• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.251-273
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• 2020

Soil degradation has become a major worldwide environmental problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid climate zones due to irregular rainfall and the intensity of storms that frequently generate heavy flooding. The main objective of this study is the use of geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to quantify and to map the soil losses in the Wadi Saida watershed (624 ㎢) through the revised universal soil loss equation model and a proposed model based on the surface erosive runoff. The results Analysis revealed that the Wadi Saida watershed showed moderate to moderately high soil loss, between 0 and 1000 t/㎢/year. In the northern part of the basin in the region of Sidi Boubkeur and the mountains of Daia; which are characterized by steep slopes, values can reach up to 3000 t/㎢/year. The two models in comparison showed a good correlation with R = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.43; the use of the erosive surface runoff parameter is effective to estimate the rate of soil loss in the watersheds. The problem of soil erosion requires serious interventions, particularly in basins with disturbances and aggressive climatic parameters. Good agricultural practices and forest preservation areas play an important role in soil conservation.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2018.05a
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• pp.146-146
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• 2018

Basin evapotranspiration is the result of water balance and energy balance, which is affected by climate and underlying surface characteristics, the process is complex, and spatial and temporal variability is large, the evapotranspiration estimation of river basin is an important but difficult problem in the field of hydrology, over the years, many scholars devoted to the basin actual evapotranspiration estimation and achieved excellent results. We discuss Budyko coupled water-energy balance theory and evaporation paradox, then use the Fu's equation to estimate actual evapotranspiration yearly in different areas with different dryness. The result shows that Fu's equation has high precision for estimating evapotranspiration yearly in our selected study area, and the estimation result has higher precision in the area with high dryness. Then, we propose an improved formula which can be used to estimate actual evapotranspiration monthly. Furthermore, we found that the parameter in the formula reflects general conditions of underlying surface and it is affected by several factors, at last, we tried to propose the calculation formula. The study indicates that Fu's equation provides a reliable method for evapotranspiration estimation in dry regions as well as semi-humid and semi-arid regions, which has great significance for forecasting river basin water resources and inquiring into ecological water requirement.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.3-6
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• 2006

There are three types of frequency-domain loop-loop EM induction method, depending on the loop separation and their location relative to the ground surface: horizontal-loop EM (HLEM), fixed small-loop EM, and helicopter-borne EM (HEM) methods. Multidimensional inversion provides tomographic images of the subsurface resistivity structure and thus enhances the interpretational accuracy of loop-loop EM data. HLEM method is shown to be effective for exploring groundwater resources in weathered and fractured crystalline basement terrains in semi-arid regions. Also, HEM method is useful for locating weak zones in landslide areas. The applicability of inversion to small-loop EM data depends solely on the S/N ratio. The quadrature response of small-loop EM data can only give the equivalent conductivity of a homogenous half-space model, and thus the in-phase component is essential in inverting EM data. However, the in-phase response is much lower and decreases more rapidly with decreasing frequency than the quadrature response. Further work is needed to obtain conductivity-depth images from small-loop EM data.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.273-278
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• 2018

Due to the lack of water in arid and semi-arid areas, reuse of wastewater can be a suitable way to compensate for water scarcity. Therefore, in this research, evaluation of the quality of wastewater of Kashan Treatment Plant to use for irrigation was studied. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016. pH, TSS, TDS, turbidity, COD, BOD5, Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus, Total Coliform, fecal coliform, nematode eggs of inlet and outlet of wastewater treatment plant in Kashan were studied. Mean and standard deviation and wastewater quality parameters before and after treatment were tested with SPSS 22 (2014) software. The mean wastewater output of COD, BOD5, TSS, TDS and turbidity were respectively 86.6, 41.2, 11.11, 1095 mgL-1 and 17.5 NTU and the pH was equal to 7.22. Also, the average of Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen and phosphorus were 22.4 and 2.2 mgL-1 respectively. The mean of Total Coliform and fecal coliform were 225, 161 MPN / 100 ml respectively. In addition, no nematode eggs were found in final effluent. The results indicated that the treatment plants had a significant role in the control of microbial and organic pollution load of wastewater. Also, it is concluded that all parameters were in accordance with the standards of Iran's Department of Environment, so, it can be used for unrestricted irrigation.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.383-401
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• 2023

Camel milk has a significant and pivotal role in the diet of people residing in semi-arid and arid regions. Ever since ancient times, marketing of camel milk has remained insignificant due to nonexistence of processing amenities in the camel nurturing areas, hence the utilization of unprocessed camel milk has continuously remained limited at family level by the nomads. Due to the superior medicinal values and health promoting effects, incredible growth in the demand of camel milk and dairy products have been noticed all over the world during last two decades. Such emergence has led dairy industry to provide diversified camel dairy products to the consumers with superior nutritional and functional qualities. In contrast to bovine, very few food products derived from camel milk are available in the present market. With the advancements in food processing interventions, a wide range of dairy and non-dairy products could be obtained from camel milk, including milk powder, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and even chocolate. In some regions, camel milk is used for traditional dishes such as fermented milk, camel milk tea, or as a base for soups and stews. Current review highlights the processing opportunities regarding the transformation of camel milk into various dairy products via decreasing the inherent functionality that could be achieved by optimization of processing conditions and alteration of chemical composition by using fortification method. Additionally, future research directions could be devised to improve the product quality.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.76-84
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• 2022

Background: Climate and livestock grazing are key agents in determining current Mongolian steppe vegetation communities. Together with plant coverage or biomass, palatability of steppe community is regarded as a useful indicator of grassland degradation, in particular, at grazing hotspots in arid and semi-arid grasslands. This study analyzed relationships between livestock grazing pressure and steppe vegetation palatability at three summer pastures with different aridity (dry, xeric, and mesic) and livestock numbers (1,100, 1,800, and 4,100 sheep units, respectively). At each site, it was surveyed coverage, biomass, and species composition of different palatability groups (i.e., palatable [P], impalatable [IP], and trampling-tolerant [TT]) along a 1-km transect from grazing hotspots (i.e., well) in every July from 2015 to 2018. Results: In results, total vegetation coverage increased with wetness, 7 times greater at mesic site than dry one in averages (33.1% vs. 4.5%); biomass was 3 times higher (47.1 g m^-2 vs. 15.7 g m^-2). Though P was the dominant palatability group, the importance of IP in total coverage increased with aridity from mesic (0.6%) to dry (40.2%) sites. Whereas, TT increased with livestock numbers across sites. Locally, IP was observed more frequently near the wells and its spatial range of occurrence becomes farther along the transects with aridity across sites from mesic (< 100 m) to dry (< 700 m from the well). Conclusions: Our results showed that the importance of IP and its spatial distribution are different at both local and regional scales, indicating that the palatability parameters are sensitive to discern balance between selective-grazing demand and climate-driven foraging supply in Mongolian rangelands.

• Journal of The Geomorphological Association of Korea
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.69-85
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• 2019

Humans have been important driver to reconfigure the terrestrial surface of the Earth by altering its morphology and processes. The effect of human activities on the physical landscape, however, shows substantially uneven geographical patterns. Most of anthrogemorphoogical studies regarding human-induced denudation have focused on areas with a long history of human modifications such as humid landscapes, so the hypothesis is naturally a great human impact on landscapes. The effect of human activities on dryland Earth surfaces are far less commonly studied, although erosion is one of major concerns in arid and semi-arid region regarding land and water quality degradation. The urban metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona, USA provides an opportunity to explore the impact of the Anthropocene. The Phoenix metropolitan area rests on classic desert landforms, such as extensive pediments, alluvial fans and sand sheets. Human activities including cattle crazing, wildfire resulting from introduced grass species by human, and recent urbanization processes have impacted these classic desert landforms and altered geomorphic processes. The purpose of this paper, therefore, rests in examining Anthropocene in the geomorphology of the north-central Sonoran Desert. The objectives of this paper are: i) to understand the impact of the Anthropocene on the geomorphological processes and forms through field observations; ii) to quantify the magnitude of human impacts on landscape using a published two-decade long record of erosion dataset and natural background erosion dataset in submitted manuscript at the sprawling edge of the Phoenix metropolitan region; iii) to examine how geomorphic outcome can affect the sustainability of cities through the estimation of sediment yield under the condition of urban sprawl.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.739-757
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• 2024

Camel milk plays a critical role in the diet of peoples belongs to the semi-arid and arid regions. Since prehistoric times, camel milk marketing was limited due to lacking the processing facilities in the camel-rearing areas, nomads practiced the self-consumption of raw and fermented camel milk. A better understanding of the techno-functional properties of camel milk is required for product improvement to address market and customer needs. Despite the superior nutraceutical and health promoting potential, limited camel dairy products are available compared to other bovines. It is a challenging impetus for the dairy industry to provide diversified camel dairy products to consumers with superior nutritional and functional qualities. The physicochemical behavior and characteristics of camel milk is different than the bovine milk, which poses processing and technological challenges. Traditionally camel milk is only processed into various fermented and non-fermented products; however, the production of commercially important dairy products (cheese, butter, yogurt, and milk powder) from camel milk still needs to be processed successfully. Therefore, the industrial processing and transformation of camel milk into various products, including fermented dairy products, pasteurized milk, milk powder, cheese, and other products, require the development of new technologies based on applied research. This review highlights camel milk's processing constraints and techno-functional properties while presenting the challenges associated with processing the milk into various dairy products. Future research directions to improve product quality have also been discussed.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2019

Background: Climate change is believed to be continuously affecting ticks by influencing their habitat suitability. However, we attempted to model the climate change-induced impacts on future genus Rhipicephalus distribution considering the major environmental factors that would influence the tick. Therefore, 50 tick occuance points were taken to model the potential distribution using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) software and 19 climatic variables, taking into account the ability for future climatic change under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were used. Results: MaxEnt model performance was tested and found with the AUC value of 0.99 which indicates excellent goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy. Current models predict increased temperatures, both in the mid and end terms together with possible changes of other climatic factors like precipitation which may lead to higher tick-borne disease risks associated with expansion of the range of the targeted tick distribution. Distribution maps were constructed for the current, 2050, and 2070 for the two greenhouse gas scenarios and the most dramatic scenario; RCP 8.5 produced the highest increase probable distribution range. Conclusions: The future potential distribution of the genus Rhipicephalus show potential expansion to the new areas due to the future climatic suitability increase. These results indicate that the genus population of the targeted tick could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking; increased incidence of tick-borne diseases poses further risk which can affect cattle production and productivity, thereby affecting the livelihood of smallholding farmers. Therefore, it is recommended to implement climate change adaptation practices to minimize the impacts.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.440-447
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• 2009

Domestic ruminant animals are reared in diverse production systems, ranging from extensive systems under semi-arid and tropical conditions with poor feed resources to intensive systems in temperate and cold areas with high quality feed. Nitrogen (N) recycling between the body and gut of ruminants plays a key role in the adaptation to such diverse nutritional conditions. Ammonia and microbial protein produced in the gut and urea synthesized in the liver are major players in N-recycling transactions. In this review, we focus on the physiological factors affecting urea production and recycling. Sheep and buffalo probably have higher abilities to reabsorb urea from the kidney compared with cattle. This affects the degree of urea-N recycling between the body and gut at both low and high N intakes. The synthesis and gut entry of urea also differs between cattle bred for either dairy or beef production. Lactating dairy cows show a higher gut entry of urea compared with growing cattle. The synthesis and recycling of urea dramatically increases after weaning, so that the functional development of the rumen exerts an essential role in N transactions. Furthermore, high ambient temperature increases urea production but reduces urea gut entry. An increase in total urea flux, caused by the return to the ornithine cycle from the gut entry, is considered to serve as a labile N pool in the whole body to permit metabolic plasticity under a variety of physiological, environmental and nutritional conditions.