What problems do trees face in your city? How can these problems be solved?

General Atomics (GA) is currently under turn-key contract to construct a Stationary Neutron Radiography System (SNRS) at McClellan Air Force Base, Sacramento, California. The SNRS is a custom designed neutron radiography inspection system, see Fig. 1, which utilizes a 1000 kW TRIGA reactor as a neutron source to inspect aircraft components for corrosion and other defects. The SNRS project is made up of four major systems: the Shielding and Containment System (SCS); TRIGA Reactor System (TRS); Neutron Beam System (NBS); and Component Inspection System (CIS). The SNRS project is currently close to completion with the construction phase completed and the equipment installation and testing phase well underway

Grading of Parameters for Urban Tree Inventories by City Officials, Arborists, and Academics Using the Delphi Method

Tree inventories are expensive to conduct and update, so every inventory carried out must be maximized. However, increasing the number of constituent parameters increases the cost of performing and updating the inventory, illustrating the need for careful parameter selection. This paper reports the results of a systematic expert rating of tree inventories aiming to quantify the relative importance of each parameter. Using the Delphi method, panels comprising city officials, arborists and academics rated a total of 148 parameters. In order of total mean score, the top ranking parameters, which can serve as a guide for decision-making at practical level and for standardization of tree inventories, were: Scientific name of the tree species and genera, Vitality, Coordinates, Hazard class and Identification number. The study also examined whether the different responsibilities and usage of urban tree databases among organizations and people engaged in urban tree inventories affected their prioritization. The results revealed noticeable dissimilarities in the ranking of parameters between the panels, underlining the need for collaboration between the research community and those commissioning, administrating and conducting inventories. Only by applying such a transdisciplinary approach to parameter selection can urban tree inventories be strengthened and made more relevant