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Amanita Phalloides is a poisonous mushroom belonging to Amanitaceae family. It is one of the most dangerous mushrooms known to date and the ingestion of its part leads to death in 70/80% of cases if not treated. Here we presented a case of a patient with amanita intoxication treated with CRRT + CytoSorb before liver transplantation. The therapy seems to be effective in the patient’s haemodynamics stabilization and reducing serum amanitin levels. Unfortunately, the patient died as a result of post-operative complications.

Photo Response Non-Uniformity (PRNU) is reputed the most successful trace to identify the source of a digital video. However, its effectiveness is mainly limited by compression and the effect of recently introduced electronic image stabilization on several devices. In the last decade, several approaches were proposed to overcome both these issues, mainly by selecting those video frames which are considered more informative. However, the two problems were always treated separately, and the combined effect of compression and digital stabilization was never considered. This separated analysis makes it hard to understand if achieved conclusions still stand for digitally stabilized videos and if those choices represent a general optimum strategy to perform video source attribution. In this paper, we explore whether an optimum strategy exists in selecting frames based on their type and their positions within the groups of pictures. We, therefore, systematically analyze the PRNU contribute provided by all frames belonging to either digitally stabilized or not stabilized videos. Results on the VISION dataset come up with some insights into optimizing video source attribution in different use cases.

Performance evaluation of source camera attribution methods typically stop at the level of analysis of hard to interpret similarity scores. Standard analytic tools include Detection Error Trade-off or Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, or other scalar performance metrics, such as Equal Error Rate or error rates at a specific decision threshold. However, the main drawback of similarity scores is their lack of probabilistic interpretation and thereby their lack of usability in forensic investigation, when assisting the trier of fact to make more sound and more informed decisions. The main objective of this work is to demonstrate a transition from the similarity scores to likelihood ratios in the scope of digital evidence evaluation, which not only have probabilistic meaning, but can be immediately incorporated into the forensic casework and combined with the rest of the case-related forensic. Likelihood ratios are calculated from the Photo Response Non-Uniformity source attribution similarity scores. The experiments conducted aim to compare different strategies applied to both digital images and videos, by considering their respective peculiarities. The results are presented in a format compatible with the guideline for validation of forensic likelihood ratio methods.

Electric Network Frequency (ENF) fluctuates over time around the nominal value because of power load changes. Such fluctuations have a subtle influence on the artificial light emitted by sources that are supplied by the electric grid. Captured by camera sensors, this information can be used in digital forensic investigations to timestamp, geolocate or authenticate video recordings. However, extracting an ENF signal of sufficient quality from digital videos is still challenging, especially in presence of rolling shutter mechanisms and scene movements that interfere with the ENF extraction. In this paper, we present a novel method for the extraction of ENF signals in video recordings by exploiting parametric and non-parametric spectral estimation, and combining them to limit ENF distortions and increase frequency resolution. The experimental results obtained evaluating our technique using a publicly available dataset demonstrate its effectiveness in timestamping video recordings with a high level of accuracy.

Electricity is transported through the network as alternate current, usually at a carrier frequency (50/60 Hz) which is known as Electric Network Frequency (ENF). In practice, ENF fluctuates around the nominal value because of changes in the supply and demand of power over time. These fluctuations are conveyed by the light that is emitted by sources connected to the power grid. Captured by video recordings, such localized variations can be exploited as digital watermarks in order to determine the position of a video in time (e.g. timestamping) and space, as well as to verify its integrity. However, the encoded formats of acquired videos alter the shape of ENF extracted from video frames. This paper provides an analytical model for characterizing the effects of group of pictures (GOP) structure adopted by the most widespread video encoders. The model is assessed through an experimental evaluation campaign, by analyzing different working conditions and by showing how the information from the GOP can contribute to the extraction of ENF from video frames.

Video source attribution is getting a growing interest from researchers, law enforcement officers and forensic analysts. The capability of linking a video recording with its source device enables to search out who has generated a video recording. Such a feature finds immediate application in fighting against technology enabled crimes such as digital piracy and child abuse online. Currently, the most powerful techniques rely on the unique noise traces left by each camera sensor within any visual content, widely known as Photo Response NonUniformity. However, in the case of videos, the increasing adoption of digital motion stabilization interferes with the extraction of reliable noise patterns. In such a context, this paper describes a novel methodology for creating a robust reference video PRNU from still images for source camera recognition. Moreover, we provide a novel optimized strategy to compare two different PRNUs extracted from videos in presence of motion stabilization. The conducted experimental evaluation highlights the strength of the proposed methods.

This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications, for international relations and world politics, of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato si’, particularly through the notion “integral ecology”. Far for being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the “greening” of religions, the document raises in radical terms the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it puts emphasis on the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, I connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. Practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, operationalizing the concept of care.

Over the last two decades of biometric research, it has been shown in numerous occasions the key impact that the quality of biometric samples has on the performance of biometric recognition systems. Few other biometric characteristics, if any, have been analysed so in depth from a quality perspective than fingerprints. This has been largely due to the development by the US NIST of two successive systemindependent metrics that have become a standard to estimate fingerprint quality: NFIQ1 and NFIQ2. However, in spite of their unquestionable influence in the development of fingerprint technology, there is still a lack of understanding of how these two metrics relate to each other. The present article is an attempt to bridge this gap, presenting new insight into the meaningfulness of both metrics, and describing a mapping function between NFIQ2 values and NFIQ1 classes.

In this work, a comparison of the performances of a stereo and a monocular vision system for the 3D pose estimation of a planar target in very challenging conditions is presented. In particular, the systems have been designed to detect in real time a target moving with a maximum speed of 1 m/s, in a range of distances from 0.5 to 4 m from the cameras, with an accuracy of less than 1 cm (referred to the estimation of the real world coordinates) and with a field of view of 80 deg. A theoretical evaluation and experimental results to assess the performance of the proposed systems are presented. Our analysis demonstrates the good accuracy in terms of target position estimation of the presented approaches not only for close range applications, but also for mid-to-long range ones.

Objective: Premature uterine contractions represent one of the major symptoms related to preterm labor. So far, primary prevention of preterm labor is based on the early identification of symptoms and on pharmacological treatments which are prone of several secondary effects. In this double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, the efficacy of a supplementation of magnesium and alpha-lipoic acid has been evaluated. Methods: Three hundred pregnant women at 14 - 34 weeks of gestation were enrolled and randomly divided to receive a daily single tablet containing a supplement of magnesium and alpha-lipoic acid (DAV®LoLiPharmasrl, Rome-Italy) or placebo until delivery. The incidence of episodes of preterm uterine contraction, associated or not with pain, as well as maternal need of hospitalization was evaluated. Results: Magnesium and lipoic acid supplementation was effective to significantly reduce the incidence of preterm uterine contractions compared to placebo. In particular, 52% of women who received the supplementation reported no symptoms of preterm uterine contractions throughout pregnancy, and persistent episodes of uterine contractions were significantly reduced compared to placebo (20% vs 60%, respectively). Furthermore, only 20% of subjects who received the supplementation required hospitalization, while it has been necessary for 40% of women who received placebo. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that supplementation with magnesium and lipoic acid is effective in reducing the incidence of premature uterine contraction and related episodes of hospitalization, compared to placebo. Nevertheless, further studies based on larger cohorts of patients are necessary to confirm the efficacy of these preliminary results.

A new awareness of the role of religion in international relations has started to inform concrete policy discussions in several Western Ministries of Foreign Affairs under the heading of ‘religious engagement’ in foreign policy. Italy is no exception, but as the country which hosts the Holy See, it represents a special case. As the approach to religion found in the historical record of Italian foreign policy shows, Italy has a comparative advantage and could well develop a unique model of religious engagement by strengthening the central structures involved in religious matters and foreign policy, as well as by using the vast network of Rome-based religious non-state actors as a forum of consultation and policy advice.

Recently, several studies have been concerned with modeling the parenthood relationships between near duplicates in a set of images. Two images share a parenthood relationship if one is obtained by applying transformations to the other. However, this is not the only form of parenting that can exist among images. An image might be a composition created through the combination of the semantic information existent in two or more source images, establishing a relationship between the sources and the composite. The problem of identifying these relations in a set containing near-duplicate subsets of source and composition images is referred to as multiple parenting phylogeny. Thus far, researchers tackled this problem with a three-step solution: 1) separation of near-duplicate groups; 2) classification of the relations between the groups; and 3) identification of the images used to create the original composition. In this work, we extend upon this framework by introducing key improvements, such as better identification of when two images share content, and improved ways to compare this content. In addition, we also introduce a new realistic professionally created data set of compositions involving multiple parenting relationships. The method we present in this paper is properly evaluated through quantitative metrics, established for assessing the accuracy in finding multiple parenting relationships. Finally, we discuss some particularities of the framework, such as the importance of an accurate reconstruction of phylogenies and the method’s behavior when dealing with more complex compositions.

Image spectroscopy may allow identifying the materials present on a painting surface in a non-invasive way. The proposed method aims at optimizing, and thus reducing, the number of filters employed, while still providing a robust method, that achieves similar performances as traditional ones, which in turn employ a large number of filters. Moreover, we targeted the identification of the pigments present on the outer layer of a painting independently from their thickness, the underlying background or support, the binder employed, their aging and acquisition set-up. In order to achieve this objective, a relevant number of swatches have been prepared, on different supports and with different thicknesses and binding mediums. Spectral reflectance curves of such chemically known pictorial layers have been recorded by means of a spectrometer and a spectrophotometer. A novel Principal Component Analysis (PCA) based approach has been devised to select the most relevant wavebands, i.e. those that allow the most effective discrimination among (quasi)metameric colours, which are thus not to be distinguished with the naked eye or with an RGB camera. Comparisons of results using the 13 filters available on the filter wheel and of a selection of only 3 and 4 filters, support the idea of the simplified version investigated in this paper being a viable alternative.

Image phylogeny deals with tracing back parent-child relationships among near duplicates, images that share the same semantic content. This approach results in a visual structure showing the inheritance of semantic content among images, called phylogeny tree. In this paper, we extend upon the image phylogeny's original formulation, which considers that an image may inherit content from only a single parent, to deal with situations whereby an image may inherit it from multiple different parents. Our objective is to find the multiple parenting relationships in a set of images, a problem which we refer to as multiple parenting phylogeny. The proposed solution works by first identifying near-duplicate groups and reconstructing their phylogenies; then among the found groups we determine the one(s) representing the composition images; finally, we detect the parenting relations between those compositions and the source images used to create them.

When it comes to religions and cultures, we need to be very careful and critical towards the language that dominates the political debate in our societies. The truth is that in the present world, all civilization should be considered as “hyphenated”. As for the identities, we should bear in mind that they are in themselves a product of our different affiliations and links. This truism obviously applies also to religions; however, fundamentalism denies the complexity of our societies.

What I intend to do is to propose an examination of religions and religious beliefs in the framework of the global governance. The relation between religions and global governance can be analyzed through the conceptual scheme of polity (defining the “boundaries” of a political system, its institutional features, its legal framework and the issues related to legitimacy), politics (the political “discourse” in terms of competition among ideologies, parties and political groups) and policy (concrete political options regarding public goods, their appropriation and distribution or redistribution). This framework can be applied, at least in flexible and not strictly “technical” terms, to analyze the direct or indirect influence of religious ideas concerning international order (polity), justification of political options (politics) and content of the global agenda (policies).

In the international relations surfaces again the old dialectical opposition between “Regna” (Kingdoms) and “Imperium” (Empire), between national and sub-national political identities and world and transnational political collective identities.

Despite the monumental bibliography on religions and international relations, there is a good deal of confusion and theoretical uncertainty.

In the general context of a growing attention devoted to religion in world politics, religious freedom is becoming increasingly relevant. A plethora of “reports” on religious freedom are released regularly by governments, international institutions, special rapporteurs and religious bodies.

A comparison between two forensic techniques for the reverse engineering of a chain composed by a double JPEG compression interleaved by a linear contrast enhancement is presented here. The first approach is based on the well known peak-to-valley behavior of the histogram of double-quantized DCT coefficients, while the second approach is based on the distribution of the first digit of DCT coefficients. These methods have been extended to the study of the considered processing chain, for both the chain detection and the estimation of its parameters. More specifically, the proposed approaches provide an estimation of the quality factor of the previous JPEG compression and the amount of linear contrast enhancement.

An optical noninvasive inspection tool is presented to, in vivo, better characterize biological tissues such as human skin. The method proposed exploits a multispectral imaging device to acquire a set of images in the visible and NIR range. This kind of information can be very helpful to improve early diagnosis of melanoma, a very aggressive cutaneous neoplasm, incidence and mortality of which continues to rise worldwide. Currently, noninvasive methods (i.e. dermoscopy) have improved melanoma detection, but the definitive diagnosis is still achieved only by invasive method (istopathological observation of the excised lesion). The multispectral system we developed is capable of imaging layers of structures placed at increasing depth, thanks to the fact that light propagates into the skin and reaches different depths depending on its wavelength. This allows to image many features which are less or not visible in the clinical and dermoscopic examination. A new semeiotics is proposed to describe the content of multispectral images. Dermoscopic criteria can be easily applied to describe each image in the set, however inter-images correlations need new suitable descriptors. The first group of new parameters describes how the dermoscopic features, vary across the set of images. More aspects are then introduced. E.g. the longest wavelength where structures can be detected gives an estimate of the maximum depth reached by the pigmented lesion. While the presence of a bright-to-dark transition between the wavebands in the violet to blue range, reveals the presence of blue-whitish veil, which is a further malignancy marker.

Maximization of Mutual Information routines proved to be suitable for registration of multimodal images. Here a method is proposed to select, in a set of candidates, the image which has a closer resemblance with a given external one. Such algorithm is intended to serve within a wider scope procedure for the automatic texturing of 3D models, where the initial 2D-3D registration problem is shifted to a 2D-2D registration challenge. In order to improve its performance a number of variations in the way the Mutual Information is computed are introduced and a method to judge its reliability is proposed.