Search Results (24)

Background/Objectives: This study compared the effects of high-resistance training (RT) programs, with or without curcumin supplementation, on variables commonly associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), including body composition, blood pressure, and metabolic parameters. Methods: Eighty-one older adults at risk of MetS (BMI > 25 kg/m², fat mass > 32%, and systolic blood pressure > 130 mmHg in half of the participants) were randomly assigned to six groups, which were comprised as follows: four experimental groups involving either accentuated eccentric or maximal strength RT with curcumin or placebo and two control groups receiving either curcumin or placebo. Experimental groups completed a 16-week full-body RT with elastic bands, while controls did not exercise. Results: The results showed that (I) all experimental protocols significantly reduced fat mass (p ≤ 0.001), with the maximal strength RT group supplemented with curcumin (Max-Cur) showing the greatest reduction, at 14.3%; (II) muscle gains were significant and comparable across experimental groups (p ≤ 0.008); (III) both systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased similarly across experimental groups (p ≤ 0.001); (IV) metabolic parameters significantly improved across experimental groups (p ≤ 0.037), except for creatinine, which showed an undesirable peak only in the Max-Cur group; (V) curcumin supplementation enhanced the effects of both RT programs; and (VI) between 54% and 100% of participants achieved clinically meaningful improvements in seven out of ten MetS-related variables across experimental groups. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that high-RT programs combined with curcumin supplementation positively impacted all MetS-related variables. The Max-Cur RT group stood out as the most beneficial, with the greatest fat mass reductions, highlighting this approach as a promising strategy to reduce the risk of MetS in older adults. Full article

Multimodal deception detection has received increasing attention from the scientific community in recent years, mainly due to growing ethical and security issues, as well as the growing use of digital media. A great number of deception detection methods have been proposed in several domains, such as political elections, security contexts, and job interviews. However, a systematic analysis of the current situation and the evaluation and future directions of deception detection based on cues coming from multiple modalities seems to be lacking. This paper, starting from a description of methods and metrics used for the analysis and evaluation of multimodal deception detection on video, provides a vision of future directions in this field. For the analysis, the PRISMA recommendations are followed, which allow the collection and synthesis of all the available research on the topic and the extraction of information on the multimodal features, the fusion methods, the classification approaches, the evaluation datasets, and metrics. The results of this analysis contribute to the assessment of the state of the art and the evaluation of evidence on important research questions in multimodal deceptive deception. Moreover, they provide guidance on future research in the field. Full article

Interest in detecting deceptive behaviours by various application fields, such as security systems, political debates, advanced intelligent user interfaces, etc., makes automatic deception detection an active research topic. This interest has stimulated the development of many deception-detection methods in the literature in recent years. This work systematically reviews the literature focused on facial cues of deception. The most relevant methods applied in the literature of the last decade have been surveyed and classified according to the main steps of the facial-deception-detection process (video pre-processing, facial feature extraction, and decision making). Moreover, datasets used for the evaluation and future research directions have also been analysed. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to the education sector, forcing schools at a worldwide level to quickly adapt their activities to remote learning. Despite the obstacles and challenges, the pandemic also represented an opportunity for reflection and innovation in education. A survey with 558 teachers from primary and middle schools in several regions of Italy was carried out to analyse challenges and lessons learned by Italian schools, aiming to improve the quality of digital education. The lessons learned highlighted the importance of developing strategies to address challenges such as the necessary infrastructure, digital skills, student engagement, collaboration, and personalised online learning. On the one hand, government-initiated interventions, like the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, aim to bridge the digital divide and improve education quality. On the other hand, the potentialities of immersive technologies like the Metaverse can provide exciting opportunities for interactive and engaging learning experiences, encouraging interaction and collaboration among students. Full article

Avocado embryogenic cultures were selected for resistance to the culture filtrate (CF) of Rosellinia necatrix, the causal agent of White Root Rot disease. A resistant callus line was obtained through recurrent selections in progressively increasing concentrations of fungal CF (from 60% to 80%). RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology was used to compare the transcriptomic profiles of the avocado embryogenic-callus-resistant line L3 (capable to survive in the presence of 80% CF) and control line AN-9 (not exposed to CF), after 24 h of growth in a medium containing 40% CF. A total of 25,211 transcripts were obtained, of which 4,918 and 5,716 were differentially expressed in the resistant and control line, respectively. Interestingly, exposure of embryogenic callus lines to 40% of R. necatrix exudates induced genes previously reported to be related to avocado defense against fungal diseases (lignin biosynthesis, Pathogenesis Related (PR) proteins, WRKY (WRKYGQK) Transcription Factor (TF), NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) TF, proteinase inhibitors and Ethylene Response Transcription Factor (ERF), among others), which were accumulated in greater amounts in the resistant line in comparison to the susceptible one. This research will contribute to the understanding of avocado defense against this pathogen, thereby aiding in the selection of resistant avocado rootstocks. Full article

In the last 20 years, an increased interest has been shown in the application of different types and combinations of enzymes to obtain phenolic extracts from grape pomace in order to maximize its valorization. Within this framework, the present study aims at improving the recovery of phenolic compounds from Merlot and Garganega pomace and at contributing to the scientific background of enzyme-assisted extraction. Five commercial cellulolytic enzymes were tested in different conditions. Phenolic compound extraction yields were analyzed via a Design of Experiments (DoE) methodology and a second extraction step with acetone was sequentially added. According to DoE, 2% w/w enzyme/substrate ratio was more effective than 1%, allowing a higher total phenol recovery, while the effect of incubation time (2 or 4 h) variation was more enzyme-dependent. Extracts were characterized via spectrophotometric and HPLC-DAD analyses. The results proved that enzymatic and acetone Merlot and Garganega pomace extracts were complex mixtures of compounds. The use of different cellulolytic enzymes led to different extract compositions, as demonstrated using PCA models. The enzyme effects were observed both in water enzymatic and in the subsequent acetone extracts, probably due to their specific grape cell wall degradation and leading to the recovery of different molecule arrays. Full article

During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions around the world were forced to move from face-to-face lessons to distance learning. The application of distance learning fostered the use of new tools and applications that impacted the school system and produced several challenges to be addressed. This paper provides an analysis of distance learning tools that have been used during COVID-19 in Italian schools and the related emerging needs and challenges. A quantitative survey was carried out by using a standardized online questionnaire that involved 420 Italian teachers of different ages, gender, and teaching areas. This survey collected information about experiences, opportunities, and challenges of distance learning, used tools, and students’ inclusion and involvement. In addition, this work analyses emerging technologies and how they can be integrated into distance learning tools to overcome the identified challenges. Full article

This study aims to understand people’s behavior when searching for online health information (and COVID-19 information) and their perception of the trustworthiness and credibility of the searched information, the actors, and sources used to obtain it. A questionnaire addressed to people who permanently live in Italy between ages 19 and 60 has been used to collect data. Data extracted from the analysis are reassuring from the point of view of trust and credibility both in the actors and in the sources used to obtain information on health and COVID-19. A correlation between the analyzed individual features, the online health information-seeking behavior, and perception resulted from the analysis. The study also underlined a positive correlation between the perception of the influence of information on the knowledge of health problems and the ability to identify false online health information, and between the experience in detecting false health online information and the ability to detect it. Finally, a positive correlation also resulted between the experience in finding online health information and the experience in finding false COVID-19 information. Full article

The annual movements of migratory birds can contribute to the spread of African ticks and tick-borne pathogens of potential public health concern across Europe. The aim of the study was to investigate their role in the possible introduction of African ticks and tick-borne pathogens into European countries during spring migration. A total of 2344 ticks were collected during three spring seasons from 1079 birds captured on three Italian stop-over islands during their northbound migration. Once identified, each tick was tested by RT-PCR for the presence of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHFV), West Nile (WNV), and Usutu (USUV) viruses. Moreover, carcasses of birds found dead were collected and tested for the possible presence of WNV and USUV. Results confirmed a higher contribution of trans-Saharan migrants compared to intra-Palearctic ones and the prevalence of African tick species in the sample. CCHFV was detected for the second time in Italy in a Hyalomma rufipes, and WNV was found in two ticks of the same genus, all carried by trans-Saharan birds. WNV lineage 1 was also found in the organs of a Garden warbler. These results confirm the role of migratory birds in carrying African ticks, as well as viruses of zoonotic importance, from Africa into Europe. Full article

The research focuses on identifying challenges and lessons from distance learning experiences in Italy during COVID-19, on opportunities emerging from a more digitalized school in the post-COVID-19 crisis, and on preparedness for potential future emergencies. The study aims to analyze different teachers’ experiences, perceptions, and perspectives on distance learning and provide suggestions for addressing crises and emergencies. An online survey based on a semi-structured questionnaire was conducted targeting primary and secondary school teachers and including schools whose students are only from urban contexts and schools where students are also from rural areas. The main results indicated that teachers were resilient and proactive and found strategies and good practices to deal with distance learning, although several open technological and pedagogical challenges remain unsolved. Finally, some recommended priority actions for stakeholders and policymakers have been provided to face these challenges and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. Full article

This paper analyses the role of information and communications technology (ICT) in supporting the implementation of the actions to be undertaken by the various actors of the Quadruple Helix (science, policy, industry, and society) in case of a disaster through the lens of sustainable development. A two-step methodology consisting of an online forum discussion with experts from SSH and ICT fields and a desk analysis of sustainable development goals and ICT tools for disaster management has been adopted. A set of actions that Quadruple Helix actors should implement under the ten sustainable development goals related to disaster risk reduction is provided in the paper. The role of ICT in favouring the implementation of the actions for achieving the sustainable development goals is underlined. Full article

The effect of different exercises on the position of pelvic organs in women has not been sufficiently assessed. The objective was to analyze the validity and reliability of a new two-dimensional ultrasound algorithm to measure offline the displacement of the bladder base during abdominal exercises. This algorithm could be a useful method to future studies in determine the most appropriate exercises in sports and in rehabilitative program for the pelvic floor in women. All subjects were tested by transverse transabdominal ultrasound. The measurements were conducted offline using a customized code written in MATLAB (Ecolab) for image-processing, and manually on the ultrasound monitor using electronic calipers. The agreement was assessed with a paired t-test, Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (r), the Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC), the intraclass correlation coefficient ICC (A,2) and a Bland–Altman plot. The reliability was confirmed by the interdays intra-rater ICC coefficient. The results were that Ecolab and ultrasound transducer measures did not differ statistically (p = 0.246). Furthermore, both methods showed a very strong relationship, and the Ecolab demonstrated to be a valid and reliable method. We concluded that Ecolab seemed to be a valid and reliable tool to assess the effect of abdominal contractions in the female pelvic floor. Full article

Emotion classification is a research area in which there has been very intensive literature production concerning natural language processing, multimedia data, semantic knowledge discovery, social network mining, and text and multimedia data mining. This paper addresses the issue of emotion classification and proposes a method for classifying the emotions expressed in multimodal data extracted from videos. The proposed method models multimodal data as a sequence of features extracted from facial expressions, speech, gestures, and text, using a linguistic approach. Each sequence of multimodal data is correctly associated with the emotion by a method that models each emotion using a hidden Markov model. The trained model is evaluated on samples of multimodal sentences associated with seven basic emotions. The experimental results demonstrate a good classification rate for emotions. Full article

Online reviews have become a fundamental element in searching for and buying a tourism service. In particular, in the phase of post-pandemic caused by the COVID-19, social media are important channels of inspiration of dreams and encouragement to begin envisioning future trips. However, the growing trend of fake reviews is becoming a big issue for consumers. This study proposes and empirically validates a new model that enables predicting consumers’ Credibility Perception of Online Reviews (CPOR) related to tourism, considering all integrated factors of the communication process. A survey was carried out via a structured questionnaire. In particular, 615 answers from Italian travel groups were collected, and correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that the website brand, advisor’s expertise, reviews’ sidedness and consistency, and consumer experience are significant predictors of CPOR. Website usability and reputation are instead weak predictors. This study provides the design and test of a credibility model, contributing to the theoretical and empirical advancement of the literature and enhancing the knowledge on consumer behavior. Full article

The increasing use of social media and the recent advances in geo-positioning technologies have produced a great amount of geosocial data, consisting of spatial, textual, and social information, to be managed and queried. In this paper, we focus on the issue of query processing by providing a systematic literature review of geosocial data representations, query processing methods, and evaluation approaches published over the last two decades (2000–2020). The result of our analysis shows the categories of geosocial queries proposed by the surveyed studies, the query primitives and the kind of access method used to retrieve the result of the queries, the common evaluation metrics and datasets used to evaluate the performance of the query processing methods, and the main open challenges that should be faced in the near future. Due to the ongoing interest in this research topic, the results of this survey are valuable to many researchers and practitioners by gaining an in-depth understanding of the geosocial querying process and its applications and possible future perspectives. Full article