Ashes for organic farming

Nowadays only eight percent of the cultivated field area is used for organic farming. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has published the guidelines for the program of organic farming to diversify the supply and the consumption of organic food. The aim is to increase organically arable land to 20% by the year 2020.The demand of organic fertilizer products is strongly increasing. Interest in forestry by-products (ash, bark, zero fiber, etc.) for use in organic production has recently been exceptionally high. For example, development of pelleted fertilizers with zero fiber, ash and a nitrogen-containing fertilizer material is in progress.The ash fertilizer contains many valuable nutrients in fairly optimal ratios: these include phosphorus, potassium, manganese, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, calcium, boron, cobalt, copper and smaller amounts of other trace elements. Ashes contain phosphorus in large amounts, which is useful in organic production. More important nutrients than phosphorus and potassium are apparently trace elements. Neutralizing value of the ash is quite rapid comparedto many liming materials allowed in organic farming. The price quality ratio of ash as a liming material is also good.The use of clean wood ash is permissible in organic production. Peat and straw ash cannot be used in organic production because of the fact that in the EU peat is not considered a renewable resource. Restrictions include only inputs from outside of the organic farm

An adaptive error control system using hybrid ARQ schemes

A simple and efficient system utilizing the class of Hamming codes in a cascaded manner is proposed to provide high throughput over a wide range of channel bit error probability. Comparisons with other adaptive schemes indicate that the proposed system is superior from the point of view of throughput, while still providing the same order of reliability as an ARQ (automatic repeat request) system. The main feature of this system is that the receiver uses the same decoder for decoding the received information after each transmission while the error-correcting capability of the code increases. As a result, the system is kept to the minimum complexity and the system performance is improve

Bit error rate performance of a generalized diversity selectioncombining scheme in Nakagami fading channels

The severity of fading on mobile communication channels calls for the combining of multiple diversity sources to achieve acceptable error rate performance. Traditional approaches perform the combining of the different diversity sources using either: the conventional selective diversity combining (CSC), equal-gain combining (EGC), or maximal-ratio combining (MRC) schemes. CSC and MRC are the two extremes of compromise between performance quality and complexity. This paper presents a generalized diversity selection combining (GSC) scheme in which only those diversity branches whose energy levels are above a specified threshold are combined. Doing so, the proposed scheme will have a bit error (BER) performance that is upper- and lower-bounded by those of the CSC and MRC schemes respectively. Simulation results for the performances of this scheme over Nakagami (1960) fading channels are show

An adaptive error control system using hybrid ARQ schemes

A simple and efficient system utilizing the class of Hamming codes in a cascaded manner is proposed to provide high throughput over a wide range of channel bit error probability. Comparisons with other adaptive schemes indicate that the proposed system is superior from the point of view of throughput, while still providing the same order of reliability as an ARQ (automatic repeat request) system. The main feature of this system is that the receiver uses the same decoder for decoding the received information after each transmission while the error-correcting capability of the code increases. As a result, the system is kept to the minimum complexity and the system performance is improve

Bit error rate performance of a generalized diversity selectioncombining scheme in Nakagami fading channels

The severity of fading on mobile communication channels calls for the combining of multiple diversity sources to achieve acceptable error rate performance. Traditional approaches perform the combining of the different diversity sources using either: the conventional selective diversity combining (CSC), equal-gain combining (EGC), or maximal-ratio combining (MRC) schemes. CSC and MRC are the two extremes of compromise between performance quality and complexity. This paper presents a generalized diversity selection combining (GSC) scheme in which only those diversity branches whose energy levels are above a specified threshold are combined. Doing so, the proposed scheme will have a bit error (BER) performance that is upper- and lower-bounded by those of the CSC and MRC schemes respectively. Simulation results for the performances of this scheme over Nakagami (1960) fading channels are show

Reliability-throughput: optimisation for adaptive forward errorcorrection systems

Adaptive error control systems are very efficient for digital transmission over time-varying channels. An adaptive forward error correction system based on code selection is considered. An estimation of the channel quality is utilised by the transmitter to adaptively encode the information bits to be sent over the channel. The proper code is selected to optimise the system performance in terms of the two most important evaluation measures: throughput and reliability. The optimisation technique is applied to the case of an adaptive system using BCH codes over Rayleigh fading channels. The achievement of the adaptive system over the non-adaptive system is studied in detai

Reliability-throughput: optimisation for adaptive forward errorcorrection systems

Adaptive error control systems are very efficient for digital transmission over time-varying channels. An adaptive forward error correction system based on code selection is considered. An estimation of the channel quality is utilised by the transmitter to adaptively encode the information bits to be sent over the channel. The proper code is selected to optimise the system performance in terms of the two most important evaluation measures: throughput and reliability. The optimisation technique is applied to the case of an adaptive system using BCH codes over Rayleigh fading channels. The achievement of the adaptive system over the non-adaptive system is studied in detai

Resorbable screws versus pins for optimal transplant fixation (SPOT) in anterior cruciate ligament replacement with autologous hamstring grafts: rationale and design of a randomized, controlled, patient and investigator blinded trial [ISRCTN17384369]

BACKGROUND: Ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are common injuries to the knee joint. Arthroscopic ACL replacement by autologous tendon grafts has established itself as a standard of care. Data from both experimental and observational studies suggest that surgical reconstruction does not fully restore knee stability. Persisting anterior laxity may lead to recurrent episodes of giving-way and cartilage damage. This might at least in part depend on the method of graft fixation in the bony tunnels. Whereas resorbable screws are easy to handle, pins may better preserve graft tension. The objective of this study is to determine whether pinning of ACL grafts reduces residual anterior laxity six months after surgery as compared to screw fixation. DESIGN/ METHODS: SPOT is a randomised, controlled, patient and investigator blinded trial conducted at a single academic institution. Eligible patients are scheduled to arthroscopic ACL repair with triple-stranded hamstring grafts, conducted by a single, experienced surgeon. Intraoperatively, subjects willing to engage in this study will be randomised to transplant tethering with either resorbable screws or resorbable pins. No other changes apply to locally established treatment protocols. Patients and clinical investigators will remain blinded to the assigned fixation method until the six-month follow-up examination. The primary outcome is the side-to-side (repaired to healthy knee) difference in anterior translation as measured by the KT-1000 arthrometer at a defined load (89 N) six months after surgery. A sample size of 54 patients will yield a power of 80% to detect a difference of 1.0 mm ± standard deviation 1.2 mm at a two-sided alpha of 5% with a t-test for independent samples. Secondary outcomes (generic and disease-specific measures of quality of life, magnetic resonance imaging morphology of transplants and devices) will be handled in an exploratory fashion. CONCLUSION: SPOT aims at showing a reduction in anterior knee laxity after fixing ACL grafts by pins compared to screws

Long-term trends in PM2.5 mass and particle number concentrations in urban air : The impacts of mitigation measures and extreme events due to changing climates

Urbanisation and industrialisation led to the increase of ambient particulate matter (PM) concentration. While subsequent regulations may have resulted in the decrease of some PM matrices, the simultaneous changes in climate affecting local meteorological conditions could also have played a role. To gain an insight into this complex matter, this study investigated the long-term trends of two important matrices, the particle mass (PM2.5) and particle number concentrations (PNC), and the factors that influenced the trends. Mann-Kendall test, Sen's slope estimator, the generalised additive model, seasonal decomposition of time series by LOESS (locally estimated scatterplot smoothing) and the Buishand range test were applied. Both PM2.5 and PNC showed significant negative monotonic trends (0.03-0.6 mg m(-3).yr(-1) and 0.40-3.8 x 10(3) particles. cm(-3). yr(-1), respectively) except Brisbane (+0.1 mg m(-3). yr(-1) and +53 particles. cm(-3). yr(-1), respectively). For the period covered in this study, temperature increased (0.03-0.07 degrees C.yr(-1)) in all cities except London; precipitation decreased (0.02-1.4 mm.yr(-1)) except in Helsinki; and wind speed was reduced in Brisbane and Rochester but increased in Helsinki, London and Augsburg. At the change-points, temperature increase in cold cities influenced PNC while shifts in precipitation and wind speed affected PM2.5. Based on the LOESS trend, extreme events such as dust storms and wildfires resulting from changing climates caused a positive step-change in concentrations, particularly for PM2.5. In contrast, among the mitigation measures, controlling sulphur in fuels caused a negative step-change, especially for PNC. Policies regarding traffic and fleet management (e.g. low emission zones) that were implemented only in certain areas or in a progressive uptake (e.g. Euro emission standards), resulted to gradual reductions in concentrations. Therefore, as this study has clearly shown that PM2.5 and PNC were influenced differently by the impacts of the changing climate and by the mitigation measures, both metrics must be considered in urban air quality management. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Characterization of volatile organic compounds and submicron organic aerosol in a traffic environment

Urban air consists of a complex mixture of gaseous and particulate species from anthropogenic and biogenic sources that are further processed in the atmosphere. This study investigated the characteristics and sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and submicron organic aerosol (OA) in a traffic environment in Helsinki, Finland, in late summer. The anthropogenic VOCs (aVOCs; aromatic hydrocarbons) and biogenic VOCs (bVOCs; terpenoids) relevant for secondary-organic-aerosol formation were analyzed with an online gas chromatograph mass spectrometer, whereas the composition and size distribution of submicron particles was measured with a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer. This study showed that aVOC concentrations were significantly higher than bVOC concentrations in the traffic environment. The largest aVOC concentrations were measured for toluene (campaign average of 1630 ng m−3) and p/m xylene (campaign average of 1070 ng m−3), while the dominating bVOC was α-pinene (campaign average of 200 ng m−3). For particle-phase organics, the campaign-average OA concentration was 2.4 µg m−3. The source apportionment analysis extracted six factors for OA. Three OA factors were related to primary OA sources – traffic (24 % of OA, two OA types) and a coffee roastery (7 % of OA) – whereas the largest fraction of OA (69 %) consisted of oxygenated OA (OOA). OOA was divided into less oxidized semi-volatile OA (SV-OOA; 40 % of OA) and two types of low-volatility OA (LV-OOA; 30 %). The focus of this research was also on the oxidation potential of the measured VOCs and the association between VOCs and OA in ambient air. Production rates of the oxidized compounds (OxPR) from the VOC reactions revealed that the main local sources of the oxidation products were O3 oxidation of bVOCs (66 % of total OxPR) and OH radical oxidation of aVOCs and bVOCs (25 % of total OxPR). Overall, aVOCs produced a much smaller portion of the oxidation products (18 %) than bVOCs (82 %). In terms of OA factors, SV-OOA was likely to originate from biogenic sources since it correlated with an oxidation product of monoterpene, nopinone. LV-OOA consisted of highly oxygenated long-range or regionally transported OA that had no correlation with local oxidant concentrations as it had already spent several days in the atmosphere before reaching the measurement site. In general, the main sources were different for VOCs and OA in the traffic environment. Vehicle emissions impacted both VOC and OA concentrations. Due to the specific VOCs attributed to biogenic emissions, the influence of biogenic emissions was more clearly detected in the VOC concentrations than in OA. In contrast, the emissions from the local coffee roastery had a distinctive mass spectrum for OA, but they could not be seen in the VOC measurements due to the measurement limitations for the large VOC compounds. Long-range transport increased the OA concentration and oxidation state considerably, while its effect was observed less clearly in the VOC measurements due to the oxidation of most VOC in the atmosphere during the transport. Overall, this study revealed that in order to properly characterize the impact of different emission sources on air quality, health, and climate, it is of importance to describe both gaseous and particulate emissions and understand how they interact as well as their phase transfers in the atmosphere during the aging process.</p