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Damping of vibrating systems converts the vibrational energy into other forms, such as heat and sound radiation. Heating of the material is often assumed to be one of the biggest drains of energy; however, it is very hard to experimentally identify how much of the damped energy is converted to heat. This manuscript introduces the damping heat coefficient and via high-speed cameras (optical and thermal) identifies that, for the selected material, approximatelly 30% of the damped energy is converted to heat.

The current emphasis on sustainable development warrants the development and adoption of innovations to render industrial production more efficient in the use of natural resources and less polluting. In order to develop innovations for sustainability, management models and evaluation tools must integrate objective environmental considerations. One such tool is the Ambitec-Agro System, a set of integrated indicators specifically proposed to assess environmental impacts of agro-industrial innovations. This System compares an innovation’s environmental performance against the preexisting technology, focusing the analysis on the innovation-adopting establishment scale. This study presents a conceptual method that expands the scope of Ambitec-Agro by including life cycle thinking and watershed vulnerability analysis to the environmental performance evaluation of agro-industrial innovations. In order to develop this approach, the steps inherent to a multi-criteria decision support system were followed. The proposed method includes four life cycle phases to evaluate the environmental performance of an agro-industrial innovation: (i) raw material production used by innovation, (ii) innovation production, (iii) innovation use and (iv) its final disposal. The method also includes a vulnerability analysis of the watersheds where each life cycle phase takes place. The proposed integrated method provides decision makers a broadened view of an agro-industrial innovation environmental performance, shedding light on technological improvements throughout its entire life cycle.

Cardiomyopathies (CMP) are defined as disorders of the heart muscle unexplained by coronary artery disease, hypertension, valvular disease, or congenital heart disease. All forms of CMP can be caused by genetic and nongenetic mechanisms. Whereas differences exist in the classification schema, CMP have historically been broken down into several major phenotypic categories: hypertrophic, dilated, arrhythmogenic, and restrictive. Phenotype overlap is common and increases the challenge in diagnostic accuracy. Some genetic and nongenetic subtypes can be identified using a step-by-step strategy, including history, physical examination, electrocardiography, echocardiography, laboratory, and a CMP-focused approach to interpreting cardiac and noncardiac investigations, not only in the patient but also in the familial history. Genetic testing is most informative if directed to a specific diagnosis suspected on the basis of the clinical assessment, and it is becoming an important tool for a personalized medical approach to CMP.

Infiltrative/storage cardiomyopathies (CMP) are diseases characterized by the deposition of pathological substances in the heart muscle. In particular, the term infiltrative refers to intercellular infiltration, whereas storage refers to intracellular deposition within the myocardium. As the infiltration/storage usually involves multiple organs, these CMP should be considered part of a systemic disorder. Despite variable etiology and pathological mechanisms, this group of CMP shares some common features, such as myocardial hypertrophy and progressive myocardial stiffness, with diastolic and systolic dysfunction. Heart failure is the main clinical manifestation, but arrhythmias and conduction defects are common. Accurate clinical evaluation is therefore crucial for correctly targeting further examinations. Moreover, cardiac imaging plays a major role not only in differential diagnosis but also in prognostic stratification. The impact of identifying cardiac involvement and the underlying pathology reflects upon treatment and prognosis.