Numerical and experimental efficiency estimation in household battery energy storage equipment

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are spreading in several applications among transmission and distribution networks. Nevertheless, it is not straightforward to estimate their performances in real life working conditions. This work is aimed at identifying test power profiles for stationary residential storage applications capable of estimating BESS performance. The proposed approach is based on a clustering procedure devoted to group daily power profiles according to their battery efficiency. By performing a k-means clustering on a large dataset of load and generation profiles, four standard charge/discharge profiles have been identified to test BESS' performances. Different clustering approaches have been considered, each of them splitting the dataset according to different properties of the profiles. A well-performing clustering approach resulted, based on the adoption of reference parameters for the clustering process of the maximum power exchanged by the BESS and the variation of battery energy content. Firstly, the results have been proven through a numerical procedure based on a BESS electrical model and on the definition of a key performance index. Then, an experimental validation has been carried out on a precommercial sodium-nickel chloride BESS: this device is available in the IoT lab of Politecnico di Milano within the H2020 InteGRIDy project

A escravidão como mal de arquivo: apagamento e acontecimento na história do Brasil

O presente texto propõe discutir a complexidade do arquivo da escravidão no Brasil em suas dimensões de apagamento e acontecimento na história do país. Para tanto, tomará como eixo o cotejo entre duas produções discursivas postas no laço social brasileiro, sendo estas o Hino da República de 1890 e o samba enredo produzido pela escola carnavalesca carioca Estação Primeira de Mangueira no ano de 2019. Tomando como referencial teórico o mal de arquivo derridiano, pretende-se, ao longo do artigo, explorar as subversões apresentadas por esta concepção de arquivo inovadora e fortemente marcada pelas noções freudianas de memória e pulsão de morte, bem como sustentar que a desconstrução do conceito de arquivo metafísico incide no campo político de modo a produzir consequências importantes no mesmo

Estudo dos alelos HLA classe II (LOCI DRB1 e DQB1) em pacientes infectados pelo virus da hepatite C

Orientadores: Fernando Lopes Gonçales Junior, Neiva Sellan Lopes Lopes GonçalvesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias MedicasResumo: A hepatite pelo vírus C (HVC) é uma doença amplamente disseminada e de curso geralmente insidioso. Considera-se que 50 a 80% dos indivíduos com HVC aguda evoluirão para cronicidade. Cerca de 50% vão necessitar tratamento específico com algum tipo de interferon combinado, ou não, à ribavirina. O principal objetivo do tratamento da HVC crônica é obter-se uma resposta virológica sustentada (RVS). O interesse no estudo da hepatite C e alelos HLA classe II (loci DRB1 e DQB1) se deve ao fato de o Sistema HLA apresentar associação com várias patologias. Foram estudados 102 pacientes etnicamente miscigenados, não-aparentados, infectados pelo vírus da hepatite C (VHC), com anti-HIV e HBsAg negativos atendidos no Hospital das Clínicas da UNICAMP. Foi possível determinar o genótipo do VHC em 98 indivíduos e realizou-se a biópsia hepática em 83 pacientes. A genotipagem dos alelos HLA classe II (loci DRB1 e DQB1) foi realizada nos 102 pacientes pela técnica de PCR-SSP de baixa resolução. Os 102 pacientes foram tratados com IFN isolado ou associado à ribavirina ou PEG-IFN associado à ribavirina por 6 ou 12 meses de acordo com o genótipo do VHC. Destes 102, 51% dos pacientes apresentaram RVS ao tratamento. Correlacionando-se a presença dos alelos HLA-DRB1 e HLA-DQB1 com o genótipo do VHC e resposta virológica observou-se associação entre menor porcentual de RVS com a presença dos alelos HLA-DQB1*03 e HLA-DQB1*06 em pacientes infectados pelo genótipo 3. Observou-se associação entre a presença do alelo HLA-DRB1*04 e maior freqüência de cirrose hepática nos pacientes com HVC crônica. Encontrou-se uma freqüência 2,7 vezes maior do alelo HLA-DRB1*07 nos indivíduos infectados pelo VHC do que na população geral. Observamos associação estatisticamente significante entre a presença do alelo HLA-DQB1*02 e infecção pelo VHC quando comparado ao grupo controle. Houve concomitância da presença dos alelos HLA-DRB1*13 e HLA-DQB1*02 nos pacientes que não apresentaram RVS. Não encontramos associação entre presença dos alelos HLA-DRB1 e HLA-DQB1 quando comparamos pacientes com RVS e pacientes sem RVS. Este trabalho permitiu estabelecer relações entre o Sistema HLA e a hepatite C em pacientes brasileirosAbstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection becomes chronic in most cases, with only 10-20% of those infected not developing persistent viraemia. The knowledge of host factors that influence the course of the disease is still limited. The immune response to HCV may be an important determinant of disease resolution and can be influence by a number of host factors. We investigated the distribution of HLA class II alleles in patients with chronic hepatitis C using a low-resolution PCR-sequence-specific-primer method to assess whether MHC class II alleles are associated with HCV infection and with their response to interferon therapy. One hundred and two unrelated white Brazilian patients with confirmed chronic HCV infection were included in this study. Fifty-two patients with sustained viral response after therapy (responder) and 50 patients without sustained viral response (non-responder) after completion of therapy were included in this study. The HLA-DRB1*07 allele was significantly more frequent in chronic hepatitis C patients than in controls. The higher frequencies of HLA-DRB1*13 and HLA-DQB1*02 in these patients were not significantly different after P correction. There was no significant difference between the phenotype frequencies of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles in responder with non-responder patients. We found that HLA-DRB1*07 is associated with chronic HCV infectionMestradoMestre em Farmacologi

Distribution of the human leukocyte antigen class II alleles in Brazilian patients with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a global medical problem. The current standard of treatment consists of the combination of peginterferon plus ribavirin. This regimen eradicates HCV in 55% of cases. The immune response to HCV is an important determinant of disease evolution and can be influenced by various host factors. HLA class II may play an important role in immune response against HCV. The objective of the present study was to determine the distribution of HLA class II (DRB1 and DQB1) alleles, their association with chronic HCV infection and their response to interferon therapy. One hundred and two unrelated white Brazilian patients with chronic HCV infection, 52 responders (45 males and 7 females) and 50 non-responders (43 males and 7 females) to antiviral treatment, were included in the study. Healthy Brazilian bone marrow donors of Caucasian origin from the same geographic area constituted the control group (HLA-DRB1, N = 99 and HLA-DQB1, N = 222 individuals). HLA class II genotyping was performed using a low-resolution DRB1, DQB1 sequence-specific primer amplification. There were higher frequencies of HLA-DRB1*13 (26.5 vs 14.1%) and HLA-DQB1*02 (52.9 vs 38.7%) in patients compared with controls; however, these were not significantly different after P correction (Pc = 0.39 and Pc = 0.082, respectively). There was no significant difference between the phenotypic frequencies of HLA-DRB1 (17.3 vs 14.0%) and HLA-DQB1 alleles in responder and non-responder HCV patients. The HLA-DRB1*07 allele was significantly more common in HCV patients (33.3 vs 12.1%) than in controls (Pc = 0.0039), suggesting that the HLA-DRB1*07 allele is associated with chronic HCV infection.88488

Sequence matching Using a Spatio-Temporal Wavelet Decomposition

Indexing and retrieval of image sequences are fundamental steps in video editing and film analysis. Correlation-based matching methods are known to be very expensive when used with large amounts of data. As the size of sequence database grows, traditional retrieval methods fail. Exhaustive search quickly breaks down as an efficient strategy for sequence databases. Moreover, traditional indexing with labels has a lot of drawbacks since it requires a human intervention. New advanced correlation filters are being proposed so as to decrease the computational load of the task. A new method for retrieval of images sequences in large database based on a spatio-temporal wavelet decomposition is proposed here. It will be shown how the use of the multiresolution approach can lead to good results in terms of computationally efficiency and robustness to noise. We will assume that the query sequence may not be contained in the database for different reasons: the presence of a noise signal on the query, or different digitation process, or the query is only similar to sequences in the database. As a consequence we are providing have developed a new efficient retrieval strategy that analyses the database in order to extract the most similar sequences to a given query. The wavelet transform has been chose as the framework to implement the multiresolution formalism, because of its good compression capabilities, especially for embedded schemes. And the good features it provides for signal analysis. This paper describes the principles of a multiresolution sequence matching strategy and outlines its performance through a series of experimental simulations

ToCAI: A Framework for Indexing and Retrieval of Multimedia Documents

This paper presents the ToCAI (table of content-analytical index) description scheme (DS) for content description of audio-visual documents. The original idea comes from the structure used for technical books. One may easily understand a book's sequential organization by looking at its table of contents while quickly retrieving elements of interest by means of the analytical index. This description scheme provides therefore a hierarchical description of the time sequential structure of a multimedia document (thanks to the ToC), suitable for browsing, together with an “analytical index” (AI) of audio-visual objects of the document, suitable for effective retrieval. Besides, two sub-description schemes for information about description generation and about the metadata associated with the document are also enclosed in the general DS. The detailed structure of the DS is also presented by means of UML (unified modelling language) notation and an application example is shown. Finally, some considerations concerning the adopted visual interface are made

Determining the Optical Flow Using Wavelet Coefficients

The optical flow (OF) can be used to perform motion-based segmentation or 3D reconstruction. Many techniques have been developed to estimate the OF. Some approaches are based on global assumptions; others deal with local information. ALthough OF has been studied for more than one decade, reducing the estimation error is still a difficult problem. Generally, algorithms to determine the OF are based on an equation, which links the gradient components of the luminance signal, so as to impose its invariance over time. Therefore, to determine the OF, it is usually necessary to calculate the gradient components in space and time. A new way to approximate this gradient information from a spatio- temporal wavelet decomposition is proposed here. In other words, assuming that the luminance information of the video sequences be represented in a multiresolution structure for compression or transmission purposes, we propose to estimate the luminance gradient components directly from the coefficients of the wavelet transform. Using a multiresolution formalism, we provide a way to estimate the motion field at different resolution levels. OF estimates obtained at low resolution can be projected at higher resolution levels so as to improve the robustness of the estimation to noise and to better locate the flow discontinuities, while remaining computationally efficient. Results are shown for both synthetic and real-world sequences, comparing it with a non multiresolution approach

Contributions from workers' health to the child education: workers' psychological suffering in a day-care center in the city of São Paulo

A pesquisa-intervenção, iniciada como estágio supervisionado, desenvolveu-se durante o ano de 2006. Partiu-se da constatação do aumento do número de auxiliares de desenvolvimento infantil de creches conveniadas à Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo que recorrem ao Centro de Referência em Saúde do Trabalhador e ao Sindicato da categoria nos últimos anos com queixas que se referem especialmente à incidência de sofrimento psíquico relacionado ao trabalho. Buscou-se contribuir com as trabalhadoras de uma das creches conveniadas na investigação das causas do sofrimento mental que têm vivenciado, além de colaborar com a construção de formas de enfrentamento transformadoras dessa realidade, constituídas coletivamente e a partir da articulação entre o conhecimento prático (saber-fazer das trabalhadoras) e o conhecimento teórico (aquele que trazemos de nossa inserção na universidade). Para tanto, foram realizados encontros periódicos com as trabalhadoras na creche, observações do cotidiano de trabalho, reuniões com a equipe dirigente da instituição e devolutivas a todas as participantes. O trabalho revelou a presença de intenso sofrimento psíquico relacionado ao trabalho e de vivências de humilhação, tudo isso adquirindo novas feições na atual política pública voltada à Educação Infantil no Brasil.This intervention-research, which started during a period of supervised training, was developed during the year of 2006. It began with the observation of the increasing number of complaints by child development assistants from day-care centers associated to the city of São Paulo who have been turning to the reference center for workers' health as well as to their trade union with grievances regarding psychological suffering related to work. This research aimed not only to contribute with the women workers of one of the associated day-care centers in the inquiry of the causes of this mental suffering they have gone through but also to collaborate with the construction of transforming forms of confronting such reality by the collectively produced connection between practical knowledge (the workers' know-how) and theoretical knowledge (the one we bring because of our insertion in the university) of the involved sides. For that, periodic meetings with the workers in the day-care center, observation of their daily routine, meetings with the leading team of the institution were carried out and then fed back to all the participants. The work disclosed the presence of intense psychological suffering and humiliation experiences related to their work, features recently acquired in the current public policy directed to Child Education in Brazil