Some time-saving methods for the digital simulation of highway vehicles

Simulation has been used extensively as a tool for the solution of vehicle-dynamics problems. To handle nonlinear simulations of increasing size and complexity, both digital and hybrid methods have been used. As might be expected, purely digital simulation often proves to be more convenient, while hybrid proves to be more economical. Methods have been developed to provide substantial economies in the digital simulations. Savings by roughly a factor of five may be realized by trans forming the wheel-spin integrations into a solvable set of algebraic equations and by making use of some well-known mechanical characteristics of vehicles to simplify the integration procedure.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68826/2/10.1177_003754977302100602.pd

Climate change in South West estuarine and inland fisheries: What are the potential impacts and are we ready for them?

This paper summarises the outcomes of a project entitled: ‘Climate Change in South West Estuarine and Inland Fisheries: What are the Potential Impacts and are we ready for them?’ The objectives of the project were to: • Raise understanding of how climate change will impact on the communities associated with South West estuarine and inland fisheries. • Develop a set of agreed and collaborative strategies on how best to respond to these potential impacts. • Report these strategies to relevant agencies/funding bodies/stakeholders. • Develop a generic consultative methodology, which can be transferred to other primary production/ regional sectors

An integrated approach to climate adaptation for estuaries

This talk will summarise the outcomes of a consultative initiative entitled: “Climate Change in South West Estuarine and Inland Fisheries: What are the Potential Impacts and are we ready for them?” The objectives of the initiative were to: • Raise understanding of how climate change will impact on the communities associated with South West estuarine and inland fisheries. • Develop a set of agreed and collaborative strategies on how best to respond to these potential impacts. • Report these strategies to relevant agencies/funding bodies/stakeholders. • Develop a generic consultative methodology, which can be transferred to other primary production/regional sectors. The methodology was based on the methodologies outlined in the National Greenhouse Office guide “Climate Change: Impacts and Risk Management: A Guide for Business and Government, and for Health Impact Assessment. In brief the project was conducted in three phases incorporating two half-day workshops and an internal risk assessment. The phases were a. Phase 1: Workshop 1: Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Coping Capacity. b. Phase 2: Internal risk assessment c. Phase 3: Workshop 2: Verification of Risk Assessment of Adaptation strategies. The presentation will summarise the projected impacts of climate change on SW estuarine and inland fisheries, results of a risk assessment of the identified impacts and the development of a set of adaptation strategies to assist the communities in adapting to the impacts. The adaptation strategies developed were in the areas of legislative/regulatory, research, infrastructure development, surveillance and monitoring, and communication and education. These adaptation strategies can be then be applied generically for planning climate change adaptation research and activity or applied as appropriate to specific systems to facilitate a local response. The consultative methodology developed in this initiative can be modified for application to other primary production sectors or scenarios in developing climate change adaptation strategies

Hanford Site Vadose Zone Studies: An Overview

Large quantities of radioactive and chemical wastes resulting from Pu production for nuclear weapons are located in the vadose zone at the USDOE’s Hanford Site, north of Richland, WA. The vadose zone here is characterized by often highly stratified glacial-fluvial sediments that give rise to complex subsurface-flow paths that contribute to uncertainty of contaminant fate and transport. Research efforts have focused on answering questions of contaminant transport from the viewpoint of geologic, biologic, geochemical, and hydrologic controls. This special section highlights key research topics concerning vadose zone problems at the Hanford Site. Research indicates that some of the contaminant species (137Cs, 60Co, 90Sr) are retained by Hanford sediments as a result of geochemical reactions, rendering them effectively immobile except under extremely saline or acidic conditions, while other species (99Tc, 129I, 3H) are typically mobile and have moved deep into the vadose zone and subsequently into groundwater. In addition, large quantities of organics, including carbon tetrachloride, have moved in complex ways as both vapor and liquid in the subsurface. Observed transport of mobile species is linked to liquid discharges and to elevated recharge rates that occur primarily at waste sites where land surfaces are void of vegetation and where winter rains have subsequently penetrated the subsurface wastes. A series of papers in this issue documents progress to date in understanding transport rates at Hanford, why anisotropy strongly affects the distribution of subsurface contaminants, why organic contaminants are difficult to find in the deep vadose zone, and what the impacts of hypersaline fluids are on waste form degradation and subsequent transport

Retinal degeneration associated with RDH12 mutations results from decreased 11-cis retinal synthesis due to disruption of the visual cycle.

Item does not contain fulltextRetinoid dehydrogenases/reductases catalyze key oxidation-reduction reactions in the visual cycle that converts vitamin A to 11-cis retinal, the chromophore of the rod and cone photoreceptors. It has recently been shown that mutations in RDH12, encoding a retinol dehydrogenase, result in severe and early-onset autosomal recessive retinal dystrophy (arRD). In a cohort of 1011 individuals diagnosed with arRD, we have now identified 20 different disease-associated RDH12 mutations, of which 16 are novel, in a total of 22 individuals (2.2%). Haplotype analysis suggested a founder mutation for each of the three common mutations: p.L99I, p.T155I and c.806_810delCCCTG. Patients typically presented with early disease that affected the function of both rods and cones and progressed to legal blindness in early adulthood. Eleven of the missense variants identified in our study exhibited profound loss of catalytic activity when expressed in transiently transfected COS-7 cells and assayed for ability to convert all-trans retinal to all-trans retinol. Loss-of-function appeared to result from decreased protein stability, as expression levels were significantly reduced. For the p.T49M variant, differing activity profiles were associated with each of the alleles of the common p.R161Q RDH12 polymorphism, suggesting that genetic background may act as a modifier of mutation effect. A locus (LCA3) for Leber congenital amaurosis, a severe, early-onset form of arRD, maps close to RDH12 on chromosome 14q24. Haplotype analysis in the family in which LCA3 was mapped excluded RDH12 as the LCA3 gene and thus suggests the presence of a novel arRD gene in this region