Exploring how Residential Communities in the Rural Southern Appalachian Mountains are Branded as \u27Green:\u27 A Qualitative Analysis

As environmental issues have gained media prominence, a majority of Americans now consider themselves to be environmentalists. Producers of real estate development have responded with communities, branded to differentiate themselves from their competition through sagas, imagery, and symbols that communicate the values and identities that align with those of their targeted consumers. Host to a rapidly expanding population, the Southern Appalachians are home to a wealth of new communities, many of them branded as \u27green.\u27 Building on theoretical foundations in visual design, environmental rhetoric, and landscape interpretation, this research utilizes a collective case study analysis to illustrate how texts, images, and the built environment are used to appeal to consumers\u27 green identities. Secondarily, challenges to implementation of sustainable development are identified, within the social, economic, and environmental context in which rural mountain development occurs. Data sources include documents, archival records, interviews, direct observation, and physical artifacts. Selected cases located in the Southern Appalachian Mountains include communities located in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Selected cases were chosen for detailed study based on their ability to provide interesting and meaningful variations of several dimensions, grouped into primary and secondary contrasts. Primary contrasts, include the following dimensions: inclusion of golf, adjacency to public or other protected lands, lot sizes, apparent partnership with conservation or other \u27green\u27 organization, and inclusion of significant waterfront. Secondary contrasts include: project size and number of units, diversity of housing types, and price. Included in the systematic examination of printed promotional materials, are concurrent inventories and analyses of image and textual content and meanings. Additionally, textual analysis of environmental rhetoric related to deep, preservation, integrative, and ecological environmentalism is conducted. Supplementing data collected through examination of promotional materials, site visits to each case include documentation of the built environment and structured interviews with the producers of each community. In addition to illustrating how communities are branded as \u27green,\u27 challenges to implementation of sustainable development are identified, providing a foundation on which future research into the actual sustainability of \u27green\u27 branded developments can be constructed

Extension-Based Community Engagement Project Contributions to Landscape Architecture Core Competencies and Professional Values

This study evaluates the contribution of Extension-based community engagement design projects to the development of core technical competencies and professional values in the landscape architecture program at Utah State University. Many university design programs--including landscape architecture--employ community engagement to address local and regional design dilemmas. Programs within traditional agriculture schools often frame these activities as contributory to their institutions\u27 land-grant missions. Engaged scholarship is well enumerated within the literature of landscape architecture. However, little has been published on how Extension facilitates these engagements or its contribution to the development of core competencies and professional values. Utah State University\u27s (USU) landscape architecture program alumni and students were surveyed to determine their perceptions of Extension-based design projects\u27 contribution to the development of core competencies and professional values. Results revealed projects contribute to the development of core technical competencies including software skills, problem-solving, as well as acculturation of professional values and interpersonal skills such as collaboration, empathy, and leadership. As land-grant design programs assess the value of Extension-based community engagement projects, this study illuminates benefits for developing core competencies and professional values in the next generation of design practitioners

Diurnal rhythms in neural activation in the mesolimbic reward system: critical role of the medial prefrontal cortex

Previous evidence suggests a circadian modulation of drug‐seeking behavior and responsiveness to drugs of abuse. To identify potential mechanisms for rhythmicity in reward, a marker of neural activation (c F os) was examined across the day in the mesolimbic reward system. Rats were perfused at six times during the day [zeitgeber times ( ZT s): 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, and 22], and brains were analysed for c F os and tyrosine hydroxylase ( TH )‐immunoreactive ( IR ) cells. Rhythmic expression of c F os was observed in the nucleus accumbens ( NA c) core and shell, in the medial prefrontal cortex (m PFC ), and in TH ‐ IR and non‐ TH ‐ IR cells in the ventral tegmental area ( VTA ), with peak expression during the late night and nadirs during the late day. No significant rhythmicity was observed in the basolateral amgydala or the dentate gyrus. As the m PFC provides excitatory input to both the NA c and VTA , this region was hypothesised to be a key mediator of rhythmic neural activation in the mesolimbic system. Hence, the effects of excitotoxic m PFC lesions on diurnal rhythms in c F os immunoreactivity at previously observed peak ( ZT 18) and nadir ( ZT 10) times were examined in the NA c and VTA . m PFC lesions encompassing the prelimbic and infralimbic subregions attenuated peak c F os immunoreactivity in the NA c, eliminating the diurnal rhythm, but had no effect on VTA rhythms. These results suggest that rhythmic neural activation in the mesolimbic system may contribute to diurnal rhythms in reward‐related behaviors, and indicate that the m PFC plays a critical role in mediating rhythmic neural activation in the NA c. Previous evidence suggests a circadian modulation of drug‐seeking behavior and responsiveness to drugs of abuse. To identify potential mechanisms for rhythmicity in reward, a maker of neural activation (c F os) was examined across the day in the mesolimbic reward system.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99016/1/ejn12224.pd

Ih Current Is Necessary to Maintain Normal Dopamine Fluctuations and Sleep Consolidation in Drosophila

HCN channels are becoming pharmacological targets mainly in cardiac diseases. But apart from their well-known role in heart pacemaking, these channels are widely expressed in the nervous system where they contribute to the neuron firing pattern. Consequently, abolishing Ih current might have detrimental consequences in a big repertoire of behavioral traits. Several studies in mammals have identified the Ih current as an important determinant of the firing activity of dopaminergic neurons, and recent evidences link alterations in this current to various dopamine-related disorders. We used the model organism Drosophila melanogaster to investigate how lack of Ih current affects dopamine levels and the behavioral consequences in the sleep∶activity pattern. Unlike mammals, in Drosophila there is only one gene encoding HCN channels. We generated a deficiency of the DmIh core gene region and measured, by HPLC, levels of dopamine. Our data demonstrate daily variations of dopamine in wild-type fly heads. Lack of Ih current dramatically alters dopamine pattern, but different mechanisms seem to operate during light and dark conditions. Behaviorally, DmIh mutant flies display alterations in the rest∶activity pattern, and altered circadian rhythms. Our data strongly suggest that Ih current is necessary to prevent dopamine overproduction at dark, while light input allows cycling of dopamine in an Ih current dependent manner. Moreover, lack of Ih current results in behavioral defects that are consistent with altered dopamine levels

Teaching Sustainability in Planning and Design Education: A Systematic Review of Pedagogical Approaches

Sustainable development principles are being increasingly incorporated into university planning and design education. This paper evaluates how university planning and design programs teach sustainability and how these various approaches may influence future planners and designers. This systematic review quantitatively analyzes 5639 empirical research documents published from 2011 to 2020, including peer-reviewed papers and reports related to planning and design disciplines in higher education institutions. Key findings include differences in how planning and design curricula include and emphasize sustainability topics, as well as how various modes and teaching approaches correlate with sustainability values. This research offers a comprehensive understanding of how sustainable development approaches and teaching methods may influence how students and emerging professionals approach complex planning and design problems

Benefits and Conflicts: A Systematic Review of Dog Park Design and Management Strategies

Dog ownership and dog walking brings various health benefits for urban dwellers, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, but trigger a number of controversies. Dog parks have become increasingly significant public resources in the pandemic to support these benefits while facing intense conflicts. To develop effective dog parks in urban settings, growing numbers of scholars have provided insights into the design and management strategies for addressing the benefits and conflicts. The objective of this study is to synthesize and analyze various aspects of dog park design and management and to assess identified strategies for enhancing their benefits while mitigating their drawbacks. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic study was conducted to synthesize the benefits, conflicts, and management strategies of dog parks, supported by Citespace. Benefits and conflicts in dog park design and management have been synthesized and organized according to their frequency of presence and the statistical results. We analyzed and assessed existing design and management strategies. Through this systematic study, we discovered the need obtain o po experimental evidence on effective dog park design and management to enhance their benefits while mitigating their sources of conflict and limitations in the intensity of park visitors’ physical activity in off-leash areas. Guidelines for the design and management strategies for effective dog parks were made to enhance their benefits while alleviating conflicts in the future development of sustainable dog parks that promote healthy relationships between canines and residents in urban built environments

Environmental Justice and Park Quality in an Intermountain West Gateway Community: Assessing the Spatial Autocorrelation

Context Research on environmental justice issues, particularly unequal park distribution and quality, has found that communities\u27 minority density and socioeconomic status (SES) are often correlated with disparate park qualities. However, most studies of spatial relationships between park quality and socioeconomic factors employ simple statistical analyses, which do not account for potential spatial autocorrelations and their effects on validity. Objectives This study determines whether the distribution of park quality is spatially autocorrelated and assess the associations among multiple indicators of environmental justice and both separate park features and overall park quality. Methods This study evaluates spatial relationships between park quality and multiple environmental justice indicators in Cache County, Utah following the spatial regression process conducted in R programming language. Both overall park quality and separate feature qualities were audited by the PARK (Parks, Activity, and Recreation among Kids) tool. Environmental justice indicators included minority density, poverty, unemployment, low-education, renter rate, and yard size. Rate Resuts illustrate a spatial autocorrelation existing in park quality distribution, detecting the dependence of the variable for quantitative research. They also show significant correlations between park quality and environmental justice indicators. Conclusions The study\u27s spatial regression model is a model for analyzing the spatial data and avoids the autocorrelation which is overlooked by the normal statistical approaches. Also, variances of park quality can be accounted for by different environmental justice indicators, such as minority density, poverty, and yard size. This disclosure of disparate public resource quality treatment among different groups of individuals could inspire policy makers and city planners to correct these disparities

Time-of-day differences in dopamine clearance in the rat medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens

Circadian rhythms influence cocaine-seeking behavior in rats, and this behavior may be mediated by variability in the rate of extracellular dopamine clearance across the day:night cycle. We used rotating disk electrode voltammetry to examine dopamine clearance and inhibition of clearance by cocaine in the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Rats were housed under light:dark conditions (LD, 12 h:12 h) or in constant darkness (DD), the latter given just prior to the day of sacrifice. Tissue was collected at 4-h intervals under LD and DD conditions. Under LD, dopamine clearance in both brain regions was greatest at 4h after lights on. Under DD, there was a blunted but still rhythmic pattern of dopamine clearance across the 24-h cycle. Cocaine-induced inhibition of dopamine clearance in the mPFC was not different across the day:night cycle in rats under LD. Paradoxically, under DD, dopamine clearance in the mPFC was enhanced by cocaine at ZT16, 4 h into the subjective night, and only minimally inhibited at other times. In the NAc, cocaine inhibition of dopamine clearance was lowest at ZT4 under LD, and did not vary under DD. We conclude that dopamine clearance varies both in a diurnal and possibly in a circadian manner in the mPFC, and in a diurnal manner in the NAc. These results indicate that light itself may be used to manipulate molecules implicated in drug addiction