Achieving groundwater resource sustainability at watershed scale by conjunctive use of groundwater and surface resources

The main goal of paper is to identify optimal water resources management strategies for groundwater resources sustainability achievement in Maharlou-Bakhtegan watershed in Iran and maximum water supply probability to the demand sites. In the present study, conjunctive use of groundwater and surface resources along with a scenario-based analysis approach is examined to achieve the optimal water resource management and plan Maharlou-Bakhtegan watershed using MODSIM model as a decision support system (DSS) for the basic river catchment management. The proposed approach is used to assess the effects of the different management strategies, climate changes, groundwater withdrawal levels and irrigation efficiency on the groundwater resources sustainability, agricultural water supply, and environmental water demand satisfaction. To quantify the system performance, six management scenarios are defined and modelled by MODSIM. For assessment of the system performance in each scenario, three performance indicators including reliability, vulnerability, and resiliency are introduced and defined. The findings showed that the fifth scenario (SC5) strategies satisfied all of the considered management goals and proposed the optimal management solutions for sustainability achievement of the groundwater resources.Keywords: Maharlou-Bakhtegan Watershed, Groundwater Resources Sustainability, MODSIM, Scenario Analysis, Performance Indice

Error Bounds in Nonlinear Model Predictive Control with Linear Differential Inclusions of Parametric-Varying Embeddings

In this work, we provide deterministic error bounds for the actual state evolution of nonlinear systems embedded with the linear parametric variable (LPV) formulation and steered by model predictive control (MPC). The main novelty concerns the explicit derivation of these deterministic bounds as polytopic tubes using linear differential inclusions (LDIs), which provide exact error formulations compared to linearization schemes that introduce additional error and deteriorate conservatism. The analysis and method are certified by solving the regulator problem of an unbalanced disk that stands as a classical control benchmark example.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Effect of different salinity on ions, osmolarity, water concentration of body tissue, gill chloride cells and mortality percentage of juveniles of Caspian roach (Rutilus frisii kutum Kamensky 1901)

Changes of ions (Na+, Ca, K+), osmolarity and water concentration of body tissue, size and number of gill chloride cells as well as mortality percentage of the juveniles Caspian roaches in weight groups of 0.2, 0.5 & 1g water satiny stress were studied. The salinities tested were 0 (fresh water), 7, 12.5 & 16 g/lit and the assessments were completed 0, 12, 24, 48 & 72 hours after exposure. Results showed that ions and osmolarity of juveniles weighting 0.2 & 0.5g in salinities of 0 up to 12.5g/lit increased significantly during the first 12 hours (P'<0.05). These values then showed down were trend to the values recorded for fresh water. Water concentration of body tissue reached the minimum mean value in 12 hours (P<0.05) in salinity of 12.5 g/lit and then showed upward trend to the value obtained for freshwater. Ions and osmolarity of body tissue of the juveniles increased and water concentration of body tissue decreased significant after the first 12 hours of transferring into salinity of 16g/lit (P<0.05). Weight changes in juveniles of 1g in salinities of 0 up to 16g/lit was similar to juveniles of 0.2 & 0.5g in salinities of 0 up to 12.5gllit and the maximum mean values of ions and osmolarity and the minimum value of water concentration body tissue in 16g/lit salinity in hour 12 (P<0.05). Size and number of gill chloride cells of juveniles weighting 0.2 & 0.5g in salinities of 0 up to 12.5g/lit increased significantly during the first 12 hours of exposure (P<0.05) and reached the maximum mean values in 12.5g/lit salinity 12 & 24 hours after exposure, respectively (P<0.05) and showed invisible changes up to the end of the test. Size and number of chloride cells of the juveniles increased after the first 12 hours of transferring into salinity of 16g/lit (P<0.05). Changes of the indices in juveniles weighting 1gin salinities of 0 up to 16g/lit was similar to juveniles of 0.2 & 0.5g kept in salinities of 0 up to 12.5gtlit and the maximum values was in 12 and 24 hours after exposure, respectively (P<0.05). Ions and osmolarity of body tissue and size and number of chloride cells increased significantly with increase of salinity and weight and water salinity and water concentration of body tissue decreased significantly with increase in water salinity and increased in fish weight (P<0.05). Juveniles weighting 0.2 up to 1g showed no mortality in salinities of 0 & 7g/lit during t- test. Mortality of the juveniles weighting 0.2, 0.5 and 1g/1it increased during the first 12 hours and became constant to the end of the test. Mortality of juveniles weighting 0.2 & 0.5g in salinity of 16g/lit was similar to that of the juveniles weighting 0.2 & 0.5g in salinity of 12.5g/lit. Mortality of the juveniles increased significantly with increase of salinity and decreased with increase of weight (P<0.05)

Anatomical differences in the right and left renal arterial patterns

The aim of this study was to determine the pattern and character of the renal arteries in patients referred for preoperative or diagnostic evaluation of the renal or abdominal arteries by multi-detector computed tomography and, by comparing the arterial anatomy of the right and left kidneys, to evaluate the effect of differences in their anatomical position on the characteristics of the arteries. During a cross-sectional study from August 2005 to October 2007, 117 patients underwent contrast-enhanced 64-slice multi-detector computed tomography renal angiography in Tabriz Imam Khomeini Hospital (Parsian Centre). The number of arteries, the number of branches and the presence of accessory arteries and early branching were assessed in the renal arteries on both sides. In all, the data for 117 patients data were analysed, 76 (65%) of whom were male and 41 (35%) female. The mean of age of the patients was 39.26 &#177; &#177; 17.03 years. The mean diameters of the aorta and renal artery were 2.62 &#177; &#177; 1.55 mm and 0.62 &#177; 0.11 mm respectively and the distance to branching was 3.39 &#177; 1.59 mm. There was no significant difference in diameter between the left and right renal arteries or in the distance to branching (0.62 &#177; 0.11 vs. 0.61 &#177; 0.12 mm; p = 0.35; 3.24 &#177; 1.2 vs. 3.56 &#177; 1.77 mm; p = 0.11). An accessory artery was presented in 58 kidneys and this significantly more often occurred on the right side than on the left side: 38 of 117 (32.47%) right kidneys vs. 20 of 117 (17.09%) left kidneys (p = 0.01). There was early branching in 42 subjects (35.89%). In a comparison of early branching of the arteries of the right and left kidneys, no significant difference was found, despite the higher incidence of branching on the right side. The diameters of the right and left renal arteries and the distances to branching did not differ. Apart from width, there was no difference in kidney size. An accessory artery occurred more frequently in the right renal artery than in the left. (Folia Morphol 2008; 67: 104-110

Effect of age on reproductive performance in female Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspious, Kessler 1877)

Caspian brown trout (Salmo trutta caspius) is one of the economically valuable species in the Caspian Sea.Artificial propagation and production of larvae are the main problems in the early culture of this species.The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of reproductive performance of female broods on opposition reproduction efficiency in Caspian brown trout in the breeding season of 2009. Three groups of female broods (4, 5 and 6 years old) were fertilized with 9 male fish individually. The results showed that,6 year old females have maximum body weight (2150.0 ± 86.6 g), total length (59±2 cm), eggs weight (255.0 ± 30.51 g), egg size (5.37 ± 0.058 mm) and absolute fecundity rate (3060 ± 366.15), while highest average number of ovules in each gram of body weight (16.33 ± 0.58) and relative fecundity (2.08 ± 0.12) belonged to 4 years old females. There were significant differences in mean fertilization rate and survival rate until absorption of yolk sack stage (p<0.05) among the treatments studied. The present study showed that the eggs produced from fertilization of 6 year old female eggs and male mixed milt showed maximum average fertilization percentage (97.5 %), survival rate until eyed stage (92%), hatching percentage (93%), and survival rate until absorption of yolk sack (94.5%)

Establishing an EU-China consortium on traditional Chinese medicine research.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is widely used in the European Union (EU) and attracts intense research interests from European scientists. As an emerging area in Europe, TCM research requires collaboration and coordination of actions. Good Practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine Research in the Post-genomic Era, also known as GP-TCM, is the first ever EU-funded 7th Framework Programme (FP7) coordination action, aiming to inform the best practice and harmonise research on the safety and efficacy of TCM through interdisciplinary exchange of experience and expertise among clinicians and scientists. With its increasingly large pool of expertise across 19 countries including 13 EU member states, Australia, Canada, China, Norway, Thailand and the USA, the consortium provides forums and collaboration platforms on quality control, extraction technology, component analysis, toxicology, pharmacology and regulatory issues of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), as well as on acupuncture studies, with a particular emphasis on the application of a functional genomics approach. The project officially started in May 2009 and by the time of its conclusion in April 2012 a Europe-based academic society dedicated to TCM research will be founded to carry on the mission of GP-TCM.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Animal behavior informed by history: Was the Asiatic cheetah an obligate gazelle hunter?

Understanding key ecological adaptations, such as foraging, when a predator is almost extinct is complex. Nonetheless, that information is vital for the recovery of the persisting individuals. Therefore, reviewing historical, ethnobiological and recent records can assist in exploring the species behavioral ecology. We applied this approach to Asiatic cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), which once roamed most west and central Asian countries but now is confined to a few dozens in Iran, at historical (pre-1970) and recent (post-1970) scales. We addressed a widely popular perception that Asiatic cheetahs were subjected to prey shifts from gazelles (Gazella spp.) in open plains areas to urial (Ovis vignei) in mountains because of gazelle populations declines due to anthropogenic influences. We also quantified recent prey choice of Asiatic cheetahs and their behavioral plasticity in foraging different prey species types. Although ethnobiological and historical records suggested that gazelle species were the main prey for cheetahs across their Asian range. However, urial were also commonly reported to be hunted by cheetahs across their historical Asian range, showing that the predation on mountain ungulates is not an emerging hunting behavior in Asiatic cheetahs. We found spatiotemporal plasticity in recent hunting behavior of cheetahs with selective predation on adult urial males. There was temporal overlap in hunting times for plains dwelling versus mountain ungulates, albeit with some minor differences with morning mostly for gazelles while the predation on mountain ungulates was predominantly post-midday. We provided three management implications for the recovery and restoration of cheetahs in Asia. Our work highlighted the importance of historical studies in informing the behavioral ecology of rare species