SGER: Microbial Dating of Cracks

确定裂缝的年龄是一个重要的问题。例如，数百万美元花费在仲裁和诉讼上，这些仲裁和诉讼是由于声称最近的一些邻近活动（例如交通繁忙、建筑、爆破等）或最近的一些自然现象（例如地震、飓风、洪水等）产生的损害而引起的。一旦裂缝被确定为关注点，焦点最经常转向相对于异常事件的时间的裂纹的年龄的调查。这样的年龄测定将允许更精确的因果关系。目前用于测定裂缝年龄的方法往往是主观的，应用范围有限，只能得出相对年龄，而不是绝对年龄。该研究将探索一种新的生物学方法来确定裂纹年龄。它将具体确定从裂缝表面采集生物群样品的可行性。这一初始阶段的成功将奠定基础，从而能够对以下假设进行全面研究，即某一表面上的生物量是该表面暴露以来所经过时间的一个指标。该假设是基于这样的前提，即表面上的生物量随时间的变化可以量化测量。一个类似的程序与大型生物，如昆虫，目前用于法医学确定死亡时间。该程序结合了科学中两个很少联系的领域：微生物学和建筑/材料工程，以确定生物质积累的裂缝年龄。初步工作表明，普通的实验室程序可以应用于感兴趣的建筑材料。该研究通过将生物实验室测试程序应用于一种新的方法来利用它们。该研究探索了通过开裂现有建筑材料而引入自然环境的新无菌表面的微生物定植过程。注意力集中在利用基本的实验室设施获取相关信息，同时避免昂贵的设备或耗时的调查。这项研究促进了生物学和建筑/材料工程两个很少联系的研究领域之间的跨学科互动。它可以减少甚至消除数百万美元的诉讼费用，围绕裂缝的外观。如果研究证明是成功的，它将推动生物方法在建筑领域的进一步应用。该程序解决了几乎每一个设施都存在的问题，并通过将开裂时间与同一时间段内可能发生的任何异常活动联系起来，促进了对材料反应的理解。裂纹年龄的量化将减少每年花费在裂纹原因诉讼上的数千万美元。通过精确定位裂缝的时间，这项工作还将允许比较环境和周围拟人化活动的自然变化的影响。

Determination of the age of cracks is an important issue. For instance, millions of dollars are spent on arbitration and litigation arising from damage claimed to have been produced by some recent adjacent activity such as heavy traffic, construction, blasting, etc. or some recent natural phenomenon, such as an earthquake, hurricane, flood, etc. Once the crack is identified as a concern, focus most often turns to an investigation of the age of the crack relative to the time of the unusual event. Such age dating would then allow more precise linkage to causation. Current methods used to date cracks are often subjective, limited in their application and yield a relative age, rather than an absolute age. The research will investigate a new biological method to determine crack age. It will specifically determine the feasibility of sampling of biota from a crack surface. Success in this initial phase will form the foundation which will allow the complete study of the hypothesis that the amount of biomass on a given surface is an indication of the amount of time that has passed since the surface was exposed. The hypothesis is based upon the premise that the change in the amount of biomass on a surface over time can be quantifiably measured. A comparable procedure with macroorganisms, such as insects, is currently used in forensic science to determine time of death. The procedure combines two rarely connected fields in science: microbiology and construction/materials engineering to establish the crack age from the accumulation of biomass. Preliminary work shows that common laboratory procedures can be applied to the construction materials of interest. The research exploits biological laboratory testing procedures by applying them in a new approach. The research explores the process of microbial colonization of new, sterile surfaces introduced into the natural environment by cracking of already present construction materials. Attention is focused on obtaining relevant information with basic laboratory facilities, while avoiding expensive equipment or time-consuming investigations. This research promotes interdisciplinary interaction between two rarely connected fields of study, biology and construction/materials engineering. It could reduce or even eliminate millions of dollars spent in litigation surrounding the appearance of cracks. Should the research prove successful, it will fuel further application of bio-methods in the field of construction. The procedure addresses a problem present in virtually every facility ever constructed and promotes understanding of material responses by relating the time of cracking to any unusual activities that may have occurred in the same time period. Quantification of crack age will reduce the tens of millions of dollars spent each year in litigation over causes of cracks. By pinpointing the time of cracking, the work will also allow comparison of effects from natural changes in the environment and surrounding anthropomorphic activities.