A Participatory Process to Develop a Landslide Warning System: Paradoxes of Responsibility Sharing in a Case Study in Upper Austria

During a participatory process in Gmunden, Austria, the organizational and responsibility-sharing arrangements for a landslide warning system proved to be contested issues. While questions on the warning system technology and the distribution of information, including the alarm for evacuation, could be resolved with the support of experts, controversies arose on the financial and legal responsibilities that ensure long-term and effective monitoring for the protection of the landslide-prone community. This paper examines how responsibilities can be shared among the residents, experts, and public authorities during the design and operation of landslide warning systems. In particular, we discuss the outcome and implications of three stakeholder workshops where participants deliberated on warning-system options that, in turn, were based on a discourse analysis of extensive stakeholder interviews. The results of the case study show that an end-user orientation requires the consideration of stakeholder worldviews, interests, and conflicts. Paradoxically, the public did not fully support their own involvement in the maintenance and control of the warning system, but the authorities promoted shared responsibility. Deliberative planning does not then necessarily lead to responsibility sharing, but it proved effective as a platform for information and for shared ownership in the warning syste

Warning System Options for Landslide Risk: A Case Study in Upper Austria

This paper explores warning system options in the landslide-prone community of Gmunden/Gschliefgraben in Upper Austria. It describes stakeholder perspectives on the technical, social, economic, legal and institutional characteristics of a warning system. The perspectives differ on issues such as responsibility allocation in decisions regarding warnings, technologies used for monitoring and forecasting, costs and financial aspects, open data policies and the role of the residents. Drawing on the theory of plural rationality and based on a desk study and interviews, stakeholder perspectives and discourses on the warning system problem and its solution were elicited. The perspectives formed the basis for the specification of three technical policy options for a warning system in Gschliefgraben: a minimal-cost and cost-effective system; a technical-expert system; and a resident-centered system. The case demonstrates the importance of accounting for a plurality of values and preferences and of giving voice to competing discourses in communities contemplating warning systems or other public good policies. This paper concludes that understanding the different and often conflicting perspectives and technical policy options is the starting point for formulating an agreed compromise for an effective warning system. We describe the compromise solution in an accompanying paper included in this Special Issue

Large granular lymphocyte proliferation and revertant mosaicism: two rare events in a Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome patient

We report on a 6 year old patient with an unusual clinical presentation of WAS and oligoclonal proliferation of TCRγδ + large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Flow cytometry demonstrated two distinct populations of lymphocytes with strongly decreased (WASP−) or normal expression levels of WASP (WASP+), respectively. Molecular analysis confirmed a splice site mutation in intron 2 of the WASP gene in the WASP- cells but not in WASP+ cells. LGL cells were WASP+, suggesting that two independent rare events, somatic revertant mosaicism and LGL expansion, have occurred in a child with WAS. Our report points to diagnostic difficulties in the presence of partial WASP reversions and LGL

Species-Specific Identification of a Wide Range of Clinically Relevant Fungal Pathogens by Use of Luminex xMAP Technology▿ †

In immunocompromised patients suffering from invasive fungal infection, rapid identification of the fungal species is a prerequisite for selection of the most appropriate antifungal treatment. We present an assay permitting reliable identification of a wide range of clinically relevant fungal pathogens based on the high-throughput Luminex microbead hybridization technology. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) region, which is highly variable among genomes of individual fungal species, was used to generate oligonucleotide hybridization probes for specific identification. The spectrum of pathogenic fungi covered by the assay includes the most commonly occurring species of the genera Aspergillus and Candida and a number of important emerging fungi, such as Cryptococcus, Fusarium, Trichosporon, Mucor, Rhizopus, Penicillium, Absidia, and Acremonium. Up to three different probes are employed for the detection of each fungal species. The redundancy in the design of the assay should ensure unambiguous fungus identification even in the presence of mutations in individual target regions. The current set of hybridization oligonucleotides includes 75 species- and genus-specific probes which had been carefully tested for specificity by repeated analysis of multiple reference strains. To provide adequate sensitivity for clinical application, the assay includes amplification of the ITS2 region by a seminested PCR approach prior to hybridization of the amplicons to the probe panel using the Luminex technology. A variety of fungal pathogens were successfully identified in clinical specimens that included peripheral blood, samples from biopsies of pulmonary infiltrations, and bronchotracheal secretions derived from patients with documented invasive fungal infections. Our observations demonstrate that the Luminex-based technology presented permits rapid and reliable identification of fungal species and may therefore be instrumental in routine clinical diagnostics