Over 4,000 plant species parasitize other plants to obtain water and nutrients. A few of these species have become weedy posing a tremendous threat to agriculture. The most damaging to annual crops are the root parasitic weeds, particularly broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.) and witchweeds (Striga spp.), which are extended over large agricultural areas in Europe, Africa and Asia.
The direct conversion of sunlight into electricity (photovoltaic or PV for short) is evolving rapidly, and is a technology becoming a mainstream clean energy production method. However, to compete with conventional energy production methods using fossil fuels, the conversion efficiency needs to be increased, and the manufacturing cost should be reduced further. Both of these require the improve…
In the last decade, design and material innovations for manufacturing composites have reached new heights. Thermoplastic polymers and their composites have become the most in-demand materials in recent times as they provide numerous advantages over thermoset composites. Thermoplastic polymers have a high damage tolerance, high impact resistance, recyclability, formability, weldability, repairab…
The coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021 abruptly reversed a decade-long flirtation with economic and political freedoms. The country has since descended into civil war, the people have been plunged back into conflict and poverty, and the state is again characterised by fragility and human insecurity. As the Myanmar people oppose the regime and fight for their rights, the international community …
Despite the vast and increasing scientific literature on the treatment of malicious diseases such as cancer, we are still far to accomplish most of the current unmet clinical desiderata. A special interest in the biomedical field has been recently directed towards "theranostic" devices, aiming at combining diagnostic and therapeutic functionalities into a single platform, and thus enabling both…
Bituminous materials are used to build durable roads that sustain diverse environmental conditions. However, due to their complexity and a global shortage of these materials, their design and technical development present several challenges. Advanced Testing and Characterisation of Bituminous Materials focuses on fundamental and performance testing
After Race pushes us beyond the old "race vs. class" debates to delve deeper into the structural conditions that spawn racism. Darder and Torres place the study of racism forthrightly within the context of contemporary capitalism. While agreeing with those who have argued that the concept of "race" does not have biological validity, they go further to insist that the concept also holds little p…
After Queer Theory makes the provocative claim that queer theory has run its course, made obsolete by the elaboration of its own logic within capitalism. James Penney argues that far from signalling the end of anti-homophobic criticism, however, the end of queer presents the occasion to rethink the relation between sexuality and politics. Through a critical return to Marxism and psychoanalysis …
In the framework of the Terrafirma project, Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) has be used for mapping land subsidence at basin scale in Gioia Tauro plain (Italy). The investigated area is built over unconsolidated fine-grained sediments, where the increasing groundwater demands for irrigation have caused the natural sediment consolidation to progressively accelerate. Both historical (1…