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Abstract: Plant viruses pose a significant threat to agriculture. Several are stable outside their hosts, can enter water bodies and remain infective for prolonged periods of time. Even though the quality of irrigation water is of increasing importance in the context of plant health, the presence of plant viruses in irrigation waters is understudied. In this study, we conducted a large-scale high-throughput sequencing (HTS)-based virome analysis of irrigation and surface water sources to obtain complete information about the abundance and diversity of plant viruses in such waters. We detected nucleic acids of plant viruses from 20 families, discovered several novel plant viruses from economically important taxa, like Tobamovirus and observed the influence of the water source on the present virome. By comparing viromes of water and surrounding plants, we observed presence of plant viruses in both compartments, especially in cases of large-scale outbreaks, such as that of tomato mosaic virus. Moreover, we demonstrated that water virome data can extensively inform us about the distribution and diversity of plant viruses for which only limited information is available from plants. Overall, the results of the study provided extensive insights into the virome of irrigation waters from the perspective of plant health. It also suggested that an HTS-based water virome surveillance system could be used to detect potential plant disease outbreaks and to survey the distribution and diversity of plant viruses in the ecosystem.
Keywords: plant viruses, environmental water testing, high-throughput sequencing, agroecosystems, irrigation water, virome
Published in DiRROS: 29.03.2024; Views: 130; Downloads: 57
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Abstract: Background. The information of the overall production of major cyanobacterial cyclic peptides in a water body is essential for risk assessment and for the prediction of future development of the bloom. A procedure that gives a reviewof both toxic and non-hepatotoxic hydrophilic cyclic peptide production is important to evaluate the ecological conditions in the water environment and to predict the release of dangerous toxic and tumour promoting substances.Methods. The cyclic peptides were identified on the basis of their retention times, characteristic spectra, molecular masses and biological activity. The non-hepatotoxic cyclic peptides were characterised by their inhibition of porcine pancreatic elastase, while cytotoxicity to mammalian cells was tested with the MTT test on B16 cell line. Conclusions. The method presented gives a rapid, simultaneous assessment, preliminary identification and estimation of bioactive cyclic peptides. The synthesis of non-hepatotoxic cyclic peptides can mediate the release various toxic and otherwise biologically active substances that induce systemic genotoxicity in mammals.
Keywords: tumor promoters, microcystin, anabaenopeptin, planktopeptin, toxic cyanobacterial blooms, environmental health
Published in DiRROS: 07.03.2024; Views: 124; Downloads: 24
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Abstract: Planning different strategies in road maintenance is one of the most important activities inroad asset management. Assessment of different strategies and their comparison can be done by implementing an appropriate measure - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). KPIs are currently used in many Road Authorities, and systematic research on the subject and development of indicators has been ongoing for many years. The Conference of European Directors of Roads (CEDR) funded project “EVITA - Environmental Performance Indicators for the Total Road Infrastructure Assets” aimed at developing and integrating new and existing environ-mental KPIs (e-KPIs) into the asset management process, taking into account the expectations of different stakeholders (users, operators, residents, etc.). The research focus was on environmental areas: Noise, with KPIs on day-evening-night & night noise, exposed population, population with sleep disturbance; Air, with KPIs on CO2, NOx, NO2 and PM10 emissions; Water, with KPIs on water quality and salting of roads; and Natural resources and GHG emissions, with KPIs on resource consumption and CO2e calculation. The project outputs were a set of e-KPIs produced after a comprehensive investigation of the state of the art during the project. The main benefit of this project is therefore to provide an applicable solution for the environmental assessment of different road infrastructure assets and to describe the expectations of different stakeholders in form of objective indicators. The ‘User Evaluation Trial’ phase of the project was used to gather feedback on the potential of e-KPIs to be used by national Road Authorities across Europe. Two Slovenian Road Authorities and one each from Denmark and Sweden were involved. The Slovenian Authorities provided input data for case studies, while all evaluated the proposed e-KPIs from their own perspective, taking into account national conditions and specificities.
Keywords: EVITA, environmental performance indicator, users’ feedback, stakeholder’ expectations
Published in DiRROS: 22.02.2024; Views: 146; Downloads: 85
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Abstract: As we spend more than 90% of our time inside buildings, indoor environmental quality is a major concern for healthy living. Recent studies show that almost 80% of people in European countries and the United States suffer from SBS (Sick Building Syndrome), which affects physical health, productivity and psychological well-being. In this context, environmental quality monitoring provides stakeholders with crucial information about indoor living conditions, thus facilitating building management along its lifecycle, from design, construction and commissioning to usage, maintenance and end-of-life. However, currently available modelling tools for building management remain limited to static models and lack integration capacities to efficiently exploit environmental quality monitoring data. In order to overcome these limitations, we designed and implemented a generic software architecture that relies on accessible Building Information Model (BIM) attributes to add a dynamic layer that integrates environmental quality data coming from deployed sensors. Merging sensor data with BIM allows creation of a digital twin for the monitored building where live information about environmental quality enables evaluation through numerical simulation. Our solution allows accessing and displaying live sensor data, thus providing advanced functionality to the end-user and other systems in the building. In order to preserve genericity and separation of concerns, our solution stores sensor data in a separate database available through an application programming interface (API), which decouples BIM models from sensor data. Our proof-of-concept experiments were conducted with a cultural heritage building located in Bled, Slovenia. We demonstrated that it is possible to display live information regarding environmental quality (temperature, relative humidity, CO2, particle matter, light) using Revit as an example, thus enabling end-users to follow the conditions of their living environment and take appropriate measures to improve its quality
Keywords: Building Information Model, internet of things, environmental quality monitoring, healthy living
Published in DiRROS: 19.01.2024; Views: 185; Downloads: 87
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Abstract: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method was applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of winter road maintenance managed by an innovative road-weather information system and the impacts of vehicles passing the road during the snowstorm event. A case study refers to 10-hour lasting snowstorm event, considering a specific road section and application of a road-weather information management system to help winter road maintenance agency optimizing activities (salt gritting and/or plowing). Reliable information on the timing of the beginning of the snowstorm event affects (1) the activities of winter road maintenance, (2) the mobility of all vehicles passing the road, and (3) the fuel consumption of the vehicles. Since activities are optimized in case of preventive operation of winter road maintenance, less salt is needed overall. The road remains free of snow cover in case of preventive winter road maintenance operation, meaning that passenger cars and trucks pass the road at normal speed, without undesirable acceleration and braking caused by wheels slipping if snow accumulates on the road. Fuel consumption of vehicles passing salted and snow-free road remains unchanged, while fuel consumption increases in case of snow cover. Reduction of environmental burdens in case of such optimized winter road maintenance operation, is shown in this case study. The overall results of the comparative LCA analysis showed that the use of the road-weather information system in road traffic allows for as much as 25% reduction of environmental footprints. In the scenario where the winter service does not use information system the winter service also uses 40% more salt, which is also related with additional environmental impacts.
Keywords: LCA, okoljski odtisi, cesta, snežne razmere, preventivno delovanje, promet, poraba goriva, varnost, LCA, environmental impacts, road, snow cover, preventive operation, traffic, fuel consumption, safety
Published in DiRROS: 11.12.2023; Views: 173; Downloads: 109
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