Rolling resistance of electric vehicle tires from track tests

Special low-rolling-resistance tires were made for DOE's ETV-1 electric vehicle. Tests were conducted on these tires and on a set of standard commercial automotive tires to determine the rolling resistance as a function of time during both constant-speed tires and SAE J227a driving cycle tests. The tests were conducted on a test track at ambient temperatures that ranged from 15 to 32 C (59 to 89 F) and with tire pressures of 207 to 276 kPa (30 to 40 psi). At a contained-air temperature of 38 C (100 F) and a pressure of 207 kPa (30 psi) the rolling resistances of the electric vehicle tires and the standard commercial tires, respectively, were 0.0102 and 0.0088 kilogram per kilogram of vehicle weight. At a contained-air temperature of 38 C (100 F) and a pressure of 276 kPa (40 psi) the rolling resistances were 0.009 and 0.0074 kilogram per kilogram of vehicle weight, respectively

Performance of conventionally powered vehicles tested to an electric vehicle test procedure

A conventional Volkswagen transporter, a Renault 5, a Pacer, and a U. S. Postal Service general DJ-5 delivery van were treated to an electric vehicle test procedure in order to allow direct comparison of conventional and electric vehicles. Performance test results for the four vehicles are presented

Baseline tests of the EPC Hummingbird electric passenger vehicle

The rear-mounted internal combustion engine in a four-passenger Volkswagen Thing was replaced with an electric motor made by modifying an aircraft generator and powered by 12 heavy-duty, lead-acid battery modules. Vehicle performance tests were conducted to measure vehicle maximum speed, range at constant speed, range over stop-and-go driving schedules, maximum acceleration, gradeability limit, road energy consumption, road power, indicated energy consumption, braking capability, battery charger efficiency, and battery characteristics. Test results are presented in tables and charts

Automation of a Positron-emission Tomography (PET) Radiotracer Synthesis Protocol for Clinical Production.

The development of new positron-emission tomography (PET) tracers is enabling researchers and clinicians to image an increasingly wide array of biological targets and processes. However, the increasing number of different tracers creates challenges for their production at radiopharmacies. While historically it has been practical to dedicate a custom-configured radiosynthesizer and hot cell for the repeated production of each individual tracer, it is becoming necessary to change this workflow. Recent commercial radiosynthesizers based on disposable cassettes/kits for each tracer simplify the production of multiple tracers with one set of equipment by eliminating the need for custom tracer-specific modifications. Furthermore, some of these radiosynthesizers enable the operator to develop and optimize their own synthesis protocols in addition to purchasing commercially-available kits. In this protocol, we describe the general procedure for how the manual synthesis of a new PET tracer can be automated on one of these radiosynthesizers and validated for the production of clinical-grade tracers. As an example, we use the ELIXYS radiosynthesizer, a flexible cassette-based radiochemistry tool that can support both PET tracer development efforts, as well as routine clinical probe manufacturing on the same system, to produce [18F]Clofarabine ([18F]CFA), a PET tracer to measure in vivo deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) enzyme activity. Translating a manual synthesis involves breaking down the synthetic protocol into basic radiochemistry processes that are then translated into intuitive chemistry "unit operations" supported by the synthesizer software. These operations can then rapidly be converted into an automated synthesis program by assembling them using the drag-and-drop interface. After basic testing, the synthesis and purification procedure may require optimization to achieve the desired yield and purity. Once the desired performance is achieved, a validation of the synthesis is carried out to determine its suitability for the production of the radiotracer for clinical use

49 Gbit/s Direct-Modulation and Direct-Detection Transmission over 80 km SMF-28 without Optical Amplification or Filtering

We demonstrate direct-modulation of a discrete mode laser using Discrete Multi-Tone modulation for transmission distances up to 100 km in the 1550 nm band. A large operational temperature range (0-65ºC) is also demonstrated

640 Gb/s timing tolerant demultiplexing using a cascaded long-period fiber grating pulse shaper

An SMF inscribed with two polarization independent long-period gratings is used for sub-picosecond pulse shaping and validated in a 640 Gb/s data demultiplexing experiment, providing a jitter tolerance of 510 fs.</p

Using a newly developed long-period grating filter to improve the timing tolerance of a 320 Gb/s demultiplexer

A 0.8 ps flat top pulse is generated using a long-period fibre grating and used as control pulse for the first time in a 320 Gb/s demultiplexer. The effect is an increased error-free timing tolerance.</p

Ecology, behaviour and management of the European catfish

The extreme body sizes of ‘megafishes’ associated with their high commercial values and recreational interests have made them highly threatened in their native range worldwide by human-induced impacts such as overexploitation. Meanwhile, and because of the aforementioned interests, some megafishes have been introduced outside of their native range. A notable exampled is the European catfish (Silurus glanis), one of the few siluriforms native from western Europe and among the 10 largest freshwater fish worldwide, attaining a total length over 2.7 m and a documented mass of 130 kg. Its distinct phylogeny and extreme size imply many features rare among other European fish such as peculiar behaviours (massive aggregations, beaching), consumption of large bodied prey, fast growth rate, long lifespan, high fecundity, nest guarding and large eggs. The spread of the species is likely to continue due to illegal introduction coupled with natural range extension due to current and future climate change. Based on these attributes and potential future risks, this introduced giant predator in European fresh waters could provide a novel model species of high utility for testing aspects of ecological and invasion theory and associated hypotheses. Here, we reviewed the most recent knowledge on the current distribution and the ecology of the species to understand how this can help advance our understanding of biological invasions. We also identified key research questions that should help stimulating new research on this intriguing, yet largely unknown, species and, more generally, on the ecology of invasive species

Control of hyperglycaemia in paediatric intensive care (CHiP): study protocol.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that tight blood glucose (BG) control improves outcomes in critically ill adults. Children show similar hyperglycaemic responses to surgery or critical illness. However it is not known whether tight control will benefit children given maturational differences and different disease spectrum. METHODS/DESIGN: The study is an randomised open trial with two parallel groups to assess whether, for children undergoing intensive care in the UK aged <or= 16 years who are ventilated, have an arterial line in-situ and are receiving vasoactive support following injury, major surgery or in association with critical illness in whom it is anticipated such treatment will be required to continue for at least 12 hours, tight control will increase the numbers of days alive and free of mechanical ventilation at 30 days, and lead to improvement in a range of complications associated with intensive care treatment and be cost effective. Children in the tight control group will receive insulin by intravenous infusion titrated to maintain BG between 4 and 7.0 mmol/l. Children in the control group will be treated according to a standard current approach to BG management. Children will be followed up to determine vital status and healthcare resources usage between discharge and 12 months post-randomisation. Information regarding overall health status, global neurological outcome, attention and behavioural status will be sought from a subgroup with traumatic brain injury (TBI). A difference of 2 days in the number of ventilator-free days within the first 30 days post-randomisation is considered clinically important. Conservatively assuming a standard deviation of a week across both trial arms, a type I error of 1% (2-sided test), and allowing for non-compliance, a total sample size of 1000 patients would have 90% power to detect this difference. To detect effect differences between cardiac and non-cardiac patients, a target sample size of 1500 is required. An economic evaluation will assess whether the costs of achieving tight BG control are justified by subsequent reductions in hospitalisation costs. DISCUSSION: The relevance of tight glycaemic control in this population needs to be assessed formally before being accepted into standard practice

Combination of optison with ultrasound and electroporation increases albumin and thrompoietin transgene expression whilst elongation factor promoter prolongs its duration

Hypoalbuminaemia and thrombocytopaenia are two clinical problems frequently encountered in patients with chronic liver failure or cancer following treatment with chemotherapy. The current study was designed to assess the magnitude and duration of thrombopoietin and albumin transgene expression hoping to increase the production of albumin and platelets. Immunocompetent and immunocompromised (nude) mice were injected intramuscularly with plasmids expressing either human serum albumin or human thrombopoietin. The therapeutic expression cassette of the plasmids was driven by either CMV or elongation factor 1- promoters respectively. In order to achieve muscle specific expression both gene constructs included the myosin light chain enhancer. The experiment was conducted in a group of mice which were injected with the transgene plasmid either in normal saline or plasmid followed by electroporation, ultrasound, optison and a combination of all three to increase transgene expression. The result showed that plasmids with the CMV promoter induced the highest transgenic expression lasting for one week whilst plasmids with the elongation factor 1-alpha promoter produced a weaker expression lasting for a longer and more stable duration of expression up to 3 months in both immunocompetent and nude mice. The combination of electroporation and ultrasound with Optison TM provided the highest transgene expression. We concluded that it would be possible to increase albumin and platelets production by an intramuscular injection of plasmids expressing human albumin and thromopoietin. A combination of electroporation and ultrasound with Optison TM can increase their expression