Knitting Together Communities - Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill

Knitting together Communities -Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill Knitting Together Communities – Designing the Heart of Six Corners and Old Hill provides a framework to knit together assets and opportunities for creating a strong identity and sense of coherence for a transformative urban district in Springfield, MA. The Senior Urban Design Studio 2019 created six proposals that were searching for design opportunities that enhance the aesthetic quality of the neighborhood and increase services for the wellbeing of the residents. The two neighborhoods are characterized by strong neighborhood leadership through committed residents, community centers and active religious organizations, and a lively culture of urban agriculture (GTC) that keeps growing and fosters a positive spirit in the community. The studio analyzed the assets of the district, engaged with residents through site visits, personal interviews with community leaders and groups, and a neighborhood engagement workshop. Design Objectives The design program was developed through the engagement with stakeholders, area observations and classical analysis of the area: • More entrances, accessibility and programming for active and passive recreation for the centrally located Ruth Elizabeth Park • Gerrish Park near roundabout needs to be more usable for markets and events • Historic Mill River and Watershops Pond should be connected to the larger green network; Harriet Tubman Park needs to be connected to the water’s edge. • Public art on exterior walls through education at schools and local artists • Synergies between Springfield College neighborhood to create new student housing and provide amenities that integrate this population for mutual benefits • Complete streets through extensive street tree plantings, widening of sidewalks and bicycle lanes • Stormwater management strategies: bioswales along streets, green roofs, infiltration areas in new parks, porous pavement. • Multiple housing opportunities: vacant small lots for infill, mix housing with retail and commercial on upper floors of new buildings, adaptive reuse of historic buildings as live-work spaces • Neighborhood amenities like a grocery store and pharmacy • Spaces for a cultural and commercial hub including all-year activities outsid

Characterization of miRNAs in Response to Short-Term Waterlogging in Three Inbred Lines of Zea mays

Waterlogging of plants leads to low oxygen levels (hypoxia) in the roots and causes a metabolic switch from aerobic respiration to anaerobic fermentation that results in rapid changes in gene transcription and protein synthesis. Our research seeks to characterize the microRNA-mediated gene regulatory networks associated with short-term waterlogging. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate many genes involved in growth, development and various biotic and abiotic stress responses. To characterize the involvement of miRNAs and their targets in response to short-term hypoxia conditions, a quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was used to quantify the expression of the 24 candidate mature miRNA signatures (22 known and 2 novel mature miRNAs, representing 66 miRNA loci) and their 92 predicted targets in three inbred Zea mays lines (waterlogging tolerant Hz32, mid-tolerant B73, and sensitive Mo17). Based on our studies, miR159, miR164, miR167, miR393, miR408 and miR528, which are mainly involved in root development and stress responses, were found to be key regulators in the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms under short-term waterlogging conditions in three inbred lines. Further, computational approaches were used to predict the stress and development related cis-regulatory elements on the promoters of these miRNAs; and a probable miRNA-mediated gene regulatory network in response to short-term waterlogging stress was constructed. The differential expression patterns of miRNAs and their targets in these three inbred lines suggest that the miRNAs are active participants in the signal transduction at the early stage of hypoxia conditions via a gene regulatory network; and crosstalk occurs between different biochemical pathways

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Transcriptional regulation of nitrogen-associated metabolism and growth

Nitrogen is an essential macronutrient for plant growth and basic metabolic processes. The application of nitrogen-containing fertilizer increases yield, which has been a substantial factor in the green revolution(1). Ecologically, however, excessive application of fertilizer has disastrous effects such as eutrophication(2). A better understanding of how plants regulate nitrogen metabolism is critical to increase plant yield and reduce fertilizer overuse. Here we present a transcriptional regulatory network and twenty-one transcription factors that regulate the architecture of root and shoot systems in response to changes in nitrogen availability. Genetic perturbation of a subset of these transcription factors revealed coordinate transcriptional regulation of enzymes involved in nitrogen metabolism. Transcriptional regulators in the network are transcriptionally modified by feedback via genetic perturbation of nitrogen metabolism. The network, genes and gene-regulatory modules identified here will prove critical to increasing agricultural productivity