What Happened to the ‘Development’ in Sustainable Development? Business Guidelines Two Decades After Brundtland

Over twenty years ago ‘Our Common Future’ presented a conceptualization and explanation of the concept of sustainable development. Since then numerous alternative definitions of the concept have been offered, of which at least some are exclusive to each other. At the same time, the role of business in the transition to sustainable development has increasingly received attention. Bringing these two trends in sustainable development together, this paper returns to the Brundtland version of the concept to examine to what extent the original principles of sustainable development are still embedded within key business guidelines, namely the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the ICC Business Charter for Sustainable Development, the CAUX Principles, the Global Sullivan Principles and the CERES Principles. The findings suggest that these business guidelines tend to emphasize environmental rather than social aspects of sustainable development, in particular to the detriment of the original Brundtland prioritization of the needs of the poorest. Furthermore, the attention to environmental aspects stresses win-win situations and has a clear managerialist focus; whereas more conceptual environmental issues concerning systems interdependencies, critical thresholds or systemic limits to growth find little attention. The normative codes and principles targeted at the private sector thus not only add another voice to the multiple discourses on sustainable development but also contribute to a reinterpretation of the original agenda set by Brundtland towards conceptualizations of sustainable development around the needs of industrialised rather than developing countries. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

Sildenafil citrate (Viagra) impairs fertilization and early embryo development in mice

Objective: To determine the effects of sildenafil citrate, a cyclic monophosphate-specific type 5 phosphodiesterase inhibitor known to affect sperm function, on fertilization and early embryo cleavage.

Computational simulation methodologies for mechanobiological modelling: a cell-centred approach to neointima development in stents

The design of medical devices could be very much improved if robust tools were available for computational simulation of tissue response to the presence of the implant. Such tools require algorithms to simulate the response of tissues to mechanical and chemical stimuli. Available methodologies include those based on the principle of mechanical homeostasis, those which use continuum models to simulate biological constituents, and the cell-centred approach, which models cells as autonomous agents. In the latter approach, cell behaviour is governed by rules based on the state of the local environment around the cell; and informed by experiment. Tissue growth and differentiation requires simulating many of these cells together. In this paper, the methodology and applications of cell-centred techniques-with particular application to mechanobiology-are reviewed, and a cell-centred model of tissue formation in the lumen of an artery in response to the deployment of a stent is presented. The method is capable of capturing some of the most important aspects of restenosis, including nonlinear lesion growth with time. The approach taken in this paper provides a framework for simulating restenosis; the next step will be to couple it with more patient-specific geometries and quantitative parameter data.

Tissue biomarker development in a multicentre trial context: a feasibility study on the PETACC3 stage II and III colon cancer adjuvant treatment trial.

Purpose: We evaluated the feasibility of biomarker development in the context of multicenter clinical trials.

Experimental Design: Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples were collected from a prospective adjuvant colon cancer trial (PETACC3). DNA was isolated from tumor as well as normal tissue and used for analysis of microsatellite instability, KRAS and BRAF genotyping, UGT1A1 genotyping, and loss of heterozygosity of 18 q loci. Immunohistochemistry was used to test expression of TERT, SMAD4, p53, and TYMS. Messenger RNA was retrieved and tested for use in expression profiling experiments.

Results: Of the 3,278 patients entered in the study, FFPE blocks were obtained from 1,564 patients coming from 368 different centers in 31 countries. In over 95% of the samples, genomic DNA tests yielded a reliable result. Of the immmunohistochemical tests, p53 and SMAD4 staining did best with reliable results in over 85% of the cases. TERT was the most problematic test with 46% of failures, mostly due to insufficient tissue processing quality. Good quality mRNA was obtained, usable in expression profiling experiments.

Conclusions: Prospective clinical trials can be used as framework for biomarker development using routinely processed FFPE tissues. Our results support the notion that as a rule, translational studies based on FFPE should be included in prospective clinical trials.

Devolution and the politics of development in Northern Ireland

The reintroduction of devolution in Northern Ireland is widely interpreted as the working out of the Belfast Agreement (1998) which aimed to embed political consensus in shared institutions of the state. However, such analysis tends to be limited with regard to wider political economy readings of the devolution project and historic struggles to find an appropriate institutional fix to manage different
forms of crisis. Peace and stability have, it is argued, permitted Northern Ireland's reentry to global markets and circuits of capital with new governance structures being assembled to reconfigure `post- conflict' economic space. We argue that the onset of devolution has promoted a mix between ethnosectarian resource competition and a constantly expanding neoliberal model of governance.
Devolved neoliberal structures that sustain social polarisation may perpetuate strategies of resistance that could cut across and challenge ethnosectarian politics and deepening social segregation.

Strategic development in exact calculation: Group and individual differences in four achievement subtypes

This longitudinal study sought to identify developmental changes
in strategy use between 5 and 7 years of age when solving exact
calculation problems. Four mathematics and reading achievement
subtypes were examined at four time points. Five strategies were
considered: finger counting, verbal counting, delayed retrieval,
automatic retrieval, and derived fact retrieval. Results provided
unique insights into children’s strategic development in exact calculation
at this early stage. Group analysis revealed relationships
between mathematical and/or reading difficulties and strategy
choice, shift, and adaptiveness. Use of derived fact retrieval by
7 years of age distinguished children with mathematical difficulties
from other achievement subtypes. Analysis of individual differences
revealed marked heterogeneity within all subtypes,
suggesting (inter alia) no marked qualitative distinction between
our two mathematical difficulty subtypes.