The tale of the black viper: distribution and bioclimatic niche modelling of melanistic Vipera aspis in Italy

For decades, the evolutionary role of melanism in reptiles has been highly debated. According to the thermal melanism hypothesis, melanistic phenotypes should provide thermal advantages, thus positively impacting various biological aspects of these individuals. Nevertheless, these benefits seem to be countered by environmental constraints and predatory pressure. Here, we mapped for the first time the distribution of the melanistic phenotypes in the highly polymorphic asp viper (Vipera aspis). We focused our research effort on the Italian peninsula, where this species reaches its highest level of taxonomic diversity with three currently described subspecies. Furthermore, we investigated via bioclimatic niche modelling, the influence of a wide array of bioclimatic variables on the distribution of melanism in Italian asp vipers. In general, our results seem to support the implications of the thermal melanism hypothesis, highlighting the central influence of mean annual temperature and elevation on the geographic distribution of melanistic V. aspis. At the finest scale, our analyses have highlighted a distinction in bioclimatic niches among the three assessed subspecies. However, further fine-scale investigations are needed in order to exclude the potential influence of latitude and elevation on the observed the intersubspecific bioclimatic niche segregation pattern

A survey of clinical features of allergic rhinitis in adults

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) has high prevalence and substantial socio-economic burden. Material/Methods: The study included 35 Italian Centers recruiting an overall number of 3383 adult patients with rhinitis (48% males, 52% females, mean age 29.1, range 18\u201345 years). For each patient, the attending physician had to fill in a standardized questionnaire, covering, in particular, some issues such as the ARIA classification of allergic rhinitis (AR), the results of skin prick test (SPT), the kind of treatment, the response to treatment, and the satisfaction with treatment. Results: Out of the 3383 patients with rhinitis, 2788 (82.4%) had AR: 311 (11.5%) had a mild intermittent, 229 (8.8%) a mild persistent, 636 (23.5%) a moderate-severe intermittent, and 1518 (56.1%) a moderate-severe persistent form. The most frequently used drugs were oral antihistamines (77.1%) and topical corticosteroids (60.8%). The response to treatment was judged as excellent in 12.2%, good in 41.3%, fair in 31.2%, poor in 14.5%, and very bad in 0.8% of subjects. The rate of treatment dissatisfaction was significantly higher in patients with moderate-to-severe AR than in patients with mild AR (p<0.0001). Indication to allergen immunotherapy (AIT) was significantly more frequent (p<0.01) in patients with severe AR than with mild AR. . Conclusions: These fndings confirm the appropriateness of ARIA guidelines in classifying the AR patients and the association of severe symptoms with unsuccessful drug treatment. The optimal targeting of patients to be treated with AIT needs to be reassessed

How AI affects the motivations of tourists photographs.

Service literature suggests that identifying the motivations of tourists is fundamental (e.g., Woosnam et al., 2016; Pomfret & Bramwell, 2016) to be able to adapt marketing strategies according to the different users’ needs. However, today digital technologies and more generally service innovations have profoundly changed the decision-making of the tourists photographers. Some contributions (Lo et al., 2011; Ozansoy Çardici et al., 2019) agree that the motivation that drives users to take photos is no longer linked just to memory but to the communication of personal identity, especially for the new generations. These changes depend on the use of digital tools such as the introduction of mobile with camera, social networks, and AI. Indeed, Huyn et al (2009) conceptualized the tourism in the mobile context, recognizing the use of mobile to search travel information through photo of other visitors; then, Prideaux & Coghlan (2010) investigated the photographic habits, using mobile phones or cameras as a tool of memory. Several recent contributions (Munar & Jacobsen, 2014; Kozinets, 2017; Trinanda & Sari, 2019) focus on the evolution of tourist’s motivation photo due to the development of social networks. Indeed, Munar & Jacobsen (2014) examined the reasons that drive tourists to share their photos on social networks, showing that the findings provide insights into motivational factors such as personal and community-related benefits, as well as social capital that influences the sharing of user-generated content. Besides, according to Kozinets (2017) the visitor became part of art domain with the selfie, not only for narcissistic reasons, as exposed by Fox and Rooney (2015), Sorokowski et al. (2015), and Lee and Sung (2016), but to express aspects of themselves through the art. Findings show that AI is actually a tool able to influence and add new motivations for tourist photographer: in particular, AI improve the game and curiosity motivations, with the consequent rise of a different and new interaction with art. Future research could use a customer survey (Hulland et al., 2018) to better understand which features of AI are the most appreciated by tourist photographers

Social robots as a tool to involve student in museum edutainment programs.

With a focus on the service potential of social robots for the cultural and tourism industry, the purpose of this document is to study how social robots are used as a new tool to involve students in the design of new edutainment applications in museums. We conducted an empirical analysis on multiple case studies. The results confirm that the use of the social robot in museum edutainment programs concern in the involvement of the young public and in the experimentation of new forms of entertainment. Moreover, concrete details are offered complementing the results already proposed by other scholars [18]. From a practical perspective, manager should encourage the implementation of social robot in edutainment museum programs to achieve higher efficiency and better results in terming of involving new age groups