Search results for "Environmental Monitoring"
showing 10 items of 609 documents
Conservation state of two paintings in the Santa Margherita cliff cave: role of the environment and of the microbial community
2021
Abstract The conservation of ancient paintings sited in humid environments is an actual challenge for restorers, because it needs the knowledge of the materials the paintings are made up and of their interaction with a peculiar surrounding environment; thus, tailored procedures and strategies aimed at restoring and preserving paintings are necessary. The Santa Margherita’s cave in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani, Italy) is a natural cave, containing the remains of paintings, in a poor state of conservation, belonging to an ancient church dated back to the Middle Age. The present manuscript reports the monitoring of environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and humidity) in a full year as…
Characterizing mortality effects of particulate matter size fractions in the two capital cities of the Canary Islands
2010
Most of the studies differentiating the effect of size-classified particulate matter (PM) exposure have been carried out in cities where the average levels of fine particles (PM2.5) were higher than those of coarse particles (PM10-2.5). These studies have suggested that PM2.5 is associated with daily mortality, but there is only limited evidence that PM10-2.5 is independently associated with mortality. The citizens of the Canary Islands are exposed to PM which is highly influenced by mineral dust because of the islands' proximity to the Western Coast of Morocco. This offers an excellent opportunity to analyze in detail the short-term association between PM size fractions and total, respirat…
Multidisciplinary Approaches to Study Ancient Cities in a Seismic Region
2022
The paper focuses on the strong connections between natural resources, environment, and urban development in the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Pamukkale, Turkey). The ancient city was founded on a travertine terrace crossed by an active fault, responsible for impressive geothermal phenomena, i.e., flowing of thermal water, emission of gases, and frequent earthquakes, while the surrounding territory offered various stone qualities (travertine, alabaster, marbles, etc.). These environmental features affected the cultural identity of Hierapolis and its urban layout, conditioning also the construction techniques and the monumentalization of the city. In recent…
Current trends on the determination of organic UV filters in environmental water samples based on microextraction techniques – A review
2018
UV filters are a group of cosmetic ingredients commonly used in a wide variety of cosmetic products to protect users from UV solar radiation. They belong to different chemical families, such as benzophenones, p-aminobenzoates, salicylates, cinnamates, benzotriazoles, benzimidazoles, camphor derivatives, triazines, etc. These cosmetic ingredients are considered as emerging contaminants since they easily reach the aquatic environment, where they are accumulated causing harmful effects in the flora and fauna despite being present at the ng L-1 level. Therefore, the development of sensitive and selective analytical methods for their environmental surveillance monitoring is of high interest. In …
Use of Nanomaterial-Based (Micro)Extraction Techniques for the Determination of Cosmetic-Related Compounds
2020
The high consumer demand for cosmetic products has caused the authorities and the industry to require rigorous analytical controls to assure their safety and efficacy. Thus, the determination of prohibited compounds that could be present at trace level due to unintended causes is increasingly important. Furthermore, some cosmetic ingredients can be percutaneously absorbed, further metabolized and eventually excreted or bioaccumulated. Either the parent compound and/or their metabolites can cause adverse health effects even at trace level. Moreover, due to the increasing use of cosmetics, some of their ingredients have reached the environment, where they are accumulated causing harmful effec…
Wide-scope screening of pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs and their metabolites in the Amazon River.
2021
Only a limited number of households in the Amazon are served by sewage collection or treatment facili- ties, suggesting that there might be a significant emission of pharmaceuticals and other wastewater contaminants into freshwater ecosystems. In this work, we performed a wide-scope screening to assess the occurrence of pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs and their metabolites in freshwater ecosystems of the Brazilian Amazon. Our study included 40 samples taken along the Amazon River, in three of its major tributaries, and in small tributaries crossing four important urban areas (Manaus, Santarém, Macapá, Belém). More than 900 compounds were investigated making use of target and suspect screenin…
A multidisciplinary approach to the study of cultural heritage environments: Experience at the Palatina Library in Parma
2015
The aim of this paper is to describe a multidisciplinary approach including biological and particle monitoring, and microclimate analysis associated with the application of the Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD). This approach was applied at the Palatina historical library in Parma. Monitoring was performed both in July and in December, in the absence of visitors and operators. Air microbial monitoring was performed with active and passive methods. Airborne particles with a diameter of ≥0.3, ≥0.5, ≥1 and ≥5 μm/m3, were counted by a laser particle counter. The surface contamination of shelves and manuscripts was assessed with nitrocellulose membranes. A spore trap sampler was used to identify…
Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition of air during films, by broadcasting scene specific emissions on breath
2016
AbstractHuman beings continuously emit chemicals into the air by breath and through the skin. In order to determine whether these emissions vary predictably in response to audiovisual stimuli, we have continuously monitored carbon dioxide and over one hundred volatile organic compounds in a cinema. It was found that many airborne chemicals in cinema air varied distinctively and reproducibly with time for a particular film, even in different screenings to different audiences. Application of scene labels and advanced data mining methods revealed that specific film events, namely “suspense” or “comedy” caused audiences to change their emission of specific chemicals. These event-type synchronou…
Apparent discrepancy in contamination history of a sub-tropical estuary evaluated through 210Pb profile and chronostratigraphical markers.
2005
Abstract Zn and Cd concentrations, stable lead isotopes and 210 Pb-derived chronology were determined in a sediment core sampled at Sepetiba Bay (South-eastern Brazil). During the last decades, the bay’s watershed has been modified by the increase of industrial activities and human interventions. In particular, Zn and Cd ore treatment plants were built near the coast in 1960 and 1970, respectively, and water has been diverted from the adjacent Paraiba do Sul River watershed since 1950. The core collected at shallow depth near the industrial area exhibits four successive events: (i) at 50 cm depth, a change in the 206 Pb/ 207 Pb ratio from about 1.162 to more than 1.18 might be the result of…
Flood pattern changes in the rivers of the Baltic countries
2015
Estimation of both the frequency and variation of spring floods is a key issue for the assessment and management of flood risks. Changes in river floods in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have been investigated in few national studies. However, there are no studies of the changes of flood patterns by using a common methodology for the rivers of this region. In this study flood pattern changes in the rivers of the Baltic countries were estimated applying trend and frequency analysis for the periods of 1922–2010, 1922–1960, 1961–2010 and 1991–2010, i.e. for the whole spring flood data sets, periods before and after 1960 (this year was considered as the beginning of the remarkable climate change…