Commonwealth of Massachusetts Mill Building Repurposing Pilot Project (Twist Mill - Athol, MA)

The purpose of the UMass Amherst Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning’s participation in this project is to establish a redevelopment action plan that incorporates the ownership’s clear vision for reuse of the site, proposes solutions to various obstacles that have hindered progress, and serves as a guiding model in terms of improving the feasibility of similar projects throughout the state. The project team gathered information from a variety of resources, and conducted three distinct phases of analysis in order to complete this redevelopment action plan. The Phase I: Inventory examines the physical, regulatory, and financial context surrounding the current site in order to gauge its condition as a viable location to foster desired economic development for the region. The Phase II: Assessment utilizes these inventory findings to identify clear challenges that impact the redevelopment potential of the site in an effort to reduce overall project roadblocks. The Phase III: Implementation provides strategies to alleviate these challenges moving forward, in the form of clear recommendations for local, regional, and state level regulatory improvements. Phases I and II were conducted in the fall of 2013, and Phase III was conducted in the spring of 2014. Particular thanks for guidance on this project are extended to L.P. Athol Corporation ownership, Dr. John Mullin of the UMass Amherst Center for Economic Development, State Representative Denise Andrews of the Franklin County Second District, State Senator Stephen Brewer, State Senator Stanley Rosenberg, Congressman James McGovern, and the Town of Athol

Novel isolates expand the physiological diversity of<i>Prochlorococcus</i>and illuminate its macroevolution

Prochlorococcusis a diverse picocyanobacterial genus and the most abundant phototroph on Earth. Its photosynthetic diversity divides it into high- or low-light adapted groups representing broad phylogenetic grades - each composed of several monophyletic clades. Here we physiologically characterize four newProchlorococcusstrains isolated from below the deep chlorophyll maximum in the North Pacific Ocean and combine this information with genomic and evolutionary analyses. The isolates belong to deeply-branching low-light adapted clades that have no other cultivated representatives and display some unusual characteristics. For example, despite its otherwise low-light adapted physiological characteristics, strain MIT1223 has low chlb2 content similar to high-light adapted strains. Isolate genomes revealed that each strain contains a unique arsenal of pigment biosynthesis and binding alleles that have been horizontally acquired, contributing to the observed physiological diversity. Comparative genomic analysis of all picocyanobacteria reveals that Pcb, the major pigment carrying protein inProchlorococcus, greatly increased in copy number and diversity per genome along a branch that coincides with the loss of facultative particle attachment. Collectively, these observations add support to the current macroevolutionary model of picocyanobacteria, where niche constructing radiations allowed ancestral lineages to transition from a particle-attached to planktonic lifestyle and broadly colonize the water column, followed by adaptive radiations near the surface that pushed ancestral lineages deeper in the euphotic zone resulting in modern depth-abundance profiles.Originality-Significance Statement<jats:p/>The marine cyanobacterium,Prochlorococcus, is among the Earth’s most abundant organisms, and much of its genetic and physiological diversity remains uncharacterized. While field studies help reveal the scope of diversity, cultured isolates allow us to link genomic potential to physiological processes, illuminate eco-evolutionary feedbacks, and test theories arising from comparative genomics of wild cells. Here, we report the isolation and characterization of novel low-light (LL) adaptedProchlorococcusstrains that fill in multiple evolutionary gaps. These new strains are the first cultivated representatives of the LLVII and LLVIII paraphyletic grades ofProchlorococcus, which are broadly distributed in the lower regions of the ocean euphotic zone. Each of these grades is a unique, highly diverse section of theProchlorococcustree that separates distinct ecological groups: the LLVII grade branches between monophyletic clades that have facultatively particle-associated and constitutively planktonic lifestyles, while the LLVIII grade lies along the branch that leads to all high-light (HL) adapted clades. Characterizing strains and genomes from these grades yields insights into the large-scale evolution ofProchlorococcus.The new LLVII and LLVIII strains are adapted to growth at very low irradiance levels and possess unique light-harvesting gene signatures and pigmentation. The LLVII strains represent the most basalProchlorococcusgroup with a major expansion in photosynthetic antenna genes. Further, a strain from the LLVIII grade challenges the paradigm that all LL-adaptedProchlorococcusexhibit high ratios of chlb:a. These findings provide insights into major transitions inProchlorococcusevolution, from the benthos to a fully planktonic lifestyle and from growth at low irradiances to the rise of the HL-adapted clades that dominate the modern ocean

The chemical composition and toxicological effects of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted from different cooking styles

The mass, chemical composition and toxicological properties of fine particulates (PM2.5) emitted from cooking activities in three Hong Kong based restaurants and two simulated cooking experiments were characterized. Extracts from the PM2.5 samples elicited significant biological activities [cell viability, generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA damage and inflammation effect (THE-alpha)] in a dose-dependent manner. The composition of PAHs, oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) and azaarenes (AZAs) mixtures differed between samples. The concentration ranges of the Sigma 30PAHs, Sigma 17OPAHs and Sigma 4AZAs and Sigma 7Carbonyls in the samples were 9627-23,452 pg m(-3), 503 3700 pg m(-3), 33-263 pg m(-3) and 158 - 5328 ng m(-3), respectively. Cell viability caused by extracts from the samples was positively correlated to the concentration of benzo [a]anthracene, indeno [1,2,3-cd]pyrene and 1,4-naphthoquinone in the PM2.5 extracts. Cellular ROS production (upon exposure to extracts) was positively correlated with the concentrations of PM2.5, decaldehyde, acridine, E17OPAHs and 7 individual OPAHs. THE-alpha showed significant positive correlations with the concentrations of most chemical species (elemental carbon, 16 individual PAHs including benzo[a]pyrene, Sigma 30PAHs, SO42-, Ca-2(+), Ca, Na, K, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn). The concentrations of Al, Ti, Mn, Sigma 30PAHs and 8 individual PAHs including benzo [a] pyrene in the samples were positively correlated with DNA damage caused by extracts from the samples. This study demonstrates that inhalation of PM2.5 emitted from cooking could result in adverse human health effects