Mitigation technologies for counteracting the UHI effects and for improving outdoor thermal comfort in mediterranean urban open spaces: a study of vegetation and cool materials effects on pedestrian comfort in Rome

The present study investigates the influence of building materials, traditional as well as innovative, and vegetated urban surfaces on the urban microclimate and on pedestrian outdoor thermal comfort in a typical Mediterranean city: Rome. It focuses the attention on selected mitigation technologies aiming to increase the albedo of cities: high reflective materials called cool colored materials, and the use of vegetative surfaces: green roofs, green walls and trees, with the main purpose to test, verify and quantify the overall microclimate mitigation and thermal performance of the aforementioned strategies, The study proposes and analyses, through CFD calculations (ENVImet v.4.0), five renovations scenarios: applying cool materials and vegetation on roofs, walls and pavements of the selected square. In order to support planning authorities and researches by going beyond the traditional way of urban heat island studies, the present study aims to highlight the multiple effects of cool colored materials on human comfort and to investigates which could be the best combination materials in terms of mitigation of ambient temperatures and pedestrian thermal stress. Therefore, air temperature as well as the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) were applied to take into account the effect of the variations of urban materials on human comfort, the studies focuses the attention and draw its conclusions through the comparison of the Envimet thermal maps and the values of the different scenarios in terms of deltas variations. The results show the negative effect of cool colored materials on human thermal comfort when applied isolated to surfaces in direct contact with pedestrians, such as pavements and urban façades, nevertheless it underlines the benefit associated with a mixed combination of cool materials and trees, setting the path for further research in this direction

Clinical Reliability of Complete-Arch Fixed Prostheses Supported by Narrow-Diameter Implants to Support Complete-Arch Restorations

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical application of fixed screw-retained complete-arch rehabilitations supported by four narrow-diameter implants (NDIs). The records of patients treated with complete-arch prostheses screwed onto four NDIs treated with an immediate loading protocol between 2010 and 2020 with at least 1 year of follow-up after the positioning of the definitive restoration were reviewed. The implants were placed according to the final prosthetic design and were immediately loaded. The interim prostheses were replaced after the healing period by definitive acrylic resin titanium-supported prostheses. Patients were followed to evaluate treatment success, the implant survival rate (ISR), and the prosthetic survival rate (PSR). A total of 121 NDIs were positioned in 30 patients to restore 30 complete arches (18 maxilla and 12 mandible). One implant did not achieve osseointegration, resulting in an overall ISR of 99.2%. No prosthetic or implant failures occurred during the 1 to 11 years of follow-up. Three biological and four prosthetic complications occurred, resulting in a treatment rehabilitation survival of 94.1% and a PSR of 86.7%. Despite the limitations of the present retrospective study, such as the use of one single type of dental implant and patients treated in a single rehabilitation center, complete-arch rehabilitation with fixed prostheses supported by four NDIs seems to be a reliable treatment in the medium to long term

Recommendation model based on opinion diffusion

Information overload in the modern society calls for highly efficient recommendation algorithms. In this letter we present a novel diffusion based recommendation model, with users' ratings built into a transition matrix. To speed up computation we introduce a Green function method. The numerical tests on a benchmark database show that our prediction is superior to the standard recommendation methods.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Clinical reliability of complete-arch fixed prostheses supported by narrow-diameter implants to support complete-arch restorations

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical application of fixed screw-retained complete-arch rehabilitations supported by four narrow-diameter implants (NDIs). The records of patients treated with complete-arch prostheses screwed onto four NDIs treated with an immediate loading protocol between 2010 and 2020 with at least 1 year of follow-up after the positioning of the definitive restoration were reviewed. The implants were placed according to the final prosthetic design and were immediately loaded. The interim prostheses were replaced after the healing period by definitive acrylic resin titanium-supported prostheses. Patients were followed to evaluate treatment success, the implant survival rate (ISR), and the prosthetic survival rate (PSR). A total of 121 NDIs were positioned in 30 patients to restore 30 complete arches (18 maxilla and 12 mandible). One implant did not achieve osseointegration, resulting in an overall ISR of 99.2%. No prosthetic or implant failures occurred during the 1 to 11 years of follow-up. Three biological and four prosthetic complications occurred, resulting in a treatment rehabilitation survival of 94.1% and a PSR of 86.7%. Despite the limitations of the present retrospective study, such as the use of one single type of dental implant and patients treated in a single rehabilitation center, complete-arch rehabilitation with fixed prostheses supported by four NDIs seems to be a reliable treatment in the medium to long term

Infliximab in the treatment of Crohn's disease

The recent introduction of infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor-alpha, has greatly modified the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). Data from the literature show encouraging results after intravenous infusion both for closure of intestinal or perianal fistulas and for induction and maintenance of remission in patients with moderate to severe intestinal disease unresponsive to other treatments. However, some contraindications such as fibrostenosing CD and sepsis have been identified. In addition, the data on long-term outcomes and safety is still limited. Our initial experience showed that in selected cases local injection of infliximab is effective in the treatment of complex perianal disease offering the possibility of using such treatment even in small bowel obstructing disease with minimal systemic effects. This paper analyzes the state of the use of both intravenous and local injection of infliximab in patients with CD

Advanced documentation methodologies combined with multi-analytical approach for the preservation and restoration of 18th century architectural decorative elements at Palazzo Nuzzi in Orte (Central Italy)

This contribution reports the documentation of the conservation status and the pictorial technique of a wall painting and a stucco arch at Palazzo Nuzzi in Orte, central Italy (Viterbo district), achieved using a wide combination of non-invasive and micro-invasive diagnostic techniques. Specifically, a photogrammetric approach has been used for 2D and 3D ultraviolet fluorescence (UVF) acquisitions. Moreover, the conservation status of the wall painting has been also investigated by a non-invasive active infrared thermograghy technique, i.e. Pulse Compression Thermography (PuCT), used here for the first time on a wall painting to map the surface and sub-surface cracks in the first layers. Pigments, grounds and organic binders were characterised by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, micro-stratigraphic analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The results of this unique combination of advanced tools corroborated the historical-artistic attribution to the school of the architect Andrea Pozzo

Study of microstructure and magnetization reversal mechanism in granular CoCrPt:SiO2 films of variable thickness

n/

Bioclimatic Architecture and Urban Morphology. Studies on Intermediate Urban Open Spaces

This paper deals with the interactions between biophysical and microclimatic factors on the one hand with, on the other, the urban morphology of intermediate urban open spaces, the relationship between environmental and bioclimatic thermal comfort, and the implementation of innovative materials and the use of greenery, aimed at the users’ well-being. In particular, the thermal comfort of the open spaces of the consolidated fabrics of the city of Rome is studied, by carrying out simulations of cooling strategies relating to two scenarios applied to Piazza Bainsizza. The first scenario involves the use of cool materials for roofs, cladding surfaces, and pavement, while the second scenario, in addition to the cool materials employed in the first scenario, also includes the use of greenery and permeable green surfaces. The research was performed using summer and winter microclimatic simulations of the CFD (ENVI-met v. 3.1) type, in order to determine the dierent influences of the materials with cold colors, trees, and vegetated surfaces on the thermal comfort of the urban morphology itself. Meanwhile, the comfort assessment was determined through the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) calculated with the RayMan program. The first scenario, with the use of cool materials, improves summer conditions and reduces the urban heat island eect but does not eliminate thermal discomfort due to the lack of shaded surfaces and vegetation. The second scenario, where material renovations is matched with vegetation improvements, has a slightly bad eect on winter conditions but drastically ameliorates the summer situation, both for direct users and, thanks to the strong reduction of the urban heat island eect, to urban inhabitants as a whole