Computational modeling of battery thermal energy management system using phase change materials

Similar to an IC (Internal combustion) engine which requires cooling to operate at optimum temperature for better efficiency; electric vehicles do require a similar system. There are various methods used in the current market for thermal management of batteries, of these our paper focuses on phase change materials (PCM). This cooling strategy can store an enormous amount of heat produced inside a battery because of its high latent heat capability. A 3D model of the battery using the multi-scale multi-dimension model (MSMD) for battery simulation and Solidification/melting models were used to showcase the melting of PCM due to the heat generated from a cell. ANSYS fluent was used to carry out the simulations. These computations are carried out at different C-rate to find the time taken for a battery to discharge and to find the impact of C-rate on PCM performance. Besides, temperature data for the cell was recorded before and after PCM was involved to compare the temperature difference between various PCM's.

An integrated automatic aviation meteorological instrument system at C. S. I. airport, Mumbai

An ‘Integrated Automatic Aviation Meteorological Instrument System’ (IAAMS) is installed atMumbai International Airport in May-2008. The system is State-of-the-Art and has features like automatic generation ofaviation reports; METAR / SPECI, AFTN (Aeronautical Fixed Telecommunication Network) connectivity fordissemination of aviation weather reports to user agencies and ATIS (Automatic Terminal Interface System) forautomatic broadcasting of aviation weather reports to airborne pilot. Besides these features system is having facility toenter manually weather parameter for which sensors are not available such as cloud coverage, past weather, presentweather for generation of aviation reports. The system meets the requirements of operational desirable accuracy ofInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, 2004) and vector averaging of winds as per World MeteorologicalOrganization guidelines (WMO, 1992). The paper is mainly focusing on the different technical features of this newsystem along with its observational response in last one year at Mumbai airport. Similar system has been installed at othermajor airports; New Delhi (4 sites), Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Amritsar, Jaipur, and Guwahati. The system issupplied and installed by Telvent Company, Australia.

Towards a Support System for Digital Mammogram Classification

Cancer is the illness of the 21th century. With the development of technology some of these lesions became curable, if they are in an early stage. Researchers involved with image processing started to conduct experiments in the field of medical imaging, which contributed to the appearance of systems that can detect and/or diagnose illnesses in an early stage. This paper’s aim is to create a similar system to help the detection of breast cancer. First, the region of interest is defined using filtering and two methods, Seeded Region Growing and Sliding Window Algorithm, to remove the pectoral muscle. The region of interest is segmented using k-means and further used together with the original image. Gray-Level Run-Length Matrix features (in four direction) are extracted from the image pairs. To filter the important features from resulting set Principal Component Analysis and a genetic algorithm based feature selection is used. For classification K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector Machine and Decision Tree classifiers are experimented. To train and test the system images of Mammographic Image Analysis Society are used. The best performance is achieved features for directions {45◦ , 90◦ , 135◦ }, applying GA feature selection and DT classification (with a maximum depth of 30). This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the different combinations of the algorithms mentioned above, where the best performence repored is 100% and 59.2% to train and test accuracies respectively.

Frame Score, Grazing and Delayed Feedlot Entry Effect on Performance and Economics of Beef Steers from Small- and Large-Framed Cows in an Integrated Crop-Livestock System

When selling small-framed steers at weaning, profitability is diminished. The hypothesis is that by using a vertically integrated business model that includes retained ownership, extended grazing, abbreviated feedlot finishing, and selling at slaughter, profitability would increase. Crossbred yearling steers (n = 288) from small size Aberdeen Angus (Lowline) × Red Angus × Angus × Angus cows and moderate to large size Red Angus × Angus × Simmental × Gelbvieh cows calved May−June were randomly assigned (complete randomized design), in a 3 y study, to feedlot control (FLT) and extended grazing (GRZ) frame score treatment groups. Mean frame score for FLT were small frame (SF) 3.82 and large frame (LF) 5.63, and for GRZ, SF: 3.77 and LF: 5.53. Least-square means were utilized to identify levels of effects and to control family-wise error adjusted with Tukey test. The FLT control steers were housed in the feedlot and fed growing diets and subsequently high energy corn-based diets for 218 days. The GRZ steers grazed a sequence of forages (native range, field pea-barley mix, and unharvested corn) for 212 days and then were transferred to the feedlot and fed high energy corn-based finishing diets for 82 days. The SF GRZ steers grew more slowly grazing native range and annual forages compared to GRZ LF steers, but SF steer grazing cost per kg of gain was reduced 7.80%. Grazing steers did not grow to their full genetic potential. Slower growth during grazing allowed LF and SF steers to grow structurally before feedlot entry creating a compensatory feedlot finishing growth response. Overall, grazing steer performance exceeded steer performance of the FLT control treatment and LF grazing steers had the highest rate of gain, and lowest feed cost per kg of gain. The GRZ steer feedlot days on feed were reduced 136 days and total feed intake was reduced resulting in LF and SF grazing steer feed cost reductions of 175.9 and 165.3%, respectively. Extended grazing also resulted in LF and SF grazing steer hot carcass weights to be greater than control LF and SF steers and SF grazing steers had greater dressing percent, and marbling score. Carcass quality grade, meat tenderness, and cooking losses were similar. System net returns were highest for LF (USD 911.58), and SF (USD 866.61) grazing steers. Managerial modification combining retained ownership, extended grazing, and delayed feedlot entry increased profitability and eliminated market bias.

Direct visualization of bottlebrush polymer conformations in the solid state

Although the behavior of single chains is integral to the foundation of polymer science, a clear and convincing image of single chains in the solid state has still not been captured. For bottlebrush polymers, understanding their conformation in bulk materials is especially important because their extended backbones may explain their self-assembly and mechanical properties that have been attractive for many applications. Here, single-bottlebrush chains are visualized using single-molecule localization microscopy to study their conformations in a polymer melt composed of linear polymers. By observing bottlebrush polymers with different side chain lengths and grafting densities, we observe the relationship between molecular architecture and conformation. We show that bottlebrushes are significantly more rigid in the solid state than previously measured in solution, and the scaling relationships between persistence length and side chain length deviate from those predicted by theory and simulation. We discuss these discrepancies using mechanisms inspired by polymer-grafted nanoparticles, a conceptually similar system. Our work provides a platform for visualizing single-polymer chains in an environment made up entirely of other polymers, which could answer a number of open questions in polymer science.

Trajectories of a ball moving inside a spherical cavity using first integrals of the governing nonlinear system

Analytical study of ball vibration absorber behavior is presented in the paper. The dynamics of trajectories of a heavy ball moving without slipping inside a spherical cavity are analyzed. Following our previous work, where a similar system was investigated through various numerical simulations, research of the dynamic properties of a sphere moving in a spherical cavity was carried out by methods of analytical dynamics. The strategy of analytical investigation enabled definition of a set of special and limit cases which designate individual domains of regular trajectories. In order to avoid any mutual interaction between the domains along a particular trajectory movement, energy dissipation at the contact of the ball and the cavity has been ignored, as has any kinematic excitation due to cavity movement. A governing system was derived using the Lagrangian formalism and complemented by appropriate non-holonomic constraints of the Pfaff type. The three first integrals are defined, enabling the evaluation of trajectory types with respect to system parameters, the initial amount of total energy, the angular momentum of the ball and its initial spin velocity. The neighborhoods of the limit trajectories and their dynamic stability are assessed. Limit and transition special cases are investigated along with their individual elements. The analytical means of investigation enabled the performance of broad parametric studies. Good agreement was found when comparing the results achieved by the analytical procedures in this paper with those obtained by means of numerical simulations, as they followed from the Lagrangian approach and the Appell–Gibbs function presented in previous papers.

University Implementation of TEACHActive – An Automated Classroom Feedback System and Dashboard

Computer vision has the potential to play a significant role in capacity building for classroom instructors via automated feedback. This paper describes the implementation of an automated sensing and feedback system, TEACHActive. The results of this paper can enable other campuses to replicate a similar system using open-source software and consumer-grade hardware. Some of the challenges discussed include faculty recruitment, IRB procedures, camera-based classroom footage privacy, hardware setup, software setup, and IT support. The design and implementation of the TEACHActive system is being carried out at Iowa State University and is being tested with faculty in classrooms pilots. Preliminary interviews with instructors show a desire to include more active learning methods in their classrooms and overall interest in a system that can perform automated feedback. The primary results of this paper include lessons learned from the institutional implementation process.

The Science Library’s providing information support of the Russian Academy of Sciences

The role and place of science libraries during the transfer to digital science information and online user services is examined. The authors argue that in these circumstances of transfer to digital communication and Internet-based services and facilities, the peer-reviewed journals still maintain their role as a key publication format and promptly deliver research findings to researchers and experts. Open access has not been widely adopted in fundamental sciences: the scholarly information awareness system has to be financed by the government. The network of academic and research libraries make the part of this system. Based on the experience of the centralized library network (CLN) of the Russian Academy of Sciences Library for Natural Sciences (RAS LNS), the possibilities of the vast academic library network are explored. The structure of full-text collection of CLN RAS LNS is analyzed. This collection core is made primarily of the National Electronic Subscription materials comprising the world most established academic journals. With the Internet, these resources can be delivered directly to researcher’s workplace via the two channels under the National Electronic Subscription program, i. e. via his/her organizational subscription or via the library providing services to his/her organization. Both channels should be integrated in the system where the core resources are provided directly to the organization, and individual components demanded by individual researcher – via the library network. This system of science information provision has been for several years efficiently functioning at CLN RAS LNS. The need for similar system for the outside of National Electronic Subscription program is substantiated.

Locating Central and Eastern European emerging welfare regimes: is the youth welfare citizenship typology useful?

PurposeThe authors’ aim is to establish the variance of youth welfare citizenship regimes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and to revisit the applicability of the regime approach to the emerging welfare regimes (EWRs).Design/methodology/approachThe empirical analysis follows the descriptive case study strategy aiming to discover diversity of youth welfare citizenship patterns. The case selection is made within the CEE country group, which includes countries in Central Europe, the Baltics, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe, all sharing the communist past. The subdivision of these countries in reference to the welfare states can be made via the European Union (EU) membership based on the assumption that EU social policy frameworks and recommendations have an important effect on domestic policies. We included countries which are in the EU, i.e., with a similar political and economic transition path. There were three waves of accession to the EU in CEE countries. In the first wave (2004), all the Baltic countries, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Slovenia joined. In the second wave (2007), Romania and Bulgaria joined. Finally, Croatia joined the EU in 2013. Altogether 11 CEE countries are the EU members today, the remaining CEE countries are non-EU members and thus are excluded from the current research. Those countries which are part of the EU share similarities in social and economic reforms during the pre-accession period and after in order to reach a comparatively similar system with other member states. So, in terms of casing strategy these six countries can be named as emerging welfare regimes (EWRs) evolving transformations across different public policy areas. Handpicking of six countries out of 11 relies on the assumption that the Anglo-Saxon welfare system characteristics are more evident in the Baltic countries (Aidukaite, 2019; Aidukaite et al., 2020; Ainsaar et al., 2020; Rajevska and Rajevska, 2020) and Slovenia, while in Bulgaria and Croatia certain outcomes reflect the Bismarckian principles of social security (Hrast and Rakar, 2020; Stoilova and Krasteva, 2020; Dobrotić, 2020). This brings important variety into our analysis logic. Last but not least, we juxtapose six CEE EWR countries under analysis with six mature welfare regime countries representing different welfare regime types. Those mature welfare regime countries (Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, UK) are not an explicit object of the study but help to put analysed CEE EWR cases into larger context and thus, reflect upon theoretical claims of the welfare regime literature.FindingsThe authors can confirm that the EWR countries can be rather well explained by the welfare citizenship typology and complement the existing knowledge on youth welfare regime typology clusters in the Western Europe. Estonia is clustered close to the Nordic countries, whereas Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia and Slovenia are close to the Bismarckian welfare model despite rather flexible, non-restricted educational path, universal child and student support. Bulgaria is an outlier; however, it is clustered together with mature Mediterranean welfare regimes. Former intact welfare regime clusters are becoming more diverse. The authors’ findings confirm that there is no any intact cluster of the “post-communist” welfare regime and Eastern European countries are today “on move”.Research limitations/implicationsAltogether 11 CEE countries are the EU members today. The remaining CEE countries are non-EU members and thus are excluded from the current research. Those countries which are part of the EU share similarities in social and economic reforms during the pre-accession period and after in order to reach a comparatively similar system with other member states. At least one CEE country was chosen based on existing theoretical knowledge on the welfare regime typology (Anglo Saxon, Beveridgean, Bismarckian) for the Post-communist country groups.Practical implicationsIn the social citizenship dimension we dropped social assistance schemes and tax-relief indices and included poverty risk and housing measures. Youth poverty together with housing showed rather clear distinction between familialized and individualised countries and thus, made the typology stronger. In the economic dimension the preliminary picture was much fuzzier, mainly due to the comprehensive education in the region and intervention of the EU in domestic ALMPs (and VET) reforms. The authors added a new indicator (pro-youth orientation of ALMP) in order better to capture youth-sensitivity of policy.Social implicationsThe authors included a working poverty measure (in-work poverty rate) in order to reflect labour market insecurity as an increasing concern. Yet, the analysis results were still mixed and new indicators did not help locating the regime types.Originality/valueIn order to improve the validity of the youth welfare citizenship regime economic dimension, Chevalier's (2020) model may also be worth revisiting. The authors argue that this dichotomy is not sufficient, because inclusive type can have orientation towards general skills or occupational skills (i.e. monitored or enabling citizenship clusters), which is currently ignored. Chevalier (2020) furthermore associates inclusive economic citizenship with “coordinated market economies” (referring to Hall and Soskice, 2001), which seems hardly hold validity in the Nordic and at least some CEE countries.

Design of a novel multifunction decision support/alerting system for in-patient acute care, ICU and floor (AlertWatch AC)

Background Multifunction surveillance alerting systems have been found to be beneficial for the operating room and labor and delivery. This paper describes a similar system developed for in-hospital acute care environments, AlertWatch Acute Care (AWAC). Results A decision support surveillance system has been developed which extracts comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) data including live data from physiologic monitors and ventilators and incorporates them into an integrated organ icon-based patient display. Live data retrieved from the hospitals network are processed by presenting scrolling median values to reduce artifacts. A total of 48 possible alerts are generated covering a broad range of critical patient care concerns. Notification is achieved by paging or texting the appropriated member of the critical care team. Alerts range from simple out of range values to more complex programing of impending Ventilator Associated Events, SOFA, qSOFA, SIRS scores and process of care reminders for the management of glucose and sepsis. As with similar systems developed for the operating room and labor and delivery, there are green, yellow, and red configurable ranges for all parameters. A census view allows surveillance of an entire unit with flashing or text to voice alerting and enables detailed information by windowing into an individual patient view including live physiologic waveforms. The system runs via web interface on desktop as well as mobile devices, with iOS native app available, for ease of communication from any location. The goal is to improve safety and adherence to standard management protocols. Conclusions AWAC is designed to provide a high level surveillance view for multi-bed hospital units with varying acuity from standard floor patients to complex ICU care. Alerts are generated by algorithms running in the background and automatically notify the selected member of the patients care team. Its value has been demonstrated for low acuity patients, further study is required to determine its effectiveness in high acuity patients.