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Anti-hail nets have been employed in viticulture to reduce the damage caused by hailstorms, but whether this strategy may have detrimental effects on grape quality in the Mediterranean region is still unknown. This study was carried out in the Salento region during the 2023 harvest to evaluate the grape microclimate and fruit quality attributes of ‘Fiano’ white grapes grown uncovered or covered with either crystal or black nets. The nets had a small but significant effect on the air temperature (about 0.3 °C and 0.1 °C higher with black and crystal nets, respectively) and relative humidity (about 1% lower with both black and crystal nets) in the grape zone. However, no significant variation was recorded for grape colouration (except for the chromaticity coordinate a*) nor for the main skin photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids), the total polyphenolic content, and the total soluble solids. Our preliminary results suggest that anti-hail nets can be effective to protect the grapevines against hailstorms and other adverse weather conditions, without having negative impacts on the colour development and bioactive compounds of white grapes in the Mediterranean region.

This work describes experimental results concerning the chemical composition of the alloy patina and inlays from the medieval copper alloy door of the cathedral of Troia (southern Italy), dating back to 1127 CE. The analyses were conducted in situ with no sampling or sample preparation required, using a portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) instrument. The compositional results show that the two door leaves were made using a binary alloy of copper and lead, while the nails, lion protomes, and handles have a different chemical composition. Moreover, the analyses revealed uniform concentrations of chlorine, probably due to cleaning treatments during the restoration. It is important to emphasise that the obtained results are the only ones related to this valuable masterpiece analysed.

During the restoration work promoted by the FAI foundation (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) of the abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate (Lecce, Apulia, South Italy), multidisciplinary analyses have been realized to support conservators and art historians for the safeguard and valorization of the most important byzantine evidence (12th–13th century) in Apulia. In this paper, mortar samples have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to characterize the observed materials, directing conservators for the integration interventions with compatible realizations. Moreover, the samples were compared with specimens taken from local quarries and the nearest coastline area, and vegetal fibers, embedded into the mortars were analyzed by applying radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). It was thus possible to give a contribution to the historical-artistic research related to the building techniques, the ratio aggregates/binder and the employed materials of the mortars and the dating of the mural paintings between the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th century.

This paper reports the analyses carried out on the medieval copper alloy door (1111–1118 AD) of the mausoleum of Boemondo d’Altavilla in Canosa di Puglia (Southern Italy). The studied door is the smallest medieval bronze door extant in Italy and, unlike the other Byzantine doors, was most probably made in Canosa di Puglia and not in Constantinople. Analyses were performed to assess the chemical composition of the alloy patinas using a portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) instrument designed at the University of Salento. The experimental results suggested that the two door leaves have the same chemical composition, even if they appear different in both style and size. Furthermore, the alloy used for the door is different from the other previously-analyzed Byzantine bronze doors. The obtained results can be used in the future to compare the chemical composition of other Byzantine doors in order to better understand the manufacture of these precious artifacts.

The morphology of urban residential blocks in China, which is strictly affected by regulations, can potentially improve or deteriorate microclimates. This paper first proposes a framework for identifying typical residential block typologies using Nanjing as an example. A thorough investigation, consisting of 114 samples, was conducted, and 18 typical residential block typologies were summarized. Second, 3D non-isothermal numerical simulations were performed on the hottest days of summer using the ENVI-met. The effect of morphological indices on the microclimate at the pedestrian level was explored using statistical methods and a novel graphic method named m-SpaceMate. The results revealed a strong correlation between the urban heat island intensity (UHII), mean radiation temperature, and universal thermal climate index (UTCI) and floor area ratio (FAR), as well as between wind velocity (U) and building coverage ratio (BCR). A significant increase in FAR (by approximately 1.0) can result in a low UTCI that was driven by MRT and shading conditions. Six-floor blocks, with FAR between 1.8 and 2.1, had a better overall thermal environment (except for lower U) than that of 11-floor blocks. When considering a similar BCR, blocks with slab-type buildings tended to have a U that was higher by approximately 30%.

Yiwei decoction (YWD) is a classic prescription with the function of nourishing stomach yin. In this study, the effective components of antioxidant activity of YWD and its possible mechanism were discussed from the point of view of spectral effect relationship and network pharmacology. Firstly, the fingerprints of 10 batches of YWD were established by UPLC‐PDA technique, and the 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picryl‐hydrazyl radical (DPPH) scavenging rate and total antioxidant capacity (T‐AOC) were used as the indicators for antioxidant activity in vitro. Then, the spectral effect relationship between the fingerprint profiles and antioxidant capacity was analyzed through grey relational analysis (GRA) and orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS). In addition, network pharmacology was employed to predict the potential mechanisms of YWD in the treatment of antioxidant‐related diseases. The spectrum‐effect relationship indicated that three common peaks were likely to be the most decisive active components, identified as verbascoside, psoralen, and vitexin, respectively. Based on network pharmacology analysis, a total of 83 target genes shared by the active components and antioxidant‐related diseases were collected. AKT1, HSP90AA1, SRC, CASP3, and MTOR were closely related to antioxidant therapy and considered as core therapeutic targets. The potential mechanisms of YWD were obtained through gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Finally, molecular docking simulations were conducted to evaluate the binding activities between the core therapeutic targets and corresponding compounds. The excellent core protein‐compound complexes obtained by molecular docking were simulated by molecular dynamics simulation. The results showed that the active compounds had good binding ability with the selected targets. This study successfully identified the effective components of YWD and predicted the potential targets and pathways, which provided a new idea for the application of YWD in the treatment of antioxidant stress in the future. In addition, the potential active components provide valuable implications for drug screening of related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work introduces a Nafion‐coated copper(I) oxide nanoparticle electrode (Nafion/Cu2O/GC) designed for the electrochemical detection of methanol (CH3OH). The responses of the composite material toward CH3OH were enhanced by the selective permeation of CH3OH through the hydrophilic channels of the Nafion membrane in combination with the electroactivity of Cu2O nanoparticles. The sensor displayed a linear detection range of 0.33–100 mM CH3OH with a sensitivity of 0.17 μA·mM−1 and a detection limit (3 s/m) of 0.10 mM. It exhibited excellent reproducibility with a relative standard deviation of <5%. The sensor's practical applicability was demonstrated through recovery studies on hand sanitizer samples, achieving ca. 100% recovery. The sensor was further used to elucidate CH3OH adsorption on activated carbon, revealing that the process conforms to the Langmuir isotherm model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-hail nets have been employed in viticulture to reduce the damage caused by hailstorms, but whether this strategy may have detrimental effects on grape quality in the Mediterranean region is still unknown. This study was carried out in the Salento region during the 2023 harvest to evaluate the grape microclimate and fruit quality attributes of 'Fiano' white grapes grown uncovered or covered with either crystal or black nets. The nets had a small but significant effect on the air temperature (about 0.3 °C and 0.1 °C higher with black and crystal nets, respectively) and relative humidity (about 1% lower with both black and crystal nets) in the grape zone. However, no significant variation was recorded for grape colouration (except for the chromaticity coordinate a*) nor for the main skin photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids), the total polyphenolic content, and the total soluble solids. Our preliminary results suggest that anti-hail nets can be effective to protect the grapevines against hailstorms and other adverse weather conditions, without having negative impacts on the colour development and bioactive compounds of white grapes in the Mediterranean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigated the structure of the airborne bacterial community obtained by 16S rRNA gene sequencing performed on aerosol samples from different indoor and outdoor locations. The 48-h aerosol samples were collected in two laboratories, in the corridors, and on the roof of the Mathematics and Physics Department of the University of Salento (Italy). The investigation was carried out through the application of an innovative compositional data analysis approach, mainly based on a centered log-ratio transformation as a standardization procedure, the Aitchison distance for data ordination, and the principal component analysis via singular value decomposition for data clustering. This methodology allowed us to explore the main relationships among samples, identifying different results between indoor and outdoor samples both at the genus level and at the species level. Bacillus and Pseudomonas represented the most abundant genera identified in the analyzed samples. Out of the 21 identified bacterial species with the highest abundances in the collected aerosol samples, Acinetobacter lwoffii, Propionibacterium acnes, Diplorickettsia massiliensis, and Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum were the only four commonly classified as human opportunistic pathogens. Among the genera mostly associated with indoor environments, Hymenobacter and Arthrobacter could be noted as including many species that are unique in being radiation resistant.

Both teflon and quartz PM2.5 filters collected from January to July 2021 at the monitoring site of the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Salento in Lecce (Italy) were analyzed by integrating different characterization techniques (Particle Induced X-ray Emission PIXE, Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry IRMS, and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry AMS) at the CEDAD (Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics) of the Department of Mathematics and Physics, University of Salento. The PM2.5 concentration analyses allowed to identify the variation of the main PM2.5 characteristics as a function of the season and the day of the week. This last characterization was integrated by the results from the PIXE, which allowed to identify the heavy elements and their concentrations. The main results showed the presence of different elements, such as S and Zn (considered as markers of anthropogenic sources for PM2.5) and Ca and Fe (as markers of natural sources). The concentrations of these elements showed a significant decrease during the weekend, mostly in the case of elements of anthropogenic origin, according to the data on the PM2.5 temporal evolution. Using the isotopic markers of carbon and nitrogen by means of the IRMS, we determined values of δ15N between 4.5 and 10.6‰, which are consistent with the origin of PM2.5 from anthropic combustion processes and a secondary contribution from vehicular traffic. Similarly, the values of δ13C obtained by IRMS were in the range between −24.4 and −26.7‰, generally associated with biomass combustion and with vehicular traffic. An analysis of the fossil and modern contribution was carried out on the PM2.5 filters by measuring radiocarbon using the integrated IRMS-EA system connected with the TANDETRON accelerator and AMS spectrometer. In more detail, we found a percentage of modern carbon in the range 71.6–92.4% that indicates a larger bio-derived contribution with respect to the contribution from fossil sources during the analyzed period. The parameters obtained from PIXE, IRMS, and AMS techniques were finally used as input for different ordination methods that allowed their deeper characterization.

Urban green and blue infrastructure (GBI) is effective in urban heat mitigation. However, the diurnal variations in the thermal regulation of GBI on different types of urban pedestrian walkways in the subtropical humid climate zone are unclear. Based on traverse measurements in January 2022, this study investigates how outdoor air temperature (Ta) and wet-bulb temperature (Tw) at the pedestrian level are affected by various urban morphology and GBI characteristics in the central urbanized area of Guangzhou (China). Six building-related, three vegetation-related, and three water-related parameters were applied in the analyses. Results show that green infrastructure (GI) has the strongest cooling effect (Pearson’s coefficient r = −0.33~−0.54) on Ta on cloudy evenings and the weakest cooling effect (r = −0.22~−0.32) on clear evenings. Blue infrastructure (BI) exhibits the highest correlations with the cooling effect for Ta on clear afternoons (r = −0.35~−0.51) and weaker, but more consistent, correlations throughout cloudy days (r = −0.23~−0.43). Strong correlations between GI and Tw cooling are observed in the morning and evening on clear days (r = −0.13~−0.48), while BI exhibits the strongest correlation with Tw cooling on clear afternoons (r = −0.13~−0.37). In addition, both GI and BI show a greater cooling effect on both Ta and Tw in low-rise areas compared to high-rise areas. Compared to the individual GI or BI, the integrated GBI has a higher cooling intensity for both Ta and Tw in high-rise areas. However, the cooling potential of integrated GBI is slightly lower for both Ta and Tw during noon and afternoon in low-rise areas. The findings of this study give insights into urban GBI planning and design of specific urban microclimate regulation strategies.

The identification of parameters that can quantitatively describe the different characteristics of urban morphology is fundamental to studying urban ventilation and microclimate at the local level and developing parameterizations of the dynamic effect of an urban area in mesoscale models. This paper proposes a methodology to calculate four morphological parameters, namely mean height, aspect ratio, sky view factor, and plan area ratio, of five cities located in southern (Bari and Lecce), central (Naples and Rome), and northern (Milan) Italy. The calculation is performed using the Geographical Information System (GIS), starting from morphological and land use data collected and analyzed in shapefiles. The proposed methodology, which can be replicated in other cities, also presents in detail the procedure followed to properly build input data to calculate the sky view factor using the UMEP GIS tool. The results show a gradual increase in the plan area index, λp, and mean building height, H¯, moving from the south to the north of Italy. Maximum values of λp and H¯ are obtained in the regions of Milan, Rome, and Naples, where the highest spatially-averaged values are also found, i.e., λp = 0.22, H¯ = 10.9 m in Milan; λp = 0.19, H¯ = 12.7 m in Rome; λp = 0.20, H¯ = 12 m in Naples. Furthermore, for all the cities investigated, areas characterized by the Corine Land Cover class as “continuous urban fabric” are those with medium sky view factor SVF values (around 0.6–0.7) and λp values (around 0.3) typical of intermediate/compact cities. The methodology employed here for calculating morphological parameters using GIS proves to be replicable in different urban contexts. This opens to a better classification of cities in local climate zones (LCZ), as shown for the Lecce region, useful for urban heat island (UHI) studies and to the development of parameterizations of the urban effects in global and regional climate models.

This research aimed to evaluate the composition of wines made with white grapes which are particularly susceptible to sunburn symptoms due to the absence of anthocyanin. Sunburn is a complex physiological dysfunction leading to browning or necrosis of berry tissues. In vintage 2021, the canopy of ‘Verdeca’ grapevines grown in Salento, South Italy, was differently managed by sun exposing or shading the bunches. Micrometeorological conditions were studied at different levels. Grapes were vinified, comparing the winemaking with and without skin maceration. The vegetative-productive balance of plants was not substantially modified. On the contrary, a significant effect was observed on the quality and quantity of grapes produced: smaller berries with sunburn symptoms were found on unshaded bunches. This influenced the percentage distribution among skin, pulp and seeds, causing a decrease in must yield of up to 30%. The pH was significantly higher in macerated wines made using shaded grapes, due to a lower titratable acidity and to significant impacts on the acid profile. Obviously, maceration produced a higher extraction of phenolics in wines, which reached their maximum in wines made with sunburned grapes. The absorbance at 420 nm, index of yellow color, was also significantly higher in sunburned grapes, indicating greater oxidation. Even though excessive grape sun-exposure could negatively affect the perception of white wines made without maceration (resulting in more oxidative character), the sensory quality of orange/amber wines was not significantly impacted by the presence of sunburned grapes. Thus, this winemaking technique could be particularly interesting to set up a production strategy adapted to viticultural regions strongly affected by climate change.

Background: Little is known about how exposure to different types of pollution is associated with motor development in children or how pollution may be related to time spent in physical activity, sedentary behaviour—including screen time, and sleep. The purpose of this study was to review the evidence on these associations, especially in light of the World Health Organization (WHO) Guidelines for these behaviours. Methods: We searched eight electronic databases: CINAHL, Embase, ERIC, Global Health, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science, from inception to May 2023. Studies that reported an association between a pollution measure (air, water, noise, or land) and at least one movement behaviour (physical activity, sleep, or sedentary time) or motor development outcome (fine or gross motor) among apparently healthy children from birth to 12 years were included. Eligibility of the studies was assessed, and extracted data was based on the study design, sample characteristics, pollution type, and type of association reported. Results: The search returned 5358 studies, of which 18 were eligible for inclusion. Most studies were conducted in high‐income countries (n = 13). Studies reported measures of outdoor air (n = 7), indoor air (n = 4), land (n = 3), and noise pollution (n = 4). Findings from the review were mixed and inconsistent. Most studies reported associations between a pollution measure and motor development outcomes (n = 12), followed by sleep (n = 5) and physical activity and sedentary behaviour (n = 1). Conclusions: There is limited evidence regarding associations between pollution measures, 24‐h movement behaviours, and motor development. Future research should pay more attention to postnatal exposure to different types of pollution and its impact on healthy levels of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, and motor development and consider confounders such as geographic location, weather conditions, and country income level. Trial Registration: PROSPERO: CRD42022340130. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vodka constitutes a significant sector of Vietnam's alcohol industry, including both domestic and imported varieties. However, this diversity faces challenges from illegal imports and adulterated products, threatening consumer health and brand integrity. This study employs Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) to analyze 300 vodka samples from five brands collected across Hanoi. Significant variations were found in elemental compositions, with sodium concentrations ranging from 205.67 μg/L to 1269.24 μg/L and magnesium levels from 65.57 μg/L to 1453.34 μg/L. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the FTIR and ICP‐MS data effectively differentiated the samples, with the first two principal components explaining 84.78% and 73.02% of the total variance, respectively. The PCA plots revealed distinct chemical profiles, notably isolating Rocket Vodka. These findings enhance food safety enforcement, protect consumer rights, and preserve brand reputations. The study underscores the importance of advanced analytical tools in combating beverage adulteration, ensuring public health, and maintaining market integrity, offering a replicable model for similar research in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]