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Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) turnover t in wetlands and the corresponding governing processes are still poorly represented in numerical models. t is a proxy to the carbon storage potential in each SOC pool and C fluxes within the whole ecosystem; however, it has not been comprehensively quantified in wetlands globally. Here, we quantify the turnover time t of various SOC pools and the governing biotic and abiotic processes in global wetlands using a comprehensively tested process-based biogeochemical model. Globally, we found that t ranges between 1 and 1,000 years and is controlled by anaerobic (in 78% of global wetlands area) and aerobic (15%) respiration, and by abiotic destabilization from soil minerals (5%). t in the remaining 2% of wetlands is controlled by denitrification, sulfur reduction, and leaching below the subsoil. t can vary by up to one order of magnitude in temperate, continental, and polar regions due to seasonal temperature and can shift from being aerobically controlled to anaerobically controlled. Our findings of seasonal variability in SOC turnover suggest that wetlands are susceptible to climate-induced shifts in seasonality, thus requiring better accounting of seasonal fluctuations at geographic scales to estimate C exchanges between land and atmosphere.

Despite recent advancements in cloud processing and modelling and the increasing availability of high spectral- and temporal- resolution satellite imagery, mapping the spatial distribution of crop types remains a challenging task. Here, we present CROPGRIDS – a comprehensive global, geo-referenced dataset providing information on areas for 173 crops circa the year 2020, at a resolution of 0.05° (~5.55 km at the equator). It represents a major update of the Monfreda et al. (2008) dataset, the most widely used geospatial dataset previously available, covering 175 crops with reference year 2000 at 10 km spatial resolution. CROPGRIDS updates Monfreda et al. (2008) through the careful evaluation of 26 published gridded datasets covering more recent crop information at regional, national, and global levels, largely over the period 2015–2020. The new product successfully updates the area extent for 80 of the 175 crops originally covered, representing an update to 1.2 billion hectares of crop area (i.e., 81 % of the total cropland included in CROPGRIDS). CROPGRIDS carries forward the crop type maps originally in Monfreda et al. (2008) for 93 crops as more recent information for these crops is not available. We compared CROPGRIDS harvested area of individual crops against independent national and subnational data from 36 National Statistical Offices (NSOs), national-level crop area data for more than 180 countries and territories from FAOSTAT, as well as geospatially, against a newly available high-resolution (30 m) cropland agreement map (Tubiello et al., 2023). Results indicated robustness against the available independent information, with CROPGRIDS world total harvested and crop areas around 1.5 billion hectares. To the best of our knowledge, CROPGRIDS represents the most comprehensive update of previous work on the subject area, offering a new benchmark of global gridded harvested and crop area data for the year circa 2020. CROPGRIDS dataset can be downloaded at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22491997 (Tang et al., 2023).

Anastomotic leakage represents the most fearful complication in colorectal surgery. Important risk factors for leakage are low anastomoses and preoperative radiotherapy. Many surgeons often unnecessarily perform a protective ileostomy, increasing costs and necessitating a second operation for recanalization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of indocyanine green in assessing bowel perfusion, even in cases of a low anastomosis on tissue treated with radiotherapy.Two groups of patients were selected: Group A (risky group) with only low extraperitoneal rectal tumors (8 cm) previously treated with neoadjuvant chemo-radiotherapy; group B (no risk group) with only intraperitoneal rectal tumors (8 cm), not previously treated with neoadjuvant therapy. Clinical postoperative outcome, morbidity, mortality and anastomotic leakage were compared between these two groups.In group A, comprised of 35 patients, the overall complication rate was 8.6%, with two patients developing anastomotic leakage (5.7%). In group B, comprised of 53 patients, the overall complication rate was 17% with four cases with anastomotic leakage (7.5%). No statistical difference was observed for conversion rate, general complications, or anastomotic leakage. No statistical differences were observed in clinical variables except for American Society of Anesthesiologist score (p=0.04). Patients who developed complications during radiotherapy had no significant differences in postoperative outcomes compared with other patients.Indocyanine green appears to be safe and effective in assessing the perfusion of colorectal anastomoses, even in the highest-risk cases, potentially reducing the rate of ileostomy. The main limitation remains the lack of a universally replicable standard assessment.

We introduce here SOIL-WATERGRIDS, a new dataset of dynamic changes in soil moisture and depth of water table over 45 years from 1970 to 2014 globally resolved at 0.25 × 0.25 degree resolution (about 30 × 30 km at the equator) along a 56 m deep soil profile. SOIL-WATERGRIDS estimates were obtained using the BRTSim model instructed with globally gridded soil physical and hydraulic properties, land cover and use characteristics, and hydrometeorological variables to account for precipitation, ecosystem-specific evapotranspiration, snowmelt, surface runoff, and irrigation. We validate our estimates against independent observations and re-analyses of the soil moisture, water table depth, wetland occurrence, and runoff. SOIL-WATERGRIDS brings into a single product the monthly mean water saturation at three depths in the root zone and the depth of the highest and lowest water tables throughout the reference period, their long-term monthly averages, and data quality. SOIL-WATERGRIDS can therefore be used to analyse trends in water availability for agricultural abstraction, assess the water balance under historical weather patterns, and identify water stress in sensitive managed and unmanaged ecosystems., Measurement(s)volumetric water content • water table depthTechnology Type(s)computational modeling techniqueFactor Type(s)hydrometeorology • soil properties • land useSample Characteristic - Environmentsoil Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: 10.6084/m9.figshare.15982578

Here, we introduce OMCEC, a laboratory-based system that simultaneously measures the material composition, geometric properties, and motion of individual suspended aggregates in a non-invasive and non-destructive way. OMCEC consists of a full-color high-resolution optical system and real-time algorithms for material segmentation based on light spectra emission analysis, quantification of various geometrical properties, and motion detection with particle tracking velocimetry (PTV). We show applications of OMCEC for the composition analysis of aggregates made of biological matter and (i) mineral and (ii) microplastics.

Pesticides are well-recognised pollutants that threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Here we quantify the environmental footprints of pesticide use for 82 countries and territories and eight broad regions using top-down multi-region input-output analysis. Pesticide footprints are expressed as hazard loads that quantify the body weight (bw) of non-target organisms required to absorb pesticide residues without experiencing adverse effects. We show that the world’s consumption in 2015 resulted in 2 Gt-bw of pesticide footprints. Of these, 32% are traded internationally. The global average per-capita pesticide footprint is 0.27 t-bw capita−1 y−1, with high-income countries having the largest per-capita footprint. China, Germany, and United Kingdom are the top three net importers of pesticide hazard loads embodied in commodities, while the USA, Brazil, and Spain are the three largest net exporters. Our study highlights the need for policies to target pesticide use reduction while ensuring adverse impacts are not transferred to other nations.

Pesticides are widely used to protect food production and meet global food demand but are also ubiquitous environmental pollutants, causing adverse effects on water quality, biodiversity and human health. Here we use a global database of pesticide applications and a spatially explicit environmental model to estimate the world geography of environmental pollution risk caused by 92 active ingredients in 168 countries. We considered a region to be at risk of pollution if pesticide residues in the environment exceeded the no-effect concentrations, and to be at high risk if residues exceeded this by three orders of magnitude. We find that 64% of global agricultural land (approximately 24.5 million km2) is at risk of pesticide pollution by more than one active ingredient, and 31% is at high risk. Among the high-risk areas, about 34% are in high-biodiversity regions, 5% in water-scarce areas and 19% in low- and lower-middle-income nations. We identify watersheds in South Africa, China, India, Australia and Argentina as high-concern regions because they have high pesticide pollution risk, bear high biodiversity and suffer from water scarcity. Our study expands earlier pesticide risk assessments as it accounts for multiple active ingredients and integrates risks in different environmental compartments at a global scale. Pesticide pollution is a risk for two-thirds of agriculture land. A third of high-risk areas are in high-biodiversity regions and a fifth are in low- and lower-middle-income areas, according to environmental modelling combined with pesticide application data.

Reactive transport models are important numerical tools to support decision making in many fields, such as herbicide use regulation. Though, models may be affected by multiple sources of uncertainty. Therefore, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses should become the practice to assess the confidence of such models. Here, the uncertainty in steady-state concentrations of glyphosate (GLP) and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) was assessed using a reaction network that accounts for GLP and AMPA biotic and abiotic degradation pathways in soil including biological oxidation or hydrolysis in aerobic conditions via metabolic or cometabolic reactions. The mathematical framework is based on Michealis–Menten–Monod kinetic equations, which allow to account for microbial strategies to biodegrade contaminants. Chemical oxidation is assumed to occur independently from environmental conditions and resulted in a reduction of GLP concentration up to 15% when it was accounted for. The wide spectrum of interconnected catabolic reactions, each occurring at a different rate, as well as uncertainties in kinetic parameters estimation, suggest variability in modelling outcomes, which were addressed by means of a sensitivity analysis. In particular, the tested reaction network was mainly driven by GLP oxidation to AMPA; increasing the corresponding rate constant or decreasing the half-saturation constant resulted in a substantial decrease of GLP concentration but to an increase in AMPA concentration. Identification of the conditions responsible for GLP degradation to non-toxic metabolites, as well as for AMPA production and degradation, can allow to forecast unexpected consequences of GLP use and to design optimal land management and bioremediation plans.

In this study, we extend our earlier work presented in the 22nd International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM 2017) and propose a simple parametric pre-factor (the biodegradation potential ψ B ), which can be used to estimate the biodegraded fraction of a contaminant in soil. ψ B can be determined based on either first-order or Michaelis–Menten–Monod (MMM) kinetics. We show the application in the environmental risk assessments of the herbicides atrazine (ATZ) and glyphosate (GLP). We compare the ATZ and GLP biodegraded fractions estimated with ψ B against those predicted with bioreactive models accounting for more comprehensive ATZ and GLP biodegradation reaction networks. Our analyses show that ψ B matched relativity well the biodegraded fraction predicted by the mechanistic model, with ψ B calculated using the MMM framework providing a more accurate result. We conclude that ψ B can be used to scale the predicted environmental concentration of a contaminant to account for its biodegradation potential in simplistic transport models.

The dynamic contact angle of a gas–liquid–solid system depends on the contact line velocity and ignoring this effect could lead to inaccurate estimations of the capillary pressures in microporous media. While most existing coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CGMD) models use one particle to represent a few molecules, we present a novel CGMD framework to model microscale CO2/water flows in silica with each particle representing hundreds of thousands of molecules. The framework can reproduce the densities and viscosities of water and CO2, water–CO2 interfacial tension, and static contact angle over a wide range of pressures. The validated framework is applied to study the velocity-dependency of contact angle of the microscale CO2–water–silica system. The results indicate that the assumption in the molecular kinetic theory that liquid–solid interaction is similar to the reversible work of adhesion between liquid and solid may not hold for CO2–water–silica systems.

The biogeochemical complexity of environmental models is increasing continuously and model reliability must be reanalysed when new implementations are brought about. This work aims to identify influential biogeochemical parameters that control the Soil Organic Matter (SOM) dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions in different ecosystems and climates predicted by a physically-based mechanistic model. This explicitly accounts for four pools of organic polymers, seven pools of organic monomers, five microbial functional groups, and inorganic N and C species. We first benchmarked our model against vertical SOM profiles measured in a temperate forest in North-Eastern Bavaria, Germany (Staudt and Foken in Documentation of reference data for the experimental areas of the Bayreuth Centre for Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER) at the Waldstein site. Univ, Bayreuth, Department of Micrometeorology, 2007). Next, we conducted a sensitivity analysis to biogeochemical parameters using modified Morris indices for target SOM pools and gas emissions from a tropical, a temperate, and a semi-arid grassland in Australia. We found that greenhouse gas emissions, the SOM stock, and the fungi-to-bacteria ratio in the top soil were more sensitive to the mortality of aerobic bacteria than other biogeochemical parameters. The larger $${\hbox {CO}_2}$$ emission rates in forests than in grasslands were explained by a greater dissolved SOM content. Finally, we found that the soil N availability was largely controlled by vegetation inputs in forests and by atmospheric fixation in grasslands.

Australian ecosystems, particularly wetlands, are facing new and extreme threats due to climate change, land use, and other human interventions. However, more fundamental knowledge is required to understand how nutrient turnover in wetlands is affected. In this study, we deployed a mechanistic biogeochemical model of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) cycles at 0.25∘&times, 0.25∘ spatial resolution across wetlands in Australia. Our modeling was used to assess nutrient inputs to soil, elemental nutrient fluxes across the soil organic and mineral pools, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in different climatic areas. In the decade 2008&ndash, 2017, we estimated an average annual emission of 5.12 Tg-CH4, 90.89 Tg-CO2, and 2.34 &times, 10&minus, 2 Tg-N2O. Temperate wetlands in Australia have three times more N2O emissions than tropical wetlands as a result of fertilization, despite similar total area extension. Tasmania wetlands have the highest areal GHG emission rates. C fluxes in soil depend strongly on hydroclimatic factors, they are mainly controlled by anaerobic respiration in temperate and tropical regions and by aerobic respiration in arid regions. In contrast, N and S fluxes are mostly governed by plant uptake regardless of the region and season. The new knowledge from this study may help design conservation and adaptation plans to climate change and better protect the Australian wetland ecosystem.

Microplastic fibres are the most abundant microplastics in waterways worldwide. The settling of fibres is distinct from other particles because of their aspect ratio and shape. In this paper, we test the hypothesis that length, curliness, and settling orientation control the settling velocity of microplastic fibres in a suite of laboratory experiments. Using a Particle Tracking Velocimetry method, we measured the settling velocity of 683 polyester microplastic fibres of 1 to 4 mm in length. Experimental findings support our hypothesis that for microplastic fibre longer than 1 mm, changing settling orientation from horizontal to vertical can increase 1.7 times the settling velocity. Fibre curliness can significantly reduce the settling velocity, where a curly fibre 1.3 times longer than a straight fibre can settle 1.75 times slower. In contrast, short microplastic fibres (less than 1 mm) mostly settle horizontally, and their settling velocity is unaffected by curliness. The drag force exerting on settling microplastic fibres was analysed, and the sphere-equivalent diameter was found to be a good representation of microplastic fibre size to predict the drag coefficient. Measured settling velocity ranges between 0.1 and 0.55 mm/s and exhibits a slight increase with the increasing length of the fibres. This low-velocity range raises concerns that microplastic fibres can favour biological flocculation, form clustered aggregates with microorganisms, feed aquatic organisms and cause bioaccumulation at higher trophic levels.

Pesticides are potent chemical agents for protecting crops and agricultural production but can have secondary adverse effects on soil biodiversity that can propagate through all dimensions of soil security. Earthworms are among the most important actors in making soil healthy because they facilitate nutrient turnover, improve aeration, facilitate water infiltration into the root zone, and control soil-borne diseases. However, earthworms have been shown to be affected by the presence of pesticide residue, with a median survival to some highly toxic active substances concentrations as small as 4 mg/kg-soil. Here we have used the estimated pesticide residue of 87 active ingredients in nine different cropping systems globally, and we have developed the corresponding dose-response curve of earthworms to estimate the percent earthworm population decline and its global distribution caused by residues in the top soil. We found that vegetable and fruits, and orchards and grapes cropping systems are leading to the greatest percent decline in earthworms population in some areas of South America, and East and South East Asia. The decline in soybean, rice, and orchards and grape in boreal regions were the greatest. The maximum decline across the cropping systems ranged between 10 and 20% in about 1.2% of the agricultural locations under consideration, but it was less than 1% in about 66% of agricultural locations. These findings call for further scrutiny of the contamination by pesticide residue in soil and long-term consequences on soil security.

Direct chromosome preparations of chorionic villus samples (CVS) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing both involve analysis of the trophoblastic cell lineage. The aim of this study was to compare the spectrum of rare autosomal trisomies (RATs) detected by these two approaches and assess the available information on their clinical significance.Data from 10 reports on genome-wide cfDNA testing were pooled to determine which chromosomes were most frequently involved in RAT-positive cases, and pregnancy outcome information was reviewed. CVS information was obtained from an updated database of 76 102 consecutive CVS analyses performed over a period of 18 years at TOMA laboratory, in which trophoblastic and mesenchymal layers were analyzed and amniotic fluid cell analysis was recommended for RAT-positive cases. Chromosomes involved and presence of confined placental mosaicism, true fetal mosaicism and uniparental disomy (UPD) for imprinted chromosomes were assessed. Also evaluated were the frequency and types of RATs in products of conception.RATs were present in 634 of 196 662 (0.32%) cfDNA samples and 237 of 57 539 (0.41%) CVS trophoblast samples (P 0.01). The frequency of RATs varied over 8-fold between the cfDNA reports. Confirmation of abnormality through amniocentesis was more likely when RATs were ascertained through cfDNA (14 of 151; 9.3%) than through CVS trophoblasts (seven of 237; 3.0%) (P 0.01). In cfDNA-ascertained cases, trisomies 15, 16 and 22, which are associated with fetal loss, were identified proportionately more often. Of 151 cases with RAT identified by cfDNA and outcome information available, 41.1% resulted in normal live birth; 27.2% in fetal loss; 7.3% had phenotypic abnormality detected through ultrasound or other follow-up evaluation; 2.0% had a clinically significant UPD; and 14.6% had fetal growth restriction or low birth weight. All autosomes were involved in trisomies in products of conception; the most common RATs detected were trisomies 16, 22 and 15 with a frequency of 9% each.Although there are strong parallels between RATs ascertained through cfDNA analysis and direct chromosome preparation of CVS, caution is needed in applying conclusions from CVS analysis to cfDNA testing, and vice versa. RATs identified through genome-wide cfDNA tests have uncertain risks for fetal loss, growth restriction or fetal abnormality. Copyright © 2019 ISUOG. Published by John WileySons Ltd.

While it is qualitatively known that the dynamic stress-strain response of granular media is highly influenced by the initial density and moisture content, a detailed characterization of such behavior has not been reported in the existing literature. This paper proposes a simplified empirical approach to quantify the uniaxial compressive stress-strain behavior of partially saturated granular media at a given saturation and initial dry density that requires only the response at a reference dry density as input. The relations were formulated based on experimental stress-strain data of Stockton Beach sand retrieved using a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) at a strain rate between 1000 and 1300 s−1. The tested sand was confined within a hardened steel tube, exhibiting initial dry densities of 1.46 g/cm3, 1.57 g/cm3, and 1.69 g/cm3 across water saturations ranging from dry to above 90%. Through a parametric investigation, the resulting empirical relations were shown to be promising in representing the specimen behavior before and after the initiation of water lock-up. This study ultimately illustrates the feasibility of empirical modeling techniques in predicting and characterizing the high strain rate response of partially saturated granular media as a bulk system.

Glyphosate (GLP) is one of the most widely-used herbicides globally and its toxicity to humans and the environment is controversial. GLP is biodegradable, but little is known about the importance of site exposure history and other environmental variables on the rate and pathway of biodegradation. Here, GLP was added to microcosms of soils and sediments with different exposure histories and these were incubated with amendments of glucose, ammonium, and phosphate. GLP concentrations were measured with a newly-developed HPLC method capable of tolerating high concentrations of ammonium and amino acids. GLP biodegradation occurred after a lag-time proportional to the level of GLP pre-exposure in anthropogenically-impacted samples (soils and sediments), while no degradation occurred in samples from a pristine sediment after 180 days of incubation. Exposure history did not influence the rate of GLP degradation, after the lag-time was elapsed. Addition of C, N, and P triggered GLP degradation in pristine sediment and shortened the lag-time before degradation in other samples. In all microcosms, GLP was metabolised into aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), which was highly persistent, and thus appears to be a more problematic pollutant than GLP. Bacterial communities changed along the gradients of anthropogenic impacts, but in some cases, taxonomically very-similar communities showed dramatically different activities with GLP. Our findings reveal important interactions between agriculturally-relevant nutrients and herbicides.

While the use of pesticides continues to rise worldwide, our understanding of the pervasiveness of associated contamination and the health risks humans may be exposed to remain limited to small samples size, and based on small geographic scales, the exposed population, or the pesticide types. Using our recent mapping of global pesticide use, we quantify three complementary health risk metrics for 92 active ingredients: (i) the pesticide hazard load (PHL); (ii) the population exposure (PE); and (iii) the human intake relative to the acceptable dose (INTR). We integrated these metrics into the pesticide health risk index (PHRI) to assess the standing of 133 nations against the global averages of PHL and PE and the acceptable levels of INTR using data of 2015 (PHRI > 1 indicates a concern). We found that some low-toxicity ingredients have PHL values equivalent to high-toxicity ones, and hence neglecting low-toxicity ingredients may cause biases in risk assessments. The geography of PHL, PE, and INTR show hotspots across the Americas, East and South Asia, and Europe, but with the EU27 countries generally showing lower PHL than other countries possibly due to strict governance on pesticide use. By our measure, about 1.7 billion people (24% of the world population) reside in close proximity to where pesticide applications are greater than 100 kg-a.i. km−2 year−1; about 2.3 billion people (32% of the world population) may exceed the acceptable pesticide intake and about 1.1 billion (15% of the world population) may exceed this by 10 fold. We identified 36 countries with PHRI > 1 and 6 countries with PHRI > 5; of these countries, 10 belong to lower-middle and low income economies. Our analyses show that proximity exposure to pesticides may be more widespread than revealed in occupational studies, and therefore assessments of potential health effects over wider scales may be needed.

Wetlands play a key role in regulating global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions but anthropogenic impacts on nutrients may severely alter this balance. Recent assessments indicate that almost 22% of the global wetland area may be affected by agricultural runoff. In this work, we developed and applied a dynamic mechanistic reaction network model of soil organic matter linking the carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) cycles at 0.5° × 0.5° spatial resolution across the globe. The model was used to estimate GHG emissions and nutrient sequestration rates in wetlands, driven by environmental stressors including N, P, and S fertilization. Wetland annual GHG emissions are estimated to be 136 ± 12.5 Tg C-CH , 589 ± 45.8 Tg C-CO , and 0.3 ± 0.04 Tg N-N O; in contrast, C, N, and S annual sequestration rates are estimated to be 576 ± 88.1 Tg C, 20 ± 4.4 Tg N, and 7.4 ± 0.8 Tg S, between 2000 and 2017. N fertilization inputs were responsible for 13% N O emissions in wetlands in the Northern Hemisphere, while tropical wetlands were major reservoirs for C, N, and S. Temperature, net primary productivity, and methanogenic microorganisms exert the major control on GHG emissions. Wetland CH and CO emissions were found to have a hysteretic relationship with seasonal soil temperature, but not N O. A global-scale assessment is pivotal for best nutrient management practices, reducing nutrient losses, and controlling gas emissions. 4 2 2 2 4 2 2

To study the effect of drought on soil water dynamics, we need an accurate description of water retention and hydraulic conductivity from saturation to complete dryness. Recent studies have demonstrated the inaccuracy of conventional soil hydraulic models, especially in the dry end. Likewise, current pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for soil hydraulic properties are based on the classical Mualem-van Genuchten functions.This study will evaluate models that estimate soil water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves in full soil moisture ranges. An example is the Fredlund-Xing scaling model coupled with the hydraulic conductivity model of Wang et al. We will develop pedotransfer functions that can estimate parameters of the model. We will compare it with existing PTFs in predicting water retention and hydraulic conductivity.The results show that a new suite of PTFs that used sand, silt, clay, and bulk density can be used successfully to predict water retention and hydraulic conductivity over a range of moisture content. The prediction of hydraulic properties is used in a soil water flow model to simulate soil moisture dynamics under drought. This study demonstrates the importance of accurate hydraulic model prediction for a better description of soil moisture dynamics.

The need for comprehensive assessments of agrochemicals use and its potential risk of environmental contamination are imperative, but studies currently exist only at regional and watershed scales. By coupling the recently developed PEST-CHEMGRIDS data product to the BRTSim (BioReactive Transport Simulator) computational framework, we conducted the first mechanistic assessment of the environmental hazard of glyphosate (GLP) use at global scales. PEST-CHEMGRIDS provides the annual application rate of 95 active ingredients, including GLP, on various dominant and aggregated crops (Maggi et al., 2019), and is used to feed the biogeochemical reaction network of GLP biogeochemistry embedded in BRTSim (la Cecilia et al., 2018). Deployment of BRTSim over a georeferenced global-scale grid allowed us to assess four key quantities that determine the level of environmental hazard, namely: (i) soil residue, (ii) biodegradation recalcitrance, (iii) leaching rate below the root zone, and (iv) persistence in the root zone. Our assessment (Maggi et al., 2020) shows that the total average residue in the root zone and leaching below root zone is important only in minor areas globally, but also show that biodegradation recalcitrance and persistence can lead to an environmental hazard in vast agricultural areas worldwide. The latter were largely related to the GLP transformation product, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), because of slow reaction kinetics, further inhibited by the presence of aqueous inorganic phosphate. With the four key quantities, we have mapped the aggregated hazard geographically to identify hotspots where GLP contamination may have to be assessed with greater level of detail. High hazard hotspots cover less than 1% of the agriculture area (inclusive of pastures) and are identified in north Europe, USA, Brazil, and China.Maggi F., Tang F.H.M., la Cecilia D., McBratney A., (2019), Scientific Data 6(1), 1-20.la Cecilia D., Tang F.H.M., Coleman N., Conoley C., Veervort R.W., and Maggi F., (2018), Water Research, 146, 37-54.Maggi F., la Cecilia D., Tang F.H., & McBratney A., (2020). Science of the Total Environment, 717, 137167.

Widely distributed aquifers have been proposed as effective storage reservoirs for compressed air energy storage (CAES). This aims to overcome the limitations of geological conditions for conventional utility-scale CAES, which has to date used caverns as the storage reservoirs. As a promising technology, compressed air energy storage in aquifers (CAESA) has received increasing attention as a potential method to deal with the intermittent nature of solar or wind energy sources. This article presents a selective review of theoretical and numerical modeling studies as well as field tests, along with efficiency and economic analyses, to assess the feasibility of the emerging technology. Although some field tests suggest that a large bubble could be created in aquifers to sustain the working cycles at target rates, challenges remain before the technology can be recommended for wide deployment. The geological critical safety factors affecting the gas bubble development and sustainability of operation cycles include the geological structure, aquifer depth, and hydrodynamic and mechanical properties, such as porosity, permeability, compressibility, and mineral composition. Moreover, the injection/withdrawal well configurations and oxidation reactions caused by the oxygen in compressed air should also be considered. The failed attempt of renewable energy combined with CAESA in Iowa is described and the lessons learned are summarized. Combining CAESA with thermal storage, using CO2 as cushion gas, horizontal wells or hydraulic fracturing, and man-made boundaries are proposed to improve CAESA efficiency but need further study for future applications.

Industrial robots are complex and customizable machines that can be programmed with proprietary domain-specific languages. These languages provide not only movement instructions, but also access to low-level system resources such as the network or the file system. Although useful, these features can lead to taint-style vulnerabilities and can be misused to implement malware---on par with general-purpose programming languages. In this paper, we analyze the languages of $8$ leading industrial robot vendors, systematize their technical features, and discuss cases of vulnerable and malicious uses. We then describe a static source-code analyzer that we created to analyze robotic programs and discover insecure or potentially malicious code paths. We focused our proof-of-concept implementation on two popular languages, namely ABB's RAPID and KUKA's KRL. By evaluating our tool on a set of publicly available programs, we show that insecure patterns are found in real-world code; therefore, static source-code analysis is an effective security screening mechanism, for example to prevent commissioning insecure or malicious industrial task programs. Finally, we discuss remediation steps that developers and vendors can adopt to mitigate such issues.

Trifluralin is a widely used dinitroaniline herbicide, which can persist in the environment and has substantial ecotoxicity, especially to aquatic organisms. Trifluralin is very insoluble in water (0.22 mg/L at 20 °C) and highly volatile (vapor pressure of 6.7 mPa at 20 °C); these physicochemical properties determine a large part of its environmental fate, which includes rapid loss from soils if surface-applied, strong binding to soil organic matter, and negligible leaching into water. The trifluralin structure contains a tertiary amino group, two nitro-groups and a trifluoromethyl- group. Despite the strongly xenobiotic character of some of these substituents, biodegradation of trifluralin does occur, and pure cultures of bacteria and fungi capable of partially degrading the molecule either by dealkylation or nitro-group reduction have been identified. There are many unanswered questions about the environmental fate and metabolism of this herbicide; the genes and enzymes responsible for biodegradation are largely unknown, the relative roles of abiotic processes vs growth-linked biodegradation vs cometabolism are unresolved, and the impact of different environmental factors on the rates and extents of biodegradation are not clear. Here, we summarize the relevant literature on the persistence and environmental fate of trifluralin with a focus on biodegradation pathways and mechanisms, and we identify the current major knowledge gaps for future research.

Small bowel occlusion by intussusception is not common in adults. It may be due tumor lesion such as melanoma metastase. Bowel melanoma can be a primary lesion or metastases of extra-intestinal melanoma. Primary melanoma, originate in mucosal membranes, is very rare in the bowel, but metastatic melanoma, especially localized in the small bowel, is quite common due of the propensity for cutaneous melanoma to metastasis in the gastrointestinal tract. We present a case of a small bowel obstruction by intussusception in a 58 years old woman with previous history of cutaneous melanoma of the head completely excised; she developed a colic abdominal pain 3 weeks before. KEY WORDS: Intussusception, Melanoma metastasis, Small bowel obstruction.Il melanoma maligno può avere una localizzazione primitiva intestinale oppure essere la manifestazione secondaria di un melanoma extra intestinale. L’occlusione intestinale per intussuscezione da metastasi di melanoma è un evento molto raro e rappresenta in letteratura meno del 5% dei casi. I pazienti possono rimanere asintomatici e le metastasi possono manifestarsi anche 10 anni dopo la lesione primitiva. Infatti, meno del 5% delle metastasi di melanoma del tratto gastrointestinale vengono diagnosticate in vivo, solo a seguito dell’insorgenza di una complicanza come l’occlusione intestinale. In particolar modo il paziente si presenta con una sintomatologia del tutto aspecifica e pertanto la diagnosi viene posta a seguito dell’intervento chirurgico. Viene presentato il caso di una paziente donna di 58 anni con storia clinica di pregressa asportazione di un melanoma cutaneo 5 anni prima. La paziente viene ricoverata con diagnosi di addome acuto e sottoposta ad intervento chirurgico laparoscopico. Il quadro clinico di occlusione intestinale causata da intussuscezione secondaria a metastasi di melanoma cutaneo è una condizione molto rara e la chirurgia resettiva radicale è il trattamento curativo che consente la maggior sopravvivenza del paziente.

Agricultural pesticides can become persistent environmental pollutants. Among many, glyphosate (GLP) is under particular scrutiny because of its extensive use and its alleged threats to the ecosystem and human health. Here, we introduce the first global environmental contamination analysis of GLP and its metabolite, AMPA, conducted with a mechanistic dynamic model at 0.5 × 0.5° spatial resolution (about 55 km at the equator) fed with geographically-distributed agricultural quantities, soil and biogeochemical properties, and hydroclimatic variables. Our analyses reveal that about 1% of croplands worldwide (385,000 km2) are susceptible to mid to high contamination hazard and less than 0.1% has a high hazard. Hotspots found in South America, Europe, and East and South Asia were mostly correlated to widespread GLP use in pastures, soybean, and corn; diffuse contributing processes were mainly biodegradation recalcitrance and persistence, while soil residue accumulation and leaching below the root zone contributed locally to the hazard in hotspots. Hydroclimatic and soil variables were major controlling factors of contamination hotspots. The relatively low risk of environmental exposure highlighted in our work for a single active substance does not rule out a greater recognition of environmental pollution by pesticides and calls for worldwide cooperation to develop timely standards and implement regulated strategies to prevent excess global environmental pollution.

Degraded plastic debris has been found in nearly all waters within and nearby urban developments as well as in the open oceans. Natural removal of suspended microplastics (MPs) by deposition is often limited by their excess buoyancy relative to water, but this can change with the attachment of biological matter. The extent to which the attached biological ballast affects MP dynamics is still not well characterised. Here, we experimentally demonstrate using a novel OMCEC (Optical Measurement of CEll colonisation) system that the biological fraction of MP aggregates has substantial control over their size, shape and, most importantly, their settling velocity. Polyurethane MP aggregates made of 80% biological ballast had an average size almost twice of those containing 5% biological ballast, and sank about two times slower. Based on our experiments, we introduce a settling velocity equation that accounts for different biological content as well as the irregular fractal structure of MP aggregates. This equation can capture the settling velocity of both virgin MPs and microbial-associated MP aggregates in our experiment with 7% error and can be used as a preliminary tool to estimate the vertical transport of MP aggregates made of different polymers and types of microbial ballast.

To assess the association between confined placental mosaicism (CPM) and adverse pregnancy outcome. A retrospective cohort study was carried out evaluating the outcome of pregnancies with and without CPM involving a rare autosomal trisomy (RAT) or tetraploidy. Birthweight, gestational age at delivery, fetal growth restriction (FGR), Apgar score, neonatal intensive care admission, preterm delivery, and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were considered. Overall 181 pregnancies with CPM and 757 controls were recruited. Outcome information was available for 69% of cases (n = 124) and 62% of controls (n = 468). CPM involving trisomy 16 (T16) was associated with increased incidence of birthweight

Background: The increasing use of pesticides is raising attention on the pervasiveness of contamination far from emission points and the pathways to human exposure. Recent progress in mapping global pesticide use can substantiate an assessment of human exposure and intake worldwide and the risks of attenuated life expectancy. Methods: We quantified the human intake ratio (INTR) relative to the acceptable level for 92 active substances. We intersected INTR with the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) dataset, and we analysed the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) of both aggregated and individual non-communicable diseases (NCDs) against the INTR of major pesticide chemical classes. Using a stochastic two-stage regression analysis, we estimated the associations between pesticide INTR and DALYs, and we determined whether these associations were positive (i.e., adverse effect on life expectancy), uncertain, or negative. Findings: About 5.7 billion people exceed the acceptable pesticide intake; about 4.6 billion exceed this by 100 times. Pesticides are associated with DALYs of NCDs in 47% of countries; organophosphates, inorganics, triazines, and triazoles are associated with NCDs in 100%, 68%, 66% and 66% of countries, respectively. Prevalent NCDs are musculoskeletal disorders, neoplasms, and mental disorders in 72%, 62%, and 54% of countries. In average, an increase by one order in INTR is associated with a decrease of 1.35 days/person in neoplasms (95% CI, 0.27-2.48 days/person), and 1.09 days/person in musculoskeletal disorders (95% CI, 0.45-1.74 days/person). In spite of geographic variability, high income countries are more affected than low income countries due to raised health risk factors. Interpretation: Although the biological mechanisms determining health effects in human subjects remain largely undiscovered, statistically significant associations of chronic exposure to pesticide mixtures on various NCDs show the relative impact of different pesticide classes on exposed populations and indicate geographic regions, socioeconomic, and health indicators associated to risks of attenuated life expectancy. Funding Statement: The University of Sydney, SREI2020 EnviroSphere Program, SOAR Fellowship (FM). Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

The genesis of suspended aggregates in aquatic ecosystems is not only a result of hydrodynamic mineral interactions but also a complex microbial food web network. A microbiological-physical model (BFLOC2) is introduced here to predict aggregate geometry and settling velocity under simultaneous effects of hydrodynamic and biological processes. While minerals can contribute to aggregate dynamics through collision, aggregation, and breakup, living microorganisms can colonize and establish food web interactions that involve growth and grazing, and modify the aggregate structure. The BFLOC2 model describes the aggregate dynamics resulting from interactions between minerals and three types of microorganisms, namely bacteria, flagellates, and ciliates. BFLOC2 was first calibrated against the size and capacity (fractal) dimension of aggregates formed in a pure mineral system at different mineral concentrations and fluid shear rates, and then against the abundance of aggregate-attached cells in a pure microbial environment. BFLOC2 model and calibrated parameters were then tested against biomineral aggregate size, capacity dimension, and biomass fraction formed in biomineral flocculation experiments at four nutrient concentrations. Modelling of biomineral aggregate dynamics over a wide range of environmental conditions showed that maximum aggregate size, biomass fraction, and settling velocity could occur at different optimal environmental conditions. Unlike mineral aggregates, which have maximum size when shear rate tends to zero, a relative maximum size of biomineral aggregates can be reached at intermediate shear rates as a result of microbiological processes. The settling velocity was ultimately controlled by aggregate size, capacity dimension, and biomass fraction. Microorganism dynamics including cell motility and food web network interactions significantly controlled aggregate-attached cell abundance and aggregate dynamics.

Biodegradation of glyphosate (GLP) and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) was numerically assessed for a vineyard and a wheat field in the Po Valley, Italy. Calculation of the Hazard Quotient suggested that GLP and AMPA can pose a risk of aquifer contamination in the top 1.5 m depth within 50 years of GLP use. Numerical results relative to soil GLP and AMPA concentrations, and GLP age, half life, and turnover time show that GLP was equivalently removed through hydrolysis and oxidation, but the latter produced AMPA. Biodegradation processes in the root zone removed more than 90% of applied GLP and more than 23% of the produced AMPA between two consecutive applications. Doubling organic carbon availability enhanced GLP and AMPA biodegradation, especially GLP hydrolysis to sarcosine. This work highlights that GLP and AMPA removal is controlled by soil water dynamics that depend on ecohydrological boundary conditions, and by carbon sources availability to biodegraders.

We study propagation of uncertainty related to bioreactive parameters through the biodegradation reaction network of atrazine (ATZ) and its metabolites in soils. The work is motivated by the recognition that detailed analyses of these aspects in models of complex biogeochemical systems is especially critical when the feedback amongst hydraulic, chemical and microbial processes is strong. With an emphasis on microbial processes, the ATZ reaction network is exemplary because it includes 19 biological reactions mediated by 3 microbial functional groups that compete in 6 metabolic and co-metabolic degradation pathways under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Propagation of model parametric uncertainty yields the probability distributions of ATZ, its metabolites, and the microbial biomass. It also enables us to identify key parameters that drive the long-term system dynamics. We base our analyses on an initial screening of model parameters and a subsequent moment-based global sensitivity analysis, and we show that the probability density of target outputs are multimodal as a result of nonlinearities in the degradation rate formulations. The employed global sensitivity metrics reveal that joint effects of the uncertainty of multiple kinetic parameters significantly contribute to output uncertainties, thus suggesting the presence of a high level of coupling between processes included in the network. Specific biomass affinity to a given substrate is found to be a lumped indicator that can facilitate the analysis of microbial growth when multiple and competing microbial functional groups coexist.

Objective: To estimate the procedure-related risk of miscarriage in pregnancies undergoing amniocentesis (AC) following inconclusive results for a chorionic villus sampling (CVS). Methods: This was a multicentric retrospective cohort study of patients in which both CVS at 11–13 weeks’ gestation and AC at 16–22 weeks were performed between January 1st, 2008, and July 31st, 2017. The primary outcome measure was pregnancy loss prior to 24 weeks gestation; the secondary one was intrauterine demise after 24 weeks. Results: A total of 287 patients underwent transabdominal CVS and AC. Nine patients were lost at follow-up; therefore, the analysis was conducted on a population of 278 patients (275 singletons and 3 dichorionic twin pregnancies). AC was performed because of placental mosaicism (93.6%), failure of direct/semidirect preparation of trophoblastic cells (3.2%), or targeted genetic testing after the diagnosis of an anomaly in the second trimester (3.2%). In continuing pregnancies, there were no fetal losses prior to 24 weeks’ gestation. Two intrauterine demises (including 1 fetus with multiple anomalies and growth restriction) in the third trimester were recorded. Conclusion: Patients undergoing midtrimester AC because of an inconclusive result of CVS can be reasonably reassured that in general the risk of miscarriage and fetal loss following the procedure is very small.

The high strain rate compressive response of partially saturated Stockton Beach sand is investigated using the modified split Hopkinson pressure bar. The objective is to determine the influence of initial dry density and confinement environment on the stress–strain response, energy absorption, and grain crushing of Stockton Beach sand at average strain rates between 1000 and 1300 s−1 as a function of saturation. Specimens are confined within a hardened steel tube, and exhibit dry densities of 1.46 g/cm3, 1.57 g/cm3, and 1.69 g/cm3 with saturation ranging from 0% to above 90%. Samples with 1.57 g/cm3 density are also confined via polycarbonate chambers with two different wall thicknesses. It can be observed that the stress–strain response of partially saturated sand generally stiffens with increasing initial dry density prior to water lock-up, while stiffening decreases with increasing saturation. An increase in confinement rigidity causes a rise in stiffness with lock-up occurring only in specimens confined in steel chambers. Energy absorption at a given stress level generally increases with decreasing initial dry density and softer confinement. Grain crushing witnessed for partially saturated sand, quantified by Hardin's relative breakage potential, is retrieved for post-impact inspection. Crushing is found to increase with both initial dry density and confinement rigidity, and decrease linearly with saturation. Experimental results derived from this study will aid in the calibration and validation of multi-phase constitutive models for predicting the dynamic response of partially saturated porous media.

A soil-based cropping unit fuelled with human urine for long-term manned space missions was investigated with the aim to analyze whether a closed-loop nutrient cycle from human liquid wastes was achievable. Its ecohydrology and biogeochemistry were analysed in microgravity with the use of an advanced computational tool. Urine from the crew was used to supply primary (N, P, and K) and secondary (S, Ca and Mg) nutrients to wheat and soybean plants in the controlled cropping unit. Breakdown of urine compounds into primary and secondary nutrients as well as byproduct gases, adsorbed, and uptake fractions were tracked over a period of 20 years. Results suggested that human urine could satisfy the demand of at least 3 to 4 out of 6 nutrients with an offset in pH and salinity tolerable by plants. It was therefore inferred that a urine-fuelled life support system can introduce a number of advantages including: (1) recycling of liquids wastes and production of food; (2) forgiveness of neglect as compared to engineered electro-mechanical systems that may fail under unexpected or unplanned conditions; and (3) reduction of supply and waste loads during space missions.

The aim of this study was to devise an evidence-based scoring system for prioritizing mosaic aneuploid embryos for transfer. A retrospective analysis was performed of all sequential cytogenetic and molecular results on chorionic villi samples (n = 72,472) and products of conception (n = 3806) analysed at a single centre. The likelihood that a mosaic aneuploidy detected in chorionic villi samples will involve the fetus, the incidence of clinically significant fetal uniparental disomy in the presence of a mosaic in chorionic villi and the chance of the mosaicism culminating in miscarriage were used to generate a scoring system for prioritizing mosaic aneuploid embryos detected by preimplantation genetic screening. A composite score was obtained for each individual mosaic aneuploidy after assignment of an individual risk score based on the incidence/likelihood of each adverse outcome. A final additional score was assigned to viable full or mosaic aneuploidies with a well-defined phenotype. The higher the composite score the lower the priority for embryo transfer. In conclusion, due to the paucity of prospective studies on the actual transfer of mosaic aneuploid embryos, we suggest using this evidence-based scoring system to provide a useful tool for clinicians, embryologists and patients.

Author(s): Maggi, F; Fiona, FH; Riley, WJ | Abstract: Accurate prediction of the temperature response of the velocity v of a biochemical reaction has wide applications in cell biology, reaction design, and biomass yield enhancement. Here, we introduce a simple but comprehensive mechanistic approach that uses thermodynamics and biochemical kinetics to describe and link the reaction rate and Michaelis–Menten constants (kT and K T) with the biomass yield and mortality rate (YT and δT) as explicit functions of T. The temperature control is exerted by catabolic enthalpy at low temperatures and catabolic entropy at high temperatures, whereas changes in cell and enzyme–substrate heat capacity shift the anabolic electron use efficiency eA and the maximum reaction velocity vmax. We show that cells have optimal growth when the catabolic (differential) free energy of activation decreases the cell free energy harvest required to duplicate their internal structures as long as electrons for anabolism are available. With the described approach, we accurately predicted observed glucose fermentation and ammonium nitrification dynamics across a wide temperature range with a minimal number of thermodynamics parameters, and we highlight how kinetic parameters are linked to each other using first principles.

Glyphosate (GLP) herbicide leaching into soil can undergo abiotic degradation and two enzymatic oxidative or hydrolytic reactions in both aerobic and anaerobic conditions; biotic oxidation produces aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA). Both GLP and AMPA are phytotoxic. A comprehensive GLP degradation reaction network was developed from the literature to account for the above pathways, and fifteen experimental data sets were used to determine the corresponding Michaelis-Menten-Monod (MMM) kinetic parameters. Various sensitivity analyses were designed to assess GLP and AMPA degradation potential against O2 (aq) and carbon (C) availability, pH, and birnessite mineral content, and showed that bacteria oxidized or hydrolyzed up to 98% of GLP and only 9% of AMPA. Lack of a C source limited the GLP cometabolic hydrolytic pathways, which produces non-toxic byproducts and promotes AMPA biodegradation. Low bacterial activity in O2 (aq)-limited conditions or non-neutral pH resulted in GLP accumulation. Birnessite mineral catalyzed fast GLP and AMPA chemodegradation reaching alone efficiencies of 79% and 88%, respectively, regardless of the other variables and produced non-toxic byproducts. Overall, O2 (aq) and birnessite availability played the major roles in determining the partitioning of GLP and its byproducts mass fluxes across the reaction network, while birnessite, C availability, and pH affected GLP and AMPA biodegradation effectiveness.

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) framework is developed for modelling multiphase interactions at meso-scale, including the liquid–solid interaction induced deformation of the solid phase. With an inter-particle force formulation that mimics the inter-atomic force in molecular dynamics, the proposed framework includes the long-range attractions between particles, and more importantly, the short-range repulsive forces to avoid particle clustering and instability problems. Three-dimensional numerical studies have been conducted to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed framework to quantitatively replicate the surface tension of water, to model the interactions between immiscible liquids and solid, and more importantly, to simultaneously model the deformation of solid and liquid induced by the multiphase interaction. By varying inter-particle potential magnitude, the proposed SPH framework has successfully simulated various wetting properties ranging from hydrophobic to hydrophilic surfaces. The simulation results demonstrate the potential of the proposed framework to genuinely study complex multiphase interactions in wet granular media.

Current pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic curves are mostly developed to predict parameters of the Mualem-van Genuchten hydraulic functions. The Mualem-van Genuchten functions are recognised to be inadequate in representing soil water retention hydraulic conductivity curves at low pressure head ranges. This study presents neuroFX, a suite of PTFs, for estimating soil water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves from saturation to complete dryness based on the Fredlund-Xing-Wang (FXW) model. The PTFs were calibrated using the neuro-m neural networks approach with three different sets of inputs: (1) SSCBD uses the sand, silt, and clay fractions, and bulk density; (2) SSC uses the sand, silt and clay fractions, and (3) soil textural class input. NeuroFX PTFs were trained using fitted parameters of the FXW model from selected data in the UNSODA database and validated using 5-fold cross-validation that was repeated 10 times. NeuroFX provides an uncertainty estimate of hydraulic parameters. The prediction quality of neuroFX was compared with two existing PTFs: ROSETTA and Brunswick-Weber (BW) PTFs. Based on multiple criteria, we found that neuroFX performed better than ROSETTA and BW PTFs in the same test sample. NeuroFX PTF with the SSCBD input yielded the best prediction of soil water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves with RMSE in water content of 0.052 cm3 cm−3 and RMSE in log10(K) = 0.732 (in the magnitude of cm day−1), indicating the importance of including bulk density in the input of PTFs. NeuroFX was then used to map parameters of the FXW model for the whole of the continental USA over 6 depth intervals. The code of neuroFX in R software is available in Supplementary Material 1 .