The Use And Influence Of Health Indicators In Municipal Transportation Plans​​

As a social determinant of health, transportation significantly contributes to well-being through several pathways. Researchers and practitioners have called for health indicators as one way to integrate public health concerns into transportation decision-making. However, it is unclear how indicators are used and what their impact is on policy. This case study of five cities explored how health-related indicators are being used in municipal transportation plans, whether they are institutionalized into transportation agency decision-making processes, and what influence they have on administrative decision-making. In addition, this research also explored the conceptual use of indicators as it relates to social learning and policy change. Finally, this research examined whether health framing was important to policy adoption or change.https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_seminar/1239/thumbnail.jp

People of New York vs. Van Wormer Brothers, Second Copy, Vol. 2

https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/vanwormers_case/1005/thumbnail.jp

People of New York vs. Van Wormer Brothers, Second Copy, Vol. 1

https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/vanwormers_case/1004/thumbnail.jp

People of New York vs. Van Wormer Brothers, Witness Index

https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/vanwormers_case/1003/thumbnail.jp

The Use and Influence of Health Indicators in Municipal Transportation Plans

Transportation is an important social determinant of health that shapes the places where people live, learn, work, and play to the extent that an individual\u27s zip code better predicts their health than their genetic code. Researchers and practitioners have called for the use of health indicators in transportation as one way to integrate public health concerns into transportation. The underlying hope is that new organizational routines, such as measuring and tracking indicators, can translate policy goals into policy practice. However, it is unclear how indicators are used and what impact they have on policy--the creation or modification of policies and planning documents--and practice, especially in transportation. Research on the capacity for indicators to affect decision-making has shown mixed results, with some studies showing that indicators may instead reinforce the status quo. Using a case study approach, this dissertation explores the use and influence of health indicators in municipal transportation plans, addressing an identified gap in knowledge regarding the extent and use of health indicators in transportation planning and decision-making processes. I examined indicators within cities, which are understudied compared to studies of indicators at the metropolitan level and the state level. Organizational factors were more important than indicator usability factors for influencing administrative decision-making, including the institutionalization of indicators over time. Social learning occurred within participatory processes where policy actors framed problems to be addressed in transportation plans. A change in the cultural values regarding the role of transportation was a critical component in making major policy change, although social learning may have also played a role. Minor policy learning and change regarding the use of indicators as a management strategy occurred within all cases. Previous experience with data-driven management helped institutionalize indicators into administrative routine

Creating Age-Friendly Developments: a practical guide for ensuring homes and communities support ageing in place

Over the next 20 years, there is projected to be a rapid acceleration in the older population of cities, both internationally and in the UK. As a result, is it vitally important that the diverse needs and aspirations of older people are fully considered in the planning, design and delivery of new residential developments. This guide offers a list of ‘age-friendly’ considerations that architects, planners and developers should consider when creating new or retrofit urban developments, ensuring we are producing places where everyone can age in place for generations to come

Making a COVID-19 vaccine that works for everyone: ensuring equity and inclusivity in clinical trials

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality and morbidity have been shown to increase with deprivation and impact non-White ethnicities more severely. Despite the extra risk Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicity (BAME) groups face in the pandemic, our current medical research system seems to prioritise innovation aimed at people of European descent. We found significant difficulties in assessing baseline demographics in clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines, displaying a lack of transparency in reporting. Further, we found that most of these trials take place in high-income countries, with only 25 of 219 trials (11.4%) taking place in lower middle- or low-income countries. Trials for the current best vaccine candidates (BNT162b2, ChadOx1, mRNA-173) recruited 80.0% White participants. Underrepresentation of BAME groups in medical research will perpetuate historical distrust in healthcare processes, and poses a risk of unknown differences in efficacy and safety of these vaccines by phenotype. Limiting trial demographics and settings will mean a lack of global applicability of the results of COVID-19 vaccine trials, which will slow progress towards ending the pandemic

Theoretical investigations of the reactions of N and O containing species on a C(100):H 2×1 reconstructed diamond surface

Quantum mechanical and hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical cluster models were used to investigate possible reaction mechanisms whereby gas-phase NH_<i>x</i> (<i>x</i> = 0–2), CNH_<i>x</i> (<i>x</i> = 0, 1), and OH radicals can add to, and incorporate in, a C–C dimer bond on the C(100):H 2 × 1 diamond surface during chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from microwave-activated C/H containing gas mixtures containing trace amounts of added N or O. Three N incorporation routes are identified, initiated by N, NH, and CN­(H) addition to a surface radical site, whereas only OH addition was considered as the precursor to O incorporation. Each is shown to proceed via a ring-opening/ring-closing reaction mechanism analogous to that identified previously for the case of CH₃ addition (and CH₂ incorporation) in diamond growth from a pure C/H plasma. On the basis of the relative abundances of N atoms and NH radicals close to the growing diamond surface, the former is identified as the more probable carrier of the N atoms appearing in CVD grown diamond, but fast H-shifting reactions postaddition encourage the view that NH is the more probable migrating and incorporating species. CN radical addition is deemed less probable but remains an intriguing prospect, since, if the ring-closed structure is reached, this mechanism has the effect of adding two heavy atoms, with the N atom sitting above the current growth layer and thus offering a potential nucleation site for next-layer growth

Stress Preconditioning of Spreading Depression in the Locust CNS

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is closely associated with important pathologies including stroke, seizures and migraine. The mechanisms underlying SD in its various forms are still incompletely understood. Here we describe SD-like events in an invertebrate model, the ventilatory central pattern generator (CPG) of locusts. Using K+ -sensitive microelectrodes, we measured extracellular K+ concentration ([K+]o) in the metathoracic neuropile of the CPG while monitoring CPG output electromyographically from muscle 161 in the second abdominal segment to investigate the role K+ in failure of neural circuit operation induced by various stressors. Failure of ventilation in response to different stressors (hyperthermia, anoxia, ATP depletion, Na+/K+ ATPase impairment, K+ injection) was associated with a disturbance of CNS ion homeostasis that shares the characteristics of CSD and SD-like events in vertebrates. Hyperthermic failure was preconditioned by prior heat shock (3 h, 45°C) and induced-thermotolerance was associated with an increase in the rate of clearance of extracellular K+ that was not linked to changes in ATP levels or total Na+/K+ ATPase activity. Our findings suggest that SD-like events in locusts are adaptive to terminate neural network operation and conserve energy during stress and that they can be preconditioned by experience. We propose that they share mechanisms with CSD in mammals suggesting a common evolutionary origin