Ramboll Inc.

Mouldboard ploughing has been associated with a loss in soil quality, while reduced tillage is often reported to result in crop yield declines. Occasional ploughing every few years could be an attractive compromise, but it remains unclear whether such a system results in a combined benefit of improved crop yield and soil quality. Here, we present data from a 43-year old field experiment on a clay soil in central Sweden. We analysed how three different tillage systems – annual mouldboard ploughing, continuous shallow tillage, and shallow tillage with occasional mouldboard ploughing – affect crop yields and soil properties with the objective of assessing joint response patterns between crop production and soil quality indicators reflecting soil structure, soil organic carbon storage, and habitat for soil biota. Crop yields were not affected by the tillage systems. Characteristics of the soil pore system and soil biota were similar in the occasional ploughing and annually mouldboard ploughed systems. Shallow tillage significantly altered microbial community composition relative to ploughed treatments, increasing bacterial and fungal abundances and reducing diversity in the upper topsoil layer, likely due to stratified soil carbon stocks. There was also a higher proportion of biopores in shallow tillage, which could be advantageous during dry spells that are expected to become more frequent and severe with climate change. Nevertheless, there were only small effects on water retention, biomass of nematodes and earthworms, and most of the abiotic soil properties. We conclude that occasional ploughing did not offer advantages at our site, and our results show that no system improved yield and all soil quality indicators simultaneously.

Root-inspired anchorage systems in the field of bio-inspired geotechnics are renowned for enhancing the pullout capacity of traditional geotechnical anchorage systems by simulating the morphology and architecture of plant root systems. However, limited studies have explored their practical applications, particularly in improving slope stability. To fill this gap, this study investigates the reinforcement effect of root-inspired anchors on slope stabilization using transparent soil modeling and 3D-printed anchors, and examines the impact of anchor branching patterns (i.e. branching numbers, branching angle, and branching nodes) on slope bearing capacity, shear band evolution, and temporal and spatial variation of slope deformation. The results show that peak slope bearing capacity increases with branching numbers and branching angles, correlating with the envelope area of the curved shear band. Upper anchors result in step-like deflections in the shear band near the trailing edge, while lower anchors convert the upward concave shear band into an upward convex one, thus increasing the slope bearing capacity. Slope deformation is minimized with intermediate branching parameters, such as a branching number of 4 and a branching angle of 45°. The anchor reinforcement mechanisms, i.e. anchor rod shear resistance, interface friction, anchor pullout capacity, and plate tightening effects, are comprehensively discussed, and the installation effects resulting from compromise slope modeling are identified as the contributors. These findings shed light on the failure process of root-inspired anchors reinforced slopes and provide a preliminary reference for potential applications, especially for the tradeoff between anchor branching, slope deformation, and slope stability.

Decarbonising urban heating and cooling necessitates innovative solutions that can cost-effectively integrate low-temperature waste heat, such as from Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs). While 5th Generation District Heating and Cooling (5GDHC) offers promising pathways for energy reuse and sector coupling, its technoeconomic-environmental performance, particularly when leveraging WWTPs as a dual heat source/sink without Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage (STES), and its precise impact on the electricity grid, remain underexplored. This study investigates the feasibility of 5GDHC in Glasgow's Clyde Gateway, a large-scale urban regeneration. It critically analyses two WWTP-integrated 5GDHC configurations (direct heat exchanger vs. sewer water source heat pump) and compares their techno-economic-environmental performance against established alternatives: 4th Generation District Heating with individual Air Condition units (4GDH&AC) and building-level reversible Air-Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs). Results demonstrate that even with low heating and cooling demand co-occurrence (3.4% DOC), the direct heat exchanger 5GDHC configuration (5GDHC-1) proved most economically viable, achieving the lowest Levelised Cost of Energy (227 pound/MWh) compared to 4GDH&AC (257 pound/MWh). Crucially, 5GDHC solutions exhibited a significantly lower electrical capacity demand (0.7 MVA) than 4GDH&AC (1.5 MVA) and ASHPs (3.0 MVA), offering substantial benefits for grid infrastructure and broader electrification. While 4GDH&AC showed lower overall energy consumption, 5GDHC's ability to minimise peak electrical load is a distinct advantage. This research highlights that strategic waste heat integration, particularly through direct exchange with the WWTP leveraging ambient network temperature profiles, enables economically viable 5GDHC without STES in low demand co-occurrence scenarios. It provides critical insights for developing resilient, lowcarbon urban thermal systems with reduced electricity grid impact. Abbreviations: 4GDH, 4th Generation District Heating; 5GDHC, 5th Generation District Heating and Cooling; AC, Air Condition; ASHP, Air Source Heat Pump; BHP, Booster Heat Pump; BU, Balancing Unit; CAPEX, Capital Expenditure; CO2e, Carbon Dioxide Equivalent; COP, Coefficient of Performance; DHW, Domestic Hot Water; DOC, Demand Overlap Coefficient; EC, Energy Centre; EER, Energy Efficiency Rating; EHV, Extra High Voltage; HEX, Heat Exchanger; HV, High Voltage; LCOE, Levelised Cost of Energy; OHL, Overhead Lines; OPEX, Operational Expenditure; REPEX, Replacement Expenditure; SCOP, Seasonal Coefficient of Performance; SPF, Seasonal Performance Factor; STES, Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage; SWSHP, Sewer Water Source Heat Pump; TES, Thermal Energy Store; WWHR, Waste Water Heat Recovery; WWTP, Waste Water Treatment Plant; Delta T, Temperature Difference.

The Himalaya is characterized by highly active and complex geo-morphodynamic processes, making it extremely prone to landslides that pose significant risks to human life and infrastructure, further exacerbated by climate extremes and expanding strategic development. This study presents, for the first time, an integrated multi-model geostatistical and machine-learning framework to quantify landslide susceptibility and associated risk in the Upper Ravi Basin, a tectonically active region of the north-western Himalaya, India. The performance evaluation metrics indicate that the ensemble algorithms, Extreme Gradient Boosting and Random Forest, show higher predictive capability among all applied methods. The results of these best performing models shows that 25 Graphical abstract descriptions- The graphical abstract organised into three sequential stages. First, a comprehensive landslide inventory was prepared using historical records, and remote-sensing based spatial datasets and validated through field verification. A total of 1670 landslide locations were mapped and randomly divided into training (70

Global-to-local load transfer remains a critical – yet largely unstandardized – step in the structural assessment of floating structures. This paper presents the results of package WP2.2 from the OC7 project Phase II, which establishes a cross-industry benchmark for the workflows connecting global performance analysis (based on integrated loads analysis, ILA) and the local structural assessment (based on finite-element analysis, FEA). The study evaluates a spectrum of industry practices, including sequential approaches with the FEA following the ILA, fully integrated time-domain approaches with hydro-structural coupling, and simplified ILA-only approaches. Using the VolturnUS-S reference semi-submersible, the models were first harmonized through mass and inertia, static, and modal verifications. Structural responses were then compared across three primary scenarios: topside-only excitation, irregular waves, and combined wind and wave loading. The results establish a structured comparison framework, highlighting how specific modelling choices and load transfer techniques directly influence confidence in design processes. The findings offer practical guidance to reduce uncertainty in “global-to-local” design workflows.