How to delineate the general profiles of functionality of citizen’s aged 65 years and old as a function of Its age

Objectives: A core set of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health codes was used, to ascertain the general profile of functionality as a function of biological and sociodemographic characteristics, notably the age of the citizens. Methods: Data were collected by health professionals in the participants’ houses. The factorial validity of the construct was assessed by a confirmatory factor analysis. An ordinal regression model was built to identify the general profile of functionality as a function of age. Results: It is expected that people under the age of 74 years will present no functional problems and that, after age 74, the most likely functionality problem will be a “MILD problem”. Discussion: The functional profile of each elderly is interrelated with his or her sociodemographic context as well as with the overarching biological, cultural, and environmental characteristics of society. A progressive decrease in GPF occurs with age. Conclusions: The evaluation of each person (even those with no perceived or incipient levels of functional impairment who are at risk of progressing to a more severe disability) about what are the factors that are related with this functional decline as people get older, allows identify the respective nursing interventions to be developed.This work was supported by 4IE project (0045-4IE-4-P) funded by the Interreg V-A Espanha-Portugal (POCTEP) 2014-2020 program

Power electronics converters for an electric vehicle fast charging station with storage capability

Fast charging stations are a key element for the wide spreading of Electric Vehicles (EVs) by reducing the charging time to a range between 20 to 40 min. However, the integration of fast charging stations causes some adverse impacts on the Power Grid (PG), namely by the huge increase in the peak demand during short periods of time. This paper addresses the design of the power electronics converters for an EV DC fast charging station with local storage capability and easy interface of renewables. In the proposed topology, the energy storage capability is used to smooth the peak power demand, inherent to fast charging systems, and contributes to the stability of the PG. When integrated in a Smart Grid, the proposed topology may even return some of the stored energy back to the power grid, when necessary. The accomplishment of the aforementioned objectives requires a set of different power electronics converters that are described and discussed in this paper.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and by FCT within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. This work is financed by the ERDF – COMPETE 2020 Programme, and FCT within project SAICTPAC/0004/2015‐POCI‐01‐0145–FEDER‐016434 and FCT within project PTDC/EEI-EEE/28813/2017. Mr. Luis A. M. Barros is supported by the doctoral scholarship PD/BD/143006/2018 granted by the Portuguese FCT agency. Mr. Tiago Sousa is supported by the doctoral scholarship SFRH/BD/134353/2017 granted by the Portuguese FCT agency

Improved voltage control of the electric vehicle operating as UPS in smart homes

As a contribution for sustainability, electric vehicles (EVs) are seen as one of the most effective influences in the transport sector. As complement to the challenges that entails the EVs integration into the grid considering the bidirectional operation (grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid), there are new concepts associated with the EV operation integrating various benefits for smart homes. In this sense, this paper proposes an improved voltage control of the EV operating as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) in smart homes. With the EV plugged-in into the smart home, it can act as an off-line UPS protecting the electrical appliances from power grid outages. Throughout the paper, the foremost advantages of the proposed voltage control strategy are comprehensively emphasized, establishing a comparison with the classical approach. Aiming to offer a sinusoidal voltage for linear and nonlinear electrical appliances, a pulse-width modulation with a multi-loop control scheme is used. A Kalman filter is used for decreasing significantly the time of detecting power outages and, consequently, the transition for the UPS mode. The experimental validation was executed with a bidirectional charger containing a double stage power conversion (an ac-dc interfacing the grid-side and a dc-dc interfacing the batteries- side) and a digital stage. The computer simulations and the acquired experimental results validate the proposed strategy in different conditions of operation.This work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013. This work is financed by the ERDF – European Regional Development Fund through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation – COMPETE 2020 Programme, and by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project SAICTPAC/0004/2015 – POCI – 01–0145–FEDER–016434. This work is part of the FCT project 0302836 NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-030283.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Cytogenetic characterization of Partamona cupira (Hymenoptera, Apidae) by fluorochromes

Four colonies of the stingless bee Partamona cupira (Hymenoptera: Apidae) were cytogenetically analyzed using conventional staining and the fluorochromes CMA3 e DAPI. The females have 2n = 34 chromosomes (2K = 32 M¯+2 A¯). Some females, however, presented an additional large B acrocentric chromosome, to a total of 2n = 35. Chromosome B and the chromosomal pairs 2, 9 and 10 showed CMA 3+ bands, indicating an excess of CG base-pairs. A clear association was verified between the P. helleri B chromosome SCAR marker and the presence of a B chromosome in P. cupira. The data obtained suggests that B chromosomes in P. helleri and P. cupira share a common origin

The electric vehicle in smart homes: a review and future perspectives

The electric mobility dissemination is forcing the adoption of new technologies and operation paradigms, not only focusing on smart grids, but also on smart homes. In fact, the emerging technologies for smart homes are also altering the conventional grids toward smart grids. By combining the key pillars of electric mobility and smart homes, this paper characterizes the paradigms of the electric vehicle (EV) in smart homes, presenting a review about the state of the art and establishing a relation with future perspectives. Since the smart home must be prepared to deal with the necessities of the EV, the analysis of both on board and off board battery charging systems are considered in the paper. Moreover, the in-clusion of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, and dc electrical appliances in smart homes towards sustainability is also considered in this paper, but framed in the perspective of an EV off board battery charging system. As a pertinent contribution, this paper offers future perspectives for the EV in smart homes, including the possibility of ac, dc, and hybrid smart homes. Covering all of these aspects, exemplificative and key results are presented based on numerical simulations and experimental results obtained with a proof of concept prototype.FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019. This work has been supported by the FCT Project newERA4GRIDs PTDC/EEI-EEE/30283/2017, and by the FCT Project DAIPESEV PTDC/EEI-EEE/30382/2017. Tiago Sousa is supported by the doctoral scholarship SFRH/BD/134353/2017 granted by FC

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration