Cities in Crisis: A Special Analytic Report on High School Graduation

Examines graduation-rate patterns in the fifty most populous U.S. cities and surrounding metropolitan areas. Compares data by race/ethnicity, gender, and principal district, and highlights the urban-suburban gaps within the same metropolitan areas

Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap

Analyzes trends in high school graduation rates in the nation's fifty largest metropolitan areas, including improvements and the urban-suburban divide. Compares employment, income, and poverty levels by educational attainment in each metropolitan area

Finding the “Heart” in the Green: Conducting a Bibliometric Analysis to Emphasize the Need for Connecting Emotions with Biophilic Urban Planning

Although there is a robust body of literature exploring the relationship between biophilic urban planning (BUP) and public health and well-being, there is a dearth of scholarship on the emotional components of BUP. It is crucial to understand these sentiment-related elements, so planners can assign “human value” to green spaces as a strategy for emphasizing the need to thoughtfully implement and properly maintain them in urban environments. Furthermore, humans’ emotional experiences with green spaces may also reveal hidden or unexpected functions of those spaces. To confirm this lack of emphasis on emotions in BUP, we used Scopus to conduct a bibliometric analysis on relevant literature published within the last twenty years (2001–2021), ultimately collecting 589 relevant peer-reviewed articles. We then utilized VOSviewer (Centre for Science and Technology Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands) to visualize our results and identify thematic, geographic, authorship/co-authorship, publication, and temporal trends. “Green space” appeared as our most frequently occurring keyword and scholars affiliated with institutions located within the United States, the United Kingdom and China were the top producers of relevant results. Our authorship analysis resulted in 67 different clusters and three major but isolated networks. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening was the most prevalent source of publication and 2019–2021 was the most prolific period of activity to date. While the goal of our review is to underscore the dearth of controlled, interdisciplinary research on the emotional components of BUP, we also uncovered additional key gaps in scholarship that could promote future avenues of inquiry. First, by focusing on the emotional value of green spaces, practitioners can ascribe them an intangible “human value” that could, in turn, generate more community-focused designs that provide access across socioeconomic, racial and age brackets. Second, an increase in scholarly representation from developing countries could help address the “human value” of green spaces not simply as a “first-world” phenomenon. Finally, a global focus on the emotional, human connections to green spaces may help scholars and practitioners alike mitigate the growing trend of green gentrification

Structural Studies on the Mechanism of Argyrin B and the L12 – L11 Ribosomal Protein Interface

The mechanism of action of argyrin B and the molecular interactions of L11 and L12 has been undetermined and underrepresented in the research of bacterial translation. This work seeks to examine the mechanism of action of argyrin B by performing in vitro structural studies of its interaction with its specific target protein elongation factor-G. We demonstrate that argyrin B inhibits translation, and allows GTPase activity to proceed, contrary to assumptions made in prior research. We determine that ribosome recycling is the likely step through which argyrin B acts as an antibiotic, since translocation is unaffected by argyrin B and association with post-termination complexes are increased in the presence of argyrin B. We propose that the mechanism of action involves the ratcheting of EF-G 45 ° from a normal binding conformation with the ribosome, which sterically hinders the positioning of loop II of domain IV of EF-G and the cooperativity of EF-G and RRF in interrupting Bridge 2a, the largest intersubunit bridge on the ribosome. Furthermore, we provide preliminary insight on the molecular interactions present between L11 and the L12 C Terminal Domain by performing alanine scanning mutations on select glutamic acid and aspartic acid residues around an electronegatively charged pocket. These mutations while not effecting L11 binding in a tangible way, strongly influenced select GTPase activity

Investigation of advanced counterrotation blade configuration concepts for high speed turboprop systems. Task 5: Unsteady counterrotation ducted propfan analysis. Computer program user's manual

The primary objective of this study was the development of a time-marching three-dimensional Euler/Navier-Stokes aerodynamic analysis to predict steady and unsteady compressible transonic flows about ducted and unducted propfan propulsion systems employing multiple blade rows. The computer codes resulting from this study are referred to as ADPAC-AOACR (Advanced Ducted Propfan Analysis Codes-Angle of Attack Coupled Row). This report is intended to serve as a computer program user's manual for the ADPAC-AOACR codes developed under Task 5 of NASA Contract NAS3-25270, Unsteady Counterrotating Ducted Propfan Analysis. The ADPAC-AOACR program is based on a flexible multiple blocked grid discretization scheme permitting coupled 2-D/3-D mesh block solutions with application to a wide variety of geometries. For convenience, several standard mesh block structures are described for turbomachinery applications. Aerodynamic calculations are based on a four-stage Runge-Kutta time-marching finite volume solution technique with added numerical dissipation. Steady flow predictions are accelerated by a multigrid procedure. Numerical calculations are compared with experimental data for several test cases to demonstrate the utility of this approach for predicting the aerodynamics of modern turbomachinery configurations employing multiple blade rows

Chapter 8: Adapting to Climate Change

Forest ecosystems respond to natural climatic variability and human-caused climate change in ways that are adverse as well as beneficial to the biophysical environment and to society. Adaptation can be defined as responses or adjustments made— passive, reactive, or anticipatory—to climatic variability and change (Carter et al. 1994). Many adjustments occur whether humans intervene or not; for example, plants and animals shift to favorable habitats, and gene frequencies may change to favor traits that enable persistence in a warmer climate. Here we assess (general) strategies and (specific) tactics that resource managers can use to reduce forest vulnerability and increase adaptation to changing climate (Peterson et al. 2011). Plans and activities range from short-term, stop-gap measures, such as removing conifers that are progressively invading mountainmeadows, to long-term, proactive commitments, such as vegetation management to reduce the likelihood of severe wildfire or of beetle-mediated forest mortality