Benefit-Cost Analysis for Transportation Planning and Public Policy: Towards Multimodal Demand Modeling

This report examines existing methods of benefit-cost analysis (BCA) in two areas, transportation policy and transportation planning, and suggests ways of modifying these methods to account for travel within a multimodal system. Although the planning and policy contexts differ substantially, this report shows how important multimodal impacts can be incorporated into both by using basic econometric techniques and even simpler rule-of-thumb methods. Case studies in transportation planning focus on the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), but benchmark California’s competencies by exploring methods used by other states and local governments. The report concludes with a list and discussion of recommendations for improving transportation planning models and methods. These will have immediate use to decision makers at Caltrans and other state DOTs as they consider directions for developing new planning capabilities. This project also identifies areas, and lays groundwork, for future research. Finally, by fitting the planning models into the broader context of transportation policy, this report will serve as a resource for students and others who wish to better understand BCA and its use in practice

Is There a Gay Brain? The Problems with Scientific Research of Sexual Orientation

In 1991 neuroscientist Simon LeVay published “A Difference in Hypothalamic Structure Between Heterosexual and Homosexual Men”, which reported the discovery of a ‘region’ in the anterior hypothalamus of the brain that determined sexual orientation in men. LeVay\u27s study was an attempt to revolutionize the scientific study of sexual orientation, as previous decades of research had failed to isolate the biological determining factor of human sexual orientation. Blinded by his political motivation to aid the gay rights movement at the end of the twentieth century, LeVay\u27s study - as well as the countless other scientific investigations of human sexuality - merely succeeded in naturalizing socially constructed categories through \u27objective\u27 scientific facts. A historical investigation of the socio-cultural influence that informed the scientific study of LeVay will help illuminate the gender ideals and binarized categories that influenced his attempt to prove there was a \u27gay brain\u27

Quantifying Sexual Constitution: Abraham Myerson’s Endocrine Study of Bisexuality and Male Homosexuality, 1938-1942

For the last 150 years scientific sex researchers have attempted to explain the occurrence of homosexuality. The science of sexuality recognized the normativity of heterosexual attraction in connection with the dualism of male and female biological sexes, which defined sexual attraction towards women as masculine and men as feminine. Researchers in the early twentieth century began measuring male and female sex hormones and correlating hormonology patterns to sexual constitution to try and understand how a male could possess a feminine sexuality. This paper explores the sex hormone studies of Abraham Myerson, a leading physician and researcher, who between 1938 and 1942 tried to uncover the relationship between sex hormone excretion and homosexuality in men. While prevailing cultural models of heterosexuality as normative identified femininity and homosexuality in men as abnormal, Myerson’s framework and experimental research transcended the duality of male and female sexual biology while he studied this sexual abnormality. Adopting the theory of organic bisexuality, he argued that all men possessed a natural variability of masculinity and femininity in their biological, social, and sexual characteristics, and that these discrepancies could be measured using sex hormones. In reconstructing these experiments, this paper uses Myerson’s variable denotation of masculine and feminine sexual characteristics, their quantified endocrine measurements and biological states, and their interconnection to a variety of homosexual constitutions to highlight the intricacies of male and female sexual biology and cultural constructs of sexual normality when identifying and researching human sexual constitution

The Future of Mississippi\u27s Economy: The Maker Movement

Symposium: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and the Law: The Real World Effects of Law on Mississippi Business and Entrepreneurial Endeavor

Control and Data Reduction Software for UMR Neutron Spectrometer

A double-scatter time-of flight neutron spectrometer has been obtained by the Nuclear Engineering department of the University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR). As this device was an experimental prototype which was never brought to full operation, the chance to work with two of the original builders of the spectrometer at EG&G Idaho was an excellent opportunity. Part of the work being done with the detector is the development of a PC-based software package for machine control, data acquisition, and data reduction. It is this part of the project which has been supported by UMR’s Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience (OURE) program

Lipid Profile and Admission/Discharge Locations as Predictors of 60 Day Readmission in Adults 65 or Older with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: Reducing 30 and 60 day hospital readmissions is critical to our healthcare systems. Older folks with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) account for a disproportionate amount of readmissions. Through recognizing factors that correlate to readmissions, patients at risk may be identified. Objective: To conduct a retrospective review of electronic medical records (EMR) to determine if there is an association between the lipid profile and admission and discharge locations of hospitalized older adults and whether they were rehospitalized 60-days post discharge. Methods: EMRs were reviewed of 86 randomly selected consenting participants who were admitted to a community hospital and were age \u3e 65 and older with T2DM. Results: Patients readmitted within 60 days of their incidental hospitalization had no statistically significant difference in their demographics, the location they were admitted to, or with the components of their lipid profile. There did exist a statistically significant difference in the locations patients were discharged to. Conclusion: Readmitted patients and non-readmitted patients did not differ on their demographics, admission location, or with the components of their lipid profile. Among those non-readmitted, it was more likely that they would be discharged to a skilled nursing facility then back to the community