Homeowner perceptions of North Carolina sea level rise policy

The North Carolina coastline faces various threats such as erosion, increasing pressure from booming coastal populations, and increasing frequency of major storm events. In 2012, the state addressed the threat of sea-level rise (SLR) on development by enacting NC House Bill 819: “An Act to Study and Modify Certain Coastal Management Policies” (HB819). HB819 did not allow for any guidelines to define a rate of SLR for regulatory purposes and mandated that the Coastal Resource Commission Science Panel update the SLR report in the next 5 years, but could only use historical models to determine future rates of SLR for up to 30 years. NC provides a fascinating case study in SLR policy, because the state previously passed progressive policies for oceanfront erosion control, but halted any regulatory planning for sea level rise until July 1, 2016 with HB819. This thesis sought to address if NC waterfront homeowners and statewide residents were aware of HB819, their opinions of HB819, and what factors were most likely to predict awareness and acceptance of HB819. Surveys were sent out via Qualtrics to waterfront homeowners and statewide residents in NC in summer 2016. The results show that: 1) a greater awareness and stronger opinions of HB819 were reported by the waterfront group; 2) political party primarily impacted awareness of HB819; and, 3) those who believe they will be harmed by SLR are most opposed to HB819. These findings demonstrated that SLR is both a geographic and politicized issue with varying implications for legislators, state-wide residents, and waterfront residents. In the future, NC policy-makers should consider the concerns of NC residents when creating new SLR policy, with a particular focus on coastal residents who will be most harmed.Bachelor of Art

Reversing a Tyranny of Cascading Shoreline-Protection Decisions Driving Coastal Habitat Loss

Abstract Shoreline hardening is a major driver of biodiversity and habitat loss in coastal ecosystems yet remains a common approach to coastal management globally. Using surveys of waterfront residents in North Carolina, USA, we sought to identify factors influencing individual shore‐protection decisions and ultimately impacting coastal ecosystems, particularly coastal wetlands. We found that neighboring shore condition was the best predictor of respondent shore condition. Respondents with hardened shorelines were more likely to have neighbors with hardened shorelines, and to report that neighbors influenced their shore‐protection choices than respondents with natural shorelines. Further, respondents who expressed climate‐change skepticism and preference for shoreline hardening were opposed to shoreline‐hardening restrictions. Despite preferring hardening, respondents ranked wetlands as highly valuable for storm protection and other ecosystem services, suggesting a disconnect between the ecological knowledge of individuals and social norms of shore‐protection decisions. However, our results also suggest that efforts to increase the installation of living shorelines have the potential to conserve and restore important coastal habitats and support biodiversity along shorelines that may otherwise be degraded by hardening. Further, encouraging waterfront‐property owners who have adopted living shorelines to recommend them to neighbors may be an effective strategy to initiate and reinforce pro‐conservation social norms

Reproducibility in the unfolding process of protein induced by an external electric field

The dynamics of proteins are crucial for their function. However, commonly used techniques for studying protein structures are limited in monitoring time-resolved dynamics at high resolution. Combining electric fields with existing techniques to study gas phase proteins, such as Single Particle Imaging using Free-electron Lasers and gas phase Small Angle X-ray Scattering, has the potential to open up a new era in time-resolved studies of gas phase protein dynamics. Using molecular dynamics simulations, we identify well-defined unfolding pathways of a protein, induced by experimentally achievable external electric fields. Our simulations show that strong electric fields in conjunction with short pulsed X-ray sources such as Free-electron Lasers can be a new path for imaging dynamics of gas-phase proteins at high spatial and temporal resolution

Coherent diffractive imaging of proteins and viral capsids: simulating MS SPIDOC

MS SPIDOC is a novel sample delivery system designed for single (isolated) particle imaging at X-ray Free-Electron Lasers that is adaptable towards most large-scale facility beamlines. Biological samples can range from small proteins to MDa particles. Following nano-electrospray ionization, ionic samples can be m/z-filtered and structurally separated before being oriented at the interaction zone. Here, we present the simulation package developed alongside this prototype. The first part describes how the front-to-end ion trajectory simulations have been conducted. Highlighted is a quadrant lens; a simple but efficient device that steers the ion beam within the vicinity of the strong DC orientation field in the interaction zone to ensure spatial overlap with the X-rays. The second part focuses on protein orientation and discusses its potential with respect to diffractive imaging methods. Last, coherent diffractive imaging of prototypical T = 1 and T = 3 norovirus capsids is shown. We use realistic experimental parameters from the SPB/SFX instrument at the European XFEL to demonstrate that low- resolution diffractive imaging data (q < 0.3 nm$^{−1}$) can be collected with only a few X-ray pulses. Such low-resolution data are sufficient to distinguish between both symmetries of the capsids, allowing to probe low abundant species in a beam if MS SPIDOC is used as sample delivery

Coherent diffractive imaging of proteins and viral capsids : simulating MS SPIDOC

MS SPIDOC is a novel sample delivery system designed for single (isolated) particle imaging at X-ray Free-Electron Lasers that is adaptable towards most large-scale facility beamlines. Biological samples can range from small proteins to MDa particles. Following nano-electrospray ionization, ionic samples can be m/z-filtered and structurally separated before being oriented at the interaction zone. Here, we present the simulation package developed alongside this prototype. The first part describes how the front-to-end ion trajectory simulations have been conducted. Highlighted is a quadrant lens; a simple but efficient device that steers the ion beam within the vicinity of the strong DC orientation field in the interaction zone to ensure spatial overlap with the X-rays. The second part focuses on protein orientation and discusses its potential with respect to diffractive imaging methods. Last, coherent diffractive imaging of prototypical T = 1 and T = 3 norovirus capsids is shown. We use realistic experimental parameters from the SPB/SFX instrument at the European XFEL to demonstrate that low-resolution diffractive imaging data (q &lt; 0.3 nm−1) can be collected with only a few X-ray pulses. Such low-resolution data are sufficient to distinguish between both symmetries of the capsids, allowing to probe low abundant species in a beam if MS SPIDOC is used as sample delivery

Macrophages and neutrophils are the targets for immune suppression by glucocorticoids in contact allergy

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely used in the treatment of allergic skin conditions despite having numerous side effects. Here we use Cre/loxP-engineered tissue- and cell-specific and function-selective GC receptor (GR) mutant mice to identify responsive cell types and molecular mechanisms underlying the antiinflammatory activity of GCs in contact hypersensitivity (CHS). CHS was repressed by GCs only at the challenge phase, i.e., during reexposure to the hapten. Inactivation of the GR gene in keratinocytes or T cells of mutant mice did not attenuate the effects of GCs, but its ablation in macrophages and neutrophils abolished downregulation of the inflammatory response. Moreover, mice expressing a DNA binding–defective GR were also resistant to GC treatment. The persistent infiltration of macrophages and neutrophils in these mice is explained by an impaired repression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines such as IL-1β, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-2, and IFN-γ–inducible protein 10. In contrast TNF-α repression remained intact. Consequently, injection of recombinant proteins of these cytokines and chemokines partially reversed suppression of CHS by GCs. These studies provide evidence that in contact allergy, therapeutic action of corticosteroids is in macrophages and neutrophils and that dimerization GR is required

Synthesis, binding affinity and structure–activity relationships of novel, selective and dual targeting CCR2 and CCR5 receptor antagonists

Medicinal Chemistr