Inductive power transfer for automotive applications: State-of-the-art and future trends

The paper discusses the status of the development status of the inductive power transmission for automotive applications. This technology is, in fact, gaining the interest of electric vehicle manufacturers as an effective strategy to improve the market penetration of electric mobility. Starting from the origin of this technology, the paper presents an overview of the current state-of-the-art as well as the current research and industrial projects. Particular attention is devoted to the description of a prototypal system for the dynamic inductive power transmission whose goal is to extend the battery range by a fast partial recharging during the movement of the vehicle

The network substrate of confabulatory tendencies in Alzheimer's disease

Confabulatory phenomena are rare in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), are often provoked and are triggered by questions or in response to neuropsychological testing. In this retrospective study functional connectivity alterations were investigated for the first time in a group of patients with early AD who had shown evidence of verbal and non-verbal confabulatory tendencies. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of 18 confabulating patients were compared with those of 18 non confabulators. The finding showed that confabulators had decreased connectivity between a seed region in the right inferolateral frontal cortex and right mediotemporal and insular regions, and increased connectivity with frontal areas and a homologous region on the left. The seed control region in the left inferolateral frontal cortex showed increased connectivity with midline frontal and anterior cingulate regions, while a decrease was found in temporal areas. Confabulatory tendencies appear in early AD as a result of disconnection between crucial computational hubs in frontal and mediotemporal regions. This disconnection is coupled with the presence of up-regulation of frontal activity, and especially of midline and anterior cingulate regions, which might disrupt efficient output monitoring in confabulators

Ecodesign of Low-Voltage Systems and Exposure to ELF Magnetic Fields

The Ecodesign of modern residential and commercial low-voltage systems implements energy and equipment cost savings, optimizing the size of the distribution system without compromising their functionality or causing environmental contamination, including electromagnetic pollution. Protection of persons against shock hazards should result increased, and the electrical interferences among power systems reduced. To achieve the aforementioned improvements, a possible Ecodesign calls for an earthing system utilizing single-phase separation transformers installed in the unit, grounded at the mid-point of their secondary side. The introduction of a source of magnetic fields into the premises at the power frequency of 60/50 Hz (i.e. extremely low frequency, ELF) might expose persons to their potential adverse health effects, as well as, sensitive electronic equipment to disturbances. This paper seeks to clarify this matter by evaluating the ELF magnetic fields as produced by the user's own transformer and by other units eventually present in the vicinity

Thermessaite-(NH4), (NH4)2AlF3(SO4), a new fumarole mineral from la Fossa crater at Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy

Thermessaite-(NH4), ideally (NH4)2AlF3(SO4), is a new mineral found as a medium- to high-temperature (about 250-300°C) fumarole encrustation at the rim of La Fossa crater, Vulcano, Aeolian Islands, Italy. The mineral deposited as aggregates of micrometer-sized sharp prismatic crystals on the surface of a pyroclastic breccia in association with thermessaite, sulfur, arcanite, mascagnite, and intermediate members of the arcanite-mascagnite series. The new mineral is colorless to white, transparent, non-fluorescent, has a vitreous luster, and a white streak. The calculated density is 2.185 g/cm3. Thermessaite-(NH4) is orthorhombic, space group Pbcn, with a = 11.3005(3) Å, b = 8.6125(3) Å, c = 6.8501(2) Å, V = 666.69(4) Å3, Z = 4. The eight strongest reflections in the X-ray powder-diffraction data [d in Å (I) (hkl)] are: 5.65 (100) (200), 4.84 (89) (111), 6.85 (74) (110), 3.06 (56) (112), 3.06 (53) (221), 3.08 (47) (311), 2.68 (28) (022), 2.78 (26) (130). The average chemical composition, determined by quantitative SEM-EDS (N by difference), is (wt%): K2O 3.38, Al2O325.35, SO336.58, F 26.12, (NH4)2O 22.47, O = F -11.00, total 102.90. The empirical chemical formula, calculated on the basis of 7 anions pfu, is [(NH4)1.85K0.15]Σ2.00Al106F2.94-S0.98O3.06. The crystal structure, determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data [R(F) = 0.0367], is characterized by corner-sharing AlF4O2octahedra which form [001] octahedral chains by sharing two trans fluoride atoms [Al-F2 = 1.8394(6) Å]. Non-bridging Al-F1 distances are shorter [1.756(1) Å]. The two trans oxygen atoms [Al-O = 1.920(2) Å] are from SO4tetrahedra. NH4+ions occur in layers parallel to (100) which alternate regularly with (100) layers containing ribbons of corner-sharing AlF4O2octahedra and associated SO4 groups. The NH4+ions are surrounded by five oxygen atoms and by four fluorine atoms. The mineral is named as the (NH4)-analogue of thermessaite, K2AlF3(SO4), and corresponds to an anthropogenic phase found in the burning Anna I coal dump of the Anna mine, Aachen, Germany. Both mineral and mineral name have been approved by the IMA-CNMNC commission (IMA 2011-077)

Characterisation of the Ionian-Lucanian coastal plain aquifer

This paper deals with a Southern Italy area, 40 km by 10 km wide, located where four river valleys anastomose themselves in the coastal plain. The geological and hydrogeological features of the study area and the chemical-physical groundwater characterisation have been inferred from the data analysis of 1130 boreholes. Some aquifers, connected among them, constituted by soils of different geological origin -marine terraces deposits, river valley alluvial deposits and alluvial and coastal deposits - have been considered. The coastal plain aquifer is the most interesting for practical utilisation. Groundwater flow is mainly unconfined in the marine terraces and in the river valleys while it becomes mostly confined in the coastal plain aquifer. An upper clayey layer overlies the sandy coastal aquifer characterised by a mean hydraulic conductivity value equal to 2.3 10-4 m/s. The bottom is a silty-clayey bed which lies under the sea level. Being the direct natural recharge extremely low, the recharge of this coastal aquifer is mainly guaranteed by the discharge from upward aquifers and from the river leakage. The new acquired knowledge permits to delineate scenarios useful for an optimization of the groundwater resources tapping and for pursuing the safeguard of them

Visuospatial abilities in normal and pathological aging: cognitive processes and neuroimaging correlates

The field of spatial cognition has been evolving rapidly over the last few years, driven by convergence of results from both basic and clinical research. Spatial ability is involved in many cognitive tasks typically performed in everyday life, so it is important to accurately define and assess spatial ability in the context of everyday life. Recent studies also suggest that spatial abilities decline with normal aging, but it is not yet clear which spatial components decline during normal age-related cognitive decline, which are preserved, and at what point the spatial deficits become severe enough to suggest MCI or another degenerative disease. The main goal of my research projects, developed in three studies, was to investigate different components of spatial ability in a population of healthy older people, in individuals affected by mild cognitive impairment, and in autopsy-verified patients with dementia, in order to (a) develop new, more ecological instruments for the assessment of spatial abilities, (b) verify whether the assessment of spatial abilities may help in discriminating between MCI and controls and be used as a marker of the onset of AD, and (c) be used in differential diagnosis between Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia with Lewy bodies. In Study 1, results confirm the a priori hypothesis, ascertaining the reliability of these new spatial tests in measuring different components of spatial abilities: object memory, simultaneous spatial memory and sequential spatial memory. In the second study, the discriminant analyses revealed an elevated discriminative power of the new spatial battery in identifying MCI. Neuroimaging findings showed that MCI patients present a higher level of cortical atrophy in memory-related regions and a different pattern of brain correlation between visuospatial abilities and grey matter values compared with healthy elderly controls. Finally, results of Study 3 suggest that disproportionately severe visuospatial deficits, which are known to be prevalent in DLB patients, also extend to visuoperceptual abilities that do not involve construction or motor manipulation. This deficit reflects primarily Lewy Body pathology and is not related to the degree of concomitant AD pathology. All of this evidence supports the main idea that visuospatial evaluation should have a greater role in normal and pathological aging, in understanding the daily life abilities of healthy older people, in completing the diagnostic process of MCI, and also helping in the differential diagnosis between different types of dementia

Energy Analysis in an Italian Opera House and Energy Savings Strategies

The refurbishment of historic buildings is a complex task in which the goal of obtaining a more energy-efficient building can conflict with the peculiar characteristics of the building’s environment and its intended use. In this article, the authors address this problem for a very specific type of building: a historic opera house located in northern Italy. The results of energy consumption monitoring and spot measurements on selected loads were used as a basis to propose energy-savings strategies. The objective of this article is to highlight the difficulties in refurbishing historic buildings, particularly regarding the building envelope, in lieu of proposing a new methodology for measurements or a new strategy for energy savings. It is documented that energy savings are obtainable with relatively small investments and low-impact construction work

A General Methodology for Short-circuit Calculations in Hybrid AC/DC Microgrids

In this paper, the issues related to short-circuit calculations in hybrid AC/DC microgrids are discussed. The reference standard for short-current calculations in DC systems is the IEC 61660, which provides a mathematical formulation of the problem. The standard only includes radial DC grids and does not consider a more complex system, such as meshed DC systems or a hybrid AC/DC microgrid. This paper proposes a generalized approach that can be used independently of the characteristics of the hybrid system. The proposed approach is applied to four test microgrids with different distributed sources and number of nodes and the results are compared with those obtained simulating the same grids with Neplan 360®

Characterisation of Ionian-Lucanian coastal aquifer and seawater intrusion hazard

e paper deals with the seawater intrusion hazard along the Ionian coastal plain (Southern Italy), between the mouths of Sinni and Bradano Rivers. Subjected to intense agricultural activities, the good-quality of the tapped groundwater is seriously important for the economic growth of this coastal area. The stratigraphical and hydrogeological set-up of the area as the geochemical features of the groundwater arise from the data analysis of 1130 boreholes, widespread over the whole area and from 1.3 up to 423 meters deep. The contribution of seawater intrusion to salinization processes of the studied groundwater system is characterised. As pointed out by chemical-physical data, this phenomenon involves the studied coastal plain for a width of 1-1.5 km on average and it is less evident moving inwards where the altitude of the clayey bottom of the aquifer becomes progressively higher than the sea level. A preliminary seawater hazard map has been carried out through piezometric and aquifer geometrical data