LET\u27S GET DIRTY! Mini Baja SAE Project

Matthew Suchyna, Matthew Minchen, Seth Britton, Ryan Smoral, Grant Guzek, Adam Glaser, Casey Willer, Evan Shagott, Jerome Allen, Nick Walker, Josh Schaner and Shaun Payne, ENT 422: Machine Design II Faculty Mentor: Professor Jikai Du, Engineering Technology For the Mini Baja team’s Senior Project, the group was tasked with building a Mini Baja car. The vehicle must meet the requirements laid down by the SAE International group, who will be judging our fully finished car based on a strict set of guidelines. The team’s goal was to build a car that passes its rigorous inspection. This means there was much at stake as we built this car. Once the car has been fully built, our team will take it to a competition that is attended to by various teams all across the country. There, we will be judged on how our car performs in a series of obstacle courses, culminating with a final endurance race, going head-to-head against cars from every state, with the winner crowned as champions. This feat is not to be taken lightly, for the competition is fierce, with multiple skilled racers. We strive to be able to put together a car that we can shower with champagne and go down in the annals of Buffalo State engineering history.https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/srcc-sp20-compeng/1019/thumbnail.jp

Steady-state neutronic analysis of converting the UK CONSORT reactor for ADS experiments

CONSORT is the UK's last remaining civilian research reactor, and its present core is soon to be removed. This study examines the feasibility of re-using the reactor facility for accelerator-driven systems research by replacing the fuel and installing a spallation neutron target driven by an external proton accelerator. MCNP5/MCNPX were used to model alternative, high-density fuels and their coupling to the neutrons generated by 230 MeV protons from a cyclotron striking a solid tungsten spallation target side-on to the core. Low-enriched U3Si2 and U-9Mo were considered as candidates, with only U-9Mo found to be feasible in the compact core; fuel element size and arrangement were kept the same as the original core layout to minimise thermal hydraulic and other changes. Reactor thermal power up to 2.5 kW is predicted for a keff of 0.995, large enough to carry out reactor kinetic experiments.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figure

Looking to the horizon: The role of bilirubin in development and prevention of age-related chronic diseases

Bilirubin, the principal tetrapyrrole, bile pigment and catabolite of haem, is an emerging biomarker of disease resistance, which may be related to several recently documented biological functions. Initially believed to be toxic in infants, the perception of bilirubin has undergone a transformation: it is now considered to be a molecule that may promote health in adults. Data from the last decade demonstrate that mildly elevated serum bilirubin levels are strongly associated with reduced prevalence of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), as well as CVD-related mortality and risk factors. Recent data also link bilirubin to other chronic diseases, including cancer and Type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to all-cause mortality. Therefore, there is evidence to suggest that bilirubin is a biomarker for reduced chronic disease prevalence and a predictor of all-cause mortality, which is of important clinical significance. In the present review, detailed information on the association between bilirubin and all-cause mortality, as well as the pathological conditions of CVD, cancer, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases, is provided. The mechanistic background concerning how bilirubin and its metabolism may influence disease prevention and its clinical relevance is also discussed. Given that the search for novel biomarkers of these diseases, as well as for novel therapeutic modalities, is a key research objective for the near future, bilirubin represents a promising candidate, meeting the criteria of a biomarker, and should be considered more carefully in clinical practice as a molecule that might provide insights into disease resistance. Clearly, however, greater molecular insight is warranted to support and strengthen the conclusion that bilirubin can prevent disease, with future research directions also proposed