86,563 research outputs found
Cavum septi pellucidi (CSP) ratio: a marker for partial agenesis of the fetal corpus callosum.
No full textSustainable Business Models for Innovative Urban Mobility Services
No full textAny sharing mobility service aims to make urban mobility sustainable to help reduce environmental impacts and improve the quality of life for all in cities. Many transport services are not currently self-sustainable. The Life for Silver Coast (LifeSC) opened its mobility services on 22 May 2021 and offered electric mobility services during the summer for a few cities in Tuscany. E-bikes and e-scooters can be financially neutral, and even profitable, thanks to the low costs of the vehicles, but they only see a high utilization rate in winter. Shared electric cars, meanwhile, are not profitable. A new shared service that is viable must be profitable to become widely adopted and significantly contribute to sustainability. A few key characteristics have been identified, and one has been tested with a new business model that combines ride-sharing and car-sharing. The innovative Ride Sharing Algorithm (RSA) has been tested based on data from a potential city, Monterondo, where many commuters travel daily to Rome by train. The Italian census and local survey data allowed for the simulation of the scheduling of vehicle rides and an evaluation of the economic results, which could be positive if enough interest for such a system exists among the people, as at least 400 commuters from Monterotondo go to the train station daily in the morning and return in the afternoon. Such a transport demand would justify a new commercial sharing service by using the model tested with the RSA algorithm
Performance and Emissions Comparison between Biomethane and Natural Gas Fuel in Passenger Vehicles
No full textBio-methane as fuel in a natural gas engine is a viable solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The present paper illustrates the results of the first set of measurements carried out in the BiomethER project (EULIFE). BiomethER aimed to design and build two innovative bio-methane production plants, located in Emilia Romagna region (Italy), fed by different feedstock: the first one with sewage sludge and the other with landfill waste. Biogas extracted by the anaerobic digester was cleaned and upgraded to biomethane for road vehicles application. To verify the compatibility of biomethane in conventional compressed natural gas engine (CNG) vehicles, three passenger cars have been tested with two gases: conventional natural gas and bio-methane coming by BiomethER sewage sludge plant. Test concerned dynamic performances and exhaust emissions and was operated on the chassis dynamometer facility, in ENEA Casaccia Research Centre. Preliminary results showed no appreciable deviation was noticeable for fuel consumption and CO2 emissions between the two fuels, acceleration and maximum power were almost the same for the three vehicles tested. The WTW evaluation of GHG emissions for the biomethane resulted in up to 79% lower in comparison with natural gas provided by the Italian pipeline
Determining ARTS speed profiles on the basis of infrastructures
No full textImplementing Automated Road Transport Systems in Urban Settings provides valuable, objective, often difficult-to-obtain data, gleaned from the largest demonstration project on automated road transport systems (ARTS) in the world to date. The book features chapters authored by those deeply involved in CityMobil2—providing an easily accessible, cross-referenced resource for data and information on each aspect of the project. Chapters cover vehicle technical specifications, infrastructure analysis, operating systems, future scenario analysis, automated and conventional vehicle comparisons, and legal frameworks for system implementation. The book examines project field tests, showing the technology’s adaptability and different requirements based on geographic location.
Government officials, researchers, and transportation practitioners require real-world data and analysis in their efforts to bring automated and intelligent transport systems into the mainstream. The CityMobil2 demonstration transported more than 60,000 passengers in seven European cities, providing immense amounts of feedback and data to be analyzed. The book provides international expert opinion on this real-world data, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the project, as well as providing comparisons to both past and planned ARTS demonstration initiatives. The technical specifications developed from the project will help cities considering similar ARTS initiatives
HETEROGENEOUS EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN YBA2CU3O7-DELTA AND OXYGEN GAS STUDIED BY A KINETIC APPROACH
No full textThe kinetic behaviour of the YBa2CU3O7-delta system has been investigated via a 'T-jump' experiment. This is realized by a displacement of the thermodynamic system from equilibrium by a temperature jump. The subsequent relaxation process is followed via resistivity measurements. Kinetic models have been formulated by assuming the formation of singly and doubly charged oxygen vacancies and according to the kinetic law of mass action. A good agreement between the theoretical model and the experimental data has been achieved in the case of singly charged oxygen vacancies in the temperature range 400-800-degrees-C. At equilibrium the YBa2Cu3O7-delta conductivity is found to be a function of the oxygen partial pressure, P, according to sigma is-proportional-to P(n) with 1/4 < n < 1/2
Comparing the Sustainability of Different Powertrains for Urban Use
No full textThe real environment impacts the fuel and energy consumption of any vehicle: technology, physical and social phenomena, traffic, drivers’ behaviour, and so on; many of them are difficult to quantify. The authors’ methodology was used to test the real impact of vehicles in “standard” urban conditions, and many generations of hybrid powertrains are compared. One of the latest performance indexes is the percentage of time the vehicle runs with zero emissions (ZEV). For example, the hybrid vehicle tested ran up to 80% with no emissions and fuel consumption below 3 L per 100 km. A few energy performance indicators were compared between five vehicles: one battery electric vehicle (BEV), two hybrid gasoline–electric vehicles (HEVs), and two traditional vehicles (one diesel and one gasoline). Their potential to use only renewable energy is unrivalled, but today’s vehicles’ performances favour hybrid power trains. This paper summarises the most sustainable powertrain for urban use by comparing experimental data from on-road testing. It also evaluates the benefits of reducing emissions by forecasting the Italian car fleet of 2025 and three use cases of the evolution of car fleets, with a focus on Rome
A statistical analysis to compare results of different on-road vehicle performance testing
No full textAssessing the energy performances of a vehicle on the road requires collecting large data samples to ensure repeatability of the measurements despite the many variables which influence them. This paper proposes a method to dimension the campaign and compares various campaigns despite differences in the influencing variables through statistical analysis. This methodology has been applied to the Italian testing campaign of Toyota Yaris Hybrid 2020. The results are compared to those collected in a similar campaign for the previous model. The pandemic of COVID-19 forced the acquisitions to be made in months in which the weather and the traffic were different, and the reduced mobility lowered the traffic intensity. The proposed method was able to make the campaigns comparable besides the differences. It can also be applied to design future campaigns to reduce the quantity of collected data while maintaining the same statistical significance. The newest model of Toyota Yaris Hybrid performs better than the previous one, and it was analysed how
Real drive truth test of the Toyota Yaris Hybrid 2020 and energy analysis comparison with the 2017 model
No full textThis paper presents the performance analysis of a latest-generation hybrid vehicle (Toyota Yaris 2020) with a testing campaign in real road conditions and a comparison with the previous model (Toyota Yaris 2017). The study was conducted by applying the Real Drive Truth Test protocol, developed by the research group, validated and spread to other full hybrid vehicles: Toyota Prius IV (2016) and Toyota Yaris 2017 (2017). In the case of the 2020 tests, the co-presence on board— deemed unsafe in the usual ways given the ongoing pandemic—was achieved through precise and sophisticated remote control. An on-board diagnostic computer, video transmission and recording equipment guarantee the virtual co-presence of a technical control room and a driver. Thus, several engineers can follow and monitor each vehicle via a 4G modem (installed in each vehicle), analysing data, route and driver behaviour in real-time, and therefore even in the presence of a single occupant in the car under test. The utmost attention has also been paid to adopting anti-COVID behaviours and safety standards: limited personal interactions, reduced co-presence in shared rooms (especially in the control room), vehicle sanitising between different drivers, computers and technicians and video technicians working once at a time. The comparison between the two subsequent vehicle models shows a significant improvement in the performance of the new generation Yaris, both in terms of operation in ZEV (zero-emission vehicle) mode (+15.3%) and in terms of consumption (−35.1%) and overall efficiency of the hybrid powertrain (+8.2%)
E-mail Categorization, Filtering, and Alerting on Mobile Devices: The ifMail Prototype and its Experimental Evaluation
No full textExperimental Analysis of an Electric Minibus with Small Battery and Fast Charge Policy
No full textThe lead-acid battery of an electric minibus has been replaced with a smaller size lithium-ion battery system consisting of standard 12 V modules and a hierarchical battery management system. The minibus has experimentally been tested to show that the reduced battery capacity, which also cuts costs, does not affect the daily operational mission. This is assuming that the driving phases are alternated with fast charging periods. Experiments show that fast charging of 8 min guarantees up to 1 h of operation
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