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Global Implementation Research and... 2022Metering is fundamental in the efficient operation of electricity networks, as meters facilitate controlled usage and improve health and well-being. However, across the...
UNLABELLED
Metering is fundamental in the efficient operation of electricity networks, as meters facilitate controlled usage and improve health and well-being. However, across the Global South, meters have often been found to be lacking or not fit for purpose. Therefore, this study sought to determine residents' perceptions and access to electricity metering across a community in Mumbai, with the goal of developing recommendations to support the implementation of meters in the future. Fifty semi-structured interviews were conducted by phone, with participants from different areas and socioeconomic classes, within Greater Mumbai. The sample consisted of 20 low-income, 20 middle-income, and 10 high-income participants. The Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) was used to inform the interview schedule and to organise the thematic analysis. Meter accessibility and location was variable across the participant groups, as was the education and awareness of metering technology. Socio-political factors were found to directly affect the use of meters, specifically in the low-income group. The high cost associated with metering was a prominent finding; with a preconception that introducing meters would only increase utility expenditure. Future work should focus around ensuring meters are easy to use, practical and accessible to all residents and supporting education programmes around how to use a meter and how they can reduce utility expenditure. The cost of meters should also be investigated, to establish that the costs, associated with introducing new meters, are not passed disproportionately to consumers.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43477-022-00059-y.
PubMed: 36248403
DOI: 10.1007/s43477-022-00059-y -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Dec 2022Nowadays the rationalization of electrical energy consumption is a serious concern worldwide. Energy consumption reduction and energy efficiency appear to be the two...
Nowadays the rationalization of electrical energy consumption is a serious concern worldwide. Energy consumption reduction and energy efficiency appear to be the two paths to addressing this target. To achieve this goal, many different techniques are promoted, among them, the integration of (artificial) intelligence in the energy workflow is gaining importance. All these approaches have a common need: data. Data that should be collected and provided in a reliable, accurate, secure, and efficient way. For this purpose, sensing technologies that enable ubiquitous data acquisition and the new communication infrastructure that ensure low latency and high density are the key. This article presents a sensing solution devoted to the precise gathering of energy parameters such as voltage, current, active power, and power factor for server farms and datacenters, computing infrastructures that are growing meaningfully to meet the demand for network applications. The designed system enables disaggregated acquisition of energy data from a large number of devices and characterization of their consumption behavior, both in real time. In this work, the creation of a complete multiport power meter system is detailed. The study reports all the steps needed to create the prototype, from the analysis of electronic components, the selection of sensors, the design of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB), the configuration and calibration of the hardware and embedded system, and the implementation of the software layer. The power meter application is geared toward data centers and server farms and has been tested by connecting it to a laboratory server rack, although its designs can be easily adapted to other scenarios where gathering the energy consumption information was needed. The novelty of the system is based on high scalability built upon two factors. Firstly, the one-on-one approach followed to acquire the data from each power source, even if they belong to the same physical equipment, so the system can correlate extremely well the execution of processes with the energy data. Thus, the potential of data to develop tailored solutions rises. Second, the use of temporal multiplexing to keep the real-time data delivery even for a very high number of sources. All these ensure compatibility with standard IoT networks and applications, as the data markup language is used (enabling database storage and computing system processing) and the interconnection is done by well-known protocols.
PubMed: 36616716
DOI: 10.3390/s23010119 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Dec 2018Previous research has shown that rhyme and meter-although enhancing prosodic processing ease and memorability-also tend to make semantic processing more demanding. Using...
Previous research has shown that rhyme and meter-although enhancing prosodic processing ease and memorability-also tend to make semantic processing more demanding. Using a set of rhymed and metered proverbs, as well as nonrhymed and nonmetered versions of these proverbs, the present study reveals this hitherto unspecified difficulty of comprehension to be specifically driven by perceived ambiguity. Roman Jakobson was the 1st to propose this hypothesis, in 1960. He suggested that "ambiguity is an intrinsic, inalienable feature" of "parallelistic" diction of which the combination of rhyme and meter is a pronounced example. Our results show that ambiguity indeed explains a substantial portion of the rhyme- and meter-driven difficulty of comprehension. Longer word-reading times differentially reflected ratings for ambiguity and comprehension difficulty. However, the ambiguity effect is not "inalienable." Rather, many rhymed and metered sentences turned out to be low in ambiguity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Adult; Aphorisms and Proverbs as Topic; Comprehension; Female; Humans; Male; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Periodicity; Phonetics; Psycholinguistics; Reading
PubMed: 29683711
DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000557 -
PeerJ. Computer Science 2021Smart meters have ensured effective end-user energy consumption data management and helping the power companies towards network operation efficiency. However, recent...
Smart meters have ensured effective end-user energy consumption data management and helping the power companies towards network operation efficiency. However, recent studies highlighted that cyber adversaries may launch attacks on smart meters that can cause data availability, integrity, and confidentiality issues both at the consumer side or at a network operator's end. Therefore, research on smart meter data security has been attributed as one of the top priorities to ensure the safety and reliability of the critical energy system infrastructure. Authentication is one of the basic building blocks of any secure system. Numerous authentication schemes have been proposed for the smart grid, but most of these methods are applicable for two party communication. In this article, we propose a distributed, dynamic multistage authenticated key agreement scheme for smart meter communication. The proposed scheme provides secure authentication between smart meter, NAN gateway, and SCADA energy center in a distributed manner. Through rigorous cryptanalysis we have proved that the proposed scheme resist replay attack, insider attack, impersonation attack and man-in-the-middle attack. Also, it provides perfect forward secrecy, device anonymity and data confidentiality. The proposed scheme security is formally proved in the CK-model and, using BAN logic, it is proved that the scheme creates a secure session between the communication participants. The proposed scheme is simulated using the AVISPA tool and verified the safety against all active attacks. Further, efficiency analysis of the scheme has been made by considering its computation, communication, and functional costs. The computed results are compared with other related schemes. From these analysis results, it is proved that the proposed scheme is robust and secure when compared to other schemes.
PubMed: 34322596
DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.643 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Sep 2019Smart cities require interactive management of water supply networks and water meters play an important role in such a task. As compared to fully mechanical water...
Smart cities require interactive management of water supply networks and water meters play an important role in such a task. As compared to fully mechanical water meters, electromechanical water meters or fully electronic water meters can collect real-time information through automatic meter reading (AMR), which makes them more suitable for smart cities applications. In this paper, we first study the design principles of existing water meters, and then present our design and implementation of a self-powered smart water meter. The proposed water meter is based on a water turbine generator, which serves for two purposes: (i) to sense the water flow through adaptive signal processing performed on the generated voltage; and (ii) to produce electricity to charge batteries for the smart meter to function properly. In particular, we present the design considerations and implementation details. The wireless transceiver is integrated in the proposed water meter so that it can provide real-time water flow information. In addition, a mobile phone application is designed to provide a user with a convenient tool for water usage monitoring.
PubMed: 31561551
DOI: 10.3390/s19194177 -
Journal of Diabetes Science and... Sep 2021Blood glucose meters remain an effective tool for blood glucose monitoring (BGM) but not all meters provide the same level of insight beyond the numerical glucose result.
BACKGROUND
Blood glucose meters remain an effective tool for blood glucose monitoring (BGM) but not all meters provide the same level of insight beyond the numerical glucose result.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate healthcare professional (HCP) perceptions of four meters and how these meters support the achievement of self-management goals recommended by diabetes clinical practice guidelines.
METHODS
Three hundred and fifty-three HCPs from five countries reviewed the features and benefits of four meters using interactive webpages and then responded to statements about the utility of each meter and ranked each meter in terms of clinical value.
RESULTS
Meter D ranked significantly higher in terms of clinical utility for all 13 guideline questions (70%-84%, < .05) compared to other meters. Endocrinologists (69%-85%), primary care physicians (PCP; 63%-80%), and diabetes nurses (DN; 80%-89%) consistently ranked meter D highest for all guideline questions. DNs ranked selected questions significantly higher compared to PCPs (8 of 13) or endocrinologists (3 of 13; < .05). Meter D achieved strong endorsement from HCPs in France and Germany, followed by the United States and Canada, with comparatively lower responses from Italian HCPs ( < 0.05). With respect to self-management, 80% of HCPs selected meter D as their first choice for patients with type 1 diabetes to help patients improve diabetes management or understand their numbers to help them stay in range.
CONCLUSIONS
HCPs had strong preference for a meter providing additional insights, messages, and guidance direct to the patient to support achievement of self-management goals recommended by diabetes clinical practice guidelines.
Topics: Blood Glucose; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; Delivery of Health Care; Goals; Humans; Perception; Self-Management; United States
PubMed: 32772855
DOI: 10.1177/1932296820946112 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2021Most smart meters are connected and powered by the electric mains, requiring the service interruption and qualified personnel for their installation. Wireless...
Most smart meters are connected and powered by the electric mains, requiring the service interruption and qualified personnel for their installation. Wireless technologies and energy harvesting techniques have been proved as alternatives for communications and power supply, respectively. In this work, we analyse the energy consumption of the most used IoT wireless technologies nowadays: Sigfox, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT, Wi-Fi, BLE. Smart meters' energy consumption accounts for metering, standby and communication processes. Experimental measurements show that communication consumption may vary upon the specific characteristics of each wireless communication technology-payload, connection establishment, transmission time. Results show that the selection of a specific technology will depend on the application requirements (message payload, metering period) and location constraints (communication range, infrastructure availability). Besides, we compare the performance of the most suitable energy harvesting (EH) techniques for smart meters: photovoltaic (PV), radiofrequency (RF) and magnetic induction (MIEH). Thus, EH technique selection will depend on the availability of each source at the smart meter's location. The most appropriate combination of IoT wireless technology and EH technique must be selected accordingly to the very use case requirements and constraints.
PubMed: 34833509
DOI: 10.3390/s21227433 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Jul 2019Smart flow monitoring is critical for sewer system management. Obstructions and restrictions to flow in discharge pipes are common and costly. We propose the use of...
Smart flow monitoring is critical for sewer system management. Obstructions and restrictions to flow in discharge pipes are common and costly. We propose the use of electrical resistance tomography modality for the task of smart wastewater metering. This paper presents the electronics hardware design and bespoke signal processing to create an embedded sensor for measuring flow rates and flow properties, such as constituent materials in sewage or grey water discharge pipes of diameters larger than 250 mm. The dedicated analogue signal conditioning module, zero-cross switching scheme, and real-time operating system enable the system to perform low-cost serial measurements while still providing the capability of real-time capturing. The system performance was evaluated via both stationary and dynamic experiments. A data acquisition speed of 14 frames per second (fps) was achieved with an overall signal to noise ratio of at least 59.54 dB. The smallest sample size reported was 0.04% of the domain size in stationary tests, illustrating good resolution. Movements have been successfully captured in dynamic tests, with a clear definition being achieved of objects in each reconstructed image, as well as a fine overall visualization of movement.
PubMed: 31295910
DOI: 10.3390/s19143043 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024After the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011, many types of survey meters were used, including Geiger-Müller (GM) survey meters, which have long been used...
After the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011, many types of survey meters were used, including Geiger-Müller (GM) survey meters, which have long been used to measure β-rays. Recently, however, a novel radiation survey meter that uses a plastic-scintillation sensor has been developed. Although manufacturers' catalog data are available for these survey meters, there have been no user reports on performance. In addition, the performance of commercial plastic-scintillation survey meters has not been evaluated. In this study, we experimentally compared the performance of a plastic-scintillation survey meter with that of a GM survey meter. The results show that the two instruments performed very similarly in most respects. The GM survey meter exhibited count losses when the radiation count rate was high, whereas the plastic-scintillation survey meter remained accurate under such circumstances, with almost no count loss at high radiation rates. For measurements at background rates (i.e., low counting rates), the counting rates of the plastic-scintillation and GM survey meters were similar. Therefore, an advantage of plastic-scintillation survey meters is that they are less affected by count loss than GM survey meters. We conclude that the plastic-scintillation survey meter is a useful β-ray measuring/monitoring instrument.
PubMed: 38793828
DOI: 10.3390/s24102973 -
Gait & Posture Jan 2021Power output considers all movement aspects of the game of football and could have meaningful impact for teams.
BACKGROUND
Power output considers all movement aspects of the game of football and could have meaningful impact for teams.
PURPOSE & METHODS
To assess inter-reliability of ten power meters designed for running; and as a descriptor of individual and team performance during a five-a-side football match. The work aimed to assess inter-device reliability of running power-meters combined with data analysis from intermittent running, along with descriptives of player work rate, gait and team performance during a small-sided game of football.
METHODS
10 different running power meters inter-reliability were on a treadmill at 8, 10, 12, and 16 km h for 60 s in a random order. Football players (N = 10) performed the Yo-Yo ET1 with the running power meters to determine participants' endurance capability, while assessing the ability to record metrics of gait and power output during intermittent running. Following a period of 7-days participants took part in a 20 min small-sided game of football wearing the running power meters to provide descriptors of work and gait.
RESULTS
Good inter-device reliability for the power meters (CV 1.67, range 1.51-1.94 %) during continuous treadmill running were found. Overall mean ± SD results for Yo-Yo ET1 power output 263 ± 36W, power:weight 3.59 ± 0.34W∙kg significantly (p < 0.05) increased with successive stages, while ground-contact time 234 ± 17 ms, and vertical oscillation 90.7 ± 27 mm did not change (p > 0.05). Descriptive analysis of the small-sided game presented mean ± SD absolute and relative power outputs of 148 ± 44W and 1.98 ± 0.53W∙kg, equating to 54 ± 21 %W and 74 ± 5%HR. Characteristics of gait included cadence 125 ± 22 rpm, ground contact time 266 ± 19 ms, and vertical oscillation 76.7 ± 7 mm. The winning team worked relatively harder than the losing team (53.3 ± 0.7 %W vs 46.7 ± 0.4 %W, p < 0.0001) with more time (398 s vs 141 s) spent above 70 %W.
SIGNIFICANCE
As such, the use of a running power-meter is a useful tool for comparing work rate and aspects of gait between team members while more research is required to investigate relative work rate (%W) within the field.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Athletic Performance; Exercise Test; Football; Humans; Male; Reproducibility of Results; Running; Young Adult
PubMed: 33069127
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2020.09.028