Rendiconti Lincei-Scienze Fisiche E Naturali最新文献

Despite Saudi Arabia being an interesting area from a floristic perspective, its vegetation is still relatively poorly studied. This certainly applies to the Hijaz Mountains and adjacent coastal zones. We aim to describe the flora and vegetation of the foothills of the Hijaz Mountains regarding the environmental conditions. Hijaz Mountains and adjacent coastal zones, Saudi Arabia. We studied the vegetation at the Hijaz Mountains’ foothills along two transects of vegetation surveys, one along the coast and one more inland. In addition, soil samples were taken and analyzed for soil texture, pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, calcium carbonate and the concentration of the elements N, Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Mn were determined. We calculated the data clustering tendency (Hopkins’ test analysis) and its optimal number of clusters (Elbow method). We used modified TWINSPAN to cluster the data and validated the resulting communities using the Silhouette algorithm. Seven plant communities resulted, each one dominated by a different plant species, namely: Haloxylon salicornicum, Lycium shawii, Senegalia hamulosa, Vachellia tortilis, Zygophyllum coccineum, Vachellia flavaand Stipagrostis plumosa, and were described based on their floristic composition and could be further grouped into three vegetation clusters. The communities had varying ranges of occurrence in the study area, some dominating certain sections, with latitude and altitude being the biggest distinguishing environmental variables between the communities. We present a description of the vegetation of the Hijaz Mountains foothills. Our study is considered an important basis for decision-making of nature conservation and in-depth surveys of the area.

Graphic abstract

Ethylene discharge can be used for particle formation in complex plasma, industrial plasma process, environmental protection, and agricultural process. Ethylene discharge characteristics strongly depends on discharge parameters. Accurate and efficient recognition of discharge parameters is significant for the diagnosis of complex plasma, and industrial and agricultural practical applications. In this paper, we proposed a deep convolution neural network based on dual residual with attention mechanism (DRAM) to recognize discharge parameter through the image fusion of discharge glow and particles during ethylene discharge. It shows that the proposed model can effectively recognize the ethylene discharge parameters with all the four evaluation indicators of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1_Score of higher than 98.8%, respectively. Compared with other six classical recognition models, our model exhibits the best recognition performance. This method provides an effective technical support for the diagnosis and practical application of ethylene plasma.

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In this study, silver@graphene oxide nanocomposites (Ag@GO NCs) derived from extracts of Antarctic lichens Usnea antarctica and Umbilicaria antarctica were synthesized and their antimicrobial activity against to fish pathogen bacteria were evaluated. According to the results of characterization test, spherical Ag NPs were well dispersed on the surface of graphene oxide. While the diameters of Usnea antartica extract-based NCs were observed at an average of 28 nm, the diameters of Umbilica antartica extract-based NCs were found 40 nm. The absorption points of Usnea antartica and Umbilicaria antartica extract-based Ag@GO NCs were detected at 445 nm. The highly stable structures of NCs synthesized with both lichen extracts were exhibited with zeta potential. In addition, functional groups that play a role in the synthesis were revealed by FT-IR analysis and its crystal structure was revealed by XRD analysis. The lichen-based NCs have excellent antimicrobial activity against to Staphylococcus aureus, Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Yersinia ruckeri strains. As a result, we suggest that Ag@GO NCs were synthesized with both lichen extracts by an effective, inexpensive, and eco-friendly method and are applicable for antimicrobial activity studies.

The possibility to use light in the visible spectrum to induce near-infrared luminescence in some materials, particularly Egyptian blue and related pigments, offers a significant advantage in terms of their detection. Since 2008, this property has been exploited to reveal the presence of those pigments even in tiny amounts on ancient and decayed surfaces, using a technical-photography method. This paper presents a new type of imaging device that enables real-time, easy, and inexpensive identification and mapping of Egyptian blue and related materials. The potential of the new tool is demonstrated by its effectiveness in detecting Egyptian blue within some prestigious sites: (a) Egyptian findings at Museo Egizio, Turin; (b) underground Roman frescoes at Domus Aurea, Rome; and (c) Renaissance frescoes by Raphael, Triumph of Galatea and Loggia of Cupid and Psyche, at Villa Farnesina, Rome. The device is based on night vision technology and allows an unprecedented fast, versatile, and user-friendly approach. It is employable by professionals including archeologists, conservators, and conservation scientists, as well as by untrained individuals such as students or tourists at museums and sites. The overall aim is not to replace existing photographic techniques but to develop a tool that enables rapid preliminary recognition, useful for planning the work to be carried out with conventional methods. The ability to immediately track Egyptian blue and related pigments, through real-time vision, photos, and videos, also provides a new kind of immersive experience (Blue Vision) and can foster the modern use of these materials in innovative applications and future technologies.

Abstract

Heavy metal pollution in soils may have a significant impact on the environment and human health, disrupting the ecological balance in developing countries. This holds true for both industrial and agricultural endeavors. The study area, located in Vezirköprü district of Samsun province, consisted of 1664.9 hectares, from which 88 soil samples were collected from the surface (0–20 cm) depth. This study analyzed the physicochemical properties and heavy metal pollution indices, including the enrichment factor (EF), geo-accumulation index (I geo), pollution load index (PLI), contamination factor (Cf), potential ecological risk factor (Er), and potential ecological risk index (RI). In addition, the prediction accuracies of these indices were determined using artificial neural networks, considering pH, organic matter (OM), and clay contents, which affect the retention of heavy metals in soil. Based on the analysis results, the average concentration of copper (Cu) was 28.1 mg/kg, which exceeded the upper continental crust (UCC-28.0 mg/kg) and European mean soil value (ESA-17.3 mg/kg), but was below the world mean soil value (WSA) (38.9 mg/kg). The average concentration of nickel (Ni) was 40.3 mg/kg, which was higher than that of WSA (29 mg/kg), but lower than that of ESA (37 mg/kg) and UCC (47 mg/kg). The concentration of cadmium (Cd) exceeded the UCC value of 0.09 mg/kg by 0.19 mg/kg, but remained lower than the ESA and WSA values of 0.28 mg/kg and 0.41 mg/kg, respectively. The levels of other elements were found to be low compared with the UCC, WSA, and ESA results. The correlation values (R) between the actual and predicted values for PLI were higher than those for RI. During the training stage, the correlation values were 0.72 and 0.82 for RI and PLI, respectively. During the testing stage, the correlation values were 0.61 and 0.72, respectively. These results indicate that ANN can be used to predict the pollution status.

Graphical abstract

At a European level, Tropaeolum minus is the first species of this genus that arrived in our continent, around 1570, immediately used as an ornamental, vegetable and pharmaceutical plant. According to Italian sources, instead, T. minus arrived in Italy only in 1642: the species of this genus which was known in Italy at the time was T. majus, imported in 1596. However, in the Italian Renaissance herbaria, there are four specimens dated to the last decades of 1500, clearly recognisable as T. minus, which would confirm its import around 1570. Thanks to the analysis of these herbarium specimens and documental sources of the second half of the XVI century (Ulisse Aldrovandi’s manuscripts and watercolour plates, the lists of species cultivated in that period in the principal Italian botanical gardens, the manuscript code I cinque libri di piante by Pietro Antonio Michiel), it is possible to demonstrate that the arrival of T. minus in Italy has to be redated at the second half of the XVI century. Furthermore, this work allowed the specimens of Tropaeolum preserved in the Erbario Aldrovandi to be identified correctly, which were formerly attributed to T. majus following the Italian scientific literature available so far.

Graphical abstract

The geographical positioning of the Philippines has rendered it susceptible to devastating earthquakes, resulting in significant human and economic losses throughout its history. Given the persistent earthquake risk, there is a need to explore all available methodologies to comprehensively portray the seismic hazard profile of the country and to supplement the current Philippine Earthquake Model (PEM). Moreover, the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA), the method employed in PEM, has faced several critiques in scholarly discourse. As such, this study employed a relatively new approach, the neo-deterministic seismic hazard assessment (NDSHA) which addresses many of the limitations associated with PSHA, to the Philippines to develop new seismic hazard maps of the country. NDSHA offers the capability to simulate ground motion parameters at bedrock levels by leveraging insights into the physical mechanisms of earthquake generation and wave propagation in a realistic medium. The application of NDSHA yielded six distinct seismic hazard maps of the Philippines containing information on calculated Peak Ground Displacement (PGD), Peak Ground Velocity (PGV), and Design Ground Acceleration (DGA). These resultant maps, which have been statistically corroborated with empirical earthquake records, identified five specific areas in the country with heightened seismic hazards. This implementation of the regional-scale NDSHA method provided new insights into the seismic hazard landscape of the Philippines, thereby enriching the reservoir of information available for infrastructure seismic assessment, analysis, and design endeavors.

Due to the important process of global warming, the improvement of soil factors, which decrease wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) yield gap, in the arid and semi-arid areas of the world including Iran (Kerman province) is of significance. The objective was to determine how wheat yield gap and yield components, in 15 different fields (three different locations with areas ranging from 2993 to 5175 km²), are affected by soil physicochemical properties including texture, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and chemical fertilization. Wheat yield components including tiller and grain number, fertile spike, spike length, 1000-grain weight (25–44 g), plant height, biological yield (plant dry weight) (4880–14800 kg/ha), and plant density were measured. Linear regression analyses indicated that SOC (0.23–1.51%), TN (0.02–0.15%) and available K (195–280 mg/kg) significantly affected wheat yield and yield components, which were also positively and significantly correlated. There was a positive and significant correlation between SOC, TN, and available P and K, which were negatively and significantly correlated with EC. The regression models relating soil physicochemical properties with spike length and plant height were significant (P ≤ 0.05). The R² values ranged from 0.54 (number of grains per spike) to 0.90 (plant height) and for economic (grain) and biological yields were equal to 0.75 and 0.83, respectively. The yield gap was in the range of 1245–4256 kg/ha. The improvement of soil physicochemical properties may decrease wheat yield gap in the arid and semi-arid areas of the world.

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Abstract

The impact of nitrogen (N) and boron (B) foliar applications on Solanum melongena growth, yield, and phytochemicals was studied. The impact of foliar applications using N levels (0, 0.25%, 0.5%, and 1%) and B levels (0, 0.1%, 0.25%, and 0.5%) following a randomized block design with three replications was studied. With the increase in N level, the yield characters increased. Foliar application of N shows the maximum height of plant (112.5 cm), number of leaves (186.0), leaf area (46.20), number of branches (7.67), number of blossom flowers/plant (21.25), number of fruits/plant (11.42), fruit length (10.97 cm), fruit width (7.39 cm), fruit volume (305.7), fruit weight (12.67 g), fruit yield (12.78), protein (10.9%), total carbohydrates (27.5%), and crude fiber (7.21%) while decreasing minimum days at 50% appearance of flowers (48.0). In the case of B application, the maximum height of the plant (112.0 cm), number of leaves (187.6), leaf area (47.82), number of branches (7.67), number of blossom flowers/plant (22.08), number of fruits/plant (11.33), fruit length (10.95 cm), fruit width (7.35 cm), fruit volume (298.0), fruit weight (206.1 g), fruit yield (12.13), protein (9.31%), carbohydrates (30.2%), TSS (4.20), crude fiber (7.34%), DPPH (4.68 mg/mL), Chl a (1.39), Chl b (0.53), TPC (60.78), DAO activity (81.43), and PAO activity (39.10) were observed, while decreasing minimum days at 50% appearance of flowers (48.33). Application of N at 0.5% and B at 0.25% increased the growth, yield parameters, and phytochemical contents of S. melongena. The impact of different nitrogen and boron foliar applications on eggplant growth, phytochemicals, and quality attributes is significantly improved.