Overcoming the barriers to sustainable motorsport

The aim of this Engineering Doctorate was to identify and develop strategies and technologies to overcome the barriers to sustainable motorsport. A top-down approach was taken beginning with an industry-wide strategy and ending with the development of individual sustainable technologies. After identifying a set of target guidelines for the industry to follow, the economic, social and environmental barriers to the future sustainability of motorsport were identified. These barriers were addressed through the creation of an industry-wide regulatory strategy followed by an innovative company-focussed technology development process; High Performance Sustainability (HPS). The HPS process was used to develop Eco One, a revolutionary racing car featuring environmentally sustainable technology which generated significant public engagement and facilitated evaluation of the HPS process. This technology demonstrator was used to make iterative improvements to the HPS process, resulting in HPS2, a second generation process with greater focus on performance and the development of sustainable technology. This novel process was used to research and develop individual environmentally-sustainable technologies; natural fibre reinforced composites and the use of high performance biodiesel. Firstly lignin, a natural, renewable, waste material was added to hemp/epoxy composites as an innovative compatibiliser with a resulting improvement in mechanical properties. Secondly, engine parameters were modified for the use of biodiesel made from soybean oil, resulting in torque equal to diesel fuel but with a lower in-cylinder pressure. The impact of these technologies is the opportunity to use renewable materials for high performance applications, potentially competing with existing motorsport technology. The innovations presented in this Engineering Doctorate led to recognised expertise in sustainable motorsport within WMG, and in turn resulted in sustainable motorsport projects including WorldFirst, in which a Formula 3 car was developed featuring natural fibre composites, high performance biodiesel and recycled carbon fibre components. The impacts of this work are the establishment of industrial projects with race teams and constructors, conference attendances and peer-reviewed publications, and dissemination of research through the development of academic courses and extensive media coverage

Digital printing of titanium dioxide for dye sensitized solar cells

Silicon solar cell manufacturing is an expensive and high energy consuming process. In contrast, dye sensitized solar cell production is less environmentally damaging with lower processing temperatures presenting a viable and low cost alternative to conventional production. This paper further enhances these environmental credentials by evaluating the digital printing and therefore additive production route for these cells. This is achieved here by investigating the formation and performance of a metal oxide photoelectrode using nanoparticle sized titanium dioxide. An ink-jettable material was formulated, characterized and printed with a piezoelectric inkjet head to produce a 2.6 µm thick layer. The resultant printed layer was fabricated into a functioning cell with an active area of 0.25 cm2 and a power conversion efficiency of 3.5%. The binder-free formulation resulted in a reduced processing temperature of 250 °C, compatible with flexible polyamide substrates which are stable up to temperatures of 350 ˚C. The authors are continuing to develop this process route by investigating inkjet printing of other layers within dye sensitized solar cells

Nobel Winner Lectures Utah State Students on Learning, Economics

LOGAN — Education is about an attitude of lifelong learning and not just the time spent in a formal academic program, said Vernon Smith, who in 2002 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/huntsman_news/1166/thumbnail.jp

Dynamic association between perfusion and white matter integrity across time since injury in Veterans with history of TBI.

ObjectiveCerebral blood flow (CBF) plays a critical role in the maintenance of neuronal integrity, and CBF alterations have been linked to deleterious white matter changes. Although both CBF and white matter microstructural alterations have been observed within the context of traumatic brain injury (TBI), the degree to which these pathological changes relate to one another and whether this association is altered by time since injury have not been examined. The current study therefore sought to clarify associations between resting CBF and white matter microstructure post-TBI.Methods37 veterans with history of mild or moderate TBI (mmTBI) underwent neuroimaging and completed health and psychiatric symptom questionnaires. Resting CBF was measured with multiphase pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (MPPCASL), and white matter microstructural integrity was measured with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The cingulate cortex and cingulum bundle were selected as a priori regions of interest for the ASL and DTI data, respectively, given the known vulnerability of these regions to TBI.ResultsRegression analyses controlling for age, sex, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms revealed a significant time since injury × resting CBF interaction for the left cingulum (p < 0.005). Decreased CBF was significantly associated with reduced cingulum fractional anisotropy (FA) in the chronic phase; however, no such association was observed for participants with less remote TBI.ConclusionsOur results showed that reduced CBF was associated with poorer white matter integrity in those who were further removed from their brain injury. Findings provide preliminary evidence of a possible dynamic association between CBF and white matter microstructure that warrants additional consideration within the context of the negative long-term clinical outcomes frequently observed in those with history of TBI. Additional cross-disciplinary studies integrating multiple imaging modalities (e.g., DTI, ASL) and refined neuropsychiatric assessment are needed to better understand the nature, temporal course, and dynamic association between brain changes and clinical outcomes post-injury

Photoionization of High Altitude Gas in a Supernova-Driven Turbulent Interstellar Medium

We investigate models for the photoionization of the widespread diffuse ionized gas in galaxies. In particular we address the long standing question of the penetration of Lyman continuum photons from sources close to the galactic midplane to large heights in the galactic halo. We find that recent hydrodynamical simulations of a supernova-driven interstellar medium have low density paths and voids that allow for ionizing photons from midplane OB stars to reach and ionize gas many kiloparsecs above the midplane. We find ionizing fluxes throughout our simulation grids are larger than predicted by one dimensional slab models, thus allowing for photoionization by O stars of low altitude neutral clouds in the Galaxy that are also detected in Halpha. In previous studies of such clouds the photoionization scenario had been rejected and the Halpha had been attributed to enhanced cosmic ray ionization or scattered light from midplane H II regions. We do find that the emission measure distributions in our simulations are wider than those derived from Halpha observations in the Milky Way. In addition, the horizontally averaged height dependence of the gas density in the hydrodynamical models is lower than inferred in the Galaxy. These discrepancies are likely due to the absence of magnetic fields in the hydrodynamic simulations and we discuss how magnetohydrodynamic effects may reconcile models and observations. Nevertheless, we anticipate that the inclusion of magnetic fields in the dynamical simulations will not alter our primary finding that midplane OB stars are capable of producing high altitude diffuse ionized gas in a realistic three-dimensional interstellar medium.Comment: ApJ accepted. 17 pages, 7 figure

High-Latitude HI in the Low Surface Brightness Galaxy UGC7321

From the analysis of sensitive HI 21-cm line observations, we find evidence for vertically extended HI emission (|z|<~2.4 kpc) in the edge-on, low surface brightness spiral galaxy UGC7321. Three-dimensional modelling suggests that the HI disk of UGC7321 is both warped and flared, but that neither effect can fully reproduce the spatial distribution and kinematics of the highest z-height gas. We are able to model the high-latitude emission as an additional HI component in the form of a ``thick disk'' or ``halo'' with a FWHM~3.3 kpc. We find tentative evidence that the vertically extended gas declines in rotational velocity as a function of z, although we are unable to completely rule out models with constant V(z). In spite of the low star formation rate of UGC7321, energy from supernovae may be sufficient to sustain this high-latitude gas. However, alternative origins for this material, such as slow, sustained infall, cannot yet be excluded.Comment: to appear in the August 20 Astrophysical Journal; 17 pages; version with full resolution figures available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~lmatthew

Subspecific Identification of Sharp-Tailed Grouse Samples from Montana

Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus) historically occupied much of the shrub-steppe habitat of the intermountain west, ranging from interior British Columbia south to California and Colorado. The subspecies has been extirpated from most of its range and currently exists in only scattered isolated populations. The last remnant populations in western Montana were located in the Tobacco Valley near Eureka and the Blackfoot Valley near Helmville. However, those populations were extirpated during the previous decade and the subspecies can no longer be confirmed in the state. A rangewide genetic analysis of sharp-tailed grouse in 2006 documented restricted gene flow based on an analysis of 45 tissue samples taken from Montana birds east of the continental divide. We extended that earlier analysis with a total of 133 tissue samples, including samples from western Montana birds extracted from museum skins collected in 1897, and compared these samples to other genetic profiles reported from across the species range. We compared these samples to test for genetic differences in an area where the reported distribution of the Columbian subspecies is geographically near populations from the plains subspecies (T. p. jamesi). We were able to assign subspecies classification to 126 of the 133 Montana samples, including all samples from west of the Continental Divide. All Montana samples conclusively typed out to the Plains subspecies. Our analysis identified 3 similar genetic clusters across sharptail populations: (1) Alberta, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, (2) Washington, British Columbia and western Idaho, and (3) Utah and southern Idaho. Both microsatellite and control region sequence data indicate that sharp-tailed grouse from all localities in Montana are molecularly most similar to populations from the plains regions of Alberta to Nebraska, indicating that Montana birds share a relatively recent molecular history. It does not appear that the Continental Divide is a current or historical barrier to gene flow in sharp-tailed grouse

The usual suspects: Co-occurrence of integument injuries in turkey flocks.

The present study investigated the prevalence and co-occurrence of integument injuries in Canadian turkeys. Participating farmers scored 30 birds in their flock for integument injuries to the head/neck (HN), back/tail (BT), and footpad (FP) using a simplified scoring system (0: no sign of injury, 1: mild injury, 2: severe injury). Information from 62 flocks was used to calculate the prevalence of any (score ≥1) and severe (score 2) injuries on a flock- and individual-level. Chi-square analyses were performed to determine the likelihood of integument injury co-occurrence. The prevalence of each type of injury varied between flocks. While the majority of flocks reported injuries, the within-flock prevalence was relatively low and largely comprised of mild cases (score 1). Given their higher prevalence, the data indicate that FP injuries are overall more widespread and more severe among Canadian turkey flocks than HN and BT injuries. Co-occurrence of different integument injuries was observed in 7% of birds and 58.1% of flocks reported at least one bird with co-occurring injury types. Despite the low prevalence of multiple injury types, birds with one type of injury were more likely to present with other injury types. Indeed, birds with HN injuries were 4 times more likely to have BT injuries, and birds with FP injuries were 1.5 times more likely to have BT injuries compared to birds that do not have these respective injuries. The data increase our understanding of the co-occurrence of these common integument injuries which can help inform a holistic management approach to rear turkeys with healthy skin and feather cover

Genetic Parameters of White Striping and Meat Quality Traits Indicative of Pale, Soft, Exudative Meat in Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo).

Due to the increasing prevalence of growth-related myopathies and abnormalities in turkey meat, the ability to include meat quality traits in poultry breeding strategies is an issue of key importance. In the present study, genetic parameters for meat quality traits and their correlations with body weight and meat yield were estimated using a population of purebred male turkeys. Information on live body, breast, thigh, and drum weights, breast meat yield, feed conversion ratio, breast lightness (L*), redness (a*), and yellowness (b*), ultimate pH, and white striping (WS) severity score were collected on 11,986 toms from three purebred genetic lines. Heritability and genetic and partial phenotypic correlations were estimated for each trait using an animal model with genetic line, hatch week-year, and age at slaughter included as fixed effects. Heritability of ultimate pH was estimated to be 0.34 ± 0.05 and a range of 0.20 ± 0.02 to 0.23 ± 0.02 for breast meat colour (L*, a*, and b*). White striping was also estimated to be moderately heritable at 0.15 ± 0.02. Unfavorable genetic correlations were observed between body weight and meat quality traits as well as white striping, indicating that selection for increased body weight and meat yield may decrease pH and increase the incidence of pale meat with more severe white striping. The results of this analysis provide insight into the effect of current selection strategies on meat quality and emphasize the need to include meat quality traits into future selection indexes for turkeys