Search results for " Plants"

Electric vehicles and psychology

2021

The popularity of electric vehicles is evidenced by the broad range of manufacturers presenting new models of plug-in hybrid and battery vehicles. However, the success of the revolution or, rather, the rebirth of electric vehicles, is hanging by a thread, as it lacks the involvement of a large number of users, and many psychological mechanisms hinder it. What are users’ true feelings about this new world of vehicles? Are people ready for the fifth level of automation, i.e., fully automatic driving and the absence of the driving position? The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the psychological aspects that influence the adoption of electric vehicles. Topics such as the chicken …

Unveiling distribution patterns of freshwater phytoplankton by a next generation sequencing based approach.

2012

The recognition and discrimination of phytoplankton species is one of the foundations of freshwater biodiversity research and environmental monitoring. This step is frequently a bottleneck in the analytical chain from sampling to data analysis and subsequent environmental status evaluation. Here we present phytoplankton diversity data from 49 lakes including three seasonal surveys assessed by next generation sequencing (NGS) of 16S ribosomal RNA chloroplast and cyanobacterial gene amplicons and also compare part of these datasets with identification based on morphology. Direct comparison of NGS to microscopic data from three time-series showed that NGS was able to capture the seasonality in…

A tractor mounted scanning LIDAR for the non-destructive measurement of vegetative volume and surface area of tree-row plantations: A comparison with…

2009

The use of a low-cost tractor-mounted scanning Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) system for capable of making non-destructive recordings of tree-row structure in orchards and vineyards is described. Field tests consisted of several LIDAR measurements on both sides of the crop row, before and after defoliation of selected trees. Summary parameters describing the tree-row volume and the total crop surface area viewed by the LIDAR (expressed as a ratio with ground surface area) were derived using a suitable numerical algorithm. The results for apple and pear orchards and a wine producing vineyard were shown to be in reasonable agreement with the results derived from a destructive leaf sampli…

Coumarins and Related Compounds from the Medicinal Plants of Africa

2013

Coumarins (1-benzopyran-2-one) are chemical compounds in the benzopyrone class of organic compounds found in many plants. Coumarins possess a variety of biological properties, including antimicrobial, antiviral, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and enzyme inhibitory activity. This chapter gives an overview of the isolation, structural features, and pharmacological actions of variety of coumarins produced by the African plants. The biosynthetic pathway of coumarins is also discussed in this chapter. We identify 117 coumarins in African plants, of which 48 are new. The pharmacological activities of 54 of these coumarins are reported and documented in this chapter.

The Norway spruce genome sequence and conifer genome evolution

2013

Conifers have dominated forests for more than 200 million years and are of huge ecological and economic importance. Here we present the draft assembly of the 20-gigabase genome of Norway spruce (Picea abies), the first available for any gymnosperm. The number of well-supported genes (28,354) is similar to the >100 times smaller genome of Arabidopsis thaliana, and there is no evidence of a recent whole-genome duplication in the gymnosperm lineage. Instead, the large genome size seems to result from the slow and steady accumulation of a diverse set of long-terminal repeat transposable elements, possibly owing to the lack of an efficient elimination mechanism. Comparative sequencing of Pinu…

Alternatives to Methyl Bromide in strawberry cultivations

2009

A Textual and Visual Analysis of the Intrinsic Value Dimensions of Romania: Towards a Sustainable Destination Brand

2020

This work examines the projected image of Romania as an emerging tourism destination. Computed content-analysis was applied to the photos, text and video materials promoted online in Romania&rsquo

Quantitative importance of staminodes for female reproductive success inParnassia palustrisunder contrasting environmental conditions

2003

The five sterile stamens, or staminodes, in Parnassia palustris act both as false and as true nectaries. They attract pollinators with their conspicuous, but non-rewarding tips, and also produce nectar at the base. We removed staminodes experimentally and compared pollinator visitation rate and duration and seed set in flowers with and without staminodes in two different populations. We also examined the relative importance of the staminode size to other plant traits. Finally, we bagged, emasculated, and supplementary cross-pollinated flowers to determine the pollination strategy and whether reproduction was limited by pollen availability. Flowers in both populations were highly dependent o…

Regional climate model simulations for Europe at 6 and 0.2 k BP: sensitivity to changes in anthropogenic deforestation

2014

International audience; This study aims to evaluate the direct effects of anthropogenic deforestation on simulated climate at two contrasting periods in the Holocene, ∼ 6 and ∼ 0.2 k BP in Eu-rope. We apply the Rossby Centre regional climate model RCA3, a regional climate model with 50 km spatial resolution, for both time periods, considering three alternative descriptions of the past vegetation: (i) potential natural vegetation (V) simulated by the dynamic vegetation model LPJ-GUESS, (ii) potential vegetation with anthro-pogenic land use (deforestation) from the HYDE3.1 (History Database of the Global Environment) scenario (V + H3.1), and (iii) potential vegetation with anthropogenic land …

Algunas citas de interés para la flora valenciana (norte de Alicante)

2008

Se presentan algunos resultados de una catalogación florística realizada en la Estación Biológica de Torretes-Font Roja, situada en las inmediaciones del Parque Natural del Carrascar de la Font Roja (Ibi-Alcoy, Alicante). De los más de 200 táxones catalogados destacamos por su rareza en la Comunidad Valenciana: Linaria repens (L.) Mill. subsp. blanca (Pau) Rivas Godoy & Borja, cuya presencia en la provincia de Alicante se limita a unas pocas citas en las próximas Sierras de Castalla y del Maigmó; Gypsophila pilosa Hudson, arqueófito muy raro ligado a los cultivos tradicionales de cereal y a los consiguientes barbechos, cuyas citas recientes son casi nulas, y Prunus acida C. Koch, especie ar…