ABSTRACT
Hazards and disasters arise from interactions between environmental and social processes, so interdisciplinary research is crucial in understanding and effectively managing them. Despite support and encouragement from funding agencies, universities, and journals and growing interest from researchers, interdisciplinary disaster research teams face significant obstacles, such as the difficulty of establishing effective communication and understanding across disciplines. Better understanding of interdisciplinary teamwork can also have important practical benefits for operational disaster planning and response. Social studies of science distinguish different kinds of expertise and different modes of communication. Understanding these differences can help interdisciplinary research teams communicate more clearly and work together more effectively. The primary role of a researcher is in contributory expertise (the ability to make original contributions to a discipline); but interactional expertise in other disciplines (the ability to understand their literature and communicate with their practitioners) can play an important role in interdisciplinary collaborations. Developing interactional expertise requires time and effort, which can be challenging for a busy researcher, and also requires a foundation of trust and communication among team members. Three distinct aspects of communication play important roles in effective interdisciplinary communication: dialects, metaphors, and articulation. There are different ways to develop interactional expertise and effective communication, so researchers can pursue approaches that suit their circumstances. It will be important for future research on interdisciplinary disaster research to identify best practices for building trust, facilitating communication, and developing interactional expertise.
Subject(s)
Disaster Planning/organization & administration , Interdisciplinary Communication , Interdisciplinary Research/organization & administration , Research Personnel , Cooperative Behavior , HumansABSTRACT
National drinking water assessments for Bangladesh do not reflect local variability, or temporal differences. This paper reports on the findings of an interdisciplinary investigation of drinking water insecurity in a rural coastal south-western Bangladesh. Drinking water quality is assessed by comparison of locally measured concentrations to national levels and water quality criteria; resident's access to potable water and their perceptions are based on local social surveys. Residents in the study area use groundwater far less than the national average; salinity and local rainwater scarcity necessitates the use of multiple water sources throughout the year. Groundwater concentrations of arsenic and specific conductivity (SpC) were greater than surface water (pond) concentrations; there was no statistically significant seasonal difference in mean concentrations in groundwater, but there was for ponds, with arsenic higher in the dry season. Average arsenic concentrations in local water drinking were 2-4 times times the national average. All of the local groundwater samples exceeded the Bangladesh guidance for SpC, although the majority of residents surveyed did not perceive their water as having a 'bad' or 'salty' taste.
Subject(s)
Arsenic/analysis , Drinking Water/analysis , Environmental Exposure , Groundwater/analysis , Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis , Bangladesh , Drinking Water/chemistry , Environmental Monitoring , Groundwater/chemistry , Rural Population , Seasons , Water QualityABSTRACT
The principal nature-based solution for offsetting relative sea-level rise in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta is the unabated delivery, dispersal, and deposition of the rivers' ~1 billion-tonne annual sediment load. Recent hydrological transport modeling suggests that strengthening monsoon precipitation in the 21st century could increase this sediment delivery 34-60%; yet other studies demonstrate that sediment could decline 15-80% if planned dams and river diversions are fully implemented. We validate these modeled ranges by developing a comprehensive field-based sediment budget that quantifies the supply of Ganges-Brahmaputra river sediment under varying Holocene climate conditions. Our data reveal natural responses in sediment supply comparable to previously modeled results and suggest that increased sediment delivery may be capable of offsetting accelerated sea-level rise. This prospect for a naturally sustained Ganges-Brahmaputra delta presents possibilities beyond the dystopian future often posed for this system, but the implementation of currently proposed dams and diversions would preclude such opportunities.
ABSTRACT
Most climate change policy attention has been addressed to long-term options, such as inducing new, low-carbon energy technologies and creating cap-and-trade regimes for emissions. We use a behavioral approach to examine the reasonably achievable potential for near-term reductions by altered adoption and use of available technologies in US homes and nonbusiness travel. We estimate the plasticity of 17 household action types in 5 behaviorally distinct categories by use of data on the most effective documented interventions that do not involve new regulatory measures. These interventions vary by type of action and typically combine several policy tools and strong social marketing. National implementation could save an estimated 123 million metric tons of carbon per year in year 10, which is 20% of household direct emissions or 7.4% of US national emissions, with little or no reduction in household well-being. The potential of household action deserves increased policy attention. Future analyses of this potential should incorporate behavioral as well as economic and engineering elements.
Subject(s)
Behavior , Carbon/analysis , Household Articles , Humans , United StatesABSTRACT
Defibrillators are a critical tool for treating heart disease; however, the mechanisms by which they halt fibrillation are still not fully understood and are the subject of ongoing research. Clinical defibrillators do not provide the precise control of shock timing, duration, and voltage or other features needed for detailed scientific inquiry, and there are few, if any, commercially available units designed for research applications. For this reason, we have developed a high-voltage, programmable, capacitive-discharge stimulator optimized to deliver defibrillation shocks with precise timing and voltage control to an isolated animal heart, either in air or in a bath. This stimulator is capable of delivering voltages of up to 500 V and energies of nearly 100 J with timing accuracy of a few microseconds and with rise and fall times of 5 micros or less and is controlled only by two external timing pulses and a control computer that sets the stimulation parameters via a LABVIEW interface. Most importantly, the stimulator has circuits to protect the high-voltage circuitry and the operator from programming and input-output errors. This device has been tested and used successfully in field shock experiments on rabbit hearts as well as other protocols requiring high voltage.
Subject(s)
Defibrillators , Electronics/instrumentation , Heart/physiology , Organ Culture Techniques/instrumentation , Animals , Equipment Design , Equipment Failure Analysis , Humans , Organ Culture Techniques/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Sensitivity and SpecificitySubject(s)
Ecology/economics , Politics , Science/economics , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Federal Government , Literature, Modern , Risk AssessmentABSTRACT
Light scattering is used to monitor the dynamics and energy thresholds of laser-induced structural alterations in biopolymers due to irradiation by a free electron laser (FEL) in the infrared (IR) wavelength range 2.2 to 8.5 microm. Attenuated total reflectance (ATR) Fourier-transform IR (FTIR) spectroscopy is used to examine infrared tissue absorption spectra before and after irradiation. Light scattering by bovine and porcine cartilage and cornea samples is measured in real time during FEL irradiation using a 650-nm diode laser and a diode photoarray with time resolution of 10 ms. The data on the time dependence of light scattering in the tissue are modeled to estimate the approximate values of kinetic parameters for denaturation as functions of laser wavelength and radiant exposure. We found that the denaturation threshold is slightly lower for cornea than for cartilage, and both depend on laser wavelength. An inverse correlation between denaturation thresholds and the absorption spectrum of the tissue is observed for many wavelengths; however, for wavelengths near 3 and 6 microm, the denaturation threshold does not exhibit the inverse correlation, instead being governed by heating kinetics of tissue. It is shown that light scattering is useful for measuring the denaturation thresholds and dynamics for different biotissues, except where the initial absorptivity is very high.
Subject(s)
Cornea/chemistry , Cornea/radiation effects , Lasers , Nasal Septum/chemistry , Nasal Septum/radiation effects , Proteins/chemistry , Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared/methods , Absorption , Cartilage/chemistry , Cartilage/physiology , Cartilage/radiation effects , Cornea/physiology , Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation , Electrons , Light , Models, Biological , Nasal Septum/physiology , Protein Denaturation/radiation effects , Proteins/metabolism , Tomography, Optical/methodsABSTRACT
Fluorescence imaging has become a common modality in cardiac electrodynamics. A single fluorescent parameter is typically measured. Given the growing emphasis on simultaneous imaging of more than one cardiac variable, we present an analysis of the potential of dual camera imaging, using as an example our straightforward dual camera system that allows simultaneous measurement of two dynamic quantities from the same region of the heart. The advantages of our system over others include an optional software camera calibration routine that eliminates the need for precise camera alignment. The system allows for rapid setup, dichroic image separation, dual-rate imaging, and high spatial resolution, and it is generally applicable to any two-camera measurement. This type of imaging system offers the potential for recording simultaneously not only transmembrane potential and intracellular calcium, two frequently measured quantities, but also other signals more directly related to myocardial metabolism, such as [K(+)](e), NADH, and reactive oxygen species, leading to the possibility of correlative multimodal cardiac imaging. We provide a compilation of dye and camera information critical to the design of dual camera systems and experiments.