Did incentives help municipalities recover from the Great Recession? Evidence from Midwestern cities

This study assesses the impacts of local business incentives in the largest urban areas of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, three Midwestern states that share similar histories and settings. We assembled a unique dataset combining information on two types of incentives, tax increment financing districts and tax abatements, together with socio‐economic, geographic, fiscal, and spatial competitive characteristics for all of the municipalities in six metropolitan areas. The outcome measures include employment growth, establishment formation, and business relocation. The analysis extends knowledge of the effects of economic development incentives in two ways. First, we improve upon previous research by incorporating key factors in municipal decisions to offer incentives. Second, we add to limited empirical evidence concerning local incentives following the Great Recession. Variation in the use of incentives reflects not only local decision‐making but also differing fiscal capacities and situations of adaptation to adverse economic conditions, with some governments pulling back on incentives and others initiating new approaches to retain or lure businesses.     

Historical patterns of fire severity and forest structure and composition in a landscape structured by frequent large fires: Pumice Plateau ecoregion,Oregon, USA

Context

Lack of quantitative observations of extent, frequency, and severity of large historical fires constrains awareness of departure of contemporary conditions from those that demonstrated resistance and resilience to frequent fire and recurring drought.

Objectives

Compare historical and contemporary fire and forest conditions for a dry forest landscape with few barriers to fire spread.

Methods

Quantify differences in (1) historical (1700–1918) and contemporary (1985–2015) fire extent, fire rotation, and stand-replacing fire and (2) historical (1914–1924) and contemporary (2012) forest structure and composition. Data include 85,750-ha tree-ring reconstruction of fire frequency and extent; >?375,000-ha timber inventory following >?78,900-ha fires in 1918; and remotely-sensed maps of contemporary fire effects and forest conditions.

Results

Historically, fires?>?20,000 ha occurred every 9.5 years; fire rotation was 14.9 years; seven fires?>?40,469 ha occurred during extreme drought (PDSI <?? 4.0); and stand-replacing fire occurred primarily in lodgepole (Pinus contorta var. murrayana). In contemporary fires, only 5% of the ecoregion burned in 30 years, and stand-replacing fire occurred primarily in ponderosa (Pinus ponderosa) and mixed-conifer. Historically, density of conifers?>?15 cm dbh exceeded 120 trees/ha on?<?5% of the area compared to 95% currently.

Conclusions

Frequent, large, low-severity fires historically maintained open-canopy ponderosa and mixed-conifer forests in which large fire- and drought-tolerant trees were prevalent. Stand-replacing patches in ponderosa and mixed-conifer were rare, even in fires >?40,469 ha (minimum size of contemporary “megafires”) during extreme drought. In this frequent-fire landscape, mixed-severity fire historically influenced lodgepole and adjacent forests. Lack of large, frequent, low-severity fires degrades contemporary forest ecosystems.

     

Epidemiology of Salmonella enterica serovars enteritidis and Typhimurium in animals and people in Scotland between 1990 and 2001

Two serovars of salmonella which are currently of particular importance in both human and animal infections are Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis phage type 4 (PT4) and Typhimurium definitive type 104 (DT104). This paper describes the trends in the relationships between the levels of infection of people and a range of farm animal species with these two serovars and explores some of the reasons behind them. In 1996, there was a peak of 520 reports of S Typhimurium DT104 infection in people in Scotland, but the number has decreased every year since, to 96 in 2001. In cattle the incidence of S Typhimurium DT104 also peaked in 1996, with 138 incidents, and it has similarly decreased every year to 2001 when there were 10 reported incidents. Similar declines have been observed in its incidence in sheep and pigs. In people the number of reports of S Enteritidis PT4 peaked in 1997 at 1684 and then declined to 457 in 2001. In chickens, the number of reports of S Enteritidis PT4 peaked in 1998 at 34 incidents, but no incidents were reported in the following three years.     

Abdominal pythiosis in a Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris).

An adult Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) housed in an outdoor sanctuary in Florida exhibited vomiting, diarrhea, and weight loss. A clinical workup did not reveal the source of the clinical signs and antibiotic therapy was unrewarding. Radiographs revealed the presence of an abdominal mass. The tiger died during an immobilization for a follow-up clinical examination. A necropsy was performed and tissue samples of intestine and mesenteric lymph nodes were submitted for histopathologic diagnosis. A pyogranulomatous panenteritis and lymphadenitis with intralesional hyphae led to a presumptive etiologic diagnosis of intestinal/abdominal pythiosis. The diagnosis of pythiosis was confirmed by serology and immunoblotting.     

Association of infectivity, parasitaemia and virulence in a serodeme of Trypanosoma congolense

Quantitative methods were adopted to study the course of Trypanosoma congolense infection in mice and goats. The ease of initiating infection with a single organism (clone) was found to show a smooth correlation with the virulence of 24 isolates. Virulence of T. congolense was found to be directly related to the degree of viability of the parasite but inversely proportional to the capacity of the host to limit parasitaemia. Isolates obtained from the goat in the early stage of the infection were found to be highly infective but moderately virulent; subsequent isolates were of low infectivity and low virulence. Organisms obtained at the terminal stage of the infection were highly virulent. Generally, the highly virulent clones produced rapidly high parasitaemia and mortality in the host. The low virulence clones were characterised by low parasitaemia but very pronounced remission of trypanosomaemia.     

The impact of shade on morphology,growth and biomass allocation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Picea sitchensis</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Larix</Emphasis> × <Emphasis Type="Italic">eurolepis</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Thuja plicata</Emphasis>

To determine the effect of shade on morphology, growth and biomass allocation in Picea sitchensis, Larix × eurolepis and Thuja plicata, seedlings were grown in the open or under shadehouses providing 25%, 50% and 75% reductions of full-light for two growing seasons. For most of the characteristics assessed there was no significant interaction between species and shade indicating that the morphological responses to changing shade treatments were not species-dependent. After two growing seasons the mean height increment for the three species was significantly greater in 25% (76.1 cm) and 50% shade (74.9 cm) than in the open (69.5 cm). Root collar diameter increment, shoot, root and total biomass declined significantly with increasing shade while the opposite was true for the height:diameter ratio. In both western red cedar and hybrid larch the shoot:root ratio was significantly greater in the shade while in Sitka spruce this characteristic was not influenced by shade. While all species had significantly greater specific shoot areas in 75% shade than in 0% shade, this trend was particularly pronounced in hybrid larch. In hybrid larch and western red cedar, the normalised specific projected shoot area increased significantly with increasing shade. The opposite trend was observed for Sitka spruce. We conclude that in the main the species studied demonstrated similar shade acclimation responses despite their reported differences in shade tolerance.