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The essay investigates the opportunities generated by recovering a European Pilgrimage Route’s pathway as device for landscape perception and territorial analysis. It is focused on a project conducted by Verdiana Network in collaboration with the Municipality of Asciano (Siena). The project aims to activate processes of landscape planning and management, and promote local tourism within the context of Asciano’s rural landscape and among the cultural and natural heritage intercepted by this pilgrimage route. It concerns the Siena branch of the Via Lauretana, the pilgrimage route toward the Sanctuary of Loreto in the Marche Region. The project focuses on the landscape structure of the route, modelled by the territorial dimension and spatial configuration of the itinerary, together with the social processes of landscape perception activated by the route itself. From this point of view, the project consisted of a process of discovering the landscape along the route and intercepting polar elements that make the itinerary the basis for the development of local tourism and cultural activities.

(1) Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a major public health challenge worldwide, with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) being the predominant form. Despite advances in treatment, OSCC remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality due to delayed diagnosis and limited therapeutic efficacy. This study reviews omics technologies to assess new salivary biomarkers for the early detection of OSCC. (2) Methods: A comprehensive literature search in the last 20 years identified four relevant studies focusing on salivary biomarkers in OSCC. (3) Results: Proteomic and genomic analyses revealed significant changes in salivary composition between OSCC patients and healthy controls, suggesting promising diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. However, studies showed varying degrees of bias, indicating the need for further research and improved standardization. (4) Conclusions: Saliva, with its advantages of ease of collection, minimal invasiveness, and potential for large-scale screening, is an emerging promising substrate for non-invasive biomarker research. Nonetheless, there is a need for improved biomarker sensitivity and specificity; currently, histological examination remains the golden standard.

Abstract The migration of Twitter users to Mastodon following Elon Musk’s acquisition presents a unique opportunity to study collective behavior and gain insights into the drivers of coordinated behavior in online media. We analyzed the social network and the public conversations of about 75,000 migrated users and observed that the temporal trace of their migrations is compatible with a phenomenon of social influence, as described by a compartmental epidemic model of information diffusion. Drawing from prior research on behavioral change, we delved into the factors that account for variations of the effectiveness of the influence process across different Twitter communities. Communities in which the influence process unfolded more rapidly exhibit lower density of social connections, higher levels of signaled commitment to migrating, and more emphasis on shared identity and exchange of factual knowledge in the community discussion. These factors account collectively for 57% of the variance in the observed data. Our results highlight the joint importance of network structure, commitment, and psycho-linguistic aspects of social interactions in characterizing grassroots collective action, and contribute to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms that drive processes of behavior change of online groups.

This paper analyzes the relationship between urban waste recycling and innovation systems in Europe. Data from the Global Innovation Index for 34 European countries in the period 2013–2022 were used. To analyze the characteristics of European countries in terms of waste recycling capacity, the k-Means algorithm optimized with the Elbow method and the Silhouette Coefficient was used. The results show that the optimal number of clusters is three. Panel data results show that waste recycling increases with domestic market scale, gross capital formation, and the diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), while it decreases with the infrastructure index, business sophistication index, and the average expenditure on research and development of large companies.

The Online Software is the global system software of the ATLAS data acquisition (DAQ) system, responsible for the configuration, control and information sharing of the ATLAS DAQ System. A test beam facility offers the ATLAS detectors the possibility to study important performance aspects as well as to proceed on the way to the final ATLAS DAQ system. Last year, three subdetectors of ATLAS--separately and combined--were successfully using the Online Software for the control of their datataking. In this paper, we describe the different components of the Online Software together with their usage at the ATLAS test beam. Index Terms--Control systems, data acquisition, elementary particle, physics, software.

The Process Management component of the online software of the future ATLAS experiment data acquisition system is presented. The purpose of the Process Manager is to perform basic job control of the software components of the data acquisition system. It is capable of starting, stopping and monitoring the status of those components on the data acquisition processors independent of the underlying operating system. Its architecture is designed on the basis of a server client model using CORBA based communication. The server part relies on C++ software agent objects acting as an interface between the local operating system and client applications. Some of the major design challenges of the software agents were to achieve the maximum degree of autonomy possible, to create processes aware of dynamic conditions in their environment and with the ability to determine corresponding actions. Issues such as the performance of the agents in terms of time needed for process creation and destruction, the scalability of the system taking into consideration the final ATLAS configuration and minimizing the use of hardware resources were also of critical importance. Besides the details given on the architecture and the implementation, we also present scalability and performance tests results of the Process Manager system. Index Terms--Data acquisition, job control, process management, process monitoring, software agents.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the dimensional accuracy of surgical guides for static computer-aided implant placements processed using milling or 3D printing. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed on electronic databases inclusive of PUBMED, SCOPUS, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EBSCO host Research Databases, and Web of Knowledge were searched without restriction to date. Studies investigating the surgical guides fabricated by milling or 3D-printing, comparing them with their computer-aided design model, and reporting outcome measures about the accuracy of the internal/external surface, the angular deviation of the sleeves, and the vertical or horizontal deviations of the sleeves’ access were included. Results: From 1928 retrieved records, 33 studies were selected; 11 out of them fulfilled the eligibility criteria. All studies analyzed printed surgical guides, while only two studies analyzed both printed and milled templates. Studies were very heterogeneous in methodology and equipment; moreover, different parameters were used for accuracy measurements which made their results not comparable and quantitative synthesis not feasible. Conclusion: There is no clear evidence to address which manufacturing technology provides surgical guides with better accuracy, although milling might achieve better results, at least in terms of reduced variation. For additive technologies, several factors could influence accuracy. Since this issue has sensible clinical implications, future studies are encouraged.

(1) Background: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Rapid Maxillary Expander (RME) II System compared to a Herbst appliance and a control group in the treatment of class II skeletal malocclusions in growing patients. (2) Methods: A total of 30 class II patients treated using the RME II System (group R) were compared with 30 patients treated with a Herbst appliance (group H) and 30 untreated class II children (group C). Cephalograms were compared at the start (T0) and after 24 months (T1). Nine cephalometric parameters were analyzed: SN-MP, SN-PO, ANB, AR-GO-ME, AR-GO-N, N-GO-ME, SN-PP, LFH, CO-GN, 1+SN, IMPA, OVERJET, and OVERBITE. Since the variables failed the normality test, a Wilcoxon test was performed for a pairwise comparison of the cephalometric measurements taken at T0 (pre-treatment) and at T1 (post-treatment). ANOVA with Tukey post hoc correction was used to evaluate the differences among the groups. (3) Results: ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference for all analyzed variables except for AR-GO-ME, AR-GO-N, and N-GO-ME. Post hoc Tukey’s HSD test showed the following difference: the SN-PO angle in group H was 3.59° greater than in group R; the LFH in group H was 4.13 mm greater than in group R. The mandibular length (CO-GN) in group H was 3.94 mm greater than in group R; IMPA in group H was 6.4° greater than in group R; and the ANB angle in group H was 1.47° greater than in group R. (4) Conclusions: The RME II System is an effective therapeutic device for class II skeletal malocclusion treatment in growing patients.

Abstract Three and a half years after the pandemic outbreak, now that WHO has formally declared that the emergency is over, COVID-19 is still a significant global issue. Here, we focus on recent developments in genetic and genomic research on COVID-19, and we give an outlook on state-of-the-art therapeutical approaches, as the pandemic is gradually transitioning to an endemic situation. The sequencing and characterization of rare alleles in different populations has made it possible to identify numerous genes that affect either susceptibility to COVID-19 or the severity of the disease. These findings provide a beginning to new avenues and pan-ethnic therapeutic approaches, as well as to potential genetic screening protocols. The causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, is still in the spotlight, but novel threatening virus could appear anywhere at any time. Therefore, continued vigilance and further research is warranted. We also note emphatically that to prevent future pandemics and other world-wide health crises, it is imperative to capitalize on what we have learnt from COVID-19: specifically, regarding its origins, the world’s response, and insufficient preparedness. This requires unprecedented international collaboration and timely data sharing for the coordination of effective response and the rapid implementation of containment measures.

Antecedentes: Las plantas viarias crecen en las orillas de vías de comunicación y han sido poco estudiadas. Preguntas: ¿Cuál es la riqueza de las angiospermas viarias? ¿Cuál es el porcentaje de especies nativas e introducidas entre las angiospermas viarias? Especies de estudio: Angiospermas viarias nativas e introducidas. Sitio y años de estudio: Carretera Chalma-Malinalco, municipio de Malinalco, Estado de México, México, mayo 2008-abril 2009. Métodos: Se recolectaron las especies de angiospermas en el derecho de vía de la carretera a través de 24 recorridos quincenales. Adicionalmente, se enlistaron las especies y se estimó su cobertura en 14 cuadros de muestreo (4 m2 cada uno). Resultados: Se registraron 327 especies. Asteraceae, Fabaceae y Poaceae fueron las familias con mayor riqueza de géneros y especies. Las especies nativas fueron dominantes (85.9 %), mientras que las introducidas agruparon el 14.1 %; éstas últimas procedieron principalmente del Viejo Mundo. Alrededor del 70 % de las especies fueron hierbas. Bouteloua repens y Eleusine indica presentaron mayor cobertura y frecuencia, respectivamente. Conclusiones: La flora viaria era rica en angiospermas, la mayoría hierbas y con dominancia de plantas nativas. Los pastos introducidos tenían un papel sobresaliente en cuanto a frecuencia. Es necesario continuar con investigaciones florísticas, ecológicas, etnobotánicas, entre otras, sobre este grupo de plantas que ha sido escasamente estudiado.