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Purpose: The Comprehensive assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (CompACT) is a 23-item questionnaire measuring psychological flexibility, a quality of life protective factor. An 18-item version was recently produced. We assessed validity and reliability of CompACT, and equivalence of paper and electronic (eCompACT) versions in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) in Italy, Germany and Spain. Methods: We used confirmatory factor analysis and assessed CompACT-23 and CompACT-18 measurement invariance between the three language versions. We assessed construct validity (Spearman's correlations) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). Test–retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC) and equivalence of paper and eCompACT (ICC and linear regression model for repeated measures) were assessed in subsamples of PwMS. Results: A total of 725 PwMS completed the study. The three-factor structure of the CompACT-23 showed poor fit (RMSEA 0.07; CFI 0.82; SRMR 0.08), while the fit of the CompACT-18 was good (RMSEA 0.05; CFI 0.93; SRMR 0.05). Configural and partial metric invariance were confirmed, as well as partial scalar invariance (reached when five items were allowed to vary freely). The CompACT-18 showed good internal consistency (all alpha ≥ 0.78); and test–retest reliability (all ICCs ≥ 0.86). Equivalence between paper and eCompACT was excellent (all ICCs ≥ 0.86), with no mode, order, or interaction effects. Conclusion: Results support using the refined CompACT-18 as a three-factor measure of psychological flexibility in PwMS. Paper and eCompACT-18 versions are equivalent. CompACT-18 can be used cross-culturally, but sub-optimal scalar invariance suggests that direct comparison between the three language versions should be interpreted with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The estimation of the slope (b -value) of the frequency–magnitude distribution of earthquakes is based on a formula derived by Aki decades ago, assuming a continuous exponential distribution. However, as the magnitude is usually provided with a limited resolution, its distribution is not continuous but discrete. In the literature, this problem was initially solved by an empirical correction (due to Utsu) to the minimum magnitude, and later by providing an exact formula such as that by Tinti and Mulargia, based on the geometric distribution theory. A recent paper by van der Elst showed that the b -value can be estimated also by considering the magnitude differences (which are proven to follow an exponential discrete Laplace distribution) and that in this case the estimator is more resilient to the incompleteness of the magnitude data set. In this work, we provide the complete theoretical formulation including (i) the derivation of the means and standard deviations of the discrete exponential and Laplace distributions; (ii) the estimators of the decay parameter of the discrete exponential and trimmed Laplace distributions and (iii) the corresponding formulas for the parameter b. We deduce (iv) the standard 1 σ intervals for the estimated b. Moreover, we are able (v) to quantify the error associated with the Utsu minimum-magnitude correction. Furthermore, we have discussed the formulas to produce statistically independent magnitude differences. We tested extensively the b -value estimators on simulated synthetic data sets including complete catalogues as well as catalogues affected by a strong incompleteness degree such as aftershock sequences where the incompleteness is made to vary from one event to the next. We have also analysed the real aftershock sequence of the 30/10/2016 Norcia (central Italy) to integrate the finding of the simulations. To judge the performance of the various estimators we have introduced an index p that can be seen as a non-parametric extension of the Student's t index. The main outcomes of this paper are that (1) the b -value estimators devised for continuous magnitude data are not adequate for binned magnitudes, (2) for complete data sets, estimators based on magnitudes and on magnitude differences provide substantially equivalent results, (3) for incomplete magnitude data sets, estimators based on magnitude differences provide better results and (4) for incomplete aftershock sequences there is no evidence that methods based on positive magnitude differences are superior than other methods using differences. This conclusion is further confirmed by our analysis of the above-mentioned Norcia seismic sequence. This last finding contrasts with the van der Elst's claim that the so called |${{b}_ + }$| method is the most adequate to treat real aftershock sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy is famous worldwide for its co-operative sector, and this firm model has proven to be efficacious in redressing many social inequalities over the past two centuries. This paper aims to examine how local communities in diverse regions have adapted this traditional form to the contemporary trend of bottom-up community development processes. Furthermore, the paper compares the Italian initiatives with the international literature on community co-operatives and assesses to which extend similarities and differences are viewable. The qualitative analysis considers 7 co-operatives in various areas of Italy, and analyses result from 15 semi-structured interviews with managers. Findings show the intense work undertaken before the co-operatives' registration, the negotiation of purposes and objectives with external partners, how founder groups have a key role in determining each firm's approach to local development, and how further networks with external subjects are deeply influence the co-operatives' work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the aerosol in-situ laboratory at CIAO (CNR IMAA Atmospheric Observatory) in South Italy, outlining its configuration and detailing each instrument and sampling lines. The CIAO observatory has been collecting observations of atmospheric components since 2000. Initially the activities revolved around aerosol lidar, later radiosounding and cloud remote sensing observations were added over the years and made CIAO a leading atmospheric observatory in the Mediterranean region. In 2018, a significant upgrade started for enhancing the observational capability by adding aerosol in-situ instruments, with the objective to push new research boundaries for aerosol characterization and multi-instrumental synergistic approaches. Here, we describe each technical implementation step for building up an extensive aerosol in-situ laboratory compliant with ACTRIS (Aerosol Clouds and Trace gases Research InfraStructure) standard operating procedures. Starting from scratch, the long path initiated in 2018, with the design of the laboratory in terms of instruments, container organization, inlets and sampling lines optimizations, that required time and interactions with experts in the field. Reporting here all the details about the final solutions implemented at CIAO, this paper will be, for new aerosol in-situ laboratory, a practical guide for the implementation of the aerosol in-situ observational site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper illustrates the LIBMOVIT project – Libraries on the Move: Scholars, Books, Ideas Traveling in Italy in the 18th Century – whose main research focus is the European Eighteenth century socio-cultural framework in which the library as an institution acquired an historical, social, public and dynamic dimension. This context will be analysed through a study of the Eighteenth century sources connected to the learned journey experience of the Grand Tour, in particular those contained in the Angiolo Tursi collection – one of the largest travel literature collections in Italy – held at the Marciana national library in Venice. The paper presents the planned approach of the research: first, a classification and an organization of a corpus of relevant documents for the knowledge of travel literature in connection to the libraries world will be created; in particular, the sources will be identified, further bibliographical information will be added, and new sources will be integrated to the corpus and selected documents will be digitized. After that, the research will proceed through a double analysis – traditional and computational – of the texts collected in the corpus is to be developed. First, all the library and bibliographical aspects described by travellers will be studied according to the traditional approach in humanities research to collect important information about the history of libraries (location, decoration, catalogues, opening hours, access, collections, cited books and documents), the travellers and their companions (professions, nationality, reason to travel), the people met (scholars, librarians, superintendents) and the subjects and ideas discussed during the visits in the libraries. Second, the texts will be computationally analysed through several Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, starting from the automatic text recognition until arriving to more complex lexical and terminological analysis and Named Entity Recognition (NER). This work is meant to support the previously described qualitative study and will also allow to produce Linked open data about the domain entities (e.g. libraries, people, books) in view of their publication in the semantic web in order to ease and promote their exploration, visualisation and reuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the relationship between religion and football has gained considerable interest during the last twenty years, scant attention has been paid to the relationship between pilgrimage and football. This paper seeks to advance the study of this relationship through an exploration of collective memory about football disasters that throws fresh light on central themes within pilgrimage studies—pilgrimage as both a journey to a sacred place and the performance of diverse rituals at such places. The paper explores, in particular, the ways in which three different tragedies involving English football clubs have been commemorated through journeys to and ritual performance at places seen as sacred to those involved in commemoration—football stadiums and urban spaces, and cathedrals and pilgrimage shrines in England, Germany and Italy. Through this analysis, we seek to show how the commemoration of football disaster is linked to pilgrimage as a process where people seek healing and reconciliation through the public performance of rituals that link the local to the global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human geographers have analyzed the co-constitutive relationship between race, gender and sexualities across different spaces and social contexts and have called for intersectional approaches in discussions of identities, power and space. This article applies an intersectional framework to the processes of sexualization, racialization and exoticization that shape the daily lives and erotic/romantic encounters experienced and narrated by participants to two different projects: gay and bisexual men from a North African background living in Belgium; Italian gay men living in England; non-White gay men living in Italy. By discussing qualitative data collected during interviews with these men, and through a continued dialogue about this data between the authors, the paper explores both the effects of these processes on the lives of participants, and the strategies they enact to navigate their social worlds. The focus is on two elements, central to participants' narratives: the specificity of the intersectional experience of encountering men who expect a specifically gendered and racialized performance based on 'roughness' and 'wildness', and the capitalization on these exoticizing and racializing images to increase one's desirability on the dating/hook-up scene and everyday social and work life. By highlighting these elements, this paper shows the importance of applying an intersectional approach to analyses of the entanglements of racialization and sexualization in order to complicate linear accounts of these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to offer an analysis on how Italian places act as key narrative units in Japanese manga. Building on a quantitative and qualitative corpus study, the paper investigates how culturally salient locations are embedded in these narratives. It is first shown that authors develop salient locations ("places") as distinct entities playing key roles within narrative structures. It is then shown that these representations of places follow principles of cultural relevance, popularity, historical and geographical faithfulness. This is the case because authors creating manga set in Italy share knowledge and appreciation of Italian places and their cultural import with readers. These results are framed in a theory of geo-criticism and in a possible worlds analysis of places in fiction, hereby extended to graphic narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less than 2% of physicians complete a research training (PhD) after the residency with a declining trend in those pursuing a clinical scientist pathway in pediatrics. The exposure to research methodology during the clinical training may play a role in engaging the next generations of pediatric physician scientist. Herein, we describe the experience of the Padova Physician Scientist Research Training (PPSRT) of the pediatric residency program at the University of Padova. The PPSRT was addressed to residents attending PGY2 to PGY4 of the pediatric program and consisted of two cores: a general one including in person or virtual lectures about research methodology in pediatrics including design of a clinical trial, writing of a scientific paper and statistical methods, and a subspecialties core for the discussion of research challenges in each area and the scientific writing activities. The perceived barriers to a research training and an evaluation of the program were assessed by an anonymized questionnaire. Sixty-four out 150 residents registered for the research training with 62/64 completing the two cores. The major perceived barrier to research during clinical training was the absence of protected time (89%) followed by the lack of specific funds (37%). The group activities lead to the publication of 24 papers. Conclusion: This is the first experience in the Italian pediatric training of a dedicated research program within the frame of postgraduate medical education. Our report highlights the need for protected time to promote research interest and nurture a new generation of physician scientists. What is Known: • Training to medical research is not part of residency program. • The declining trend of physician scientists might be reverted by early exposure to research methodology and challenges during residency. What is New: • An early exposure to research training during pediatric residency increases the research engagement of pediatric residents. • The lack of protected time for research is perceived as the major barrier to research training during residency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a meta-analysis of 29 studies run using the Mind Genomics approach to quantify how respondents react to messaging and how their reaction impacts decision-making in social psychology experimental research areas. The Mind Genomics studies used were performed during the 2020-2022 period in the USA, Italy, Spain, Albania, and other countries of the Mediterranean basin. The paper focuses on identifying gender differences in response time and evaluations of messages on different topics calculated by the Mind Genomics-Artificial Intelligence system. Further, the meta-analysis results are based on Kahneman's (2011) study results. The study's general result demonstrates that male and female participants' thinking is intuitive, automatic, and emotionally oriented. The study also confirms that the gender's response time does not affect the results of the experiment. In addition, is argued that genderbased perceptions differ according to the topic and are considered relevant in decision-making on some topics. These study results can be used to predict the experiment's results for new participants without having them repeat the entire experimental procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on a Horizon 2020 research project on the enhancement of migrant children's ability to contribute to the change of their conditions of integration in the education system in seven countries (Children Hybrid Integration: Learning Dialogue as a way of Upgrading Policies of Participation, CHILD‐UP; GA 822400). The paper draws on data collected in vocational schools, with adolescents aged 14–16, in Italy. It draws on transcribed interactions to analyse activities in school classrooms in which facilitators support migrant adolescent's agency in producing narratives of their personal cultural trajectories. The paper shows how facilitators and adolescents share the rights of telling the narratives, the gender differences that become visible in the adolescents' narratives, and the ways in which facilitation supports the hybrid integration of migrant adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies US-Italian 'stay-behind' cooperation between 1943 and 1976, when it was terminated, within the context of US covert anti-communist activities in Italy. The paper first provides an overview of the operational activities jointly conducted by the US and Italian intelligence between 1943 and 1947, while detailing the US penetrations of the Italian intelligence system and the early stages of development of a US covert network. Subsequently, it delineates the proliferation of US covert anti-communist networks in north-east Italy, the rise of S/B cooperation and its institutionalisation in the Gladio agreement, as well as the CIA pressures for 'offsets' in exchange for its financial support of the Italian S/B programme. In the third part, after analysing the temporary hiatus in US intelligence covert activities, the paper describes the decline and end of US-Italian S/B cooperation and the stepping up of covert operations by both the CIA and the US military intelligence. It demonstrates that Gladio did not occupy a central role in US covert operations against communism until 1976 and that CIA pressures on the Italian military intelligence represented an opportunistic attempt at maximising the 'return' on the financial investment in the Italian S/B programme. The article concludes by summarising the pattern of US intelligence activities in Italy in the period under scrutiny and the role of Gladio, and laying out implications for theory-development in the realm of intelligence cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the knowledge network structure of foreign research literature by applying the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method to the field of information science and library science (ISLS) from the perspective of the cocitation of social network actors such as authors, institutions, countries, and literature, and it further reveals the future application trends of this method. [Method/process] Based on 86 journals in the ISLS field that were downloaded from the Web of Science using the QCA method, the social network analysis (SNA) method and the visual analysis tool Gephi are used to analyse the author cooperation network, the research institution cooperation network, the national cooperation network, the cocitation network, the cutting-edge trends, etc., of journal papers. The analysis shows that the QCA method covers a wide range within the field of ISLS, but the research topics involved in this field are not concentrated, and the author cooperation network has scale-free characteristics. The application of the QCA method is still dominant in European and American countries, and China, the USA, and Italy all play key roles in the national cooperation network. Finally, the institutional cooperation network has certain small group attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the ambitious goal of "carbon neutrality", countries around the world are striving to develop clean energy. Against this background, this paper takes China and Italy as representatives of developing and developed countries to summarize the energy structure composition and development overview of the two countries. The paper analyzes the serious challenges facing the future energy development of both countries and investigates the possibilities of energy cooperation between the two countries, taking into account their respective advantages in energy development. By comparing the policies issued by the two governments to encourage clean energy development, this paper analyzes the severe challenges faced by the two countries' energy development in the future and combines their respective energy development advantages to look forward to the possibility of energy cooperation between the two countries in the future. This lays the foundation for China and Italy to build an "Energy Road" after the "Silk Road". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, ventilation in buildings was not always given its due importance. The World Health Organization has highlighted the important role of air exchange with the outdoors in improving the air quality in buildings; buildings should, therefore, be equipped with mechanical ventilation or adequate air conditioning systems. This paper aims to investigate different retrofit solutions for air conditioning, evaluating them in terms of energy consumption and cost and the impact of increased outdoor air exchange rates on countering the propagation of COVID-19; the latter is the main novelty of the paper. As a case study, we take an existing office building located in Central Italy that was previously not equipped with a mechanical ventilation system (a system with primary air was introduced during the study). The energy analysis was conducted using dynamic simulation software after validation through energy bills; energy and economic analyses were conducted considering different external-air exchange rates. An optimal number of outdoor air changes was found to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection, a finding in line with the international literature. The increase in air changes with outdoor air leads to a rise in energy consumption and costs. These values were evaluated for different air conditioning systems and operational schedules. These drawbacks can be made less significant by combining interventions in the system with energy-efficiency measures applied to the building envelope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On-orbit servicing and on-orbit assembly represent very appealing mission concepts that could facilitate the exploitation of the space environment. Autonomy is a critical requirement for systems aimed at the execution of these operations. The development of enabling technologies for this type of missions is a focal research topic for the global space community. The AUTOMA project (University of Padua, Italy) aims at the development of technologies to enable the on-orbit assembly of a standardized modular unit by means of a robotic arm. The goal is the development of a capture interface, composed of a gripper mechanism and a suite of close-range navigation sensors (a navcam, four time-of-flight sensors, two custom matrix sensors based on a set of phototransistors), and the mock-up of a modular assembly unit. The paper prevalently focuses on the conspicuous series of tests that has been performed at subsystem level for the characterization of the two custom matrix sensors, both in terms of their resolution and range of application. In particular, the test campaign has proven how the in-plane matrix sensor provides information about lateral misalignment and relative distance with a resolution of a few millimetres while the roll matrix sensor provides information about the angular roll misalignment with a resolution dependent on the distance between the two bodies. In addition, an analytical relation for the computation of the relative distance through the information provided by the in-plane matrix has been investigated. • Capture interface composed of a gripper mechanism and a suite of close-range navigation sensors. • Design of a standardized unit mock-up for modular assembly. • Custom sensors based on a matrix of phototransistors activated by an infrared LED beacon counterpart. • Testing campaign aimed at the characterization of the custom matrix sensors. • Analysis of a relation for the retrieval of the relative distance based on the number of phototransistors activated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present a comparative study of the civil society reaction to right-wing populism in power through social media, by looking at cases in Italy and the United Kingdom. The research question is how social movements are implementing a process of reactive political identity construction – i.e. political identification – and a political counter-strategy by opposing right-wing populism in power through their Facebook official accounts. It implements a mixed-method research design with in-depth semi-structured interviews and a two-step quantitative text analysis based on Topic Model and Dictionary Method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eugippius' Life of Severinus is a text in which society is described through the dichotomy between Romans and barbarians. In this paper, I examine how exactly Eugippius imagines this polarity and to what rhetorical and persuasive ends he employs it. In particular, I focus on his complex portrayal of the barbarians which reveals his views on what place they might occupy in the Roman and Christian vision of history and politics. By examining the social and political ideas in the Life of Severinus we can trace how the hagiographer perceived the disintegrating societies of the West in the fifth and sixth centuries and what attitudes he advocated that could help de-escalate violence and overcome divisions. Finally, I discuss the extent to which Eugippius' representation of the relationship between Romans and barbarians corresponded to the interests and anxieties of his Italian audience living under Ostrogothic rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes the optimal lockdown policy using the SQAIRD model over a network with three population groups (young, adult, and old). We show that different lockdown policies may be justified by different socioeconomic structures (objective cost functions that are either convex or concave). We also show that a lockdown policy is always better than a laissez-faire policy, and a targeted policy specific to each group outperforms a uniform policy. In our benchmark example, we consider the case of Italy. Our simulations show that: (a) a lockdown policy is always better than the laissez-faire policy because it limits the costs generated by the pandemic in an uncontrolled situation; (b) a group-specific targeted lockout policy is more effective than a uniform policy to the extent that the groups differ. The latter is a less expensive targeted policy (as it optimally minimizes direct, indirect, and vaccination costs), and it is equally effective in controlling the pandemic. One finding of particular interest is that the optimal lockdown rate should be higher for the young and elderly than for adults. This is motivated by the fact that younger individuals are more likely to spread the virus in question asymptomatically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Potentially inappropriate polypharmacy (PIP) is among the major factors leading to adverse drug reactions, increased healthcare costs, reduced medication adherence, and worsened patient conditions. This study aims to identify existing interventions implemented to monitor and manage polypharmacy in the Italian setting. Methods: A systematic literature review (PROSPERO: CRD42023457049) was carried out according to the PRISMA statement guidelines. PubMed, Embase, ProQuest, and Web of Science were queried without temporal constraints, encompassing all published papers until October 2023. Inclusion criteria followed the PICO model: patients with polypharmacy; interventions to monitor/manage polypharmacy regimen versus no/any intervention; outcomes in terms of intervention effectiveness and cost variation. Results: After duplicate deletion, 153 potentially relevant publications were extracted. Following abstract and full-text screenings, nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Overall, 78% (n = 7) were observational studies, 11% (n = 1) were experimental studies, and 11% (n = 1) were two-phase studies. A total of 44% (n = 4) of the studies involved patients aged ≥ 65 years, while 56% (n = 5) were disease-specific. Monitoring was the most prevalent choice of intervention (67%; n = 6). Outcomes were mainly related to levels of polypharmacy (29%; n = 6) and comorbidities (29%; n = 6), effectiveness rates (14%; n = 3), and avoidable costs (9%; n = 2). Conclusions: This review outlines that Italy is still lacking in interventions to monitor/manage PIP, addressing an unmet need in developing patient-tailored strategies for reducing health-system burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of removing 3D effects as one of the most challenging problems related to 2D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) monitoring of embankment structures. When processing 2D ERT monitoring data measured along linear profiles, it is fundamental to estimate and correct the distortions introduced by the non-uniform 3D geometry of the embankment. Here, I adopt an iterative 3D correction plus 2D inversion procedure to correct the 3D effects and I test the validity of the proposed algorithm using both synthetic and real data. The modelled embankment is inspired by a critical section of the Parma River levee in Colorno (PR), Italy, where a permanent ERT monitoring system has been in operation since November 2018. For each model of the embankment, reference synthetic data were produced in Res2dmod and Res3dmod for the corresponding 2D and 3D models. Using the reference synthetic data, reference 3D effects were calculated to be compared with 3D effects estimated by the proposed algorithm at each iteration. The results of the synthetic tests showed that even in the absence of a priori information, the proposed algorithm for correcting 3D effects converges rapidly to ideal corrections. Having validated the proposed algorithm through synthetic tests, the method was applied to the ERT monitoring data in the study site to remove 3D effects. Two real datasets from the study site, taken after dry and rainy periods, are discussed here. The results showed that 3D effects cause about ±50% changes in the inverted resistivity images for both periods. This is a critical artifact considering that the final objective of ERT monitoring data for such studies is to produce water content maps to be integrated in alarm systems for hydrogeological risk mitigation. The proposed algorithm to remove 3D effects is thus a rapid and validated solution to satisfy near-real-time data processing and to produce reliable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Projectile implements are one of the most frequent transformed lithic blanks within the Upper Paleolithic assemblages. Since the first taxonomic studies, their morphological variability has been used as primary fossil director to define specific regional trends and diachronic phases. However, an exhaustive analysis of manufacturing methods and techniques applied to shape this gear category is extremely rare. In fact, during the Late Epigravettian, except for a certain typological variability, the lack of detailed studies resulted in an apparent homogeneity in armatures production. In this paper, a technological and traceological approach applied to reconstruct the whole chaîne opératoire of armatures manufacture in three Northern Italian sites dated between 17,000 and 12,000 cal BP demonstrates important variations in how projectile implements are fashioned, concerning shape, production methods and retouch techniques. Moreover, a large-scale comparison suggests how renewals in projectile implements production in North-Eastern Italy may result from long-distance connections between human groups over the western Late Epigravettian territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Italian shellfish industry mainly comprises clams, mussels, and oysters. While clam production thrives and Italy leads Europe, mussel farming faces economic challenges. Oyster production is relatively new and holds potential. Sustainable development is crucial for meeting growing seafood demand while ensuring resource conservation and food safety. This paper, part of the VALUE-SHELL project funded by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (MASAF) as part of support activities for the National Strategic Plan of Aquaculture, combines desk research on industry structure and public interventions using a collaborative approach involving stakeholder interviews and focus groups with producers and local entities to assess the sector's most compelling needs. The collaborative process highlighted key challenges across the following four sustainability pillars: environmental (global warming, predator control, and pollution mitigation are critical concerns for ecosystem balance); economic (increased production costs and limited diversification opportunities affect profitability); social (fear of generational decline due to limited training and education opportunities poses a threat to the industry's future); and institutional (lack of a dedicated aquaculture law and fragmented governance hinder long-term planning). The project identifies policy bottlenecks hindering the sector's potential, caused by not fully addressing producer needs. Sustainable development strategies are essential for addressing these challenges and ensuring the Italian shellfish industry's future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community Development (CD) is a process to favour the socio-economic development of communities through the engagement of citizens, social workers, public authorities or non-profit organizations. Over the last decades, theories and practices of the CD have spread all over the world. Italy has a consistent "Third Sector" (TS) with a long-standing tradition; Despite the absence of a well-defined area of the Italian CD, in recent years, particularly within the so-called Third Sector (TS), there has been to develop characterizes of the CD. This paper aims to theorize the features of the CD in the Italian TS. The research engages representatives of 23 organizations—from neighbourhood associations to foundations and national bodies—and investigates through qualitative semi-structured interviews how they promote and conceptualize CD processes. Through the framework of international theories, it is possible to define the field of the CD in the Italian TS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the evolution of unaccompanied minors' (UMs') decisions and migratory experiences after arrival in Italy through Libya. Until now, research has not longitudinally documented UMs' decision-making processes and experiences during their migration in Europe. We draw on data collected within the ERC-ChildMove project, a multi-sited and follow-up study, and used a trajectory approach (Schapendonk et al. [2020]. "Re-Routing Migration Geographies: Migrants, Trajectories and Mobility Regimes." Geoforum; Journal of Physical, Human, and Regional Geosciences 116: 211–216.) to analyse in-depth interviews initially conducted with thirty-nine participants that were followed across Europe over a two-year period. We use the notion of 'mobility-in-migration' (Veale and Donà [2014]. Child and Youth Migration: Mobility-in-Migration in an Era of Globalization. Springer.) to question UMs' migratory decisions and analyse the periods of mobility and immobility experienced during these trajectories. Our findings indicate that UMs' decisions in Europe are heavily influenced by the quality of formal support and care, the length and outcomes of legal procedures, and trans-local support networks. The study analyses how such factors may repeatedly re-route or distort initially planned trajectories, produce involuntary mobility or end the minors' trajectories. Finally, the paper demonstrates that periods of mobility and immobility coexist at different local scales within the overall migration trajectory of unaccompanied minors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Italy, the selenopid spider Selenops radiatus Latreille, 1819, was hitherto only known from the Aeolian Archipelago (northeastern Sicily), with a record from the island of Alicudi and plausible sightings from the island of Filicudi. In this paper, we present twentysix new records from Sicily sensu stricto and its satellite islands, consisting of observations gathered from online naturalist networks and one adult specimen collected from the area where most observations were made. Nearly all records were made in buildings or similar artificial habitats, supporting the hypothesis that occurrences of S. radiatus are mainly limited to synanthropic environments in Sicily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Carlevale lens (FIL SSF, Soleko IOL Division, Italy) is a new lens for suture-less scleral fixation. This paper aimed to systematically review articles on this lens, the surgical techniques used for its implantation, complications and outcomes. Methods: This systematic review was performed following the PRISMA guidelines. The search string used was "Carlevale" AND "scleral fixation" from inception until March 2024. For completeness, either case-control studies, case reports or case series written in English were included. The authors used the Newcastle–Ottawa scale for the case-control studies and the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist for case reports and case series. Results: Twenty-nine articles were included. Scleral fixation with Carlevale lens can be performed by creating scleral flaps or, alternatively, by using scleral pockets. The two sclerotomies must be diametrically opposed, and are preferably created by 25-gauge trocars. A pars plana vitrectomy should be performed every time, and the design of the lens should be suitable for self-anchoring to the sclera; the most accredited strategy to achieve this is to avoid scleral sutures. There were only a few intraoperative and postoperative complications reported; vitreous hemorrhages were the most frequent intraoperative events, while the most relevant postoperative complications were vitreous hemorrhages, cystoid macular oedema and transient variations in the intraocular pressure. Excellent results have been obtained in terms of BCVA, IOL centration and stability, mean intraocular pressure, postoperative spherical equivalent, separation between anterior and posterior chamber and the distance of the IOL from anterior chamber structures. Conclusions: The foldable hydrophilic design of the Carlevale lens has shown good effectiveness, IOL stability and few intra and post-operative complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial education represents a powerful tool for improving economic literacy of citizens. This paper presents results from an experiment providing a group of 136 workers in an Italian university (administrative staff) an online, synchronous course. Classes were organized in 5 sessions of 2h each and covered basic topics about personal finance. The effectiveness of the course is assessed through a rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT). In addition to the analysis of improvements in financial knowledge, financial self‐efficacy and the role of prior attitudes and behaviors were explored. Participants obtained post‐test scores statistically higher than individuals in the control group, with an average effect size of 0.55 SD. The effect is particularly relevant for participants starting with low levels of financial knowledge. Moreover, two novel findings emerge: financial self‐efficacy increases (0.51 SD) after the course, and pre‐treatment individuals' financial attitudes and behaviors shed further light on the financial learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, involuntary part-time (IPT) employment has become a more and more pressing issue in Europe, especially in the southern countries, where IPT today constitutes most part-time employment. Using INAPP-PLUS data and different discrete choice model estimations, this paper aims to shed light on the factors that explain the IPT growth in Italy, focusing on what influences the IPT status at the individual, household and labour market levels. The main hypothesis is that what influences the IPT work derive from a combination of workers' individual, household, and job characteristics which may engender limited power during the bargaining process. The empirical results, based on gender-specific models, highlight that characteristics associated with the IPT status significantly changed over time, reporting a convergent path between the gender profiles of IPT employment. However, IPT employment for women still appears to be mainly originated from the gendered division of domestic and care tasks, while this phenomenon seems to be mainly driven by the labour demand side for men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the latest years the capacity and complexity of climate and environmental modeling has increased considerably. Therefore, tools and criteria for model performance evaluation are needed to ensure that different users can benefit from model selection. Among graphical tools, Taylor's diagram is widely used to provide evaluation and comparison of model performances, with particular emphasis on climate models. Taylor's diagram accounts for different statistical features of model outputs and observations, including correlation, variability and centered root mean square error. Not included is model bias, which is an essential feature for climate model evaluations, and it is usually calculated separately to complement the information embedded in Taylor's diagram. In this paper a new diagram is proposed, referred to as Aras' diagram, which allows for visual assessments of the correspondence between model outputs and reference data in terms of total error, correlation, as well as bias and variability ratios through an easy-to-interpret two-dimensional (2D) plot, allowing for proper weighting of different model features. The strengths of the new diagram are exemplified in a case study of performance evaluation of EURO-CORDEX historical experiment over Southern Italy using E-OBS as reference dataset, for three hydrological variables (i.e. daily precipitation, daily surface minimum temperature, and daily maximum surface temperature), and four popular climate indices (i.e. total annual precipitation, annual maxima of daily precipitation, annual minima of daily minimum temperatures, and annual maxima of daily maximum temperatures). The proposed diagram shows interesting properties, in addition to those already included in Taylor's diagram, which may help promoting climate model evaluations based on their accuracy in reproducing the climatological patterns observed in time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My research is situated within the literature looking at the processes of deinstitutionalisation of the mental health system through the lived geographies placed in between the walls of the asylum. It addresses mental health geographers' call for a situated knowledge about mental health and, by using the Italian psychiatric experience of the 1960s and 1970s as an example, stresses the importance of looking at care in both spatial and relational terms. Through a geographical understanding of the Italian psychiatric reform, that goes from Franco Basaglia's renowned work to the underrepresented experience of Turin, in northwest Italy, I will examine how space is intertwined with processes of mental health care. Additionally, I assess the role played by the interaction between spatial and relational elements in potentially enabling patients' self‐determination, empowerment and inclusion. The case of Turin—the story of which will be told through the analysis of archival material from a grassroots association called Associazione per la Lotta contro le Malattie Mentali—will serve to expand the common narrative around the Italian lesson and to give resonance to the instrumental role played at the time by both patients and civil society. By looking at the key events that led to the gradual dismantlement of the traditional psychiatric institutions in the metropolitan area of Turin, this paper contributes to the spatial turn in mental health studies, calling upon researchers to look at past achievements as something we still need to learn from and safeguard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the structural change in both central-northern and southern Italy, focusing on its implications for productivity dynamics and its micro-economic determinants. We document three main results. First, between 2001 and 2018, the deindustrialization process involved both areas; however, in the southern regions it mostly started after the financial crisis. In the South, the employment shares in low knowledge-intensive services increased more than in the central-northern area, whereas those in high knowledge-intensive services increased less markedly. Second, structural change slowed down productivity growth in the central and northern regions, but had no role in the productivity fall in the South. Finally, in central and northern Italy, employment growth was driven by the net creation of jobs among incumbents and larger firms. In contrast, employment dynamics in the southern regions largely reflected the process of firms entering and exiting the market, in particular in less knowledge-intensive service sectors, and in young and smaller enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prosodic aspects of cross-linguistic contact are under-researched, especially past contact that has subsequently ceased. In this paper, we investigate declarative and polar question tunes of contemporary Cretan Greek, a regional variety of Greek whose speakers were in contact with Venetian speakers during the four and half centuries of Venetian rule on the island, from 1204 to 1669. The F0 contours of the Cretan tunes and alignment of peaks and troughs of interest with the nuclear vowel are compared to the corresponding tunes in Venetian dialect and Venetian Italian and to those in Athenian (Standard) Greek, which are used as control. The data (1610 declarative utterances and 698 polar questions) were drawn from natural speech corpora based on pragmatic criteria: broad focus for declaratives, broad focus, and information-seeking interpretation for polar questions. The pitch contour shapes of the tunes are modeled using polynomial basis functions, and the F0 alignment points are determined analytically. The results show the robustness of contact effects almost three and a half centuries after regular contact ceased and indicate that the shapes of the F0 contours of Cretan and Venetian declarative and polar question tunes are similar. In addition, Cretan alignment patterns are similar to Venetian and significantly different from Athenian. Insights are gained from research into how long prosodic characteristics may persist in a recipient language—decades or even centuries after the cessation of contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River contracts (RCs) are voluntary agreements between stakeholders for managing water bodies and involve participatory, evidence‐based action plans. Increasingly, European authorities recognise that effective water policies require bottom‐up, inclusive decision‐making. Despite widely held assumptions about the benefits of including stakeholders in river basin management and encouraging participatory mechanisms of decision‐making, the growing rhetoric about the need for public engagement implies that this 'new' paradigm of water management remains filled with ambiguities. Adopting ethnographic methods and drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources, this paper analyses three RCs in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy. These case studies reveal the potential for RCs as tools not only for water management, but also for increasing stakeholder involvement through place‐making activities conceived as potential hydrophilic encounters. In order to understand whether RCs contribute to a fluvial sense of place, we looked at the effects of top‐down versus participatory processes. We asked whether RCs were considered participatory processes designed to achieve a co‐designed outcome or simply territorial management projects that objectify the river as something to be developed. We found that ratifying an RC was not, in itself, proof of an effective process; rather the nature and quality of an RC was determined by the degree and type of participation. We contend that participatory events and sharing information are not sufficient in themselves to achieve the active involvement of all stakeholders. We argue that the best framework for enabling place‐making and enhancing a sense of place is to develop RCs within a process that includes a high degree of participation. This enables citizens to shift from simply being passive recipients of plans to becoming effective territorial actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air conditioning systems can play a positive or negative role in the spread of COVID-19 infection. The importance of sufficient outdoor air changes in buildings was highlighted by the World Health Organization, therefore these should be guaranteed by mechanical ventilation systems or adequate air conditioning systems. The proposed case study concerns the optimal number of outdoor air changes to limit COVID-19 contagion for a school building in Central Italy. The Wells–Riley model is used to assess the risk of airborne infection, while energy consumption is calculated by a dynamic energy simulation software. The scope of the paper offers an innovative method to define the optimal ventilation strategy for the building's HVAC system design to reduce the risk of infection with limited increases in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Results show that the desirable approach is the one in which the same low value of contagion risk is set in all rooms. This new approach results in significant energy savings, compared to the most common ones (setting the same high outdoor air rates for all rooms) to counteract the risk of infection. Finally, the zero-emission building target is verified by introducing a suitable photovoltaic system to offset pollutant emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prediction and prevention of landslide hazard is a challenging topic involving the assessment and quantitative evaluation of several elements: geological and geomorphological setting, rainfalls, and ground motion. This paper presents the multi-approach investigation of the Nevissano landslide (Asti Province, Piedmont, NW Italy). It shows a continuous and slow movement, alongside few paroxysmal events, the last recorded in 2016. The geological and geomorphological models were defined through a field survey. An inventory of the landslide's movements and rainfall records in the period 2000–2016 was performed, respectively, through archive investigations and the application of "Moving Sum of Daily Rainfall" method, allowing for the definition of rain thresholds for the landslide activation (105 mm and 193 mm, respectively, in 3 and 30 days prior to the event). The displacements over the last 8 years (2016–2023) were monitored through an innovative in-continuum monitoring inclinometric system and Earth Observation (EO) data (i.e., relying on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, or InSAR data): it gave the opportunity to validate the rainfall thresholds previously defined. This study aims to provide information to public authorities for the appropriate management of the site. Moreover, the proposed workflow could be adopted as a guideline for investigating similar situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate prediction of heavy precipitation in convective environments is crucial because such events, often occurring in Italy during the summer and fall seasons, can be a threat for people and properties. In this paper, we analyse the impact of satellite-derived surface-rainfall-rate data assimilation on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model's precipitation prediction, considering 15 days in summer 2022 and 17 days in fall 2022, where moderate to intense precipitation was observed over Italy. A 3DVar realised at CNR-ISAC (National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate) is used to assimilate two different satellite-derived rain rate products, both exploiting geostationary (GEO), infrared (IR), and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) microwave (MW) measurements: One is based on an artificial neural network (NN), and the other one is the operational P-IN-SEVIRI-PMW product (H60), delivered in near-real time by the EUMETSAT HSAF (Satellite Application Facility in Support of Operational Hydrology and Water Management). The forecast is verified in two periods: the hours from 1 to 4 (1–4 h phase) and the hours from 3 to 6 (3–6 h phase) after the assimilation. The results show that the rain rate assimilation improves the precipitation forecast in both seasons and for both forecast phases, even if the improvement in the 3–6 h phase is found mainly in summer. The assimilation of H60 produces a high number of false alarms, which has a negative impact on the forecast, especially for intense events (30 mm/3 h). The assimilation of the NN rain rate gives more balanced predictions, improving the control forecast without significantly increasing false alarms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on four e-initiatives that were precipitated by the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. These experiences played a relevant role in developing multilevel solidarity (from the local to the global level) both online and offline. They are represented by the hashtags "#iorestoacasa" (I stay at home) and "#andràtuttobene" (everything will be alright), "performances on the balcony," "influencers' campaigns," and "altruism and e-parochialism." These experiences represent revealing examples essential to understand the benefits that a mediated form of solidarity can produce. This is particularly important given the challenges that solidarity faces due to the technological acceleration imposed by the pandemic, which is likely to influence social relationships even in the post-pandemic era. Four lessons can be learned from these expressions of e-solidarity related to the capacity of information and communication technologies to (1) promote unconditioned altruism; (2) fight "parochialism" when the same disadvantaged condition is shared; (3) their capacity to develop a multilevel sense of community by connecting the local experience to the global dimension; and (4) to mediate between institutional sources and people, and connect family members, friends, vulnerable people with neighbors, and the global community. This last point suggests that the pandemic has offered fertile ground for both mechanical and organic forms of solidarity to emerge. On the one hand, it created a collective conscience based on shared vulnerabilities and interdependence. On the other hand, it is based on individualization and diversity. Indeed, these examples of Durkheimian collective effervescence show the paradox of a form of collective individualized and mediated solidarity, which is typical of contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prediction of the evolution of epidemics plays an important role in limiting the transmissibility and the burdensome consequences of infectious diseases, which leads to the employment of mathematical modeling. In this paper, we propose a stochastic particle filtering extended SEIRS model with repeated vaccination and time-dependent parameters, aiming to efficiently describe the demanding dynamics of time-varying epidemics. The validity of our model is examined using daily records of COVID-19 in Italy for a period of 525 days, revealing a notable capacity to uncover the hidden dynamics of the pandemic. The main findings include the estimation of asymptomatic cases, which is a well-known feature of the current pandemic. Unlike other proposed models that employ extra compartments for asymptomatic cases, which force the estimation of this proportion and significantly increase the model's complexity, our approach leads to the evaluation of the hidden dynamics of COVID-19 without additional computational burden. Other findings that confirm the model's appropriateness and robustness are its parameter evolution and the estimation of more ICU-admitted cases compared to the official records during the most prevalent infection wave of January 2022, attributed to the intensified increase in admissions that may have led to full occupancy in ICUs. As the vast majority of datasets contain time series of total recovered and vaccinated cases, we propose a statistical algorithm to estimate the currently recovered and protected through vaccination cases. This necessity arises from the attenuation of antibodies after vaccination/infection and is necessary for long-time interval predictions. Finally, we not only present a novel stochastic epidemiological model and test its efficiency but also investigate its mathematical properties, such as the existence and stability of epidemic equilibria, giving new insights to the literature. The latter provides additional details concerning the system's long-term behavior, while the conclusions drawn from the R0 index provide perspectives on the severity and future of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radionuclide contamination is a serious health issue caused by nuclear experiments and plant accidents, as seen for the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear plants. Italy has been especially interested in northwestern alpine regions, as have several other nations. The aim of this work was to indagate 134Cs and 137Cs contamination in wild boars, which were considered bioindicators sampled in the Chisone/Germanasca Valley and the Pellice Valley districts (Piedmont, Italy) in two hunting seasons (2014 and 2016). In the 2014 season, only the livers of the animals (n = 48) were sampled, whereas in 2016, five different anatomical sampling sites were sampled for each animal (n = 16). The analyses were conducted in an accredited laboratory (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell'Ambiente–ARPA) by the aid of an HPGe detector (Ortec) with a relative efficiency of 50%. In general, the contamination levels registered in 2014 were under the detection limit for 134Cs and low for 137Cs (Chisone/Germanasca valley: min: 0.0, max: 23.9 median 11.0 Bq/kg vs Pellice valley: min 0, max: 31.7, median: 9.6 Bq/kg) and no health concern can be supposed. In the first-year samples, the liver showed a negative correlation between age and contamination level. In the second year of sampling, low levels were confirmed (min: 3.1 Bq/kg, max: 113.3; median 17.7 Bq/kg). Multiple sampling from the same animal showed that the diaphragm (median = 27.7 Bq/kg) kidney (27.4) and tongue (27.6) were more contaminated than the liver (17.7) and spleen (15.3). Moreover, a linear mixed model revealed a negative organ-by-age interaction, meaning that interorgan differences in contamination level were greater in younger (5–11 months) than in older (18–36 months) animals. Different feeding habits can be the explanation. Our paper shows that muscle sites (diaphragm and tongue) can be useful for radionuclide pollution surveillance in wild boar populations and that younger animals show more interorgan variability in contamination levels than older animals. More investigations are needed to confirm this correlation and to fulfill the request for more data to achieve better risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new technological innovations for eco-friendly vehicles combined with the usage of renewable energy sources is essential for mitigating the environmental impact of freight transport. In this context, this paper investigates the opportunities for implementing the eHighway system, a novel recent technology designed to supply new hybrid trucks. This technology uses overhead catenary heavy-duty vehicles that are supplied with electric energy from overhead power lines through a pantograph that is positioned at the top of the truck. A novel bi-level multi-objective network electrification design (BM-NED) model is proposed to assess the environmental benefits and opportunities of adopting eHighways, considering the limited budgetary resources for road infrastructure electrification. Still, the implementation of eHighways requires collaboration between public and private stakeholder interests. The upper level considers multiple objectives aiming at minimizing the total travel cost, infrastructure, and environmental costs and maximizing the average traffic density of OC hybrid trucks on electrified arcs, whereas the lower level is the traffic assignment model. The Elitist multi-objective Genetic Algorithms are used as a solution approach for the multi-objective optimization and the Pareto front of the non-dominated solutions have been generated. Results of the model, tested on a part of a motorway network in the Veneto region in Italy, show that the implementation of the eHighway system can lead to an average emission reduction of about 66%, considering all Pareto-optimal solutions. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis has been carried out by giving different weights to the objective functions that can be a basis for decision-makers regarding the adoption of this new technology. • The implementation of the eHighway system is investigated to evaluate its benefits. • A novel bi-level multi-objective network electrification design model is proposed. • The model is tested on a part of a motorway network in the Veneto region (Italy). • Sensitivity analysis evaluates different solutions for potential decision-makers. • The study gives insights for policy makers regarding eHighway adoption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision Agriculture (PA) has revolutionized crop management by leveraging information technology, satellite positioning data, and remote sensing. One crucial component in PA applications is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which offers valuable insights into crop vigor and health. However, discontinuity of optical satellite acquisitions related to cloud cover and the huge load of the required processing time pose challenges to real-time applications. NDVI prediction emerges as an innovative solution to address these limitations. It allows for proactive decision-making by providing accurate estimates, enabling farmers and land managers to plan essential agronomic activities such as irrigation, fertilization, and pest control, based on anticipated future conditions. This study introduces an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model incorporating NDVI, Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), temperatures, and precipitation as predictive variables. The model employs a novel time series slicing algorithm, Boosting Adaptive Time Series Slicer (BATS), to enhance the input training dataset's variability, presenting the model with a broader range of examples. A 2-Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) forecasting model was developed to predict future NDVI values over short and medium-term horizons. The study area used to train, test and validate the ANN corresponds to a diverse landscape of cultivated corn fields located in Piemonte (NW-Italy). Results showed that NDVI future estimates were accurate; considering three time horizons for predictions (5, 10, and 15 days) RMSE values resulted to be 0.028, 0.038 and 0.050, respectively. Additionally, ablation tests proved that the most important variable for enhancing the model's accuracy is the NDWI, and the most useful timesteps are the four most recent ones. To preliminary investigate the capability of the ANN to operate over a wider and different area it was applied over the entire Europe, using the LUCAS dataset as reference map to locate corn fields. Results show RMSE of 0.062, 0.083 and 0.105 for the 5, 10 and 15 days forecasting horizons, respectively. The methodology proposed in this paper can be a possible alternative to more ordinary approaches for NDVI forecasting that nowadays appears to be a fundamental step for a proactive precision agriculture where crop management can be significantly improved. Future developments should explore the use of sequence-to-sequence ANNs to predict the development of multiple spectral indices over multiple crop types simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cleanker (CLEAN clinKER production by Calcium Looping process) project, financed in the framework of Horizon 2020 EU funding program, has demonstrated the feasibility of the integrated CaL concept at industrial scale in a new demo system realised in the Buzzi Unicem cement plant in Vernasca (IT). The Calcium Looping (CaL) CO2 capture process exploits the reversible reaction of limestone calcination/carbonation (CaCO3 ↔ CaO + CO2). The Cleanker pilot plant consists of the coupling of a carbonator and an oxyfuel calciner. When the flue gases from kiln (containing CO2) flow through the carbonator together with calcined meal, which acts as a CO2 sorbent, carbonation takes place and CO2 is fixed in calcium carbonate. CaO is then regenerated in the calciner, where the opposite reaction takes place, and the captured CO2 is released. When the lime/limestone looping is carried out through a carbonator and a calciner operated in oxyfuel, a concentrated CO2 stream is obtained that can be efficiently addressed towards CCS or CCUS processes. In the Cleanker Project, the possibility to use raw meal for clinker production has been exploited and the meals sampled at the outlet of the oxyfuel calciner have been characterised and used for producing clinker at a lab scale. Calcium looped (CaL) meals collected at different sampling point during the operation of the CaL plant were characterised by means of X‐ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and particle size distribution. Electron scanning microscopy revealed significant differences in the surface of particles of the looped meals with respect to the original one, resulting from the loading and unloading of CO2 during the looping cycles. The meals were burnt in a laboratory furnace and the obtained clinkers have been characterised on a chemical, mineralogical and microscopical point of view, revealing the good burnability of all the meals and attesting the possibility to reintegrate the materials in the clinker production process. A lower alite/belite ratio in the clinker produced from the looped meals was observed: actually, the depletion of calcium during the recirculation of the meal in the calciner/carbonator system led to a reduction of the lime saturation factor influencing the mineralogical composition of the product. LAY DESCRIPTION: The reduction of CO2 emission associated to cement production is a challenge of last decades, and it can be reached only combining the use of alternative materials (natural or recycled) with new innovative technologies. Within the Cleanker (CLEAN clinKER production by Calcium Looping process) project, a European project financed in the framework of Horizon 2020 EU funding program, a system called 'calcium looping process' was successfully integrated in the cement production technology. Calcium looping consists of using calcium oxide to adsorb diluted CO2 and release it in a more concentrate gas flow that can be subsequently captured and reused or stored. The great innovation in the Cleanker Project was to combine the calcium looping technology with the ordinary production of clinker. Moreover, the raw meal commonly used for clinker production was used as adsorber instead of calcium oxide, in such a way that all the materials involved in the looping were already originally part of the clinker production process. A pilot plant was realised in Italy, demonstrating the feasibility of the project. Few meals were collected during the trials of the plant and the paper presents the result of a study conducted in order to verify the possibility of using such meals for the production of ordinary Portland clinker. The results were encouraging: all the meals revealed very good burnability and the differences in the mineralogical composition of the clinkers could be ascribed to the composition of the meals, more than to the technological process they underwent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Euganean Thermal District, situated in North-East Italy, is one of Europe's largest and oldest thermal centres. The topical application of its therapeutic thermal muds is recognised by the Italian Health System as a beneficial treatment for patients suffering from arthro-rheumatic diseases. Polysaccharides produced by the mud microbiota have been recently identified as anti-inflammatory bioactive molecules. In this paper we analysed the efficacy of Microbial-Polysaccharides (M-PS) derived from mature muds obtained at different maturation temperatures, both within and outside the codified traditional mud maturation range. M-PSs were extracted from six mature muds produced by five spas of the Euganean Thermal District and investigated for their chemical properties, monosaccharide composition and in vivo anti-inflammatory potential, using the zebrafish model organism. Additionally, mature muds were characterized for their microbiota composition using Next-Generation Sequencing. The results showed that all M-PSs exhibit similar anti-inflammatory potential, referable to their comparable chemical composition. This consistency was observed despite changes in cyanobacteria populations, suggesting a possible role of the entire microbial community in shaping the properties of these biomolecules. These findings highlight the importance of scientific research in untangling the origins of the therapeutic efficacy of Euganean Thermal muds in the treatment of chronic inflammatory conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women's representation in STEM fields and occupations has increased, science and math continue to be stereotyped as male domains. This paper links psychological and sociological explanations for gendered disparities in STEM by examining the relationship between the local "micro-situational" female learning environment and the gender gap in academic self-concept in math and science. We applied hybrid models to TIMSS 2015 data comprised of a pseudo-panel of repeated measures for individual student and peer achievement, academic self-concept, utility value, and interest-enjoyment value in math/science (at age 14). We analyzed data from three countries, including a subsample of students who were taught by the same teacher in both math and science, thus eliminating unobserved teacher heterogeneity. Results indicate that female peer climate in the classroom is important for understanding how girls' self-concept in math/science is formed, even though it was unrelated to the gender gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a lava flow enters a body of water, either a lake, sea, river or ocean, explosive interaction may arise. However, when it is an 'a'ā lava flow entering water, a more complex interaction occurs, that is very poorly described and documented in literature. In this paper, we analysed the 2–4 ka San Bartolo lava flow field emplaced on the north flank of Stromboli volcano, Italy. The lava flow field extends from ~ 650 m a.s.l. where the eruptive fissure is located, with two lava channels being apparent on the steep down to the coast. Along the coast the lava flow field expands to form a lava delta ~ 1 km wide characterised by 16 lava 'Flow' units. We performed a field survey to characterise the features of lava entering the sea and the associated formation of different components and magnetic measurements to infer the flow fabrics and emplacement process of the lava flow system. We measured the density, porosity and connectivity of several specimens to analyse the effect of lava-water interaction on the content in vesicles and their connectivity and conducted a macroscopic componentry analysis (clast count) at selected sites to infer the character of the eroded offshore segment of the lava flow field and its component flow units. The collected data allowed us to define the main components of a lava delta fed by 'a'ā lava flows, with its channels, littoral units, ramps, lava tubes, and inflated pāhoehoe flows controlled by the arterial 'a'ā flow fronts. The spatial organisation of these components allowed us to build a three-step descriptive model for 'a'ā entering a water. The initial stage corresponds to the entry of channel-fed 'a'ā lava flow into the sea which fragments to form metric blocks of 'a'ā lava. Continued lava supply to the foreshore causes flow units to stall while spreading over this substrate. Subsequent 'a'ā lava flow units ramp up behind the stalled flow front barrier. Lava tubes extending through the stalled flow barrier feed the seaward extension of a bench made of several pāhoehoe flow units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines how individual motivations, the role of the supervisor and gender influence the early career path of doctorate holders. We investigate PhD graduates' occupational outcomes beyond academia in the framework of current literature on the oversupply of PhD holders and labor market constraints. Our analysis relies on two unique datasets. The first, at the national level, includes microdata from the Italian National Institute of Statistics regarding about 41,000 graduates who account for over 70% of the population of 6 cohorts surveyed for the period 2004–2014. The other dataset is from a single university, and resulted from an original survey of 760 PhD holders who earned their doctorates from the University of Turin in 2007–2017. We find that PhD holders' motivation towards science is associated with their subsequent employment in academia or in other research and non-research jobs. Sponsoring support in early career and the supervisor's propensity for basic research also play a role in the future academic career path. Gender differences in type of occupation, however, continue to persist even taking motivations and the supervisor's role into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, with Italy as a case-study, provides a general overview on the ecology of lichenicolous lichens, i.e. those which start their life-cycle on the thallus of other lichens. It aims at testing whether some ecological factors do exert a positive selective pressure on the lichenicolous lifestyle. The incidence of some biological traits (photobionts, growth-forms and reproductive strategies) in lichenicolous and non-lichenicolous lichens was compared, on a set of 3005 infrageneric taxa potentially occurring in Italy, 189 of which are lichenicolous. Lichenicolous lichens have a much higher incidence of coccoid (non-trentepohlioid) green algae, crustose growth-forms and sexual reproduction. A matrix of the 2762 species with phycobionts and some main ecological descriptors was subjected to ordination. Lichenicolous lichens occupy a well-defined portion of the ecological space, tending to grow on rocks in dry, well-lit habitats where a germinating spore is likely to have a short life-span, at all altitudes. This corroborates the hypothesis that at least some of them are not true "parasites", as they are often called, but gather the photobionts - which have already adapted to local ecological conditions - from their hosts, eventually developing an independent thallus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects ethnographically on law enforcement against squatting in Milan. To this end, it examines labor practices, moral economies, and everyday narratives of those who work with the institutional mandate of tackling squatting in public housing. I propose to grasp these processes considering two specific political and legal configurations that traverse the arena under investigation: the entrenched presence, in the Italian context, of what has been defined as penal populism; additionally, the increasingly pronounced prominence of an infra‐legal dimension of law. Squatting—and the way in which it is publicly managed and punished—represents a privileged lens for examining the specific forms of normative and political governance in contemporary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]