A Constitutive Communication Lens of Stakeholder Participation in Post-Disaster Construction

A diverse set of stakeholders converge to facilitate reconstruction and recovery in post-disaster settings. Shared decision-making, implementation and evaluation are crucial to ensure reconstructed infrastructure delivers a high level of service that reflects local needs and capacities. Despite attempts by organizations to include local knowledge in post-disaster design and construction to enhance operation and maintenance of infrastructure, participation processes are failing consider local perspectives. In contrast to technocratic solutions, this research focuses on the communication processes that constitute participation to understand how local knowledge might be better incorporated in reconstruction efforts. Building on theory of participation archetypes, we analyzed twenty shelter reconstruction projects in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan, examining how communication practice shaped membership. Findings show that stakeholder groups use different communicative strategies to participate in reconstruction. Non-governmental organization processes created a communication deficit in their favor through a reliance on textual sources and aggregation of local input, government agencies distanced themselves to limit uncertainty of losing infrastructure support and communities withheld knowledge to limit resource contributions. Based upon this analysis, we recommend that aid organizations ensure that communication moves beyond unidirectional approaches by starting design development earlier with communities and that alternatives to textual sources are provided for local partners.National Science Foundatio

Characterizing Post-Disaster Shelter Design and Material Selections: Lessons from Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines

Following a disaster, communities, governments, and organizations are required to make rapid decisions that will govern the path towards long-term recovery. Hazard-resistant shelter designs have long been heralded as necessary for facilitating resilient and sustainable reconstruction; however, there is sparse documentation of designs implemented. We examine the case of design and building material selection for 20 shelter projects following Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, using photo documentation, interview data and field observations as a means to document rates of design adoption and choices in material selection. Findings use the shelter cluster ‘8 Key Messages’ as a framework to assess level of improved shelter design. Results highlight improved foundations, roofing, building shape and site selection and identify deficits in structural elements, including connections, bracing, and joints. Findings quantify design features that saw poor uptake by organizations and hold potential to inform future practice that encourages hazard-resistant design in the Philippines and other future international disaster responses.National Science Foundatio

Emergent Coordination Practice in Post-Disaster Planning of Infrastructure Systems

Post-disaster contexts present one of the most challenging functional environments for organizations. The effective allocation of resources and harmonious synchronization of reconstruction activities are considered paramount factors in effective recovery. Coordination has been examined through numerous ideological lenses from scholars, however the notion of emergent practice has underscored recent trends in disaster literature. Past findings have suggested that the dynamic and adaptive structures that result from emergent coordination are more effective in handling the demands of post-disaster complexity, however there is little evidence to show how these practices develop. We examine the case of Super Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines to demonstrate how coordination practice emerged in the planning of infrastructure systems, applying theory from emergence to explain adoption of practice that lends insight into coordinating behavior of organizations. Findings demonstrate that geography and sectors under the humanitarian clusters were most influential in shaping coordination structures while informal relationships and institutional policies were the defining factors in the emergence of communicative processes. Characterizing these organizational behaviors as they evolve in real time has yet to be documented and serves to better inform future organizational communication strategies in humanitarian contexts and theory on social movements of organizations under time-pressured environments.National Science Foundatio

The cervicovaginal mucus barrier to HIV-1 is diminished in bacterial vaginosis.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition in which the vaginal microbiota consists of community of obligate and facultative anaerobes rather than dominated by a single species of Lactobacillus, affects ~30% of women in the US. Women with BV are at 60% increased risk for HIV acquisition and are 3-times more likely to transmit HIV to an uninfected partner. As cervicovaginal mucus (CVM) is the first line of defense against mucosal pathogens and the home of the resident vaginal microbiota, we hypothesized the barrier function of CVM to HIV may be diminished in BV. Here, we characterized CVM properties including pH, lactic acid content, and Nugent score to correlate with the microbiota community composition, which was confirmed by 16S rDNA sequencing on a subset of samples. We then quantified the mobility of fluorescently-labeled HIV virions and nanoparticles to characterize the structural and adhesive barrier properties of CVM. Our analyses included women with Nugent scores categorized as intermediate (4-6) and BV (7-10), women that were either symptomatic or asymptomatic, and a small group of women before and after antibiotic treatment for symptomatic BV. Overall, we found that HIV virions had significantly increased mobility in CVM from women with BV compared to CVM from women with Lactobacillus crispatus-dominant microbiota, regardless of whether symptoms were present. We confirmed using nanoparticles and scanning electron microscopy that the impaired barrier function was due to reduced adhesive barrier properties without an obvious degradation of the physical CVM pore structure. We further confirmed a similar increase in HIV mobility in CVM from women with Lactobacillus iners-dominant microbiota, the species most associated with transitions to BV and that persists after antibiotic treatment for BV. Our findings advance the understanding of the protective role of mucus and highlight the interplay between vaginal microbiota and the innate barrier function mucus