Geospatial impact evaluation of a low-cost agricultural intervention for enhancing environmental resilience.

Land degradation poses a significant threat to ecosystems and livelihoods, particularly in disaster-prone regions. In these settings, the promotion of certain agricultural practices with economic incentives, such as sugarcane () farming, offers a potential solution for enhancing economic stability and mitigating environmental degradation. Despite its promise, the effectiveness of sugarcane as an agricultural intervention remains understudied, especially regarding its environmental benefits.

Remotely sensed crown nutrient concentrations modulate forest reproduction across the contiguous United States.

Global forests are increasingly lost to climate change, disturbance, and human management. Evaluating forests' capacities to regenerate and colonize new habitats has to start with the seed production of individual trees and how it depends on nutrient access. Studies on the linkage between reproduction and foliar nutrients are limited to a few locations and few species, due to the large investment needed for field measurements on both variables.

The role of campus greenspace and meditation on college students' mood disturbance.

To determine whether students who engage in a sedentary task in an urban park-like setting experience improved mood and whether this effect is moderated by mindfulness meditation. 234 (133 females) undergraduate students, who either engaged in outdoor recreation frequently or infrequently. Participants engaged in 20 minutes of mindfulness meditation or a control task, either in a campus park-like setting or in a quiet room indoors.

A hydro-thermal-geochemical modeling framework to simulate reactive transport in a waste coal area under amended and non-amended conditions.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a major cause of water quality deterioration across watersheds where acidic coal refuse (CR) piles are located. The oxidation of pyrite (the most common sulfide mineral), found in many of the CR piles, releases major ions, such as Fe, Fe, , and H into the environment. Bauxite residue (BR), commonly called alkaline clay (AC), a highly alkaline byproduct of the alumina refining process, can be combined with coal mine refuse to reduce and potentially eliminate the AMD problem associated with waste coal piles.

Using Bayesian Nonparametric Hidden Semi-Markov Models to Disentangle Affect Processes during Marital Interaction.

Sequential affect dynamics generated during the interaction of intimate dyads, such as married couples, are associated with a cascade of effects-some good and some bad-on each partner, close family members, and other social contacts. Although the effects are well documented, the probabilistic structures associated with micro-social processes connected to the varied outcomes remain enigmatic. Using extant data we developed a method of classifying and subsequently generating couple dynamics using a Hierarchical Dirichlet Process Hidden semi-Markov Model (HDP-HSMM).

Spatial and social inequities in HIV testing utilization in the context of rapid scale-up of HIV/AIDS services in rural Mozambique.

The massive scale-up of HIV counseling, testing, and treatment services in resource-limited sub-Saharan settings with high HIV prevalence has significant implications for the course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also offers important broader policy lessons for improving access to critical health services. Applying GIS-based methods and multilevel regression analysis to unique longitudinal three-wave survey data from rural Mozambique, this study investigates the impact of a rapid expansion of HIV-related services on access to and utilization of HIV testing.

Inaccuracy, uncertainty and the space-time permutation scan statistic.

The space-time permutation scan statistic (STPSS) is designed to identify hot (and cool) spots of space-time interaction within patterns of spatio-temporal events. While the method has been adopted widely in practice, there has been little consideration of the effect inaccurate and/or incomplete input data may have on its results. Given the pervasiveness of inaccuracy, uncertainty and incompleteness within spatio-temporal datasets and the popularity of the method, this issue warrants further investigation.

Geographic influences on sexual and reproductive health service utilization in rural Mozambique.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a major public health issue across the globe, and it is of particular concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Utilization of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services can significantly impact HIV prevention, transmission, and treatment. SRH service utilization may be determined by individual characteristics, such as education and economic status, but also by the location and accessibility of health care facilities.

Enhancing the Jacquez k nearest neighbor test for space-time interaction.

The Jacquez k nearest neighbor test, originally developed to improve upon shortcomings of existing tests for space-time interaction, has been shown to be a robust and powerful method of detecting interaction. Despite its flexibility and power, however, the test has three main shortcomings: (i) it discards important information regarding the spatial and temporal scales at which the detected interaction takes place; (ii) the results of the test have not been visualized; and (iii) recent research demonstrates the test to be susceptible to population shift bias. This study presents enhancements to the Jacquez k nearest neighbors test with the goal of addressing each of these three shortcomings and of improving the utility of the test.

The case for spatial analysis in evaluation to reduce health inequities.

The article begins by giving an overview of spatial thinking concepts that are relevant to evaluation. The article relates the spatial perspective to both a realist evaluation and a randomized control trial perspective in evaluation to demonstrate the benefits of a spatialized program and evaluation perspective. The article mainly suggests that the adoption of a spatial perspective can add new insights to the theory and practice of evaluation in ways that helps evaluation move closer to reducing health inequities.