Productivity of a prototype truck-mounted logging residue bundler and a road-side bundling system

When recovering logging residues (LR) for bioenergy its density should be increased before road transport, otherwise a low proportion of the trucks’ load capacity will be used. One way this can be currently done is to compress LR into bundles that are forwarded to roadside landing. A less well-developed alternative is to forward loose LR and bundle it at landing. In the presented study, a prototype specifically developed for road-side bundling was found to produce larger, heavier bundles than bundling machinery intended for in-field use (mean length, diameter and raw bulk density 4.7 m, 0.8 m and 285 kg m–3, respectively, with 299–445 kg oven dry matter per bundle). The machine was a so at least 30% more productive than previously described in-field bundling systems, producing 14–19 bundles per productive work hour (PWh), equivalent to 5.2–7.8 oven-dry tonnes PWh–1. Bundles were estimated to use 67–86% of an LR truck’s 30 tonnes load capacity, similar to proportions used when transporting loose LR. However, a continuous feeding and compressing process would probably almost double productivity, while longer bundles would enable full use of truck load capacity. With such improvements bundling at road-side could provide a viable alternative to current LR-recovering systems

Carbon dynamics in apple orchards in New Zealand and their integration into life cycle assessment : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Soil Sciences and Life Cycle Management

Soil carbon sequestration can help mitigate climate change and soil carbon contributes to many of the ecosystem services provided by the soil; thus soil carbon contributes to the sustainability of food production systems. However, changes in soil carbon are difficult and costly to measure due to two constraining characteristics: the spatial variability of the stocks as well as the typically small changes in carbon stocks over time. Consequently, environmental assessment tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and carbon footprinting (CF) generally exclude the changes in soil carbon stocks from their analyses. Yet global supermarket chains use the results from these tools to inform consumers about greener products. In New Zealand (NZ), production of horticultural products such as apples is very focussed on export markets. Therefore, if it can be demonstrated that the production of New Zealand apples maintains or increases the carbon stock of the orchard soil and above-ground biomass, this could lead to a reduced net CF and might enhance access to prime retailers’ shelves in major export markets. The main aims of this research were (a) to develop a practical method for measuring a statistically significant and powerful change in the soil-carbon stock of an apple orchard block in New Zealand, and (b) to assess a method to estimate the standing woody biomass carbon stock in apple orchards, in order to provide reliable data for the CF of NZ apples. Since there are no data available, this research sought to quantify the changes in soil-carbon stocks in apple orchards by means of a chrono-sequence. A review of LCA and CF case studies accounting for changes in soil-carbon identified the need to focus on collecting deep, site specific, geo-localised and time-dependent soil-carbon data, as well as communicating its variability and statistical uncertainty for interpretation and transparency of LCA and CF results. Therefore, in a first step to develop a protocol for quantifying the carbon stocks in the soil, a four-year-old apple orchard block was intensively sampled to one meter depth to measure the soil-carbon stock and the spatial patterns. It was found that the soil-carbon stock was influenced by tree planting pattern, and the minimum sampling requirements were determined to detect, from sampling every 20 years, a change of the mean (175.1± 10.8 t C/ha) of 10 % due to the spatial and temporal characteristics of soil carbon. This required sampling nine sites in a systematic grid in the orchard block, with four pooled samples per site evenly distributed between and outside the wheel tracks, at a total cost of NZ$1,590 per sampling campaign. This cost of monitoring seems affordable as it is equivalent to just 0.5premiums could compensate for it, using the carbon market seems unrealistic at present because the price of carbon would need to reach at least NZ$182/tonne. To inform development of a protocol for quantifying the carbon stocks in the woody biomass in a commercial apple orchard block, the relationship between the trunk cross-sectional area (TCA) and the woody dry mass (DM) of the trees was assessed using 10 trees that were destructively harvested. It was found that using this relationship together with a high number of TCAs measured in situ in the orchard block facilitated the rapid and cost effective estimation of the woody biomass carbon stocks at the orchard block scale. At the end of the orchard life, the carbon has been stored out of the atmosphere for the lifetime of the trees and this contributes to reduced climate change. Furthermore, at the end of life the trees may be burned for convenience, chopped for firewood or transformed into biochar and applied to soils. It was found that the biochar scenario provided the largest reduction, and that this benefit was equivalent to 0.7% of the carbon footprint of apples exported to Europe. The choice of a time horizon for the assessment was found to be critical, with comparative results varying up to three fold between the 20 year and the 100 year time horizons. Regarding changes in soil carbon stocks over time, the four-year-old orchard block was part of a 12 year-old chronosequence, also including a one-year, a six-year and a twelve-year old block. The same sampling protocol was carried out in these three other blocks. It was found that all orchard blocks had relatively high soil-carbon stocks. Moreover, there was no significant difference in soil-carbon stocks at the 5% level between the one-year-old, the six-year-old and the twelve-year-old blocks of the chronosequence. Based on the soil-carbon stocks of these three blocks, current management practices seem to be maintaining these carbon stocks over time. Therefore, unless management practices are modified, monitoring may not be required. However, this maintenance of relatively high soil-carbon stocks in orchard systems is beneficial for climate change and the ecosystem services provided by the soil. It should therefore be treated as such in LCA and CF studies although a method is yet to be developed. In addition, despite a high similarity with the other blocks, the four-year-old block showed a higher, significantly different soil-carbon stock, and the levels of variability in soil-carbon stocks were found to be different between all the blocks. This demonstrates the high local specificity of soil-carbon stocks. The six year-old block displayed a coefficient of variation (14%) larger than the other blocks, and so an analysis of sampling requirements was conducted for this block. A change of 10% of the mean could, in theory, be observed by collecting a total of 78 samples, bulked two by two, for carbon content, and using 39 bulk density profiles, all to one meter depth. The associated cost of monitoring is NZ$ 9,420 and is equivalent to 1% of the value of export apples at ship-side in New Zealand. Monitoring soil-carbon stocks would seem therefore affordable, even in the more variable orchard block. Overall, this research has made four main contributions to the science. Firstly, a robust, practical and adaptable protocol for monitoring soil-carbon stocks in apple orchards has been developed. Secondly, a rapid and cost effective method to estimate the carbon stock in standing woody biomass has been verified for use in commercial apple orchard blocks; accounting for this biomass carbon stock may lead to a net reduction of up to 4.6% of the New Zealand based (cradle to NZ port) CF of apples exported to Europe; Thirdly, a chrono-sequence of orchard blocks has suggested that current management practices in apple orchards appear to achieve the maintenance of high soil-carbon stocks over time, and it is suggested that this maintenance should be recognised as beneficial in CF and LCA studies. Finally, soil carbon stocks have been found to be spatially variable within and between similar orchard blocks; therefore LCA and CF studies should use site specific data and communicate the uncertainty of their soil-carbon stock estimates

Fast Multidimensional Entropy Estimation by k-d Partitioning

(c) 2009 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other work

Annual report 2002 LBI organic fruit growing research

Overview of projects, project results, funding bodies and partners in 2002 and plans for 2003 Including: SOIL MANAGEMENT * Evaluation of leaf analysis in organic fruit growing as a tool for measuring the uptake of nutrients: Consultants and researchers exchanged practical experiences and the LBI hopes to work with target values. * Impact of sulphur stress: The fruit quality seemed to be better in the reduced sulphur treatment (27 kg /ha instead of 60 kg /ha after flowering). * Fertilisation: In a late summer fertilisation trial with Elstar, trees fertilised late summer/autumn have a higher nitrogen content in the bud the following spring. And fertilising just before winter leads to increased growth of weeds in the next season. * Ground cover: The key to white clover undergrowth is to ‘do it properly or not at all’. It is difficult for an organic grower to restore undergrowth which has been invaded by grasses to bare earth. Undergrowth is definitely not the answer for fruit growers who have any difficulty with mechanical weeding. The management of ground cover requires at least as much mechanisation as the bare tree strip. REGULATING GROWTH AND CROP * Steps to counter biennialism in Elstar: A trial was set up at three orchards combining various measures: thinning or not thinning with two or three applications of lime sulphur, adapted pruning, 3 levels of fruit bearing (30, 40, 50 tonne/ha) and early or late manual thinning. This trial should demonstrate the relative significance of the various measures. Flowering will be evaluated in the spring of 2003. * Fruiting spur pruning in Elstar: To obtain better insight into the effect of different pruning methods three pruning treatments were used: standard pruning, removal of an extra large amount of fruiting spurs, and removal of extra fruiting spurs but sparing smooth one-year-old shoots. The production of the trees has been estimated and the blossom will be evaluated in the spring of 2003. * Effect of thinning times, fertilisation and bearing on regularity of production and fruit quality in Elstar: Ripening was delayed by the high nitrogen dose and associated higher acid content. Despite the late ripening the firmness was still lower, the calcium content lower and the nitrogen content higher. All three factors pro- duce a clear deterioration in quality. On the other hand, the sugar and acidity were higher in this case, but both these values fall within the target band. The trial will continue in 2003 CANKER * Administering calcium hydroxide against Cancer through the sprinkler irrigation system: Despite its effectiveness, sprinkling with calcium hydroxide cannot as yet be generally recommended for practical application. All the difficulties stem from the fact that the agent does not really dissolve, and the suspension formed very rapidly settles out. FRUIT QUALITY * Optimum picking time for Santana: Santana is a relatively new variety, and further investigation is required into optimising cultivation and storage. The apples only developed their full flavour when picked some time after the point of physiological ripeness. * Sprinkling to combat sunscald: By sprinkling under specific conditions an average of 1.38 fruits per tree was protected from sunscald. Per hectare sprinkling on these three days yielded around € 621 per ha. (Assuming: 3000 trees/ha, 6 fruits/kg, price € 1.10 or € 0.20 for industrial use). * Rot resistance test: The Louis Bolk Instituut is attempting to develop a test for the evaluation of the natural resistance of the fruit. This demonstrates, for example that apples with a high nitrogen content have more and larger areas of rot than apples with a lower nitrogen content. * Prospects offered by calcium chloride (CaCl2 ) before or after harvest: A pilot experiment was carried out on a farm to look into the prospects of spraying with CaCl2 before the harvest or rinsing with CaCl2 after harvest to reduce fruit rot. Neither treatment led to a reduction in fruit rot, but rather to an increase. * International association for ‘Organic Food, Quality and Health’ (FQH): The purpose of the group of researchers and traders brought together under the FQH banner is to develop a new concept of quality based on life processes and to select and further develop relevant methods of measurement

Meta-analysis of fertilization experiments indicates multiple limiting nutrients in northeastern deciduous forests

It is widely accepted that nitrogen limits primary production in temperate forests, although co-limitation by N and P has also been suggested, and on some soils Ca and base cations are in short supply. I conducted a meta-analysis to assess the strength of existing experimental evidence for limitation of primary production by N, P, and Ca in hardwood forests of the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, using data from 35 fertilization experiments in deciduous forests on glaciated soils across the region. There is strong evidence for N limitation (formal meta-analysis weighted mean response ratio = 1.51, p \u3c 0.01; simple mean = 1.42, p \u3c 0.001). Forest productivity also tends to increase with additions of P (simple mean = 1.15, p = 0.05) and Ca (simple mean = 1.36 p \u3c 0.001). Across all treatments, 85% of response ratios were positive. Multiple-element additions had larger effects than single elements, but factorial experiments showed little evidence of synergistic effects between nutrient additions. Production responses correlated positively with the rate of N fertilization, but this effect was reduced at high rates of ambient N deposition

StackInsights: Cognitive Learning for Hybrid Cloud Readiness

Hybrid cloud is an integrated cloud computing environment utilizing a mix of public cloud, private cloud, and on-premise traditional IT infrastructures. Workload awareness, defined as a detailed full range understanding of each individual workload, is essential in implementing the hybrid cloud. While it is critical to perform an accurate analysis to determine which workloads are appropriate for on-premise deployment versus which workloads can be migrated to a cloud off-premise, the assessment is mainly performed by rule or policy based approaches. In this paper, we introduce StackInsights, a novel cognitive system to automatically analyze and predict the cloud readiness of workloads for an enterprise. Our system harnesses the critical metrics across the entire stack: 1) infrastructure metrics, 2) data relevance metrics, and 3) application taxonomy, to identify workloads that have characteristics of a) low sensitivity with respect to business security, criticality and compliance, and b) low response time requirements and access patterns. Since the capture of the data relevance metrics involves an intrusive and in-depth scanning of the content of storage objects, a machine learning model is applied to perform the business relevance classification by learning from the meta level metrics harnessed across stack. In contrast to traditional methods, StackInsights significantly reduces the total time for hybrid cloud readiness assessment by orders of magnitude

Senescent trees stabilize aboveground wood net primary production immediately after disturbance

In the United States, forests sequester 17% of national carbon (C) emissions annually (UGCRP, 2018), however shifting forest disturbances threaten the stability of this essential C sink. Unlike the high severity, stand-replacing disturbances that were widespread a century ago, today’s eastern temperate forests experience frequent low-to-moderate severity disturbances from invasive pests and pathogens with mixed effects on net primary production (NPP). Carbon cycling stability after disturbance has been reported, however, the mechanisms underlying immediate NPP stability or decline are not well understood. Through weekly measurements of production in a landscape scale experiment, we show that the sustained growth of senescent trees in the first year after disturbance stabilized aboveground wood net primary production (ANPPw) in an eastern temperate forest. We found no evidence for an immediate compensatory growth response from healthy trees that we hypothesized, but instead, aboveground accumulation of C and continued growth by senescent trees. Among disturbance severities (0, 45, 65, 85% gross leaf area loss) and two disturbance types concentrated in the lower and upper canopy, no difference in annual ANPPw relative to a control was observed. Further, we found early, but limited evidence that early successional plant functional types (PFT) contribute more to annual ANPPw than late successional PFTs at high severity disturbances (\u3e65%). Our high-frequency ANPPw observations provide novel insights into the immediate response of a large C pool to disturbance, revealing initial mechanisms of stability useful as benchmarks for ecosystem models. We conclude that C cycling stability immediately following disturbance is largely dependent on the continued aboveground growth of senescent trees