The inherent economic and social challenges in major cities have been known to foster stress among the urban population. Frequent stress over long periods may well have serious damaging outcomes, resulting in ailments such as burnout syndrome, sleeplessness and exhaustion, depression, feelings of panic, among others. Therefore, providing access to resources that may enable people to cope with the stress of urban life has become a crucial phenomenon in the twentieth century. Increasing empirical evidence indicates that the presence of natural areas can contribute to enhancing the quality of life in many ways. This study examines two historical Persian gardens from the residents' perspective in well-known, historic cities of Iran: Isfahan and Kerman. The data were collected through questionnaires (n = 252), semi-structured interviews (n = 20), and visual observation techniques. The findings demonstrate that nature, diversity and the gardens' historical background, and coherence motivate the residents' frequent visits to the gardens, which help to address their social, psychological, and physical needs. In addition, the residents' involvements and the variety of experiences that occur in the gardens lead to the creation of deeper meanings and values associated with the gardens. Subsequently, these construct functional and emotional attachment that evokes a sense of place and identity and may contribute to society's health and well-being.
Conventional building materials (CBMs) made from non-renewable resources are the main source of indoor air contaminants, whose impact can extend from indoors to outdoors. Given their sustainable development (SD) prospect, green building materials (GBMs) with non-toxic, natural, and organic compounds have the potential to reduce their overall impacts on environmental and human health. In this regard, biocomposites as GBMs are environmentally friendly, safe, and recyclable materials and their replacement of CBMs reduces environmental impacts and human health concerns. This study aims to develop a model of fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite as non-structural GBMs and compare it with fully petroleum-based composite in terms of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and human health impacts. Using a small chamber test (American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)-D5116) for VOC investigation and SimaPro software modeling with the ReCiPe method for evaluating human health impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used, and the results indicate that switching the fully hybrid bio-based biocomposite with the fully petroleum-based composite could reduce more than 50% impacts on human health in terms of indoor and outdoor. Our results indicate that the usage of biocomposite as GBMs can be an environmentally friendly solution for reducing the total indoor and outdoor impacts on human health.
Magnesium (Mg) alloys present great potential for the development of orthopedic implants, whereas, their high degradation rate and poor antibacterial performance have restricted orthopedic applications. In this work, PLLA/GO-AgNP (poly-L-lactic acid/graphene oxide- silver nanoparticle) with different concentration of GO-AgNPs were deposited on Mg alloy via electrospinning method for enhancement of corrosion resistance and antibacterial performance. The result revealed that incorporation of GO into PLLA fibrous considerably slowed down the degradation rate of Mg alloy substrate and reduced the H2 release rate from the substrate. Also, co-incorporation of GO and AgNPs into PLLA fibrous resulted in substantial escalate in compressive strength after immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF). Antibacterial activity test exhibited that Mg alloy and neat PLLA fibrous presented minimal inhibition area toward Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). In contrast, using PLLA/GO-AgNPs fibrous improved antibacterial performance against both bacteria. Cytocompatibility results indicated that PLLA/GO-AgNPs fibrous with a low amount of GO-AgNPs enhanced cell proliferation and growth while high co-incorporation of GO-AgNPs showed a negative effect on cell proliferation. Taken together, PLLA/1GO-AgNPs fibrous coating shows suitable corrosion resistance, cytocompatibility, and antibacterial function for use in orthopedic applications.