Apparent N Balance in Organic and Conventional Low Input Cropping Systems

The determination of nutrient surplus is one of the indicators of potential N losses from the agricultural system to the environment. An experiment was started in 1998 in Central Italy to evaluate the soil surface N balance of an organic and a conventional low input cropping system over a long term crop rotation. Results at the end of a 6-year crop rotation showed an estimated N surplus in organic system 1.3-2 times higher than in conventional system while N content in the top soil was not different in the two systems, so that organic system should have involved a higher N loss from that soil layer

Geopolymers for hazardous cations and anions inertization

Several waste liquors are classified as toxic or hazardous waste and represent a real burden for companies in terms of costs and treatment time. One of the most difficult to treat is the tannery waste water that represent a high pollution risk if not treated and collected properly. Geopolymeric matrix based on metakaolin has been used to treat tannery waste water without any post use treatment. The as received waste water containing tannins, chromium soluble salts, phenols, bicarbonates, and a mixture of organic compounds have been added to a geopolymeric formulation which was optimized for Cr+3 liquor [1]. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

A sensitivity study of triboson production processes to dimension-6 EFT operators at the LHC

We present the first parton-level study of anomalous effects in triboson production in both fully and semi-leptonic channels in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The sensitivity to anomalies induced by a minimal set of bosonic dimension-6 operators from the Warsaw basis is evaluated with specific analyses for each final state. A likelihood-based strategy is employed to assess the most sensitive kinematic observables per channel, where the contribution of Effective Field Theory operators is parameterized at either the linear or quadratic level. The impact of the mutual interference terms of pairs of operators on the sensitivity is also examined. This benchmark study explores the complementarity and overlap in sensitivity between different triboson measurements and paves the way for future analyses at the LHC experiments. The statistical combination of the considered final states allows setting stringent bounds on five bosonic Wilson coefficients

Evaluation of the prognostic value of liver stiffness in patients with hepatitis C virus treated with triple or dual antiviral therapy: A prospective pilot study

AIM: To evaluate the association between liver stiffness (LS) prior to the initiation of dual/triple therapy and viral response. METHODS: LS was measured in all patients before treatment was administered. The therapeutic approach was based on hepatic, virological, and immunological evaluations and considered the fact that patients with severe fibrosis (F3) or compensated cirrhosis (F4) in Child-Pugh class A are the primary candidates for triple therapy. In total, 65 hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients were treated with Peg-interferon/ribavirin (Peg-IFN/RBV); 24 patients were classified as genotypes 1/4 (36.92%), and 41 patients were classified as genotypes 2/3 (63.08%) (dual therapy). In addition, 20 HCV treatment-experienced genotype 1 patients were treated with PegIFN-RBV and boceprevir (triple therapy). Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to compare the groups. RESULTS: LS significantly differed between dual therapy and triple therapy (P = 0.002). The mean LS value before dual therapy treatment was 8.61 ± 5.79 kPa and was significantly different between patients achieving a sustained virologic response (SVR) 24 weeks after therapy and those who did not (7.23 ± 5.18 kPa vs 11.72 ± 5.99 kPa, respectively, P = 0.0003). The relative risk of non-response to therapy was 4.45 (95%CI: 2.32-8.55). The attributable risk of non-response to therapy was 49%. The mean LS value before triple therapy treatment was 13.29 ± 8.57 kPa and was significantly different between patients achieving and not achieving SVR24 (9.41 ± 5.05 vs 19.11 ± 9.74, respectively; P = 0.008). The relative risk of non-response to therapy was 5.57% (95%CI: 1.50-20.65). The attributable risk of non-response to therapy (70%) was increased compared with dual therapy patients. Pre-treatment stiffness > 12 kPa was significantly associated with non-SVR (P < 0.025) in both groups. CONCLUSION: Pre-treatment liver stiffness may be useful for predicting the response to treatment in patients treated with either dual or triple anti-HCV therapy

Long-term effect of HCV eradication in patients with mixed cryoglobulinemia: A prospective, controlled, open-label, cohort study

Limited data are available about the efficacy of antiviral treatment in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), especially concerning the long-term effects of HCV eradication. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of MC on the virological response and the long-term effects of viral eradication on MC. We prospectively enrolled 424 HCV+ patients belonging to the following groups: MCS-HCV (121 patients with symptomatic MC); MC-HCV (132 patients with asymptomatic MC); HCV group (158 patients without MC). Peg-IFN+RBV treatment was administered according to standard protocols. Post-treatment follow-up ranged from 35 to 124 months (mean: 92.5 months). A significant difference was observed in the rate of sustained virological response (SVR) between HCV and both MC-HCV (p=0.009) and MC-HCV+MCS-HCV (p=0.014) groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified cryoglobulinemia as an independent prognostic factor of non-response. The clinical-immunological response in MCS-HCV correlated with the virological one. All patients with SVR also experienced a sustained clinical response, either complete or partial. In the majority of SVR patients all MCS symptoms persistently disappeared (36 patients, 57%); in only 2 (3%) did definite MCS persist. All virological non-responders were also clinical non-responders, in spite of a transient improvement in some cases. No evolution to lymphoma was observed. For the first time we have evaluated both the effects of IFN-based therapy on HCV patients with or without MC, and with or without symptoms, and the long-term effects of viral eradication on MC. MC was shown to be a negative prognostic factor of virological response. HCV clearance led to persistent resolution or improvement of MC syndrome, strongly suggesting the need for a next generation of highly effective antiviral drugs

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M&gt;70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0&lt;e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level