Towards water sensitive cities in Asia: an interdisciplinary journey.

Rapid urbanisation, population growth and the effects of climate change drive the need for sustainable urban water management (SUWM) in Asian cities. The complexity of this challenge calls for the integration of knowledge from different disciplines and collaborative approaches. This paper identifies key issues and sets the stage for interdisciplinary research on SUWM in Asia. It reports on the initial stages of a SUWM research programme being undertaken at Monash University, Australia, and proposes a framework to guide the process of interdisciplinary research in urban water management. Three key themes are identified: (1) Technology and Innovation, (2) Urban Planning and Design, and (3) Governance and Society. Within these themes 12 research projects are being undertaken across Indonesia, China, India and Bangladesh. This outward-looking, interdisciplinary approach guides our research in an effort to transgress single-discipline solutions and contribute on-ground impact to SUWM practices in Asia.

Metabolic clearance rate of cortisol in pigs: relationship to adrenal responsiveness.

Experiments were conducted on 12 prepuberal (18- to 20-week-old) Landrace cross Large White gilts to establish if differences in adrenal responsiveness between individuals could be explained by differences in the metabolic clearance rate (MCR) of cortisol. Pigs with the highest (n = 6) and lowest (n = 6) cortisol concentration 60 minutes after challenge with ACTH were selected from a pool of 36 commercial pigs. Tritium-labelled cortisol was infused (17 to 27 ml h-1) continuously for 120 minutes to establish 'steady state' conditions. Blood samples (10 ml) were collected at 90, 100, 110 and 120 minutes. Replicate experiments were performed on some pigs. Classification of individual pigs as high or low adrenal responders to ACTH challenge was confirmed at the end of the clearance rate experiments. The MCR of cortisol in the group classed as low adrenal responders was 59.7 +/- 7.8 litres h-1 or 1.01 litres h-1 kg-1 (n = 7) which was not significantly different from the average MCR in the group classed as high adrenal responders 60.2 +/- 5.9 litres h-1 or 1.19 litres h-1 kg-1 (n = 10). These results suggest that the repeatable differences in adrenal responsiveness to ACTH that exist between individuals within a particular strain of pig depend on differences in the rate of synthesis of cortisol in response to ACTH stimulation, rather than on differences in its rate of metabolism.