Making affordable housing greener

With a beneficial focus on up-front planning, green building has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Studies are finding no statistically significant difference between the costs of green construction and traditional building—and operational savings are significant.Housing ; Housing - Massachusetts ; Environmental policy ; Environmental policy - Massachusetts

Re-engineering cardio-oncology testing using biomimetic heart slice cultures.

28% of drug withdrawal from the market are due to unforeseen disruptions in cardiomyocyte contractility and electrophysiology. The most commonly used platforms for drug testing are in vivo animal models and in vitro cell culture models. While both have been of paramount importance for the discovery and detection of many cardiotoxicities and mechanisms of action, they lack the ability to model an intact human myocardium. This work aims to establish cardiac tissue slices, which are 300-micron thin tissue sections taken from the left ventricular myocardium, as an alternative platform for cardio-oncology studies, specifically cardiotoxicity testing. Additionally, this work aims to develop a coculture bioreactor system that can be used in reverse cardio-oncology related studies to investigate the potential crosstalk between cardiovascular disease and tumorigenesis

Wood Post and Non-Climb Fencing Construction for Hoofstock Pasture

This paper covers the planning, site clearing and construction of a new 7,100 square foot hoofstock pasture for the nonprofit group Conservation Ambassadors at their Northern campus in Weimar, California. The project involved planning the layout of the new pasture based on the owner’s preferences for pasture size, material type and location as well as removing several old pre-existing posts to prepare for the new fence to be built. New two-foot deep post holes were dug and the four-inch diameter, eight-foot long wood posts were leveled and set in concrete. Horizontal H-braces and cross brace tension wire were added to the corners and either side of the gate to strengthen them. A four-foot wide gate was hung at the entrance of the pasture before tensioning and stapling approximately two hundred thirty linear feet of non-climb fencing. The non-climb type fencing is ideal for this application because it has a small grid pattern of horizontal and vertical wires, which prevents animals from getting their legs or heads stuck and injured in the fence. The sturdy new pasture will provide a large space for Conservation Ambassadors to house hoofstock for years to come

The Use of Speech-Generating Devices for Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

The first of the following articles provides a review of the literature related to vocalizations among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems, with special attention paid to speech-generating devices (SGD). After providing an overview of ASD, evidence-based practices (EBP), and AAC types and a brief history, this review evaluates studies that collected data on vocalizations in SGD-users, including both those that targeted vocalizations as a dependent variable and those that measured vocalizations as a collateral effect without directly targeting it. The goal of this review is to evaluate whether SGD use may lead to an increase in vocalizations and, if so, what interventions have shown promise in this pursuit. The second article is manuscript of a study evaluating the effects of a multi-phase AAC intervention package using modeling, prompting, and reinforcement on prelinguistic and linguistic partner-directed play communicative behaviors, in three preschoolers with ASD, using SGD. Using a multiple probe across behaviors design nested within a multiple probe across participants design, the researchers modeled and prompted holding up a toy (prelinguistic play communication), activating the SGD button “Look” (linguistic play communication), and engaging in partner-directed gaze with the interventionist. All three participants demonstrated some increase in prelinguistic communication and partner-directed gaze, although only one met and maintained full mastery criteria for all target behaviors. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to AAC research involving prelinguistic and linguistic communication, and in terms of participant differences, such as prior SGD experience, size of imitation repertoire, and response to social praise, that may help account for variance in acquisition. Future directions are also discussed, including the need for further research on incorporating prelinguistic targets into SGD intervention. The final article is directed toward practitioners working with young children with ASD who use SGD and provides research-based guidelines for increasing opportunities for both prelinguistic and linguistic communication in that population. Using the literature reviewed in the first article, as well as the research reviewed and conducted related to the second article, this final article provides research-based strategies for increasing a variety of communicative behaviors, including prelinguistic (i.e., joint attention, gestures, and eye contact) and linguistic (i.e., SGD use as well as vocalizations alongside SGD use), in SGD-users with ASD

They\u27re in the Band: Join the Floatilla

Fans\u27 devotion inspires Floating Men to keep the music playin

First Complete Genome Sequence of Corynebacterium riegelii.

Here, we report the first complete genome sequence of Corynebacterium riegelii strain PUDD_83A45, isolated from the urine of a patient with urinary tract infection. The genome measured 2.56 Mb and contained no plasmid

First Draft Genome Sequences of Neisseria sp. Strain 83E34 and Neisseria sp. Strain 74A18, Previously Identified as CDC Eugonic Fermenter 4b Species.

We report the first draft genome sequences of two isolates previously classified as CDC EF-4b species, Neisseria sp. 83E34 and Neisseria sp. 74A18. Both strains were isolated from patients with animal bites and likely constitute novel genomospecies with average nucleotide identities of <95% to other sequenced strains