1,720,956 research outputs found
Economic analysis of vegetation management alternatives in Ontario
No full textVegetation management practices have become an integral component of forest management. Economics of alternative vegetation management treatments were analyzed in this thesis on the basis of two journal papers. Six research sites established and managed by Vegetation Management Alternatives Program of Ontario were the sources of data. In the first paper, differences in stem quality, and volume and value of fibre produced by planted white spruce [Picea glauca (Moench) Voss] 16 years after vegetation management treatments in northwestern Ontario were examined. Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVSOntario) was used to pro-ject the total and merchantable volume to age 70 and BUCK-2 was used to opti-mize the resulting product mix. Projected value was based on 2009 prices for hog fuel and SPF (spruce-pine-fir) eastern green lumber prices. At 16 years post-treat-ment, gross total volumes in herbicide-treated and mechanically cut plots were significantly higher (120-165% and 94-98%, respectively) than that in control plots (14.73 m3 ha-1). Based on height, diameter, and taper criteria, observed tree quality did not differ among treatments. The projected value of the fibre produced was 36 to 53% higher in herbicide-treated plots and 24 to 37% higher in mechanically cut plots than in control plots ($18,486.76 ha-1).
Second paper presents the stand-level benefit-cost analyses of 12 vegeta-tion management treatments applied at six study sites in northern Ontario. Net present value (NPV), benefit-cost ratio (BCR), and internal rate of return (IRR) for crop and all species in each treatment and site were calculated and compared using 2009 constant dollars and variable real discount rates. Aerial herbicide treatments produced the highest NPV, BCR, and IRR. Internal rates of return of 4.32% for aerial herbicide, 2.90% for manual brush cutting, 2.82% for ground ap-plied herbicide, and 2.50% for brush cutting plus herbicide treatments indicated that all of the vegetation management alternatives evaluated are economically viable
Environmental and economic impact assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production in Northwestern Ontario, Canada
Get PDFBioenergy is becoming very popular in Ontario with the 2014 ban on the use of coal in power generation. Biochar is produced as a by-product or a co-product of bioenergy. Past literature shows that if biochar is produced as a co-product with bioenergy from sustainably managed forests and used for soil amendment, it could provide a carbon neutral or even carbon negative solution for current environmental problems. It also shows that detailed life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost assessment (LCCA) that compares the potential environmental and economic impacts of BBBP system with those of conventional coal-based system is missing. This study fills that gap by assessing environmental and economic implications of a BBBP system in northwestern Ontario throughout its lifecycle using SimaPro® Ver. 8.1, EIOLCA® software and spreadsheet modeling. Under the assumption that only forest residues and/or under-utilized species are used, results show that although a system including biochar based land application consumes 4,847 MJ t-1 dry feedstock more energy than the conventional coal-based system, it reduces the GHG emissions by 68 kgCO2e t-1 dry feedstock during its life cycle. It also improves the ecosystem quality by 18%, reduces global warming potential by 15%, and resource use by 13% but may impact human health by increasing disability adjusted life years (DALY) by 1.7% if biomass availability is low to medium. The economic viability of this BBBP system, within the LCA system boundary, is directly dependent on the costs of pyrolysis, feedstock processing (drying, grinding and pelletization), feedstock collection and the value of total carbon offset provided by the system. The BBBP system is economically viable only in case of high biomass availability within 200km and when the cost of carbon sequestration exceeds C$60 t-1 of CO2e. The environmental and economic impact assessment results developed through this study, can be scaled up to a larger regional scale which is expected to help in reinforcing the confidence of industries and its partners in promoting BBBP systems and the use of biochar as a soil amendment in the region
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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