Search results for "GREEN"
showing 10 items of 1660 documents
Effect of Cutting Size and Basal Heat on Rooting of Micromeria fruticulosa Stem Cuttings
2017
Micromeria fruticulosa (Bertol.) Grande is a small pulviniform shrub, belonging to the Labiates, and characterized by twisted stems and pink-purple flowers. Endemic to Campania and Sicily (Italy), M. fruticulosa grows from sea level to 600 m altitude. This specie might be considered an excellent native plant for landscape purposes in Mediterranean areas because of its long flowering period, extending from November to June, and its tolerance to heat and drought. The exploitation of wild plants for ornamental purposes implies knowledge on the factors influencing the propagation methods. Root development of stem cuttings of M. fruticulosa was investigated in relation to basal heat and cutting …
Holm Oak Quercus ilex L.
2018
The holm oak is an evergreen tree species representative of Mediterranean forests. The largest populations of this species are in the Iberian Peninsula, forming the tree cover of an agro-silvo-pastoral system called “dehesa” in Spain and “montado” in Portugal. The high ecological and economic value of the species is of interest for rural development. The main current product are the acorns used for feeding Iberian black pigs, which are the basis of an important gastronomic industry. In addition, several bioactive compounds with new potential industrial applications in nutrition, pharmacology and cosmetics have been identified in acorns of oak species. Plantations with holm oak seedlings myc…
Spatial relations of heavy metals in arable and greenhouse soils of a Mediterranean environment region (Spain)
2013
This study characterises and compares Cr, Ni, Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd (HMs) contents and the main edaphic parameters in arable soils (AS) from western areas of the Andalusian Autonomous Community (SE Spain) with greenhouse soils (GS) from the province of Almería, one of the most productive agricultural systems in Europe. We explored 199 GS and 142 AS, representing local and regional scales of variation in this important Mediterranean area. The hazardousness of HMs was particularly relevant in GS where agricultural practices, which centre on maximising production, end up with products that finally enter the human food chain directly. Despite their similar edaphic characteristics, the main differen…
Macrofungi in Mediterranean maquis along seashore and altitudinal transects
2014
In semi-arid Mediterranean environments, fungal activity is fundamental for buffering biotic and abiotic stress to the plant and for sustaining a vegetation cover. Despite the important role that fungi play in habitats stability, mycological data from Mediterranean ecosystems are scarce and fragmentary. We investigated fungal diversity in several areas characterized by Mediterranean maquis, from continental Italy, Sicily, and Greece in order to contribute to the analysis of distribution, ecology, and diversity of macrofungi in evergreen sclerophyllous shrublands at different elevation and distance from the seashore across the Mediterranean Basin. Several fungal taxa that are remarkable due …
Minimizing membrane bioreactor environmental footprint by multiple objective optimization.
2020
This paper presents a modelling study aimed at minimizing the environmental foot print of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) for wastewater treatment. Specifically, an integrated model for MBR was employed in view of the management optimization of an MBR biological nutrient removal (BNR) pilot plant in terms of operational costs and direct greenhouse gases emissions. The influence of the operational parameters (OPs) on performance indicators (PIs) was investigated by adopting the Extended-FAST sensitivity analysis method. Further, a multi-objective analysis was performed by applying the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The results show-up that the sludge …
Integrated fixed-film activated sludge membrane bioreactors versus membrane bioreactors for nutrient removal: A comprehensive comparison
2018
Abstract This research elucidates the pollutants (nutrients and carbon) removal performance and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions of two pilot plants. Specifically, a University of Cape Town (UCT) Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) plant and an Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge (IFAS)-UCT-MBR plant were investigated. The plants were fed with real wastewater augmented with acetate and glycerol in order to control the influent carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N). The short-term effect of the inlet C/N ratio variation (C/N = 5 mgCOD/mgN and C/N = 10 mgCOD/mgN) on the behaviour of both plants was investigated. The results showed that the IFAS-UCT-MBR configuration provided the best performance in terms of poll…
A Dialysis Photocatalytic Reactor for the Green Production of Vanillin
2020
In the present work, dialysis was used to recover vanillin while being produced by partial photocatalytic oxidation of ferulic acid in an aqueous solution at ambient temperature. The relatively high value of the permeate flux through a dense polyether-block amide membrane allowed continuously extracting vanillin from the reacting solution, thus avoiding its successive oxidation. The rate of vanillin formation was improved, compared to other reactor configurations, because intermediate compounds permeated from the reacting solution and did not hinder the reaction, while ferulic acid permeated in the opposite direction to partially replenish the reactor with the substrate. The photocatalytic …
Heterogeneous Photocatalysis and Photoelectrocatalysis: From Unselective Abatement of Noxious Species to Selective Production of High-Value Chemicals
2015
Heterogeneous photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis have been considered as oxidation technologies to abate unselectively noxious species. This article focuses instead on the utilization of these methods for selective syntheses of organic molecules. Some promising reactions have been reported in the presence of various TiO2 samples and the important role played by the amorphous phase has been discussed. The low solubility of most of the organic compounds in water limits the utilization of photocatalysis. Dimethyl carbonate has been proposed as an alternative green organic solvent. The recovery of the products by coupling photocatalysis with pervaporation membrane technology seems to be a…
Differences in the Association of BH3-Only Proteins to Biological Membranes
2017
Apoptosis, a prevalent mechanism of programmed cell death, is regulated by the Bcl-2 protein family. The balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 members in the mitochondrial outer membrane (MOM) protects or triggers MOM permeabilization. Bcl-2 homology-3 (BH3)-only proteins participate in this process activating pro-apoptotic effectors and promoting permeabilization of the MOM. The membrane association of BH3-only proteins is controversial due to the lack of a canonical carboxyl-terminal (C-terminal) transmembrane (TM) domain. We used an in vitro transcription/translation system to study the insertion capacity of these hydrophobic C-terminal regions of the BH3-members Bik, Bim, Noxa, …
Low RNA translation activity limits the efficacy of hydrodynamic gene transfer to pig liver “in vivo”
2014
Background Hydrodynamic gene delivery has proved an efficient strategy for nonviral gene therapy in the murine liver but it has been less efficient in pigs. The reason for such inefficiency remains unclear. The present study used a surgical strategy to seal the whole pig liver in vivo. Methods A solution of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) DNA was injected under two different venous injection conditions (anterograde and retrograde), employing flow rates of 10 and 20 ml/s in each case, with the aim of identifying the best gene transfer conditions. The gene delivery and information decoding steps were evaluated by measuring the eGFP DNA, mRNA and protein copy number 24 h after transf…