1,720,955 research outputs found
Development of new lines of brassica carinata for energy production
No full textThe objective of the work is to reduce the cost of bioenergetics crops cultivation. The sustainable supply and use of energy for transportation represents a real challenge. Terrestrial as well as aerial mobility are strong affected by petrol shortage. 84% of all petroleum extracted is processed as fuels, including gasoline, diesel, fuel oils and liquefied petroleum gas [1]. Burning oil releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere contributing to global warming. Consumption of oil is currently around 30 109barrels per year. The accepted estimation of oil reserves amount to 1200 109barrels [2]. At current consumption levels, world oil supply would be gone in about 40 years, around 2050. The growing social, economical and political interest for the development of alternative fuel sources is not only due to general concerns of sustainability but also related to human development and geopolitical stability. The possibility to obtain internal combustion liquid engine fuels starting from vegetable products represents an attractive challenge. Biodiesel as well as bioethanol can be mixed with fossil fuels in varying percentages, without changing physiochemical properties of the fuel. The manufacture of biofuel requires that suitable quantities of biomass be grown, harvested and transported to the conversion plant site. Many question must be studied in great detail to select the proper species or mixture of species for operation of the system. These questions concern such matters as growth cycle, fertilization, sun availability, temperature, precipitation, propagation and planting procedure, soil and water needs, harvesting methods, diseases resistance, growth area competition with food, feed and fiber, growth area availability, simultaneous or sequential growth of biomass for biofuel and foodstuff or other applications. In the ideal case, biomass chosen for energy application should be high-yield, low-cash-value species that have short growth cycles and that grow well in the area and climate chosen for biomass production. Fertilization requirement should be minimized. The species grown should have low water needs and be able to utilize efficiently available precipitation. For land-based biomass, the requirements should be such that the crops can grow well on low-grade soils and do not need the best classes of agriculture land. © 2008, Page Press Publications. All rights reserved
Potential of teff as alternative crop for Mediterranean farming systems: Effect of genotype and mowing time on forage yield and quality
Full text linkThe introduction of alternative/innovative crops in the current Mediterranean cropping systems is a promising strategy to cope with climate change effects, which are threatening the food and feed security of that geographic area. Thanks to its large environmental adaptability and good nutritive value for humans (grains) and animals (biomass), teff is an excellent candidate to perform its role as alternative plant species for cereal/forage farming systems. However, the adoption of a “new” crop requires information about the adaptation to the target environment as well as details on the best management practices to apply. Very little knowledge is available regarding the performance of teff under Mediterranean climatic conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of genotype and mowing time on the biomass yield (dry matter, DM) and proximate composition of teff (including the first regrowth). Grain yield potential was also evaluated. The study was carried out during two consecutive years in central Italy. Two different experiments were conducted in adjacent fields to gain information on both forage and grain potential of the crop. In both trials, six teff genotypes were used (namely T6, T7, T8, T11, T13 and T14). Plant height, forage yield and quality were assessed in different growth stages: flag leaf completely unrolled, booting, and heading. The regrowth of the first cut mowed at booting stage was also evaluated. Our study demonstrated that teff has potential as forage and grain crop under Mediterranean climatic conditions. Considering the total biomass production, teff genotypes yielded from 7 t DM ha−1 to 11 t DM ha−1. If used as feed source, the best harvesting time is heading (GS: 57) since it allows to maximize both biomass yield and crude protein (CP) content. The teff accessions which deserve to be deeply explored as forage types were T8 and T14 (5–6 t DM ha−1, with 150–160 g CP kg−1 DM), while T6, T7 and T13 were good grain producers (0.8–1.2 t ha−1)
Alternative exploitation of Cynara spp. biodiversity in a bioeconomy context
No full textExploitation of renewable raw materials of biological origin has a strategic importance in the bio-economy context for contributing to promote a sustainable development, so improving environmental benefits. In this view, appropriate and low input crops grown in marginal/polluted/abandoned soils could be used as new alternative sources for different industrial processes as biofuel production. Within the framework of a cooperation agreement among the Italian Environment Ministry, ENEA, CNR, and Italian Air Force, Project on Aerotraction with Bio-fuels – ABC, 2017/2018, the present work aimed at studying some chemical characteristics of artichoke seed oil for alternative uses in industrial applications. Selected genotypes were morphologically evaluated for productive traits and biochemically analysed under the quanti-qualitative oil aspect. A comparison with other oleaginous species has been made. Preliminary results showed genotypes as possible sources of oil that could be used in the sector of biofuel for the aviation sector. The development of these genotypes could provide environmental benefits and represents an opportunity to improve agriculture in some areas, also valorising the otherwise abandoned local biodiversity
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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