Search results for "[ SDE ] Environmental Sciences"
showing 10 items of 6671 documents
Determination of Changes in the Quality of Surface Water in the River—Reservoir System
2021
Assessing the changing parameters of water quality at different points in the river–reservoir system can help prevent river pollution and implement remedial policies. It is also crucial in modeling water resources. Multivariate statistical analysis is useful for the analysis of changes in surface water quality. It helps to identify indicators that may be responsible for the eutrophication process of a reservoir. Additionally, the analysis of the water quality profile and the water quality index (WQI) is useful in assessing water pollution. These tools can support and verify the results of a multivariate statistical analysis. In this study, changes in water quality parameters of the Turawa r…
The Effect of Mechanocatalytic Pretreatment on the Structure and Depolymerization of Willow
2020
In this study, the effect of a mechanocatalytic pretreatment on the structure of willow and sugar release from pretreated willow was explored. In the mechanocatalytic approach, the pretreatment consists of solvent-free impregnation with sulfuric acid and a mechanical treatment with ball milling. Willow sawdust and pretreated samples were analyzed with field emission scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The products in the sugar solution were determined as the total reducing sugars with the 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid method and monosaccharides with capillary electrophoresis. According to the results, milling increased the sugar production, depending on the sulfuric acid load. T…
Investigation of a Gravel-Bed River’s Pattern Changes: Insights from Satellite Images
2021
Changes in river pattern have been documented in the literature. The recognition of islands and vegetated patches, which is indicative of the evolution processes, requires simultaneous information at different points and at different times and field studies are still difficult and scarce. The present work, focusing the attention on a gravel-bed river, explores the possibility to conduct a first-step pattern changes analysis by identifying the evolution of the morphological features and taking information of islands and vegetated patches from satellite images easily available from Google Earth. The study is conducted by combining the information taken from both the satellite images and the f…
Combined effect of low-molecular-weight organic acids and creosote on phosphatase activities in sandy soil
2018
This paper assesses the impact of creosote and low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) on the activity of acid phosphomonoesterase, alkaline phosphomonoesterase, phosphotriesterase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase in soil. The experiment was carried out on loamy sand samples with organic carbon content of 8.71 g · kg -1 , with the following variable factors: dosages of creosote: 0, 0.5%, and 2.5%; type of LMWOAs: oxalic acid, tartaric acid, and citric acid in the amount of 50 mmol · kg -1 of soil; days of experiment: 1, 7, 14, 28, 56, 112. Obtained results showed that contamination with creosote caused decrease in the activity of soil phosphatases. The observed effect did not always incre…
Dead wood profile of a semi-natural boreal forest – implications for sampling
2019
Dead wood profile of a forest is a useful tool for describing forest characteristics and assessing forest disturbance history. Nevertheless, there are few studies on dead wood profiles, including both coarse and fine dead wood, and on the effect of sampling intensity on the dead wood estimates. In a semi-natural boreal forest, we measured every dead wood item over 2 cm in diameter from 80 study plots. From eight plots, we further recorded dead wood items below 2 cm in diameter. Based on these data we constructed the full dead wood profile, i.e. the overall number of dead wood items and their distribution among different tree species, volumes of different size and decay stage categories. We …
Psychrophiles: A source of cold-adapted enzymes for energy efficient biotechnological industrial processes
2021
Biocatalysts are the backbone of bioprocessing industries that are going through a phase of transition with reference to the requirement of extraordinary enzymes for various biochemical processes. This transition is well reported and documented by various researchers through elucidation of different features and applications of mesophilic and thermophilic enzymes. However, there is little information available about psychrophilic enzymes and their involvement in industrial processes. Therefore, understanding the features and functions of psychrophilic enzymes could suggest some of their novel applications in various industries such as food, agriculture, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and waste…
Multi-Energy School System for Seasonal Use in the Mediterranean Area
2020
School buildings represent an energy-consuming sector of real estate where different efficiency actions are necessary. The literature shows how the design of a multi-energy system offers numerous advantages, however, there are problems related to the integration of cogeneration units with renewable energy sources due to the low flexibility of the first one and the high degree of uncertainty of the latter. The authors provide an alternative solution through the analysis of a case study consisting of a multiple energy system in three Sicilian schools, focusing on the system&rsquo
The Role of Excited Oxygen Molecules in the Formation of the Secondary Ozone Layer at 87 to 97 km
2018
The secondary ozone layer is located at elevations of 87 to 97 km in the upper mesosphere – lower thermosphere. It overlaps with the ionospheric D-layer. Daytime intensive UV radiation is dissociating O2 molecules to O atoms and photoexcitating O2 molecules up to 11.07eV level. Ozone photolysis between the wavelengths of 118.7–121.6 nm produces three oxygen atoms from one ozone molecule. Collision reactions of O2(B3 Σu —) and O2(X3 Σg —, υ≥26) with O2(X3 Σg —, υ=0) produce additional oxygen atoms. The number of oxygen atoms is maintained at such a high level that a small but significant ozone concentration survives. UV radiation weakens radically during the night. The number of O atoms show…
Stress sensitivity of stylolite morphology
2009
International audience; Stylolites are rough surfaces that form by localized stress-induced dissolution. Using a set of limestone rock samples collected at different depths from a vertical section in Cirque de Navacelles (France), we study the influence of the lithostatic stress on the stylolites morphology on the basis of a recent morphogenesis model. We measured the roughness of a series of bedding-parallel stylolites and show that their morphology exhibits a scaling invariance with two self-affine scaling regimes separated by a crossover-length (L) at the millimeter scale consistent with previous studies. The importance of the present contribution is to estimate the stylolite formation s…
Girls4STEM: Gender Diversity in STEM for a Sustainable Future
2020
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are key disciplines towards tackling the challenges related to the Sustainable Development Goals. However, evidence shows that women are enrolling in these disciplines in a smaller percentage than men, especially in Engineering related fields. As stated by the United Nations Women section, increasing the number of women studying and working in STEM fields is fundamental towards achieving better solutions to the global challenges, since the potential for innovation is larger. In this paper, we present the Girls4STEM project, which started in 2019 at the Escola Tè