A study of reverse logistics flow management in vehicle battery industries in the midwest of the state of São Paulo (Brazil)

Having the objective of minimizing costs and improving their image in the consumer and export market, car battery industries began to seek environmental alternatives geared towards sustainable development. Reverse logistics flow represents an unprecedented tool for the economic and operational development of company activities, as well as a differential in the search for competitive advantages through environmentally correct practices. The aim of this paper is to describe the reverse logistics chain adopted by automotive battery industries in the midwest of the state of São Paulo, proposing a reverse logistics framework for small manufacturers that creates actions aimed at not harming the environment. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integrated analysis environment for the Movement Assessment Battery for Children

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), a chronic and usually permanent condition found in children, is characterized by motor impairment that interferes with a child's activities of daily living and with academic achievement. One of the most popular tests for the quantitative diagnosis of DCD is the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). Based on the Battery's standardized scores, it is possible to identify children with typical development, children at risk of developing DCD, and children with DCD. This article describes a computational system we developed to assist with the analysis of results obtained in the MABC test. The tool was developed for the web environment and its database provides integration of MABC data. Thus, researchers around the world can share data and develop collaborative work in the DCD field. In order to help analysis processes, our system provides services for filtering data to show more specific sets of information and present the results in textual, table, and graphic formats, allowing easier and more comprehensive evaluation of the results.

Evaluation of the Computer-based Battery for Oral Language (BILOv3) through the Rasch model for a Brazilian Sample

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

Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: The impact of clinical variables and psychiatric disorders on executive profile assessed with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery

Executive dysfunction is reported in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). However, batteries employed in previous studies included no more than three tests of executive function. In this study, we aimed to assess executive and attentional functions in JME using a comprehensive battery of eight tests (encompassing fifteen subtests). We also evaluated neuropsychological profiles using a clinical criterion of severity and correlated these findings with epilepsy clinical variables and the presence of psychiatric disorders. We prospectively evaluated 42 patients with JME and a matched control group with Digit Span tests (forward and backward), Stroop Color-Word Test, Trail Making Test, Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test, Matching Familiar Figures Test and Word Fluency Test. We estimated IQ with the Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Intelligence Scale. The patients with JME showed specific deficits in working memory, inhibitory control, concept formation, goal maintenance, mental flexibility, and verbal fluency. We observed attentional deficits in processes such as alertness and attention span and those requiring sustained and divided attention. We found that 83.33% of the patients had moderate or severe executive dysfunction. In addition, attentional and executive impairment was correlated with higher frequency of seizures and the presence of psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, executive dysfunction correlated with a longer duration of epilepsy. Our findings indicate the need for comprehensive neuropsychological batteries in patients with JME, in order to provide a more extensive evaluation of attentional and executive functions and to show that some relevant deficits have been overlooked. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Frontal assessment battery in a Brazilian sample of healthy controls: normative data

Objective: To show data on the performance of healthy subjects in the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), correlating with gender, age, education, and scores in the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Methods: Two hundred and seventy-five healthy individuals with mean age of 66.4 +/- 10.6 years-old were evaluated. Mean total FAB scores were established according to the educational level. Results: Mean total FAB scores according to the educational level were 10.9 +/- 2.3, for one to three years; 12.8 +/- 2.7, for four to seven years; 13.8 +/- 2.2, for eight to 11 years; and 15.3 +/- 2.3, for 12 or more years. Total FAB scores correlated significantly with education (r=0.47; p<0.0001) and MMSE scores (r=0.39; p<0.0001). No correlation emerged between FAB scores, age, and gender. Conclusion: In this group of healthy subjects, the Brazilian version of the FAB proved to be influenced by the education level, but not by age and gender.

Advanced lithium battery chemistries for sustainable transportation

The specific energy of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is today 200 Wh/kg, a value not sufficient to power fully electric vehicles with a driving range of 400 km which requires a battery pack of 90 kWh. To deliver such energy the battery weight should be higher than 400 kg and the corresponding increase of vehicle mass would narrow the driving range to 280 km. Two main strategies are pursued to improve the energy of the rechargeable lithium batteries up to the transportation targets. The first is the increase of LIBs working voltage by using high-voltage cathode materials. The second is the increase of battery capacity by the development of a cell chemistry where oxygen redox reaction (ORR) occurs at the cathode and metal lithium is the anode (Li/O2 battery). This PhD work is focused on the development of high-voltage safe cathodes for LIBs, and on the investigation of the feasibility of Li/O2 battery operating with ionic liquid(IL)-based electrolytes. The use of LiMn1-xFexPO4 as high-voltage cathode material is discussed. Synthesis and electrochemical tests of three different phosphates, more safe cathode materials than transition metal oxides, are reported. The feasibility of Li/O2 battery operating in IL-based electrolytes is also discussed. Three aspects have been investigated: basic aspects of ORR, synthesis and characterization of porous carbons as positive electrode materials and study of limiting factors to the electrode capacity and cycle-life. Regarding LIBs, the findings on LiMnPO4 prepared by soluble precursors demonstrate that a good performing Mn-based olivine is viable without the coexistence of iron. Regarding Li/O2 battery, the oxygen diffusion coefficient and concentration values in different ILs were obtained. This work highlighted that the O2 mass transport limits the Li/O2 capacity at high currents; it gave indications on how to increase battery capacity by using a flow-cell and a porous carbon as cathode.

Development of a novel fMRI compatible visual perception prototype battery to test older people with and without dementia

Background: Visuoperceptual deficits in dementia are common and can reduce quality of life. Testing of visuoperceptual function is often confounded by impairments in other cognitive domains and motor dysfunction. We aimed to develop, pilot, and test a novel visuocognitive prototype test battery which addressed these issues, suitable for both clinical and functional imaging use. Methods: We recruited 23 participants (14 with dementia, 6 of whom had extrapyramidal motor features, and 9 age-matched controls). The novel Newcastle visual perception prototype battery (NEVIP-B-Prototype) included angle, color, face, motion and form perception tasks, and an adapted response system. It allows for individualized task difficulties. Participants were tested outside and inside the 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed using SPM8. Results: All participants successfully completed the task inside and outside the scanner. Functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis showed activation regions corresponding well to the regional specializations of the visual association cortex. In both groups, there was significant activity in the ventral occipital-temporal region in the face and color tasks, whereas the motion task activated the V5 region. In the control group, the angle task activated the occipitoparietal cortex. Patients and controls showed similar levels of activation, except on the angle task for which occipitoparietal activation was lower in patients than controls. Conclusion: Distinct visuoperceptual functions can be tested in patients with dementia and extrapyramidal motor features when tests use individualized thresholds, adapted tasks, and specialized response systems.

STUDY OF HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERY MODELING AND CONTROL USING AUTONOMIE

This report presents the research results of battery modeling and control for hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). The simulation study is conducted using plug-and-play powertrain and vehicle development software, Autonomie. The base vehicle model used for testing the performance of battery model and battery control strategy is the Prius MY04, a power-split hybrid electric vehicle model in Autonomie. To evaluate the battery performance for HEV applications, the Prius MY04 model and its powertrain energy flow in various vehicle operating modes are analyzed. The power outputs of the major powertrain components under different driving cycles are discussed with a focus on battery performance. The simulation results show that the vehicle fuel economy calculated by the Autonomie Prius MY04 model does not match very well with the official data provided by the department of energy (DOE). It is also found that the original battery model does not consider the impact of environmental temperature on battery cell capacities. To improve battery model, this study includes battery current loss on coulomb coefficient and the impact of environmental temperature on battery cell capacity in the model. In addition, voltage losses on both double layer effect and diffusion effect are included in the new battery model. The simulation results with new battery model show the reduced fuel economy error to the DOE data comparing with the original Autonomie Prius MY04 model.

MiniCASCC - A battery driven fog collector for ecosystem research

We developed a small version of the Caltech active strand cloud water collector (CASCC) for biogeochemical investigations in ecological applications. The device is battery powered and thus allows operation at locations where mains power is not available. The collector is designed for sampling periods of up to one week, depending on fog frequency. Our new device is equipped with standard sensors for air temperature, relative humidity, wind, and horizontal visibility for fog detection with a low-cost optical sensor. In mountain areas and during times when clouds are thin the installation of the visibility sensor became a key issue, which limits the potential to estimate liquid water content of the sampled fog. Field tests with 5 devices at three different sites in the Swiss Alps (Niesen) and the Jura Mountains (Lägeren, Switzerland) during two extended summer seasons in 2006 and 2007 showed that in almost all cases it was possible to obtain sample volumes which were large enough for the examination of basic inorganic chemistry of the collected cloud water. Collection rates varied typically from 12 to 30 mL h− 1. The fog droplet cutoff diameter is ≈ 6 μm, which is low enough to include all droplet sizes that are relevant for the liquid water content of typical fog types in the collected samples. From theoretical assumptions of the collection efficiency and theoretical droplet spectra it is possible to estimate the liquid water content of the sampled fog or cloud. Our new fog collector can be constructed and operated at relatively low costs. In combination with chemical and isotopic analyses of the sampled water, this allows to quantify nutrient and pollutant fluxes as is typically needed in ecosystem biogeochemistry studies.

An evaluation of sleep hypnotic and stimulant effect on human performance using a computerized psychological test battery

This study evaluated the administration-time-dependent effects of a stimulant (Dexedrine 5-mg), a sleep-inducer (Halcion 0.25-mg) and placebo (control) on human performance. The investigation was conducted on 12 diurnally active (0700-2300) male adults (23-38 yrs) using a double-blind, randomized sixway-crossover three-treatment, two-timepoint (0830 vs 2030) design. Performance tests were conducted hourly during sleepless 13-hour studies using a computer generated, controlled and scored multi-task cognitive performance assessment battery (PAB) developed at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Specific tests were Simple and Choice Reaction Time, Serial Addition/Subtraction, Spatial Orientation, Logical Reasoning, Time Estimation, Response Timing and the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. The major index of performance was "Throughput", a combined measure of speed and accuracy.^ For the Placebo condition, Single and Group Cosinor Analysis documented circadian rhythms in cognitive performance for the majority of tests, both for individuals and for the group. Performance was best around 1830-2030 and most variable around 0530-0700 when sleepiness was greatest (0300).^ Morning Dexedrine dosing marginally enhanced performance an average of 3% with reference to the corresponding in time control level. Dexedrine AM also increased alertness by 10% over the AM control. Dexedrine PM failed to improve performance with reference to the corresponding PM control baseline. With regard to AM and PM Dexedrine administrations, AM performance was 6% better with subjects 25% more alert.^ Morning Halcion administration caused a 7% performance decrement and 16% increase in sleepiness and a 13% decrement and 10% increase in sleepiness when administered in the evening compared to corresponding in time control data. Performance was 9% worse and sleepiness 24% greater after evening versus morning Halcion administration.^ These results suggest that for evening Halcion dosing, the overnight sleep deprivation occurring in coincidence with the nadir in performance due to circadian rhythmicity together with the CNS depressant effects combine to produce performance degradation. For Dexedrine, morning administration resulted in only marginal performance enhancement; Dexedrine in the evening was less effective, suggesting the 5-mg dose level may be too low to counteract the partial sleep deprivation and nocturnal nadir in performance. ^

Computerizing Social-Emotional Assessment for School Readiness: First Steps toward an Assessment Battery for Early Childhood Settings

The transition into formal schooling is a crucial foundation that can set children on a cycle of success or failure in both academic and social domains. A child’s abilities to express healthy emotions, understand emotions of self and others, regulate emotion, attention, and behavior, make good decisions regarding social problems, and engage in a range of prosocial behaviors, all work together to promote a successful school experience. However, many children have deficits in these skills by school entry, and educators lack the requisite tools to identify, track and assess skills these children need to learn. Thus, because social-emotional learning (SEL) is so crucial, assessment tools to pinpoint children’s skills and progress are vitally necessary. Previous work by the authors and other researchers has led to the development of strong assessment tools; however, these tools are often developed solely for research use, not practitioner application. In the following, using our assessment battery as an example, we will discuss the steps necessary to adapt SEL assessment for computer-based administration and optimal utility in early childhood education programs.

Energy and power aware scheduling algorithm modeling for battery powered embedded systems

Energy management has always been recognized as a challenge in mobile systems, especially in modern OS-based mobile systems where multi-functioning are widely supported. Nowadays, it is common for a mobile system user to run multiple applications simultaneously while having a target battery lifetime in mind for a specific application. Traditional OS-level power management (PM) policies make their best effort to save energy under performance constraint, but fail to guarantee a target lifetime, leaving the painful trading off between the total performance of applications and the target lifetime to the user itself. This thesis provides a new way to deal with the problem. It is advocated that a strong energy-aware PM scheme should first guarantee a user-specified battery lifetime to a target application by restricting the average power of those less important applications, and in addition to that, maximize the total performance of applications without harming the lifetime guarantee. As a support, energy, instead of CPU or transmission bandwidth, should be globally managed as the first-class resource by the OS. As the first-stage work of a complete PM scheme, this thesis presents the energy-based fair queuing scheduling, a novel class of energy-aware scheduling algorithms which, in combination with a mechanism of battery discharge rate restricting, systematically manage energy as the first-class resource with the objective of guaranteeing a user-specified battery lifetime for a target application in OS-based mobile systems. Energy-based fair queuing is a cross-application of the traditional fair queuing in the energy management domain. It assigns a power share to each task, and manages energy by proportionally serving energy to tasks according to their assigned power shares. The proportional energy use establishes proportional share of the system power among tasks, which guarantees a minimum power for each task and thus, avoids energy starvation on any task. Energy-based fair queuing treats all tasks equally as one type and supports periodical time-sensitive tasks by allocating each of them a share of system power that is adequate to meet the highest energy demand in all periods. However, an overly conservative power share is usually required to guarantee the meeting of all time constraints. To provide more effective and flexible support for various types of time-sensitive tasks in general purpose operating systems, an extra real-time friendly mechanism is introduced to combine priority-based scheduling into the energy-based fair queuing. Since a method is available to control the maximum time one time-sensitive task can run with priority, the power control and time-constraint meeting can be flexibly traded off. A SystemC-based test-bench is designed to assess the algorithms. Simulation results show the success of the energy-based fair queuing in achieving proportional energy use, time-constraint meeting, and a proper trading off between them. La gestión de energía en los sistema móviles está considerada hoy en día como un reto fundamental, notándose, especialmente, en aquellos terminales que utilizando un sistema operativo implementan múltiples funciones. Es común en los sistemas móviles actuales ejecutar simultaneamente diferentes aplicaciones y tener, para una de ellas, un objetivo de tiempo de uso de la batería. Tradicionalmente, las políticas de gestión de consumo de potencia de los sistemas operativos hacen lo que está en sus manos para ahorrar energía y satisfacer sus requisitos de prestaciones, pero no son capaces de proporcionar un objetivo de tiempo de utilización del sistema, dejando al usuario la difícil tarea de buscar un compromiso entre prestaciones y tiempo de utilización del sistema. Esta tesis, como contribución, proporciona una nueva manera de afrontar el problema. En ella se establece que un esquema de gestión de consumo de energía debería, en primer lugar, garantizar, para una aplicación dada, un tiempo mínimo de utilización de la batería que estuviera especificado por el usuario, restringiendo la potencia media consumida por las aplicaciones que se puedan considerar menos importantes y, en segundo lugar, maximizar las prestaciones globales sin comprometer la garantía de utilización de la batería. Como soporte de lo anterior, la energía, en lugar del tiempo de CPU o el ancho de banda, debería gestionarse globalmente por el sistema operativo como recurso de primera clase. Como primera fase en el desarrollo completo de un esquema de gestión de consumo, esta tesis presenta un algoritmo de planificación de encolado equitativo (fair queueing) basado en el consumo de energía, es decir, una nueva clase de algoritmos de planificación que, en combinación con mecanismos que restrinjan la tasa de descarga de una batería, gestionen de forma sistemática la energía como recurso de primera clase, con el objetivo de garantizar, para una aplicación dada, un tiempo de uso de la batería, definido por el usuario, en sistemas móviles empotrados. El encolado equitativo de energía es una extensión al dominio de la energía del encolado equitativo tradicional. Esta clase de algoritmos asigna una reserva de potencia a cada tarea y gestiona la energía sirviéndola de manera proporcional a su reserva. Este uso proporcional de la energía garantiza que cada tarea reciba una porción de potencia y evita que haya tareas que se vean privadas de recibir energía por otras con un comportamiento más ambicioso. Esta clase de algoritmos trata a todas las tareas por igual y puede planificar tareas periódicas en tiempo real asignando a cada una de ellas una reserva de potencia que es adecuada para proporcionar la mayor de las cantidades de energía demandadas por período. Sin embargo, es posible demostrar que sólo se consigue cumplir con los requisitos impuestos por todos los plazos temporales con reservas de potencia extremadamente conservadoras. En esta tesis, para proporcionar un soporte más flexible y eficiente para diferentes tipos de tareas de tiempo real junto con el resto de tareas, se combina un mecanismo de planificación basado en prioridades con el encolado equitativo basado en energía. En esta clase de algoritmos, gracias al método introducido, que controla el tiempo que se ejecuta con prioridad una tarea de tiempo real, se puede establecer un compromiso entre el cumplimiento de los requisitos de tiempo real y el consumo de potencia. Para evaluar los algoritmos, se ha diseñado en SystemC un banco de pruebas. Los resultados muestran que el algoritmo de encolado equitativo basado en el consumo de energía consigue el balance entre el uso proporcional a la energía reservada y el cumplimiento de los requisitos de tiempo real.

Finite Element Analysis Model of a Contactless Transformer for Battery Chargers in Electric Vehicles

A contactless transformer model is proposed in this paper using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). This model can be used to simulate Inductive Coupling Power Transfer (ICPT) systems with good accuracy of the transformer and reduce the fabrication time of these systems. The model not only takes into account the geometry of the windings but also the frequency effects in them. As the transformer does not have a magnetic core, it is complicated to model because the flux is expanded in the area around the windings. In order to obtain a very accurate model, it is necessary to use a 2D/3D field solver.

Dual Active Bridge based Battery Charger for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle with Charging Current Containing Low Frequency Ripple

High power density is strongly preferable for the on-board battery charger of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Wide band gap devices, such as Gallium Nitride HEMTs are being explored to push to higher switching frequency and reduce passive component size. In this case, the bulk DC link capacitor of AC-DC Power Factor Correction (PFC) stage, which is usually necessary to store ripple power of two times the line frequency in a DC current charging system, becomes a major barrier on power density. If low frequency ripple is allowed in the battery, the DC link capacitance can be significantly reduced. This paper focuses on the operation of a battery charging system, which is comprised of one Full Bridge (FB) AC-DC stage and one Dual Active Bridge (DAB) DC-DC stage, with charging current containing low frequency ripple at two times line frequency, designated as sinusoidal charging. DAB operation under sinusoidal charging is investigated. Two types of control schemes are proposed and implemented in an experimental prototype. It is proved that closed loop current control is the better. Full system test including both FB AC-DC stage and DAB DC-DC stage verified the concept of sinusoidal charging, which may lead to potentially very high power density battery charger for PHEV.