Dynamic heterogeneity: a framework to promote ecological integration and hypothesis generation in urban systems

Urban areas are understood to be extraordinarily spatially heterogeneous. Spatial heterogeneity, and its causes, consequences, and changes, are central to ecological science. The social sciences and urban design and planning professions also include spatial heterogeneity as a key concern. However, urban ecology, as a pursuit that integrates across these disciplines, lacks a theoretical framework that synthesizes the diverse and important aspects of heterogeneity. This paper presents the concept of dynamic heterogeneity as a tool to explore how social and ecological heterogeneities interact and how they together act as both an outcome of past interactions and a driver future heterogeneity and system functions. To accomplish this goal, we relate heterogeneity to the fundamental concept of the human ecosystem. The human ecosystem concept identifies key processes that require operationalized models of dynamic heterogeneity in three process realms: the flow of materials, the assembly of urban ecosystem biota, and the locational choices humans make concerning land. We exemplify a specific dynamic model of heterogeneity in each of these realms, and indicate a range of complementary statistical approaches to integrate the drivers and outcomes of dynamic heterogeneity across the three realms. We synthesize a hierarchical framework for a theory of dynamic urban heterogeneity, noting its complementarity to other major urban theories and general model approaches. We hypothesize that human actions and structures amplify the dynamics of heterogeneity in urban systems.     

Competing Priorities: Partner-Specific Relationship Characteristics and Motives for Condom Use Among At-Risk Young Adults

Condoms protect against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancy and are essential to sexual health efforts targeting young adults, who are disproportionately affected by both outcomes. Understanding condom use motives is critical to increasing condom use. Research in this area is limited, particularly regarding the roles of partners and relationship factors. Using a longitudinal sample of 441 young adults and 684 reported partnerships we examined associations between relationship factors and condom use motives (pregnancy prevention, disease prevention, or dual protection). Simultaneous multilevel models identified variables associated with motives; level-specific models identified the levels (individual, partnership, time) variables impacted motives. Participants reported choosing condoms for pregnancy prevention, disease prevention, and dual protection in 51%, 17%, and 33% of partnerships, respectively. Partner-specific factors varied, to a differing degree, across the three levels. Seven variables (duration, condom self-efficacy, commitment, sexual decision-making, power, and vulnerability to harm [HIV/STIs] and pregnancy) distinguished condom use motives. The level of this association varied but was most pronounced at the partner and individual levels. Researchers and practitioners should consider the impact of both individual- and partner-level factors on condom use motives, in both research and sexual health programs.     

Reconfigured Reciprocity: How Aging Taiwanese Immigrants Transform Cultural Logics of Elder Care

Drawing on 55 interviews with older Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States at an earlier life stage, the author argues that changing contextual features involved in the processes of international migration encourage and even demand aging immigrants to reconstruct cultural logics of aging and geriatric care. He develops the concept of reconfigured reciprocity to demonstrate how aging migrant populations transform cultural logics of intergenerational responsibility, obligation, and entitlement to reconcile the tension between ethnic tradition and modernity. First, he reveals how many of the respondents' lack of caregiving for their own parents undermines their sense of entitlement to receive care from younger generations. Furthermore, he highlights how the structural squeeze among work, family, and caregiving with which the younger generation struggles further discourages the respondents from relying on their children. Finally, the author underscores how aging immigrants evoke the concept of Americanization to reconstruct expectations of how they should be taken care of in their twilight years.     

Process evaluation of an environmental walking and healthy eating pilot in small rural worksites

Small Steps are Easier Together (SS) was a pilot environmental intervention in small rural worksites in Upstate New York in collaboration with Extension educators. Worksite leaders teamed with co-workers to select and implement environmental changes to increase walking steps over individual baseline and to choose healthy eating options over 10 weeks. Participants were 226 primarily white, women employees in 5 sites. A mixed methods process evaluation, conducted to identify determinants of intervention effectiveness and to explain differences in outcomes across worksites, included surveys, self-reports of walking and eating, interviews, focus groups, and an intervention log. The evaluation assessed reach, characteristics of recruited participants, dose delivered, dose received, and context and compared sites on walking and eating outcomes. Emergent elements of participant-reported dose received included: active leadership, visible environmental changes, critical mass of participants, public display of accomplishments, accountability to co-workers, and group decision making. Participants at sites with high reach and dose were significantly more likely than sites with low reach and dose to achieve intervention goals. Although this small pilot needs replication, these findings describe how these evaluation methods can be applied and analyzed in an environmental intervention and provide information on trends in the data.     

Using HIT to deliver integrated care for the frail elderly in the UK: current barriers and future challenges

In this paper we briefly describe the results of a 3 year project examining the use of Health Information Technologies (e.g., electronic patient record systems) to deliver integrated care. In particular, we focus on one group of patient (the frail elderly) and efforts to design an e-health supported healthcare pathway (the frail elderly pathway--FEP). The aim of FEP is to bring together clinicians and staff from health and social care and allow them to share patient information. Our findings show that progress in delivering a fully-supported and working FEP has been slow, not least because of the difficulties experienced by healthcare staff in using current IT systems. In addition, there are many strategic and technical issues which remain unresolved (e.g., systems interoperability).     

Impact of the National Minimum Wage on Disabled People

The survey reported here found disparities in the impact of the introduction of the National Minimum Wage on disabled people. These were associated with age, gender, impairment and type of employment setting. The main determinant of whether individuals gained from the NMW was their status as claimants of welfare benefits. We also found evidence that paid hours had been reduced to implement the NMW with no net increase in earnings, possibly to enable people to retain benefits entitlements. We make recommendations about how the anomalies can be tackled. It may be unrealistic to expect the Act to have been implemented fully so soon after it became law and some of the anomalies found may eventually disappear. However, many of the inequalities uncovered by this survey are not addressed by the NMW, specifically those inequalities associated with impairment and gender.     

Young Adult Gambling Behaviors and their Relationship with the Persistence of ADHD

Young adulthood is a period renowned for engagement in impulsive and risky behaviors, including gambling. There are some indications that young adults exhibit higher gambling rates in comparison to older adults. Problem gambling has also been linked to ADHD. This longitudinal study examines the relationship between gambling and ADHD among an epidemiological sample of young adults (n = 235; males = 179, females = 56) aged 18-24. Results indicate that individuals who report childhood ADHD symptoms which persist into young adulthood experience greater gambling problem severity than participants with no ADHD or those with non-persistent ADHD.     

Confidence intervals on p(y < x) for small sample sizes

When F = G^a, confidence intervals are derived and presented in graphs for p = P(Y < X), when X and Y are independent and the sample sizes are at most 25. Also, it is demonstrated via a monte carlo simulation that this is a robust procedure, when the distributions of X and Y differ by a location parameter.