Search Results (11)
Hypoxia in aquatic sports
The present thesis considers the premise that breath-holding in aquatic sports, primarily swimming, in order to enhance performance, can potentially cause adaptation to tissue hypoxia. To investigate this theory, a series of studies needed to be performed: I. Analysis of variability in individuals’ responses to hypoxia, to evaluate the range …
The effect of spaceflight associated factors on the eye
The unexplained aetiology of Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS) jeopardises all planned future missions to the Moon and Mars. Various intrinsic and extrinsic potential risk factors have been proposed to contribute to its manifestation. Specifically, the present thesis compared the effect of static exercise (simulating the exercise performed by astronauts …
Investigation of the environmental acceptability of geotechnical composites, made from different recycled materials investigation of the environmental acceptability of geotechnical composites, made from different recycled materials
Current and especially past industrial and mining activities, including underground and open pit mining, have often resulted in soil pollution that has become a global and alarming environmental problem. Among contaminants, heavy metals and metalloids are under environmental scrutiny due to their potential toxicity, persistence, and because they can be …
Optimization and application of MeV time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry in the standard and low primary ion beam energy mode
Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry using MeV ions (MeV ToF SIMS) has been around for a few decades as a reliable, surface-sensitive method for the detection of molecular ions having masses up to 1000 Da. It provides excellent lateral resolution of a few μm for imaging of organic samples, making …
Characterization of plant viromes using different viral nucleic acids enrichment strategies and high-throughput sequencing platforms
Plant viruses are very important plant pathogens, causing economic losses by infecting cultivated plants, causing diseases, and consequently reducing crop quality and quantity. In recent years, the development of high throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies has dramatically broadened the possibilities for plant virus research and diagnostics, enabling the discovery of new …
Diversity of viruses infecting tomato and weed plants in agroecosystems
Viruses, satellite viruses, viroids, virusoids, and satellite nucleic acids (herewith, referred to collectively or in part as ‘viruses’) comprise the virosphere and are perhaps the most diverse and abundant, yet still under-sampled, microbes on Earth. They are primarily regarded as pathogens or parasites of their eukaryotic or prokaryotic hosts. In …
Speciation of mercury in environmental samples from gold mining communities in Southwestern Ghana
Gold miners (Artisanal and Small-Scale [ASGM]) operating in southwestern Ghana use exclusive mercury-gold amalgamation, cyanidation of gold-rich mercury-contaminated tailings, or a combination of both techniques during gold extraction; exposing water bodies within the catchment to mercury (Hg) and cyanide (CN) from mining discharged effluents. Additionally, sporadic CN spillage/leakage from Large …
Diversity, ecology and sensing of the toxic diatom Pseudo-Nitzschia in the Gulf of Trieste: doctoral disertation
This work focuses on a group of diatoms, belonging to the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, which is a globally important phytoplankton genus. Some species of the genus produce the toxin domoic acid, which is responsible for shellfish intoxication known as the amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). These diatoms have few morphological features that …
Laser Ablation - Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) - Fundamental Study of Ablation and Deposition Processes
Laser ablation (LA) is a versatile technique that can be used for the elemental analysis of diverse materials as well as for synthesis purposes, i.e. for pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of a wide range of materials. Analysis and synthesis will only be successful if the ablated material can be stoichiometrically …
Radon in Kosovo
Radon and its progeny play an important role contributing to the dose of radiation which a person receives from all natural sources of ionizing radiation. This is one of the reasons why this problem has been of great interest, as a result of which an increased number of scientific works …