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Leveraging Synthetic Data for Zero–Shot and Few–Shot Circle Detection in Real–World Domains
Get PDFCircle detection plays a pivotal role in computer vision, underpinning applications from industrial inspection and bioinformatics to autonomous driving. Traditional methods, however, often struggle with real–world complexities, as they demand extensive parameter tuning and adaptation across different domains. In this paper, we present the Synthetic Circle Dataset (SynCircle), a large synthetic image dataset designed to train a YOLO v10 network for circle detection. The YOLO v10 network, pre–trained solely on synthetic data, demonstrates remarkable off–the–shelf performance that surpasses conventional methods in various practical scenarios. Furthermore, we show that incorporating just a few labeled real images for fine–tuning can significantly boost performance, reducing the need for large annotated datasets. To promote reproducibility and streamline adoption, we publicly release both the trained YOLO v10 weights and the full SynCircle dataset
Cable-Suspended Robotic Collaborative Manipulation
No full textThe collaborative grasping and manipulation of objects by multiple agents (humans and robots) is a fundamental problem in robotics, with applications in logistics, manufacturing, and assistive technologies. In most of the existing approaches the robots and humans rigidly and tightly hold the co-transported object, which is usually considered to be rigid. While effective, rigid grasping strictly couples the partners’ motions, limiting flexibility and reducing safety when unexpected events occur. Cable-suspended manipulation offers an alternative where the interaction between the agents and the manipulated object is mediated by lightweight, flexible cables. This non-rigid coupling extends the workspace, improves safety, and reduces the interaction forces. However, the suspended load becomes articulated and the system underactuated. This Thesis addresses these challenges by introducing novel modeling and control strategies for the collaborative manipulation of cable-suspended loads, aiming to establish cable-suspended manipulation as a new paradigm for human-robot, multi-robot, and human-multi-robot collaboration. First, a human-robot collaborative cable-suspended manipulation framework is developed, enabling safe co-transportation with contact detection and distinction based only on force sensing at the robot end-effector. A user study with 10 participants demonstrates its usability and safety, while an extended study with 18 participants shows that introducing wearable haptic feedback enhances operator awareness and reduces task failures. Second, a novel modeling framework is proposed, drawing an analogy with grasping theory with multi-fingered hands and multi-drone cable-suspended manipulation. The formulation defines the transmission of forces through cables and introduces the Cables Cone and Grasp Wrench Space for cable-suspended multi-drone systems. The model is further extended to multi-manipulator scenarios, and a method to optimize object manipulability both in 3D and along desired motion directions, possibly involving a human operator, is presented. These results are validated with experiments in both simulation and real-world systems. Finally, a multi-agent reinforcement learning framework is developed for dual-arm cooperative cable-suspended manipulation, allowing two robotic arms to learn how to handle a cable-suspended platform to accomplish tasks of increasing complexity, including platform manipulation, obstacle avoidance, and object transportation. Overall, this Thesis advances the theoretical foundations and practical implementation of cable-suspended collaborative manipulation, demonstrating its potential for safe and efficient collaboration among humans and robots
Transgenic overexpression of miR-486 and sAnk1.5 does not alter glucose handling in mice
Get PDFRecent studies have shown that the C allele of SNP rs508419 is associated with susceptibility to Type 2 diabetes (T2D). This SNP lies within the muscle-specific P2 promoter of human ANK1, which drives transcription of the sAnk1.5 isoform and miR-486. The C allele increases P2 promoter activity, resulting to higher levels of sAnk1.5 transcript and protein in striated muscles. We now present the first evidence that in skeletal muscle of individuals homozygous for the rs508419 C allele, also the hsa-miR-486-5p is transcribed at higher levels. This raises the question of whether T2D susceptibility may be associated with simultaneous overexpression of miR-486-5p and sAnk1.5. To test this hypothesis, we generated and characterized double transgenic (D-Tg) mice that selectively overexpress both mmu-miR-486-5p and sAnk1.5 in skeletal muscle tissue. Analysis of sAnk1.5 and miR-486-5p expression in D-Tg mouse showed that despite both transgenes were significantly upregulated, a discrepancy between sAnk1.5 mRNA and protein levels was observed, suggesting that sAnk1.5 protein levels are further regulated by post-translational mechanism. D-Tg mice were monitored from 2 to 12 months of age to assess body weight, fat and lean mass, blood glucose levels under fasting conditions, as well as during intraperitoneal glucose tolerance tests and insulin tolerance tests, performed under either standard or high fat diet conditions. No differences were observed between D-Tg and age-matched wild type control mice for any of the parameters tested, indicating that the link between rs508419 and susceptibility to T2D cannot be ascribed to increased expression of miR-486-5p and sAnk1.5 in skeletal muscle. © 2025 The Authors
From Alpine Tales to Pirandello’s Fiction : Mapping Changeling Beliefs across Italy
No full textFor centuries, people across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East believed that supernatural beings—fairies, jinn, trolls, or demons—could steal a human child and leave a lookalike in its place. These stories offer fascinating insights into how different cultures made sense of disability, illness, and unexplained transformations. Our article proposes a general survey on changeling beliefs in Italy, with particular reference to Sicily, where, until a few decades ago, superstition about changelings (canciati or canciateddi, in local dialect) were widespread. In 1902, as part of naturalism’s interest in popular culture, Luigi Pirandello, strongly influenced by Sicilian folklore and, perhaps, by Giuseppe Pitrè’s folklore studies, wrote a short story: ‘Le Nonne’, that in 1923 became ‘Il figlio cambiato’ (‘The Changeling’). Sara, the protagonist is a young mother convinced that his newborn has been substituted by the mysterious Ladies from Outside and eager to see him again, she makes a pact with a witch, Vanna Scoma. Can a (modern) literary text help us understand better this legend type and its Sicilian variant
Insights on wild boar behaviour, ecology, and impacts in Mediterranean areas
No full textWild ungulates play crucial roles in food webs, generating effects propagating across trophic levels, which can intensify at high population densities. Understanding their ecology and behaviour, as well as the determinants of their impacts, is essential to address effective management actions. This is particularly relevant in recent decades, because ecological perturbations are increasingly reshaping interspecific interactions and animal responses to external pressures. I focused on the wild boar Sus scrofa, a widespread ungulate whose foraging activity, especially rooting, can markedly affect ecosystems. By combining long-term data from morphometric measurements, camera trapping, faeces counts, rooting estimates, and statistical modelling, I investigated the main drivers of wild boar body mass variations (Chapter 2), diel activity rhythms (Chapter 3), and rooting intensity (Chapter 4) and distribution (Chapter 5). Also, I assessed its potential impacts on natural/seminatural habitats (Chapters 4 and 5) and medium-to-large sized mammal communities (Chapter 6). These investigations were focused on Mediterranean habitats, mainly during the harshest season (i.e., summer), when seasonal constraints may affect wild boar phenotypic traits and amplify local impacts. In Chapter 2, a 16-year analysis of culled males and trapped females showed that adult/yearling body mass in summer was reduced by aridity and high population density, and increased with ecotones in wild boar home range and in rainy-mild years. In Chapter 3 wild boar daily activity during summer was higher near persistent water resources and agricultural lands, decreasing in sites more visited by humans. Females with offspring were more diurnal than females without offspring and males, likely to reduce predation risk for their young. Nocturnality increased with increased temperatures over the previous 24h, close to crops, and in open habitats, especially in brighter nights. In Chapter 4 three-year seasonal surveys in EU-protected grasslands, and in Chapter 5 six-year intensive summer surveys in heterogeneous habitats, revealed that rooting intensity increased with population density, rainfall, and near woodland, and decreased in rocky and steep terrains, heterogeneous landscapes, and far from roads/railways. Rooting peaked in autumn/winter. In Chapter 6, the fine-scale richness of medium-to-large sized mammals across 21 Mediterranean protected areas showed no negative association with the spatial variation of wild boar visitation rate. Yet, support to species-specific responses emerged: Martes spp., red fox Vulpes vulpes, and European brown hare Lepus europaeus decreased their site-use in sites with higher wild boar detection rates, whereas the opposite relationship was found for badger Meles meles, crested porcupine Hystrix cristata, roe deer Capreolus capreolus, red deer Cervus elaphus and fallow deer Dama dama. While positive or negative co-occurrence in the same habitat because of factors independent from interactions with wild boar cannot be ruled out, biological support may be expected to (i) resource competition and habitat degradation by high wild boar activity negatively affecting site-use of small herbivores (hare) and predators of small rodents (red fox and martens), and to
(ii) wild boar digging facilitating the access to underground resources for semi-fossorial species (badger and porcupine). Overall, my results highlight the remarkable behavioural plasticity of wild boar and show that the intensity of activity is strongly context-dependent, whereas perceived impacts on other species may be species-specific. In their native distribution range, wild boar are integral components of ecosystems and can play important functional roles, although negative impacts on the conservation status of endangered species or habitat may emerge, which makes it necessary to maintain their populations at ecologically sustainable levels. Behavioural responses to climate change, however, may reshape interspecific interactions and increase the likelihood of human–wildlife conflicts, underscoring the need for targeted monitoring and adaptive management. Management actions should promote landscape heterogeneity and focus on attractive habitats, such as grasslands and productive areas adjacent to woodlands, particularly following rainy and mild years
Advanced in vitro human immune profiling of GMMA-based vaccines
No full textGeneralized Modules for Membrane Antigens (GMMA) are outer membrane vesicles derived from engineered Gram-negative bacteria. GMMA, resembling bacterial surface, present antigens in their native conformation and provide self-adjuvanticity, establishing them as a flexible vaccine platform. Despite previous studies demonstrated that GMMA-based vaccines, administered intramuscularly in healthy subjects, elicited a strong specific antibody response, our understanding of how GMMA-based vaccines influence immune cell function and development, as well as activation of other cell subsets at the injection-site remains limited. Using multi-parametric flow cytometry combined with cytokine detection assays, we define the Mode of Action (MoA) of Shigella and N. gonorrhoeae (Ng) GMMA-based vaccines on immune cells. Specifically, we developed in vitro models which recapitulate the peripheral blood, hPBMCs and a specific subpopulation of innate immune cells, the dendritic cells (DCs) which are known to drive T cell differentiation and function. Moreover, to gain insight into the role of GMMA on the cellular crosstalk occurring at the site of injection, which is instrumental for the priming of adaptive immunity, a primary muscle cell model (PMCM), which combines immune cells with myotubes, was developed. Both GMMA-based vaccines activated immune cells, including hPBMCs and Mo-DCs, eliciting a strong innate pro-inflammatory response. Furthermore, Mo-DCs internalized GMMA and secreted factors that skewed naïve CD4+ T cells toward a Th1 phenotype. GMMA-based vaccines also activated non-immune muscle cells, revealing, in the PMCM cultures, a distinct cytokine milieu compared to hPBMCs in vitro model. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that GMMA-based vaccines are internalized by both professional antigen presenting cells and muscle cells and promoted the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators, thereby shaping the development and function of T cells independently of the bacterial origin
Essays on International Trade and Innovation
Get PDFThis thesis uses data from different levels to explore the topics of international trade and innovation to fill the existing three gaps in the literature: (1) the overall effect of patents on export performance; (2) the bidirectional relationship between export quality and patent intensity, and the moderating role of institutions on this nexus; and (3) the causal effect of funding from the Horizon 2020 program on European firms’ innovation activities.
In the first chapter, I use the most prominent tool - Meta-analysis to investigate the impact of patents on export performance based on the results of the empirical studies. Over the past two decades, the nexus between patents and export performance has been widely investigated, and the existing findings are heterogeneous. To have a broad view of this relationship, I extract the estimates from 42 empirical studies conducted between 2005 and 2025, then apply Meta-analysis to obtain the final impact of patents on export activities. The baseline result shows that patents positively affect export performance across the entire sample, as well as in country-level data, sector-level data, firm-level data, and developed countries data studies. After controlling for moderators, the genuine effect remains positive for all studies, country-level data, and firm-level data subsamples, but is insignificant in the sector-level data subsample and the developed countries data subsample.
The second chapter examines the bidirectional relationship between export quality and patent intensity moderated by institutions using the three-dimensional panel data of 89 countries from 1999 to 2014 with a Simultaneous Equations Model (SEM), along with Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) and Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS) estimation methods. I found a negative two-way relationship between export quality and patent intensity. Moreover, the findings are confirmed for different types of countries, levels of technology, levels of export dependence, and export quality. As indicated in various studies that institutions not only play an important role in accelerating export and innovation, but they also act as the moderators in the relationship between innovation and international trade and between technology adoption and export performance. However, no prior study has investigated the moderating role of institutions on the impact of export quality on patent intensity and vice versa. Thus, I fill this gap by introducing different interaction terms between institutions (government stability, control of corruption, law and order, and bureaucracy quality) and export quality, patent intensity in the SEM. The results indicate a positive direct impact of institutional quality on export quality and patent intensity. Furthermore, institutions positively moderate the two-way relationship between export quality and patent intensity. A theoretical model is built to show how a firm’s choices between enhancing quality and increasing patenting are two sides of the same coin. The third chapter discusses the causal effect of the Horizon 2020 program on the innovation of European firms. First, a theoretical model is built to show how receiving funds from the Horizon 2020 program affects a firm’s innovation activities and its expenditure on innovation. Then, using data from firms of 9 European countries in 5 waves (2010 - 2018), adopted from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), I estimate the Difference-in-difference (DiD) with repeated cross-section estimation to investigate the changes in firms’ product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, marketing innovation, and expenditure on innovation. The results show that Horizon 2020 subsidies lead to increases in organizational innovation and expenditure on innovation for the whole sample. For Western countries, the results are more remarkable, with 12.6%, 13%, 6.4%, and 3.7% increases in product innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, and spending on innovation, respectively. Besides, the heterogeneous effects of subsidies are investigated under differences in export orientation, R&D intensity, knowledge intensity, competition levels, firms using different types of IPRs, and different sectors. The findings suggest that the positive impact of receiving funds from the Horizon 2020 on product and process innovation is more pronounced for exporting firms, firms in the Wholesale and retail trade sector, and the Information and communication sector. While R&D-intensive and knowledge-intensive firms show a high increase in organizational innovation
Electromyographic Assessment of Sleep Bruxism in Patients With Periodontitis: A Case-Control Study
Get PDFObjective The relationship between periodontitis and bruxism has always been a matter of debate. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the association between advanced stages of periodontitis (Stage III/IV) and the intensity and duration of sleep bruxism events, measured as bruxism work index (BWI) and bruxism time index (BTI) through surface electromyography. Methods Subjects were selected from patients regularly attending the School of Dentistry of the University of Siena, Siena, Italy, with the aim of having a test group of patients with periodontitis and a control group without periodontitis. Two calibrated operators performed the periodontal assessment. The sleep-time surface electromyographic activity of the left masseter muscle was registered through a portable device (dia-BRUXO, Biotech-Novations, Sanremo, Italy). Differences between cases and controls in the outcome variables concerning masseter activities were assessed. Results No significant difference was found between the two groups for the sleep bruxism work index and bruxism time index. Instead, a moderately negative significant correlation was found between the bruxism work index and the full mouth bleeding score. Conclusion Patients with advanced stages of periodontitis (Stage III and Stage IV) do not exhibit a higher frequency and intensity of sleep bruxism events compared to healthy individuals
Oxidative stability of extra virgin olive oil assessed by electron paramagnetic resonance, chemical composition, and multivariate analysis
Get PDFThe oxidative stability of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a key quality parameter influenced by its composition and antioxidant content. The determination of EVOO oxidative stability under stress conditions will help to address its nutritional properties and shelf life. This study investigates the oxidative behaviour of Tuscan EVOOs by combining Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), detailed compositional profiling and multivariate analysis. Significant variability in both radical generation and antioxidant capacity was observed among samples. Multivariate analyses (PCA, PLS), integrating chemical data, revealed that tocopherols, phenolic compounds, and fatty acid profiles, particularly MUFA/PUFA ratios, strongly influence oxidative resistance. In particular, given that oil samples have all an oleic acid content higher than 72 %, the polyphenol/tocopherol ratio is the main responsible of the oxidative stability of EVOOs. This study highlights the interplay between composition and oxidative stability with the aim, once a greater number of dataset will be available, to build a predictive model to define EVOOs oxidative stability. © 2025 The Author