Review and analysis of vehicle stability models during floods and proposal for future improvements

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Bocanegra, RA, Vallés-Morán, FJ, Francés, F. Review and analysis of vehicle stability models during floods and proposal for future improvements. J Flood Risk Management. 2020; 13 ( Suppl. 1):e12551, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12551. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] Flood water can affect vehicles significantly, which in turn can increase the negative effects of floods as vehicles are washed away by the flow and become a form of debris. In cities, most fatalities during floods occur inside vehicles. Consequently, it is necessary to establish thresholds for vehicle stability during this type of event to provide information necessary for flood risk management. This article analyses the available stability models developed over recent years to determine such thresholds. The stability models were grouped according to the way in which they approached car watertightness and the stability thresholds proposed by each of them were compared. It was found that these thresholds vary over a relatively wide range. Additionally, the experimental data were compared with the results provided by these studies leading to the conclusion that several of the stability models analysed do not fit measured data well. New research is required to overcome the simplifications made by the state-of-the-art models and to try to standardise the decision criteria which should be adopted to define stability thresholds for vehicles of different characteristics.Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion COLCIENCIAS (Colombia) call 728-2015; Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the research project TETISCHANGE, Grant/Award Number: RTI2018-093717-B-I00.Bocanegra, RA.; Vallés-Morán, FJ.; Francés, F. (2020). 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A Nori but not a Konbu, dietary supplement decreases the cholesterolaemia, liver fat infiltration and mineral bioavailability in hypercholesterolaemic growing Wistar rats

The nutritional consequences of algae consumption in young populations consuming hypercholesterolaemic diets have hardly been investigated. This study tests the effect of algae supplementation of cholesterol-enriched balanced diets on growth, dietary efficiency ratio, mineral intake and absorption, organ weight and structure and cholesterolaemia in growing Wistar rats. Three groups of ten rats each were fed for 3 weeks with experimental diets containing 93% casein-soyabean oil base with 2.4% cholesterol-raising agent and 7% supplement. The control group received cellulose (35%), group 2 consumed Nori (33.8% fibre) and group 3 consumed Konbu (36.1% fibre). Food intake and body weight gain were not significantly affected. Algae groups presented significantly higher dietary efficiency ratio values than control rats. Apparent absorption of several minerals appeared significantly affected, mainly in Nori-fed rats, with a significant decrease in the ratio of Zn and Cu intakes and apparent absorption. Nori diet significantly decreased plasma cholesterol. Algae supplement did not significantly affect organ size and structure. Control and Konbu rats showed severe liver fat infiltration, while Nori rats exhibited a significantly lower degree of lipid-like hepatocyte vacuolization but light to moderate leukocyte infiltration. Light to moderate scaling off of the epithelium and moderate submucosa oedema was observed in all groups. Although long-term studies are needed to check the possible extrapolation of these data to human subjects, it can be concluded that a Nori, but not a Konbu, dietary supplement reverses the negative effect of dietary cholesterol intake and also appears to be related to mineral availability in growing subjects. © 2007 The Authors.This work was granted by the Spanish Ministerio de Investigación y Ciencia, Project AGL 2005-07204-C02-C1/ALI.Peer Reviewe

Thermal Performance Investigation of a Mini Natural Circulation Loop for Solar PV Panel or Electronic Cooling Simulated by Lattice Boltzmann Method

The natural circulation loop (NCL) consists of a thermal-hydraulic system that convoys thermal energy from a heat source to a heat sink without a pump. Applications of those loops can be found in solar energy, geothermal, nuclear reactors, and electronic cooling. The lattice Boltzmann method is a numerical method that can simulate thermal-fluid dynamics, using a mesoscopic approach based on the Boltzmann equation for the density function. A square NCL model with fixed temperatures at the heater and heat sink sections was developed in a bi-dimensional lattice with double distribution dynamics, one distribution for the hydrodynamic field and the other for the thermal field. The different cooler–heater configurations (vertical or horizontal) were investigated. We found that by positioning the source or sink vertically, the flow direction can be controlled. In contrast, in a loop with symmetric horizontal heater - horizontal cooler configuration where both fluid directions are equally probable. The effectiveness of the loop was studied by calculating the heat sink temperature gradient. The lower value was obtained for the horizontal heater horizontal cooler orientation (0.71) and the higher value for the vertical heater vertical cooler configuration with an increment of 34%; simultaneously, the flow rate (Reynolds number) was reduced by 47%.This research was funded by Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR, Italy), grant number PRIN-2017F7KZWS

Direct and inverse cohesive law identification of hardwood bonded joints with 1C-PUR adhesive using DCB test

Funding Information: The work is part of the R&D&I Project PID2020-112954RA-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 . The authors acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for the financial support associated to “Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica” (LAETA) by the project UID/EEA/04436/2019, and UNIDEMI by the project UIDB/00667/2020. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The AuthorsFracture characterisation under mode I loading of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. bonded joints with one-component polyurethane adhesive (1C-PUR) is addressed in this work. The objective is to estimate the cohesive law representative of the fracture behaviour of these joints. A direct and two inverse procedures were employed to determine the softening laws. The direct method is based on local measurement of crack tip displacements using digital image correlation in the course of Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) tests, while the inverse methods rely on load–displacement data and on load-crack tip opening displacement relations by finite element modelling. It was verified that consistent results can be obtained from the three methodologies leading to the conclusion that the classical inverse procedure is the most appealing one owing to its simplicity.publishersversionpublishe

Understanding spatio-temporal variability in the reproduction ratio of the bluetongue (BTV-1) epidemic in southern Spain (Andalusia) in 2007 using epidemic trees

Andalusia (Southern Spain) is considered one of the main routes of introduction of bluetongue virus (BTV) into Europe, evidenced by a devastating epidemic caused by BTV-1 in 2007. Understanding the pattern and the drivers of BTV-1 spread in Andalusia is critical for effective detection and control of future epidemics. A long-standing metric for quantifying the behaviour of infectious diseases is the case-reproduction ratio (Rt), defined as the average number of secondary cases arising from a single infected case at time t (for t>0). Here we apply a method using epidemic trees to estimate the between-herd case reproduction ratio directly from epidemic data allowing the spatial and temporal variability in transmission to be described. We then relate this variability to predictors describing the hosts, vectors and the environment to better understand why the epidemic spread more quickly in some regions or periods. The Rt value for the BTV-1 epidemic in Andalusia peaked in July at 4.6, at the start of the epidemic, then decreased to 2.2 by August, dropped below 1 by September (0.8), and by October it had decreased to 0.02. BTV spread was the consequence of both local transmission within established disease foci and BTV expansion to distant new areas (i.e. new foci), which resulted in a high variability in BTV transmission, not only among different areas, but particularly through time, which suggests that general control measures applied at broad spatial scales are unlikely to be effective. This high variability through time was probably due to the impact of temperature on BTV transmission, as evidenced by a reduction in the value of Rt by 0.0041 for every unit increase (day) in the extrinsic incubation period (EIP), which is itself directly dependent on temperature. Moreover, within the range of values at which BTV-1 transmission occurred in Andalusia (20.6°C to 29.5°C) there was a positive correlation between temperature and Rt values, although the relationship was not linear, probably as a result of the complex relationship between temperature and the different parameters affecting BTV transmission. Rt values for BTV-1 in Andalusia fell below the threshold of 1 when temperatures dropped below 21°C, a much higher threshold than that reported in other BTV outbreaks, such as the BTV-8 epidemic in Northern Europe. This divergence may be explained by differences in the adaptation to temperature of the main vectors of the BTV-1 epidemic in Andalusia (Culicoides imicola) compared those of the BTV-8 epidemic in Northern Europe (Culicoides obsoletus). Importantly, we found that BTV transmission (Rt value) increased significantly in areas with higher densities of sheep. Our analysis also established that control of BTV-1 in Andalusia was complicated by the simultaneous establishment of several distant foci at the start of the epidemic, which may have been caused by several independent introductions of infected vectors from the North of Africa. We discuss the implications of these findings for BTV surveillance and control in this region of Europe

Venus Express radio occultation observed by PRIDE

Context. Radio occultation is a technique used to study planetary atmospheres by means of the refraction and absorption of a spacecraft carrier signal through the atmosphere of the celestial body of interest, as detected from a ground station on Earth. This technique is usually employed by the deep space tracking and communication facilities (e.g., NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN), ESA's Estrack). Aims. We want to characterize the capabilities of the Planetary Radio Interferometry and Doppler Experiment (PRIDE) technique for radio occultation experiments, using radio telescopes equipped with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) instrumentation. Methods. We conducted a test with ESA's Venus Express (VEX), to evaluate the performance of the PRIDE technique for this particular application. We explain in detail the data processing pipeline of radio occultation experiments with PRIDE, based on the collection of so-called open-loop Doppler data with VLBI stations, and perform an error propagation analysis of the technique. Results. With the VEX test case and the corresponding error analysis, we have demonstrated that the PRIDE setup and processing pipeline is suited for radio occultation experiments of planetary bodies. The noise budget of the open-loop Doppler data collected with PRIDE indicated that the uncertainties in the derived density and temperature profiles remain within the range of uncertainties reported in previous Venus' studies. Open-loop Doppler data can probe deeper layers of thick atmospheres, such as that of Venus, when compared to closed-loop Doppler data. Furthermore, PRIDE through the VLBI networks around the world, provides a wide coverage and range of large antenna dishes, that can be used for this type of experiments

Linearizing Control Based on Adaptive Observer for Anaerobic Continuous Sulphate Reducing Bioreactors with Unknown Kinetics

Anaerobic reactors are a typical example of processes that exhibit non-linear behavior and, also time varying parameters; hence their operation is known to be difficult to model and control. In contrast to modeling approaches, in practice linear controllers are widely employed for industrial processes because of their easy implementation and manipulation by plant operators; nevertheless linear approaches are not robust when the operating conditions change suddenly and/or strong disturbances are present. In order to introduce robust controllers to these processes, this paper addresses the tracking problem for the substrate (sulphate) control in a class of continuous bioreactors. An experimentally corroborated bioreactor model serves as benchmark problem for advanced non-linear analysis and control techniques; taking into account system non-linearities, stability and performance objectives over large operating regions. It is considered that, as it is common in practice, the rate of substrate consumption exhibits uncertainty. Results show that the proposed controller exhibits better dynamic performance than a classical Proportional-Integral control tuned using the methodology suggested by Internal Model Control

Structural interaction between bone and implants due to arthroplasty of the first metatarsophalangeal joint

Background: Currently, the metatarsophalangeal joint replacement through a restorative arthroplasty, where implants are used, is a viable invasive surgical medical procedure in the treatment of severe cases of osteoarthritis in this joint, better known as hallux rigidus. However, few things are known about the postoperative complications that implants can cause on the joint, like Swanson and Tornier implants.Research in this field can provide a valuable information that would help the specialist surgeon in the decision-making during the selection of the more suitable joint implant in each patient, as well as the redesign of the devices, to make them more efficient, durable and biocompatible with the human body. Methods: The aim of this work is to perform a structural biomechanical analysis of a restorative arthroplasty of the first metatarsophalangeal joint, and to analyze the interaction between bone and medical grade silicone implants. For that, a simulation of a foot with Swanson and Tornier joint implants were performed to evaluate the stress/strain distribution during a critical stage (toe-off). Results and conclusions: Principal stresses obtained for the first metatarsal with both implants suggest that failure is induced in this bone because, values exceed (up to 136.84% for Swanson model) the tensile strength reported for phalange trabecular bone, which may be related to osteolysis. Stress and strain values obtained in this work suggest that arthroplasty surgery with Swanson implant is more likely to cause postoperative complications versus Tornier implant

Analysis of an Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection by a spacecraft radio signal: A case study

Tracking radio communication signals from planetary spacecraft with ground-based telescopes offers the possibility to study the electron density and the interplanetary scintillation of the solar wind. Observations of the telemetry link of planetary spacecraft have been conducted regularly with ground antennae from the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry Network, aiming to study the propagation of radio signals in the solar wind at different solar elongations and distances from the Sun. We have analyzed the Mars Express spacecraft radio signal phase fluctuations while, based on a 3-D heliosphere plasma simulation, an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) crossed the radio path during one of our observations on 6 April 2015. Our measurements showed that the phase scintillation indices increased by a factor of 4 during the passage of the ICME. The method presented here confirms that the phase scintillation technique based on spacecraft signals provides information of the properties and propagation of the ICMEs in the heliosphere