Abstract: A sludge harvester for removing a concentrated nutrient sludge from a sludge pond includes a frame, one or more wheels or skids attached to the frame, means for gently breaking up at least a portion of the sludge layer adjacent to a dilute layer, and means for capturing at least a portion of the broken up sludge layer. The organic sludge product recovered by the harvester has a higher nutrient concentration as compared to alternative methods because of minimized mixing of the sludge and dilute layers during collection of the organic sludge product. The organic sludge product captured by the harvester can be applied directly to agricultural land or used in the production of a certifiable organic or other fertilizer.

Abstract: A data network routing apparatus and method are presented. The data switch comprises a packet engine integrated with an optical engine. The optical engine and packet engine are under common software and/or hardware control, and communicably interconnected. As a result, the physical state of the optics is continually and immediately available to the packet engine, in substantially real time. The packet engine implements a routing algorithm which operates on at least the data traffic in the network and the optical transport topology. The routing apparatus periodically updates the routing algorithm's operands under normal operation, and in the event of the failure of a communications link in the network, the routing apparatus immediately updates the routing algorithm operands in response. A network comprising a plurality of nodes with such immediate rerouting capability is achieved by utilizing a plurality of the disclosed data switches as its nodes.