Search

Glaciated mountains remain among the most under-studied regions in the world from a physical, social and climate change perspective, which complicates the development of appropriate adaptation and ...

In this paper we offer a negotiation and cooperative game theory application to international water in the classroom. A simulation game was developed for the Aral Sea water dispute as part of a textbook prepared for teaching a diverse group of students a graduate-level International Water course. A condensed version of the Aral Sea Basin water dispute and hydrology was prepared. The game allows students to realize the complexity of hydrology and geography, the linkage between hydrology and conflict and cooperation, and the impact of external factors, such as climate change, on the extent of the conflict and its likely resolution. The game was used to simulate negotiations between a subset of the basin riparians, demonstrating the value of information in negotiation. Various cooperative game theory concepts were demonstrated and applied by students through a set of assignments representing a variety of likely states of nature and various development interventions.

Difficulties exist in calculating watershed parameters from raster datasets over large regions because of the excessive computation time involved. A technique is presented which divides a large region into hydrologically distinct subregions, in each of which raster analyses are performed, in order to efficiently process large raster datasets. The results of raster analyses are stored as attributes on the resulting vector data. The vector data are then merged, and appropriate values accumulated to obtain regional parameter values for points of interest along the stream network. The technique, called Raster-Network Regionalization, uses the vector stream network as the backbone for the integration of subregions into a single region. A case study is presented which utilizes the technique to prepare geospatial inputs for the Water Rights Analysis Package simulation model.

Since independence, joint use of water resources in the Aral Sea basin has been a critical international problem between the Central Asian republics, especially in the Syr Darya basin where the tradeoffs between use of water for agricultural and energy production are very acute. Previous centralized methods of planning, formation of independent countries, and the emergence of national interests have made the coordinated operation of the Naryn-Syr Darya Cascade of reservoirs complicated. In order to implement recent international agreements on the use of water and energy resources of the Syr Darya basin and provide the upstream-downstream exchanges of electric fuel and energy resources required by the agreements, a model was developed to optimize operation modes for the major reservoirs of the basin. This model was used as the basis for developing a complex model of the operation of the Naryn Cascade of hydropower plants and the interactions of the Kyrgyz Republic energy system and the other Syr D...

Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) is a military explosive that is a common soil and groundwater contaminant at facilities that manufacture, handle, and dispose of munitions. One such facility is the U.S. Department of Energy Pantex Plant, the focus of this research in which the feasibility of in situ bioremediation of contaminated soil in the vadose zone was assessed. A batch technique using 14C-RDX was developed to investigate the degradation of RDX under aerobic, microaerobic, and anaerobic conditions. In addition, the effect of nutrients (organic carbon and phosphorus) on biodegradation rates was studied. The extent of mineralization was quantified by monitoring the production of 14CO2, and RDX biodegradation rates were estimated for each environmental condition. The results showed that RDX degraders were indigenous to the contaminated soil and degraded RDX to a significant extent under anaerobic conditions. Little biotransformation was observed under aerobic conditions. The addition of a b...