Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna
Archivio istituzionale della ricerca - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di BolognaNot a member yet
336958 research outputs found
Sort by
Effects of Cultural Novelty on the Interplay Between Language and Cultural Adjustment in International Students
Get PDFRecent research has revealed the significant role of perceived cultural differences, or cultural novelty, in shaping the intercultural experiences of diverse individuals. Yet, our understanding of how cultural novelty influences the relationship between language and cultural adjustment remains limited. This study addresses this gap by examining the moderating effect of cultural novelty on the relationship between foreign-language proficiency and cultural adjustment. Survey data from 1,092 international students in five countries were analyzed using mediation and moderated mediation analyses. The moderating effect of cultural novelty was confirmed, specifically in the host-language context, where higher cultural novelty significantly weakened the relationship between host-language proficiency and socializing with domestic students. Moreover, this research illuminates the influence of the lingocultural context on cultural adjustment. This study has important implications for higher education institutions. It demonstrates how cultural novelty can impact the ability of foreign-language proficiency to enhance student adjustment and the overall educational experience
Health Concepts in Medicine and the Role of Philosophy
Get PDFPhilosophers interested in medicine and healthcare research should focus on the choice of health concepts. Conceptual choice is akin to conceptual engineering but, in addition to assessing whether a concept suits an objective, or offering a better one, it evaluates objectives, ranks them, and discusses stakeholders’ entitlement. To show the importance of choosing health concepts, I summarize the internal debate in medicine, showcasing definitions, constructs, and scales. To argue it is a philosophical task, I analyze the medical controversy over health as adaptation and self-management. I conclude with a to-do list of conceptual choice tasks, generalizable beyond medicine
Uncertainty estimation for environmental multimodel predictions: The BLUECAT approach and software
Get PDFAn extension of the BLUECAT approach and software for uncertainty assessment of environmental predictions is presented, allowing the application to multimodel outputs. BLUECAT operates by transforming a point prediction provided by deterministic models to a corresponding stochastic formulation, thereby allowing the estimation of a bias corrected expected value along with confidence limits. In this paper we also propose to use BLUECAT for model selection in the context of multimodel predictions, by using a measure of uncertainty as selection criterion. We emphasise here the value of BLUECAT for gaining an improved understanding of the underlying environmental systems and multimodel combination. Two examples of applications are presented, highlighting the benefits attainable through uncertainty driven integration of several prediction models. These case studies can be reproduced through the BLUECAT software, that is available in the public domain along with help facilities and instructions
RERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTA
Get PDFLa scheda presenta il caso dei Rerum vulgarium frammenta, fornendone una descrizione dettagliata, informazioni sulla struttura e sulla storia del testo, notizie sulla datazione ed elenco delle edizioni di riferimento
Formative Assessment Practices for Improving Students’ Text Comprehension Abilities: An Experiment in a Lower Secondary School in Italy
No full textFormative assessment (FA) is an expression that covers several practices. While this variety has led to the development of different studies in the international context, there is a lack of experimental research in Italy on the topic. Therefore, this experiment explores the effects of implementing FA practices in the classroom, in terms of students’ text comprehension abilities. A two-group experimental design was carried out involving students from two first-year classes of a lower secondary school in Italy, who were randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. After administering a task on text comprehension abilities, the researcher developed 15 FA activities in the treatment group. At the end of the study, the students’ abilities were measured again and the pre- post-testdifference between the two groups was verified. Non-parametric tests were run that did not reveal statistically significant differences. Regardless, a trend shows a slightly higher increase in the achievement of the treatment group
Modellazione 3D e Beni Culturali: su alcuni altari "a corna" da Tharros (Cabras, OR)
No full textThe discovery at Tharros in 1968 of four stone blocks worked in relief raises several
questions regarding the function and cultural-historical framing of the finds. The initial reading as horned altars of Palestinian type, associated with a dating to the Punic age, does not have a general consensus among scholars, who were sometimes more inclined to hypothesize an architectural value and a dating to the Late Antique period. Starting from a 3D digital restitution and virtual restoration of the artifacts, new evidence is provided here to support the interpretation as altars and the possible transmission of the model as part of the spread of Isiac cults in the Hellenistic and Roman Sardinia.El descubrimiento en Tharros, en 1968, de cuatro bloques de piedra trabajados en relieve plantea varios interrogantes sobre la función y el encuadre histórico-cultural de los hallazgos. La inicial atribución a la clase de los altares con cuernos de tipo palestino, asociada a una datación en época púnica, no encuentra un consenso general entre los estudiosos, que se inclinan a veces más por la hipótesis de un posible valor arquitectónico y una datación en época tardoantigua. A partir de una restitución digital en 3D y de la restauración virtual de los objetos, se aporta aquí nueva evidencia sobre la interpretación como altares y acerca de la posible transmisión del modelo en el contexto de la difusión de los cultos isíacos en la Cerdeña helenística y romana
Species‐observer link and kernel density estimation of background points allow for sampling bias correction in bird species distribution models
No full textSpecies distribution models (SDMs), broadly referring to both species distribution and ecological niche modelling frameworks, are widely used to predict habitat suitability. However, their performance can be biased by uneven sampling effort in occurrence data. Building on two existing approaches, we propose a novel method for sampling bias correction, consisting of the estimation of observer kernel densities for individual species and their subsequent weighting according to the relative contribution of individual observers to the total number of focus species presences. This approach, the ‘presence-weighted observer-oriented approach' (PW-OOA), aimed to provide a better estimation of sampling effort, thus further improving SDM prediction performance. Using bird occurrence data from the Czech Republic, we modelled the distributions of 109 species using four approaches to bias correction: spatial thinning of species presences (STSP), target group occurrences background (TGOB), TGOB+ (tuned up by adjusting kernel smoothing bandwidths) and the new PW-OOA method. We compared the results with simple random background sampling. Models were evaluated using independent reference (presence–absence) data. The PW-OOA method outperformed the other approaches, with the greatest improvement detected for species with higher prevalence. However, as internal validation can be misleading with biased occurrences, we recommend TGOB+ as the most robust approach without independent data; with such data, PW-OOA is superior. While no single optimal combination of bandwidth and observers' weights was identified across species, the PW-OOA method provides a flexible framework to account for observer-specific sampling biases. This study demonstrates the crucial importance of considering the behavior of individual observers and sampling intensity smoothing when correcting for sampling bias in SDMs based on unstructured opportunistic occurrence data
5’tRNA-derived fragments modulate β-cell homeostasis and islet macrophage activation in type 2 diabetes
No full textDuring obesity and type 2 diabetes, pancreatic β-cells face chronic environmental stress, while islet-resident macrophages (iMACs) undergo metabolic reprogramming that exacerbates β-cell dysfunction. Stress-induced cleavage of transfer RNAs (tRNAs) generates tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs), whose role in this context is not fully understood. We identify elevated levels of 5’tRFGlu(CTC) and 5’tRFGly(GCC) in β-cells and iMACs from db/db mice and in islets from type 2 diabetic patients. Notably, 5’tRFGlu(CTC) is also induced under prediabetic conditions and inversely correlates with insulin secretion. Lipotoxic stress triggers their production via Angiogenin-mediated cleavage. Blocking 5’tRFGlu(CTC) in islets protects against β-cell apoptosis and restores insulin secretion under palmitate stress. Using a β-cell/macrophage co-culture system, we show that β-cell contact shapes a unique macrophage phenotype (iMAC-like) that shifts upon palmitate exposure—recapitulating in vivo observations. Inhibiting 5’tRFGlu(CTC) in iMAC-like cells prevents this activation switch, reduces β-cell stress, and improves insulin secretion. Mechanistically, 5’tRFGlu(CTC) interacts with RNA-binding proteins to regulate transcriptional and post-transcriptional pathways linked to immune activation, extracellular matrex remodeling, neurogenesis, and oxidative stress. Our study identifies 5’tRFs as key mediators of islet microenvironment remodeling in diabetes, offering new insights into intercellular stress signaling in metabolic disease
miR-30e-3p/CXCL3 axis predicts early tumor escape in hepatocellular carcinoma patients undergoing sorafenib treatment
No full textToxicity-related immunotherapy discontinuation and outcome in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with immune-based combinations (ARON-1 study)
No full text: The advent of immunotherapy (IO) has revolutionized the therapeutic landscape of advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The aim of this study is to analyze clinical outcomes in patients who discontinued IO in metastatic RCC first line in a real-world setting. We retrospectively collected data about 1077 patients aged ≥18 years with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of clear cell RCC and histologically or radiologically confirmed metastatic disease, treated in 52 centers from 20 countries, between January 1, 2016 and April 1, 2024, from all three International metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) Database Consortium risk groups (favorable, intermediate, and poor). Each patient was treated in front-line with IO + Tirosine Kinase Inhibitor or IO + IO combinations. In this study we analyzed survival outcomes comparing patients who interrupted IO versus patients who continuously received it and multivariable analysis. We analyzed the clinical behavior of 185 patients who interrupted IO treatment due to SAE, 127 patients with IO-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, 58 patients with IO-IO versus 892 patients who do not discontinue IO treatment. No significant differences in OS were found in patients who discontinue treatment versus no discontinuation. Moreover, time to discontinuation seemed to be an OS predictor, being inferior in patients who interrupted IO in the first to third month versus patients who discontinued treatment after this time data. The ARON-1 study offers a comprehensive examination of toxicity-related IO discontinuation in advanced RCC, contributing to a better understanding of balancing treatment efficacy with tolerability