Collaborative Research: Vulnerabilities in Critical Global Trade Infrastructures

合作研究：关键全球贸易基础设施的脆弱性

• 批准号: 1559684
• 负责人: Jason Cons
• 金额: $ 1.48万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1559684&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Vulnerabilities; Critical; Global

Scientific interest in infrastructure has tried to understand the mechanical, human, and natural forces that impact the flow of information and services. These infrastructures have become increasingly dependent on the global movement of goods and peoples. The global systems that deliver these resources, however, are inevitably funneled through bottlenecks or "chokepoints", such as canals, tunnels, maritime straights, border crossings, etc. Constricting the flow of materials and people, such chokepoints are both vital to national and economic interests, and uniquely vulnerable, dynamic, and prone to disturbances. Not surprisingly, governments, corporations, and communities have taken a keen interest in securing and regulating these sites. Little is known, however, about how these passageways actually work. This collaborative project seeks to explore how local communities, environments, and infrastructures interact to allow passage through these sites (or not), as well how ordinary (and sometimes extraordinary) events at chokepoints affect economic systems, security, and lives well beyond these points of passage.Christopher Middleton and Gabriela Valdivia of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ashley Carse of Vanderbilt University, Jatin Dua of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Elizabeth Dunn of Indiana University, and Jason Cons of the University of Texas at Austin, will explore six chokepoints around the world. Each member of the team is an expert in their region of study. Each will focus on a particular kind of chokepoint. These include: the Panama Canal, a tunnel in Russia, a land bridge in India, an oil-refinery and pipelines in Ecuador, a network of rivers in Bangladesh, and a maritime strait leading into the Red Sea. The researchers will utilize extensive interviews, observation, and first-person engagement with officials, workers, and chokepoint residents in order to understand the distinctly human dimensions of these transit zones. Bringing together data from around the world, this study will provide a strategic reassessment of the global movement of goods, information, and people by examining these vital and dynamic points of national and world interest. The results will speak directly to current concerns over migration, security, and economic wellbeing. In doing so, this project promises to alter the ways governments, industries, and others understand and engage with these critical transit points of the world today.

对基础设施的科学兴趣试图了解影响信息和服务流动的机械、人力和自然力量。这些基础设施越来越依赖于全球货物和人员流动。然而，提供这些资源的全球系统不可避免地会遇到瓶颈或“阻塞点”，例如运河、隧道、海上直道、过境点等。这些阻塞点限制了物资和人员的流动，对国家和经济利益至关重要，而且特别脆弱、动态且容易受到干扰。毫不奇怪，政府、企业和社区对保护和监管这些网站表现出了浓厚的兴趣。然而，人们对这些通道的实际工作原理知之甚少。该合作项目旨在探索当地社区、环境和基础设施如何相互作用以允许通过（或不允许）这些地点，以及阻塞点的普通（有时是非同寻常）事件如何影响这些通行点之外的经济系统、安全和生活。北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的克里斯托弗·米德尔顿和加布里埃拉·瓦尔迪维亚，贾廷范德比尔特大学的阿什利·卡斯 密歇根大学安娜堡分校的杜阿、印第安纳大学的伊丽莎白·邓恩和德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的杰森·康斯将探索世界各地的六个咽喉要道。团队的每个成员都是其研究领域的专家。每个都将关注特定类型的瓶颈。其中包括：巴拿马运河、俄罗斯的隧道、印度的陆桥、厄瓜多尔的炼油厂和管道、孟加拉国的河流网络以及通往红海的海上海峡。研究人员将利用对官员、工人和咽喉要道居民的广泛采访、观察和第一人称接触，以了解这些过境区明显的人文特征。这项研究汇集了来自世界各地的数据，通过研究这些国家和世界利益的重要和动态点，对全球商品、信息和人员流动进行战略重新评估。结果将直接反映当前对移民、安全和经济福祉的担忧。 在此过程中，该项目有望改变政府、行业和其他方理解和参与当今世界这些关键中转站的方式。