Wetlands Regulation in an Era of Climate Change: Can Section 404 Meet the Challenge?

This Article raises the question of how we should assess the potential threat to wetlands posed by the impacts of a changing climate and considers the role that section 404 of the Clean Water Act can play both in assessing and responding to that threat. Our inquiry is two-fold. First, should we be concerned about climate impacts on wetlands? And if so, how can section 404 help us to assess and respond to this threat? Part I surveys the scientific literature on the projected impacts of climate change of particular relevance to wetlands and the impacts anticipated for particular types of wetlands. Part II presents an approach for assessing the extent to which we should be concerned about climate change impacts on wetlands. Part III discusses section 404 and priorities for strengthening it in an era of climate change

Wetlands Regulation in an Era of Climate Change: Can Section 404 Meet the Challenge?

This Article raises the question of how we should assess the potential threat to wetlands posed by the impacts of a changing climate and considers the role that section 404 of the Clean Water Act can play both in assessing and responding to that threat. Our inquiry is two-fold. First, should we be concerned about climate impacts on wetlands? And if so, how can section 404 help us to assess and respond to this threat? Part I surveys the scientific literature on the projected impacts of climate change of particular relevance to wetlands and the impacts anticipated for particular types of wetlands. Part II presents an approach for assessing the extent to which we should be concerned about climate change impacts on wetlands. Part III discusses section 404 and priorities for strengthening it in an era of climate change

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Conceptualizations in Research and Policy

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is a framework developed by Felitti et al. (1998) that aims to understand the public health effects of childhood trauma more comprehensively. ACEs are strongly associated with chronic physical health issues, substance abuse, and mental illness later in life. Over time, the definition has shifted from individual household-level experiences to include community environmental factors, increasing resource mobilization to combat underlying social problems contributing to ACEs. However, ACEs remain inconsistently defined in the literature, and scholars debate if this undermines the value of the framework. Through content analysis of scholarly literature on ACEs and U.S. policies addressing childhood trauma, I explore which aspects of the framework established in the literature make their way into policy. A scoping review of peer-reviewed scholarly literature gathered through a systematic search of SocINDEX, PsycInfo, and PubMed was completed. A census of relevant federal policy documents was gathered by searching records on Congress.gov. Articles and policies meeting the inclusion criteria were coded to identify which factors from the original ACEs study and the expanded framework were included. I compared these inclusions in the literature and policy and analyzed the use of the ACEs terminology in policy over time. This analysis documents the contested nature of ACEs terminology, the implications of which I explore in relation to consistency in research and policy, as well as possible avenues for addressing childhood trauma and its public health impacts even more effectively

Isolation of 18 Novel Mycobacteriophages and Genomic Analyses of Krueger and Phrappuccino

Eighteen new mycobacteriophages were isolated from soil samples collected around the state of Michigan and parts of the United States. All phages were capable of infecting Mycobacterium smegmatis and were isolated through either enrichment or direct plating at 25°C. A variety of plaque morphologies were produced based on size, shape, and clarity; both lytic and temperate phages appear represented in this collection. Two mycobacteriophages, Krueger and Phrappuccino, were chosen for complete genome sequencing and comparative genomic analyses. The predominant plaque produced by Krueger at 32°C was circular and 2 mm in diameter. The predominant plaque produced by Phrappuccino at 32°C was 1 mm in diameter, and took 48 hours to appear. Complete genome sequence for Krueger revealed relationships to members of the novel Subcluster K6, while Phrappuccino was not closely related to any known phage and is currently classified as a Singleton. The genome of Krueger is 60.3 Kb, 66.5% GC, and contains 101 genes, including 1 tRNA(Lys-TTT) gene; the genome of Phrappuccino is 136.3 Kb, 67.4% GC, and contains 200 genes. While Phrappuccino is a Singleton, there is strong evidence at the morphological (Myoviridae) and genomic levels for a relationship to Cluster C phages. Despite this relationship, Phrappuccino does not carry any tRNA genes. Forty (39.6%) and thirty-six (18%) protein coding genes were assigned functions in Krueger and Phrappuccino, respectively, based on comparative analyses. A detailed analysis of the complete genome sequences and comparison with sequenced mycobacteriophages is the subject of the second semester of this yearlong course and is presented