<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The aim of WEQUAL project (WEb service centre for QUALity multidimensional design and tele-operated monitoring of Green Infrastructures) is the development of a system that is able to support a quick environmental monitoring of riparian areas subjected to the realization of new green infrastructures (GI). The Wequal’s idea is to organize a service center able to manage both the Web Platform and the whole data collection and analysis processes. Through a personal account, the final user (designer, technician, researcher) can get access to the service and requires the evaluation of alternatives GI projects. On the Web Platform, a set of algorithms runs in order to calculate, through automatic procedures, all the ecological criteria required to evaluate a quality environmental index that describes the eco-morphological value of the monitored riparian areas. For this aim, the WEQUI index was developed, which uses 15 indicators that are easy to monitor. In this paper, the approach for environmental data collection and the procedures to perform the automatic assessment of two of the ecological criteria are described. For the computation, the implemented algorithms use data including the vegetation indexes, Digital Terrain Model (DTM), Digital Surface Model (DSM) and a 3D point cloud classification. All the raw data are collected by UAVs (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle) equipped with a 3D Lidar, multispectral camera and RGB camera. Interpreting all the raw data collected by these sensors, using a multi-attribute approach, the WEQUI index is assessed. The computed ecological index is then used to assess the riparian environmental quality at <italic>ex-ante</italic> and <italic>ex-post</italic> river stabilization works. This index, integrated with additional not-technical or not-ecological indicators such as investment required, maintenance costs or social acceptance, can be used in multicriteria analyses in order to evaluate the intervention from a wider point of view. The platform is expected to be attractive for GI designers and policy makers by providing a shared environment, which is able to integrate the method of detection and evaluation of complex indexes and a multidimensional evaluation supported by an expert guide.</abstract>

Assessment of riparian environments through semi-automated procedures for the computation of eco-morphological indicators: Preliminary results of the WEQUAL project

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Industrial revolution and modernization of agriculture in Croatia and Slavonia began in mid-19th century and evolved at a slower pace compared to the other countries of the Austrian Empire. The main reasons were lack of capital, shortage of good river- and land traffic routes, slowness in the construction of railways, slowness in the introduction of steam engines, lack of skilled workforce and extensive farming. The second agricultural crisis in Europe, which lasted from 1873 until 1895, motivated large holdings in Croatia and Slavonia to introduce steam engines and machines for the purpose of rationalization of agricultural production. Locomobiles were mostly represented on holdings with over 575.5 ha. The then country of Slavonia, as an eminently agrarian region and the main source of wheat was leader in the use of steam engines, steam ploughs and steam-powered machines in agriculture. The locomobile was used in agriculture until the mid-20th century and was discontinued with the growing use of tractors with internal combustion engine and the use of combine harvesters. Until 1918, Croatian lands were a part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.</abstract>

Steam engines in agricultural use in Croatia and Slavonia during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Multiple runs of a river basin model produced information about water allocation under different users’ priorities, creating a set of allocation scenarios as possible decision alternatives. To identify the most desired scenario that will, expectedly, be more readily accepted and implemented, involvement of stakeholders and reaching the consensus among them in evaluating scenarios are essential. This article describes methodology for integrating multi-criteria optimization as an efficient tool for the evaluation of scenarios in a group context, with river basin simulation-optimization models. Methodology was developed within the scope of the bilateral project Serbia–Portugal, and it consisted of five phases: defining the preference schemes of allocation, running the ACQUANET model, evaluating the criteria and strategies with analytic hierarchy process, aggregation and initial search for consensus in subgroups, and obtaining the final consensus converged result (best management strategy). The approach was tested on the water allocation problem in the Nadela watershed in Vojvodina Province in Serbia, with participation of 23 stakeholders. Promising results recommended the approach for the testing in different conditions in the area near Bragança in northeast Portugal (Sabor watershed).</abstract>

Centre for Business and Economics Research

Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, Campus de Santa Apolónia

Conflicts and resolutions in managing water allocation at the watershed scale

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This work aims to develop an automatic system capable of providing objective information about the bloom charge in an apple orchard in order to manage flower-thinning activities. The article presents and discusses the use of a mobile lab (ByeLab) equipped with several optical sensors to carry out a site-specific bloom charge assessment in apple trees. The data collected by the sensors were processed by a specific algorithm implemented in MatLab®. Investigations of the flower reflectance signature indicated that the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is the most suitable parameter to distinguish leaves from flowers. Pure flowers produce NDVI values slightly negative or at least very near to 0. Despite the homogeneous behavior of the NDVI flower response, OptRx™ sensors, which provide an average assessment of an area, were not able to highlight a significant correlation between the number of flowers and the NDVI values. In the future, further studies will be conducted to assess if other techniques based on image analyses can provide better and more sensitive results regarding the bloom charge assessment. Such results could then be used as a reference in automating machines for thinning operations according to a site-specific approach.</abstract>

Blooming charge assessment in apple orchards for automatic thinning activities

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Crop residues are targeted as energy sources and feedstock for diverse products. A six-year lasting investigation, aiming to determine the yield potentials of crop residues of mostly grown field crops wheat, soybean and corn in the province Vojvodina (Serbia), was performed. The three levels of potentials were distinguished: theoretical, technical and sustainable. Two seasonal weather conditions were distinguished – common and dry, and their impact on the biomass yield was analyzed. The yields were expressed as absolute and relative to grain yield since the grain yield is always measured, and is available in national statistics. During common seasons, technical potentials were about 56% for wheat, 45% for soybean and 41 or 51% for the two considered corn stover collection procedures. For dry seasons, the technical potential of all considered crops was reduced to between 30 and 50%. On field remained aboveground residual biomass and its relative (to grain) amount, which was between 43 and 60%, was defined. It was concluded that the defining of sustainable potentials is a very complex task. Besides the aforementioned, measures aimed to preserve soil fertility, some overlooked issues in the literature and practice were listed and commented on.</abstract>

Potentials of crops residues – A case study for the province Vojvodina

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Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment

“Die Bodenkultur: Journal of Land Management, Food and Environment” is an interdisciplinary forum dedicated to all aspects of research in the rural area. Our aim is to provide an international outlet for new results in all disciplines of land management, food, environment and related sciences.  The journal publishes in an open access model.  Rejection Rate   10 % (2014)   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  Copyright Policy  The work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.  Peer Review process  The journal uses a double-blind reviewing process, thus authors remain anonymous to referees and referees remain anonymous to authors. 

Volume 70 (2019): Issue 3 (December 2019) - Special Issue: with invited papers from the 47th International Symposium „Actual tasks on Agricultural Engineering“ (ATAE), 5th – 7th March 2019, Opatija, Croatia, http://atae.agr.hr/, Editor: Prof. Andreas Gronauer

Special Issue: with invited papers from the 47th International Symposium „Actual tasks on Agricultural Engineering“ (ATAE), 5th – 7th March 2019, Opatija, Croatia, http://atae.agr.hr/, Editor: Prof. Andreas Gronauer

Volume 70 (2019): Issue 3 (December 2019)