Rain event properties at the source of the Blue Nile River

In the present study, spatial and temporal patterns of rain event properties are analysed. These event properties are rain event depth, event duration, mean event rain rate, peak rain rate and the time span between two consecutive rain events which is referred to as inter-event time (IET). In addition, we assessed how rain event properties change when the period over which rainfall data is aggregated changes from 1 to 6 min and when the minimum inter-event time (MIT) changes from 30 min to 8 h. Rainfall data is obtained from a field campaign in two wet seasons of June–August (JJA) of 2007 and 2008 in Gilgel Abbay watershed that is situated at the source basin of the Upper Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. The rainfall data was automatically recorded at eight stations. The results revealed that rain event depth is more related to peak rain rate than to event duration. At the start and towards the end of the wet season, the rain events have larger depth with longer duration and longer IET than those in mid-season. Event rain rate and IET are strongly related to terrain elevation. Sekela which is on a mountain area has the shortest IET while Bahir Dar which is at the south shore of Lake Tana has the longest IET. The period over which rainfall data is aggregated significantly affected the values of rain event properties that are estimated using relatively small value (30 min) of MIT but its effect diminished when the MIT is increased to 8 h. It is shown that increasing the value of MIT has the largest effect on rain event properties of mountain stations that are characterised by high rainfall intermittency

A comparison of flash flood response at two different watersheds in Grenada, Caribbean Islands

Grenada is one of the susceptible areas to flooding. It is due to the high intensity of rainfall in each year and Grenada often hit by hurricanes and tropical storms. Flash-flood often occur in Grenada, specifically in two areas (Gouyave and St. John's watershed). Both of them have different characteristics. Gouyave watershed represents rural area, whereas St. John's watershed is an urban area. This paper aims to understand the flash-flood response of Gouyave and St. John's watershed in different return periods. It is emphasized that urbanization is an important factor related to flash-flood. This paper uses quantitative methods with flood modelling using OpenLISEM software. Input data to develop flood modelling are DEM (Digital Elevation Model), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), initial soil moisture, surface roughness (Manning's n), and random roughness. The result shows that St. John's watershed is more sensitive and has higher response to flash-flood than Gouyave. St. John's watershed is more urbanized which decreases water infiltration. So, it increases the potential run-off and flash-flood events become more massive

Dynamic rainfall thresholds for landslide early warning in Progo Catchment, Java, Indonesia

High spatiotemporal resolution satellite data have been available to provide rainfall estimates with global coverage and relatively short latency. On the other hand, a rain gauge measures the actual rain that falls to the surface, but its network density is commonly sparse, particularly those that record at sub-daily records. These datasets are extensively used to define rainfall thresholds for landslides. This study aims to investigate the use of GSMaP-GNRT and CMORPH-CRT data along with automatic rain station data to determine rainfall thresholds for landslides in Progo Catchment, Indonesia, as the basis for landslide early warning in the area. Using the frequentist method, we derived the thresholds based on 213 landslide occurrences for 2012-2021 in the Progo Catchment. Instead of relying on a fixed time window to determine rainfall events triggering landslides, we consider a dynamic window, enabling us to adapt to the rainfall event responsible for landslides by extending or shortening its duration depending on the persistence of the rainfall signal. Results indicate that both GSMaP-GNRT and CMORPH-CRT products fail to capture high-intensity rainfall in Progo Catchment and overestimate light rainfall measured by rain gauge observations.Nevertheless, when accumulated to define the rainfall threshold, the overall performance of GSMaP-GNRT and automatic rain station data in Progo Catchment is comparable. The rainfall measured at the stations performed slightly better than the estimated rainfall from GSMaP-GNRT, particularly at a probability exceedance level below 15%. In contrast, CMORPH -CRT performed the worst for all exceedance probabilities. The suitable exceedance probability for early warning purposes in Progo Catchment is 10% if it is based on the automatic rain station data. At this exceedance probability level, the threshold can adequately discriminate triggering/non-triggering rainfall conditions and produces the minimum false alarms and missed events

The Well-Being of Alcohol and Other Drug Counsellors in Australia: Strengths, Risks, and Implications

Working with alcohol and other drug (AOD) using populations in treatment services is a demanding job that has been associated with a susceptibility to stress and burnout in the workforce. The current study used an online survey methodology in Victoria, Australia, to examine staff well-being and burnout in a cohort of 228 workers in AOD specialist services in Victoria, 151 of whom hold client caseloads. Although there was a strong negative association between stress and burnout, and inverse associations with work satisfaction and well-being, the focus of the current analysis was what predicted positive well-being in workers. This was associated with four factors—lower levels of emotional exhaustion and cognitive weariness (both aspects of burnout), higher levels of opportunities for professional growth, and a greater support network in the worker’s own life with which to discuss things. Thus, positive well-being is not only linked to lower burnout, and to greater perceived development opportunities, but also to the support systems workers have access to

11β-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases control access of 7β,27-dihydroxycholesterol to retinoid-related orphan receptor γ

Oxysterols previously were considered intermediates of bile acid and steroid hormone biosynthetic pathways. However, recent research has emphasized the roles of oxysterols in essential physiologic processes and in various diseases. Despite these discoveries, the metabolic pathways leading to the different oxysterols are still largely unknown and the biosynthetic origin of several oxysterols remains unidentified. Earlier studies demonstrated that the glucocorticoid metabolizing enzymes, 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) types 1 and 2, interconvert 7-ketocholesterol (7kC) and 7β-hydroxycholesterol (7βOHC). We examined the role of 11β-HSDs in the enzymatic control of the intracellular availability of 7β,27-dihydroxycholesterol (7β27OHC), a retinoid-related orphan receptor γ (RORγ) ligand. We used microsomal preparations of cells expressing recombinant 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2 to assess whether 7β27OHC and 7-keto,27-hydroxycholesterol (7k27OHC) are substrates of these enzymes. Binding of 7β27OHC and 7k27OHC to 11β-HSDs was studied by molecular modeling. To our knowledge, the stereospecific oxoreduction of 7k27OHC to 7β27OHC by human 11β-HSD1 and the reverse oxidation reaction of 7β27OHC to 7k27OHC by human 11β-HSD2 were demonstrated for the first time. Apparent enzyme affinities of 11β-HSDs for these novel substrates were equal to or higher than those of the glucocorticoids. This is supported by the fact that 7k27OHC and 7β27OHC are potent inhibitors of the 11β-HSD1-dependent oxoreduction of cortisone and the 11β-HSD2-dependent oxidation of cortisol, respectively. Furthermore, molecular docking calculations explained stereospecific enzyme activities. Finally, using an inducible RORγ reporter system, we showed that 11β-HSD1 and 11β-HSD2 controlled RORγ activity. These findings revealed a novel glucocorticoid-independent prereceptor regulation mechanism by 11β-HSDs that warrants further investigation

Facet ridge end points in crystal shapes

Equilibrium crystal shapes (ECS) near facet ridge end points (FRE) are generically complex. We study the body-centered solid-on-solid model on a square lattice with an enhanced uniaxial interaction range to test the stability of the so-called stochastic FRE point where the model maps exactly onto one dimensional Kardar-Parisi-Zhang type growth and the local ECS is simple. The latter is unstable. The generic ECS contains first-order ridges extending into the rounded part of the ECS, where two rough orientations coexist and first-order faceted to rough boundaries terminating in Pokrovsky-Talapov type end points.Comment: Contains 4 pages, 5 eps figures. Uses RevTe