Introducing SpatialGridBuilder: A new system for creating geo-coded datasets

Researchers in the conflict research community have become increasingly aware that we can no longer depend on state-aggregated data. Numerous factors at the substate level affect the nature of human interactions, so if we really want to understand conflict, we need to find more appropriate units of analysis. However, while many conflict researchers have realized this, actually taking the next step and performing data analysis on spatial data grids has remained a rather elusive goal for many because of the difficulty of learning the new techniques to perform such analyses. This paper introduces SpatialGridBuilder, a new, freely available, open-source system with the goal of empowering conflict researchers with no background in GIS methods to start their own spatial analyses. SpatialGridBuilder allows the researcher to: (a) create entirely new spatial datasets, based on the needs of their own research; (b) import their own spatial data; (c) easily add a range of important variables to the datasets, including commonly used conflict variables, plus new variables that have not been presented before; and (d) visualize graphical renderings of this data. Having done this, SpatialGridBuilder will then export the dataset for the researcher to analyse using conventional statistical methods. This article introduces the new program, and demonstrates how it can be used to set up such a statistical analysis. It also shows how different results can be achieved by building grids of different resolutions, thereby encouraging researchers to choose grid resolutions appropriate to their research questions and data. The article also introduces a novel means of determining infrastructure complexity, using Google maps

The United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study: objectives, materials and methods. UK Childhood Cancer Study Investigators.

An investigation into the possible causes of childhood cancer has been carried out throughout England, Scotland and Wales over the period 1991-1998. All children known to be suffering from one or other type of the disease over periods of 4-5 years have been included, and control children matched for sex, age and area of residence have been selected at random from population registers. Information about both groups of children (with and without cancer) has been obtained from parental questionnaires, general practitioners' and hospital records, and from measurement of the extent of exposure to radon gas, terrestrial gamma radiation, and electric and magnetic fields. Samples of blood have also been obtained from the affected children and their parents and stored. Altogether 3,838 children with cancer, including 1,736 with leukaemia, and 7,629 unaffected children have been studied. Detailed accounts are given of the nature of the information obtained in sections describing the general methodology of the study, the measurement of exposure to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, the classification of solid tumours and leukaemias, and the biological material available for genetic analysis