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• Integrating ESSD into the socio-ecological systems framework. • Building a Socio-ecological indicators framework to analyze the drivers of ESSD. • The surging demand for public-good contributed to a significant increase in ESV. • The maximum explanatory power of factor interaction for ESV was 99%. The balance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESSD) is important for sustainable regional development. The hilly regions of south China have rich natural resources and are rapidly being urbanized, which significantly impacts sustainable development in the region. Therefore, how to analyze ESSD from the perspective of social ecology is imperative. Ganzhou region, which is a typical hilly region in southern China, as an example, this paper creatively integrated ESSD into the social-ecological system (SES) framework, analyzed the spatial and temporal changes of ESSD in 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, and constructed a system of indicators from the SES, and analyzed the driving factors of ESSD, so as to provide a reference for balancing ESSD. Based on the classical SES framework proposed by Ostrom, this study first analyses the social-ecological system profile of the Ganzhou region at the macro-scale and constructs an SES indicator system. The innovation of combining the SES framework and ecosystem services lies in integrating the social and ecosystem perspectives and merging these two concepts to understand better and manage the relationship between humans and the natural environment. It provides a comprehensive analytical approach and decision support tool for achieving sustainable development. Our results demonstrate that: (1) From 2005 to 2020, ecosystem services in the study area were highly valued, lower areas had homogeneous distribution characteristics, total demand displayed spatial differentiation, there were high-value areas in the midwest, and low-value areas were concentrated in the region's boundary. (2) There are obvious supply and demand deficits in the southeast and east of the study area, while supply–demand is equal in the north and supply exceeds demand in other regions. From 2005 to 2020, the overall coupling coordination degree of ESSD in the study area was lower than 0.5, indicating a mild to moderate imbalance. (3) The supply of ecosystem services (ESS) was primarily driven by carbon storage, habitat quality, and water yield, while the demand was primarily driven by forest and grassland areas. Factors related to the ecosystem, resource unit, resource system, social system, governance system, and actor all have experienced two-factor interactions, which can explain up to 99% of ESSD. Based on the SES framework, this paper studies the relationship between ESSD in typical areas of the southern hills to provide a reference for research on ESSD in relevant areas and provide a scientific basis for the Chinese government to evaluate ecological protections and improve compensation policies, which is important for ensuring China's ecological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the feasibility of the use solar energy into hydrogen production using a photovoltaic energy system in the four main cities of Iraq. An off-grid photovoltaic system with a capacity of 22.0 kWp, an 8.0 kW alkaline electrolyser, a hydrogen compressor, and a hydrogen tank were simulated for one year in order to generate hydrogen. A mathematical model of the proposed system behavior is presented using MATLAB/Simulink, considering nine years from the 2021 to 2030 project span using hourly experimental weather data. The outcomes demonstrated that the annual hydrogen production ranged from 1713.92 kg up to 1891.12 kg, oxygen production ranged from 1199.74 to 1323.78 kg, and water consumption ranged from 7139.91 L to 7877.29 L. The hydrogen evaluated costs equal to $3.79/kg. The results show that the optimum site for solar hydrogen production systems can be established in the midwest of Iraq and in other cities with similar climates, especially those that get a lot of sunlight. • A technical and economic assessment of hydrogen production by solar energy. • A photovoltaic energy system with a capacity of 22 kWp produces hydrogen at a rate of around 1891.12 kg/year. • A photovoltaic energy system is a promising green hydrogen production technique in Iraq. • The levelized hydrogen cost produced by the 22 kWp photovoltaic energy system is $3.79/kg. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An attempt is made towards treatment of urban runoff using tire derived aggregates. • Role of biofilms in TDA-based treatment systems was analyzed using batch studies. • Phosphorous concentration is reduced below USEPA recommended disposal limit. • TDA-based stormwater treatment systems can work roughly up to 8–9 years. • Biofilm was seen to limit the leaching of metals from tire-derived aggregates. The importance of biofilm in tire derived aggregates (TDA) based underground systems has been investigated in this paper, to assess the utilization of tire waste as a cost-effective and sustainable resource for stormwater treatment. The primary objective of this study is to look into the role of biofilms in preventing metal leaching from a TDA based stormwater treatment system and to estimate the life span of a TDA based stormwater treatment system. TDA subjected to different influents to promote or limit the growth of biofilms were analyzed for their leaching and adsorption potential for fifteen different metals through 72 flushes, which is representative of roughly 9 years of TDA exposure to storm events in the upper Midwest USA. Biofilm growth on a manufacturing byproduct (wire exposed-TDA) was higher than on the traditional TDA. The presence of biofilm on TDA had a minor impact on orthophosphate adsorption as observed in a previous study conducted by the authors. However, metals such as iron, zinc and copper, which were previously a concern, had substantially lower leaching into the stored runoff. In addition, the orthophosphate removal from runoff by TDA with a biofilm through 72 flushes indicates that TDA based underground systems can have orthophosphate removal life span beyond 8–9 years. Thus, TDA with biofilms in an underground storage/infiltration chamber has the potential to establish itself as a sustainable, cost-effective, and long life-span alternative for stormwater remediation of orthophosphate pollution without leaching of metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Healthcare data from electronic health records (EHRs) and related health information technology (IT) tools are critical data sources for pragmatic clinical trials and observational studies aimed at producing real-world evidence. To unlock the full potential of such data to advance science, the data must be complete and in structured formats to facilitate research use. A Health IT survey was conducted within the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) to explore information related to data completeness and presence of unstructured data (e.g., clinical notes, free text) for conducting the EHR-based research for substance use disorders (SUDs). The analysis was based on 36 participants from 36 facilities located in 14 states and affiliated with the CTN. The mean age of the participants (n = 34) was 48.0 years (SD = 9.8). Of the participants enrolled, 50.0% were female and 82.4% were white. Participants' facilities were from four census-defined regions (South 35.3%, Northeast 29.4%, West 20.6%, Midwest 11.8%, Missing 2.9%) and represented diverse settings. The EHR was used by all surveyed facilities including 17 different kinds of EHR platforms or vendors, and 17.6% (n = 6) of surveyed facilities also used a separate EHR for behavioral health care (e.g., SUD care). Paper records were also used by 76.5% of surveyed facilities for clinical care (e.g., for health risk appraisal questionnaires, substance use screening or assessment, check-in screening, substance use specific intervention/treatment or referral, or labs/testing). The prevalence of using a patient portal, practice management system, and mHealth for patient care was 76.5%, 50.0%, and 29.4%, respectively. While results are descriptive in nature, they reveal the heterogeneity in the existing EHRs and frequent use of paper records to document patient care tasks, especially for SUD care. The use of a separate EHR for behavioral healthcare also suggests the challenge of obtaining complete EHR data to support research for SUDs. Much EHR development, integration, and standardization needs to be done especially in regard to SUD treatment to facilitate research across disparate healthcare systems. • Electronic health records (EHRs) data are critical data sources for pragmatic trials. • Complete and structured EHR data facilitate research use and reduce biases. • Sources of addiction treatment data not readily available in the EHRs were explored. • A wide variety of EHR platforms, including behavioral health EHRs, were identified. • Paper records were used frequently to support health care for addiction treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology-enhanced bikeshare features a dockless system with GPS-tracked electric bikes and a mobile app. As an additional transportation mode, it offers users greater accessibility and more flexibility compared to traditional bikeshare. This paper examines the causal impact of a tech-enhanced bikeshare program on public transit ridership, using evidence from a mid-sized metropolitan area in the Midwest of the United States. We use a difference-in-differences identification, exploring the exogenous hourly variation in precipitation and the fact that bicycle usage is limited when precipitation occurs. We find that the initial pedal bicycle fleet with a dockless system increased bus ridership by 1% and the subsequent upgrades to electric bikes further increased bus ridership by an additional 1.1%. The increased bus ridership occurred where and when the travel demand arose, providing suggestive evidence of bikeshare trips solving the first-/last-mile problem. The increased bus ridership occurred mostly in block groups with a lower median household income, a younger population, lower vehicle ownership rate, and lower homeownership rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between household income inequality and macro-economic uncertainty in the United States. Using a novel large-scale macroeconometric model, we shed light on regional disparities of inequality responses to a national uncertainty shock. The results suggest that income inequality decreases in most states, with a pronounced degree of heterogeneity in terms of the dynamic responses. By contrast, some few states, mostly located in the Midwest, display increasing levels of income inequality over time. Forecast error variance and historical decompositions highlight the importance of uncertainty shocks in explaining income inequality in most regions considered. Finally, we explain differences in the responses of income inequality by means of a simple regression analysis. These regressions reveal that the income composition as well as labor market fundamentals determine the directional pattern of the dynamic responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Channel planform is the result of present and past hydrologic, sedimentary, and geologic conditions, and represents an adjustment of fluvial systems to these conditions. An important yet overlooked aspect of planform diversity of rivers in intensively managed agricultural landscapes of the upper Midwest (USA) is the co-occurrence of single-thread meandering and multi-thread anabranching reaches. Recent work on the role of river corridors in critical-zone dynamics of intensively managed landscapes has revealed the existence of juxtaposed meandering and anabranching reaches, yet the prevalence of anabranching reaches within meandering rivers in the upper Midwest is unknown. In addition, the morphological characteristics of these reaches and whether the stream power domain of these reaches differs from that of meandering reaches are also unclear. This paper quantifies the prevalence, planform morphology, and stream power domain of anabranching reaches along numerous lowland meandering rivers in the upper Midwest. Anabranch prevalence is explored for five representative watersheds using Google Earth aerial imagery and airborne LiDAR data. Less than 1 % of the total stream length in these watersheds (∼42,000 km) exhibits anabranching, but no watershed is devoid of anabranching reaches. Most anabranching reaches are characterized by a two-channel looping configuration, although complex anabranches with more than three channels exist at a few locations. Mean bifurcation angles (70° ± 29°) of the anabranching reaches are higher than those of braided rivers (40°-60°), with maximum angles as high as 150°, whereas mean confluence angles (60° ± 28°) fall within the range of junction angles in stream networks (45°-75°). Stream power analysis indicates that the occurrence of anabranching reaches along meandering rivers in the upper Midwest is significantly related to local increases in channel slope. The stream power domain of most anabranching reaches in the upper Midwest falls within that of meandering rivers, although some reaches have power similar to that of braided or wandering gravel-bed rivers. When considered collectively, multi-thread reaches juxtaposed with meandering reaches do not fit neatly into existing classifications of anabranching rivers. • Anabranching occurs along only 0.38 % of total stream length in five watersheds in the upper Midwest, U.S.A. • The majority of anabranching reaches have a two-channel configuration. • Anabranching reaches in the upper Midwest have locally higher channel slopes than adjacent meandering reaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision Agriculture (PA) technologies are well known to be useful in addressing field heterogeneities and enabling informed site-specific management decisions. While profitability is the foremost factor considered by farmers when making PA adoption decisions, information in this regard is lacking from the farmers' perspective. This paper analyzed 1119 farmer responses from a 2021 survey conducted in four states along the western margins of the U.S. Midwest. Our findings show that while most (around 60%) non-adopters indicate that they are unaware of PA profit change, adopters are likely to rate a major profit increase. About two thirds of adopters rated at least a 5% increase in profitability towards variable rate (VR) fertilizer application (72%), VR seed application (68%), and automatic section control (66%). We modeled farmers' profit change subsequent to PA adoptions. Our regression results demonstrate that the profits from PA usage increase over time and that use of conservation practices likely influences PA profitability in a positive way. As soil quality and weather factors also affect profit ratings, it would be beneficial to compare and demonstrate profitability potential of various PA technologies on a regional basis and tailor the promotion efforts to farmers most likely to benefit from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The goal of the paper is to characterize the geographic and sociodemographic patterns of policies prohibiting tobacco sales to people aged <21 years (i.e., Tobacco 21) at the local, county, and state levels in the U.S. before the national law.Methods: This study assessed area-level markers for region, race/ethnicity, education, poverty status, and smoke-free law coverage as predictors of Tobacco 21 passage as of December 20, 2019, using modified Poisson and negative binomial regression models with robust SEs. Data were analyzed in 2020.Results: Before the passage of the national policy, 191 million people were covered by Tobacco 21 laws. Counties with higher percentages of non-Hispanic Blacks and individuals living below the poverty line had a lower probability of coverage, whereas counties with higher percentages of Hispanics/Latinxs and individuals with a college degree had a higher probability of coverage. Tobacco 21 coverage also varied by region, with far greater coverage in the Northeast than in the Midwest and South.Conclusions: The national Tobacco 21 law may address disparities in coverage by SES, race/ethnicity, and region that could have lasting implications with regard to health equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some jointed plain concrete pavements in the midwestern region of the United States of America have exhibited damage at the joints. This damage manifests itself in cracking and spalling in a small section (approximately 100 mm wide) along joints. These cracks may be due to either freeze-thaw cycling of concrete with a high degree of saturation or chemical reactions that occur between the deicing salt and the cementitious matrix. For example, deicing salts (e.g., CaCl 2 MgCl 2 ) may react with the cementitious matrix leading to the formation of calcium oxychloride. The formation of calcium oxychloride leads to matrix damage that results in the cracking and spalling of the concrete. The objective of this paper is to document the effect of carbonation on the potential for calcium oxychloride formation in a cementitious matrix. This paper examines ground hydrated cement paste powder made of different ordinary portland cements and portland cement containing fly ash, slag or silica fume. Each of these materials are tested for their potential to react with CaCl 2 after exposure to different levels of carbonation. The results indicate that the potential of calcium oxychloride formation decreases with the increase in the degree of carbonation. For long carbonation durations or higher degree of carbonations, there is no calcium oxychloride formation even if the calcium hydroxide is not totally carbonated. It appears that this is due to the fact that carbonation reaction creates a calcite barrier around the remaining calcium hydroxide. The calcite barrier reduces the potential for reaction between calcium hydroxide with the deicing salt. This work indicates that in addition to previous work that has shown that calcium oxychloride formation can be reduced with the use of supplementary cementitious materials and topical treatments (sealers), carbonation is a factor that should be considered in determining the amount of calcium oxychloride that can form in a cementitious matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In child welfare, family meeting models are an important social innovation designed to develop individualized case plans through a family-centered and collaborative approach. Effective teamwork and parent engagement are key elements of family meetings. Previous studies report mixed results about the practical impacts of family meetings, perhaps due to a failure to elucidate how the key elements of the models are associated with the intended outcomes. This study utilized administrative data that reviewed child welfare cases in a Midwestern state in the U.S. to examine interactions between teamwork and parent engagement associated with the permanency of children in out-of-home care (n = 1450). Results indicate that teamwork is positively associated with permanency. Although both mother engagement and father engagement did not show significant main effects, father engagement significantly strengthened the positive relationship between teamwork and permanency. Additionally, a significant three-way interaction between teamwork, father engagement, and mother engagement was found. This interaction suggests that the strength of the positive relationship between teamwork and permanency was dampened when both mothers and fathers engage highly in family meetings. This paper concludes with implications for informing a clear theory of change to advance and diffuse the social innovation of family meeting models. Highlights • Teamwork and parent engagement are key elements of innovative family meeting models • The positive impact of teamwork on permanency is strengthened when fathers more actively engage in family meetings. • The positive impact of teamwork is dampened when both parents engage highly in family meetings. • Family meetings may benefit from ensuring safe and democratic team processes to promote parent engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and timely flood prediction can reduce the risk of flooding, bolster preparedness, and help build resilience. In this study, we have developed a flood forecasting system prototype and checked its potential for carrying out operational flood forecasting in the state of Nebraska. This system builds upon some of the core components of the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS), which is a state-of-the-art platform widely recognized around the world. We implemented our platform on a pilot basin in Nebraska (Elkhorn River basin) by installing eight stream sensors and setting up the hydrologic model component of IFIS, i.e., the Hillslope Link Model (HLM). Due to their importance in the Midwest, we particularly emphasized the snow processes and developed an improved HLM model that can account for different aspects of snow (rain-snow-partitioning, snowmelt, and snow accumulation) through simple parameterizations. Results show that the more thorough treatment of snow processes in the hydrologic model, as proposed herein, leads to better flood peak simulations. In this paper, we discuss different steps involved in developing the flood forecasting system prototype, along with the associated challenges and opportunities. • We developed a flood forecasting system prototype for a pilot basin in Nebraska. • We developed an improved version of the popular HLM model to include snow processes. • We identified the vulnerability of eight bridges to flooding. • We designed a simple web interface showing the streamflow in a distributed manner in the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foster care youth graduate from college at rates far below their peers. Attention is now shifting to identifying modifiable risk factors that influence their chances of completing college. One explanation is that past traumatic experiences have an enduring impact on youths' psychosocial functioning, which in turn compromises their ability to succeed in college. This paper investigates avoidant attachment, which is characterized by emotional guardedness and reluctance to rely on others for support. Secondary analyses were conducted on data collected from a longitudinal study that followed several hundred foster youths in three Midwestern states for nearly 10 years. Information on college outcomes were obtained from National Student Clearinghouse records. Binary logistic regression analyses investigated whether avoidant attachment was associated with the odds that foster youth persisted in college and completed a degree. Results found that higher avoidant attachment decreased the odds of both college persistence and degree attainment after controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. The relationships between avoidant attachment and the college outcomes were mediated in part by the perceived amount of social support foster youth reported around the time they were in college. Addressing the psychosocial consequences of past maltreatment and relational instability may be an important component of interventions designed to increase college success for foster youth. This may require programs to develop strategies to recruit difficult-to-engage students, normalize help-seeking, address underlying trauma, and provide opportunities to develop connections to resourceful adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model for estimating the amount of distributed generation solar photovoltaics (DGPV) that can be accommodated by an electrical system, limited by the ability of existing generation infrastructure to change output. The model is applied to a region of seven states in the U.S. Midwest, showing the potential for temporary curtailment of installed DGPV to mitigate those constraints, and the associated reductions in coal- and natural gas-fired electricity generation. Scenarios considered are those under which 100%, 99.5%, and 95% of available solar can be utilized, and the point at which DGPV curtailment can no longer mitigate constraints because of the inability of conventional generation to keep pace as solar output declines in the late afternoon. The model is developed using historical hourly fuel use data for electricity generation, hourly solar capacity factor, and carbon emissions factors. The model includes a generalized linear model, constructed by regression analysis, used to allocate potential reductions in conventional generation in response to demand changes caused by DGPV. Limits on output and ramping of conventional generation are considered and initially mitigated, where possible, by changes in hydroelectric generation. Results indicate that a substantial amount of DGPV can be accommodated without any changes to current generation infrastructure, and that small amounts of curtailment enable greater DGPV capacity and generation. In a scenario without curtailment, DGPV could provide about 6% of total generation in the modeled region. With just 0.5% curtailment at DGPV installations, roughly 9% of generation could be provided by DGPV. Ultimately, up to 14% of generation could be achieved through DGPV installation before technological limitations would diminish the ability to meet all demand with further increased DGPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the relationship between ground-level ozone (O 3 ) and temperature in the Midwestern U.S. during the period 1990–2015. From 1990 to 2015, the overall trend of 95th percentile temperature showed an increase of 0.04 K yr −1 , while summertime 95th percentile O 3 concentrations in the Midwest decreased at an average rate of 0.7 ppb yr −1 largely because NO 2 concentrations decreased by more than 50%. The ozone-climate penalty, defined as the slope of O 3 change with increasing temperature (Δ O 3 /Δ T ), was by average 0.43 ppb K −1 less in 1999–2007 than in 1990–1998, indicating the early success of NO x emission controls. However, the slope did not continue to decrease in 2008–2015 despite further NO x emission reductions, and it increased more rapidly with increasing temperature (Δ 2 O 3 /Δ T 2 ) by 0.03–0.09 ppb K −2 in most urban areas of the Midwest. This was accompanied by more frequent dry tropical (DT) weather in the Midwest since 2008. We find that O 3 in DT weather was 12 ppb and 17 ppb higher than in non-DT weather in rural and urban areas, respectively. Furthermore, the 2008–2015 period experienced 8% more surface air stagnation days than in 1990–1998. This demonstrates that, in addition to the impact of warmer temperatures, the ozone-climate penalty could be aggravated by altered weather conditions under climate change. It will be challenging for Midwestern cities to attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for O 3 if such conditions persist in the future, and future air quality improvements may require even greater efforts to reduce both NO x and VOC emissions in the Midwest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we evaluate the effectiveness of the first year of a federally-funded, evidence-based preschool through third grade intervention in Chicago. We use inverse probability weighting with regression adjustment to estimate the impacts of the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program on teacher assessments of school readiness for 1289 low-income preschool and 591 comparison-group participants. Results indicated significant positive impacts of the program for all domains, including literacy, math, socio-emotional development, science and total score. The percentage of CPC children who met national norms in school readiness exceeded the comparison group by 12 to 18.5 percentage points. Full-day participants experienced greater school readiness gains while program impacts were similar by family income and home language. Compared to the original CPC evaluation of children born in 1980 in which few comparison group children attended preschool, we find evidence that the contemporary implementation performs at least as well even though the current comparison group participants had alternative preschool experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing interest in standardizing data about social determinants of health (SDOH) in electronic health records (EHRs), yet little is known about how clinicians document SDOH in daily practice. This study investigates clinicians' strategies for working with SDOH data and the challenges confronting SDOH standardization. Drawing on ethnographic observation, interviews with patients and clinicians, and systematic review of patient EHRs—all at an urban teaching hospital in the US Midwest—we analyze three strategies clinicians deploy to integrate SDOH data into patient care. First, clinicians document SDOH using "signal phrases," keywords and short sentences that help them recall patients' social stories. Second, clinicians use other technology or face-to-face conversations to share about patients' SDOH with colleagues. Third, clinicians fold discussion of SDOH with patients into their personal relationships. While these local strategies facilitate personalized care and help clinicians minimize their computer workload, we also consider their limitations for efforts to coordinate care across institutions and attempts to identify SDOH in EHRs. These findings reveal ongoing tensions in projects of standardization in medicine, as well as the specific difficulty of standardizing data about SDOH. They have important clinical implications as they help explain how clinicians may attend to patients' SDOH in ways that are not legible in patient records. This paper is also relevant for policy at a time when mandates to include SDOH data in health records are expanding and strategies to standardize SDOH documentation are being developed. • SDOH are difficult to standardize because of their complexity and ambiguity. • Clinicians attend to patient SDOH in ways that are not legible in patient records. • Ethnographic fieldwork reveals local standards for documenting SDOH in EHRs. • Clinicians use shortcuts and workarounds to share social determinants of health. • Local standards suggest possibilities and limitations of data standardization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment of natural disasters caused damage(s) to buildings is important for rescue work coordination which, however, remains a difficult engineering task to be conducted effectively. To automatically detect building damages from satellite imagery, this paper presents a two-step solution approach, including building localization and damage classification. To handle the extremely imbalanced distributions of the building damages, where the minority class occupies less than 0.1%, the architecture is supplemented with a new learning strategy comprising normality-imposed data-subset generation and incremental training. The validity of the proposed architecture is evaluated on a recent open-source dataset named xBD. The experimental study achieves a testing accuracy of 0.9729 and an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 0.5378 on three historical disaster events (i.e., "Mexico-earthquake", "Midwest-flooding", "Palu-tsunami") for the localization analysis, and a testing accuracy of 0.9955 and a weighted F1-score of 0.9953 on the extracted building patches from "Mexico-earthquake", for the followed classification analysis • A two-step solution is provided to automatically detect building damages after natural disasters. • Data normality imposition and incremental learning can handle extremely imbalanced problems. • Additional feature reflecting spatial compactness is created in damage classification. • It achieves a weighted F1-score of 0.9953 on an extremely imbalanced dataset. • It is feasible to be applied in large-scale damage assessment and mapping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrepancies exist between how some Black populations perceive depression and how depression is conceptualized within research and clinical settings. Based on a 12-month ethnography of mental health in a predominantly Black disadvantaged urban neighborhood in Midwestern United States, the current study identifies meanings and common ways of expressing depression among African Americans. Depression was often considered a sign of weakness rather than a health problem that might need medical attention. Associated emotions like sadness and hopelessness were inconsistent with notions of strength. Common indicators of depression included classic symptoms such as hopelessness, loss of sleep, and feeling worthless. However, expressions of depression such as anger, agitation, violent behavior, and a frantic search for social interaction that are inconsistent with DSM-V criteria were also common. These findings have implications for the clinical assessment of depression and for the measurement of depression in community surveys. In addition, the context and meaning of symptoms play an important role in determining whether experiences are indicative of depression. This paper underscores that the provision of patient-centered mental health care requires a better understanding of the conceptualization of disorders within specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Net-Metering and P2P models were simulated in the context of the Midwest area, USA. • Indexes were established to evaluate Net-metering and two P2P models. • A P2P model that uses EV instead of the grid for energy sharing was evaluated. • P2P using the local grid shows the best performance. • Economic and technical indexes evaluated are sensitive to seasons. Along with the exponential growth of distributed energy sources in the last decade, net-metering programs have expanded to encourage investment in renewable energy. However, several countries and some states in the United States are ending these programs. Therefore, it is needed to explore alternatives to net-metering programs to continue encouraging the adoption of renewable energies. In this paper, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) models are studied as viable options to net-metering. In particular, the evaluation and comparison of the net-metering model to two P2P models is proposed. The first P2P model uses the power grid for electricity exchange, and the other uses electric vehicles. Simulations of a 50 household microgrid with access to electric vehicles and photovoltaic generation were run to achieve this objective. Technical and economic indexes were established to measure the performance of the three models. The results indicate that the P2P model using the grid shows the best performance, followed by the P2P model using electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports a discourse analysis of the language doctors used as they talked about and engaged in patient handoffs between the emergency department (ED) and various inpatient services at one highly specialized academic tertiary teaching and referral hospital in the Midwest United States. Although interest in handoff improvement has grown considerably in recent years, progress has been hampered, perhaps in part, because of a widely used but limiting conceptual model of handoff as an information transmission. The purpose of the study reported here is to analyze the way doctors make sense of handoff interactions, including uncovering the interpretive frames they use, in order to provide empirical findings to expand conceptual models of handoff. All data reported were drawn from a two-year ethnographic study (2009–2011) and include semi-structured interviews (n = 48), non-participant observations (349 h), and recorded telephone handoff conversations (n = 48). A total of eighty-six individuals participated, including resident and attending doctors from the ED, internal medicine and surgical services, as well as hospital administrators. Findings are organized around four metaphors doctors used: sales, sports and games, packaging, and teamwork. Each metaphor, in turn, reveals an underlying interpretive frame that appears to be influenced by organizational and social structures and to shape the possibilities for action that doctors perceive. The four underlying interpretive frames are: handoff as persuasion, handoff as competition, handoff as expectation matching, and handoff as collaboration. Taken together, these interpretive frames highlight the complex, socially interactive nature of handoff and provide an empirical basis for grounding and enriching the conceptual model of handoff that guides research and practice improvement efforts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examines the relationship between personal networks and polysubstance use among people who use drugs (PWUD) in a medium sized city in the Midwest. A large body of work has demonstrated that personal relationships have an ambivalent association with substance use. On the one hand, a supportive network is associated with safer drug use practices and dramatically improves the outlook for recovery. However, individuals whose personal networks are composed of co-drug use partners are more likely to engage in risky practices. We argue that this notion of "supportive" social contacts and "risky" social contacts is ultimately incomplete: risky behaviors are introduced and further developed in a social context, often with the people who provide emotional support. We argue that personal networks with more multiplex relationships (where co-drug use and confiding fuse) are harmful because they combine norms of trust and reciprocity with drug use. We use data from the Rural Health Cohort (RHC) study to test this idea. The sample consists of 120 adult PWUD in a medium sized city located in southeastern Nebraska who were recruited using respondent-driven sampling. Participants listed up to nine confidants and nine co-drug use partners, indicating any overlap between the two networks. Our results demonstrate that multiplex ties are as strongly associated with polysubstance use as simple co-drug use relationships. As the drug crisis has increasingly shifted to underserved populations outside large urban centers, this paper represents an important advance in our understanding of the current drug crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates the geographies associated with intensive care nursing work with dying patients and their families. Six focus groups were conducted with 27 registered critical care nurses who practice in hospitals in a mid-western city in the United States. The analysis is structured by three emerging themes (i) the importance of a 'good' and 'sacred' place, (ii) the body as mapped by medical specialties, and (iii) problems with procedurally driven suspension of 'do not resuscitate' orders beyond intensive care units (ICUs). Recommendations describe the need for institutional recognition of the moral importance of strong relationships between nurses, clients, and their families, and nurses' wide-ranging roles in bridging the various spatial domains of intensive care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: While the expansion of the biofuels industry has received scholarly attention with respect to environmental and food security concerns, little research has explored the impacts of biofuels industry on local communities where ethanol plants are located. Drawing on sociology of networks and flows theory to situate expansion of the industry globally, this paper uses a community case study approach to examine local community perceptions of benefits and burdens of the ethanol industry. Data from community level surveys, individual and focus group interviews in three case study communities in Iowa and Kansas in the Midwestern region of the United States are utilized to explore community perceptions. Results show that community members believe that ethanol plants have brought modest economic benefits to their community. Increased traffic and water competition were two areas of concern identified by residents with respect to local ethanol plants, but other environmental impacts were not prominently identified by community members. Widespread concerns were expressed about future viability of the ethanol industry and the devastating impacts that future declines in the industry would have on communities. This research highlights the social vulnerabilities that place-bound communities in biofuels regions are experiencing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Excess phosphorus (P) in freshwater systems has been associated with eutrophication in agro-ecosystems of the US Midwest and elsewhere. A better understanding of processes regulating both soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total phosphorus (TP) exports to tile-drains is therefore critical to minimize P losses to streams while maintaining crop yield. This paper investigates SRP and TP dynamics at a high temporal resolution during four spring storms in two tile-drains in the US Midwest. Depending on the storm, median concentrations varied between 0.006–0.025mg/L for SRP and 0.057–0.176mg/L for TP. For large storms (>6cm bulk precipitation), for which macropore flow represented between 43 and 50% of total tile-drain flow, SRP transport to tile-drains was primarily regulated by macropore flow. For smaller tile-flow generating events (<3cm bulk precipitation), for which macropore flow only accounted for 11–17% of total tile-drain flow, SRP transport was primarily regulated by matrix flow. Total P transport to tile-drains was primarily regulated by macropore flow regardless of the storm. Soluble reactive P (0.01–1.83mgm−2/storm) and TP (0.10–8.64mgm−2/storm) export rates were extremely variable and positively significantly correlated to both mean discharge and bulk precipitation. Soluble reactive P accounted for 9.9–15.5% of TP fluxes for small tile-flow generating events (<3cm bulk precipitation) and for 16.2–22.0% of TP fluxes for large precipitation events (>6cm bulk precipitation). Although significant variations in tile-flow response to precipitation were observed, no significant differences in SRP and TP concentrations were observed between adjacent tile-drains. Results stress the dominance of particulate P and the importance of macropore flow in P transport to tile-drains in the US Midwest. Although only spring storms are investigated, this study brings critical insight into P dynamics in tile-drains at a critical time of the year for water quality management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) runs the power grid in 14 states and one Canadian province and has a peak demand of some 116,000MW. Its operational area is richly supplied with reliability-triggered demand response programs such as direct load control of residential appliances and curtailable/interruptible rates for commercial and industrial customers. However, economic demand response programs are lacking. This paper discusses three different ways in which such programs can be introduced in the wholesale energy markets run by MISO. These include, first, an approach in which utilities and load serving entities move retail customers to dynamic pricing and other time-based pricing rates; second, an approach in which these same entities and possibly third-parties bid price responsive demand curves into the wholesale market; and third, an approach in which demand response is bid as a supply resource into the wholesale market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Research on labeling mental illness has focused relatively little attention on practical organizational concerns in the process of labeling in community mental health services. This paper examines this issue through an ethnographic study of two multi-service community mental health services organizations for people labeled severely and persistently mentally ill in the Midwest United States. The findings show that the labeling process is structured by cultural and policy environments in which mental health services are able to provide resources otherwise difficult to obtain. Within organizations, official labels can be applied for reasons other than clinical practice; they channel resources to both organizations and clients. Informal organizational labels regarding client mental illness are not tethered to the bureaucratic apparatus granting access to and paying for services. Instead, they reflect workers'' real assessments of clients, which can differ from official ones. These informal labels determine how organizations deal with clients when rules and routines are violated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The release of the Institute of Medicine () report “To Err is Human”, brought attention to the problem of medical errors, which led to a concerted effort to study and design medical error reporting systems for the purpose of capturing and analyzing error data so that safety interventions could be designed. However, to make real gains in the efficacy of medical error or event reporting systems, it is necessary to begin developing a theory of reporting systems adoption and use and to understand how existing theories may play a role in explaining adoption and use. This paper presents the results of a 9-month study exploring the barriers and facilitators for the design of a statewide medical error reporting system and discusses how several existing theories of technology acceptance, adoption and implementation fit with many of the results. In addition we present an integrated theoretical model of medical error reporting system design and implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper adopted the Meta-constraints efficiency model to measure the environmental efficiency of the industry in China, and then used the spatial panel model to analyze the impact of industrial agglomeration externalities on environmental efficiency. The study found that industrial agglomeration exerted an apparent spatial spillover effect. Different agglomeration degrees and means may be matched with different environmental effects. With the evolution of agglomeration, the balanced effects among negative externality of scale (pollution effect). Marshallian and Jacobs positive externality (self-purification effect) lead to a U-curved tendency between industrial agglomeration and environmental efficiency. Therefore, with the increase of industrial agglomeration degree, the environmental efficiency first decreases and then increases. The effect of industrial agglomeration in the Midwest on the environment is mainly presented as a negative externality of scale, situated in the descending phase of the U curve. However, the effect of eastern industrial agglomeration on the environment mainly manifested as Marshallian and Jacobs positive externalities and was situated close to the ascending phase of the U curve. All regions should fully utilize the "self-purification" effect of the Marshallian externality and the Jacobs externality on emission-reduction according to the different phases of industrial development. • Agglomeration has an apparent spatial spillover effect on environmental efficiency. • Different agglomeration degree may be matched with different environmental effects. • There is a U-curved relationship between agglomeration and environmental efficiency. • Self - purification function of agglomeration should be used to reduce emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Length scales for spatial variability of air pollution concentrations depend on the pollutant and the location. In this paper, we develop a readily scalable algorithm based on "spatial-increment", to decompose the air pollution concentration into four spatial components: long-range, mid-range, neighborhood, and near-source. We apply the algorithm to annual-average concentrations of outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) for all census blocks in the contiguous US. For NO 2 , "neighborhood" and "mid-range" components dominate both within-city and between-city concentration differences (both components are ~5-fold larger in large urbanized areas than rural areas). For PM 2.5 , the "long-range" component dominates; this component varies by region (e.g., is three times greater in the Midwest [7 μg/m3] than in the West [2.3 μg/m3]), whereas variation by urban area size is relatively minor. Our study provides the first nation-level fine-scale decomposed pollution surfaces to date; this dataset is publicly available. Results can be used to estimate, at least to a zeroth order, the contribution of sources at different distances from the receptor to the annual average pollution in a location of interest. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last years, dietary environmental impact and sustainable diets have been responsible for worldwide concern, especially in developed countries. Brazil is among the world's largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters and the country does not have any specific food consumption measures to achieve the promise made at COP21. The main objective of our paper is analyzing the contribution of the Brazilian diet in terms of carbon, water and ecological footprint. We collected data in the National Dietary Survey for food intake and life cycle assessment literature database to estimate the composition of the current diet in Brazil. We used independent t tests and ANOVA tests to understand the differences among sociodemographic and income characteristics related to Brazilian adults' diet. The environmental impact related to the Brazilian diet is very high, with beef consumption contributing to the largest share. Male household heads, with medium and low income, aged between 18 and 45 years old, with intermediate or less education level, who lives in rural areas in Midwest and Northeast regions were associated with higher environmental impact. Therefore, measures related to demand have great potential to reduce the environmental impact in Brazil. Image 1 • The environmental impact of the current Brazilian diet is very high. • Beef, Legumes and Rice are the largest responsible for the environmental impact. • Beef is associated with 68% of carbon footprint, and 41% of water footprint and ecological footprint. • Adults with higher income have lower daily food intake and environmental impact. • Lower food intake can drastically reduce the environmental impact of Brazilian diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Individual recognition of Pantanal cattle through the application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). • Annotadet dataset with 27,849 images of Pantanal cattle, extracted from 212 videos. • Experimental results show that the architectural models used in the research achieved 99.86% accuracy. The objective of this paper is to provide recognition for Pantaneira cattle breed using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Fifty-one animals from the Aquidauana Pantaneira cattle Center (NUBOPAN) were studied. The center is located in the Midwest region of Brazil. Four monitoring cameras were distributed in the fences and took 27,849 images of Pantaneira cattle breed using different angles and positions. The following three CNN architectures were used for the experiment: DenseNet-201, Resnet50 and Inception-Resnet-V. All networks were submitted to 10-fold stratified cross-validation over 50 epochs. The results showed an accuracy of 99% in all networks, which is encouraging for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Among the difficulties found in the implementation of ISO 14001 systems, resistance to change can always be found. It is mainly a consequence of the hurry to change, loss of focus, concentration of decision making at the level of top management, arbitrary imposition of objectives and results, faulty communication, and the absence of motivational and financial incentive for change. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to present best practices with respect to the management of organizational change due to the implementation of ISO 14001 norms in two industrial companies in the Midwest region of the State of São Paulo – Brazil. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• 798 youth in mental health residential treatment centers were involved in 13,339 restraint incidents over the course of 3 years. • African-American youth experienced more restraints compared to White youth. • Younger youth experienced more restraints compared to older youth. • Restraints were more likely to occur earlier in the week and in the evening. • Most restraint incidents involved only 1 physical hold, but a sizeable number involved the use of multiple holds. • A majority of youth ever restrained are restrained within their first 5 weeks of treatment. Youth are physically restrained in residential treatment centers to prevent them from harming themselves or others, and this practice is common in treatment settings. Consequences from restraint (including clinical, emotional, and physical harm; even death) demonstrate the necessity of reducing restraint use. These consequences may be more severe for youth who have experienced trauma, a population that is disproportionately represented in residential treatment facilities. Using a large dataset (798 youth in residential treatment centers in the Midwest involved in 13,339 restraint incidents over three years), this paper explores the characteristics of the youth who were restrained (including age, race, sex, and primary diagnosis), the reasons why restraints occurred, when restraints occurred during the day, week, and course of the youth's treatment, and the techniques used to restrain youth. African-American youth were more likely to be restrained, as were younger youth. There were no differences between sex or primary diagnosis. Restraints are more likely to occur early in the week and in the evening hours. A majority of youth ever restrained are restrained within their first five weeks of treatment, including a fifth of youth restrained in their first week. Standing holds are the most common restraint technique, and most youth are restrained using only one hold; a disturbing minority of incidents, however, involve the use of multiple holds, including 7% of incidents involving four or more holds. These exploratory results are discussed in terms of how they may be used to reduce restraints and spur future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Males are born slightly in excess of females and many factors have been shown to influence M/F, the sex ratio at birth. Seasonality has also been shown to impinge on M/F. This study was carried out in order to ascertain whether Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and Valentine's Day had any influence on M/F in the United States population, nine months later.Methods: Births by ethnicity, region and sex were obtained from the website of the Centres for Disease Control. Analyses were applied to seasonally adjusted time series and non-seasonally adjusted series. A seasonally adjusted indirect result was calculated for the sex ratio.Results: This paper studied 53,105,069 live births for 2003-2015 (27,178,968 males, 25,926,101 females). M/F rises exceeding 90th and 95th percentiles were strongest for the seasonally adjusted series for all births in regions: South (CENS-R3), West (CENS-R4) and the time series All-regions_All-race. When comparing unadjusted and seasonally adjusted series, a similar pattern was observed in the regions Northeast and Midwest for American Indian or Alaska Native and Asian or Pacific Islander. A similar pattern was observed for the region Midwest for the ethnic group White.Discussion: M/F rose above the 90th percentile in all the series and occasionally above the 95th percentile. Increased periconceptual coital rates increases M/F and this study thus lends further credence to the hypothesis that coital rates around the time of conception causally influences the sex ratio of subsequent births nine months later, possibly due to a hormonal mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Kinship care giving has been on the rise. • Grandparents provide majority of the kinship placements. • Kinship grandparents experience unique challenges to raising their grandchildren. • Child welfare systems should ensure kinship grandparent voices are heard. • Supports and service delivery should meet kinship families' needs and ensure empowerment. This paper presents the perspectives of a small sample of eight kinship caregivers, who are grandparents raising their grandchildren in a mid-Western state. The study explored the grandparents' experiences of family empowerment in public child welfare, using semi-structured qualitative interviews. The grandparents identify the services that they find useful, including both tangible resources and relational supports. They also highlight service gaps and unfulfilled needs, as well as aspects of their experience with public child welfare that they find concerning. The authors discuss the salience of including kinship grandparents' voices in shaping the services provided for them and offer recommendations for strategies that could empower the growing population, and improve the public child welfare system so that it is more responsive to its changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global network analysis (GNA) is adapted to a domestic air network analysis (DANA), in order to identify structural changes of the air network of Brazil, with a regional perspective of the country. The networkability of airports involves the measurement of traditional indicators of the GNA, such as connectivity and local centrality. Furthermore, this paper proposes a regional analysis of the hierarchy of airports, by identifying economic factors related to the structural changes of the air network. In addition to a descriptive analysis of networkability and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), this study applies Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Malmquist methods in order to evaluate the efficiency change based on Networkability and GDP by municipality and region. The reached results show that, although airports of the Southeast region are evidently more important in terms of air flows and amount of connections, there is a slight decentralization of air flows and connection to the Midwest and Northeast regions of the country, proven by the increasing networkability of airports and regional economic changes, leading to hierarchical position change of airports in these regions and a structural change of the air network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The external geometry, internal architecture and sedimentary evolution processes of the deep-water channel system in Zhujiang Formation in the Midwest of Baiyun Sag have been revealed in detail according to the integrated analysis of 3D seismic data and a large number of drilling and logging data sets. In addition, the controlling effect of sediment supply, sea level change, shelf break zone and palaeogeomorphology on the deep-water channel system was discussed. Finally, it is concluded that the development and distribution of the deep-water channel system is controlled by both provenance and landform. The deep-water channel system can be subdivided into different sections: the provenance area, the waterway and the sedimentary area. It presents the features of a 'three segment channel' which indicates that the fluid energy of the gravity flow changes from weak to strong and then weak along depositional inclination. Because the processes of internal filling and latter reformation which the channel experienced in different sections during different periods are complex, the inner filling characteristics of the channels are different, mainly high sand-shale ratio superimposed channel (sand-rich deposit) and low sand-shale ratio channel-levee complex (sand-lean deposit). It is clear that the development and spatial distribution characteristics of deep-water channel system in Zhujiang Formation are controlled by the shelf edge delta of Pearl River, forced regression, the shelf break zone and restricted landform collectively. The shelf edge delta at the lower member of Zhujiang Formation in the north of Baiyun Sag provides the large amount of clastic sediments for the development of deep-water channel system. Forced regression drives the continuous transportation of the sediments from shelf edge to deep-water channel system. The shelf break and the fault slope break provide favorable paths and topographic conditions for transportation of the sediments in the deep-water channel system. The fracture systems and the subaqueous low uplifts influenced the spatial distribution of the deep-water channel system together. • The fluid energy of the gravity flow changes from weak to strong and then weak along depositional inclination. • The inner filling characteristics of the channels are mainly superimposed channel and channel-levee complex. • The deep-water channel system are controlled by shelf edge delta, forced regression, shelf break and restricted landform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]