Search results for "Water science"
showing 10 items of 1545 documents
Impact of biotic interactions on the survival of emerging pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii in aquatic media
2019
Abstract Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic pathogen causing infections in immunocompromised patients. Recent studies recorded its persistence in a variety of abiotic conditions, but data regarding the biotic interactions with other microorganisms are limited. The aim was to assess the interaction of clinically relevant A. baumannii with common faecal bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecium. Additionally, the interaction with a bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga as a potential agent for biological control of A. baumannii was examined. Experiments were conducted in nutrient-poor spring water (SW) and nutrient-rich diluted nutrient broth (DNB) at 22 °C. A. baumannii coexisted w…
Foaming estimation tests in activated sludge systems.
2005
Persistent biological foaming phenomena in activated sludge systems due to excess of filamentous microorganisms with hydrophobic properties, such as GALO, Microthrix parvicella and others, are frequently reported everywhere. Nevertheless, even if the number of plants affected by this trouble is high, presently there are no suitable general methods to evaluate properly the phenomenon. This paper reports on the results of a series of foam tests (Scum Index, Foam Rating), of hydrophobicity measurements of activated sludge (mixed liquor and foam) and measurements of extension of aeration tank covered by foam surfaces. The data obtained by using the above indicated methods are clearly correlated…
Hydrolysis and chemical speciation of dioxouranium(VI) ion in aqueous media simulating the major ion composition of seawater
2004
Abstract The hydrolysis and chemical speciation of the dioxouranium(VI) ion at 25 °C was studied in a number of binary electrolytes (LiCl, NaCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, Na2SO4) and some mixtures (NaCl–Na2SO4, NaNO3–Na2SO4, CaCl2–MgCl2) as well as artificial seawater (SSWE) as a function of ionic strength. The results in LiCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 solutions confirmed the formation of (UO2)2(OH)22+, (UO2)3(OH)42+, (UO2)3(OH)5+ and (UO2)3(OH)7− species (at I=0 mol l−1: log Tβ22=−5.76, log Tβ34=−11.82, log Tβ35=−15.89 and log Tβ37=−29.26). For NaNO3, NaCl and artificial seawater the hydrolysis constant for the formation of the UO2(OH)+ species was also determined (at I=0 mol l−1: log Tβ11=−5.19). The results …
Evapotranspiration from an Olive Orchard using Remote Sensing-Based Dual Crop Coefficient Approach
2013
A remote sensing-based approach to estimate actual evapotranspiration (ET) was tested in an area covered by olive trees and characterized by Mediterranean climate. The methodology is a modified version of the standard FAO-56 dual crop coefficient procedure, in which the crop potential transpiration, T p, is obtained by directly applying the Penman-Monteith (PM) equation with actual canopy characteristics (i.e., leaf area index, albedo and canopy height) derived from optical remote sensing data. Due to the minimum requirement of in-situ ancillary inputs, the methodology is suitable also for applications on large areas where the use of tabled crop coefficient values become problematic, due to…
Daily evapotranspiration assessment by means of residual surface energy balance modeling: A critical analysis under a wide range of water availability
2012
Summary An operational use of the actual evapotranspiration assessed by remote sensing approaches requires the integration of instantaneous fluxes to daily values. This is commonly achieved under the hypotheses of daytime self-preservation of evaporative fraction and negligible daily ground heat flux. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of these assumptions on estimate daily evapotranspiration over a full phenological cycle, including phases characterized by significant changes both in net radiation and vegetation cover. To assess the reliability of these hypotheses, the observations made by a flux tower, installed within a homogeneous field of cereal located in the valley part …
Actual evapotranspiration assessment by means of a coupled energy/hydrologic balance model: Validation over an olive grove by means of scintillometry…
2010
Summary A coupled energy/hydrologic model was applied to simulate the exchange of energy and water in the soil–plant-atmosphere system (SPA). The model, which uses a “two-source” approach to estimate the energy fluxes, and the “force-restore” approach to represent the water balance, was validated by means of evapotranspiration measurements collected via scintillometry and soil moisture measurements collected via time domain reflectometry (TDR) in a Sicilian olive grove. The comparison between measured and estimated fluxes values at an hourly scale showed good agreement. Additional comparisons on a daily timescale confirmed the model’s applicability for quantifying crop water requirements. A…
Predicting soil and plant water status dynamic in olive orchards under different irrigation systems with Hydrus-2D: Model performance and scenario an…
2018
The paper analyzes the performance of Hydrus-2D model to simulate the dynamic of soil water contents and transpiration fluxes in an olive orchard in which two different irrigation systems were used in 2011 and 2012. The relationship between measured midday stem water potential, MSWP, and simulated relative transpiration (ratio between simulated actual and maximum crop transpiration), Ks, was also identified with the aim to use the model for crop water status predictions. Finally, a scenario analysis was carried out for irrigation management purposes, by considering the level of crop water stress achieved in the different phases of the vegetative growth. The results evidenced that active roo…
Transpiration and Water Use of an Irrigated Traditional Olive Grove with Sap-Flow Observations and the FAO56 Dual Crop Coefficient Approach
2021
The SIMDualKc model was applied to evaluate the crop water use and the crop coefficient (Kc) of an irrigated olive grove (Olea europaea L.) located in Sicily, Italy, using experimental data collected from two crop seasons. The model applies the FAO56 dual Kc approach to compute the actual crop evapotranspiration (ETc act) and its components, i.e., the actual tree transpiration (Tc act), obtained through the basal crop coefficient (Kcb), and soil evaporation according to an evaporation coefficient (Ke). Model calibration was performed by minimizing the difference between the predicted Tc act and the observed daily tree transpiration measured with sap flow instrumentation (TSF field) acquired…
Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity to coastal hazards in the Caribbean Region
2014
ABSTRACT Lam, N.S.N., Arenas, H., Brito, P.L., Liu, K.B., 2014. Assessment of vulnerability and adaptive capacity to coastal hazards in the Caribbean region. In: Green, A.N. and Cooper, J.A.G. (eds.), Proceedings 13th International Coastal Symposium (Durban, South Africa), Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 70, pp. 473–478, ISSN 0749-0208. It has been documented that given the same type of climate related hazard and degree of exposure, the vulnerability of a region to the hazard and its resultant damages could be very different, depending on a number of natural and socioeconomic factors. An understanding of the factors contributing to the vulnerability of a region requires a goo…
Characterization of Intertidal Macrofaunal Communities of Two Sandy Beaches under Different Anthropogenic Pressures
2022
The macrofauna in the intertidal zone of sandy beaches provides the trophic connectivity between land and sea, by linking microbiome, meiofauna, and megafauna, representing a food source for several terrestrial animals, including shorebirds and mammals. However, the macrozoobenthos in urbanised beaches is subjected to intense disturbances, such as breakwater barriers and tourism, which limit or impede the energy transfer from the marine to the terrestrial habitats. Because the information about diversity and abundance of the macrozoobenthos of the intertidal zone on the Mediterranean sandy coasts is scant, the main objective of this study is to increase the knowledge on the macrofauna livin…