Examining the profound effects of COVID19 on mental health: A comprehensive systematic review on anxiety and depression

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges to humanity, economically and in health and wellbeing. The associated limited social isolation and lifestyle changes has increased the risk for mental health services, especially among vulnerable people. This highlights the need for mental health services, burden that already stretch the health systems. This review presents an exposition on COVID-19 and mental health, and ways to minimise, and possibly prevent, their effect on the psychological well-being of those people. We searched four databases (Academic Search Complete, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO and PsycARTICLES) using specific search terms and eligibility criteria. Of the 33 included studies, 31 were quantitative, and one qualitative and mixed method each. The studies were analysed using thematic narrative synthesis that resulted in three main themes: (a) the internal and external influences on COVID-19 behaviour, (b) the impact of COVID-19 on health and well-being and (c) the coping strategies used. Since COVID-19 will exist for the foreseeable future, understanding its impact on health and mental well-being and the coping techniques to be adopted are important now than ever. This study contributes to such an understanding along with suggestions regarding ways to minimise the impact of COVID-19 on mental health using context-appropriate strategies

Flexible mobile hub for e-bike sharing and cruise tourism: A case study

Bike sharing is no longer a novelty in transportation and has now become a mobility solution in its own right. This study investigated the potential scope of application of e-bike sharing solutions for a niche sector such as cruise tourism, the importance of which is growing, with the aim of improving sustainability and reducing pollution levels in cruise ports. A revealed preference survey was administered to cruise tourists, who chose a pilot e-bike service once they had disembarked from the ship to visit the nearby city center, to investigate the main variables affecting satisfaction with the service under investigation. An ordered probit model was specified and calibrated to identify the relationship among the variables influencing e-bike sharing usage by cruise tourists and their satisfaction. Subsequently, the marginal effect of each significant factor was evaluated to quantify its actual impact on the related e-bike sharing satisfaction level. The results obtained are consistent with the literature, but interesting interpretations are provided in terms of the relative importance of significant variables

Mean-Field Effects on the Phosphorescence of Dinuclear Re(I) Complex Polymorphs

A computational study rationalizes the different phosphorescence colors of two highly emitting crystal polymorphs of a dinuclear Re(I) complex, [Re2(μ-Cl)2(CO)6(μ-4,5-(Me3Si)2pyridazine)]. The electrostatic interactions between the charge distributions on neighboring molecules inside the crystal are responsible for the different stabilization of the emitting triplet state because of the different molecular packing. These self-consistent effects play a major role in the phosphorescence of crystals made of polar and polarizable molecular units, offering a powerful handle to tune the luminescence wavelength in the solid state through supramolecular engineering

Upper limb soft robotic wearable devices: a systematic review

Introduction: Soft robotic wearable devices, referred to as exosuits, can be a valid alternative to rigid exoskeletons when it comes to daily upper limb support. Indeed, their inherent flexibility improves comfort, usability, and portability while not constraining the user’s natural degrees of freedom. This review is meant to guide the reader in understanding the current approaches across all design and production steps that might be exploited when developing an upper limb robotic exosuit. Methods: The literature research regarding such devices was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The investigated features are the intended scenario, type of actuation, supported degrees of freedom, low-level control, high-level control with a focus on intention detection, technology readiness level, and type of experiments conducted to evaluate the device. Results: A total of 105 articles were collected, describing 69 different devices. Devices were grouped according to their actuation type. More than 80% of devices are meant either for rehabilitation, assistance, or both. The most exploited actuation types are pneumatic (52%) and DC motors with cable transmission (29%). Most devices actuate 1 (56%) or 2 (28%) degrees of freedom, and the most targeted joints are the elbow and the shoulder. Intention detection strategies are implemented in 33% of the suits and include the use of switches and buttons, IMUs, stretch and bending sensors, EMG and EEG measurements. Most devices (75%) score a technology readiness level of 4 or 5. Conclusion: Although few devices can be considered ready to reach the market, exosuits show very high potential for the assistance of daily activities. Clinical trials exploiting shared evaluation metrics are needed to assess the effectiveness of upper limb exosuits on target users

An adaptive POD approximation method for the control of advection-diffusion equations

We present an algorithm for the approximation of a finite horizon optimal control problem for advection-diffusion equations. The method is based on the coupling between an adaptive POD representation of the solution and a Dynamic Programming approximation scheme for the corresponding evolutive Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We discuss several features regarding the adaptivity of the method, the role of error estimate indicators to choose a time subdivision of the problem and the computation of the basis functions. Some test problems are presented to illustrate the method.Comment: 17 pages, 18 figure