Does maintainability relate to the energy consumption of software? A case study

Software Quality Journal - Energy consumption of software has been becoming increasingly significant, since it can vary according to how the software has been developed. In recent years, developers...     

Smart city strategies: time to involve people. Comparing Amsterdam,Barcelona and Paris

ABSTRACT

A city is not only made of buildings and infrastructures, but is also composed of the people, who live there, their cultures, uses and interactions. How people’s relations to their place have been transformed or not by the configuration of the smart city? This article attempts to provide an answer to this question, by examining the case of Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Paris, three large centuries-old Western Europe cities. It shows that behind the official line promising a more participatory society, the inhabitants are rather turned into users or clients of a city that belongs no more to them. Courses of action are then elaborated to help reurbanize the smart city by fostering co-construction of smart strategies.     

Position and displacement sensing with shack-hartmann wave-front sensors

The use of a Shack-Hartmann wave-front sensor as a position-sensing device is proposed and demonstrated. The coordinates of a pointlike object are determined from the modal Zernike coefficients of the wave fronts emitted by the object and detected by the sensor. The position of the luminous centroid of a moderately extended incoherent flat object can also be measured with this device. Experimental results with off-the-shelf CCD cameras and conventional relay optics as well as inexpensive diffractive microlens arrays show that axial positioning accuracies of 74 mum rms at 300 mm and angular accuracies of 4.3 murad rms can easily be achieved.     

Stepwise Change of Operating Pressure in Vacuum Fluidized Bed Drying: An Experimental Study

Vacuum‐fluidized bed drying experiments were carried out with porous as well as compact particles, employing distinct operating pressures in two periods of drying, such that the combination of the effects of decrease in the transport capacity of the exterior medium and the enhancement of the internal diffusivity results in favour of the drying process. In a variety of operating conditions, it was observed that in the case of porous particles, increasing the operating pressure during the decreasing drying rate period, after applying a vacuum pressure in the constant drying rate period results in a lower final particle humidity.     

A prospective study of unplanned endotracheal extubation in intensive care unit patients

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate incidence, factors associated with unplanned endotracheal extubation (UEE), and prognostic factors for reintubation. DESIGN: A prospective study over a 32-mo period. SETTING: A 16-bed general intensive care unit of a tertiary university hospital. PATIENTS: Adult subjects undergoing endotracheal intubation for >48 hrs. INTERVENTIONS: Observation of patients who presented unplanned extubation. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Over the 32-mo period, there were 59 episodes of UEE in 55 patients (frequency 7.3%). Deliberate self-extubation occurred in 46 episodes (77.9%), while there were 13 episodes (22.1%) of accidental extubation. Twenty-seven (45.8%) episodes occurred in patients who were receiving full mechanical ventilatory support and 32 (54.2%) episodes occurred during the weaning period from mechanical ventilation. Reintubation was required in 27 (45.8%) episodes of UEE. The need for reintubation after UEE was 36.9% in deliberate self-extubation patients and 76.9% in accidental extubation patients (p = .01). Only 15.6% (5/32) of patients who presented UEE during weaning required reintubation, while reintubation was mandatory in 81.5% (22/27) of patients who presented UEE during full mechanical ventilatory support (p < .001). A multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the variables independently associated with the need for reintubation: days of mechanical ventilation were significantly associated with the need for reintubation, and weaning was associated with no need for reintubation. The model correctly classified the need for reintubation in 84.7% (50/59) of cases. CONCLUSIONS: Reintubation in UEE patients strongly depends on the type of mechanical ventilatory support. The probability of requiring reintubation if UEE occurs during full ventilatory support is higher than if UEE occurs during weaning. These data suggest that some patients are under mechanical ventilation longer than necessary.     

Some remarks on the engineering application of the fatigue crack growth approach under nonzero mean loads

The well-known fatigue crack growth (FCG) curves are two-parameter dependents. The range of the stress intensity factor ?K and the load ratio R are the parameters normally used for describing these curves. For engineering purposes, the mathematical representation of these curves should be integrated between the initial and final crack sizes in order to obtain the safety factors for stresses and life. First of all, it is necessary to reduce the dependence of the FCG curves to only one parameter. ?K is almost always selected and, in these conditions, considered as the crack driving force. Using experimental data from literature, the present paper shows how to perform multiple regression analyses using the traditional Walker approach and the more recent unified approach. The correlations so obtained are graphically analyzed in three dimensions. Numerical examples of crack growth analysis for cracks growing under nominal stresses of constant amplitude in smooth and notched geometries are performed, assuming an identical material component as that of the available experimental data. The resulting curves of crack size versus number of cycles (a vs. N) are then compared. The two models give approximately the same (a vs. N) curves in both geometries. Differences between the behaviors of the (a vs. N) curves in smooth and notched geometries are highlighted, and the reasons for these particular behaviors are discussed.     

Effective Natural Killer Cell Degranulation Is an Essential Key in COVID-19 Evolution

NK degranulation plays an important role in the cytotoxic activity of innate immunity in the clearance of intracellular infections and is an important factor in the outcome of the disease. This work has studied NK degranulation and innate immunological profiles and functionalities in COVID-19 patients and its association with the severity of the disease. A prospective observational study with 99 COVID-19 patients was conducted. Patients were grouped according to hospital requirements and severity. Innate immune cell subpopulations and functionalities were analyzed. The profile and functionality of innate immune cells differ between healthy controls and severe patients; CD56dim NK cells increased and MAIT cells and NK degranulation rates decreased in the COVID-19 subjects. Higher degranulation rates were observed in the non-severe patients and in the healthy controls compared to the severe patients. Benign forms of the disease had a higher granzymeA/granzymeB ratio than complex forms. In a multivariate analysis, the degranulation capacity resulted in a protective factor against severe forms of the disease (OR: 0.86), whereas the permanent expression of NKG2D in NKT cells was an independent risk factor (OR: 3.81; AUC: 0.84). In conclusion, a prompt and efficient degranulation functionality in the early stages of infection could be used as a tool to identify patients who will have a better evolution.     

Effects of support pressure ventilation with facial mask in patients with chronic respiratory failure in acute decompensation

BACKGROUND: In previous nonrandomized studies the efficacy of ventilation with back up pressure with face mask (BUPM) in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in acute decompensation has been demonstrated. This study analyzes the acute effects and the clinical efficacy of BUPM in a group of patients with COPD in acute respiratory failure comparing the same with conventional therapy (CONV). METHODS: A prospective randomized study including patients with COPD in acute decompensation was carried out comparing treatment with BUPM (n = 9) with CONV treatment (n = 9). Back up pressure was fixed at 20 cmH2O. Acute gasometric effects were analyzed as well as the need for intratracheal intubation, mortality and hospital stay. RESULTS: No clinical or gasometric differences were found between either group of patients upon admission. Only the patients of the BUPM group presented a significant improvement from gaseous exchange and respiratory frequency from the first hour of treatment. Three of the nine patients (33%) of the BUPM group and nine of the CONV group of patients (100%) required intubation and mechanical ventilation (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Back up pressure face mask is the technique of choice in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in acute decompensation given that this technique leads to a rapid and significant improvement of gaseous exchange and avoids the need for intubation and mechanical ventilation in most of these patients.     

Energy-ecological efficiency of the fuel cell electric vehicle powered by different biofuels

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - This paper examines the net environmental impact for the Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, in special the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (SOFCEV), by...