The cybersecurity domain faces a critical disparity between the escalating demand for skilled professionals and the limited talent pool. This gap is primarily driven by the surge in cyberattacks perpetrated by malicious actors seeking financial gain or disruption. These attacks, encompassing tactics like Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) and ransomware, pose significant threats to data security and public safety. To bridge this gap, several challenges must be addressed. We need to prioritize initiatives that enhance people’s awareness and education in cybersecurity. Additionally, exploring innovative training methods and leveraging technology to equip cybersecurity professionals with the necessary skillsets is crucial.

This demo paper presents the VirtuOR multidisciplinary project aiming at leveraging Immersive Virtual Reality for pain management in operative rooms. Addressing the limitations of existing literature, the project proposes an ontology-based framework for designing Immersive Virtual Environments and setting them by anaesthetists. The framework’s key features are discussed, and its practical application is shown through a prototype tailored for patients undergoing specific surgical procedures in operative rooms.

This paper introduces SeriousGXcraft, an innovative XML-based framework for the development of serious games (i.e., their design, implementation, and evaluation). This framework overcomes the limitations of existing ones by leveraging the flexibility of XML and providing a comprehensive and integrated solution. It promotes multidisciplinary collaboration and ensures a harmonious balance between the playful and educational aspects of serious games. By harnessing the capabilities of XML schema, which describes elements related to the target audience, abstract level, concrete level, and actual level, SeriousGXcraft empowers the development team to effectively browse and provide visual support for the complex facets of the serious game development process.

The objective of the FRACTAL project is to create a novel approach to reliable edge computing. The FRACTAL computing node will be the building block of scalable Internet of Things (from Low Computing to High Computing Edge Nodes). The node will also have the capability of learning how to improve its performance against the uncertainty of the environment. In such a context, this paper presents in detail one of the key use cases: an Internet-of-Things solution, represented by intelligent totems for advertisement and wayfinding services, within advanced ICT-based shopping malls conceived as a sentient space. The paper outlines the reference scenario and provides an overview of the architecture and the functionality of the demonstrator, as well as a roadmap for its development and evaluation.

In this paper, we present the current prototype of the CrazySquare Project which is aimed to provide a gamified ICT (Information and Communications Technology) solution for musical education. The project is inspired by Gordon's Musical Learning Theory. It is dedicated to the guitar since it is one of the most played instrument in Italian's Middle Schools. The TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) framework has been used as a way to effectively integrate the technology into teaching activities. Moreover, the CrazySquare project follows an iterative process based on the TEL-oriented UCD approach. Currently, after carrying out an expert-based evaluation with several domain-experts, we are designing the user-based evaluation phase which will conclude the second iteration.