Non-governmental organizations and multi-sited marine conservation science: A case study

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now major players in the realm of environmental conservation. While many environmental NGOs started as national organizations focused around single-species protection, governmental advocacy, and preservation of wilderness, the largest now produce applied conservation science and work with national and international stakeholders to develop conservation solutions that work in tandem with local aspirations. Marine managed areas (MMAs) are increasingly being used as a tool to manage anthropogenic stressors on marine resources and protect marine biodiversity. However, the science of MMA is far from complete. Conservation International (CI) is concluding a 5 year, $12.5 million dollar Marine Management Area Science (MMAS) initiative. There are 45 scientific projects recently completed, with four main “nodes” of research and conservation work: Panama, Fiji, Brazil, and Belize. Research projects have included MMA ecological monitoring, socioeconomic monitoring, cultural roles monitoring, economic valuation studies, and others. MMAS has the goals of conducting marine management area research, building local capacity, and using the results of the research to promote marine conservation policy outcomes at project sites. How science is translated into policy action is a major area of interest for science and technology scholars (Cash and Clark 2001; Haas 2004; Jasanoff et al. 2002). For science to move policy there must be work across “boundaries” (Jasanoff 1987). Boundaries are defined as the “socially constructed and negotiated borders between science and policy, between disciplines, across nations, and across multiple levels” (Cash et al. 2001). Working across the science-policy boundary requires boundary organizations (Guston 1999) with accountability to both sides of the boundary, among other attributes. (Guston 1999; Clark et al. 2002). This paper provides a unique case study illustrating how there are clear advantages to collaborative science. Through the MMAS initiative, CI built accountability into both sides of the science-policy boundary primarily through having scientific projects fed through strong in-country partners and being folded into the work of ongoing conservation processes. This collaborative, boundary-spanning approach led to many advantages, including cost sharing, increased local responsiveness and input, better local capacity building, and laying a foundation for future conservation outcomes. As such, MMAS can provide strong lessons for other organizations planning to get involved in multi-site conservation science. (PDF contains 3 pages

Lieb-Robinson Bounds and the Exponential Clustering Theorem

We give a Lieb-Robinson bound for the group velocity of a large class of discrete quantum systems which can be used to prove that a non-vanishing spectral gap implies exponential clustering in the ground state of such systems.Comment: v2: corrected proof of Theorem 2. v3: slightly better bound in Theorem 2; updated proo

The Short Path Algorithm Applied to a Toy Model

We numerically investigate the performance of the short path optimization algorithm on a toy problem, with the potential chosen to depend only on the total Hamming weight to allow simulation of larger systems. We consider classes of potentials with multiple minima which cause the adiabatic algorithm to experience difficulties with small gaps. The numerical investigation allows us to consider a broader range of parameters than was studied in previous rigorous work on the short path algorithm, and to show that the algorithm can continue to lead to speedups for more general objective functions than those considered before. We find in many cases a polynomial speedup over Grover search. We present a heuristic analytic treatment of choices of these parameters and of scaling of phase transitions in this model.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures; v2 final version published in Quantu

Stimulating Critical Literacy Consciousness

This story from the field recounts how, after being an educator for over ten years, I became aware that I had been responsible for misrepresenting information to my first-grade students. This difficult realization shook me to the core, but it also became the impetus for me to learn about critical pedagogy and critical literacy. Both of these educational practices align with my faith and have been transformational to my teaching. As a result, I am able to teach my pre-service and graduate students how to instruct in more socially-just ways

Effects of Maternal Low Protein Diet on Expression of Drug Transporters in the Blood-Brain Barrier of Adult Offspring

Adverse uterine environment, manifested as low birth weight (LBW), has been shown to predispose individuals to hypertension, diabetes, and obesity by mechanisms that are just beginning to be understood. One of the mechanisms is the dysregulation of the expression or function of drug transport proteins, such as the organic anion transporter (OAT) family, which are crucial for the transport of various endogenous and exogenous compounds into and out of all organs, especially the brain. Hence, we examined the status of select drug transporters in the blood-brain barrier (BBB), using a LBW rat model. Maternal low protein diet (LPD) during gestation and lactation is a widely used animal model to induce LBW. Indoxyl sulfate, a substrate for Oat3, is found in lower concentrations in the brain tissue of LBW rats and higher concentrations in the serum, as analyzed by HPLC. In support of these data, an increase in the protein expression of Oat3, an efflux transporter, was observed in the LBW group. On the contrary, the BBB mRNA expression of Oat3, and other drug transporters Oatp1c1, Oatp1a4, and P-gp in LBW rats was found to be decreased compared to normal birth weight rats. Most notably, we found an almost 100-fold decrease in the expression of Oat3 in low birth weight male rats. In summary, large scale differences in the expression and function of drug transporters in the brains of LBW individuals could not only affect the action of exogenous pharmaceutical agents, but also the ability of the brain to maintain homeostasis by balancing the concentrations of endogenous compounds