Call To Climate Action: Leveraging Living Collections To Inspire Pro-environmental Behavior In Virtual Informal Science Education Programs

With high visitation rates, Informal Science Learning Centers (ISLCs) have the opportunity to use their broad reach and trusted relationship with the community to initiate critical conversations around urgent global challenges, like climate change. This is especially true for engaging adolescent audiences, like high school students, that are acutely aware of the threat of climate change and the lifelong impact it could have on their physical and mental health (Sanson, Van Hoorn, & Burke, 2019). While the complex and inherently negative nature of the problem can make climate change communication difficult, research suggests the use of living collections, like live animals and plants, can improve learning, foster empathy, and encourage pro-environmental behavior (Fuhrman & Rubenstein, 2017). This paper investigates whether using living collections in a virtual Climate High School Science Series program will increase the likelihood of high school students taking pro-environmental action. The curriculum for this program was designed to incorporate the Head, Heart, Hands Model for Transformative Learning and aimed to move students from cognitive and affective engagement to behavioral engagement around the climate crisis. The learnings from this research and curriculum are meant to inform future climate change programs and exhibits to inspire pro-environmental behavior in participants and visitors

Nevada\u27s Areas of Recreation

These maps will offer alternative options for the tourist that desires to spend their vacation exploring Nevada’s beautiful wild landscapes. Nevada has many areas of land under conservation, State Parks, National Parks and Wildlife Ranges. I will be mapping out the primary roads through to these areas, as well as list out the Parks with campsites, ranging from the experienced camper with only a tent, to the family on vacation with a dog or R.V. This map should be a source of information for a camper looking to explore Nevada beyond the city limits

Ease of Navigability in Two Public Libraries' Spanish Catalogs

The Hispanic population has been growing at a high rate in the past two decades, culminating in 2007 as the largest minority group in the United States (Bernstein, 2008). However, the growth in population has not been isolated to just one particular region, but to new regions that had previously low numbers of Hispanics. Charlotte-Mecklenburg County, North Carolina experienced a septuplet growth rate in Hispanic population between 1990 and 2000, which led them to evaluate their user population, finding that they needed to provide a Spanish catalog. Since public libraries' goal is information dissemination, this study evaluates and compares how easy it is to navigate Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Spanish to a county similar in size-San Francisco County, California-in which a large Hispanic population has existed for a longer period of time. The study found that although both indicated a high level of navigability, some features were not available to Hispanic patrons

Safety and Protection of Minors: Developing Policy and Best Practices to Protect Youth on Campus

This presentation was given at the 2016 Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Conference in Washington, D.C

Dual roles of the transmembrane protein p23/TMP21 in the modulation of amyloid precursor protein metabolism

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by cerebral deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptides. Aβ is released from ectodomain cleaved amyloid precursor protein (APP) via intramembranous proteolysis by γ-secretase, a complex consisting of presenilin and a few other proteins. p23/TMP21, a member of the p24 family type I transmembrane proteins, was recently identified as a presenilin complex component capable of modulating γ-secretase cleavage. The p24 family proteins form oligomeric complexes and regulate vesicular trafficking in the early secretory pathway, but their role in APP trafficking has not been investigated. RESULTS: Here, we report that siRNA-mediated depletion of p23 in N2a neuroblastoma and HeLa cells produces concomitant knockdown of additional p24 family proteins and increases secretion of sAPP. Furthermore, intact cell and cell-free Aβ production increases following p23 knockdown, similar to data reported earlier using HEK293 cells. However, we find that p23 is not present in mature γ-secretase complexes isolated using an active-site γ-secretase inhibitor. Depletion of p23 and expression of a familial AD-linked PS1 mutant have additive effects on Aβ(42 )production. Knockdown of p23 expression confers biosynthetic stability to nascent APP, allowing its efficient maturation and surface accumulation. Moreover, immunoisolation analyses show decrease in co-residence of APP and the APP adaptor Mint3. Thus, multiple lines of evidence indicate that p23 function influences APP trafficking and sAPP release independent of its reported role in γ-secretase modulation. CONCLUSION: These data assign significance to p24 family proteins in regulating APP trafficking in the continuum of bidirectional transport between the ER and Golgi, and ascribe new relevance to the regulation of early trafficking in AD pathogenesis

Discriminant and Concurrent Validity of a Simplified DSM-Based Structured Diagnostic Instrument for the Assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Youth and Young Adults

Background: To evaluate the concurrent and discriminant validity of a brief DSM-based structured diagnostic interview for referred individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Methods: To test concurrent validity, we assessed the structured interview's agreement in 123 youth with the expert clinician assessment and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS). Discriminant validity was examined using 1563 clinic-referred youth. Results: The structured diagnostic interview and SRS were highly sensitive indicators of the expert clinician assessment. Equally strong was the agreement between the structured interview and SRS. We found evidence for high specificity for the structured interview. Conclusions: A simplified DSM-based ASD structured diagnostic interview could serve as a useful diagnostic aid in the assessment of subjects with ASDs in clinical and research settings

STAGES: the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey

We present an overview of the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). STAGES is a multiwavelength project designed to probe physical drivers of galaxy evolution across a wide range of environments and luminosity. A complex multi-cluster system at z~0.165 has been the subject of an 80-orbit F606W HST/ACS mosaic covering the full 0.5x0.5 (~5x5 Mpc^2) span of the supercluster. Extensive multiwavelength observations with XMM-Newton, GALEX, Spitzer, 2dF, GMRT, and the 17-band COMBO-17 photometric redshift survey complement the HST imaging. Our survey goals include simultaneously linking galaxy morphology with other observables such as age, star-formation rate, nuclear activity, and stellar mass. In addition, with the multiwavelength dataset and new high resolution mass maps from gravitational lensing, we are able to disentangle the large-scale structure of the system. By examining all aspects of environment we will be able to evaluate the relative importance of the dark matter halos, the local galaxy density, and the hot X-ray gas in driving galaxy transformation. This paper describes the HST imaging, data reduction, and creation of a master catalogue. We perform Sersic fitting on the HST images and conduct associated simulations to quantify completeness. In addition, we present the COMBO-17 photometric redshift catalogue and estimates of stellar masses and star-formation rates for this field. We define galaxy and cluster sample selection criteria which will be the basis for forthcoming science analyses, and present a compilation of notable objects in the field. Finally, we describe the further multiwavelength observations and announce public access to the data and catalogues.Comment: 29 pages, 22 figures; accepted to MNRAS. Full data release available at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/astronomy/stage