Infrastructure Commons^™

Resilience Of Interdependent Transportation And Healthcare Systems: A Simulation-Driven Framework Incorporating Social Equity And Facility Optimization, S. Yasaman Ahmadi

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to develop an integrated, simulation-driven framework to assess and enhance the resilience of interdependent transportation and healthcare systems before, during, and after natural hazards. By examining how spatial disruptions, social vulnerability, operational constraints, and infrastructure interdependencies affect access to and functionality of hospitals, this research offers a multifaceted evaluation of system performance under stress. This dissertation examines the impact of natural hazards, particularly floods, on the interdependent transportation and healthcare systems. The proposed approach combines and advances GIS-based network analysis, graph-theoretical modeling, and discrete-event simulation to evaluate system performance under different scenarios. The …

Housing Affordability Impacting Factors In U.S. Urban Areas From 2010 To 2020: An Empirical Review Of Theoretical Factors, Colby Lee Woodson

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study examines housing affordability in United States Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs) and counties from 2010 to 2020, using American Community Survey and Building Permits Survey data. It evaluates theoretical frameworks from George Galster and Kwan Ok Lee. Using a multiscalar approach, affordability is assessed through a costs-over-income ratio, incorporating both supply- and demand-side factors. A novel contribution is the integration of elder dependency rates, which limit housing turnover and exacerbate supply constraints. Findings indicate that rising full homeownership—particularly among older households—has reduced tenure mobility. The study also shows that CSAs offer a stronger analytical resolution than counties. Despite home …

Praying To Tiktok, Seeking The Self: How Rhetoric Reveals And Conceals The World’S Most Powerful Guru Of The Postindustrial Age, Samantha L. Gillespie-Hoffman

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Imagine a world where the most powerful leader is a wellness guru that runs an elaborate church with millions of followers. The guru is so powerful that everyone believes they can read minds and make ordinary people rich and famous. The guru controls forms of communication, media channels, consumer tastes, and what people eat, drink, say, and even think. What if this guru was not human but actually an algorithm? Does this sound like the plot of a science fiction novel? I argue that this scenario is closer to reality than most will admit. In this project, readers encounter a …

Comparison Of Ceneb And Cohyst Hydrologic Models Within A Common Domain In Central Nebraska, William R. Moak

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources (NDNR) has developed several hydrologic models to help effectively manage water resources in the state. These models guide water managers to allocate surface and groundwater supplies to a range of uses (irrigation, environmental protection, interstate water agreements) and evaluate the impacts of changes to the surface water-groundwater system (e.g., new wells, evolving recharge patterns). Two such models, the Central Nebraska (CENEB) model and the Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) model cover north central and south central Nebraska, respectively, but the model domains overlap along a west-east strip between the Platte and Loup Rivers, enabling direct …

Executive Order On The Safe, Secure, And Trustworthy Development And Use Of Artificial Intelligence, Joseph R. Biden

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Section 1. Purpose. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril. Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation; displace and disempower workers; stifle competition; and pose risks to national security. Harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks. This endeavor demands a society-wide effort that includes government, the private sector, academia, and civil society.

My Administration places the highest urgency …

The Impact Of Organized Activism On Technology Sharing, Ahmed Chennak, Amalia Yiannaka

Cornhusker Economics

What factors influence a firm's decision to share its technology with competitors? While patent licensing has received considerable attention in the literature, studies have typically focused on the optimal licensing contract for product and process innovations in various market settings. A key finding of this literature is that the optimal licensing strategy depends on the type of the patentee; that is, whether the patentee is a producer in the market (insider patentee) or not (outsider patentee). Little attention has been given, however, to the role the general public can play on firms' incentives to share their innovations through licensing contracts …

Role Of Social Network On Technology Adoption: Application To Nebraska Producers In The Face Of Undesirable Vegetation Transitions, Sabrina Gulab, Holly K. Nesbitt, Simanti Banerjee, Theresa Floyd, Karina A. Schoengold

Cornhusker Economics

Conclusion

Producers need to have access to information regarding new conservation practices and technologies to ensure land management in the face of ecological threats in general and vegetation transitions (VTs) in the context of our study. This study investigates the role of an individual producer's social network on the willingness to seek information about technologies and management practices and the likelihood of new technology adoption with special attention to risk attitudes and producer spillover effects. Our results provide evidence that network composition and information obtained through a producer's social network don't influence an individual's willingness to seek information about new …

An Integrated Hydrologic Model To Support The Central Platte Natural Resources District Groundwater Management Plan, Central Nebraska, Jonathan (Jp) Traylor, Moussa Guira, Steven M. Petersen

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

The groundwater and surface-water supply of the Central Platte Natural Resources District supports a large agricultural economy from the High Plains aquifer and Platte River, respectively. This study provided the Central Platte Natural Resources District with an advanced numerical modeling tool to assist with the update of their Groundwater Management Plan.

An integrated hydrologic model, called the Central Platte Integrated Hydrologic Model, was constructed using the MODFLOW-One-Water Hydrologic Model code with the Newton solver. This code integrates climate, landscape, surface water, and groundwater-flow processes in a fully coupled approach. Model framework included 163 rows; 327 columns; 2,640 feet cell sides; …

Drainage Law Proposal, J. David Aiken

Cornhusker Economics

Legislative Bill 806 would significantly change Nebraska drainage law and bring long-overdue reform to Nebraska water law. This newsletter gives a quick overview of LB 806 and how it would impact the resolution of drainage disputes in Nebraska.

Revised Corporate History Of Northern Pacific Railway Company As Of June 30, 1917. Centennial Edition Including A Foreword With Later Corporate Changes, Rollin R. Davis , Ed.

Zea E-Books Collection

doi: 10.32873/unl.dc.zea.1330

From the Foreword: Railroads have been important in American history since the mid-nineteenth century for national unification, the settlement of the American West, the industrial revolution, economic growth, models of complex organization for other large corporations, and the transition of America from rural, agrarian society to urban, industrial society. The railroads’ transformative influence of technological change and social change has been termed “railroadization” (Schumpeter 1939, 1:325-351). Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1965, 9-12) characterized the railroad industry as the first big business in America. The transcontinental railroads were especially significant. A transcontinental railroad may be defined as a railroad …

Risk-Based Machine Learning Approaches For Probabilistic Transient Stability, Umair Shahzad

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Power systems are getting more complex than ever and are consequently operating close to their limit of stability. Moreover, with the increasing demand of renewable wind generation, and the requirement to maintain a secure power system, the importance of transient stability cannot be overestimated. Considering its significance in power system security, it is important to propose a different approach for enhancing the transient stability, considering uncertainties. Current deterministic industry practices of transient stability assessment ignore the probabilistic nature of variables (fault type, fault location, fault clearing time, etc.). These approaches typically provide a conservative criterion and can result in expensive …

Relating Cyanobacteria And Physicochemical Water-Quality Properties In Willow Creek Lake, Nebraska, 2012–14, David L. Rus, Brent M. Hall, Steven A. Thomas

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Document abstract

Cyanobacteria (also referred to as blue-green algae) are naturally present members of phytoplankton assemblages that may detract from beneficial uses of water because some strains produce cyanotoxins that pose health hazards to people and animals. Cyanobacteria populations observed in Willow Creek Lake during 2012 through 2014 were compared to external nutrient loading from the Willow Creek drainage basin and several other physicochemical properties within the lake, including internal nutrient loading. This report is part of a cooperative study between the United States Geological Survey, the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, the Nebraska …

Brackish Groundwater And Its Potential To Augment Freshwater Supplies, Jennifer S. Stanton, Kevin F. Dennehy, Sharon L. Qi, Alta C. Harris

United States Geological Survey: Water Reports and Publications

Document abstract

Secure, reliable, and sustainable water resources are fundamental to the Nation’s food production, energy independence, and ecological and human health and well-being. Indications are that at any given time, water resources are under stress in selected parts of the country. The large-scale development of groundwater resources has caused declines in the amount of groundwater in storage and declines in discharges to surface water bodies (Reilly and others, 2008). Water supply in some regions, particularly in arid and semiarid regions, is not adequate to meet demand, and severe drought intensifies the stresses affecting water resources (National Drought Mitigation Center, …

Broadband And Mobile Internet Services In Nonmetropolitan Nebraska: 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll Results, Rebecca Vogt, Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, Randolph Cantrell, Bradley Lubben, Larry J. Mcelravy Jr.

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

A recent Pew Research Center survey revealed that home broadband adoption has plateaued in the United States. In addition, there has been an increase in adults who use a smartphone to access the Internet but do not have traditional broadband service in their home. Given these national trends, how do rural Nebraskans access the Internet? Are they accessing the Internet from their cell phones? Are they subscribing to high-speed Internet services at home? How satisfied are they with their Internet services? How important do they feel Internet access is for various items? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these …

Internet Connectivity And Use In Nebraska: A Follow Up Study, Rebecca Vogt, Anne Byers, Connie Hancock, Charlotte Narjes, Roger Terry

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The Nebraska Public Service Commission was awarded a grant from the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for conducting a study of broadband use and needs in Nebraska. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln first conducted a survey for the Commission in 2010. The Nebraska Information Technology Commission (NITC) Community Council, the AIM Institute and Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) collaborated with the Commission on this survey. A follow-up survey was conducted in 2014 to see if any changes have occurred in the previous four years. The survey included questions about Nebraskans’ current use of technology, their opinions …

Analysis Of Feasibility Of Lincoln's West O Area For Redevelopment, Adam E. Brown

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This project assessed the feasibility of redevelopment of the area around the West O Street & Sun Valley Boulevard Intersection. The project provides information about the area, including specifics about its location, the zoning currently in use, the population of the area and the surrounding areas, housing characteristics, as well as information about mixed use development pertinent to this project and the study areas relation to the City of Lincoln’s Comprehensive Plan, known as LPlan 2040.

The project’s goal was to research and compile relevant information for review by the Lincoln / Lancaster County Planning Department in regards to the …

North Bottoms: A Participatory Redevelopment And Sustainable Community Engagement Process, Andrea C. Koerner

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This project addressed the economic, social, and environmental ill effects occurring in the North Bottoms in Lincoln, Nebraska. This neighborhood requires the use of innovative community engagement to counteract minimal resources, civic engagement, and social capital in order to accomplish sustainable redevelopment when traditional methods have been unsuccessful. The initial goal of the project was to involve citizens in the design process to create an effective and development strategy and design project for the neighborhood.

Although traditional methods were sufficient to develop a comprehensive approach to sustainable development, it became obvious through engagement with citizens and civic officials that a …

Permanent Electronic Access To Government Information: A Study Of Federal, State, And Local Documents, Claudene Sproles, Angel Clemons

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

[First two paragraphs]

Even before the conception of electronic-only documents, providing permanent public access to government information was challenging. Since 1813, federal depository libraries have acquired and maintained tangible items to ensure continued access for the public. Fugitive documents, or government-produced information which escapes distribution through the Federal Depository Library System (FDLP), have always been a major concern. In our current environment, where the vast majority of government information is distributed electronic-only, this problem has only worsened. That, coupled with the ability to completely destroy electronic documents with the click of a mouse, has made the task of finding and …

The National Register Of Historic Places: An Historic Preservation Planning Tool?, Brent Donald Nelson

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This paper answers three questions: 1) What is the National Register of Historic Places? 2) Does the National Register act as an historic preservation planning tool? 3) Did the administrative changes made to the National Register nominating procedures in 1986 enhance or improve any planning tool functions that it may have had?

The author, based on preliminary research and personal experience hypothesized that the answers to the first two questions would be that the National Register is a list that acts primarily as an "honor roll" bestowing distinction and recognition onto properties placed on it and only secondarily as a …