A Magnetic Gearbox With an Active Region Torque Density of 239 N.m/L

In this paper, a 1:4.25 ratio ferrite magnet and Nd-Fe-B magnet flux-focusing magnetic gearbox with a high pole count is analyzed. A simple parameter sweep analysis is used to show that higher than previously published torque density values are achievable. Experimental results are then presented for the Nd-Fe-B design that confirm the calculations and also demonstrate that the proposed magnetic gearbox can operate with a low torque ripple

Mental health consequences of air pollution: retrospective population based cohort survey

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently estimated that ambient air pollution causes 482,000 premature deaths within the WHO European Region. However, the significant potential health and societal costs of poor mental health in relation to air quality is not represented in the WHO report. This reflects the limited number of studies directly linking air pollution exposure to adverse mental health outcomes published to date. The aim of the study is to address the gaps of existing literature and quantify the effect of medium-term exposure of residential traffic air pollution at address level on common mental and psychiatric disorders as well as on physical health. A longitudinal mental health survey was conducted of 1,698 adults living in 1,075 households in South East London, from 2008 to 2013. High-resolution (20m x 20m) residential address level air pollution metrics were employed with the use of the established King's College London urban dispersion model. Data were analysed with the use of multilevel generalised linear models. Average air pollutant exposures across the time period of the study area were 43 μg/m3 nitrogen dioxide (NO2), 79 μg/m3nitrogen oxides (NOx), 22 μg/m3 particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM2.5), 23 μg/m3particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <10 μm (PM10), and 32 μg/m3 ozone (O3). We found strong evidence for interquartile range increases in PM2.5, NO2, NOx to be associated with 18% to 38% increased odds of common mental disorders, 18% to 29% increased odds of poor physical health, and 15% to 25% of psychotic experiences based on standardised and validated questionnaires, after adjusting for large number of confounders, including individuals socioeconomic position and urban noise. These longitudinal associations were more pronounced in the subset of non-movers. The findings suggest that air pollution from road traffic in London is adversely affecting mental and psychiatric disorders and physical health

Inferring outcrossing in the homothallic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum using linkage disequilibrium decay

The occurrence and frequency of outcrossing in homothallic fungal species in nature is an unresolved question. Here we report detection of frequent outcrossing in the homothallic fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In using multilocus linkage disequilibrium (LD) to infer recombination among microsatellite alleles, high mutation rates confound the estimates of recombination. To distinguish high mutation rates from recombination to infer outcrossing, 8 population samples comprising 268 S. sclerotiorum isolates from widely distributed agricultural fields were genotyped for 12 microsatellite markers, resulting in multiple polymorphic markers on three chromosomes. Each isolate was homokaryotic for the 12 loci. Pairwise LD was estimated using three methods: Fisher's exact test, index of association (IA) and Hedrick's D'. For most of the populations, pairwise LD decayed with increasing physical distance between loci in two of the three chromosomes. Therefore, the observed recombination of alleles cannot be simply attributed to mutation alone. Different recombination rates in various DNA regions (recombination hot/cold spots) and different evolutionary histories of the populations could explain the observed differences in rates of LD decay among the chromosomes and among populations. The majority of the isolates exhibited mycelial incompatibility, minimizing the possibility of heterokaryon formation and mitotic recombination. Thus, the observed high intrachromosomal recombination is due to meiotic recombination, suggesting frequent outcrossing in these populations, supporting the view that homothallism favors universal compatibility of gametes instead of traditionally believed haploid selfing in S. sclerotiorum. Frequent outcrossing facilitates emergence and spread of new traits such as fungicide resistance, increasing difficulties in managing Sclerotinia diseases