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This report combines a cost baseline analysis with five case studies of California rail projects (four local transit projects and California’s High-Speed Rail project) to identify the causes of high project costs, slow deployment, and overruns/delays beyond initial project estimates. Baselines were developed from an analysis of two prominent transit cost databases, and case studies were developed through review of the historical record and expert interviews. Key findings include lack of transit agency experience and expertise; insufficient cross-agency coordination; costly stakeholder outreach; inefficient procurement and contracting methods; and project overdesign. The report proposes a set of recommendations for transit agencies and state policymakers to overcome these challenges, including the creation of regional project delivery consultant teams, legal authorization and use of alternative contracting methods, and new agency coordination and communication structures.

Extreme weather events, increased intensity of droughts and floods, and changes to growing seasons are results of climate change that impact horticulture, agriculture, and food systems. In the United States, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina experience similar impacts caused by climate change such as rising sea levels and extreme heat. In these states, community gardens can be a source of local, fresh foods, especially in areas experiencing food insecurity. The goals of this study were to identify garden coordinators’ perceptions of the need for climate change adaptation, perceptions regarding the five perceived attributes of climate change adaptation, and where community garden coordinators stand in the innovation–decision process when it comes to climate change adaptation. The findings show that participants valued relative advantage and low levels of complexity when adopting and implementing climate-smart practices into their gardens. This study found that the community gardens were all implementing some form of climate-smart adaptations even if implementation was not for climate-related reasons. All participants noted that the largest barrier to adopting new practices was a lack of extra money. The findings from this study should be used to inform environmental education and communication strategies that encourage adoption of climate-smart practices.

Rural stress is the physiological reaction brought upon by internal and socioeconomic stressors characteristic of rural residents. This type of stress is exacerbated by the complex issues facing rural populations and serves to inhibit the growth of vibrant, resilient communities. The current study sought to construct and validate an instrument intended to quantify perceptions of rural stress among neighbors and communities. The proposed scale was confirmed to have robust content, internal structure, and consequential validity. An exploratory factor analysis indicated one variable accounted for 57.74% of the total variance, while a one-way between subjects ANOVA found a statistically significant effect of group on scale scores under rural-urban continuum (RUC) conditions. One implication from these findings is that changes in communities may function as predictors of stress. Agricultural and extension educators hold a unique position that allows them to interact with the community on a daily basis. We recommend that they leverage this position to educate residents on the effects of stress, reduce the stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors, and discuss available stress management resources. Future research should consider modifying the instrument to focus on individual levels of stress instead of perceptions of stress within the community.

The benefits to the environment associated with farmer adoption of Best Management Practices (BMPs) is well documented, yet the agricultural industry has resisted widespread acceptance and implementation. Network support, level of education/knowledge, and financial concerns have all been found as contributing factors impacting adoption. Extension agents can increase knowledge levels through direct education with farmers; however, network support in the form of public support and willingness to pay for engagement in BMPs may be the best way to combine the network and financial support farmers need to increase engagement. Unfortunately, little is known about public interest in supporting BMP engagement. This study was conducted to determine public willingness to pay for BMP engagement and identify the characteristics of those willing to pay more for food produced using BMPs so that agricultural communication efforts may be targeted at both consumers and producers. Findings indicated there was public support for BMP adoption and that most supported a 10% increase in food prices when purchasing food produced using BMPs. Recommendations are provided regarding marketing strategies and how agricultural communicators can identify and utilize BMP opinion leaders to assist in educating a broad base of consumers in the cost of BMP engagement.

Extension professionals help important agricultural sectors across the country resolve challenges using science-based practices that enhance environmental and social wellbeing while supporting businesses. Nursery and greenhouse growers comprise one of the largest sectors of U.S. agriculture, and this group is challenged to conserve water without compromising their economic viability. While Extension professionals educate and support nursery and greenhouse growers, there is a deficiency of research on adoption processes within this sector. To better understand this important Extension audience, this research examined the influence of critical thinking and problem-solving style on perceived characteristics of water conservation technologies and in turn the perceived characteristics relationship with their implementation. A route to adoption was established to inform effective Extension activities that promote water conservation. Problem-solving style predicts trialability while critical thinking style predicts none of the five characteristics of innovations. Of the five characteristics of water conservation innovations, relative advantage, trialability, and observability play a role in nursery and greenhouse growers' implementation, and implementation does influence adoption. When designing water conservation programs for nursery and greenhouse growers, Extension professionals should consider participants' problem-solving style and incorporate strategies to increase trialability, relative advantage, and observability.

Although there are questions concerning the extent of the problems facing rural Americans, there is considerable evidence that many nonmetropolitan communities are facing a multitude of serious challenges. These issues do not exist as distinct and unrelated problems. For instance, one cannot focus exclusively on depopulation without also confronting economic decline and lack of employment opportunities, deteriorating social bonds, cultural atrophy, decaying infrastructure, and so on. Rural communities are systems in which each problem is linked, and managing these issues requires a holistic approach. Despite the need for robust diagnostic tools to support agricultural educators to work with communities there has been a notable gap in empirical tools to do so. The purpose of the study was to develop and validate an instrument to gauge community perceptions according to the Community Capitals Framework. The results of the study found the proposed instrument demonstrated content, response process, and internal structure validity based on a pilot of six counties in Georgia. Furthermore, the scale demonstrated initial consequential validity based on county level comparisons and statistically significant observed differences.

Increasing Californians’ access to and use of public transit is a key component of the state’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from transportation, which is the single largest source of statewide emissions. To achieve state targets of 40 percent GHG emission reduction below 1990 levels by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045, California leaders will need to support a range of affordable, efficient, and riderfriendly transit options—including local and regional rail networks—to replace personal vehicle use. However, rail transit projects in California and the U.S. are costly and slow to build. Most initial project budget estimates are expensive to begin with, and they often increase significantly after delays and cost overruns occur. This high-cost, slowdeployment pattern of rail transit investment risks depleting public funds available for new transit projects and the public trust necessary to ensure successful projects. With climate and urban design and livability goals demanding greater and more efficient public transit investment, what can state and local leaders do to improve project delivery in terms of cost and time? Researchers at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley School of Law recently combined a cost baseline analysis with five California project case studies to identify the key sources of poor project delivery performance and strategies to overcome them.

Assembly Bill (AB) 285 (Friedman, 2019) requires the California Strategic Growth Council (SGC) to submit a report to the Legislature by January 31, 2022, that includes the following:An overview of the California Transportation Plan (CTP). An overview of all regional Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) and any alternative planning strategies, as needed. An assessment of how the implementation of the CTP and regional plans “will influence the configuration of the statewide integrated multimodal transportation system.”  A “review of the potential impacts and opportunities for coordination” of key state funding programs,” to be conducted in consultation with the administering agencies.  Recommendations for the improvement of these programs or other relevant transportation funding programs to better align the programs to meet long-term common goals, including the goals outlined in the CTP.In spring 2021, the SGC contracted with the University of California (UC) to provide materials supporting its report to the Legislature. Researchers at the UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), UC Davis ITS, UCLA ITS, and Berkeley Law joined forces to prepare a series of papers to provide the evidentiary basis for the project. The UC Berkeley principal investigator coordinated the work and prepared this final summary report. The report is based on findings from the professional and academic literature, a detailed analysis of the identified plans and programs of concern, meetings with staff of the agencies whose plans are being reviewed, feedback from briefings and presentations on draft findings, and nearly 100 hours of individual interviews with stakeholders across California.

Flexibility in California Transportation Funding Programs and Implications for More Climate-Aligned Spending examines key features of the legislative authority for transportation planning and finance in California, including local option sales taxes for transportation, and assesses the amount of flexibility that current laws and practices allow for reprioritizing projects as problems and priorities change.

Educators within agricultural and natural resource disciplines are tasked with educating students to critically engage with and problem-solve complex issues. As society's relationship with science and technology changes, coupled with an information-dense environment, strategies for sustainably addressing complex issues are needed. One potential approach for strategically addressing complex problems is systems thinking, which emphasizes the interdependence of the components of systems from ecological, social, and economic perspectives, among others. A mixed-methods study was used to explore the applicability of hypothetical case scenarios (HCS) as a teaching method to introduce and engage students in using systems thinking related to the seafood industry. Findings suggested HCS engaged students to think critically about socio-scientific issues. Participants demonstrated systems thinking capacity when discussing their decision-making processes in the hypothetical cases. The current study demonstrated the pedagogical potential of using HCS to enhance systems thinking capacities for students in the ANR disciplines. Implications for education and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Transformational leadership, a type of leadership commonly promoted within higher education, has been shown to positively affect performance, collaborative behavior, and goal accomplishment. Such skills may correlate with the level of job responsibility one has been given and the technical, human, and conceptual skills needed for one to be successful. This study sought to bridge a research gap by exploring correlations between transformational leadership and skills-approach leadership with an exploration of the role of gender within perceptions. An unexpected result based on gender was found: As females achieve higher roles within the Land-Grant University System, the perception of their transformational leadership decreases while that of males increases. Transformational leadership and skills-approach leadership is discussed within the context of gender.

The title compound, alternatively known as benzodiazaborole trimer, C18H15B3N6·2C3H6O, at 100 K crystallizes in the triclinic system, space group P\overline{1}. The structure displays N—H...O hydrogen bonding connecting the main molecule with the crystallization solvent. Disorder of the main molecule is observed with occupancy factors refined to 0.8922 (14):0.1078 (14). The packing of the crystal shows a parallel-displaced atom-centered orientation with 3.30 (2) Å between the planes of the rings. In the solid state, the title compound is linked with weak C—H...π interactions, which is supported by Hirshfeld surface analysis.

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated a link between the administration of analgesic drugs and the reduction of empathy levels in humans. This apparent blunting effect of pain medication has been explained through shared neural mechanisms for the first-hand and the empathic experience of pain (simulation theory). Considering that analgesics are among the most consumed drugs in the world and the ability to empathize with others is fundamental to human social interactions, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether the typical day-to-day analgesic consumption rate in Austria and Germany is associated with a reduction in empathy and prosocial behavior. We therefore collected self-reports of analgesic consumption behavior as well as empathy for pain and prosocial behavior measures in an online survey (n = 940). Analyses revealed no significant association between the analgesic intake frequency and measures of empathy or prosocial behavior. However, liberal intake of analgesics (i.e. mind-set of “a pill is a quick solution”) was linked to lower empathic concern and helping behavior, which may hint towards a negative effect in people who take pain medication for non-pain related issues or episodes of low pain. Nevertheless, further research is needed to investigate the effects of analgesic drugs in high frequency users.

The article describes the study of the perception of the Russian-Chinese borderland by the participants of the Russian expedition of 1874-1875 under the leadership of Y.A. Sosnovsky. The 19th century was a period of active study of Asia and the formation of ideas about these territories at the level of mass consciousness. From the point of view of intercultural communication on the borderland, the linguistic tradition that developed in Kyakhta, which at that time was the centre of the Russian-Chinese tea trade, is of particular interest. In those places, a mixed Russian-Chinese dialect arose, which turned out to be extremely stable thanks to the consistent policy of the Chinese authorities. They required knowledge of the Russian language from their merchants and created a special language school to teach the minimum basics necessary for trading. Y.A. Sosnovsky expedition opened a new shorter trade route and created the prerequisites for the formation of a holistic image of the Russian-Chinese borderland.