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This paper explores the timeliness of main response activities in the Bam earthquake in order to shed light in disaster response effectiveness in the aftermath of the earthquake. Disaster managers who were involved in disaster response activities in the Bam earthquake were selected using snowball sampling method and 30 participants were interviewed. The interviews data were analyzed applying thematic analysis method. The results showed that the extensive damage and large number of casualties challenged the local emergency response services. The problem was compounded by the lack of personnel in the first few hours after the earthquake. Iran's disaster management system was not prepared to cope with a disaster of this scale. According to the interview data, a response timeline to the earthquake was developed for 48 hours after the earthquake that can assist disaster manager in designing a proper action plan (strategic response plan) prior to an earthquake in the region. This is an efficient way of dealing with disaster response challenges in the aftermath of earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades following a lot of droughts, many changes have been made in the quantity and quality of the country's water resources. This factor has caused many uncertainties in the management of the country's water resources. The purpose of this study is to improve the understanding of drought effects on the quantity and quality of water resources in Lorestan province from the years 2008 to 2018 by coherence and cross wavelet method. To achieve this goal, first, drought assessment according to precipitation data has been examined using (SPI) index, and then the effect of drought on Khorram river runoff is analyzed. Then, the global index of water and the drought impact on this index in the Khorram River were evaluated. Also, the global index of water quality (WQI) and the impact of drought on this index in the Khorram River are evaluated. The results of coherence and cross wavelet indicated the relative effect of precipitation with a wavelet coherence coefficient of 0.6 on changes in water runoff in the Khorram River is of degree first importance. Also, the relative impact of drought with a wavelet coherence coefficient of 0.4 changes in water quality of Khorram River has been more than other factors. Therefore, climatic factors in reducing the water runoff of the Khorram River from factors other are more important. Also, the results showed human factors as the most important ones in water quality changes in the Khorramabad River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, monitoring groundwater quality and the trend of its changes for drinking, industrial and agricultural uses is very important for the general health of society. Due to changes in groundwater quality that can be due to climatic or human factors, it is necessary to consider and study these resources to maintain their quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the quality and effective factors in groundwater quality changes in Khorramabad from 2005 to 2018 using the global water quality index (WQI) and coherence and cross wavelet. To achieve this goal, first, the drought assessment of Khorramabad city has been studied according to precipitation data using the index (SPI). Then, using the world water quality index (WQI), the groundwater quality of Khorramabad has been studied. The results showed that the quality of groundwater in Khorramabad during the years 2005 to 2018 was in standard condition. Also, the correlation between the chemical parameters of groundwater has been evaluated. The results of coherence and cross wavelet showed that the relative effect of precipitation with a wavelet coherence coefficient of 0.5 had been more compared to other factors in changes in groundwater quality in Khorramabad city. Therefore, it can be said that the relative impact of climatic factors on changes in groundwater quality in Khorramabad has been more than the other factors. Accordingly, appropriate management strategies for groundwater quality resources and mitigation solutions are imperatively needed to ensure the sustainability of the groundwater resource and the protection of public health in Khorramabad city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock farming across the world is constantly threatened by the evolutionary turnover of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) strains in endemic systems, the underlying dynamics of which remain to be elucidated. Here, we map the eco-evolutionary landscape of cocirculating FMDV lineages within an important endemic virus pool encompassing Western, Central, and parts of Southern Asia, reconstructing the evolutionary history and spatial dynamics over the last 20 years that shape the current epidemiological situation. We demonstrate that new FMDV variants periodically emerge from Southern Asia, precipitating waves of virus incursions that systematically travel in a westerly direction. We evidence how metapopulation dynamics drive the emergence and extinction of spatially structured virus populations, and how transmission in different host species regulates the evolutionary space of virus serotypes. Our work provides the first integrative framework that defines coevolutionary signatures of FMDV in regional contexts to help understand the complex interplay between virus phenotypes, host characteristics, and key epidemiological determinants of transmission that drive FMDV evolution in endemic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimisation of material handling systems (MHSs) can lead to substantial cost reductions in manufacturing systems. Choosing adequate and relevant performance measures is critical in accurately evaluating MHSs. The majority of performance measures used in MHSs are time-based. However, moving materials within a manufacturing system utilise time and cost. In this study, we consider both time and cost measures in an optimisation model used to evaluate an MHS with automated guided vehicles. We take into account the reliability of the MHSs because of the need for steadiness and stability in the automated manufacturing systems. Reliability is included in the model as a cost function. Furthermore, we consider bi-objective stochastic programming to optimise the time and cost objectives because of the uncertainties inherent in the optimisation parameters in real-world problems. We use perceptron neural networks to transform the bi-objective optimisation model into a single objective model. We use numerical experiments to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and exhibit the efficacy of the procedures and algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract Background A phylogenetic network is a generalization of phylogenetic trees that allows the representation of conflicting signals or alternative evolutionary histories in a single diagram. There are several methods for constructing these networks. Some of these methods are based on distances among taxa. In practice, the methods which are based on distance perform faster in comparison with other methods. The Neighbor-Net (N-Net) is a distance-based method. The N-Net produces a circular ordering from a distance matrix, then constructs a collection of weighted splits using circular ordering. The SplitsTree which is a program using these weighted splits makes a phylogenetic network. In general, finding an optimal circular ordering is an NP-hard problem. The N-Net is a heuristic algorithm to find the optimal circular ordering which is based on neighbor-joining algorithm. Results In this paper, we present a heuristic algorithm to find an optimal circular ordering based on the Monte-Carlo method, called MC-Net algorithm. In order to show that MC-Net performs better than N-Net, we apply both algorithms on different data sets. Then we draw phylogenetic networks corresponding to outputs of these algorithms using SplitsTree and compare the results. Conclusions We find that the circular ordering produced by the MC-Net is closer to optimal circular ordering than the N-Net. Furthermore, the networks corresponding to outputs of MC-Net made by SplitsTree are simpler than N-Net.