Developing new scenarios for water allocation negotiations: a case study of the Euphrates River Basin

Mismanagement and uneven distribution of water may lead to or increase conflict among countries. Allocation of water among trans-boundary river neighbours is a key issue in utilization of shared water resources. The bankruptcy theory is a cooperative Game Theory method which is used when the amount of demand of riparian states is larger than total available water. In this study, we survey the application of seven methods of Classical Bankruptcy Rules (CBRs) including Proportional (CBR-PRO), Adjusted Proportional (CBR-AP), Constrained Equal Awards (CBR-CEA), Constrained Equal Losses (CBR-CEL), Piniles (CBR-Piniles), Minimal Overlap (CBR-MO), Talmud (CBR-Talmud) and four Sequential Sharing Rules (SSRs) including Proportional (SSR-PRO), Constrained Equal Awards (SSR-CEA), Constrained Equal Losses (SSR-CEL) and Talmud (SSR-Talmud) methods in allocation of the Euphrates River among three riparian countries: Turkey, Syria and Iraq. However, there is not a certain documented method to find more equitable allocation rule. Therefore, in this paper, a new method is established for choosing the most appropriate allocating rule which seems to be more equitable than other allocation rules to satisfy the stakeholders. The results reveal that, based on the new propose model, the CBR-AP seems to be more equitable to allocate the Euphrates River water among Turkey, Syria and Iraq

Heat fragmentation pattern of DNA treated with two different Furocoumarins isolated from Anethum Graveolens leaves

Prolonged local consumption of Anethum graveolens leaves, as an antihyperlipimic and antihypercholesterolemic agent, has been associated in some patients with skin disorders such as darkening and pigmentation mainly in the exposed areas such as face and hands.Anethum graveolens belongs to the umbelliferae family which is belived to be rich in photoactive furocoumarins. An oraganic extract of the powdered leaves was analysed for the photosensitive compounds. Al least six different photosensitive compounds.Al least six different photosensitive components were detected in the TLC chromatogram of the extract. Two of the most photosensitive components were purified compounds into two different purifed plasmid DNAs were observed. In addition, photoreacted DNA samples were easily fragmented by heat treatment in comparision to control samples not treated with the furocoumarins

The Effects of Two Species of Daphne, Betulin and Betulinic Acid on Alkaline Phosphatase Activity in Two Human Cancer Cell lines, K562 and MCF-7

Abstract Background & aim: Changes of alkaline phosphatase activity is one of the symptoms of many diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two types of Daphne, Betulin and Betulinic acid, on alkaline phosphatase activity in K562 and MCF-7 cell lines, respectively. Methods: In this study, 106 cancer cell lines of K562 and MCF-7 were cultured in presence of 5% carbon dioxide at 37 ° C. at doses near the IC50. The viability of cells, inside and outside alkaline phosphatase activity and the amount of total protein in each treatment were studied. The collected data was analyzed with a multivariate analysis of variance (Nested Design) and Dunnett test. Results: The intracellular alkaline phosphatase activity of the cells showed different behavior compared to the extracellular alkaline phosphatase activity (p< 0.01). The highest increase of alkaline phosphatase activity in two cell lines (K562 and MCF-7) were 339% and 236% which was related to the treatment by macronata daphne. Conclusion: Unexpected increase in intracellular alkaline phosphatase activity in D. mucronata, D. oleides, Betulin, and Betulinic acid treatment may be due to changes in the composition of plasma membrane component and an increase the non-connected membrane of the protein which is due to the creation of more active proteins. Keywords: Daphne mucronata, Daphne oleoides, Alkaline Phosphatase, Betulinic Acid, Betuli

Chemical components of the <i>Ephedra major</i> from Iran

<div><p><i>Ephedra</i> is a dioecious shrub that belongs to the Ephedraceae family of gymnosperms. Almost all commercial applications of <i>Ephedra</i> extracts are derived from the ephedrine alkaloids found in the evergreen stems. The purpose of this study was to compare chemical components (total alkaloid, ephedrine, total phenol, total flavonoid and tannin) of <i>Ephedra major</i> plants during May to October months. The seeds and stems were collected from Bojnoord altitudes in east of Iran. Total alkaloid was separated by solvent and soxhelet extraction method. The results revealed that solvent extraction method is more efficient than soxhelet extraction method. The measurement of chemical components showed significant difference during May to October months. Data from HPLC analysis revealed that while root is depleted of ephedrine, the ephedrine amount in stem organ ranged from 1.50 ± 0.15 to 2.12 ± 0.01 mg/g dry weight. The results indicate that <i>E. major</i> can be as a suitable source of ephedrine.</p></div

Application of multi attribute decision making methods to resources allocation problems

Operation of over shared resources (water, gas, oil, and mineral reserves) has been one the most significant challenges of states. “Fair” and “efficient” national resources reallocation among stakeholders and states is a complex conflict problem that faces this fundamental question: which criteria and mechanisms should be taken into account for this reallocation? In this paper, we propose a risk-based Multi Attribute Decision Making (MADM) methodology to select the most appropriate mechanism for reallocation of the reserves of the Caspian Sea with respect to several quantitative and qualitative criteria. Caspian Sea is a sea with five claimants that border it, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The ordered weighted averaging (OWA) method is used to evaluate the effects of risk attitude of the decision makers on the final outcome in resources reallocation. Results indicate that risk-based MADM methods are well suited tools to resolve conflicts in natural resources reallocation problemsWater ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

A Novel Idea for Groundwater Resource Management during Megadrought Events

Due to the effects of global climate change on duration, frequency and number of drought events, the occurrence of prolonged droughts, referred to as “megadroughts” (lasting for two decades or longer) will become more probable in the future. Thus, it is crucial for countries especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world to develop appropriate preparedness plans for megadrought risk management. Since groundwater is the key water resource in these regions, it is important to reliably quantify the maximum sustainable extraction to ensure a sufficient groundwater reserve, i.e. the Strategic Groundwater Reserve, for a probable future megadrought event. For this purpose, a new concept of Probable Maximum Drought is proposed in this study, based on the concept of Probable Maximum Flood. As the spillways of large dams are designed based on the Probable Maximum Flood to minimize the probability of failure and the associated casualties and damages, the Probable Maximum Drought concept is proposed to estimate Strategic Groundwater Reserves to limit the consequences of prolonged droughts, including damage and threats to societal stability. This will allow water resources managers and policymakers to develop appropriate strategies to adapt and restrict development plans of a given region based on a sustainable megadrought risk management.Corrigendum published on DOI: 10.1007/s11269-020-02686-2 Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Water Resource

Estimating the Aquifer’s Renewable Water to Mitigate the Challenges of Upcoming Megadrought Events

In arid and semi-arid regions of the world, the occurrence of prolonged drought events (megadroughts) associated with climate change can seriously affect the balance between water supply and demand, thereby severely increasing the susceptibility of such regions to adverse impacts. In this study, a simple framework is introduced to estimate renewable water volumes (RW) to mitigate the challenges of megadrought events by managing the groundwater resources. The framework connects a weighted annual hydrological drought index (wSPEI) to RW, based on the short time-scale precipitation volume. The proposed framework, which was in a proof-of-concept case study applied to the Neishaboor watershed in the semi-arid part of Iran, showed that developing the weighted drought index can be valuable to estimate RW. The results suggested that the wSPEI, aggregating hydrological drought index (HSPEI) with the time scale k = 5 days and the regional coefficient s = 1.3 can be used to estimate RW with reasonable accuracy (R2 = 0.73, RMSE = 11.5 mm year−1). This indicates that in the Neishaboor watershed, the best estimation of RW can be determined by precipitation volumes (or the lack thereof) falling over 5-day aggregation periods rather than by any other time scales. The accuracy of the relationship was then investigated by cross validation (leave-one-out method). According to the results, the proposed framework performed fairly well for the estimation of RW, with R2 = 0.75 and RMSE = 12.2 mm year−1 for k = 5 days. The Overall agreement between the wSPEI, the RW derived from water balance calculations, and the estimated RW by the proposed framework was also assessed for a period of 34 years. It showed that the annual RW followed closely the wSPEI, indicating a reasonable relationship between wSPEI and the annual RW. Accordingly, the proposed framework is capable to estimate the renewable water of a given watershed for different climate change scenarios.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Water Resource

Maintaining status quo or realizing transformation in transboundary water conflicts? The power–interests–identity nexus in the Helmand river basin

This paper contributes to the critical hydropolitics literature by introducing the power–interests–identity nexus framework and addresses how it shapes decisions and (re)actions to transform or maintain water conflicts. The framework is investigated using the Helmand/Hirmand river basin, shared by Afghanistan and Iran. It elucidates which factors led to the transformation of Iran–Afghanistan water conflicts and the signing of the 1973 Treaty, as well as the influential factors that have contributed to its maintenance in the 2020s. The results demonstrate using the framework provides comprehensive insight by identifying the influential latent factors of transboundary water arrangements