Mud and burnt Roman bricks from Romula.

Sesquipedalian mud and burnt bricks (second to third century AD) were excavated from the Roman city of Romula located in the Lower Danube Region (Olt county, Romania). Along with local soils, bricks are investigated by petrographic analysis, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electron microscopy (SEM/EDX), X-ray microtomography (XRT), thermal analysis (DTA-TG), Mӧssbauer spectroscopy, magnetometry, colorimetry, and mechanical properties assessment. The results correlate well with each other, being useful for conservation/restoration purposes and as reference data for other ceramic materials.

Arable lands under the pressure of multiple land degradation processes. A global perspective.

While agricultural systems are a major pillar in global food security, their productivity is currently threatened by many environmental issues triggered by anthropogenic climate change and human activities, such as land degradation. However, the planetary spatial footprint of land degradation processes on arable lands, which can be considered a major component of global agricultural systems, is still insufficiently well understood. This study analyzes the land degradation footprint on global arable lands, using complex geospatial data on certain major degradation processes, i.

Recent forest cover changes (2002-2015) in the Southern Carpathians: A case study of the Iezer Mountains, Romania.

The paper explores the dynamics of the forest cover change in the Iezer Mountains, part of Southern Carpathians, in the context of the forest ownership recovery and deforestation processes, combined with the effects of biotic and abiotic disturbances. The aim of the study is to map and evaluate the typology and the spatial extension of changes in the montane forest cover between 700 and 2462m a.s.

Time-domain heart rate variability in coronary artery disease patients affected by thyroid dysfunction.

Subclinical hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism have been recognized as clinical entities with negative effects on the cardiovascular system. Moreover, the effect of treated thyroid dysfunction on parameters associated with the cardiovascular control system has been poorly investigated. In the present study we analyzed time-domain heart rate variability in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with known thyroid diseases.