The effects of biochar as a soil amendment on soil quality and plant growth

Biochar is a stable form of recalcitrant carbon created by heating biomass in a low or no oxygen environment. When used as a soil amendment, biochar forms a dynamic substrate which provides numerous benefits, including increasing nutrient availability, increasing soil water retention, improving crop yield, and sequestering carbon for hundreds to thousands of years. However, biochar\u27s effectiveness largely depends on the biomass feedstock and the soil to which it is applied. Individual biochars made from different feedstocks perform differently against each other, and the magnitudes of their effects can be dependent on many factors within the soil. Testing different feedstocks under different soil conditions is needed in order to gain a full picture of the potential of biochar. Please click on the file below for full content of the abstract

Comparisons of obesity assessments in over-weight elementary students using anthropometry, BIA, CT and DEXA

Obesity was characterized in Korean elementary students using different obesity assessment tests on 103 overweight elementary students from three schools of Jeonbuk Province. The body mass index (BMI) and obesity index (OI) were compared, and the data using DEXA and CT were compared with the data using BIA and a tape measure. The results of this study are as follows: first, 27 students who were classified as obese by OI were classified as overweight by BMI, and 3 students who were classified as standard weight by BMI were classified as overweight by OI. Secondly, by DEXA and BIA measurements, there was 1.51% difference in body fat percentage (boys 1.66%, girls 1.17%) and the difference in body fat mass between boys and girls was 0.77 kg (boys 0.85 kg, girls 0.59 kg), but those differences in body fat percentage and mass were not statistically significant. Thirdly, the average total abdominal fat (TAF) measured by CT scans of obese children was more significantly related with subcutaneous fat (r = 0.983, P < 0.01) than visceral fat (r = 0.640, P < 0.01). Also, TAF were highest significant with waist circumference by a tape measure (r = 0.744, P < 0.01). In summary, as there are some differences of assessment results between two obesity test methods (BMI, OI), we need more definite standards to determine the degree of obesity. The BIA seems to be the most simple and effective way to measure body fat mass, whereas waist/hip ratio (WHR) using a tape measurer is considered to be the most effective method for assessing abdominal fat in elementary students

Experimental infection of chickens, ducks and quails with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus

Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses (HPAIV) of the H5N1 subtype have spread since 2003 in poultry and wild birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. In Korea, the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks took place in 2003/2004, 2006/2007 and 2008. As the 2006/2007 isolates differ phylogenetically from the 2003/2004 isolates, we assessed the clinical responses of chickens, ducks and quails to intranasal inoculation of the 2006/2007 index case virus, A/chicken/Korea/IS/06. All the chickens and quails died on 3 days and 3-6 days post-inoculation (DPI), respectively, whilst the ducks only showed signs of mild depression. The uninoculated chickens and quails placed soon after with the inoculated flock died on 5.3 and 7.5 DPI, respectively. Both oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs were taken for all three species during various time intervals after inoculation. It was found that oropharyngeal swabs showed higher viral titers than in cloacal swabs applicable to all three avian species. The chickens and quails shed the virus until they died (up to 3 to 6 days after inoculation, respectively) whilst the ducks shed the virus on 2-4 DPI. The postmortem tissues collected from the chickens and quails on day 3 and days 4-5 and from clinically normal ducks that were euthanized on day 4 contained the virus. However, the ducks had significantly lower viral titers than the chickens or quails. Thus, the three avian species varied significantly in their clinical signs, mortality, tissue virus titers, and duration of virus shedding. Our observations suggest that duck and quail farms should be monitored particularly closely for the presence of HPAIV so that further virus transmission to other avian or mammalian hosts can be prevented

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-Based Structure from Motion Technique for Precise Snow Depth Retrieval—Implication for Optimal Ground Control Point Deployment Strategy

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based snow depth is mapped as the difference between snow-on and snow-off digital surface models (DSMs), which are derived using the structure from motion (SfM) technique with ground control points (GCPs). In this study, we evaluated the impacts of the quality and deployment of GCPs on the accuracy of snow depth estimates. For 15 GCPs in our study area, we surveyed each of their coordinates using an ordinary global positioning system (GPS) and a differential GPS, producing two sets of GCP measurements (hereinafter, the low-accuracy and high-accuracy sets). The two sets of GCP measurements were then incorporated into SfM processing of UAV images by following two deployment strategies to create snow-off and snow-on DSMs and then to retrieve snow depth. In Strategy A, the same GCP measurements in each set were used to create both the snow-on and snow-off DSMs. In Strategy B, each set of GCP measurements was divided into two sub-groups, one sub-group for creating snow-on DSMs and the other sub-group for snow-off DSMs. The accuracy of snow depth estimates was evaluated in comparison to concurrent in-situ snow depth measurements. The results showed that Strategy A, using both the low-accuracy and high-accuracy sets, generated accurate snow depth estimates, while in Strategy B, only the high-accuracy set could generate reliable snow depth estimates. The results demonstrated that the deployment of GCPs had a significant influence on UAV-based SfM snow depth retrieval. When accurate GCP measurements cannot be guaranteed (e.g., in mountainous regions), Strategy A is the optimal option for producing reliable snow depth estimates. When highly accurate GCP measurements are available (e.g., collected by differential GPS in open space), both deployment strategies can produce accurate snow depth estimates

Technical report (Texas Transportation Institute)

Report on research performed on the application of instruments including accelerometers and tiltmeters to monitor bridge scour. The instrumentation on the two bridges does not show great hope of application of accelerometers to monitor bridge scour because of a lack of sufficient excitation from traffic. Tiltmeters can provide the integral behavior of the bridge, and therefore are very useful devices for scour monitoring. Guidelines and protocols for scour monitoring based on the US59 over Guadalupe River Bridge and the SH80 over San Antonio River Bridge are provided in the study