Browsing by Author "Atkinson, C."
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Item Open Access Predicting the effects of sand erosion on collector surfaces in CSP plants(Elsevier, 2015-06-05) Sansom, Christopher L.; Comley, Paul; King, Peter; Almond, Heather; Atkinson, C.; Endaya, E.This paper presents a methodology to predict the optical performance and physical topography of the glass collector surfaces of any given CSP plant in the presence of sand and dust storms, providing that local climate conditions are known and representative sand and dust particles samples are available. Using existing meteorological data for a defined CSP plant in Egypt, plus sand and dust samples from two desert locations in Libya, we describe how to derive air speed, duration, and sand concentrations to use within the Global CSP Laboratory sand erosion simulation rig at Cranfield University. This then allows us to predict the optical performance of parabolic trough collector glass after an extended period by the use of accelerated ageing. However the behavior of particles in sandstorms is complex and has prompted a theoretical analysis of sand particle dynamics which is also described in this paper.Item Open Access Using agroecological zones to promote European collaboration in organic farming research.(Aab; 1999, 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z) Burgess, Paul J.; Sannier, C. A. D.; Atkinson, C.Agro-ecological and other spatial information can be used to improve our understanding of organic farming research issues, inform the application of research from one area to another, and support collaboration and prioritisation within regional research programmes. Of the 25 organic farming research priorities identified by the IFOAM EU Group in 2004, 15 were related to regional differences in agroecological conditions. The other priorities were potentially affected by spatial differences in political, institutional and socio-economic conditions. In relation to agro-ecological data, the capacity to identify i) general agro-ecological areas and ii) areas with specific agro-ecological advantage or stress seems particularly useful. The use of a geographic information system (GIS) to integrate spatial data to identify and display such areas is illustrated with two examples.