جواد ظهیری

Flow hydraulics is considered as the most important factor in the morphological changes of the river by influencing the sediment transport and the shape of the waterway (Adamsson et al, 2003). Accordingly, the hydraulic simulation is very critical in all river engineering projects. In order to model the river flow, many and diverse models with different hypotheses and numerical methods are developed and used. Due to the complexity of hydraulic and sedimentary phenomena in rivers, it is not possible to solve the governing equations by analytical methods, so numerical methods are usually used. In mathematical models, due to the fact that the real size of the river is modeled, there is no scale limitation, although in some cases, fine networks cause the duration of model execution to be longer(Liu et al, 2010). The application and accuracy of mathematical models depends on the definition of the equations governing the phenomenon and the numerical methods used. The aim of the current study is to simulate the hydraulic flow and sediment with CCHE2D software in the Karun River in the Molasani to Farsiat hydrometric stations. In this study, the effect of meshing dimensions and different turbulence models on the accuracy of flow hydrodynamic modeling as well as different sediment equations on river bed changes using CCHE2D model has been investigated.

The case study is about 110 km and the three hydrometric stations are located on this reach of the Karun River. Molasani and Farsiat stations were considered as upstream and downstream boundary conditions, and Ahvaz station was used as a control station to validate the model. The information used in this research includes information on the elevation of the Karun River, the flow rate and the water level in three hydrometric stations were obtained from the Khuzestan Water & Power Authority (KWPA). The CCHE2D model was developed in 1997 at the Center for Computational Science and Engineering under the supervision of the University of Mississippi, USA. This model is an analytical system for two-dimensional, unsteady and turbulent river flows, sediment transport and water quality assessment. The model is designed with the purpose of application in the areas related to the prediction of the river bed and erosion of its banks, meander movement and water quality. Numerical models in the field of two-dimensional hydraulic simulation of flow and sediment usually need extensive and complete input information. The reason for this is the dependence of the turbulent flow process in natural channels on various factors. The accuracy of the results obtained from the execution of the model will be directly related to the quality, quantity and accuracy of the input data. To simulate the flow in CCHE2D, it is necessary to determine the duration of the simulation and time steps in performing the numerical calculation process. In this research, different time steps has been used in different stages, and the time steps in most of the simulation stages were considered equal to 150 seconds, and in some situations, smaller time steps have been used in order to solve the instability of the model.

In order to check and analyze the model in relation to the mesh size and choose its optimal size, modeling was performed for three different sizes of 150,000, 270,000 and 350,000 mesh nodes. The results obtained for the mesh size of 150,000 nodes show a significant difference with the sizes of 270,000 and 350,000 nodes. This difference is occurred due to the fact that at the beginning and end of the hydrograph, the water level in the network is low and the number of calculation nodes that are located in the dry area is more than the nodes that are located in the wetter area. This problem is partially solved by increasing the flow rate in the hydrograph and increasing the water level. Also, in order to choose the appropriate flow turbulence model for three modes of k-ε model, Parabolic Eddy Viscosity and Mixing Length, simulation was done and the observed water level difference was compared with the measured results at Ahvaz hydrometric station. Based on the obtained results, the k-ε turbulence model has the best match with the observed values ​​with an error of 2% and was chosen as the base model for further modeling. It is worth noting that most of the conducted studies also show that the k-ε model is more capable of modeling the flow in rivers and provides more accurate results. In order to implement the sediment model, the suspended sediment rating curve of Ahvaz station was used as total load sediments. Based on the obtained results, the Ackers - White sediment transport model with a coefficient of 0.1 adaptation factor shows a better agreement with the observational results.

The CCHE2D simulations show that the eddy viscosity distribution in the meanders is more intense, which can have a direct effect on the erosion process of the outer bends. Based on the investigations, the maximum erosion and sedimentation took place upstream of the Ahvaz hydrometric station and in the meandering areas of the river. The intensity of erosion in the downstream area of ​​Ahvaz station has decreased significantly. One of the most important reasons for this issue is the low slope of the river bed downstream of the river. In general, the process of modeling, distribution and pattern of flow and sediment parameters by CCHE2D model is reasonable and has acceptable accuracy, and this model can be used for other processes such as changes in the river morphology and displacement of meanders, flow analysis and erosion at the structures.

Chlorophyll A is used as a Indicator to measure the amount of algae growing in water, which can be applied to classify the nutritional status of water bodies. Accordingly, the concentration of chlorophyll a is considered a key indicator for water quality. In this research, an attempt has been made to estimate the amount of chlorophyll A in Sardasht dam reservoir using remote sensing techniques and data driven models. The data categories was used in this study: the first part is the measured values of chlorophyll A in Sardasht dam reservoir, and the second part includes 7 stages of measurement at 10 points with different coordinates in the reservoir of the dam and is related to March 2016 to June 2018. The second part of the data which used in data driven models, was extracted from the Sentinel-2 satellite images. The information of different bands was extracted from Sentinel-2 images and based on the band values, the criteria for measuring the amount of chlorophyll A were calculated and provided to the data driven models for training. In this research, three data driven models XGBoost, M5 and MARS were used to estimate the amount of chlorophyll A. In this study, 9 chlorophyll A estimation equations were considered as input of data driven models and the measured logarithm value of chlorophyll A was considered as output. 80% of the available data was used to train and the remaining 20% was used to verify the effectiveness of the used models. Based on the input data, the M5 model tree has divided the problem space into 5 parts and presented a linear equation for each part. Based on the structure provided by M5 and MARS algorithms, blue, red and green band combinations as well as infrared and red have a high impact on the models provided by these two algorithms. The results obtained from XGBoost algorithm show the importance of blue, red and green band combinations on the presented results. Based on this, the combination of blue, red and green bands has been used in all three algorithms as the most important or one of the most important input variables to calculate chlorophyll A. The coefficients of determination for three models XGBoost, M5 and MARS was calculated as 0.61, 0.49 and 0.31, respectively. The value of Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient for XGBoost, M5 and MARS models was calculated as 0.54, 0.47 and 0.27, respectively, which shows that the results of XGBoost and M5 models are favorable. The results show that the XGBoost and M5 models provided more accurate results than the MARS model. The use of Taylor's diagram also shows the close efficiency of the XGBoost and M5 models in calculating the amount of chlorophyll A. The spatial distribution of chlorophyll A in the Sardasht dam reservoir shows that the lack of information used has caused differences between the measured and calculated values in limited areas. The spatial distribution of chlorophyll A in the Sardasht dam reservoir shows that the limited data used and the lack of complete temporal compatibility of the Sentinel-2 images with the measurement data in the dam reservoir has caused differences between the measured and calculated values in limited areas. The use of a large number of data in the reservoirs of different dams, the use of various data driven models and applying images from other sensors can provide a suitable tool for the managers of the reservoirs so that they can evaluate the water quality more accurately.

In order to reduce the amount of evaporation from water reservoirs, various methods have been proposed, which can be divided into two physical and chemical categories. In the physical methods, by using physical coverings, such as floating balls, metal and polymer plates, or tree leaves, and by covering the water surface, evaporation waste is greatly reduced. These covers reduce a large amount of solar energy reaching the water surface and reduce vapor transmission by slowing the air flow.

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of the coverage and shape of polypropylene sheets on reducing the evaporation rate and the effect of meteorological variables on the efficiency of these sheets efficiency. This research was carried out in two parts, in the first part, the efficiency of square and triangular polypropylene plates was investigated in comparison with floating balls, and in the second part, the efficiency of 100, 70, 50, and 30% coverage of polypropylene plates was evaluated.

The results obtained from the tests showed that in the conditions of using floating balls, the reduction of evaporation was more intense and this coating was able to reduce evaporation to a greater extent compared to square and triangular floating plates. Also, using the square and triangular polypropylene plates and floating balls reduced evaporation by 30.71%, 14.86% and 48.7%, respectively, compared to the control pan.

The results of two-way ANOVA on different meteorological variables showed that the percentage of relative humidity, which was the most important factor in evaporation from the pan, lost its significance due to the presence of floating balls and polypropylene sheets on the water surface. The comparison of rectangular covers with different densities showed that by increasing the density from 30, 50 and 70% to 100% respectively, evaporation decreases by 2.3, 1.5 and 0.8 times.

The occurrence of phenomena such as surges in complex devices such as turbines, and problems caused by neglecting safety precautions, may result in significant economic damage and losses to the transmission system. On the other hand, electricity production is a key factor in the economic and social development for developing countries. Recently, institutions involved in electricity supply have recommended pump as turbine projects as hydroelectric power plant for supplying electricity to rural areas due to their economic benefits. The issue under investigation in this study is the effect of pump shutdown on surge occurrence and its effects on the water transmission line.

The case study project is the water transmission line to the city of Masjed Soleyman located in the northeast of Khuzestan province, Iran. In this study, by using WaterGEMS software, the route of the transmission line, the type and diameter of the pipes, pressure relief valves, tanks, etc., have been defined and modeled in steady state. After processing the line in steady state, in order to investigate the replacement of the PATs with pressure relief valves and its shut-down effect on the water hammer phenomenon created in the transmission line, the model created in WaterGEMS is called in the Bentley HAMMER CONNECT software to analyze the unsteady state condition. The phenomenon of surge has been investigated in three scenarios as follows: The first scenario involves studying the flow conditions in a steady state without any changes in the transmission line. The second scenario involves replacing the pressure relief valve at kilometer 054+0 from the Tang-e Mo reservoir with a reverse pump. The third scenario involves replacing the pressure relief valve at kilometer 700+3 from the Tang-e Mo reservoir with a reverse pump.

When the pressure relief valves are working, the flow velocity in the pressure relief valve in 3+700 km, equivalent to 2.07 m/s, and the pressure before the pressure relief valve is equal to 157.7 meters of water and reaches 20 meters of water. Also, in the pressure relief valve 0+054 km from the reservoir, the speed is 2.1 m/s and the pressure decreases from 104.77 m to 13.2 m of water, respectively. For second scenario, in the first pressure relief valve, 91 meters of pressure is wasted. In this case, the PATs with turbine flow and pressure have replaced the existing pressure relief valves. The inlet and outlet valves of the first PAT are closed in 20 seconds and the flow through it is reduced to zero. Third scenario considers the water hammer impact resulting from shutdown of the PAT (at 3+700 km) on the transmission line. 137 meters of pressure is wasted in the second pressure relief valve. Also, the flow through it is 580.189 liters per second. In this case, the inlet and outlet valves of the PAT are closed in 20 seconds. It is necessary to explain that if the valves of the PAT (at 3+700 km) are closed, the downstream flow will also decrease; But due to the bypass of the PAT, the input flow to the downstream pumps does not reach zero and the pumps do not exit the circuit.

The results indicate that the occurrence of the surge due to the failure of the PAT(s) installed in the transmission line, despite the creation of positive and negative pressure waves in the transmission line, does not cause serious disturbance in the pipeline. It is also concluded that the thickness of the steel material selected for the pipeline has the required strength to withstand the maximum and minimum pressures.

Improving the mechanical properties of soil in order to build civil projects is one of the important concerns of civil engineers. For a long time, various methods have been recommended to improve the soil used in projects, and most of these methods have been the result of using past experiences, among which the use of different additives to the desired soil has been one of the most common methods. Today, by using high-tech laboratory equipment, it is possible to select additives needed to improve soil properties based on the type of minerals that make up that soil. Therefore, in the research, using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction method, the type of constituent minerals and the morphology of the soils used in the channels of Azadegan Plain, which mainly had a chalky texture, were studied. The results of the research show that there are changes in the paste limit for all related samples, the lowest value for the sample with 5% lime is an increase of 7.65% and the highest value for the sample with 7% cement is an increase of 113.74%. The angle of internal friction for all samples shows, the lowest value related to the sample with 5% lime, 5% slag is equal to 22.2% and the highest value related to the sample with 5% cement is equal to 6.4% increase.

Rivers are one of the most important water sources that play an important role in providing water needed for various activities such as agriculture, industry, drinking and electricity production. Many of the water resources planning in the countries are based on the potential of surface water resources. Therefore, knowledge of the quality of water resources is one of the important requirements in planning and developing water resources and their protection and control. Used water considering the importance of the Shurbarik River for the use of the people of the surrounding villages, in this study, the water quality of the Shurbarik River was determined using water quality parameters. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the parameters of dissolved oxygen, pH, biologically required oxygen, chemically required oxygen, temperature, phosphate, nitrate, ammonium, turbidity, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity were investigated in four seasons. Based on the average NSFWQI index, the water quality of Shobarik River is in the bad quality category. The range of this index is between 29.9 to 35.4 in all seasons. The average of this index is the lowest in summer and the highest in winter. Based on the average IRWQISC index, the water quality of Shobarik River is in the bad quality category. The results related to the value of the Liou index also show that the numerical value of this index is in the range of 3.25-4.25, which indicates the relatively polluted quality of water from the point of view of this index in all seasons. Contrary to the differences in the parameters and methods used to calculate the indicators, the results of all methods are consistent and are very useful for evaluating water quality.

The average annual evaporation rate in Iran is 2100 millimeters, which is three times the global average. This figure indicates that if the evaporation rate of reservoirs decreases with appropriate methods, we can make better use of these resources. Neglecting the high evaporation rate in the country has caused billions of cubic meters of water to evaporate from the reservoirs of more than 600 dams in the country every year. In this research, the effectiveness of composite plates in reducing evaporation from the free surface of water under real conditions was studied. The present study was conducted in the meteorological station of Ahvaz airport, with a geographical latitude of 31° 32', a geographical longitude of 48° 66', and an altitude of 16 meters above sea level. Class A evaporation pans with a diameter of 120.7 millimeters and a depth of 25 centimeters made of galvanized iron were used. All experiments were conducted between July and December 2022. In this study, composite plates with aluminum coating were used to reduce evaporation from the water surface with a thickness of 4 millimeters and consisted of two layers of aluminum sheet in the outer shell and a layer of polyethylene in the middle were used. In order to investigate the effectiveness of composite plates, floating balls, which are a relatively common method of reducing evaporation, used. In addition, the effect of various meteorological variables such as temperature, relative humidity percentage, average vapor pressure, wind speed and solar radiation on the efficiency of composite panels was investigated. Two-way analysis of variance was used to investigate the effect of various weather variables on the performance of composite plates. Experiments showed that square composite plates had an efficiency of 69%, triangular composite plates had an efficiency of 67%, and floating balls had an efficiency of 73% in reducing evaporation from the water surface. Therefore, floating balls had a slightly greater effect on reducing evaporation from the free surface. The empty space between square composites, due to their larger dimensions compared to triangular composites, is less, which can be considered as one of the reasons for the reduction of evaporation in square composites compared to triangular composites. According to the results of the analysis of variance, two parameters, relative humidity and wind speed, have a significant effect on the efficiency of composite plates in reducing evaporation from the water surface. Based on the results of the analysis of variance considering the interaction effects, none of the interaction effects have a significant effect on the efficiency of composite plates. However, considering the interaction effects in addition to the main effects increased the R-squared value of the created model to 0.669, which indicates that the interaction effects had a contribution of about 0.2 to this value. Based on the results of the analysis of variance considering the main effects, two parameters, relative humidity and wind speed, have a significant effect on the efficiency of composite panels in reducing evaporation from the water surface. Relative humidity has an effect of 0.182, and wind speed has an effect of 0.197 on the efficiency of composite panels. Relative humidity and wind speed are among the parameters that have a significant impact on the rate of evaporation from the water surface, causing a decrease and an increase in evaporation from the water surface, respectively. The presence of composite panels has greatly reduced the effect of these two parameters on the evaporation rate from the water surface.

To investigate the main and interactive effects of various meteorological parameters on the rate of evaporation from the water surface, variance analysis was used. Based on the analysis, all the mentioned parameters had a significant effect on the rate of evaporation. Eta squared for the main effects was 0.69, indicating that the main effects could estimate 69% of the output variance. Based on this parameter, the amount of solar radiation had the most significant effect on the rate of evaporation, followed by surface pressure and relative humidity. The results of variance analysis considering the interactive effects showed that all the interactive effects had a significant effect on the rate of evaporation, and only the interactive effect of wind speed and radiation was not significantly different. The interactive effect of surface pressure on temperature and radiation had the most significant effect on the rate of evaporation, followed by the interactive effect of temperature and relative humidity. Investigation the effect of various meteorological parameters on the rate of evaporation from the water surface and their interactive effects can be used to investigate the efficiency of various methods to reduce evaporation.

Electricity production is very important in developing countries. Undoubtedly, energy production is a key factor for the economic and social development of these countries. Institutions involved in electricity supply have recently recommended pump as turbine as an option for electrifying villages due to economic benefits. Electricity generation from transmission lines and water distribution networks is one of the new topics in the optimal management of water systems. In water transmission and distribution networks, despite the additional water load on the downstream equipment, which is often controlled by pressure control valves, a pump can be used as a turbine in electricity production. By taking energy from the pump and transferring it to the incompressible fluid, the pumping system increases the energy of the fluid and transfers it from a lower height to a higher level, while the reverse pump system works in the opposite direction of the pump. One of the most important factors in choosing the type of turbine for the construction of a power plant is the estimation of the initial costs of the project for the initial cost return in the shortest time. For this reason, according to the results of the investigations, one of the economic methods to replace the turbine is to use a reverse pump. These types of pumps have features such as lower maintenance costs than turbines and can be widely used.The case study in the present research includes the water supply plan to the cities and villages in the northeast of Khuzestan, which consists of a set of transmission lines, pressure relief valves, balance tanks and water storage tanks. The studied area in Khuzestan province includes the cities of Baghmalek, Izeh, Seydun and Ramhormoz. Seydun reservoirs in the east, Haftgel reservoirs in the west, Ramhormoz reservoirs in the south, and Izeh reservoirs in the north of the study area. According to the profile of the studied water supply line, there can be excess energy in the pressure relief valves, the inlet of the water tanks and the balance tanks. Based on this, eight points in the form of Helaijan branch, Seydon reservoirs, PRV6 pressure relief valve, RES5 equilibrium reservoir, RES6 equilibrium reservoir, Haftgel reservoirs, Ramhormoz reservoirs and Baghmalek reservoirs were selected as points with the potential of using reverse pump for energy production. Manufacturers of pumps usually do not provide the curve of pump behaviors in reverse operation, which causes problems in using the pump as a turbine. It is not easy to use the pump as a turbine, and the pump shows different behavior, which makes it difficult to predict the characteristic curve. For this purpose, it is necessary to convert the characteristic curve of the selected pump into the characteristic curve of the reverse pump. In this research, Sharma's method (1985) was used to determine the suitable pump for a small hydroelectric power plant. This method helps to select a pump with reverse operation capability according to the available line information so that it can be used as a turbine for energy extraction with the help of a generator. According to all the available methods for selecting the pump, this method provides the closest results to the user, and along with the practicality of its use, empirical equations are used in this method.Based on the amount of production power calculated for each of the points with energy production potential, it was determined that the maximum production power of RES6 balance tank and PRV6 pressure relief valve is 758.7 and 719.5 kW, respectively. The RES6 balance tank has the maximum head and the PRV6 pressure relief valve has the highest flow rate among all the studied points. The lowest production power is related to Helaijan branch with 32 kW, which is the lowest flow rate among all the studied points. Based on the obtained results, the proposed power plants are able to supply 1512 kilowatts of production power. In the next part, the proposed replacement of small hydropower plants on the transmission line with diesel generators with similar production capacity was analyzed from an economic point of view. In these calculations, the efficiency of the power plant is considered to be 75%. The total power produced by small hydropower plants with reverse pump is equal to 2717.29 kilowatts, which, considering 8000 hours per year for a period of 25 years, will be equal to 302400 megawatt hours. Considering that 10.96 kilowatt hours of power is produced per liter of diesel, the total amount of fuel required for a period of 25 years will be equal to 27600000 liters. Considering the world price of diesel, which is about $0.5 per liter, the cost of fuel required for energy production will be about $13,800,000.

The measurement of the permeable water pressure, the flow rate of leakage and drainage from the beginning of the construction of the rockfill dam are the most important characteristics needed in analysis these dams. Failure to control the above parameters can cause the waste of water stored in the reservoir, threaten the safety of the dam, and also reduce the stability of the dam through piping or liquefaction. Rockfil1 dams are used to prevent seepage, store water, control floods and delay floods. The problem of leakage should be controlled and limited in such a way as to prevent the creation of adverse effects such as: loss of water stored behind the earthen structure, creation of pore pressure in the porous medium, reduction of the effective stress between soil particles and, as a result, reduction prevent its shear resistance. In many cases, rockfill dam meets the needs of the project, because gravel is far more stable than soil and its ability to be washed is less. The slopes of the gravel dam body are steeper than many other soils, which saves money. In the present research, gravel materials were first prepared from the river mines of Khuzestan province to conduct experiments. These materials were used in three sizes with an average diameter of 10, 20 and 30 mm respectively to make the model. In this research, it was tried to study the leakage parameters in the gravel dam by building a physical model. A physical model of a gravel dam was built in a laboratory flume with three gravel samples and three slopes with the aim of investigating and determining the amount of leakage from the dam body. Pore pressure was measured with piezometers installed in the flume body. The results of the research showed that in a constant slope, the flow-field angle increases as the flow depth increases. Also, with the increase of the flow rate and the increase of the diameter of the particles, the depth of the outlet flow is reduced and these changes are not clear at low flow rates, but are clearly visible at high flow rates. In constant diameter and flow rate, with the increase of the slope of the model, the depth of the outlet flow decreases, and in the constant flow rate, with the increase of the ratio (Bc/H), the value of the outlet height of the flow decreases. Based on the experiments, the following results are presented. In the ratio of Bc/H = 1, with the increase of upstream depth, the depth of outflow has increased. Considering that the depth of the outlet flow downstream can be determined using the concept of the flow-field angle, it can be said that the depth of the outlet flow increases with the increase of the flow-field angle. In the ratio Bc/H=2, with the increase in the width of the model, the depth of the outlet flow has decreased compared to Bc/H=1. In addition, it can be concluded that in a constant slope, with the increase in flow depth, flow-field angle increases. Also, with the increase in the diameter of the particles, the depth of the outflow decreases. These changes are not clear at low flow rates but are clearly visible at high flow rates.

Today, due to climate change, limited water resources and population growth, the problem of evaporation from water reservoirs has become a global issue. Various methods have been proposed to reduce evaporation from the water surface, which using heavy alcohols hexadecanol and octadecanol as a powder or solution is one of the common methods. Using these alcohols as a solution is more common because they are less displaced by wind and have a more uniform distribution. The emulsions used include hexadecanol, octadecanol and an equal combination of hexadecanol with octadecanol. Class A evaporation pans were used to evaluate the performance of the emulsions made in reducing evaporation from the water surface. In addition to chemical compounds in this study, physical methods such as floating balls and canopy were used. The experimental results showed that the octadecanol emulsion had better performance against water evaporation than other chemical compounds. Comparison of the performance of the emulsions and the physical methods showed that the two methods of canopy and floating balls had better performance than the chemical methods, although the octadecanol emulsion in some cases had similar performance to the physical methods in reducing evaporation from the water surface. The study of the effect of wind speed on the performance of the monolayer showed that at low wind speeds the performance of the monolayer is similar to that of floating balls and canopy, but gradually with increasing wind speed, the performance of the monolayer decreases sharply.

Reservoir dams have had problems despite all the benefits for humans. one of the most important issues is exposing a large amount of water in contact with the air causing a large amount of water to evaporate. Using chemical methods including heavy alcohols is one of the evaporation suppression methods. In this study, three emulsions of octadecanol, hexadecanol, and a combination of octadecanol, and hexadecanol along with Brij-35 and two physical methods of the canopy and floating balls were used to evaluate the performance of different emulsions. A one-way analysis of variance was applied to compare the mean of evaporation in different chemical and physical methods and a two-way analysis of variance was performed to investigate the main and interaction effects of different meteorological parameters on the value of evaporation. The mean comparison of the evaporation in different methods showed that the two physical methods of the canopy and floating balls had better performance than the chemical methods, and the octadecanol was more efficient than the two other chemical methods. The results of one-way ANOVA showed that among the chemical methods, the octadecanol had no significant difference with floating balls at a 99% probability level (P <0.01). Two-way ANOVA indicated that air temperature and relative humidity had the greatest effect on evaporation. Examination of the effect of different levels of meteorological parameters on the performance of evaporation reduction methods showed that at low temperatures, octadecanol had poor performance than the two physical methods but with increasing temperature, its performance improved. In addition, this monolayer had a suitable performance at low wind speeds compared to physical methods. By increasing wind speed, its performance is severely affected and its efficiency decreases. So, at temperatures above 37° C, an increase in wind speed from 3.5 m/s to above 8.7 m/s has increased evaporation by more than 50%. The effects of monolayers and other evaporation suppression methods on the quality characteristics of the water including dissolved oxygen are significant and should be investigated in future research.

Scouring is a natural phenomenon that occurs as a result of the erosive action of water flow in alluvial waterways. This phenomenon is considered a serious threat to the stability of structures located in the flow path, such as the foundations of bridges. One of the most important and effective factors in the destruction and failure of bridges is scouring around bridge foundations and supports. Today, with the progress of science and technology, the use of intelligent computer systems for modeling complex and non-linear phenomena has become increasingly important. In this research, using real data, the efficiency of artificial intelligence systems, which include a combination of multilayer perceptron neural network and genetic algorithm, has been investigated. Among the models with different number of hidden neurons, the artificial neural network with three hidden neurons has the least error. Comparing the values ​​of the difference ratio between the proposed neuro-genetic model and the existing common equations shows that the accuracy of the neuro-genetic model has a higher efficiency compared to other equations. The root mean square error in the proposed model was calculated as 0.51, while this value was calculated above 0.89 for the existing experimental equations.

Water level and flow control gates are the most important parts of any irrigation network. Most of the gates located in the irrigation networks face problems after the operation. While mechanizing gates for surface irrigation systems can greatly save water consumption and increase water efficiency. In this project, it was tried to design and construct a gate using modern technologies, which can be intelligently operated and able to pass the desired discharge. Bubble rubber was used to seal the gate and minimizing water loss. Electromotor, encoder, ultrasonic sensor, inverter, and PLC were used to mechanize the gate. An ultrasonic sensor was applied to read the water level. All the computations of the gate-opening rate are performed by the PLC and then the instructions are transmitted to the electromotor. The encoder is connected to the electromotor and, according to the computations, controls the number of motor revolutions for a given opening rate. The TIA Portal environment used to control the gate motion system. The program written in the TIA Portal environment includes all the settings related to the flow discharge, gate opening, sensitivity of the ultrasonic sensor, and gate-opening rate to provide the flexibility of the gate in real conditions. In order to calibrate the constructed sluice gate according to the obtained equation, several experiments were used and finally, the coefficient of 0.625 was obtained as a correction coefficient. The coefficient of determination and root mean square error for the calibrated equation were calculated to be 0.97 and 0.66, respectively. These results showed the suitable performance of the automatic gate based on a calibrated equation

Population increasing along with the environmental crisis due to the use of fossil fuels has led humans to seek to use renewable energy sources. One of the most important sources of renewable energy is the waves of the seas and oceans, which can meet some of the human needs for energy resources. One of the key steps in the development of wave energy renewable technology is the design and validation of physical models. Although physical models can not accurately simulate all the details and performance of the original prototype, they can be a very valuable source of information for researchers, developers, and inventors in this area. Due to its simple mechanical structure, the oscillating water column has become one of the most common tools for converting wave energy in the world. The oscillating water column could be used as a breakwater on the shores in addition to generating energy from the waves. Due to the complexities related to the hydrodynamic conditions of air and airflow inside the system, it is necessary to use laboratory models to study it more precisely.

In the present study, laboratory flume model GUNT HM162 with a length of 12.5 m, width 0.31 m, and height 0.47 m with glass walls and the metal floor was used. A centrifugal pump with a flow rate of 165 m3/h and a height of 16 meters was used for the experiments. A wave generator with a frequency of 0.5 to 1.11 Hz was applied to create a wave in the laboratory flume. All experiments were performed at a constant flow depth of 200 mm. Three values were chosen for the distance of the OWC device from the water surface in the normal state (d), according to the chamber length (B). Therefore, distances of 10%, 25%, and 45% of the OWC chamber length were used as parameter d. To investigate the effect of back wall height (Z) on OWC efficiency, three physical models were made in three modes without back wall and with 5 and 10 cm back wall. In this research, the power generated by the wave inside the device was performed to evaluate the performance of the OWC. In addition, a two-way analysis of variance test was used to investigate the effect of independent parameters such as back wall height, the depth of the system, and the frequency of waves on the output power to determine the main and interaction effects.

The results show that with increasing the installation depth of the system, initially the amount of output power increased but then had a decreasing trend. Accordingly, the depth with the best performance must be considered for OWC. In this study, it was found that 0.25 B (chamber length) installation depth has better performance than the other two cases. Comparison of the effect of the back wall on the performance of the device at a depth of 0.25B shows that the models with the back wall have better performance comparing with the model without a back wall. The performance of the two back walls at frequencies less than 0.8 is similar, but for higher frequencies, the 10 cm back wall has better performance than another back wall. All the main effects have a significant influence on the output power, which the frequency of the waves and the height of the back wall have a higher effect. The results related to the interaction effects of independent parameters show that the interaction effects have a high influences on the amount of output power. Among the interaction effects, (Z × d) and (Z × Frequency) have a significant effect on the output power, which indicates the effect of the back wall on the total power. The results of the margin averages show that at the maximum frequency used, the 5 and 10 cm back wall were increased the efficiency of the OWC by 98% and 182%, respectively, compared to the model without a back wall.

Based on the result of the experiments, the presence of the back wall has a high effect on the OWC output power so that in the best installation depth (d =0.25B) and frequency of 1.1 Hz, the 5 and 10 cm back wall, increases the output power by 1.18 and 1.83, respectively. Two-way analysis of variance was used to investigate the effect of different parameters on OWC efficiency. The result of two-way ANOVA shows that the frequency of the waves and the back wall had the greatest effect on the output power. On the other hand, the interaction of the back wall with the frequency and installation depth also had a significant difference at the level of 0.01. The performance of the two back walls used at low frequencies was similar, but for the higher frequencies, the 10 cm back wall performed better. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the presence of a larger back wall cannot produce more power in all frequencies.

Cold is one of the most important and primitive factors limiting plant growth, especially tropical and subtropical plants. Sugarcane is a tropical and subtropical plant that produces 70% of the total world's sugar. So its impact on the global economy is transparent and undeniable. The main problem with most sugarcane cultivars is their extreme sensitivity to cold, which reduces the yield, sugar content and quality of their syrup. The long-term meteorological statistics of Khuzestan province in the past years, show that temperatures below 0°C occur in the sugarcane cultivation and industries almost every year. This factor has a direct effect on reducing sugar production as well as reducing final income. Among the commercial varieties of sugarcane, “Saccharum officinarum var CP69-1062” cultivar has high yield and produces a lot of sugar, but its main problem is its sensitivity to cold and encountering with this stress, which may reduce the yield and content of sugar that can be extracted from it. In contrast, “Saccharum spontaneum” is a wild cultivar with high sucrose content and resistant to biotic and abiotic stresses such as cold stress. So, according to aforementioned, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of cold stress on morphological, physiological and biochemical traits of two sugarcane cultivars CP69-1062 (cold-sensitive) and S. spontaneum (cold-tolerant) under controlled conditions, to: (1) Reporting putative Cold-tolerance cultivars, Aiming to expand their production and use them in breeding programs such as backcross and producing new tolerant cultivars, (2) Reporting The most important traits affected under cold stress and (3) Reporting stable traits under normal and cold stress conditions.

The experiment was performed as factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications in the tissue Culture and biotechnology Laboratory and Research Greenhouse of Khuzestan Sugarcane Development Research and Training Institute, and cold chamber in the 2019-2020 crop year. To apply cold stress, sugarcane seedlings were placed in cold chamber and exposed to 0°C and -4°C for 24 hours. After the end of the stress period, sampling and analysis were immediately performed. Finally, morphological, physiological and biochemical traits of stressed and control samples such as malondialdehyde content (MDA), electrolyte leakage (EL), leaf pigments, catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), supraxide Dismutase (SOD), proline and total water soluble carbohydrates (Wsc) of the leaf were measured.

The first effects of cold stress were observed on photosynthesis pigments among all cultivars. However, the sensitive cultivar had a greater reduction compared to tolerant cultivar. Cold stress significantly increased electrolyte leakage (EL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content from 25 to -4°C in all cultivars, particularly in sensitive cultivar. Moreover, proline content and total water-soluble carbohydrates (WSC) of leaf showed significant increased under cold stress, particularly in tolerant cultivar. Under cold stress, Catalase (CAT) activity significantly decreased compared to control temperature, which was accompanied with negative correlation with proline content. In addition, Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Peroxidase (POD) and Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity was higher than control temperature in all cultivars, particularly in tolerant ones. The intensity of  these changes were less at -4°C due to intracellular freezing, ice crystals formation and the abolition of cellular metabolic activities. Phenotypicaly, at 0°C, the leaves of the tolerant cultivar showed little change in appearance in comparision with control temperature (25°C). On the other hand,  at -4°C the effects of seedling damage were clearly observed.

The results showed that both sensitive (S. officinarum var CP69-1062) and tolerant (S. spontaneum) cultivars had different morphological, physiological and biochemical responses under cold stress compared to control temperature and to each other, that this case indicates different genomic structure, genetic capacity, and their other characteristics in cold tolerance. In addition, S. spontaneum cultivar had better and more efficient defense mechanism than commercial variety CP69-1062 and thus, was more tolerant to cold stress. Finally the set of these physiological and biochemical changes in both sensitive and tolerant cultivars, is to maintain survival and yield under cold stress.

The present study reports a case of familial episodic coma in which three girls manifesting refractory seizures followed by coma. Targeted gene panel of epilepsy using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technique was requested to identified disease -causing variant(s) in the patients.

After obtaining a written informed consent from our patient, genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood, for identifying mutations in epilepsy genes, at first, coding regions as well as all intron–exon boundaries of the 72 genes were captured by Sure Select Target Enrichment System V4 kit (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA), then captured libraries were sequenced on an Illumina HiSeq 4000(Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA, USA), sequenced reads were aligned with a reference human genome and Picard tools was used to remove duplicated reads; variant calling was performed using the Genome Analysis Tool Kit (GATK). ANNOVAR was used to annotated variants, then all variants were filtered out based on minor allele frequency (MAF) <1 % according to data bases of nucleotide including dpSNP, 1000 Genome project. In silico tools was performed to evaluated pathogenicity of variant(s).

According to databases of pathogenicity prediction of gene, no specific mutation in epilepsy genes was found in our patients, but several polymorphisms were reported.

Given polymorphisms in genes related to epilepsy were found in our study, failed to provide us with an acceptable diagnosis of this condition, further research is needed to reveal the cause of the disease.

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is one of the most important issues of river engineering, which can be used as an indicator of land use change, water quality studies and all projects related to constructions in the rivers. In this research, M5 model tree and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data have been used to estimate the SSC at Ahvaz station on the Karun River. In this study, 135 cloud free images of the MODIS sensor on the Terra satellite were obtained for days corresponding to field measurements of SSC for the years 2000 to 2015. Input parameters of the model tree in this study were flow discharge derived from hydrological data and red (R), near infrared (NIR) bands and NIR/R ratio extracted from MODIS imagery. Three regression equations have been developed by M5 model tree to estimate SSC at Ahvaz station, which can be employed in different conditions of discharge and NIR/R ratio. The results of statistical analysis illustrates that the M5 model outperforms the sediment rating curve (SRC) method, which is the most common method of estimating suspended sediment load. Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency index for the M5 model tree of 0.58 has been achieved which was much better than that of SRC method (0.24). At high fluxes, the efficiency of the SRC method is significantly reduced, while the model tree provides acceptable results. Global sensitivity analysis on M5 model showed that, 93% of output variance just determined by the main effects of input parameters and less than 7% belong to the interaction effects. 73% and 12% of output variance specified by the main effects of flow discharge and NIR/R ratio, respectively.

Numerical models have the ability to simulate river flow by using mathematical relations under certain initial and boundary conditions. Investigating the capability of different models for simulating flow characteristics in a river reach such as flow depth, velocity and shear stress in river banks are one of the basic needs in river engineering. However, from the practical point of view, the minimum need for field information, the small computation, and the degree of trust of the application of mathematical models in the conditions of natural rivers is of great importance. The aim of this study is to integrate GIS and HEC-GeoRAS with HEC-RAS model in order to simulate the hydraulic parameters of the Karun River in Khuzestan province.

Drought stress is the most important factor in decreasing crop yield in most parts of the world. In order to investigate the effect of drought stress on some morphological and physiological traits of sesame plant, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. In this experiment, the effects of different levels of drought stress (5%, 10%, 15%, and 25% field capacity) were investigated on the activity of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, polyphenol oxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase, some photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid), some osmotic regulators including proline, and some morphological parameters (number of leaves, root length, stem height, plant height, leaf length, leaf width, dry weight of root, fresh weight of root, fresh weight of shoots, dry weight of shoots, fresh weight of plant, and dry weight of plant). After planting in pots, drought stress (5%, 10%, 15% and 25% of field capacity) was applied at seedling (four-leaf) stage and then the desired traits were measured. Statistical analyses showed that drought stress had a significant effect on all physiological and morphological features at 1% level. Morphological traits and photosynthetic pigments decreased with increasing drought stress (irrigation up to 5% of field capacity). Increasing drought stress levels increased root length in sesame. The highest root length (3.375 cm) was related to 5% of field capacity irrigation and the lowest root length (2.5 cm) was related to control (25% of field capacity irrigation). The highest levels of antioxidant enzymes and proline were also observed at the highest levels of drought stress (5% of field capacity irrigation). Based on the findings, the plant's growth measurements are recommended to be carried out at various developmental stages to find the effects of stress at each stage  so as to get an appropriate understanding of the effects of stress on the plant.

In recent years much attention has been paid to the environment, especially river and lake pollution. Rivers and streams are usually receiving the outlet of sewage systems which may cause pollutant levels to rise. Pollutant dispersion is a key element in water quality modeling and the longitudinal dispersion coefficient is an important factor in stream pollution modeling due to its effect on pollutant mixing intensity. Various methods proposed to estimate longitudinal dispersion coefficient in natural streams based on different procedures and different set of data. The performance of the methods presented in previous research is mainly based on precision indices that alone cannot be used as a comprehensive index for comparing different methods.

In this study, in order to evaluate the performance of different methods, a combination of uncertainty criteria along with accuracy indexes were considered. First, the interval analysis approach was used to evaluate the uncertainty of different methods such as Deng et al. (2001), Kashefipour and Falconer (2002), Sahin (2014), Zeng and Huai (2014), M5 and Gene Expression methods. For ± 10% uncertainty in the independent parameters of estimating dispersion coefficient, for all 164 measured data, the probability bands of computational longitudinal dispersion coefficient was obtained for the 6 estimator methods. Then, by comparing the actual measured values with the position of the computational uncertainty bands, 10 uncertainty and accuracy indices were calculated for each estimator method. To determine the most appropriate method for estimating longitudinal dispersion coefficient with less relative uncertainty and greater relative accuracy, weighting was performed on 10 uncertainty-accuracy indices using the G1 weighting method, and then the performance of the methods was evaluated by three multi-criteria decision models including CUI, TOPSIS and VIKOR.

Based on the results, the M5 tree model has the lowest containing ratio among all methods and also has the lowest band, while the Kashefipour and Falconer (2002) model has the highest containing ratio and band values. In addition, for all methods except the method of Deng et al. (2001), the parameter of average deviation amplitude decreases with increasing containing ratio. Among the methods used, the M5 tree model has the lowest CR and the highest D. Based on the uncertainty and accuracy analysis, the method of Deng et al. (2001) was better than other methods and then the equation presented by Zeng and Huai (2014) with CUI = 0.717 had the best performance. The two data-driven methods of the M5 and GE are also ranked next. The results of TOPSIS method are completely in accordance with CUI method and there is no difference between the two methods. According to the VIKOR method, the two methods of Deng et al. (2001) and Zeng and Huai (2014) performed the best, followed by data-driven models. The only difference between the results of the VIKOR model and the two CUI and TOPSIS methods is the ranking of the two data-driven methods, so the GE model is more efficient than the M5 model in VIKOR method.

The results of the three multi-criteria decision-making methods were close to each other and in all the methods, the mathematical model of Deng et al. (2001) and the empirical model of Zeng and Huai (2014) were more efficient than the other methods. It is important to note that the uncertainties of decision-making models have not been examined in this study and the purpose of the present uncertainty study has been to quantify the inherent uncertainties of the methods and relationships for estimating the longitudinal dispersion coefficient.

Hydrodynamic models proposed for simulating flow hydraulic in rivers assume the flow in one direction and simulate the hydraulic parameters based on the one-dimensional Saint-Venant equations. In this research, a two-dimensional HEC-RAS model was used to simulate the flow in the Karun River, between Mollasani and Farsiat stations. Geographic information system (GIS) and river cross sections were used to prepare the altitude map using the satellite image of the study area. Modeling results in river bends showed that the maximum velocity occurred in the outer bend, which coincided with the flow mechanism in the bends. Based on the results, grid type and density have little effect on flow depth modeling. However, the characteristics of the mesh used had a great influence on the velocity distribution, so that the regular high-density mesh had the best accuracy in simulating the flow velocity. Statistical analysis showed that the RMSE for the flow discharge and flow depth were 17.95 m3/s and 0.05 m, respectively. In addition, the Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency index was calculated to be above 0.9 for the discharge and flow depth, which could be considered as a desirable value.

There are different methods to extract energy and generating electricity from waves, which one of the simplest and most practical methods is oscillating water column (OWC). The OWC system consists of a chamber in which the wave motion inside the chamber produces a positive and negative dynamic pressure. This pressure causes turbine rotation placed at the end of the duct. In this study, three physical models; without back wall, 50 mm and 100 mm wall draft at different frequencies were used to investigate the effect of the back wall draft on the system performance. In addition, dimensional analysis has been performed to estimate the dynamic pressure based on the effective parameters. In order to evaluate the system efficiency and present the dynamic pressure formula based on dimensional analysis, the dynamic pressure at the end of chamber in both inhale and exhale modes were measured. The results of this research showed that the existence of back wall causes a significant increase in dynamic pressure and as the wall height increases, the system performance improves. In the inhale mode, the presence of the back wall causes an increase in the pressure ratio at some frequencies up to two times and for exhale mode up to four times. Based on the formula derived from dimensional analysis and sensitivity analysis, the wave height and the back wall draft have the most effectiveness on dynamic pressure. The results show in order to obtain the best system efficiency, the height of the back wall draft should be determined according to the wave height and frequency.

Hordeum vulgare is a one-year-old herb of the Poaceae family. It is an important cereal used by humans which has been applied in many cases instead of wheat. The limitation of experimental methods is one of the important problems for identifying protein-protein interactions. So, in recent years, computational methods have played an important role in predicting and identifying protein-protein interactions. In this study, for constructing protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, the experimental PPI information of six model organisms includes Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Homo sapiens, Oryza sativa, and Arabidopsis thalian were extracted from the Intact database. Inparanoid was used for identifying barley orthologous proteins with model organisms. The Interolog method which was used in this study can predict protein-protein interactions by mapping protein interactions of the model organisms on orthologous proteins. After removing repetitive interactions, the final predicted barley PPI network contained 235966 interactions between 7350 proteins. This study is the first report presented on protein-protein interaction prediction in barley.

​Genome editing using targetable nucleases is an emerging technology for precise genome modification in many organisms with hight ability and capability. All targeted genome engineering relies on the introduction of a site-specific double-strand break (DSB) in a pre-determined genomic locus by a rare-cutting DNA endonuclease. Subsequent repair of this DSB by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homology-directed repair (HDR) generates the desired genetic modifications such as gene disruption, gene insertion, gene correction, etc. Three types of endonucleases, namely ZFNs (zinc finger nucleases), TALENs (transcription activator-like effector nucleases), and the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic regions) associated (Cas9) system have been predominantly utilized for gene editing. Targeted genome engineering or editing enables researchers to modify genomic loci of interest in a precise manner, which has a turning point in medicine, biological research, and biotechnology. Treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection with ZFN-mediated CCR5 gene disruption is one of the indicator examples of the ability of ZFNs in genome editing. The emergence of TALENs in 2010 has enabled the genome modification of non- model organisms, while the emergence of the CRISPR/Cas9 system in 2013 as a revolutionary genome-editing tool has allowed us to anticipate the forthcoming new era of genome editing research. Soon, it is likely that tgenome editing also will provide the possibility of treating genetic diseases. Genome editing is also hoped to be available for use in the generation of crops and livestock with useful traits. An example would be the production of edible fungi resistant to browning by inactivation of the genes encoding polyphenol oxidase in 2016 under the non-GMO genetically edited crop plants and production of herbicide-resistant rice and rapeseed using CRISPR/Cas9 systems. In this article, we review essential genome editing tools, summarize their applications in crop improvement, as well as, next-generation crop breeding and their computational resources will be discussed.