Experiences with Pluvial Flood Risk Mapping in Croatia at Multiple Spatial Scales

This study presents our experience with pluvial flood modelling and risk assessment in Croatia. We focus on the methodology that is suitable for investigating different levels of flood risk - from the catchment level to the city level to the local sub-basin level. We discuss the availability and selection of spatial input data, such as digital terrain models (DTMs) and land use models, and how they can be processed for flood hazard analysis and flood risk assessments. We highlight the differences between flood simulation results using DTMs at different resolutions and discuss the optimal resolution. We also examine different types of open land cover/land use data available for the EU, such as the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service data. We describe various aspects related to integrated 2D hydrological-hydraulic modelling and the rain-on-grid approach, and we compare the results at different scales. In terms of flood risk assessment, we explain two different types of analyses, particularly the differences between the object-based and the pixel-based approach. Lastly, we provide flood hazard and flood risk maps for a pilot area in Croatia and offer some recommendations for further research. Our study emphasizes the importance of using an integrated and comprehensive approach that considers different sources of flooding, as well as the potential compound effects of these sources, to develop more realistic and accurate flood risk assessments

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field