Search results for "0208 environmental biotechnology"
showing 10 items of 551 documents
Deducing a Drain Spacing Formula by Applying Dimensional Analysis and Self-Similarity Theory
2016
For designing a steady state drainage system a drain flow formula coupled with the Dupuit-Forcheimer form of the differential equation of groundwater flow is used. At first, in this paper the most applied drain flow formulas in steady-state conditions are reviewed and compared using as dependent variable the ratio between the maximum water table height and the distance between two lines of parallel drains. These equation are also tested using experimental field data measured in three plot drained by surface pipe drains having different value of drain spacing. Then, applying the dimensional analysis and the self-similarity theory, a new drain spacing formula is theoretically deduced and comp…
Critical range of soil organic carbon in southern Europe lands under desertification risk.
2021
Soil quality is fundamental for ecosystem long term functionality, productivity and resilience to current climatic changes. Despite its importance, soil is lost and degraded at dramatic rates worldwide. In Europe, the Mediterranean areas are a hotspot for soil erosion and land degradation due to a combination of climatic conditions, soils, geomorphology and anthropic pressure. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is considered a key indicator of soil quality as it relates to other fundamental soil functions supporting crucial ecosystem services. In the present study, the functional relationships among SOC and other important soil properties were investigated in the topsoil of 38 sites under different …
Fusing optical and SAR time series for LAI gap filling with multioutput Gaussian processes
2019
The availability of satellite optical information is often hampered by the natural presence of clouds, which can be problematic for many applications. Persistent clouds over agricultural fields can mask key stages of crop growth, leading to unreliable yield predictions. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides all-weather imagery which can potentially overcome this limitation, but given its high and distinct sensitivity to different surface properties, the fusion of SAR and optical data still remains an open challenge. In this work, we propose the use of Multi-Output Gaussian Process (MOGP) regression, a machine learning technique that learns automatically the statistical relationships among…
Assessment and inter-comparison of recently developed/reprocessed microwave satellite soil moisture products using ISMN ground-based measurements
2019
Soil moisture (SM) is a key state variable in understanding the climate system through its control on the land surface energy, water budget partitioning, and the carbon cycle. Monitoring SM at regional scale has become possible thanks to microwave remote sensing. In the past two decades, several satellites were launched carrying on board either radiometer (passive) or radar (active) or both sensors in different frequency bands with various spatial and temporal resolutions. Soil moisture algorithms are in rapid development and their improvements/revisions are ongoing. The latest SM retrieval products and versions of products that have been recently released are not yet, to our knowledge, com…
Pineapple peel biochar and lateritic soil as adsorbents for recovery of ammonium nitrogen from human urine.
2021
Abstract Human urine is a rich source of nitrogen which can be captured to supplement the existing sources of nitrogen fertilizers thus contributing to enhanced crop production. However, urine is the major contributor of macronutrients in municipal wastewater flows resulting into eutrophication of the receiving water bodies. Herein, pineapple peel biochar (PPB), and lateritic soil (LS) adsorbents were prepared for the safe removal of ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) from human urine solutions. Physicochemical properties of PPB, and LS were characterized by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy…
Thermogravimetric analysis as express tool for quality assessment of refuse derived fuels used for pyro-gasification
2019
The development of pyro-gasification technologies makes necessary the development of new express analytical methods that are able to deal with the variability of feedstock and problems arising from it. Thermogravimetric proximate analysis of refuse derived fuels is a very fast, cheap and simple method for the determination of proximate and fractional composition. Development of this analytical approach may result in a very cost-effective method to describe wholesome composition and characteristics of feedstock used for pyrolysis and gasification processes in real time. The aim of this study was the development of such analytical method. Refuse derived fuel samples produced in Latvia and Est…
Integrating in situ measurements of an index of connectivity to assess soil erosion processes in vineyards
2020
In this research, we survey soil erosion processes using an index of connectivity and a non-invasive and long-term assessment in situ technique: the improved stock unearthing method (ISUM), for whi...
A time domain triangle method approach to estimate actual evapotranspiration: Application in a Mediterranean region using MODIS and MSG-SEVIRI produc…
2016
Abstract In this study, spatially distributed estimates of regional actual evapotranspiration (ET) were obtained using a revised procedure of the so called “triangle method” to parameterize the Priestley–Taylor ϕ coefficient. In the procedure herein proposed, named Time-Domain Triangle Method (TDTM), the triangular feature space was parameterized considering pairs of T s –VI values obtained by exploring, for each pixel, only their temporal dynamics. This new method was developed using time series products provided by MODIS and MSG-SEVIRI sensors. Moreover the proposed procedure does not depend on ancillary data, and it is only based on remotely sensed vegetation indices and day–night time l…
Research focusing on plant performance in constructed wetlands and agronomic application of treated wastewater – A set of experimental studies in Sic…
2019
Constructed wetlands are sustainable technologies for the treatment of wastewater. These biological systems have been widely studied throughout the world for more than 30 years; however, most studies have focused on the effects of design and engineering on pollutant removal from wastewater. Undoubtedly, agro-technical aspects have been given too little consideration by research. This paper reports the main results of a set of experiments carried out on two pilot horizontal subsurface flow systems in Sicily (Italy). Festuca, Lolium and Pennisetum spp. in combination and three emergent macrophytes-Arundo donax L., Cyperus alternifolius L. and Typha latifolia L.-alone, were assessed. The aim o…
Aberrant gene expression profiles in Mediterranean sea urchin reproductive tissues after metal exposures
2019
Abstract Marine organisms are simultaneously exposed to numerous pollutants, among which metals probably represent the most abundant in marine environments. In order to evaluate the effects of metal exposure at molecular level in reproductive tissues, we profiled the sea urchin transcriptional response after non-lethal exposures using pathway-focused mRNA expression analyses. Herein, we show that exposures to relatively high concentrations of both essential and toxic metals hugely affected the gonadic expression of several genes involved in stress-response, detoxification, transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation, without significant changes in gonadosomatic indices. Even though …