196,122 research outputs found
The impact of ski slope reconstruction : an approach by means of soil function evaluation
No full textThe popularity of alpine skiing is still increasing in the Alps. Consequently, the demand for bigger ski resorts and for broad and levelled ski slopes is rising, too. The reconstruction of entire slopes has become normality in many regions. As a result, the soil structure is strongly influenced and new vegetation needs to be sown often followed by enhanced erosion. Hence, it is reasonable to ask to what extent those construction measures impact on the affected soils and its role within the ecosystem.
Therefore, soil pit information along transects from the subalpine to the alpine zone in four ski resorts in the Aosta valley was collected. Per site, one profile on the ski slope and a reference profile next to the ski slope were analysed. By means of soil function evaluation, it was tried to assess the effects of ski slope reconstruction on soils and thus, their functionality. The soil function evaluation was performed with the tool SEPP (Soil Evaluation for Planning Procedures), which was developed by the Department of Geography at the University of Innsbruck and firstly introduced by Gruber et al. (2019).
According to the calculations, most soil functions are not significantly lowered but stay similar or are even enhanced by creating a ski slope, which are quite unexpected results. Ski slopes provide a better habitat for drought-tolerant species and their ability to reduce surface runoff is enhanced. A clear impairment of function fulfilment is observed regarding carbon storage.
In addition to the presentation of methods, study area and results, two central questions will be discussed: Where are the limitations of the SEPP tool, which is based on methods that were developed for non-mountainous areas, and how could it be adapted to better reflect properties and functionality of high mountain soils?
Gruber, Fabian; Schaber, Elisabeth; Baruck, Jasmin; Geitner, Clemens (2019): How and to What Extent Does
Topography Control the Results of Soil Function Assessment. A Case Study From the Alps in South Tyrol (Italy). In Soil
Syst. 3 (1), p. 18. DOI: 10.3390/soilsystems3010018
A Comparison between Two Statistical Methods for Gear Tooth Root Bending Strength Estimation Starting from Pulsator Data
No full textDue to their cost-effectiveness, pulsator tests are widely adopted as a testing methodology for the investigation of the effects of material and heat and surface treatment on the gear strength with respect to tooth root fatigue fracture. However, since no meshing contact is present in pulsator tests, there are differences between the test case and the real-world application scenario where gears are rotating under load. Those differences are related to both statistical and fatigue phenomena. Over the years, several methodologies have been developed in order to handle this problem. This article summarizes them and proposes a first comparison. However, no complete comparison between the different estimation methodologies has been conducted so far. This article aims to partially cover this gap, first by presenting and comparing the methodologies proposed in the literature and then via a deeper comparison between two different elaboration methodologies. Those two methodologies, which have been developed by examined to the same test rig configuration, are also discussed in detail. The comparison is performed based on an actual database composed of 1643 data points from case-hardened gears, divided into 76 experimental campaigns. Good agreement between the estimated gear strengths was found. The database is also adopted in order to make further considerations about one methodology, providing additional validation and defining the specimen numerosity required
Soil function assessment in high-mountain environments : Testing the SEPP tool in a ski resort in the Italian Alps
No full textSoil function assessment (SFA) plays an important role in evaluating the impact of management practices, land- use changes and construction work. The Soil Evaluation for Planning Procedures (SEPP) tool is one of the few existing SFA tools that allow automated SFA. It was originally developed to address land- use planning issues, which traditionally play a minor role in high- mountain areas. Hence, the SEPP tool has not yet been applied to such environments. In this study, we tested the SEPP performance on high- mountain soils previously altered by construction work and land- use changes. Specifically, we evaluated soil data from 16 ski runs and 16 paired control sites in the Italian Alps, aiming to reflect land- use- driven differences in soil properties in the SFA results. The study re-vealed options to adapt SEPP assessment methods if high- mountain soils with special characteristics (e.g. shallowness or high coarse fragment content) are in-vestigated. The main adaptation options are the consideration of further soil pa-rameters and the adjustment of thresholds of function fulfilment levels. However, the assessment results of the current SEPP version already reflect the most rel-evant impacts of ski run construction on the soils in the study area: fulfilment of some of the soil functions was impaired and that of others improved, while most remained at a comparable level. We conclude that SFA with the SEPP tool pro-vides valuable support for the evaluation of construction projects and land- use change in high- mountain environments. However, the significance of SFA can be improved by considering the intrinsic properties of high- mountain soils
The consequences of different methodologies for the elaboration of pulsator test results with respect to the load spectrum assessment of gears
No full textI Servizi Ecosistemici del Suolo nelle Alpi : una guida pratica
No full textI suoli sono una componente fondamentale degli ecosistemi delle Alpi. Rappresentano una risorsa naturale importante soprattutto nella regione alpina, molto fragile e vulnerabile. La gestione sostenibile dell’ambiente nell’arco alpino passa anche attraverso una gestione attenta e sostenibile del suolo, che può contribuire a migliorare i servizi ecosistemici e la resilienza degli ecosistemi stessi. Il Protocollo “Difesa del Suolo” della Convenzione delle Alpi ha come obiettivo proprio la salvaguardia e gestione sostenibile del suolo. La nostra pubblicazione “I Servizi Ecosistemici del Suolo nelle Alpi” tratta i servizi che il suolo può fornire all’ambiente e all’uomo nei vari settori produttivi (agricoltura, foreste, turismo etc.), e si propone di aumentare la consapevolezza sul tema del suolo, rivolgendosi ad un pubblico ampio, di non specialisti
Dr. Duane M. Jackson, Morehouse College, July 2011
No full textThis video is a conversation with Dr. Duane M. Jackson. Dr. Jackson talks about his paper, "Recall and the Serial Position Effect: The Role of Primacy and Recency on Accounting Students' Performance." Jackie Daniel, AUC Woodruff Library, is the interviewer
"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States" By M. Carey.
No full text"Reflections on the subject of Emigration from Europe with a view to Settlement in the United States: containing bried sketches of the moral and political character of those states.
By M. Carey, member of the American philosophical, and of the American Antiquarian Society, and author of The Olive Branch, Cindiciae Hibernicae, essays on banking, on political economy, and on internal improvement.
To which are now added the English editor's comments on the subject; together with Important Advice to Emigrants, and Cautions Against Impositions Practiced in the Outports
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Dr. Glendon Swarthout
No full textHosted by Roger M. Busfield, MSU Assistant Professor of Speech and Theater, Meet the Author is designed to introduce a general audience to a contemporary author and their work through in-depth interviews. This episode features a conversation between Dr. Glendon Swarthout, prolific author and English professor at MSU, and assistant professors Sam S. Baskett and Theodore B. Strandness
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