Fuel Specific Emissions Trends for In-Use Medium and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Fleets in California

New heavy-duty vehicle regulations have caused significant reductions in hazardous air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), due to better engine management and utilization of advanced after-treatment systems. The University of Denver has collected data for gaseous and PM emission measurements from on-road heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs). The On-Road Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emissions Measurement System (OHMS) collected fuel specific emission information on individual HDVs of in-use fleets at two California locations in the spring of 2013, 2015 and 2017. These complimentary fleets, studied over multiple years, produced 7,075 measurements of gaseous and particle emission data providing the basis to quantify on-road HDV emission trends and compare a variety of factors that influence on-road emissions. The Port of Los Angeles contributes a fleet fully equipped with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) that had an observed PM increase of 30% in 2017 from 2013, but the fleet average is highly dependent on the fraction of high emitters. The second fleet measured was at the Cottonwood weigh station in Northern California, regulated at the state level and with slower fleet turn over, fleet PM emissions decrease (76% between 2013 and 2017) but at a slower rate than at the Port. Additionally, heavy and medium-duty vehicles were measured at a second weigh station in Southern California. The Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test (FEAT) was used to collect on-road fuel specific emissions for HDVs and MDVs at the Peralta weigh station near Anaheim, CA, resulting in 2,315 measurements. The HDV’s data added to measurements from 1997, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012 at this location. Two FEAT systems, one traditionally mounted atop scaffolding to collect emissions from HDVs with elevated exhaust stacks and a second, ground-level system were used for the first time to measure emissions from both MDVs and HDVs with ground-level exhaust. Introduction of new technologies show diminished NOx and PM emissions as HDVs saw a 55% NOx decrease since 2008 and a 33% reduction in IR %opacity. The MDV fleet was 2.1 years older than the HDV fleet and MDVs NOx emissions show reductions approximately 2 model years (2014) earlier than HDVs

Evaluation of Heavy- and Medium-Duty On-Road Vehicle Emissions in California\u27s South Coast Air Basin

Emission measurements were collected from heavy-duty (HDVs) and medium-duty vehicles (MDVs) at the Peralta weigh station long-term measurement site near Anaheim, CA in 2017. Two Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test units sampled elevated and ground-level exhaust vehicles totaling 2,315 measurements. HDVs (1844 measurements) exhibited historical reductions in fuel specific oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from the 2008 measurements (55%) with increased use of exhaust gas recirculation and selective catalytic reduction systems. However, as these technologies have aged, the in-use benefits have declined. Infrared %opacity measurements of tailpipe soot decreased 14% since 2012 with increased diesel particulate filter (DPF) use, DPF longevity and fleet turnover. 63% of the HDV fleet in 2017 was chassis model year 2011+ compared to only 12% in 2012. The observed MDV fleet (471 measurements) was 1.4 years older than the HDV fleet with average NOx 14% higher. A significant reduction in MDV NOx occurred approximately 2 model years prior to similar HDV reductions (2014 versus 2016 chassis model year). MDV chassis model years 2014+ were able to meet their corresponding NOx laboratory certification standards in-use, whereas HDVs remain slightly above this threshold. Similar MDV NOx emission trends were also observed in data previously collected in Chicago, IL

siRNA-Mediated Gene Targeting in Aedes aegypti Embryos Reveals That Frazzled Regulates Vector Mosquito CNS Development

Although mosquito genome projects uncovered orthologues of many known developmental regulatory genes, extremely little is known about the development of vector mosquitoes. Here, we investigate the role of the Netrin receptor frazzled (fra) during embryonic nerve cord development of two vector mosquito species. Fra expression is detected in neurons just prior to and during axonogenesis in the embryonic ventral nerve cord of Aedes aegypti (dengue vector) and Anopheles gambiae (malaria vector). Analysis of fra function was investigated through siRNA-mediated knockdown in Ae. aegypti embryos. Confirmation of fra knockdown, which was maintained throughout embryogenesis, indicated that microinjection of siRNA is an effective method for studying gene function in Ae. aegypti embryos. Loss of fra during Ae. aegypti development results in thin and missing commissural axons. These defects are qualitatively similar to those observed in Dr. melanogaster fra null mutants. However, the Aa. aegypti knockdown phenotype is stronger and bears resemblance to the Drosophila commissureless mutant phenotype. The results of this investigation, the first targeted knockdown of a gene during vector mosquito embryogenesis, suggest that although Fra plays a critical role during development of the Ae. aegypti ventral nerve cord, mechanisms regulating embryonic commissural axon guidance have evolved in distantly related insects

Semaphorin-1a Is Required for Aedes aegypti Embryonic Nerve Cord Development

Although mosquito genome projects have uncovered orthologues of many known developmental regulatory genes, extremely little is known about mosquito development. In this study, the role of semaphorin-1a (sema1a) was investigated during vector mosquito embryonic ventral nerve cord development. Expression of sema1a and the plexin A (plexA) receptor are detected in the embryonic ventral nerve cords of Aedes aegypti (dengue vector) and Anopheles gambiae (malaria vector), suggesting that Sema1a signaling may regulate mosquito nervous system development. Analysis of sema1a function was investigated through siRNA-mediated knockdown in A. aegypti embryos. Knockdown of sema1a during A. aegypti development results in a number of nerve cord phenotypes, including thinning, breakage, and occasional fusion of the longitudinal connectives, thin or absent commissures, and general distortion of the nerve cord. Although analysis of Drosophila melanogaster sema1a loss-of-function mutants uncovered many similar phenotypes, aspects of the longitudinal phenotypes differed between D. melanogaster and A. aegypti. The results of this investigation suggest that Sema1a is required for development of the insect ventral nerve cord, but that the developmental roles of this guidance molecule have diverged in dipteran insects

An expansive human regulatory lexicon encoded in transcription factor footprints.

Regulatory factor binding to genomic DNA protects the underlying sequence from cleavage by DNase I, leaving nucleotide-resolution footprints. Using genomic DNase I footprinting across 41 diverse cell and tissue types, we detected 45 million transcription factor occupancy events within regulatory regions, representing differential binding to 8.4 million distinct short sequence elements. Here we show that this small genomic sequence compartment, roughly twice the size of the exome, encodes an expansive repertoire of conserved recognition sequences for DNA-binding proteins that nearly doubles the size of the human cis-regulatory lexicon. We find that genetic variants affecting allelic chromatin states are concentrated in footprints, and that these elements are preferentially sheltered from DNA methylation. High-resolution DNase I cleavage patterns mirror nucleotide-level evolutionary conservation and track the crystallographic topography of protein-DNA interfaces, indicating that transcription factor structure has been evolutionarily imprinted on the human genome sequence. We identify a stereotyped 50-base-pair footprint that precisely defines the site of transcript origination within thousands of human promoters. Finally, we describe a large collection of novel regulatory factor recognition motifs that are highly conserved in both sequence and function, and exhibit cell-selective occupancy patterns that closely parallel major regulators of development, differentiation and pluripotency