Testing the robustness of optimal operating plans under various future hydro-climatic scenarios

A key challenge for water resources planning processes around the world is to develop operating plans that are optimal under a range of hydro-climatic conditions. The consequences of such long term planning decisions can vary in terms of the social, economic, and environmental impacts. Given these potential impacts, it is important that operating plans are tested under a range of hydro-climatic conditions to ensure that they are sufficiently robust to withstand future changes in climate. The aim of this study is to present a procedure for testing the robustness of optimal operating plans for complex water resources systems using a combined multi-objective optimisation and sustainability assessment approach. The approach embeds an optimisation-simulation (O-S) model which is applied to an 18-objective function multi-objective optimisation problem of the Wimmera-Mallee Water Supply System (WMWSS). The WMWSS is a multi-reservoir system located in Western Victoria (Australia) which is operated to meet a range of competing interests for water using complex operating rules. The O-S model is applied to the WMWSS to search for optimal operating plans over a 100-year period into the future assuming two plausible greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. The two GHG emission scenarios represent lower and higher ends of the estimated range of projected GHG emissions, providing a wide range of future hydro-climatic conditions. A robustness test is used to evaluate the validity of the most sustainable optimal operating plans under the two GHG emmission scenarios and also those found previously under a historic hydro-climatic sequence. The test results show that the status quo or base case operating plan is optimal but is neither the highest nor the lowest in terms of the level of sustainability that could be achieved in the WMWSS, under historic and the higher GHG emission scenario. Moreover, the results show that the most sustainable optimal operating plans found under the three hydro-climatic scenarios are sufficiently robust to withstand the full range of hydro-climatic conditions considered whereas the base case operating plan is not as robust. The risks involved in the implementation of operating plans which exhibit large deviations from the base case operating plan are discussed. These risks highlight the importance of problem formulation and sensitivity analysis of the optimal operating plans in order to find real world solutions to real world problems. © CURRAN-CONFERENCE. All rights reserved

Within plant distribution and dynamics of hyadaphis foeniculi (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in field fennel intercropped with naturally colored cotton.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-03-26T00:49:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 cottoncplored.pdf: 379261 bytes, checksum: fdc70a91b1eff15ba102ac2346b72011 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-2

Avaliação agronômica de genótipos de guandu no cerrado do Distrito Federal.

O ensaio objetivou avaliar quatorze genótipos de guandu na Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina-DF, no período de dezembro de 2004 a maio de 2006. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos ao acaso com quatro repetições. Adotou-se como testemunha a cultivar Fava Larga. Os cortes foram realizados em março e outubro/2005 e fevereiro e maio/2006. As características avaliadas apresentaram diferenças significativas entre os genótipos (P<0,05). Em média, os genótipos apresentaram valores de 16,7 t/ha, 7,6 t/ha, 5,7 t/ha, 13,3 t/ha e 1,6 kg/ha para produção de matéria seca total, de folhas, de hastes finas, de folhas e hastes finas e de proteína bruta, respectivamente. Os teores de PB variaram de 219 g/kg para o genótipo g123-99 e 192 g/kg para o g3-94. Os resultados indicam como promissores os genótipos g168-99, g29m-94, g3-94 e g123-99. Esses genótipos, nas condições do estudo, apresentaram elevada produção de matéria seca de folhas + hastes finas e maior produção de proteína bruta de folhas

HIV-DNA Given with or without Intradermal Electroporation Is Safe and Highly Immunogenic in Healthy Swedish HIV-1 DNA/MVA Vaccinees: A Phase I Randomized Trial

We compared safety and immunogenicity of intradermal (ID) vaccination with and without electroporation (EP) in a phase I randomized placebo-controlled trial of an HIV-DNA prime HIV-MVA boost vaccine in healthy Swedish volunteers.HIV-DNA plasmids encoding HIV-1 genes gp160 subtypes A, B and C; Rev B; Gag A and B and RTmut B were given ID at weeks 0, 6 and 12 in a dose of 0.6 mg. Twenty-five volunteers received vaccine using a needle-free device (ZetaJet) with (n=16) or without (n=9) ID EP (Dermavax). Five volunteers were placebo recipients. Boosting with recombinant MVA-CMDR expressing HIV-1 Env, Gag, Pol of CRF01_AE (HIV-MVA) or placebo was performed at weeks 24 and 40. Nine of the vaccinees received a subtype C CN54 gp140 protein boost together with HIV-MVA.The ID/EP delivery was very well tolerated. After three HIV-DNA immunizations, no statistically significant difference was seen in the IFN-γ ELISpot response rate to Gag between HIV-DNA ID/EP recipients (5/15, 33%) and HIV-DNA ID recipients (1/7, 14%, p=0.6158). The first HIV-MVA or HIV-MVA+gp140 vaccination increased the IFN-γ ELISpot response rate to 18/19 (95%). CD4+ and/or CD8+ T cell responses to Gag or Env were demonstrable in 94% of vaccinees. A balanced CD4+ and CD8+ T cell response was noted, with 78% and 71% responders, respectively. IFN-γ and IL-2 dominated the CD4+ T cell response to Gag and Env. The CD8+ response to Gag was broader with expression of IFN-γ, IL-2, MIP-1β and/or CD107. No differences were seen between DNA vaccine groups. Binding antibodies were induced after the second HIV-MVA+/-gp140 in 93% of vaccinees to subtype C Env, with the highest titers among EP/gp140 recipients.Intradermal electroporation of HIV-DNA was well tolerated. Strong cell- and antibody-mediated immune responses were elicited by the HIV-DNA prime and HIV-MVA boosting regimen, with or without intradermal electroporation use.International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 60284968