BACKGROUND When producing biofuels from dedicated feedstock, agronomic factors such as harvest time and location can impact the downstream production. Thus, this paper studies the effectiveness of ammonia fibre expansion (AFEX) pretreatment on two harvest times (July and October) and ecotypes/locations (Cave-in-Rock (CIR) harvested in Michigan and Alamo harvested in Alabama) for switchgrass (Pa...

The feedstock characteristics of the conversion platform will influence the optimal harvest and post harvest management practices for switchgrass. However, many of the harvest management practices are tied to plant phenology and will be similar across platforms. Proper harvest and storage of switchgrass will help provide a consistent and high-quality feedstock to the biorefinery. Bioenergyspeci...

PREFACE The process of setting waterfowl hunting regulations is conducted annually in the United States (Blohm 1989). This process involves a number of meetings where the status of waterfowl is reviewed by the agencies responsible for setting hunting regulations. In addition, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) publishes proposed regulations in the Federal Register to allow public commen...

Wine quality depends on many factors, such as the choice of variety, stock, training system, pruning as well as environmental parameters and cultivation techniques performed in the vineyard. Monitoring the micro-climate of grapevine allows to conveniently perform the most important cultivation techniques (soil management, pesticide treatments, green pruning, harvest) thus reducing the operating...

Feature selection with high-dimensional data and a very small proportion of relevant features poses a severe challenge to standard statistical methods. We have developed a new approach (HARVEST) that is straightforward to apply, albeit somewhat computer-intensive. This algorithm can be used to pre-screen a large number of features to identify those that are potentially useful. The basic idea is...

T PROTESTANT theologian Otto Dibelius made a prophetic statement when, in the title of a well-known book, he referred to the 20th century as "the century of the Church." Although treatises on the Church had appeared sporadically since the 14th century, ecclesiology had not yet assumed the central position in Catholic theology that it has enjoyed in our own century. The foundation of Theological...

Beginning with a short historical sketch, electrodynamic energy harvesters with focus on vibration generators and volumes below 1 dm are reviewed. The current challenges to generate up to several milliwatts of power from practically relevant flows and vibrations are addressed, and the variety of available solutions is sketched. Sixty-seven different harvester concepts from more than 130 publica...

The combination of a randomly fluctuating environment and dispersal of biological organisms calls into question the adequacy of traditional bioeconomic models, the vast majority of which are both deterministic and aspatial. Perhaps for this reason, economists have been largely silent on recent policy debates surrounding fisheries management in a complex environment. In particular, much of the s...