Is it Really Nature That Restores People? A Comparison With Historical Sites With High Restorative Potential

Research on restorative environments has showed the healthy outcomes of nature experience, though often by comparing attractive natural to unattractive built environments. Some studies indeed showed the restorative value of artistic/historical settings. In a quasi-experimental study involving 125 participants in Rome, Italy, a natural and a built/historical environment, both scoring high in restorative properties, were evaluated in a natural, built/historical, or neutral setting. In accordance with the Biophilia hypothesis and the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), we hypothesized: a higher restorative potential of nature also when compared to built/historical environments; a moderation effect of on-site experience on perceived restorative potential (PRP) of both environmental typologies; higher levels of restorative properties of the environment for on-site vs. not on-site respondents; and a mediation effect of the restorative properties of the environment in the relationship between time spent on-site and PRP. Results supported the hypotheses. In addition, different psychological processes leading to restoration emerged for the natural and the built/historical environment. Theoretical implications for ART and practical applications for an integrative urban design with natural and historical elements are discussed

Freestanding Cellulose Acetate/ZnO Flowers Composites for Solar Photocatalysis and Controlled Zinc Ions Release

The versatile properties of ZnO micro- and nano- structures have resulted in many applications in piezotronics, biosensors and photocatalysis. However, ZnO can easily dissolve in aqueous fluids, potentially resulting in the release of reactive oxygen species and zinc ions at toxic concentrations. Such an issue can be solved by dispersing ZnO within biocompatible polymeric matrices to reduce the direct exposure to the aqueous fluid and control the release of zinc ions. Herein, this work explores tailored ZnO flowers/cellulose acetate photocatalytic composites at different ZnO weight percentages (1-15 wt%). The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under simulated solar light is studied, finding an optimal value of ZnO filler loading in the polymer (10 wt %), resulting from a compromise between the photodegradation efficiency and the hydrophobicity induced by ZnO flowers. The reusability of the composites is investigated, finding a surprising improvement in the photodegradation efficiency after the first cycle. Simulated solar light stimulation induces the controllable release of zinc ions in aqueous solution at ppm-levels from the composites at the optimal ZnO filler loading. Finally, the release of ionic species in the absence of light stimulation is found to be directly proportional to the ZnO-loading in the composite, as a result of its degradation in aqueous environments

Electrochemical analysis of rationally designed ZnO nanostructures for biodegradable cellular scaffolds

This work shows a preliminary analysis of a wet-chemistry synthesized platform based on ZnO nanostructures (n-ZnO) for application in regenerative medicine. n-ZnO stability is investigated by electrochemical in-situ sensing of zinc ions released by n-ZnO soaked in simulated biofluids. Impedance analysis allows detecting subtle changes in the bulk solutionimpedance in the range 1 Hz-50 kHz, which can be ascribed to the release of ionic species in solution, among which Zn2+ ions. In parallel, a voltammetry analysis by low-cost mercury-free screen-printed sensors shows the release of Zn2+ ions at not harmful concentrations

Effects of long-term lercanidipine or hydrochlorothiazide administration on hypertension-related vascular structural changes.

Vascular remodelling and hypertrophy represent early therapeutic targets of antihypertensive treatment. The present study was aimed at assessing the effects of 1-year administration of the highly vasoselective calcium-channel blocker lercanidipine (10 mg/day) or the diuretic compound hydrochlorothiazide (25 mg/day) on hypertension-related vascular alterations. The study was also aimed at assessing whether and to what extent: (i) pharmacological regression of vascular hypertrophy is related only to the blood pressure (BP) reduction "per se" or also to the specific ancillary properties of a given drug and (ii) treatment provides restoration of vascular function indicative of normal vascular structure.In 26 untreated patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension sphygmomanometric and finger BP, heart rate, forearm and calf blood flow (venous occlusion plethysmography) and corresponding vascular resistance (forearm and calf vascular resistance: FVR and CVR) were assessed before and following 6 and 12 months of either lercanidipine or hydrochlorothiazide administration. Vascular resistance was also evaluated following a local ischaemic stimulus (FVR(min) and CVR(min)) in order to assess the effects of treatment on arteriolar structural alterations.For superimposable BP reductions, lercanidipine caused FVR and CVR to decrease significantly more than hydrochlorothiazide. Similarly, the FVR(min) and CVR(min) reductions induced by lercanidipine were markedly and significantly greater than those caused by hydrochlorothiazide (-46.1% and -40.9% vs -22.5% and -19.9%, p0.01 for both). FVR(min), and CVR(min), however, remained higher than those found in 10 age-matched normotensive individuals.These data provide evidence that, compared to hydrochlorothiazide, lercanidipine favours a greater regression of the vascular structural changes associated with hypertension, probably through its "ancillary" properties. Lercanidipine, however, does not allow restoration of a "normal" vascular structure, thereby suggesting that vascular hypertrophy is only in part a reversible phenomenon

Improved Photocatalytic Activity of Polysiloxane TiO2 Composites by Thermally Induced Nanoparticle Bulk Clustering and Dye Adsorption

Fine control of nanoparticle clustering within polymeric matrices can be tuned to enhance the physicochemical properties of the resulting composites, which are governed by the interplay of nanoparticle surface segregation and bulk clustering. To this aim, out-of-equilibrium strategies can be leveraged to program the multiscale organization of such systems. Here, we present experimental results indicating that bulk assembly of highly photoactive clusters of titanium dioxide nanoparticles within an in situ synthesized polysiloxane matrix can be thermally tuned. Remarkably, the controlled nanoparticle clustering results in improved degradation photocatalytic performances of the material under 1 sun toward methylene blue. The resulting coatings, in particular the 35 wt % TiO2-loaded composites, show a photocatalytic degradation of about 80%, which was comparable to the equivalent amount of bare TiO2 and two-fold higher with respect to the corresponding composites not subjected to thermal treatment. These findings highlight the role of thermally induced bulk clustering in enhancing photoactive nanoparticle/polymer composite properties

Nonorthogonal Multiple Access and Subgrouping for Improved Resource Allocation in Multicast 5G NR

The ever-increasing demand for applications with stringent constraints in device density, latency, user mobility, or peak data rate has led to the appearance of the last generation of mobile networks (i.e., 5G). However, there is still room for improvement in the network spectral efficiency, not only at the waveform level but also at the Radio Resource Management (RRM). Up to now, solutions based on multicast transmissions have presented considerable efficiency increments by successfully implementing subgrouping strategies. These techniques enable more efficient exploitation of channel time and frequency resources by splitting users into subgroups and applying independent and adaptive modulation and coding schemes. However, at the RRM, traditional multiplexing techniques pose a hard limit in exploiting the available resources, especially when users' QoS requests are unbalanced. Under these circumstances, this paper proposes jointly applying the subgrouping and Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) techniques in 5G to increase the network data rate. This study shows that NOMA is highly spectrum-efficient and could improve the system throughput performance in certain conditions. In the first part of this paper, an in-depth analysis of the implications of introducing NOMA techniques in 5G subgrouping at RRM is carried out. Afterward, the validation is accomplished by applying the proposed approach to different 5G use cases based on vehicular communications. After a comprehensive analysis of the results, a theoretical approach combining NOMA and time division is presented, which improves considerably the data rate offered in each use case.This work was supported in part by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR), within the Smart Cities framework, Project Cagliari2020 ID: PON04a2_00381; in part by the Basque Government under Grant IT1234-19; and in part by the Spanish Government [Project PHANTOM under Grant RTI2018-099162-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)]

Baseline exercise tolerance and perceived dyspnea to identify the ideal candidate to pulmonary rehabilitation: a risk chart in COPD patients.

Background The appropriate criteria for patient selection are still a key issue in the clinical management of patients referred to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the records of a wide population of 1470 outpatient or inpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) referred to standard PR at two specialized Italian centers. Two models of multivariate logistic regression were developed to test the predictive powers of baseline exercise tolerance, namely the distance walked in 6 minutes (6MWD), and of baseline dyspnea on exertion, measured by the modified Medical Research Council scale (mMRC), versus the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the same outcomes. Results- (p<0.001) of predicting a MCID change. Compared to the category of individuals with mMRC 0-1point, all the other categories (2, 3, and 4) also showed a higher probability (p<0.001) of predicting a MCID change. The incorporation of baseline categories of 6MWD and mMRC in a risk chart showed that the percentage of patients reaching MCID in both variables increased as the baseline level of 6MWD decreased and of mMRC increased. Conclusion- This study demonstrates that lower levels of exercise tolerance and greater perceived dyspnea on exertion predict achieving clinically meaningful changes for both these treatment outcomes following PR. A specific risk chart that integrates these two variables may help clinicians to select ideal candidates and best responders to PR

Pseudo-Planar Organic Heterojunctions by Sequential Printing of Quasi-Miscible Inks

This work deals with the interfacial mixing mechanism of picoliter (pL)-scale droplets produced by sequential inkjet printing of organic-based inks onto ITO/PET surfaces at a moderately high Weber number (~101). Differently from solution dispensing processes at a high Bond number such as spin coating, the deposition by inkjet printing is strictly controlled by droplet velocity, ink viscosity, and surface tension. In particular, this study considers the interfacial mixing of droplets containing the most investigated donor/acceptor couple for organic solar cells, i.e., poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and (6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), showing how low-viscosity and low-surface energy inks can be leveraged for the fabrication of an interface suitable for a pseudo-planar heterojunction (pseudo-PHJ) organic solar cell (OSC) that is a convenient alternative to a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OSC. The resulting thin-film morphology and molecular organization at the P3HT/PCBM interface are investigated, highlighting the roles of dissolution-driven molecular recirculation. This report represents a first step toward the sequential inkjet printing fabrication of pseudo-PHJ OSCs at low consumption of solvents/chemicals

Self-Cleaning Bending Sensors Based on Semitransparent ZnO Nanostructured Films

The design of multifunctional nanostructured materials is the key to the development of smart wearable devices. For instance, nanostructures endowed with both piezoelectric and photocatalytic activities could well be the workhorse for solar-light-driven self-cleaning wearable sensors. In this work, a simple strategy for the assembly of a flexible, semitransparent piezophotocatalytic system is demonstrated by leveraging rational wet chemistry synthesis of ZnO-based nanosheets/nanoflowers (NSs/NFs) under basic pH conditions onto flexible ITO/PET supports. A KMnO4 pretreatment before the ZnO synthesis (seeded ZnO) allows for the control of the density, size, and orientation of the NSs/NFs systems compared to the systems produced in the absence of seeding (seedless ZnO). The electrical response of the sensors is extracted at a 1 V bias as a function of bending in the interval between 0 and 90°, being the responsivity toward bending significantly enhanced by the KMnO4 treatment effect. The photocatalytic activity of the sensors is analyzed in aqueous solution (methylene blue, 25 μM) by a solar simulator, resulting in similar values between seedless and seeded ZnO. Upon bending the sensor, the photocatalytic activity of seedless ZnO is almost unaffected, whereas that of seeded ZnO is improved by about 25%. The sensor’s reusability and repeatability are tested in up to three different cycles. These results open up the way toward the seamless integration of bending sensitivity and photocatalysis into a single device