Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
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The Influence of Resistance Training on Joint Flexibility in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Meta-regression
Get PDFJoint flexibility is a key component of physical fitness. Despite the large body of evidence regarding the effectiveness of muscle stretching exercises, little is known about the effect of resistance training on flexibility. A systematic search was conducted on 9 academic search instruments; inclusion criteria were as follows: healthy adult participants (age ≥18 years); resistance training intervention (duration ≥4 weeks); at least one flexibility outcome. Risk of bias was assessed using the RoB-2 and ROBINS-I tools. A 3-level meta-analysis was conducted, with multiple outcomes nested within each study. A moderator analysis was conducted by fitting a meta-regression model. Significance level was set at p < 0.05. We included 36 studies (1,469 participants). None of the included papers resulted at a low risk of bias. The pooled effect size for resistance training on flexibility was g = 0.6325, with 95% CI: 0.4762 to 0.7888 (p < 0.0001). There was a substantial amount of heterogeneity between studies. Exercise intensity was a significant moderator (p < 0.0225, high vs low), based on 129 and unique effect sizes, and sex (p = 0.0429). Activity level and age were nonsignificant moderators. Resistance training could be implemented as a strategy to improve joint flexibility, with high-intensity protocols resulting in a magnified effect. However, the high overall risk of bias and substantial heterogeneity limit our ability to draw definitive conclusions
Back to fundamentals of research: Ethics and academic freedom. Position paper
Get PDFOn December 2, 2024, the University of Bologna organised an international event titled: “Back to Fundamentals of Research: Ethics and Academic Freedom.” The event featured prominent speakers and experts from national and international institutions, who shared their insights on emerging ethical concerns and the risks to academic freedom. Through this position paper, the University of Bologna aims to highlight the key messages that emerged from the discussions and to outline the challenges and recommendations to create a more responsible and supportive research environment
Dried Anaerobic Digestate from Slaughterhouse By-products: Emerging Cues for a Bio-Based Fertilization
Get PDFThe slaughterhouse and meat industry are worldwide rapidly growing and produce billions of tonnes of organic wastes annually. These materials can be used to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion and the resulting digestate represents a potential source of organic carbon and nutrients that could be applied to the soil as organic fertilizer. The present work aims to assess the fertilizing potential of a dried anaerobic digestate (DD) produced from beef slaughtering waste. DD was characterized at the physic-chemical level, particularly focusing on macro- and micronutrient contents, potentially toxic element and organic contaminants. Then, a short-term soil incubation experiment was performed on two different soils. After the incubation, DD released 10-26% of their total nitrogen (N) and 13-16% of total phosphorus (P), depending on the soils that had different characteristics and responded differently to the treatments. However, DD had positive effects on the principal soil fertility indicators, such as chitinase and phosphatases, stimulating the microbial activity and therefore exploiting a fertilizing potential as well as the other organic fertilizers tested. Moreover, DD had minor effects on soil extractable carbon (Cext) suggesting the presence of recalcitrant C forms in spite of soluble C, indicating a higher stability of slaughterhouse by-products after anaerobic digestion in respect to the other organic fertilizers. The results obtained in this work raise the concrete possibility use DD as a bio-based fertilizer
Gino Malacarne. Architetture. Progetti in mostra.
No full textQuesta pubblicazione nasce in occasione della mostra “Gino Malacarne. Architetture”, promossa dal Dipartimento di Architettura dell’Università di Bologna e ospitata nella Manica Lunga della Biblioteca Classense di Ravenna (dal 7 febbraio al 22 marzo 2024).
L’allestimento ripropone e amplia la mostra “Gino Malacarne. Architetture”, inaugurata a Padova il 16 settembre 2022 presso il Palazzo della Gran Guardia. All’allestimento di Padova sono seguiti cinque ulteriori appuntamenti.
Questo settimo appuntamento a Ravenna diviene l’occasione per presentare una selezione di progetti, più estesa rispetto alle precedenti esposizioni, che vanno dal 1987 al 2023; si tratta di una sintesi significativa del mio lavoro e rappresenta il mio modo di intendere l’architettura e la città.
I progetti presentati riguardano edifici e spazi pubblici, ideati in occasioni di lavoro, di concorsi e attività di ricerca, rappresentati da disegni di studio, disegni di progetto e modelli. La loro collocazione è varia e oscilla tra i piccoli centri di un territorio circoscritto, e le grandi città. Si tratta di progettazioni urbane che, pur nelle limitazioni imposte dai temi, cercano di ridefinire una parte di città, costruendo luoghi in aree dove la forma della città si va perdendo.
L’obiettivo che accompagna il mio lavoro e che diventa comune denominatore dei progetti è sempre lo stesso: rispondere alle necessità, perseguendo la costruzione di una bellezza utile
Threat of tamarisk phytoplasmas in man-made tamarisk forest for agricultural crops and natural resources plants in Iran
No full textOver the past two decades, symptoms of tamarisk witches’ broom, yellowing, and little leaf were observed with extensive distribution up to 100% in some areas in man-made tamarisk forest in rural deserts of central regions of Iran in Chah Afzal (Yazd province). Using direct and nested polymerase chain reaction on the phytoplasma ribosomal and non-ribosomal genes followed by RFLP and phylogenetic analyses revealed the presence of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris’ (16SrI-B subgroup), ‘Ca. P. australasiae=australasiaticum’ (16SrII-D subgroup), and ‘Ca. P. trifolii’ (16SrVI-A subgroup). Based on the results, tamarisk represent a relevant source of infection for the agricultural crops and natural resources plants. Since phytoplasma strains detected on the tamarisk trees are similar to important phytoplasma diseases on different plant species in this area, it is possible that tamarisk trees have an important role in the epidemiology of phytoplasma disease and cause great damages. Threat of tamarisk witches’ broom phytoplasma diseases in man-made tamarisk forest for agricultural crops and natural resources plants is serious and management of the disease at the earliest opportunity is recommended
The Influence of Collective Action: A Relational Perspective on the Consequences of Social Movements and Grassroots Politics
No full textSocial movements aim to influence their reality, qualifying as mediators of change by creating, disrupting, and reshaping the relational patterns of societies. Isolating their effects has always been a challenge, even more complex at times when societal struggles become increasingly wicked. Building on this assumption, the present contribution advocates for a shift in perspective, moving away from success or outcome perspectives, in favor of an influence framework of the consequences of collective action. The article builds on existing literature to show how studies in the field have already reflected on the ways in which collective actors intervene in transforming the relational preconditions of social change, even when refraining from defining their approach as relational. The review revolves around the concept of influence, as already defined in the existent literature, to advocate for a shift in perspective that will allow scholars to (i) investigate the strategies through which collective actors secure positions of influence in the broader relational structure, (ii) understand the indirect influence that actors may exert by changing the structure of relations in society, (iii) map the joint influence exerted by collective actors, understanding social transactions as primary resources to co-participate in processes of change
Impact Study of NoSQL Refactoring in SkyServer Database
Get PDFData modeling in NoSQL databases is notoriously complex and driven by multiple and possibly conflicting requirements. Researchers have proposed methodologies to optimize schema design of a given domain for a given workload; however, due to the agile environment in which NoSQL databases are usually employed, both domain and workload are frequently subject to changes and evolution - possibly neutralizing the benefits of optimization. When this happens, the benefits of a new optimal schema design must be weighed against the costs of migrating the data. In this work, we empirically show the benefits of schema redesign in a real publicly available database. In particular, we identify multiple snapshots (in terms of domain extension and querying workload) in the 20+ years evolution of SkyServer, demonstrate how NoSQL schema optimization at a given time can later backfire, and evaluate the conditions under which data migration becomes beneficial. This takes us to define the foundations and challenges of a framework for continuous NoSQL database refactoring, with the goal of helping DBAs and data engineers decide if, when, and how a NoSQL database should be reconsidered to restore schema design optimality
Environmental, social and governance risk exposures of mutual funds
Get PDFFrequent natural disasters caused by climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have increased global awareness of sustainability issues with a consequent focus on sustainable finance. This study disaggregates the exposures of mutual funds to environmental, social, and governance risks using data from 18,648 investment funds. We find that investment in technology and financial firms and herding behavior support an environmental strategy but not necessarily governance or social responsibility.
Further, funds with longer-tenured managers are less sustainability-focused, possibly
entrenched from an era before ESG became a societal concern
An R tool for computing and evaluating Fuzzy poverty indices: The package FuzzyPovertyR
No full textFuzzy set theory has become increasingly popular for deriving uni- and multi-dimensional poverty estimates. In recent years, various authors have proposed different approaches to defining membership functions, resulting in the development of various fuzzy poverty indices. This paper introduces a new R package called FuzzyPovertyR, designed for estimating fuzzy poverty indices. The package is demonstrated by using it to estimate three fuzzy poverty indices – one multi- and two uni-dimensional – at the regional level (NUTS 2) in Italy. The package allows users to select from a range of membership functions and includes tools for estimating the variance of these indices by the ad-hoc Jack-Knife repeated replication procedure or by naive and calibrated non-parametric bootstrap methods
Fertility decline in context: the case of Italy
No full textNumerous studies have shown that fertility behaviour in Italy, as elsewhere, stronglydepends on subnational contextual factors. With this study we add to that literature investigatinghow group-specific fertility rates differ across fine-graded local areas’ characteristics. We utilizeISTAT micro-level vital registration records including all births registered in each Italianmunicipality for the year 2022 and information about parity and parents’ age to construct age- andparity- specific fertility rates. We match fertility data with the municipalities’ Inner Areasclassification measuring the availability of (distance from) crucial services, and with otherindicators of municipalities’ socioeconomic conditions that may influence fertility, such as percapita income, the share of high-tech workers and the availability of public childcare services.First, we present a descriptive illustration of the most recent group-specific fertility rates indifferent kinds of local areas in terms of population size, geographical location, and inner areaclass. Second, we utilize linear regression models to investigate the association between localareas’ characteristics and age- and parity-specific fertility rates