Private Governance Responses to Climate Change: The Case of Global Civil Aviation

This Article explores how private governance can reduce the climate effects of global civil aviation. The civil aviation sector is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for emissions comparable to a top ten emitting country. National and international governmental bodies have taken important steps to address civil aviation, but the measures adopted to date are widely acknowledged to be inadequate. Civil aviation poses particularly difficult challenges for government climate mitigation efforts. Many civil aviation firms operate globally, emissions often occur outside of national boundaries, nations differ on their respective responsibilities, and demand is growing rapidly. Although promising new technologies are emerging, they will take time to develop and adopt. This Article argues that private initiatives can overcome many of these barriers. Private initiatives can motivate civil aviation firms to act absent government pressure at the national level and can create pressure for mitigation that transcends national boundaries. The Article argues that it is time to develop a private climate governance agenda for civil aviation and identifies examples of the types of existing and new initiatives that could be included in the effort. If public and private policymakers can overcome the tendency to focus almost exclusively on public governance, private initiatives can yield large and prompt emissions reductions from global civil aviation, buy time for more comprehensive government measures, and complement the government measures when they occur

Private Governance Can Increase Shipping\u27s Efficiency and Reduce Its Impacts

The shipping industry is a huge component of the world economy, and although it is often described as an efficient mode of transport, it still contributes as much carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as a major industrialized nation. Efficiency technologies and practices are available that would significantly lessen shipping\u27s environmental impact, but amazing loophole[s] in international environmental law and a set of market failures have prevented them from being widely adopted. These problems have been studied before, but the public regulatory proposals being discussed run into steep, if not insurmountable obstacles. This Note argues that shipping inefficiency can be better addressed through private environmental governance. By operating privately, these forms of governance bypass the problems that traditional public regulation faces, allowing higher efficiency standards to be widely adopted without depending on political will. In so doing, private governance can better align the incentives of consumers, firms, and those firms\u27 suppliers

Journaling on the Transition to College: Foucauldian Approaches in the First-Year Writing Classroom

Utilizing the Foucauldian concepts of governmentality and technologies of the self, this qualitative action research study explored how power dynamics inherent in higher education can be recognized and resisted as first-year writing students journal on the transition to college (JTC). Conducted in a suburban community college in the Mid-Atlantic United States during the Spring 2020 semester, the study investigated how college is a feature of governmentality, how writing instructors’ actions interrupt or reinforce college as governmentality, and if journaling on the transition to college acts as a technology of the self, in light of the ways college governs. Journal prompts provided students opportunities to critically reflect on the institution of college and their experience entering this new space. Foucauldian concepts were not taught, but they informed the journal design. Black feminist theory supplemented the Foucauldian theoretical framework to address factors of students’ intersectional social identities emergent in JTC and relative to their experiences with power in college. Findings indicated students confront institutional power structures including economic power, grades, policies, and institutional White supremacy, all of which affect professors’ role as authority figures. Underrepresented students experience power much differently than those belonging to dominant groups and JTC provides instructors with insight to interrupt oppressive power through feedback. Writing instructors’ implementation of JTC allows them to disrupt governmentality and provides students a technology of the self through which they develop agency. Though disruptive, COVID-19 provided unexpected opportunities to apply Foucauldian concepts to teaching and learning during emergency remote instruction

Private Governance Responses to Climate Change: The Case of Global Civil Aviation

This Article explores how private governance can reduce the climate effects of global civil aviation. The civil aviation sector is a major contributor to climate change, accounting for emissions comparable to a top ten emitting country. National and international governmental bodies have taken important steps to address civil aviation, but the measures adopted to date are widely acknowledged to be inadequate. Civil aviation poses particularly difficult challenges for government climate mitigation efforts. Many civil aviation firms operate globally, emissions often occur outside of national boundaries, nations differ on their respective responsibilities, and demand is growing rapidly. Although promising new technologies are emerging, they will take time to develop and adopt. This Article argues that private initiatives can overcome many of these barriers. Private initiatives can motivate civil aviation firms to act absent government pressure at the national level and can create pressure for mitigation that transcends national boundaries. The Article argues that it is time to develop a private climate governance agenda for civil aviation and identifies examples of the types of existing and new initiatives that could be included in the effort. If public and private policymakers can overcome the tendency to focus almost exclusively on public governance, private initiatives can yield large and prompt emissions reductions from global civil aviation, buy time for more comprehensive government measures, and complement the government measures when they occur

Climate Reregulation in a Biden Administration

On January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School launched the Climate Deregulation Tracker, the first of what would become numerous online trackers, news reports, academic analyses, and other resources designed to spotlight the Trump administration’s use and abuse of executive authority to pursue its agenda to cut back on government regulations and to promote the extraction and use of fossil fuels. The Climate Deregulation Tracker has had a relatively narrow purpose: to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the federal government’s climate-related regulations and policies and help inform members of the public so they more effectively voice their views on deregulation. In the almost four years since its launch, the Tracker has logged 159 executive branch actions that fit the bill. President Trump’s actions have frequently taken the form of executive orders that describe national policies, such as prioritizing fossil fuel production and distribution, emphasizing economic uses of natural resources, expediting federal environmental reviews for infrastructure projects, and decreasing emissions and efficiency standards across the board. The President’s executive orders have resulted in numerous agency actions designed to achieve outcomes consistent with the orders’ stated policies. Examples include rules delaying, rescinding, and replacing greenhouse gas emissions standards for power plants, automobiles, oil and gas operations and landfills, and the revocation of policies and guidance that incorporate climate impacts into federal permitting, investment and other decision making

Selective Dimerization of Ethylene to 1-Butene with a Porous Catalyst

Current heterogeneous catalysts lack the fine steric and electronic tuning required for catalyzing the selective dimerization of ethylene to 1-butene, which remains one of the largest industrial processes still catalyzed by homogeneous catalysts. Here, we report that a metal–organic framework catalyzes ethylene dimerization with a combination of activity and selectivity for 1-butene that is premier among heterogeneous catalysts. The capacity for mild cation exchange in the material MFU-4l (MFU-4l = Zn[subscript 5]Cl[subscript 4](BTDD)[subscript 3], H[subscript 2]BTDD = bis(1H-1,2,3-triazolo[4,5-b],[4′,5′-i])dibenzo[1,4]dioxin) was leveraged to create a well-defined and site-isolated Ni(II) active site bearing close structural homology to molecular tris-pyrazolylborate complexes. In the presence of ethylene and methylaluminoxane, the material consumes ethylene at a rate of 41,500 mol per mole of Ni per hour with a selectivity for 1-butene of up to 96.2%, exceeding the selectivity reported for the current industrial dimerization process.Saudi AramcoAmerican Society for Engineering Education. National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship3M CompanyResearch Corporation for Science Advancement. Cottrell Scholars ProgramAlfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Gonad-related factors promote muscle performance gain during postnatal development in male and female mice

To better define the role of male and female gonad-related factors (MGRF, presumably testosterone, and FGRF, presumably estradiol, respectively) on mouse hindlimb skeletal muscle contractile performance/function gain during postnatal development, we analyzed the effect of castration initiated before puberty in male and female mice. We found that muscle absolute and specific (normalized to muscle weight) maximal forces were decreased in 6-mo-old male and female castrated mice compared with age- and sex-matched intact mice, without alteration in neuromuscular transmission. Moreover, castration decreased absolute and specific maximal powers, another important aspect of muscle performance, in 6-mo-old males, but not in females. Absolute maximal force was similarly reduced by castration in 3-mo-old muscle fiber androgen receptor (AR)-deficient and wild-type male mice, indicating that the effect of MGRF was muscle fiber AR independent. Castration reduced the muscle weight gain in 3-mo mice of both sexes and in 6-mo females but not in males. We also found that bone morphogenetic protein signaling through Smad1/5/9 was not altered by castration in atrophic muscle of 3-mo-old mice of both sexes. Moreover, castration decreased the sexual dimorphism regarding muscle performance. Together, these results demonstrated that in the long term, MGRF and FGRF promote muscle performance gain in mice during postnatal development, independently of muscle growth in males, largely via improving muscle contractile quality (force and power normalized), and that MGFR and FGRF also contribute to sexual dimorphism. However, the mechanisms underlying MGFR and FGRF actions remain to be determined

Different Poses for Ligand and Chaperone in Inhibitor Bound Hsp90 and GRP94: Implications for Paralog-specific Drug Design

Hsp90 chaperones contain an N-terminal ATP binding site that has been effectively targeted by competitive inhibitors. Despite the myriad of inhibitors, none to date have been designed to bind specifically to just one of the four mammalian hsp90 paralogs, which are cytoplasmic Hsp90α and β, ER GRP94, and mitochondrial Trap-1. Given that each of the hsp90 paralogs is responsible for chaperoning a distinct set of client proteins, specific targeting of one hsp90 paralog may result in higher efficacy and therapeutic control. Specific inhibitors may also help elucidate the biochemical roles of each hsp90 paralog. Here we present side by side comparisons of the structures of yeast Hsp90 and mammalian GRP94, bound to the pan-hsp90 inhibitors Geldanamycin and Radamide. These structures reveal paralog specific differences in the Hsp90 and GRP94 conformations in response to Geldanamycin binding. We also report significant variation in the pose and disparate binding affinities for the Geldanamycin-Radicicol chimera Radamide when bound to the two paralogs, which may be exploited in the design of paralog-specific inhibitors

Impact of Scottish smoke-free legislation on smoking quit attempts and prevalence

<p><b>Objectives:</b> In Scotland, legislation was implemented in March 2006 prohibiting smoking in all wholly or partially enclosed public spaces. We investigated the impact on attempts to quit smoking and smoking prevalence.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> We performed time series models using Box-Jenkins autoregressive integrated moving averages (ARIMA) on monthly data on the gross ingredient cost of all nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) prescribed in Scotland in 2003–2009, and quarterly data on self-reported smoking prevalence between January 1999 and September 2010 from the Scottish Household Survey.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> NRT prescription costs were significantly higher than expected over the three months prior to implementation of the legislation. Prescription costs peaked at £1.3 million in March 2006; £292,005.9 (95% CI £260,402.3, £323,609, p<0.001) higher than the monthly norm. Following implementation of the legislation, costs fell exponentially by around 26% per month (95% CI 17%, 35%, p<0.001). Twelve months following implementation, the costs were not significantly different to monthly norms. Smoking prevalence fell by 8.0% overall, from 31.3% in January 1999 to 23.7% in July–September 2010. In the quarter prior to implementation of the legislation, smoking prevalence fell by 1.7% (95% CI 2.4%, 1.0%, p<0.001) more than expected from the underlying trend.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Quit attempts increased in the three months leading up to Scotland's smoke-free legislation, resulting in a fall in smoking prevalence. However, neither has been sustained suggesting the need for additional tobacco control measures and ongoing support.</p&gt

Antisense-mediated exon skipping: a therapeutic strategy for titin-based dilated cardiomyopathy

Frameshift mutations in the TTN gene encoding titin are a major cause for inherited forms of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a heart disease characterized by ventricular dilatation, systolic dysfunction, and progressive heart failure. To date, there are no specific treatment options for DCM patients but heart transplantation. Here, we show the beneficial potential of reframing titin transcripts by antisense oligonucleotide (AON)-mediated exon skipping in human and murine models of DCM carrying a previously identified autosomal-dominant frameshift mutation in titin exon 326. Correction of TTN reading frame in patient-specific cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells rescued defective myofibril assembly and stability and normalized the sarcomeric protein expression. AON treatment in Ttn knock-in mice improved sarcomere formation and contractile performance in homozygous embryos and prevented the development of the DCM phenotype in heterozygous animals. These results demonstrate that disruption of the titin reading frame due to a truncating DCM mutation canbe restored by exon skipping in both patient cardiomyocytes invitro and mouse heart invivo, indicating RNA-based strategies as a potential treatment option for DCM