Characterizing Rat Lateral Amygdala Interneurons by Colocalization of Calcium-Binding Proteins via Serial Multiplex Immunohistochemistry

The lateral amygdala is a brain structure that plays an important role in regulating fear and anxiety. Some anxiety disorders are hypothesized to develop from failures in this local inhibitory circuit. Distinct populations of these inhibitory neurons express patterns of calcium- binding proteins and neuropeptides that suggest differences in functionality within the lateral amygdala. Furthermore, these patterns of expression are compared between male and female rats to identify sex differences in the lateral amygdala. Previous studies have reported sex differences in amygdala activation and connectivity, but very little is known about the sexual dimorphism of calcium-binding protein and neuropeptide expression. These cell-type markers can be identified through immunohistochemistry, in which a target protein is tagged with a primary antibody, which is itself tagged and visualized with a fluorescent secondary antibody. While previous studies have explored this question through double-labeling, this study is unique in that it investigates the expression of these proteins through serial multiplex labeling. The advantage to serial multiplex labeling is that a single neuron can be labeled for ten or more cell-type markers, while previous studies have only been able to examine two or three at a time. Characterization of these subpopulations lends to a greater understanding of how the lateral amygdala functions within the fear and anxiety circuit and how the rat model can be applied to human neurobiology

Produce Sections, Town Squares, and Farm Stands: Comparing Local Food Systems in Community Context

A growing literature has grappled with the emergence of local food systems as an alternative to the conventional agricultural model and assumes that the development of local food system venues, such as farmers’ markets, are positive community-building initiatives. Too often left out of this discourse are empirical assessments of the community characteristics that lend themselves to the success of farmers’ markets or similar initiatives. Further, when farmers’ markets are not significantly patronized by community members, does this necessarily mean that people do not value local produce? This article uses the results from surveys of farmers’ market consumers and case studies of local foods initiatives in parts of Illinois to answer these questions and applies the community capitals framework and convention theory to help categorize communities according to their acceptance of farmers’ markets. Our findings demonstrate that consumers value locally-grown food despite location, but seek it out through different channels. The implications are that building successful local food systems is not simply about changing consumer opinion or applying a one-size-fits-all approach to local markets, but will require creativity in developing local markets that build on the current shopping behaviors of consumers

Strategy for Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship: An assessment of WOW Outreach, Flint, MI

This project will develop an outline for youth entrepreneurship in the North Side of Flint, Michigan with the help of WOW Outreach of Flint. The report will further WOW Outreach’s goals of reducing violence through positive opportunities and increasing economic opportunities through the use of Flint’s Community Capitals Framework. Through this research WOW Outreach will be able to address critical development needs, specifically focusing on youth empowerment, and allow youth entrepreneurship to grow and prosper in the North Side of Flint

Remote work as a universal solution for companies? A qualitative study of German companies' employer branding between demands and challenges of implementing work-family-flexibility measures

This research project examined the role of remote work as part of familyoriented employer branding. The literature review indicates that there is no underlying research connecting the topics of remote work with strategic family-oriented employer branding. To gain insights into this rather unexplored topic, this project conducted 17 semi-structured guided interviews with interviewees from both Communication and Human Resource Departments representing different industries and companies of various sizes. The analysis and evaluation showed that there is no strategic connection between the use of remote work in employer branding and family issues within the companies yet. The usage of family-oriented measures depends on multiple factors and puts companies through a serious stress test. Over the last years, the demand for remote work increased significantly. This trend leads to new challenges and issues companies need to tackle. In summary, remote work can be viewed as an important part in a set of family-oriented employer branding measures. The future direction of this topic is uncertain and requires further research

Assessing the Environmental and Capacity Development Outcomes of Small Water System Board and Management Training

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Creating Circular Economic Opportunities through Localizing the Food Cooperative

This applied research study will use the development of a reimagined consumer food cooperative, in coalition with a neighborhood community-based organization, to develop a circular food economy in mid-Michigan that improves the prospects for local food producers and improves the local food access and security. The innovation of this proposal is in the literature on local economic development. Specifically, it will be reviewed: 1) consumer food co-ops, an alternative model that has often prioritized access to high-quality foods for middle-class clientele, be transformed to a model that both supports local agri-food producers and local food access and security; 2) how can this model address the development of a regional circular economy that improves quality of life for local residents, especially in the context of a legacy city, and; 3) what are the opportunities and constraints of supporting local food systems and product economy through building a model that circulates financial capital? 4) what are the assets that will make this model work

Fixed target flammable gas upgrades

In the past, fixed target flammable gas systems were not supported in an organized fashion. The Research Division, Mechanical Support Department began to support these gas systems for the 1995 run. This technical memo describes the new approach being used to supply chamber gasses to fixed target experiments at Fermilab. It describes the engineering design features, system safety, system documentation and performance results. Gas mixtures provide the medium for electron detection in proportional and drift chambers. Usually a mixture of a noble gas and a polyatomic quenching gas is used. Sometimes a small amount of electronegative gas is added as well. The mixture required is a function of the specific chamber design, including working voltage, gain requirements, high rate capability, aging and others. For the 1995 fixed target run all the experiments requested once through gas systems. We obtained a summary of problems from the 1990 fixed target run and made a summary of the operations logbook entries from the 1991 run. These summaries primarily include problems involving flammable gas alarms, but also include incidents where Operations was involved or informed. Usually contamination issues were dealt with by the experimenters. The summaries are attached. We discussed past operational issues with the experimenters involved. There were numerous incidents of drift chamber failure where contaminated gas was suspect. However analyses of the gas at the time usually did not show any particular problems. This could have been because the analysis did not look for the troublesome component, the contaminant was concentrated in the gas over the liquid and vented before the sample was taken, or that contaminants were drawn into the chambers directly through leaks or sub-atmospheric pressures. After some study we were unable to determine specific causes of past contamination problems, although in argon-ethane systems the problems were due to the ethane only