USING WRB TO MAP THE SOIL SYSTEMS OF ITALY

Aim of this work was to test the 2010 version of the WRB soil classification for compilating a map of the soil systems of Italy at 1:500,000 scale. The source of data was the national geodatabase storing information on 1,414 Soil Typological Units (STUs). Though, basically, we followed WRB criteria to prioritize soil qualifiers, however, it was necessary to work out an original methodology in the map legend representation to reproduce the high variability inside each delineation meanwhile avoiding any loss of information. Each map unit may represent a combination of three codominant STUs at the most. Dominant STUs were assessed summing up the occurrence of STUs in the Land Components (LCs) of every soil system, where each LC is a specific combination of morphology, lithology and land cover. STUs were classified according to the WRB soil classification system, at the third level, that is, reference soil group and first two qualifiers, when possible. Since the large number of delineations, map units grouping was needed to make the map more legible. Legend colours were organized according to soil regions groups firstly, then by considering the highest level of soil classification, so resulting a nidificated legend. The map showed 3,357 polygons and 704 map units. The most common STU were Calcaric Cambisols, by far followed by Calcaric Regosols, Eutric Cambisols, Haplic Calcisols, Vertic Cambisols, Cutanic Luvisols, Leptic Pheozems, Chromic Luvisols, Dystric Cambisols, Fluvic Cambisols, and others STUs belonging to almost all the WRB soil references. Keywords: geodatabase, soil system

Studying a hospital distribution network with a stochastic end-uses demand model

The schematization of a hospital water network through a probabilistic model of end-uses is the focus of this study. The idea is to realize a model to evaluate the water demand related to the use of individual water-demanding devices to define a strategy for the prevention and control of legionella risk. The modelling of hospital network has been carried out through EPANET 2.0 software [1], in which the hot and cold water networks can be implemented separately. The suggested probabilistic model has already been applied to several case studies [2], [3], [4] and [5], but never to a hospital network

Multivariate analysis of the influence of peri-implant clinical parameters and local factors on radiographic bone loss in the posterior maxilla: a retrospective study on 277 dental implants

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether peri-implant clinical parameters (modified plaque index (mPI), bleeding and/or suppuration on probing (B/SOP)) and local factors (type of prostheses, screw emergence, platform diameter, and abutment angulation) might contribute to the development of additional bone loss and peri-implantitis around dental implants. Materials and methods: Two hundred seventy-seven external hex connection implants placed in the posterior maxilla of 124 patients were retrospectively evaluated. They were divided into two groups: physiologic bone loss < 2 mm (PBL) or additional bone loss ≥ 2 mm (ABL). GEE logistic regression was applied to evaluate the influence of type of prostheses (implant-supported single crown (ISSC), fixed partial denture (ISFPD), and full denture (ISFD)) and clinical parameters (mPI and S/BOP) on bone loss. Results: Among the 277 implants, 159 (57.4%) presented PBL and 118 (42.6%) presented ABL. Within the ABL group, 20.6% implants were diagnosed with peri-implantitis. mPI significantly correlated with the type of prosthesis and the highest value of mPI (index = 3) was observed in ISFD (23.8%). Moreover, peri-implantitis was more frequently associated with ISFD (32.79%) than ISSC and ISFDP (13.79% and 13.48, respectively) Conclusions: ISFD in the posterior maxilla presented high rates of ABL and showed a higher prevalence of peri-implantitis. None of the local factors seemed to contribute to the development of these conditions. Further investigations are needed to prospectively support the results of the present study. Clinical relevance: Patients rehabilitated with ISFD should be carefully monitored and have more frequent maintenance visits to prevent or control peri-implant bone loss

Testing and integrating the WLCG/EGEE middleware in the LHC computing

The main goal of the Experiment Integration and Support (EIS) team in WLCG is to help the LHC experiments with using proficiently the gLite middleware as part of their computing framework. This contribution gives an overview of the activities of the EIS team, and focuses on a few of them particularly important for the experiments. One activity is the evaluation of the gLite workload management system (WMS) to assess its adequacy for the needs of the LHC computing in terms of functionality, reliability and scalability. We describe in detail how the experiment requirements can be mapped to validation criteria, and the WMS performances are accurately measured under realistic load conditions over prolonged periods of time. Another activity is the integration of the Service Availability Monitoring system (SAM) with the experiment monitoring framework. The SAM system is widely used in the EGEE operations to identify malfunctions in Grid services, but it can be adapted to perform the same function on experiment-specific services. We describe how this has been done for some LHC experiments, which are now using SAM as part of their operations

Early intrathecal infusion of everolimus restores cognitive function and mood in a murine model of Alzheimer's disease

The discovery that mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibition increases lifespan in mice and restores/delays many aging phenotypes has led to the identification of a novel potential therapeutic target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Among mTOR inhibitors, everolimus, which has been developed to improve the pharmacokinetic characteristics of rapamycin, has been extensively profiled in preclinical and clinical studies as anticancer and immunosuppressive agent, but no information is available about its potential effects on neurodegenerative disorders. Using a reliable mouse model of AD (3 × Tg-AD mice), we explored whether short-term treatment with everolimus injected directly into the brain by osmotic pumps was able to modify AD-like pathology with low impact on peripheral organs. We first established in non-transgenic mice the stability of everolimus at 37 °C in comparison with rapamycin and, then, evaluated its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles through either a single peripheral (i.p.) or central (i.c.v.) route of administration. Finally, 6-month-old (symptomatic phase) 3 × Tg-AD mice were treated with continuous infusion of either vehicle or everolimus (0.167 μg/μl/day, i.c.v.) using the osmotic pumps. Four weeks after the beginning of infusion, we tested our hypothesis following an integrated approach, including behavioral (tests for cognitive and depressive-like alterations), biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. Everolimus (i) showed higher stability than rapamycin at 37 °C, (ii) poorly crossed the blood-brain barrier after i.p. injection, (iii) was slowly metabolized in the brain due to a longer t 1/2 in the brain compared to blood, and (iv) was more effective in the CNS when administered centrally compared to a peripheral route. Moreover, the everolimus-induced mTOR inhibition reduced human APP/Aβ and human tau levels and improved cognitive function and depressive-like phenotype in the 3 × Tg-AD mice. The intrathecal infusion of everolimus may be effective to treat early stages of AD-pathology through a short and cyclic administration regimen, with short-term outcomes and a low impact on peripheral organs

Expanding phenotype of schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia: Congenital anomalies of the kidneys and of the urinary tract and alteration of nk cells

Schimke immuno-osseous dysplasia (SIOD) is a rare multisystemic disorder with a variable clinical expressivity caused by biallelic variants in SMARCAL1. A phenotype\u2013genotype correlation has been attempted and variable expressivity of biallelic SMARCAL1 variants may be associated with environmental and genetic disturbances of gene expression. We describe two siblings born from consanguineous parents with a diagnosis of SIOD revealed by whole exome sequencing (WES). Results: A homozygous missense variant in the SMARCAL1 gene (c.1682G>A; p.Arg561His) was identified in both patients. Despite carrying the same variant, the two patients showed substantial renal and immunological phenotypic differences. We describe features not previously associated with SIOD\u2014both patients had congenital anomalies of the kidneys and of the urinary tract and one of them succumbed to a classical type congenital mesoblastic nephroma. We performed an extensive characterization of the immunophenotype showing combined immunodeficiency characterized by a profound lymphopenia, lack of thymic output, defective IL-7R\u3b1 expression, and disturbed B plasma cells differentiation and immunoglobulin production in addition to an altered NK-cell phenotype and function. Conclusions: Overall, our results contribute to extending the phenotypic spectrum of features associated with SMARCAL1 mutations and to better characterizing the underlying immunologic disorder with critical implications for therapeutic and management strategies

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

Search for supersymmetry in events with b-quark jets and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for physics beyond the standard model based on events with large missing transverse energy, at least three jets, and at least one, two, or three b-quark jets. The study is performed using a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2011. The integrated luminosity of the sample is 4.98 inverse femtobarns. The observed number of events is found to be consistent with the standard model expectation, which is evaluated using control samples in the data. The results are used to constrain cross sections for the production of supersymmetric particles decaying to b-quark-enriched final states in the context of simplified model spectra.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review