The Long-Term Experiment Platform for the Study of Agronomical and Environmental Effects of the Biochar: Methodological Framework

In this communication, a wide overview of historical Long-Term Experimental Platforms (LTEP) regarding changes in soil organic matter is presented for the purpose of networking, data sharing, experience sharing and the coordinated design of experiments in the area of Earth system science. This serves to introduce a specific platform of experiments regarding biochar application to soil (LTEP-BIOCHAR) and its use for agronomic and environmental purposes (e.g., carbon sequestration, soil erosion, soil biodiversity) in real conditions and over a significative timeframe for pedosphere dynamics. The methodological framework, including the goals, geographical scope and eligibility rules of such a new platform, is discussed. Currently, the LTEP-BIOCHAR is the first of its kind, a community-driven resource dedicated to biochar, and displays around 20 long-term experiments from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The selected field experiments take place under dynamically, meteorologically and biologically different conditions. The purposes of the platform are (1) listing the field experiments that are currently active, (2) uncovering methodological gaps in the current experiments and allowing specific metadata analysis, (3) suggesting the testing of new hypotheses without unnecessary duplications while establishing a minimum standard of analysis and methods to make experiments comparable, (4) creating a network of expert researchers working on the agronomical and environmental effects of biochar, (5) supporting the design of coordinated experiments and (6) promoting the platform at a wider international level

Removal and fate of pesticides in a farm constructed wetland for agricultural drainage water treatment under Mediterranean conditions (Italy)

A non-waterproofed surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW), treating agricultural drainage water in Northern Italy, was investigated to gain information on the potential ability for effective pesticide abatement. A mixture of insecticide imidacloprid, fungicide dimethomorph, and herbicide glyphosate was applied, by simulating a single rain event, into 470-m-long water course of the SFCW meanders. The pesticides were monitored in the wetland water and soil for about 2 months after treatment. Even though the distribution of pesticides in the wetland was not uniform, for each of them, a mean dissipation of 50% of the applied amount was already observed at ≤7 days. The dissipation trend in the water phase of the wetland fitted (r2 ≥ 0.8166) the first-order model with calculated DT50 of 20.6, 12.0, 5.8, and 36.7 days for imidacloprid, dimethomorph, glyphosate, and the glyphosate metabolite AMPA, respectively. The pesticide behavior was interpreted based on the chemical and physical characteristics of both the substances and the water-soil system. Despite the fast abatement of glyphosate, traces were detected in the water until the end of the trial. The formation of soluble 1:1 complex between glyphosate and calcium, the most representative cation in the wetland water, was highlighted by infrared analyses. Such a soluble complex was supposed to keep traces of the herbicide in solution

Artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology: How to solve mathematical problems

That a computer might autonomously solve mathematical puzzles described in natural language text and diagrams is still an open challenge in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Conversely, primary school children, aged 9/10 years, can solve them without any advanced computational skills, or a huge quantity of data. In this paper, we have tried to apply the AI approach to mathematical puzzles with models and terms from psychological cognitive studies, such as the Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory of cognitive abilities. We considered 147 ma thematical puzzles, used by Bocconi University for mathematical games among students in the 4th and 5th years of primary school, and we found that they can be viewed, in most cases, as Constraint-Based problems. In order to study the problem-solving process used by school children, some mathematical puzzles with a specific number of variables, domains and constraints, were created ad hoc for the study and were administered to 37 students in the 4th year of primary school. Results showed that problems with the same number of variables as domains were more easily solved than problems with a different number of variables and domains. These results were discussed from the viewpoints of Artificial Intelligence and of Cognitive Psychology in order to provide new insights into the definition of fully-fledged, intelligent agents able to solve mathematical puzzles

Persistence of antibody responses to the sars-cov-2 in dialysis patients and renal transplant recipients recovered from covid-19

Nephropathic subjects with impaired immune responses show dramatically high infection rates of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This work evaluated the ability to acquire and maintain protective antibodies over time in 26 hemodialysis patients and 21 kidney transplant recipients. The subjects were followed-up through quantitative determination of circulating SARS-CoV-2 S1/S2 IgG and neutralizing antibodies in the 6-month period after clinical and laboratory recovery. A group of 143 healthcare workers with no underlying chronic pathologies or renal diseases recovered from COVID was also evaluated. In both dialysis and transplanted patients, antibody titers reached a zenith around the 3rd month, and then a decline occurred on average between the 270th and 300th day. Immunocompromised patients who lost antibodies around the 6th month were more common than non-renal subjects, although the difference was not significant (38.5% vs. 26.6%). Considering the decay of antibody levels below the positivity threshold (15 AU/mL) as “failure”, a progressive loss of immunisation was found in the overall population starting 6 months after recovery. A longer overall antibody persistence was observed in severe forms of COVID-19 (p = 0.0183), but within each group, given the small number of patients, the difference was not significant (dialysis: p = 0.0702; transplant: p = 0.1899). These data suggest that immunocompromised renal patients recovered from COVID-19 have weakened and heterogeneous humoral responses that tend to decay over time. Despite interindividual variability, an association emerged between antibody persistence and clinical severity, similar to the subjects with preserved immune function

Physicochemical regeneration of high silica zeolite Y used to clean-up water polluted with sulfonamide antibiotics

High silica zeolite Y has been positively evaluated to clean-up water polluted with sulfonamides, an antibiotic family which is known to be involved in the antibiotic resistance evolution. To define possible strategies for the exhausted zeolite regeneration, the efficacy of some chemico-physical treatments on the zeolite loaded with four different sulfonamides was evaluated. The evolution of photolysis, Fenton-like reaction, thermal treatments, and solvent extractions and the occurrence in the zeolite pores of organic residues eventually entrapped was elucidated by a combined thermogravimetric (TGA–DTA), diffractometric (XRPD), and spectroscopic (FT-IR) approach. The chemical processes were not able to remove the organic guest from zeolite pores and a limited transformation on embedded molecules was observed. On the contrary, both thermal treatment and solvent extraction succeeded in the regeneration of the zeolite loaded from deionized and natural fresh water. The recyclability of regenerated zeolite was evaluated over several adsorption/regeneration cycles, due to the treatment efficacy and its stability as well as the ability to regain the structural features of the unloaded material

L'impiego energetico della sansa disoleata

La sansa di oliva disoleata è da sempre considerata una risorsa potenziale, piuttosto che una scoria priva di valore. Sebbene costi circa la metà rispetto al nocciolino di sansa, possiede un potere calorifico di poco inferiore a quest’ultimo (4400 kcal/kg, cento in meno del nocciolino di sansa). Sul piano del massimo utilizzo della risorsa “oliva”, inoltre, la sansa disoleata rappresenta il residuo finale di due lavorazioni, il processo di estrazione fisico-meccanica e il successivo processo di estrazione con solvente (n-esano), entrambi capaci di produrre oli alimentari (oliva vergine e raffinato e sansa di oliva). Essa costituisce il solo residuo solido (se si escludono le polveri e i soluti contenuti nelle acque di vegetazione), dopo che l’oliva è stata completamente privata di olio. L’impiego della sansa disoleata a scopo energetico, tuttavia, è stato negli anni considerato problematico e rischioso e la sansa disoleata è rimasta a lungo in un “limbo normativo”, carente di indicazioni univoche in merito alla sua categorizzazione e qualità. L'articolo affronta la storia recente dell'utilizzo della sansa e le possibilità offerte dalla normativa in vigore

Spatial distribution of elements in near surface sediments as a consequence of sediment origin and anthropogenic activities in a coastal area in northern Italy

The study reports the results of a geochemical survey in a coastal area of northern Italy with focus on the distribution of chemical elements in near surface sediments as result of both sediment origin and anthropogenic activities. In addition to emphasizing the source-to-sink element dynamics in the area, the main purpose of this paper is to ascertain if anthropic presence could have altered the composition of near surface sediments in urban and industrial areas. We considered 173 sampling sites, and collected soil material from a depth of 90\u2013110 cm. Major and trace elements assessment on milled 2 mm fraction was conducted using WDXRF for Al, As, Ba, Ca, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, La, Mg, Mn, Na, Nb, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Si, Sr, Th, Ti, V, Y, Zn and Zr. In addition, Loss On Ignition (LOI) was determined. Principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) were performed for data interpretation. The distribution of element concentration is heavily related to sediment origin. The major presence of Al, Fe, K, LOI, Mg, Nb, Rb and V characterizes alluvial plain sediments. These materials of Apenninic origin have a finer texture and a major presence of carbonates in respect to the other sediments of the area. Coastal sediments display a general wider range of variation in element concentrations (i.e. Al, Ca, Cr, K, Mg, Mn, P, Si, Ti and Zr) due to a dual origin. In particular, the greater Cr, Mn and Zr content is related to sediments enriched by heavy minerals (e.g. garnet, chromite, zircon) of Alpine origin, while the lesser concentrations trace back to Apenninic origin. Near surface sediments of urban and industrial areas always contain higher Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations with respect to the same sediments not impacted by urban and industrial settlements. This is likely a consequence of the movement of materials made by men over the last 2000 years. These results suggest that the adopted depth of sampling for the calculation of background values might need to be increased in urban and industrial areas to reach unaltered near surface sediments

Utilizzo di vermi terricoli per la valutazione della qualit\ue0 di suoli contaminati con metalli pesanti.

Nell\u2019ambito della messa a punto di una metodologia integrata per la valutazione dei suoli contaminati \ue8 stata verificata la sensibilit\ue0 del verme terricolo Eisenia andrei al rame e al cromo esavalente. Gli effetti sui parametri del ciclo vitale sono stati confrontati con gli effetti su una batteria di biomarker. Un suolo naturale a tessitura argillosa, in due esperimenti distinti \ue8 stato contaminato sperimentalmente con CuCl2 o K2Cr2O7. Vermi adulti sono poi stati esposti ai suoli contaminati e a suolo di controllo non contaminato. Gli effetti biologici misurati hanno dimostrato una chiara relazione esposizione-risposta. I biomarker si sono dimostrati pi\uf9 sensibili dei parametri del ciclo vitale; tra questi ultimi la riproduzione ha risposto alle concentrazioni pi\uf9 basse

Potentially toxic elements along soil profiles in Ravenna and its surroundings (Italy)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) concentrations along the soil profiles in areas with different anthropogenic impact. The study area is in the Ravenna Municipality, a complex territorial system including natural zones, heavily industrialized areas and extensive agricultural land. Three zones with different environmental impact were identified: the San Vitale Pinewood, a natural reserve close to the industrial area (four soil profiles); a public garden within Ravenna city, mainly affected by traffic pollution (one soil profile); the farm "Luigi Perdisa" located immediately northwards of Ravenna was selected because of the use of fertilizers and also it is subjects to various types of atmospheric deposition (one soil profile). The total concentration of Ba, Cr, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Zn was determined by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and the pseudo total concentration with aqua regia digestion (AR) and ICP-OES analysis, in order to evaluate the extractability of these elements in soil profiles. The data showed a significant increase of some PTEs (Cu, Pb, Zn) in the top soil compared to bedrock. In Ravenna urban park, Pb and Zn concentrations exceeded the threshold values established by current Italian laws for soils of "public, residential and private areas" (D. Lgs 152/2006). The correlation between the concentration values of top and subsoil highlighted that some PTEs, such as Cu, Pb and Zn, had an anthropogenic origin and were mainly linked to the deposition of airborne pollutants, while other elements (Cr and Ni) had a lithologic origin

Water-Soluble Pyrolysis Products as Novel Urease Inhibitors Safe for Plants and Soil Fauna

Water-soluble pyrolysis products from lignocellulosic biomassare nonphytotoxic urease inhibitors useful for agricultural applications.Water-soluble compounds (WS) obtained from the pyrolysisof threelignocellulosic biomasses (larch, poplar, and switchgrass) were testedas potential inhibitors of the enzyme urease. Thanks to the presenceof an array of phenolic compounds like catechol, methoxy/hydroxy phenols,phenolic acids, and phenolic aldehydes, all the WS samples testedat a catechol concentration of 30 mu M inhibited the activityof jack bean urease (JBU) by 60%-70% and by 80% that of ureasenaturally present in the soil. A 10 times lower dose of WS samples(catechol concentration of 3 mu M) inhibited the activity of JBUby 20%, while that of soil urease by 50%, in line with the known inhibitionof N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide(NBPT). The germination rate, early growth, and development of oatwere not affected by any WS sample tested at this lower dose, as wellas the cress germination rate, while the development of cress rootsand shoots was lower than the control presumably because of the lowpH of the tested WS solutions. Earthworm survival was not significantlyaffected by any WS sample tested, but an effect was observed on theability of the eggs to develop into viable newborns