Search Results (702)

Stone-built cultural heritage sites face significant threats from weathering and environmental stress, leading to structural damage or even total collapse. Consequently, robust monitoring and conservation strategies are essential. This study introduces the Monument Rockfall Risk Assessment (MRRA), a heuristic prioritization framework designed for the rapid ranking of detachment risks in monumental contexts. The MRRA was tested on the Piazzale Michelangelo Ramps in Florence (Italy), which are prone to rockfall hazard due to the presence of unstable blocks made of Pietraforte sandstone. The methodology employs a qualitative-heuristic risk rating approach, considering factors such as joint characteristics, centre of gravity location, and estimated kinetic energy of falling blocks. Susceptibility, vulnerability, and elements at risk were evaluated for each unstable block to calculate a relative risk index, which was then aggregated to determine the overall risk of each coping. The methodology was applied to a recent rockfall event that occurred in 2020 and compared with expert judgement to evaluate the model’s performance in identifying criticalities. Since decisions on defence and restoration works depend on geomechanical, social, and economic factors, this study explores an approach to establish optimal risk rating thresholds for the MRRA methodology, balancing false and missed alarms. Full article

(1) The bird colouration is the result of adaptation to environmental conditions, predator–prey relationships, and sexual selection (intraspecific competition and signalling of quality). Only a few studies have explicitly explored the plumage colouration of birds at the level of species communities. (2) Methods: We combined data with bird plumage colours and their spatial distribution at a large spatial scale in Italy, exploring the relationship between community colours and different types of habitats and landscape heterogeneity. (3) Results: Overall, we found that the more representative colours of avian communities were grey, white, black, and brown. The percentage of black colour in the community was smaller in close habitats (e.g., forests). A high percentage of brown was observed in forests and shrublands, whereas a high percentage of white was found in wetlands, water bodies, and urban areas. The percentage of yellow was relatively low overall, but it was slightly higher in deciduous forests. Land use richness increased the percentage of brown, green, rufous, and yellow, while negatively affecting other pigments (black and grey = melanins, purple = structural, and red = carotenes). The community colour inequality decreased when the species and land use richness increased, while it increased when the weighted edge density of surrounding landscapes increased. Finally, we found that bird communities that are made up of closely related species show a wider variety of colours (e.g., lower colour inequality). This supports the idea that closely related species that live together develop different features to improve species recognition. (4) Conclusions: We found that the colours of bird communities are related to the type of environment. Full article

Objective: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate clinical and laboratory characteristics in adult patients with neuroinvasive West Nile virus (WNDD). We also studied the phylogeny and molecular characteristics of some of the WNV strains. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted at “Annunziata” Hub Hospital, a secondary referral facility in Calabria region, in Southern Italy. Sample pre-processing, sequencing and bioinformatic analyses were carried out at IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital in Negrar di Valpolicella, Verona, Veneto region in North-East Italy. Results: Nine cases of WNDD were analyzed, involving eight males and one female, with a mean age of 70.33 years (range 60–85). The overall average hospital stay was 20.6 days (range 6–46). Six patients made a full recovery after a mean of 35.3 days of acute care. Thirty-day mortality rate was 23%. VNDD in some of our patients manifested itself in the form of cerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in three patients, causing lethality in two patients and other unusual manifestations, such as Guillain–Barré syndrome with fatal outcome and severe facial palsy. Phylogenetic analysis shows that our sequences are closely related to other southern-Italian and cluster with Central–Southern–Eastern European sequences, while being evidently separated from northern Italian and Central–Western European ones, belonging to the sub-lineage 2a of the WNV-2, clustering with sequences from the Central–South–Eastern clade, mainly to Hungary. Conclusions: Cerebrovascular complications of WNE may be an important clinical manifestation of WNV neuroinvasive infection. Preliminary data do not allow us to determine whether our strains, closely related to other southern-Italian and cluster with Central–Southern–Eastern European sequences, really presented an increased neurovirulence. Full article

Background: The history of radical hernia repair involves a period of intense surgical activity, influenced by factors of the time such as social development, hygiene, anesthesia, and antisepsis. Subcutaneous surgery, the initial option designed to avoid infections and peritonitis, was modified after the introduction of antisepsis, eventually leading to dissection surgery. Objective: We aim to analyze the publications from the period of radical hernia cures using current methodology, verifying when and how the transition occurred from subcutaneous surgery to dissection surgery. Methods: A literature review of the databases PubMed, LILACS, Cochrane Library, “Google” and university libraries is conducted. The following keywords were used: “anatomy and surgery”. A critical analysis of the known literature about this historical topic is carried out. Results: Under-vision dissection surgery, through incision of the aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle, began in England by Durham in 1866, almost 20 years before it was performed in France by Lucas-Championnière in 1885. Recurrences decreased after the introduction of the principle of closing the walls of the inguinal canal (Wood, 1860). The surgeon–anatomist Wood should be considered the first specialist in abdominal wall surgery, due to his extensive contributions from the pre-antiseptic era. The evolution of the radical cure of hernias was made possible by combining the knowledge of several countries: England, Germany, and Italy. Conclusions: Dissection surgery was initiated in England, Germany, and Italy, not in France. The influence of the French literature on the history of hernias is evident, to the detriment of the contributions of surgeons from other countries. Full article

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly reshaping organizational dynamics, not only through efficiency gains but by influencing how work is structured, interpreted, and experienced. In healthcare, where professional team stability is crucial, this transformation intersects with structural issues such as persistent nurse turnover. This study presents an exploratory case study of a private accredited hospital in Italy that introduced an AI-enabled shift scheduling system (“Dream-Shift”) in response to perceived inequities and workforce instability. The system was embedded in a participatory architecture that included a Nursing Practice Council and HR dashboards to visualize staffing patterns. Drawing on theories of Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM), algorithmic management, and people sustainability, the study examines how AI-mediated transparency and participation affect fairness perceptions, predictability, and organizational climate. Using administrative data, ethnographic observations, internal documents, and informal feedback, the study finds that the algorithm did not eliminate all inequities but made decision constraints visible and debatable. It redistributed the emotional burden of scheduling and enabled more structured conversations about work. Managers transitioned from unilateral decision-makers to facilitators of collective interpretation. The results suggest that when integrated into participatory infrastructures, AI can foster organizational transparency, support relational stability, and act as a socio-technical enabler of people sustainability rather than as a tool of control. Full article

Land cover mapping is a crucial component of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, but existing products underestimate urbanized areas and small-scale man-made objects, limiting their ability to capture the complexity of built environments. Long-baseline monostatic–bistatic Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, such as the ones that will be made available by the upcoming PLATiNO-1 mission, have the potential to contribute to the detection of the mentioned targets, e.g., by traditional supervised classification approaches. Since bistatic measurements from the PLATiNO-1 mission are not yet available, repeat-pass COSMO-SkyMed second generation (CSG) images collected with different incidence angles are employed to emulate the expected diversity of future monostatic–bistatic products. A complete classification pipeline is developed, and a structured dataset of 48 features is built, combining intensity, polarimetric, spatial, and textural descriptors to train an XGBoost model to identify urban targets within a representative area in Italy. The results demonstrate stable performance, with F1 scores around 0.73 and true positive rates close to 80%, showing good agreement with reference data and confirming the feasibility of the proposed methodology. Although conceived as a proof of concept, the study shows that integrating multi-angle information into classification tasks can improve the detection of man-made structures and provide an additional information layer to be integrated with Copernicus services. Full article

This study examines how the sense of home for people with dementia is shaped not only by physical settings but by dynamic atmospheric compositions emerging through memory, sensation, and everyday practices. Building on a preliminary literature mapping that identified three dimensions of home in later-life care environments—safe space, small world, and connection—we developed a multisensory co-design toolkit combining key-element cards and curated olfactory prompts. The study was conducted in a dementia-friendly residential care facility in Italy. Nine residents with mild–moderate dementia (aged 75–84) participated in two group sessions and six individual sessions, facilitated by two design researchers with care staff present. Data consist of audio-recorded and transcribed interviews, guided olfactory sessions, and researcher fieldnotes. Across sessions, participants articulated “small worlds” as micro-environments composed of meaningful objects, bodily comfort, routines, and sensory cues that supported emotional regulation and identity continuity. Olfactory prompts, administered through a low-intensity and participant-controlled protocol, supported scene-based autobiographical recall for some participants, often eliciting memories of domestic rituals, places, and relationships. Rather than treating home-like design as a fixed architectural style, we interpret home as continuously re-made through situated sensory–temporal patterns and relational practices. We translate these findings into atmospheric design directions for dementia care: designing places of self and refuge, staging accessible material memory devices, embedding gentle olfactory micro-worlds within daily routines, and approaching atmosphere as an ongoing process of co-attunement among residents, staff, and environmental conditions. The study contributes a methodological and conceptual framework for multisensory, narrative-driven approaches to designing home-like environments in long-term care. Full article

On 18 March 2025, a moderate earthquake with moment magnitude Mw 4.2 struck the Basilicata region in Southern Italy. The event occurred at 09:01:25 UTC with an epicentre located approximately 4 km northeast of the city of Potenza (PZ). The earthquake was clearly felt across the urban area and followed by a sequence of low-magnitude aftershocks. A few hours after the main shock, researchers from the University of Basilicata installed a temporary structural monitoring network to check the structural conditions of several buildings located in Potenza. This installation enabled the acquisition of accelerometric recordings of several aftershocks, providing a valuable dataset for preliminary observations on structural seismic response. The monitoring campaign focused on two adjacent twin buildings with similar geometry and structural layout but different seismic design strategies: one conventionally fixed at the base and the other equipped with seismic base isolation made by rubber bearings. Comparative analyses revealed distinct differences in dynamic response. The results highlight the need for refined regulatory tools to address near-epicentral conditions, particularly potential dynamic interactions among the vertical ground-motion component, the vertical vibration frequencies of the superstructure, and floor-system resonance. While not critical for ultimate limit states, these effects may influence comfort and performance in operational and damage limit states. Full article

Despite European and international regulatory frameworks promoting circular economy principles, sustainability in the furniture sector is still challenged by the limited access to reliable information about circular materials for designers, manufacturers, and waste managers in the Made-in-Italy furniture ecosystem. This research develops a digital infrastructure to address these information gaps through mixed methodology, combining desk research on regulatory frameworks and existing platforms; field research involving stakeholder mapping and interviews with designers, manufacturers, and waste managers; and the experimental development of AI-enhanced digital tools. The result integrates a web-based platform for circular materials with a CAD plugin supporting real-time sustainability assessment. As AI-assisted data entry showed a reduced form completion time while maintaining accuracy through human verification, testing also revealed how the system effectively bridges knowledge gaps between stakeholders operating in currently siloed value chains. The platform is a critical step in enabling designers to incorporate circular materials during the early design stages, while providing manufacturers access to verified punctual sustainability data compliant with mandatory Green Public Procurement criteria. Beyond the development of an innovative digital tool, the study outlines a corresponding operational model as a practical framework for strengthening the transition toward a circular economy in the Italian furniture industry. Full article

This study analyses the dynamics of the energy transition within the SPRING-F group (Spain, Poland, Romania, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France) through a hybrid approach that combines econometric panel ARDL models with machine learning algorithms. The analysis is based on energy, economic, and technological indicators, including renewable energy consumption, energy intensity, CO₂ emissions, GDP per capita, urbanization, trade openness, and R&D expenditure. The results of the exploratory analysis highlight the existence of clear structural differences between Western European and emerging Central and Eastern European economies. Based on the estimates made with the ARDL panel model, the long-term equilibrium relationships were confirmed. They indicated positive and significant effects of urbanization and economic growth on renewable energy consumption, as well as a negative impact of CO₂ emissions. Regarding the short-term effects, the error correction coefficient suggests a moderate convergence towards equilibrium. Machine learning models highlight the superiority of nonlinear approaches, and SHAP analysis confirms the dominant role of CO₂ emissions and the heterogeneity of national energy transition trajectories. Full article

Three painted valuable wood sculptures from conventual collections in Apulia (Southern Italy), made between the beginning of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century, were studied to shed light on the pictorial materials and techniques of the Neapolitan Baroque sculpture in Southern Italy. A multi-analytical approach was implemented using integrated micro-invasive techniques, including polarized light microscopy (PLM) in ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) light, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and pyrolysis–gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (Py-GC/HRMS). The stratigraphic sequences were microscopically identified, and the pictorial layers were discriminated on the basis of optical features, elemental compositions, and mapping. Organic components were detected by FTIR as lipids and proteinaceous compounds for binders, while terpenic resins were detected as varnishes. Accordingly, PY-GC/HRMS identified siccative oils, animal glue, egg, and colophony. The results allowed the identification of the painting techniques used for the pictorial films and the ground preparation layers and supported the distinction between original and repainting layers. The results of this multi-analytical approach provide insights into Baroque wooden sculpture in Southern Italy and offers information to support restorers in conservation works. Full article

The aim of this article is to illustrate the actions taken to implement the Rio Capodacqua–Santa Croce River Contract in Central Italy. The aim was to develop this inclusive and voluntary strategic and negotiated planning tool with the aim of protecting and managing water resources, enhancing the river ecosystem and mitigating flood risk, thereby contributing to local development. The participation of municipalities, local authorities, stakeholders and citizens’ associations in this instrument has made it possible to identify the environmental and territorial issues in this area and thus propose actions to resolve them, integrating and coordinating existing plans and programmes and the interests of that territory. These actions were defined through a participatory process involving all those interested in the watercourse and the territory it crosses. Among the proposed actions, priority was given to those offering “sustainable” solutions to certain critical issues, such as pollution of the lower reaches of the river or the essentially anthropogenic threat to the river and riparian habitats widespread in its upper reaches. These habitats, protected by the Natura 2000 network, are home to fish species of great conservation interest, among other things. Finally, flood mitigation works and measures are assessed, as floods are becoming increasingly aggressive due to climate change and are impacting urbanised areas. All these actions have been compared with sustainability objectives to highlight their effectiveness in the current management of a river basin with a view to the future. Full article

Urban building energy modeling (UBEM) is crucial for assessing energy consumption patterns at the city-scale and for supporting data driven planning and decarbonization strategies. However, its practical deployment is often hindered by the need to balance detailed physics-based simulations with acceptable computation times when thousands of buildings are involved. This work presents a large-scale real world UBEM case study and proposes a workflow that combines EnergyPlus simulations, high-performance computing (HPC), and open urban datasets to model the energy consumption of the building stock in the Municipality of Bologna, Italy. Geometric data such as building footprints and heights were acquired from the Bologna Open Data portal and complemented by aerial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) measurements to refine elevations and roof geometries. Non-geometrical building characteristics, including wall materials, insulation levels, and window properties, were derived from local building regulations and the European TABULA project, enabling the assignment of archetypes in contexts where granular information about building materials is not available. The pipeline’s modular design allows us to analyze different combinations of retrofitting scenarios, making it possible to identify the groups of buildings that would benefit the most. A key feature of the workflow is the use of Leonardo, the supercomputer hosted and managed by Cineca, which made it possible to simulate the energy consumption of approximately 25,000 buildings in less than 30 min. In contrast to approaches that mainly reduce computation time by simplifying the physical model or aggregating representative buildings, the HPC-based workflow allows the entire building stock to be individually simulated (within the intrinsic simplifications of UBEM) without introducing further compromises in model detail. Overall, this case study demonstrates that the combination of open data and HPC-accelerated UBEM can deliver city-scale energy simulations that are both computationally tractable and sufficiently detailed to inform municipal decision-making and future digital twin applications. Full article

Italy represents one of the most prominent European countries in artificial reefs (ARs) research, with over 50 years of history and the construction of the second artificial reef in Europe designed according to scientific criteria. A review of 560 documents on Italian artificial reefs (ARs) from 1970s to 2025—including 404 scientific papers and 156 gray literature sources—together with an in-depth web-search allowed the identification of 118 artificial reefs deployed in the Italian seas. Concrete represents the most used material for AR construction, due to its durability over time, and ductility to build modules of different shapes and dimensions. More than 70% of the Italian ARs are made of concrete utilized alone or with other associated materials. Habitat protection and finfish enhancement have been the main scopes for AR deployment. Most scientific papers on Italian artificial reefs refer to the zoobenthic communities settled on the manmade substrates or living in the surrounding soft bottom, finfish assemblage, ecology, and general themes, such as history and management of the reefs. Recommendations include the need for a multidisciplinary panel of experts to comprehensively assess the environmental, biological, and socio-economic characteristics of an area selected for a new AR, and for development of eco-designed structures. Full article

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires all EU Member States to establish Whole Life Carbon (WLC) benchmarks by 2030. While progress is being made across Europe, a comprehensive and standardised national methodology remains absent in Italy, raising broader questions about how to ensure comparability of WLC assessments across diverse territorial contexts. Italy represents a particularly complex case, as its building stock is regulated simultaneously by seismic zoning and climatic zoning, complicating the definition of representative archetypes. This study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to a prototypical residential building in Tuscany, testing scenarios that vary by seismic risk and exposure conditions. Results show that structural components dominate impacts, accounting for approximately 60% of total Global Warming Potential (GWP), and that outcomes are highly sensitive to both location and data source. These findings underscore the importance of data granularity and context-specific modelling in developing robust benchmarks. The novelty of this work lies in proposing a framework that integrates seismic and climatic factors into archetype selection, while also emphasising the adoption of nationally tailored datasets to improve accuracy and policy relevance. By situating the Italian case within the wider European debate, the paper contributes to the urgent task of establishing robust, comparable, and context-sensitive WLC benchmarks that can guide both national regulation and EU-wide decarbonisation strategies. Full article