The analytical framework of water and armed conflict: a focus on the 2006 Summer War between Israel and Lebanon

This paper develops an analytical framework to investigate the relationship between water and armed conflict, and applies it to the ‘Summer War’ of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah). The framework broadens and deepens existing classifications by assessing the impact of acts of war as indiscriminate or targeted, and evaluating them in terms of international norms and law, in particular International Humanitarian Law (IHL). In the case at hand, the relationship is characterised by extensive damage in Lebanon to drinking water infrastructure and resources. This is seen as a clear violation of the letter and the spirit of IHL, while the partial destruction of more than 50 public water towers compromises water rights and national development goals. The absence of pre‐war environmental baselines makes it difficult to gauge the impact on water resources, suggesting a role for those with first‐hand knowledge of the hostilities to develop a more effective response before, during, and after armed conflict.     

Implementation of a medical command and control team in Switzerland

In case of a major incident or disaster, the advance medical rescue command needs to manage several essential tasks simultaneously. These include the rapid deployment of ambulance, police, fire and evacuation services, and their coordinated activity, as well as triage and emergency medical care on site. The structure of such a medical rescue command is crucial for the successful outcome of medical evacuation at major incidents. However, little data has been published on the nature and structure of the command itself. This study presents a flexible approach to command structure, with two command heads: one emergency physician and one experienced paramedic. This approach is especially suitable for Switzerland, whose federal system allows for different structures in each canton. This article examines the development of these structures and their efficiency, adaptability and limitations with respect to major incident response in the French‐speaking part of the country.     

Telecommunications in Israeli field hospitals deployed to three crisis zones

A field hospital overseas requires various types of communication equipment. This study presents the communications equipment used by three Israeli field hospital delegations to earthquake sites at Adapazari, Turkey, in 1999, Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti, in 2010 and Minamisanriku, Japan, in 2011. The delegations to Turkey and Haiti were relatively large (105–230 personnel) and were on the site early (three to four days after each event). The 55‐person delegation to Japan arrived later and was established as an outpatient community hospital. Standard military VHF radios were the only effective tool up to 5 km, until cellular coverage was regained (1–2 weeks after each event). International communication was good. While short‐wave communication (telephone and Internet) was used in Turkey, a direct satellite channel was set up in Haiti. In Japan, BGAN Inmarsat provided efficient Wi‐Fi for all needs. Motorola walkie talkies were not efficient beyond the immediate vicinity. This paper recommends continued use of military‐specification equipment alongside newer modalities, particularly in situations where infrastructure is damaged.     

Nation‐building policies in Timor‐Leste: disaster risk reduction,including climate change adaptation

Few studies have explored the relationships between nation‐building, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Focusing on small island developing states, this paper examines nation‐building in Timor‐Leste, a small island developing state that recently achieved independence. Nation‐building in Timor‐Leste is explored in the context of disaster risk reduction, which necessarily includes climate change adaptation. The study presents a synopsis of Timor‐Leste's history and its nation‐building efforts as well as an overview of the state of knowledge of disaster risk reduction including climate change adaptation. It also offers an analysis of significant gaps and challenges in terms of vertical and horizontal governance, large donor presence, data availability and the integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation for nation‐building in Timor‐Leste. Relevant and applicable lessons are provided from other small island developing states to assist Timor‐Leste in identifying its own trajectory out of underdevelopment while it builds on existing strengths.     

Voltammetric study on the interaction of the heavy metals Cd(II) and Mn(II) with transfer‐RNA,DNA and other polynucleotides

Small amounts of bivalent cations, usually provided by Mg²⁺, are in the living cell necessary for the biological activity of t‐RNA as these bivalent cations influence the tertiary and secondary structure of this globular polynucleotide.

In context with the discussed possibility of carcinogenic actions of ingested Cd it is of particular interest to check whether there exist specific strong interactions of this toxic heavy metal with nucleic acids.

Therefore, the binding of the toxic heavy metal ion Cd²⁺ and the essential heavy metal ion Mn²⁺ to t‐RNA and for comparison to DNA and the polynucleotides poly‐U, poly‐A and poly‐A‐poly‐U has been studied. Free metal ion concentrations have been determined by differential pulse polararography. Association constants and the number of binding sites have been evaluated by the Scatchard method and alternatively according to a simple electrostatic model of the polyelectrolytes. With the Scatchard method for t‐RNA and all polynucleotides with helical structure two different binding sites of different strength are observed. Those with higher association constants are assigned to the helical parts of t‐RNA. Interaction sites with low association constants correspond to the parts with no ordered tertiary structure, as their exclusive occurrence for poly‐U, having a completely stochastic coil structure, reflects. The values of the association constants for the stronger and weaker association sites are in the respective polynucleotides for both investigated bivalent metal ions of comparable magnitude. This emphasizes that the interaction is essentially of electrostatic nature and depends primarily on the charge of the interacting species.

Thus the specific strong interaction of Cd by the intercalation into the tertiary structure of nucleic acids or by chelation of their base units can be ruled out as one possibility for carcinogenity of Cd.

Moreover, under physiological conditions the high excess of competitive Mg²⁺ will suppress the interaction of Cd based on electrostatic forces.     

Air monitoring of solvent exposed workers with passive samplers in comparison to “biological monitoring (BM)"†

A study was performed comparing ambient air monitoring (AM) and biological monitoring (BM) in order to evaluate the reliability of passive sampling (PS) in occupational medicine.

Five groups of persons (total number = 188) exposed to tetrachloroethene, isopropanol, toluene, xylene and styrene at the workplace were examined.

AM was performed over several hours using one or two brands of passive samplers (Monitor 3500 and/or ORSA 5). BM includes the determination of the solvent and specific metabolites resp. in blood or urine samples taken at the end of workshift. On the basis of our results we recommend that PS can supply relevant data for the estimation of external exposure to several solvents like chlorinated‐ and aromatic‐hydrocarbons.     

Chemical characterization of a water soluble fraction (WSF) of crude oil

Very polar oil compounds are predominant in the resulting water soluble fraction (WSF) of crude oil, in agreement with their high solubility in seawater. Non‐volatile hydrocarbons represent only a low proportion of total soluble extracts.

The experimental process we have achieved allows us to obtain quantitative and reproducible soluble oil extracts that could be used in ecotoxicological tests and for the study and the characterization of marine oil pollution.     

Quantitative structure‐activity relationships of hydrophobic organic chemicals 1

Quantitative structure‐activity relationships of hydrophobic organic chemicals were studied based on equations we established. Results showed that observed toxicity of hydrophobic organic chemicals were correlated to two physical‐chemical parameters: reaction equilibrium constant of target molecule‐organic chemical; octanol/water partition coefficient. Regression results showed that the molecular connectivity index of first‐order was an ideal parameter instead of the equilibrium constant. Good relationships between toxicity data and the two parameters were found for three aquatic organisms with a wide range of chemicals.     

Comparative effects of trivalent and hexavalent chromium on spermatogenesis of the mouse

It has been repeatedly stressed that the biological effectiveness of chromium depends entirely on its oxidation state. The present work compares the histological effects of ingested trivalent and hexavalent chromium compounds on the mouse testes. The results showed comparable data of food consumption and gain in body weight. Both compounds produced ambiguous levels of degeneration in the outmost cellular layers of a number of seminiferous tubules, reduced the number of spermatogonia per tubule and the sperm count, and caused significant increases in the percentage of morphologically abnormal sperms. Generally, all these effects were more pronounced in animals which ingested the hexavalent chromium.