Southeastern Michigan Research Articles

Debt and Foregone Medical Care

Most American households carry debt, yet we have little understanding of how debt influences health behavior, especially health care seeking. We examined associations between foregone medical care and debt using a population-based sample of 914 southeastern Michigan residents surveyed in the wake of the late-2000s recession. Overall debt and ratios of debt to income and debt to assets were positively associated with foregoing medical or dental care in the past 12 months, even after adjusting for the poorer socioeconomic and health characteristics of those foregoing care and for respondents' household incomes and net worth. These overall associations were driven largely by credit card and medical debt, while housing debt and automobile and student loans were not associated with foregoing care. These results suggest that debt is an understudied aspect of health stratification.

Medical use, medical misuse, and nonmedical use of prescription opioids: Results from a longitudinal study

The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and patterns associated with past-year medical use, medical misuse, and nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMUPO) among adolescents over a 2-year time period and to examine substance abuse, sleeping problems, and physical pain symptoms associated with these patterns of medical use, medical misuse, and NMUPO. A Web-based survey was self-administered by a longitudinal sample of 2050 middle and high school students in 2009–2010 (Year 1) and again in 2010–2011 (Year 2). The study was set in 2 southeastern Michigan school districts. The longitudinal sample consisted of 50% females, 67% Whites, 28% African-Americans, and 5% from other racial/ethnic categories. Main outcome measures were past-year medical use, medical misuse, and NMUPO. Of those reporting appropriate medical use of prescription opioids in Year 1, approximately 34% continued medical use in Year 2. Of those reporting past-year NMUPO in Year 1, approximately 25% continued NMUPO in Year 2. Appropriate medical use and NMUPO for pain relief was more prevalent among girls than boys. Multiple logistic regression analyses indicated that the odds of a positive screen for substance abuse in Year 2 were greater for adolescents who reported medical misuse or NMUPO for non-pain-relief motives in Year 1 compared with those who did not use prescription opioids. The findings indicate an increased risk for substance abuse among adolescents who report medical misuse or NMUPO for non-pain-relief motives over time. The findings have important clinical implications for interventions to reduce medical misuse and NMUPO among adolescents.

Estimates of Agrilus planipennis Infestation Rates and Potential Survival of Ash

The invasive forest pest, Agrilus planipennis (emerald ash borer, Coleoptera: Buprestidae), has caused significant mortality of ash (Fraxinus spp.) in southeastern Michigan, USA, where this pest is thought to have been originally introduced into North America. Phloem feeding by A. planipennis larvae leads to girdling of the host tree, which has resulted in the death of millions of ash trees in invaded landscapes. A survey of ash over a large geographic area was used to estimate numbers of dead and infested ash at a landscape scale within Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Over 50 million ash trees infested with A. planipennis were estimated in the study area. This represented less than 20% of the ash trees at this broad landscape scale. We used an aerial survey with digital sketchmapping to identify individual and clusters of ash trees that were potentially alive in Oakland and Wayne Counties, Michigan, where A. planipennis is believed to have been active the longest. Diameters at breast height (DBH) and bark roughness were compared between live trees and the closest dead tree. Over 200 live trees were identified within five Huron-Clinton Metroparks, with 65% of these expressing signs and symptoms of A. planipennis attack. Trees that had succumbed to A. planipennis attack had significantly rougher bark than those trees that had survived, while DBH did not differ between the two groups. The probability of ash mortality increased with increasing bark roughness. Bark roughness provides insight into the potential survival of ash within forests. This case-control study, in addition to the estimates of infestation, establishes a baseline and the need to identify further individual and environmental characteristics that facilitate ash survival in the presence of A. planipennis.

Adele M. George Jewel Kerr (1834–?)

Though voice be silent, pen is as mighty in hand of deaf mute who knows how to wield it, as when held by one whose vocal chords give word to thought in melody of sound. Deaf-Mute Voice 16 Apr. 1887 In 1859, Adele George, a young, white deaf woman, stood on a street in southeastern Michigan and sold copies of her autobiography, A Brief Narrative of Life of Miss Adele M. George, (Being Deaf and Dumb), to passersby for ten cents each. (1) George, homeless and seriously ill, had written her narrative in desperation, hoping to publish it and earn enough money to provide for herself and her widowed, invalid mother. Almost a century and a half later, Christopher Krentz was searching widely in University of Chicago archival holdings for any nineteenth-century US deaf-related writing and stumbled upon a copy of George's long-forgotten autobiography (Krentz, Message). Krentz began recovery of text by including an excerpt of it in his anthology of deaf American writing, A Mighty Change (2000). (2) However, beyond information offered in George's surviving narrative, almost nothing was known about her or her text. Her later years (assuming she lived beyond writing of her autobiography) were unrecovered, as were further details regarding her writing. seemed permanently lost to records of disabling, hearing world in which she had lived. George portrayed herself in her autobiography as homeless, deaf, and forsaken: Having lost sight of one of my eyes, and my health being poor, have no other means of obtaining a livelihood, and therefore have written this little narrative of my (1). (3) With only her autobiography remaining to inform readers, George was fixed as poor and pitiable both in her text and in past. Given this static representation, she was even more than usually vulnerable to what Michael Berube has called the ableist assumption that all people with disabilities are suffering (114). (4) Through extensive research with key databases and newly digitized materials, we have recently recovered history of George's life. (5) Our work now traces multiple editions of her autobiography across decades of US nineteenth century. (6) As a result of this new information, George emerges as a resourceful, courageous public woman who prospered late in life in an unsympathetic world that multiply marginalized her. The recovery of her life and further information about her texts expands and nuances our frames of understanding regarding nineteenth-century US women, writing, and disability. On 15 November 1834, George was born deaf to hearing parents in Cincinnati, Ohio, as only child of Harriet and John George. When she was four years old, family moved to Michigan, where she lived most of her life. In 1846, twelve-year-old George attended a school for hearing students. The experience was frustrating for her because school was ill equipped to teach deaf students: I tried hard to learn, but it was a hard, tedious process, no one being qualified to instruct [deaf and] dumb, and gave it up in despair, feeling, oh! how bitterly, that was not like rest, and could never hope to acquire as much knowledge (11). That same year, George's father died of tuberculosis. His surviving wife and daughter subsequently entered a harsh, downward economic spiral. George was forced to withdraw from school due to lack of funds, and her mother sold their farm to pay debts incurred during John George's illness. Mother and daughter then moved to Jackson, Michigan, and for next few years lived in poverty. They tried to earn a living by sewing and other work. During this time, George met Almena Knight, another deaf woman: She was first deaf and dumb person ever saw, and immediately we were drawn together by mysterious tie of sympathy (13). Her friendship with more educated Knight motivated George to seek further education. …

Women with Muscle: Contemporary Women and the Classic Muscle Car

Women with MuscleContemporary Women and the Classic Muscle Car Chris Lezotte (bio) Introduction Every summer weekend in Southeastern Michigan hundreds of aging babyboomer auto aficionados congregate at car shows, cruise-ins, swap meets, and a myriad of other classic car events. While such activities have been traditionally considered male pastimes, they have recently experienced an exponential growth in women’s participation. Of particular note is the upsurge of women in attendance who own and drive classic American muscle cars. While gender prescriptions limited young women’s participation in teenage muscle car culture during the 1960s and 1970s, it is not uncommon today to find divorced middle-aged moms and gray-haired grandmothers gunning the thunderous engines of classic Pontiac GTOS, Dodge Challengers, and Plymouth Roadrunners.1 The original American muscle car—a two-door, rear-wheel-drive, midsize vehicle equipped with a large, muscular v8 engine and sold at an affordable price—was produced between 1962 and 1973 to appeal specifically to an affluent young male market. While much has been written about the American muscle car, in scholarship as well as in popular culture, the focus is primarily on its function as a source of masculine identity formation in the young male driver. Young women, if present in the literature, appear only on the margins as passengers and “avid spectators.”2 However, as the increased presence of “mature” women at classic car events suggest, women not only have a renewed interest in the classic muscle car but have called upon muscle car ownership to construct a role for themselves in American car culture. Boomer and post-boomer women with a passion for power and speed have reclaimed the iconic symbol of American youth and masculinity and invested it with alternative meanings. Writing about women’s early automotive experiences, historian Georgine Clarsen asserts, “Women’s active engagements with automobiles were not simply paper copies of men’s, but were constitutive of [End Page 83 ] notions of what a car is and how it might be used, and of the social meanings and bodily experiences of femininity.”3 Considering Clarsen’s assertion as a call to action, this project seeks to contribute to the existing literature through an examination of the relationship between a particular group of women and the classic American muscle car. In his 1983 review of the critical automotive literature American studies scholar Charles Sanford remarked, “women are conspicuously absent where they should be most present.”4 In the thirty years since Sanford’s astute observation there has been a small but significant incorporation of the woman driver into automotive scholarship. Historians Virginia Scharff, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, and Margaret Walsh have, over the past few decades, recuperated the woman driver from the masculine repositories of automotive history.5 Literary scholars Deborah Clarke, Marie Farr, and Cynthia Dettelbach and film scholars Katie Mills and Deborah Pas de Barros have called upon representations of the woman driver in contemporary women’s literature and film to demonstrate the significance of the automobile to women’s lives in a series of geographical, personal, and spiritual locations.6 Essays, short stories, and poetry that uncover women’s varied and complex relationships to the automobile, penned by distinguished female authors including Jayne Ann Phillips, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O’Connor, have been gathered into eclectic collections for academic and popular culture libraries.7 Autoethnography has provided an opportunity for female journalists and racing enthusiasts—such as Lesley Hazelton and Denise McCluggage—to reflect upon their own automotive experiences.8 And social historians Kathleen Franz and Georgine Clarsen, as well as American studies scholar Cotten Seiler, have, through their attention to women’s reconfiguration of masculine machines, provided important insight into women’s active engagements with technologies generally considered male.9 While the existing scholarship provides a number of avenues in which to consider the woman driver, there is a discernible absence of real women’s voices. This project attempts to remedy that lack through attention to a particular population of women drivers: white, Christian, middle-class, heterosexual women of the boomer and post-boomer generations who own and drive classic American muscle cars. It seeks to understand how this group of women ascribes...

Masters of Radiology Panel Discussion—Is Imaging in Decline?

127 What people really want is health and not health care. We, as radiologists, must prepare ourselves to integrate not only current modalities but also molecular imaging and therapy into better utilization, diagnosis, and outcomes. Even if we succeed in these goals, we still must use the data to inform clinicians and improve their use of imaging. Even as radiology becomes less of an income center and tries to become more clinically productive, we must simultaneously master information and increasingly provide leadership to the entire health care enterprise. Kazerooni: It’s a new reality for radiologists, one that does not seem to have a rapid climb back to the past, and it’s something practices have to adapt to. Our value has been measured and judged for the past one to two decades on examination volume, relative value units, and turnaround times. As a specialty, we’ve become addicted to double-digit growth year over year, turning to “nighthawk” providers to read studies at night because business was so good during the day, abrogating our professional physician relationships. What we have not had to pay attention to—and is perhaps our greatest value—is in consultation, such as discussions about appropriateness of testing for the individual patient. There is often no positive feedback mechanism when a radiologist tells a provider a test is not needed. In fact, the feedback can be seen as negative, obstructionist, laziness, or the commentary of someone who is not a “real” physician. Working toward a reimbursement model that incorporates all we do, not a radiology report alone, would be a fundamental change and aligned with the accountable care organization model of care we are rapidly moving toward. Locally, we’re seeing continued reduction in the growth of radiology in our environment in southeastern Michigan and in the state of Michigan in general. It varies among Masters of Radiology Panel Discussion— Is Imaging in Decline?

Effect of cost efficiency reporting on utilization by physician specialists: A difference-indifference study

To assess whether health plan implementation of specialist profile reports not associated with any health plan administered reward or consequence that measured physician cost efficiency relative to peers, and shared with specialists and primary care referral sources only, were associated with changes in specialist behaviour. Blue Care Network of Michigan is a non-profit statewide Health Maintenance Organization and wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. This study used administrative data from 2002 to 2006 and included only providers and adult (ages 18-65) commercial membership located in Southeastern Michigan. A difference-in-difference study design of before and after specialist cost efficiency reporting on six specialties to both specialists and primary care referral sources, but not health plan members, to determine whether specialists who performed worse than peers changed the level of utilization of their own physician services without any direct health plan reward or consequence. Substantive changes were noted for interventional cardiology (-32.3%, P ≤ 0.01), orthopaedics (-13.3%, P ≤ 0.01) and otolaryngology (-15.9%, P ≤ 0.02). Less established, yet negative changes were noted for ophthalmology (-11.9%, P ≤ 0.01), gastroenterology (-3.2%, P = 0.23) and urology (-3.1%, P = 0.52). Simple and transparent reports on specialist cost efficiency distributed to referral sources and specialists using a more laissez-faire style reporting only health plan programme can engage providers and be associated with reductions in utilization. Possible mechanisms include explicit pressure from referral sources or self-motivated change by specialists.

Epidemiology of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecalis: a Case-Case-Control Study

Although much is known about vancomycin-resistant (VR) Enterococcus faecium, little is known about the epidemiology of VR Enterococcus faecalis. The predilection of VR E. faecalis to transfer the vancomycin resistance determinant to Staphylococcus aureus is much greater than that of VR E. faecium. The epidemiology of VR E. faecalis has important implications regarding the emergence of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA); 8 of 13 reported VRSA cases have been from Michigan. A retrospective case-case-control study was conducted at the Detroit Medical Center, located in southeastern Michigan. Unique patients with VR E. faecalis infection were matched to patients with strains of vancomycin-susceptible (VS) E. faecalis and to uninfected controls at a 1:1:1 ratio. Five hundred thirty-two VR E. faecalis cases were identified and were matched to 532 VS E. faecalis cases and 532 uninfected controls. The overall mean age of the study cohort (n = 1,596) was 63.0 ± 17.4 years, and 747 (46.8%) individuals were male. Independent predictors for the isolation of VR E. faecalis (but not VS E. faecalis) compared to uninfected controls were an age of ≥65 years, nonhome residence, diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, exposure to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones in the prior 3 months, and immunosuppressive status. Invasive procedures and/or surgery, chronic skin ulcers, and indwelling devices were risk factors for both VR E. faecalis and VS E. faecalis isolation. Cephalosporin and fluoroquinolone exposures were unique, independent predictors for isolation of VR E. faecalis. A majority of case patients had VR E. faecalis present at the time of admission. Control of VR E. faecalis, and ultimately VRSA, will likely require regional efforts focusing on infection prevention and antimicrobial stewardship.

'MiLES' population-based survey of the incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus in Southeastern Michigan

'MiLES' population-based survey of the incidence and prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus in Southeastern Michigan

Housing instability and health: Findings from the Michigan recession and recovery study

The recession of the late 2000s has increased interest in the consequences of housing instability. Previous research has shown poorer health among those experiencing housing instability, but extant studies generally have focused on selected populations (e.g., homeowners or renters) or studied only one type of housing instability (e.g. homelessness). Using new data from the Michigan Recession and Recovery Study, a population-based sample of working-aged adults from Southeastern Michigan, U.S.A., in late 2009–early 2010, we found that about one-third of respondents recently experienced some type of housing instability. Many, but not all, types of instability were associated with health. Even after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics and earlier health, individuals who had moved for cost reasons in the past three years were more likely than those with no housing instability to report a recent anxiety attack, while those who experienced homelessness in the past year had a higher likelihood of reporting fair/poor self-rated health and of meeting criteria for major or minor depression. Renters behind on rental payments were more likely to meet criteria for depression, while mortgage-holders behind on their mortgage or in foreclosure had a higher likelihood of reporting fair/poor self-rated health or a recent anxiety attack. Among respondents who had ever owned a home, those who completed a foreclosure recently were more likely to report major or minor depression or an anxiety attack. However, frequent moves were not associated with poorer health, and doubling up and eviction were not associated with poorer health after adjustment for characteristics that sort people into different housing instability experiences. Our findings suggest the importance of considering multiple types of housing instability and using appropriate risk groups and comparison categories.

Differential persistence of blue ash and white ash following emerald ash borer invasion

Catastrophic mortality of North American ash ( Fraxinus spp.) caused by Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire has been attributed to the lack of coevolved resistance between native ash species and this Asian invader. Although A. planipennis host preference or tree resistance can vary, all North American ash species are presumably highly vulnerable to A. planipennis. We inventoried live and dead blue ash ( Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx.) and white ash ( Fraxinus americana L.) in two southeastern Michigan woodlots several years after the A. planipennis invasion to assess their survival. Agrilus planipennis populations in this area peaked in approximately 2005, and the region is now characterized by nearly complete ash mortality. At the Plymouth site, 71% of the original 380 blue ash were alive, whereas only 29 saplings of the original 187 white ash were alive. At the Superior Township site, 63% of the original 210 blue ash were living, whereas all 125 white ash were dead. More than 80% of the blue ash had evidence of previous A. planipennis colonization, but 87% appeared healthy in 2011. Tree diameter did not consistently affect survival, and live and dead trees of both species were distributed across sites, indicating that differential survival was not attributable to localized conditions.

Relationship Between Vulvodynia and Chronic Comorbid Pain Conditions

To estimate the relationship among the presence of vulvodynia, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis, and irritable bowel syndrome. Validated questionnaire-based screening tests for the four pain conditions were completed by women with and without vulvodynia who were participating in the Michigan Woman to Woman Health Study, a longitudinal population-based survey in southeastern Michigan. Weighted population-based estimates of the prevalence and characteristics of participants with these chronic comorbid pain conditions were calculated using regression analyses. Of 1,940 women who completed the survey containing all four screening tests, 1,890 (97.4%) answered all screening questions and were included. The prevalences of the screening-based diagnoses ranged from 7.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.2-9.0) for interstitial cystitis, 8.7% (95% CI 7.3-10.4) for vulvodynia, 9.4% (95% CI 8.1-11.0) for irritable bowel syndrome, to 11.8% (95% CI 10.1-13.7) for fibromyalgia with 27.1% screening positive for multiple conditions. The presence of vulvodynia was associated with the presence of each of the other comorbid pain conditions (P<.001, odds ratio 2.3-3.3). Demographic risk factors for each condition varied. Increasing age was not associated with greater numbers of comorbid conditions, and only low socioeconomic status was associated with having multiple comorbid conditions concurrently. Chronic pain conditions are common, and a subgroup of women with vulvodynia is more likely than those without vulvodynia to have one or more of the three other chronic pain conditions evaluated.

Prenatal Psychosocial Risk Assessment using Event History Calendars with Black Women

To explore the clinical acceptability and perceptions of use of a prenatal event history calendar (EHC) for prenatal psychosocial risk assessment in Black pregnant women. A qualitative descriptive study focused on interviews and prenatal EHCs completed by Black pregnant women. Inner city hospital prenatal care clinic in Southeastern Michigan. Thirty 18-35 year old pregnant Black women receiving prenatal care at the participating clinic. Women completed the prenatal EHCs and their perceptions of its use were obtained through face to face interviews. The constant comparative method of analysis (Glaser, 1978, 1992) revealed themes from participants' descriptions about use of a prenatal EHC for prenatal psychosocial risk assessment. Three main themes emerged describing how the prenatal EHC enhanced communication. The prenatal EHC provided "an opening" for disclosure, "an understanding with you," and a way for providers to "know you, your life, and future plans." The participants' completed prenatal EHCs included information regarding their pre-pregnancies, trimester histories, and future plans. These completed prenatal EHCs showed patterns of change in life events and behaviors that included worries, stressors, and risk behaviors. The participants perceived the prenatal EHC as an easy to use tool that should be used to improve communication with health care providers. The prenatal EHC allows the patient and provider to "start on the same page" and provides an additional avenue for discussion of sensitive psychosocial issues with Black pregnant women. As a clinical tool, the prenatal EHC facilitated patient-provider communication for pregnant women often marked by health disparities. The prenatal EHC is a clinically acceptable tool to assess for psychosocial risk factors of Black women in a prenatal clinical setting.

The Distribution of Quercus rubra in the Maumee Lake Plain of Southeastern Michigan

Northern red oak (Quercus rubra L.) has been described as an opportunistic, pioneer species adapted to mesic sites, though its presence and site-specific occurrence in extreme soil-water conditions is not well understood. Fifty woodlots were investigated for the presence of Q. rubra on the Maumee lake plain of southeastern Michigan. Although it was found widespread geographically, Quercus rubra was observed only in dry-mesic to mesic ecosystems where adequate moisture remains throughout the growing season on sand, sand/clay, and clay lake plain landforms. Quercus rubra was absent in sand lake plain ecosystems of nutrient-poor, deep sand (>200 cm to clay), and from high sand ridges that were not adjacent to swampy depressions. Within the sand lake plain it was observed only on relatively mesic, well- to somewhat poorly-drained ecosystems. In all landforms, Q. rubra was absent in seasonally inundated depressions. Successful overstory recruitment of Q. rubra was very rare, with the exception of a single site on the sand lake plain. Lacking major disturbances in the overstory, Q. rubra will likely be replaced by basswood (Tilia americana L.) and elm (Ulmus spp.) on the clay lake plain, sugar (Acer saccharum Marsh.), and black maple (Acer nigrum Michx. f.) on the sand/clay lake plain, and red maple (Acer rubrum L.), black cherry (Prunus serotina Ehrh.), and sugar maple on the sand lake plain. Further studies with a particular focus on water-table relations are necessary to predict future migrations of Q. rubra under a warming climate.

Genetic variation in glutathione S-transferase omega-1, arsenic methyltransferase and methylene-tetrahydrofolate reductase, arsenic exposure and bladder cancer: a case-control study.

BackgroundIngestion of groundwater with high concentrations of inorganic arsenic has been linked to adverse health outcomes, including bladder cancer, however studies have not consistently observed any elevation in risk at lower concentrations. Genetic variability in the metabolism and clearance of arsenic is an important consideration in any investigation of its potential health risks. Therefore, we examined the association between genes thought to play a role in the metabolism of arsenic and bladder cancer.MethodsSingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in GSTO-1, As3MT and MTHFR were genotyped using DNA from 219 bladder cancer cases and 273 controls participating in a case–control study in Southeastern Michigan and exposed to low to moderate (<50 μg/L) levels of arsenic in their drinking water. A time-weighted measure of arsenic exposure was constructed using measures from household water samples combined with past residential history, geocoded and merged with archived arsenic data predicted from multiple resources.ResultsWhile no single SNP in As3MT was significantly associated with bladder cancer overall, several SNPs were associated with bladder cancer among those exposed to higher arsenic levels. Individuals with one or more copies of the C allele in rs11191439 (the Met287Thr polymorphism) had an elevated risk of bladder cancer (OR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.04-1.32 per 1 μg/L increase in average exposure). However, no association was observed between average arsenic exposure and bladder cancer among TT homozygotes in the same SNP. Bladder cancer cases were also 60% less likely to be homozygotes for the A allele in rs1476413 in MTHFR compared to controls (OR = 0.40; 95% CI = 0.18-0.88).ConclusionsVariation in As3MT and MTHFR is associated with bladder cancer among those exposed to relatively low concentrations of inorganic arsenic. Further investigation is warranted to confirm these findings.

Parasitoid wasp diversity in apple orchards along a pest-management gradient

This study examined the impact of pest-management practices on Hymenopteran parasitoid diversity and assemblage composition in six apple orchards in southeastern Michigan, USA. The orchards comprised a gradient of pest-management intensity from organic to IPM to conventional practices. We used a pesticide toxicity index to quantify monthly and seasonal pest-management intensity in each orchard and conducted monthly vacuum-sampling of wasps during summer of 2009.Monthly toxicity scores predicted wasp abundance, setting an upper bound on the number of wasps in the orchard, but did not predict species richness. Total species richness was significantly higher in the organic orchard than in all others, but in August a conventional orchard had the highest wasp abundance and species richness. These results suggest that a toxicity index could guide pesticide choices or application times so as to increase parasitoid wasp populations, which have untapped potential for pest management in apple orchards.

Examination of factors affecting freeway incident clearance times: a comparison of the generalized F model and several alternative nested models

ABSTRACTTraffic incidents are a principal cause of congestion on urban freeways, reducing capacity and creating risks for both involved motorists and incident response personnel. As incident durations increase, the risk of secondary incidents or crashes also becomes problematic. In response to these issues, many road agencies in metropolitan areas have initiated incident management programs aimed at detecting, responding to, and clearing incidents to restore freeways to full capacity as quickly and safely as possible. This study examined those factors that impact the time required by the Michigan Department of Transportation Freeway Courtesy Patrol to clear incidents that occurred on the southeastern Michigan freeway network. These models were developed using traffic flow data, roadway geometry information, and an extensive incident inventory database. A series of parametric hazard duration models were developed, each assuming a different underlying probability distribution for the hazard function. Although each modeling framework provided results that were similar in terms of the direction of factor effects, there was significant variability in terms of the estimated magnitude of these impacts. The generalized F distribution was shown to provide the best fit to the incident clearance time data, and the use of poorer fitting distributions was shown to result in severe over‐estimation or under‐estimation of factor effects. Those factors that were found to impact incident clearance times included the time of day and month when the incident occurred, the geometric and traffic characteristics of the freeway segment, and the characteristics of each incident. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Creative Personality and Anticreative Environment for High School Dropouts

The study examined the possible roles that creativity plays in students dropping out of high school. It used data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS: 88), the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), and 87 high school students from a low income area in southeastern Michigan. NELS and ELS questions related to creative personality and anticreative school environment were selected and asked of students. The students’ responses were compared to their scores on measures of creativity (Runco Ideational Behavior Scale, Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, & Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students). The NELS respondents who showed creative personality were identified and examined whether their creativity related to dropping out. The results of logistic regression analyses indicated that the questions selected from NELS and ELS that showed anticreative school environment have a negative correlation with the scores on the creativity measures, which affect students’ dropping out. An understanding of these students and their behavior will help promote creative students’ academic and lifelong success through appropriate classroom restructuring.

The mediating impact of coping style on stress perception for parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities

Research reveals that parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities experience more stress than parents of persons of normal development. The majority of previous research has measured direct relationships between stress variables and stress perception and little attention has been given to the impact of mediating variables. The present study utilized an indirect pathway model to examine the mediating influence of coping style on the relationship between social support, severity of child disability, parental optimism and stress perception for these parents. Parents of individuals receiving mental health services through an agency in Southeastern Michigan participated in the study. Results indicated that coping style partially mediated the relationship between social support and stress perception for parents of individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Diatom response to the whole lake manipulation of a eutrophic urban impoundment

Diatoms typically dominate during April and May in Ford Lake, a eutrophic urban impoundment in southeastern Michigan, USA, whereas cyanobacteria dominate during summer. To alter this, whole lake experiments were conducted during 2006 and 2008 in alternation with control years 2005 and 2007. In experimental years, water was withdrawn from the hypolimnion during summer to destabilize the stratified water column, promote deeper mixing, and reduce anoxia. In 2006, withdrawals occurred over a 6-week period with three discrete intervals, releasing 3 × 105 m3 d−1 for the first and third intervals, and 1.5 × 105 m3 d−1 for the second. In 2008, withdrawal occurred continuously for 6 weeks at a rate of 3 × 105 m3 d−1. In control years, water was released only from the epilimnion. Nuisance cyanobacteria replaced diatoms in control years when the lake became thermally stratified. Diatom response to experimentally induced mixing was examined with focus on 2008 as a model for future management. Selective withdrawal of hypolimnetic water destabilized the water column and promoted diatom summer blooms. Diatom success was greatest in 2008, with abundance reaching 10 mm3 L−1 and persisting through spring and summer. Dominance peaks of diatoms were punctuated when Daphnia populations approached or exceeded 3 × 105 individuals m−2.