bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health care services: Utilization and perception among elderly in an urban resettlement colony of Delhi
Authors: Singh Shivani , Patra Somdatta , Khan Amir M.
Published: March 2022

Context:

Health care utilization informs us about the utility of services which are available. We have a paucity of studies related to health care utilization among elderly in India.

Aims:

The aim of this study is to find out utilization of health care services by elderly (≥60 years), pattern, factors associated with, and perception of the elderly population regarding facilitators and barriers for the same.

Settings and Design:

A community based cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in a resettlement colony of East Delhi.

Materials and Methods:

A pretested, semi-structured, and interviewer-administered questionnaire was used. Duration of data collection was November 2018 to January 2020.

Statistical Analysis Used:

For quantitative variables, mean, median, proportion, Chi-square test, binary logistic regression using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and for qualitative variables thematic analysis were done.

Results:

The study included 288 study participants. Although utilization of health care services in last 15 days among elderly is 90%, it was also found that 69% of the elderly consulted a licensed medical practitioner. A private facility was visited by 58% of the study participants. Female gender (OR: 1.97; P = 0.02), religion as Hindu (OR, 2.09; P = 0.04), and marital status “single” (OR, 1.8; P = 0.04) were observed to be significant predictors of health care utilization. The participants expressed less waiting time, cashless facility for visits, availability of an accompanying person, behavior of staffs work as facilitators for utilization of services.

Conclusions:

Considering the unique characteristics of this age group, a shift from facility to community-based approach may be considered. Efforts may be made to create elderly friendly health facilities.
A cross-sectional study to assess the prevalence of health behaviors and protective factors among schoolchildren in a rural area in West Bengal
Authors: Basu Rivu , Bhattacharyya Suchetana , Mitra Sayeli
Published: March 2022

Background:

Adolescence is the most vulnerable developmental period in one’s life. In low to middle-income countries like ours, adolescence living in the rural area face increasing physical and mental health challenges that are not addressed due to ignorance or resource limitation. This study is conducted with the aim of assessing the magnitude of health behavior and protection factor among school children in the study area and to compare the same between boys and girls.

Materials and Methods:

An explanatory sequential mixed method descriptive observational study with cross-sectional study design was conducted on 102 students aged 15-19 years studying in a government school in Amdanga block, West Bengal. Purposive sampling was done for the quantitative part. Global school health survey questionnaire was used. Qualitative study with FGD was done after the quantitative part.

Results:

Out of 102 students, 58 (56.66%) re females and 44 (43.13%) are males, only 10 (9.8%) have consumed alcohol and 14 (13.72%) have consumed tobacco of some form. 15 (14.8%) students were bullied last year. Around 11 (10.8%) students had suicidal thoughts in the last 1 year. Most of them have proper hygiene behavior. Qualitative analysis revealed issues amongst both males and females regarding body image perception etc.,

Conclusion:

It is seen that males have more addictive behavior and gets into fighting easily then females. It is found that there are many issues regarding mental and physical health of the adolescents. That needs to be addressed and measure should be taken seriously and proper services like counseling, monitoring, parent’s support should be given.
Health system readiness for roll out of the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellnes Centres – Early experiences from Punjab State
Authors: Brar Sehr , Purohit Neha , Singh Gurmandeep , Prinja Shankar , Kaur Manmeet , Lakshmi P. V. M.
Published: March 2022

Background:

The Government of India launched the Ayushman Bharat (AB) program in 2018 which aims to transform 150,000 existing Sub Health Centres and Primary Health Centres into Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs). In this study, we assessed health system readiness for establishment of HWCs.

Methods:

The assessment comprised of a cross sectional facility assessment and a knowledge assessment of community health officers (CHOs) and female multipurpose health workers also known as auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), in 26 HWCs in one community development block of Punjab state. HWCs were assessed for key input and process parameters such as a human resource, physical infrastructure, supplies, capacity building etc., and processes including health promotion, community participation, digitization of management information system, and service delivery.

Results:

It was observed that only 7 of the 26 HWCs had all human resources as per guidelines. The median knowledge score of CHOs and ANMs was 54% and 51% respectively. 11 of the 26 HWCs were co-located with Zila Parishad SHCs. Out of the 15 standalone HWCs, while 9 had independent buildings, 5 were located in buildings of other community level institutions. 50 percent of the HWCs were not able to perform diabetes screening due to lack of glucometers or testing supplies. While services for non-communicable diseases were available, a two-way referral tracking system for patients was missing. The mean job satisfaction rated by the newly appointed CHOs was 3.12 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 represented very high job satisfaction.

Conclusion:

The operationalization of HWCs requires State and local level interventions for strengthening of existing physical infrastructure, ensuring a regular supply of medicines and consumables, development of referral mechanisms for patients and enhancing community participation.
Nutrition-related knowledge, practice, and weight status of patients with chronic diseases attending a district hospital in Nigeria
Authors: Ilori Temitope , Sanusi Rasaki A.
Published: March 2022

Background:

Africa is experiencing an epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and the projected mortality from NCDs by 2030 will overtake the combined mortality from communicable diseases. Nutrition is a key modality for preventing and treating NCDs, and optimal nutrition knowledge is essential for self-care.

Aim:

This study assessed the nutritional-related knowledge, dietary practice, and weight status of patients with non-communicable diseases attending State Specialist Hospital, Ring Road, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Methods:

This hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 302 adult patients with chronic diseases attending a district hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data were obtained using a semi-structured interviewer’s administered questionnaire on sociodemographic, diet-related knowledge and dietary practices, sources of dietary information and body mass index. The knowledge and practice score was calculated, and Chi-squared test was used to evaluate associations between socio-demographics, nutrition-related knowledge and practices; statistical significance was set at P < 0.05.

Results:

The mean age of respondents was 61.94 ± 10.60, and 74.4% were women. Overall, 61.3% of the respondents had good nutrition knowledge, with a higher proportion among women (61.8%) than men (59.5%). However, more women were overweight (33.2%) or obese (21.7%). There was a significant difference in the knowledge of respondents based on income (P < 0.034), duration of illness (P < 0.012), as well as nutrition practice (P < 0.000).

Conclusion:

There was a high prevalence of overweight and obesity among the participants despite the overall satisfactory nutritional knowledge. Hence, primary care physicians as frontline doctors coordinating care need to advocate for holistic weight reduction strategies in managing chronic diseases.
Effect of integrated approach of yoga and naturopathy on polycystic ovarian syndrome: A case study
Authors: Shrivastava Ragini , Mishra Shweta , Singh Ruchi , Shrivastava Pranjal
Published: March 2022

Owing to stress, sedentary lifestyle and changes in diet pattern, there is an increase in the surge of lifestyle and metabolic disorders. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) affects 8–13% of reproductive-aged women. PCOS is characterised by menstrual irregularity, hyperandrogenism and polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM). The efficacy of yoga as a therapy to tackle the direct and indirect cause of ailment in the management of PCOS is to be documented. This is the case study of a female patient age 25 years, a diagnosed case of PCOS was registered at the Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani,Siddha,Homeopathy (AYUSH), yoga OPD, with complaints of irregular menstruation, treated successfully by Yoga and Naturopathy (Y and N), i.e., yoga, diet and lifestyle modification. This is evident from the reduction in weight, regularisation of the menstrual cycle along with morphological changes in the ovary after a follow-up of 6 months.
Life cycle of medical oxygen from production to consumption
Authors: Jha Manish , Gaur Nayanika
Published: March 2022

Oxygen is used extensively in illnesses involving respiratory system. In emergencies such as the one created by the flare of Covid-19, oxygen consumption has increased tremendously. This article aims to improve our understanding about the medical oxygen, its production (air separation unit, pressure swing adsorption, oxygen concentrators), the supply chain, storage methods, and the final delivery system to the patient. This article also provides a comprehensive review on the additions in the medical infrastructure during the time of oxygen crisis in India along with the introduction of certain novel approaches towards oxygen production and conservation. We aim to minimize the panic among our readers by giving them an insight about the course behind the oxygen supply in that oxygen mask.
Evaluation of lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] and lipid abnormalities in patients with newly detected hypertension and its association with severity of hypertension
Authors: Mahto Subodh Kumar , Sheoran Ankita , Gadpayle Adesh kisanji , Gupta Kritika , Gupta Pulin Kumar , Chitkara Anubhuti , Agarwal Nagina
Published: March 2022

Introduction:

Hypertension remains the major preventable cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Lipoprotein (a) is seen to be associated with established essential hypertension and contributes to atherogenesis or to thrombogenesis or both.

Aim:

Correlation between lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] and lipid abnormalities in patients with newly detected hypertension and its association with severity of hypertension.

Methods:

It was a cross-sectional observational study carried out at PGIMER, DR. RML Hospital, New Delhi, India. Estimation of serum Lp (a) and lipid parameters along with routine laboratory investigations were carried out in 100 newly diagnosed cases with hypertension and compared with age and sex matched 50 healthy normotensive controls.

Result:

Amongst 100 cases the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 160.68 ± 19.75 mmHg and 84.44 ± 4.32 mmHg respectively. The mean serum Lp (a) in cases was 34.03 ± 7.55 mg/dl as compared to 24.13 ± 4.41 mg/dl in controls (p < 0.0001). 62% of cases as compared to 12% of controls had elevated serum Lp (a) levels. Apart from that, the levels of Lp (a) and lipid parameters increased significantly with higher stage of disease (p < 0.0001). Approximately 8% of cases had left ventricular hypertrophy as compared to 1% of control. Similarly, 18% of cases had Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as compared to 4% of controls. 5% of cases had retinopathy as compared to nil in controls. 4% of cases had microalbuminuria as compared to nil in controls.

Conclusion:

It was observed that newly detected hypertension is associated with major derangements of Lp (a) and lipid parameters. We also concluded that end organ involvement is significantly higher in newly detected hypertensives as compared to normotensive subjects and it was attributed to be due to lipid abnormalities observed in the group.
Correlations of Tumor Depth and Width with Lymphovascular Invasion in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer
Authors: Glorius Tampubolon Kevin Anthony , Pramod Sawkar Vijay , Safriadi Ferry , Fitriana Maya Noor , Hernowo Bethy S.
Published: March 2022

Purpose:

Around 75% of all bladder cancers are classified into nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). The NMIBC's high recurrence and progressivity rate are most commonly found in tumors invading the lamina propria (LP), classified as staged pT1 when it extended to the LP with a heterogeneous recurrence and progression. This study aimed to correlate the measurement of tumor depth and width to lymphovascular invasion (LVI) in NMIBC.

Materials and Methods:

A 5-year retrospective analytical study (2015–2019) was conducted in a tertiary hospital in Indonesia. We reassessed and analyzed the tumor depth and width of 64 patients with pT1 bladder cancer based on histopathological reports and analyzed the correlation of tumors and LVI. The depth was reassessed by measuring the transitional urothelium with the LP as an initial marking point, up to the tumor's edge in the LP, and tumor's width by measuring the largest width of one tumor focus in the LP, along with the presence of LVI by histopathological exams. Data were analyzed using the Mann − Whitney test.

Results:

The participants were 64 patients with pT1 bladder cancer. The mean tumor pT1 invasion depth was 2.03 ± 0.918 mm. The non-LVI group's mean tumor invasion depth was 1.72 ± 0.721 mm, whereas the LVI group was 2.21 ± 0.980 mm. The tumor invasion depth was a significant factor for LVI, whereas the tumor maximum diameter was not.

Conclusion:

The tumor invasion's depth was significantly associated with the LVI. The pT1 tumor invasion depth measurement might serve as a predictive variable of tumor recurrence and progressivity.
The Comparison of Efficacy between the Connaught and Tice Strains of Bacillus Calmette-guérin in Patients with Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer in Taiwan
Authors: Kuo Chih-Chun , Chiang Bing-Juin , Yu Jung-Yang , Hsieh Yu-Ting , Chen Chung-Hsin , Pu Yeong-Shiau
Published: March 2022

Purpose:

The purpose of the study is to compare the efficacy of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) strains, Connaught (ImmuCyst®), and TICE (OncoTICE®) in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (nMIBC).

Materials and Methods:

Patients with nMIBC who underwent transurethral resection between March 1997 and December 2017 were enrolled. TICE was used due to the Connaught strain shortage since 2012; hence, direct comparison of the two strains could not be performed. An intravesical instillation (IVI) regimen of mitomycin-C, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (MDP) was used as the reference for comparison. The MDP group was separated into two cohorts (MDP-1 and MDP-2) that matched the same time period of Connaught and TICE treatment. Patients who did not complete the IVI course before disease recurrence or progression or were not followed up for at least 24 months were excluded.

Results:

A total of 730 patients were included in the analysis. There were 67 (9.2%), 38 (5.2%), and 625 (85.6%) patients who received the Connaught, TICE, and MDP treatment, respectively. During a median follow-up duration of 59 months, the recurrence rates of the Connaught, MDP-1, TICE, and MDP-2 groups were 10.5%, 22.8%, 28.9%, and 23.0%, respectively. Both BCG groups had higher tumor grades and more instances of carcinoma in situthan their corresponding MDP cohorts. The Connaught and TICE strains had similar effects in preventing tumor recurrence (Connaught vs. MDP, P= 0.876; TICE vs. MDP, P= 0.556). In the multivariable Cox proportional hazard model that included all patients, the Connaught and TICE groups had a similar risk (hazard ratio = 0.784 and 0.850) of recurrence compared to the MDP protocol. Although progression events were more frequently noticed in the Connaught group, the small number of events limited the analysis.

Conclusion:

The BCG strains, Connaught and TICE, had similar efficacy in reducing bladder tumor recurrence in nMIBC patients. Both strains resulted in similar bladder recurrence-free survival rates to chemotherapeutic agents.
Лемма о нормальной производной и вокруг неe
Authors: Apushkinskaya Darya Evgen'evna , Nazarov Alexander Il'ich
Published: March 2022

В настоящем обзоре дано описание истории и современного состояния одного из важнейших разделов качественной теории дифференциальных уравнений в частных производных эллиптического типа, связанного с сильным принципом максимума и принципом граничной точки (леммой о нормальной производной).
Библиография: 234 названия.
A Soiling Mitigation Method to Enhance the Performance of ADAS in Precipitation
Authors: Pao Wing Yi , Li Long , Agelin-Chaab Martin
Published: March 2022

The emergence of autonomous driving technology has tremendous mobility and social-economic benefits. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) rely on various sensors for environmental and traffic data. However, the sensor performance and reliability degrade in adverse weather conditions, which poses a challenge to the safety of AVs. Existing active mitigation strategies such as wipers and water jets are active, complex, and expensive to implement. This study investigated soiling mitigation via a passively rotating lens with the goal to maintain Advanced-Driver-Assistance-System (ADAS) sensor visibility in the rain. The concept of rotating lens has merely been lightly explored in the literature but never studied in detail with realistic continuous rain simulation to verify soiling mitigation effectiveness. An optical camera in place of a frontal vehicle ADAS sensor was integrated into a rotating lens for visual characterization. A wind tunnel was used to simulate various wind-driven rain scenarios in both urban and suburban driving speeds. As driving speed in rain increases, sensor reliability and performance exacerbate due to an increase in perceived rain characteristics, including angle and intensity. This investigation studied the correlation of the rotating lens angular velocity at different driving speeds and its effectiveness in mitigating soiling under various perceived rain conditions. The increase in angular velocity resulted in a direct increase in centrifugal force experienced by each raindrop present on the lens; hence, providing a mitigation effect when droplets are spun off. Compared to stationary reference lens, observations from mitigation-enabling rotating lens showed greatly improved clarity from the optical camera frontal view in reduction of environment obstruction and distortion from rain droplets. Image processing results suggested high confidence in combating all droplet sizes and driving-in-rain conditions. This investigation successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of rotating lens as a concept for soiling mitigation and provided insight for enhancing ADAS sensor performance and reliability in adverse weather conditions.
Model-Based Thermal Control Strategy for Electrified Vehicles
Authors: Talaei Behzad , Nahid Mohammad , Shojaei Sina , Ali Syed Ashraf , Weslati Feisel , Bouyoucef Kamal
Published: March 2022

Stringent requirements for high fuel economy and energy efficiency mandate using increasingly complex vehicle thermal systems in most types of electrified vehicles (xEVs). Enabling the maximum benefits of such complex thermal systems under the full envelope of their operating modes demands designing complex thermal control systems. This is becoming one of the most challenging problems for electrified vehicles. Typically, the thermal systems of such vehicles have several modes of operation, constituting nonlinear multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) dynamic systems that cannot be efficiently controlled using classical or rule based strategies. This paper covers the different steps towards the design of a model-based control (MBC) strategy that can improve the overall performance of xEV thermal control systems. To achieve the above objective, the latter MBC strategy is applied to control cooling of the cabin and high voltage battery. First, a plant model representative of a real vehicle thermal dynamics is developed in Amesim®1D Software. In order to design the model-based controller, the plant model is then utilized to obtain a linear mathematical model using system identification methods. In virtue of its suitability for multivariable systems and its low computational cost, the Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) controller is utilized to meet energy efficiency and regulation performance objectives. The robustness against the external disturbances as well as structural uncertainties is demonstrated through rigorous simulations for the considered approach.
Adjoint Method for the Optimisation of Conformal Cooling Channels of 3-D Printed High-Pressure Tools for Aluminium Casting
Authors: Zeng Tongyan , Abo-Serie Essam F. , Jewkes James , Dodd Paul , Jones Rhys
Published: March 2022

The emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) technology has enabled the internal cooling channel layout for high pressure aluminium die casting (HPADC) tools to be designed and modified without topological constraint. Optimisation studies of a full industrial HPADC mould for extending the tool service life has received limited attention due to the high geometrical complexity and the various physics with multi time- and length- scales in addition to the manufacturability limitations. In this work, a new computationally efficient algorithm that employs the adjoint optimisation method has been developed to optimise the coolant channels layout in a complete mould with various 3D printed inserts. The algorithms significantly reduced the computational time and resources by decoupling the fluid flow in the coolant channels from the tool and simulating them separately. The channel’s heat transfer coefficient values are then interpolated and mapped into the thermal model that implements the adjoint optimisation approach to automatically push/pull the pipes toward the cavity based on the gradient of the optimisation function with respect to the pipe surface location. Using the adjoint method, with a customised multi-objective function, an improvement of 15 % for the cooling uniformity between the mould/cast interface was achieved. Because of the simplified mapping approach, a significant reduction in computational cost was achieved by adopting this strategy. The spatial distribution of the tool temperature and cavity are presented for the baseline and optimised channels. The results showed that the optimised channels not only have variations in layout but also in their cross-sectional shape at different locations to satisfy the objective function. The optimised insert designs have been applied in production, yielding a significant increase in tool service lifespan, reaching approximately of 130,000 shots.
Experimental and Analytical Study of Temperature Swing Piston Coatings in a Medium-Duty Diesel Engine
Authors: Babu Aravindh , Koutsakis Georgios , Kokjohn Sage , Andrie Michael
Published: March 2022

The use of Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBCs) has been shown to be a promising technology to improve internal combustion engine efficiencies by reducing heat rejection to the coolant and oil. In recent studies, temperature swing coatings that have simultaneously low volumetric heat capacity and low thermal conductivity have been shown to be particularly promising in this regard. In this study, a traditional and a newer swing coating are applied to the piston of an on-road medium-duty diesel engine to assess the benefits of their use. An analytical wall temperature model is coupled to the 1-D engine simulation software GT-POWER and predictions of wall temperature, heat transfer and chemical heat release rate are presented. The swing coating is found to yield an ~1.2% efficiency benefit at the highest load condition studied alongside an 80°C improvement in exhaust temperature at the lowest load condition studied compared to a reference uncoated piston. Further, the traditional TBC was not found to have a significant efficiency advantage over the reference uncoated piston, highlighting the promise of the swing coating in improving the thermal efficiency of on-road diesel engines.
Analysis of the Piston Group Friction in a Single-Cylinder Gasoline Engine When Operated with Synthetic Fuel DMC/MeFo
Authors: Binder Jürgen , Krecker Oleg , Kraus Christoph , Jaensch Malte , Wachtmeister Georg
Published: March 2022

Synthetic fuels for internal combustion engines offer CO2-neutral mobility if produced in a closed carbon cycle using renewable energies. C1-based synthetic fuels can offer high knock resistance as well as soot free combustion due to their molecular structure containing oxygen and no direct C-C bonds. Such fuels as, for example, dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methyl formate (MeFo) have great potential to replace gasoline in spark-ignition (SI) engines. In this study, a mixture of 65% DMC and 35% MeFo (C65F35) was used in a single-cylinder research engine to determine friction losses in the piston group using the floating-liner method. The results were benchmarked against gasoline (G100). Compared to gasoline, the density of C65F35 is almost 40% higher, but its mass-based lower heating value (LHV) is 2.8 times lower. Hence, more fuel must be injected to reach the same engine load as in a conventional gasoline engine, leading to an increased cooling effect. To determine this effect, the temperatures of the cylinder liner and piston of the research engine were measured. Depending on the load point, friction losses were reduced by up to 12.6% compared to gasoline operation. Although the floating-liner engine is operated with port fuel injection (PFI), the temperatures of the cylinder liner dropped by up to 4°C and those of the piston by up to 8°C. C65F35 therefore not only shows decreased emissions, but also leads to a reduction in friction losses, mainly due to the lower temperatures in the combustion chamber.
Gasoline Direct Injector Deposits: Impacts of Fouling Mechanism on Composition and Performance
Authors: Smocha Ruth , Vuilleumier David , Christison Krege , Loeper Paul , Ketterer Nicole , Pickett Lyle , Hwang Joonsik , Kim Namho , Strickland Tyler
Published: March 2022

Injector performance in gasoline Direct-Injection Spark-Ignition (DISI) engines is a key focus in the automotive industry as the vehicle parc transitions from Port Fuel Injected (PFI) to DISI engine technology. DISI injector deposits, which may impact the fuel delivery process in the engine, sometimes accumulate over longer time periods and greater vehicle mileages than traditional combustion chamber deposits (CCD). These higher mileages and longer timeframes make the evaluation of these deposits in a laboratory setting more challenging due to the extended test durations necessary to achieve representative in-use levels of fouling. The need to generate injector tip deposits for research purposes begs the questions, can an artificial fouling agent to speed deposit accumulation be used, and does this result in deposits similar to those formed naturally by market fuels?

In this study, a collection of DISI injectors with different types of conditioning, ranging from controlled engine-stand tests with market or profould fuels, to vehicle tests run over drive cycles, to uncontrolled field use, were analyzed to understand the characteristics of their injector tip deposits and their functional impacts. The DISI injectors, both naturally and profouled, were holistically evaluated for their spray performance, deposit composition, and deposit morphology relative to one another. The testing and accompanying analysis reveals both similarities and differences among naturally fouled, fouled through long time periods with market fuel, and profouled injectors, fouled artificially through the use of a sulfur dopant. Profouled injectors were chemically distinct from naturally fouled injectors, and found to contain higher levels of sulfur dioxide. Also, profouled injectors exhibited greater volumes of deposits on the face of the injector tip. However, functionally, both naturally-fouled and profouled injectors featured similar impacts on their spray performance relative to clean injectors, with the fouled injector spray plumes remaining narrower, limiting plume-to-plume interactions, and altering the liquid-spray penetration dynamics, insights from which can guide future research into injector tip deposits.
Applying Physics-Informed Enhanced Super-Resolution Generative Adversarial Networks to Large-Eddy Simulations of ECN Spray C
Authors: Bode Mathis
Published: March 2022

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is an important tool to understand and analyze sprays, such as those found in engines. Subfilter models are crucial for the accuracy of spray-LES, thereby signifying the importance of their development for predictive spray-LES. Recently, new subfilter models based on physics-informed generative adversarial networks (GANs) were developed, known as physics-informed enhanced super-resolution GANs (PIESRGANs). These models were successfully applied to the Spray A case defined by the Engine Combustion Network (ECN). This work presents technical details of this novel method, which are relevant for the modeling of spray combustion, and applies PIESRGANs to the ECN Spray C case. The results are validated against experimental data, and computational challenges and advantages are particularly emphasized compared to classical simulation approaches.
A High Efficiency Transmission Architecture for Electric Vehicles
Authors: Swain Anshuman , Gopalswamy Swaminathan
Published: March 2022

A Dual Power Split Electronic Continuously Variable Transmission (DPS-ECVT) with an input-split, output coupled, split-power-path configuration is proposed for improving overall system efficiency and range for electric vehicles. By modulating the power split ratio between the mechanical (planetary gear meshes) and electrical (Motor Generator Units) driveline components, a continuous range of gear ratios operating at higher efficiency is obtained. The proposed concept leverages two power-split units that lead to significantly reduced power flow through the electrical drivelines (compared with single speed EV transmissions as well as single power-split E-CVTs) while providing the same overall ratio spread for transmission operation. A multi-layered optimization is performed, first an inner layer optimization on the operational control strategy to maximize the end-of-cycle SOC (State of Charge) of the battery for a given set of transmission design parameters, and then subsequently an outer layer optimization on the design parameters to maximize the overall efficiency over multiple configurations of the given architecture. The performance of the architecture is bench-marked using simulation models derived from a Chevy Bolt baseline that are simulated on the EPA highway (HWFET) and the urban (UDDS) driving cycles. An effective gain of 13.6 percent in the range is demonstrated. A stick-diagram schematic realization of the optimized configuration is also presented.
Physics-Based Equivalent Circuit Model for Lithium-Ion Cells via Reduction and Approximation of Electrochemical Model
Authors: Seals Daniel , Ramesh Prashanth , D'Arpino Matilde , Canova Marcello
Published: March 2022

Physics-based electrochemical models and empirical Equivalent Circuit Models (ECMs) are well-established and widely used modeling techniques to predict the voltage behavior of lithium-ion cells. Electrochemical models are typically very accurate and require relatively little experimental data to calibrate, but present high mathematical and computational complexity. Conversely, ECMs are more computationally efficient and mathematically simpler, making them well-suited for applications in controls, diagnosis, and state estimation of lithium-ion battery packs. However, the calibration process requires extensive testing to calibrate the parameters of the model over a wide range of operating conditions.

This paper bridges the gap between these two classes of models by developing a method to analytically define the ECM parameters starting from an already-calibrated Extended Single-Particle Model (ESPM). The governing equations of the ESPM were reduced via model order reduction, linearization and by introducing approximations to yield the mathematical structure of a second order ECM. This allowed for analytically defining the parameters of the resulting ECM, without resorting to complex lookup tables and related extensive testing for calibration. The newly defined electrochemistry-based ECM (E-ECM) saw less than 1 mV RMS error increase compared to the ESPM voltage prediction across several test profiles.
Identifying Key Aspects of Thermal Runaway Modelling for Lithium-ion Battery Cells
Authors: Garcia Antonio , Monsalve-Serrano Javier , Sari Rafael , Fogué Robles Álvaro
Published: March 2022

Electrification and hybridization of powerplants in the transportation sector is one of the most important changes in the last few decades. Lithium-ion batteries are the main energy storage systems, but despite the maturity of this technology, it has certain constrains compared to traditional internal combustion engines in the day-to-day usage. As the operating conditions of the batteries are pushed to the limits to overcome certain disadvantages relative to other conventional systems like charge and discharge times or vehicle driving range, new concerns and safety limitations must be considered. High power rates and cooling deficiencies can produce excessive operating temperatures within the cells, leading to problems with degradation or even unchain chemical reactions that can end in thermal runaway, one of the most worrying failure modes attaining electric platforms nowadays. One of the main challenges in the ordeal of designing the system considering these effects is the crossed interaction between the different thermochemical and electrochemical phenomena present during the usage of the battery cell. The objective of the present work is to study the effect of different factors and their interdependence by means of a virtual environment developed using GT-Power that is experimentally validated to include electrochemical phenomena with the package GT-AutoLion. This package allows for the consideration of internal heat generation and aging of the battery cell together with thermal runaway mechanisms to include the possibility of failure modes under extreme operating conditions. With this tool, different parameters like the cell state of charge, heat transfer or grade of aging are considered to study the interdependence of these factors and how they can affect the cell performance. The results show that while temperature dependencies are well captured by the independent models, secondary effects such as state of charge and battery aging are not well captured by the formulation of current state-of-the-art thermal runaway mechanisms.
Development of Resin Water Jacket Case for Traction Inverter Aiming to Downsizing and Light-Weighting
Authors: Ishii Soichi , Hatanaka Seiji , Komasaki Shinya , Okubo Akinori , Nakajima Masaya , Iiyama Tadaaki
Published: March 2022

The size and weight of the traction inverter needs to be reduced to ensure a sufficient cruising range of an electric vehicle. To this end, one approach involves changing materials of the inverter case from aluminum to resin. However, the resin in use of inverter case causes technical issues in terms of collision performance, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and cooling performance because of the difference in the material properties between the resin and the conventionally used aluminum.

By solving the abovementioned issues, a resin water jacket case (hereinafter, resin water jacket) was successfully adopted with inverters designed for next-generation electric powertrain in mass production models for the first time. The resin-based structure had advantages to reduce the weight of the inverter case by ~35% and decrease the number of parts to ~3/5, compared to that for the conventional cases.

The inverter case was reviewed and consisted of a flat resin water jacket and a box-shaped aluminum case to ensure collision safety assurance. This structure enabled the aluminum case to protect the resin water jacket and the components inside the inverter case. Further, a shield plate was installed on the bottom side of the resin water jacket to ensure electromagnetic wave shielding performance. It is not easy to connect the resin to the ground, and hence, there is a need for a component that can connect the noise filter to the ground. Therefore, nuts for earthing were incorporated into the resin water jacket and grounded to the metal shield plate. Furthermore, special nuts were installed to cool the busbar of the DC capacitor for guaranteeing the cooling performance.

In this paper, we report the technical features of the resin water jacket and solve its major technical challenges such as EMC and cooling performance.
Further Analysis of the Blockage Phenomenon during the Testing of Bluff Automotive Bodies in Closed Wall Wind Tunnels
Authors: Gleason Mark , Riegel Eugen
Published: March 2022

The difficulties of testing a bluff automotive body of sufficient scale to match the on-road vehicle Reynolds number in a closed wall wind tunnel has led to many approaches being taken to adjust the resulting data for the inherent interference effects. But it has been impractical if not impossible to experimentally analyze the effects that are occurring on and around the vehicle when these blockage interferences are taking place. The present study is an extension of earlier work by the author and similarly to that study uses the CFD (computational fluid dynamics) analysis of several bodies of differing configurations to examine the interference phenomena in solid wall wind tunnels and the effects that they have on the pressures, forces and force increments experienced by the vehicle model. This is accomplished by executing a series of CFD configurations with varying sized cross sections from 0.2% to 13% blockage enabling an approximation of free air conditions as a reference. The earlier work is extended by using additional body configurations which include reference bodies from the Technical University of Munich, the University of Stuttgart, and Ford Motor Company to complement the simple shapes used in that study along with the use of a SAE Notchback model simple shape. Examination is made of the physical phenomena occurring around the vehicle as the proximity to the walls and ceiling is changed holding the test section aspect ratio and length constant. Static Pressure distortions, skin friction changes, velocity distortions and the distribution of forces on the vehicle body are examined. It is intended that this dataset be used by the SAE Road Vehicle Aerodynamics Forum Committee (RVAC) and the Subsonic Aerodynamic Testing Association combined activity, Commonized Automotive Aerodynamic Test Standards, or CAATS, to evaluate and/or develop wind tunnel blockage techniques for automotive bluff bodies.
Aerodynamic Drag and Downforce of a Competition Motorcycle
Authors: Katz Joseph
Published: March 2022

The aerodynamic drag and lift of a sport-motorcycle was investigated in a full-scale and in a 1/6th scale wind tunnel tests. The results show the large vertical load transfer to the rear wheel as vehicle’s speed increases. Consequently, several simple dive and splitter-plates were tested to balance the motorcycle and primarily increase the front axle aerodynamic downforce. These devices were added at a relatively low position on the bodywork in order to avoid adverse handling effects while leaning in turns. This study shows the level of downforce that can be generated by simple add-ons without major alterations to the bodywork. Consequently, for higher levels of aerodynamic downforce, larger underbody surfaces or wings are needed.
An Investigation of Aerodynamic Characteristics of Two Bluff Bodies in Close Longitudinal Proximity – Sensitivity to Front-End Geometry
Authors: MacAskill James , Le Good Geoffrey , Cirstea Remus
Published: March 2022

With an increasing focus on the reduction of greenhouse gases by the transport industries and continued development of connected and autonomous vehicle systems, the potential for aerodynamic drag reduction by means of managed systems of vehicles travelling in close-proximity, termed “platooning”, has continued as topic for research. Early-work in passenger-car platooning was conducted by varying the spacing between vehicles in homogeneous platoons. More recently the use of systematic changes in upper-body geometry has provided data for another variable in the assessment of platooning characteristics. The results of the investigation described in this paper adds to previously published platooning results using the Windsor reference model. For this investigation a new add-on geometry to the standard nose was designed to provide a simplified bonnet feature. This was chosen in order to vary the on-set flow approaching the platoon and also to influence the flow in the gap between test models. As previously found, the close-proximity presence of a following model resulted in significant drag reductions for the lead model due to wake suppression. Based on drag accumulation analyses in CFD, the “shielding” effect provided by the lead model gave a more significant drag reduction on the front of the following model when fitted with the bonnet addition compared to the standard nose. But the beneficial acceleration of the flow around the A-pillars of the following model was negated resulting in small total drag increases. As in previous investigations, one significant observation was that none of the upper-body geometries was found to be optimal in every position and combination of models.
An Estimation of the Effect of Turbulence from the Natural Wind and Traffic on the Cycle-Averaged-Drag Coefficient
Authors: Howell Jeff , Passmore Martin , Butcher Daniel
Published: March 2022

A drag coefficient, which is representative of the drag of a car undergoing a particular drive cycle, known as the cycle-averaged-drag coefficient, has been previously developed. It was derived for different drive cycles using mean values for the natural wind. It assumed terrain dependent wind velocities based on the Weibull function, equi-probable wind direction and shear effects. It did not, however, include any effects of turbulence in the natural wind. Some recent research using active vanes in the wind tunnel to generate turbulence has suggested that the effect on drag can be evaluated from the quasi steady wind inputs. On this basis a simple quasi-steady theory for the effect of turbulence on car drag is developed and applied to predicting the cycle-averaged-drag coefficient for a range of cars of different types. The drag is always increased by the turbulence but in all cases is relatively small. Turbulence is also present when driving in traffic, but traffic also introduces a velocity deficit, which reduces drag. By making certain assumptions about traffic flow, a crude traffic model is developed and the impact of traffic on the cycle-averaged-drag has been derived. It is found that the combination of natural wind turbulence and the effects of traffic results in very small changes to the cycle-averaged-drag coefficient.
A Study on Unsteady Aerodynamic Characteristics Acting on Front Fenders of Motorcycles during Steering Motion
Authors: Nishiwaki Daisuke , Uchiyama Hajime
Published: March 2022

Compared to a four-wheeled vehicle, a two-wheeled vehicle’s steering motion has a greater influence on roll behavior as well as yaw. On the other hand, the effect of the aerodynamic characteristics of the front fender on the steering moment has not been clarified. Therefore, a sensory evaluation test was important to know its influence on actual vehicle behavior. In this study, a basic technology to understand the aerodynamic characteristics of the front fender that affect the vehicle behavior of motorcycles was developed. In addition, CFD analysis was used to analyze the generation mechanism of the aerodynamic characteristics during the steering motion. First, the aerodynamic characteristics during the steering motion on the actual vehicle were measured using the wind tunnel facility. Next, the tests in the wind tunnel were reproduced in the CFD analysis using a moving and deforming mesh. As a result of verification of calculation accuracy, it was confirmed that the CFD analysis accurately reproduced the aerodynamic characteristics of the steering moment acting on the front fender during steering motion. In addition, the relationship between the magnitude of the vehicle behavior when a disturbance input was applied around the steering axis and the steering moment of the front fender obtained using the CFD analysis was confirmed. As a result, it was found that the closer the coefficient of the damping term of the moment was to zero, the smaller the roll motion when a disturbance is applied to the steering system tends to become. This suggests that the damping term of the steering moment acting on the front fender is one of the factors affecting the vehicle behavior of motorcycles. The CFD analysis revealed that the damping term of the steering moment is generated by the time difference between the separation of the airflow at the tip of the front fender and its aerodynamic action behind the front fender.
Regional Dimensions of BRICS Cooperation
Authors: Lagutina M. L.
Published: March 2022

Since the beginning, BRICS has been viewed as an element of global governance system. Recently, however, it became necessary to adapt the BRICS format to the new challenges of the world system, not only at the global, but also at the regional levels, as a result of which not only global cooperation mechanisms, but also regional ones, were involved in the activities of the BRICS. BRICS-initiated regional outreach practices and “BRICS+” format are aimed at expanding partnerships, the socalled “circle of friends” of the BRICS, both within the BRICS subregions and beyond. These partners include as national states, as regional organizations. Both formats are focused on reforming the global fi nancial and economic system and the formation of a polycentric world order based on the principles of pluralism and diversity, involving not only developed but also developing countries of the “Global South” in the global governance system. The purpose of this article is to consider various approaches to the study of the BRICS from the standpoint of the theories of “new” and “comparative” regionalism and to assess the prospects for regional interaction of the BRICS countries at the level of subregional, interregional and transregional ties.
Hatay ili Kırıkhan-Kumlu Bölgesi Topraklarının pH, Kireç ve Organik madde içeriklerinin belirlenmesi
Authors: KIZILTEPE Şemiştan , AYVAZOĞLU Cemalettin
Published: March 2022

Bu çalışma ile Iğdır yöresinde neonatal dönemdeki ishalli kuzularda Rotavirus, Coronavirus, E. coli K99, Giardia, Cryptosporidium parvum ve mix enfeksiyon oranlarını hızlı kitleri aracılığıyla belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma materyali olarak, 15 Şubat- 15 Temmuz 2021 tarihleri arasında Iğdır yöresinde farklı bölgelerde bulunan ve Iğdır bölgesindeki serbest veteriner hekimlere getirilen 1-28 günlük 300 ishalli kuzu kullanılmıştır. İshalli kuzulardan alınan gaita örneği ile Rotavirus, Coronavirus, E. coli K99, Giardia ve Cryptosporidium parvum taraması yapıldı ve yaygınlık oranı sırasıyla %21.7 (61/300), %23.7 (71/300), %31.7 (95/300), %8.3 (25/300) ve %14.7 (44/300) olarak belirlendi. Ayrıca birden fazla etken gösteren %31.3 (94/300) kuzu tespit edildi. Sonuç olarak, neonatal dönemdeki kuzular için yaygın görülen Rotavirus, Coronavirus, E. coli K99, Giardia, Cryptosporidium parvum vb. hastalıklara karşı aşılamalar yapılmasının neonatal kuzu ölümlerini azaltacağını düşünmekteyiz.