International session excellent presentation award of the Annual Journal of Hydraulic engineering

Wenchao SUN of third grade in a Special Doctoral Course got the International session excellent presentation award of the Annual Journal of Hydraulic engineering. The award ceremony at the 54th conference on Hydraulic engineering was held in Sapporo City on 3-5 March, 2010.

Title: "An Integrated Approach Incorporating River Cross-Sectional Geometry Derived From High Resolution DSM for River Discharge Estimation" (Annual Journal of Hydraulic engineering Vol.54, pp.1-6, (2010)). It was a presentation about the development of the river discharge estimation technique combined satellite observation with a hydrological model, and it was applauded the points the novelty / utility being evaluated comprehensively.

The paper by Dr. Kondo et.al was published in British Medical Journal.

The paper by Dr. Kondo, Prof. Yamagata and a research group of Harvard University was published in British Medical Journal on 11 November 2009 and was press released by BMJ Group.

The paper title is "Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: meta-analysis of multilevel studies". According to the research, income disparities may lead to poor health and death not only among the poor but also wealthier people due to increased stress. It estimates that the disparities could result in 1.54 million extra deaths in 15 countries, including 23,000 extra deaths in Japan. "It's time to consider the disparity issue from the point of health, too," Dr. Kondo said.

Also, Professor Yamagata said disparities in society are considered to negatively impact the health of all people as increased stress raises the risk of lifestyle-related diseases and depression.

Best Presentation Award, Public Health2009

Dr. Kondo got the best presentation award at Public Health 2009 which was held in Nara, on 20-23 October 2009. Only 10 presentations could get this award among 1594 presentations.

The presentation title is "Bonding and bridging social capital, Mujin-ko, and functional declines of older adults: Y-HALE Study". This is an epidemiology research which investigated 600 elderly people living in Yamanashi for 5 years. According to the research, we should regard social capital (Human relationship (Social Network) strengthening the unit of community, relationship of trust and mutual cooperation) as a health resource and use it for minimizing care needs. This research was applauded the points being expected the further development and showing the unique result with clear theory.

Dr. Kondo said, "People in Yamanashi have suffered from water problems and endemic disease so many times. To cope with such severe situations, they have placed an emphasis on social capital. I also felt its importance as conducting the research with the local people and this is why I focused on social capital. I am pleased that I can show social capital, which is important custom in Yamanashi, is good for health. I would like to continue and pursue this research topic."

Award for excellent publication of young scientist (Ronbun shoreisho)

Dr. Yukiko Hirabayashi(Civil & Environmental Engineering / ICRE) got the Award for excellent publication of young scientist(Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources).

Title: "A 59-year (1948-2006) global near-surface meteorological data set for land surface models. Part II: Globalsnowfall estimation"

IAHS Tison Award

Dr. Yukiko Hirabayashi(Civil & Environmental Engineering) got the 2009 IAHS Tison Award. The award ceremony at the IAHS Assembly will be held in Hyderabad, India during 6th to 12th September, 2009.

Every year, only one paper authored by young researchers (less than 41 years old) and published in Hydrological Sciences Journal (HSJ) can get IAHS Tison award. The following is the winning paper of the 2009 Tison Award.

Yukiko Hirabayashi, Shinjiro Kanae, Seita Emori, Taikan Oki, Masahide Kimoto, Global projections of changing risks of floods and droughts in a changing climate, Hydrological Sciences Journal, 53(4), 754-772, August 2008

Tison award has more than 20-year history. In its long history, this is the third time that the winners are from Asia and this is the second time the winners are from Japan.

Best Poster Award, 4th Conference of APHW

Best Poster Award, 4th Conference of the Asia Pacific Association of Hydrology and Water Resouces (APHW)
Li Qiaoling: Special Doctoral Course
Title: Inter-comparison of hydrological models with multi-objective optimization method NSGAII in Asian basins

Best Poster Award, The 6th SEAWE

Best Poster Award, The 6th International Symposium on Southeast Asian Water Environment (SEAWE)
Wilawan Khanitchaidecha: Special Doctoral Course
Title: Effect of Aeration and Non-Aeration Periods on Nitrogen Removal