University of Richmond Sustainability Report

The 2016 University of Richmond Sustainability Report represents where we are now, recognizes significant accomplishments, and provides a launching point for future endeavors. We all have a role to play in the continued stewardship of this great place. This document presents a summary of the data we collected. It serves the dual role of providing information on the considerable sustainability efforts underway and establishes a benchmark for our efforts as we move forward. There is much to be celebrated, and there is much to be done

University of Richmond 2018 Climate Action Plan Update

In 2007, University of Richmond (UR) signed onto the the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, pledging to become carbon neutral by 2050. Three years later, UR published its first Climate Action Plan, a framework that committed the university to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 30% below 2009 levels by 2020 and 65% by 2035, on its way toward eliminating net carbon emissions. This Progress Report and GHG Inventory will explain UR’s emission calculation methodologies, provide a detailed analysis of the inventory, and document UR’s current GHG current footprint. University of Richmond’s Climate Action Plan aims to provide the UR community and its partners with a transparent roadmap of specific strategies for how the University will meet its GHG emission reduction targets. The Climate Action Plan will continue to be updated as needed, to incorporate new and innovative ideas and technologies

An Examination of Children\u27s Outdoor Time, Nature Connection, and Environmental Stewardship

Abstract This study examined the relationship between children’s time spent outdoors, nature connection, and environmental stewardship. It was hypothesized that time spent outdoors predicted a feeling of connection to nature, and that connection to nature, in turn, influenced environmental stewardship. A total of 218 fifth-grade students from central Pennsylvania participated in the study. Baron and Kenny’s (1986) method was used to establish mediation using ordinary least squares regression. It was found that nature connection partially mediated the direct effect of time spent outdoors on environmental stewardship and increased the amount of variance explained. In other words, a feeling of connection to nature explained a portion of the effect that time spent outdoors has on environmental stewardship behaviors. Future studies that examine predictors of nature connection, including direct experience with nature, environmental education programs, and underlying personality characteristics, are warranted

Editors\u27 Introduction and Acknowledgements

An introduction to the journal Research in Outdoor Education, volume 6 is presented by the authors on behalf of the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors (CEO) Research Committee

Expression of pluripotent stem cell reprogramming factors by prostate tumor initiating cells.

PURPOSE: We identified a discrete population of stem cell-like tumor cells expressing 5 essential transcription factors required to reprogram pluripotency in prostate tumor cell lines and primary prostate cancer tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DU145 and PC3 human prostate cancer cell lines (ATCC), tumor tissue from patients with prostate cancer and normal prostate tissue were evaluated for the reprogramming factors OCT3/4 (Cell Signaling Technology), SOX2, Klf4 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, California), Nanog (BioLegend) and c-Myc (Cell Signaling) by semiquantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, histological and immunohistochemical analysis. Stem cell-like tumor cells were enriched by flow cytometric cell sorting using E-cadherin (R&D Systems) as a surface marker, and soft agar, spheroid and tumorigenicity assays to confirm cancer stem cell-like characteristics. RESULTS: mRNA expression of transcription factors OCT3/4 and SOX2 highly correlated in primary prostate tumor tissue samples. The number of OCT3/4 or SOX2 expressing cells was significantly increased in prostate cancer tissue compared to that in normal prostate or benign prostate hyperplasia tissue (p CONCLUSIONS: Data suggest that prostate tumor cells expressing pluripotent stem cell transcription factors are highly tumorigenic. Identifying such cells and their importance in prostate cancer growth could provide opportunities for novel targeting strategies for prostate cancer therapy