History of development in Orange and Seminole counties: growth patterns of urban form in the Orlando metropolitan area.

A brief history of Orange and Seminole counties chronicling development from the colonial period to 1965, illustrated with period photographs and facsimile advertisements.https://stars.library.ucf.edu/floridaheritage/1109/thumbnail.jp

Evaluating NGATS research priorities at JPDO

The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) provides annual air transportation research and development funding guidance to its participating federal agencies, to help coordinate their investments and activities toward the development of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS). Here we introduce a quantitative framework for helping JPDO evaluate the performance of the research portfolio. The Ventana NGATS Portfolio Simulator estimates the likely aggregate result of NGATS investments on system performance, using heuristics to link investments to performance estimates from more detailed simulations. We observe that even if most investments succeed, total system improvement may still be limited by any remaining constraints. Accordingly, the riskreducing portfolio design explores a number of independent strategies for addressing each constraint. We will continue use the model to incorporate input from JPDO participating agencies and Integrated Product Teams, to help clarify program interdependencies, and to investigate how those dependencies influence the effectiveness of NGATS investments

Ventilatory function as a predictor of mortality in lifelong non-smokers: evidence from large British cohort studies

Background Reduced ventilatory function is an established predictor of all-cause mortality in general population cohorts. We sought to verify this in lifelong non-smokers, among whom confounding by active smoking can be excluded, and investigate associations with circulatory and cancer deaths. Methods In UK Biobank, among 149 343 white never-smokers aged 40–69 years at entry, 2401 deaths occurred over a mean of 6.5-year follow-up. In the Health Surveys for England (HSE) 1995, 1996, 2001 and Scottish Health Surveys (SHS) 1998 and 2003 combined, there were 500 deaths among 6579 white never-smokers aged 40–69 years at entry, followed for a mean of 13.9 years. SD (z) scores for forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) were derived using Global Lung Initiative 2012 reference equations. These z-scores were related to deaths from all causes, circulatory disease and cancers using proportional hazards models adjusted for age, sex, height, socioeconomic status, region and survey. Results In the HSE–SHS data set, decreasing z-scores for FEV1 (zFEV1) and FVC (zFVC) were each associated to a similar degree with increased all-cause mortality (hazard ratios per unit decrement 1.17, 95% CI 1.09 to 1.25 for zFEV1 and 1.19, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.28 for zFVC). This was replicated in Biobank (HRs 1.21, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.26 and 1.24, 1.19 to 1.29, respectively). zFEV1 and zFVC were less strongly associated with mortality from circulatory diseases in HSE–SHS (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.40 for zFVC) than in Biobank (HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.35 to 1.60 for zFVC). For cancer mortality, HRs were more consistent between cohorts (for zFVC: HRs 1.12, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.24 in HSE–SHS and 1.10, 1.05 to 1.15 in Biobank). The strongest associations were with respiratory mortality (for zFVC: HRs 1.61, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.08 in HSE–SHS and 2.15, 1.77 to 2.61 in Biobank). Conclusions Spirometric indices predicted mortality more strongly than systolic blood pressure or body mass index, emphasising the importance of promoting lung health in the general population, even among lifelong non-smokers

The resident assessment instrument-mental health (RAI-MH): Inter-rater reliability and convergent validity

An important challenge facing behavioral health services is the lack of good quality, clinically relevant data at the individual level. The article describes a multinational research effort to develop a comprehensive, multidisciplinary mental health assessment system for use with adults in facilities providing acute, long-stay, forensic, and geriatric services. The Resident Assessment Instrument-Mental Health (RAI-MH) comprehensively assesses psychiatric, social, environmental, and medical issues at intake, emphasizing patient functioning. Data from the RAI-MH are intended to support care planning, quality improvement, outcome measurement, and case mix-based payment systems. The article provides the first set of evidence on the reliability and validity of the RAI-MH.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45775/1/11414_2005_Article_BF02287348.pd

Using random forests to diagnose aviation turbulence

mospheric turbulence poses a significant hazard to aviation, with severe encounters costing airlines millions of dollars per year in compensation, aircraft damage, and delays due to required post-event inspections and repairs. Moreover, attempts to avoid turbulent airspace cause flight delays and en route deviations that increase air traffic controller workload, disrupt schedules of air crews and passengers and use extra fuel. For these reasons, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have funded the development of automated turbulence detection, diagnosis and forecasting products. This paper describes a methodology for fusing data from diverse sources and producing a real-time diagnosis of turbulence associated with thunderstorms, a significant cause of weather delays and turbulence encounters that is not well-addressed by current turbulence forecasts. The data fusion algorithm is trained using a retrospective dataset that includes objective turbulence reports from commercial aircraft and collocated predictor data. It is evaluated on an independent test set using several performance metrics including receiver operating characteristic curves, which are used for FAA turbulence product evaluations prior to their deployment. A prototype implementation fuses data from Doppler radar, geostationary satellites, a lightning detection network and a numerical weather prediction model to produce deterministic and probabilistic turbulence assessments suitable for use by air traffic managers, dispatchers and pilots. The algorithm is scheduled to be operationally implemented at the National Weather Service's Aviation Weather Center in 2014. Document type: Articl

London: planning the ungovernable city

This paper relates the processes of strategic planning in London during the first decade of an executive Mayoral system to Doug Yates’ thesis about the ungovernability of major cities and London’s long history of conflict around metropolitan governance issues. Yates’ thesis only partially fits the London case because a separate lower tier of lower tier of borough authorities carries the main responsibilities for actual service provision. This London case, does, however, exemplify the proposition that without effective fiscal autonomy in planning for infrastructure provision, the need to manage diplomatic relations with higher levels of government (and other funders) can divert city strategies from those appropriate to the needs of the mass of their own constituents/businesses. In London as in other national capitals, this tension is intensified by a symbolic importance that inhibits central government from taking a detached stance in relation to priorities of the city administration. Examination of the experience of Mayoral Plans for London suggest that sheer complexity of relations and interdependences across a much extended, diverse and dynamic metropolitan region is also a major restraint on governability as far as strategic planning is concerned. An inability to face up to this complexity, particularly in relation to cross-border relations has – as much as the (diplomatic) obsession with the ‘global city’ priorities – so far proved a major obstacle to using Mayoral strategic planning as an effective means of steering change in the region, and addressing central issues affecting economic efficiency and residents’ quality of life