Implications of Broadleaf, Grass, and A Blend of Broadleaf And Grass Cover Crops on Soil Health and Corn Production in South Dakota

Cover crops have recently gained attention in the U.S. Midwest because of their potential to increase soil organic matter and protect overall soil health. This study was conducted to determine the effects of different cover crop mixtures on soil health measurements and corn grain yield at increasing nitrogen (N) rates. Cover crops were planted in the fall after small grains harvest as a dominantly grass mixture, dominantly broadleaf mixture, or a 50/50 grass and broadleaf mixture with a no cover crop control. Soil and cover crop biomass samples were collected in the fall before winter cold termination and in the spring before chemical termination of the cover crops. Soil samples were analyzed for permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), potentially mineralizable nitrogen (PMN), and soil respiration. Cover crop biomass samples were oven-dried and weighed to determine cover crop biomass. After spring cover crop termination, fertilizer-N was applied before planting corn at six rates: 0, 45, 90, 135, 200, and 225 kg ha-1. The inclusion of cover crops did not improve soil health measurements with no statistical differences in soil health measurements among the different cover crop mixtures. However, there were differences among soil health measurements among siteyears. Soil organic matter had a positive linear relationship with fall and spring POXC. The pH had a positive linear relationship with spring PMN and a negative linear relationship with fall soil respiration. Precipitation had a positive linear relationship with fall soil respiration and a negative linear relationship with fall PMN. When including a cover crop compared to the control, there were no differences in corn grain yield at economic optimum N rate (EONR), EONR itself, and economic return 55%, 42%, and 52% of the time, respectively. The economic profit was reduced most often when planted under a blend cover crop (mean decrease = US$235 ha-1), then a grass cover crop (mean decrease = US$265 ha-1), and then a broadleaf cover crop (mean decrease = US$296 ha- 1). The inclusion of cover crops did not improve soil health measurements compared to the no cover crop control. In the first year of comparing any species of cover crop mixture, growers should not expect to find differences among soil health measurements. However, a long-term trial to show the growing effects of cover crops is needed to fully compare these cover crop mixtures. In general, corn grain yield was not reduced by cover crop composition at EONR and did not change the amount of nitrogen needed for maximum corn grain yield. In conclusion, growers can plant cover crops regardless of composition in the fall after small grains harvest and terminate them in the spring before corn planting to maintain soil health without reducing corn grain yield at EONR or economic profit

Effect of light intensity and temperature on light-avoiding leaf movements in two Phaseolus species

It was the purpose of this experiment to determine the relationship between the factors of pulvinus temperature and light intensity in their role as factors that affect paraheliotropism. We also examined the differences in these relationships in two species adapted to different environments. The two species used were: Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean), a high yielding species which is grown in mesic climates, and P. acutifolius (tepary bean), an arid land bean which tolerates high temperatures and drought

AN EXPENDITURE ESTIMATE OF IRISH GDP (AT MARKET PRICES) IN 1907. ESRI Working Paper No. 64, October 1995

This article fundamentally challenges the notion that Ireland was a peripheral or underdeveloped economy relative to other European economies at the beginning of this century. Through an empirical investigation of consumer expenditure in Ireland in 1907, a new estimate of Irish GDP has been generated which is compatible with Feinstein's consumer expenditure estimates for the UK. From this it is possible to estimate Ireland's GDP per capita in 1907, and compare Ireland's relative level of per capita income to that of the UK; it is then possible to place Ireland in Maddison's league table for a number of advanced capitalist economies. This clearly places Ireland among the more advanced economies in the world. The article concludes that Ireland's improving relative position between 1850 and 1907 was achieved by favourable trade conditions and a growth in trade, a growth in productivity, an a-typical fall in population, and wage convergence with the UK and the USA. The conclusion suggests that free trade and Ireland's close trading relationship with the UK, had brought significant benefits to the Irish economy between.1850 and 1907

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WELCH PRODUCTS RECYCLED RUBBER SPACER BLOCK

The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility was contracted by Will Stein of the Iowa Department of Transportation to conduct dynamic bogie testing of a recyclable rubber guardrail spacer block manufactured by Welch Products, Inc. The scope of the work included the setup of both a standard, wood guardrail post blockout and the Welch Products recycled rubber blockout on a standard W150x13.5 steel post, as well as two component tests using a bogie vehicle. The bogie tests were conducted in accordance with previously accepted procedures to evaluate the performance of guardrail post blockouts made of non-standard materials

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF WELCH PRODUCTS RECYCLED RUBBER SPACER BLOCK

The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility was contracted by Will Stein of the Iowa Department of Transportation to conduct dynamic bogie testing of a recyclable rubber guardrail spacer block manufactured by Welch Products, Inc. The scope of the work included the setup of both a standard, wood guardrail post blockout and the Welch Products recycled rubber blockout on a standard W150x13.5 steel post, as well as two component tests using a bogie vehicle. The bogie tests were conducted in accordance with previously accepted procedures to evaluate the performance of guardrail post blockouts made of non-standard materials

Fixed Bed Biomass Gasifier

The report details work performed by Gazogen to develop a novel biomass gasifier for producimg electricity from commercially available hardwood chips. The research conducted by Gazogen under this grant was intended to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of a new means of producing electricity from wood chips and other biomass and carbonaceous fuels. The technical feasibility of the technology has been furthered as a result of the DOE grant, and work is expected to continue. The economic feasibility can only be shown when all operational problems have been overocme. The technology could eventually provide a means of producing electricity on a decentralized basis from sustainably cultivated plants or plant by-products

Industrial growth in Ireland; c.1790-1910.

This thesis examines growth and decline trends in the Irish industrial sector between 1790 and 1910. It challenges existing perceptions of industrial decline in the nineteenth century; instead it argues that industrial output experienced growth during the period in question. Chapters have been written on brewing, distilling, engineering, shipbuilding, woollen, cotton and linen. An additional chapter has been written to cover some of the remaining industries (milling, food processing, tobacco, glass, tanning, paper). Each of these chapters provides a synthesis of research in each industry, in addition to some new research which has been done by the author on the business records of a number of industrial companies. Part of the research task was to bring together the available statistics in each industry; these have been extensively used to gain some idea of trends in each industry. A more macro perspective has been taken in the conclusion which contains two new estimates of industrial output in 1840-5 and 1907. The former is the first estimate of industrial output to be made for nineteenth century Ireland. A second objective of the thesis is to identify the major economic factors which led to the industrialisation of east Ulster while most of the remainder of the country failed to achieve significant industrial development during this period. This theme in particular is explored in the chapters on linen, shipbuilding, engineering and in the conclusion. A further objective of the thesis is to identify how much the extent, location and nature of each industry changed during the period in question. Earlier research on the Irish industrial sector has either concentrated on one region (particularly Ulster), or has only concentrated on one industry. This thesis is the first attempt to look at almost all of the industries which created added value on the island of Ireland. In 2014 a considerably revised version of this thesis was published as a book

Improved Models of Cable-to-Post Attachments for High-Tension Cable Barriers

Computer simulation models were developed to analyze and evaluate a new cable-to-post attachment for high-tension cable barriers. The models replicated the performance of a keyway bolt currently used in the design of a high-tension cable median barrier being developed at the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility. Component tests of the keyway bolts were simulated and compared to the component test results. Accurate friction, fracture strain, and stress-strain material properties were determined for a solid element model of the keyway bolt by applying actual load curve measured from the test to a simulated pull cable. By simulating the material properties of the solid element keyway bolt in bending, torsion, and tension of a rod, load curves were developed for a simplified beam element model of the keyway bolt as well. When material properties were finalized, the solid and beam element models of the keyway bolt were inserted in bogie test models and simulated again. By analyzing the bogie testing results, it was determined that due to the very small size of the keyway bolt and potential contact difficulties, solid element models of the keyway bolt may be impractical for full-scale simulation purposes. However, the beam element models were determined to be advantageous and had a very small computational cost in comparison

Robust Visual Servo Control and Tracking for the Manipulator of a Planetary Exploration Rover

To collect samples and handle tools, planetary exploration rovers commonly employ light-weight robotic manipulators. These can suffer from undesirable positioning imprecision due to erroneous end-effector pose estimates obtained by the manipulators kinematics, leading to the failure of the manipulation task. This thesis presents a vision-based end-effector pose correction pipeline to improve the positioning precision of the end-effector during manipulation tasks. Our approach corrects the end-effector pose by fusing the estimates obtained by the manipulators kinematics with information obtained from monocular vision data. We propose a gradient based method to track a set of active markers within the image stream, which provides us with additional information on the covariance of the retrieved image points. In order to recover the 3D pose estimate of the end-effector, we make use of the maximum likelihood perspective-n-point algorithm, allowing us to propagate the image point uncertainties to their 3D pose covariances. Based on evaluations using recorded ground-truth data, we show that our tracking method leads to a reduction of the kinematic position error by up to 77%. To operate outdoors and under changing illumination conditions, the robustness of the tracking approach is paramount. Based on the propagated covariance information, we employ an Error-State Kalman filter for the rejection of pose outliers and the reduction of pose jitter. Its smoothing capabilities are confirmed in simulation. We further show the application of the vision-based correction pipeline as part of a visual servoing scheme designed for the collection of payload boxes by the manipulator of the Lightweight Rover Unit 2, developed at the Institute for Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center. We propose a switching control scheme that applies a position-based visual servo (PBVS) for movements of the end-effector in free space and switches to a PBVS based hybrid impedance visual servoing scheme for movements in close proximity or in direct contact with the coupling partner, to ensure the safe interaction between the manipulator and the payload. The implemented PBVS approach is lastly evaluated in simulation. We show its successful execution and stability in the vicinity of singularities as well as the avoidance of joint position and velocity limits