A Guide for Planning a Bike Share System at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The purpose of this document is to serve as a framework for planning a bicycle share system at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with the possible inclusion of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska, in the system. This document provides a background review of the evolution of bike share systems and the recent rapid growth of these systems around the world. The document describes planning methodologies used in other locations and the lessons learned from the bike share systems around the world, as to what processes should be pursued to implement a successful bike share system. With the University of Nebraska-Lincoln move to the Big Ten, there has been a push to add an additional 5,000 students, which will put pressure on all existing resources. Bike share is one way to build extra capacity into the transportation system. In the case of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln being able to develop a bike share system by itself is not practical. If the City of Lincoln would consider a bike share system, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln should be an active participant. With the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as an active partner with the City of Lincoln, there are many advantages for both parties. The City of Lincoln greatly benefits having the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and likewise the University of Nebraska-Lincoln benefits greatly by having a vibrant downtown area that makes the University of Nebraska Lincoln attractive to potential students and faculty. Bike share will not solve all the transportation issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln long term, but could become an important piece of the transportation systems in the future. This project looks at how new technology will be implemented in bike share and how NFC (near field communication) and RFID (radio-frequency identification) can be utilized to improve user experiences. The planning process is laid out in a way that should allow other universities and municipalities to gain knowledge to develop bike share systems that will be additions to the existing multimodal transportation options in their communities. By allowing people to access bikes at locations where they seek personal transportation and having bike share stations where they want to go, bike share systems are changing transportation in cities across the globe and helping to develop vibrant communities in those cities. Professional Project Advisory Committee: Professor Gordon Scholz, Dr. Yunwoo Nam, Dr. Zhenghong Tang. Project Recipient/Client: Jennifer Dam Shewchuk, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Assistant Director of Institutional Research and Planning for Campus Planning and Space Managemen

End users\u27 perceptions concerning computer applications implemented in broadcast stations

In an era of limited resources, organizations must scrutinize every purchase carefully. A critical and sometimes very expensive purchase is for computer hardware and software. The reasons for the purchase are generally given as productivity improvements or personnel reductions. However, assessment of why computer applications are really implemented from the end users\u27 perspective has not been reported. In order to answer questions to justify expenditures it would be helpful to understand how end users perceive the reasons for implementation of computer applications in their stations. To this end a questionnaire was sent to all broadcast radio and TV stations in the State of Wisconsin. The end users (station managers) were requested to identify reasons for present computer application implementations and areas of implementations for future use. The results of this study compare type of computer being used and station characteristics with a checklist of reasons for computer application implementations in the broadcast industry. This research begins the identification of other factors that are Justifiable reasons for computer application implementations. In doing this, end users can broaden the how, why, what, and when of their computer application purchases. We all believe that the computer is a tool to help us do our jobs better, but what does that mean and how can we document these feelings? Or as Jon Van (I99I) and G. P. Zachary (1991) have stated, are we really getting what we expected from the computer applications we have implemented? This research study does not pretend to completely answer these or other questions in this area. However, it is a beginning and valuable research that needs to be augmented

Silicon-on ceramic process: Silicon sheet growth and device development for the large-area silicon sheet task of the low-cost solar array project

The technical feasibility of producing solar-cell-quality sheet silicon to meet the Department of Energy (DOE) 1986 overall price goal of $0.70/watt was investigated. With the silicon-on-ceramic (SOC) approach, a low-cost ceramic substrate is coated with large-grain polycrystalline silicon by unidirectional solidification of molten silicon. This effort was divided into several areas of investigation in order to most efficiently meet the goals of the program. These areas include: (1) dip-coating; (2) continuous coating designated SCIM-coating, and acronym for Silicon Coating by an Inverted Meniscus (SCIM); (3) material characterization; (4) cell fabrication and evaluation; and (5) theoretical analysis. Both coating approaches were successful in producing thin layers of large grain, solar-cell-quality silicon. The dip-coating approach was initially investigated and considerable effort was given to this technique. The SCIM technique was adopted because of its scale-up potential and its capability to produce more conventiently large areas of SOC

The Politics of Immigrant Rights: Between Political Geography and Transnational Interventions

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Perinatal health care of women without health care insurance in Germany

In Germany, approximately 60,000 people live without health insurance, including women of reproductive age. Pregnant and childbearing women and their children in this group are exposed to greater health risks. To ensure their care, midwives and gynecologists offer voluntary and free services as part of interdisciplinary teams. Even if regional solutions exist, national regulations have to be developed and implemented

A Simulation–optimization Framework for Post-disaster Allocation of Mental Health Resources

Extreme events, such as natural or human-caused disasters, cause mental health stress in affected communities. While the severity of these outcomes varies based on socioeconomic standing, age group, and degree of exposure, disaster planners can mitigate potential stress-induced mental health outcomes by assessing the capacity and scalability of early, intermediate, and long-term treatment interventions by social workers and psychologists. However, local and state authorities are typically underfunded, understaffed, and have ongoing health and social service obligations that constrain mitigation and response activities. In this research, a resource assignment framework is developed as a coupled-state transition and linear optimization model that assists planners in optimally allocating constrained resources and satisfying mental health recovery priorities post-disaster. The resource assignment framework integrates the impact of a simulated disaster on mental health, mental health provider capacities, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to identify vulnerable populations needing additional assistance post-disaster. In this study, we optimally distribute mental health clinicians to treat the affected population based upon rule sets that simulate decision-maker priorities, such as economic and social vulnerability criteria. Finally, the resource assignment framework maps the mental health recovery of the disaster-affected populations over time, providing agencies a means to prepare for and respond to future disasters given existing resource constraints. These capabilities hold the potential to support decision-makers in minimizing long-term mental health impacts of disasters on communities through improved preparation and response activities

Pseudomyxoma-type Invasion in Gastrointestinal Adenocarcinomas of Endometrium and Cervix: A Report of 2 Cases

Summary: This paper presents a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical report of 2 gastrointestinal-type tumors, one in the endometrium and the other in the cervix. Both showed extensive invasion into the pelvic structures with acellular mucin, identical to pseudomyxoma but in the absence of appendiceal or ovarian tumors. Case 1 was an 81- yr-old female with a Stage III endometrial gastrointestinal-type adenocarcinoma who had had an endometrial polyp with intestinal metaplasia 4 yr previously. Case 2 was a 68-yr-old female with Stage IIIB endocervical gastrointestinal-type adenocarcinoma. Both were associated with a pseudomyxoma type of invasion, which in the endometrial case was transmural through the myometrium, and in the cervical case involved parametria, pelvic floor, and lymph nodes. Immunohistochemically, both tumors had a gastrointestinal phenotype coexpressing cytokeratins 7 and 20, CDX2, villin, MUC2, MUC5AC, and MUC6 and were negative for human papillomavirus, analyzed by realtime polymerase chain reaction. The first case exemplifies intestinal endometrial metaplasia as a precursor lesion of the rare gastrointestinal type of adenocarcinoma and also proves its progression into carcinoma. The second case exemplifies the highly aggressive nature of cervical invasion forming mucin lakes. Extensive pseudomyxoma in the uterus and cervix was associated with high clinical stages with marked lymphovascular invasion and lymph node metastase

Midwifery 2030: A woman's pathway to health. What does this mean?

© 2015 The Authors. The 2014 State of the World's Midwifery report included a new framework for the provision of woman-centred sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health care, known as the Midwifery2030 Pathway. The Pathway was designed to apply in all settings (high-, middle- and low-income countries, and in any type of health system). In this paper, we describe the process of developing the Midwifery2030 Pathway and explain the meaning of its different components, with a view to assisting countries with its implementation.The Pathway was developed by a process of consultation with an international group of midwifery experts. It considers four stages of a woman's reproductive life: (1) pre-pregnancy, (2) pregnancy, (3) labour and birth, and (4) postnatal, and describes the care that women and adolescents need at each stage. Underpinning these four stages are ten foundations, which describe the systems, services, workforce and information that need to be in place in order to turn the Pathway from a vision into a reality. These foundations include: the policy and working environment in which the midwifery workforce operates, the effective coverage of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent services (i.e. going beyond availability and ensuring accessibility, acceptability and high quality), financing mechanisms, collaboration between different sectors and different levels of the health system, a focus on primary care nested within a functional referral system when needed, pre- and in-service education for the workforce, effective regulation of midwifery and strengthened leadership from professional associations. Strengthening of all of these foundations will enable countries to turn the Pathway from a vision into reality