1. Understanding how plants respond and adapt to varying environmental conditions has attracted the attention of plant ecologists for decades. To study this process, altitudinal gradients are used because of their inherent variation in environmental conditions. In the current scenario of global warming, altitudinal gradients may also represent a valuable resource to deepen our understanding abo...

...............................................................................................................................VII Thesis composition...............................................................................................................XI Acknowledgements........................................................................................................... XIII List ...

Two strategies of phytoextraction have been shown to have promise for practical soil remediation: domestication of natural hyperaccumulators and bioengineering plants with the genes that allow natural hyperaccumulators to achieve useful phytoextraction. Because different elements have different value, some can be phytomined for profit and others can be phytoremediated at lower cost than soil re...

This study was devoted to the development of pulp Luffa Cclindrica and its characterization paper (annual plant fiber of the family Cucurbitaceae). Baking at soda helps to achieve a high level of delignification (Kappa ≤ 10) and high yield (≈ 67%).The beatability stack Valley is comparable to refined wood fibers, the fibers develop a normally time with good hydrophilic pro...

We extend beyond healthiness assessment of banks using quantitative financial data by applying textual sentiment analysis. Looking at 10-K annual reports for a large sample of banks in the 2000-2014 period, 52 public bank holding companies that were associated with bank failures during the global financial crisis serve as a natural experiment. Utilizing negative and positive dictionaries propos...

The biotic and abiotic changes associated with habitat fragmentation have been shown to have major consequences for plant recruitment and survivorship. However, few studies have quantified the growth of plants that persist in fragments. Over the course of a decade, we measured annual growth of 5200 individuals of the common understory herb Heliconia acuminata (Heliconiaceae) in an experimentall...

Interactions between plants can have strong effects on community structure and function. Variability in the morphological, developmental, physiological, and biochemical traits of plants can influence the outcome of plant interactions and thus have important ecological consequences. However, the ecological ramifications of trait variability in plants are poorly understood and have rarely been te...

Natural radioactivity levels in some selected medicinal plants commonly used in Ghana from the Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine were investigated to determine the activity concentration and the annual committed effective dose due to naturally occurring radionuclides of (238)U, (232)Th and (40)K. The activity concentration was determined using gamma-ray spectrometry. The result...

Occupational exposures at nuclear power plants occur mostly during maintenance activities rather than during routine reactor operation. In this paper, statistical summaries of occupational exposures during routine maintenance activities for the years 1982-84 at nuclear power plants in Japan are presented, including comparison of the exposure levels by reactor type and by plant age. Average annu...