Employer and Training Needs: Report 03 Automotive Mechanics

The purpose of this portion of the study is to determine the employment and training needs in Metropolitan Omaha for the occupational area designated as automotive mechanics. The automotive trade was divided into four major areas: 1) general automotive mechanics, including brakes and engine rebuilding, 2) service station mechanics, 3) new/used car preparation, and 4) auto machinists

Employer and Training Needs: Report 14 Construction Technologies

The purpose of this study is to determine the employment and training needs of Metropolitan Omaha in the occupational area designated as construction technologies. The construction trades were divided into eight major areas including: 1) brick and block layers, 2) carpenters, 3) drywall installers/ finishers, 4) cement workers, 5) electricians, 6) plumbers and pipe-fitters, 7) sheet metal workers, and 8) heavy equipment operators

Evaluation of Metro Area Carpooling in Omaha, NE

The rising cost of transportation has become a major concern to Americans at every level of the economic ladder. Indeed, recent price hikes in gasoline have affected practically all other products. An optimistic America has watched the per-gallon price of gasoline rise by 400 percent in the last decade and now helplessly looks to the future $2.00 per-gallon fuel. The facts speak for themselves. We cannot stop the rising cost of transportation; we must cope with the rising cost of transportation

A Study Testing the Control Theory: Teenage Drinking in Four Nebraska High Schools

The U.S. Congress, through the findings of the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, holds that alcohol abuse is the nation\u27s greatest drug problem, asserting that it warps nine million lives and costs approximately $28billion per year. There are 95 million drinkers in the U.S., most of whom drink alcohol without harm, but approximately five percent of adult Americans have serious drinking problems and are the source of much personal grief and huge cost to the nation (New York Times Review, 1973: 71)

A study testing the control theory: Teenage drinking in four Nebraska High schools

The U.S. Congress, through the findings of the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism, holds that alcohol abuse is the nation\u27s greatest drug problem, asserting that it warps nine million lives and costs approximately $28 billion per year. There are 95 million drinkers in the U.S. most of whom drink alcohol without harm, but approximately five percent of adult Americans have serious drinking problems and are the source of much personal grief and huge cost to the nation (New York Times Review, 1973: 71)

Entry Level Manpower Needs in the Omaha Metropolitan Area

The majo1· purpose of this study was to develop a data base of projected employment in the Omaha SMSA. The study sought to reveal short-term occupational projections of Omaha employers. Reported growth, decline, and turnover in selected occupations were the key factors considered, and data were also gathered on the educational, training, and experience requirements of employers for entry level positions in occupations studied. This study should meet the needs of administrators, planners, and counselors for information on occupational trends so that they can engage in effective manpower training

The Little Engine That Could – How to Start the Motor? Motivating the Online Student

Motivation is a function of initiating and sustaining goal-directed action. In addition to individual variables, student motivation is influenced by situational variables that include course design, instructional approach, and to a great extent, faculty behavior. This article presents classic literature on motivation and offers a grounded set of instructional methods and strategies with which faculty can spark and sustain motivation that leads to deep rather than superficial learning in the online learner. These classic motivational techniques have a direct relationship with today's online learner. The authors highlight the significance of external influences and describe some of the many opportunities available to faculty to enhance the motivation of online students to learn

The Application of a Screening Matrix for Industrial Development to Omaha, Nebraska

The following is a summary of alternative attempts made to identify manufacturing industries which have the greatest potential for industrial development in the Omaha area. The methods utilized were similar to that used in the first report submitted to the Market Strategy Committee of the Economic Development Committee. Some major revisions were made on the previous report to produce comparative matrices utilizing additional criterion variables and differing levels of weighted importance placed on selected criterion variables

Transmission Shifts Underlie Variability in Population Responses to Yersinia pestis Infection

Host populations for the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, are highly variable in their response to plague ranging from near deterministic extinction (i.e., epizootic dynamics) to a low probability of extinction despite persistent infection (i.e., enzootic dynamics). Much of the work to understand this variability has focused on specific host characteristics, such as population size and resistance, and their role in determining plague dynamics. Here, however, we advance the idea that the relative importance of alternative transmission routes may vary causing shifts from epizootic to enzootic dynamics. We present a model that incorporates host and flea ecology with multiple transmission hypotheses to study how transmission shifts determine population responses to plague. Our results suggest enzootic persistence relies on infection of an off-host flea reservoir and epizootics rely on transiently maintained flea infection loads through repeated infectious feeds by fleas. In either case, early-phase transmission by fleas (i.e., transmission immediately following an infected blood meal) has been observed in laboratory studies, and we show that it is capable of driving plague dynamics at the population level. Sensitivity analysis of model parameters revealed that host characteristics (e.g., population size and resistance) vary in importance depending on transmission dynamics, suggesting that host ecology may scale differently through different transmission routes enabling prediction of population responses in a more robust way than using either host characteristics or transmission shifts alone

Effects of temperature on the transmission of Yersinia Pestis by the flea, Xenopsylla Cheopis, in the late phase period

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Traditionally, efficient flea-borne transmission of <it>Yersinia pestis</it>, the causative agent of plague, was thought to be dependent on a process referred to as blockage in which biofilm-mediated growth of the bacteria physically blocks the flea gut, leading to the regurgitation of contaminated blood into the host. This process was previously shown to be temperature-regulated, with blockage failing at temperatures approaching 30°C; however, the abilities of fleas to transmit infections at different temperatures had not been adequately assessed. We infected colony-reared fleas of <it>Xenopsylla cheopis </it>with a wild type strain of <it>Y. pestis </it>and maintained them at 10, 23, 27, or 30°C. Naïve mice were exposed to groups of infected fleas beginning on day 7 post-infection (p.i.), and every 3-4 days thereafter until day 14 p.i. for fleas held at 10°C, or 28 days p.i. for fleas held at 23-30°C. Transmission was confirmed using <it>Y. pestis</it>-specific antigen or antibody detection assays on mouse tissues.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Although no statistically significant differences in per flea transmission efficiencies were detected between 23 and 30°C, efficiencies were highest for fleas maintained at 23°C and they began to decline at 27 and 30°C by day 21 p.i. These declines coincided with declining median bacterial loads in fleas at 27 and 30°C. Survival and feeding rates of fleas also varied by temperature to suggest fleas at 27 and 30°C would be less likely to sustain transmission than fleas maintained at 23°C. Fleas held at 10°C transmitted <it>Y. pestis </it>infections, although flea survival was significantly reduced compared to that of uninfected fleas at this temperature. Median bacterial loads were significantly higher at 10°C than at the other temperatures.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that temperature does not significantly effect the per flea efficiency of <it>Y. pestis </it>transmission by <it>X. cheopis</it>, but that temperature is likely to influence the dynamics of <it>Y. pestis </it>flea-borne transmission, perhaps by affecting persistence of the bacteria in the flea gut or by influencing flea survival. Whether <it>Y. pestis </it>biofilm production is important for transmission at different temperatures remains unresolved, although our results support the hypothesis that blockage is not necessary for efficient transmission.</p