Search results for "ground"
showing 10 items of 2432 documents
People Who Run the European Parliament: Staff Demography and Its Implications
2014
AbstractWith few exceptions, parliament administrations, including secretariat officials and party group staff, have been relatively unexplored. However, a small, but growing, literature on the administration of the European Parliament (EP) indicates that officials play a role in the policy process that goes beyond technical and procedural questions. On this background, this article therefore aims at, first, finding out who the people working in the EP secretariat and group secretariats are, and, second, investigating whether it matters who these people are. Based on an online survey, we unveil the bureaucrats’ nationality, gender, educational background and former and future career (plans)…
Plant diversity enhances the natural attenuation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs and oxygenated PAHs) in grassland soils
2019
Increasing plant species richness stimulates microbial activity in soil, which might favor biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). To explore the relationship between plant community composition and PACs in grassland soils (Fluvisols exposed to an urban atmosphere), we determined the concentrations of 29 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 15 oxygenated PAHs (OPAHs) in topsoils of 80 plots of a grassland biodiversity experiment. The plots included different levels of plant species richness (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 60 species) and 1–4 plant functional groups (grasses, small herbs, tall herbs, and legumes) in a randomized block design. The concentrations (ng g−1) of ∑29PAHs an…
Nitrogen losses in vineyards under different types of soil groundcover. A field runoff simulator approach in central Spain
2017
The soils of Mediterranean vineyards are usually managed with continuous tillage, resulting in bare soil, low infiltration and high soil erosion rates. Soil nutrients, such as nitrogen, could be lost dissolved in the runoff, causing a decrease in soil fertility on such degraded soils and producing eutrophication downstream. The influences of groundcover on the soil erosion processes and sediment yields in Mediterranean vineyards have been widely addressed. However, the runoff process itself, excluding the effect of raindrop impacts, has barely been studied. Thus, a field runoff simulator was built to assess runoff and nutrient losses under different soil management strategies in Central Spa…
Integrating geophysical and geostatistical techniques to map the spatial variation of clay
2012
Abstract The development of subsoil models represents an important aspect of land resource evaluation, because they can provide an accurate description of the spatial variability in soil properties. Although direct soil sampling provides the best information in terms of soil properties, sample density is rarely adequate to accurately describe the horizontal and vertical variability of the physical properties of soil. Geophysical methods, such as Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors, provide rapid, non-invasive and exhaustive ways for subsoil characterization. Moreover, geophysical methods can be integrated with geostatistics to map soil properties. This…
Analyse cartographique de données pédologiques et hydrogéologiques appliquée à la gestion responsable de produits phytosanitaires
2014
BASF launched a Responsible Bentazone Management plan in 2011, in order to preserve water resources and sustain its bentazon based herbicide solutions. This molecule is commercialized by the company for several years and is found at concentrations above the standard for drinking water in about 1% of groundwater catchments in France. The action plan aims to reduce contamination situations with recommendations on the use of bentazone (dose, timing of application, restrictions on vulnerable soils on groundwater catchment areas) that complement the commercialization authorization. The study carried out during the internship focused on the diagnosis of a groundwater catchment area located in the…
Multispectral images-based background subtraction using Codebook and deep learning approaches
2020
This dissertation aims to investigate the multispectral images in moving objects detection via background subtraction, both with classical and deep learning-based methods. As an efficient and representative classical algorithm for background subtraction, the traditional Codebook has first been extended to multispectral case. In order to make the algorithm reliable and robust, a self-adaptive mechanism to select optimal parameters has then been proposed. In this frame, new criteria in the matching process are employed and new techniques to build the background model are designed, including box-based Codebook, dynamic Codebook and fusion strategy. The last attempt is to investigate the potent…
Southern-Tyrrhenian seismicity in space-time-magnitude domain
2006
An analysis is conducted on a catalogue containing more than 2000 seismic events occurred in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea between 1988 and October 2002, as an attempt to characterise the main seismogenetic processes active in the area in space, time and magnitude domain by means of the parameters of phenomenological laws. We chose to adopt simple phenomenological models, since the low number of data did not allow to use more complex laws. The two main seismogenetic volumes present in the area were considered for the purpose of this work. The first includes a nearly homogeneous distribution of hypocentres in a NW steeply dipping layer as far as a…
Fading mitigation coding techniques for space to ground free space optical communications (Euro Med Telco 2014)
2014
In this manuscript, a Geostationary satellite-toground Free Space Optics (FSO) downlink channel model has been implemented, which is able to predict temporal irradiance fluctuations caused by scintillation at a wide range of turbulence conditions and for different values of the zenith angle. In order to mitigate fading events that occur in FSO communications, we have also tested the performance of three different families of Rateless Codes (Luby Transform, Raptor and RaptorQ) into our model and found that RaptorQ is the best candidate to mitigate errors in FSO links.
Gas-phase detection of HSOD and empirical equilibrium structure of oxadisulfane
2006
We present the first gas phase spectra of singly deuterated oxadisulfane, HSOD, in its vibrational ground state. More than 100 transitions have been recorded with highest frequency accuracy using the Cologne Terahertz Spectrometer. The molecular parameters derived from a least squares fit analysis proof HSOD to be an almost accidental symmetric prolate top molecule with an asymmetry parameter kZK0.9985. Spectra of c-type and weaker b-type transitions have been recorded in the range from 716 to 772 GHz. The ratio of the dipole moments mc/mbZ2.4(3) has been derived from measured line intensities. The c-type transitions are split by the tunneling motion of a hindered internal rotation, whereas…
Determination of 210Pb concentration in the air at ground-level by gamma-ray spectrometry
1999
Abstract 210 Pb activity concentrations in the air of Palermo were determined by γ-ray spectrometric analysis of 323 particulate samples collected in the period September 1995–December 1996. For each sample, the air filtered through a cellulose filter paper was 8600 m 3 on average. The values of the daily activity concentration of 210 Pb were ranging from 136 to 3390 μBq/m 3 .