TY - JOUR TI - Intensive hunting changes human-wildlife relationships AU - Parsons, Arielle Waldstein AU - Wikelski, Martin AU - Wolff, Brigitta Keeves AU - Dodel, Jan AU - Kays, Roland T2 - PEERJ AB - Wildlife alter their behaviors in a trade-off between consuming food and fear of becoming food themselves. The risk allocation hypothesis posits that variation in the scale, intensity and longevity of predation threats can influence the magnitude of antipredator behavioral responses. Hunting by humans represents a threat thought to be perceived by wildlife similar to how they perceive a top predator, although hunting intensity and duration varys widely around the world. Here we evaluate the effects of hunting pressure on wildlife by comparing how two communities of mammals under different management schemes differ in their relative abundance and response to humans. Using camera traps to survey wildlife across disturbance levels (yards, farms, forests) in similar landscapes in southern Germany and southeastern USA, we tested the prediction of the risk allocation hypothesis: that the higher intensity and longevity of hunting in Germany (year round vs 3 months, 4x higher harvest/km2/year) would reduce relative abundance of hunted species and result in a larger fear-based response to humans (i.e., more spatial and temporal avoidance). We further evaluated how changes in animal abundance and behavior would result in potential changes to ecological impacts (i.e., herbivory and predation). We found that hunted species were relatively less abundant in Germany and less associated with humans on the landscape (i.e., yards and urban areas), but did not avoid humans temporally in hunted areas while hunted species in the USA showed the opposite pattern. These results are consistent with the risk allocation hypothesis where we would expect more spatial avoidance in response to threats of longer duration (i.e., year-round hunting in Germany vs. 3-month duration in USA) and less spatial avoidance but more temporal avoidance for threats of shorter duration. The expected ecological impacts of mammals in all three habitats were quite different between countries, most strikingly due to the decreases in the relative abundance of hunted species in Germany, particularly deer, with no proportional increase in unhunted species, resulting in American yards facing the potential for 25x more herbivory than German yards. Our results suggest that the duration and intensity of managed hunting can have strong and predictable effects on animal abundance and behavior, with the potential for corresponding changes in the ecological impacts of wildlife. Hunting can be an effective tool for reducing wildlife conflict due to overabundance but may require more intensive harvest than is seen in much of North America. DA - 2022/10/11/ PY - 2022/10/11/ DO - 10.7717/peerj.14159 VL - 10 SP - SN - 2167-8359 KW - Antipredator behavior KW - Ecological impacts KW - Europe KW - Hunting pressure KW - Landscape of fear KW - North America KW - Relative abundance KW - Risk allocation ER - TY - CONF TI - In-field soybean seed pod phenotyping on harvest stocks using 3D imaging and deep learning AU - Liu, X. AU - Xiang, L. AU - Raj, A. AU - Tang, L. T2 - 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting C2 - 2022/// C3 - 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting CY - Houston, TX DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/7/17/ ER - TY - CONF TI - Detection and characterization of maize plant architectural traits in the field using stereo vision and deep convolutional neural networks AU - Xiang, L. AU - Liu, X. AU - Raj, A. AU - Tang, L. T2 - 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting C2 - 2022/// C3 - 2022 ASABE Annual International Meeting CY - Houston, TX DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/7/17/ ER - TY - CONF TI - Robotic Field-based Plant Architectural Traits Characterization Using Stereo Vision and Deep Neural Networks AU - Xiang, L. AU - Liu, X. AU - Raj, A. AU - Yu, J. AU - Schnable, P.S. AU - Tang, L. T2 - Fourth International Workshop on Machine Learning for Cyber-Agricultural Systems (MLCAS2022) C2 - 2022/// C3 - Fourth International Workshop on Machine Learning for Cyber-Agricultural Systems (MLCAS2022) CY - Ames, IA DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/10/10/ ER - TY - JOUR TI - Characterizing soil water content variability across spatial scales from optimized high-resolution distributed temperature sensing technique AU - Shehata, Mahmoud AU - Gentine, Pierre AU - Nelson, Natalie AU - Sayde, Chadi T2 - JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY AB - Fiber-optic Distributed Temperature Sensing, when combined with the Single-probe Heat-pulse technique can measure soil moisture (θ) across spatial scales. The key limitation of this system is in obtaining the relationship between soil thermal conductivity (λ) and θ for a specific field. Using the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site, this study tested a new methodology to account for the spatial variability in the λ-θ relationship using a Gaussian processes model. The resulting accurate θ measurements (RMSE = 0.03 m3m−3) were used to characterize the spatial variability of θ across scales and to develop an empirical equation that can correct for the changes in the θ spatial variability observed at different spatial resolutions. In addition, the number of required samples to accurately characterize θ and its variability over scales ranging from 5 m and 350 m were estimated. These findings provide key information to scale soil moisture from centimeters to hundreds of meters for process understanding. DA - 2022/9// PY - 2022/9// DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128195 VL - 612 SP - SN - 1879-2707 KW - Distributed Temperature Sensing KW - Soil thermal properties KW - Soil moisture KW - Single-Probe Heat-Pulse KW - Statistical learning KW - Remote sensing ER - TY - JOUR TI - Understanding and Engineering Glycine Cleavage System and Related Metabolic Pathways for C1-Based Biosynthesis AU - Ren, Jie AU - Wang, Wei AU - Nie, Jinglei AU - Yuan, Wenqiao AU - Zeng, An-Ping T2 - ONE-CARBON FEEDSTOCKS FOR SUSTAINABLE BIOPRODUCTION AB - The glycine cleavage system (GCS) is a fundamental component of life, widely existing in microbes, plants, animals, and humans. A better understanding of the functionality and working mechanisms, and the engineering of the GCS have both scientific and practical impacts, which may lead to new knowledge and findings in life sciences, improved biomass production and human/animal health, efficient biosynthesis of chemicals, effective carbon fixation and global climate change mitigation. In this chapter, the GCS is first discussed in the context of the reductive glycine pathway (rGlyP), a recently proposed and appealing assimilation pathway of CO2 and formate, and its implementation and optimization in microorganisms for formatotrophic growth. Then, the present knowledge about the components, reactions, and working mechanisms of the GCS and related enzymes is reviewed. Particular emphasis is also placed on the conformational and structural features of the GCS proteins, especially the different forms of lipoylated H protein and its lipoylation by lipoate protein ligase (LplA). Subsequently, existing analytic methods for the components and reactions of the GCS and recent advances in quantitatively understanding and purposefully engineering the GCS are presented. Finally, perspectives of current state of the art in the GCS research are given and future research needs are highlighted. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.1007/10_2021_186 VL - 180 SP - 273-298 SN - 1616-8542 KW - Aminomethyl-transferase KW - C1 assimilation KW - Dihydrolipoyl dehydrogenase KW - Glycine cleavage system KW - Glycine decarboxylase KW - H protein KW - L protein KW - P protein KW - Reductive glycine pathway KW - T protein ER - TY - SOUND TI - Data-Driven Decisions for Food and Energy AU - Jones, Daniela AB - You might not realize sweet potatoes come in all sorts of cool shapes and sizes. So why when you go to the grocery store, do they look all alike? Did you know how much power there is in corn? Computer programming, food and farmers actually have a lot in common. Daniela Sofia Jones, Ph.D., shares how agriculture data analytics is our best path to more efficient, sustainable, and resilient farms, the farms of the future. DA - 2022/8/11/ PY - 2022/8/11/ DO - 10.52750/564142 VL - 8 PB - North Carolina State University UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.52750/564142 ER - TY - JOUR TI - EVALUATING THE OCCURRENCE AND RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF MOSQUITOES IN RAINWATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS AU - Gee, Kathy DeBusk AU - Dobyns, Kaitlyn AU - Gage, Kyrsten AU - Woodward, Mitch AU - Hunt, William AU - Kennedy, Shawn AU - Lehr, David T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ASABE AB - Highlights Rainwater harvesting systems can harbor mosquitoes and their larvae. Approximately half of sampled systems were found to contain mosquito larvae. Mosquitoes were more abundant in systems with unscreened openings and multiple inlet filters. Frequent maintenance and eliminating unscreened openings minimize mosquito presence. Abstract. Mosquitoes are associated with the spread of diseases such as the Zika and West Nile viruses. Government and health officials recommend the elimination of standing water to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes that transmit these viruses. Previous research has shown that rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems in high-rainfall regions tend to be underutilized, thereby creating a source of standing water that could potentially harbor mosquitoes and their larvae. As RWH is an important tool for conserving potable water and mitigating stormwater runoff, it is imperative to determine if these systems are contributing to the proliferation of mosquitoes and, if they are, to identify measures to prevent this. The prevalence and relative abundance of mosquitoes were investigated in 64 RWH cisterns throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Mosquito larvae captured during sampling were identified morphologically to genus and species. Of the 64 systems sampled, 47% contained mosquitoes; the predominant species found was Aedes albopictus, a potential carrier of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, LaCrosse Encephalitis, West Nile virus, and Zika virus. Systems with multiple inlet filters, unscreened storage tank openings, and/or heavy foliage in the immediate vicinity were most likely to contain mosquito larvae. Study results indicate that frequent maintenance, the elimination of unscreened tank openings, and the eradication of sources of standing water in the area surrounding a system greatly reduce the likelihood of mosquitoes proliferating in rainwater harvesting systems. Keywords: Container breeding, Mosquito, Mosquito larvae, Rainwater harvesting. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/ja.15189 VL - 65 IS - 6 SP - 1475-1487 SN - 2769-3287 KW - Container breeding KW - Mosquito KW - Mosquito larvae KW - Rainwater harvesting ER - TY - JOUR TI - GUIDANCE ON APPLIED PRESSURE HEADS FOR QUANTIFYING COHESIVE SOIL ERODIBILITY WITH A JET EROSION TEST (JET) AU - Fox, Garey A. AU - Guertault, Lucie AU - Castro-Bolinaga, Celso AU - Swanson, Alexis T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ASABE AB - Highlights Jet erosion test (JET) is a commonly used instrument for quantifying soil erodibility. Uncertainty remains on an appropriate applied pressure head to ensure high-quality JET data. Numerical analysis was used to derive minimum and maximum heads for four soil classifications. Ideal applied pressure heads depend on soil erodibility parameters and user-selected JET characteristics. Abstract . The Jet Erosion Test (JET) is one of the few instruments available for measuring cohesive soil erodibility in situ, but uncertainty remains regarding an appropriate initial applied pressure head for the test. Users typically iterate on an initial applied pressure head setting when testing soil. This iteration is necessary to ensure a reasonable erosion rate and the total amount of scour while imposing applied shear stresses that match the expected application range when using JET-derived erodibility parameters. This research used a numerical analysis of simulated JETs to determine both minimum and maximum applied pressure heads, ensuring a logistically appropriate estimation of soil erodibility parameters. First, the minimum head was set to generate at least 25 mm of scour, established based on data from previous in situ JETs. Second, the maximum applied pressure head was set to ensure that no excessively large initial applied shear stress impacted the estimation of erodibility parameters from a linear regression on erosion rates. Analyses were conducted for four selected soil erodibility classes: highly erodible, more erodible, erodible, and moderately resistant soils. Curves showing the ideal applied pressure ranges were generated for initial time intervals of scour depth measurements of 60, 90, 120, 180, 240, and 360 s and dimensionless initial nozzle heights of 1.00, 1.25, and 1.50. The appropriate range in the applied pressure head depended not only on the soil erodibility classes but also on the initial time interval for scour depth measurements, total test duration, and dimensionless initial nozzle height above the soil surface. Users should ensure that a minimum applied pressure head is exceeded for resistant soils. Maximum applied pressure heads should be considered for erodible, more erodible, and highly erodible soils, dependent on the initial time interval for scour depth measurements and dimensionless initial nozzle heights. Wider ranges of acceptable applied pressure heads were observed with smaller initial time intervals. The procedure presented in this research can be readily adapted by JET users to reflect specific testing conditions (e.g., different data collection intervals and test durations) for ensuring the a priori use of effective pressure head settings. Keywords: Cohesive soils, Erodibility, Jet erosion test, Pressure head, Soil erodibility. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/ja.14884 VL - 65 IS - 6 SP - 1443-1450 SN - 2769-3287 KW - Cohesive soils KW - Erodibility KW - Jet erosion test KW - Pressure head KW - Soil erodibility ER - TY - JOUR TI - Hyperspectral imaging with chemometrics for non-destructive determination of cannabinoids in floral and leaf materials of industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) AU - Lu, Yuzhen AU - Li, Xu AU - Young, Sierra AU - Li, Xin AU - Linder, Eric AU - Suchoff, David T2 - COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE AB - With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has become a legal and economically promising crop commodity for U.S. farmers. There has been a surge of interest in growing industrial hemp for producing cannabinoids, such as cannabidiol (CBD), because of their medical potential. Quantitative determination of cannabinoids in harvested materials (primarily floral tissues) is critical for cannabinoid production and compliance testing. The concentrations of cannabinoids in hemp materials are conventionally determined using wet-chemistry chromatographic methods, which require destructive sampling, and are time-consuming, costly, and thus not suitable for on-site rapid testing. This study presents a novel effort to utilize hyperspectral imaging technology for non-destructive quantification of major cannabinoids, including CBD, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), CBG (cannabigerol) and their acid forms in fresh floral and leaf materials of industrial hemp on a dry weight basis. Hyperspectral images in the wavelength range of 400–1000 nm were acquired from floral and leaf tissues immediately after harvest from a total of 100 industrial hemp plants of five cultivars at varied growth stages. Linear discriminant analysis showed hyperspectral imaging could identify CBD-rich/poor and THC-legal/illegal flower samples with accuracies of 99% and 97%, respectively. Quantitative models based on full-spectrum PLS (partial least squares) achieved prediction accuracies of RPD (ratio of prediction to deviation) = 2.5 (corresponding R2 = 0.84) for CBD and THC in floral tissues. Similar accuracies were obtained for their acid forms in flower samples. The predictions for CBG and its acid form in floral tissues and all six cannabinoids in leaf tissues were unsatisfactory with noticeably lower RPD values. Consistently improved accuracies were obtained by parsimonious PLS models based on a wavelength selection procedure for minimized variable collinearity. The best RPD values of approximately 2.6 (corresponding R2 = 0.85) were obtained for CBD and THC in floral materials. This study demonstrates the utility of hyperspectral imaging as a potential valuable tool for rapid quantification of cannabinoids in industrial hemp. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.107387 VL - 202 SP - SN - 1872-7107 KW - Imaging spectroscopy KW - Cannabis KW - Cannabinoids KW - Quantification KW - Wavelength selection ER - TY - JOUR TI - ADDRESSING NUTRIENT IMBALANCES IN ANIMAL AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS AU - Sharara, Mahmoud AU - Kolesch, Richard K. AU - Cortus, Erin L. AU - Larson, Rebecca A. AU - Classen, John J. AU - Janni, Kevin A. T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ASABE AB - Highlights Animal agriculture intensification has greatly affected nutrient cycling and circularity in food production systems. Various nutrient balance methods are developed to improve nutrient management at various spatial scales. Balance-derived thresholds for action are identified using real-life examples in dairy production. Outreach and knowledge exchange are critical for development, adoption, and improvement of nutrient balance methods. Abstract . Animal agriculture is a major consumer and generator of both macro- and micronutrients. Intensification and regional concentration of animal production, due to economic and logistical advantages, have altered nutrient fluxes in agriculture systems, causing increased stock of nutrients in soils and, consequently, their emission to air and transport to surface water and groundwater. Established nutrient and manure planning frameworks, while effective in addressing nutrient point sources and using manure to enhance fertility and soil quality, have not been wholly successful in addressing farm- and region-scale challenges with nutrient concentrations. This review article addresses nutrient management issues associated with modern animal agriculture by advancing the use of nutrient budgets and balances. This is accomplished by establishing core concepts for nutrient budgets and balances as they apply to animal agriculture. Relevant spatial scales for these budgets are reviewed, including field, whole-farm, and watershed scales, along with proposed methodologies and data sources for each. This study also identifies existing region- and commodity-specific metrics (when available) for use as thresholds for corrective action toward more balanced nutrient budgets. Finally, recommendations for the community of practitioners, researchers, and educators are provided to address nutrient imbalance in animal agriculture systems. At farm and region scale, nutrient balance investments will be needed to strengthen accounting methodologies, develop appropriate data sources for measurements, identify thresholds for action, and apply the methods in appropriate settings and decisions. Data availability and uncertainty are recognized as key limitations facing wider adoption of these concepts, particularly considering data ownership and privacy concerns. The lack of transparent datasets that capture current animal production practices and their impact on manure composition and nutrient cycling is a gap facing these methodologies. The lack of engagement by practitioners and producers in the development phase of such tools greatly affects their adoption and utility. The need for continued engagement in establishing accepted methodologies, training, data collection, and education are crucial to establish farm- and region-scale methods and measure their value to nutrient planning over time. Keywords: Farm scale, Livestock, Manure nutrients, Nutrient budget, Poultry, Regional scale. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/ja.14661 VL - 65 IS - 2 SP - 235-249 SN - 2769-3287 KW - Farm scale KW - Livestock KW - Manure nutrients KW - Nutrient budget KW - Poultry KW - Regional scale ER - TY - JOUR TI - SIMULTANEOUS REDUCTION OF THERMAL STRATIFICATION AND AMMONIA CONCENTRATIONS IN POULTRY HOUSE DURING BROODING AND IN COOL WEATHER AU - Shah, Sanjay B. AU - Earnest, Kathleen AU - Oviedo-Rondon, Edgar O. AU - Kolar, Praveen AU - Singletary, Isaac T2 - APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE AB - Highlights Pen-scale system eliminated thermal stratification while full-scale system reduced thermal stratification Pen-scale system was moderately effective in trapping ammonia and reduced pen ammonia concentrations modestly Ammonia trapping performance was mainly affected by dust build-up Dust build-up was partly mitigated by a shaker Citric acid coated burlap placed upstream of livestock barn exhaust fans may reduce ammonia and dust emissions Abstract. High ammonia (NH 3 ) concentrations during poultry brooding can reduce bird performance and welfare. Thermal stratification during brooding can increase energy use and reduce bird welfare. A proof-of-concept heat recovery and NH 3 control (HRAC) system consisting of a low-cost NH 3 filter consisting of citric acid treated burlap placed upstream of a fan was evaluated for its ability to reduce barn NH 3 concentration and thermal stratification. In the lab, 5% citric acid on burlap trapped 13 times more NH 3 per unit mass of sorbent than activated carbon reported in the literature. Pen-scale and barn-scale HRAC prototypes using 15% citric acid on burlap eliminated and greatly reduced thermal stratification, respectively. The pen-scale HRAC had significant NH 3 removal efficiencies ranging from the 17% to 42% in seven of nine events and compared, to the Control pens (no HRAC), significantly reduced floor [NH 3 ] in two of nine events by 26% and 42%. The pen-scale HRAC also reduced footpad dermatitis at 15 d. Performance of the full-scale HRAC was highly variable. Clogging of the filter with particulate matter reduced airflow rates that was partially mitigated using a shaker. A vertical HRAC with a shaker might improve performance. There is need to investigate the effectiveness of 5% citric acid. The citric acid-treated burlap screen placed upstream of barn exhaust fans could reduce dust and NH 3 emissions. Keywords: Breakthrough curve, Burlap, Citric acid, Emissions, Energy use, Footpad dermatitis. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/aea.14862 VL - 38 IS - 2 SP - 375-386 SN - 1943-7838 KW - Breakthrough curve KW - Burlap KW - Citric acid KW - Emissions KW - Energy use KW - Footpad dermatitis ER - TY - JOUR TI - EVAPORATIVE PAD COOLING IMPACTS ON BARN ENVIRONMENT AND FINISHING PIG PERFORMANCE AU - Wiegert, Jeffery AU - Knauer, Mark AU - Shah, Sanjay B. T2 - APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE AB - Highlights First study to evaluate evaporative cool cell pad impacts on finishing pig performance in commercial barns The cool cell pad reduced air temperature from 31.5°C by 3.9°C with a cooling efficiency of 52% Cool cell pads improved pig well-being by providing more cooling than sprinklers but pig performance was unaffected Tunnel ventilation (cool cells or sprinklers) improved daily weight gain over natural ventilation with sprinklers Abstract. Since heat stress reduces pig growth, cooling is required to optimize barn environment to maintain performance of modern lean-type swine. Hence, summertime barn environment and finisher pig performance were compared between tunnel ventilated barns with sprinklers (TUNNEL; n=3) and tunnel ventilated barns with evaporative cool cell pads (COOLCELL; n=2). Pig performance was also measured in naturally-ventilated barns with sprinklers and mixing fans (NATURAL; n=4). Evaporative cool cell pad performance was also quantified. Barns with identical dimensions and fully slatted flooring were located at the same commercial production site in eastern North Carolina and were monitored from 2014 to 2016. Barn temperature, relative humidity (RH), temperature-humidity index (THI), and thermal images to assess pig temperature were compared between the COOLCELL and TUNNEL treatments. Average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), pig survival, culls, and medication costs were compared across all three barn types and seasons (SUMMER vs. NON-SUMMER) on 72 batches of pigs (46,459 total pigs). Between 12 noon and 1 p.m., the evaporative cool cell pads reduced temperature by 3.9°C and had a cooling efficiency of 52%. COOLCELL barn temperature and THI were significantly lower and RH was significantly higher than TUNNEL. There were no significant differences in pig performance or pig temperature between TUNNEL and COOLCELL. Pig ADG was significantly higher in TUNNEL and COOLCELL vs. NATURAL. SUMMER FCR and medication cost were significantly improved vs. NON-SUMMER. Despite lack of treatment effect on pig performance, COOLCELL improved thermal comfort vs. TUNNEL. Keywords: Growth, Heat stress, Pig, Temperature-humidity-index. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/aea.14810 VL - 38 IS - 2 SP - 351-359 SN - 1943-7838 KW - Growth KW - Heat stress KW - Pig KW - Temperature-humidity-index ER - TY - JOUR TI - COUPLING CIRCULARITY WITH CARBON NEGATIVITY IN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SYSTEMS AU - Lower, Lillian AU - Cunniffe, Julia AU - Cheng, Jay J. AU - Sagues, William Joe T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ASABE AB - Highlights Many technologies required for circularity have the added benefit of carbon negativity. Precision agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, and biorefining couple circularity with carbon negativity. Stakeholders from many disciplines are needed to successfully couple circularity with carbon negativity. Abstract. Achieving a circular economy is critical for a sustainable future, particularly in sectors that currently produce resource-intensive products in a linear fashion, such as food and agriculture. At the same time, technologies that remove atmospheric CO2, often referred to as carbon dioxide removal (CDR) or carbon negativity, must be developed and deployed rapidly if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Circularity and CDR are often assessed and discussed independently, even though they are highly intertwined. Innovations to food and agriculture systems are essential to achieving a circular economy and enabling rapid deployment of CDR technologies. We explore critical areas of technology that must undergo rapid innovation (upstream and downstream) to food processing and consumption, namely precision and regenerative agriculture and biorefining, respectively. If implemented at scale, these two areas of technology have the potential to couple circularity with carbon negativity in food production systems. Keywords: Biorefining, Carbon dioxide removal, Circularity, Food and agriculture systems, Precision agriculture, Soil carbon sequestration. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/ja.14908 VL - 65 IS - 4 SP - 849-864 SN - 2769-3287 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Assessing the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework toolbox in a Southern Piedmont landscape of the United States AU - Respess, Z. M. AU - Austin, R. AU - Gatiboni, L. AU - Osmond, D. T2 - JOURNAL OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION AB - The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) is a geospatial decision support tool that was developed and is used in many areas of the Midwest of the United States to help with the prioritization and placement of conservation practices within agricultural watersheds. We evaluated the utility and extensibility of ACPF in two US Geological Survey 12-digit scale hydrologic units in the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina. The Southern Piedmont consists of less row crop agriculture and more pasture systems than the Midwest and has generally lower pollutant loads. Also, agricultural fields are comparatively smaller, irregularly shaped, and more sparsely distributed. For this study, local conservation experts were interviewed about conservation practices and their appropriate locations in the landscape. Interviewees demonstrated an extensive working knowledge of the land and producers on over 90% of the farmland. Many of the conservation practices identified by the local experts were “soil health” practices, such as cover crops or nutrient management, and are assumed in use before running ACPF. Results revealed that many of the conservation practices output by ACPF were not identified by the local experts in the Southern Piedmont watersheds due to their limited use in pasture conservation, conservation priorities, and landscape characteristics. Row crop agriculture was sparsely distributed in each study watershed and comprised less than 2% of the total catchment area. Contour buffer strips and grassed waterways were the conservation practices most identified by ACPF and were sited in 75% of cropped fields. A greater number of crop-related conservation practices (48 versus 15) were identified by ACPF than by local experts; however 80% of the conservation practices identified by the experts were outside the scope of ACPF and were mainly nutrient management or soil health practices. To evaluate ACPF for broader utility in the Southern Piedmont, alternative interpretations for existing outputs were considered: (1) ACPF “proxies” were identified to compare locally accepted practices with ACPF outputs that perform a similar function (e.g., strip cropping rather than contour buffer strips) and, (2) placing locally used conservation practices (e.g., exclusion fencing) based on existing ACPF data layers (hydrologically enforced flow paths). Alternative uses and interpretations surrounding ACPF outputs and data layers may provide opportunities for conservation planning outside the scope and intended use of ACPF in the Southern Piedmont. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.2489/jswc.2022.00138 VL - 77 IS - 5 SP - 441-449 SN - 1941-3300 KW - Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework KW - conservation practices KW - geographic information systems KW - Southern Piedmont ER - TY - JOUR TI - A spreadsheet for determining critical soil test values using the modified arcsine-log calibration curve AU - Bolster, Carl H. AU - Correndo, Adrian A. AU - Pearce, Austin W. AU - Spargo, John T. AU - Slaton, Nathan A. AU - Osmond, Deanna L. T2 - SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL AB - Abstract Soil test correlation data are often used to identify a critical soil test value (CSTV), above which crop response to added fertilizer is not expected. Oftentimes, models are used to determine the CSTV from soil test correlation data, yet most commonly used models have inherent assumptions that may not be valid for these data. The arcsine‐log calibration curve (ALCC) was developed in response to the statistical limitations of other commonly used models. A modified ALCC model using standardized major axis regression further improves this model's applicability to soil test correlation data. Here, we describe a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for calculating CSTV from soil test correlation data using the modified ALCC model. The spreadsheet is available for download providing an accessible and easy‐to‐use tool for those who would like to use this method but who lack the experience with more sophisticated coding programs. The spreadsheet is available for download at http://www.ars.usda.gov/ALCC . DA - 2022/12/8/ PY - 2022/12/8/ DO - 10.1002/saj2.20498 VL - 12 SP - SN - 1435-0661 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Monitoring small mammal abundance using NEON data: are calibrated indices useful? AU - Parsons, Arielle W. AU - Clark, James S. AU - Kays, Roland T2 - JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY AB - Abstract Small mammals are important to the functioning of ecological communities with changes to their abundances used to track impacts of environmental change. While capture–recapture estimates of absolute abundance are preferred, indices of abundance continue to be used in cases of limited sampling, rare species with little data, or unmarked individuals. Improvement to indices can be achieved by calibrating them to absolute abundance but their reliability across years, sites, or species is unclear. To evaluate this, we used the US National Ecological Observatory Network capture–recapture data for 63 small mammal species over 46 sites from 2013 to 2019. We generated 17,155 absolute abundance estimates using capture–recapture analyses and compared these to two standard abundance indices, and three types of calibrated indices. We found that neither raw abundance indices nor index calibrations were reliable approximations of absolute abundance, with raw indices less correlated with absolute abundance than index calibrations (raw indices overall R2 &lt; 0.5, index calibration overall R2 &gt; 0.6). Performance of indices and index calibrations varied by species, with those having higher and less variable capture probabilities performing best. We conclude that indices and index calibration methods should be used with caution with a count of individuals being the best index to use, especially if it can be calibrated with capture probability. None of the indices we tested should be used for comparing different species due to high variation in capture probabilities. Hierarchical models that allow for sharing of capture probabilities over species or plots (i.e., joint-likelihood models) may offer a better solution to mitigate the cost and effort of large-scale small mammal sampling while still providing robust estimates of abundance. DA - 2022/11/25/ PY - 2022/11/25/ DO - 10.1093/jmammal/gyac096 SP - SN - 1545-1542 KW - abundance KW - abundance indices KW - Bayesian KW - capture KW - recapture KW - NEON KW - small mammal ER - TY - JOUR TI - Multistatic fiber-based system for measuring the Mueller matrix bidirectional reflectance distribution function AU - Scarboro, Clifton G. AU - Doherty, Colleen J. AU - Balint-Kurti, Peter J. AU - Kudenov, Michael W. T2 - APPLIED OPTICS AB - Bidirectionality effects can be a significant confounding factor when measuring hyperspectral reflectance data. The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) can effectively characterize the reflectivity of surfaces to correct remote sensing measurements. However, measuring BRDFs can be time-consuming, especially when collecting Mueller matrix BRDF (mmBRDF) measurements of a surface via conventional goniometric techniques. In this paper, we present a system for collecting mmBRDF measurements using static optical fiber detectors that sample the hemisphere surrounding an object. The entrance to each fiber contains a polarization state analyzer configuration, allowing for the simultaneous acquisition of the Stokes vector intensity components at many altitudinal and azimuthal viewing positions. We describe the setup, calibration, and data processing used for this system and present its performance as applied to mmBRDF measurements of a ground glass diffuser. DA - 2022/11/20/ PY - 2022/11/20/ DO - 10.1364/AO.470608 VL - 61 IS - 33 SP - 9832-9842 SN - 2155-3165 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Elucidating Plant-Microbe-Environment Interactions Through Omics-Enabled Metabolic Modelling Using Synthetic Communities AU - Beck, Ashley E. AU - Kleiner, Manuel AU - Garrell, Anna-Katharina T2 - FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE AB - With a growing world population and increasing frequency of climate disturbance events, we are in dire need of methods to improve plant productivity, resilience, and resistance to both abiotic and biotic stressors, both for agriculture and conservation efforts. Microorganisms play an essential role in supporting plant growth, environmental response, and susceptibility to disease. However, understanding the specific mechanisms by which microbes interact with each other and with plants to influence plant phenotypes is a major challenge due to the complexity of natural communities, simultaneous competition and cooperation effects, signalling interactions, and environmental impacts. Synthetic communities are a major asset in reducing the complexity of these systems by simplifying to dominant components and isolating specific variables for controlled experiments, yet there still remains a large gap in our understanding of plant microbiome interactions. This perspectives article presents a brief review discussing ways in which metabolic modelling can be used in combination with synthetic communities to continue progress toward understanding the complexity of plant-microbe-environment interactions. We highlight the utility of metabolic models as applied to a community setting, identify different applications for both flux balance and elementary flux mode simulation approaches, emphasize the importance of ecological theory in guiding data interpretation, and provide ideas for how the integration of metabolic modelling techniques with big data may bridge the gap between simplified synthetic communities and the complexity of natural plant-microbe systems. DA - 2022/6/20/ PY - 2022/6/20/ DO - 10.3389/fpls.2022.910377 VL - 13 SP - SN - 1664-462X KW - synthetic communities KW - plant microbiome KW - plant microbial interactions KW - metabolic modelling KW - flux balance analysis KW - elementary flux mode analysis ER - TY - JOUR TI - High-frequency sensor data capture short-term variability in Fe and Mn cycling due to hypolimnetic oxygenation and seasonal dynamics in a drinking water reservoir AU - Hammond, Nicholas AU - Birgand, François AU - Carey, Cayelan C AU - Bookout, Bethany AU - Breef-Pilz, Adrienne AU - Schreiber, Madeline AB - The biogeochemical cycles of iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) in lakes and reservoirs have predictable seasonal trends, largely governed by stratification dynamics and redox conditions in the hypolimnion. However, short-term (i.e., sub-weekly) trends in Fe and Mn cycling are less well-understood, as most monitoring efforts focus on longer-term (i.e., monthly to yearly) time scales. The potential for elevated Fe and Mn to degrade water quality and impact ecosystem functioning, coupled with increasing evidence for high spatiotemporal variability in other biogeochemical cycles, necessitates a closer evaluation of the short-term Fe and Mn cycling dynamics in lakes and reservoirs. We adapted a UV-visible spectrophotometer coupled with a multiplexor pumping system and PLSR modeling to generate high spatiotemporal resolution predictions of Fe and Mn concentrations in a drinking water reservoir (Falling Creek Reservoir, Vinton, VA, USA) equipped with a hypolimnetic oxygenation (HOx) system. We quantified hourly Fe and Mn concentrations during two distinct transitional periods: reservoir turnover (Fall 2020) and initiation of the HOx system (Summer 2021). Our sensor system was able to successfully predict mean Fe and Mn concentrations as well as capture sub-weekly variability, ground-truthed by traditional grab sampling and laboratory analysis. During fall turnover, hypolimnetic Fe and Mn concentrations began to decrease more than two weeks before complete mixing of the reservoir occurred, with rapid equalization of epilimnetic and hypolimnetic Fe and Mn concentrations in less than 48 hours after full water column mixing. During the initiation of hypolimnetic oxygenation in Summer 2021, we observed that Fe and Mn were similarly affected by physical mixing in the hypolimnion, but displayed distinctly different responses to oxygenation, as indicated by the rapid oxidation of soluble Fe but not soluble Mn. This study demonstrates that Fe and Mn concentrations are highly sensitive to shifting DO and stratification and that their dynamics can substantially change on hourly to daily time scales in response to these transitions. DA - 2022/11/28/ PY - 2022/11/28/ DO - 10.1002/essoar.10512927.1 UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10512927.1 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Performance of a Thermodynamic Model for Predicting Inorganic Aerosols in the Southeastern U.S. AU - Cheng, Bin AU - Wang-Li, Lingjuan AU - Classen, John AU - Bloomfield, Peter T2 - Atmosphere AB - Fine particulate matter (i.e., PM2.5) has gained intensive attention due to its adverse health and visibility degradation effects. As a significant fraction of atmospheric PM2.5, secondary inorganic PM2.5 may be formed through the gas-phase ammonia (NH3) and particle-phase ammonium (NH4+) partitioning. While partitioning of NH3-NH4+ may be simulated using a thermodynamic equilibrium model, disagreement between model predictions and measurements have been realized. In addition, the applicability of the model under different conditions has not been well studied. This research aims to investigate the applicability of a thermodynamic equilibrium model, ISORROPIA II, under different atmospheric conditions and geographic locations. Based upon the field measurements at the Southeastern Aerosol Research and Characterization (SEARCH) network, the performance of ISORROPIA II was assessed under different temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), and model setups in urban and rural locations. The impact of organic aerosol (OA) on the partitioning of NH3-NH4+ was also evaluated. Results of this research indicate that the inclusion of non-volatile cations (NVCs) in the model input is necessary to improve the model performance. Under high T (>10 °C) and low RH (<60%) conditions, ISORROPIA II tends to overpredict nitric acid (HNO3) concentration and underpredict nitrate (NO3−) concentration. The predominance of one phase of semi-volatile compound leads to low accuracy in the model prediction of the other phase. The model with stable and metastable setups may also perform differently under different T-RH conditions. Metastable model setup might perform better under high T (>10 °C) and low RH (<60%) conditions, while stable model setup might perform better under low T (<5 °C) conditions. Both model setups have consistent performance when RH is greater than 83%. Future studies using ISORROPIA II for the prediction of NH3-NH4+ partitioning should consider the inclusion of NVCs, the under/over prediction of NO3−/HNO3, the selection of stable/metastable model setups under different T-RH conditions, and spatiotemporal variations of inorganic PM2.5 chemical compositions. DA - 2022/11/26/ PY - 2022/11/26/ DO - 10.3390/atmos13121977 VL - 13 IS - 12 SP - 1977 J2 - Atmosphere LA - en OP - SN - 2073-4433 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos13121977 DB - Crossref KW - gas-particle partitioning KW - inorganic PM2.5 KW - thermodynamic equilibrium ER - TY - JOUR TI - Fine scale hydrologic modelling of bioretention using DRAINMOD-urban: Verifying performance across multiple systems AU - Diab, G. AU - Hathaway, J. M. AU - Lisenbee, W. A. AU - Brown, R. A. AU - Hunt, W. F. T2 - JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY AB - Urbanization causes fundamental shifts in hydrologic partitioning within watersheds, leading to excess runoff being quickly routed to nearby conveyances. This leads to a host of concerns, from flooding to water quality impairments. To combat these effects, bioretention systems are implemented to restore more natural hydrology in the urban environment. To better understand and predict the effectiveness of these interventions, there is a need for reliable hydrology models to assess the performance of bioretention cells prior to installation. DRAINMOD-Urban was recently developed to produce hydrographs with a high temporal resolution, showing substantial promise during initial testing. Unfortunately, the dataset originally used for testing was limited, having minimal occasions of overflow and only consisting of one bioretention location. To achieve a more robust analysis of the model, DRAINMOD-Urban was evaluated using two years of monitoring data for four bioretention cells in North Carolina. The modeled bioretention cells had variable media depths, surface storage volumes, site conditions, and propensity for overflow. DRAINMOD-Urban model parameters were calibrated for a Nash-Sutcliff efficiency (NSE) from 0.14 to 0.60 for drainage and from 0.49 to 0.89 for overflow across the sites using six months of monitoring data. Model validation confirmed these results, producing drainage and overflow hydrographs with accurate timing, duration, and a range of NSEs from 0.19 to 0.60 and from 0.49 to 0.81, respectively, across the four sites. Model performance varied across sites; high drainage and overflow rates are well predicted compared to extended low rates caused by clogging issues or small storms. This study highlights the potential of DRAINMOD-Urban in modeling bioretention hydrology at a fine temporal scale under varying design configurations. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128571 VL - 614 SP - SN - 1879-2707 KW - Bioretention KW - DRAINMOD KW - Green infrastructure KW - Hydrology KW - Modeling ER - TY - JOUR TI - Impact of Macronutrient Fertility on Mineral Uptake and Growth of Lactuca sativa 'Salanova Green' in a Hydroponic System AU - Veazie, Patrick AU - Pandey, Piyush AU - Young, Sierra AU - Ballance, M. Seth AU - Hicks, Kristin AU - Whipker, Brian T2 - HORTICULTURAE AB - Lactuca sativa (commonly referred to as lettuce) is one of the most popular grown hydroponic crops. While other fertilizer rate work has been conducted on lettuce, the impact of each element has not been evaluated independently or by determining adequate foliar tissue concentrations when all nutrients are plant-available. This study explores the impact that macronutrients have on the growth and yield of lettuce at different stages of the production cycle. Additionally, this study explores the adequate nutrient rates by regressing nutrient curves to find the concentration of each element that corresponds to optimal growth. Plants were grown under varying macronutrient concentrations (0, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 100%) utilizing the concentrations of a modified Hoagland’s solution based on 150 mg·L−1 N. Lettuce plants were grown in a silica sand culture and received a nutrient solution in which a single element was altered. Visual symptomology was documented, and leaf tissue mineral nutrient concentrations and biomass were measured at Weeks 3, 6, and 8 after transplant. Optimal elemental leaf tissue concentration and biomass varied by macronutrient rates and weeks of growth. Nitrogen rate produced a linear increase in total plant dry weight, but foliar N followed a quadratic plateau pattern. Other elements, such as phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium, produced distinct total plant dry weight plateaus despite increasing fertility concentrations. These results demonstrate that fertility recommendation can be lowered for nutrients where higher rates do not result in higher plant biomass or foliar nutrient concentrations. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.3390/horticulturae8111075 VL - 8 IS - 11 SP - SN - 2311-7524 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8111075 KW - lettuce KW - nutrient rates KW - fertility KW - nitrogen KW - phosphorus KW - potassium KW - calcium KW - magnesium KW - sulfur ER - TY - JOUR TI - Patterns of long-term variations of nitrate concentration - Stream discharge relationships for a drained agricultural watershed in Mid-western USA AU - Liu, Wenlong AU - Tian, Shiying AU - Youssef, Mohamed A. AU - Birgand, Francois P. AU - Chescheir, George M. T2 - JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY AB - Nitrate Concentration–discharge (C-Q) relationships have been used to infer nitrate sources, storage, reactions, and transport in watersheds, and to reveal key processes that control runoff chemistry. Yet, studies on long-term nitrate C-Q relationships are limited due to scarce high frequency (e.g., daily) concentration data. In this paper, using a long-term high-frequency dataset (1976–2019) comprising stream flow and nitrate concentrations, we quantitatively analyzed the long-term variations of event-scale hysteresis patterns (quantified by hysteresis index, HI, and flushing index, FI) to infer the leaching mechanisms of nitrate in an artificially drained agricultural watershed in Mid-western U.S. Our results revealed that most events exhibited anti-clockwise behaviors (HI < 0), regardless of whether nitrate was flushed or diluted during events. This means that water with high levels of nitrate-N reaches the stream network slower than water with lower nitrate concentrations. Long-term mean FI was close to zero but had strong seasonal patterns with dilution patterns observed during Winter and Summer, and flushing patterns during late Spring and Fall. The consistently negative HI values regardless of the FI value gave a strong indication of the preponderant role of the near-drain zone that usually exhibits accelerated leaching and less accumulation of nitrate in the soil profile in these drained agricultural watersheds. Both HI and FI depicted strong but opposite seasonality because of weather patterns and agricultural activities, particularly N fertilization. Overall, our findings suggest a little evidence of the role of deep groundwater and instead a strong evidence of the role of subsurface drainage as the primary pathway for nitrate transport in drained agricultural watersheds. Therefore, artificial drainage could dampen N legacy caused by the historically intensive N fertilization in drained agricultural landscapes. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128479 VL - 614 SP - SN - 1879-2707 KW - Storm hysteresis KW - Nitrogen legacy KW - Agricultural drainage KW - Non-point source pollution KW - Drainage water quality KW - Surface water quality ER - TY - JOUR TI - Effect of Surface Modification by Oxygen-Enriched Chemicals on the Surface Properties of Pine Bark Biochars AU - Kasera, Nitesh AU - Augoustides, Victoria AU - Kolar, Praveen AU - Hall, Steven G. AU - Vicente, Billie T2 - PROCESSES AB - Sustainable waste utilization techniques are needed to combat the environmental and economic challenges faced worldwide due to the rising population. Biochars, due to their unique surface properties, offer opportunities to modify their surface to prepare application-specific materials. The aim of this research is to study the effects of biochar surface modification by oxidizing chemicals on biochar properties. Pine bark biochar was modified with sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, ozone, and ammonium persulfate. The resulting biochars’ pH, pH at the point of zero charges, and concentration of acidic and basic sites were determined using laboratory experimentation. Instrumental techniques, such as infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, were also obtained for all biochar samples. X-ray photoelectron spectra showed that oxygen content increased to 44.5%, 42.2%, 33.8%, 30.5%, and 14.6% from 13.4% for sulfuric acid, ozone, nitric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonium persulfate, respectively. The pH at the point of zero charges was negatively correlated with the difference in concentration of acidic and basic sites in biochar samples, as well as the summation of peak components representing C=O double bonds and carboxylic groups. The results suggest that designer biochars can be prepared by understanding the interaction of oxygenated chemicals with biochar surfaces. DA - 2022/10// PY - 2022/10// DO - 10.3390/pr10102136 VL - 10 IS - 10 SP - SN - 2227-9717 KW - oxygen-doping KW - oxygen-modification KW - oxygenated biochars KW - surface properties KW - O-modified KW - O-doped biochars KW - biochars ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Effect of Harvest Date on Temporal Cannabinoid and Biomass Production in the Floral Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) Cultivars BaOx and Cherry Wine AU - Linder, Eric R. AU - Young, Sierra AU - Li, Xu AU - Inoa, Shannon Henriquez AU - Suchoff, David H. T2 - HORTICULTURAE AB - The objectives of this study were to model the temporal accumulation of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in field-grown floral hemp in North Carolina and establish harvest timing recommendations to minimize non-compliant crop production. Field trials were conducted in 2020 and 2021 with BaOx and Cherry Wine cultivars. Harvest events started two weeks after floral initiation and occurred every two weeks for 12 weeks. Per-plant threshed biomass accumulation exhibited a linear plateau trend. The best fit model for temporal accumulation of THC was a beta growth curve. As harvest date was delayed, total THC concentrations increased until concentrations reached their maximum, then decreased as plants approached senescence. Logistic regression was the best fit model for temporal accumulation of CBD. CBD concentrations increased with later harvest dates. Unlike THC concentrations, there was no decline in total CBD concentrations. To minimize risk, growers should test their crop as early as possible within the USDA’s 30-day compliance window. We observed ‘BaOx’ and ‘Cherry Wine’ exceeding the compliance threshold 50 and 41 days after flower initiation, respectively. DA - 2022/10// PY - 2022/10// DO - 10.3390/horticulturae8100959 VL - 8 IS - 10 SP - SN - 2311-7524 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae8100959 KW - CBD KW - THC KW - hemp KW - Cannabis sativa KW - biomass KW - cannabinoids ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Current Multicountry Monkeypox Outbreak: What Water Professionals Should Know AU - Maal-Bared, Rasha AU - Gerba, Charles AU - Bibby, Kyle AU - Munakata, Naoko AU - Mehrotra, Anna S. AU - Brisolara, Kari Fitzmorris AU - Haas, Charles AU - Gary, Lee AU - Nayak, Bina AU - Swift, Jay AU - Sherchan, Samendra AU - Casson, Leonard AU - Olabode, Lola AU - Rubin, Albert AU - Reimers, Robert AU - Sobsey, Mark T2 - ACS ES&T WATER AB - Recent water sector safety concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight the need for industry-focused reviews of emerging pathogens to support evidence-based utility decision-making. Between May 7 and August 20, 2022, more than 41 358 cases of human monkeypox were reported globally from over 87 countries in which the disease is not endemic. Given that the presence and persistence of monkeypox virus (MPXV) in feces, water, and wastewater has not been investigated, we summarize the available evidence on MPXV and related orthopoxviruses to provide sector-wide recommendations and identify knowledge gaps. On the basis of the information available to date, this outbreak is unlikely to pose an exposure and transmission risk from wastewater, biosolids, or water due to the absence of any evidence to date that suggests that infectious MPXV is present in wastewater or biosolids or has caused human cases, clusters, or outbreaks from exposure to these sources. In addition, remaining smallpox vaccine immunity in the population, availability of vaccines and treatments, susceptibility of poxviruses to disinfection (e.g., UV and chlorine), and evidence from health care confirming the efficacy of infection control measures all suggest that current treatment and recommended wastewater worker protection practices are sufficient to protect public and occupational health. DA - 2022/9/15/ PY - 2022/9/15/ DO - 10.1021/acsestwater.2c00287 SP - SN - 2690-0637 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Implementing FAIR data management practices in shellfish sanitation AU - Nelson, Natalie G. AU - Cothran, Jeremy AU - Ramage, Dan AU - Carr, Megan AU - Skiles, Keith AU - Porter, Dwayne E. T2 - AQUACULTURE REPORTS AB - In the United States (U.S.), state agencies in charge of mariculture regulation are mandated under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) to monitor fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) concentrations, commonly of fecal coliforms, to determine the safety of coastal waters for supporting harvestable shellfish for human consumption. Many states have monitored bacteriological water quality for decades, creating impressive long-term records with the potential to advance foundational understanding of coastal systems and contribute to other complementary monitoring efforts. However, state shellfish sanitation programs differ in how they collect, manage, and share bacteriological monitoring data, resulting in their data typically being available in disparate state-level repositories with non-standardized database structures. Here, we outline three key recommendations as to how shellfish sanitation programs could implement practices to make their data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR), in turn creating new opportunities for the full potential of the data to be realized. We also offer sample materials of a standardized database, ShellBase, to provide an example of how diverse shellfish sanitation data may be integrated with a common data structure. DA - 2022/10// PY - 2022/10// DO - 10.1016/j.aqrep.2022.101324 VL - 26 SP - SN - 2352-5134 KW - Water quality KW - Long-term monitoring KW - Fecal coliforms KW - Data sharing KW - Data archiving ER - TY - JOUR TI - Impacts of sonication on biomethane potential (BMP) and degradation kinetics of pig lagoon sludge AU - Patil, Piyush S. AU - Sharara, Mahmoud A. T2 - BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING AB - Lagoon sludge is a by-product of pig production in North Carolina. Sludge contains nutrients, minerals, and cellular biomass. Sustainable management of sludge is crucial to avoid accumulation impacts on lagoon performance. This study investigated sonication as a potential pre-treatment for sludge. The impact of sonication on sludge bio-methane potential and degradation kinetics was evaluated. At sonication energy dosage of 20,400 kJ.kgTS−1, the dissolved total carbon (DOC) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) increased from 446 to 1055 mg L−1 and from 2297 to 9239 mgO2L−1, respectively. In the bio-methane potential (BMP) study, cumulative biogas and bio-methane yield increased from 21.0 to 28.4 mLbiogas.gVS−1 and from 15.0 to 21.3 mLCH4.gVS−1 due to sonication. Sonicated sludge reached 95% of its experimental biomethane yield more than 10 days earlier compared to raw sludge. The first order kinetics equation showed the highest co-efficient of determination (R2) and least root mean square error (RMSE) when fitted to raw sludge bio-methane production, while transference model was the best fit for sonicated sludge bio-methane production. The transference model substantially overestimated the maximum gas production rate for sonicated sludge. A significantly higher hydrolysis constant (p-value < 0.05) was observed for sonicated sludge (0.6 day−1) in comparison to raw sludge (0.08 day−1). Findings suggest sonication is a promising tool to aid organic matter and nutrient fractionation, and energy recovery pathway but the high energy inputs are still a barrier. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2022.08.008 VL - 223 SP - 129-137 SN - 1537-5129 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2022.08.008 KW - Lagoon sludge KW - Sonication KW - Biomethane potential KW - Transference KW - Logistic KW - Gompertz ER - TY - JOUR TI - NAPPN Annual Conference Abstract: Hyperspectral imaging for non-destructive determination of cannabinoids in floral and leaf materials of industrial hemp AU - Young, Sierra AU - Lu, Yuzhen AU - Li, Xu AU - Li, Xin AU - Linder, Eric AU - Suchoff, David DA - 2022/10/5/ PY - 2022/10/5/ DO - 10.22541/au.166497079.98875901/v1 UR - https://doi.org/10.22541/au.166497079.98875901/v1 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Arbuscular Mycorrhizae Shift Community Composition of N-Cycling Microbes and Suppress Soil N2O Emission AU - Zhang, Xuelin AU - Qiu, Yunpeng AU - Gilliam, Frank S. AU - Gillespie, Christopher J. AU - Tu, Cong AU - Reberg-Horton, S. Chris AU - Hu, Shuijin T2 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY AB - Mycorrhizae are ubiquitous symbiotic associations between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and terrestrial plants, in which AMF receive photosynthates from and acquire soil nutrients for their host plants. Plant uptake of soil nitrogen (N) reduces N substrate for microbial processes that generate nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas. However, the underlying microbial mechanisms remain poorly understood, particularly in agroecosystems with high reactive N inputs. We examined how plant roots and AMF affect N2O emissions, N2O-producing (nirK and nirS) and N2O-consuming (nosZ) microbes under normal and high N inputs in conventional (CONV) and organically managed (OM) soils. Here, we show that high N input increased soil N2O emissions and the ratio of nirK to nirS microbes. Roots and AMF did not affect the (nirK + nirS)/nosZ ratio but significantly reduced N2O emissions and the nirK/nirS ratio. They reduced the nirK/nirS ratio by reducing nirK-Rhodobacterales but increasing nirS-Rhodocyclales in the CONV soil while decreasing nirK-Burkholderiales but increasing nirS-Rhizobiales in the OM soil. Our results indicate that plant roots and AMF reduced N2O emission directly by reducing soil N and indirectly through shifting the community composition of N2O-producing microbes in N-enriched agroecosystems, suggesting that harnessing the rhizosphere microbiome through agricultural management might offer additional potential for N2O emission mitigation. DA - 2022/8/30/ PY - 2022/8/30/ DO - 10.1021/acs.est.2c03816 SP - SN - 1520-5851 KW - nitrous oxide KW - nitrogen fertilizer KW - arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi KW - plant roots KW - denitrifier communities KW - microbial diversity ER - TY - JOUR TI - Internet of things: Cotton harvesting and processing AU - Hardin IV, Robert G. AU - Barnes, Edward M. AU - Delhom, Christopher D. AU - Wanjura, John D. AU - Ward, Jason K. T2 - COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE AB - Cotton requires multiple processing steps to convert the raw agricultural products into finished textiles. Genetic and environmental factors, crop management decisions, and processing practices interact to affect optimal end use, product quality, and process efficiency. Currently, only limited data sharing occurs between sectors of the cotton industry, primarily the official USDA classing data used to determine the value of cotton bales. Increasing digitization could improve productivity, sustainability, and competitiveness with synthetic fibers. Current research has focused on utilizing RFID technology incorporated in a recently introduced harvest system for logistics and associating cotton fiber quality with field locations. Gins and textile mills use some connected sensors; however, their use is primarily limited to remote monitoring and diagnostics. In the future cotton industry, a much larger number of connected devices and sensors can provide information on the production and processing history of raw materials. Developments in agricultural robotics will offer a platform for measuring yield and quality on a site-specific basis in the field. Additional networked sensors and devices at gins and textile mills will provide additional information on product quality and process efficiency. Networking these connected devices will allow for the development of advanced analytics for optimizing logistics and processing industry-wide. Several challenges must be addressed to successfully implement IoT devices in the cotton industry. Improved rural broadband access and more suitable wireless networking protocols for field sensors are needed, although recently introduced technology may offer potential solutions. The cotton industry needs to develop appropriate data standards and data sharing policies. Integrating these data sources creates a new management paradigm, but research will be needed to optimally use this data. DA - 2022/11// PY - 2022/11// DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.107294 VL - 202 SP - SN - 1872-7107 KW - Cotton KW - Internet of things KW - Traceability KW - Harvesting KW - Ginning KW - Textiles ER - TY - JOUR TI - Nth-plant scenario for forest resources and short rotation woody crops: Biorefineries and depots in the contiguous US AU - Hossain, Tasmin AU - Jones, Dniela S. AU - Hartley, Damon S. AU - Thompson, David N. AU - Langholtz, Matthew AU - Davis, Maggie T2 - APPLIED ENERGY AB - Estimating the US potential of woody material is of vital importance to ensure cost-effective supply logistics and develop a sustainable bioenergy and bioproducts industry. We analyzed a mature conversion technology for woody resources for the contiguous US that takes advantage of economies of scale: the nth-plant. We developed a database to quantify the total accessible woody biomass within a distributed network of preprocessing depots and biorefineries considering both quality specifications for conversion and a target cost to compete with fossil fuels. We considered two categories of woody biomass: 1) forest residues from trees, tops and limbs produced from conventional thinning and timber harvesting operations as well as non-timber tree removal; and 2) short rotation woody crops such as poplar, willow, pine, and eucalyptus. A mixed integer linear programming model was developed to analyze scenarios with woody feedstock blends at variable biomass ash contents and cost targets at the biorefinery. When considering a target cost of $85.51/dry ton (2016$) at the biorefinery, the maximum accessible biomass from forest residues in 2040 remained constant at 106 million dry tons regardless of ash targets. Including short rotation woody crops as part of the blend increased the total accessible biomass to 153 and 195 million dry tons at ash targets of 1% and 1.75%, respectively. We concluded from our analysis that woody resources could address about 55% of EPA’s (Environmental Protection Agency) target of 16 billion gallons of cellulosic biofuel. DA - 2022/11/1/ PY - 2022/11/1/ DO - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119881 VL - 325 SP - SN - 1872-9118 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.119881 KW - Forest residues KW - Short rotation woody crops KW - Biofuel KW - Biorefineries ER - TY - JOUR TI - Defining relative yield for soil test correlation and calibration trials in the fertilizer recommendation support tool AU - Pearce, Austin W. AU - Slaton, Nathan A. AU - Lyons, Sarah E. AU - Bolster, Carl H. AU - Bruulsema, Tom W. AU - Grove, John H. AU - Jones, John D. AU - McGrath, Josh M. AU - Miguez, Fernando E. AU - Nelson, Nathan O. AU - Osmond, Deanna L. AU - Parvej, Md Rasel AU - Pena-Yewtukhiw, Eugenia M. AU - Spargo, John T. T2 - SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA JOURNAL AB - Abstract The Fertilizer Recommendation Support Tool (FRST) will perform correlations between soil nutrient concentrations and crop response to fertilization from user‐selected datasets in the FRST national database. Yield response for the nutrient of interest in a particular site‐year is presented as relative yield (RY), a ratio of unfertilized yield to the maximum attainable yield ( A ). Several methods exist in the literature for estimating A and calculating RY but the effect of method choice on soil test correlation outcomes is undocumented. We used six published methods to calculate RY from site‐year yield data for five published correlation datasets, and fit a generalized linear plateau (LP) model to each. The critical soil test value (at the LP join point) and RY intercept coefficients were not significantly affected by RY method for any of the datasets, and RY plateau was significantly affected by method for only one dataset. The top options after robust group discussions were the so‐called MAX and FITMAX methods. We selected the MAX method, which defines A as the numerically highest treatment yield mean, as the most appropriate method for FRST because MAX represents maximal yield in responsive sites, is inclusive of trial data having a range of treatment numbers, limits RY to 100% (which allows options for transforming data), and is simpler to implement than FITMAX, which requires a decision tree to calculate RY for diverse trials. DA - 2022/8/23/ PY - 2022/8/23/ DO - 10.1002/saj2.20450 VL - 8 SP - SN - 1435-0661 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Technical Note: Open-Source Software for Water-Level Measurement in Images With a Calibration Target AU - Chapman, Kenneth W. AU - Gilmore, Troy E. AU - Chapman, Christian D. AU - Birgand, Francois AU - Mittlestet, Aaron R. AU - Harner, Mary J. AU - Mehrubeoglu, Mehrube AU - Stranzl, John E., Jr Jr T2 - WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH AB - Abstract Image‐based water level measurements offer data quality assurance through visual verification that no other method can provide. GaugeCam Remote Image Manager‐Educational 2 (GRIME2) is a mature, open‐source commercial friendly software application that automatically detects and measures water level in laboratory and field settings. The software relies on a dedicated target background for water line detection and image calibration. The system detects the change in pixel gray scale values associated with the intersection of the water level at the target surface. Fiducials on the target background are used to precisely create a pixel to real world coordinate transfer matrix and to correct for camera movement. The presented software package implements the algorithms and automates the water level measurement process, annotation of images with result overlays, creation of animations, and output of results to files that can be further analyzed in a spreadsheet or with R or Python. These GRIME2 features are illustrated using imagery from a coastal marsh field site. Tradeoffs between workflow and algorithm complexity and ease of use are discussed and future improvements are identified with the intention that this Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable‐inspired software can be adopted, modified and improved by the user community. While image resolution, quality and other factors associated with field deployment (e.g., water surface roughness, sun glare, shadows, and bio‐fouling) will have an impact on measurement quality, previous controlled laboratory testing that did not manifest these issues showed potential for accuracy of ±3 mm (Gilmore et al., 2013, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.05.011 ). DA - 2022/8// PY - 2022/8// DO - 10.1029/2022WR033203 VL - 58 IS - 8 SP - SN - 1944-7973 KW - stage measurement KW - image processing KW - open source software KW - hydrology KW - pixel to world calibration KW - waterline detection ER - TY - JOUR TI - Application of raw industrial sweetpotato hydrolysates for butanol production by Clostridium beijerinckii NCIMB 8052 AU - Zuleta-Correa, Ana AU - Chinn, Mari S. AU - Bruno-Barcena, Jose M. T2 - BIOMASS CONVERSION AND BIOREFINERY DA - 2022/8/1/ PY - 2022/8/1/ DO - 10.1007/s13399-022-03101-z VL - 8 SP - SN - 2190-6823 KW - Ipomoea batatas KW - ABE fermentation KW - Consolidated bioprocessing KW - Anthocyanin KW - Phenolics KW - Flour ER - TY - JOUR TI - Addressing conservation practice limitations and trade-offs for reducing phosphorus loss from agricultural fields AU - Kleinman, Peter J. A. AU - Osmond, Deanna L. AU - Christianson, Laura E. AU - Flaten, Don N. AU - Ippolito, James A. AU - Jarvie, Helen P. AU - Kaye, Jason P. AU - King, Kevin W. AU - Leytem, April B. AU - McGrath, Joshua M. AU - Nelson, Nathan O. AU - Shober, Amy L. AU - Smith, Douglas R. AU - Staver, Kenneth W. AU - Sharpley, Andrew N. T2 - AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL LETTERS AB - Abstract Conservation practices that reduce nutrient and soil loss from agricultural lands to water are fundamental to watershed management programs. Avoiding trade‐offs of conservation practices is essential to the successful mitigation of watershed phosphorus (P) losses. We review documented trade‐offs associated with conservation practices, particularly those practices that are intended to control and trap P from agricultural sources. A regular theme is the trade‐off between controlling P loss linked to sediment while increasing dissolved P losses (no‐till, cover crops, vegetated buffers, constructed wetlands, sediment control basins). A variety of factors influence the degree to which these trade‐offs occur, complicated by their interaction and uncertainties associated with climate change. However, acknowledging these trade‐offs and anticipating their contribution to watershed outcomes are essential to the sustainability of conservation systems. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.1002/ael2.20084 VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - SN - 2471-9625 ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Effect of Transplant Date and Plant Spacing on Biomass Production for Floral Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) AU - Linder, Eric R. AU - Young, Sierra AU - Li, Xu AU - Inoa, Shannon Henriquez AU - Suchoff, David H T2 - Agronomy AB - Floral hemp cultivated for the extraction of cannabinoids is a new crop in the United States, and agronomic recommendations are scarce. The objective of this study was to understand the effects of plant spacing and transplant date on floral hemp growth and biomass production. Field trials were conducted in North Carolina in 2020 and 2021 with the floral hemp cultivar BaOx. Transplant date treatments occurred every two weeks from 11 May to 7 July (±1 d). Plant spacing treatments were 0.91, 1.22, 1.52, and 1.83 m between plants. Weekly height and width data were collected throughout the vegetative period, and dry biomass was measured at harvest. Plant width was affected by transplant date and spacing. Plant height was affected by transplant date. Earlier transplant dates resulted in taller, wider plants, while larger plant spacing resulted in wider plants. Individual plant biomass increased with earlier transplant dates and larger plant spacing. On a per-hectare basis, biomass increased with earlier transplant dates and smaller transplant spacing. An economic analysis found that returns were highest with 1.22 m spacing and decreased linearly by a rate of −163.098 USD ha−1 d−1. These findings highlight the importance of earlier transplant timing to maximize harvestable biomass. DA - 2022/8/5/ PY - 2022/8/5/ DO - 10.3390/agronomy12081856 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12081856 KW - hemp KW - cannabis KW - biomass KW - cannabinoid KW - CBD KW - plant density ER - TY - JOUR TI - Genome-wide association study for morphological traits and resistance to Peryonella pinodes in the USDA pea single plant plus collection AU - Martins, Lais B AU - Balint-Kurti, Peter AU - Reberg-Horton, S Chris T2 - G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics AB - Abstract Peas (Pisum sativum) are the second most cultivated pulse crop in the world. They can serve as human food, fodder, and cover crop. The most serious foliar disease of pea cultivars worldwide is Ascochyta blight, which can be caused by several pathogens. Of these, Peyronella pinodes is the most aggressive and prevalent worldwide. Several traits, including resistance to Peyronella pinodes, stem diameter, internode length between nodes 2–3 and 5–6, and area of 7th leaf, were measured in 269 entries of the pea single plant plus collection. The heritability (H2) of the morphological traits was relatively high, while disease resistance had low heritability. Using 53,196 single-nucleotide polymorphism markers to perform a genome-wide association study to identify genomic loci associated with variation in all the traits measured, we identified 27 trait–locus associations, 5 of which were associated with more than 1 trait. DA - 2022/7/6/ PY - 2022/7/6/ DO - 10.1093/g3journal/jkac168 VL - 12 IS - 9 SP - LA - en OP - SN - 2160-1836 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/g3journal/jkac168 DB - Crossref KW - peas KW - Pisum sativum KW - GWAS KW - genome-wide association study KW - Peryonella pinodes KW - Ascochyta blight KW - USDA-PSPP ER - TY - DATA TI - Streambank Erodibility, Soil Physical Properties and Environmental Conditions for Streams within the North Carolina Piedmont Region AU - Swanson, Alexis E. AU - Castro-Bolinaga, Celso F. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.5063/F1FB51C5 PB - KNB Data Repository UR - https://knb.ecoinformatics.org/view/doi:10.5063/F1FB51C5 ER - TY - CONF TI - A reflectance-turbidity model to evaluate the propagation of fluvial sediment pulses following dam removals: A case study from the Elwha River, Washington, USA AU - Sharma, Abhinav AU - Castro-Bolinaga, Celso AU - Nelson, Natalie C2 - 2022/// C3 - Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress DA - 2022/// SP - 938-945 ER - TY - JOUR TI - PERSPECTIVE: LESSONS LEARNED, CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES IN QUANTIFYING COHESIVE SOIL ERODIBILITY WITH THE JET EROSION TEST (JET) AU - Fox, Garey A. AU - Guertault, Lucie AU - Castro-Bolinaga, Celso AU - Allen, Peter AU - Bigham, Kari A. AU - Bonelli, Stephane AU - Hunt, Sherry Lynn AU - Kassa, Kayla AU - Langendoen, Eddy J. AU - Porter, Erin AU - Shafii, Iman AU - Wahl, Tony AU - Thompson, Tess Wynn T2 - JOURNAL OF THE ASABE AB - Highlights The JET is a key instrument for in situ and laboratory measurement of soil erodibility. Operation and reporting guidelines are needed to ensure consistency across JETs and applications. JET design improvements and hydrodynamic studies are needed to inform proper analyses and limit operator effects. Erodibility databases should be developed that report JET, soil, and fluid properties. Keywords: Cohesive soils, Critical shear stress, Erodibility, Erosion, Jet Erosion Test, Scour. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/ja.14714 VL - 65 IS - 2 SP - 197-207 SN - 2769-3287 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.13031/ja.14714 KW - Cohesive soils KW - Critical shear stress KW - Erodibility KW - Erosion KW - Jet Erosion Test KW - Scour ER - TY - JOUR TI - Field performance of the GaugeCam image-based water level measurement system AU - Birgand, François AU - Chapman, Ken AU - Hazra, Arnab AU - Gilmore, Troy AU - Etheridge, Randall AU - Staicu, Ana-Maria T2 - PLOS Water AB - Image-based stage and discharge measuring systems are among the most promising new non-contact technologies available for long-term hydrological monitoring. This article evaluates and reports the long-term performance of the GaugeCam ( www.gaugecam.org ) image-based stage measuring system in situ . For this we installed and evaluated the system over several months in a tidal marsh to obtain a good stratification of the measured stages. Our evaluation shows that the GaugeCam system was able to measure within about ±5 mm for a 90% confidence interval over a range of about 1 m in a tidal creek in a remote location of North Carolina, USA. Our results show that the GaugeCam system nearly performed to the desired design of ±3 mm accuracy around 70% of the time. The system uses a dedicated target background for calibration and geometrical perspective correction of images, as well as auto-correction to compensate for camera movement. The correction systems performed well overall, although our results show a ‘croissant-shaped’ mean error (-1 to +4 mm,) varying with water stage. We attribute this to the small, yet present, ‘fish-eye’ effect embedded in images, for which our system did not entirely correct in the tested version, and which might affect all image-based water level measurement systems. DA - 2022/7/21/ PY - 2022/7/21/ DO - 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000032 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000032 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Means, motive, and opportunity AU - Bird, Kate I. T. AU - Nichols, Virginia A. AU - Garay, Eduardo S. AU - Nowatzke, Matthew AU - Essary, Ch’Ree AU - Post, Kimberly K. AU - Deviney, Alison V. AU - Welles, Jacqueline S. AU - Alao, Mumuni O. AU - Dorbu, Freda Elikem AU - Classen, John J. AU - Koziel, Jacek A. AU - Cortus, Erin L. T2 - Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene AB - Wicked problems are inherent in food–energy–water systems (FEWS) due to the complexity and interconnectedness of these systems, and addressing these challenges necessitates the involvement of the diverse stakeholders in FEWS. However, successful stakeholder engagement requires a strong understanding of the relationships between stakeholders and the specific wicked problem. To better account for these relationships, we adapted a means, motive, and opportunity (MMO) framework to develop a method of stakeholder analysis that evaluates the agency of stakeholders related to a wicked problem in FEWS. This method involves two key components: (1) identification of a challenge at the FEWS nexus and (2) evaluation of stakeholder agency related to the challenge using the dimensions of MMO. This approach provides a method for understanding the characteristics of stakeholders in FEWS and provides information that could be used to inform stakeholder engagement in efforts to address wicked problems at the FEWS nexus. In this article, we present the stakeholder analysis method and describe an example application of the MMO method by examining stakeholder agency related to the adoption of improved swine waste management technology in North Carolina, USA. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.1525/elementa.2021.00066 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - LA - en OP - SN - 2325-1026 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00066 DB - Crossref KW - Stakeholder analysis KW - FEWS KW - Environmental sustainability KW - Transdisciplinary research KW - Stakeholder engagement KW - Livestock production ER - TY - JOUR TI - High-Resolution Field Measurement of Soil Heat Capacity and Changes in Soil Moisture Using a Dual-Probe Heat-Pulse Distributed Temperature Sensing Approach AU - Shehata, Mahmoud AU - Heitman, Joshua AU - Sayde, Chadi T2 - WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH AB - Abstract Increasing interest in studying the variability of soil water content and its spatial scale dependency necessitates the development of new techniques to accurately monitor soil water over a wide range of spatial scales. Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) techniques offer unprecedented opportunities to measure temperature with a spatial resolution of a few centimeters over several kilometers, which can be used to measure soil moisture. This study is the first of its kind that investigates under field conditions the feasibility of combining the Dual‐Probe Heat‐Pulse (DPHP) technique with the DTS technology to measure soil thermal properties and variation in soil moisture. A field experiment was conducted over a 30 m transect in the Lake Wheeler Field laboratory in Raleigh, NC. Three different DPHP sensors were constructed from combinations of different fiber optic cables and heating elements and were tested to assess their performance and the effect of their construction characteristics on their accuracy. Measurements were taken over different soil moisture conditions and the system performance was compared against independent soil water content sensors. The system was able to track changes in soil water content with a mean RMSE of 0.02 m 3 m −3 using the optimal DPHP sensor. The key advantage of the tested system is that it does not need any site‐specific calibrations typically required for other DTS‐based systems. The findings of this study provide some practical information and measures that need to be taken for successful DTS‐DPHP construction and application under field conditions. DA - 2022/6// PY - 2022/6// DO - 10.1029/2021WR031680 VL - 58 IS - 6 SP - SN - 1944-7973 KW - Distributed Temperature Sensing KW - dual probe KW - heat pulse KW - soil moisture sensor KW - soil thermal properties KW - field measurements ER - TY - JOUR TI - Effects of Shell Hash on Friction Angles of Surficial Seafloor Sediments near Oysters AU - Consolvo, Samuel T. AU - Stark, Nina AU - Castellanos, Bernardo AU - Castro-Bolinaga, Celso F. AU - Hall, Steven AU - Massey, Grace T2 - JOURNAL OF WATERWAY PORT COASTAL AND OCEAN ENGINEERING AB - Oysters are hypothesized to affect the shear strength of nearby surficial seafloor sediment as fragments of oyster shells (shell hash) are typically more angular relative to sand particles alone, among other differences. Resistance to shearing is well characterized by the friction angle, which is estimated in this study from vacuum triaxial laboratory and portable free-fall penetrometer field tests. Friction angles of sediment with shell hash were higher relative to those of sediment without shell hash (via hydrochloric acid treatment) on average by about 19% (36.0°–30.2°, respectively). Triaxial confining pressures ranged between 2.1 and 49.0 kPa to simulate subtidal and intertidal aquatic conditions. Regularity (average of particle roundness and sphericity) values of sediment samples with shell hash were found to be less than those of samples without by about 6% (0.66 and 0.70, respectively), which indicates the particle shapes of the former are, overall, more angular and less spherical. Further study and methodology improvements are needed to decrease the approximate 9° friction angle discrepancy estimated from field- and laboratory-based tests. Knowing oysters have the potential to increase sediment shearing resistance helps establish a pathway of how shellfish colonies may contribute to mitigating surficial erosion around coastal infrastructure. DA - 2022/9/1/ PY - 2022/9/1/ DO - 10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000716 VL - 148 IS - 5 SP - SN - 1943-5460 UR - https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000716 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Ultrasound for microalgal cell disruption and product extraction: A review AU - Liu, Ying AU - Liu, Xin AU - Cui, Yan AU - Yuan, Wenqiao T2 - ULTRASONICS SONOCHEMISTRY AB - Microalgae are a promising feedstock for the production of biofuels, nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, due to their superior capability of converting solar energy and CO2 into lipids, proteins, and other valuable bioactive compounds. To facilitate the release of these important biomolecules from microalgae, effective cell disruption is usually necessary, where the use of ultrasound has gained tremendous interests as an alternative to traditional methods. This review not only summarizes the mechanisms of and operation parameters affecting cell disruption, but also takes an insight into measuring techniques, synergistic integration with other disruption methods, and challenges of ultrasonication for microalgal biorefining. Optimal conditions including ultrasonic frequency, intensity, and duration, and liquid viscosity and sonochemical reactor are the key factors for maximizing the disruption and extraction efficiency. A combination of ultrasound with other disruption methods such as ozonation, microwave, homogenization, enzymatic lysis, and solvents facilitates cell disruption and release of target compounds, thus provides powerful solutions to commercial scale-up of ultrasound extraction for microalgal biorefining. It is concluded that ultrasonication is a sustainable "green" process, but more research and work are needed to upscale this process without sacrificing performance or consuming more energy. DA - 2022/6// PY - 2022/6// DO - 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2022.106054 VL - 87 SP - SN - 1873-2828 KW - Bioproduct KW - Biorefinery KW - Cell disruption KW - Extraction KW - Microalgae KW - Ultrasound ER - TY - JOUR TI - The flood reduction and water quality impacts of watershed-scale natural infrastructure implementation in North Carolina, USA AU - Kurki-Fox, Jack AU - Doll, Barbara A. AU - Line, Daniel E. AU - Baldwin, Madalyn E. AU - Klondike, Travis M. AU - Fox, Andrew A. T2 - ECOLOGICAL ENGINEERING AB - Natural infrastructure as a mitigation measure for flooding has received increased attention following recent extreme rainfall and flood events in North Carolina. While natural infrastructure (e.g., wetlands, floodplain expansion, reforestation, etc.) has been shown to reduce runoff and mitigate peak flows, it is difficult to predict the aggregate impacts of widespread implementation at the watershed scale for a given location. The primary objectives of this study were to identify suitable areas for natural infrastructure implementation on the landscape to reduce flooding and to use the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to simulate the flood reduction and water quality impacts for three subwatersheds (~150 sq. km each) of the Neuse River Basin. Model results indicated that substantial localized annual maximum flow reduction (up to 30–40%) was possible, mostly correlated to the area of natural infrastructure implementation in the subbasin, but flood reduction benefits declined at the subwatershed-scale (1–16%). On a per hectare basis, wetlands sized and designed strategically for flood control had a greater impact on peak flow reduction than reforestation. The implementation of reforestation and flood control wetlands produced substantial nutrient and sediment load reductions, which also correlated with the area of natural infrastructure implementation. Total nitrogen load reduction ranged from 6 to 18% and total phosphorus load reductions from 4 to 17% for the most intensive implementation of wetlands restoration and reforestation. Sediment load reductions ranged from 16 to 30%. The results of this study illustrate that while flood reduction benefits can be realized at local scales (i.e., subbasin), a substantial area would need to be converted to natural infrastructure to provide flood reduction benefits at the watershed scale. DA - 2022/8// PY - 2022/8// DO - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106696 VL - 181 SP - SN - 1872-6992 KW - Natural infrastructure KW - Wetland restoration KW - Reforestation KW - Watershed modeling KW - SWAT ER - TY - JOUR TI - Paired field and water measurements from drainage management practices in row-crop agriculture AU - Abendroth, L. J. AU - Chighladze, G. AU - Frankenberger, J. R. AU - Bowling, L. C. AU - Helmers, M. J. AU - Herzmann, D. E. AU - Jia, X. AU - Kjaersgaard, J. AU - Pease, L. A. AU - Reinhart, B. D. AU - Strock, J. AU - Youssef, M. T2 - SCIENTIFIC DATA AB - This paper describes a multi-site and multi-decadal dataset of artificially drained agricultural fields in seven Midwest states and North Carolina, USA. Thirty-nine research sites provided data on three conservation practices for cropland with subsurface tile drainage: saturated buffers, controlled drainage, and drainage water recycling. These practices utilize vegetation and/or infrastructure to minimize off-site nutrient losses and retain water in the landscape. A total of 219 variables are reported, including 90 field measurement variables and 129 management operations and metadata. Key measurements include subsurface drain flow (206 site-years), nitrate-N load (154 site-years) and other water quality metrics, as well as agronomic, soil, climate, farm management and metadata records. Data are published at the USDA National Agricultural Library Ag Data Commons repository and are also available through an interactive website at Iowa State University. These multi-disciplinary data have large reuse potential by the scientific community as well as for design of drainage systems and implementation in the US and globally. DA - 2022/6/1/ PY - 2022/6/1/ DO - 10.1038/s41597-022-01358-7 VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - SN - 2052-4463 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Why soil testing is not enough: A mixed methods study of farmer nutrient management decision-making among US producers AU - 'Connell, Caela AU - Osmond, D. L. T2 - JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AB - Understanding farmers' nutrient management decision-making is critical to minimizing nutrient loss to water resources. This research examines farmer decision-making in the United States surrounding nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus) and water quality among 105 farmers in Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. Data were collected between 2015 and 2016 using a mixed-methods approach of in-person farmer interviews and accompanying quantitative surveys with demographic and Likert ranking questions. This work presents findings regarding 1) how farmers made decisions, 2) who and what they consult with when making decisions, and 3) how their views on local water quality and regional pollution impact their choices. Farmers reported many resources for information when making nutrient management decisions including yield data, market prices, weather, product availability, prior experience, risk management/avoidance, university research reports, soil and tissue sampling, and social networks. Location also shaped how farmers made nutrient management decisions both because of differences in the structure and types of professional and informal support available to farmers as well as how individuals perceived the severity of local water problems. Younger farmers saw more room for improvement in their nutrient management practices while older farmers were more likely to be satisfied with current practices and decisions. Ultimately, our findings suggest we need to tailor programs and education to regional economic, social norm, and environmental contexts with recognition that past experiences and long-term knowledge shape how farmers receive new interventions. Constructing multifaceted approaches to address these diverse conditions is a critical step in improving water quality when it comes to nutrient management choices. DA - 2022/7/15/ PY - 2022/7/15/ DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115027 VL - 314 SP - SN - 1095-8630 KW - Decision-making KW - Nutrient management KW - Water quality KW - Innovation KW - Technology KW - Intergenerational farming ER - TY - JOUR TI - Depuration of live oysters to reduce Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus: A review of ecology and processing parameters AU - Campbell, Vashti M. AU - Chouljenko, Alexander AU - Hall, Steven G. T2 - COMPREHENSIVE REVIEWS IN FOOD SCIENCE AND FOOD SAFETY AB - Abstract Consumption of raw oysters, whether wild‐caught or aquacultured, may increase health risks for humans. Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus are two potentially pathogenic bacteria that can be concentrated in oysters during filter feeding. As Vibrio abundance increases in coastal waters worldwide, ingesting raw oysters contaminated with V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus can possibly result in human illness and death in susceptible individuals. Depuration is a postharvest processing method that maintains oyster viability while they filter clean salt water that either continuously flows through a holding tank or is recirculated and replenished periodically. This process can reduce endogenous bacteria, including coliforms, thus providing a safer, live oyster product for human consumption; however, depuration of Vibrio s has presented challenges. When considering the difficulty of removing endogenous Vibrios in oysters, a more standardized framework of effective depuration parameters is needed. Understanding Vibrio ecology and its relation to certain depuration parameters could help optimize the process for the reduction of Vibrio . In the past, researchers have manipulated key depuration parameters like depuration processing time, water salinity, water temperature, and water flow rate and explored the use of processing additives to enhance disinfection in oysters. In summation, depuration processing from 4 to 6 days, low temperature, high salinity, and flowing water effectively reduced V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus in live oysters. This review aims to emphasize trends among the results of these past works and provide suggestions for future oyster depuration studies. DA - 2022/5/31/ PY - 2022/5/31/ DO - 10.1111/1541-4337.12969 VL - 5 SP - SN - 1541-4337 KW - Oysters KW - Depuration KW - Processing parameters KW - Vibrio KW - Pathogen reduction KW - Ecology ER - TY - JOUR TI - Mechanism study on the regulation of metabolite flux for producing promising bioactive substances in microalgae Desmodesmus sp.YT through salinity stress AU - Li, Shuangfei AU - Chen, Xianglan AU - Wong, Ming Hung AU - Chen, Huirong AU - Tao, Li AU - Liufu, Guangyu AU - Cheng, Jay Jiayang AU - Yang, Xuewei T2 - ALGAL RESEARCH-BIOMASS BIOFUELS AND BIOPRODUCTS AB - Desmodesmus sp.YT rich in bioactive substances exhibited impressive tolerance to various environmental conditions. To investigate the metabolism transformation influenced by salt stress in Desmodesmus sp.YT, biochemical compositions and comparative transcriptome were thoroughly explored in this research. Results showed that normal treatment (0‰ salinity) was beneficial for the production of biomass (up to 1.87 times) and protein (up to 1.46 times), compared with salt treatment. Furthermore, differentially expressed genes analysis revealed that vital genes involved in photosynthesis (light-harvesting complexs, LHCs; photosystem II oxygen-evolving enhancer proteins, Psbs), C3 photosynthetic pathway (fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, ALDO; fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, PFK; phosphoglycerate kinase, PGK) and chlorophyll synthesis (coproporphyrinogen III oxidase, CPOX; porphobilinogen synthase, HemB) were significantly up-regulated in 0‰ salinity, leading to enhanced cell growth. Interestingly, salt stress stimulated the expression of cellulose synthase catalytic subunit A2 (CesA2) and starch synthase (GLGA), increasing the biosynthesis of cellulose (up to 3.23 times) and starch (up to 1.05 times). Results showed that Desmodesmus sp.YT cultured at freshwater could be applied as feed additives while microalgae grown in seawater had the potential for biofuel production for further mass cultivation. DA - 2022/5// PY - 2022/5// DO - 10.1016/j.algal.2022.102721 VL - 64 SP - SN - 2211-9264 KW - Desmodesmus sp KW - Salt stress KW - Metabolism variation KW - Comparative transcriptome ER - TY - JOUR TI - Estimating Changes in Peak Flow and Associated Reductions in Flooding Resulting from Implementing Natural Infrastructure in the Neuse River Basin, North Carolina, USA AU - Kurki-Fox, J. Jack AU - Doll, Barbara A. AU - Line, Daniel E. AU - Baldwin, Madalyn E. AU - Klondike, Travis M. AU - Fox, Andrew A. T2 - WATER AB - As the frequency of more intense storms increases and concerns grow regarding the use of dams and levees, the focus has shifted to natural infrastructure (NI) for flood mitigation. NI has shown some success at small scales; however, little work has been carried out at the large watershed scale during extreme events. Three NI measures (afforestation, water farming, and flood control wetlands) were evaluated in the Neuse River Basin of eastern North Carolina. Detailed geospatial opportunity and hydrologic modeling of the measures were conducted in three subwatersheds of the basin and results were extrapolated to other subwatersheds. NI opportunity was greater and associated modeled peak flow reductions were larger for two subwatersheds located in the lower portion of the basin, where there is less development and flatter land slopes. Peak flow reductions varied spatially depending on the type and placement of NI combined with the hydraulic and morphologic characteristics of the stream network. Extrapolation of reductions to other subwatersheds produced a 4.4% reduction in peak flow for the 100 year storm at the outlet of the river basin in Kinston as a result of water farming on 1.1%, wetlands controlling runoff from 5.7%, and afforestation of 8.4% of the river basin. DA - 2022/5// PY - 2022/5// DO - 10.3390/w14091479 VL - 14 IS - 9 SP - SN - 2073-4441 KW - natural infrastructure KW - flood mitigation KW - hydrological modeling KW - riverine flooding ER - TY - JOUR TI - Development and application of DRAINMOD model for simulating crop yield and water conservation benefits of drainage water recycling AU - Moursi, Hossam AU - Youssef, Mohamed A. AU - Chescheir, George M. T2 - AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT AB - Drainage water recycling (DWR) is an emerging practice that has the potential to increase crop yield and improve water quality. DWR involves capturing and storing subsurface drainage water and surface runoff in ponds or reservoirs, and using this water for supplemental irrigation during dry periods of the growing season. The main objective of this study was to enhance DRAINMOD model to simulate the hydrology and crop yield of DWR systems. The expanded model; named DRAINMOD-DWR, has a new module that conducts a water balance of the storage reservoir and simulates the interaction between the reservoir and the field, irrigated from and/or draining into the reservoir. The model predicts the long-term performance of DWR as affected by weather conditions, soil type, crop rotation, reservoir size, and irrigation and drainage management. Three performance metrics were defined based on model predictions to quantify irrigation, crop yield, and water capture benefits of DWR. To demonstrate the new features of the model, uncalibrated DRAINMOD-DWR was applied to a hypothetical DWR system with continuous corn using a 50-yr (1970–2019) weather record in Eastern North Carolina, U.S. Different reservoir sizes were simulated to demonstrate how the model can predict the effect of storage capacity on the system’s performance. The model predicted that a 3.0-m deep reservoir with a surface area of 4% of the field area would optimize corn yield for the simulated conditions. The model application clearly demonstrated the DRAINMOD-DWR model’s capability of optimizing the DWR system design to avoid under-sizing or over-sizing the storage reservoir, which reduces system’s performance and increases implementation cost. Research is needed to test DRAINMOD-DWR using field measured data, and to develop routines for simulating the fate and transport of nutrients and sediment in the storage reservoir, which would enable the model to predict the water quality benefits of DWR. DA - 2022/5/31/ PY - 2022/5/31/ DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2022.107592 VL - 266 SP - SN - 1873-2283 KW - Subsurface drainage KW - Supplemental irrigation KW - On-farm water storage KW - Irrigation reservoir KW - Drainage water reuse KW - DRAINMOD-DWR ER - TY - JOUR TI - Can Biochar Improve the Sustainability of Animal Production? AU - Graves, Carly AU - Kolar, Praveen AU - Shah, Sanjay AU - Grimes, Jesse AU - Sharara, Mahmoud T2 - APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL AB - Animal production is a significant contributor of organic and inorganic contaminants in air, soil, and water systems. These pollutants are present beginning in animal houses and impacts continue through manure storage, treatment, and land application. As the industry is expected to expand, there is still a lack of affordable, sustainable solutions to many environmental concerns in animal production. Biochar is a low-cost, sustainable biomaterial with many environmental remediation applications. Its physicochemical properties have been proven to provide environmental benefits via the adsorption of organic and inorganic contaminants, promote plant growth, improve soil quality, and provide a form of carbon sequestration. For these reasons, biochar has been researched regarding biochar production, and application methods to biological systems have a significant influence on the moisture content, pH, microbial communities, and carbon and nitrogen retention. There remain unanswered questions about how we can manipulate biochar via physical and chemical activation methods to enhance the performance for specific applications. This review article addresses the positive and negative impacts of biochar addition at various stages in animal production from feed intake to manure land application. DA - 2022/5// PY - 2022/5// DO - 10.3390/app12105042 VL - 12 IS - 10 SP - SN - 2076-3417 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/app12105042 KW - manure management KW - emission mitigation KW - odor KW - sustainable agriculture KW - composting KW - adsorption ER - TY - JOUR TI - P-FLUX: A phosphorus budget dataset spanning diverse agricultural production systems in the United States and Canada AU - Williams, M. R. AU - Welikhe, P. AU - Bos, J. AU - King, K. AU - Akland, M. AU - Augustine, D. AU - Baffaut, C. AU - Beck, E. G. AU - Bierer, A. AU - Bosch, D. D. AU - Boughton, E. AU - Brandani, C. AU - Brooks, E. AU - Buda, A. AU - Cavigelli, M. AU - Faulkner, J. AU - Feyereisen, G. AU - Fortuna, A. AU - Gamble, J. AU - Hanrahan, B. AU - Hussain, M. AU - Kohmann, M. AU - Kovar, J. AU - Lee, B. AU - Leytem, A. AU - Liebig, M. AU - Line, D. AU - Macrae, M. AU - Moorman, T. AU - Moriasi, D. AU - Nelson, N. AU - Ortega-Pieck, A. AU - Osmond, D. AU - Pisani, O. AU - Ragosta, J. AU - Reba, M. AU - Saha, A. AU - Sanchez, J. AU - Silveira, M. AU - Smith, D. AU - Spiegal, S. AU - Swain, H. AU - Unrine, J. AU - Webb, P. AU - White, K. AU - Wilson, H. AU - Yasarer, L. T2 - JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AB - Quantifying spatial and temporal fluxes of phosphorus (P) within and among agricultural production systems is critical for sustaining agricultural production while minimizing environmental impacts. To better understand P fluxes in agricultural landscapes, P-FLUX, a detailed and harmonized dataset of P inputs, outputs, and budgets, as well as estimated uncertainties for each P flux and budget, was developed. Data were collected from 24 research sites and 61 production systems through the Long-term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network and partner organizations spanning 22 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces. The objectives of this paper are to (a) present and provide a description of the P-FLUX dataset, (b) provide summary analyses of the agricultural production systems included in the dataset and the variability in P inputs and outputs across systems, and (c) provide details for accessing the dataset, dataset limitations, and an example of future use. P-FLUX includes information on select site characteristics (area, soil series), crop rotation, P inputs (P application rate, source, timing, placement, P in irrigation water, atmospheric deposition), P outputs (crop removal, hydrologic losses), P budgets (agronomic budget, overall budget), uncertainties associated with each flux and budget, and data sources. Phosphorus fluxes and budgets vary across agricultural production systems and are useful resources to improve P use efficiency and develop management strategies to mitigate environmental impacts of agricultural systems. P-FLUX is available for download through the USDA Ag Data Commons (https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1523365). DA - 2022/4/25/ PY - 2022/4/25/ DO - 10.1002/jeq2.20351 VL - 4 SP - SN - 1537-2537 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Soil Properties and Moisture Synergistically Influence Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Prevalence in Natural Environments of Hawai'i AU - Parsons, Arielle W. AU - Dawrs, Stephanie N. AU - Nelson, Stephen T. AU - Norton, Grant J. AU - Virdi, Ravleen AU - Hasan, Nabeeh A. AU - Epperson, L. Elaine AU - Holst, Brady AU - Chan, Edward D. AU - Leos-Barajas, Vianey AU - Reich, Brian J. AU - Crooks, James L. AU - Strong, Michael AU - Pacifici, Krishna AU - Honda, Jennifer R. T2 - APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY AB - Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are opportunistic pathogens that cause chronic pulmonary disease (PD). NTM infections are thought to be acquired from the environment; however, the basal environmental factors that drive and sustain NTM prevalence are not well understood. The highest prevalence of NTM PD cases in the United States is reported from Hawai'i, which is unique in its climate and soil composition, providing an opportunity to investigate the environmental drivers of NTM prevalence. We used microbiological sampling and spatial logistic regression complemented with fine-scale soil mineralogy to model the probability of NTM presence across the natural landscape of Hawai'i. Over 7 years, we collected and microbiologically cultured 771 samples from 422 geographic sites in natural areas across the Hawaiian Islands for the presence of NTM. NTM were detected in 210 of these samples (27%), with Mycobacterium abscessus being the most frequently isolated species. The probability of NTM presence was highest in expansive soils (those that swell with water) with a high water balance (>1-m difference between rainfall and evapotranspiration) and rich in Fe-oxides/hydroxides. We observed a positive association between NTM presence and iron in wet soils, supporting past studies, but no such association in dry soils. High soil-water balance may facilitate underground movement of NTM into the aquifer system, potentially compounded by expansive capabilities allowing crack formation under drought conditions, representing further possible avenues for aquifer infiltration. These results suggest both precipitation and soil properties are mechanisms by which surface NTM may reach the human water supply. IMPORTANCE Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are ubiquitous in the environment, being found commonly in soils and natural bodies of freshwater. However, little is known about the environmental niches of NTM and how they relate to NTM prevalence in homes and other human-dominated areas. To characterize NTM environmental associations, we collected and cultured 771 samples from 422 geographic sites in natural areas across Hawai'i, the U.S. state with the highest prevalence of NTM pulmonary disease. We show that the environmental niches of NTM are most associated with highly expansive, moist soils containing high levels of iron oxides/hydroxides. Understanding the factors associated with NTM presence in the natural environment will be crucial for identifying potential mechanisms and risk factors associated with NTM infiltration into water supplies, which are ultimately piped into homes where most exposure risk is thought to occur. DA - 2022/4/18/ PY - 2022/4/18/ DO - 10.1128/aem.00018-22 SP - SN - 1098-5336 KW - nontuberculous mycobacteria KW - Hawai'i KW - environmental niches KW - spatial modeling ER - TY - JOUR TI - Review of good agricultural practices for smallholder maize farmers to minimise aflatoxin contamination AU - Xu, F. AU - Baker, R. C. AU - Whitaker, T. B. AU - Luo, H. AU - Zhao, Y. AU - Stevenson, A. AU - Boesch, C. J. AU - Zhang, G. T2 - WORLD MYCOTOXIN JOURNAL AB - Maize is consumed world-wide as staple food, livestock feed, and industrial raw material. However, it is susceptible to fungal attack and at risk of aflatoxin contamination under certain conditions. Such contamination is a serious threat to human and animal health. Ensuring that the maize used by food industry meets standards for aflatoxin levels requires significant investment across the supply chain. Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) form a critical part of a broader, integrated strategy for reduction of aflatoxin contamination. We reviewed and summarised the GAP of maize that would be effective and practicable for aflatoxin control within high-risk regions for smallholder farmers. The suggested practicable GAP for smallholder farmers were: use of drought-tolerant varieties; timely harvesting before physiological maturity; sorting to remove damaged ears and those having poor husk covering; drying properly to 13% moisture content; storage in suitable conditions to keep the crop clean and under condition with minimally proper aeration, or ideally under hermetic conditions. This information is intended to provide guidance for maize growers that will help reduce aflatoxin in high-risk regions, with a specific focus on smallholder farmers. Following the proposed guidelines would contribute to the reduction of aflatoxin contamination during pre-harvest, harvest, and post-harvest stages of the maize value chain. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.3920/WMJ2021.2685 VL - 15 IS - 2 SP - 171-186 SN - 1875-0796 KW - Aspergillus KW - maize production chain KW - smallholder farmers KW - practical practices ER - TY - JOUR TI - Impacts of Air Velocity Treatments under Summer Conditions: Part II—Heavy Broiler’s Behavioral Response AU - Akter, Suraiya AU - Liu, Yingying AU - Cheng, Bin AU - Classen, John AU - Oviedo, Edgar AU - Harris, Dan AU - Wang-Li, Lingjuan T2 - Animals AB - Broiler chickens exposed to heat stress adapt to various behavioral changes to regulate their comfortable body temperature, which is critical to ensure their performance and welfare. Hence, assessing various behavioral responses in birds when they are subjected to environmental changes can be essential for assessing their welfare under heat-stressed conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two air velocity (AV) treatments on heavy broilers' behavioral changes from 43 to 54 days under summer conditions. Two AV treatments (high and low) were applied in six poultry growth chambers with three chambers per treatment and 44 COBB broilers per chamber from 28 to 61 days in the summer of 2019. Three video cameras placed inside each chamber (2.44 m × 2.44 m × 2.44 m in dimension) were used to record the behavior of different undisturbed birds, such as feeding, drinking, resting, standing, walking, panting, etc. The results indicate that the number of chickens feeding, drinking, standing, walking, sitting, wing flapping, and leg stretching changed under AV treatments. High AV increased the number of chickens feeding, standing, and walking. Moreover, a two-way interaction with age and the time of day can affect drinking and panting. This study provides insights into heavy broilers' behavioral changes under heat-stressed conditions and AV treatments, which will help guide management practices to improve birds' performance and welfare under commercial conditions in the future. DA - 2022/4/19/ PY - 2022/4/19/ DO - 10.3390/ani12091050 VL - 12 IS - 9 SP - 1050 J2 - Animals LA - en OP - SN - 2076-2615 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12091050 DB - Crossref KW - heavy broiler KW - heat stress KW - air velocity KW - behavior ER - TY - JOUR TI - The effect of urbanization on spatiotemporal interactions between gray foxes and coyotes AU - Parsons, Arielle W. AU - Kellner, Kenneth F. AU - Rota, Christopher T. AU - Schuttler, Stephanie G. AU - Millspaugh, Joshua J. AU - Kays, Roland W. T2 - ECOSPHERE AB - Abstract Interactions between species can influence their distribution and fitness, with potential cascading ecosystem effects. Human disturbance can affect these competitive dynamics but is difficult to measure due to potential simultaneous spatial and temporal responses. We used camera traps with a multispecies occupancy model incorporating a continuous‐time detection process to evaluate spatial and temporal interactions between two competing carnivore species, coyote ( Canis latrans ) and gray fox ( Urocyon cinereoargenteus ), along an urbanization gradient. Coyotes were less likely to occupy high housing density sites than gray foxes, but the two species were more likely to co‐occur in suburban forest fragments. Gray foxes were less likely to occupy low housing density sites in the presence of coyotes, shifted their activity patterns to be more nocturnal when coyotes were present and avoided sites recently used by coyotes. These effects were most pronounced where forest cover was low, suggesting these shifts are not necessary where forest cover is high, perhaps due to the gray fox's ability to climb trees. Gray foxes did not spatially or temporally avoid coyotes moving through the suburban matrix nor did precipitation mediate temporal avoidance in suburban habitats (i.e., by washing away scent), possibly because coyotes are less likely to establish territories at high housing densities, and thus less likely to scent mark. As reports of gray fox declines in portions of North America mount and coyotes are implicated, our results suggest that preserving tree cover could be important for gray fox persistence. At least 50% of forest cover in a 1 km radius resulted in lower coyote occupancy with gray fox occupancy rising to ≥0.1, suggesting a good benchmark for management. DA - 2022/3// PY - 2022/3// DO - 10.1002/ecs2.3993 VL - 13 IS - 3 SP - SN - 2150-8925 KW - camera traps KW - carnivore KW - occupancy KW - spatiotemporal KW - species interactions ER - TY - JOUR TI - STORING PEANUTS IN GRAIN BAGS AU - Butts, Christopher L. AU - Ward, Jason K. T2 - APPLIED ENGINEERING IN AGRICULTURE AB - Highlights Existing bag loading equipment may be used to load both in-shell and shelled oil stock peanuts. Grain bags can be loaded at 1.2 t/m of in-shell peanuts and 2.3 t/m of shelled oil stock peanuts. Existing extraction equipment requires modification to unload shelled oil stock peanuts due to poor flow characteristics. Grain bags not suitable for storing in-shell peanuts due to significant moisture migration and quality reduction under typical Georgia conditions. Abstract.Edible grade farmers’ stock peanuts and shelled oil stock peanuts were stored in hermetically sealed silo or grain bags to determine their suitability for short-term storage. The objectives of the study were to evaluate equipment for loading and unloading the grain bags, the capacity of the grain bags, and the changes in quality. In May 2015, approximately 90 Mg of farmers’ stock (in-shell) peanuts from the 2014 crop were unloaded from a commercial warehouse, transported to Dawson, Georgia, and loaded into two 2.7 m diameter grain bags. Similarly, 85 Mg of shelled oil stock peanuts were loaded into two 2.7 m diameter grain bags. Farmers’ stock bags were unloaded after 30 and 60-d storage. A vacuum extractor and a skid steer loader were used due to wet peanuts in the top of the bag. Both oil stock bags were unloaded after 60-d storage. A skid steer loader was used to unload the oil stock bags because shelled oil stock peanuts did not flow adequately to use the conventional bag extraction equipment. Oxygen content in the farmers’ stock peanuts decreased from ambient levels (21%) to an average of 8.6% after 15-d storage. After 20-d storage, the oxygen content in the oil stock had decreased to 14%. A layer of high moisture peanuts due to moisture migration and subsequent condensation in the top of both of the farmers’ stock bags resulted in the peanuts being unsuitable for human consumption and reduced the value from $342/Mg to approximately $125/Mg for oil stock, a 63% reduction in value. No moisture problems were observed in the oil stock bags when they were unloaded. Based on these studies, sealed grain bags would be unsuitable for temporarily storing farmers’ stock peanuts under typical Georgia conditions. Sealed grain bags could possibly be used to store oil stock peanuts for 60 d, but suitable unloading equipment would have to be found or developed. Keywords: Grain bag, Groundnut, Handling, Hermetic, Peanut, Silo bag, Storage. DA - 2022/// PY - 2022/// DO - 10.13031/aea.14475 VL - 38 IS - 1 SP - 93-102 SN - 1943-7838 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.13031/aea.14475 KW - Grain bag KW - Groundnut KW - Handling KW - Hermetic KW - Peanut KW - Silo bag KW - Storage ER - TY - JOUR TI - Succinic acid fermentation from agricultural wastes: The producing microorganisms and their engineering strategies AU - Wang, Jingjing AU - Zeng, An-ping AU - Yuan, Wenqiao T2 - CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & HEALTH AB - Microbial production of succinic acid from renewable feedstock is of great importance for sustainable development owing to its great economic and technical potential. However, to be competitive with the chemical production route, efforts are still needed to enhance the production performance, especially by strain development targeting high succinic acid concentration, yield, and productivity, as well as broad carbon source utilization. In this mini-review, the performance of four promising succinic acid-producing microorganisms, including Actinobacillus succinogenes, Basfia succiniciproducens, Escherichia coli, and Mannheimia succiniciproducens, was summarized and compared. Their strengths and weakness were discussed. In addition, strategies for microbial strain improvement including metabolic engineering and membrane engineering were introduced. Future research needs were recommended. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100313 VL - 25 SP - SN - 2468-5844 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Biochar from agricultural residues for soil conditioning: Technological status and life cycle assessment AU - James, Arthur AU - Sanchez, Ana AU - Prens, Josue AU - Yuan, Wenqiao T2 - CURRENT OPINION IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & HEALTH AB - As a product/co-product of biomass thermochemical conversion, the yield and quality of biochar depend on its source material and the production process, so is its performance in soil conditioning. In this mini-review, various technologies, including slow pyrolysis, fast pyrolysis, torrefaction, and gasification were briefly discussed, among which slow pyrolysis and torrefaction were found to give higher biochar yield. Because the yield of biochar and the emissions in the production process play a critical role in the outcomes of its life cycle assessment, it is important to carefully choose and optimize the production technology of biochar. The life cycle benefit of biochar for soil conditioning was found generally positive, indicated by its improvement of ecosystem quality, mitigation of climate change, and reduced resource consumption. However, the variability in biochar properties makes it challenging in technology upgrading, application, and commercialization, and the lack of regulations and standardization makes biochar acceptance difficult. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100314 VL - 25 SP - SN - 2468-5844 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Effects of Sulfamethazine and Cupric Ion on Treatment of Anaerobically Digested Swine Wastewater with Growing Duckweed AU - Xiao, Yu AU - Yang, Chunping AU - Cheng, Jay J. T2 - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH AB - Duckweed (Spirodela polyrrhiza) has the potential to treat anaerobically digested swine wastewater (ADSW), but the effects of antibiotics and heavy metals in ADSW on the treatment performance and mechanism of Spirodela polyrrhiza are not clear. Herein, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sulfamethazine (SMZ) and cupric ion on NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP) removal from synthetic ADSW. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the contents of photosynthetic pigments, vitamin E, and proteins in duckweed were also evaluated. Under the stress of SMZ, duckweed showed excellent removal efficiency of nutrients, and the results of SOD activity and photosynthetic pigments content indicated that duckweed had good tolerance to SMZ. Interestingly, a combined application of SMZ and cupric ion would inhibit the nutrient removal by duckweed, but significantly increased the contents of photosynthetic pigments, proteins, and vitamin E. In addition, the consequence indicated that high value-added protein and vitamin E products could be produced and harvested by cultivating duckweed in ADSW. Furthermore, possible degradation pathways of SMZ in the duckweed system were proposed based on the analysis with LC-MS/MS. This research proposed a novel view for using duckweed system to remove nutrients from ADSW and produce value-added products under the stress of SMZ and cupric ion. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.3390/ijerph19041949 VL - 19 IS - 4 SP - SN - 1660-4601 KW - swine wastewater KW - duckweed KW - heavy metal KW - antibiotic KW - sulfamethazine KW - cupric ion ER - TY - JOUR TI - Cultivating PhD Aspirations during College AU - Jones, Daniela S. AU - Gillette, Devyn D. AU - Cooper, Paige E. AU - Salinas, Raquel Y. AU - Hill, Jennifer L. AU - Black, Sherilynn J. AU - Lew, Daniel J. AU - Canelas, Dorian A. T2 - CBE-LIFE SCIENCES EDUCATION AB - Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career barriers persist for individuals from marginalized communities due to financial and educational inequality, unconscious bias, and other disadvantaging factors. To evaluate differences in plans and interests between historically underrepresented (UR) and well-represented (WR) groups, we surveyed more than 3000 undergraduates enrolled in chemistry courses. Survey responses showed all groups arrived on campus with similar interests in learning more about science research. Over the 4 years of college, WR students maintained their interest levels, but UR students did not, creating a widening gap between the groups. Without intervention, UR students participated in lab research at lower rates than their WR peers. A case study pilot program, Biosciences Collaborative for Research Engagement (BioCoRE), encouraged STEM research exploration by undergraduates from marginalized communities. BioCoRE provided mentoring and programming that increased community cohesion and cultivated students' intrinsic scientific mindsets. Our data showed that there was no statistical significant difference between BioCoRE WR and UR students when surveyed about plans for a medical profession, graduate school, and laboratory scientific research. In addition, BioCoRE participants reported higher levels of confidence in conducting research than non-BioCoRE Scholars. We now have the highest annual number of UR students moving into PhD programs in our institution's history. DA - 2022/6/1/ PY - 2022/6/1/ DO - 10.1187/cbe.20-06-0111 VL - 21 IS - 2 SP - SN - 1931-7913 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-06-0111 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Genome-centric metagenomics provides new insights into the microbial community and metabolic potential of landfill leachate microbiota AU - Deng, Chunfang AU - Zhao, Renxin AU - Qiu, Zhiguang AU - Li, Bing AU - Zhang, Tong AU - Guo, Feng AU - Mu, Rong AU - Wu, Yang AU - Qiao, Xuejiao AU - Zhang, Liyu AU - Cheng, Jay J. AU - Ni, Jinren AU - Yu, Ke T2 - SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT AB - Landfills are important sources of microorganisms associated with anaerobic digestion. However, the knowledge on microbiota along with their functional potential in this special habitat are still lacking. In this study, we recovered 1168 non-redundant metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from nine landfill leachate samples collected from eight cities across China, spanning 42 phyla, 73 classes, 114 orders, 189 families, and 267 genera. Totally, 74.1% of 1168 MAGs could not be classified to any known species and 5.9% of these MAGs belonged to microbial dark matter phyla. Two putative novel classes were discovered from landfill leachate samples. The identification of thousands of novel carbohydrate-active enzymes showed similar richness level compared to the cow rumen microbiota. The methylotrophic methanogenic pathway was speculated to contribute significantly to methane production in the landfill leachate because of its co-occurrence with the acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathways. The genetic potential of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) was observed, implying DNRA may play a role in ammonium generation in landfill leachate. These findings implied that landfill leachate might be a valuable microbial resource repository and filled the previous understanding gaps for both methanogenesis and nitrogen cycling in landfill leachate microbiota. Our study provides a comprehensive genomic catalog and substantially provides unprecedented taxonomic and functional profiles of the landfill leachate microbiota. DA - 2022/4/10/ PY - 2022/4/10/ DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151635 VL - 816 SP - SN - 1879-1026 KW - Landfill leachate KW - Microbiome KW - Metagenomic binning KW - CAZymes KW - Methanogenesis KW - Nitrogen cycling ER - TY - JOUR TI - Nitrogen-doped biochars as adsorbents for mitigation of heavy metals and organics from water: a review AU - Kasera, Nitesh AU - Kolar, Praveen AU - Hall, Steven G. T2 - BIOCHAR AB - Abstract Mitigation of toxic contaminants from wastewater is crucial to the safety and sustainability of the aquatic ecosystem and human health. There is a pressing need to find economical and efficient technologies for municipal, agricultural, aquacultural, and industrial wastewater treatment. Nitrogen-doped biochar, which is synthesized from waste biomass, is shown to exhibit good adsorptive performance towards harmful aqueous contaminants, including heavy metals and organic chemicals. Incorporating nitrogen into the biochar matrix changes the overall electronic structure of biochar, which favors the interaction of N-doped biochar with contaminants. In this review, we start the discussion with the preparation techniques and raw materials used for the production of N-doped biochar, along with its structural attributes. Next, the adsorption of heavy metals and organic pollutants on N-doped biochars is systematically discussed. The adsorption mechanisms of contaminant removal by N-doped biochar are also clearly explained. Further, mathematical analyses of adsorption, crucial to the quantification of adsorption, process design, and understanding of the mechanics of the process, are reviewed. Furthermore, the influence of environmental parameters on the adsorption process and the reusability of N-doped biochars are critically evaluated. Finally, future research trends for the design and development of application-specific preparation of N-doped biochars for wastewater treatment are suggested. Graphical abstract DA - 2022/12// PY - 2022/12// DO - 10.1007/s42773-022-00145-2 VL - 4 IS - 1 SP - SN - 2524-7867 KW - N-doped KW - Nitrogen-enriched KW - Adsorption KW - Wastewater KW - Mechanism ER - TY - JOUR TI - Stem selection for total hip replacement AU - Roe, Simon C. AU - Marcellin-Little, Denis T2 - VETERINARY SURGERY AB - Veterinary SurgeryVolume 51, Issue 3 p. 383-383 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Stem selection for total hip replacement Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Corresponding Author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD simon_roe@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-6875 Department of Clinical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA Correspondence Simon C. Roe, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1052 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA. Email: simon_roe@ncsu.eduSearch for more papers by this authorDenis Marcellin-Little DEDV, Denis Marcellin-Little DEDV orcid.org/0000-0001-6596-5928 Department of Surgical & Radiological Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USASearch for more papers by this author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Corresponding Author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD simon_roe@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-6875 Department of Clinical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA Correspondence Simon C. Roe, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, 1052 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC 27607, USA. Email: simon_roe@ncsu.eduSearch for more papers by this authorDenis Marcellin-Little DEDV, Denis Marcellin-Little DEDV orcid.org/0000-0001-6596-5928 Department of Surgical & Radiological Sciences, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 08 March 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13792Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume51, Issue3April 2022Pages 383-383 RelatedInformation DA - 2022/3/8/ PY - 2022/3/8/ DO - 10.1111/vsu.13792 VL - 51 IS - 3 SP - SN - 1532-950X UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13792 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Managing nitrogen legacies to accelerate water quality improvement AU - Basu, Nandita B. AU - Van Meter, Kimberly J. AU - Byrnes, Danyka K. AU - Van Cappellen, Philippe AU - Brouwer, Roy AU - Jacobsen, Brian H. AU - Jarsjo, Jerker AU - Rudolph, David L. AU - Cunha, Maria C. AU - Nelson, Natalie AU - Bhattacharya, Ruchi AU - Destouni, Georgia AU - Olsen, Soren Boye T2 - NATURE GEOSCIENCE AB - Increasing incidences of eutrophication and groundwater quality impairment from agricultural nitrogen pollution are threatening humans and ecosystem health. Minimal improvements in water quality have been achieved despite billions of dollars invested in conservation measures worldwide. Such apparent failures can be attributed in part to legacy nitrogen that has accumulated over decades of agricultural intensification and that can lead to time lags in water quality improvement. Here, we identify the key knowledge gaps related to landscape nitrogen legacies and propose approaches to manage and improve water quality, given the presence of these legacies. Agricultural nitrogen legacies are delaying improvements to water quality. Comprehensive management strategies that address legacy issues are needed to ensure better environmental outcomes. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1038/s41561-021-00889-9 VL - 15 IS - 2 SP - 97-105 SN - 1752-0908 ER - TY - JOUR TI - A smart cotton module tracking and monitoring system for handling logistics and cover damage AU - Wang, Tianyi AU - Hardin, Robert G. AU - Ward, Jason K. AU - Wanjura, John D. AU - Barnes, Edward M. T2 - COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE AB - Cylindrical modules, also known as round modules, are becoming a more common method of seed cotton storage and transport. Increasing use of cylindrical modules has led to the development of new methods of field staging, transport, and handling at the gin. A low-cost smart cotton module tracking and monitoring system (SCMTM) was developed for recording module tag numbers, equipment location, and images of the modules automatically. The SCMTM system was mounted on a cotton module loader and module truck in a gin yard of Texas. Data was recorded automatically using the SCMTM system and used for analysis of cotton module handling logistics and wrap damage. Route and throughput rates of the loader were calculated, and the time required per module was estimated. The study found that the loader was idle more than 46% of the total working period. Analysis of module images indicated a module wrap damage rate of 4.4% in the studied cases. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2021.106620 VL - 193 SP - SN - 1872-7107 KW - Cotton KW - Ginning KW - Plastic contamination KW - Logistics KW - RFID KW - GNSS KW - GPS KW - GIS ER - TY - JOUR TI - Detection of crop diseases using enhanced variability imagery data and convolutional neural networks AU - Kendler, Shai AU - Aharoni, Ran AU - Young, Sierra AU - Sela, Hanan AU - Kis-Papo, Tamar AU - Fahima, Tzion AU - Fishbain, Barak T2 - COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE AB - The timely detection of crop diseases is critical for securing crop productivity, lowering production costs, and minimizing agrochemical use. This study presents a crop disease identification method that is based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) trained on images taken with consumer-grade cameras. Specifically, this study addresses the early detection of wheat yellow rust, stem rust, powdery mildew, potato late blight, and wild barley net blotch. To facilitate this, pictures were taken in situ without modifying the scene, the background, or controlling the illumination. Each image was then split into several patches, thus retaining the original spatial resolution of the image while allowing for data variability. The resulting dataset was highly diverse since the disease manifestation, imaging geometry, and illumination varied from patch to patch. This diverse dataset was used to train various CNN architectures to find the best match. The resulting classification accuracy was 95.4 ± 0.4%. These promising results lay the groundwork for autonomous early detection of plant diseases. Guidelines for implementing this approach in realistic conditions are also discussed. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.106732 VL - 193 SP - SN - 1872-7107 KW - Crop disease KW - Convolutional Neural Networks KW - Classification KW - Precision agriculture KW - Generalization ER - TY - JOUR TI - Robust plant segmentation of color images based on image contrast optimization AU - Lu, Yuzhen AU - Young, Sierra AU - Wang, Haifeng AU - Wijewardane, Nuwan T2 - COMPUTERS AND ELECTRONICS IN AGRICULTURE AB - • A contrast-optimization approach was proposed for plant segmentation of color images. • Contrast-enhanced images were compared with index images using five image datasets. • The proposed method consistently enhanced image contrast and segmentation accuracy. • None of nine common color indices were robust enough to varying image conditions. Plant segmentation is a crucial task in computer vision applications for identification/classification and quantification of plant phenotypic features. Robust segmentation of plants is challenged by a variety of factors such as unstructured background, variable illumination, biological variations, and weak plant-background contrast. Existing color indices that are empirically developed in specific applications may not adapt robustly to varying imaging conditions. This study proposes a new method for robust, automatic segmentation of plants from background in color (red-green-blue, RGB) images. This method consists of unconstrained optimization of a linear combination of RGB component images to enhance the contrast between plant and background regions, followed by automatic thresholding of the contrast-enhanced images ( CEI s). The validity of this method was demonstrated using five plant image datasets acquired under different field or indoor conditions, with a total of 329 color images as well as ground-truth plant masks. The CEI s along with 10 common index images were evaluated in terms of image contrast and plant segmentation accuracy. The CEI s, based on the maximized foreground-background separability, achieved consistent, substantial improvements in image contrast over the index images, with an average segmentation accuracy of F1 = 95%, which is 4% better than the best accuracy obtained by the indices. The index images were found sensitive to imaging conditions and none of them performed robustly across the datasets. The proposed method is straightforward, easy to implement and can be potentially extended to nonlinear forms of color component combinations or other color spaces and generally useful in plant image analysis for precision agriculture and plant phenotyping. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1016/j.compag.2022.106711 VL - 193 SP - SN - 1872-7107 KW - Plant segmentation KW - Image contrast KW - Automatic thresholding KW - Color images KW - Dataset ER - TY - JOUR TI - Hyperspectral Imaging With Machine Learning to Differentiate Cultivars, Growth Stages, Flowers, and Leaves of Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) AU - Lu, Yuzhen AU - Young, Sierra AU - Linder, Eric AU - Whipker, Brian AU - Suchoff, David T2 - FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE AB - As an emerging cash crop, industrial hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.) grown for cannabidiol (CBD) has spurred a surge of interest in the United States. Cultivar selection and harvest timing are important to produce CBD hemp profitably and avoid economic loss resulting from the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration in the crop exceeding regulatory limits. Hence there is a need for differentiating CBD hemp cultivars and growth stages to aid in cultivar and genotype selection and optimization of harvest timing. Current methods that rely on visual assessment of plant phenotypes and chemical procedures are limited because of its subjective and destructive nature. In this study, hyperspectral imaging was proposed as a novel, objective, and non-destructive method for differentiating hemp cultivars, growth stages as well as plant organs (leaves and flowers). Five cultivars of CBD hemp were grown greenhouse conditions and leaves and flowers were sampled at five growth stages 2–10 weeks in 2-week intervals after flower initiation and scanned by a benchtop hyperspectral imaging system in the spectral range of 400–1000 nm. The acquired images were subjected to image processing procedures to extract the spectra of hemp samples. The spectral profiles and scatter plots of principal component analysis of the spectral data revealed a certain degree of separation between hemp cultivars, growth stages, and plant organs. Machine learning based on regularized linear discriminant analysis achieved the accuracy of up to 99.6% in differentiating the five hemp cultivars. Plant organ and growth stage need to be factored into model development for hemp cultivar classification. The classification models achieved 100% accuracy in differentiating the five growth stages and two plant organs. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of hyperspectral imaging for differentiating cultivars, growth stages and plant organs of CBD hemp, which is a potentially useful tool for growers and breeders of CBD hemp. DA - 2022/2/2/ PY - 2022/2/2/ DO - 10.3389/fpls.2021.810113 VL - 12 SP - SN - 1664-462X KW - industrial hemp KW - classification KW - hyperspectral imaging KW - image processing KW - machine learning ER - TY - JOUR TI - Prophylactic cerclage in canine total hip replacement AU - Roe, Simon C. T2 - VETERINARY SURGERY AB - Veterinary SurgeryVolume 51, Issue 3 p. 379-380 LETTER TO THE EDITOR Prophylactic cerclage in canine total hip replacement Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Diplomate, ACVS, Corresponding Author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Diplomate, ACVS simon_roe@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-6875 College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USASearch for more papers by this author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Diplomate, ACVS, Corresponding Author Simon C. Roe BVSc, PhD, Diplomate, ACVS simon_roe@ncsu.edu orcid.org/0000-0003-0910-6875 College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USASearch for more papers by this author First published: 23 February 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13779Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume51, Issue3April 2022Pages 379-380 RelatedInformation DA - 2022/2/23/ PY - 2022/2/23/ DO - 10.1111/vsu.13779 VL - 51 IS - 3 SP - SN - 1532-950X UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13779 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Reconstructing the historical expansion of industrial swine production from Landsat imagery AU - Montefiore, Lise R. AU - Nelson, Natalie G. AU - Dean, Amanda AU - Sharara, Mahmoud T2 - SCIENTIFIC REPORTS AB - In the USA, historical data on the period over which industrial swine farms have operated are usually only available at the county scale and released every 5 years via the USDA Census of Agriculture, leaving the history of the swine industry and its potential legacy effects on the environment poorly understood. We developed a changepoint-based workflow that recreates the construction timelines of swine farms, specifically by identifying the construction years of swine manure lagoons from historical Landsat 5 imagery for the period of 1984 to 2012. The study focused on the Coastal Plain of North Carolina, a major pork-producing state in the USA. The algorithm successfully predicted the year of swine waste lagoon construction (+ /- 1 year) with an accuracy of approximately 94% when applied to the study area. By estimating the year of construction of 3405 swine waste lagoons in NC, we increased the resolution of available information on the expansion of swine production from the county scale to spatially-explicit locations. We further analyzed how the locations of swine waste lagoons changed in proximity to water resources over time, and found a significant increase in swine waste lagoon distances to the nearest water feature across the period of record. DA - 2022/2/2/ PY - 2022/2/2/ DO - 10.1038/s41598-022-05789-5 VL - 12 IS - 1 SP - SN - 2045-2322 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Fostering Responsible Innovation through Stakeholder Engagement: Case Study of North Carolina Sweetpotato Stakeholders AU - Grieger, Khara AU - Zarate, Sebastian AU - Barnhill-Dilling, Sarah Kathleen AU - Hunt, Shelly AU - Jones, Daniela AU - Kuzma, Jennifer T2 - SUSTAINABILITY AB - Stakeholder and community engagement are critical for the successful development of new technologies that aim to be integrated into sustainable agriculture systems. This study reports on an approach used to engage stakeholders within the sweetpotato community in North Carolina to understand their preferences, needs, and concerns as they relate to a new sensing and diagnostic platform. This work also demonstrates an example of real-time technology assessment that also fosters responsible innovation through inclusivity and responsiveness. Through the conduction of 29 interviews with sweetpotato stakeholders in North Carolina, we found that participants found the most value in detecting external sweetpotato characteristics, as well as the ability to use or connect to a smartphone that can be used in field. They also found value in including environmental parameters and having a Spanish language module. Most participants indicated that they were comfortable with sharing data as long as it benefited the greater North Carolina sweetpotato industry, and were concerned with sharing these data with “outside” competitors. We also observed differences and variations between stakeholder groups. Overall, this work demonstrates a relatively simple, low-cost approach to eliciting stakeholder needs within a local agricultural context to improve sustainability, an approach that could be leveraged and transferred to other local agrifood systems. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.3390/su14042274 VL - 14 IS - 4 SP - SN - 2071-1050 UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042274 KW - responsible innovation KW - stakeholder engagement KW - sustainability KW - sweetpotatoes ER - TY - JOUR TI - Inferring Human-Robot Performance Objectives During Locomotion Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning and Inverse Optimal Control AU - Liu, Wentao AU - Zhong, Junmin AU - Wu, Ruofan AU - Fylstra, Bretta L. AU - Si, Jennie AU - Huang, He T2 - IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS AB - Quantitatively characterizing a locomotion performance objective for a human-robot system is an important consideration in the assistive wearable robot design towards human-robot symbiosis. This problem, however, has only been addressed sparsely in the literature. In this study, we propose a new inverse approach from observed human-robot walking behavior to infer a human-robot collective performance objective represented in a quadratic form. By an innovative design of human experiments and simulation study, respectively, we validated the effectiveness of two solution approaches to solving the inverse problem using inverse reinforcement learning (IRL) and inverse optimal control (IOC). The IRL-based experiments of human walking with robotic transfemoral prosthesis validated the realistic applicability of the proposed inverse approach, while the IOC-based analysis provided important human-robot system properties such as stability and robustness that are difficult to obtain from human experiments. This study introduces a new tool to the field of wearable lower limb robots. It is expected to be expandable to quantify joint human-robot locomotion performance objectives for personalizing wearable robot control in the future. DA - 2022/4// PY - 2022/4// DO - 10.1109/LRA.2022.3143579 VL - 7 IS - 2 SP - 2549-2556 SN - 2377-3766 KW - Learning from demonstration KW - reinforcement learning KW - wearable robotics ER - TY - JOUR TI - Can a simple water quality model effectively estimate runoff-driven nutrient loads to estuarine systems? A national-scale comparison of STEPLgrid and SPARROW AU - Montefiore, Lise R. AU - Nelson, Natalie G. T2 - ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING & SOFTWARE AB - This study investigated whether a simple model could scale across watersheds and effectively predict runoff-driven nutrient loading as compared to a model with more complex process representation. A lumped model, the Spreadsheet Tool for Estimating Pollutant Load (STEPL), was adapted to use gridded data (STEPLgrid) and applied to 112 coastal watersheds across the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the contiguous United States (U.S.) to estimate annual runoff-driven total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads. STEPLgrid outputs were compared to those of the SPAtially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) model. Relative to SPARROW, STEPLgrid produced comparable estimates of TN and TP loads for most watersheds studied and its predicted loads were more similar to SPARROW for TN than TP. STEPLgrid was particularly effective at rank-ordering watersheds by TN and TP loads as compared to SPARROW, indicating that STEPLgrid was useful for relative comparisons across diverse watersheds. • STEPL was adapted to allow for its application with gridded data at large spatial scales (STEPLgrid). • STEPLgrid and SPARROW estimates of total N and P loads were compared for 112 coastal watersheds. • STEPLgrid estimates of total P loads were more similar to those of SPARROW than total N. • STEPLgrid was particularly effective at rank-ordering watersheds by nutrient load. • Simple models can be useful for comparing nutrient load scenarios across multiple basins. DA - 2022/4// PY - 2022/4// DO - 10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105344 VL - 150 SP - SN - 1873-6726 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105344 KW - Nonpoint source pollution KW - Nitrogen KW - Phosphorus KW - Water quality modeling KW - Eutrophication KW - SPARROW KW - STEPL ER - TY - JOUR TI - Close encounters in the corn field AU - Balint-Kurti, Peter AU - Kim, Saet-Byul T2 - Molecular Plant AB - Plants defend themselves against microbial pathogens in several ways. Among the most important of these mechanisms are cytoplasmic nucleotide-binding, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) resistance (R) proteins that are activated by direct or indirect interaction with pathogen-derived effector proteins introduced into the plant cell as part of the pathogenesis process. Effectors that trigger NLR-mediated resistance are known as Avirulence (Avr) proteins. The two major classes of NLR proteins are differentiated by their N-terminal domains being either coiled-coil (CC) or Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains. DA - 2022/5// PY - 2022/5// DO - 10.1016/j.molp.2022.02.008 VL - 15 IS - 5 SP - 802-804 J2 - Molecular Plant LA - en OP - SN - 1674-2052 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/J.MOLP.2022.02.008 DB - Crossref ER - TY - JOUR TI - Transitioning Machine Learning from Theory to Practice in Natural Resources Management AU - Saia, Sheila AU - Nelson, Natalie AU - Huseth, Anders AU - Grieger, Khara AU - Reich, Brian AB - Advances in sensing and computation have accelerated at unprecedented rates and scales, in turn creating new opportunities for natural resources managers to improve adaptive and predictive management practices by coupling large environmental datasets with machine learning (ML). Yet, to date, ML models often remain inaccessible to managers working outside of academic research. To identify challenges preventing natural resources managers from putting ML into practice more broadly, we convened a group of 23 stakeholders (i.e., applied researchers and practitioners) who model and analyze data collected from environmental and agricultural systems. Workshop participants shared many barriers regarding their perceptions of, and experiences with, ML modeling. These barriers emphasized three main areas of concern: ML model transparency, availability of educational resources, and the role of process-based understanding in ML model development. Informed by workshop participant input, we offer recommendations on how the ecological modelling community can overcome key barriers preventing ML model use in natural resources management and advance the profession towards data-driven decision-making. DA - 2022/1/31/ PY - 2022/1/31/ DO - 10.31223/X5D01H VL - 1 UR - https://doi.org/10.31223/X5D01H ER - TY - JOUR TI - Impacts of Air Velocity Treatments under Summer Condition: Part I—Heavy Broiler’s Surface Temperature Response AU - Akter, Suraiya AU - Cheng, Bin AU - West, Derek AU - Liu, Yingying AU - Qian, Yan AU - Zou, Xiuguo AU - Classen, John AU - Cordova, Hernan AU - Oviedo, Edgar AU - Wang-Li, Lingjuan T2 - Animals AB - Heavy broilers exposed to hot summer conditions experience fluctuations in surface temperatures due to heat stress, which leads to decreased performance. Maintaining a bird's homeostasis depends on several environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity). It is important to understand the responses of birds to environmental factors and the amount of heat loss to the surrounding environment to create thermal comfort for the heavy broilers for improved performances and welfare. This study investigates the variation in surface temperatures of heavy broilers under high and low air velocity treatments. Daytime, age and bird location's effect on the surface temperature variation was also examined. The experiment was carried out in the poultry engineering laboratory of North Carolina State University during summers of 2017, 2018, and 2019 as a part of a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of wind chill application to mitigate heat stress on heavy broilers. This live broiler heat stress experiment was conducted under two dynamic air velocity treatments (high and low) with three chambers per treatment and 44 birds per chamber. Surface temperatures of the birds were recorded periodically through the experimental treatment cycles (flocks, 35-61 d) with infrared thermography in the morning, noon, evening, and nighttime. The overall mean surface temperature of the broilers under two treatments was found to be 35.89 ± 2.37 °C. The variation in surface temperature happened due to air temperature, thermal index, air velocity, bird's age, daytime, and position of birds inside the experimental chambers. The surface temperatures were found lower under high air velocity treatment and higher under low air velocity treatment. During the afternoon time, the broilers' surface temperatures were higher than other times of the day. It was also found that the birds' surface temperature increased with age and temperature humidity indices. Based upon the experimental data of five flocks, a simple linear regression model was developed to predict surface temperature from the birds' age, thermal indices, and air velocity. It will help assess heavy broilers' thermal comfort under heat stress, which is essential to provide a comfortable environment for them. DA - 2022/1/29/ PY - 2022/1/29/ DO - 10.3390/ani12030328 VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 328 J2 - Animals LA - en OP - SN - 2076-2615 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani12030328 DB - Crossref KW - heavy broiler KW - heat stress KW - surface temperature KW - air velocity KW - temperature humidity index ER - TY - JOUR TI - A Two-Species Occupancy Model with a Continuous-Time Detection Process Reveals Spatial and Temporal Interactions AU - Kellner, Kenneth F. AU - Parsons, Arielle W. AU - Kays, Roland AU - Millspaugh, Joshua J. AU - Rota, Christopher T. T2 - JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL BIOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATISTICS DA - 2022/1/7/ PY - 2022/1/7/ DO - 10.1007/s13253-021-00482-y SP - SN - 1537-2693 KW - Activity patterns KW - Camera traps KW - Occupancy KW - Point process KW - Temporal interactions ER - TY - JOUR TI - Efficient degradation of tetracycline by singlet oxygen-dominated peroxymonosulfate activation with magnetic nitrogen-doped porous carbon AU - Wu, Shaohua AU - Yang, Chunping AU - Lin, Yan AU - Cheng, Jay J. T2 - JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES AB - Nonradical reaction driven by peroxymonosulfate (PMS) based advanced oxidation processes has drawn widespread attention in water treatment due to their inherent advantages, but the degradation behavior and mechanism of organic pollutants are still unclear. In this study, the performance, intermediates, mechanism and toxicity of tetracycline (TC) degradation were thoroughly examined in the constructed magnetic nitrogen-doped porous carbon/peroxymonosulfate (Co-N/C-PMS) system. The results showed that 85.4% of TC could be removed within 15 min when Co-N/C and PMS was simultaneously added and the degradation rate was enhanced by 3.4 and 14.7 folds compared with Co-N/C or PMS alone, respectively. Moreover, the performance of Co-N/C was superior to that of most previously reported catalysts. Many lines of evidence indicated that Co-N/C-PMS system was a singlet oxygen-dominated nonradical reaction, which was less interfered by pH and water components, and displayed high adaptability to actual water bodies. Subsequently, the degradation process was elaborated on the basis of three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix spectra and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. At last, the toxicity of treated TC was greatly reduced by using microalgae Coelastrella sp. as ecological indicator. This study provides a promising approach based on singlet oxygen-dominated nonradical reaction for eliminating TC in water treatment. DA - 2022/5// PY - 2022/5// DO - 10.1016/j.jes.2021.08.002 VL - 115 SP - 330-340 SN - 1878-7320 KW - Tetracycline KW - Peroxymonosulfate KW - Activation KW - Singlet oxygen KW - Toxicity ER - TY - JOUR TI - Ten simple rules for researchers who want to develop web apps AU - Saia, Sheila M. AU - Nelson, Natalie G. AU - Young, Sierra N. AU - Parham, Stanton AU - Vandegrift, Micah T2 - PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AB - Growing interest in data-driven, decision-support tools across the life sciences and physical sciences has motivated development of web applications, also known as web apps. Web apps can help disseminate research findings and present research outputs in ways that are more accessible and meaningful to the general public--from individuals, to governments, to companies. Specifically, web apps enable exploration of scenario testing and policy analysis (i.e., to answer “what if?”) as well as co-evolution of scientific and public knowledge. However, the majority of researchers developing web apps receive little formal training or technical guidance on how to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of their web-based decision support tools. Take some of us for example. We (Saia and Nelson) are agricultural and environmental engineers with little experience in web app development, but we are interested in creating web apps to support sustainable aquaculture production in the Southeast. We had user (i.e., shellfish growers) interest, a goal in mind (i.e., develop a new forecast product and decision-support tool for shellfish aquaculturalists), and received funding to support this work. Yet, we experienced several unexpected hurdles from the start of our project that ended up being fairly common hiccups to the seasoned web app developers among us (Young, Parham). As a result, we share the following Ten Simple Rules, which highlight take home messages, including lessons learned and practical tips, of our experience as burgeoning web app developers. We hope researchers interested in developing web apps draw insights from our (in)experience as they set out on their decision support tool development journey. DA - 2022/1// PY - 2022/1// DO - 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009663 VL - 18 IS - 1 SP - SN - 1553-7358 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009663 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Effect of Visibility on Maintenance Investment and Consequent Performance of Urban Stormwater Control Measures AU - Moin, Sheida AU - Hunt, William F. AU - Birgand, Francois AU - Ratzlaff, Steve T2 - JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABLE WATER IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AB - Studies on the performance of urban stormwater control measures (SCMs) mainly focus on hydrologic and biological factors. SCMs are located in an urban context and humans are part of this ecosystem, yet few studies have investigated the effect of human interaction on SCM performance. While SCM designs rarely encourage physical human interaction, their placement in the urban landscape does allow visual interaction. This study explores the impact of SCM visibility on the degree of maintenance received and, consequently, on the hydrologic performance of the system. Forty SCMs, including 20 bioretention cells and 20 wetlands or wet ponds, were assessed. Visibility was evaluated through SCM surveys to determine viewshed size, noticeability, and potential passerby traffic. Hydrologic performance was evaluated through (1) visual inspection, (2) surveying vegetation health, (3) measuring drawdown rates, and (4) soil tests of bioretention media. As the degree of maintenance varied for each SCM, previous maintenance records, including cost data for the preceding year, were obtained and compared to visibility scores and hydrologic performance metrics. The study findings concluded that (1) smaller practices (bioretention) were more expensive to maintain than larger practices (ponds and wetlands) on a per SCM-area basis; and (2) the communication between the design community and the maintenance crew is essential. As an example, because they are not aware that bioretention cells (BRCs) can drain too fast for effective nitrogen treatment, maintenance crews often assume a BRC with greater than recommended drawdown rate is functioning well. The authors believe that this misunderstanding impacted whether visibility could be a predictor of hydrologic performance. Ancillary results suggest that maintenance crews tend to prioritize more visible systems; however, based on the hydrologic performance, SCM priority did not significantly affect the quality of maintenance performed. Moreover, the SCMs examined tended to perform acceptably well. This finding is considered biased because of (1) generally informed and conscientious maintenance crews, as they hold an “SCM Inspection and Maintenance Certification”; and (2) routine SCM inspection and maintenance performed on a monthly basis, which is more frequent than those reported in other studies, and therefore not reflective of SCMs found elsewhere. Further research is needed, using a greater number of maintenance crews, and controlling for crews with appropriate training, utilizing the methodology presented herein. DA - 2022/2/1/ PY - 2022/2/1/ DO - 10.1061/JSWBAY.0000975 VL - 8 IS - 1 SP - SN - 2379-6111 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Double‐loop cerclage resists greater loads for more cycles than twist and single‐loop cerclage AU - Butare‐Smith, Lauren AU - Roe, Simon C. T2 - Veterinary Surgery AB - To compare the mechanical performance of cerclage secured with twist, single-loop, and double-loop knots subjected to cyclic loading.In vitro biomechanical study.Twist, single-loop and double-loop cerclage configurations of 1.0 mm wire.The peak load resisted by each cerclage type was determined (n = 6). Cerclage were loaded cyclically to 80%, 60%, 40%, or 20% of its peak load (n = 8 per load level). The number of cycles until each cerclage loosened (residual tension <10 N) was recorded.All wires that failed did so by loosening. Twist cerclage cycled to 390 N and 290 N loosened within the first 10 cycles, and, when cycled to 100 N, they loosened by 250 cycles. All twist knots loosened by untwisting. Single-loop cerclage cycled to 320 N loosened within 10 cycles. At 240 N, 5 single-loop cerclage resisted 250 cycles before loosening. At 160 N, 2 of the 8 single-loop cerclage did not loosen by 100 000 cycles. When cycled to 640 N, one of the double-loop cerclage did not loosen following 500 000 cycles. When cycled to 480 N, 3 of the 8 wires did not loosen.Double-loop cerclage will be tighter and are better able to resist cycling than twist or single-loop cerclage.Use of double-loop cerclage to stabilize bone fragments or prevent fissure propagation can be expected to provide greater resistance to loosening than twist or single-loop cerclage, both initially and with repeated loading. DA - 2022/2// PY - 2022/2// DO - 10.1111/vsu.13756 VL - 51 IS - 2 SP - 335-340 UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13756 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Drawing clinically relevant conclusions from biomechanical studies AU - Roe, Simon C. T2 - Veterinary Surgery DA - 2022/1// PY - 2022/1// DO - 10.1111/vsu.13738 UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13738 ER - TY - JOUR TI - Impact of controlled drainage on subsurface drain flow and nitrate load: A synthesis of studies across the US Midwest and Southeast AU - Helmers, M. J. AU - Abendroth, L. AU - Reinhart, B. AU - Chighladze, G. AU - Pease, L. AU - Bowling, L. AU - Youssef, M. AU - Ghane, E. AU - Ahiablame, L. AU - Brown, L. AU - Fausey, N. AU - Frankenberger, J. AU - Jaynes, D. AU - King, K. AU - Kladivko, E. AU - Nelson, K. AU - Strock, J. T2 - AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT AB - Controlled drainage (CD), sometimes called drainage water management, is a practice whereby the drainage system outflow is managed during specific periods to retain more water in the field. Although CD has been shown to reduce downstream nitrate-N (NO3--N) load, seasonal patterns have been less consistent which can potentially impact the effectiveness of conservation practices. The main objective of this study was to assess the regional and seasonal impact of conventional free drainage (FD) and CD on drainage flow and nitrate-N load. Using experimental data from ongoing and historical CD experiments across the Corn Belt and in North Carolina, we evaluated subsurface drain flow, nitrate-N load, and performance of CD systems. Across the data set and regions, there was little difference in annual flow from FD conditions. Seasonally, more northern and western sites experienced a greater percentage of the annual flow occurring in the spring. There was no nitrate-N concentration reduction with CD. Flow and nitrate-N load reductions with CD did not vary by plant hardiness zone across the region, but the season with the greatest reduction did shift from winter to spring moving north and west in the study area. Absolute flow reductions (in mm) were similar regardless of precipitation category. Consequently, the percent reduction was lower as the amount of precipitation (category) increased. Overall, this analysis found CD to be an effective practice for reducing drain flow and nitrate-N loading directly delivered by the drains to downstream water bodies across the region. DA - 2022/1/1/ PY - 2022/1/1/ DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2021.107265 VL - 259 SP - SN - 1873-2283 KW - Drainage water management KW - Nitrate loss KW - Seasonal drainage ER - TY - JOUR TI - Nth‐plant supply: corn stover supplies and costs in a fleet of biorefineries AU - Langholtz, Matthew AU - Davis, Maggie AU - Eaton, Laurence AU - Hilliard, Michael AU - Brandt, Craig AU - Webb, Erin AU - Hellwinckel, Chad AU - Samu, Nicole AU - Hartley, Damon AU - Jones, Daniela T2 - Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining AB - Abstract Feedstock cost and cost variability is expected to increase with the number of biorefineries. To quantify this effect, this spatial‐economic analysis simulates feedstock cost and cost variability of an industry based on corn stover as a function of the number of biorefineries. Results are reported for nine scenarios (a base case and sensitivity analysis of four variables – harvest efficiency, sustainability constraints, opportunity cost, and corn grain yield) under deterministic and stochastic simulations, assuming biorefineries using 658 000 Mg (725 000 tons) year −1 of corn stover in 2019. The resulting supply curves are highly elastic (i.e. little change in cost) for the first 50 of the 121 biorefineries, with price increases in subsequent biorefineries depending on scenario. In the base‐case deterministic scenario, weighted‐average stover costs are $66 Mg −1 ($60 ton −1 ), $69 Mg −1 ($62 ton −1 ), and $156 Mg −1 ($142 ton −1 ), at the first, 60th, and 121st biorefineries, respectively. The stochastic simulations, subject to observed 30‐year corn yield variability, follow a similar pattern, with price distributions that vary by scenario. The base‐case stochastic simulations illustrate minimal cost variability for the first 60 biorefineries, but rapid increases in cost variability in the second half of potential biorefineries, with similar patterns observed in the other scenarios. Of the four variables explored, price was most sensitive to harvest efficiency, followed by sustainability constraints, corn yield, and opportunity cost. Results suggest that, under conventional logistics, about half of the US corn stover resource is reliably available with minimum cost increase and variability. Interactive visualization is available at https://doi.org/10.11578/1828779 . © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd DA - 2022/1// PY - 2022/1// DO - 10.1002/bbb.2305 UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.2305 KW - biomass resources KW - biomass feedstocks KW - biomass logistics KW - biomass supply risks KW - biomass depots ER - TY - JOUR TI - Size-segregated physicochemical properties of inhalable particulate matter in a tunnel-ventilated layer house in China AU - Wang, Xiaoshuai AU - Dai, Xiaorong AU - Wang, Ailun AU - Wang-Li, Lingjuan AU - Yang, Mengrong AU - Xiao, Hang AU - He, Yong AU - Wang, Kaiying T2 - Environmental Research AB - This study investigated the physicochemical properties of the particles in a typical commercial laying hen barn in Southeast China. Mass concentrations and size distributions of the particulate matter (PM) and the key components (incl. organic carbon (OC), element carbon (EC), and the water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs)) were analyzed. The result shows that the mass concentrations of PM accumulated along with the airflow inside the house, with the total mass of the sampling particles increasing from 843.66 ± 160.74 μg/m3 at the center of the house to 1264.93 ± 285.70 μg/m3 at the place close to exhaust fans. The particles with the aerodynamic equivalent diameter, Dp > 9 μm, coarse particles (2.1 μm < Dp ≤ 9 μm), fine particles (Dp ≤ 2.1 μm) accounted for around 50%, 40%, and 10% of the total mass of the sampling particles, respectively. Mass closure analysis shows secondary inorganic ions (NH4+, SO42- and NO3-) were abundant in the fine-mode fraction and OC accounted for more than 40% of the coarse particles. Size distribution analysis shows that the three secondary inorganic ions were bimodally distributed, and the rest tested components were unimodally distributed. The ratios of OC/EC in fine particles were smaller than those in the coarse particles. The equivalent concentration of WSIIs indicated that fine particles were slightly acidic, and the large size particles were slightly alkaline. Knowledge gained from this study will lead to a better understanding of physicochemical properties, sources, and formation of PM. DA - 2022/3// PY - 2022/3// DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112064 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112064 KW - Carbon analysis KW - Ion balance analysis KW - Laying hen house KW - Particle size distribution KW - Water-soluble inorganic ions ER - TY - JOUR TI - Ten Simple Rules for Researchers Who Want to Develop Web Apps AU - Saia, Sheila AU - Nelson, Natalie AU - Young, Sierra AU - Parham, Stanton AU - Vandegrift, Micah AB - Growing interest in data-driven, decision-support tools across the life sciences and physical sciences has motivated development of web applications, also known as web apps. Web apps can help disseminate research findings and present research outputs in ways that are more accessible and meaningful to the general public--from individuals, to governments, to companies. Specifically, web apps enable exploration of scenario testing and policy analysis (i.e., to answer “what if?”) as well as co-evolution of scientific and public knowledge. However, the majority of researchers developing web apps receive little formal training or technical guidance on how to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of their web-based decision support tools. Take some of us for example. We (Saia and Nelson) are agricultural and environmental engineers with little experience in web app development, but we are interested in creating web apps to support sustainable aquaculture production in the Southeast. We had user (i.e., shellfish growers) interest, a goal in mind (i.e., develop a new forecast product and decision-support tool for shellfish aquaculturalists), and received funding to support this work. Yet, we experienced several unexpected hurdles from the start of our project that ended up being fairly common hiccups to the seasoned web app developers among us (Young, Parham). As a result, we share the following Ten Simple Rules, which highlight take home messages, including lessons learned and practical tips, of our experience as burgeoning web app developers. We hope researchers interested in developing web apps draw insights from our (in)experience as they set out on their decision support tool development journey. DA - 2022/1/31/ PY - 2022/1/31/ DO - 10.31223/X57P6R VL - 1 UR - https://doi.org/10.31223/X57P6R ER - TY - JOUR TI - Estimating the Influence of Oyster Reef Chains on Freshwater Detention at the Estuary Scale Using Landsat-8 Imagery AU - Alonso, Alice AU - Nelson, Natalie G. AU - Yurek, Simeon AU - Kaplan, David AU - Olabarrieta, Maitane AU - Frederick, Peter T2 - Estuaries and Coasts DA - 2022/1// PY - 2022/1// DO - 10.1007/s12237-021-00959-6 VL - 5 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-021-00959-6 KW - Landsat 8 KW - Satellite imagery KW - Salinity KW - Oyster reefs KW - Suwannee River KW - Gulf of Mexico ER - TY - JOUR TI - The Effects of Interface Views on Performing Aerial Telemanipulation Tasks Using Small UAVs AU - Young, Sierra N. AU - Lanciloti, Ryan J. AU - Peschel, Joshua M. T2 - International Journal of Social Robotics AB - This paper presents a human-robot interaction (HRI) study of a dedicated Mission Specialist interface for performing telemanipulation tasks using a small unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV). Current literature suggests that the successful completion of aerial manipulation tasks in real-world environments requires human input due to challenges in autonomous perception and control. Visual information of the remote environment in a telemanipulation interface can significantly affect performance under direct control; however, the effects of interface visualizations on task performance have not been studied for UAV telemanipulation. This work evaluated the effects of interface viewpoint on aerial manipulation task performance. The interfaces evaluated in this study included video streams from cameras located onboard the UAV, including: (i) a manipulator egocentric view, (ii) a manipulator exocentric view, and (iii) a combination of egocentric and exocentric views. A total of 36 participants completed three different manipulation tasks using all three interface conditions. The observations and results showed that both the exocentric and mixed view configurations contributed to improved task performance over an egocentric-only interface. Further, this study resulted in data regarding view use, view effectiveness, and task type that can be used for further developing interfacing for aerial manipulators that change and adapt to the environment and task. DA - 2022/1// PY - 2022/1// DO - 10.1007/s12369-021-00783-9 VL - 4 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-021-00783-9 KW - Manipulation KW - Tablet interface KW - Human robot interaction KW - UAV ER - TY - JOUR TI - Three Digital Agriculture Problems in Cotton Solved by Distributed Ledger Technology AU - Griffin, Terry W. AU - Harris, Keith D. AU - Ward, Jason K. AU - Goeringer, Paul AU - Richard, Jessica A. T2 - APPLIED ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES AND POLICY AB - Abstract Distributed ledger technology applied to Big Data in agriculture presents challenges and opportunities. Opportunities exist to solve decades‐old farm data management problems. Real‐world examples of applying distributed ledger technology to current farm data problems in cotton include (1) yield monitor data quality assurance, (2) sustainability metrics and resource tracking of cotton lint quality data from ginner back to subfield locations, and (3) increasing supply chain coordination by providing more information to warehouse managers. The culmination of the discussion across three aspects of cotton production data is of interest to farmers, researchers, policy makers, and consumers. DA - 2022/3// PY - 2022/3// DO - 10.1002/aepp.13142 VL - 44 IS - 1 SP - 237-252 SN - 2040-5804 KW - Big Data KW - blockchain KW - cotton KW - distributed ledger technology (DLT) KW - traceability ER -