Estudo da viabilidade da implantação de frotas de veículos elétricos e híbridos elétricos no atual cenário econômico, político, energético e ambiental brasileiro

Currently there are two car models that use electricity in their propulsion systems, the electric vehicle and the hybrid electric vehicle. The electric vehicles are classified as vehicles that use electric motors in their propulsion system and batteries as a power source, on the other hand, the hybrid vehicles are classified as vehicles that use both electric motors and internal combustion engines in their propulsion system, using both batteries and líquid fuels as a power source. The main goal of this work is to analyze the characteristics of electric and hybrid electric vehicles and demonstrate the unfeasibility of the electric vehicle in the current economic, political, energetic and environmental brazilian scenario, for this purpose it was realized a study about the current brazilian situation regarding to electricity generation, current conservation status of road network, lack of electrical infrastructure for charging batteries, national lithium reserves, environmental characteristics, tax incentives, economic scenario, oil market and political positioning related to the implantation of electric or hybrid electric fleets in nacional territory. The operational characteristics analysis of electric and hybrid electric vehicles in this current scenario leads to the conclusion that currently a growth of electric vehicles fleets on a national scale is totally impractical in the Brazil, Thus, the introduction of green vehicles probably will occur primarily with hybrid electric models, motivated mainly due the bigger autonomy of this models compared to electric models, lower cost of hybrid electric models compared to electric models, factors related to the lack of recharging infrastructure and also factors related to political positioning

Association between energy cost of walking, muscle activation, and biomechanical parameters in older female fallers and non-fallers

Objective: To determine the nervous activation, muscle strength, and biomechanical parameters that influence the cost of walking in older fallers and non-fallers. Methods: Maximal voluntary isokinetic torque was measured for the hip, knee and ankle of older women. Oxygen consumption was measured at rest and during 8 min of walking at self-selected speed. An additional minute of walking was performed to collect kinematic variables and the electromyographic signal of trunk, hip, knee, and ankle muscles, which was analyzed by the linear envelope. Cost of walking was calculated by subtracting resting body mass-normalized oxygen consumption from walking body mass-normalized oxygen consumption. Stride time and length, and ankle and hip range of motion were calculated from kinematic data. Findings: Older adult fallers had 28% lower knee extensor strength (p = 0.02), 47% lower internal oblique activation at heel contact (p = 0.03), and higher coactivation between tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius lateralis in each of the gait phases (p < 0.05). For fallers, a higher activation of gluteus maximus was associated with a higher cost of walking (r = 0.55, p < 0.05 and r = 0.71, p < 0.01, before and after heel contact, respectively). For non-fallers, an association between cost of walking and age (r = 0.60, p = 0.01) and cost of walking and thigh muscle coactivation (r = 0.53, p = 0.01) existed. Interpretation: This study demonstrated that there may be links between lower-extremity muscle weakness, muscle activation patterns, altered gait, and increased cost of walking in older fallers. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

High-throughput sugarcane leaf analysis using a low cost closed-vessel conductively heated digestion system and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)