Search results for "3304 Education"
showing 6 items of 16 documents
Long‐Term Durum Wheat‐Based Cropping Systems Result in the Rapid Saturation of Soil Carbon in the Mediterranean Semi‐arid Environment
2016
Climate, soil physical–chemical characteristics, land management, and carbon (C) input from crop residues greatly affect soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. According to the concept of SOC saturation, the ability of SOC to increase with C input decreases as SOC increases and approaches a SOC saturation level. In a 12-year experiment, six semi-arid cropping systems characterized by different rates of C input to soil were compared for ability to sequester SOC, SOC saturation level, and the time necessary to reach the SOC saturation level. SOC stocks, soil aggregate sizes, and C inputs were measured in durum wheat monocropping with (Ws) and without (W) return of aboveground residue to the…
Factors Influencing Point Measurement of Near-surface Saturated Soil Hydraulic Conductivity in a Small Sicilian Basin
2017
Hydraulic conductivity of saturated soil, Ks, controls many hydrological processes. Parameterization of basin hydrological models in terms of Ks is complicated and uncertain owing to the very high spatial variability of this soil property. A small Sicilian basin was intensively sampled by the simplified falling head technique to obtain spatially distributed Ks data, and an attempt to explain their spatial variability on the basis of soil physical characteristics, digital elevation model-derived topographic attributes and land cover was carried out. High Ks values were obtained when clay content was low and both elevation and mean slope were high. Moreover, differences in Ks among land cover…
Stakeholders' Perceptions about Fire Impacts on Lithuanian Protected Areas
2016
The aim of this work is to study Lithuanian stakeholders' perceptions of fire impacts in protected areas. For this study, the stakeholders consisted of foresters, ecologists and farmers. A clear understanding of the opinions of stakeholders about fire effects on environmental, social and economic aspects of Lithuanian protected areas will allow an assessment of the stakeholders' reaction to fire policy, including government measures towards fire prevention, suppression and application of prescribed fire to landscape management. The results showed that stakeholders in general think that fire is not a threat to Lithuania and to the ecological processes in the protected areas. However, they ag…
Innovation strategies geared toward the circular economy: A case study of the organic olive-oil industry
2018
Circular Economy (CE) focuses on the (re)design of processes and products aiming to minimize negative environmental impact, by reducing the use of non-renewable resources, increasing products durability, improving waste management and enhancing the market for secondary raw materials. In the management field very few contributions deal with the topic of CE as a model that firms can implement from a business model perspective. The aim of the present study is to describe, by using a case study in olive oil industry, how firms in practice adapt their business model towards CE paradigm and the influence of personal drivers and stakeholders in this adaptation. The findings reveal that circular ec…
Hillslope degradation in representative Italian areas. Just soil erosion risk or opportunity for development?
2018
In recent years, much research have dealt with the impact of human and climate change on the morpho-evolution of Mediterranean catchments characterized by high ecological and cultural value. In this paper, we speculated how humans can influence hillslope degradation by reviewing the relationships between denudation processes and land use changes in some representative areas located in different Italian regions (i.e., Liguria, Tuscany, Basilicata, and Sicily). The selected study cases are characterized by different climatic and geological features, land use, and land management and can be considered indicative of the hillslope degradation issues that affected the Apennines during the last ce…
Testing the Modified Sediment Delivery Model (MOSEDD) at SPA2 Experimental Basin, Sicily (Italy)
2017
A new version of a spatially distributed sediment delivery model taking into account the hillslope sediment transport efficiency, named MOSEDD, is presented. This model gives estimates of basin sediment yield at event scale, which are more reliable than those obtained by the original SEDD. For SPA2 basin discretized into morphological units, four different calculation schemes of MOSEDD, including the original SEDD version, were applied. All parameterization schemes of the model were calibrated using 15 events measured at the outlet of the experimental basin in the period February 2005–February 2010. The model calibration was used to determine a relationship between the coefficient βe of the…