utility drawn from daily transit usage (trip rate and distance travel) along with different socio-economic and land-use variables. Results clearly show that a transit pass has a profound and segmenting influence on ridership behavior in terms of the daily frequency of transit trips and the total distance travel by transit. Non-pass owners seem to draw higher utility from daily transit usage than the pass owners. Pass owners seem to have utility of owning a pass over and above the utility drawn from the daily use of the transit service. A transit pass is often considered as a mobility tool, but this investigation clearly shows an empirical evidence of it. The results suggest that it works for small-size families, people with work/student status, high income and places where compact development makes transit service competitive to other modes of transportation. Empirical results show the influence of different variables can be exploited to cater to various policies that may encourage higher pass ownership rate and thereby reduce demand for private automobiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of the current study was to characterize the association between travel distance/hospital volume relative to outcomes following resection of cholangiocarcinoma.Methods: Patients were identified using the 2004-2015 National Cancer Database and stratified into quartiles according to travel distance/hospital volume. Multivariable regression models were utilized to examine the impact of travel distance and hospital volume on quality-of-care metrics and overall survival.Results: Among 5125 patients, the majority of patients had T1/2 (N = 2006, 41.1%) and N0 disease (N = 2498, 50.9%). Median hospital quartile surgical volumes in cases/year were low volume (LV) 6, intermediate low volume (ILV) 7, intermediate high volume (IHV) 12, and high volume (HV) 24 cases/year. Median travel distance quartiles in miles were short travel (ST) 2.7, intermediate short travel (IST) 7.9, intermediate long travel (ILT) 18.9, and long travel (LT) 84.7. Longer travel distances were associated with better overall survival, as every 10 miles was associated with a 2% decrease in mortality (p = 0.02). Differences in quality-of-care metrics were largely mediated through travel distance.Conclusions: Travel distance and hospital volume were associated with certain quality-of-care metrics among patients with cholangiocarcinoma. After controlling for hospital volume and travel distance simultaneously, only travel distance was associated with decreased risk of mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding intra-urban travel patterns is beneficial for urban planning and transportation management, among other fields. As an emerging travel mode, online car-hailing platforms provide massive and high-precision trajectory data, thus offering new opportunities for gaining insights into human mobility. This paper aims to explore temporal intra-urban travel patterns by fitting the distributions of mobility metrics and leveraging the boxplot. The statistical characteristics of daily and hourly travel distance are relatively stable, while those of travel time and speed have some fluctuations. More specifically, most residents travel between 2 and 10 km, with travel times ranging from 6.6 to 30 min, which is fairly consistent with our daily experience. Mainly attributed to travel cost, individuals seldom use online car-hailing for too short or long trips. It is worth mentioning that a weekly pattern can be found in all mobility metrics, in which the patterns of travel time and speed are more obvious than that of travel distance. In addition, since October has more rainy days than November, travel distances and travel times in October are higher than that in November, while the opposite is true for travel speed. This paper can provide a beneficial reference for understanding temporal human mobility patterns, and lays a solid foundation for future research.

In a disaster at sea, the safe and timely removal of passengers from the ship is paramount. Here, a human evacuation plan enables passengers to be swiftly displaced from a risk area to one less so. Despite existing research on evacuation planning, there is a need for a more comprehensive model that considers various uncertainties and factors. This paper proposes an optimization evacuation model that balances uncertain variables, including passenger walking speed and travel distance, and deterministic factors like deck layout, door capacity, initial density, and corridor traffic flow. The model also accounts for varying starting locations and two levels of awareness—alert and non-alert. The model utilizes a data-driven technique, i.e., the k -means algorithm, to cluster historical data on speeds and generate scenarios. An adjustment scheme is applied to account for the ship's rolling motion, affecting passenger speeds during the evacuation planning period. Travel distance scenarios are produced to capture the impact of different route choices per passenger. A risk-neutral two-stage programming model is constructed to handle uncertainties. The model is tested on multiple problems for a passenger ship deck in day and night modes, revealing valuable managerial insights for the maritime safety sector. • Designing a risk-neutral, two-stage, scenario-based mixed-integer programming (MIP) model under hybrid uncertainty. • Utilizing a data-driven technique for generating scenarios from historical data on passenger walking speeds. • Implementing a dynamic adjustment mechanism for speed based on the ship's rolling motion to update walking speeds. • Integrating passenger starting locations, situational awareness, corridor traffic flow, and initial density into the model. • Presenting five categories of managerial implications for enhancing human evacuation plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people's park visit pattern has received great attention from both scholars and policy-makers, attributed to parks' established health benefits and thus serving as an effective strategy to mitigate people's stress and improve people's physical and mental health. While burgeoning empirical evidence has been generated, both negative and positive impacts of the pandemic on park visit behaviors have been reported. However, the dynamics of park visits along with the pandemic progress remains underinvestigated. Using locational-based mobile data, this study investigates the longitudinal dynamics of park visits in terms of visiting frequency, travel distance, and time spent within parks across the contiguous United States from January to December 2020. The year-over-year (2019–2020) variations of park visitation patterns are associated with pandemic-relevant variables (i.e., the number of infection cases, and policy stringency index), and the locational characteristics of parks (i.e., "local parks" and "non-local parks" as classified according to ESRI's US parks dataset). The analytical results reveal that (1) on average, park visit frequency, travel distance, and length of stay reduced since the outbreak of the pandemic; (2) the number of infection cases exerted a negative impact on visit frequency, a positive impact on visitors' dwelling time, but the inconsistent impact on travel distance in different pandemic periods; (3) the stringency of containment policies negatively affected visit frequency and travel distance, but its impact on park visitors' dwelling time was inconsistent; and (4) local parks received much fewer visits, even though visitors traveled a longer distance to access some local parks located in peri-urban areas. This study depicts a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of park visitation along with the pandemic progress and sheds light on the ways that parks can aid in recovering from a public health crisis. • Park visit frequency, travel distance, and length of stay reduced since the outbreak of the pandemic. • Local parks received less visits but longer travel distance compared with the non-local ones. • The COVID-19 infection cases exerted negative impact on visit frequency and positive impact on visitors' dwelling time. • A U-shape curve concerning the impacts of infection cases on park visitation characteristics was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess whether poor geographic accessibility to prenatal care, as indicated by long distance trips to prenatal care, produced high blood pressure (HPB) during pregnancy. Methods: Using the 2007 Los Angeles Mommy and Baby Study for women without hypertension prior to pregnancy (n = 3405), we compared self-reported HBP by travel distance to prenatal care controlling for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, education, household income, weight status, and physical activity. Results: Results of the multilevel logistic regression shows traveling more than 50 mi to prenatal care is associated with an increased odds for having HPB during pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] = 2.867, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.079,7.613), as compared with a travel distance shorter than 5 mi. Traveling 5–14 mi (OR = 0.917, 95% CI = 0.715–1.176), 15–29 mi (OR = 0.955, 95% CI = 0.634–1.438), or 30–50 mi (OR = 1.101, 95% CI = 0.485–2.499) were not significantly associated with more risk of HBP during pregnancy. Conclusion: To our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the association between poor geographic accessibility to care and the possible harms of travel burdens for pregnant women. Future research that replicates these findings can assist in developing recommendations for pregnant women and health-care accessibility.

To highlight the accessibility issues of rural households, the data were collected from the rural subregion of Badin, Sindh, Pakistan. The purpose of the data-collection was to offer policy proposal?s inputs, as concerned planning agencies could be able to know the ground realities and implement their planned decisions accordingly. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate about the normality of the data, collected through the questionnaire survey from the sampled population of the study area. Total hundred questionnaires were completed from sampled rural households. Mostly, the household?s demographic and socioeconomic aspects were targeted in this regard, including travel- time and distance characteristics. The data were successfully analyzed in SPSS-17.0 and results were generated accordingly. The results exhibited the symmetry in household-size aspect due to clustering; whereas, household income, traveldistance and time depicted enormous variations.

Introduction: Patients do not always go to the facility closest to their home., Description: A study was carried out in Provence-Alpes Côtes d'Azur (PACA) on patients' preferences to mobilize the hemodialysis offer., Methods: The data were extracted from the REIN Registry. Potential access was compared with actual access. A survey was carried out among a sample of patients travelling an additional distance of more than 25 km., Results: About a quarter of the patients did not travel to the nearest facility. Of these, 16.3% travelled an additional distance of over 25 km. Patients' choices were determined by the relationship of trust with the team that first set up dialysis, followed by their desire to be followed in a multi-purpose facility., Discussion: While distance remained the decisive factor, human factors were cited in the majority of cases to explain the bypass., Conclusion: The links between the first team and the next one should be strengthened.

In response to the need for a better empirical understanding of the multiple factors that drive the demand of wine tourism, this paper serves a twofold objective: first, to test the distinctiveness of motivations for visiting a wine region along with a winery; and secondly, to explore whether geographical distance between tourists׳ place of origin and the wine region can add to the ability of other wine consumer/tourist variables (product involvement; product knowledge; wine tourist identity; past experience) to predict specific aspects of wine tourist behavior. In doing so, quantitative survey data were collected from 381 visitors of 12 wineries located in Northern Greece. Results from Principal Component and Multiple Hierarchical Regression Analyses indicate that travel distance predicts wine purchasing at the cellar door as well as the motivational factors associated with ׳Socialization׳ and ׳Destination attractiveness׳. Further, the study proposes a conceptual framework for wine tourism motivation.

Highlights • Multi-criteria user equilibrium model using bi-objective programming is proposed. • Maximum entropy MUE model is presented to obtain the most likely solution. • Route-based solution algorithm is developed to solve the built model. • Case study shows the applicability of the proposed model. Abstract This paper proposes a multi-criteria user equilibrium model considering travel time, travel time reliability and distance (MUE-TRD). This new model hypothesizes that for each user class and each origin-destination (O-D) pair no traveler can reduce either his or her reliable travel time or travel distance or both without worsening the other objective by unilaterally changing routes in their route choice decision process. Travel time budget which consists of travel time and travel time reliability is used to describe the reliable travel time. A maximum entropy multi-criteria user equilibrium (ME-MUE) model is presented to address the non-uniqueness of the solution in MUE-TRD model. Furthermore, a route-based solution algorithm based on the partial linearization descent method (R-PLD) is developed to solve the ME-MUE model. Numerical examples are also provided to illustrate the essential ideas of the proposed model and the applicability of the developed solution algorithm. The results show that compared to traditional user equilibrium and travel time budget models, ME-MUE model is more consistent with the real trip process that the reliable travel time is increasing with the decreasing of travel distance in used routes; and the road traffic is smoother when using ME-MUE model to design the road network, thus ME-MUE model can reduce road traffic noise and air pollution in the urban road network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This study estimates the relationship of travel distance and service satisfaction. • An inverted U-shaped distance–satisfaction relationship is identified. • This research identifies inflection points of the quadratic relationship. Abstract The existing literature suggests that travel distance is a crucial factor that determines tourism demand and tourist behavior. However, there are limited attempts to understand how tourists' travel distance shapes their experiences, and more specifically, their satisfaction in a destination. This paper aims to shed light on the distance–satisfaction relationship by analyzing a data set of online hotel reviews at four large US cities in a one-year period. The results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between travel distance and service satisfaction. Inflection points of the quadratic relationship across different cities are also identified. The implications of these findings contribute to literature on tourism geography and allow tourism marketers to develop more effective differential marketing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High-volume hospitals are associated with improved outcomes in glioblastoma (GBM). However, the impact of travel burden to high-volume centers is poorly understood. We examined post-operative outcomes between GBM patients that underwent treatment at local, low-volume hospitals with those that traveled long distances to high-volume hospitals.Methods: The National Cancer Database was queried for GBM patients that underwent surgery (2010-2014). We established two cohorts: patients in the lowest quartile of travel distance and volume (Short-travel/Low-Volume: STLV) and patients in the highest quartile of travel and volume (Long-travel/High-Volume: LTHV). Outcomes analyzed were 30-day, 90-day mortality, overall survival, 30-day readmission, and hospital length of stay.Results: Of 35,529 cases, STLV patients (n = 3414) traveled a median of 3 miles (Interquartile range [IQR] 1.8-4.2) to low-volume centers (5 [3-7] annual cases) and LTHV patients (n = 3808) traveled a median of 62 miles [44.1-111.3] to high-volume centers (48 [42-71]). LTHV patients were younger, had lower Charlson scores, largely received care at academic centers (84.4% vs 11.9%), were less likely to be minorities (8.1% vs 17.1%) or underinsured (6.9% vs 12.1), and were more likely to receive trimodality therapy (75.6% vs 69.2%; all p < 0.001). On adjusted analysis, LTHV predicted improved overall survival (HR 0.87, p = 0.002), decreased 90-day mortality (OR 0.72, p = 0.019), lower 30-day readmission (OR 0.42, p < 0.001), and shorter hospitalizations (RR 0.79, p < 0.001).Conclusions: Glioblastoma patients who travel farther to high-volume centers have superior post-operative outcomes compared to patients who receive treatment locally at low-volume centers. Strategies that facilitate patient travel to high-volume hospitals may improve outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revolution of information brought new possibilities for the business organisations: new management methods for managing supply chains, logistic processes and warehouses appear as well as innovative process management methods in the sense of knowledge management. The order picking process in the warehouse should be emphasised as one of the most laborious activities, since it consumes ∼55% of the warehouse labour activities. This study pays special attention to the order picking process in a very-narrow-aisle (V.N.A.) warehouse, with the aim to identify solutions for the reduction of total travel distance and costs. The methods of the scientific literature analysis and synthesis simulation were applied. The results of the simulation confirmed the application of a pick-by-article strategy that is implemented with 'seed' sorting by order solution in low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve landslide hazard mapping quality, a functional relationship with travel distance prediction is essential. To obtain a more accurate empirical relationship for predicting loess slide travel distances, we developed a loess slide database for the central Loess Plateau using a combination of remote sensing image interpretations, existing datasets, and an intensive field survey. The loess slide travel distance was concentrated within less than 200 m, according to a cumulative frequency analysis. Our results reveal that the loess slide volume, slope height, and slope inclination of the sliding area control the travel distance, and this relation is well-described by a power law function. Furthermore, statistical analysis suggested that the equivalent coefficient of friction decreases with an increase in loess slide volume but increases with an increase in slope inclination. We compared the prediction performances of four empirical relationships proposed in this study using the mean absolute percentage error and Theil inequality coefficient methods. We discovered that the empirical relationship with three independent variables can more accurately predict the loess slide travel distance than the relationships with one or two independent variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Low birth rates can have substantial social impacts and comprise a challenge for the health care sector, especially obstetrics. To understand their influence on obstetrics services, this study aimed to quantify the impacts of low birth rates on the geographical distribution of obstetricians and the accessibility of obstetrics services for parturient women by using representative empirical data. Methods: Using Nationwide Health Insurance Database, we observed trends in childbirth and the mean number of deliveries per obstetrician from 2005 to 2009. Theoretical frameworks and spatial analysis were employed to analyze the changes in the geographical distribution of obstetricians and the accessibility of obstetrics services for parturient women. Finally, we used a gravity model to analyze the parturient women’s trade-off of between the accessibility and availability of obstetrics services. Results: During the study period, childbirth decreased by 6.7%, and the number of obstetricians decreased by 5.4%. Meanwhile, the mean number of deliveries per obstetrician decreased by 1.6%. The changes in the aforementioned indicators were worse in rural areas than in urban areas. Some obstetricians withdrew from the market, some changed their practice location, especially to areas with a higher carrying capacity. Consequently, parturient women who lived in areas with a low urbanization level had to travel longer distances to obtain obstetrics services; thus, they preferred to obtain services in areas with better accessibility rather than better availability. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that low birth rates can lead to the geographical redistribution of obstetricians, which worsen accessibility for parturient women, particularly those living in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent literature suggests that living in a rural setting may be associated with adverse cancer outcomes. This study examines the burden of travel from home to cancer center for clinical trial (CT) enrollees. Materials and Methods: Patients from the University of California San Francisco Clinical Trial Management System database who enrolled in a cancer CT for a breast, genitourinary, or gastrointestinal malignancy between 1993 and 2014 were included. Cancer type, household zip code, race/ethnicity, phase of study, study sponsor, and year of signed consent were exported. Distance traveled from home to center was calculated using a GoogleMaps application programming interface. The relationships of distance with phase of CT, household income, and race/ethnicity were examined. Results: A total of 1,600 patients were enrolled in breast (55.8%), genitourinary (29.4%), or gastrointestinal (14.9%) cancer CTs. The overall median unidirectional distance traveled from home to study site was 25.8 miles (interquartile range [IQR] 11.5–75.3). Of the trial sponsors examined, principal investigator (56.4%), industry (22.2%), cooperative group (11.6%), and National Institutes of Health (NIH; 9.8%), the longest distance traveled was for NIH‐sponsored trials, with a median of 39.4 miles (p < .001). Phase I (8.4%) studies had the longest distance traveled, with a median of 41.2 miles (IQR 14.5–101.0 miles; p = .001). White patients (83%) traveled longer compared with black patients (4.4%), with median distances of 29.9 and 13.9 miles, respectively (p < .001). Patients from lower‐income areas (n = 799) traveled longer distances compared with patients from higher‐income areas (n = 773; 58.3 vs. 17.8 miles, respectively; p < .001). A multivariable linear model where log10 (distance) was the outcome and adjusting for the exported variables and income revealed that cancer type, year of consent, race/ethnicity, and income were significantly associated with distance traveled. Conclusion: This study found that the burden of travel is highest among patients enrolled in NIH‐sponsored trials, phase I studies, or living in low‐income areas. These data suggest that travel burden for cancer CT participants may be significant. Implications for Practice: This study is one of the first to measure travel distance for patients in cancer clinical trials using a real‐world GoogleMaps calculator. Out‐of‐pocket expenses such as travel are not typically covered by health care payers; therefore, patients may face considerable cost to attend each study visit. Using a single‐center clinical trials enrollment database, this study found that the burden of travel is highest for patients enrolled in National Institutes of Health‐sponsored trials and phase I studies, as well as for patients living in low‐income areas. Results suggest that a significant proportion of patients enrolled in clinical trials face a substantial travel burden. Several barriers to clinical trial participation exist; however, the burden of cost and time associated with travel to visits may contribute to disparities in care. This analysis may inform ways that health care payers and systems can reduce the burden to encourage equitable recruitment and retention in cancer clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients who travel a long distance (≥50 miles) for cancer care have improved outcomes. However, to the authors' knowledge, the prevalence of long travel distances for treatment by patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), and the effect of travel distance on overall survival (OS), remains unknown.Methods: The authors used the National Cancer Data base from 2004 through 2013 to identify patients with HNSCC undergoing definitive treatment. Travel distance for treatment was categorized as short (<12.5 miles), intermediate (12.5-49.9 miles), and long (50-249.9 miles). The primary outcome, OS, was evaluated using Cox shared-frailty modeling. A secondary outcome, factors associated with intermediate and long travel distances, was evaluated using multivariable hierarchical logistic regression.Results: Among 118,000 patients with HNSCC, 62,753 (53.2%), 40,644 (34.4%), and 14,603 (12.4%) patients, respectively, traveled short, intermediate, and long distances for treatment. After adjusting for relevant covariates, long travel distance was associated with treatment at academic and high-volume centers. Patients of black race, of Hispanic ethnicity, with Medicaid insurance, and who were treated with nonsurgical treatment were less likely to travel long distances for treatment (P<.001). Traveling a long distance for treatment was associated with improved OS on multivariable analysis (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval, 0.89-0.96) compared with a short distance.Conclusions: Traveling a long distance for HNSCC treatment is associated with improved survival, especially for patients receiving nonsurgical management. Racial and ethnic disparities in travel for HNSCC treatment exist. As regionalization of care continues, future work should identify and address reasons for racial and ethnic disparities in travel that may prevent access to care at high-volume facilities. Cancer 2018;000:000-000. © 2018 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation of landslides applying various methods has been receiving increased attention in recent years. This study was aimed at assessing the estimated distribution of landslide movement using an energy conservation formula in a lumped mass model to obtain velocity and travel distance estimations, in combination with an inverted resistivity model for estimating the Amahusu landslide volume. The research location was in the Amahusu hills of the Nusaniwe subdistrict, Ambon, Indonesia. A survey was carried out using GPS and a geoelectric resistivity method with the Wenner-Schlumberger configuration. The results of the study provide a characterization of this rotational type landslide. The estimated landslide volume was 70,954 m³ and the estimated potential landslide volume was 50,603 m³. This mass moved 303 m away from the original location, with an estimated maximum velocity of up to 21.25 m/s. The displacement pattern of a landslide mass is primarily controlled by the geometry of the sliding plane. The geometry of the sliding plane causes different types of movement, based on which the possible occurrence of a future landslide can be predicted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Definitive stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) represents an emerging and debated treatment option for patients with prostate cancer, with potential economic savings and reports of short-term efficacy since 2006. The current study sought to define national trends in definitive prostate SBRT use and determine whether patterns vary by travel distance for treatment.Methods: The National Cancer Data Base identified 181,544 men with localized prostate cancer who were treated with definitive external beam radiotherapy from 2004 through 2012. Joinpoint regression analyzed definitive prostate SBRT trends over time, whereas multivariable logistic regression defined the odds for its receipt by travel distance for treatment.Results: Definitive prostate SBRT use increased from 1.8% in 2004 to 5.9% in 2012 (P for trend <.0001), with a joinpoint for increased use noted in 2006 (P<.0001). Higher SBRT use was found to be associated with longer travel distance for treatment, younger age, white race, more affluent zip code of residence, academic treatment center, favorable disease characteristics, and fewer comorbidities (all P<.0001). Compared with travel distances <25 miles for treatment, travel distances of 25 to 50 miles and >50 miles were associated with increasing adjusted odds of receipt of definitive prostate SBRT (1.63 [95% confidence interval, 1.51-1.76] and 2.35 [95% confidence interval, 2.14-2.57], respectively; both P < .0001).Conclusions: Definitive prostate SBRT use increased more than 3-fold since 2004, with a significant increase in use coinciding with early reports of short-term efficacy. Long-distance travel for treatment was associated with greater than twice the odds of receipt of definitive prostate SBRT compared with short-distance travel, suggesting that treatment decisions with unknown long-term clinical implications may be strongly driven by sociodemographic factors. Cancer 2018;124:1141-9. © 2017 American Cancer Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]