Search results for "desert"
showing 10 items of 149 documents
Monitoring Soil Salinisation as a Strategy for Preventing Land Degradation: A Case Study in Sicily, Italy
2010
Water demand is increasing worldwide. In regions affected by water scarcity such as those located in the Mediterranean basin, water supplies are already degraded, or subjected to degradation processes, which worsen the water shortage. In Sicily, the increasing scarcity of good quality water is expanding irrigation with saline-sodic waters, thus enhancing the risk of secondary salinization and sodification. Adequate management practices are urgently needed for sustainable use of saline/sodic waters. This chapter illustrates how the Geonics EM-38 probe was used for monitoring salinization in a Sicilian area where irrigation with saline water is increasingly practiced, and the risk of salinisa…
Chemical composition and biological activities of Artemisia judaica essential oil from southern desert of Jordan
2016
Abstract Ethnopharmacologic relevance Artemisia judaica L. (Arabic name: Beithran ), is a medicinal and aromatic plant growing in the valley bottoms of desert areas, particularly in the southern desert of Jordan nearest to the Jordan-Saudi Arabia borders and in Wadi Araba in the Southern Badia. In Jordan, A. judaica is widely used in traditional medicine being recommended by aboriginal Bedouins in the North Badia region of Jordan as calmative. Furthermore, it is used for the treatment of stomach ache, heart diseases, sexual weakness, diabetes, gastro-intestinal disorders and external wounding. Additionally, other folk medicines of the Arabic region commonly use this aromatic plant for the t…
Life Desert Adapt, la sfida ambiziosa contro la desertificazione ambientale.
2018
Nel progetto la costruzione di modelli di sviluppo aziendale che adottano tecniche e misure di adattamento capaci di preparare le aree più a rischio.
Rimboschimenti e lotta alla desertificazione In Italia
2009
Questa monografia propone una lettura critica sul ruolo attuale del rimboschimento nella prevenzione e mitigazione dei processi di desertificazione in Italia. Le potenzialità del rimboschimento sono inquadrate in una prospettiva multifunzionale e sinergica che comprende le ricadute ambientali di questa attività anche in termini di assorbimento del carbonio atmosferico e potenziamento della biodiversità, oltre che di conservazione del suolo e recupero e riqualificazione di paesaggi degradati. L’obiettivo è delineare una strategia di lotta alla desertificazione applicabile a livello regionale, nel quadro degli strumenti programmatici e di governo del territorio rurale e fornire orientamenti t…
DHH is an independent prognosticator of oncologic outcome of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
2014
Aberrant HH signaling has proved important in the pathogenesis of several solid cancers. Limited in vitro analyses suggested an oncogenic role for HH in renal cell carcinoma. In this explorative study we sought to validate aberrant HH expression in patients with renal cell carcinoma.A tissue microarray was constructed from 140 radical nephrectomy specimens of patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma. We performed immunohistochemistry for Ki67 and HH pathway biomarkers, including PTCH1, Smo, SHH, IHH, DHH, Gli1, Gli2 and Gli3. Staining intensity was measured by automated image processing and related to tumor stage and grade. The impact of biomarker expression on cancer specific survival…
Coping with arid environments: A critical threshold for human expansion in Europe at the Marine Isotope Stage 12/11 transition? The case of the Iberi…
2020
Abstract Archaeological remains have highlighted the fact that the interglacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 was a threshold from the perspective of hominin evolution in Europe. After the MIS 12 glaciation, considered one of the major climate-driven crises experienced by hominins, the archaeological records show an increasing number of occupations, evidence of new subsistence behaviors, and significant technical innovations. Here, we used statistical and geographic techniques to analyze the amphibian- and reptile-based paleoclimate and habitat reconstructions generated from a large data set of the Iberian Peninsula to (1) investigate if temperature, precipitation, and/or forest cover may h…
Effect of Chitin Whiskers on the Molecular Dynamics of Carrageenan-Based Nanocomposites
2019
[EN] Films of carrageenan (KC) and glycerol (g) with different contents of chitin nanowhiskers (CHW) were prepared by a solution casting process. The molecular dynamics of pure carrageenan (KC), carrageenan/glycerol (KCg) and KCg with different quantities of CHWs as a filler was studied using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. The analysis of the CHW effect on the molecular mobility at the glass transition, T-g, indicates that non-attractive intermolecular interactions between KCg and CHW occur. The fragility index increased upon CHW incorporation, due to a reduction in the polymer chains mobility produced by the CHW confinement of the KCg network. The apparent activation energy associated…
An operatorial description of desertification
2016
We propose a simple theoretical model for desertification processes based on three actors (soil, seeds, and plants) on a two-dimensional lattice. Each actor is described by a time dependent fermionic operator, and the dynamics is ruled by a self-adjoint Hamilton-like operator. We show that even taking into account only a few parameters, accounting for external actions on the ecosystem or the response to positive feedbacks, the model provides a plausible description of the desertification process, and can be adapted to different ecological landscapes. We first describe the simplified model in one cell. Then, we define the full model on a two-dimensional region, taking into account additional…
Effects of afforestation with four unmixed plant species on the soil–water interactions in a semiarid Mediterranean region (Sicily, Italy)
2012
Purpose An assessment of the effect of plant cover on the properties of four afforested soils in central Sicily was performed with the aim of discriminating among them after 60 years of afforestation. Materials and methods Chemical and biochemical soil analyses were coupled to fast field cycling (FFC) NMR relaxation investigations in order to monitor surface interactions of water in water-saturated soils. Results and discussion The traditional soil analyses revealed that the most stable soil properties such as soil texture and pH are not affected by 60 years of afforestation. Soils developed under eucalyptus trees showed larger amounts of hydrophilic organic matter as compared to the soils …
Multi-temporal Forest Cover Change and Forest Density Trend Detection in a Mediterranean Environment
2015
The loss of forests along with the various types of shrubs in the Mediterranean region is seen as an important driver of climate change and has been repeatedly related with the observed land degradation and desertification in the region. Nevertheless, the extent of woody perennial vegetation cover (WPVC) and its density remain largely unclear. Here, we apply a series of algorithms and methods operationally used in Australia for large-scale WPVC mapping and monitoring and demonstrate their applicability in the Mediterranean region using a Spanish area as the trial site. Five Landsat TM and ETM+ images from various dates spanning 14 years are used to map changes in the extent of WPVC and to i…