Developing Concept of Water-energy Productivity to Evaluate Dez Dam Operation

The “concept of productivity” in the context of WEN (water-energy nexus) is a new outlook to evaluate dam and power plant operation policies. Understanding and modeling the complicated nature of water-energy nexus (WEN) are essential to increase productivity. The performance of dams and hydropower plants is mostly evaluated by the amount of energy generated and/or meeting downstream demands. The present study investigates the historical operation efficiency of Dez dam and hydropower plant from 1972 to 2018 by defining the productivity indices of water footprint (WF) of electricity, energy economics, water-energy performance, WEN, and energy sustainability. Then, the correlation between the obtained results and Streamflow Drought Index (SDI) is evaluated. The results indicated that wet years, despite generating more energy, do not show necessarily the highest productivities, since two years with moderate drought and almost similar discharges (i.e., 2007-2008 and 2010-2011) showed the highest and lowest productivities during the operation period of Dez Dam, respectively. Such difference arises from overlooking full supply levels (FSL) in from 2008 to2017. The FSL of water years in 2007-2008 was calculated to be 325.13 masl while it was 350.91 masl for water years of 2010-2011. One can, therefore, conclude that maximum productivity can be achieved even during droughts by adopting an optimal operation policy

Determination of the effective factors on the water balance of Urmia Lake basin with a focus on precipitation trends.

Prevention of water loss for the Urmia Lake due to the drought is environmentally crucial for the lake basin and it seems that, the analysis of the historical process of factors governing the water mass balance equation for the catchment leading to the lake can provide insights on what has to be done. In order to do that, statistical significance for potential breaking points and rate of changes over time points of precipitation and runoff for 25 hydrological basin stations based on the data regarding Annual precipitation and Annual runoff related to the whole span of the lake basin from 1977 to 2019 has been studied and surveyed using Mann-kendall test, Petit test and Sen’s Slope Estimator. For all hydrological basinstations breaking points have been observed in the water discharge time points from 1993 to 2005 and the decline of water discharge. Significant increase in precipitation in the entire Urmia catchment area of about 0.16 mm at a indicates its stability during the study period. The annual runoff of the studied basins into Lake Urmia in the two time periods before and after the discharge drop were estimated at 4.671 and 1.885 billion cubic meters per year, respectively, indicating volume reduction of 2.786 billion cubic meters (59.6%). Looking at the Lake Urmia sub-basins annual discharge reduction data, it can be seen that Zarrinehroud with the largest share of 34.5% and Mahparishai with smallest share of 0.2%, and the rest in between, contribute to the occurrence of draught for Lake Urmia

Evaluation of the Effects of Geology and Agricultural Development State on the Quality of Surface Water Resources Affected by Constructing Reservoir Dams (Case Study: Marun - Jarahi Basin)

The statistical tests such as T-test and Kruskall-Wallis test were used to study and analyze the difference between the quantitative parameters before and after constructing dams and the effect of different factors on water quality. The results of statistical tests showed that the values of the investigated water quality parameters (except EC value) before constructing (pre) dams were significantly different from the values after constructing dams in reservoir downstream stations. Sulfate (SO2-4) concentration in downstream stations of Marun Dam (Behbahan and Cham Nezam) reduced by 30 and 23 percent, respectively, and Cl- concentration increased 21 and 12 percent, respectively. Similarly, the difference between the values before and after constructing Jarreh dam at Mashin station was a 106% reduction in the concentration of sulfate ion (SO2-4) and a 78% increase in the concentration of chlorine ion (Cl-). The reason for this increase is probably due to the effect of river flows on the Formation and the relationship between the reservoir and the Formations where water has a long residence time and then reduced due to the exposure to the Geological Formations as well as the existence of agricultural activities downstream and before quality monitoring stations could be another reason for this claim. In addition, in the reservoir system, the concentration of soluble salt may be diluted by runoff from winter snowmelt and spring rains. Therefore, it can be concluded that water quality characteristics of Marun and Roudzard rivers in the studied basin has been affected by the constructed reservoir dams

New single nucleotide polymorphism G5508A in the SEPT12 gene may be associated with idiopathic male infertility in Iranian men

Background: Male infertility is a multifactorial disorder, which affects approximately 10% of couples at childbearing age with substantial clinical and social impact. Genetic factors are associated with the susceptibility to spermatogenic impairment in humans. Recently, SEPT12 is reported as a critical gene for spermatogenesis. This gene encodes a testis specific member of Septin proteins, a family of polymerizing GTP-binding proteins. SEPT12 in association with other Septins is an essential annulus component in mature sperm. So, it is hypothesized that genetic alterations of SEPT12 may be concerned in male infertility. Objective: The objective of this research is exploration of new single nucleotide polymorphism G5508A in the SEPT12 gene association with idiopathic male infertility in Iranian men. Materials and Methods: In this case control study, 67 infertile men and 100 normal controls were analyzed for genetic alterations in the active site coding region of SEPT12, using polymerase chain reaction sequencing technique. Fisher exact test was used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Genotype analysis indicated that G5508A polymorphic SEPT12 alleles were distributed in three peaks of frequency in both control and diseases groups. Categorization of the alleles into (GG), (GA), (AA) types revealed a significant difference between infertile patients (azoospermic and asthenospermic) and normal controls (p=0.005). Conclusion: According to our finding we suggest that G5508A polymorphism in SEPT12 gene can affect spermatogenesis in men, the opinion needs more investigation in different populations

Effect of 830-nm diode laser irradiation on human sperm motility

Abstract Sperm motility is known as an effective parameter in male fertility, and it depends on energy consumption. Low-level laser irradiation could increase energy supply to the cell by producing adenosine triphosphate. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how the low-level laser irradiation affects the human sperm motility. Fresh human semen specimens of asthenospermic patients were divided into four equal portions and irradiated by 830-nm GaAlAs laser irradiation with varying doses as: 0 (control), 4, 6 and 10 J/cm 2 . At the times of 0, 30, 45 and 60 min following irradiation, sperm motilities are assessed by means of computer-aided sperm analysis in all samples. Two additional tests [HOS and sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) tests] were also performed on the control and high irradiated groups as well. Sperm motility of the control groups significantly decreased after 30, 45 and 60 min of irradiation, while those of irradiated groups remained constant or slightly increased by passing of time. Significant increases have been observed in doses of 4 and 6 J/cm 2 at the times of 60 and 45 min, respectively. SCD test also revealed a non-significant difference. Our results showed that irradiating human sperms with low-level 830-nm diode laser can improve their progressive motility depending on both laser density and post-exposure time