Taking Out the Trailer Trash: The Battle Over Mobile Homes in St. Petersburg, Florida

In 1953, Fred Wilder, a World War II veteran from Ohio, arrived in St. Petersburg and look possession of four acres of land on Sixth Street South. Wilder intended to open a trailer park and live on site with his family, taking advantage of the second-generation mobile homes that offered modern amenities, especially for retirees. He began clearing the land so that, by 1954, he could take in his first residents. Renting lots of thirty-three by fifty-two feet, Wilder charged twenty dollars per month, which included water, sewer, and garbage collection. By May 1957, Wilder\u27s Trailer park reached full occupancy. Of the first park residents, nine out of ten were senior citizens. The genesis of Wilder\u27s Park embodies the dramatic demographic shifts that changed Florida\u27s political, economic, and social landscapes in the postwar era, In droves, older Americans migrated to Florida to retire, often living on fixed incomes in the most affordable housing: mobile homes. In St. Petersburg, this choice of lifestyle precipitated a full scale politcal war that revealed biases against trailerites, often older widows living alone. How the trailerites fought back in turn demonstrated the emerging political clout of retirees in Florida

‘Because I Don’t know’: uncertainty and ambiguity in closed-ended reports of perceived discrimination in US health care

Objective Surveys often ask respondents to assess discrimination in health care. Yet, patients’ responses to one type of widely used measure of discrimination (single-item, personally mediated) tend to reveal prevalence rates lower than observational studies would suggest. This study examines the meaning behind respondents’ closed-ended self-reports on this specific type of measure, paying special attention to the frameworks and references used within the medical setting. Design Twenty-nine respondents participated in this study. They were asked the widely used question: ‘Within the past 12 months when seeking health care do you feel your experiences were worse than, the same as, or better than people of other races?’ We then conducted qualitative interviews focusing on their chosen response and past experiences. Descriptive analyses focus on both the quantitative and qualitative data, including a comparison of conveyed perceived discrimination according to the different sources of data. Results To identify discrimination, respondents drew upon observations of dynamics in the waiting room or the health providers’ communication style. Our respondents were frequently ambivalent and uncertain about how their personal treatment in health care compared to people of other races. When participants were unable to make observable comparisons, they tended to assume equal treatment and report ‘same as’ in the close-ended reports. Conclusion Respondents’ responses to single-item, closed-ended questions may be influenced by characteristics specific to the health care realm. An emphasis on privacy and assumptions about the health care field (both authority and benevolence of providers) may limit opportunities for comparison and result in assumptions of racial parity in treatment

Instructor Competencies Needed to Develop Instructional Strategies for Mobile Learning in Fields of Agricultural Education

Mobile learning is a fast growing form of technology-based learning. The novelty of mobile learning means educators are trying to understand how to develop instruction for this technological medium. A Delphi study was conducted using a panel comprised of 30 members with expert knowledge across 20 states to determine the competencies needed to develop instructional strategies for mobile learning. The panelists were given a definition of mobile learning developed from a literature review. In the first round, they were asked to list six competencies needed to develop instructional strategies for mobile learning from this definition. In the second round, the panelists were asked to rate 108 statements on a six-point scale. After a three round Delphi, the expert panel reached consensus on 48 competencies needed to develop instructional strategies for mobile learning. The competencies were grouped into seven areas: Communication, Technology, Learning, Course Management and Policies, Course Content, Assessment and Evaluation, and Instructor Skills. Further development of these skills through professional development is recommended, as well as research into creating a framework for mobile learning instruction using these competencies.

An Aspergilloma Mistaken for a Pelviureteral Stone on Nonenhanced CT: A Fungal Bezoar Causing Ureteral Obstruction

Fungus balls rarely cause upper urinary tract obstruction, and they are most often found in patients with diabetes mellitus or impaired immunity. The computed tomography (CT) findings of fungal bezoars of the urinary tract are nonspecific and have rarely been described, while in most cases, radiolucent filling defects are observed on excretory or retrograde urography. Here, an unusual case of an aspergilloma causing ureteral obstruction is presented; it was initially mistaken for a pelviureteral stone on nonenhanced CT

Estimating Hypoxic Volume in the Chesapeake Bay Using Two Continuously Sampled Oxygen Profiles

Low levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) occur in many embayments throughout the world and have numerous detrimental effects on biota. Although measurement of in situ DO is straightforward with modern instrumentation, quantifying the volume of water in a given embayment that is hypoxic (hypoxic volume (HV)) is a more difficult task; however, this information is critical for determining whether management efforts to increase DO are having an overall impact. This paper uses output from a three‐dimensional numerical model to demonstrate that HV in Chesapeake Bay can be estimated well with as few as two vertical profiles. In addition, the cumulative hypoxic volume (HVC; the total amount of hypoxia in a given year) can be calculated with relatively low uncertainty