Search

This paper proposes a hybrid storage for urban transport systems in order to reduce recharge time and increase its life and reliability. Proposed system is applied to a pre-existing electric vehicle, introducing through proposed revamping procedure a methodology for a fast integration of proposed systems on different vehicles. Finally, the system is calibrated and tested showing how the proposed control layout really simplifies the vehicle commissioning.

ABSTRACTAt present, consumer concern about the impact of food production on the environment is driving increased demand for high quality and healthy tomatoes. However, the yield of processing tomatoes in organic systems are generally lower than that in conventional systems and only a limited number of genotypes suitable for low input or organic systems are available for farmers. The technique of grafting commercial genotypes onto selected rootstocks offers a faster alternative to the classic breeding process. Therefore, in this study, the use of the interspecific rootstock RS01658654 (RT1) was assessed, aiming to improve the marketable yield of processing tomatoes grown in an organic cropping system. The non-commercial processing tomato genotype TC266 was grafted onto the interspecific rootstock RT1 and the plants were then grown under organic conditions. In two growing seasons, morphological, physiological and agronomic performances of grafted processing tomato plants were compared to non-grafted and self-grafted plants. TC226 grafted onto RT1 had a higher number of flowers and leaves compared with the non-grafted and the self-grafted plants. In addition, the marketable yield (significant in 2017 only), the number of fruits and the fruit dry weight were higher for plants grown on the interspecific rootstock RT1, without affecting the quality of the fruit. The results of this study showed that the use of the interspecific rootstock RT1 could provide a good option for improving the production of processing tomatoes in organic farming.

Cardiac autonomic dysregulation has been implicated in the comorbidity of major psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular disease, potentially through dysregulation of physiological responses to negative stressful stimuli (here, shortened to stress response). Further, sex differences in these comorbidities are substantial. Here, we tested the hypothesis that mood- and sex-dependent alterations in brain circuitry implicated in the regulation of the stress response are associated with reduced peripheral parasympathetic activity during negative emotional arousal. Fifty subjects (28 females) including healthy controls and individuals with major depression, bipolar psychosis and schizophrenia were evaluated. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and physiology (cardiac pulse) data were acquired during a mild visual stress reactivity challenge. Associations between changes in activity and functional connectivity of the stress response circuitry and variations in cardiovagal activity [normalized high frequency power of heart rate variability (HFn)] were evaluated using GLM analyses, including interactions with depressed mood and sex across disorders. Our results revealed that in women with high depressed mood, lower cardiovagal activity in response to negative affective stimuli was associated with greater activation of hypothalamus and right amygdala and reduced connectivity between hypothalamus and right orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. No significant associations were observed in women with low levels of depressed mood or men. Our results revealed mood- and sex-dependent interactions in the central regulation of cardiac autonomic activity in response to negative affective stimuli. These findings provide a potential pathophysiological mechanism for previously observed sex differences in the comorbidity of major depression and cardiovascular disease.

The increase in the global population and the improvement of the life style of many poorer countries are leading to a relevant growth for mobility. Such increase in circulating vehicles would have a negative impact on environment pollution. Given this picture, the traditional internal combustion engine vehicles could not be the best solution for the future personal mobility. This problem is really critical especially for high population density cities, such as Firenze (Italy), where the large number of circulating vehicles must use a very old infrastructure that is constrained by all the historical sites widespread in the city, that are also very sensitive to air pollution. However, choosing between the possible mobility solutions could not be an easy task, also if using a structured approach. The challenge is, in fact, to assess a large number of variables for different solutions, process that could lead to a situation where all scenarios show pros and cons, and so all matrices will be decoupled and will not be possible to define which solution is the best. The aim of this paper is to define a new approach, based on a Scoring Matrix and on the Axiomatic Design, which overcomes this issue by using a multi-criteria evaluating strategy. This new approach has been tested on the city of Firenze (Italy) where the optimal mobility paradigm has been assessed from the sustainability point of view. As a result, the wireless charging system has been identified as the most suitable for the city and citizen needs. In addition, Axiomatic Design has been used to define how to overcame the technological barriers for its introduction: wireless charging introduction, in fact, could experience a stop due to the efficiency loss in case of misalignment. In this paper, the scenarios are introduced using the Axiomatic Design decomposition tree and the solution has been tested by using the information axiom.

Now that one has been found, the search for signs of more scalars is a primary task of current and future experiments. In the motivated hypothesis that the extra Higgs bosons of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model are the lightest new particles around, we outline a possible overall strategy to search for signs of the CP-even states. This work complements Barbieri et al. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The next-to-minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (NMSSM) with a Higgs-singlet coupling A close to unity, moderate tan /3 and stop masses below 1 TeV minimizes the fine-tuning of the electroweak scale, making it possible that the lightest new particles, except perhaps for the lightest supersymmetric particle, are part of the extended Higgs system. We show how the measurements of the couplings of the 126 GeV Higgs boson constrain the region of the physical parameters of a generic NMSSM most relevant to this context. In the same region of parameter space we determine the cross section for the production of a heavier CP-even scalar together with its total width and its most relevant branching ratios. For comparison we show the same analysis for the MSSM. We also comment on how a coupling A S 1 can be compatible with gauge coupling unification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nausea is a commonly occurring symptom typified by epigastric discomfort with urge to vomit. The relationship between autonomic nervous system (ANS) outflow and increasing nausea perception is not fully understood. Methods: Our study employed a nauseogenic visual stimulus (horizontally translating stripes) while 17 female subjects freely rated transitions in nausea level and autonomic outflow was sured (heart rate, HR; heart rate variability, HRV; skin conductance response; SCR; respiratory rate). We also adopted a recent approach to continuous high-frequency (HF) HRV estimation to evaluate dynamic cardiôvigal modulation. Results: HR increased from baseline for all in- creasing nausea transitions, especially transition to strong nausea (15.0 ± 11.4 ppm), but decreased (-6.6 ± 4.6 bpm) once the visual stimulus ceased. SCR also increased for all increasing nausea transitions, espe- cially transition to strong nausea (1.76 ± 1.68 p.S), but continued to increase (0.52 ± 0.65 S) once visual stimulation ceased. LF/HF HRV increased following transition to moderate (1.54 ± 2.11 a.u.) and strong (2.57 ± 3.49 a.u.) nausea, suggesting a sympathetic shift in sym- pathovagal balance. However, dynamic HF HRV suggested that bursts of cardiovagal modulation precede transitions to higher nausea, perhaps influencing subjects to rate higher levels of nausea. No significant change in respiration rate was found. Conclusions: Our results suggest that hcreasing nausea perception is associated with both increased sym- pathetic and decreased parasympathetic ANS modulation. These findings corroborate past ANS studies of nausea, applying perception-linked analyses and dynamic estimation of cardiovagal modulation in response to nausea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The place fields of rat hippocampal pyramidal cells evolve over time as the animal moves through its environment. To study the nature of this evolution we use an inhomogeneous gamma probability model and analyze the properties of place cell spike trains in non-overlapping windows. Although the locations and heights of the fields evolve over time for 27 of the 35 place cells studied, the temporal parameter was essentially unchanged. This result suggests that adaptive estimation methods may be useful to characterize the dynamics of hippocampal place cells for behavioral tasks executed in novel and non-novel environments.

AbstractI outline a possible connection between an appropriate flavour symmetry and super-symmetry and I spell out its consequences concerning the parameters of the CKM matrix and their observability in B- and K-physics. The relevance of searching for lepton flavour violation and for the electric dipole moments of the electron and the neutron is also emphasized.

The masslessness of neutrinos and B- Lconservation are not fundamental in SU(5), but “accidental” reflexions of the choice of a simple Higgs system. We argue that a low energy effective two-fermion interaction with two 5's of Higgs field can violate B- Lat a very low level and generate neutrino masses of order 10−5eV. These may cause oscillations detectable in solar neutrino experiments.

Although organic solar cells have surpassed the 17% power conversion efficiency threshold, commercial modules efficiencies are only around 4–5%. One of the reason is the lack of effective solution‐processable hole transport materials that are a key element for the scale‐up on roll‐to‐roll printing equipments and the commercial development. Herein, a class of novel vanadium and molybdenum polyoxometallate salts are developed that, alone or in combination with a traditional poly(ethylene‐3,4‐dioxytiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer, can be used as anodic buffer layer in inverted polymer solar cells. These materials exhibit work function values around 5.8 eV that match well with highest occupied molecular orbital energies of typical polymer donors. They are tested with different widely used active systems, including PTB7:PC71BM, PV2000:PCBM, and PffBT4T:PC71BM. Vanadium and molybdenum polyoxometallate can be deposited from solutions and, contrary to PEDOT:PSS used alone, do not cause a drop of performances compared with evaporated molybdenum oxide (e‐MoOx); on the contrary, in the best cases they achieve similar performances to e‐MoOx. Slot‐die‐coated PV2000:PCBM solar cells on flexible substrate achieve a remarkable power conversion efficiency of almost 7.6%. Vanadium and molybdenum polyoxometallate salts, in combination with poly(ethylene‐3,4‐dioxytiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), are efficient hole transport layer for inverted polymer solar cells, avoiding the drop of photovoltaic performances observed when PEDOT:PSS is used alone. PV2000:PCBM slot‐die‐coated flexible solar cells, with molybdenyl phosphomolybdate/PEDOT:PSS anode buffer layer, achieve a maximum power conversion efficiency of 7.6%.