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Purpose. Studies testing the effect of physician advice on alcohol consumption in a noncontrolled environment have not specifically focused on risky drinkers. Therefore, it is possible that the estimated effect of professional health advice primarily reflected moderate drinkers' responses. We assessed whether professional health advice reduced alcohol consumption among risky and binge drinkers in a real-world setting. Design. Retrospective cohort analysis. Setting. We used 2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Annual Survey Data. Subjects. Five thousand seven hundred thirty-five adult male and nonpregnant female risky drinkers, with hypertension or borderline hypertension, who reported on whether they were advised to reduce alcohol consumption. Measures. Dependent variable: respondent was currently reducing alcohol use to control hypertension (1 = yes; 0 = no). Primary regressor: respondent claimed to have received advice from a health professional on reducing alcohol consumption to control hypertension (1 = yes; 0 = no). Analysis. The model was estimated using generalized maximum entropy. Results. Professional health advice increased the probability that both risky (marginal effect [ME] = .09), and binge drinkers (ME = .07) reduced their alcohol consumption. Conclusion. Our findings indicate that risky drinkers can effectively be targeted with consumption advice. This has important policy implications given that society bears the largest cost for this group, whereas moderate drinkers have been found to be relatively productive and healthy.

This is a case study analysis of how residents value the amenities of a small US city—Missoula, Montana. A measure of a community's amenity values is needed in city planning so as to protect those elements of urban communities that are highly valued. Missoulians favoured their local amenities against an average of 30 comparison cities. Results from this study's stated preference model indicate that Missoulians highly value amenities such as outdoor recreation, low population density and scenery; whereas, they are generally willing to tolerate less than average levels of job opportunities. The study's results raise questions about the appropriate methods for local governments to pursue when attempting to raise wage rates by 'growing the economy' of a city like Missoula.

In 2009 firms faced both economic uncertainty and influenza outbreaks. Both crises posed large costs for firms; however, the manner in which they were perceived by management to affect the organization potentially differed. Using generalized maximum entropy (GME) the authors analyzed a business outlook survey of Seattle, Washington area businesses. Overall, firms were more proactive in responding to the economic crisis than to the influenza pandemic, even though the potential costs associated with both were quite large. Among the authors' conclusions is that business managers responded to the economic crisis more because it was more familiar and something over which they thought they had more control.

In this article, a combination of data envelopment analysis, spreadsheet modeling and regression techniques is applied to a panel of nonprofit Washington State hospitals in an effort to determine whether (and if so, to what extent) inefficiency in one hospital cost center is shared with inefficiency in other cost centers. The findings suggest that a significant amount of inefficiency is shared across hospital cost centers. The authors further determine that certain cost centers contribute more to the overall performance of a given hospital than others. As such, managerial decisions and government policies designed to enhance hospital efficiency should be implemented differently, depending on the characteristics of the hospital in question.

Loss and fragmentation of natural habitats caused by human land uses have subdivided several formerly contiguous large carnivore populations into multiple small and often isolated subpopulations, which can reduce genetic variation and lead to precipitous population declines. Substantial habitat loss and fragmentation from urban development and agriculture expansion relegated the Highlands-Glades subpopulation (HGS) of Florida, USA, black bears (Ursus americanus floridanus) to prolonged isolation; increasing human land development is projected to cause 50% loss of remaining natural habitats occupied by the HGS in coming decades. We conducted a noninvasive genetic spatial capture-recapture study to quantitatively describe the degree of contemporary habitat fragmentation and investigate the consequences of habitat fragmentation on population density and genetics of the HGS. Remaining natural habitats sustaining the HGS were significantly more fragmented and patchier than those supporting Floridas largest black bear subpopulation. Genetic diversity was low (AR = 3.57; HE = 0.49) and effective population size was small (NE = 25 bears), both of which remained unchanged over a period spanning one bear generation despite evidence of some immigration. Subpopulation density (0.054 bear/km2) was among the lowest reported for black bears, was significantly female-biased, and corresponded to a subpopulation size of 98 bears in available habitat. Conserving remaining natural habitats in the area occupied by the small, genetically depauperate HGS, possibly through conservation easements and government land acquisition, is likely the most important immediate step to ensuring continued persistence of bears in this area. Our study also provides evidence that preferentially placing detectors (e.g., hair traps or cameras) primarily in quality habitat across fragmented landscapes poses a challenge to estimating density-habitat covariate relationships using spatial capture-recapture models. Because habitat fragmentation and loss are likely to increase in severity globally, further investigation of the influence of habitat fragmentation and detector placement on estimation of this relationship is warranted. ; Peer Reviewed

Individuals must feel free to exert personal control over decisions regarding research participation. We present an examination of participants' perceived personal control over, as well as reported pressures and threats from others, influencing their decision to join a study assessing the effectiveness of extended-release naltrexone in preventing opioid dependence relapse. Most participants endorsed a strong sense of control over the decision; few reported pressures or threats. Although few in number, participants' brief narrative descriptions of the pressures and threats are illuminating and provide context for their perceptions of personal control. Based on this work, we propose a useful set of tools to help ascertain participants' sense of personal control in joining research.