Precursors of Instability for a Vehicle Traveling in Curve

Nowadays, the automotive field takes care of human safety in the everyday driving. In this sense, the vehicle dynamics control systems and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) play a crucial role for both active and passive safety. In terms of handling, the critical issues for the everyday driver are during braking or steering maneuvers: the main idea of this paper is to investigate the possibility to recognize some critical behaviors leading to vehicle instability, using only the wheel sensors signals, already available as mandatory in actual passenger car (in particular for ABS). In order to do this, a seven degrees of freedom model of a vehicle that runs in a curve with constant longitudinal speed is formulated. With no particular reference to the power unit (IC motor or electrical motors), three different traction schemes configurations are considered. The numerical solutions of the model are analyzed to evaluate their stability, the associated modal shapes and the modal participation factors. A systematic analysis allows recognizing some vehicle behaviors that may constitute instability precursors useful to develop a suitable control logic. Results provided by both a standard vehicle dynamics simulation software and a "on-road" test are presented and discussed to verify the actual feasibility of the proposed precursors employment

Production of High-Quality Red Fruit Juices by Athermal Membrane Processes

Membrane-based processes are increasingly used to clarify and concentrate thermo-sensitive fruit juices and plant extracts as alternatives to conventional processes. This work aimed to evaluate the quality of red fruit juices clarified and concentrated by an integrated membrane process with special regard to the preservation of valuable compounds. A red fruit juice obtained from a blend of pomegranate, cactus pear, and red orange juices of Sicilian origin was clarified by microfiltration (MF) and then pre-concentrated up to 33 °Brix by nanofiltration (NF). The pre-concentrated juice was finally concentrated by osmotic distillation (OD) up to 50 and 60 °Brix. Samples of clarified, pre-concentrated, and concentrated juice were analyzed for their physico-chemical composition and in terms of the antioxidant activity and inhibitory activity against α-amylase and lipase. The results clearly confirmed the assumption of a mild fruit juice processing method, allowing us to preserve the original nutritional and functional properties of the fresh juice. In particular, the OD retentate at 60 °Brix resulted the most active sample against pancreatic lipase and α-amylase inhibitory activity with IC50 values of 44.36 and 214.65 μg/mL, respectively

Use of concentrated fruit juice extracts to improve the antioxidant properties in a soft drink formulation

Three juices obtained respectively from pomegranate, prickly pear and orange fruit were separately concentrated using an innovative technique, that allow to obtain a final product with high content of bioactive compounds and elevate antioxidant activity. The concentrated juices were employed in the formulation of a soft drink to improve its bioactive properties. Despite a low amount of each concentrated juice was used, the experimental soft drink obtained evidenced a high content of total polyphenols. The antioxidant activity detected was similar to that of tea commonly considered a healthy beverage with strong radical scavenging activity. The sensory analysis of the soft drink showed a consumers' liking score potentially promising for market acceptance. In addition, the experimental drink produced was evaluated for its stability by simulating domestic storage and from the results obtained is possible to assess that a good antioxidant activity was maintained even after 5 days of conservation. Therefore, the present work, stimulates the use of high-quality concentrated juices as food ingredient in order to improve the functional properties of soft drinks