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Weed control is essential in field vegetables but there has been a continual decline in the range of herbicides available. Growers aim to keep crops weed‐free throughout to maintain yield, but a short weed‐free period or even a single weeding can achieve the same result. In order to predict the optimum weeding period in advance, a realistic estimate is needed of the size, timing and duration of a flush of weed emergence in the crop. The weed seeds in the soil are the primary source of future weed populations, and this seedbank provides a unique resource for predictive management purposes. A preliminary model has been developed that combines information on the effect of burial depth of weed seeds on seedling emergence with a simulation of the incorporation and movement of seeds in soil following the use of different cultivation implements. The objective is to develop a suite of models which will provide a decision support system for weed control in field vegetables.

Weeds are any plants growing where they are not wanted. Their most profound effect is in reducing agricultural production. Chemical weed control is the most common method of attacking weeds. However there are several disadvantages in using herbicides including non‐target damage and environmental contamination. Biological weed control using natural enemies of weeds, insects or microorganisms, offers several advantages over chemical and mechanical control of weeds. The use of exotic organisms, usually insects, which reproduce and spread of their own accord (“classical biocontrol”) and the use of endemic organisms applied in high numbers (“inundative biocontrol”), usually fungi (“mycoherbicides” or “bioherbicides”), is discussed.

States that weeds appear in all types of agriculture, as well as in areas used for recreation and in natural ecosystems and cause huge economic loss in developed and developing countries despite technological advances. Explores the reasons for their persistence and their social impact. Concludes that weed occurrence is inevitable and has no simple remedy, and that weeds can only be managed and not eradicated.

The purpose of this paper is to provide librarians with an approach to weeding, which reduces librarians' fears and concerns of withdrawing books from an academic collection.

The paper takes the form of a case study.

The paper outlines specific steps for implementing a weeding project, including developing criteria and procedures, garnering the support of administration, building librarian confidence in performing weeding, and encouraging teaching faculty involvement.

The paper provides insights into the nature of the concerns and fears librarians face in weeding an academic library collection, and offers suggestions on how to build confidence and support for weeding among both librarians and academic faculty.

The need to cull collections comes from a variety of concerns. Space, budgets and relevancy are the primary sources of exploration into the weeding of a collection. The purpose of this paper is to provide current commentary on the potential reactions to and unexpected consequences of weeding from the fiscal perspective of community stakeholders.

This paper provides insight gathered from a recent emergency library board meeting on weeding, and expands the debate to provide recommendations for future course of action.

Communication before, during and after a weeding project in light of informed and emotional community fiscal and material interest in a collection, above board and/or executive interest, is the recommended path to smooth weeding activities.

This paper reveals a new reality for library leaders previously accustomed to a less informed user understanding of the impact of weeding. It explains the effect of the global recession on the increased financial astuteness of patrons scrutinizing library expenditures in the twenty-first century.

The purpose of this paper is to propose going one step further in the simulation tools related to agriculture by integrating fleets of mobile robots for the execution of precision agriculture techniques. The proposed new simulation environment allows the user to define different mobiles robots and agricultural implements.

With this computational tool, the crop field, the fleet of robots and the different sensors and actuators that are incorporated into each robot can be configured by means of two interfaces: a configuration interface and a graphical interface, which interact with each other.

The system presented in this article unifies two very different areas – robotics and agriculture – to study and evaluate the implementation of precision agriculture techniques in a 3D virtual world. The simulation environment allows the users to represent realistic characteristics from a defined location and to model different variabilities that may affect the task performance accuracy of the fleet of robots.

This simulation environment, the first in incorporating fleets of heterogeneous mobile robots, provides realistic 3D simulations and videos, which grant a good representation and a better understanding of the robot labor in agricultural activities for researchers and engineers from different areas, who could be involved in the design and application of precision agriculture techniques. The environment is available at the internet, which is an added value for its expansion in the agriculture/robotics family.

The library of the Emory University Division of Librarianship had its beginnings in the teaching collection of the training classes of the Carnegie Library of Atlanta, and thus the genesis of the collection dates to 1899. As with almost any library collection, its development has been uneven; and, it has suffered the vagaries of fluctuating acquisitions funds, a long series of librarians with differing capabilities and interests, and—as with all academic libraries—a rather constantly shifting and changing faculty and curriculum which it supports. Given these circumstances, and the fact that the collection had never been methodically weeded in its entirety, one might conclude the need for a weeding project was almost indisputable.

If you are a gardener, you know the value of weeding. If you are a librarian, you may not. Utilizing CETA funds, the much‐needed systematic weeding of the entire collection of the main branch of the Kenosha Public Library System was undertaken in 1978. Certain values of such a project, and certain systematic procedures to accomplish it, crystalized in our minds during the six months needed to perform the task. This report has been written to share the knowledge we gained with all interested librarians.

The discussions surrounding weeding print journals can be quite different from those involving books or videos. This paper aims to provide commentary and direction for library managers seeking insight on how to engage pragmatically in the weeding of print journal titles for a variety of reasons.

Drawing on recent press related to an all-digital bibliotech opening in Texas, and contrasting the book weeding perspectives from part 1 of this series, this article explores print journal culling projects from the perspective of the consciousness of library users and stakeholders.

Weeding journals in waves or phases over multiple years of time can be a way to cope with the pressure of needing to reduce print collections due to duplication in online databases and print formats. Surveying users' journal needs separate from book or video needs will produce a more accurate understanding of what titles to keep on hand, and will also draw importance to this information type as it may be at risk as e-books and videos dominate the consumer information landscape.

Reduction in print journal collections continues as the popularity of online article databases grows more and more. Educating users on the virtue of journal publications separate from books and videos is a way to build more understanding about this unique resource. If digital bibliotechs of the future become what users know as “libraries”, but do not contain journals of any type, a major information source will have disappeared from the consciousness of future library supporters.

The purpose of this paper is to present information on how to organize and carry out a weeding project in an academic library.

Describes how the weeding project was organized and its various phases.

Argues that weeding is appropriate in small, academic non‐research libraries and discusses a methodology for approaching it.

Provides the academic librarian with a road map as to how to handle a weeding project.