Working toward a sustainable future

Keyword: Federal policy, international policy, sustainable development, social responsibility, economic conditions, environmental protection, business, industryCitation: Hecht A., Fiksel J., & Moses M. 2014. Working toward a sustainable future. Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy 10(2):65-75. Published online Jan 15, 2014. http://sspp.proquest.com/archives/vol10iss2/communityessay.hecht.htmlIntroductionHow can contemporary society address the complex interaction of environmental, social, and economic forces? What factors are currently limiting the sustainability of business enterprises? How can federal and state agencies break down silos and work together to pursue sustainability? What is the preferred model for business-government collaboration and engagement with civil society and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)? We raise these questions because in the 21st century all sectors of society must confront the challenge of sustaining economic development while protecting critical environmental resources.In 1970, when the modern environmental movement was coalescing and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) was created, environmental protection focused mainly on addressing issues related to industrial emissions and occupational health and safety. Most environmental challenges were highly visible and easy for the public to understand. For instance, on June 22, 1969, an oil slick and debris in the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire, drawing national attention to environmental problems in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States. Time magazine wrote on August 1, 1970, "Some River! Chocolate-brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows."Congress addressed the obvious problems of air, water, and land pollution in the United States through media-specific environmental legislation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was significant bipartisan popular demand for federal leadership in ameliorating pollution problems (Andrews, 2011). The Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Cleanup, and Liability (Superfund) Act of 1980 yielded great progress in improving the quality of the environment. These initiatives relied on federal regulations that set maximum pollutant limits and heavily fined businesses that did not comply. The success of these laws and subsequent regulations is evident today: our air and water are cleaner, less hazardous waste is produced, and contaminated sites are being remediated. Existing regulations provide a strong "safety net" against the domestic impacts of pollution, although the potential remains for environmental problems to be "exported" across global supply chains.Despite these significant accomplishments, newly emerging pressures are threatening the well-being and resilience of human society and the natural environment, thus jeopardizing economic prosperity. The urgency of dealing with today's problems is evident. Worldwide population growth and urban development, as well as globalization of industrial production, have driven increased consumption of energy, water, materials, and land. The consequences include increased greenhouse-gas emissions, decreased biodiversity, and threats to vital natural resources including water bodies, soils, forests, wetlands, and coral reefs. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment found that fifteen of 24 global ecosystem services are being degraded or exhausted (Hassan et al. 2005). A study by the Stockholm Center for Resilience suggests that on a planetary scale we have exceeded our "safe operating boundaries" in terms of greenhouse-gas emissions, nitrogen flows, and biodiversity (Rockstrom et al. 2009). The Global Footprint Network has estimated that if current trends continue, by the 2030s, we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support the world's population.

A Boreing Night of Observations of the Upper Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere Over the Andes Lidar Observatory

A very high-spatial resolution (∼21-23 m pixel at 85 km altitude) OH airglow imager at the Andes Lidar Observatory at Cerro Pach´on, Chile observed considerable ducted wave activity on the night of October 29-30, 2016. This instrument was collocated with a Na wind-temperature lidar that provided data revealing the occurrence of strong ducts. A large field of view OH and greenline airglow imager showed waves present over a vertical extent consistent with the altitudes of the ducting features identified in the lidar profiles. While waves that appeared to be ducted were seen in all imagers throughout the observation interval, the wave train seen in the OH images at earlier times had a distinct leading non-sinusoidal phase followed by several, lower-amplitude, more sinusoidal phases, suggesting a likely bore. The leading phase exhibited significant dissipation via small-scale secondary instabilities suggesting vortex rings that progressed rapidly to smaller scales and turbulence (the latter not fully resolved) thereafter. The motions of these small-scale features were consistent with their location in the duct at or below ∼83-84 km. Bore dissipation caused a momentum flux divergence and a local acceleration of the mean flow within the duct along the direction of the initial bore propagation. A number of these features are consistent with mesospheric bores observed or modeled in previous studies

AERO & VISTA: Demonstrating HF Radio Interferometry with Vector Sensors

AERO (Auroral Emission Radio Observer) and VISTA (Vector Interferometry Space Technology using AERO) are recently selected NASA HTIDeS CubeSat missions for terrestrial auroral science and radio interferometric technology demonstration. The AERO and VISTA CubeSats both host vector sensing antenna systems providing advanced electromagnetic capabilities. Together, they will provide the first in-space demonstration of interferometric imaging, beamforming, and nulling using electromagnetic vector sensors at low frequencies (100 kHz –15 MHz). A key goal of the joint missions’ technology demonstration is to validate theoretical sensor performance modeling indicating that interferometric arrays composed of vector sensors will be able to maintain sensitivity even in the presence of terrestrial interference. If validated in flight, this capability would relax the requirement that space-based low frequency interferometers be placed far from the Earth (e.g. lunar orbit), and the closer communications range will significantly increase the data volume returned from space-based radio telescope systems. The two-spacecraft AERO+VISTA mission will address the auroral science goals of AERO (Erickson et al. 2018, SSC18) while adding three additional technology demonstration goals enabled by the second CubeSat, VISTA

The Life Cycle of Instability Features Measured from the Andes Lidar Observatory Over Cerro Pachon on 24 March 2012

The Aerospace Corporation\u27s Nightglow Imager (ANI) observes nighttime OH emission (near 1.6 µm) every 2 s over an approximate 73¬∞ field of view. ANI had previously been used to study instability features seen over Maui. Here we describe observations of instabilities seen from 5 to 8 UT on 24 March 2012 over Cerro Pachon, Chile, and compare them with previous results from Maui, with theory, and with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS). The atmosphere had reduced stability because of the large negative temperature gradients measured by a Na lidar. Thus, regions of dynamical and convective instabilities are expected to form, depending on the value of the Richardson number. Bright primary instabilities are formed with a horizontal wavelength near 9 km and showed the subsequent formation of secondary instabilities, rarely seen over Maui, consistent with the primaries being dynamical instabilities. The ratio of the primary to secondary horizontal wavelength was greater over Chile than over Maui. After dissipation of the instabilities, smaller-scale features appeared with sizes in the buoyancy subrange between 1.5 and 6 km. Their size spectra were consistent with the model of Weinstock (1978) if the turbulence is considered to be increasing. The DNS results produce secondary instabilities with sizes comparable to what is seen in the images although their spectra are somewhat steeper than is observed. However, the DNS results also show that after the complete decay of the primary features, scale sizes considerably smaller than 1 km are produced and these cannot be seen by the ANI instrument

Phase I study of TP300 in patients with advanced solid tumors with pharmacokinetic, pharmacogenetic and pharmacodynamic analyses

Background: A Phase I dose escalation first in man study assessed maximum tolerated dose (MTD), dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) and recommended Phase II dose of TP300, a water soluble prodrug of the Topo-1 inhibitor TP3076, and active metabolite, TP3011. <p/>Methods: Eligible patients with refractory advanced solid tumors, adequate performance status, haematologic, renal, and hepatic function. TP300 was given as a 1-hour i.v. infusion 3-weekly and pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of TP300, TP3076 and TP3011 were analysed. Polymorphisms in CYP2D6, AOX1 and UGT1A1 were studied and DNA strand-breaks measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). <p/>Results: 32 patients received TP300 at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 mg/m2. MTD was 10 mg/m2; DLTs at 12 (2/4 patients) and 10 mg/m2 (3/12) included thrombocytopenia and febrile neutropenia; diarrhea was uncommon. Six patients (five had received irinotecan), had stable disease for 1.5-5 months. TP3076 showed dose proportionality in AUC and Cmax from 1--10 mg/m2. Genetic polymorphisms had no apparent influence on exposure. DNA strand-breaks were detected after TP300 infusion. <p/>Conclusions: TP300 had predictable hematologic toxicity, and diarrhea was uncommon. AUC at MTD is substantially greater than for SN38. TP3076 and TP3011 are equi-potent with SN38, suggesting a PK advantage

Development of the Sandia Cooler.

This report describes an FY13 effort to develop the latest version of the Sandia Cooler, a breakthrough technology for air-cooled heat exchangers that was developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The project was focused on fabrication, assembly and demonstration of ten prototype systems for the cooling of high power density electronics, specifically high performance desktop computers (CPUs). In addition, computational simulation and experimentation was carried out to fully understand the performance characteristics of each of the key design aspects. This work culminated in a parameter and scaling study that now provides a design framework, including a number of design and analysis tools, for Sandia Cooler development for applications beyond CPU cooling

Rising Population Cost for Treating People Living with HIV in the UK, 1997-2013

Background The number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) is increasing in the UK. This study estimated the annual population cost of providing HIV services in the UK, 1997–2006 and projected them 2007–2013. Methods Annual cost of HIV treatment for PLHIV by stage of HIV infection and type of ART was calculated (UK pounds, 2006 prices). Population costs were derived by multiplying the number of PLHIV by their annual cost for 1997–2006 and projected 2007–2013. Results Average annual treatment costs across all stages of HIV infection ranged from £17,034 in 1997 to £18,087 in 2006 for PLHIV on mono-therapy and from £27,649 in 1997 to £32,322 in 2006 for those on quadruple-or-more ART. The number of PLHIV using NHS services rose from 16,075 to 52,083 in 2006 and was projected to increase to 78,370 by 2013. Annual population cost rose from £104 million in 1997 to £483 million in 2006, with a projected annual cost between £721 and £758 million by 2013. When including community care costs, costs increased from £164 million in 1997, to £683 million in 2006 and between £1,019 and £1,065 million in 2013. Conclusions Increased number of PLHIV using NHS services resulted in rising UK population costs. Population costs are expected to continue to increase, partly due to PLHIV's longer survival on ART and the relative lack of success of HIV preventing programs. Where possible, the cost of HIV treatment and care needs to be reduced without reducing the quality of services, and prevention programs need to become more effective. While high income countries are struggling to meet these increasing costs, middle- and lower-income countries with larger epidemics are likely to find it even more difficult to meet these increasing demands, given that they have fewer resources