SCI

Many applications in the context of Industry 4.0 require precise localization. However, indoor localization remains an open problem, especially in complex environments such as industrial environments. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of Ultra WideBand (UWB) localization systems. The aim of this article is to evaluate the performance of a UWB system to estimate the position of a person moving in an indoor environment. To do so, we implemented an experimental protocol to evaluate the accuracy of the UWB system both statically and dynamically. The UWB system is compared to a ground truth obtained by a motion capture system with a millimetric accuracy.

Abstract: If the computational demands of an interactive gra-phics rendering application cannot be met by a single commodity Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), multiple graphics accelerators may be utilised on multi-GPU based systems such as SLI [1] or Crossfire [2] or by a cluster of PCs in conjunction with a soft-ware infrastructure. Typically these PC cluster solutions allow the application programmer to use a standard OpenGL API. In this paper we describe an FPGA based hardware architecture, which provides an interface for multiple commodity graphics ac-celerators. Our scalable parallel rendering architecture aims to accelerate graphics applications using a tightly coupled hybrid system of parallel commodity GPUs and reconfigurable hardwa-re [3], while providing similar services to the above mentioned approach. This is work in progress. So far, we have designed and manufactured the required custom-hardware. Currently, we are focussing on implementing the shared-memory subsystem.

A three-part mechanism is proposed for the induction of Alzheimer’s disease: (1) decreased blood lactic acid; (2) increased blood ceramide and adipokines; (3) decreased blood folic acid. The age-related nature of these mechanisms comes from age-associated decreased muscle mass, increased visceral fat and changes in diet. This mechanism also explains why many people do not develop Alzheimer’s disease. Simple changes in lifestyle and diet can prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a cascade of events that culminates in damage to the blood–brain barrier and damage to neurons. The blood–brain barrier keeps toxic molecules out of the brain and retains essential molecules in the brain. Lactic acid is a nutrient to the brain and is produced by exercise. Damage to endothelial cells and pericytes by inadequate lactic acid leads to blood–brain barrier damage and brain damage. Inadequate folate intake and oxidative stress induced by activation of transient receptor poten...

Rapid peri-urbanization has resulted in increasing demand for and pressure on peri-urban lands at the expense of agricultural lands. Households’ decision to convert from agricultural land uses to residential and commercial land uses is driven by a myriad of factors, ranging from social to economic, in the Asante-Akim South district of the Asante region, Ghana. The paper examined the effects of agricultural land use trade-off on food production in the district. Using a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods, 115 household respondents were proportionately sampled from three selected communities in the district, for the collection of data through the administration of questionnaires. The data were subjected to the Pearson’s chi-square, embedded in the SPSS V.16, to test for association among the variables. We report that the increasing rate of agricultural land uses conversions was as a result of increasing demand for residential and commercial land usage at the expense ...

A correlation of tectonic units of the Alpine-Carpathian-Dinaridic system of orogens, including the substrate of the Pannonian and Transylvanian basins, is presented in the form of a map. Combined with a series of crustal-scale cross sections this correlation of tectonic units yields a clearer picture of the three-dimensional architecture of this system of orogens that owes its considerable complexity to multiple overprinting of earlier by younger deformations. The synthesis advanced here indicates that none of the branches of the Alpine Tethys and Neotethys extended eastward into the Dobrogea Orogen. Instead, the main branch of the Alpine Tethys linked up with the Meliata-Maliac-Vardar branch of the Neotethys into the area of the present-day Inner Dinarides. More easterly and subsidiary branches of the Alpine Tethys separated Tisza completely, and Dacia partially, from the European continent. Remnants of the Triassic parts of Neotethys (Meliata-Maliac) are preserved only as ophiolitic mélanges present below obducted Jurassic Neotethyan (Vardar) ophiolites. The opening of the Alpine Tethys was largely contemporaneous with the Latest Jurassic to Early Cretaceous obduction of parts of the Jurassic Vardar ophiolites. Closure of the Meliata-Maliac Ocean in the Alps and West Carpathians led to Cretaceous-age orogeny associated with an eclogitic overprint of the adjacent continental margin. The Triassic Meliata-Maliac and Jurassic Western and Eastern Vardar ophiolites were derived from one single branch of Neotethys: the Meliata-Maliac-Vardar Ocean. Complex geometries resulting from out-of-sequence thrusting during Cretaceous and Cenozoic orogenic phases underlay a variety of multi-ocean hypotheses, that were advanced in the literature and that we regard as incompatible with the field evidence. The present-day configuration of tectonic units suggests that a former connection between ophiolitic units in West Carpathians and Dinarides was disrupted by substantial Miocene-age dislocations along the Mid-Hungarian Fault Zone, hiding a former lateral change in subduction polarity between West Carpathians and Dinarides. The SW-facing Dinaridic Orogen, mainly structured in Cretaceous and Palaeogene times, was juxtaposed with the Tisza and Dacia Mega-Units along a NW-dipping suture (Sava Zone) in latest Cretaceous to Palaeogene times. The Dacia Mega-Unit (East and South Carpathian Orogen, including the Carpatho-Balkan Orogen and the Biharia nappe system of the Apuseni Mountains), was essentially consolidated by E-facing nappe stacking during an Early Cretaceous orogeny, while the adjacent Tisza Mega-Unit formed by NW-directed thrusting (in present-day coordinates) in Late Cretaceous times. The polyphase and multi-directional Cretaceous to Neogene deformation history of the Dinarides was preceded by the obduction of Vardar ophiolites onto to the Adriatic margin (Western Vardar Ophiolitic Unit) and parts of the European margin (Eastern Vardar Ophiolitic Unit) during Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times.

Increasing environmental concern and consumer demand for natural, sustainable and eco-friendly products have prompted the replacement of synthetic surfactants with their natural plant-based alternatives. Saponins are the plant based natural surfactants characterized by their foam forming properties in aqueous solution. Their natural origin makes them eco-friendly, bio-degradable and non-toxic. Further, they possess better physicochemical properties than the syn-thetic ones. They are also reported to exhibit a lot of useful biological activities such as anti-cancer, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties. Because of their excellent surface activity, biological activities and wide distribution in nature, saponin rich plants deserve deeper insight as a sustainable source of natural surfactants as they possess the potential to replace toxic synthetic surfactants abundant today. This review article is intended to provide a brief over...

We explore the structural similarities in three different languages, first in the protein language whose primary letters are the amino acids, second in the musical language whose primary letters are the notes, and third in the poetry language whose primary letters are the alphabet. For proteins, the non local (secondary) letters are the types of foldings in space (α-helices, β-sheets, etc.); for music, one is dealing with clear-cut repetition units called musical forms and for poems the structure consists of grammatical forms (names, verbs, etc.). We show in this paper that the mathematics of such secondary structures relies on finitely presented groups fp on r letters, where r counts the number of types of such secondary non local segments. The number of conjugacy classes of a given index (also the number of graph coverings over a base graph) of a group fp is found to be close to the number of conjugacy classes of the same index in the free group Fr−1 on r−1 generators. In a concre...

Nizatidine is a gastroprotective drug with a short biological half-life and narrow absorption window. This study aimed at developing floating tablets of nizatidine using various HPMC viscosity grades, namely K4M, E4M, K15 and K200M. Directly compressed tablets revealed an excellent uniformity in hardness, thickness and weight and nizatidine was evenly distributed within the matrix floating tablets. Buoyancy study revealed floating lag time as low as 18–38 s, and tablets remain buoyant for upto 24 h. However, the later depended upon viscosity grade of HPMC and that the higher the viscosity, the less was the total floating time. In vitro dissolution indicated viscosity dependent nizatidine release from the floating tablets. HPMC K4M and E4M based floating tablets released almost 100% drug in 12 h, whilst higher viscosity polymers such as K15 and K200M only released 81.88% and 75.81% drug, respectively. The drug release followed non-Fickian diffusion from tablets formulated with K4M, K...

La storia della nascita del turismo a Ponte di Legno è la storia della trasformazione della sua economia: da una società in cui le attività legate alla pastorizia, e all’allevamento in generale, costituivano il perno attorno al quale ruotava tutta l’economia dell’alta Valle Camonica, si passò, nel giro di qualche decennio nel corso dell’Ottocento, ad una economia di “accoglienza” dello straniero, del “foresto”, dapprima in modo timido, e non del tutto convinto, e successivamente, grazie all’alpinismo e allo sci, sempre più votato a trasformare le silenti vallate e i pendii delle montagne che circondano la conca dalignese in motivi di attrazione turistica.
La storia del turismo è fatta soprattutto di persone, che hanno creduto nel progetto di trasformare il proprio paese, prima forse anche in modo inconsapevole, e quindi sempre più convintamente. Ed è proprio grazie a queste persone che Ponte di Legno è oggi quella stazione turistica universalmente conosciuta. Questo libro è a loro dedicato, e si è allora cercato di ricostruirne i “volti”, perché le loro azioni, i loro sacrifici, le loro storie personali non vadano dimenticati. Questo libro non intende ricostruire l’intera storia del turismo dalignese, ma delle sole sue origini; cosicché la ricerca si ferma agli anni ’20 del Novecento, ossia all’epoca pionieristica del turismo dalignese e a quegli uomini che per primi credettero, fermamente, nelle opportunità che il loro paese poteva dare all’intera comunità.

Die vorliegende Publikation ist aus zwei Arbeitsgesprächen in Karlsruhe hervorgegangen. Ihr Ziel war eine disziplinenübergreifende (interdisziplinäre) Standortbestirnmung unter dem Thema „Technik und Kultur - Bedingungs - und Beeinflussungsverhältnisse”. Zunächst werden allgemeine Begriffsklärungen von „Technik” und „Kultur” sowie deren generelle Wechselwirkungen behandelt. Daran schließen sich Beiträge an, die an konkreten Bereichen oder Beispielen die Verwobenheit von Technik und Kultur darstellen, so etwa hinsichtlich Wasserbaujder Bedeutung von Elektrizität in der Gesellschaft oder der digitalen Ontologie. Einschließlich der den Band abschließenden Auswahlbibliografie werden so gewichtige „Standort-Koordinaten” deutlich gemacht, die in den nachfolgenden Bänden dieser Reihe detaillierter gekennzeichnet werden

Injuries to the ligaments of the knee are extremely common among athletes who participate in high-risk sports, or any sport that requires frequent cutting motions, jumping, or contact. In order to determine the best way to heal these injuries, it is important to understand not just the pathology of the injury, but also the biomechanical factors that are affected, including stability and steadiness. While many studies have been done to examine the stability of healthy knees, there is little to no existing literature on stability of knees afflicted by injury. In order to surpass this obstacle, static steadiness and dynamic stability data was collected using the Lockhart Monitor phone application and Xsens accelerometers, respectively, both before and after completion of a course of physical therapy in a patient with a grade 2 medial collateral ligament (MCL) tear. These results were then used to determine the degree to which the prescribed physical therapy protocol was effective in he...

Background and Aim: Spine trauma is an important health problem. Traumatic Spinal Cord
Injury (SCI) due to Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) might have a different epidemiologic pattern
in Guilan province of Iran owing to its geographical characteristics. Therefore, the present study
was conducted to the study epidemiology of SCI injuries due to road accidents in a trauma referral
center in Guilan.
Methods and Materials/Patients: In this cross-sectional study, we used data SCI registry of Poursina
Hospital. All the patients with spine trauma, due to MVA, hospitalized in the trauma center of
Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Guilan, Iran between March 2015 and March 2018 were studied.
Results: A total of 127 patients with spine trauma due to MVA were reviewed. The Mean±SD age of
patients was 38.27±16.22 years. We observed that 93.7%, 1.6%, and 4.7% of the patients had initial
Glasgow Comma Scale (GCS ≥13, 9 ≤GCS ≤12, and GCS<9, respectively). SCIs were found several
anatomical regions including cervical (n=54, 42.5%), lumbar (n=39, 30.7%), thoracic (n=23, 18.1%),
thoracic and lumbar (n=7, 5.5%), thoracic and cervical (n=3, 2.4%), and lumbar and cervical (n=1,
0.8%) regions. Evaluated by Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS), good recovery, moderate disability,
severe disability, vegetative state, and death were found in 114(91.2%), 4 (3.1%), 4(3.1%), 1(0.8%),
2(1.6%) of the patients, respectively. Two patients were discharged by their personal contest.
Conclusion: Spine trauma due to MVA is mostly seen in the young. SCI due to such trauma is
mostly found in the cervical region. Good recovery was seen in most of the subjects.

Die vorliegende Publikation ist aus zwei Arbeitsgesprächen in Karlsruhe hervorgegangen. Ihr Ziel war eine disziplinenübergreifende (interdisziplinäre) Standortbestirnmung unter dem Thema „Technik und Kultur - Bedingungs - und Beeinflussungsverhältnisse”. Zunächst werden allgemeine Begriffsklärungen von „Technik” und „Kultur” sowie deren generelle Wechselwirkungen behandelt. Daran schließen sich Beiträge an, die an konkreten Bereichen oder Beispielen die Verwobenheit von Technik und Kultur darstellen, so etwa hinsichtlich Wasserbaujder Bedeutung von Elektrizität in der Gesellschaft oder der digitalen Ontologie. Einschließlich der den Band abschließenden Auswahlbibliografie werden so gewichtige „Standort-Koordinaten” deutlich gemacht, die in den nachfolgenden Bänden dieser Reihe detaillierter gekennzeichnet werden

We tested the hypothesis that concatemers of ancestral tRNAs gave rise to the 16S ribosomal RNA. We built an ancestral sequence of proto-tRNAs that showed a significant identity of 51.69% and a percentage of structural identity of 0.941 with the 16S ribosomal molecule. We also propose a hypothesis for the emergence of translation.

In recent years, a range of problems under the broad umbrella of computer vision based analysis of ancient coins have been attracting an increasing amount of attention. Notwithstanding this research effort, the results achieved by the state of the art in published literature remain poor and far from sufficiently well performing for any practical purpose. In the present paper we present a series of contributions which we believe will benefit the interested community. We explain that the approach of visual matching of coins, universally adopted in existing published papers on the topic, is not of practical interest because the number of ancient coin types exceeds by far the number of those types which have been imaged, be it in digital form (e.g., online) or otherwise (traditional film, in print, etc.). Rather, we argue that the focus should be on understanding the semantic content of coins. Hence, we describe a novel approach—to first extract semantic concepts from real-world multimo...

How much is religion quantitatively involved in global climate politics? After assessing the role of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from a normative perspective, this descriptive, transdisciplinary and unconventional study offers the first comprehensive quantitative examination of religious nongovernmental organizations that formally participate in its annual meetings, the largest attempts to solve the climate crisis through global governance. This study finds that although their numbers are growing, only about 3 percent of registered nongovernmental organizations accredited to participate in the conference are overtly religious in nature—and that more than 80 percent of those faith-based groups are Christian. Additionally, this study finds that religious nongovernmental organizations that participate in the conference are mostly from the Global North. The results call for greater participation of religious institutions in the ...

Permeable pavements have been the subject of numerous studies in recent decades. The possibility of dissipating stormwater more smoothly and generating numerous benefits to the environment and users makes the use of permeable pavements an excellent possibility of integration into sustainable and resilient water management systems in cities. In Brazil, numerous studies on the quantity and quality of infiltrated water, permeability of the coating, clogging, environmental burden, feasibility, among other characteristics, have been researched. Within this theme, the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) has contributed with ten papers in the research of permeable pavements in the last six years, which address various topics about the effectiveness and applicability of permeable pavements. This paper reviews the studies conducted at UFSC on permeable pavements and discusses the different results within the main issues found. In general, the selected documents addressed seven themes...

Liquid chromatography (LC)–nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) combines the advantage of the outstanding separation power of liquid chromatography (LC) and the superior structural elucidating capability of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR has proved that it is a standout detector for LC by providing maximum structural information about plant originated extracts, particularly on the isolating ability of isomeric (same molecular formula) and/or isobaric (same molecular weight) compounds as compared to other detectors. The present review provides an overview of the developmental trends and application of LC–NMR in natural product analysis. The different LC–NMR operational modes are described, and how technical improvements assist in establishing this powerful technique as an important analytical tool in the analysis of complex plant-derived compounds is also highlighted. On-flow, stop-flow and loop-storage modes, as well as the new offline mode LC–solid phase extraction (SPE)–NMR and...

Abstract. This paper briefly reviews the dermatological diagnosis, the examination of skin scrapings, as well as the interpretations of some molecular methods. The aim of the paper is to assess the value of the diagnosis methods and to establish whether correlating the ...

Many applications in the context of Industry 4.0 require precise localization. However, indoor localization remains an open problem, especially in complex environments such as industrial environments. In recent years, we have seen the emergence of Ultra WideBand (UWB) localization systems. The aim of this article is to evaluate the performance of a UWB system to estimate the position of a person moving in an indoor environment. To do so, we implemented an experimental protocol to evaluate the accuracy of the UWB system both statically and dynamically. The UWB system is compared to a ground truth obtained by a motion capture system with a millimetric accuracy.

This study analyzes the correlation between the lifetime and the rest energy of the unstable particle states with a lifetime greater than the zeptosecond (10−21 s), using data available from the Particle Data Group. This set of states seems to be divided into three groups, in each of which the two quantities can be correlated through a remarkably accurate power law. Although this fact does not represent anything new compared to the predictions of the Standard Model, it nevertheless reveals an unexpected order structure in the set of particle decays, emerging from such predictions.

A distributed mixed-reality (MR) or virtual reality (VR) environment implies the cooperative engagement of a set of software and hardware resources. With the advances in sensors and computer networks we have seen an increase in the number of potential MR/VR applications that require large amounts of information from the real world collected through sensors (e.g. position and orientation tracking sensors). These sensors collect data from the real environment in real-time at different locations and a distributed environment connecting them must assure data distribution among collaborative sites at interactive speeds. With the advances in sensor technology, we envision that in future systems a significant amount of data will be collected from sensors and devices attached to the participating nodes This paper proposes a new architecture for sensor based interactive distributed MR/VR environments that falls inbetween the atomistic peer-to-peer model and the traditional client-server mode...

The primary objective of rehabilitation robotics is to fully or partly restore the disabled user&#x27;s manipulative function by placing a robot arm between the user and the environment. Our assistance system is composed of a control-command station for the disabled person and a manipulator arm mounted on a mobile robot. The main constraints of such peculiar systems are flexibility to be adapted to each user&#x27;s capabilities, modularity to make the system versatile, reliability and cost to be affordable. A good compromise between those constraints is reached by a semiautonomous system in which robotics give the system as autonomy as possible and man-machine co-operation palliates both the deficiencies of the person due to the handicap and the limits of the machine. The a pproach consists to determine the a utonomy level reachable with an affordable machine using robotic solutions. Taking into account both the capabilities of the person and the robot, the man-machine co-operation ...

Ukiyo-e is a traditional Japanese painting style most commonly printed using wood blocks. Ukiyo-e prints feature distinct line work, bright colours, and a non-perspective projection. Most previous research on ukiyo-e styled computer graphics has been focused on creation of 2D images. In this paper we propose a framework for rendering interactive 3D scenes with ukiyo-e style. The rendering techniques use standard 3D models as input and require minimal additional information to automatically render scenes in a ukiyo-e style. The described techniques are evaluated based on their ability to emulate ukiyo-e prints, performance, and temporal coherence.

Increasing environmental concern and consumer demand for natural, sustainable and eco-friendly products have prompted the replacement of synthetic surfactants with their natural plant-based alternatives. Saponins are the plant based natural surfactants characterized by their foam forming properties in aqueous solution. Their natural origin makes them eco-friendly, bio-degradable and non-toxic. Further, they possess better physicochemical properties than the syn-thetic ones. They are also reported to exhibit a lot of useful biological activities such as anti-cancer, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties. Because of their excellent surface activity, biological activities and wide distribution in nature, saponin rich plants deserve deeper insight as a sustainable source of natural surfactants as they possess the potential to replace toxic synthetic surfactants abundant today. This review article is intended to provide a brief over...

In response to increasing natural surfactant demand and environmental concerns, natural plant-based surfactants have been replacing synthetic ones. Saponins belong to a class of plant metabolites with surfactant properties that are widely distributed in nature. They are eco-friendly because of their natural origin and biodegradable. To date, many plant-based saponins have been investigated for their surface activity. An overview of saponins with a particular focus on their surface-active properties is presented in this article. For this purpose, works published in the past few decades, which report better surfactant relevant properties of saponins than synthetic ones, were extensively studied. The investigations on the potential surfactant application of saponins are also documented. Moreover, some biological activities of saponins such as antimicrobial activity, antidiabetic activity, adjuvant potentials, anticancer activity, and others are reported. Plants rich in saponins are wid...

Although Support Vector Machines (SVM) are widely used for classifying human motion patterns, their application in the automatic recognition of dynamic and static activities of daily life in the elderly is limited. Using a body mounted wireless inertial measurement unit (IMU), this paper explores the use of an SVM approach for classifying dynamic (walking) and static (sitting, standing and lying) activities of the elderly. Specifically, data formatting and feature extraction methods associated with IMU signals are discussed. To evaluate the performance of the SVM algorithm, the effects of two parameters involved in SVM algorithm—the soft margin constant C and the kernel function parameter —are investigated. The changes associated with adding white-noise and pink-noise on these two parameters along with adding different sources of movement variations (i.e., localized muscle fatigue and mixed activities) are further discussed. The results indicate that the SVM algorithm is capable of ...

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disorder of major health challenge in Nigeria. Micronutrients deficiencies often associated with the disorder may cause inflammation and abnormal metabolisms in the body. The copper-to-zinc ratio is a more important assessment than the concentrations of either of the metals in clinical practice. This study seeks to evaluate serum levels of c-reactive protein (CRP), copper, zinc and copper-to-zinc ratio and to correlate copper-to-zinc ratio with CRP in adult subjects with SCD. Serum copper, zinc, CRP and plasma fibrinogen were assayed in 100 confirmed SCD patients in steady clinical state and 100 age and sex matched subjects with normal haemoglobin. Serum copper and zinc were assayed by colorimetric method using reagents supplied by Centronic, Germany while CRP and fibrinogen were assayed using reagents supplied by Sigma (St. Louis, MO, USA) and Anogen (Ontario, Canada), respectively. The copper to zinc ratio was calculated from serum levels ...

Bryan Norton fait partie des philosophes qui estiment que les stratégies de protection et de légitimation de l’action environnementale doivent maintenant se réaliser au niveau de l’écosystème ou de l’habitat. Est-il donc toujours pertinent de défendre la conservation de la nature au niveau des espèces ? D’après la majorité des auteurs que nous venons d’interroger, il y a peu de doute à ce sujet, et nous ne pouvons, en première intention, qu’aller dans ce sens. Pourtant, force est de reconnaît..

Cette présentation est construite sur le schéma courant de description des éthiques environnementales utilisé par Bryan Norton ou encore J. Baird Callicott dans son article « Environnement » du Dictionnaire d’éthique et de philosophie morale et repris ensuite par Catherine Larrère dans Les philosophies de l’environnement. Les théories sont discriminées en fonction de l’entité naturelle valorisée : L’homme pour les anthropocentristes, la vie et les individus pour les biocentristes, la communau..

Il volume pubblica gli Atti di AmbientaMente 3 e 4, Meeting internazionale di Bioetica ambientale, promosso da FNOMCeO, UEMS, Istituto Italiano di Bioetica-Campania, Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca Bioetica (C.I.R.B.) Il C.I.R.B., cui aderiscono tutte le Università campane, è un organismo di ricerca nel quale è possibile delineare le trame di una serena e ponderata riflessione comune su tematiche che coinvolgono l’identità stessa della persona umana e il destino delle generazioni future

Les huit éléments. Pièces à transférer au laboratoire d’Anthropologie, archives du MNHN,
https://books.openedition.org/mnhn/3969
La trame principale du destin post-mortem des parties corporelles de Saartjie Baartman, qui fut abordée tant d’un point de vue scientifique, muséal que social, semble être pleinement dessinée. Pourtant, la découverte en décembre 2012 d’un document inédit ouvre de nouvelles perspectives et interrogations.

In Electrified Vehicles, the cost, efficiency, and durability of electrified vehicles are dependent on the energy storage system (ESS) components, configuration and its performance. This paper, pursuing a minimal size tactic, describes a methodology for quantitatively and qualitatively investigating the impacts of a full bandwidth load on the ESS in the HEV. However, the methodology can be extended to other electrified vehicles. The full bandwidth load, up to the operating frequency of the electric motor drive (20 kHz), is empirically measured which includes a frequency range beyond the usually covered frequency range by published standard drive cycles (up to 0.5 Hz). The higher frequency band is shown to be more efficiently covered by a Hybrid Energy Storage System (HESS) which in this paper is defined as combination of a high energy density battery, an Ultra-Capacitor (UC), an electrolytic capacitor, and a film capacitor. In this paper, the harmonic and dc currents and voltages ar...

Since people spend most of their time in indoor environments, the objective of this work was to study indoor air quality perception and its effects on users’ thermal comfort. Based on previous data from a building with a central air-conditioning system and two mixed-mode buildings located in the humid subtropical climate of Florianópolis, southern Brazil, statistical analyses were performed. Each user subjective answer obtained through a questionnaire was combined with the corresponding environmental conditions – measured using microclimate stations, a portable thermo-anemometer and a CO2 analyser. Results showed that improvement in air quality was associated with the reduction of air temperature and humidity ratio. Also, there was a significant influence of thermal, air movement and humidity sensation and acceptability of air quality perception. Users felt more satisfied or neutral with air quality for being in thermal comfort, and not because of the CO2 level – which means that ai...

Increasing environmental concern and consumer demand for natural, sustainable and eco-friendly products have prompted the replacement of synthetic surfactants with their natural plant-based alternatives. Saponins are the plant based natural surfactants characterized by their foam forming properties in aqueous solution. Their natural origin makes them eco-friendly, bio-degradable and non-toxic. Further, they possess better physicochemical properties than the syn-thetic ones. They are also reported to exhibit a lot of useful biological activities such as anti-cancer, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant and cholesterol-lowering properties. Because of their excellent surface activity, biological activities and wide distribution in nature, saponin rich plants deserve deeper insight as a sustainable source of natural surfactants as they possess the potential to replace toxic synthetic surfactants abundant today. This review article is intended to provide a brief over...