Explainable AI-Based Hyperspectral Classification Reveals Differences in Spectral Response over Phenological Stages Rameez Ahsen, Pierpaolo Di Bitonto, Pierfrancesco Novielli, Michele Magarelli, Donato Romano, et al. Biology, 2026 Optimizing nitrogen (N) fertilization is essential for sustaining durum wheat yield and grain quality while reducing the environmental impacts associated with N over-application. Hyperspectral sensing provides a rapid and non-destructive approach for monitoring crop N status. However, high-dimensional data, phenology-dependent spectral responses, and spatial autocorrelation in field measurements limit robust nitrogen classification and interpretation. This study evaluated hyperspectral-based nitrogen status classification in durum wheat under Mediterranean field conditions and identified key spectral regions using explainable artificial intelligence. A field experiment was conducted in Southern Italy using ten N fertilization rates (0–180 kg N ha−1). Canopy reflectance was acquired at the booting and heading stages from georeferenced sampling locations. Three nitrogen stratification strategies (binary Low–High, Extreme, and three-level) were evaluated using Random Forest, SVM-RBF, and XGBoost classifiers. Model performance was assessed using spatially independent Leave-One-Plot-Out cross-validation at both the sample and plot levels, with plot-level predictions derived through majority voting. Classification robustness was strongly influenced by the stratification strategy and phenological stage. The binary Low–High stratification achieved the highest sample-level accuracy, with a maximum of 0.78 at booting (SVM-RBF) and 0.75 at heading (SVM-RBF), whereas the Extreme stratification produced intermediate performance, with maximum accuracies of 0.73 at booting (SVM-RBF) and 0.63 at heading (XGBoost). Plot-level aggregation improved performance, reaching up to 0.90 at booting and 1.00 at heading. SHAP analysis highlighted red, red-edge, and near-infrared wavelengths as the dominant contributors, with increased reliance on longer wavelengths at the heading. Overall, explainable machine learning provides a robust framework for hyperspectral nitrogen monitoring in durum wheat.
High-Resolution NO2, O3, and PMs Estimation in Puglia: Leveraging AI and Explainability Techniques Alessandro Fania, Giovanni Lorusso, Roberto Cilli, Nicola Amoroso, Maria Adamo, et al. Atmosphere, 2026 Air pollution remains a major environmental challenge, with severe impacts on human health and ecosystems. Recent advances in satellite technology have transformed air quality monitoring by enabling global, continuous observations of atmospheric pollutants. However, satellite data often lack the precision of ground-based stations. This study aims to develop a machine learning model to predict daily surface concentrations of key air pollutants (NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5) at high spatial resolution (300 m) in the Apulia region. Using Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA) station data from 2019 to 2022 and meteorological, geographic, land-use, and temporal variables, we trained an XGBoost model on a 300 m grid. Model performance, assessed by repeated cross-validation, showed an average R2 of 0.71, with values of 0.77 for NO2, 0.78 for O3, 0.67 for PM2.5, and 0.64 for PM10. eXplainable AI (XAI) methods confirmed strong alignment with established scientific knowledge, enhancing model reliability and offering insights into pollutant distribution drivers.
Exponential random graph-based eXplainable Artificial Intelligence for Alzheimer disease Nicola Amoroso, Ester Pantaleo, Marianna La Rocca, Loredana Bellantuono, Saverio Pascazio, et al. Physical Review E, 2026 The use of statistical physics models to investigate real-world networks and reveal their underlying dynamics has shown promising results and acquired increasing attention. Here, we show how exponential random-graph (ERG) models can be suitably adopted to characterize how Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects brain connectivity. Magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain was used to define a brain connectivity network whose nodes are the different brain regions, and the links indicate the pairwise structural relationships. Based on T1-weighted MRI brain scans of 126 normal controls (NC) and 92 AD patients, ERGs were able to outline both “global” and “local” disease patterns. Our findings demonstrate that ERGs accurately highlight how AD affects brain connectivity reaching an overall classification accuracy of 0.82 ± 0.08 . Besides, ERGs outline which regions of the brain are the most affected by the disease, thus proving to be a formidable instrument also to investigate the disease pathological mechanisms; more importantly, as these effects are evaluated at patient level, they can be exploited to design innovative diagnosis support systems or to provide a novel explainable framework for decision support systems. Finally, thanks to its generality, the approach proposed in this study paves the way for further applications and investigations inquiring into the use of ERGs for other diseases and different data sources or the use of alternative models.
Leveraging Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Genotype-to-Phenotype Prediction: A Case Study in Arabidopsis thaliana Pierfrancesco Novielli, Nelson Nazzicari, Stefano Pavan, Chiara Delvento, Domenico Diacono, et al. Applied System Innovation, 2025 Predicting phenotypes from genomic data can significantly advance agriculture. Genomic selection, which uses genome-wide DNA markers to identify individuals with high genetic value, enhances the accuracy of breeding programs. While linear models are routinely used for genomic selection (GS), machine learning (ML) models offer complementary potential. In this study, robust ML-based models were developed to predict five phenotypic traits—three related to flowering time and two to leaf number—in Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant with a fully sequenced genome. Using explainable artificial intelligence (XAI), specifically SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) values, we identified SNPs that contributed most to trait prediction. Many of these SNPs were located in or near genes known to regulate flowering and stem elongation, such as DOG1 and VIN3, supporting the biological plausibility of the model. SHAP also enabled local interpretability at the single-plant level, revealing the genotypic basis of individual predictions. Our results indicate that integrating ML with XAI improves model interpretability and provides predictive performance comparable to traditional methods. This approach confirms known genotype–phenotype relationships and highlights new candidate loci, paving the way for functional validation. The proposed methodology offers promising applications in precision breeding and translation of insights from Arabidopsis to crop species.
METROFOOD-IT: A data platform proposal using Agrifood Smart Data Model Pierpaolo Di Bitonto, Lorenzo De Trizio, Michele Magarelli, Domenico Diacono, Pierfrancesco Novielli, et al. 2024 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4 0 and Iot Metroind4 0 and Iot 2024 Proceedings, 2024
Multidimensional neuroimaging processing in ReCaS datacenter Angela Lombardi, Eufemia Lella, Nicola Amoroso, Domenico Diacono, Alfonso Monaco, et al. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 2019
A multi-layer MRI description of Parkinson's diseas Nicola Amoroso, Marianna La Rocca, Roberto Bellotti, Sabina Tangaro, Eufemia Lella Proceedings of SPIE the International Society for Optical Engineering, 2017
Salient networks: A novel application to study brain connectivity Nicola Amoroso, Roberto Bellotti, Domenico Diacono, Marianna La Rocca, Sabina Tangaro Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 2017
Medical Physics Applications in Bari ReCaS Farm N. Amoroso, M. Antonacci, R. Bellotti, G. Donvito, R. Errico, et al. High Performance Scientific Computing Using Distributed Infrastructures Results and Scientific Applications Derived from the Italian Pon Recas Project, 2016
The ReCaS Project: The Bari Infrastructure M. Antonacci, R. Bellotti, F. Cafagna, M. de Palma, D. Diacono, et al. High Performance Scientific Computing Using Distributed Infrastructures Results and Scientific Applications Derived from the Italian Pon Recas Project, 2016
Automated Shape Analysis landmarks detection for medical image processing Computational Modelling of Objects Represented in Images Fundamentals Methods and Applications III Proceedings of the International Symposium Compimage 2012, 2012
Ant Colonies for the reconstruction of artificial 3D Objects P. Cerello, S.C. Cheran, G. Gargano, R. Bellotti, F. de Carlo, et al. Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Computational Intelligence for Measurement Systems and Applications Cimsa, 2007
Mass lesion detection in mammographic images using Haralik textural features Proceedings of the International Symposium Compimage 2006 Computational Modelling of Objects Represented in Images Fundamentals Methods and Applications, 2007
GPCALMA: An Italian mammographic database of digitized images for research Adele Lauria, Raffaella Massafra, Sabina Sonia Tangaro, Roberto Bellotti, MariaEvelina Fantacci, et al. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics, 2006
Dissimilarity application for medical imaging classification Wmsci 2005 the 9th World Multi Conference on Systemics Cybernetics and Informatics Proceedings, 2005
Classifiers trained on dissimilarity representation of medical pattern: A comparative study Nuovo Cimento Della Societa Italiana Di Fisica C, 2005
FLUXEN portable equipment for direct X-ray spectra measurements S. Aiello, U. Bottigli, F. Fauci, B. Golosio, D. Lo Presti, et al. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2004
The CALMA project S.R. Amendolia, M.G. Bisogni, U. Bottigli, A. Ceccopieri, P. Delogu, et al. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2001
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Explainable AI-Based Hyperspectral Classification Reveals Differences in Spectral Response over Phenological Stages R Ahsen, P Di Bitonto, P Novielli, M Magarelli, D Romano, M Di Venosa, ... Biology 15 (6), 454 , 2026 2026
High-Resolution NO 2 , O 3 , and PM s Estimation in Puglia: Leveraging AI and Explainability Techniques A Fania, G Lorusso, R Cilli, N Amoroso, M Adamo, M Aquilino, ... Atmosphere 17 (2), 209 , 2026 2026
Exponential random graph-based eXplainable Artificial Intelligence for Alzheimer disease N Amoroso, E Pantaleo, M La Rocca, L Bellantuono, S Pascazio, ... Physical Review E 113 (1), 014401 , 2026 2026
Personalized colorectal cancer risk assessment through explainable AI and Gut microbiome profiling P Novielli, S Baldi, D Romano, M Magarelli, D Diacono, P Di Bitonto, ... Gut Microbes 17 (1), 2543124 , 2025 2025 Citations: 19
From networks of data to networks of care in clinical medicine: this is not artificial intelligence P Novielli, R Bellotti, M Khalil, P Portincasa, S Tangaro European Journal of Internal Medicine, 106613 , 2025 2025
Unlocking extra virgin olive oil identification: predicting ethyl esters with explainable AI on IR spectra M Magarelli, S Grassi, G Squeo, P Novielli, R Bellotti, F Caponio, ... Food Chemistry, 147013 , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Unveiling complex patterns: An information-theoretic approach to high-order behaviors in microarray data A Lacalamita, A Monaco, G Serino, D Marinazzo, N Amoroso, ... PloS one 20 (11), e0336379 , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
A joint complex network and machine learning approach for the identification of discriminative gene communities in autistic brain A Lacalamita, E Pantaleo, A Monaco, L Bellantuono, A Fania, M La Rocca, ... PLoS One 20 (11), e0334181 , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Leveraging Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Genotype-to-Phenotype Prediction: A Case Study in Arabidopsis thaliana P Novielli, N Nazzicari, S Pavan, C Delvento, D Diacono, C Zoani, ... Applied System Innovation 8 (6), 164 , 2025 2025 Citations: 3
Automated Olive Grove Classification and Tree Counting in Very High Resolution Aerial Imagery using Deep Learning E Pantaleo, V Giannico, R Cilli, S Camposeo, M Elia, R Lafortezza, ... Smart Agricultural Technology, 101551 , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Data-driven assessment of Apulian road network resilience: Bridge unavailability and inner municipality isolation impact N Kheirkhahan, L Bellantuono, N Amoroso, R Cilli, L De Biase, ... PLoS One 20 (10), e0333308 , 2025 2025 Citations: 2
Transfer entropy and O-information to detect grokking in tensor network multi-class classification problems D Pomarico, R Cilli, A Monaco, L Bellantuono, M La Rocca, T Maggipinto, ... Technologies 13 (10), 438 , 2025 2025
Hyperspectral Imaging and Machine Learning for Geographic Discrimination of Wheat Flours M Magarelli, F Artuso, P Novielli, A Pasquo, D Romano, P Di Bitonto, ... International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing, 497-504 , 2025 2025
Deep Learning for Tomato Ripeness Detection: A YOLO-Based Approach R Ahsen, P Di Bitonto, M Magarelli, D Romano, P Novielli, S Tangaro International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing, 505-512 , 2025 2025
An Italian Patent Multi-Label Classification System to Support the Innovation Demand and Supply Matching N Amoroso, A Demarinis Loiotile, E Pantaleo, G Conti, S Loccisano, ... Sustainability 17 (14), 6425 , 2025 2025
Data-Driven Innovations in Food Safety: The Role of AI and Big Data in METROFOOD-IT M Magarelli, P Di Bitonto, D Romano, P Novielli, R Ahsen, C Zoani, ... 2025 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Industry 4.0 & IoT … , 2025 2025
Vertical Dense Jets in Crossflows: A Preliminary Study with Lattice Boltzmann Methods MG Giordano, J Jacob, P Fusco, S Tangaro, D Malcangio Fluids 10 (6), 159 , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
Network assortativity for a multidimensional evaluation of socio-economic territorial biases in university rankings L Bellantuono, A Lo Sasso, N Amoroso, A Monaco, S Tangaro, R Bellotti Plos one 20 (6), e0323356 , 2025 2025
Harnessing digital twins for sustainable agricultural water management: a systematic review R Ahsen, P Di Bitonto, P Novielli, M Magarelli, D Romano, D Diacono, ... Applied Sciences 15 (8), 4228 , 2025 2025 Citations: 26
Leveraging explainable AI to predict soil respiration sensitivity and its drivers for climate change mitigation P Novielli, M Magarelli, D Romano, P Di Bitonto, AM Stellacci, A Monaco, ... Scientific Reports 15 (1), 12527 , 2025 2025 Citations: 18
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Standardized evaluation of algorithms for computer-aided diagnosis of dementia based on structural MRI: the CADDementia challenge EE Bron, M Smits, WM Van Der Flier, H Vrenken, F Barkhof, P Scheltens, ... NeuroImage 111, 562-579 , 2015 2015 Citations: 459
Comparing and combining algorithms for computer-aided detection of pulmonary nodules in computed tomography scans: the ANODE09 study B Van Ginneken, SG Armato III, B de Hoop, ... Medical image analysis 14 (6), 707-722 , 2010 2010 Citations: 388
Assessment of network module identification across complex diseases S Choobdar, ME Ahsen, J Crawford, M Tomasoni, T Fang, D Lamparter, ... Nature methods 16 (9), 843-852 , 2019 2019 Citations: 345
Mammogram segmentation by contour searching and mass lesions classification with neural network D Cascio, F Fauci, R Magro, G Raso, R Bellotti, F De Carlo, S Tangaro, ... IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science 53 (5), 2827-2833 , 2006 2006 Citations: 210
Complex networks reveal early MRI markers of Parkinson’s disease N Amoroso, M La Rocca, A Monaco, R Bellotti, S Tangaro Medical image analysis 48, 12-24 , 2018 2018 Citations: 186
Deep learning reveals Alzheimer's disease onset in MCI subjects: results from an international challenge N Amoroso, D Diacono, A Fanizzi, M La Rocca, A Monaco, A Lombardi, ... Journal of neuroscience methods 302, 3-9 , 2018 2018 Citations: 165
A completely automated CAD system for mass detection in a large mammographic database R Bellotti, F De Carlo, S Tangaro, G Gargano, G Maggipinto, M Castellano, ... Medical physics 33 (8), 3066-3075 , 2006 2006 Citations: 160
A CAD system for nodule detection in low‐dose lung CTs based on region growing and a new active contour model R Bellotti, F De Carlo, G Gargano, S Tangaro, D Cascio, E Catanzariti, ... Medical Physics 34 (12), 4901-4910 , 2007 2007 Citations: 153
Machine learning approaches in microbiome research: challenges and best practices G Papoutsoglou, S Tarazona, MB Lopes, T Klammsteiner, E Ibrahimi, ... Frontiers in Microbiology 14, 1261889 , 2023 2023 Citations: 137
Automatic lung segmentation in CT images with accurate handling of the hilar region G De Nunzio, E Tommasi, A Agrusti, R Cataldo, I De Mitri, M Favetta, ... Journal of digital imaging 24 (1), 11-27 , 2011 2011 Citations: 130
Artificial intelligence applications in medical imaging: A review of the medical physics research in Italy M Avanzo, M Porzio, L Lorenzon, L Milan, R Sghedoni, G Russo, ... Physica Medica 83, 221-241 , 2021 2021 Citations: 108
Radiomic analysis in contrast-enhanced spectral mammography for predicting breast cancer histological outcome D La Forgia, A Fanizzi, F Campobasso, R Bellotti, V Didonna, V Lorusso, ... Diagnostics 10 (9), 708 , 2020 2020 Citations: 106
Integrating longitudinal information in hippocampal volume measurements for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease A Chincarini, F Sensi, L Rei, G Gemme, S Squarcia, R Longo, F Brun, ... NeuroImage 125, 834-847 , 2016 2016 Citations: 106
Crowdsourced estimation of cognitive decline and resilience in Alzheimer's disease GI Allen, N Amoroso, C Anghel, V Balagurusamy, CJ Bare, D Beaton, ... Alzheimer's & Dementia 12 (6), 645-653 , 2016 2016 Citations: 99
Explainable deep learning for personalized age prediction with brain morphology A Lombardi, D Diacono, N Amoroso, A Monaco, JMRS Tavares, R Bellotti, ... Frontiers in neuroscience 15, 674055 , 2021 2021 Citations: 98
Explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) detects wildfire occurrence in the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe R Cilli, M Elia, M D’Este, V Giannico, N Amoroso, A Lombardi, E Pantaleo, ... Scientific reports 12 (1), 16349 , 2022 2022 Citations: 92
A robust framework to investigate the reliability and stability of explainable artificial intelligence markers of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease A Lombardi, D Diacono, N Amoroso, P Biecek, A Monaco, L Bellantuono, ... Brain informatics 9 (1), 17 , 2022 2022 Citations: 91
DTI measurements for Alzheimer’s classification T Maggipinto, R Bellotti, N Amoroso, D Diacono, G Donvito, E Lella, ... Physics in Medicine & Biology 62 (6), 2361-2375 , 2017 2017 Citations: 91
Explainable artificial intelligence for microbiome data analysis in colorectal cancer biomarker identification P Novielli, D Romano, M Magarelli, PD Bitonto, D Diacono, A Chiatante, ... Frontiers in Microbiology 15, 1348974 , 2024 2024 Citations: 83
A machine learning approach on multiscale texture analysis for breast microcalcification diagnosis A Fanizzi, TMA Basile, L Losurdo, R Bellotti, U Bottigli, R Dentamaro, ... BMC bioinformatics 21 (Suppl 2), 91 , 2020 2020 Citations: 82