The Future of Work In Cities

The latest report in our City of the Future series examines societal shifts and advancements in technology that are impacting the rapidly changing American workforce. The report outlines solutions to help city leaders plan for the fast-approaching future, while forecasting the economic viability of two distinct sectors – retail and office administration – in which a quarter of Americans are currently employed

Distributional effects and individual differences in L2 morphology learning

Second language (L2) learning outcomes may depend on the structure of the input and learners’ cognitive abilities. This study tested whether less predictable input might facilitate learning and generalization of L2 morphology while evaluating contributions of statistical learning ability, nonverbal intelligence, phonological short-term memory, and verbal working memory. Over three sessions, 54 adults were exposed to a Russian case-marking paradigm with a balanced or skewed item distribution in the input. Whereas statistical learning ability and nonverbal intelligence predicted learning of trained items, only nonverbal intelligence also predicted generalization of case-marking inflections to new vocabulary. Neither measure of temporary storage capacity predicted learning. Balanced, less predictable input was associated with higher accuracy in generalization but only in the initial test session. These results suggest that individual differences in pattern extraction play a more sustained role in L2 acquisition than instructional manipulations that vary the predictability of lexical items in the input

Illegitimi non carborundum : Resilience in the face of factory school reform

The purpose of this study is to explore, through semi-structured interviews, public school educators\u27 perspectives on how they interpret and cope/deal with the current high-stakes educational climate. This qualitative study explores how teachers interpret and negotiate top-down mandates and the effects of such mandates on self-efficacy, professional autonomy, and stress. It also investigates what sources of inspiration and/or support perceived by teachers as helpful in cultivating resilience. Semi-structured interviews with seven public elementary school teachers in a Southern California district served as the primary sources of data

Modeling the Impact of Terrain on Wind Speed and Dry Particle Deposition Using WindNinja and ArcGIS Spatial Analyst

While developed countries have been able to implement engineering techniques and sanitation technologies to keep water resources clean from runoff and ground contamination, air pollution and its contribution of harmful contaminants to our water resources has yet to be fully understood and prevented. Due to the large spatial and temporal extent and subsequent computational intensity required to understand atmospheric deposition as a pollutant source, a geographic information system (GIS) was utilized. Specifically, the flux of particulate matter at the air – water interface of a lake surface was quantified by season for the year of 2009 for Lake Perris in Southern California. This project developed a multi-step workflow utilizing a variety of technologies including command line processing, Microsoft Excel, WindNinja, ArcGIS 10.1, 3D and Spatial Analyst extensions, and mathematical formulae provided by the client to process the source information, simulate the behavior of wind, and calculate the spatial distribution of contaminant deposition, as flux, across a selected water body. The deliverables included: a data retrieval processing workflow, datasets used for simulation and analysis, five ModelBuilder models, and maps of analytical results to aid in future lake surface sampling techniques

Screening Techniques for Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 55 million Americans. By the year 2050, experts project this disease will have increased three fold. Many screening techniques have been investigated to detect this disease early and begin treatment to slow its progression. The purpose of this study was to explore which medical modalities are the most effective for screening of Alzheimer’s disease. This literature review includes three databases, including PubMed, CINHAL, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Topics that were researched include: cognitive screening tests, neuroimaging, laboratory diagnostic testing, DNA, and combined studies. Research was conducted from October 8, 2017 to January 3, 2018. All resources were published within the last ten years. Limitations and strengths were considered within each modality. In each category, the following were found to be the most effective in screening for Alzheimer’s disease: cognitive screening tests: MOST and MoCA testing; neuroimaging: PET scanning; laboratory diagnostic testing: biomarkers; DNA: DNA methylation and APOE genotyping; and combined studies: PET scanning. This review demonstrates that there are many screening modalities available to providers. This allows providers to choose their screening technique based on their site’s availability, provider preference, and cost