The Impact of Professional Sports on Cities’ Economic Performance

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of professional sports on cities’ economic performance as measured by real per capita income growth and changes in the unemployment rate. We use a panel model across 43 cities over eight years. Explanatory variables include the number of professional sports franchises in a city and the performance of those franchises. We find no statistically significant evidence suggesting that professional sports franchises impact cities’ real per capita income growth. We do, however, find that professional sports franchises have a statistically significant impact on unemployment rates

Conversion to drip irrigated agriculture may offset historic anthropogenic and wildfire contributions to sediment production

This study is an investigation into the roles of wildfire and changing agricultural practices in controlling the inter-decadal scale trends of suspended sediment production from semi-arid mountainous rivers. In the test case, a decreasing trend in suspended sediment concentrations was found in the lower Salinas River, California between 1967 and 2011. Event to decadal scale patterns in sediment production in the Salinas River have been found to be largely controlled by antecedent hydrologic conditions. Decreasing suspended sediment concentrations over the last 15years of the record departed from those expected from climatic/hydrologic forcing. Sediment production from the mountainous headwaters of the central California Coast Ranges is known to be dominated by the interaction of wildfire and large rainfall/runoff events, including the Arroyo Seco, an ~700km(2) subbasin of the Salinas River. However, the decreasing trend in Salinas River suspended sediment concentrations run contrary to increases in the watershed's effective burn area over time. The sediment source area of the Salinas River is an order of magnitude larger than that of the Arroyo Seco, and includes a more complicated mosaic of land cover and land use. The departure from hydrologic forcings on suspended sediment concentration patterns was found to coincide with a rapid conversion of irrigation practices from sprinkler and furrow to subsurface drip irrigation. Changes in agricultural operations appear to have decreased sediment supply to the Salinas River over the late 20th to early 21st centuries, obscuring the influence of wildfire on suspended sediment production

Conceptual Model of Symptom-Focused Diabetes Care for African Americans

PURPOSE: Diabetes is a growing problem worldwide. Rates of diabetes are much higher in certain high-risk populations. Thus, a need exists for effective interventions that can be tailored to the needs and preferences of different populations. Diabetes is often a special concern for older African American women who have symptoms daily and must draw appropriate inferences from them. Symptoms are more than mere indicators of an underlying disease process. They indicate ways of knowing and understanding illness and can be effective guides or signals to implement appropriate self-care. CONCEPTUAL MODEL: We developed a symptom-focused model for type 2 diabetes for older African American women based on the UCSF symptom management model. Key concepts in this model are symptom experience, symptom management, and health outcomes. METHODS: The Development of a conceptual model is described along with how it was used to guide the content and format of a community-based teaching and counseling intervention designed to improve self-care practices, perceptions of quality of life, and metabolic outcomes in older African American women with type 2 diabetes residing in rural areas of the Southeast in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: The symptom-focused conceptual model is an innovative approach to tailoring care to a distinct population and to engaging participants in their own self-care. Clinical Relevance: Diabetes is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in African Americans; and diabetes self-management is the cornerstone of care. To better meet the distinct needs of diverse populations and positively affect health outcomes, new tailored approaches should be developed that are culturally culturally sensitive and acceptable