Taking the High Road to Canalside: How Community Activism Has Shaped Buffalo’s Waterfront

This policy brief was drafted by Michelle Zhao, the 2017 Cornell High Road Fellow at Partnership for the Public Good. It documents the efforts of local advocates to bring “High Road” economic development to Canalside, to advance community benefits over corporate control. After setting out the historical context of Canalside and the fight that won its preservation, the brief focuses on the period of 2004 to 2015. It details the proposal to bring a Bass Pro Shop to the Inner Harbor, the leadership and governance of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation (ECHDC), and the campaign for a Community Benefits Agreement for the waterfront. This campaign led to three years of negotiations with the ECHDC, leading to the formal adoption of a consensus document, “A Public Statement of Principles for High Road Development of Buffalo’s Waterfront,” to guide development practices in the future. The community activists who took the High Road to Canalside succeeded in changing the way that economic development is understood and practiced in Buffalo. The author extends her thanks to the organizers, advocates, and officials who shared their stories and insights for this brief

Evidence of dispersion and refraction of a spectrally broad gravity wave packet in the mesopause region observed by the Na lidar and Mesospheric Temperature Mapper above Logan, Utah

Gravity wave packets excited by a source of finite duration and size possess a broad frequency and wave number spectrum and thus span a range of temporal and spatial scales. Observing at a single location relatively close to the source, the wave components with higher frequency and larger vertical wavelength dominate at earlier times and at higher altitudes, while the lower frequency components, with shorter vertical wavelength, dominate during the latter part of the propagation. Utilizing observations from the Na lidar at Utah State University and the nearby Mesospheric Temperature Mapper at Bear Lake Observatory (41.9ÁN, 111.4ÁW), we investigate a unique case of vertical dispersion for a spectrally broad gravity wave packet in the mesopause region over Logan, Utah (41.7ÁN, 111.8ÁW), that occurred on 2 September 2011, to study the waves\u27 evolution as it propagates upward. The lidar-observed temperature perturbation was dominated by close to a 1 h modulation at 100 km during the early hours but gradually evolved into a 1.5 h modulation during the second half of the night. The vertical wavelength also decreased simultaneously, while the vertical group and phase velocities of the packet apparently slowed, as it was approaching a critical level during the second half of the night. A two-dimensional numerical model is used to simulate the observed gravity wave processes, finding that the location of the lidar relative to the source can strongly influence which portion of the spectrum can be observed at a particular location relative to a source. © 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved

Mutation in Archain 1, a Subunit of COPI Coatomer Complex, Causes Diluted Coat Color and Purkinje Cell Degeneration

Intracellular trafficking is critical for delivering molecules and organelles to their proper destinations to carry out normal cellular functions. Disruption of intracellular trafficking has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, a number of genes involved in vesicle/organelle trafficking are also essential for pigmentation, and loss of those genes is often associated with mouse coat-color dilution and human hypopigmentary disorders. Hence, we postulated that screening for mouse mutants with both neurological defects and coat-color dilution will help identify additional factors associated with intracellular trafficking in neuronal cells. In this study, we characterized a mouse mutant with a unique N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU)–induced mutation, named nur17. nur17 mutant mice exhibit both coat-color dilution and ataxia due to Purkinje cell degeneration in the cerebellum. By positional cloning, we identified that the nur17 mouse carries a T-to-C missense mutation in archain 1 (Arcn1) gene which encodes the δ subunit of the coat protein I (COPI) complex required for intracellular trafficking. Consistent with this function, we found that intracellular trafficking is disrupted in nur17 melanocytes. Moreover, the nur17 mutation leads to common characteristics of neurodegenerative disorders such as abnormal protein accumulation, ER stress, and neurofibrillary tangles. Our study documents for the first time the physiological consequences of the impairment of the ARCN1 function in the whole animal and demonstrates a direct association between ARCN1 and neurodegeneration

Relativistic Dynamics and Extreme Mass Ratio Inspirals

It is now well-established that a dark, compact object (DCO), very likely a massive black hole (MBH) of around four million solar masses is lurking at the centre of the Milky Way. While a consensus is emerging about the origin and growth of supermassive black holes (with masses larger than a billion solar masses), MBHs with smaller masses, such as the one in our galactic centre, remain understudied and enigmatic. The key to understanding these holes - how some of them grow by orders of magnitude in mass - lies in understanding the dynamics of the stars in the galactic neighbourhood. Stars interact with the central MBH primarily through their gradual inspiral due to the emission of gravitational radiation. Also stars produce gases which will subsequently be accreted by the MBH through collisions and disruptions brought about by the strong central tidal field. Such processes can contribute significantly to the mass of the MBH and progress in understanding them requires theoretical work in preparation for future gravitational radiation millihertz missions and X-ray observatories. In particular, a unique probe of these regions is the gravitational radiation that is emitted by some compact stars very close to the black holes and which could be surveyed by a millihertz gravitational wave interferometer scrutinizing the range of masses fundamental to understanding the origin and growth of supermassive black holes. By extracting the information carried by the gravitational radiation, we can determine the mass and spin of the central MBH with unprecedented precision and we can determine how the holes "eat" stars that happen to be near them.Comment: Update from the first version, 151 pages, accepted for publication @ Living Reviews in Relativit

Search for dijet resonances in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and constraints on dark matter and other models

Correction: DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.029Peer reviewe

Searches for pair production of third-generation squarks in root s=13 TeV pp collisions

Peer reviewe

Lysosome Biogenesis and Autophagy

Lysosomes degrade biological components acquired by endocytosis, the major cellular pathway for internalization of extracellular material, and macroautophagy. This chapter presents an overview of these two major degradative intracellular pathways, and highlights the emerging cross talks between them, in healthy and diseased conditions. The pathways to lysosomes include the biosynthetic transport routes, endocytic pathways, and the autophagy pathways. The central actors of the autophagy process are the ATG genes. Based on their organization in complexes and interactions, the ATG genes have been divided into many functional clusters that compose the core autophagy machinery. Cross talk between the endocytic and autophagic pathways occurs at many levels: transcriptional regulation, protein sharing, and compartmental connections. The chapter focuses on the fusion and fission events between compartments of the endolysosomal system and autophagic membranes, respectively. Lysosome-related disorders are caused by mutations in genes encoding for proteins that directly affect lysosomal functioning, including lysosomal hydrolases and lysosomal membrane proteins