Perception and Attitude of the General Population on the Risk of Infection with SARS-CoV-2

Current state of knowledge on the impact of emotions and perceptions of the population towards the risk of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 should be the basis for disease control measures as well as for community awareness programs. Due to differences in perceptions, concerns, culture, beliefs, different populations may react differently to the same challenges. Ninety adults were interviewed, without symptoms suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection, using the Romanian version of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. The emotional reactions expressed by various psychotic or mental disorders, the main actions are taken to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 infection, as well as the hypothetical illness behavior were investigated. The total score, as well as each item of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, indicates a low-to-moderate emotional level regarding to the risk of coronavirus infection. The data are supported by the choice to be treated at home in case of illness. There are differences in perception between sexes and between professional categories (employees vs. retirees). Knowledge of social phenomena caused by major epidemiological crises such as SARS-CoV-2 infection should be the basis of education, disease prevention and control programs to avoid the occurrence of psychosocial risks in the population.

Evaluation of soil erosion risk and identification of soil cover and management factor (C) for RUSLE in European vineyards with different soil management

Vineyards show some of the largest erosion rates reported in agricultural areas in Europe.Reported rates vary considerably under the same land use,since erosion processes are highly affected by climate,soil,topography and by the adopted soil management practices.Literature also shows differences in the effect of same conservation practices on reducing soil erosion from conventional,bare soil based,management.The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation(RUSLE)is commonly adopted to estimate rates of water erosion on cropland under different forms of land use and management,but it requires proper value of soil cover and management(C)factors in order to obtain a reliable evaluation of local soil erosion rates.In this study the ORUSCAL(Orchard RUSle CALibration)is used to identify the best calibration strategy against long-term experimental data.Afterwards,ORUSCAL is used in order to apply the RUSLE technology from farm based information across different European wine-growing regions.The results suggest that the best strategy for calibration should incorporate the soil moisture sub-factor(Sm)to provide better soil loss predictions.The C factor,whose average values ranged from 0.012 to 0.597.presented a large spatial variability due to coupling with local climate and specific local management.The comparison across the five wine-growing regions indicates that for the soil protection management,permanent cover crop is the best measure for accomplishing sustainable erosion rates across the studied areas.Alternate and temporary cover crops,that are used in areas of limited water resources to prevent competition with vines,failed to achieve sustainable erosion rates,that still need to be addressed.This raises the need for a careful use of C values developed under different environmental conditions.