201 research outputs found
Valutazione delle foreste europee attraverso il Li-BioDiv database all’interno della rete ICP Forest
No full textIl Li-BioDiv database (ICP Forests) che deriva dal progetto BioSoil-Biodiversity, rappresenta un database
multidimensionale riguardo alle foreste con dati provenienti da 19 paesi europei, investigati tra il 2005 e il
2008. Tale database contiene informazioni riguardo agli alberi vivi, legno morto e dati riguardo allo strato
erbaceo. Il progetto BioSoil-Biodiversity rappresenta l’unica iniziativa di monitoraggio standardizzato
multidimesionale della diversità forestale a livello europeo, tuttavia, il Li-BioDiv database risulta essere
sottoutilizzato dal mondo scientifico a causa di passate restrizioni di tipo amministrativo-politico e fino ad
oggi non sono state effettuate analisi esplorative profonde.
Pianificazioni ambientali e forestali efficienti richiedono una valutazione e una gestione attenta della
struttura e dell’incertezza legata a grandi moli di dati. Basandoci sui dati grezzi:
(i) abbiamo confrontato informazioni derivate dagli alberi vivi e dal legno morto, con i rispettivi dati
derivanti dagli inventari nazionali. Inoltre;
(ii) abbiamo cercato di caratterizzare l’incertezza relativa ai dati dello strato erbaceo;
(iii) abbiamo calcolato indici classici di diversità forestale e analizzato le loro relazioni e i loro trend spaziali
nei diversi tipi forestali e in diverse condizioni ambientali.
I risultati saranno utili per comprendere con maggiore accuratezza le stime della biodiversità forestale
europea, per interpretarle correttamente e per facilitare l’uso dei dati.Forest ecosystems are the most biodiverse and complex habitats. For this reason, it is very important to
monitor them specifically. The importance of forest monitoring is recognized from several years, and the
most extensive and complete data on the European forest status are given by National Forest Inventories
(NFIs). This information concerns trees but usually it marginally considers other ecosystem components such
as ground vegetation.
The LI-BioDiv (ICP Forests) database, derived from the BioSoil-Biodiversity project, is a multi-dimensional forest
database that contains records collected in 19 European countries in the period 2005-2008. The database includes
information on living trees, deadwood and a ground vegetation survey. The BioSoil-Biodiversity project represents
an unique pan-European effort for a standardized multi-dimensional forest diversity monitoring survey, however
the LI-BioDiv database is still under-utilized by scientists due to policy restrictions and no depth exploratory
analysis of the dataset was carried out until now.
Efficient environmental and forest planning require careful assessment and management of big data
structure and uncertainty. On the basis of row data:
(i) we compared information of standing living trees and deadwood with results of NFIs. Furthermore;
(ii) we characterized uncertainty related on ground vegetation data;
(iii) we calculated several forest biodiversity indicators analyzing therefore their inter-relationship and
their trend over the space and over different forest types and environmental conditions.
The results will be useful for achieving satisfactory accuracy of European forest biodiversity estimates, for
correctly interpretating the estimates, and for facilitating comparable use of the data
Definition of best practies for municipal solid waste management
Get PDFL'analisi approfondita della normativa sia europea che italiana ha rappresentato il punto di partenza per valutare l'attuale attuazione della normativa in Italia, con un focus particolare sulla Provincia di Ancona. Questo approccio ha consentito di valutare l'attuale performance del sistema di raccolta e riciclo MW, evidenziando le principali criticità legate al residuo biodegradabile nei rifiuti indifferenziati, destinati allo smaltimento. È emerso un dubbio sull'obbligo di un trattamento dei rifiuti indifferenziati, prima dello smaltimento in discarica. Pertanto, è stata effettuata un'analisi a scala reale selezionando come caso studio il sito della discarica di Corinaldo (che raccoglie il MW della provincia di Ancona). La possibilità dello studio in scala reale rappresenta un punto di forza della presente ricerca, rispetto alla letteratura scientifica disponibile, spesso riferita a scala di laboratorio. L'analisi ha valutato l'effetto del trattamento biologico meccanico (MBT) su MW, inviato allo stabilimento di Corinaldo. A tal fine sono state studiate le caratteristiche di smaltimento in due periodi di riferimento (prima e dopo l'avvio dell'impianto MBT). I risultati non hanno individuato miglioramenti significativi dopo l'implementazione dell'MBT, considerata l'elevata efficienza del sistema di raccolta e riciclo ad Ancona. Le ulteriori valutazioni ambientali ed economiche suggeriscono che la migliore strategia di gestione dei MW dovrebbe investire sul sistema di riciclaggio, piuttosto che sulla stabilizzazione del WM, in accordo con i principi dell'economia circolare. A partire da queste osservazioni, il manoscritto presenta uno studio critico dei criteri tecnici della normativa italiana suggerendo una valutazione più approfondita dei parametri per valutare i casi in cui l'MBT (prima dello smaltimento) produce reali benefici sulla gestione del MW. Queste valutazioni dovrebbero essere in grado di bilanciare il beneficio con l'impatto dell'impianto MBT, sia in termini ambientali che economici, negli scenari caratterizzati da un sistema di riciclaggio virtuosoThe deepened analysis of both European and Italian norms represented the starting point to evaluate the current implementation of legislation in Italy, with a particular focus on Ancona Province. This approach allowed the assessment of the current performance of MW collection and recycling system, highlighting the main criticalities connected to the biodegradable residue in the undifferentiated waste, intended for the disposal. A doubt emerged about the obligation of a treatment of undifferentiated waste, before the disposal in landfilling sites. Therefore, a real scale analysis was carried out selecting the Corinaldo landfilling site (which collects the MW of Ancona Province) as case study. The possibility of the real scale study represents a strength of the present research, compared to the available scientific literature, often referred to lab scale. The analysis evaluated the effect of the mechanical biological treatment (MBT) on MW, sent to Corinaldo facility. With this aim, the characteristics of disposal in two reference periods (before and after the MBT facility starting) were studied. The results did not identify significant improvements after the implementation of the MBT, considering the high efficiency of collection and recycling system in Ancona. The further environmental and economic assessments suggest that the best strategy of MW management should invest on recycling system, rather than the WM stabilization, in agreement with the circular economy principles. Starting from these observations, the manuscript presents a critical study of the technical criteria of the Italian norms suggesting a more deepened evaluation of parameters to assess the cases in which the MBT (before the disposal) produces real benefits on MW management. These evaluations should be able to balance the benefit with the MBT facility impact, both in environmental and economic terms, in the scenarios characterized by a virtuous recycling system
Genomic DNA in human blastocoele fluid.
No full textReprod Biomed Online. 2013 Jun;26(6):603-10. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2013.02.012. Epub 2013 Mar 13.
Genomic DNA in human blastocoele fluid.
Palini S1, Galluzzi L, De Stefani S, Bianchi M, Wells D, Magnani M, Bulletti C.
Author information
Abstract
IVF often requires embryo cryopreservation through vitrification. During the vitrification process, the embryos can be collapsed by withdrawing the blastocoele fluid. The metabolomic profile of blastocoele fluid has been recently investigated by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry to provide metabolite information that can help estimations of implantation efficiency. However, the presence of embryo DNA in blastocoele fluid has not been reported to date. This study shows using real-time PCR that genomic DNA was present in about 90% of blastocoele fluid samples harvested during the vitrification procedure. Moreover, the potential for determining embryo sex directly from blastocoele fluid is demonstrated by amplifying the multicopy genes TSPY1 (on the Y chromosome) and TBC1D3 (on chromosome 17). This opens up the possibility of screening embryos from couples carrying an X-linked disorder to identify male embryos at high risk of disease. The application of whole-genome amplification technologies to fluid samples is also shown to be feasible, potentially allowing more comprehensive genetic tests. As proof of principle, microarray comparative genomic hybridization was attempted to confirm the sex of embryos as well as detect several aneuploidies. However, further studies are needed to validate this approach and confirm that the accuracy is sufficient for diagnostic purposes
Exploiting genetic polymorphisms in metabolic enzymes for rapid screening of Leishmania infantum genotypes
Get PDFLeishmania infantum is the aetiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Numerous strains and/or zymodemes have been identified and characterized by multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE). MLEE is considered the reference method for L. infantum parasite typing and it is based upon enzyme electrophoretic mobility analysis from promastigote cultures. However, the MLEE technique is cumbersome, time-consuming and does not detect silent genetic mutations or nucleotide changes that give rise to amino acid changes that do not alter electrophoretic mobility. As a result of these difficulties, many DNA-based typing methods have been developed over the past few years. However, relative to the enzymes utilized in MLEE analysis, we observed a shortage of DNA sequences available in the GenBank database or an absolute lack of sequences belonging to specific zymodemes. The aims of the present study were to (i) implement the number of sequences coding for metabolic enzymes used in MLEE; (ii) identify polymorphisms that characterize L. infantum zymodemes most prevalent in the Mediterranean basin; and (iii) exploit these polymorphisms to develop a rapid screening test that would give results comparable with existing MLEE typing
Magnetic Vortex Phase Diagram for a Non-Optimized CaKFe4As4 Superconductor Presenting a Wide Vortex Liquid Region and an Ultra-High Upper Critical Field
No full textTo draw a complete vortex phase diagram for a CaKFe4As4 polycrystalline iron-based superconductor, different kinds of magnetic measurements have been performed focusing on the critical parameters of the sample. Firstly, magnetic moment versus field measurements m(H) were performed at low fields in order to evaluate the lower critical field Hc1. After that, by performing relaxation measurements m(t), a field crossover Hcross was detected in the framework of a strong pinning regime. The irreversibility field Hirr as a function of the temperature curve was then drawn by plotting the critical current densities Jc versus the field for temperatures near Tc. Jc(H) has demonstrated a second magnetization peak effect phenomenon, and the second peak field Hsp has been identified and plotted as a function of temperature, providing information about an elastic to plastic transition in the vortex lattice. Finally, the upper critical field Hc2 as a function of the temperature has been obtained. Hc1, Hcross, Hsp, Hirr, Hc2 have been fitted and used for drawing the complete vortex phase diagram of the sample. It can be helpful for the understanding of the applicative ranges in the field and temperature of the materials with not-optimized fabrication characteristics, as usually is found in superconducting wires and cables for power applications
Anisotropy and directional pinning in YBa2Cu3O 7-x with BaZrO3 nanorods
No full textMeasurements of anisotropic transport properties (dc and high-frequency regime) of driven vortex matter in YBa2Cu3O 7-x with elongated strong-pinning sites (c-axis aligned, self-assembled BaZrO3 nanorods) are used to demonstrate that the effective-mass angular scaling takes place only in intrinsic physical quantities (flux-flow resistivity), and not in pinning-related Labusch parameter and critical currents. Comparison of the dynamics at different time scales shows evidence for a transition of the vortex matter toward a Mott phase, driven by the presence of nanorods. The strong pinning in dc arises partially from a dynamic effect. © 2013 Author(s)
Extracellular embryo genomic DNA and its potential for genotyping applications
Get PDFBackground: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) currently relies on biopsy of one or few embryo cells. Our aim was to evaluate the embryo extracellular matrices (spent medium and blastocoele fluid) as source of DNA for embryo genotyping. Results/methodology: We first evaluated the amplifiability and the amount of genomic DNA in spent embryo culture media from day 3 (n = 32) and day 5/6 (n = 54). Secondly, we evaluated the possibility to genotype the MTHFR polymorphism C677T from media at day 5/6 (n = 8) and blastocoele fluids (n = 9) by direct sequencing. The C677T polymorphism detection rate was 62.5 and 44.4% in medium and fluid, respectively. Conclusion: A noninvasive approach for embryo genotyping was possible, but still with limitations due to low detection rate and possible allele dropout
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