Outdoor Trees Research Articles

Role of outdoor trees on pedestrian wind and thermal conditions around a pre-education building for sustainable energy management

Role of outdoor trees on pedestrian wind and thermal conditions around a pre-education building for sustainable energy management

Erratum to: Research on the influence of outdoor trees on natural ventilation performance of an academic building

Erratum to: Research on the influence of outdoor trees on natural ventilation performance of an academic building

Research on the influence of outdoor trees on natural ventilation performance of an academic building

Research on the influence of outdoor trees on natural ventilation performance of an academic building

Stereo Vision Controlled Variable Rate Sprayer for Specialty Crops: Part II. Sprayer Development and Performance Evaluation

Highlights A real time stereo vision controlled variable rate sprayer for specialty crops was developed. The stereo vision system of the sprayer detected outdoor trees with similar canopy profiles under travel speeds ranging from 3.2 to 8 km h-1. Canopy volume measurements of the sprayer were impacted by lateral distances between the sprayer and the tree center and travel speeds. The sprayer required less than 200 ms from tree canopy detection to spray decisions. The sprayer achieved spray volume reductions from 72.6% to 80.5% compared to constant rate spray application. Abstract. A real time variable rate sprayer controlled by a stereo vision system was developed to increase the accuracy of spray applications and reduce the use of crop protection products. The sprayer was designed to detect tree canopies and calculate its volume using depth images from the stereo vision system, and discharge corresponding spray volumes every 200 ms through the embedded software in the graphical user interface. The sprayer was evaluated in an apple orchard at different travel speeds (3.2 to 8.0 km h-1) for its performance in detecting canopy and measuring its volume. In addition, spray volume, deposition, and coverage of the variable rate application of the sprayer were evaluated against a constant rate application. Test results showed that the sprayer detected visually similar tree canopies during the evaluations, although its canopy volume measurements deviated from manually measured canopy volume from 0.11 to 0.83 m3 due to lateral position changes of the sprayer. The sprayer adjusted duty cycles of pulse width modulated valves to accurately spray the intended volume for detected canopies (0.073 to 0.083 L m-3) and only used spray volumes of 19.5% to 26.7% compared to a constant rate spray application (338 L ha-1). The constant rate spray application generally had more spray deposition and coverage in tree canopies than the variable rate sprayer, as expected since its spray volume was approximately 3.7 times higher. However, the mean spray depositions from the constant rate spray application were significantly varied (p=0.05) by tree sizes, while the variable rate spray application achieved statistically equivalent mean spray depositions regardless of tree sizes. The stereo vision controlled sprayer offers a cost-effective real-time variable rate spray option for growers with the potential to perform other tasks by using image processing algorithms while applying crop protection products. Keywords: Automation, Canopy volume, Crop protection, Depth image, Orchard, Precision agriculture, Real-time application.

Preliminary Study on Influence of Outdoor Trees on Natural Ventilation of Teaching Buildings

The emphasis of this study lied in the impact of tree planting spacing around the teaching building on the indoor wind environment. CFD simulations of the indoor wind environment of teaching building affected by trees were performed utilizing the ANSYS Fluent software using the standard k-ε model with additional source terms. Deciduous broad-leaved trees and coniferous trees were selected as representative tree species for comparison. Five different tree planting spacings were arranged outside the teaching building, and the indoor airflow velocity distribution and pressure distribution were simulated. Then the effects of these different tree layout forms on the indoor ventilation efficiency of the building were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the sum of the total ventilation flow rate in the classrooms rose with the increase of the spacing between trees. However, due to the different location relationship between the tree canopy and the classrooms, the ventilation efficiency of each classroom showed differences. As for tree species, the blocking effect of tall deciduous broad-leaved trees on indoor ventilation was more obvious than that of coniferous trees. This study will have guiding significance for the layout design of vegetation around the building and creating a good indoor ventilation environment.

Regularity in distribution, and control, of pests in the hall of mental cultivation, the Forbidden City, Beijing, China

Pests can seriously threaten the safety of organic relics and historic buildings. Every year, the Palace Museum spends a large of money and time preventing and controlling pests, but there is still no a better systematic and targeted method. The Hall of Mental Cultivation is a representative and essential building in the Forbidden City. Through three years of pest monitoring, the species, quantity, and occurrence regularity of the major pests were investigated. During this time, more than ten species of insects were trapped. These included carpet beetles (Anthrenus picturatus hintoni Mroczkowski, 1952 and Thylodrias contractus Motschulsky, 1839), silverfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata Escherich, 1905), powder-post beetles (Lyctus brunneus Stephens, 1830), booklice (Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel, 1931), spider beetles (Ptinus japonicus Reitter, 1877 and Gibbium aequinoctiale Boieldieu, 1865) and the case bearing clothes moths (Tinea pellionella Linnaeus, 1758), among which the Anthrenus picturatus was the primary pests. Abundant resources of organic relics, suitable temperature, humidity, and light environment, and cypress existence are favorable factors for the occurrence of pests, and analysis of these factors is helpful for further integrated pest management (IPM). The period with the most significant number of active pests in the Hall of Mental Cultivation is July and August, and April and May are the rapid growth period. Carpet beetles are the key pests that can affect the overall change trend significantly. It should combine with their living habits, the ideal treatment time and methods, to give them a better control. Fumigation should be done in July and August, while chemical spray should be done referring to the florescence of outdoor trees (March to June), and used of pheromone is reasonable preventative measures.

A method for aseptic culture of bud explants pogestemon cablin benth Var Tapak Tuan, Aceh, Indonesia

Pogostemon cablin Benth var Tapak Tuan, Aceh, Indonesia is a plant herb potentially to be developing with culture method. However, culture of this cultivar (stem and leave of bud0 explants sampled from outdoor trees is sometimes challenges due to contamination not overcome by standard surface-sterilization. An Improve method, involving a 5-minute immersion of explants in 5% (v/v) detergent, 1% fungicide and bactericide, 5% NaClO and 0.5% antibioticswhich does not interfere with normal explant and callus development, is described in detail.

How Outdoor Trees Affect Indoor Particulate Matter Dispersion: CFD Simulations in a Naturally Ventilated Auditorium.

This study used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, coupling with a standard k-ε model based on the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach and a revised generalized drift flux model, to investigate effects of outdoor trees on indoor PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10 dispersion in a naturally ventilated auditorium. Crown volume coverage (CVC) was introduced to quantify outdoor trees. Simulations were performed on various CVCs, oncoming wind velocities and window opening sizes (wall porosities were 3.5 and 7.0%, respectively, for half and fully opened windows). The results were as follows: (1) A vortex formed inside the auditorium in the baseline scenario, and the airflow recirculation created a well-mixed zone with little variation in particle concentrations. There was a noticeable decrease in indoor PM10 with the increasing distance from the inlet boundary due to turbulent diffusion. (2) Assuming that pollution sources were diluted through the inlet, average indoor particle concentrations rose exponentially with increasing oncoming wind speed. PM10 changed most significantly due to turbulent diffusion and surface deposition reduction intensified by the increased wind velocity. (3) Increasing the window opening improved indoor cross-ventilation, thus reducing indoor particle concentrations. (4) When 2.87 m3/m2 ≤ CVC ≤ 4.73 m3/m2, indoor PM2.5 could meet requirements of the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines (IT-3) for 24-hour mean concentrations; and (5) average indoor particle concentrations had positive correlations with natural ventilation rates (R2 = 0.9085, 0.961, 0.9683 for PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, respectively, when the wall porosity was 3.5%; R2 = 0.9158, 0.9734, 0.976 for PM1.0, PM2.5, and PM10, respectively, when the wall porosity was 7.0%).

Data-driven modeling and animation of outdoor trees through interactive approach

Computer animation of trees has widespread applications in the fields of film production, video games and virtual reality. Physics-based methods are feasible solutions to achieve good approximations of tree movements. However, realistically animating a specific tree in the real world remains a challenge since physics-based methods rely on dynamic properties that are difficult to measure. In this paper, we present a low-cost interactive approach to model and animate outdoor trees from photographs and videos, which can be captured using a smartphone or handheld camera. An interactive editing approach is proposed to reconstruct detailed branches from photographs by considering an epipolar constraint. To track the motions of branches and leaves, a semi-automatic tracking method is presented to allow the user to interactively correct mis-tracked features. Then, the physical parameters of branches and leaves are estimated using a fast Fourier transform, and these properties are applied to a simplified physics-based model to generate animations of trees with various external forces. We compare the animation results with reference videos on several examples and demonstrate that our approach can achieve realistic tree animation.

Image Correction Method to Determine Appropriate Apple Harvest Time for Outdoor Trees

In fruit farming, the appropriate time of harvesting high–quality and high–value fruits is determined bycomparing the surface color of tree’s fruit and a fruit color chart defined for each fruit cultivar. This comparativeexamination comprises visual inspection by the farmer and a sensory inspection based on sensibility information.Thus, the decision varies across individuals because the decision criterion is not defined quantitatively and is notunified. This study aims to develop a system to determine the appropriate time for harvesting fruit from the tree.However, acquiring accurate fruit color information is difficult outdoors because the lighting conditions changeaccording to time and weather. In this paper, we propose an image correction method to reduce the influence ofexternal lighting conditions.

Development of an outdoor MRI system for measuring flow in a living tree

An outdoor MRI system for noninvasive, long-term measurements of sap flow in a living tree in its natural environment has been developed. An open-access, 0.2T permanent magnet with a 160mm gap was combined with a radiofrequency probe, planar gradient coils, electromagnetic shielding, several electrical units, and a waterproofing box. Two-dimensional cross-sectional images were acquired for a ring-porous tree, and the anatomical structures, including xylem and phloem, were identified. The MRI flow measurements demonstrated the diurnal changes in flow velocity in the stem on a per-pixel basis. These results demonstrate that our outdoor MRI system is a powerful tool for studies of water transport in outdoor trees.

Vascular Structure Design of an Artificial Tree for Microbial Cell Cultivation and Biofuel Production

This paper reports the design of a vascular structure for an artificial tree, also known as an evaporation-driven porous substrate bioreactor (PSBR), for efficient biofuel production using microalgae. This system consists of multiple vertical ribs, each of which is made of porous membrane and grows algal cells on its surface as a biofilm. Nutrient medium flow through the reactor is driven by evaporation at the terminal end of the porous membrane, and nutrients are delivered from the porous membrane to the cells by diffusion. Flow through the membrane was modeled as a function of the physico-chemical and morphological properties of the membrane, as well as the environmental parameters governing evaporation. It was determined that under typical operating conditions, the evaporative flux from the evaporator region ranged from about 14 to 66 mg/m\(^2\) s. Moreover, there was a membrane pore radius that maximized nutrient medium flow as a result of the competition between capillary, viscous, and gravitational forces. For the range of evaporative fluxes observed in this study, this pore radius was about 10 \(\upmu \)m. Furthermore, a design example is provided for artificial trees made of three different commercially available membrane materials. A design methodology was demonstrated for maximizing photosynthetic productivity by tuning the evaporation-driven flow rate to ensure sufficient nutrient delivery to cells without incurring large evaporative loss rates. It was observed that both the growth rate and the evaporation-driven nutrient delivery rate were directly related to the irradiance in outdoor artificial trees, which provides a passive and efficient nutrient delivery mechanism. It is expected that the design principles along with the physical models governing the fluid flow in these vascular structures will aid researchers in developing novel applications for artificial trees.

Silver birch telomeres shorten in tissue culture

Shortening of telomeres has been connected with ageing and loss of cell replication or regeneration capacity. The aim of the present study was to examine potential variation in the length of telomeric repeats in silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) using clonal materials consisting of different-aged outdoor trees and tissue cultures of seven genotypes. The overall average length of telomeres was 13.6 kb (±0.3), the minimum length of repeats in the different genotypes varied from 5.9 kb (±0.5) to 9.6 kb (±0.6), and the maximum length varied from 15.3 kb (±1.1) to 22.8 kb (±0.4). When germinated seeds and leaf and cambium samples from 15- and 80-year-old trees were compared, no correlation of ageing and the length of telomeric repeats was found. Positional variation in the telomere length was, however, observed in the cambium of mature trees, the stem base having longer repeats than the upper parts of the tree. Tissue cultures were found to have shorter telomeres than outdoor trees: prolonged culture, callus culture and stressful conditions were all observed to shorten telomeric repeats and should thus be avoided in birch micropropagation. There were significant differences among the studied silver birch genotypes in their telomere length, and these differences were consistent over the sample types. This is the first report on variation of telomeric repeats in a long-living organism studied with clonal materials.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Diplodia seriata, the causal agent of canker and twig dieback disease on mulberry in Iran

Mulberries are cultivated for different purposes: for feeding larvae of silkworm, Bombyx mori, as fresh and dry food resources, in wood instrument industry, in pharmaceutical industry and as outdoor ornamental trees in Iran. In recent years, twig and branch canker disease symptoms have been noticed on mulberry trees in northwestern parts of Iran. Diplodia isolates were repeatedly recovered from symptomatic tissues. Based on cultural and morphological features, the isolates were identified as Diplodia seriata. The identity of the isolates was further confirmed using sequence data from internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-rDNA and ef-1α gene. A phylogenetic analysis using ITS sequence data clustered the isolates obtained in this study together with known Diplodia seriata isolates of other woody hosts from GenBank. Inoculation studies carried out on white mulberry twigs using an excised shoot method revealed that the isolates are pathogenic on this host. D. seriata have been reported from other woody host plant species such as Juglans nigra and Vitis vinifera in Iran, however, to the best of our knowledge, the occurrence of D. seriata on mulberry trees is new for Iran. The distribution and reaction of different Morus spp. to D. seriata remain to be studied.

弱光などのストレスを受ける屋内樹木のレーザ誘起蛍光誘導期現象の新たな解析法

Laser induced chlorophyll fluorescence induction kinetics provides a simple and non-destructive method for making a diagnosis of indoor plants. This study aimed at developing new parameters related to the laser induced fluorescence induction kinetics for detecting stress imposed on indoor trees mainly due to low irradiation conditions. Evaluating new parameters required only 25 s for each measurement. The new parameters referred to the shape of the second maximum in the induction kinetics. In an experiment lasting over a year using Cinnamomum camphora both outdoors and in a chamber, two of the new parameters showed clear seasonal variations for the outdoor trees and almost constant values for the indoor trees. The values for the indoor trees differed according to the light environment of each tree. These results strongly suggested that the new parameters could be applicable to practical diagnosis of indoor trees.

582 Off-season Carambola (Averrhoa carambola L. cv. Arkin) Production under Glass

Carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) is native to the humid tropics of southeastern Asia, where it bears fruit year-round. In south Florida, winter conditions (strong winds and night temperatures below 15 °C) repress growth and flowering of the main commercial cultivar, Arkin, and fruit is produced from July to February. Off-season fruit would reach premium prices. We have previously demonstrated that selective pruning stimulates flowering of carambola at any time of the year. However, flowers produced during cool, windy weather have consistently failed to set fruit. This study was conducted in 1994–1995 to determine whether protected cultivation would help obtain off-season fruit. Four-year-old `Arkin' trees growing in 80-L containers were placed in a glasshouse or outdoors and pruned in November or December to force flowering during December–January. Glasshouse night temperatures during the winter were above 20 °C. All trees flowered in response to pruning. Outdoor trees produced less than one fruit per tree in late March to late April. Glasshouse trees produced 2.3 to 6.1 fruit per tree, 2 to 3 weeks earlier than trees outdoors. In the glasshouse, more than 98% of fruit were seedless, whereas all fruit produced outdoors were seeded. Production of seedless fruit indoors was achieved in the absence of insect pollinators, and yields were low compared to those of outdoor trees during the summer (at least 25 fruit per tree). We speculate that, under protected cultivation, the use of synthetic bioregulators during anthesis and insect pollinators may help increase production of off-season seedless and seeded fruit, respectively.

カキ'西村早生'の根端細胞分裂と地温との関係

The relation between cell division in the root tips and soil temperature was investigated by comparing Japanese persimmon trees cultured in a plastic house with those grown and outdoors. The air temperature in a plastic house was kept at or over 19 °C from 19 March to 2 June. At every sampling date the 40 root tips from five to ten 23-year-old trees were collected at a distance of 1 m around the trunk and from 10 to 40 cm depth. The tips were dipped in 0.002 M 8-hydroxyquinolin (5°C) for three hours and then fixed in acetic acid-alcohol for microscopy.1. The root tips from trees growing in a plastic house or outdoors exhibited cell division on 22 March. The mitotic index of the roots cultivated in a plastic house increased from 22 March to 2 June when it reached maximum; the high level was sustained until 18 July. It decreased gradually after August; no cell division figure was observed in root tips sampled in 2 October. The mitotic index of roots cultivated outdoors increased gradually until 2 August and then decreased; no mitotic figure was observed in samples collected on 17 September.2. A significant positive correlation existed between the mitotic index of the roots and soil temperatures between March and July. Extrapolating from the relationship, the temperature which induces cell division was 11.7°C.3. The cell division-temperature relationship obtained from August to October indicated that the soil temperature, when the mitotic index decreased, was 21°C.4. Whether the root tips were sampled from trees cultivated indoors or outdoors, they could be white or black. About 40 percent of the root tips sampled between 2 May and August from indoor trees was white; the same frequency of white roots on outdoor trees was observed between 2 June and August. No white root tips were observed after September.5. The mean mitotic index of black root tips was about 0.1%, whereas that of white one was about 0.4%.6. The proportion of white root tips increased as the soil temperature exceeded 19°C.7. The appearance of white root tips had relation with the end of shoot growth or anthesis.

Photoperiod and night frost influence the frost hardiness of Chamaecyparisnootkatensis clones

Frost hardiness in yellow cypress (Chamaecyparisnootkatensis (D. Don) Spach) was studied over the winter to determine the relative influence of photoperiod and subzero temperatures on the hardening and dehardening processes. Stecklings (rooted cuttings) of five clones from each of three provenances were grown outdoors and in two controlled-environment chambers at 10:5 °C day:night temperatures and 12- or 6-h photoperiods. Half of the plants in each photoperiod treatment were subject to a 4-h night frost, three times per week from December through to March. Frost hardiness was assessed at intervals using the freeze-induced electrolyte leakage method. Variability in frost hardiness was greater among clones within provenances than among provenances. Significant differences in hardiness among clones existed throughout the experiment; however, the ranking of clones by hardiness was not consistent. Stecklings in the 6-h photoperiod were consistently more hardy than their counterparts subjected to 12-h photoperiods. Stecklings placed outdoors had equivalent hardiness to those in the 6-h photoperiod until the advent of natural frosts in January. At this time, the outdoor trees were the most hardy. Night frost also significantly increased frost hardiness in stecklings in controlled environments. Stecklings in all treatments began to deharden between January and March. The outdoor plants dehardened most rapidly. Stecklings in the controlled environments dehardened slowly until the night-frost treatment ended, whereupon previously frozen plants dehardened more rapidly than their unfrozen counterparts.

カシア樹の大量増殖

Through a stepwise procedure of culture medium alteration, young clone trees of Cinnamomum cassia were produced in vitro from lateral buds of both out-door trees and aseptically germinated seedlings. The procedure was; a) to induce a mass of short shoots in/on a medium containing BA and NAA; b) to elongate these shoots on a medium with BA alone; and c) to induce rooting on a medium with NAA alone.

A method for aseptic culture of bud explants from citrus trees

Culture of citrus bud explants sampled from outdoor trees is sometimes difficult because of contamination not overcome by standard surface-sterilization. An improved method, involving a 5-minute immersion of explants in 80% (v/v) ethanol, which does not interfere with normal explant and callus development, is described in detail.