Preliminary power train design for a state-of-the-art electric vehicle

Power train designs which can be implemented within the current state-of-the-art were identified by means of a review of existing electric vehicles and suitable off-the-shelf components. The affect of various motor/transmission combinations on vehicle range over the SAE J227a schedule D cycle was evaluated. The selected, state-of-the-art power train employs a dc series wound motor, SCR controller, variable speed transmission, regenerative braking, drum brakes and radial ply tires. Vehicle range over the SAE cycle can be extended by approximately 20% by the further development of separately excited, shunt wound DC motors and electrical controllers. Approaches which could improve overall power train efficiency, such as AC motor systems, are identified. However, future emphasis should remain on batteries, tires and lightweight structures if substantial range improvements are to be achieved

Linking early-life NMDAR hypofunction and oxidative stress in schizophrenia pathogenesis.

Molecular, genetic and pathological evidence suggests that deficits in GABAergic parvalbumin-positive interneurons contribute to schizophrenia pathophysiology through alterations in the brain's excitation-inhibition balance that result in impaired behaviour and cognition. Although the factors that trigger these deficits are diverse, there is increasing evidence that they converge on a common pathological hub that involves NMDA receptor hypofunction and oxidative stress. These factors have been separately linked to schizophrenia pathogenesis, but evidence now suggests that they are mechanistically interdependent and contribute to a common schizophrenia-associated pathology

Prosecuting Crimes Against the Elderly While Addressing the Victim\u27s Loss of Autonomy

Using three case studies as examples, Mighdoll illustrates the emotional problems encountered by victims after their abusers are removed from the situation. Often the victim has become so dependent on the abuser that independent living is no longer possible and relocation is necessary. The team efforts of the task force in Palm Beach County to work with these problems are described in detail

Denial and Codependence in Domestic Violence by Adult Children on their Elderly Parents

This case study of an adult son who physically abused his parents and the cycle of the case through the legal system is an eye-opener of how difficult it is to protect vulnerable elderly parents from dysfunctional and abusive adult children. Mighdoll discusses the results of enabling, parent denial, ineffective no contact orders, lack of evidence, and the need for an elderly hearsay exception

HeardAround.com: Alternate Value Analysis

Since 2007, the list of metropolitan dailies that have closed their doors and ended their publication is astounding. In just three years the Tucson Citizen, Rocky Mountain News, Baltimore Examiner, Kentucky Post, Cincinnati Post, King Country Journal, Union City Register-Tribune, Halifax Daily News, Albuquerque Tribune, South Idaho Press and San Juan Star to name a few have all had to end operations (NewsPaperDeathWatch). It's no secret that this industry is faltering due to the disruptive push of the Internet as an online news source. However, as all of these major national publications begin to consolidate, local stories are getting left behind. HeardAround will capture this niche as the premiere, ultra-local online news source. HeardAround will hire writers, receive feeds from local sources, and allow user content that is filtered by an editorial staff to offer credible ultra-local news, at the neighborhood level, online

Strong Components of Epigenetic Memory in Cultured Human Fibroblasts Related to Site of Origin and Donor Age.

Differentiating pluripotent cells from fibroblast progenitors is a potentially transformative tool in personalized medicine. We previously identified relatively greater success culturing dura-derived fibroblasts than scalp-derived fibroblasts from postmortem tissue. We hypothesized that these differences in culture success were related to epigenetic differences between the cultured fibroblasts by sampling location, and therefore generated genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptome data on 11 intrinsically matched pairs of dural and scalp fibroblasts from donors across the lifespan (infant to 85 years). While these cultured fibroblasts were several generations removed from the primary tissue and morphologically indistinguishable, we found widespread epigenetic differences by sampling location at the single CpG (N = 101,989), region (N = 697), "block" (N = 243), and global spatial scales suggesting a strong epigenetic memory of original fibroblast location. Furthermore, many of these epigenetic differences manifested in the transcriptome, particularly at the region-level. We further identified 7,265 CpGs and 11 regions showing significant epigenetic memory related to the age of the donor, as well as an overall increased epigenetic variability, preferentially in scalp-derived fibroblasts-83% of loci were more variable in scalp, hypothesized to result from cumulative exposure to environmental stimuli in the primary tissue. By integrating publicly available DNA methylation datasets on individual cell populations in blood and brain, we identified significantly increased inter-individual variability in our scalp- and other skin-derived fibroblasts on a similar scale as epigenetic differences between different lineages of blood cells. Lastly, these epigenetic differences did not appear to be driven by somatic mutation--while we identified 64 probable de-novo variants across the 11 subjects, there was no association between mutation burden and age of the donor (p = 0.71). These results depict a strong component of epigenetic memory in cell culture from primary tissue, even after several generations of daughter cells, related to cell state and donor age

Increased methylome distances within scalp-derived fibroblasts.

<p>Y-axis: methylome (Euclidean) distance between pairs of samples stratified by cell and tissue types. CD4T: CD4+ T-cell, NK: natural killer cell, Mono: monocyte, NeuN+: neuronal DLPC cell, NeuN-: non-neuronal DLPFC cell.</p