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Borrowed courses

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY AND APPLIED ECOLOGY

INGEGNERIA PER L'AMBIENTE E IL TERRITORIO

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Other Courses of the Study Programme

Course year: 1

ALGEBRA AND GEOMETRY - 9 credits - Basic
ARCHITECTURAL BASIC DRAWING - 9 credits - Related/Supplementary
ELEMENTS OF COMPUTING - 6 credits - Basic
EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS 1 (MECH., TERM.) - 9 credits - Basic
GENERAL CHEMISTRY - 9 credits - Basic
INTRODUCTION TO BASIC MATTERS - MATHEMATICS - Student's own choice
MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS I - 9 credits - Basic
TEST OF ENGLISH - 3 credits
TEST OF FRENCH - 3 credits
TEST OF GERMAN - 3 credits
TEST OF SPANISH - 3 credits

Course year: 2

ENGINEERING GEOLOGY - 9 credits - Characterising
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY AND APPLIED ECOLOGY - 6 credits - Student's own choice
ETHICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY - 3 credits - Student's own choice
EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS II (ELECTROMAG., OPTICS, WAVES) - 9 credits - Basic
Investment valuation and project management - 6 credits - Characterising
LABORATORY OF SPECTROSCOPY - 3 credits - Student's own choice
MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS II - 9 credits - Basic
PROBABILITY AND STATISTICS - 6 credits - Student's own choice
PROGRAMMIN FUNDAMENTALS - 6 credits - Student's own choice
RATIONAL MECHANICS - 9 credits - Basic
SURVEYING - 9 credits - Characterising
URBAN AND REGIONAL SURVEYS - 9 credits - Characterising
WORKPLACE SAFETY - 3 credits - Student's own choice

Course year: 3

APPLIED MECHANICS - 9 credits - Student's own choice
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 6 credits - Student's own choice
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY AND APPLIED ECOLOGY - 6 credits - Student's own choice
ETHICS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY - 3 credits - Student's own choice
FINAL THESIS - 3 credits - Language/Final Examination
HYDRAULICS - 9 credits - Characterising
HYDROLOGY - 9 credits - Characterising
INDUSTRIAL POLYMERS AND RECYCLING - 6 credits - Student's own choice
INTRODUCTION TO THERMODYNAMICS AND HEAT TRANSFER - 9 credits - Related/Supplementary
LABORATORY OF COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES - 3 credits - Student's own choice
LABORATORY OF SPECTROSCOPY - 3 credits - Student's own choice
MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT AND ENERGY - 6 credits - Student's own choice
Material and energy recovery from water and waste - 3 credits - Student's own choice
REAL ESTATE APPRAISAL AND ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF PROJECTS - 9 credits - Student's own choice
SANITARY-ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING - 9 credits - Characterising
SOLID AND STRUCTURAL MECHANICS - 9 credits - Characterising
TRAINING ACTIVITY/INTERNSHIP 6 CREDITS - UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL - 6 credits - Student's own choice
TRAINING ACTIVITY/INTERNSHIP 9 CREDITS - UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL - 9 credits - Student's own choice
WORKPLACE SAFETY - 3 credits - Student's own choice

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY AND APPLIED ECOLOGY

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Academic Year of enrolment:

2019/2020

Academic Year of provision:

2020/2021

Type of Course:

Student's own choice

Degree:

Bachelor's Degree Programme in ENVIRONMENTAL AND LAND ENGINEERING

Disciplinary Sector:

Ecology

Language:

Italian

Grouping type:

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

PEDRAZZANI Roberta Professor

Cycle:

First semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Hours of individual study:

Fundamentals of biological, chemical and natural sciences acquired at secondary school.

Educational Goals

Acquisition of the following knowledge: structures of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and interactions between biotic and abiotic factors; influence of anthropogenic activity; environmental toxicology and ecotoxicology; xenobiotic metabolism, chemical pollution.
Ability to apply knowledge: planning monitoring activities of water bodies, soil and atmosphere, with a multidisciplinary approach. Critical thinking: development of skills regarding the evaluation and interpretation of experimental data (from laboratory analysis and field activities). In particular, based on the acquired knowledge, supplemented by exercises or simulations, the learner will carry out the assessment of the state of the environment and coordinate environmental monitoring by using environmental indices and indicators.
Communication skills: the learner will acquire adequate communication skills and tools, also in English, will elaborate and present data. Learner will be able to present the basic concepts concerning the evaluation and the monitoring of the environment integrating them with the concepts of natural systems variability and variations induced by human action. Learning skills: lifelong learning skills will be developed, with reference to: consultation of bibliographic material, consultation of databases and other information on the web, basic cognitive tools for the continuous updating of knowledge.

Content

FUNDAMENTALS OF CELL BIOLOGY
PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY
HYDROSPHERE
GEOSPHERE
ATMOSPHERE
POLLUTION PHENOMENA

Extended Syllabus

FUNDAMENTALS OF CELL BIOLOGY. The cell, as the structural and functional unit of living organisms. Prokaryotic cells: their structure, size, cell division mechanisms. Eukaryotic cells: the structure and function of organelles in animal and plant cells.
PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY. Climate, adaptation to the environment. Community ecology: factors influencing community structure; community dynamics; species richness and diversity. Intraspecific and interspecific interactions. Ecological successions. Biological diversity. Habitat. Ecological niche. Trophic levels and food webs. Species evenness and richness.
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY Bioconcentration, biomagnification, bioaccumulation. Dose-response curve. Xenobiotics metabolism. Octanol-water partition coefficient.
HYDROSPHERE Physical, chemical and biological factors. Alkalinity, hardness. Recall of salts and gases solubility in liquids. Recall of electrochemistry: application of Nernst law. Eutrophication.
GEOSPHERE Soil. Physical, chemical and biological factors. Soil horizons. Decomposition and nutrients cycles. Humification. Erosion. Loss in organics. Cationic and anionic exchange capacity. pH. Salinization. Acidification.
ATMOSPHERE Structure and composition. Photochemistry. Acid rains. Photochemical and reducing smog. Tropospheric and stratospheric ozone. Greenhouse effect. Air particulate.
POLLUTION PHENOMENA Main groups of inorganic and organic pollutants and their physical and chemical properties. Emerging pollutants. Trace pollutants. Carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic substances. Persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic pollutants. Ozone-depleting chemicals. Principles of biomonitoring.

Recommended Bibliography

Slides, basic and integrative readings and example exercises will be posted on the official course website. Additional resources, originating, for instance, from class debates and discussions will be also posted.
The suggested textbooks follow a strong multidisciplinary application-oriented approach, without neglecting the fundamentals of the treated disciplines:
S. Galassi, I. Ferrari, P. Viaroli; Introduzione all’ecologia applicata. Dalla teoria alla pratica della sostenibilità. Città Studi Edizioni, 2014.
S. Manahan; Environmental Chemistry; Tenth Edition; 2017; CRC Press.

Methods of Provision

Conventional

Teaching Methods

Lecture, video/screencast lecture, class discussions, reading assignments, homework, quizzes, seminars, execution of classroom demonstrations and experiments. Depending on the feasibility, in field activities may be organized, after early agreement with the students.

Assessment Methods

Grades for this course will be determined through two assignments. The written exam consists of 2 exercises and 4 theory questions (both of them open-ended questions). The exercises consist in practical and real case applications. Examples of those will be done in the classroom and posted online. The oral exam will focus only on theory. Regarding the assessment of theory learning, the students should demonstrate to face the environmental phenomena by a multidisciplinary approach.

Assessment:

Final Mark

Programme of Educational Activities

Start date of teaching period:

Monday, September 14, 2020

End date of teaching period:

Friday, December 18, 2020

Other Information

Teaching quality can improve thanks to the students suggestions: their feedback is crucial, not only at the end of the course, by filling up the online questionnaires, but, primarily, throughout the course progress. The course structure is modified according to the suggestions received during the previous year.
A continuous interaction between teacher and students and among students represents an invaluable and precious tool.