Search results for " DEGRADATION"
showing 10 items of 510 documents
Photo-Oxidative and Soil Burial Degradation of Irrigation Tubes Based on Biodegradable Polymer Blends
2019
: Irrigation tubes based on biodegradable polymers were prepared via an extrusion-drawing process by Irritec and compared to conventional pipes made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). A commercial polylactide/poly (butyleneadipate-co-butyleneterephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) blend (Bio-Flex®
Anaerobic biodegradation of solvents from the packaging industry: study and enhancement
2017
Con el desarrollo de la política ambiental de la Unión Europea, la calidad del aire en Europa ha mejorado considerablemente. No obstante, la contaminación atmosférica continúa siendo importante lo que hace necesario el desarrollo continuo de soluciones tecnológicas de depuración del aire para mitigar los problemas de calidad ambiental. Con objeto de preservar el medio ambiente y evitar problemas de salud pública, las emisiones industriales de disolventes están estrictamente reguladas por la normativa vigente en Europa, en el marco de la Directiva Europea de Emisiones Industriales (2010/75/EU). La industria del envase y embalaje es uno de los sectores más importantes en cuanto al uso de diso…
Urbanization and forest degradation in east Africa - a case study around Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
2016
In this paper we examine the impact of the growing urbanization of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on the forest areas around the city. Since 1990 the city has seen an annual population growth rate of over 4%. We document the expansion of the city over the last 30 using the Global Human Settlement Layers, derived from the global Landsat archive. At the same time we show the depletion, of the surrounding forests that has occurred to meet the growing demand for agricultural land, fuel wood and construction material over the same period. The impact on these forests as a result of the demand from an expanding urban conglomeration is higher than would be expected from a dispersed population increase. T…
Physical and chemical changes in minimally processed green asparagus during cold-storage
2007
The purpose of this research is to study effects of an innovative packaging method on the shelf-life of minimally processed green asparagus. The physical-chemical parameters analyzed (weight loss, colour, texture, chlorophyll and citric acid), and monitored by untrained panellists during the cold storage period at 6 degrees C, showed that pairing of a semi-permeable film with an adsorbent material and immersion in ascorbic acid solution were able to extend the shelf-life of green asparagus. Also, on the basis of the results obtained, a study of the chlorophyll and toughness degradation kinetics of green asparagus was conducted during cold storage. These data showed the toughening of asparag…
The importance of dead seagrass (Posidonia oceanica)matte as a biogeochemical sink
2022
We assessed the potential of dead seagrass Posidonia oceanica matte to act as a biogeochemical sink and provide a coherent archive of environmental change in a degraded area of the Mediterranean Sea (Augusta Bay, Italy). Change in sediment properties (dry bulk density, grain size), concentration of elements (Corg, Cinorg, N, Hg) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ 15N) with sediment depth were measured in dead P. oceanica matte and unvegetated (bare) sediments in the polluted area, and an adjacent P. oceanica meadow. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed a clear clustering by habitat, which explained 72% of variability in our samples and was driven mainly by the accumulation of N and H…
The effect of Shallow Tillage on soil erosion in a semi-arid vineyard
2019
Soil erosion has been considered a threat for semi-arid lands due to the removal of solid materials by water and wind. Although water erosion is currently considered the most important process of soil degradation, a growing interest has been drawn to the impact of soil tillage. Although numerous studies on tillage erosion have been carried out on arable land using a moldboard plow, a chisel, and a tandem disc for different crops, there are no studies on the effect of shallow tillage on soil redistribution in vineyards. The aim of this work was to evaluate the soil tillage erosion rate in a vineyard using a 13C natural abundance tracer. A strip of soil (C3-C soil) was removed, mixed with C4-…
Design and evaluation of self-healing solutions for future wireless networks
2016
This doctoral dissertation is aimed at the creation of comprehensive and innovative Self-Organizing Networks (SON) solutions for the Network Management of future wireless networks. More specifically, the thesis focuses on the Self-Healing (SH) part of SON. Faults can appear at several functional areas of a complex cellular network. However, the most critical domain from a fault management viewpoint is the Radio Access Network (RAN). The fault management of network elements is not only difficult but also imposes high costs both in capital investment (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX). The SON concept has emerged with the goal to foster automation and to reduce human involvement in man…
Thermal degradation of microcrystalline cellulose in concentrated phosphoric acid as assessed by HPLC, high field NMR spectroscopy and low field NMR …
2011
The most common renewable fuel is ethanol. It is a liquid produced by fermentation of glucose which is very abundant in cellulose based material sources. Plants produce about 180 billion tons of cellulose per year globally. For this reason cellulose is the largest organic carbon reservoir on Earth. Cellulose is composed exclusively of glucose units linked via B-1,4 glycosidic bonds. Each D-(+)-glucose unit contains three hydroxyl groups, which can form complex spatial networks of inter- and intra- molecular hydrogen bonds. They are responsible for the high crystallinity and compactness of cellulose, thereby making it very resistant to biological and chemical attack. In the presence of miner…
Numerical Simulation of the Kinetics of Radical Decay in Single-Pulse High-Energy Electron-Irradiated Polymer Aqueous Solutions
2019
A new method for the numerical simulation of the radiation chemistry of aqueous polymer solutions is introduced. The method makes use of a deterministic approach combining the conventional homogeneous radiation chemistry of water with the chemistry of polymer radicals and other macromolecular species. The method is applied on single-pulse irradiations of aqueous polymer solutions. The speciation of macromolecular species accounts for the variations in the number of alkyl radicals per chain, molecular weight, and number of internal loops (as a consequence of an intramolecular radical-radical combination). In the simulations, the initial polymer molecular weight, polymer concentration, and do…
Hydrolytic degradation of PLA/Posidonia Oceanica green composites: A simple model based on starting morpho-chemical properties
2021
Abstract In this work, we studied the degradability of PLA-based biocomposites containing Posidonia Oceanica flour at different loading levels and aspect ratios. Hydrolytic tests were carried out in neutral (pH = 7.4) and alkaline (pH = 10) environment. Time-dependent evolution of some key features, including residual mass and solution uptake, was monitored, and correlated with the changes observed in both morphology and chemical structure of the matrix. The results pointed out that biocomposites degraded much faster than neat PLA in both conditions, up to lose 70% of their initial weight after 1000 h immersion. A complex mechanism was unveiled, evidencing the crucial role of the fillers, c…