Journal of Forest Science, 2019 (vol. 65), issue 4
Selection of a chipper technology for small-scale operations - a Finnish caseOriginal Paper
Juha Laitila, Robert Prinz, Lauri Sikanen
J. For. Sci., 2019, 65(4):121-133 | DOI: 10.17221/26/2019-JFS 
The objective of this study was to determine the economic performance of alternative chipper choices for small-scale chipping based on unit cost (€ per chip-m3) and net present value (NPV) calculations. For the chipping cost and investment profitability analyses four tractor-powered professional or semi-professional disc chippers and two professional drum chippers mounted on a truck or powered by tractor were selected. Initial investment, operating costs, and the cost of outsourced chipping were the key elements for comparing the profitability of investment alternatives. The average purchase prices, cost factors, and technical details of the chipper...
Height-diameter relationship for Pinus koraiensis in Mengjiagang Forest Farm of Northeast China using nonlinear regressions and artificial neural network modelsOriginal Paper
Nguyen Thanh Tuan, Tai Tien Dinh, Shen Hai Long
J. For. Sci., 2019, 65(4):134-143 | DOI: 10.17221/5/2019-JFS
Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc.) is one of the highly commercial woody species in Northeast China. In this study, six nonlinear equations and artificial neural network (ANN) models were employed to model and validate height-diameter (H-DBH) relationship in three different stand densities of one Korean pine plantation. Data were collected in 12 plots in a 43-year-old even-aged stand of P. koraiensis in Mengjiagang Forest Farm, China. The data were randomly split into two datasets for model development (9 plots) and for model validation (3 plots). All candidate models showed a good perfomance in explaining H-DBH relationship with error estimation...
Behavioural profile effect of forestry machine operators in the learning processOriginal Paper
Millana Bürger Pagnussat, Eduardo da Silva Lopes, Rachael D. Seidler
J. For. Sci., 2019, 65(4):144-149 | DOI: 10.17221/27/2019-JFS
A lack of efficient operators for wood harvesting machines poses a great challenge. Here, our objective was to evaluate the effect of the behavioural profile on the productive efficiency of forwarder operators. The study was carried out in a Brazilian company, with a sample of 10 operators. A profile evaluation characterized the reference profile, comparing with the profile of the operators studied. The operators were evaluated through their productive efficiency, for 11 months to track learning curves. The results showed that operators must be attentive to details, deadlines, rules, be patient and a moderate initiative taker. The operators were classified...
Early smoke detection of forest fires based on SVM image segmentationOriginal Paper
Ding Xiong, Lu Yan
J. For. Sci., 2019, 65(4):150-159 | DOI: 10.17221/82/2018-JFS
A smoke detection method is proposed in single-frame video sequence images for forest fire detection in large space and complex scenes. A new superpixel merging algorithm is further studied to improve the existing horizon detection algorithm. This method performs Simple Linear Iterative Clustering (SLIC) superpixel segmentation on the image, and the over-segmentation problem is solved with a new superpixel merging algorithm. The improved sky horizon line segmentation algorithm is used to eliminate the interference of clouds in the sky for smoke detection. According to the spectral features, the superpixel blocks are classified by support vector machine...