The COVID-19 pandemic caused a variety of social, economic, and environmental changes. This paper examines the employment-related impacts of the pandemic on workers in the transportation industry compared to other industries, and within different transportation sectors. We estimated random effects logistic regression models to test the following three hypotheses using the monthly Current Population Survey micro-data. One, the transportation industry experienced a greater incidence of unemployment than other industries. Two, there is heterogeneity in employment impacts within the transportation sector. Three, specific sectors within the transportation industry experienced more employment impacts than other essential industries, as designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Phase 1a vaccination guidelines. Model results highlight that workers in the transportation sector were 20.6% more likely to be unemployed because of the pandemic than workers in non-transportation industries. Model results also indicate large intra-sector heterogeneities in employment impacts within the transportation sector. Taxi and limousine drivers were 28 times more likely to be unemployed compared to essential workers. Scenic and sightseeing transportation workers were 23.8 times more likely to be unemployed compared to essential workers. On the other end of the spectrum, however, postal workers and pipeline workers were 84% and 67% less likely to be unemployed compared to essential workers, respectively. From a policy perspective, these results suggest that attention to several aspects of transportation work are needed in the coming years to prepare for future interruptions to the transportation industry.

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This study aims to understand the impacts of Pokémon GO, a popular location-based augmented reality (AR) mobile gaming app, on route and mode choices. Pokémon GO leverages AR to introduce virtual objects at fixed and dynamic locations that translate through the app interface to incentives in the real world that potentially influence users’ route and mode choices. Its gaming nature and social components can possibly enhance long-term user engagement through applying the characteristics of game elements and providing opportunities for competition, collaboration, companionship, and social reinforcement. An online survey is conducted to collect the self-reported behavior of a group of Pokémon GO users to explore its impacts on the following aspects of travel behavior: (1) the frequency of changing the route to interact with virtual objects; (2) the likelihood of carpooling more instead of driving alone for more in-app collaboration; and (3) the likelihood of shifting mode from drive alone to public transit, walking, and cycling if provided with additional incentives. The ordered survey responses including frequency and likelihood are analyzed using random parameters ordered probit models to account for the unobserved heterogeneity across users and identify subpopulations of travelers who are more susceptible to the influence of Pokémon GO. The modeling results identify four types of variables (attitude and perceptions related to Pokémon GO, app engagement, play style, and sociodemographic characteristics) that affect users’ travel behavior. The results illustrate that such apps with integrated AR, gamification, and social components can be used by policymakers to influence various aspects of travel behavior. The study findings and insights can provide valuable feedback to system operators for designing such apps to dynamically manage traffic in real-time and promote long-term sustainable mode shifts.

Recent consumer surveys and empirical studies suggest linkages between property accessibility, neighborhood built environment, and residential property values. This paper describes a comprehensive study that was undertaken to understand the impacts of property accessibility, neighborhood built environment, and other contributing factors on single-unit and multiunit residential property values. The study used a sample of more than 4,500 single-unit and 2,300 multiunit residential properties collected in more than 1,800 neighborhoods of Adelaide, Australia. Hedonic house price models were applied to study the similarities and dissimilarities of the impacts of types of property accessibility (property accessibility to retail locations and to social and recreational locations by walking, public transit, and automobile), neighborhood built environment (land use mix, residential density, and intersection density), and other contributing factors (physical attributes of the property, social and economic characteristics of the neighborhood, and public school district quality) on single-unit and multiunit residential property values. The model results suggest that planners should consider land use mix, new social and recreational locations, intersection density, and public transit locations in designing and implementing neighborhood development strategies. The results also indicate that investors should consider the following in developing property investment strategies: the property’s physical condition, its proximity to retail, social, and recreational locations, school district quality, neighborhood development intensity, and residents’ preferred residential property features. Further, the impacts of various contributing factors on single-unit and multiunit residential property values can be used to aid planners in neighborhood design and to assist investors in making more informed residential property investment decisions.

A 20-year-old female patient with a family history significant for Peutz-Jeghers syndrome presented to the hospital multiple times with complaints of abdominal pain. On the initial visit to the hospital, the patient underwent small bowel resection for small bowel obstruction secondary to intussusception, following which she visited the hospital again one year later for similar complaints and underwent reduction of multiple points of intussusception of the small bowel without any resection of the same. Eventually, the patient underwent resection of the small bowel for the second time, along with tumor resections. The importance of follow-up in patients with Peutz-Jeghers is particularly essential, in part, because it is vital to monitor the tumors, their size, and number to prevent surgical intestinal complications, anemia, and also to eventually monitor for carcinomatous changes.