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Mutant-Driven Test Generation for Ethereum Smart Contracts via LLMs
No full textBugs in Solidity smart contracts caused millions of dollars in losses in the past year alone. Mutation testing can expose weaknesses in test suites that simpler coverage metrics often miss, but the effort required to generate test cases for live mutants remains a major barrier to adoption. To address this, we present Alchemist, a framework that generates test cases from Solidity mutants via LLMs. Alchemist incorporates the scientific method into its test generation process, enabling the systematic refinement of test cases through hypotheses. Evaluation on Solidity projects demonstrates that this method improves test quality over direct prompting while reducing developer effort
Association between shift work and eating behaviours, sleep quality, and mental health among Italian workers
No full textPurpose: Recent studies indicate that shift work may affect workers' eating habits and overall well-being. This study aimed to assess differences in eating patterns, sleep quality, and mental health between Italian shift and non-shift workers, with a focus on individual chronotype and the type of shift work (day vs. night shift). Methods: The cross-sectional study involved 322 subjects (166 shift and 156 non-shift workers). Eating habits were evaluated using a 7-day diary and the Medi-Lite questionnaire. Sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and mental health with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). Individual chronotype was defined using the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire. Results: No significant differences in daily energy, macronutrient, and micronutrient intake between the two groups, nor in the temporal pattern of eating. However, shift workers had significantly (p < 0.05) lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) (7.6 ± 2.3 vs 8.1 ± 2.2) compared to non-shift workers. Shift workers also reported significantly poorer sleep quality (mean PSQI score 7.6 ± 3.7 vs. 5.8 ± 3.0) and higher levels of anxiety and stress symptoms. Among shift workers, those with an evening chronotype had significantly lower MD adherence than those with a morning chronotypes. Additionally, night shift workers experienced more sleep disturbances compared to day ones. Conclusion: Shift workers reported lower MD adherence, poorer sleep quality, and a higher prevalence of anxiety and stress symptoms compared to a similar group of non-shift workers. Evening chronotypes and night shift work were associated with worse eating habits and sleep quality
Editorial: Camelid farming, production, reproduction, health, and welfare
No full textThe Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) year 2024 was dedicated to camelids
(1), recognizing their growing role both as livestock and companion animals. To celebrate
with FAO these species, this Research Topic entitled “Camelid farming, production,
reproduction, health, and welfare” encompasses a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines,
from milk production and reproduction to health and genetics. This multidisciplinary
approach underscores the imperative of the “One Welfare” approach—recognizing the
interconnected wellbeing of animals, humans, and the environment (2)—and highlights
the necessity to include camels within this paradigm, a species that has been historically
overlooked in scientific research. Once known as the “ships of the desert,” camelids are now
recognized as the “livestock of the future” due to their multipurpose role (3). This evolving
livestock and cultural paradigm emerges amid a growing global camelid population,
presenting both opportunities and challenges in breeding strategies, food security, and
animal welfare
Chronic Groin Pain After Hernia Surgery: What Are We Missing?
No full textBackground: Chronic postoperative inguinal pain [CPIP] is a prevalent and often debilitating
complication following inguinal hernia repair. With the widespread adoption of
mesh-based techniques, recurrence rates have significantly declined, shifting clinical focus
toward postoperative pain management. Methods: This narrative review synthesizes
international literature on CPIP incidence, surgical technique, geographic variation, and the
distinction between neuropathic and nociceptive pain. Studies were selected based on relevance,
sample size, and inclusion of pain subclassification. Results: CPIP incidence varies
markedly across studies (6–64.3%), influenced by follow-up duration, surgical approach,
and regional healthcare practices. The risk of CPIP varies significantly, depending on the
surgical technique employed, with open repairs generally associated with higher rates than
laparoscopic approaches. Neuropathic pain predominates in specific cohorts, particularly
following open repairs with limited nerve preservation. Few studies differentiate pain
types, revealing a critical gap in diagnostic precision. Conclusions: CPIP is a multifactorial
and under-recognized problem in clinical practice. The adoption of standardized diagnostic
tools and long-term follow-up protocols is essential to improve pain classification and
management. A structured diagnostic algorithm may assist clinicians in distinguishing
pain types and tailoring treatment strategies to individual patient profiles
Safeguarding the Anonymous Industrial Building Heritage by an Interactive Catalogue of Paradigmatic Construction Elements: The Case of Thin Shells
No full textThe industrial buildings represent a key asset of the 20th Century cultural and technological heritage: the reuse of industrial heritage involves the essential phase of recognizing the intrinsic values of the industrial legacy, dealing within the development of specific safeguard strategy and tools. The ideation and the construction of specific digital tools to support the cataloguing of the industrial buildings, with specific reference to the anonymous industrial buildings is presented in this paper. A specific addendum of the cataloguing form and a typological database of geometrical and informative models of paradigmatic construction elements, featured by significant structural and building innovations are, thus, developed. The platform allows to disseminate the base knowledge framework of specific construction systems and automatize the customization of the cataloguing form related to the single building. Thin shells roofing elements, applied in Italy for industrial buildings between the 1930s and the 1960s, are considered as case study
FIRST RESULTS OF THE APPLICATION OF A VISION-BASED METHODOLOGY FOR MONITORING DISPLACEMENTS DURING FULL-SCALE BUILDING SHAKE-TABLE TESTING
No full textThis study presents a vision-based methodology for acquiring absolute and inter-story displace-ments of multi-story buildings during dynamic and shake-table tests using only two video cam-eras. One camera is mounted on top of the building to track multiple targets positioned along the structure’s height, while a second external camera provides redundancy for roof displace-ment measurements and compensates for noise caused by vibrations affecting the top-mounted camera. This setup enables the estimation of horizontal displacements across multiple floors. The methodology was validated through a full-scale 6-story building test on the Large High-Performance Outdoor Shake Table at the University of California San Diego. The results demonstrate high accuracy and resolution in displacement time series data
Rouvière’s Sulcus as a Landmark for a Safe Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: An Interim Analysis of a Multicenter Cross-sectional Study on the Prevalence and Morphologic Type of Rouvière’s Sulcus in the Italian Population
No full textLaparoscopic cholecystectomy is the gold standard in
the treatment of symptomatic gallstones. The large number of gallbladders
removed every year is not fully consistent with the excessively
high incidence of iatrogenic bile duct injury (IBDI). Several
strategies have been suggested to reduce this risk. Among them, the
use of extra biliary anatomic structures, such as the Rouvière’s sulcus,
as a landmark to guide the surgeon during dissection has been proposed
as a means to prevent IBDI. The main aim of the present paper
is the evaluation of the prevalence of Rouvière’s sulcus (RS) and its
anatomic variants in a given population
Raman Spectroscopy for Nitrate Detection in Water: A Review of the Current State of Art
No full textThe contamination of natural basins by agricultural or industrial activities, and the growing need for potable water due to climate changes accelerate the drive to find versatile, fast, practical, and easy-to-use methods for water analysis. A potentially versatile technique suitable for water analysis is Raman Spectroscopy (RS). Featured by good resolution but low sensitivity, RS detects molecular vibrational modes of an analyte in water. Nitrate is an indicator of chemical and/or biological pollution, it displays Raman active vibrational modes affected by the interaction with other systems in solution, allowing a wide range of applications. Concerning Nitrate analysis in water, a general introduction to the Raman effect and the basic instrumentation were herein discussed. RS is a potential solution to wastewater analysis. This review first reports the theoretical background of the technique and its basic working principles, then, the state-of-the-art scientific contributions related to Nitrate detection are investigated with a particular interest in the instrumental setup and the chemometric techniques employed to improve its sensitivity. In the studies hereby considered, instrumental setup (for example, laser frequency, laser power, acquisition times) and different technical solutions (for example, micro- versus macro-Raman instruments) to increase the technique’s sensitivity on Nitrate detection are described. Concisely, the use of deep-UV lasers, optically active Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) or Fiber-Enhanced Raman spectroscopy (FERS) equipment, coupled with instrumental settings, i.e. acquisition time, variable temperature of acquisition, use of special sampling apparatus (cuvettes or immersion probes), or with ion exchange resins for analyte enrichment, have been reported. Remarkably, examples of large data correction of unwanted fluorescence by mathematical processing or chemical quenching were reported too, suggesting solutions for the Raman analysis of wastewaters. Finally, a short digression on Machine Learning (ML) applied to RS is proposed, showing the promising results reported in other fields. Data-driven methods could be a solution to improve the low sensitivity of the RS for Nitrate detection. Hence, an approach of ML methods for the typical RS spectra processing (spike removal, baseline correction, fluorescence curve elimination, instrumental noise correction) was hereby mentioned, suggesting an improvement in the detection capability of Nitrate ion in water
Fe-rich filamentary textures reveal timescales of magmatic interaction before the onset of high-energy explosive events at basaltic volcanoes
No full textFe-rich filamentary textures are almost ubiquitous in products from explosive eruptions at basaltic volcanoes and, in particular, they characterize the groundmass of ash and lapilli emitted during high-energy events. Here, we present a multidisciplinary study integrating petrological analyses with computational fluid dynamics simulations to propose a new mechanism responsible for their formation. Detailed textural and compositional features of Fe-rich filaments were examined in the products of explosive eruptions with different intensities from Stromboli and Etna (Italy) volcanoes. Results reveal that they represent compositional boundary layers developed at the plagioclase-melt interface in response to the interaction between magmas with different compositions and volatile contents. Numerical simulations indicate that boundary layers can detach from crystals and disperse into resident melts due to their higher density and can survive as metastable melts for some days under magmatic conditions. We suggest that Fe-rich filaments testify to the recharging of deep magma a few days before high-energy explosive events at basaltic open-vent volcanoes, even when primitive magmas are not erupted