2010-2014 Pedestrian and Bicycle Traffic Count Preliminary Report

The Step Into Cuba Alliance (the Alliance) is a broad coalition of local, state and national organizations and individuals working to increase opportunities for physical activity in the Village of Cuba, NM (the Village). A primary goal of the Alliance is to increase the walkability of Cuba to encourage walking as a convenient and low-cost form of physical activity. One of the areas of focus for the Alliance is US Highway 550 (US 550), a four lane, federal highway that bisects the Village and serves as Cuba’s main street. The Alliance is also working to make NM 126, leading from US 550 to the Village of Cuba St. Francis of Assisi Park, more pedestrian friendly. US 550 is a primary route connecting Albuquerque to Northwestern New Mexico and Colorado. In Cuba, US 550 is estimated to have a traffic count of about 8,200 vehicles per day.1 Cuba’s health clinic, post office and other essential services are located on US 550, and the Village of Cuba serves as the commercial center for the area. Residents from within the municipality and the outlying areas visit Cuba regularly to retrieve their mail from the post office (there is no mail delivery service in the Cuba area), shop for food and other necessities, receive medical care, and obtain social services. Many residents of Cuba live within walking distance of the commercial center. Most roadways used by residents to reach services and businesses on US 550 do not have safe sidewalks or walkways. Additionally, on US 550 there are no traffic lights or stop signs, only two crosswalks, and the sidewalks are not continuous. In winter, snow removal from the highway leads to piles of snow on sidewalks and highway shoulders, obstructing pedestrian access. The Village and the Alliance have been working with the NM Department of Transportation (NMDOT) to explore ways to make US 550 and NM 126 more pedestrian friendly. In 2011, federal funding was obtained and utilized to complete a new section of pedestrian-friendly sidewalks along US 550 on the south end of Cuba. Applications have been approved and funding has been earmarked for additional improvement projects along US 550 and adjoining roadways. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic counts represent another way in which the Alliance and the Village have focused needed attention on US 550 and its intersecting streets. Faculty and staff from the University of New Mexico Prevention Research Center (UNM PRC), working with an independent transportation planning consultant and pedestrian and bicycle safety expert, organized the counting effort, trained counters and participated in the counting. Community members from the Cuba area contributed to the effort by conducting the counts as volunteers and paid workers. This report provides data on the use of US 550 and intersecting roads, including NM 126, and the Village of Cuba’s St. Francis of Assisi Park by pedestrians, bicyclists and other non-motorized transportation (e.g., skateboarders). Baseline data were collected in 2010, and follow-up data collected in 2011-2014. The repeated counts document changes in non-motorized use following improvements to make the area safer and more attractive for pedestrians. Data from the counts have also been submitted to the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, a nationwide effort to create a consistent, uniform collection and analysis system for non-motorized transportation

Effectiveness of Antipsychotic Drugs in Patients with Chronic Schizophrenia

BACKGROUND The relative effectiveness of second-generation (atypical) antipsychotic drugs as compared with that of older agents has been incompletely addressed, though newer agents are currently used far more commonly. We compared a first-generation antipsychotic, perphenazine, with several newer drugs in a double-blind study. METHODS A total of 1493 patients with schizophrenia were recruited at 57 U.S. sites and randomly assigned to receive olanzapine (7.5 to 30 mg per day), perphenazine (8 to 32 mg per day), quetiapine (200 to 800 mg per day), or risperidone (1.5 to 6.0 mg per day) for up to 18 months. Ziprasidone (40 to 160 mg per day) was included after its approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The primary aim was to delineate differences in the overall effectiveness of these five treatments. RESULTS Overall, 74 percent of patients discontinued the study medication before 18 months (1061 of the 1432 patients who received at least one dose): 64 percent of those assigned to olanzapine, 75 percent of those assigned to perphenazine, 82 percent of those assigned to quetiapine, 74 percent of those assigned to risperidone, and 79 percent of those assigned to ziprasidone. The time to the discontinuation of treatment for any cause was significantly longer in the olanzapine group than in the quetiapine (P<0.001) or risperidone (P=0.002) group, but not in the perphenazine (P=0.021) or ziprasidone (P=0.028) group. The times to discontinuation because of intolerable side effects were similar among the groups, but the rates differed (P=0.04); olanzapine was associated with more discontinuation for weight gain or metabolic effects, and perphenazine was associated with more discontinuation for extrapyramidal effects. CONCLUSIONS The majority of patients in each group discontinued their assigned treatment owing to inefficacy or intolerable side effects or for other reasons. Olanzapine was the most effective in terms of the rates of discontinuation, and the efficacy of the conventional antipsychotic agent perphenazine appeared similar to that of quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone. Olanzapine was associated with greater weight gain and increases in measures of glucose and lipid metabolism

What you ask is what you get: Learning from interviewing in qualitative research

This paper outlines some important issues discovered about undertaking qualitative interviews. A description of a study that involved interviewing the authors' students is followed by discussion of aspects of the interviewing process that became apparent during analysis of those interviews. Problems that were encountered with retrospective interviews, power differentials, question sequencing, some interview techniques, and a prior knowledge of the students are illuminated to assist other qualitative interviewers to be aware of these potential areas of difficult

Nursing and the development of nursing education in Fiji

Fiji is one of Australia's Pacific neighbours. Nursing and nurse education in that country is at an exciting stage of development. The Ministry of Health in Fiji has recently introdeuced new nursing initiatives and is about to introduce a new pre-registered nurse curriculum in 2004. The introduction of the new curriculum will pave the way for the Fiji School of Nursing to merge with the Fiji School of Medicine, part of a more inclusive goal for healthcare education in Fiji. Other initiatives such as the introduction of the nurse practitioner role and nursing competencies have assisted nursing in Fiji to move towards this goal. This paper will explore these new developments in nursing as well as provide an historical account of the development of nursing education in Fiji

ILC Reference Design Report Volume 1 - Executive Summary

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a 200-500 GeV center-of-mass high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider, based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radio-frequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities. The ILC has a total footprint of about 31 km and is designed for a peak luminosity of 2x10^34 cm^-2s^-1. This report is the Executive Summary (Volume I) of the four volume Reference Design Report. It gives an overview of the physics at the ILC, the accelerator design and value estimate, the detector concepts, and the next steps towards project realization.The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a 200-500 GeV center-of-mass high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider, based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radio-frequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities. The ILC has a total footprint of about 31 km and is designed for a peak luminosity of 2x10^34 cm^-2s^-1. This report is the Executive Summary (Volume I) of the four volume Reference Design Report. It gives an overview of the physics at the ILC, the accelerator design and value estimate, the detector concepts, and the next steps towards project realization

ILC Reference Design Report Volume 4 - Detectors

This report, Volume IV of the International Linear Collider Reference Design Report, describes the detectors which will record and measure the charged and neutral particles produced in the ILC's high energy e+e- collisions. The physics of the ILC, and the environment of the machine-detector interface, pose new challenges for detector design. Several conceptual designs for the detector promise the needed performance, and ongoing detector R&D is addressing the outstanding technological issues. Two such detectors, operating in push-pull mode, perfectly instrument the ILC interaction region, and access the full potential of ILC physics.This report, Volume IV of the International Linear Collider Reference Design Report, describes the detectors which will record and measure the charged and neutral particles produced in the ILC's high energy e+e- collisions. The physics of the ILC, and the environment of the machine-detector interface, pose new challenges for detector design. Several conceptual designs for the detector promise the needed performance, and ongoing detector R&D is addressing the outstanding technological issues. Two such detectors, operating in push-pull mode, perfectly instrument the ILC interaction region, and access the full potential of ILC physics

ILC Reference Design Report Volume 3 - Accelerator

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a 200-500 GeV center-of-mass high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider, based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radio-frequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities. The ILC has a total footprint of about 31 km and is designed for a peak luminosity of 2x10^34 cm^-2 s^-1. The complex includes a polarized electron source, an undulator-based positron source, two 6.7 km circumference damping rings, two-stage bunch compressors, two 11 km long main linacs and a 4.5 km long beam delivery system. This report is Volume III (Accelerator) of the four volume Reference Design Report, which describes the design and cost of the ILC.The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a 200-500 GeV center-of-mass high-luminosity linear electron-positron collider, based on 1.3 GHz superconducting radio-frequency (SCRF) accelerating cavities. The ILC has a total footprint of about 31 km and is designed for a peak luminosity of 2x10^34 cm^-2 s^-1. The complex includes a polarized electron source, an undulator-based positron source, two 6.7 km circumference damping rings, two-stage bunch compressors, two 11 km long main linacs and a 4.5 km long beam delivery system. This report is Volume III (Accelerator) of the four volume Reference Design Report, which describes the design and cost of the ILC