A Systematic Literature Review on Virtual Machine Consolidation

Virtual machine consolidation has been a widely explored topic in recent years due to Cloud Data Centers’ effect on global energy consumption. Thus, academia and companies made efforts to achieve green computing, reducing energy consumption to minimize environmental impact. By consolidating Virtual Machines into a fewer number of Physical Machines, resource provisioning mechanisms can shutdown idle Physical Machines to reduce energy consumption and improve resource utilization. However, there is a tradeoff between reducing energy consumption while assuring the Quality of Service established on the Service Level Agreement. This work introduces a Systematic Literature Review of one year of advances in virtual machine consolidation. It provides a discussion on methods used in each step of the virtual machine consolidation, a classification of papers according to their contribution, and a quantitative and qualitative analysis of datasets, scenarios, and metrics.

Cybersecurity and Privacy in Smart Cities for Citizen Welfare

In smart cities, technologies and systems of various types, from manual sensors to data collection devices, cooperate to improve citizens' wellbeing. They take advantage of information technologies and the internet of things (IoT) to increase citizens' welfare through the implementation of services with distinct objectives, like reducing energy consumption and improving transport routes and health services. Due to their functionalities and characteristics, IoT devices work interconnectedly and collect large amounts of data. In this context, cybersecurity and privacy arise as topics of central interest, as security breaches can lead to personal data exposure and service interruptions and malfunctions, thus directly affecting citizens' welfare and the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This chapter discusses how cybersecurity risks affect smart cities' operations and citizens' welfare. It presents some current cybersecurity techniques and how to apply them in the smart city context. It also reviews some open issues and future directions.

Energy evaluation of clay firing process and combustion gases in an intermittent kiln

The recording of temperatures in different positions in the firing process in an intermittent kiln to produce ceramic materials is presented, which led to the energy evaluation, determining the heat used for the clay firing process and the heat losses. In addition, a study of the emissions of pollutant gases released into the environment was carried out, as stipulated in the protocol of control, and monitoring of stationary source. In the energy balance, large energy losses were detected in heat accumulation in the masonry of 7.20×106 KJ of the energy supplied, representing 16.99%, and in the kiln walls of 5.20×10 KJ, representing 12.17%. As a result, it is necessary to make constructive and operative changes in the operation of the kilns, which will lead to the recovery of residual heat in the use of drying of parts, drying, and preheating of combustion air, reducing energy consumption and emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere. The average concentration of particulate matter released into the environment was 1056.60 mg/m3, 422% higher than the standard, affecting people’s health.

Enhanced IR Radiative Cooling of Silver Coated PA Textile

Smart textile with IR radiative cooling is of paramount importance for reducing energy consumption and improving the thermal comfort of individuals. However, wearable textile via facile methods for indoor/outdoor thermal management is still challenging. Here we present a novel simple, yet effective method for versatile thermal management via silver-coated polyamide (PA) textile. Infrared transmittance of coated fabric is greatly enhanced by 150% due to the multi-order reflection of silver coating. Based on their IR radiative cooling, indoors and outdoors, the skin surface temperature is lower by 1.1 and 0.9 °C than normal PA cloth, allowing the textile to be used in multiple environments. Moreover, the coated fabric is capable of active warming up under low voltage, which can be used in low-temperature conditions. These promising results exemplify the practicability of using silver-coated textile as a personal thermal management cloth in versatile environments.

Addition of anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria to lower running cost during the membrane bioreactor process treating sewage

Reducing energy consumption or running cost associated with the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process is a serious challenge that needs to be addressed in treating sewage. The addition of anaerobic ammonium oxidation bacteria (AnAOB) to a running MBR has the potential to lower the aeration rate, thus decreasing the running cost in treating sewage. The results obtained showed that owing to addition of AnAOB, TN and NH4+-N removal rates increased by 9.8% and 1.13%, respectively, while the aeration rate decreased by 50%. Additionally, high throughput sequencing and isotope experiments showed that both AnAOB and heterotrophic denitrification bacteria could survive simultaneously and play an important role in nitrogen removal, with AnAOB having a significantly greater contribution. It can be concluded that the addition of AnAOB reduced the running cost of MBR in treating sewage.

Project management methodology of automated technological process development of Warm asphalt concrete mixes production

Today the world modern practice in the field of road construction widely uses warm asphalt concrete mixes (WMA), which are used in the construction of roads for various purposes and ensure their long service life, increasing the construction season, reducing energy costs, as well as reducing the negative impact on the environment. In the United States and Europe, the use of WMA is growing rapidly and now counts tens of millions of tons. The number of asphalt concrete plants equipped with asphalt mixing plants intended for their production is already about 20% of the total number of asphalt concrete plants. The criteria for selecting the combined technology of WMA production are offered. The proposed project management methodology for the development of automated technological processes of WMA production, which allows to formalize the general and partial tasks of the project, taking into account the different degrees