Exploiting autonomous corner modules to resolve force constraints in the tyre contact patch

This paper presents a general force allocation strategy for over-actuated vehicles, utilising technologies where tyre forces can be morefreely controlled than in conventional vehicles. For the purpose of illustration, this strategy has been applied and evaluated using adesign proposal of an autonomous corner module (ACM) chassis during a transient open-loop response test. In this work, the vehicle hasbeen forced to follow a trajectory, identical to the performance of a conventional front-steered vehicle during the manoeuvre studied. Anoptimisation process of tyre force allocation has been adopted along with tyre force constraints and cost functions to favour a desiredsolution. The vehicle response has been evaluated as open-loop, where tyre forces are shown to be allocated in a different mannerthan in conventional front-steered vehicles. A suggested approach for a control scheme of steering actuators is presented, where theactuator limitation is related to the lateral force possible. Finally, the force allocation strategy involves the ability to control vehicleslip independently from vehicle yaw rate. This opportunity has been adapted in the ACM vehicle in order to relax vehicle slip from theoriginal trajectory description. In such circumstances, the ACMs demonstrate better utilisation of the adhesion potential

Comprehensive sequence-to-function mapping of cofactor-dependent RNA catalysis in the glmS ribozyme.

Massively parallel, quantitative measurements of biomolecular activity across sequence space can greatly expand our understanding of RNA sequence-function relationships. We report the development of an RNA-array assay to perform such measurements and its application to a model RNA: the core glmS ribozyme riboswitch, which performs a ligand-dependent self-cleavage reaction. We measure the cleavage rates for all possible single and double mutants of this ribozyme across a series of ligand concentrations, determining kcat and KM values for active variants. These systematic measurements suggest that evolutionary conservation in the consensus sequence is driven by maintenance of the cleavage rate. Analysis of double-mutant rates and associated mutational interactions produces a structural and functional mapping of the ribozyme sequence, revealing the catalytic consequences of specific tertiary interactions, and allowing us to infer structural rearrangements that permit certain sequence variants to maintain activity

Biological control of strawberry diseases by Aureobasidium pullulans and sugar beet extract under field conditions

Grey mould (caused by Botrytis cinerea) is the most important pathogen underlying high fungicide dependence in strawberry fields. Reliable biocontrol agents (BCAs) with improved efficiency are needed to replace fungicides. The yeast-like beneficial fungus Aureobasidium pullulans (AP-SLU6) has previously exhibited great potential to combat grey mould in greenhouse environments. Here we report results from a two-year full-factorial field trial in a conventional strawberry field, in which we tested two different concentrations of A. pullulans (10(7) CFU/ml and 10(6) CFU/ml) and sugar beet extract (SBE). The results showed that all the field treatments reduced grey mould severity postharvest and increased shelf life of the harvested fruit in both years. The best effect was achieved using the highest conidial concentration of A. pullulans, which also resulted in 53% higher fruit production compared to the control treatment at the end of the season, indicating a plant-growth promoting effect of the BCA. These results reveal that spray applications of these novel BCAs contribute to reliable biocontrol of grey mould, leading to improvement of the shelf life of strawberry sales boxes. These findings suggest that A. pullulans and SBE can contribute to a shift from chemical fungicides to sustainable methods without compromising cropping security

En analys av metodval - Komplexitetstyp och erfarenhet i utvecklingsprojekt

Projektledaren är en trendsättande faktor inom projekt då denne har stort inflytande över hur projektet fortskrider. Sträcker sig denne persons inflytande så långt att han eller hon också kan bestämma vilken utvecklingsmetod som används i projektet? Är det även så att mer komplexa projekt använder en viss typ av utvecklingsmetod? Efter en undersökning bedriven med ett eget utvecklat ramverk visade det sig att projektledaren kan bestämma utvecklingsmetod till viss del och att organisation bestämmer till viss del samt att det inte går att påvisa en koppling mellan utvecklingsmetod och projektkomplexitet

Energy efficient fish attraction

Fish migration past a hydro power plant (HPP) requires not only flow in the actual fish passage (e.g. fish ladder) but also sufficient water to attract the fish to the entrance. Such attraction water is typically created by spilling water of the order of 10 m3/s, and there are potential savings if the amount of water can be reduced without loss of functionality. The possibility to use ejectors (jet pumps) to pump water from the area downstream of the HPP into the fish passage has been investigated with physical model tests and numerical modelling (CFD). The ambition has been to make use of fairly simple geometries without changing the layout of the suggested fish ladder, and a solution in which the ejectors are located in a separate channel parallel to the fish ladder has been evaluated. The results show that the required spill can be reduced to 1/3 despite the low head (7 m) of the considered HPP, and the savings will be even larger in HPPs with higher head. More energy efficient ways to attract fish can be obtained if the jets are positioned within the actual fish way, but a prerequisite for such solution is that the fish is not intimidated by the jets. Another interesting option to evaluate is the possibility to guide the fish to the fish ladder entrance by an array of individual jets positioned in the river. To investigate these ideas tests with live fish are scheduled during second half of 2018

Outsourcing - Projektutvärdering över tiden

Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur ansvariga personer för företagens outsourcingsprojekt utvärderar outsourcingen och om dess kriterier ändras under projekttiden. Metod: Abduktiv metod med främst kvalitativ datainsamling genom intervjuer. Slutsats: Det dominerande motivet bakom outsourcingen för de undersökta företagen är kostnadsbesparing. I början av projektet och vid leverantörsvalet undersöks också detta motiv. Under projektets gång utvärderas det som specificerades i avtalet mellan företaget och leverantören, vilket är mest mätbara kvalitetspunkter och fokus har därmed skiftat från det ursprungliga motivet

Atlantic salmon in regulated rivers: Understanding river management through the ecosystem services lens

Known as the "king of fishes," the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, Salmonidae) is an iconic freshwater species whose contribution to human well-being has long been recognized, as have widespread declines in its abundance, partly due to river regulation. To understand how salmon conservation has been addressed within the ecosystem services (ES) framework, we synthesized the peer-reviewed literature on ES provided by salmon in regulated rivers. We developed a search string to capture allusions to provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural ES and assessed the results to identify knowledge gaps. The effects of hydropower on fisheries catches and on modelled populations were shown in several publications. Overall, few studies focused explicitly on ES from salmon and hydropower; this is surprising given the considerable body of literature on salmon in regulated rivers. Wild salmon as a food source and other provisioning services are less important today than historically. Because predators such as salmon are important for facilitating biodiversity by cycling nutrients and controlling food webs, there is a scope of work for future assessments of these regulating and supporting services. Few papers explicitly addressed cultural ES, despite the salmon's longstanding iconic status; this is a knowledge gap for future ES assessments in relation to hydropower. The influence of ES assessments for policy makers is growing through the Intergovernmental Panel for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the post-2020 biodiversity strategy. Explicitly addressing ES poses an opportunity for river managers to raise awareness of aquatic conservation efforts and well-informed decision-making for sustaining ES

Progress and Poverty—1965 Version

The first hard X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), produces 120 shots per second. Particles injected into the X-ray beam are hit randomly and in unknown orientations by the extremely intense X-ray pulses, where the femtosecond-duration X-ray pulses diffract from the sample before the particle structure is significantly changed even though the sample is ultimately destroyed by the deposited X-ray energy. Single particle X-ray diffraction experiments generate data at the FEL repetition rate, resulting in more than 400,000 detector readouts in an hour, the data stream during an experiment contains blank frames mixed with hits on single particles, clusters and contaminants. The diffraction signal is generally weak and it is superimposed on a low but continually fluctuating background signal, originating from photon noise in the beam line and electronic noise from the detector. Meanwhile, explosion of the sample creates fragments with a characteristic signature. Here, we describe methods based on rapid image analysis combined with ion Time-of-Flight (ToF) spectroscopy of the fragments to achieve an efficient, automated and unsupervised sorting of diffraction data. The studies described here form a basis for the development of real-time frame rejection methods, e. g. for the European XFEL, which is expected to produce 100 million pulses per hour. (C)2014 Optical Society of Americ