On the enhancement of vehicle handling and energy efficiency of electric vehicles with multiple motors: the iCOMPOSE project

Electric vehicles with multiple motors allow torque-vectoring, i.e., the individual control of each powertrain torque. Torque-vectoring (TV) can provide: i) enhancement of vehicle safety and handling, via the generation of a direct yaw moment to shape the understeer characteristics and increase yaw and sideslip damping; and ii) energy consumption reductions, via appropriate torque allocation to each motor. The FP7 European project iCOMPOSE thoroughly addressed i) and ii). Theoretical analyses were carried out to design state-of-the art TV controllers, which were validated through: a) vehicle simulations; and b) extensive experimental tests, which were performed at rolling road facilities and proving grounds, using a Range Rover Evoque prototype equipped with four identical on-board electric powertrains. This paper provides an overview of the TV-related contributions of iCOMPOSE

Integral sliding mode for the torque-vectoring control of fully electric vehicles: Theoretical design and experimental assessment

This paper presents an integral sliding mode (ISM) formulation for the torque-vectoring (TV) control of a fully electric vehicle. The performance of the controller is evaluated in steady-state and transient conditions, including the analysis of the controller performance degradation due to its real-world implementation. This potential issue, which is typical of sliding mode formulations, relates to the actuation delays caused by the drivetrain hardware configuration, signal discretization, and vehicle communication buses, which can provoke chattering and irregular control action. The controller is experimentally assessed on a prototype electric vehicle demonstrator under the worst-case conditions in terms of drivetrain layout and communication delays. The results show a significant enhancement of the controlled vehicle performance during all maneuvers

On the Experimental Analysis of Integral Sliding Modes for Yaw Rate and Sideslip Control of an Electric Vehicle with Multiple Motors

With the advent of electric vehicles with multiple motors, the steady-state and transient cornering responses can be designed and implemented through the continuous torque control of the individual wheels, i.e., torque-vectoring or direct yaw moment control. The literature includes several papers on sliding mode control theory for torque-vectoring, but the experimental investigation is so far limited. More importantly, to the knowledge of the authors, the experimental comparison of direct yaw moment control based on sliding modes and typical controllers used for stability control in production vehicles is missing. This paper aims to reduce this gap by presenting and analyzing an integral sliding mode controller for concurrent yaw rate and sideslip control. A new driving mode, the Enhanced Sport mode, is proposed, inducing sustained high values of sideslip angle, which can be limited to a specified threshold. The system is experimentally assessed on a four-wheel-drive electric vehicle. The performance of the integral sliding mode controller is compared with that of a linear quadratic regulator during step steer tests. The results show that the integral sliding mode controller significantly enhances the tracking performance and yaw damping compared to the more conventional linear quadratic regulator based on an augmented singletrack vehicle model formulation. © 2018, The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Natur

Effects of Music Therapy On Hospitalized Patients with Severe Mental Illnesses

Previous studies reported that music therapy (MT) exerts a positive effect on many medical and neuropsychiatric disorders. The use of MT has been proposed also for patients with severe mental illnesse (SMI), altrough further studies are still needed. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects on a structured MT program on clinical and social functioning indices of patient with SMI, hospitalized in an psychiatric emergency ward. The MT intervention followed the Benenzon model of MT and was delivered biweekly to 61 patients consecutively admittted to the psychiatric emergency ward. Subjects who did not complete the two-week MT intervention (N=45) were considered as the control group. all subjects were administred the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) to evaluate the general psychopatology, the Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale (HADS) for affective symptomatology, the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI-S) for severity of symptoms and the Global Assestment of Functioning (GAF) for psychosocial functioning. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that patients who unerwent the MT intervention had a statistically significant reduction of general and affective psychopatology scores and of symptoms severity with respect to the control group, after observation period. Our result are in line with previous studies confirming that MT may exert positive effects on psychopatology (in particular, on affective symptomatology) of patient with SMI, and extend this observation to an emergency setting, with short period of hospital stay

DInSAR Analysis and Analytical Modeling of Mount Etna Displacements: The December 2018 Volcano‐Tectonic Crisis

We investigate the 24–27 December 2018 eruption of Mount Etna occurred from fissures located on the volcano eastern flank and accompanied by a seismic swarm, which was triggered by the magma intrusion and continued for weeks after the end of the eruption. Moreover, this swarm involved some of the shallow volcano‐tectonic structures located on the Mount Etna flanks and culminated on 26 December with the strongest event (ML 4.8), occurred along the Fiandaca Fault. In this work, we analyze seismological data and Sentinel‐1 Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) measurements, the latter inverted through analytical modeling. Our results suggest that a dike source intruded, promoting the opening of the eruptive fissures fed by a shallower dike. Moreover, our findings indicate that the activation of faults in different sectors of the volcano may be considered as a response to accommodate the deformations induced by the magma volumes injection.Published5817-58275V. Processi eruttivi e post-eruttiviJCR Journa

Exposure to Allergen Causes Changes in NTS Neural Activities after Intratracheal Capsaicin Application, in Endocannabinoid Levels and in the Glia Morphology of NTS

Allergen exposure may induce changes in the brainstem secondary neurons, with neural sensitization of the nucleus solitary tract (NTS), which in turn can be considered one of the causes of the airway hyperresponsiveness, a characteristic feature of asthma. We evaluated neurofunctional, morphological, and biochemical changes in the NTS of naive or sensitized rats. To evaluate the cell firing activity of NTS, in vivo electrophysiological experiments were performed before and after capsaicin challenge in sensitized or naive rats. Immunohistochemical studies, endocannabinoid, and palmitoylethanolamide quantification in the NTS were also performed. This study provides evidence that allergen sensitization in the NTS induced: (1) increase in the neural firing response to intratracheal capsaicin application, (2) increase of endocannabinoid anandamide and palmitoylethanolamide, a reduction of 2-arachidonoylglycerol levels in the NTS, (3) glial cell activation, and (4) prevention by a Group III metabotropic glutamate receptor activation of neural firing response to intratracheal application of capsaicin in both naïve and sensitized rats. Therefore, normalization of ovalbumin-induced NTS neural sensitization could open up the prospect of new treatments based on the recovery of specific brain nuclei function and for extensive studies on acute or long-term efficacy of selective mGlu ligand, in models of bronchial hyperreactivity

Recommendations for implementing lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography in Europe

Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) was demonstrated in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) to reduce mortality from the disease. European mortality data has recently become available from the Nelson randomised controlled trial, which confirmed lung cancer mortality reductions by 26% in men and 39–61% in women. Recent studies in Europe and the USA also showed positive results in screening workers exposed to asbestos. All European experts attending the “Initiative for European Lung Screening (IELS)”—a large international group of physicians and other experts concerned with lung cancer—agreed that LDCT-LCS should be implemented in Europe. However, the economic impact of LDCT-LCS and guidelines for its effective and safe implementation still need to be formulated. To this purpose, the IELS was asked to prepare recommendations to implement LCS and examine outstanding issues. A subgroup carried out a comprehensive literature review on LDCT-LCS and presented findings at a meeting held in Milan in November 2018. The present recommendations reflect that consensus was reached

Recommendations for Implementing Lung Cancer Screening with Low-Dose Computed Tomography in Europe.

Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) was demonstrated in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) to reduce mortality from the disease. European mortality data has recently become available from the Nelson randomised controlled trial, which confirmed lung cancer mortality reductions by 26% in men and 39-61% in women. Recent studies in Europe and the USA also showed positive results in screening workers exposed to asbestos. All European experts attending the "Initiative for European Lung Screening (IELS)"-a large international group of physicians and other experts concerned with lung cancer-agreed that LDCT-LCS should be implemented in Europe. However, the economic impact of LDCT-LCS and guidelines for its effective and safe implementation still need to be formulated. To this purpose, the IELS was asked to prepare recommendations to implement LCS and examine outstanding issues. A subgroup carried out a comprehensive literature review on LDCT-LCS and presented findings at a meeting held in Milan in November 2018. The present recommendations reflect that consensus was reached

Recommendations for implementing lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography in Europe

Lung cancer screening (LCS) with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) was demonstrated in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) to reduce mortality from the disease. European mortality data has recently become available from the Nelson randomised controlled trial, which confirmed lung cancer mortality reductions by 26% in men and 39–61% in women. Recent studies in Europe and the USA also showed positive results in screening workers exposed to asbestos. All European experts attending the “Initiative for European Lung Screening (IELS)”—a large international group of physicians and other experts concerned with lung cancer—agreed that LDCT-LCS should be implemented in Europe. However, the economic impact of LDCT-LCS and guidelines for its effective and safe implementation still need to be formulated. To this purpose, the IELS was asked to prepare recommendations to implement LCS and examine outstanding issues. A subgroup carried out a comprehensive literature review on LDCT-LCS and presented findings at a meeting held in Milan in November 2018. The present recommendations reflect that consensus was reached