Assessment of the Measurement Methodology for CO2 Emissions from Heavy Duty Buses and Coaches

After the adoption of the CO2 Certification Regulation on the determination of the CO2 emissions and Fuel Consumption of Heavy-Duty trucks, the European Commission has decided to proceed with the preparation of a new regulatory initiative for the certification of CO2 emissions and Fuel Consumption from Buses and Coaches. The new methodology is intended to be a continuation of the Heavy-Duty Vehicles CO2 certification regulation and it will be based on a combination of component testing and computer simulation of the vehicles' Fuel Consumption. Following a request from DG-Clima, JRC launched a test-campaign in order to investigate the possibility to extend the methodology proposed for the verification of the certified CO2 emissions from Heavy Duty trucks to Buses and Coaches. In addition, the scope of the test campaign was to demonstrate the representativeness of the CO2 emissions calculations made by the official simulator (VECTO) by comparing against the actual performance of vehicles. Experiments were conducted on two Euro VI Buses, one Interurban Bus and one Coach, both on the chassis dyno and on the road, with the aim of understanding the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches proposed. The official simulation software (VECTO) was used for simulating the operation of vehicles under the different test conditions. The principal conclusion of the test campaign is that an ex-post verification method which is based on transient, on-road tests is possible also for Buses and Coaches. However, there is a clear need to work on the details of the test protocol to be finally implemented, define boundary conditions for transient tests on the road, and establish the necessary acceptance and rejection margins for any such validation. Additional care should be paid to the auxiliary components as they are a special part of Buses and Coaches and contribute highly to the overall Fuel Consumption of these vehicles. Finally, additional testing is necessary in order to calculate accurately any systematic deviation between the officially reported, simulated, CO2 values and those actually occurring in reality.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

CAST constraints on the axion-electron coupling

In non-hadronic axion models, which have a tree-level axion-electron interaction, the Sun produces a strong axion flux by bremsstrahlung, Compton scattering, and axiorecombination, the "BCA processes." Based on a new calculation of this flux, including for the first time axio-recombination, we derive limits on the axion-electron Yukawa coupling gae and axion-photon interaction strength ga using the CAST phase-I data (vacuum phase). For ma <~ 10 meV/c2 we find ga gae < 8.1 × 10−23 GeV−1 at 95% CL. We stress that a next-generation axion helioscope such as the proposed IAXO could push this sensitivity into a range beyond stellar energy-loss limits and test the hypothesis that white-dwarf cooling is dominated by axion emission

Neurorehabilitation Through Synergistic Man-Machine Interfaces Promoting Dormant Neuroplasticity in Spinal Cord Injury: Protocol for a Nonrandomized Controlled Trial

Background: Spinal cord injury (SCI) constitutes a major sociomedical problem, impacting approximately 0.32-0.64 million people each year worldwide; particularly, it impacts young individuals, causing long-term, often irreversible disability. While effective rehabilitation of patients with SCI remains a significant challenge, novel neural engineering technologies have emerged to target and promote dormant neuroplasticity in the central nervous system. Objective: This study aims to develop, pilot test, and optimize a platform based on multiple immersive man-machine interfaces offering rich feedback, including (1) visual motor imagery training under high-density electroencephalographic recording, (2) mountable robotic arms controlled with a wireless brain-computer interface (BCI), (3) a body-machine interface (BMI) consisting of wearable robotics jacket and gloves in combination with a serious game (SG) application, and (4) an augmented reality module. The platform will be used to validate a self-paced neurorehabilitation intervention and to study cortical activity in chronic complete and incomplete SCI at the cervical spine. Methods: A 3-phase pilot study (clinical trial) was designed to evaluate the NeuroSuitUp platform, including patients with chronic cervical SCI with complete and incomplete injury aged over 14 years and age-/sex-matched healthy participants. Outcome measures include BCI control and performance in the BMI-SG module, as well as improvement of functional independence, while also monitoring neuropsychological parameters such as kinesthetic imagery, motivation, self-esteem, depression and anxiety, mental effort, discomfort, and perception of robotics. Participant enrollment into the main clinical trial is estimated to begin in January 2023 and end by December 2023. Results: A preliminary analysis of collected data during pilot testing of BMI-SG by healthy participants showed that the platform was easy to use, caused no discomfort, and the robotics were perceived positively by the participants. Analysis of results from the main clinical trial will begin as recruitment progresses and findings from the complete analysis of results are expected in early 2024. Conclusions: Chronic SCI is characterized by irreversible disability impacting functional independence. NeuroSuitUp could provide a valuable complementary platform for training in immersive rehabilitation methods to promote dormant neural plasticity