The materiality of research: towards a sociology of plants by Jennifer Jordan

In this feature essay, Jennifer Jordan considers the deeply physical and visceral components of forging a sociology of plants, drawing on her own research into human-plant interactions and landscapes of sustenance. While connecting the study of these spaces to questions of power and exploitation, a sociology of plants also reminds us of the capacity to create and sustain life

Pedestrian-Oriented Street Design: Measuring Whether It Affects Downtown Employment and Housing Growth

Urban design is hard to measure. Unlike the bottom line in a financial pro forma, the quality of urban design cannot yet be calculated in a simple manner. The urban design quality of a development project, a public space, and a place contains multiple combinations of dozens of inter-connected design attributes. Furthermore, each unique geographic place and their specific characteristics add another layer of complexity to quantitative measurement. However, planning and economic development researchers continue to chip away at developing metrics of a place’s urban design environment because it is an important component in a project, a public space or a place’s success in terms of public perception of vibrancy, attractiveness, and safety. Regardless of whether the average person can articulate the presence or absence of certain design elements, all people can point to places they like and are attracted to and those places that they instinctively avoid. Investing, developing, and maintaining places that people are attracted to is an important topic for policy makers and public development officials to understand as this is a factor in maintaining and growing the tax base in terms of housing and jobs as well as providing a justification of public investment in the public realm. This research project used 2010, 2014, and 2015 data from the U.S. Census and 2010 NAVSTREETS pedestrian-oriented street segment data via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Smart Location Index to test whether there is a correlation between the presence of pedestrian-oriented street segments and growth in employment and housing units in all downtown census tracts for the 383 Municipal Statistical Areas (MSA’s) in the United States over time. The use of the MSA dataset will provide a large, 5 consistent data baseline from which future measurement can then be consistently conducted for pedestrian-oriented street segments and impact on employment and housing growth

Resisting Marriage: Using \u3cem\u3eRubyfruit Jungle\u3c/em\u3e to Analyze a Lesbian’s View on Societal Norms

The novel Rubyfruit Jungle, by Rita Mae Brown, was published in 1973 and focuses on a lesbian protagonist. This is Molly Bolt, who is followed from sixth grade into her post-college life. Molly begins the novel living in rural Pennsylvania with her supportive stepfather, Carl, and her critical stepmother, Carrie. Growing up, Molly has a tenuous relationship with Carrie, as Molly continuously lives her life in a manner in exact opposition to her stepmother’s beliefs. Throughout the novel, Molly grows both in age and ideas. She begins discovering her feelings for women in the sixth grade, when she has a romantic and sexual relationship with Leota Bisland. This occurs before Molly’s family moves to Florida with her parents and cousin Leroy’s family. In Florida, Molly starts a relationship with a high-school classmate named Carolyn that further escalates her stance against marriage. After high school, Molly works to put herself through film school at New York University, where she has multiple relationships with women. Like Rubyfruit Jungle, many midto late-twentieth century novels include lesbian protagonists who do not value marriage. This can be seen in novels such as Odd Girl Out by Ann Bannon and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. These books were written in 1953 and 1985 respectively, and they also depict lesbians rejecting the societal expectation of marriage. Odd Girl Out, as well as other lesbian pulp novels, helped to set a precedent for novels with lesbian themes: furthermore, that novel includes a lesbian protagonist with a negative view of marriage. Likewise, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit relates back to Brown’s work by also depicting a lesbian protagonist who negatively views marriage

Drinking Revolution, Drinking in Place: Craft Beer, Hard Cider and the Making of North American Landscapes

This paper offers an exploratory examination of the recent rise in popularity of craft beer and hard cider, paying particular attention to the ways in which these fleeting pleasures interact with specific landscapes

Understanding comorbid ADHD and cocaine abuse: consequences of adolescent medication in an animal model

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is highly comorbid with substance use disorders, particularly cocaine. Preclinical studies using the well-validated Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat (SHR) model of ADHD suggest that adolescent treatment with the stimulant methylphenidate increases cocaine abuse risk in adulthood, highlighting the need to identify alternative medications for teenagers with ADHD. Experiments 1-4 tested the hypothesis that atomoxetine, a non-stimulant that improves prefrontal cortex functioning in adolescent SHR, would not increase cocaine abuse risk. The speed to acquire cocaine self-administration, the efficacy and motivating influence of cocaine reinforcement, and reactivity to cocaine cues in adulthood following discontinuation of adolescent atomoxetine treatment were examined in male SHR and two genetic control strains: inbred Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) and outbred Wistar (WIS). Because atomoxetine is not always as clinically efficacious as methylphenidate, Experiments 5-9 tested the hypothesis that an alternative stimulant, d-amphetamine, would improve cognitive performance in adolescent SHR during a strategy set-shifting task and not increase cocaine abuse risk in adult SHR after adolescent d-amphetamine was discontinued. Across experiments, adult SHR acquired cocaine self-administration faster than control strains and also were more sensitive to cocaine’s reinforcing and motivating influence and more reactive to cocaine cues. As hypothesized, adolescent atomoxetine did not increase any measure of cocaine abuse risk in adult SHR and modestly reduced SHR’s reactivity to cocaine cues. In WKY control, however, adolescent atomoxetine accelerated acquisition of cocaine self-administration. d-Amphetamine improved set-shifting deficits in adolescent SHR, demonstrating pro-cognitive effects as hypothesized. When self-administration was acquired, cocaine intake was lower in adult SHR that received adolescent d-amphetamine compared to vehicle-treated SHR, consistent with the hypothesis. Adolescent d-amphetamine slowed acquisition and reduced the efficacy and motivating influence of cocaine reinforcement in WIS control, but accelerated acquisition in WKY control. Collectively, these results highlight the heuristic value of SHR in evaluating comorbid ADHD and cocaine abuse risk, and suggest that atomoxetine and d-amphetamine may be safer medications than methylphenidate for teenagers with ADHD. However, findings in control strains emphasize the need for accurate ADHD diagnosis, as the long-term consequences of treatment could be favorable (d-amphetamine in WIS) or unfavorable (atomoxetine and d-amphetamine in WKY) in misdiagnosed individuals

Psychology of Sport Injury : A Holistic Approach to Rehabilitating the Injured Athlete

Sports medicine practitioners must consider both physical and mental aspects of injury to fully rehabilitate the injured athlete. The psychological distress that follows injury has been well documented and calls for a change in the rehabilitation of injured athletes.1-3 With the recent emergence of sport psychology and the emphasis on competitive sport in the United States and beyond, psychological skills are no longer solely utilized by the elite athlete; college and high school athletes are gaining instruction in the use of psychological skills from sport psychologists, coaches, and fellow teammates. Psychological skills have been shown to be effective in improving positive outlook, reducing pain, improving relaxation, increasing adherence, reducing recovery time, and increasing overall satisfaction with rehabilitation, which make them invaluable tools for those who lead the rehabilitation of injured athletes. 1, 4-