Audio Splicing Detection and Localization Based on Acquisition Device Traces

In recent years, the multimedia forensic community has put a great effort in developing solutions to assess the integrity and authenticity of multimedia objects, focusing especially on manipulations applied by means of advanced deep learning techniques. However, in addition to complex forgeries as the deepfakes, very simple yet effective manipulation techniques not involving any use of state-of-the-art editing tools still exist and prove dangerous. This is the case of audio splicing for speech signals, i.e., to concatenate and combine multiple speech segments obtained from different recordings of a person in order to cast a new fake speech. Indeed, by simply adding a few words to an existing speech we can completely alter its meaning. In this work, we address the overlooked problem of detection and localization of audio splicing from different models of acquisition devices. Our goal is to determine whether an audio track under analysis is pristine, or it has been manipulated by splicing one or multiple segments obtained from different device models. Moreover, if a recording is detected as spliced, we identify where the modification has been introduced in the temporal dimension. The proposed method is based on a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) that extracts model-specific features from the audio recording. After extracting the features, we determine whether there has been a manipulation through a clustering algorithm. Finally, we identify the point where the modification has been introduced through a distance-measuring technique. The proposed method allows to detect and localize multiple splicing points within a recording

The Benefits of Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment in Association with Gastric Eradication

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Forest ecosystem monitoring in Tuscany (Italy): past activities, present status and future perspectives

Since 1987 the Region of Tuscany has been actively monitoring crown status in its forests, in order to protect them from atmospheric pollution, biotic factors and environmental change. Over this period the Region has performed periodical inventories on crown condition in publicly-owned forests (Level I network) and established a network of permanent plots (MON.I.TO., Level II – III) to study long-term changes occurring in forest ecosystems. Some of these permanent plots were later included in the national programme CONECOFOR, managed by the Ministry for Policy in Agriculture and Forest. Currently a further development of MON.I.TO. is being implemented, called MONITO III – TOpModel, the aim of which is to broaden the information potential of the monitoring system to include carbon stocks and biodiversity evaluation. This paper provides an up-to-date report on the status of the various surveys and recommends a closer connection between MON.I.TO. and the other regional information systems, especially the Regional Forest Inventory, in order to produce information that may be useful in forest planning and in Sustainable Forest Management

Electromyographic Activity of Hand Muscles in a Motor Coordination Game: Effect of Incentive Scheme and Its Relation with Social Capital

Background. A vast body of social and cognitive psychology studies in humans reports evidence that external rewards, typically monetary ones, undermine intrinsic motivation. These findings challenge the standard selfish-rationality assumption at the core of economic reasoning. In the present work we aimed at investigating whether the different modulation of a given monetary reward automatically and unconsciously affects effort and performance of participants involved in a game devoid of visual and verbal interaction and without any perspective-taking activity. Methodology/Principal Findings Twelve pairs of participants were submitted to a simple motor coordination game while recording the electromyographic activity of First Dorsal Interosseus (FDI), the muscle mainly involved in the task. EMG data show a clear effect of alternative rewards strategies on subjects' motor behavior. Moreover, participants' stock of relevant past social experiences, measured by a specifically designed questionnaire, was significantly correlated with EMG activity, showing that only low social capital subjects responded to monetary incentives consistently with a standard rationality prediction. Conclusions/Significance Our findings show that the effect of extrinsic motivations on performance may arise outside social contexts involving complex cognitive processes due to conscious perspective-taking activity. More importantly, the peculiar performance of low social capital individuals, in agreement with standard economic reasoning, adds to the knowledge of the circumstances that makes the crowding out/in of intrinsic motivation likely to occur. This may help in improving the prediction and accuracy of economic models and reconcile this puzzling effect of external incentives with economic theory

Sometimes Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) Cannot Find Their Way Back to the High Seas: A Multidisciplinary Study on a Mass Stranding

BACKGROUND: Mass strandings of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) remain peculiar and rather unexplained events, which rarely occur in the Mediterranean Sea. Solar cycles and related changes in the geomagnetic field, variations in water temperature and weather conditions, coast geographical features and human activities have been proposed as possible causes. In December 2009, a pod of seven male sperm whales stranded along the Adriatic coast of Southern Italy. This is the sixth instance from 1555 in this basin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Complete necropsies were performed on three whales whose bodies were in good condition, carrying out on sampled tissues histopathology, virology, bacteriology, parasitology, and screening of veins looking for gas emboli. Furthermore, samples for age determination, genetic studies, gastric content evaluation, stable isotopes and toxicology were taken from all the seven specimens. The animals were part of the same group and determined by genetic and photo-identification to be part of the Mediterranean population. Causes of death did not include biological agents, or the "gas and fat embolic syndrome", associated with direct sonar exposure. Environmental pollutant tissue concentrations were relatively high, in particular organochlorinated xenobiotics. Gastric content and morphologic tissue examinations showed a prolonged starvation, which likely caused, at its turn, the mobilization of lipophilic contaminants from the adipose tissue. Chemical compounds subsequently entered the blood circulation and may have impaired immune and nervous functions. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: A multi-factorial cause underlying this sperm whales' mass stranding is proposed herein based upon the results of postmortem investigations as well as of the detailed analyses of the geographical and historical background. The seven sperm whales took the same "wrong way" into the Adriatic Sea, a potentially dangerous trap for Mediterranean sperm whales. Seismic surveys should be also regarded as potential co-factors, even if no evidence of direct impact has been detected

Nondestructive biomarkers in vertebrates

In the last twenty years, ecotoxicology has been increasingly concerned with the use of biomarkers to evaluate the biological hazard of toxic chemicals and, as an integrated approach, in the assessment of environmental health. The concept of biomarkers in the evaluation of environmental risk has captured the attention of regulatory agencies and is currently being assessed by several research commissions. This interest is confirmed by the increasing number of specialist manuals (see other publications by McCarthy and Shugart, Huggett et al., PeakaIl, and Shugart and Peakal). The central feature of this methodological approach is to "quantify exposure and its potential impact by monitoring biological end-points (biomarkers) in feral animals and plants as indicators of exposure to and the effects of environmental contaminants". Sometimes, however, in environmental contamination problems, the terms of investigation may shift from evaluation of environmental health, using sentinel species as bioindicators, to a more specific investigation of the "health" of a population or an endangered species in a situation of already-ascertained environmental poIlution. This inversion of terms inevitably leads to a demand for analytical and sampling methods that are compatible with the protection and conservation of the organism to be studied. In light of this increasingly important requirement, this book focuses on the use of nondestructive biomarkers (NDB) in the hazard assessment of vertebrate populations. The choice of nondestructive biomarkers over destructive biomarkers is not only an ethical one. The editors do not whoIly agree with the ideology of certain radical environmental movements in which the animal organism, as an individual, must be saved at all costs. From the ecological point of view, the value of a population or a community is greater than that of an individual. With this in mind, the loss of a few individuals for research purposes is permissible if the data obtained contribute to the conservation of the population or community studied. On the other side of the scale, there is the problem of the "ethic of the researcher". One may often ask whether the researcher is more harmful to the population than the contaminants studied. Several examples exist of "case studies" in which populations of protected species, already heavily stressed by anthropogenic disturbance and contaminants, have been further reduced in number by "wildcat" sampling on the part of shortsighted ecotoxicologists. Apart from ethical considerations, destructive testing in vertebrates may be unacceptable under many conditions, for example, in the hazard assessment of protected or threatened species, or when the number of animals available at a site is limited, or when sequential samples from the same individual are required for time-course studies. The use of noninvasive methods of monitoring the health of species and populations at risk has rarely been the subject of investigation by the "biomarker scientific community”. In this book we present an alternative approach for hazard assessment in high vertebrates based on nondestructive, rather than destructive, methods. World experts in the biomarker field have been co-opted in this "editorial adventure" in which we attempt to review the state of the art and to define the development and validation procedures of this new strategy. In November 1991, after a stimulating discussion with John McCarthy and Lee Shugart at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (U.S.), we conceived the idea of organizing an international workshop to discuss the current state of the nondestructive biomarker approach with the main experts in the sector, many of whom are authors of chapters in this book. In the winter of 1992, an application was made to the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) to hold an International Workshop on "Nondestructive Biomarkers in Vertebrates". The Organizing Committee consisted of M. Cristina Fossi and Claudio Leonzio, as directors, together with Lee Shugart, John McCarthy, David Peakall, Colin Walker, Silvano Focardi, and Aristeo Renzoni. The application was approved in the spring of 1992 and additional financial support to supplement the USDOE award was obtained from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Italy) and the Italian bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS). On May 25 through 27, 19 scientists from six countries - United States, 6; United Kingdom, 6; Italy, 4; Spain, 2; Denmark, 1 - met in a medieval monastery, the Certosa di Pontignano, now owned by the University of Siena, for high-level scientific discussions on a new strategy for hazard assessment in vertebrates based on nondestructive biomarkers. This workshop provided a forum for the comprehensive review of the state of the art and for establishing an international consensus on the most useful and sensitive nondestructive biomarkers. Research priorities for the development and validation of this promising new method were also defined. This book makes the results of the workshop available to the international scientific community. The chapters in this volume describe different types of nondestructive biomarkers for hazard assessment in vertebrate species. The biomarkers are classified according to the nature of the toxic endpoint being probed. Particular attention is paid to the study of endangered species such as marine mammals. Each chapter contains an introduction in which the scientific basis and rationale for the endpoint being used as biomarker is explained, followed by a brief history of its application to environmental problems, together with available analytical techniques and possible destructive and nondestructive uses. The book is organized in eight sections: Overview (Chapter 1), Enzymatic Biomarkers (Chapters 2 and 3), Metabolic Products as Biomarkers (Chapter 4), Genotoxic Responses (Chapters 5, 6, and 7), Cellular Biomarkers (Chapter 8), Biomarkers in Eggs (Chapter 9), Biomarkers in Studies of Endangered Species (Chapters 10 and 1 ]), and Remarks on Nondestructive Biomarker Strategy (Chapters 12, 13, and 14)