Groundwater Nitrate Contamination Integrated Modeling for Climate and Water Resources Scenarios: The Case of Lake Karla Over-Exploited Aquifer

Groundwater quantity and quality degradation by agricultural practices is recorded as one of the most critical issues worldwide. This is explained by the fact that groundwater is an important component of the hydrological cycle, since it is a source of natural enrichment for rivers, lakes, and wetlands and constitutes the main source of potable water. The need of aquifers simulation, taking into account water resources components at watershed level, is imperative for the choice of appropriate restoration management practices. An integrated water resources modeling approach, using hydrological modeling tools, is presented for assessing the nitrate fate and transport on an over-exploited aquifer with intensive and extensive agricultural activity under various operational strategies and future climate change scenarios. The results indicate that climate change affects nitrates concentration in groundwater, which is likely to be increased due to the depletion of the groundwater table and the decrease of groundwater enrichment in the future water balance. Application of operational agricultural management practices with the construction and use of water storage infrastructure tend to compensate the groundwater resources degradation due to climate change impacts

Integrated Modeling of Agronomic and Water Resources Management Scenarios in a Degraded Coastal Watershed (Almyros Basin, Magnesia, Greece)

The scope of this study is to assess the effects of agronomic and water resources management scenarios on groundwater balance, seawater intrusion, and nitrate pollution and the comparison of the developed scenarios relative to the current crop production and water management regime in the coastal agricultural Almyros basin in the Thessaly region, Greece. Agronomic and water resources scenarios have been simulated and analyzed for a period of 28 years, from 1991 to 2018. The analysis has been conducted with the use of an Integrated Modeling System for agricultural coastal watersheds, which consists of coupled and interlinked simulation models of surface water hydrology (UTHBAL), reservoir operation (UTHRL), agronomic/nitrate leaching model (REPIC), and groundwater models for the simulation of groundwater flow (MODFLOW) and contaminant transport of nitrates (MT3DMS) and chlorides (SEAWAT). The pressure on water resources has been estimated with the Water Exploitation Index (WEI+) and the reservoirs’ operation with the Reliability index to cover the water demands. The indices of Crop Water Productivity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Economic Water Productivity have been used to quantify the benefits and the feasibility of the alternative scenarios. The best results for the sustainability of water resources are achieved under the deficit irrigation and rain-fed scenario, while the best results for water resources and the local economy are achieved under deficit irrigation and reduced fertilization scenario

Modeling Flow and Nitrate Transport in an Over-Exploited Aquifer of Rural Basin Using an Integrated System: The Case of Lake Karla Watershed

The paper proposes an integrated modeling system consisting of a surface hydrology model, a water reservoir model, a Lake-Aquifer Interaction model, aground water model, and a transport and dispersion model to study ground water quality through two different operational management scenarios. The first scenario is examining the existing condition of groundwater quality without the reservoir operation while the second scenario is assessing the impact of the reconstruction of Lake Karla in the groundwater quality. The study highlights the importance of using an integrated hydrological modeling approach to investigate the groundwater quality in a region which is characterized by extensive agricultural activity

Quantitative Classification of Desertification Severity for Degraded Aquifer Based on Remotely Sensed Drought Assessment

Natural and anthropogenic causes jointly lead to land degradation and eventually to desertification, which occurs in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas. Furthermore, extended drought periods may cause soil exposure and erosion, land degradation and, finally, desertification. Several climatic, geological, hydrological, physiographic, biological, as well as human factors contribute to desertification. This paper presents a methodological procedure for the quantitative classification of desertification severity over a watershed with degraded groundwater resources. It starts with drought assessment using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), based on gridded satellite-based precipitation data (taken from the CHIRPS database), then erosion potential is assessed through modeling. The groundwater levels are estimated with the use of a simulation model and the groundwater quality components of desertification, based on scattered data, are interpolated with the use of geostatistical tools. Finally, the combination of the desertification severity components leads to the final mapping of desertification severity classification

Urticaria exacerbations and adverse reactions in patients with chronic urticaria receiving COVID-19 vaccination:Results of the UCARE COVAC-CU study

Background: Concern about disease exacerbations and fear of reactions after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations are common in chronic urticaria (CU) patients and may lead to vaccine hesitancy.Objective: We assessed the frequency and risk factors of CU exacerbation and adverse reactions in CU patients after COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: COVAC-CU is an international multicenter study of Urticaria Centers of Reference and Excellence (UCAREs) that retrospectively evaluated the effects of COVID-19 vaccination in CU patients aged ≥18 years and vaccinated with ≥1 dose of any COVID-19 vaccine. We evaluated CU exacerbations and severe allergic reactions as well as other adverse events associated with COVID-19 vaccinations and their association with various CU parameters. Results: Across 2769 COVID-19–vaccinated CU patients, most (90%) received at least 2 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and most patients received CU treatment and had well-controlled disease. The rate of COVID-19 vaccination–induced CU exacerbation was 9%. Of 223 patients with CU exacerbation after the first dose, 53.4% experienced recurrence of CU exacerbation after the second dose. CU exacerbation most often started &lt;48 hours after vaccination (59.2%), lasted for a few weeks or less (70%), and was treated mainly with antihistamines (70.3%). Factors that increased the risk for COVID-19 vaccination–induced CU exacerbation included female sex, disease duration shorter than 24 months, having chronic spontaneous versus inducible urticaria, receipt of adenovirus viral vector vaccine, having nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug/aspirin intolerance, and having concerns about getting vaccinated; receiving omalizumab treatment and Latino/Hispanic ethnicity lowered the risk. First-dose vaccine–related adverse effects, most commonly local reactions, fever, fatigue, and muscle pain, were reported by 43.5% of CU patients. Seven patients reported severe allergic reactions. Conclusions: COVID-19 vaccination leads to disease exacerbation in only a small number of CU patients and is generally well tolerated.</p

Search for CPCP violation in D0^0→\to KS0^0_\mathrm{S}KS0^0_\mathrm{S} decays in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceA search is reported for charge-parity D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$$CP$ violation in D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ decays, using data collected in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV recorded by the CMS experiment in 2018. The analysis uses a dedicated data set that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 41.6 fb$^{-1}$, which consists of about 10 billion events containing a pair of ẖadrons, nearly all of which decay to charm hadrons. The flavor of the neutral D meson is determined by the pion charge in the reconstructed decays D$^{*+}$$\to$ D$^0\pi^+$ and D$^{*-}$$\to$ D$^0\pi^-$. The D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$$CP$ asymmetry in D$^0$$\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ is measured to be $A_{CP}$( K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$) = (6.2 $\pm$ 3.0 $\pm$ 0.2 $\pm$ 0.8)%, where the three uncertainties represent the statistical uncertainty, the systematic uncertainty, and the uncertainty in the measurement of the D$^0$ $\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ $CP$ asymmetry in the D$^0$ $\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}\pi^+\pi^-$ decay. This is the first D$^0$ $\to$ K$^0_\mathrm{S}$K$^0_\mathrm{S}$ $CP$ asymmetry measurement by CMS in the charm sector as well as the first to utilize a fully hadronic final state

The CMS Statistical Analysis and Combination Tool: COMBINE

International audienceThis paper describes the COMBINE software package used for statistical analyses by the CMS Collaboration. The package, originally designed to perform searches for a Higgs boson and the combined analysis of those searches, has evolved to become the statistical analysis tool presently used in the majority of measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration. It is not specific to the CMS experiment, and this paper is intended to serve as a reference for users outside of the CMS Collaboration, providing an outline of the most salient features and capabilities. Readers are provided with the possibility to run COMBINE and reproduce examples provided in this paper using a publicly available container image. Since the package is constantly evolving to meet the demands of ever-increasing data sets and analysis sophistication, this paper cannot cover all details of COMBINE. However, the online documentation referenced within this paper provides an up-to-date and complete user guide

Search for the Z boson decay to ττμμ\tau\tau\mu\mu in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceThe first search for the Z boson decay to $\tau\tau\mu\mu$ at the CERN LHC is presented, based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The data are compatible with the predicted background. For the first time, an upper limit at the 95% confidence level of 6.9 times the standard model expectation is placed on the ratio of the Z $\to$ $\tau\tau\mu\mu$ to Z $\to$ 4$\mu$ branching fractions. Limits are also placed on the six flavor-conserving four-lepton effective-field-theory operators involving two muons and two tau leptons, for the first time testing all such operators

Observation of the J/ψ\psi →\to μ+μ−μ+μ−\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^- decay in proton-proton collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

International audienceThe J/$\psi$$\to$$\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$ decay has been observed with a statistical significance in excess of five standard deviations. The analysis is based on an event sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment in 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 33.6 fb${-1}$. Normalizing to the J/$\psi$$\to$$\mu^+\mu^-$ decay mode leads to a branching fraction [10.1$^{+3.3}_{-2.7}$ (stat) $\pm$ 0.4 (syst) ]$\times$ 10$^{-7}$, a value that is consistent with the standard model prediction

Enriching the physics program of the CMS experiment via data scouting and data parking

International audienceSpecialized data-taking and data-processing techniques were introduced by the CMS experiment in Run 1 of the CERN LHC to enhance the sensitivity of searches for new physics and the precision of standard model measurements. These techniques, termed data scouting and data parking, extend the data-taking capabilities of CMS beyond the original design specifications. The novel data-scouting strategy trades complete event information for higher event rates, while keeping the data bandwidth within limits. Data parking involves storing a large amount of raw detector data collected by algorithms with low trigger thresholds to be processed when sufficient computational power is available to handle such data. The research program of the CMS Collaboration is greatly expanded with these techniques. The implementation, performance, and physics results obtained with data scouting and data parking in CMS over the last decade are discussed in this Report, along with new developments aimed at further improving low-mass physics sensitivity over the next years of data taking