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Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) consist of dye-doped, highly transparent, plastic plates aimed at improving the building integration and reducing the cost of photovoltaic (PV) technology. In...

Cycling is a climate-friendly, cost-effective, and greenhouse gas-efficient transport mode that produces relevant positive aspects to: urban innovation (new technology and services, that i...

The work is focused on the integration of space syntax analysis (SSA) in a process of participatory planning focused on a neighbourhood scale where the challenge of promoting pedestrian-friendly regeneration process is a bottom-up priority. The promotion of active mobility is one of the main themes of the urban regeneration project CAST operating on the western part of the city of Potenza (capital of the Basilicata region, Italy). Both the state of the art of the case study area and the potential effects of the intervention proposed on the basis of the participatory process have been assessed by SSA as a walkability assessment method. By measuring a street network’s syntactic parameters, it was possible to further enrich the cognitive framework relating to the current situation and to simultaneously evaluate the effects (in terms of potential movement and social usage) deriving from design interventions. The paper presents a methodology to evaluate the urban pedestrian environment and to provide an insight for walking-related intervention and improvements in neighbourhood-scale planning, according to a participatory approach. The research, based on specific local characteristics, represents a transferable approach to supporting and informing policy-makers and designers engaged in inclusive and participative urban regeneration projects.

The production context linked to the agricultural sector in Basilicata is not very competitive, especially in international contexts. In fact, there are few companies that occupy a good market position beyond the border. The reasons are to be found in the high degree of fragmentation, in the high percentage of small businesses, mainly family-run, and a general low propensity to entrepreneurship.

© 2019 American Chemical Society. Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are a promising solar energy technology for reducing architectural barriers to the integration of photovoltaic systems into the built environment. In this work, the first demonstration of thin-film LSCs based on a thermally reversible cross-linked host polymer is presented. This smart material is obtained via a dynamic-chemistry approach based on the Diels-Alder (DA) reaction between a furan-functionalized acrylic copolymer and an aliphatic bismaleimide to obtain optically clear, cross-linked systems capable of healing mechanical damage upon heat treatment. By carefully tuning the concentration of a perylene-based luminophore dopant, an optical efficiency as high as 4.9% can be achieved with this DA-based LSC. In addition, full recovery of device efficiency is demonstrated after complete thermal healing of mechanically induced surface damages as a result of the embedded DA functionality. The approach presented here paves the way to the development of highly efficient multifunctional thermoresponsive smart LSC systems.

The term ‘polycentrism’ describes a model of territorial settlement of all human activities in which there are a plurality of connected centres. Polycentrism refers to two very important aspects: the morphological one, which concerns the distribution of built environment in the territory, and the functional one, which concerns the relations between the different poles.

In Basilicata region (Italy), the “Lagonegro-Rotonda” cycling route had been realized in the framework of the policy instrument “The Pact” (Basilicata Region Development Pact - DGR 517 of 17 May 2016) managed by Basilicata Region Mobility and Infrastructures department. The realization of this cycling project involved eight Municipalities under leading role of Nemoli Municipality and FAL Ferrovie Appulo Lucane s.r.l., concessionaire of disused railway sections located in the southern part of the region.

Efficient and comprehensive recycling of fiber-reinforced thermosets is particularly challenging, since the irreversible degradation of the matrix component is necessary in order to separate the fiber component in high purity. In this work, a new approach to fully recyclable thermoset composites is presented, based on the thermal reversibility of an epoxy-based polymer network, crosslinked through Diels&ndash, Alder (DA) chemistry. Carbon fiber composites, fabricated by compression molding, were efficiently recycled through a simple solvolysis procedure in common solvents, under mild conditions, with no catalysts. Specifically, the purity of reclaimed fibers, assessed by thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy, was very high (&gt, 95%) and allowed successful reprocessing into second generation composites. Moreover, the dissolved matrix residues were directly employed to prepare smart, thermally healable coatings. Overall, DA chemistry has been shown to provide a convenient strategy towards circular economy of thermoset composites.

Prolonged durability in outdoor environment and ease of application are highly required features for self-healing coatings. To this end, a novel transparent and self-healing nanocomposite for optical applications, based on Diels-Alder (DA) chemistry is developed in this work. First, a novel, highly soluble, bismaleimide enabled a simple coating fabrication by coupling with furan-functionalized polyacrylates in industrially relevant solvents. The resulting crosslinked coatings exhibited high transparency and complete absence of color, as assessed by UV–vis spectroscopy. Their thermal behavior and the conditions required by the healing process were significantly affected by the degree of furan/maleimide functionality of the system. Secondly, the addition of a small amount of a commercial antioxidant stabilized the optical properties against photo-oxidative weathering, both on clear and titania-pigmented coatings, as determined by colorimetric analysis. Finally, dispersion of silica nanoparticles in the DA-based matrix allowed to enhance the surface hardness of the coatings, while retaining the self-healing ability.

Open data availability, participation and knowledge sharing are becoming increasingly important in planning processes aimed at protecting and enhancing the territory. This paper presents an application of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) for the creation of an open database for the enhancement of Basilicata region territory. The work was carried out during the Smart Basilicata training project and led to the definition of a map of the services of the regional territory, starting from open source tools and data available online and processed through geographic information systems.