Multiphysics‐Enabled Liquid State Thermal Harvesting: Synergistic Effects between Pyroelectricity and Triboelectrification

Energy consumption levels show a never-ending increase since the industrial era. Toward sustainability objectives, it is of outstanding importance to reduce the amount of wasted energy, that typically comes as waste heat, as a consequence of nonunitary efficiency of any thermodynamic process. Herein, a breakthrough in conversion of low enthalpy heat into electricity is presented, based on a liquid state device that operates through multiphysics effects: thermomagnetic advection, triboelectricity, pyroelectricity, and Ludwig–Sorét effect. A synergistic interaction between ferroelectric surfaces and a complex composition colloidal suspension is evidenced, owing to an enhancement of the generated potential of 365% in comparison with pyroelectric effect and 267% in comparison with triboelectric effect, while the current extracted is 54% higher than the pyroelectric effect only and the power extracted by induction remains substantially unperturbed. The impact of this technology on society is also analyzed, on the basis of a set of practical applications, by means of a computational analysis

Psychometric properties of the Italian body shape questionnaire: an investigation of its reliability, factorial, concurrent, and criterion validity

PURPOSE: This study was set up to investigate the reliability, factorial, concurrent, and criterion validity of the Italian version of the 34-item Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) and its shorter versions. METHODS: The study included 231 patients diagnosed with an eating disorder and 58 putatively healthy people (comparison sample). The Italian BSQ-34 was administered to participants together with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. Information on body mass index, caloric intake at baseline, and the number of episodes of self-vomiting per week was also acquired. RESULTS: Cronbach’s alpha of BSQ-34 was 0.971 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.965–0.976) in patients and 0.960 (0.944–0.974) in controls. Test–retest stability in patients (n = 69), measured with intraclass correlation coefficient, was 0.987 (0.983–0.991). Confirmatory factor analysis of the single-factor model yielded acceptable fit for all versions of the BSQ. On all BSQ versions, patients scored higher than controls with a large effect size when calculated as Cliff’s delta. BMI and mean caloric intake at baseline had a stronger association with BSQ-34 than levels of anxiety and depression. The analysis with the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve showed that the BSQ-34 distinguished patients with an eating disorder from controls with good accuracy (Area Under the Curve = 86.5; 95% CI 82.2–90.7). CONCLUSION: The Italian version of the BSQ possesses good psychometric properties, in both the long and the shortened versions, and it can be applied to measure body dissatisfaction for both clinical and research purposes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40519-022-01503-6

Role of parental educational level as psychosocial factor in a sample of inpatients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

IntroductionEvidence on parental educational level (PEL) as a risk factor for Eating Disorders (EDs) is mixed, and no study has assessed its role in relation to the compliance and outcomes of treatments in EDs. Further, no study differentiated from the educational level of mothers and fathers, nor considered the possible mediation of perfectionism in fostering EDs.MethodsA clinical sample of 242 first-ever admitted inpatients with EDs provided information on PEL and completed the following questionnaires: the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (F-MPS). Clinicians also provided information on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A) and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) for each participant.ResultsIndividuals with high PEL (whether mothers, fathers, or both parents) showed significantly higher scores on depressive symptoms and lower on parental criticism, were younger, had an earlier age of onset, had fewer years of illness, more were students and employed, and fewer had offspring. Individuals with fathers or both parents with high educational levels suffered more from Anorexia Nervosa rather than Bulimia Nervosa, had a longer length of stay during the current hospitalization, had less dietary restraint, and had higher personal standards. Individuals with mothers with high educational levels showed a lower rate of previous substance or alcohol addiction. Personal standards partially mediated the relationship between higher PEL and lower dietary restraint.DiscussionPEL emerged to be a twofold psychosocial risk factor, being associated with higher depressive symptoms and a longer length of stay, but also with a shorter duration of illness and better scholar and working involvement. Higher PEL was related to higher personal standards but not to global perfectionism. Patterns of eating psychopathology emerged based on the high PEL of mothers or fathers

Sospensioni colloidali per la conversione del calore di scarto in energia elettrica

Ogni processo reale di trasformazione dell’energia comporta un’efficienza non unitaria e la concorrente generazione di calore di scarto che può essere stoccato e riconvertito, diventando quindi un’opportunità economica. L’approccio innovativo che abbiamo messo a punto si basa sull'intuizione che sospensioni colloidali possono essere messe in movimento da convezione ed avvezione termomagnetica, per rilasciare o indurre una carica elettrica con ottimi livelli di efficienza elettrocinetica. Abbiamo confrontato tre fenomeni fisici di conversione: l’induzione elettromagnetica (colloide a base di magnetite), l’effetto piroelettrico (titanato di bario) e quello triboelettrico (titania), arrivando a valutarne le rispettive potenzialità nei processi di conversione

Waste heat to power by means of a thermomagnetic colloidal energy harvester

Energy utilization, sustainability and care for the environment are now under the spotlight; dealing with energy must take into account the non-unitary efficiency of any thermodynamic process and the consequent production of waste heat, playing a crucial role in global warming. A valuable approach to tackle this problem is to capture and reuse the waste heat, providing an attractive opportunity for an emission-free and cost-effective energy resource. Waste heat to power is the process of converting the heat discarded in electricity, via thermodynamic cycles, thermoelectric materials, pyroelectric materials. Here, a new ThermOmagnetic hydRODYNAmic energy harvester (TORODYNA) exploiting a commercial ferrofluid, is presented. The lab-scale prototype has a toroidal geometry adopted from the well-known tokamak reactor. Peltier modules are used to generate the thermal gradient between the two sides of the reactor, that combined with the effect of permanent magnets trigger the advection. To extract and ensure the output electrical energy, the structure is wrapped-up with coils and connected to an impedance and pico-amperometer. Two coil configurations (purely poloidal and mixed poloidal/toroidal windings) are tested, in a heterogeneous water-ferrofluid two-phase flow, reaching a maximum extracted electrical power of 10.4 μW/K from a thermal gradient of 10 K, which is approximately 20% of the ideal Carnot efficiency of a thermal machine working in the same temperature drop. Furthermore, numerical analysis of the system has been performed developing a Fortran™ code in an Eulerian framework, using Galerkin approximation and harmonic functions

The Nepean Belief Scale (NBS) as a tool to investigate the intensity of beliefs in anorexia nervosa: psychometric properties of the Italian version

Abstract Background People with anorexia nervosa (AN) show a peculiar impairment of insight regarding their condition, often manifesting a denial of extreme emaciation and sometimes hiding or underreporting socially undesirable abnormal eating patterns. Sometimes the intensity of the beliefs held by patients with AN reach a delusional intensity. Objectives In this study, the Italian version of the Nepean Belief Scale was applied to a sample of patients diagnosed with AN to investigate the intensity of their beliefs and convictions and its clinical correlates. Methods The Nepean Belief Scale (NBS) was translated and adapted to Italian and applied to a sample of patients diagnosed with AN based on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). Results The Italian version of the 5-item NBS showed excellent reliability. Convergent validity was proved by negative association with levels of insight measured with the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight in Eating Disorders. Beliefs of delusional intensity were reported by 10% of participants. Those with a greater intensity of beliefs, either overvalued or delusional ideas, were more likely to report poorer general cognitive performances on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. No association was observed between NBS score and age, body mass index, symptoms of eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, or levels of depression. Fear of weight gain and control seeking were the most often reported themes at the NBS. Conclusions The Italian version of the NBS is a reasonably reliable, valid, and usable tool for the multidimensional assessment of insight in AN. Level of evidence Level III, Evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies