Search

An effective flood warning system is crucial for successful flood management. Flood warning systems have been developed in many countries across the world. However, scientific literature on flood warning systems has been mainly focused on technical capacity building, and the effectiveness of warning systems in mobilizing evacuation was much understudied. Japan is a country with a long history of fighting against flood disasters; the evaluation of its practices in providing flood warnings and the effectiveness are certainly important for further flood research development in Japan, and sharing the experience and lessons with the rest of the world will contribute to flood damage reduction on a global scale. Following this line of thinking, this article is intended to present a clear and concise picture of the current flood warning system in Japan, which has been poorly documented up until now. It is also aimed at providing a performance assessment for the flood warning system through case study approach and the use of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) model. Through analyses, the pros and cons of the current flood warning system in Japan are highlighted, and the directions for further development and refinement are explained.

Hydrological drought (HD) characterization with different return periods is essential to appropriately design the best water management practices. In particular, characterizing the interactive relations of discharge, drought, and return periods using a novel triple diagram can deepen the interpretation of regional droughts, which have not been adequately considered, especially in semi-arid areas. Considering the critical role of HD in water exploitation and management in Iran, this study was therefore conducted to analyze the HD in different return periods in rivers of the Ardabil Province (area = 17,953 km2). To this end, the streamflow drought index (SDI) was computed using DrinC software at 1-, 3-, and 6-month time scales for 25 hydrometric stations during 1981–2014. Then, the drought severity was evaluated by CumFreq software in different return periods (2, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 years). Finally, the relationship between discharge, SDI, and return periods was analyzed using triple diagram models. The results revealed that the drought events had mild (−1 ≤ SDI < 0) and moderate (−1.5 ≤ SDI < −1) severity for most study stations in the study area. The mean values of SDI in the 1-, 3-, and 6-month time scales were 1.08, 0.80, and 0.55, respectively. At all study time scales, the drought severity in both rivers with low and high flows increased with increasing return periods. In such a way, the maximum drought severity has been found for rivers with high flow at a 100-year return period. The current results can be considered a screening tool for the distinctive conservation and directive management of watershed resources.

Knowledge of landscape fragmentation is known to be important in ecological integrity, hydrological processes, urban planning, sustainable land management, and policymaking. Recent anecdotal studies reveal a need for analytical quantification of landscape fragmentation at different levels. Therefore, the present study was conducted at KoozehTopraghi Watershed, Ardabil Province, Iran, where covers by different land uses/covers, to (a) explore the spatial pattern of landscape fragmentation metrics comprehensively in different scales, (b) distinguish the landscape fragmentation hot spots, and (c) investigate the spatial clustering of landscape fragmentation metrics. The behaviors of 7, 10, and 13 fragmentation metrics concerning three levels of patch, class, and landscape across 36 sub-watersheds were explored using principal component analysis (PCA) and expert elicitation. The Getis-Ord Gi* and local Moran’s I indices were also used to analyze the hot spots and clusters of landscape fragmentation, respectively. The results verified the high degree of spatial variability of the metrics in the three levels of fragmentation analysis. The class-level fragmentation analysis showed that the watershed is characterized by high-fragmented residential land use and low-fragmented dry farming land use. The spatial trend analysis at the landscape level further indicated that sub-watersheds 1, 2, 11, 21, to 26, and 34 to 36, mainly located in lowlands and central parts, allocated better status considering the fragmentation metrics rather than other parts of the watershed. The significant hot spots and high clusters of fragmentation also were distributed in different parts of the watershed in terms of various landscape metrics.

Cs2LiLaBr6:Ce (CLLB) scintillation detector has excellent energy resolution and high light output to gamma-rays, with excellent neutron/gamma-rays discrimination performance. Its applications are mainly limited to crystal growth with large size and high quality. In this paper, high performance CLLB was grown, encapsulated and tested. The vertical Bridgman method was employed to grow Cs2LiLaBr6:1%Ce crystals. By regulating the temperature, the maximum temperature gradient of the growth furnace was adjusted to the position of crystal precipitation. To avoid the non-uniform melting component area, the non-stoichiometric of raw materials increasing the excess of 100% LiBr were used. The crystals was developed successfully with 1 inch diameter, 5 cm length, and 4.32 g/mL density. Finally, the crystal was encapsulated and tested, with an energy resolution of 4.0% and relative (NaI) optical output of 1.14 to 0.662 MeV gamma-rays, and an absolute optical output of 47665 Photons/MeV to 0.511 MeV gamma-rays; The figure of merit (FOM) of the neutron/gamma-rays discrimination is 1.27 enabled by charge comparison method. The scintillation decay time of the two kinds of signals is measured respectively by the optical flux simulation method, with a fast component of about 0.19 μs and a slow component of 1.08 μs. Results show that the neutron signals has a higher fast component proportion to gamma-rays signals.

Background and Aim: This study aims to investigate the effect and mechanism of proprotein convertase subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) and provide a reference for clinical prevention and treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).METHODS: We established a rat myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) model and AC16 hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model. A total of 48 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups (n=16): control, I/R, and I/R +SiRNA. In I/R and I/R +siRNA groups, myocardial ischemia was induced via occlusion of the left anterior descending branch (LAD) of the coronary artery in rats in I/R group for 0.5 h and reperfused for three days. To assess the myocardial injury, the rats were subjected to an electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac function tests, cardiac enzymes analysis, and 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC)/Evan Blue (EB) staining. Meanwhile, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to detect morphological changes in cardiomyocytes in each group, and the level of myocardial fibrosis was quantified using Masson trichrome staining. Differences in the expression of autophagy-level proteins and Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa interacting protein (Bnip3) signaling-related proteins were determined by protein blotting.RESULTS: I/R and H/R injury increased the expression level of PCSK9, activated the downstream Bnip3, and subsequently triggered autophagy. In vitro and in vivo experimental studies revealed that siRNA knockdown of PCSK9 resulted in reduced expression of the autophagic protein Beclin-1, light chain 3 (LC3) compared to normal control-treated cells and control-operated groups. Simultaneously, the presentation of the autophagic pathway Bnip3 was downregulated. Furthermore, PCSK9-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA) group injected into the left ventricular wall significantly improved cardiac function and myocardial infarct size, as well as the expression of mRNA of Recombinant Human Interleukin-1β（IL-1β. Moreover, Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) was significantly downregulated and reduced the inflammatory response compared with the I/R group.CONCLUSIONS: In ischemic/hypoxic circumstances, PCSK9 expression was dramatically increased. PCSK9 knockdown alleviated MIRI via the Bnip3-mediated autophagic pathway and improved inflammatory response, myocardial infarct size, and cardiac function.

Purpose: To investigate the effect and mechanism of proprotein convertase subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) and to provide a reference for clinical prevention and treatment of acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods: We established a rat myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) model and AC16 hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) model. A total of 48 adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into 3 groups (n=16): control（scrambled RNAi was use）, ischemia/reperfusion(I/R), and I/R +SiRNA. In the I/R and I/R +siRNA groups, myocardial ischemia was induced by occlusion of the left anterior descending branch (LAD) of the coronary artery in rats in the I/R group for 0.5 hours reperfused for 3 days. To assess myocardial injury, rats were subjected to the electrocardiogram (ECG), cardiac function, cardiac enzymes, and 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) /Evan Blue (EB) staining. Meanwhile, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to detect morphological changes of cardiomyocytes in each group, and the level of myocardial fibrosis was quantified by Masson trichrome staining. Differences in expression of autophagy level proteins and Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa interacting protein (BNIP3) signaling-related proteins were determined by protein blotting.Results: PCSK9 mRNA and protein levels were significantly upregulated during cardiomyocyte hypoxia in vitro and in vivo. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that PCSK9 expression was increased in rat hearts 3 days after anterior descending branch ligation. In vitro and in vivo experimental studies revealed that siRNA knockdown of PCSK9 resulted in reduced expression of the autophagic protein Beclin-1, light chain 3 (LC3) compared to control-treated cells and sham-operated groups, at the same time, the presentation of the autophagic pathway BNIP3 was also downregulated. Furthermore, the PCSK9-mediated small interfering RNA (siRNA) group injected into the left ventricular wall significantly improved cardiac function and myocardial infarct size, as well as the expression of mRNA of Recombinant Human Interleukin-1β（IL-1β）and Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) was significantly downregulated and reduced the inflammatory response compared with the I/R group.Conclusions: In ischemic/hypoxic circumstances, PCSK9 expression was dramatically increased. PCSK9 knockdown alleviated MIRI via the BNIP3-mediated autophagic pathway, and improved myocardial infarct size and cardiac function.

We report the fabrication of bulk anisotropic (SmCo + FeCo)/NdFeB multicomponent nanocomposite magnets using high-pressure thermal compression (HPTC). The correlations among microstructure, magnetic properties, heating temperature and composition of the HPTC nanocomposite magnets were studied. The HPTC magnet made under variable temperatures (VT), with 19 wt% of FeCo phase, exhibits a maximum energy product of 32 MGOe, which is much higher than that (14 MGOe) for the HPTC magnet made under a constant temperature (CT). When the FeCo content increases to ∼23 wt%, the HPTC magnet made under VT still remains a high energy product of about 25 MGOe. With increasing NdFeB content, the (SmCo + FeCo)/NdFeB multicomponent nanocomposite magnets exhibit an enhanced magnetic anisotropy and coercivity. This work is beneficial to fabricating high-performance and low-cost permanent magnets for practical applications.

The quality of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports is fundamental to making good decisions, but the low quality of EIA reports is a constraint in developing countries. Previous studies pointed out many factors influencing report quality based on professional perspectives. However, the decision factors of report quality are not well known. The purposes of this study are to identify the decision factors and benchmarks of the overall quality of EIA reports for Japan’s cooperation projects and to verify the effects of the decision factors on report quality. The study reviewed the quality of 160 reports from 2001 to 2016 and examined potential factors influencing the overall quality of reports using statistical tests, cluster analysis, decision tree analysis, and covariance structure analysis. The study identified the alternatives and public involvement as the decision factors among potential factors, and their linkage affected the quality of reports. The study concluded that the just satisfactory grade of alternatives and public involvement at scoping and draft reporting stages were the benchmarks for satisfactory EIA reports. Further verification through comparative studies and case studies is needed to confirm how two processes have an effect on the quality of reports.

Weather extremes negatively affect socioeconomic developments in arid and semi-arid areas (ASALs) and increase vulnerability of residents to food and water insecurity. Thus, communities adapt to such extremes of weather using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and/or Modern Technologies. Modern farming technologies and land resource developments in ASALs have in past ignored TEK, and in most cases led to undesired outcomes. It’s against this backdrop that this study was conceived to assess TEK among the Turkana people, its application and contribution to food and water security. The research adopted a cross-sectional social survey in collecting data from Central Turkana Sub-County residents. The study revealed that the Turkana people possess vast knowledge related to their environment; that this TEK plays a significant role in food production, preservation and in natural resource management. For instance, in 82% of the respondents use TEK in enhancing livestock production through the selection of livestock species that are suitable and drought tolerant; over 70% of them use TEK in reducing risk associated with livestock losses due to prolonged droughts. Further, TEK influenced the development and conservation of the water resources (r = 0.631; p < 0.01) including siting boreholes and wells. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.755; p < 0.01) between TEK and food security. TEK should be incorporated into the decision-making processes involving development projects within the ASALs.

Autophagy is critical for myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. However, there is still considerable debate over its protective and deleterious effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the involvement of the proprotein convertase subtilisin/Kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and its inhibitor in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury autophagy (MRI).Nine groups of eighty rats were used: sham, I/R2 h, I/R4 h, I/R6 h, I/R8 h, I/R1 d, and I/R2 d. A 30-min coronary artery blockage was used to produce myocardial IR. The time required for reperfusion rose linearly with the time gradient, from 2 h to 2 days. Following the determination of the best reperfusion period, three groups were formed: sham, I/R, and I/R + P (PCSK9 inhibitor (evolocumab) 10 mg/kg diluted in 2 ml sterile injection water was administered subcutaneously 1 week and half an hour before to surgery. Each group's infarction area was determined by electrocardiography (ECG), cardiac function, and 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) /Evan Blue (EB) staining. To detect morphological alterations in myocardial cells in each group, hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used. Meanwhile, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and Masson trichrome staining were utilized to quantify myocardial fibrosis and PCSK9 and autophagy protein expression.The results indicated that PCSK9 expression levels increased significantly in MRI, as indicated by increased levels of the autophagy regulatory protein light chain 3 (LC3) and Beclin-1, which activated autophagy in cardiomyocytes, exacerbated myocardial injury, and increased the size of myocardial infarcts. Meanwhile, PCSK9 regulates mitophagy via the Bcl-2/adenovirus E1B 19-kDa interacting protein (BNIP3) pathway, which controls myocardial infarction MRI throughout. Additionally, the PCSK9 inhibitor significantly decreased autophagy, enhanced cardiac function, and reduced the extent of reperfusion injury, consequently reducing myocardial infarct size expansion.PCSK9 is upregulated in the myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury hearts and regulates mitophagy via the BNIP3 pathway, which in turn contributes to reperfusion injury after myocardial infarction. PCSK9 inhibition protects against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury via suppressing autophagy.

It is a well-accepted notion that women are more vulnerable to natural disasters than men, especially in developing countries. However, in developed countries, how women’s empowerment by economic and social development has reduced the gender gap in vulnerability remains insufficiently answered. As Japan passed its golden age, moving into an aging society, a study on how the gender difference in flood vulnerability has evolved can contribute to a better understanding of the types and causes of vulnerability, leading to better flood risk management in a new social context. Following this thinking, the present study conducted a longitudinal analysis using representative flooding cases in Japan over a period of forty years. It found that the women’s fatality rate increased with age much faster than men’s in the 1980s but reversed in a recent major flood disaster. It also revealed that most flood disaster victims were elderly in recent years. These findings suggest that the flood vulnerability at present is more driven by age-related physical ability decline, much less relevant to gender. Based on the results, it proposed a new framework for assessing flood vulnerability in an aging society. Such outcomes can help with the better formulation of flood management policies and probing into solutions.

BackgroundAlmonds are an important crop in California, and increased yields necessitate that dried in-hull almonds are stored in the field for longer periods, increasing the potential for postharvest moisture exposure (e.g., rain, fog). Processors are increasingly drying these 'wet' almonds to a moisture content of

For efficient and targeted management, this study demonstrates a recently developed non-point source (NPS) pollution model for a year-long estimation in the Pingqiao River Basin (22.3 km2) in China...

Further investigations of almond degradation under typical industrial storage conditions from a quantitative perspective are warranted. This study modeled effects of packaging, temperature (TEMP), relative humidity (RH) and roasting on chemical attributes of almonds stored according to common industry practices throughout 16 months. Roasted samples were stored in high‐barrier bags (HBB) or polypropylene bags (PPB) at multiple combinations of TEMP and RH. Raw samples were held in unlined cardboard cartons (UC) or PPB under the same conditions. Almonds were assessed bimonthly for oxidation products, free fatty acids, moisture content and water activity. Results indicated roasting almonds improved quality preservation. Models showed HBB (rather than PPB) to provide benefits to stability comparable to reductions in storage TEMP of ~15 to 30 °C. PPB (rather than UC) showed benefits to peroxide formation of similar magnitude. Our data shows HBB to be a superior packaging choice, and UC to associate with the greatest rates of degradation.

In this paper, various gradient structures (i.e., the ferrite grain size increases continuously with the depth) with different grain size distributions are produced in low-carbon steel by using pre-torsion deformation and thermal annealing at ~ 550 °C to 700 °C for 0.5 h. Results indicate that the grain size distribution possesses a crucial influence on mechanical properties of gradient-structured samples. The yield strength decreases steady accompanied by a gradual increase in uniform ductility and static toughness with increasing the ferrite grain size. The optimal synergy of high yield strength (σy~ 506.0 ± 3.9 MPa), promising uniform ductility (eu~ 9.6 ± 0.5%) and static toughness (Ur~ 108.8 ± 4.1 MJ/m3) is achieved by a specific gradient structure with the grain size distribution from ~ 7.2 µm at the surface to ~ 16.5 µm at the core, which is much better than that (σy~ 318.2 ± 1.6 MPa, eu~ 13.4 ± 0.4% and Ur~ 102.5 ± 4.8 MJ/m3) of its coarse-grained (CG) counterpart. Related strengthening and toughening mechanisms are also discussed.

The effects of packaging and storage conditions on the moisture content and instrumental and sensory textural properties of raw and salty light roasted (SLR) California almonds were studied under different storage conditions. The controlled combinations included low, medium, and high temperatures and low and high relative humidity (RH). Almond samples were packaged in cartons or polyethylene (PE) bags with and without vacuum. Both absorption and desorption of moisture by almonds were observed during storage and were dependent on the packaging and storage conditions. In general, gradual changes were observed for samples with PE and vacuum PE packaging in most of the storage conditions, while the samples packed in cartons showed more dramatic changes because these unprotected samples were more vulnerable to seasonal changes in humidity. The SLR almonds showed consistent moisture gains, while the raw almonds tended to lose moisture content in most of the storage conditions. This may be attributed to the low initial moisture content of the SLR samples. All raw samples packed in cartons became softer over time. The softening tended to be enhanced by high storage humidity and temperature. The raw almonds packaged in PE bags were firmer than those packed in cartons but also became softer over time. The firmness of the SLR samples was generally lower than that of raw samples, probably because roasting reduced the density and mechanical strength of the kernels. The firmness of PE packaged SLR samples increased in uncontrolled storage conditions and in higher storage temperature and humidity conditions but decreased slightly in lower temperature and humidity conditions. Vacuum packaging did not affect the firmness much. Using PE packaging and maintaining the RH below 50% and the temperature below 25°C are effective in stabilizing both raw and processed almonds. Keywords: Almond, Firmness, Nonpareil, Packaging, Relative humidity, Sensory, Storage, Temperature, Texture.

Urban sustainability refers to building and maintaining cities that can continue to function without running out of resources. However, growing cities require more land and urban sprawl has transformed surrounding rural areas into urbanized settlements. Furthermore, the prosperity of large cities depends on the supply of both natural and human resources from rural areas, either nearby or remote. On the other hand, the use of resources of rural areas by cities may cause negative externalities to rural areas, affecting their sustainability. Therefore, a critical, but very much neglected issue, is how unban sustainability should be pursued without affecting rural sustainability. In this study, cases in Japan and China were analyzed from resources and population migration perspectives to provide evidence for the possibility that urban sustainability might have been pursued at the cost of rural unsustainability. It was intended to develop a better understanding of urban sustainability through the lens of externalities. Based on the analysis, a new framework for urban sustainability study was proposed, which consists of three new pillars. Namely, externality, vulnerability, and population instability.

This chapter provides an analysis of various resilience definitions and depicts the differences in definition between engineering, ecological and socio-ecological resilience in an easy-to-understand graphic representation. It also articulates commons and differences between conventional flood risk management and resilience-based flood management and presents a mathematical formulation to facilitate resilience discussion. Furthermore, it highlights some studies and initiatives towards the operationalization of the resilience concept in flood disaster management practice. The most important message this chapter is intended to deliver is that resilience is not just about bouncing back. Indeed, it should be enhanced to bounce forward.