Geostatistics as a tool to improve the natural background level definition: An application in groundwater

The Natural Background Level (NBL), suggested by UE BRIDGE project, is suited for spatially distributed datasets providing a regional value that could be higher than the Threshold Value (TV) set by every country. In hydrogeochemically dis-homogeneous areas, the use of a unique regional NBL, higher than TV, could arise problems to distinguish between natural occurrences and anthropogenic contaminant sources. Hence, the goal of this study is to improve the NBL definition employing a geostatistical approach, which reconstructs the contaminant spatial structure accounting geochemical and hydrogeological relationships. This integrated mapping is fundamental to evaluate the contaminant's distribution impact on the NBL, giving indications to improve it. We decided to test this method on the Drainage Basin of Venice Lagoon (DBVL, NE Italy), where the existing NBL is seven times higher than the TV. This area is notoriously affected by naturally occurring arsenic contamination. An available geochemical dataset collected by 50 piezometers was used to reconstruct the spatial distribution of arsenic in the densely populated area of the DBVL. A cokriging approachwas applied exploiting the geochemical relationships among As, Fe andNH4+. The obtained spatial predictions of arsenic concentrationswere divided into three different zones: i) areas with an As concentration lower than the TV, ii) areas with an As concentration between the TV and the median of the values higher than the TV, and iii) areas with an As concentration higher than the median. Following the BRIDGE suggestions, where enough samples were available, the 90th percentile for each zone was calculated to obtain a local NBL (LNBL). Differently from the original NBL, this local value gives more detailed water quality information accounting the hydrogeological and geochemical setting, and contaminant spatial variation. Hence, the LNBL could give more indications about the distinction between natural occurrence and anthropogenic contamination

Smoking, Not COPD, as the Disease

Comment on Clinical Significance of Symptoms in Smokers with Preserved Pulmonary Function. [N Engl J Med. 2016] Clinical and Radiologic Disease in Smokers With Normal Spirometry. [JAMA Intern Med. 2015

M-theory on AdS_4xM^{111}: the complete Osp(2|4)xSU(3)xSU(2) spectrum from harmonic analysis

We reconsider the Kaluza Klein compactifications of D=11 supergravity on AdS_4x(G/H)_7 manifolds that were classified in the eighties, in the modern perspective of AdS_4/CFT_3 correspondence. We focus on one of the three N=2 cases: (G/H)_7=M^{111}=SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1)/SU(2)xU(1)'xU(1)''. Relying on the systematic use of the harmonic analysis techniques developed in the eighties by one of us (P. Fre') with R. D'Auria, we derive the complete spectrum of long, short and massless Osp(2|4)xSU(3)xSU(2) unitary irreducible representations obtained in this compactification. Our result also provides a general scheme for the other N=2 compactifications. Furthermore, it is a necessary comparison term in the AdS_4/CFT_3 correspondence: the complete AdS/CFT match of the spectra that we obtain will provide a much more stringent proof of the AdS/CFT correspondence than in the S^7 case, since the structure of the superconformal field theory on the M2-brane world volume must be such as to reproduce, at the level of composite operators, the flavor group representations, the conformal dimensions and the hypercharges that we obtain in the present article. The investigation of the match is left to future publications. Here we provide an exhaustive construction of the Kaluza Klein side of our spectroscopy.Comment: 65 page

An example of aquifer heterogeneity simulation to modeling well-head protection areas

Groundwater management requires the definition of Well-Head Protection Areas (WHPA) for water supply wells. Italian law uses geometrical, chronological and hydrogeological criteria for WHPA identification, providing a groundwater travel time of 60 days for the definition of the Zone of Travel (ZOT). An exhaustive ZOT delineation must involve numerical modeling of groundwater flow together with simulation of the advective component of the transport process. In this context, the spatial variability of hydrogeological and transport parameters has to be critically estimated during numerical modeling implementation. In the present article, geostatistical simulation using a transition probability approach and groundwater numerical modeling were performed to delineate WHPAs for several supply wells in the middle Venetian Plain, taking into account the lithologic heterogeneity of the aquifer. The transition probability approach for the lithologic data was developed by T-PROGS software, while MODDLOW-2005 and PEST-ASP were used, respectively, to reproduce and calibrate site-specific hydraulic head data. Finally, a backward particle tracking analysis was performed with MODPATH to outline the 60-day ZOT

Chronic disease in the elderly: back to the future of internal medicine.

Elderly people are often affected by two or more chronic diseases, more frequently cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, metabolic syndrome and cancer. Thesemost frequent chronic diseases share largely preventable risk factors, the most important being smoking and obesity, and may be linked to chronic systemic inflammation. Coexistingchronic diseases affect the course of the primary disease and alter the efficacyand safety of its management. Current clinical practice is dominated by the "singledisease"approach, which has major limitations, and there is increasing evidence that a patient-oriented approach that takes into account the several co-existing components of chronic disease is required. This "change of concept" implies the need for medical specialists to extend their expertise to broader diagnostic and treatment approaches that are traditionally the purview of internal medicine. This new approach also requires a differentapproach to clinical research and teaching, followed by extensive rewriting of medical textbooks and remodelling of teaching curricula to reflect the complexity of the patient affected by chronic diseases

Assessing transmissivity from specific capacity in an alluvial aquifer in the middle Venetian plain (NE Italy)

Defining aquifer permeability distribution accurately over large areas is often debated in hydrogeology. The operational efforts to calculate hydraulic conductivity with classical aquifer tests are significant; however, accurate knowledge of permeability areal distribution is fundamental both from a hydrogeological and a modeling standpoint. This paper presents an empirical relationship between the transmissivity (T) and the specific capacity (SC) values obtained from experimental aquifer and well tests. All experimental values were obtained from 50 mm wells in middle Venetian plain artesian gravel aquifers. Many other authors have presented empirical relationships between T and SC, but most are related to fissured/karst aquifers, and only a few concern alluvial porous aquifers. Analysis of the T vs. SC relationship standardized residuals shows that a linear relationship produces statistically significant normal residuals compared with an exponential relationship

Second resonance of the Higgs field: more signals from the LHC experiments

It has been proposed that, beside the known resonance with mass $m_h=$ 125 GeV, the Higgs field might exhibit a second resonance with a larger mass $(M_H)^{\rm Theor} = 690 \pm 10 ~({\rm stat}) \pm 20 ~({\rm sys})$ GeV which, however, would couple to longitudinal W's with the same typical strength as the low-mass state at $125$ GeV and thus represent a relatively narrow resonance. Looking for evidences in the LHC data, from two analyses published in 2021 by ATLAS (searching for heavy resonances decaying into final states with 4 charged leptons or with photon pairs) we have found combined indications for a new resonance of mass $(M_H)^{\rm Exp} \sim$ 680 (15) GeV and total width $(\Gamma_H)^{\rm Exp} \sim$ 45 (15) GeV. More recent results by CMS (searching for heavy resonances decaying into a pair of h(125) Higgs bosons or looking for high-mass photon pairs produced in pp-diffractive scattering) also show definite excesses pointing toward a new resonance of mass $(M_H)^{\rm Exp} \sim$ 660(30) GeV. However, beside the agreement with the predicted mass range, a clean indication derives from the ATLAS 4-lepton data which reproduce to high accuracy the expected correlation between resonating peak cross section $\sigma_R(pp\to H \to 4l)$ and the ratio $\gamma_H=\Gamma_H/M_H$. This correlation is mainly determined by the lower mass $m_h=$ 125 GeV and supports the view that the known $m_h$ and the new heavy resonance are two different excitations of the same Higgs field by effectively eliminating the spin-zero vs. spin-2 ambiguity in the interpretation of the heavy state. The overall statistical evidence might now be above the traditional 5-sigma discovery threshold because, when comparing with a definite theoretical prediction as in our case, local excesses should maintain intact their statistical significance and not be downgraded by the so called "look-elsewhere" effect.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 4 table

Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease provide a unique opportunity to take care of patients

Exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (ECOPD) identifies the acute phase of COPD. The COPD patient is often frail and elderly with concomitant chronic diseases. This requires the physician not only looks at specific symptoms or organs, but to consider the patient in all his or her complexity. \ua9Copyright B. Begh\ue9 et al., 2013 Licensee PAGEPress

Persistent asthma hospitalizations and deaths require a national asthma prevention plan.

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Subsoil geostatistical modeling as tool for hydrogeological modeling: transitional probability approach applied upon a heterogeneous site

Hydrogeological modeling, 3D simulation, Venice lagoon, reactive transport numerical mode