SESAME-S: Semantic Smart Home System for Energy Efficiency

As the urgent need for efficient and sustainable energy usage becomes ever more apparent, interest in Smart Homes is on the rise. The SESAME-S project (SEmantic SmArt Metering – Services for Energy Efficient Houses) uses semantically linked data to actively assist end-consumers in making well-informed decisions and controlling their energy consumption. By integrating smart metering and home automation functionality, SESAME-S works to effectively address the potential mass market of end-consumers with an easily customizable solution that can be widely implemented in domestic or business environments, with expected savings of over 20?% from the total energy bill. The developed system is a basis for conceptualizing, demonstrating, and evaluating a variety of innovative end-consumer services and their user interface paradigms. In this paper, we present the SESAME-S system as a whole and discuss the semantically enabled services, demonstrating that such systems may have broad acceptance in the future. The data obtained through such systems will be invaluable for future global energy-efficiency strategies and businesses.     

Modulation of Viscoelasticity and HIV Transport as a Function of pH in a Reversibly Crosslinked Hydrogel

Materials that respond to physiological stimuli are important in developing advanced biomaterials for modern therapies. The reversibility of covalent crosslinks formed by phenylboronate (PBA) and salicylhydroxamate (SHA) has been exploited to provide a pH‐responsive gel for application to the vaginal tract. Dynamic rheology reveals that the gel frequency‐dependent viscoelastic properties are modulated by pH. At pH 4.8 the viscous component dominates throughout most of the frequency range. As the pH increases, the characteristic relaxation time continues to increase while the G′_Plateau levels off above pH 6. At pH 7.5, the elastic component dominates throughout the frequency sweep and is predominately independent of frequency. Particle tracking assesses the transport of both fluorescently labeled HIV‐1 and 100‐nm latex particles in the PBA–SHA crosslinked gel as a function of pH. At pH 4.8 the ensemble‐averaged mean squared displacement at lag times greater than three seconds reveals that transport of the HIV‐1 and 100‐nm particles becomes significantly impeded by the matrix, exhibiting diffusion coefficients less than 0.0002 µm² s^?1. This pH‐responsive gel thus displays properties that have the potential to significantly reduce the transport of HIV‐1 to susceptible tissues and thus prevent the first stage of male‐to‐female transmission of HIV‐1.     

Aqueous extract from the vegetative portion of Spanish black radish (Raphanus sativus L. var. niger) induces detoxification enzyme expression in HepG2 cells

The vegetative, or above ground, portion of radishes are not typically consumed and have not been characterized in terms of their phytochemical content or biological activity. The antioxidant capacity of the freeze-dried vegetative portion of mature Spanish black radishes (harvested 2 months after planting) was 3.7-, 3.6- and 2.9-fold greater than freeze-dried roots as assayed by ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), total phenolics and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), respectively. No carotenoids were detected in the roots, however the vegetative portion contained 905.0 and 421.2 μg/g of lutein and β-carotene, respectively. Despite differences in glucosinolate composition, a class of compounds related to the induction of detoxification enzymes, the aqueous extracts of roots and the vegetative portion similarly induced quinone reductase activity and the expression of multiple phase I and II detoxification enzymes in the HepG2 human hepatoma cell line. When juiced, the resulting freeze-dried juice and pulp of the vegetative portion maintained the ability to induce detoxification enzymes, although there were some differences in the phytochemical contents of these two dried materials. These data demonstrate that the ability of the vegetative portion of Spanish black radish, which has significantly greater antioxidant potential than roots, to induce detoxification enzyme expression was similar to that of the roots.     

The derivation of the equations of moderately thick plates by the method of successive approximations

In this article the equations of a moderately thick plate are derived by the method of successive approximations. The derived equations exactly satisfy all the elastostatic equations, the plate equilibrium equations and traction free face boundary conditions.     

Experimental investigation and 3D finite element prediction of the heat affected zone during laser assisted machining of Ti6Al4V alloy

An experimental study was conducted to characterize the heat affected zone produced when laser heating a Ti6Al4V alloy plate workpiece. The emissivity and absorptivity of the Ti6Al4V alloy were determined experimentally. A 3D transient finite element method for a moving Gaussian laser heat source was developed to predict the depth and width of the heat affected zone on the Ti6Al4V alloy workpiece. There was a close correlation between the experimental data and the simulation results. It was found that the depth and width of the heat affected zone were strongly dependent on the laser parameters (laser power, laser scan speed, the angle of incidence and the diameter of the laser spot) and material properties (thermal conductivity, specific heat and density). Parametric studies showed that the depth and width of the heat affected zone increased with an increase in the laser power and decreased with an increase of the laser spot size and the laser scan speed. The thermal model can be used to determine the laser parameters for a given cut geometry that will yield no residual heat affected zone in the material after cutting. This provides the basis to optimize and improve laser assisted machining technique.     

Experimental behaviour of the reverse channel joint component at elevated and ambient temperatures

The reverse channel connection appears to have the best combination of desirable features under fire loading: moderate construction cost, ability to develop catenary action and extremely high ductility through deformation of the web channel (Ding and Wang, 2007). This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of a reverse channel component conducted at the University of Coimbra as part of the European RFCS COMPFIRE Project, the main focus of which is to characterise the behaviour of steel joints that connect steel beams to concrete-filled tubular columns under natural fire loading. A series of tensile and compressive tests at ambient and elevated temperatures was conducted. The purposes of the experimental tests were to characterise the strength, stiffness and ductility of this joint component and to establish a relationship between force, displacement and temperature.