Reservoir sedimentation is a serious problem that threatens the water storage capacities across the world. Extending a dam's life requires adopting a new design and operational paradigm that focuses on managing the reservoir and watershed system to bring sediment inflow and outflow into balance by including reservoir sediment management facilities in dam and reservoir. However, the cost of methods that remove the sediment from reservoirs is usually prohibitive and is a serious factor preventing sustainable sediment management. This thesis considered a case study, Paonia Reservoir in Colorado, to investigate two aspects of reservoir operation, sediment management and economic assessment. The purpose is to determine how sediment management (sluicing using a low-level gate) effectively reduces sedimentation and whether this management is economically viable. The SRH-1D will be implemented to model the reservoir sedimentation, and RSEM evaluate it economically. The result comparison of current Paonia operation with hypothetical Paonia (added low-level gate) proved sluicing incoming sediment-laden flow effectively reduces sedimentation without interruption in the reservoir targeted functions like irrigating downstream. The deposited sediment volume could decrease more by monitoring the possible peak flow time and keeping the low-level gate open to pass high incoming flow downstream. This thesis applied RSEM to evaluate and compare the benefits and costs of continued sedimentation and eventual dam decommissioning (the existing Reservoir condition) to sediment management costs and benefits (hypothetical Paonia Reservoir). The results illustrated that sediment removal is advantageous because it contributed to decrease rate of decline of reservoir capacity, which made this capacity, and the associated instantaneous net benefits exceed those in the without sediment management alternative. The preserved benefits from sustainable sediment management offset the additional costs of incorporating sediment management. One of the key messages of this thesis is that incorporating sediment management into the planning and design phases of dam projects is essential for ensuring that the benefits of reservoir storage are sustained over the long term. This means fairness between current and future generations to enjoy the benefits of the facility while spreading the cost of ownership, operations, and maintenance over generations.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:32:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_carina_moraes.pdf: 479524 bytes, checksum: 9bdbed7287bcee59185e68ac89b72108 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-10-13 / Strangles is a contagious disease of the upper respiratory tract of horses caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. Asymptomatic carriers responsible for maintaining the infection in the herd can only be detected by serological or microbiological methods and vaccines used for the control of the disease induce levels of protection generally not exceeding 50%. Considering that S. equi SeM protein is considered the most promising antigen to protect against the disease, this research aimed to produce and evaluate as antigen for vaccines and for ELISA, a recombinant S. equi SeM protein (rSeM). rSeM was produced by cloning and expression in Escherichia coli and purified by affinity chromatography. To test its immunogenicity isogenic female Balb-c mice 4-6 weeks-old were randomly divided and inoculated with 1 / 20th of the estimated dose of the vaccine for horses by the SC route, on days 0 and 21 of the experiment. One group was vaccinated with 250mL (12 mg mL-1) of rSeM without adjuvant, another with 300mL of vaccine containing 12 mg mL-1 of rSeM plus 20% of aluminiun hydroxide, two other groups were vaccinated with two commercial bacterins against Strangles, other two groups were vaccinated with the same commercial vaccines containing 12 mg mL-1 of rSeM and the remaining group was inoculated with a bacterin produced with a field strain. The control group was inoculated the same dose of sterile saline. Blood samples were collected from the retro-orbital venous plexus on days 0, 21, 42. The antibodies were titrated by ELISA using rSeM as antigen. rSeM was immunogenic for mice with a protection index of 100%. For the standardization of an ELISA, groups of 20 negative, vaccinated and positive animals were used. Using as Cut-off the mean plus two SD of the Optical Densities of the negatives, the test showed 100% sensitivity and specificity. / A Adenite Eqüina é uma enfermidade contagiosa do trato respiratório superior dos eqüídeos causada por Streptococcus equi subesp. equi. Animais portadores assintomáticos responsáveis pela permanência da infecção nos rebanhos só podem ser detectados por métodos microbiológicos ou sorológicos e as vacinas utilizadas no controle da doença induzem níveis de proteção geralmente não superiores a 50 %. Considerando que a proteína SeM de S. equi é o antígeno mais promissor na proteção contra a doença, este trabalho objetivou produzir a proteína SeM recombinante de S. equi, visando sua utilização como antígeno em vacinas e em ELISA. Proteína SeM recombinante (rSeM) foi produzida mediante a clonagem e expressão em Escherichia coli e purificada por cromatografia de afinidade. Para testar sua capacidade imunogênica, vacinas elaboradas com rSeM foram aplicadas a camundongos. Fêmeas Balb/c isogênicas com 4-6 semanas foram divididas aleatoriamente e inoculadas por via SC com 1/20 da dose vacinal estimada para cavalos, nos dias 0 e 21 do experimento. Um grupo foi vacinado com 250 mL (12 mg mL-1) de proteína recombinante sem adjuvante, outro com 300 mL de vacina contendo 12 mg mL-1 rSeM adicionada de 20% de hidróxido de alumínio, outros dois grupos com duas bacterinas comerciais contra Adenite Eqüina; dois grupos com as vacinas comerciais, acrescidas de 12 mg mL-1 de rSeM e o grupo restante com uma bacterina contendo cepas de campo. O grupo controle foi inoculado com o mesmo volume de solução salina estéril. Coletou-se sangue por punção do plexo venoso retro-ocular nos dias 0, 21 e 42. Os anticorpos foram titulados por ELISA utilizando a proteína rSeM como antígeno. A rSeM foi imunogênica em camundongos com índices de proteção de 100%. Para a padronização de um ELISA, utilizaram-se grupos de 20 soros equinos de animais negativos, vacinados e positivos. Utilizando um ponto de corte de média das densidades ópticas dos soros negativos acrescidos de dois desvios padrão, o teste teve 100% de sensibilidade e especificidade.

Douglas-fir develops a megagametophyte regardless of the pollination state of the ovule, whereas many other conifers develop a megagametophye in response to polli- nation. Megagametophytes in unfertilized ovules degrade two weeks following fertil- ization of the surrounding population. This is mediated by programmed cell death (PCD). Pollinated and unpollinated megagametophytes were dissected from Douglas- fir cones and extracted for RNA, which was then used as input for sequencing. A transcriptome was assembled from this data and expression levels were calculated. The data were fitted to quadratic regressions to produce coexpression groups. There is no clear upregulation of PCD effectors in the unpollinated megagametophyte. Po- tential regulators of megagametophyte fate are present in the data. Some are as- sociated with ABA signalling and proanthocyanadin biosynthesis while others share similarity to known regulators of PCD. Seed development processes are represented in the expression data, which support current knowledge of conifer seed development and provide targets for research. / Graduate / 0369 / 0309 / 0817 / igboyes@gmail.com