Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Bystander Defibrillator Search Time and Experience With and Without Directional Assistance: A Randomized Simulation Trial in a Community Setting

INTRODUCTION: Probability of survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) doubles when a bystander initiates cardiopulmonary resuscitation and uses an automated external defibrillator (AED) rapidly. National, state, and community efforts have increased placement of AEDs in public spaces; however, bystander AED use remains less than 2% in the United States. Little is known about the effect of giving bystanders directional assistance to the closest public access AED. METHODS: We conducted 35 OHCA simulations using a life-sized manikin with participants aged 18 through 65 years who searched for public access AEDs in 5 zones on a university campus. Zones varied by challenges to pedestrian AED acquisition and number of fixed AEDs. Participants completed 2 searches-first unassisted and then with verbal direction to the closest AED-and we compared AED delivery times. We conducted pretest and posttest surveys. RESULTS: In all 5 zones, the median time from simulated OHCA onset to AED delivery was lower when the bystander received directional assistance. Time savings (minutes:seconds) varied by zone, ranging from a median of 0:53 (P = 0.14) to 3:42 (P = 0.02). Only 3 participants immediately located the closest AED without directional assistance; more than half reported difficulty locating an AED. CONCLUSIONS: These findings may inform strategies to ensure that AEDs are consistently marked and placed in visible, accessible locations. Continued emphasis on developing strategies to improve lay bystanders' ability to locate and use AEDs may improve AED retrieval times and OHCA outcomes

Tracers reveal limited influence of plantation forests on surface runoff in a UK natural flood management catchment

Study region United Kingdom (UK). Study focus Natural flood management (NFM) schemes are increasingly prominent in the UK. Studies of NFM have not yet used natural tracers at catchment scale to investigate how interventions influence partitioning during storms between surface rainfall runoff and water already stored in catchments. Here we investigate how catchment properties, particularly plantation forestry, influence surface storm rainfall runoff. We used hydrograph separation based on hydrogen and oxygen isotopes (2H, 18O) and acid neutralising capacity from high flow events to compare three headwater catchments (2.4-3.1 km2) with differences in plantation forest cover (Picea sitchensis: 94%, 41%, 1%) within a major UK NFM pilot, typical of the UK uplands. New hydrological insights Plantation forest cover reduced the total storm rainfall runoff fraction during all events (by up to 11%) when comparing two paired catchments with similar soils, geology and topography but ∼50% difference in forest cover. However, comparison with the third catchment, with negligible forest cover but different characteristics, suggests that soils and geology were dominant controls on storm rainfall runoff fraction. Furthermore, differences between events were greater than differences between catchments. These findings suggest that while plantation forest cover may influence storm rainfall runoff fractions, it is not a dominant control in temperate upland UK catchments, especially for larger events. Soils and geology may exert greater influence, with implications for planning NFM

Local and downstream effects of contemporary forest harvesting on streamflow and sediment yield

This dissertation is a collection of three manuscripts that serve to fill the knowledge gaps and advance methods of detecting the effects of contemporary forest harvesting in experimental catchment studies. While there is a preponderance of studies evaluating the environmental effects of forest harvesting in the western United States, few studies consider local and downstream streamflow and sediment changes following contemporary harvesting practices. Further, many previous and current studies using the paired-catchment approach were based on relatively few observations using annual, storm, and more infrequently monthly data, which can increase the likelihood of false/missed detections. The objective of this research was to develop change detection models using time-series records to detect and quantify the effects of forest harvesting on streamflow and sediment yield. To fulfill this objective, it was necessary to characterize streamflow and sediment processes at a temporal scale capable of describing daily, monthly, and seasonal dynamics following forest harvesting; increase sample sizes used to construct regression-based change detection models; and develop alternative methods to the paired-catchment approach in order to discern changes in streamflow and sediment using highly variable time-series data. The paired-catchment approach was used to detect and quantify relative changes in streamflow and sediment yield in 5 harvested catchments. Though not statistically significant in all catchments, relative increases in streamflow and sediment were observed locally and downstream following harvesting in headwater catchments. The ability to detect statistically significant changes at certain time-steps was a function of accounting for all sources of variability in change detection models. In this study, we aimed to develop robust change detection models using time-series data to increase sample size and decrease false/missed detections of true treatment effects. When mean daily streamflow was used as a response variable, there was no statistically significant increase in streamflow (significance level [alpha] = 0.05), when the effects of forest harvesting were detect with monthly streamflow. We hypothesized that this is due to an increase in unexplained variance and wider prediction limits. An alternative method to detect change with daily streamflow that resulted in reduced variance was hydrologic model simulations

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

Mountaintop mining and valley fill (MTM/VF) coal extraction, practiced in the Central Appalachian region, represents a dramatic landscape-scale disturbance. MTM operations remove as much as 300 m of rock, soil, and vegetation from ridge tops to access deep coal seams and much of this material is placed in adjacent headwater streams altering landcover, drainage network, and topography. In spite of its scale, extent, and potential for continued use, the effects MTM/VF on catchment hydrology is poorly understood. Previous reviews focus on water quality and ecosystem health impacts, but little is known about how MTM/VF affects hydrology, particularly the movement and storage of water, hence the hydrologic processes that ultimately control flood generation, water chemistry, and biology. This paper aggregates the existing knowledge about the hydrologic impacts of MTM/VF to identify areas where further scientific investigation is needed. While contemporary surface mining generally increases peak and total runoff, the limited MTM/VF studies reveal significant variability in hydrologic response. Significant knowledge gaps relate to limited understanding of hydrologic processes in these systems. Until the hydrologic impact of this practice is better understood, efforts to reduce water quantity and quality problems and ecosystem degradation will be difficult to achieve