Rolling resistance of electric vehicle tires from track tests

Special low-rolling-resistance tires were made for DOE's ETV-1 electric vehicle. Tests were conducted on these tires and on a set of standard commercial automotive tires to determine the rolling resistance as a function of time during both constant-speed tires and SAE J227a driving cycle tests. The tests were conducted on a test track at ambient temperatures that ranged from 15 to 32 C (59 to 89 F) and with tire pressures of 207 to 276 kPa (30 to 40 psi). At a contained-air temperature of 38 C (100 F) and a pressure of 207 kPa (30 psi) the rolling resistances of the electric vehicle tires and the standard commercial tires, respectively, were 0.0102 and 0.0088 kilogram per kilogram of vehicle weight. At a contained-air temperature of 38 C (100 F) and a pressure of 276 kPa (40 psi) the rolling resistances were 0.009 and 0.0074 kilogram per kilogram of vehicle weight, respectively

Flow alteration-ecology relationships in Ozark Highland streams: Consequences for fish, crayfish and macroinvertebrate assemblages

We examined flowalteration-ecology relationships in benthic macroinvertebrate, fish, and crayfish assemblages in Ozark Highland streams, USA, over two years with contrasting environmental conditions, a drought year (2012) and a flood year (2013). We hypothesized that: 1) there would be temporal variation in flow alteration-ecology relationships between the two years, 2) flow alteration-ecology relationshipswould be stronger during the drought year vs the flood year, and 3) fish assemblages would show the strongest relationships with flow alteration. We used a quantitative richest-targeted habitat (RTH) method and a qualitative multihabitat (QMH) method to collect macroinvertebrates at 16 USGS gaged sites during both years. We used backpack electrofishing to sample fish and crayfish at 17 sites in 2012 and 11 sites in 2013.Weused redundancy analysis to relate biological response metrics, including richness, diversity, density, and community-based metrics, to flow alteration.We found temporal variation in flow alteration-ecology relationships for all taxa, and that relationships differed greatly between assemblages. We found relationships were stronger for macroinvertebrates during the drought year but not for other assemblages, and that fish assemblage relationships were not stronger than the invertebrate taxa. Magnitude of average flow, frequency of high flow, magnitude of high flow, and duration of high flow were the most important categories of flow alteration metrics across taxa. Alteration of high and average flows was more important than alteration of low flows. Of 32 important flow alteration metrics across years and assemblages, 19 were significantly altered relative to expected values. Ecological responses differed substantially between drought and flood years, and this is likely to be exacerbated with predicted climate change scenarios. Differences in flow alteration-ecology relationships among taxonomic groups and temporal variation in relationships illustrate that a complex suite of variables should be considered for effective conservation of stream communities related to flow alteration

Flueric-controller pneumatic stepping motor system

Nutating stepping motor consists of an output rotating gear and a nutating gear. A flueric logic circuit controls the nutating motor. The complete system constitutes a reliable, open loop actuator system with inherently high output stiffness, reasonable slewing speeds and small step size

Performance of conventionally powered vehicles tested to an electric vehicle test procedure

A conventional Volkswagen transporter, a Renault 5, a Pacer, and a U. S. Postal Service general DJ-5 delivery van were treated to an electric vehicle test procedure in order to allow direct comparison of conventional and electric vehicles. Performance test results for the four vehicles are presented

Removal of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds From Secondary Municipal Wastewater

Approximately 1.2 billion people around the world live in areas of physical water scarcity. This could increase to half of the world’s population by 2030 and could displace 24 to 700 million people unless steps are taken to ensure adequate water supply.1 Water scarcity is an escalating issue within the United States, specifically in Western inland states with arid climates. This scarcity is encouraging communities to investigate tertiary level municipal wastewater treatment, allowing for reuse of wastewater. Unfortunately, wastewater contains numerous contaminants that are not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Many of these contaminants are endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). According to the European Union Commission, an endocrine disruptor is “an exogenous substance that causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, in consequence to the induced changes in endocrine functions.”2 Many EDCs are not completely removed by standard secondary wastewater treatment methods. With the growing demand for potable water, as well as water for irrigation and agricultural purposes, communities are having to evaluate the potential health risks due to EDCs and other unregulated compounds. The Woo-Pig-Sewage team selected one unregulated contaminant, chlorpyrifos (CLP), to test. CLP is an organophosphate insecticide that is commonly used residentially and commercially. CLP has a long term impact as a cholinesterase inhibitor in humans.3 Using traditional biological methods, CLP, as well as other pesticides, are nearly impossible to remove.4 CLP is on the Fourth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule list produced by the EPA to provide a basis for future regulation.5 A bench scale unit utilizing ozone treatment (O3), ultraviolet radiation (UV), and granular activated carbon (GAC) was constructed to remove this contaminant from doped nanopure water. Ultimately, the selected technologies will be able to treat secondary wastewater effluent from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Tucumcari, New Mexico for direct or indirect aquifer reintroduction. Direct aquifer reintroduction would involve injection of water to the existing aquifer, while indirect aquifer introduction would consist of introducing treated effluent to an existing canal system. An oxidation process paired with UV and GAC filtration can be utilized to remove EDCs such as CLP and other unregulated contaminants from wastewater. O3 is extremely effective at oxidizing bacteria as well as other organic molecules. UV is also a commonly used method to degrade organic compounds and is currently being used at the WWTP in Tucumcari, New Task #3 4 University of Arkansas Mexico and in Fayetteville, Arkansas. GAC is utilized to remove trace amounts of contaminants from wastewater streams, usually as a final treatment before the water is reintroduced to the environment. The WWTP in Rio Rancho, New Mexico currently plans to utilize GAC filtration in this manner. The Woo-Pig-Sewage team performed experiments to determine if the combination of O3, UV, and GAC could reduce CLP to a concentration below the minimum detection limit of 0.001 ppm. To test the effectiveness of the bench scale, caffeine was used as an organic tracer. Bench scale results indicate that the proposed system is effective in the removal of caffeine and CLP from doped water samples. Caffeine concentrations were reduced to below the minimum detection limit of 0.05 ppm for samples with initial concentrations ranging from 0.1 ppm to 10 ppm. CLP was reduced to below the minimum detection limit of 0.001 ppm from and initial concentration of 0.1 ppm. An industrial scale process was sized based on treating secondary effluent from the WWTP in Tucumcari, NM. The total cost was determined to be an additional $2.31 per 1000 gallons, assuming 0$4.95 per 1000 gallons for the existing treatment paired with the proposed system. While this adds a significant cost to the existing treatment at the WWTP in Tucumcari, plants with larger flow rates would see significantly less of an increase in the total cost per 1000 gallons. This can be seen from the comparison of the 144,000 gallon per day (gpd) system with existing UV treatment and the 300,000 gpd Tucumcari system also utilizing UV treatment. The 144,000 gpd system was estimated to cost about 60% more per 1000 gallons. However, if the Tucumcari WWTP is awarded a grant to cover 100% of the Fixed Capital Investment (FCI), the proposed system would only increase the cost per 1000 gallons by 38%. If the EPA determines that EDCs such as CLP must be removed from the effluent of WWTPs, a process such as the one proposed by the Woo-Pig-Sewage team will be necessary

Mediation of the Religion-Prejudice Link

Although religious teachings typically recommend prosocial behavior, religiosity is reliably linked to prejudice. This paradoxical relationship raises the question: what is it about religion that might lead to prejudice despite religion’s apparent drive for prosociality? The answer may lie with religious fundamentalism, a particularly rigid way of holding one’s religious beliefs as the single deepest and most certain source of truth. We propose that religious fundamentalism mediates the relationship between religiosity and prejudice. We also seek to explore the influence of three facets of inflexible thinking (belief rigidity, dualism, and inviolacy) on the relationship between religious fundamentalism and prejudice. We looked specifically at prejudice against Muslims in a Christian sample for several reasons: 1) Christians see Muslims as a value-violating outgroup and previous research has linked Christian religious fundamentalism to anti-Muslim prejudice, 2) prejudice against Muslims in the U.S. is common, and 3) anti-Muslim prejudice in the U.S. is not as stigmatized as many other forms of prejudice, making it easier to measure directly. To test this mediation, we used an online survey of an all-Christian sample (n=195) of American college students collected at the University of Maine. Participants completed multiple measures of religiosity, prejudice against Muslims, and religious fundamentalism, as well as measures of belief rigidity, dualism, and inviolacy. Mediation analyses showed that religiosity is linked to prejudice only through the mechanism of religious fundamentalism, and that dualism and belief rigidity may be useful in further explaining the link between religious fundamentalism and prejudice

Objectives Driven Participatory Evaluation Model

The ability to complete program evaluations of educational programming is typically restricted by the availability of resources, such as time, money and a trained evaluator. Although not a replacement for trained evaluators, promoting evaluative capacity and evaluative thinking within an organization can help mitigate this gap between talent and resources. Participatory evaluation is purported to increase organizational learning and promote evaluative thinking within an organization (Cousins & Whitmore, 1998). Objectives oriented evaluation is an easily understood evaluation method which provides a refined focus program outcome (Madaus & Stufflebeam, 1989). Using an internal evaluation of a new faculty onboarding course at a private non-profit college system, a mixed methods study was completed to explore the use of a participatory evaluation program evaluation with the use of the program objectives as an advanced organizer. An explanatory sequential design was employed utilizing quantitative findings to collect qualitative data to further explore the participants’ experiences completing the program evaluation. This combined evaluation methodology met the criteria posited in Daigneault and Jacob (2009) and Toal (2009) to be considered participatory in its implementation. It also involved participants in ways which provided them experiences which helped develop evaluative thinking, skills, and beliefs