Production de biomasse à usage énergétique par la gestion des pineraies du Frioul

Dans la région montagneuse du Frioul, au nord-est de l'Italie, les pineraies à dominante de pin noir et pin sylvestre couvrent quelques 36 000 hectares. Le Centre national de recherche italien a mené trois essais de récolte dans ces peuplements, pour vérifier si la récupération de la biomasse à usage énergétique était intéressante. Bien que décrivant une technique non pratiquée, pour l'instant, en France, la valorisation énergétique de la biomasse est un sujet qui attire l'attention de beaucoup de propriétaires forestiers, à la recherche de nouveaux marchés pour le bois, en région méditerranéenne aussi

HDAC3 is a molecular brake of the metabolic switch supporting white adipose tissue browning.

White adipose tissue (WAT) can undergo a phenotypic switch, known as browning, in response to environmental stimuli such as cold. Post-translational modifications of histones have been shown to regulate cellular energy metabolism, but their role in white adipose tissue physiology remains incompletely understood. Here we show that histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) regulates WAT metabolism and function. Selective ablation of Hdac3 in fat switches the metabolic signature of WAT by activating a futile cycle of de novo fatty acid synthesis and β-oxidation that potentiates WAT oxidative capacity and ultimately supports browning. Specific ablation of Hdac3 in adipose tissue increases acetylation of enhancers in Pparg and Ucp1 genes, and of putative regulatory regions of the Ppara gene. Our results unveil HDAC3 as a regulator of WAT physiology, which acts as a molecular brake that inhibits fatty acid metabolism and WAT browning.Histone deacetylases, such as HDAC3, have been shown to alter cellular metabolism in various tissues. Here the authors show that HDAC3 regulates WAT metabolism by activating a futile cycle of fatty acid synthesis and oxidation, which supports WAT browning

Predicting delay factors when chipping wood at forest roadside landings

Chipping of bulky biomass assortments at roadside landings is a common and costly step in the biomass-to-energy supply chain. This operation normally involves one chipping unit and one or several transport trucks working together for simultaneous chipping and chip transport to a terminal or end user. Reducing the delay factors in these operations is a relevant ambition for lowering supply costs. A method to estimate organizational delay based on: (1) the capacity ratio between the transport and the chipper, (2) the use of buffer storage, and (3) the number of transport units involved is suggested here. Other delays will also be present, and some of these may relate to the working conditions at the landing. A method to set a landing functionality index based on characteristics of the forest landing is also suggested. A total of 14 roadside chipping operations were assessed and the operators were interviewed to address the impact of machinery configuration and landing characteristics on machine utilization. At most sites, the chipper was the more productive part, and the chipper utilization was to a large extent limited by organizational delay. Still the utilization of the transport units varied between 37 and 97%, of which some 36% of the variation was explained by the landing functionality index. Knowledge from the work presented here should be a good starting point for improving biomass supply planning and supply chain configuration.acceptedVersio

High Abundance Proteins Depletion vs Low Abundance Proteins Enrichment: Comparison of Methods to Reduce the Plasma Proteome Complexity

BACKGROUND: To date, the complexity of the plasma proteome exceeds the analytical capacity of conventional approaches to isolate lower abundance proteins that may prove to be informative biomarkers. Only complex multistep separation strategies have been able to detect a substantial number of low abundance proteins (<100 ng/ml). The first step of these protocols is generally the depletion of high abundance proteins by the use of immunoaffinity columns or, alternatively, the enrichment of by the use of solid phase hexapeptides ligand libraries. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we present a direct comparison of these two approaches. Following either approach, the plasma sample was further fractionated by SCX chromatography and analyzed by RP-LC-MS/MS with a Q-TOF mass spectrometer. The depletion of the 20 most abundant plasma proteins allowed the identification of about 25% more proteins than those detectable following low abundance proteins enrichment. The two datasets are partially overlapping and the identified proteins belong to the same order of magnitude in terms of plasma concentration. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that the two approaches give complementary results. However, the enrichment of low abundance proteins has the great advantage of obtaining much larger amount of material that can be used for further fractionations and analyses and emerges also as a cheaper and technically simpler approach. Collectively, these data indicate that the enrichment approach seems more suitable as the first stage of a complex multi-step fractionation protocol

Landing size and landing layout in whole-tree harvesting operations in New Zealand

Landings are an integral part of modern whole-tree harvesting operations in New Zealand. A representative sample of 142 landings were measured using GPS; twelve recently constructed and unused, 38 live and the remaining 92 were older and closed out. The average landing size was 3900 m2, with a range from 1370 to 12540m2. On average the number of log-sorts cut was 11, the landings in use for 4 weeks, estimated daily production was 287 m3/day, 47% were manual processing (53% mechanised), and 79% were grapple loader (21% front-end loader). A regression equation to model landing size indicates that number of log sorts and production levels are the two main factors that determine landing size. Landings do tend to ‘grow’ over time, with used landings on average being 900m2 larger than recently constructed (unused) landings. Most recently constructed landings were much larger than the company design; whereby either 40x60m or 40x80m were common specifications. A comparable study in 1987 showed the average landing to be just over 1900 m2, indicating landing size has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. Landings serviced by front-end loaders were on average 1100m2 larger than those serviced by grapple loader, but this is compounded by front-end loaders being more commonly used in high production systems

Landing size of harvesting operations in New Zealand

Landings are an integral part of modern whole-tree harvesting operations in New Zealand. A representative sample of 142 landings was measured using GPS, whereby nine were recently constructed and unused, 34 were live and the remaining 99 were older and closed out. The average landing size was 3900 m², with a range from 1370 to 12540m². On average, the number of log-sorts cut was 11, the landings were in use for 4 weeks, estimated daily production was 287 m³/day, 37% were manual processing (63% mechanised), 81% were grapple loader (19% front-end loader). A regression equation to model landing size indicates that number of log sorts and production levels are the two main driving factors. Landings do tend to ‘grow’ over time, with used landings on average being 560m² larger than live ones, which in turn were 280m² larger than recently constructed (unused) landings. Most recently constructed landings were larger than the company design; whereby either 40mx60m or 40mx80m were common specifications. A comparable study in 1987 showed the average landing to be just over 1900m², indicating landing size has nearly doubled in the last 20 years. Landings serviced by front-end loaders were slightly larger than those serviced by grapple, but this is compounded by front-end loaders being more commonly used in high production systems. Analyses of the schematic drawings for the live landings indicate that as landing size grows, there is a preference for using multiple rows to manage log inventory on the landing. Smaller landings typically prefer to stack around the edge of the landings

Logging companies in the European mountains : an example fron the Italian Alps

In a total survey of logging companies in Northern Italy, data were collected from six regions (from west to east: Piemonte, Val d\u2019Aosta, Lombardia, Trentino, Veneto, and Friuli\u2013Venezia Giulia). The total number of surveyed companies amounts to 1206. These companies have a total workforce of 3563 operators and harvest an estimated 3.3 million m3 of wood per year. The North Italian logging industry is dominated by small-scale companies, largely equipped with obsolete, tractor-based technology. Modified farm tractors, winches, and forestry trailers account for over half of the total value of the fleet, which estimated at about \u20ac130 million. Twenty percent of this capital is used for cable yarding equipment, which amounts to 350 units. One logging company out of four has both the skills and the equipment for cable yarding. Companies equipped with a yarder harvest almost twice as much wood as the other companies. Seventy companies are equipped with mechanized cut-to-length equipment. They represent 6% of the total number, but harvest about 30% of the recorded annual cut. Companies equipped with mechanized cut-to-length equipment harvest almost four times as much wood as the other companies