Search results for " PLANTS"

The recent Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) eruption: the impact of volcanic ash fallout on drinking water and edible plants

2022

Nyiragongo is an active intraplate volcano well known for its fascinating persistent lava lake inside the crater and is recognized as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world as more than two million people live on its slopes, 18-25 km far from the main crater. It is located in the Virunga Volcanic Province (VVP), in the western branch of the East African Rift System (EARS), at the intersection between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. Unexpectedly, on 22 May 2021, Nyiragongo produced three different lateral lava flows in the low flanks and significant amounts of volcanic gas and ash were emitted from the summit crater. For several weeks, the ash fallout strongly…

A Comparative Eye Tracking Study of Usability—Towards Sustainable Web Design

2021

Websites are one of the most frequently used communication environments, and creating sustainable web designs should be an objective for all companies. Ensuring high usability is proving to be one of the main contributors to sustainable web design, reducing usage time, eliminating frustration and increasing satisfaction and retention. The present paper studies the usability of different website landing pages, seeking to identify the elements, structures and designs that increase usability. The study analyzed the behavior of 22 participants during their interaction with five different landing pages while they performed three tasks on the webpage and freely viewed each page for one minute. Th…

Study of quantitative and qualitative variations in essential oils of Sicilian oregano biotypes

2015

Essential oil (EO) was extracted using hydrodistillation from samples of Origanum vulgare subspecies hirtum (Link) Ietswaart, gathered from the wild in various parts of Sicily, Italy; GC-FID and GC-MS analyses were subsequently performed. The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between essential oil yields and the geographical distribution of oregano wild populations based on variations in environmental factors as collection sites. Moreover, the purpose was to group Origanum vulgare subspecies hirtum biotypes according to the chemical composition of the EO. The seven principal components in the EO was thymol (24.0–54.4%), γ-terpinene (9.8–30.5%), ρ-cymene (5.2–18.7%), α-terpine…

Wildflowers: opportunities for urban landscapes

2022

The concept of “sustainability” is also becoming of great interest in the management of ornamental and territorial greenery. The new trends in the design of green spaces are aimed both at enhancing their “natural” aspects and at researching schemes characterized by lower maintenance costs. Spontaneous vegetation represents a characteristic component of the urban environment and is always adequate to the conditions of the site in which it is located. In this context, the role of spontaneous herbaceous plants becomes fundamental and constitutes an effective response to the current demand for the defence, conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. So far, the use of spontaneous vegetation f…

The MIMOSE Approach to Support Sustainable Forest Management Planning at Regional Scale in Mediterranean Contexts

2017

In recent decades, Mediterranean landscapes have been affected by human-induced drivers, such as land use and climate change. Forest ecosystems and landscapes have been particularly affected in mountainous regions due to limited management and stewardship, especially in remote areas. Therefore, there is a need to set up new strategies to enhance ecosystem services in forested areas which, in turn, will benefit local communities and economies. In this study, we implemented a new approach—Multiscale Mapping of Ecosystem Services (MIMOSE)—to assess ecosystem services in Mediterranean forests located in a mountainous region of Italy. We spatially assessed timber provision and carbon sequestrati…

The Relationship between Knowledge Characteristics’ Fit and Job Satisfaction and Job Performance: The Mediating Role of Work Engagement

2020

Knowledge workers are highly valued by organizations, but there is a lack of evidence about the role of work engagement in the satisfaction and performance of these workers. Harmonization and Person&ndash

Inspiriting Innovation: The Effects of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) on Innovative Behavior as Mediated by Mindfulness and Work Engagement

2021

Continuous innovation has become a key to gaining a sustainable competitive advantage for organizations in the 21st century. By focusing on the underlying mechanisms (i.e., mindfulness and work engagement) by which it works, this study addresses the quality of leader–member relationships and their relevance for innovation in the workplace. Using a sample of 210 employees from 17 Spanish companies, a two-wave longitudinal design evaluated the mediational roles of mindfulness and engagement between leader–member exchange (LMX) quality and innovative work behavior (IWB) in an organizational context. Over the course of a year, two questionnaires were administered to measure LMX quality, mindful…

Signalled and silenced aspects of nuclear safety : characteristics of Finnish nuclear safety regulations : SAFIR2014 final report : Finnish Research …

2015

Wpływ zanieczyszczeń komunikacyjnych na glebę i uprawną roślinność przydrożną

2014

Celem pracy było rozpoznanie wpływu zanieczyszczeń komunikacyjnych na glebę i roślinność uprawnianą przy pasie drogowym. Zanieczyszczenia te, to nie tylko spaliny, ale również pyły powstające w wyniku tarcia opon o nawierzchnie drogi, płyny wyciekające z nieszczelnych instalacji oraz śmieci wyrzucane przez kierowców w trakcie jazdy. Roślina bytująca w takim środowisku, jest narażona na liczne stresy i uszkodzenia. Główną przyczyną wpływającą niekorzystnie na rozwój roślin, a nawet powodującą ich śmierć, jest potęgujące się stale zanieczyszczenie powietrza, zwłaszcza w rejonach śródmiejskich jak i wzdłuż obciążonych tras komunikacyjnych. Na skutek używania soli do zwalczania gołoledzi, naraż…

Chemical composition and biological activity of the essential oil of Ballota hispanica (L.) Benth. growing wild in Sicily

2015

Ballota L. comprises several relevant species largely used for their excellent therapeutic properties. Ballota hispanica (L.) Benth. is widely used in herbal medicine, and it is sold in herbalist shops for its sedative and antispasmodic properties. Considering its traditional medicinal use and the lack of scientific studies on the volatile components of this species as well as on its biological activities, in this study the chemical composition of the essential oil from aerial parts of B. hispanica, collected in Sicily, was evaluated by gas chromatography and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. α-Elemol was the most abundant component of the oil (10.9%), followed by α-ylangene (8.5%),…