Search results for "Island"
showing 10 items of 761 documents
Seed germination of Thymus richardii subsp. nitidus (Lamiaceae)
2021
The germination ability of the punctual endemic Thymus richardii subsp. nitidus (Lamiaceae) from the Island of Marettimo in W Sicily was studied. Mature seeds were collected in the field. Different experimental conditions were tested and the best methods with optimal germination results were provided. This is the first germination record for this taxon.
The Eighth Island
2014
This paper proposes a succinct analysis of the factors that have led Aeolians to leave their islands for Australia and explores how patterns of chain migration were established in the second half of the 19th century that are still active today. Saija argues that initially Aeolians went to Australia out of a yearning for adventure rather than out of economic need, although after the substantial economic downturn experienced by the islands from 1888 onwards, economic need became the predominant if not the only factor. Over the last 150 years so many Aeolians have migrated to Australia that it has become known in the Aeolian collective consciousness as the eighth island of the Aeolian archipel…
Modeling transpiration and leaf temperature of urban trees – A case study evaluating the microclimate model ENVI-met against measurement data
2018
Abstract Increasing vegetation cover in cities is a key approach to mitigating urban heat excess. However, both the effect of vegetation on microclimate and the plants’ vitality need to be assessed to support and quantify the effects of such strategies. One way to assess the interactions between vegetation and the urban environment is through microclimate models that can simulate the effects of vegetation onto the urban microclimate as well as effects of urban environments onto vegetation. To provide reliable estimates microclimate models need to be parameterized based on empirically obtained data. In this paper we compare modeled transpiration rates and leaf temperatures of a leading micro…
Environmental quality assessment of the Sicilian coast using a multi-disciplinary approach
2018
A multidisciplinary approach for the assessment of the environmental quality of the Sicilian coast is presented. This approach can be adopted for any Mediterranean coastline. The territory was divided into elementary areas and for each of them we reported the most important taxa, belonging to fauna and vascular, bryophytic and algal flora, from a biogeographic point of view in order to evaluate punctual and general levels of biodiversity conservation. The comparative analysis showed that the main circumsicilian islands and the carbonate promontories of the Tyrrhenian coast present the highest degree of biodiversity. The coastal lagoons located in the south-eastern Sicily, even though charac…
Functional interaction of estrogen receptor α and caveolin isoforms in neuronal SK-N-MC cells
2003
Estrogen receptors (ERs) are expressed in neuronal cells and exhibit a wide variety of activities in the central nervous system. The actions of ERs are regulated in a hormone-dependent manner as well as by a number of co-activators and -repressors. A recently identified co-activator of ERalpha is caveolin-1 which has been shown to mediate the ligand-independent activation of this steroid receptor. In the present study we have demonstrated that neuronal SK-N-MC cells lacking functional ERalpha show high levels of caveolin-1/-2 specific transcripts and proteins. Ectopic expression of ERalpha in SK-N-MC cells leads to the transcriptional suppression of caveolin-1 and -2 genes. This silencing e…
Energy Equalization and the Case of the “nZEB Hotels”
2020
Nowadays, energy equalization is one of the many issues concerning the energy policies on the urban scale and in the perspective of reducing the Urban Heat Island effects (UHI-e). The different economic-financial profiles of the interventions implemented in the buildings having a wide range of climatic locations, typological arrangements, architectural-historical constraints, need to be coordinated within unitary local energy-environmental policies inspired by economic-financial as well as environmental issues. The renovation of existing hotels to achieve a nearly Zero-Energy performance is one of the goals of the 2050 EU’s energy policy. This paper presents the nZEB retrofit case of an exi…
Assessing the feasibility of cogeneration retrofit and district heating/cooling networks in small Italian islands
2017
Sustainability of energy supply strategies in small islands has been emerging as a severe issue, due to the large margins for improvement and rationalization of the most frequently adopted solutions. In most of the European islands, large amounts of heat are wasted by the operation of engine-based power plants; conversely, heat is produced by boilers (supplied by liquid fuels) or by electric equipment for a number of different uses, like domestic hot water production or space heating in winter. In this paper a techno-economic analysis is proposed to assess the feasibility of CHP-retrofit of the existing power plants and the possible utilization of the recovered heat to supply, via a distric…
Smart interface devices for distributed generation in smart grids: The case of islanding
2017
With the increasing presence of distributed generators (DGs), the implementation of a smart sensors and actuators network in distribution grids has become crucial for different monitoring, management and protection functionalities. For DGs monitoring and control, sensors and actuators are usually embedded in so-called interface devices (IDs) or interface protection systems (IPSs). Existing IDs lack in communication interfaces both to the electrical energy Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and to the DGs inverter. In this framework, the authors have developed a new ID solution and a proper communication architecture, which allow implementing new smart functionalities based on the interact…
Role of Green Coverings in Mitigating Heat Island Effects: An Analysis of Physical Models
2012
Worldwide, governments are introducing several rules and standards in the aim of limiting the quantity of primary energy for air conditioning of buildings and supporting the use of renewable source of energy for generating thermal and electric energy to be utilized in buildings such as the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings [1]. Along with these interventions, another important action takes currently place in the building sector, that is the introduction of passive structural components of the envelope, able to reduce the requirements of energy for air conditioning purposes. Among these building components, the so-called green roofs are becoming more and more interest…
Fault Tolerant Ancillary Function of Power Converters in Distributed Generation Power System within a Microgrid Structure
2013
Distributed generation (DG) is deeply changing the existing distribution networks which become very sophisticated and complex incorporating both active and passive equipment. The simplification of their management can be obtained assuming a structure with small networks, namely, microgrids, reproducing, in a smaller scale, the structure of large networks including production, transmission, and distribution of the electrical energy. Power converters in distributed generation systems carry on some different ancillary functions as, for example, grid synchronization, islanding detection, fault ride through, and so on. In view of an optimal utilization of the generated electrical power, fault to…