Where Locals Play: Neighborhood Casino Landscapes in Las Vegas

Neighborhood casinos—gaming properties that target a primarily local market—are an influential feature on the Las Vegas cultural landscape. Such institutions reveal a number of geographical patterns that have important implications in gaming and place studies. The distinguishing characteristics of neighborhood casinos underscore the importance of proximity to a market, a focus that is evident in their advertising strategies. Additionally, the prominence of such casino-resorts within their respective neighborhoods makes them important symbols and indicators of the character of the surrounding community. These unique institutions teach lessons that can potentially be extrapolated to other gaming markets around the country

Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe

In this first worldwide synthesis of in situ and satellite‐derived lake data, we find that lake summer surface water temperatures rose rapidly (global mean = 0.34°C decade−1) between 1985 and 2009. Our analyses show that surface water warming rates are dependent on combinations of climate and local characteristics, rather than just lake location, leading to the counterintuitive result that regional consistency in lake warming is the exception, rather than the rule. The most rapidly warming lakes are widely geographically distributed, and their warming is associated with interactions among different climatic factors—from seasonally ice‐covered lakes in areas where temperature and solar radiation are increasing while cloud cover is diminishing (0.72°C decade−1) to ice‐free lakes experiencing increases in air temperature and solar radiation (0.53°C decade−1). The pervasive and rapid warming observed here signals the urgent need to incorporate climate impacts into vulnerability assessments and adaptation efforts for lakes

Metabolic assessment of a novel chronic myelogenous leukemic cell line and an imatinib resistant subline by 1H NMR spectroscopy

The goal of this study was to examine metabolic differences between a novel chronic myelogenous leukemic (CML) cell line, MyL, and a sub-clone, MyL-R, which displays enhanced resistance to the targeted Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was carried out on cell extracts and conditioned media from each cell type. Both principal component analysis (PCA) and specific metabolite identification and quantification were used to examine metabolic differences between the cell types. MyL cells showed enhanced glucose removal from the media compared to MyL-R cells with significant differences in production rates of the glycolytic end-products, lactate and alanine. Interestingly, the total intracellular creatine pool (creatine + phosphocreatine) was significantly elevated in MyL-R compared to MyL cells. We further demonstrated that the MyL-R cells converted the creatine to phosphocreatine using non-invasive monitoring of perfused alginate-encapsulated MyL-R and MyL cells by in vivo 31P NMR spectroscopy and subsequent HPLC analysis of extracts. Our data demonstrated a clear difference in the metabolite profiles of drug-resistant and sensitive cells, with the biggest difference being an elevation of creatine metabolites in the imatinib-resistant MyL-R cells

A research agenda to support the development and implementation of genomics-based clinical informatics tools and resources.

OBJECTIVE: The Genomic Medicine Working Group of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research virtually hosted its 13th genomic medicine meeting titled Developing a Clinical Genomic Informatics Research Agenda . The meeting\u27s goal was to articulate a research strategy to develop Genomics-based Clinical Informatics Tools and Resources (GCIT) to improve the detection, treatment, and reporting of genetic disorders in clinical settings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Experts from government agencies, the private sector, and academia in genomic medicine and clinical informatics were invited to address the meeting\u27s goals. Invitees were also asked to complete a survey to assess important considerations needed to develop a genomic-based clinical informatics research strategy. RESULTS: Outcomes from the meeting included identifying short-term research needs, such as designing and implementing standards-based interfaces between laboratory information systems and electronic health records, as well as long-term projects, such as identifying and addressing barriers related to the establishment and implementation of genomic data exchange systems that, in turn, the research community could help address. DISCUSSION: Discussions centered on identifying gaps and barriers that impede the use of GCIT in genomic medicine. Emergent themes from the meeting included developing an implementation science framework, defining a value proposition for all stakeholders, fostering engagement with patients and partners to develop applications under patient control, promoting the use of relevant clinical workflows in research, and lowering related barriers to regulatory processes. Another key theme was recognizing pervasive biases in data and information systems, algorithms, access, value, and knowledge repositories and identifying ways to resolve them

Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe

In this first worldwide synthesis of in situ and satellite-derived lake data, we find that lake summer surface water temperatures rose rapidly (global mean = 0.34°C decade-1) between 1985 and 2009. Our analyses show that surface water warming rates are dependent on combinations of climate and local characteristics, rather than just lake location, leading to the counterintuitive result that regional consistency in lake warming is the exception, rather than the rule. The most rapidly warming lakes are widely geographically distributed, and their warming is associated with interactions among different climatic factors - from seasonally ice-covered lakes in areas where temperature and solar radiation are increasing while cloud cover is diminishing (0.72°C decade-1) to ice-free lakes experiencing increases in air temperature and solar radiation (0.53°C decade-1). The pervasive and rapid warming observed here signals the urgent need to incorporate climate impacts into vulnerability assessments and adaptation efforts for lakes

Extending the Security Net The Impact of Rangeland Insurance On Ranching Economy and Culture

Humans have a complex relationship with the land. At the base of it lies our need for what the land can give: materials for shelter, food and water for sustenance, and scenic beauty for pleasure. But, similar to our interactions with other humans, our relationship with the land is not always perfect. The land can often be our worst enemy. Storm, drought, famine, and pestilence are common words from the historical record representing times when this connection between humans and nature is challenged. Crop insurance is a relatively recent invention that attempts to level the playing field in our contest with the environment. It well represents the complexity and interaction within the human-land relationship. Ranching is another symbol of this relationship. The word stewardship captures a rancher\u27s connection to the land. It denotes a respect for the land. and its utilization in a manner that will reap benefits for the community or group now and in the future. True stewards must have a deep, distinct, and intimate relationship with that thing over which they have stewardship. Ranchers\u27 livelihood depends on this linkage. If they neglect their land by allowing overgrazing, their livestock\u27s sustenance is damaged; if they do not have functional, forage-producing land on which to graze their livestock, then the relationship is broken and ranching ceases. And if ranching ceases to exist, so does the ranching culture

Rex J. Rowley

Audio recording of the 10/06/13 UNLV Libraries Author Series event featuring Rex. J. Rowley, author of Everyday Las Vegas: Local Life in a Tourist Town. Includes remarks by Libraries Dean Patricia Iannuzzi, CGR Director Dave Schwartz, and Rowley

Remote Sensing and the Rancher: Linking Rancher Perception and Remote Sensing

Abstract In recent years, steps have been taken to implement a new crop insurance program for rangeland and pasture. Unlike traditionally insured row and cereal crops, which have directly measurable yields, there is no such simple, ideal yield standard for rangeland and pasture because of uncertainties regarding how to generally and objectively quantify annual production. With remotely sensed imagery acquired by the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer transformed to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), we derived a proxy relative yield measurement for rangeland and pasture vegetation. This proxy measurement could potentially solve a critical component of the yield quantification problem facing implementation of a rangeland insurance program. In order to evaluate this proxy measurement and how ranchers might accept it, we surveyed a group of Kansas and Oklahoma ranchers to determine how their perception of rangeland productivity compared to NDVIbased proxy measurements of rangeland productivity in the surveyed rancher's county for the growing seasons of 1999-2003. At the scale of the ranch, correlation analysis showed that perception was not highly correlated with the satellite indices. Higher correlations were observed when perception data were aggregated and compared to rangeland indices at the county and study area levels, with performance comparable to using precipitation information. The year with the strongest correlation was the worst drought year of the 5, a desirable outcome in the context of an insurance program. Results from this case study provide some support for using remote sensing data in a national rangeland and pasture insurance program. Such a program would be an important new risk mitigation tool for ranchers. Resumen En añ os recientes se han tomado pasos para implementar un nuevo programa de seguro agrícola para praderas nativas y pastizales. A diferencia de los cultivos en surcos o cereales tradicionalmente asegurados, los cuales tienen rendimientos que se pueden medir directamente, en pastizales y praderas nativas no hay un rendimiento estándar ideal de referencia tan simple, debido a la incertidumbre de como cuantificar, en forma generalizada y objetivamente, la producción anual. Con imágenes de sensores remotos adquiridas por el Radiómetro Avanzado de Muy Alta Resolución y transformadas al Índice Normalizado de Diferencia de Vegetación (NDVI), derivamos una medición substituta del rendimiento relativo de la vegetación de pastizales y praderas naturales. Esta medida substituta pudiera potencialmente resolver un componente crítico del problema de cuantificación del rendimiento que encara la implementación de un programa de seguro en pastizales. Para evaluar esta medida substituta, y como los productores pudieran aceptarla, entrevistamos un grupo de ganaderos de Kansas y Oklahoma para determinar como sus percepciones de la productividad del pastizal se equiparan con las mediciones substitutas de la productividad del pastizal basadas en NDVI del municipio de los ganaderos entrevistados durante las estaciones de crecimiento de 1999 a 2003. A la escala de rancho, el análisis de correlación mostró que la percepción no estuvo altamente correlacionada con los índices del satélite. Las más altas correlaciones se observaron cuando los datos de percepción se agregaron y compararon con los índices del pastizal a nivel de municipio y área de estudio, con un resultado comparable a usar información de precipitación. El añ o con la más alta correlación fue el añ o con la peor sequía de los cinco evaluados, un resultado deseable en el contexto de un programa de seguro. Los resultados proveen algo de soporte para usar datos de sensores remotos en un programa nacional de seguro de pastizales y praderas nativas. Tal programa sería una herramienta nueva importante de mitigación de riesgo para los ganaderos