Publications
NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.
2009
Abstract
No abstract has been registered
Authors
Frode FlemsæterAbstract
This paper examines emotional dilemmas occurring when Norwegian smallholdings are converted from permanent to second homes. These are properties that might have been in the family for generations as permanent homes, and which successors often feel obliged to take over and maintain by having them as second homes. Second homes are usually associated with `leisure and pleasure`, a retreat to `recharge the batteries`. However, this paper argues that having a smallholding which used to be your permanent home as a second home might involve emotional dilemmas, and it discusses relations between on the one hand, aspects of idyll and comfort and on the other hand, aspects of duty and responsibility. Further, the paper examines how emotional and social property relations influence how smallholdings as second homes become enacted.
Authors
Lone Ross GobakkenAbstract
Mould growth on exterior coated cladding façades is an undesirable element; it is considered to be major maintenance concern and will often shorten the aesthetical service life of the façade. On the other hand, rapid colonisation and colour change of unpainted wooden claddings is often anticipated and used as a design element. Wood is a biological building product, and individual components in a building will vary in appearance, properties and performance. Life expectancy of wood and wood-based products is related to a number of factors. Mould growth on painted surfaces is influenced by type and concentration of film fungicides, the paint formulation and the wood material, and wooden cladding may experience exponential fungal deterioration caused by variation in the climatic factors, often within a small limited area. The overall objective of this thesis was to gain in-depth knowledge about which factors influence surface mould growth on coated and uncoated wooden cladding in an outdoor environment, with a special attention to modified wood substrates. The work included identification of fungal species on the surface of coated substrates, studies of modified wood substrates\" susceptibility to mould growth, investigation of paints with different physical surface structures and their influence on surface mould growth, identification and quantification of factors that contribute to variation in surface mould growth and prediction of future performance of combinations of wood substrates and coating systems.....
Authors
Erlend NybakkAbstract
In order to uphold economic growth and employment in the districts and nationally, one is dependent on small and competitive firms and sole owner enterprises. These represent the majority of firms and are a vital source for new creativity and development in both traditional and new sectors. How one should promote entrepreneurship and innovation among these companies has been a central theme in political debates. The foremost goal with this thesis is to advance knowledge about the factors that trigger creativity and innovation in small firms, with the main focus on firms that offer non-timber forest products and services (NTFP&S). Article I was based on a questionnaire for forest owners in Telemark, Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder (three counties in east Norway) and shows that the likelihood of starting up with NTFP&S is greater among forest owners that recognize opportunities and are risk takers. Articles II and III were based on a questionnaire for firms that work with nature-based tourism. The first of them builds on Article I and shows that forest owners that recognize opportunity and are risk takers have a greater likelihood of changing the way they supply their products and services. Article III shows the effect of external relationships on innovation and how innovation affects economic accomplishment. The relationships are also exemplified by a case study. Article IV was based on a study of a random selection of forest owners with more than 25 hectares of forest in souteast Norway. The study shows that external relationships and learning orientation have a positive effect on innovation and again on economic success among forest owners, related to NTFP&S. Article V was based on a questionnaire for small, knowledge-intensive firms and shows the impact of external relationships on product, process and market innovation. Each of the articles presents implications of the findings and suggestions for further research.
Authors
Erlend Ystrøm Haartveit Leif Kjøstelsen Egil Roar RavnemyhrAbstract
Measuring logistics costs for individual products or product groups is a significant challenge. One frequently applied method is Activity Based Costing approach where costs are allocated to products according to the resources and cost they induce. The Norwegian project Woodflow has been working on measuring time consumption for logistics processes for wood products such as lumber, beams, claddings, panels and moulds. Low degree of standardisation within and between manufacturers makes it problematic to convert time and performance measures from one unit of measurement to others. Logistics costs are difficult to allocate to products and are in commonly presented for the complete material flow. The existing data could not be used for calculation of logistics costs for wood products. Different methods have been used to measure time and resources for the processes in the supply chain. Even if the process is correctly measured, it is still be a challenge to allocate costs to products, for example when a carrier contains a large number of different products. The performance measures presented have been developed for Optimera AS, a vertically integrated distributor of construction products. The company owns several distribution centres and more than 70 stores in Norway. A test of the measurements will be conducted in a small part of the distribution system. The logistics costs of supplying the stores from the distribution centre will be compared with directly transporting the lumber from the supplier to the retail outlets.
Abstract
The chapter reviews the available literature about the adverse effects of excess nickel on plants and their adaptation mechanisms. The study is focused on forest ecosystems exposed to extreme air pollution from the nickel-processing industry in Northern Fennoscandia. Long-term deposition of heavy metals and sulphur has caused strong soil contamination and severe damage to trees and ground vegetation, their structure, composition and chemistry. Tree leaves, branches and bark as well as dwarf shrubs, mosses and lichens show clearly elevated concentrations of nickel and copper in the surroundings of the smelters. Multivariate analyses show that changes in the element composition of plants depend both on air pollution and on natural factors. Besides direct input of pollutants from atmosphere, soil contamination and nutritional disturbance contribute significantly to the observed changes. Despite decline in emissions, extreme pool of heavy metals accumulated in surface soils is expected to influence plant metabolism and chemistry over a long period of time.
Abstract
Modified wood is commercially available and merchandized as a new, environmentally friendly and durable wood species. However, there are no standards focusing on the evaluation of modified wood. Combining resistance against fungal decay and good ecotoxicological properties may be a start. In this study softwood and hardwood species were furfurylated using different treatment processes and treating solutions. The durability was determined by exposing the treated wood to a range of Basidiomycetes and the ecotoxicity was studied on two aquatic organisms.It was the purpose to come to a strategy and how to unite efficacy and ecotoxicity, since this is important in product development. The results show that the selection of fungus used for mass loss determination and the choice of ecotoxicity method is decisive, confirming that a combination of methods is valuable. A tiered approach to find the optimal treatment seems the best option. First, adequate protection against wood-rotting fungi should be attained, followed by ecotoxicity evaluation of the wood leachates. If necessary, the optimization process should be repeated until both durability and ecotoxicity are within satisfactory limits. This process could be extended with other evaluation criteria, e.g. dimensional stability of the modified wood or a risk analysis of its leachate.
Abstract
One of the main challenges for modified wood and modified wood based WPCs (Wood Plastic Composites) is to predict accurate service life time in UC3 (Use class 3, above ground) and UC4 (in soil or fresh water contact). So far, data from in-service conditions are rare, while several studies have evaluated the durability in lab or field test exposure. However, there is still a lack of studies comparing replicate modified wood products in both field and lab exposure. This study evaluates the efficacy of modified wood and modified wood based WPCs in AWPA E10, three different types of soil in lab (ENV 807), three test fields in-ground (EN 252) and two test sites close to ground (horizontal double layer test)......
Authors
Conor Nugent Derek Bridge Glen Murphy Bernt-Håvard ØyenAbstract
In forestry, it is important to be able to accurately determine the volume of timber in a harvesting site and the products that could potentially be produced from that timber. We describe new terrestrial scanning technology that can produce a greater volume of higher quality data about individual trees. We show, however, that scanner data still often produces an incomplete profile of the individual trees. We describe Cabar, a case-based reasoning system that can interpolate missing sections in the scanner data and extrapolate to the upper reaches of the tree. Central to Cabar’s operation is a new asymmetric distance function, which we define in the paper. We report some preliminary experimental results that compare Cabar with a traditional approach used in Ireland. The results indicate that Cabar has the potential to better predict the market value of the products.
Abstract
A catchment provides ecosystem data along with (relatively) simple, operationally defined boundaries. In addition runoff is an integrated measure of the hydrochemical ecosystem response, which can be represented by fluxes at the weir. Integration at the weir occurs first of all with respect to spatial scales. Almost all fluid output leaves a (tight) catchment at this point. Evaluation of the runoff dynamics (quantity and quality) is primarily concerned with temporal scales. The Lange Bramke catchment study with its four runoff series from forested catchments (spring and weir at Lange Bramke, weirs at Dicke Bramke and Steile Bramke) provides an exceptionally comprehensive data set. The following scales and processes can be considered, when interpreting temporal variations in runoff data: above the time scale of forest rotation (species composition, biomass accumulation, timber export, soil nutrient pools) at decadal time scales up to a full forest rotation of about 100-120 years (changes in forest growth rate, changes in deposition, climate change, insect outbreaks) at annual time scales (uptake, transpiration) at hourly to weekly time scales of hydrological events (precipitation, runoff, dilution effects of solvents).