The Invisible Walls of The 606: An Examination of the Relationship Between an Urban Greenway and Community Change

With much of the United State population now choosing to live, work, and recreate in urban locations, cities across the county have begun to look for ways to increase green space to meet the ever-growing demand of residents. One way this has been done is through the integration of urban greenways. Unlike other green spaces, these contemporary corridors are constructed in a manner that they directly traverse both densely populated residential communities and commercial spaces. By being built into the fabric of residential areas, these corridors connect residents who often vary in terms of race, socio-economic status, and culture. While these greenways have been shown to provide traversed communities with numerous benefits, the positive impacts resulting with greenway assimilation may not be equally distributed to communities of color and their residents. Research has shown that in urban settings communities of color and parks located within their boundaries are often avoided by White residents based on preconceived notions of neighborhood crime and disorder. This avoidance results in segregation and social isolation. Additionally, research has shown that the integration of a park or green space into a community of color may represent a threat to neighborhood culture and serve as a catalyst for neighborhood change. However, due to their contemporary nature, the effects of urban greenways on communities of color have been largely understudied and thus in need of additional research. The purpose of this study was to better understand how the integration of Chicago’s 606, an urban greenway on the city’s northwest side, into the Puerto Rican neighborhood of Humboldt Park was altering the social and structural environments in and around the community. In examining these components, the study highlights and provides insight for city leaders and park officials looking to assimilate similar corridors into their cityscape. This mixed method study included quantitative and qualitative approaches to assess use patterns and the experiences of trail users and neighborhood residents. Findings indicate that urban greenways may present a paradox for the neighborhoods in which they are integrated. The 606 had utility in lowering crime, increasing access for minority residents, and providing a safe space for both active and passive recreation. However, it also demonstrated that stigma associated with minorities and the spaces they occupy, in this case Humboldt Park, had the ability to perpetuate exclusionary practices, resource disparities, and sustain inequities between communities. The study also found that The 606 represented a threat to the Humboldt Park community, providing an entry point for White newcomers and an instrument for developers to accelerate green gentrification. This study fills an existing research gap related to urban greenways and their relationship with urban communities. While the study demonstrated that urban greenways may benefit communities of color, it also showed that these benefits may be inequitable and terse. As the popularity for parks and greenways of this sort increases, more research is needed to better understand the positive and negative impacts on proximate environments

Acceleration of Gapped Alignment in BLASTP Using the Mercury System

Protein databases have grown exponentially over the last decade. This exponential growth has made extracting valuable information from these databases increasingly time consuming. This project presents a new method of accelerating a commonly used program for performing similarity searching on protein databases, BLASTP. This project describes the design and implementation of Mercury BLASTP, a customized hardware accelerated variant of BLASTP. This project focuses on the gapped alignment stage of Mercury BLASTP and provides design details and implementation results

Atlanta Traffic Optimization Final Design Review

To solve the Metro-Atlanta traffic problem, we have embarked in numerous efforts to find feasible goals that had worked in other states with similar situations. In dealing with the traffic problem around the Metro area, we have designed a rail system to counter if our proposed idea of eliminating trucks within the Metro area is realized. This will be a more cost-effective area as the rail system is set to pay for itself after a decade and half of operation. This idea might be considered radical, but our findings showed that 39.50% of freight is transferred by rail according to the National Rail Plan Progress. Significant travel times can be realized if our model sees daylight. Furthermore, traffic accidents has been on the steady risen but our model also show good promise on reduce that steadily reverse that trend year after year. The overall economic impact can only be for better because of immeasurable gains such as confidence in our local transportation systems. The commercial gains could lead to economic boom if our proposals is put into practice. Moreover, consumer confidence has a chance of gaining momentum if transportation is not a hassle any more

Twitch Streamers and the Platformization of Cultural Production: Understanding Complementary Labor in the Creative Economy

Twitch and other social media platforms allow a handful of content creators to act as social media influencers who perform complementary labor that advances their careers while also creating monetary and social value for Twitch by managing relationships with their fans, the platforms, as well as commercial sponsors and advertisers. Streamers who are the best at catering to Twitch’s primary audience of young white males are more likely to be permitted frictionless entry into the advertising marketplace by the platform and by sponsors. Conversely, streamers with marginalized identities are frequently denied these same opportunities because they are often targeted with malicious harassment known as hate raids that makes brands and sponsors uncomfortable. Through two comparative case studies using inductive critical discourse analysis as well as platformization and cultural industries theoretical frameworks, this dissertation catalogs evidence of how Twitch’s professional relationship with a streamer is largely dependent on the streamer’s perceived brand friendliness, which can be understood as the type of user-engagement they tend to attract

Red Light Camera Systems’ Effects on Intersections

One of the major causes of motor vehicle accidents is when a vehicle runs a red light. Nationwide, these accidents often result in injury, death, and property damages, which can range in the millions. The purpose of this Leadership White Paper is to determine the effectiveness of red light camera systems on reducing motor vehicle accidents and enhancing public safety. A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has shown that intersections monitored by red light cameras have a reduction in right angle traffic accidents (“Camera enforcement,” 2011). Reducing the number of traffic accidents at any given intersection has multiple effects, including enhanced public safety, officer safety, and public trust. Law enforcement agencies across the nation are faced with staffing levels that are lower than desired. This lack of manpower often requires agencies to focus their attention on more pressing issues other than traffic enforcement. Intersections that are monitored by red light camera systems no longer need to be visually monitored by patrol officers or deputies. This, in turn, frees up the street patrol units to focus their attention on other public safety related matters. City governments and county commissioners typically do not incur any of the operating cost of red light camera systems. These systems are installed and maintained by a private company who, in turn, receives a portion of the fines assessed by the local governments. These fines are a source of revenue for the local governments with little to no investment. It is widely believed that red light camera systems are necessary to change driver behavior. This change in behavior is based on the belief that as the motorist approaches a monitored intersection, he or she will become more cognizant of the traffic signal and their distance from safely clearing the intersection. This change in driver behavior is believed to translate into a reduction in accidents. Achieving a higher percentage of safety among the nation’s drivers can be achieved through a combination of intelligent engineering, driver education, and traffic enforcement. The focus of this document will be on the traffic enforcement aspect of driver behavior

The Study of Lucretius in Renaissance Italy and France

The study of Lucretius in the Renaissance began after a millennium of being forgotten due to religious biases, and once his work resurfaced, it was met with some fierce opposition. Nevertheless, European scholars read his poem closely and made both manuscripts and accompanying notes for it. This paper examines that tradition and expands some areas regarding the later transmission of the poem around late Renaissance Europe.Undergraduate Research Scholarship (for Spring 2023)No embargoAcademic Major: Classic

Academic Resilience of Athletic Training Students During COVID-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE (1) To describe resilience in athletic training students enrolled in professional coursework during the spring 2020 semester, and (2) to determine the association between resilience and academic performance during the spring 2020 semester. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURESDescriptive statistics for GPA were calculated for Fall 2019, Spring 2020, cumulative Fall 2019, cumulative Spring 2020 (ie., current), change in cumulative GPA, and ARS-30 total score. The primary analysis was a Pearson correlation between change in cumulative GPA and ARS-30 total score. A secondary analysis was conducted to evaluate change in cumulative Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 GPA with a paired t-test. Cohen’s d effect size was calculated for the paired t-test. Alpha level was set at 0.05

Perceptions of the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education

Preschools provide a method of early intervention to prepare children for school. Reggio Emilia (RE) curricular approach widely used for early childhood education that has not consistently shown a positive influence on cognitive, social, and emotional development of young children. It is also unknown whether those who participate in the RE curricular approach perceive it to foster cognitive, social, and emotional development in early childhood. The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case study was to investigate participant-perceived benefits of RE as a curricular approach. The conceptual grounding of the study was social constructivism because the RE curricular approach emphasizes the importance of the environment to the growth and development of children. The research questions explored the cognitive, social, and emotional benefits that parents, teachers, and school leaders perceived with the RE approach, as well as the experiences within the RE curricular approach that may prepare children for primary and elementary schooling. Interviews with twenty-one participants and observations at 3 childcare centers in a southern state helped to determine whether participants perceived the RE approach as preparing children for elementary school. The open coding process yielded themes of benefits of the RE approach, social and emotional benefits, the acquisition of essential skills for schools, and collaboration and indicated that parents, educators, and school leaders felt that the RE approach was beneficial for the cognitive, social, and emotional development of children. The findings may provide a shift in early childhood pedagogy that incorporates areas of the social constructivist approach found to have perceived positive effects on the cognitive, social, and emotional benefits of children, leading to social change