Climate resilience for a neighborhood without privilege: East Boston

This architecture thesis is about climate change and unprivileged populations – sea-level rise in particular, and the neighborhood of East Boston. Across recorded human history, the burdens of climate stress have fallen disproportionately on marginal populations, and today is no different. We don’t have to travel to a South Pacific island to see the risk posed by sea-level rise – that risk can be found right here along the New England coastline. Neighborhoods with a minimum of privilege face challenges to their existence – and those residents want to stay in their homes and preserve their communities just like anybody else. This project examines a series of tactical design interventions to help the community of East Boston stay in place but adapt to a future that includes periodic and sustained flooding. How will homeowners respond, individually and collectively? Substantial public assets – health centers, boys-and-girls clubs, schools and churches – knit together the community. How can we modify those structures in place to be resilient toward rising sea levels? With a grounding in prior architectural responses to traumatic changes in the built environment (sea-level rise among them), we propose specific steps for sites in the neighborhoods of Maverick Square and Jeffries Point

Some Guidance on Conducting and Reporting Qualitative Studies

This paper sets out to address the problem of the imbalance between the number of quantitative and qualitative articles published in highly ranked research journals, by providing guidelines for the design, implementation and reporting of qualitative research. Clarification is provided of key terms (such as quantitative and qualitative) and the interrelationships between them. The relative risks and benefits of using guidelines for qualitative research are considered, and the importance of using any such guidelines flexibly is highlighted. The proposed guidelines are based on a synthesis of existing guidelines and syntheses of guidelines from a range of fields

Superoxide Decay Kinetics in the Southern Ocean

Measurements of superoxide (O(2)(-)) reaction kinetics were made during a transect with the research icebreaker Polarstern (ANT24-3) in the Antarctic through the Drake Passage in austral autumn 2008. Our sampling strategy was designed to investigate the sinks of superoxide in Polar waters; principally through reactions with dissolved organic matter (DOM) or metals (copper and iron). We modified an existing chemiluminescence flow injection system using methyl Cypridina luciferin analog (MCLA) for the detection of O(2)(-) and added O(2)(-) using KO(2) as the source. Our results indicate that O(2)(-) in ambient seawater had a half-life ranging from 9.3 to 194 s. DTPA additions to seawater, to remove the effects of reactions with metals, revealed O(2)(-) decay rates consistent with a second order reaction, indicating that the dismutation reaction dominated and that reactions with DOM were not significant. Titrations of seawater by the addition of nanomolar amounts of iron or copper revealed the importance of organic chelation of Fe and/or Cu in controlling the reactivity with O(2)(-). Throughout the water column reactions with Cu appeared to be the major sink for superoxide in the Southern Ocean. This new strategy suggests an alternative approach for speciation measurements of Fe and Cu in seawater

Eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1A (eEF1A) domain I from S. cerevisiae is required but not sufficient for inter-species complementation

Ethanolamine phosphoglycerol (EPG) is a protein modification attached exclusively to eukaryotic elongation factor 1A (eEF1A). In mammals and plants, EPG is linked to conserved glutamate residues located in eEF1A domains II and III, whereas in the unicellular eukaryote Trypanosoma brucei, only domain III is modified by a single EPG. A biosynthetic precursor of EPG and structural requirements for EPG attachment to T. brucei eEF1A have been reported, but nothing is known about the EPG modifying enzyme(s). By expressing human eEF1A in T. brucei, we now show that EPG attachment to eEF1A is evolutionarily conserved between T. brucei and Homo sapiens. In contrast, S. cerevisiae eEF1A, which has been shown to lack EPG is not modified in T. brucei. Furthermore, we show that eEF1A cannot functionally complement across species when using T. brucei and S. cerevisiae as model organisms. However, functional complementation in yeast can be obtained using eEF1A chimera containing domains II or III from other species. In contrast, yeast domain I is strictly required for functional complementation in S. cerevisia

The Importance of Kinetics and Redox in the Biogeochemical Cycling of Iron in the Surface Ocean

It is now well established that Iron (Fe) is a limiting element in many regions of the open ocean. Our current understanding of the key processes which control iron distribution in the open ocean have been largely based on thermodynamic measurements performed under the assumption of equilibrium conditions. Using this equilibrium approach, researchers have been able to detect and quantify organic complexing ligands in seawater and examine their role in increasing the overall solubility of iron. Our current knowledge about iron bioavailability to phytoplankton and bacteria is also based heavily on carefully controlled laboratory studies where it is assumed the chemical species are in equilibrium in line with the free ion association model and/or its successor the biotic ligand model. Similarly most field work on iron biogeochemistry generally consists of a single profile which is in essence a “snap-shot” in time of the system under investigation. However it is well known that the surface ocean is an extremely dynamic environment and it is unlikely if thermodynamic equilibrium between all the iron species present is ever truly achieved. In sunlit waters this is mostly due to the daily passage of the sun across the sky leading to photoredox processes which alter Fe speciation by cycling between redox states and between inorganic and organic species. Episodic deposition events, dry and wet, are also important perturbations to iron cycling as they bring in new iron to the system and alter the equilibrium between iron species and phases. Here we utilize new field data collected in the open ocean on the complexation kinetics of iron in the surface ocean to identify the important role of weak iron binding ligands (i.e., those that cannot maintain iron in solution indefinitely at seawater pH: αFeL < αFe′) in allowing transient increases in iron solubility in response to iron deposition events. Experiments with the thermal O2- source SOTS-1 also indicate the short term impact of this species on iron solubility also with relevance to the euphotic zone. This data highlights the roles of kinetics, redox, and weaker iron binding ligands in the biogeochemical cycling of iron in the ocean

Making Fiscal Space Happen! Managing Fiscal Policy in a World of Scaled-Up Aid

aid, fiscal policy, low income countries, macroeconomic policy, public financial management