Effect of Harvest Timing and Soil Moisture Content on Compaction, Growth and Harvest Yield in a Miscanthus Cropping System

peer-reviewedHarvesting Miscanthus × giganteus (J.M. Greef & Deuter ex Hodkinson & Renvoize) after shoot emergence is known to reduce yields in subsequent seasons. This research was conducted in Miscanthus to assess the effects on crop response and soil compaction of annually repeated traffic, applied both before new growth in the rhizomes (early harvest) and after shoot emergence (late harvest), at two different soil moisture contents. While an annual early harvest, yields more than a late harvest, because damage to new shoots is avoided, soil compaction may be increased following repeated harvests. Five treatments were tested: (a) An untrafficked control, (b) early-traffic on soil with typical soil moisture content (SMC) (early-normal), (c) early-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (early-elevated), (d) late-traffic on soil with typical SMC (late-normal) and (e) late-traffic on soil with elevated SMC (late-wet). The experiment was conducted on a Gleysol in Co. Dublin, Ireland during 2010 and 2011. Crop response effects were assessed by measuring stem numbers, stem height, trafficked zone biomass yield (November) and overall stem yield (January). Compaction effects were assessed by measuring penetration resistance, bulk density and water infiltration rate. Trafficked zone biomass yield in the early-dry and early-wet treatments was, respectively, 18% and 23% lower than in the control, but was, respectively, 39% and 31% higher than in the late-dry treatment. Overall, stem yield was significantly lower in the late-normal and late-wet treatments (10.4 and 10.1 tdm ha−1 respectively) when compared with the control (12.4 tdm ha−1), but no significant difference was recorded in overall stem yield between both early-traffic treatments and the control. Penetration resistance values were significantly higher in all trafficked treatments when compared with the control at depths of 0.15 m (≥54–61%) and 0.30 m (≥27–57%) and were significantly higher in 2011 when compared with 2010 at depths of 0.15 and 0.30 m. Baler system traffic in Miscanthus significantly reduced yields and significantly increased compaction annually. Miscanthus harvested early, on a dry soil, yielded 1.1 tdm ha−1 more than when harvested late on a dry soil. The yield advantage increased to 1.3 tdm ha−1 when early harvesting on a soil with 40–43% moisture content was compared with late harvesting on a wetter soil (51–52% moisture content). In this study, the magnitude of yield losses from compaction or other causes in early harvests was substantially lower than the yield losses, which resulted from shoot damage in late harvests. It is likely in similar climates that the results of this study would also apply to other perennial crops growing in similar soil type

The CLARITY modular ambient health and wellness measurement platform

Emerging healthcare applications can benefit enormously from recent advances in pervasive technology and computing. This paper introduces the CLARITY Modular Ambient Health and Wellness Measurement Platform:, which is a heterogeneous and robust pervasive healthcare solution currently under development at the CLARITY Center for Sensor Web Technologies. This intelligent and context-aware platform comprises the Tyndall Wireless Sensor Network prototyping system, augmented with an agent-based middleware and frontend computing architecture. The key contribution of this work is to highlight how interoperability, expandability, reusability and robustness can be manifested in the modular design of the constituent nodes and the inherently distributed nature of the controlling software architecture.Emerging healthcare applications can benefit enormously from recent advances in pervasive technology and computing. This paper introduces the CLARITY Modular Ambient Health and Wellness Measurement Platform:, which is a heterogeneous and robust pervasive healthcare solution currently under development at the CLARITY Center for Sensor Web Technologies. This intelligent and context-aware platform comprises the Tyndall Wireless Sensor Network prototyping system, augmented with an agent-based middleware and frontend computing architecture. The key contribution of this work is to highlight how interoperability, expandability, reusability and robustness can be manifested in the modular design of the constituent nodes and the inherently distributed nature of the controlling software architecture

The clarity modular ambient health and wellness measurement platform

Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Sensor Technologies and Applications (NetWare 2010 - SENSORCOMM 2010), Venice, Italy July 2010Emerging healthcare applications can benefit enormously from recent advances in pervasive technology and computing. This paper introduces the CLARITY Modular Ambient Health and Wellness Measurement Platform, which is a heterogeneous and robust pervasive healthcare solution currently under development at the CLARITY Center for Sensor Web Technologies. This intelligent and context-aware platform comprises the Tyndall Wireless Sensor Network prototyping system, augmented with an agent-based middleware and frontend computing architecture. The key contribution of this work is to highlight how interoperability, expandability, reusability and robustness can be manifested in the modular design of the constituent nodes and the inherently distributed nature of the controlling software architecture.Science Foundation IrelandConference detailshttp://www.iaria.org/conferences2010/SENSORCOMM10.htmlOn publication, swap submitted version with published version and add set text - contact AV - 7/10/2010. au ti ke SB. 11/10/201

A mobile gateway for remote interaction with wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) almost invariably support a centralised network management model. Though the data gathering function is conducted remotely, such data is usually routed via data sinks to central servers for processing, storage, visualisation and interpretation. However, the issue of supporting remote access to WSNs and individual sensor nodes whilst in their physical environment has not been viewed as a priority. It is envisaged that this situation will change as WSNs proliferate in a range of domains, and the potential for supporting innovative revenue-generating services manifest themselves. As a step towards realising such access, a mobile gateway has been designed and implemented. This gateway supports Zigbee as this is the predominant protocol supported by WSNs. Furthermore, it also supports Bluetooth, thereby facilitating interaction with conventional mobile devices. The gateway is programmable according to the needs of arbitrary services and applications.Science Foundation Irelandau,ke,vo,is,st,en,SB-08/09/201

Enabling Intelligence on a Wireless Sensor Network Platform

Paper presented at Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 10th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 28th of March, Salamanca, SpainConventional Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) usually adopt a centralised approach to data processing and interpretation primarily due to the limited computation and energy resources available on sensor nodes. These constraints limits the potential of intelligent techniques to data analy- sis and such activities on the centralised host. In contrast, Intelligent WSNs (iWSNs) will be significantly more powerful thus enabling the harnessing of intelligent techniques for diverse purposes. One such purpose is the practical realisation of smart environments, and facilitating mobility and interaction with the inhabitants of such environments. As a step in this direction, this paper presents the design of an iWSN sensor node platform that enables the hosting of lightweight Artificial Intelligence (AI) frameworks whilst enabling the ubiquitous energy constraints be quantified, mitigated and managed.Science Foundation Irelan

Nuclear organisation of sperm remains remarkably unaffected in the presence of defective spermatogenesis

Organisation of chromosome territories in interphase nuclei has been studied in many systems and positional alterations have been associated with disease phenotypes (e.g. laminopathies, cancer) in somatic cells. Altered nuclear organisation is also reported in developmental processes such as mammalian spermatogenesis where a "chromocentre" model is proposed with the centromeres and sex chromosomes repositioning to the nuclear centre. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that alterations in nuclear organisation of human spermatozoa are associated with defects upstream in spermatogenesis (as manifest in certain infertility phenotypes). The nuclear address of (peri-) centromeric loci for 18 chromosomes (1-4, 6-12, 15-18, 20, X and Y) was assayed in 20 males using established algorithms for 3D extrapolations of 2D data. The control group comprised 10 fertile sperm donors while the test group was 10 patients with severely compromised semen parameters including high sperm aneuploidy. All loci examined in the control group adopted defined, interior positions thus providing supporting evidence for the presence of a chromocentre and interior sex chromosome territories. In the test group however there were subtle alterations in the nuclear address for certain centromeres in individual patients and, when all patient results were pooled, some different nuclear addresses were observed for chromosomes 3, 6, 12 and 18. Considering the extensive impairment of spermatogenesis in the test group (evidenced by compromised semen parameters and increased chromosome abnormalities), the observed differences in nuclear organisation for centromeric loci compared to the controls were modest. A defined pattern of nuclear reorganisation of centromeric loci in sperm heads therefore appears to be a remarkably robust process, even if spermatogenesis is severely compromised

Pervasive Sensing: Addressing the Heterogeneity Problem

Pervasive sensing is characterized by heterogeneity across a number of dimensions. This raises significant problems for those designing, implementing and deploying sensor networks, irrespective of application domain. Such problems include for example, issues of data provenance and integrity, security, and privacy amongst others. Thus engineering a network that is fit-for-purpose represents a significant challenge. In this paper, the issue of heterogeneity is explored from the perspective of those who seek to harness a pervasive sensing element in their applications. A initial solution is proposed based on the middleware construct

Deconstructing whiteness: Irish women in Britain

The Irish are largely invisible as an ethnic group in Britain but continue to be racialized as inferior and alien Others. Invisibility has been reinforced by academic treatment. Most historians have assumed that a framework of assimilation is appropriate and this outcome is uncritically accepted as desirable. Sociologists on the other hand have excluded the Irish from consideration, providing tacit support for the 'myth of homogeneity' of white people in Britain against the supposedly new phenomenon of threatening (Black) 'immigrants'. Focus on the paradigm of 'colour' has limited the range of racist ideologies examined and led to denial of anti-Irish racism. But an analysis of nineteenth-century attitudes shows that the 'Irish Catholic' was a significant Other in the construction of the British nationalist myth. Despite contemporary forgetting, hostility towards the Irish continues, over and above immediate reactions to recent IRA campaigns. Verbal abuse and racial harassment are documented in London and elsewhere, but unacknowledged. The masculine imagery of 'Paddy' hides the existence of Irish women in Britain, although they have outnumbered men since the 1920s. In America, by contrast, there is a strong stereotype of 'Bridget' and her central contribution to Irish upward mobility is recognized. But invisibility does not protect Irish women in Britain from racism. Indeed, they are often more exposed since their productive and reproductive roles connect more firmly to British society. Moreover, women have played a key role in maintaining Catholic adherence, which continues to resonate closely with Irishness and difference