The hybridization of vehicles is a viable step toward overcoming the challenge of the reduction of emissions related to road transport all over the world. To take advantage of the emission reduction potential of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), the appropriate design of their energy management systems (EMSs) to control the power flow between the engine and the battery is essential. This work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the more recent works that developed EMSs for HEVs. The review is carried out subject to the following idea: although the development of novel EMSs that seek the optimum performance of HEVs is booming, in the real world, HEVs continue to rely on well-known rule-based (RB) strategies. The contribution of this work is to present a quantitative comparison of the works selected. Since several studies do not provide results of their models against commercial RB strategies, it is proposed, as another contribution, to complete their results using simulations. From these results, it is concluded that the improvement of the analyzed EMSs ranges roughly between 5% and 10% with regard to commercial RB EMSs; in comparison to the optimum, the analyzed EMSs are nearer to the optimum than commercial RB EMSs.

No abstract

This research work presents a techno-economic analysis of a biomass gasification plant fueled with residues from the olive oil and almond industries for combined heat and power generation in the agrifood sector. The experimental plant consists of a downdraft fixed bed gasifier, a producer gas cleaning and cooling system and a spark-ignition engine–generator set as a power generation unit, which generates about 10–12 kW of rated electric power. With an average consumption between 13–14 kg/h of exhausted olive pomace pellets as feedstock, the producer gas volumetric flow rate was 31 Nm3/h (vol. %: 19.2 H2, 12.9 CO, 1.9 CH4, 19.2 CO2, 46.7 N2). The average cold gas efficiency was nearly 63%. This work also addresses the characterization and potential application of the carbonaceous solid residue (biochar), discharged from the gasifier at 1.7 kg/h. Finally, an economic feasibility analysis was developed, wherein the payback period ranges between 5–9 years.

No abstract

In order to protect votes, e-voting schemes provide privacy, verifiability and eligibility among other features. Most e-voting systems focus on the vote itself, considering it a fixed and limited piece of data (e.g. choosing from a list of candidates) which has to be encrypted and repeatedly permuted. In recent years, collective decision systems have been developed in which participants can submit proposals, argue and vote. In these systems the information to be protected is variable and plentiful, inaccessible to classic methods. The scheme proposed in this paper has been designed to cover these needs. Using the technique of blind signature, an alias is granted to the user that guarantees privacy. The novelty is that this alias consists of a public key that gives users the ability to encrypt and sign. From this alias users can access to the system and operate as if no privacy were needed, which greatly simplifies the process of voting, validation and counting. In addition, this article details one improvement that makes the scheme resistant to coercion.