Climate Choices: How Should We Meet the Challenges of a Warming Planet?

This issue guide was prepared for the National Issues Forums Institute in collaboration with the Kettering Foundation and the North American Association for Environmental Education. The Environment and Society Series is designed to promote meaningful, productive deliberation, convened locally and online, about difficult issues that affect the environment and communities.All around is evidence that the climate is changing. Summers are starting earlier and lasting longer. Heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense. Dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are seeing heavier rains. Record cold and snowfalls blanket some parts of the country, while record fires ravage forests across the West.The effects are being felt across many parts of the United States. Farmworkers in California's Central Valley, snow-weary New England business owners, crab fishermen in Alaska, and cattle ranchers across the Great Plains have all seen uncommon and extreme weather. Occasional odd weather and weather cycles are nothing unusual.But the more extreme and unpredictable weather being experienced around the world points to dramatic changes in climate -- the conditions that take place over years, decades, and longer.Climate disruptions have some people worried about their health, their children, their homes, their livelihoods, their communities, and even their personal safety. They wonder about the future of the natural areas they enjoy and the wild animals and plants that live there. In addition, there are growing concerns about our national security and how climate change might affect scarce resources around the planet and increase global tensions

Lost in Transition: The Implications of Social Capital for Higher Education Access

The article presents information on transition of students between educational institutions while obtaining higher education. It includes information on the implication of social capital for higher education that varies between vocational schools, community colleges and for-profit universities. It includes information on policies employed by policymakers to promote college access among vulnerable students who are suffering from economic problems and inability to obtain academic achievements

Annotation of Genes Involved with Biosynthetic Production of Peptidoglycan within \u3cem\u3eMeiothermus ruber\u3c/em\u3e involving supposed Orthologous Genes: Mrub_0981 and b1069, Mrub_1162 and b063, Mrub_1999 and b0084.

Using bioinformatics tools, the genes within Meiothermus ruber that are involved with peptidoglycan production were annotated. We predict that Mrub_0981 encodes the enzyme Lipid II Flippase (DNA coordinates970078…971580 on the reverse strand), which is the 9th step of the Peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway (KEGG map number 00550) It catalyzes the conversion of Meso-2,6-diaminopimelate to Peptidoglycan. The E. coli K12 MG1655 ortholog is predicted to be b1069, which has the gene identifier mviN. We also predict that Mrub_1162 encodes the enzyme Penicillin binding protein II (DNA coordinates 1176079…1177836 on the reverse strand), which is the 12th step of the Peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway (KEGG map number 00550) It catalyzes the conversion of Meso-2,6-diaminopimelate to Peptidoglycan. The E. coli K12 MG1655 ortholog is predicted to be b0635, which has the gene identifier mrdA. Lastly, we predict that Mrub_1999 encodes the enzyme Penicillin binding protein III (DNA coordinates 2037566…2038981on the forward strand), which is also apart of the 12th step of the Peptidoglycan biosynthesis pathway (KEGG map number 00550) It catalyzes the conversion of Meso-2,6-diaminopimelate to Peptidoglycan. The E. coli K12 MG1655 ortholog is predicted to be b1069, which has the gene identifier pbpB