An Evaluation of Public Open Space in Downtown Lincoln, Nebraska

Public open space provides many benefits to a downtown area. Among the benefits are economic growth, social connectivity, health, and helping to create an identity for a city. As many cities continue to sprawl outwards, it is important that their downtown areas create a sense of place so that businesses and people stay and visit. Public open spaces can help provide that much needed sense of place. This study examines whether the “public space index” designed by Vikas Mehta (2014) is effective at evaluating public open spaces. This was done by using four public open spaces (Foundation Garden, Tower Square, The Railyard, and Government Square Park) in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, as a case study to test the public space index. Results show that The Railyard was the highest scoring space at 75 out of 100 followed by Foundation Garden with a score of 72 out of 100. Tower Square scored 65 out of 100 and Government Square Park scored the lowest, according to the index, at 61 out of 100. The individual scores were then analyzed and broken down into five aspects: inclusiveness, comfort, safety, meaningful activities, and pleasurability. Finally, individual recommendations were given in order to better enhance these public spaces. By evaluating the spaces in downtown Lincoln, city officials will better understand which spaces are successful and which ones are not. This study will also help urban designers know what aspects are important when designing or redesigning public open space. Advisor: Daniel Piatkowsk

An Evaluation of Public Open Space in Downtown Lincoln, Nebraska

Public open space provides many benefits to a downtown area. Among the benefits are economic growth, social connectivity, health, and helping to create an identity for a city. As many cities continue to sprawl outwards, it is important that their downtown areas create a sense of place so that businesses and people stay and visit. Public open spaces can help provide that much needed sense of place. This study examines whether the “public space index” designed by Vikas Mehta (2014) is effective at evaluating public open spaces. This was done by using four public open spaces (Foundation Garden, Tower Square, The Railyard, and Government Square Park) in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, as a case study to test the public space index. Results show that The Railyard was the highest scoring space at 75 out of 100 followed by Foundation Garden with a score of 72 out of 100. Tower Square scored 65 out of 100 and Government Square Park scored the lowest, according to the index, at 61 out of 100. The individual scores were then analyzed and broken down into five aspects: inclusiveness, comfort, safety, meaningful activities, and pleasurability. Finally, individual recommendations were given in order to better enhance these public spaces. By evaluating the spaces in downtown Lincoln, city officials will better understand which spaces are successful and which ones are not. This study will also help urban designers know what aspects are important when designing or redesigning public open space. Advisor: Daniel Piatkowsk

Coin migration within the euro area

This paper analyses how many euro coins outflow from Germany and which composition of coins is to be expected in the long run. To this end, a simple mathematical model is formulated and calibrated for €1 coins. The introduction of the euro coins in 2002 presented a unique opportunity to analyse the cross-border migration and the mixing process of coins in different euro-area countries. Based on research by Stoyan and depending on growth assumptions, the annual outflow of German €1 coins is calculated to lie somewhere between 4% and 5%. In the long run, the ratio of German €1 coins in Germany is likely to converge to around 50%. --Euro coins,coin volumes,mixing process

Pressure-Induced Alterations in the Protein Pattern of the Thermophilic Archaebacterium Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus

Elevated hydrostatic pressure has been shown to affect the growth rate of the thermophilic methanobacterium Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus without extending its temperature range of viability. Analysis of the cell inventory after approximately 10 h of incubation at 65 degrees C and 50 MPa (applying high-pressure liquid chromatography and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis) proved that pressure induces alterations in the protein pattern and the amino acid composition of the total cell hydrolysate. Gels showed that after pressurization a series of (basic) proteins with a molecular mass in the range of 38 and 70 kilodaltons occurs which is not detectable in cells grown at normal atmospheric pressure. The question of whether the observed alterations are caused by the perturbation of the balance of protein synthesis and turnover or by the pressure-induced synthesis of compounds analogous to heat shock proteins remains unanswered

Self-Employment and Risk Preference.

Business Performance; Risk Preference; Self-Employment

Rote Listen und Checklisten der Spinnentiere Baden-Württembergs / Fachdienst Naturschutz ... [Hrsg. Landesanstalt für Umweltschutz Baden-Württemberg. Autoren Dietrich Nährig & Karl Hermann Harms. Unter Mitarb. von Josef Kiechle ...]

Stetig wächst das Bewusstsein, dass Spinnen schützenswerte Lebewesen mit einer höchst interessanten Lebensweise sind und dass sie hohe Bedeutung im Naturhaushalt besitzen. Sie werden nicht mehr so häufig wie früher als lästiges, ekeliges und totzuschlagendes "Ungeziefer" empfunden. Nicht zuletzt die faszinierenden Darstellungen von KULLMANN & STERN (1981) haben das Interesse an dieser Tiergruppe geweckt. Darüber hinaus steht heute mit BELLMANN (1997) ein Werk mit hervorragenden Abbildungen und weiteren wichtigen Grundinformationen zur Verfügung, in dem sich auch Nichtfachleute rasch und gründlich über Spinnen informieren können. In Baden-Württemberg kommen nach dem aktuellen Kenntnisstand 738 Spinnenarten vor. Bedingt durch seine Lage im Südwesten Deutschlands ist hier der Anteil der Arten mit Hauptverbreitung im Süden Europas im Ländervergleich besonders groß. Arten mit Hauptverbreitung im Osten Europas finden sich ebenfalls. Im Schwarzwald und auf der Schwäbischen Alb sind Arten des Gebirges zu Hause. Viele Menschen halten Spinnen irrtümlich für Insekten. Spinnen bilden jedoch zusammen mit Skorpionen, Weberknechten, Milben und anderen Tierordnungen, wie zum Beispiel den Pseudoskorpionen, eine eigene Tierklasse

Post-modernist education. Analysis or affirmation of societal change?

Das Ende der Politik als einer Form menschlicher Praxis, die Zukunft antizipiert, gestaltet und offenhält, ist von H. Schelsky schon 1961 vorausgesagt worden. Heute sprechen nun einige Erziehungswissenschaftler vom Ende der Pädagogik, vom Ende der Erziehung und der Kindheit, der pädagogischen Bewegung und des pädagogischen Generationsverhältnisses. Sie berufen sich nicht auf Schelsky, sondern auf eigene Erfahrungen und zum Teil auf Aussagen zur Postmoderne unserer Gegenwart in neostrukturalistischen Analysen französischer Philosophen. Im folgenden werden der Grundansatz neuzeitlicher Pädagogik (Teil 1) sowie Foucaults, Lyotards und Baudrillards Konzepte zur Postmoderne (Teil 2) einander gegenübergestellt und die von Lenzen, Wunsche und Giesecke vertretenen Thesen vom Ende der Pädagogik daraufhin überprüft, inwieweit die in ihnen enthaltene Verabschiedung der neuzeitlichen Pädagogik einer Affirmation der Dialektik der Aufklärung verpflichtet ist (Teil 3). (DIPF/Orig.)In West Germany, Helmut Schelsky was one of the first to understand post-modernism as affirming the technological development of modern times. In this article, Schelskys claim that the end of politics is about to come is taken as a starting point for contrasting fundamental principles of modern pedagogics with Foucaults, Lyotards and Baudrillards concepts of post-modernism. In the third and last part of the article, the authors deal with the question in how far today\u27s post-modern educational science with its proclamation of the end of pedagogics is indebted to an affirmation of the dialectics of the enlightenment. (DIPF/Orig.