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

S-adenosyl-l-methionine: (S) -7,8,13, 14-tetrahydroberberine--n-methyltransferase, a branch point enzyme in the biosynthesis of benzophenanthridine and protopine alkaloids.

The enzyme which transfers the CH3-group of S-adenosylmethionine to the nitrogen atom of (S)-tetrahydroberberine and (S)-stylopine is found to occur in a number of plant cell cultures originating from species containing alkaloids; it is located at an important branch point in isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis

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

Running across the Silurian/Devonian Boundary along Northern Gondwana: A Conodont Perspective

The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Silurian/Devonian boundary, Lower Devonian Series and Lochkovian Stage was formally placed in 1977 at Klonk, in the Czech Republic, at the first appearance of the graptolite Uncinatograptus uniformis uniformis (Přibyl). However, since then, correlation of this limit has been often hampered in carbonate facies where graptolites are uncommon or totally absent. A large calcareous deposition occurred at the Silurian/Devonian boundary along the northern and peri-Gondwana margin, thus representing an ideal location to select and test a possible additional biostratigraphic marker of the limit among conodonts. The first appearance of Caudicriodus hesperius almost simultaneously at the base of the Devonian in Bohemia, the Carnic Alps, Sardinia, Morocco and elsewhere indicates that this taxon is the conodont that best approximates the beginning of the Period. The first or last appearance of other species (e.g., Ozarkodina confluens, Zieglerodina klonkensis, Z. remscheidensis and Caudicriodus woschmidti) may help to recognise the boundary as well

Wnt signaling induces differentiation of progenitor cells in organotypic keratinocyte cultures

BACKGROUND: Interfollicular skin develops normally only when the activity of the progenitor cells in the basal layer is counterbalanced by the exit of cells into the suprabasal layers, where they differentiate and cornify to establish barrier function. Distinct stem and progenitor compartments have been demonstrated in hair follicles and sebaceous glands, but there are few data to describe the control of interfollicular progenitor cell activity. Wnt signaling has been shown to be an important growth-inducer of stem cell compartments in skin and many other tissues. RESULTS: Here, we test the effect of ectopic Wnt1 expression on the behavior of interfollicular progenitor cells in an organotypic culture model, and find that Wnt1 signaling inhibits their growth and promotes terminal differentiation. CONCLUSION: These results are consistent with the phenotypes reported for transgenic mice engineered to have gain or loss of function of Wnt signaling in skin, which would recommend our culture model as an accurate one for molecular analysis. Since it is known that canonical ligands are expressed in skin, it is likely that this pathway normally regulates the balance of growth and differentiation, and suggests it could be important to pathogenesis

Increase in Tau Pathology in P290S Mapt Knock-In Mice Crossed with AppNL-G-F Mice

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by the pathological assembly of Aβ peptide, which deposits into extracellular plaques, and tau, which accumulates in intraneuronal inclusions. To investigate the link between Aβ and tau pathologies, experimental models featuring both pathologies are needed. We developed a mouse model featuring both tau and Aβ pathologies by knocking the P290S mutation into murine Mapt and crossing these MaptP290S KI mice with the AppNL-G-F KI line. MaptP290S KI mice developed a small number of tau inclusions, which increased with age. The amount of tau pathology was significantly larger in AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice from 18-months of age onwards. Tau pathology was higher in limbic areas, including hippocampus, amygdala and piriform/entorhinal cortex. We also observed AT100-and Gallyas-Braak-silver-positive dystrophic neurites containing assembled filamentous tau, as visualized by in situ EM. Using a cell-based tau seeding assay, we showed that sarkosyl-insoluble brain extracts from both 18-month-old MaptP290S KI and AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice were seed-competent, with brain extracts from double KI mice seeding significantly more than those from the MaptP290S KI mice. Finally, we showed that AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice had neurodegeneration in the piriform cortex from 18-months of age. We suggest that AppNL-G-F x MaptP290S KI mice provide a good model for studying the interactions of aggregation-prone tau, Aβ, neuritic plaques, neurodegeneration and aging

Optimization of cascaded regenerative links based on phase sensitive amplifiers

We develop an analytical method for optimizing phase sensitive amplifiers for regeneration in multilevel phase encoded transmission systems. The model accurately predicts the optimum transfer function characteristics and identifies operating tolerances for different signal constellations and transmission scenarios. The results demonstrate the scalability of the scheme and show the significance of having simultaneous optimization of the transfer function and the signal alphabet. The model is general and can be applied to any regenerative system

Assessment of Hard-to-Detect Radionuclide Levels in Decommissioning Waste From the Bohunice NPP-A1, Slovakia, for Clearance and Disposal Purposes

For assessments of hard-to-detect radionuclides (HD-RN) contents in various type of radwastes at the NPP-A1, available empirical data referenced to 137Cs (actinides, 90Sr, 99Tc, 63Ni, 14C) and the theoretical assessment for the remaining HD-RN using calculated RN inventory and a simple model with effective relative (137Cs) spent fuel release fractions was applied. The analytical data of extended radiochemical analysis for the existing available operational radwaste forms have been reviewed for this purpose. 137Cs, 90Sr and 241Am were set up as release markers for partial spent fuel release groups of HD-RNs within which the total fractions of HD-RN released to the operational radwastes were assumed to be constant. It was shown by the assessment carried out that 137Cs and HD-RNs 129I, 99Tc, and partly 79Se and 14C are the main contributors to the disposal dose limit for the radioactive concentrate at NPP A-1. In the case of the radioactive sludge from the operational radwaste system the role of predominant dose contributors belongs to actinides 239,240Pu and 241Am. In the case of clearance of radioactive material from the NPP-A1 site, only the reference radionuclide, 137Cs was predicted to be the most dominant dose contributor. In all of these cases the estimated contributions of other hard-to-detect radionuclides to respective disposal or release dose limit are lower by 2 and more orders of magnitude. As a lesson learned, the most attention is proposed to focus on the control and measurement of the critical HD-RNs indicated by the assessment. For the control of less important HD-RNs, the developed release coefficient method is sufficient to be applied