Data base development for characterizing contaminated sediments in the Chesapeake Bay region

This project is one component of the U.S. Geological Survey\u27s National Coastal Geology Program directed to polluted sediments. Its long-term aim is to develop a comprehensive database on estuarine contaminated sediments that provides a summary of information and a digital reference source of detailed and readily accessible data. It focuses on Chesapeake Bay because there is a wealth of data on bottom sediments and sedimentary contaminants. However, this data is fragmented, uncollated and dispersed in many papers, books, reports, files and documents, often local sources, outside the mainstream of national consideration and scientific knowledge. Without an organized body of data, resource managers and research scientists are handicapped in structuring decisions and preparing plans. They may not know what data exists, where to find it and how to obtain it. Potentially valuable data may go unused because it is overlooked, poorly documented or difficult to obtain. To address problems of contaminated sediment the U.S. Geologtcal Survey\u27s Branch of Atlantic Marine Geology (Woods Hole) executed a cooperative agreement in May 1992 with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The project aims to structure a PC accessible database for incorporation into CD ROM media. It draws on existing historical data, mainly from published and unpublished grey literature spanning the last 55 years. This contrasts to databases of NOAA\u27s Status and Trends Monitoring Program and EPA\u27s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) that draw on new data from field surveys. The data sources come from diverse scientific, academic, commercial and government organizations, and from a range of fields including sedimentology, geochemistry, estuarine marine science, pollution and benthic biology. Historical data are of value for evaluating changes caused by dredging and disposal as well as storms and to assess baseline concentrations prior to contamination. Database development of this project consists of four components or tasks: 1. To organize and structure a database with a set of procedures, data dictionary and codebook, formatted for transfer to a CD ROM file. 2. A search for data sources in the literature and in files on bottom sediments and their contaminants. 3. An inventory of relevant data sources according to location, station abundance, occurrence of variables, etc. 4. Compilation of prototype digital data files from selected data sources

Whose values count: is a theory of social choice for sustainability science possible?

If sustainability science is to mature as a discipline, it will be important for practitioners to discuss and eventually agree upon the fundamentals of the paradigm on which the new discipline is based. Since sustainability is fundamentally a normative assertion about tradeoffs among values, how society chooses the specifics among these tradeoffs is central to the sustainability problem. Whose values should count in making social decisions and how should the multiplicity of values that exist be known and used in that decision process? Given the vast spatial domains and temporal domains at work in the sustainability problem, we need some means of reconciling the inevitably divergent choices depending on whose values we count, how we know what those values are, and how we count them in making social decisions. We propose an approach to dealing with these questions based on Rawls (A theory of justice. Belknap Press, Cambridge, 1971) and explore the problems inherent in a social choice theory for sustainability science

Thinking past, thinking future: An empirical test of the effects of retrospective assessment on future preferences

In recent work, we asserted that the largest group of stakeholders for sustainability science is future generations; yet intergenerational tradeoffs are often understudied. We proposed retrospective assessment as one potential means of clarifying what future preferences might be. Using a split-sample design we test the potential for retrospective assessment to influence citizens\u27 preferences for future policy decision. We test the potential for retrospective assessment to yield increased or decreased support for policy. Our findings reveal context dependent public policy preferences where the presence of retrospective assessment significantly impacts citizens\u27 preferences and outcomes appear strongly influenced by the attributes of the historical (or retrospective) scenario provided

Giving Voice to the Future in Sustainability: Retrospective Assessment to Learn Prospective Stakeholder Engagement

There is a broad understanding that intergenerational equity is a necessary, if not sufficient, condition for sustainability. Likewise, there is a growing consensus that sustainability science requires stakeholder engagement to be successful. These two ideas demand some meaningful way of engaging the future as a stakeholder if sustainability is to be operationalized. Rawls\u27 theory of justice provides a model for how this might be accomplished, yet there are both conceptual and practical problems with a Rawlsian approach. We propose using retrospective assessment as a means of learning how to approach future stakeholder engagement in sustainability

The Incompatibility of Benefit-cost Analysis with Sustainability Science

Participants in sustainability science, as an emerging discipline, have not yet developed fully a coherent ontology, epistemology, ideology, or methodology. There is clearer agreement on the ideology of sustainability science, agreement that can be used to consider the compatibility of that ideology with methodologies brought to bear in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research teams. Benefit–cost analysis, one such methodology from the neoclassical economics tradition, is often used in the context of sustainability science. As currently formulated and practiced, benefit–cost analysis is incompatible with the ideology of sustainability science and should not be used to evaluate proposed solutions to sustainability problems. Other methods from economics are more appropriate for use in sustainability science

Public Preferences for Investments in Renewable Energy Production and Energy Efficiency

In this paper we investigate the choices citizens make when asked to express willingness to support a proposed energy policy and are then compelled to allocate the program funds to either renewable energy or energy efficiency. In a survey study based on a random sample of residents of the state of Maine, USA, we find that citizens have preferences for specific types of renewable energy but these preferences do not yield significantly different allocation of investment funds between renewable energy and energy efficiency. We find that preferences are generally consistent regardless of presentation of options (i.e. limited ordering effects). Our results also indicate that personal characteristics that are understudied in the energy literature, including promotion/prevention focus and social/fiscal leanings, influence both willingness to support energy policies and also their allocation of fund choices, but in different ways. This suggests the importance of including multiple options in energy policy proposals, and that targeted messages regarding the components of such policies is key for optimal communication

Gonadal steroids differentially modulate neurotoxicity of HIV and cocaine: testosterone and ICI 182,780 sensitive mechanism

BACKGROUND: HIV Associated Dementia (HAD) is a common complication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection that erodes the quality of life for patients and burdens health care providers. Intravenous drug use is a major route of HIV transmission, and drug use is associated with increased HAD. Specific proteins released as a consequence of HIV infection (e.g., gp120, the HIV envelope protein and Tat, the nuclear transactivating protein) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of HAD. In primary cultures of human fetal brain tissue, subtoxic doses of gp120 and Tat are capable of interacting with a physiologically relevant dose of cocaine, to produce a significant synergistic neurotoxicity. Using this model system, the neuroprotective potential of gonadal steroids was investigated. RESULTS: 17β-Estradiol (17β-E(2)), but not 17α-estradiol (17α-E(2)), was protective against this combined neurotoxicity. Progesterone (PROG) afforded limited neuroprotection, as did dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The efficacy of 5α-testosterone (T)-mediated neuroprotection was robust, similar to that provided by 17β-E(2. )In the presence of the specific estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist, ICI-182,780, T's neuroprotection was completely blocked. Thus, T acts through the ER to provide neuroprotection against HIV proteins and cocaine. Interestingly, cholesterol also demonstrated concentration-dependent neuroprotection, possibly attributable to cholesterol's serving as a steroid hormone precursor in neurons. CONCLUSION: Collectively, the present data indicate that cocaine has a robust interaction with the HIV proteins gp120 and Tat that produces severe neurotoxicity, and this toxicity can be blocked through pretreatment with ER agonists

(R)-(-)-carvone and (1R, 4R)-trans-(+)-dihydrocarvone from poiretia latifolia vogel

The essential oils of Poiretia latifolia Vogel, native and cultivated leaves (Samples A and B, respectively) and native flowers (sample C), were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC, GC/MS and chiral phase gas chromatography (CPGC). Twenty-four compounds were identified, representing 99.25, 99.26 and 99.23% of the oils, respectively. The major constituents of the oils were the monoterpenes (S)-(-)-limonene (16.05, 27.60, 15.60%, respectively), (1R, 4R)-trans-(+)-dihydrocarvone (18.05, 0.66 and 77.80%, respectively) and (R)-(-)-carvone (61.05, 64.20 and 4.50%, respectively). The essential oils were evaluated against some strains of Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria, and yeast, but displayed only modest antimicrobial activity

Estrogen protects against the synergistic toxicity by HIV proteins, methamphetamine and cocaine

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to increase at alarming rates in drug abusers, especially in women. Drugs of abuse can cause long-lasting damage to the brain and HIV infection frequently leads to a dementing illness.To determine how these drugs interact with HIV to cause CNS damage, we used an in vitro human neuronal culture characterized for the presence of dopaminergic receptors, transporters and estrogen receptors. We determined the combined effects of dopaminergic drugs, methamphetamine, or cocaine with neurotoxic HIV proteins, gp120 and Tat. RESULTS: Acute exposure to these substances resulted in synergistic neurotoxic responses as measured by changes in mitochondrial membrane potential and neuronal cell death. Neurotoxicity occurred in a sub-population of neurons. Importantly, the presence of 17beta-estradiol prevented these synergistic neurotoxicities and the neuroprotective effects were partly mediated by estrogen receptors. CONCLUSION: Our observations suggest that methamphetamine and cocaine may affect the course of HIV dementia, and additionally suggest that estrogens modify the HIV-drug interactions

Biotic Indicators for Ecological State Change in Amazonian Floodplains

Riverine floodplains are biologically diverse and productive ecosystems. Although tropical floodplains remain relatively conserved and ecologically functional compared to those at higher latitudes, they face accelerated hydropower development, climate change, and deforestation. Alterations to the flood pulse could act synergistically with other drivers of change to promote profound ecological state change at a large spatial scale. State change occurs when an ecosystem reaches a critical threshold or tipping point, which leads to an alternative qualitative state for the ecosystem. Visualizing an alternative state for Amazonian floodplains is not straightforward. Yet, it is critical to recognize that changes to the flood pulse could push tropical floodplain ecosystems over a tipping point with cascading adverse effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. We characterize the Amazonian flood pulse regime, summarize evidence of flood pulse change, assess potential ecological repercussions, and provide a monitoring framework for tracking flood pulse change and detecting biotic responses