Soil Loss Estimation for Soil Conservation Planning using Geographic Information System in Guang Watershed, Blue Nile Basin

This research was carried out to spatially predict the soil loss rate of Guang watershed with a Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) adapted to Ethiopian conditions was used to estimate potential soil losses by utilizing information on  rainfall erosivity (R) using interpolation of rainfall data, soil erodibility (K) using soil map, vegetation cover (C) using satellite images, topography (LS) using Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and conservation practices (P ) using satellite images. Based on the analysis, the mean and total annual soil loss potential of the study watershed was 24.95 tons ha-1 year-1 and 8,732.5 tons ha-1 year-1, respectively. About 147.9 ha (64%) of the watershed was categorized none to slight class which under soil loss tolerance (SLT) values ranging from 5 to 11 tons ha-1 year-1 whereas moderate to high soil loss potential covered about 202.1 ha (36%) about several times the maximum tolerable soil loss (11 tons ha-1 year-1). The study demonstrates that the RUSLE using GIS and RS provides great advantage to spatially analyze multi-layer of data. The predicted amount of soil loss and its spatial distribution could facilitate sustainable land use and management. Keywords: soil erosion; RUSLE; GIS; Guang watershed; Ethiopi

Economics of animal genetic resources use and conservation

Economic analysis can play an important role in the sustainable management of animal genetic resources (AnGR). The first report on The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (first SoW-AnGR) (FAO, 2007a) included a section on methods for economic evaluation 1 that provided an overview of the various types of value that can be distinguished (direct and indirect use values, option values, bequest values and existence values) and described potential methods and tools for assessing them. It also presented some examples of the use of these methods and tools and the findings obtained. This updated section provides an overview of recent developments in the economics of AnGR use and conservation. The revised title reflects the way in which this field of work has moved beyond just the development and testing of methods

Hydrological Foundation as a Basis for a Holistic Environmental Flow Assessment of Tropical Highland Rivers in Ethiopia

The sustainable development of water resources includes retaining some amount of the natural flow regime in water bodies to protect and maintain aquatic ecosystem health and the human livelihoods and wellbeing dependent upon them. Although assessment of environmental flows is now occurring globally, limited studies have been carried out in the Ethiopian highlands, especially studies to understand flow-ecological response relationships. This paper establishes a hydrological foundation of Gumara River from an ecological perspective. The data analysis followed three steps: first, determination of the current flow regime flow indices and ecologically relevant flow regime; second, naturalization of the current flow regime looking at how flow regime is changing; and, finally, an initial exploration of flow linkages with ecological processes. Flow data of Gumara River from 1973 to 2018 are used for the analysis. Monthly low flow occurred from December to June; the lowest being in March, with a median flow of 4.0 m(3) s(-1). Monthly high flow occurred from July to November; the highest being in August, with a median flow of 236 m(3) s(-1). 1-Day low flows decreased from 1.55 m(3) s(-1) in 1973 to 0.16 m(3) s(-1) in 2018, and 90-Day (seasonal) low flow decreased from 4.9 m(3) s(-1) in 1973 to 2.04 m(3) s(-1) in 2018. The Mann-Kendall trend test indicated that the decrease in low flow was significant for both durations at alpha = 0.05. A similar trend is indicated for both durations of high flow. The decrease in both low flows and high flows is attributed to the expansion of pump irrigation by 29 km(2) and expansion of plantations, which resulted in an increase of NDVI from 0.25 in 2000 to 0.29 in 2019. In addition, an analysis of environmental flow components revealed that only four "large floods" appeared in the last 46 years; no "large flood" occurred after 1988. Lacking "large floods" which inundate floodplain wetlands has resulted in early disconnection of floodplain wetlands from the river and the lake; which has impacts on breeding and nursery habitat shrinkage for migratory fish species in Lake Tana. On the other hand, the extreme decrease in "low flow" components has impacts on pin smaller pools. These results serve as the hydrological foundation for continued studies in the Gumara catchment, with the eventual goal of quantifying environmental flow requirements.redators, reducing their mobility and ability to access prey concentrate

Impact of Body Mass Index on Prognosis for Breast Cancer Patients

This study investigates the impact of body mass index (BMI) on the prognosis for patients with breast cancer within the context of race (African-American versus Caucasian) and ethnicity (Hispanic versus Non-Hispanic). Overall, this study included 1,368 female breast cancer patients diagnosed between 2007 and 2010 with electronic medical record data accrued from a large Florida hospital network. Non-Hispanic black patients comprised 8.77% of the cohort and Hispanic patients made up 7.56%. Multivariate analysis revealed that breast cancer death rate was increased over 2.6-fold for underweight patients ubiquitously, regardless of race or ethnicity. Patients overweight or obese did not have an increased hazard rate compared to those of normal weight. Importantly, the mechanism for the poorer prognosis for underweight patients needs to be defined. We suggest the use of a low BMI as a high-risk factor for breast-cancer mortality in all racial and ethnic populations

Rainfall Thresholding and Susceptibility assessment of rainfall induced landslides: application to landslide management in St Thomas, Jamaica

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10064-009-0232-zThe parish of St Thomas has one of the highest densities of landslides in Jamaica, which impacts the residents, local economy and the built and natural environment. These landslides result from a combination of steep slopes, faulting, heavy rainfall and the presence of highly weathered volcanics, sandstones, limestones and sandstone/shale series and are particularly prevalent during the hurricane season (June–November). The paper reports a study of the rainfall thresholds and landslide susceptibility assessment to assist the prediction, mitigation and management of slope instability in landslide-prone areas of the parish

HIV care coverage among HIV-positive adolescent girls and young women in South Africa: Results from the HERStory Study

Background. Health service coverage cascades measure the proportion of a population in need of a service that experienced a positive health outcome from the service, and enable tracking of progress in achieving universal health coverage and inequities in care coverage.Objectives. To investigate HIV care coverage among HIV-positive adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) living in six South African districts, compare coverage by age and socioeconomic status (SES), and investigate other associated factors including participation in a combination HIV prevention intervention.Methods. The HERStory Study was an evaluation of the combination intervention, comprising a representative household survey of AGYW aged 15 - 24 years living in six intervention districts. From September 2017 to November 2018, biological, sociodemographic and behavioural data were collected. HIV-positive status, initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and viral suppression were determined through laboratory tests (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for HIV antibodies, antiretroviral (ARV) metabolites and viral load (VL) testing). Viral suppression was defined as a VL <1 000 copies/mL. Knowledge of HIV-positive status was self-reported, and participants testing positive for ARV metabolites were assumed to have known their HIV-positive status. Unconditional HIV care cascades were created, stratified by age and SES. We used Pearson’s χ2 tests corrected for survey-based analysis to describe factors associated with knowledge of HIV status, and being on ART.Results. Of the 4 399 participants, 568 were HIV-positive (12.4%), of whom 60.8% (95% confidence interval (CI) 57.1 - 64.5) knew their status, 50.6% (95% CI 46.6 - 54.0) were on ART, and 62.1% (95% CI 58.4 - 65.9) were virally suppressed. Most participants (84.9%) were in the lower SES group, and they had better coverage than the higher SES group: 61.9% (95% CI 58.3 - 65.4) knew their status, 52.1% (95% CI 48.4 - 55.9) were on ART, and 64.9% (95% CI 61.3 - 68.4) were virally suppressed, compared with 55.0% (95% CI 42.1 - 68.0), 40.0% (95% CI 29.2 - 50.8), and 46.6% (95% CI 34.5 - 58.7), respectively. Participants aged 15 - 19 years had slightly inferior coverage to the 20 - 24-year-old group: 57.5% knew their status, 46.1% were on ART and 59.5% were virally suppressed, compared with 62.3%, 52.2% and 63.3%.Conclusions. These findings emphasise the need to close the gaps in HIV care coverage among AGYW, of whom only 61% knew their HIV-positive status and only 62% were virally suppressed. There is pro-poor inequality in HIV care coverage, with those in lower socioeconomic groups more likely to be virally suppressed

A globally applicable “triple A” risk model for essential thrombocythemia based on Age, Absolute neutrophil count, and Absolute lymphocyte count

: We examined the individual prognostic contribution of absolute neutrophil (ANC), lymphocyte (ALC), and monocyte (AMC) counts, on overall (OS), leukemia-free (LFS), and myelofibrosis-free (MFFS) survival in essential thrombocythemia (ET). Informative cases (N = 598; median age 59 years; females 62%) were retrospectively accrued from a Mayo Clinic database: JAK2 59%, CALR 27%, triple-negative 11%, and MPL 3%; international prognostic scoring system for ET (IPSET) risk high 21%, intermediate 42%, and low 37%; 7% (37/515) had abnormal karyotype and 10% (21/205) adverse mutations (SF3B1/SRSF2/U2AF1/TP53). At median 8.4 years, 163 (27%) deaths, 71 (12%) fibrotic, and 20 (3%) leukemic transformations were recorded. Multivariable analysis resulted in HR (95% CI) of 16.5 (9.9-27.4) for age > 70 years, 3.7 (2.3-6.0) for age 50-70 years, 2.4 (1.7-3.3) for ANC ≥8 × 109 /L, and 1.9 (1.4-2.6) for ALC <1.7 × 109 /L. The corresponding HR-based scores were 4, 2, 1, and 1, resulting in an new 4-tiered AgeAncAlc (AAA; triple A) risk model: high (5-6 points; median survival 8 years; HR 30.1, 95% CI 17.6-54), intermediate-2 (4 points; median 13.5 years; HR 12.7, 95% CI 7.1-23.0), intermediate-1 (2-3 points; median 20.7 years; HR 3.8, 95% CI 2.3-6.4) and low (0-1 points; median 47 years). The AAA model (Akaike Information Criterion [AIC] 621) performed better than IPSET (AIC 647) and was subsequently validated by an external University of Florence ET cohort (N = 485). None of the AAA variables predicted LFS while ALC <1.7 × 109 /L was associated with inferior MFFS (p = .01). Adverse mutations (p < .01) and karyotype (p < .01) displayed additional prognostic value without disqualifying the prognostic integrity of the AAA model. This study proposes a simple and globally applicable survival model for ET, which can be used as a platform for further molecular refinement. This study also suggests a potential role for immune-related biomarkers, as a prognostic tool in myeloproliferative neoplasms

Broadcast performance analysis and improvements of the LTE-V2V autonomous mode at road intersection

An autonomous V2V communication mode (also known as side-link mode 4), which facilitates V2V communication in out of eNB coverage areas, has recently been introduced into the Long term evolution (LTE) standard. Recent research has studied the performance of this LTE-V2V autonomous mode for a highway use case. However, performance analysis for a highway use case cannot be easily applied to an intersection use case as it may contain non-line-of-sight (NLOS) communication links. In this paper, we analyze and evaluate the safety message broadcasting performance of LTE-V2V autonomous mode in an urban intersection scenario. Considering practical path loss models, we present the impact of NLOS communication link on the overall message dissemination performance. Through the analytical and simulation results, we show that the overall message dissemination performance degrades drastically with increasing vehicle density and increasing distance of the transmitting vehicle from the intersection. To improve the performance, we propose a vehicle-assisted relaying scheme in which the relaying vehicle is selected in an autonomous manner. We also present two resource allocation strategies for the relaying vehicle. For low to medium vehicle density along the street, we observe significant improvement in message dissemination through relaying compared to the scheme without relaying