SGER: Microbial Dating of Cracks

确定裂缝的年龄是一个重要的问题。例如，数百万美元被花费在仲裁和诉讼上，这些损害声称是由最近的一些邻近活动造成的，如交通繁忙、建筑、爆破等，或最近的一些自然现象，如地震、飓风、洪水等。一旦裂缝被确定为令人担忧的问题，焦点通常转向调查裂缝相对于异常事件发生时间的年龄。这样的年龄测定将允许更精确地联系因果关系。目前用于确定裂缝年代的方法往往是主观的，应用受到限制，得出的是相对年龄，而不是绝对年龄。这项研究将探索一种新的确定裂纹年龄的生物学方法。它将具体确定从裂缝表面采样生物群的可行性。这一初始阶段的成功将奠定基础，这将使对以下假设的完整研究成为可能：给定表面上的生物量是自表面暴露以来经过的时间量的指示。这一假设是基于这样一个前提，即表面生物量随时间的变化是可以定量测量的。目前，法医科学中使用了与大型生物(如昆虫)类似的程序来确定死亡时间。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，根据生物质的积累确定裂缝年龄。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。这项研究开发了生物实验室测试程序，将其应用于一种新的方法。这项研究探索了通过裂解现有建筑材料引入自然环境中的新的无菌表面的微生物定植过程。关注的重点是利用基本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/材料工程这两个很少相连的研究领域之间的跨学科互动。它可能会减少甚至消除围绕裂缝外观的诉讼花费的数百万美元。如果这项研究被证明是成功的，它将推动生物方法在建筑领域的进一步应用。该程序解决了几乎所有建造过的设施中存在的问题，并通过将破裂时间与同一时间段可能发生的任何不寻常活动联系起来，促进了对材料反应的了解。裂缝年龄的量化将减少每年花费在裂缝原因诉讼上的数千万美元。通过准确地确定破裂的时间，这项工作还将能够比较环境中的自然变化和周围拟人化活动的影响。

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.