Quasistatic and dynamic mechanical responses of load-bearing structural batteries for electric vehicles

We are in the process of developing multifunctional load-bearing structural batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). The battery system not only stores electricity for vehicle propulsion, but also reduces impact forces for the EVs getting into crash loading conditions functioning as a shock absorber, thus decreasing the impact shock to the vehicle occupants for increased safety. Our research focuses on two EV battery systems: Granular Battery Assembly (GBA) and Topologically Interlocked Battery Assembly (TIBA). In GBA, the term “Granular” originated from the recent findings on the granular mechanics. Parab et al. [1] demonstrated the fundamental mechanism of impact energy dissipation with the pulverization of a sand particle in the granular load chain, where the pulverized sand particle interrupted the transmission of impact loads and forced the rearrangement of the remaining grains. Our GBA research extended the concept of granular load chains to the battery cell arrangement with the use of “sacrificing cells” that effectively limit the impact load propagation speed, thus isolating the mechanical impact shock. In TIBA, our research focuses on the use of topologically interlocked materials (TIMs). Mather et al. [2] showed the basic mechanism behind TIMs, where the nonbonded platonic solids were assembled and kept their structural integrity by the neighboring solids. Upon impact, these solids rub against each other, thus dissipating energy by friction. Our TIBA research transformed the application of topological interlocking as a design principle for EV battery pack in such a way that truncated tetrahedra, as either battery cells or battery carriers, created TIBA, a multifunctional structural battery system that has both the capability to dissipate impact energy and resistance to fracture propagation. Following the numerical analysis, quasistatic and dynamic impact mechanical responses were examined in the experiment. In each analysis, the experimental behaviors of the battery systems were compared against the numerical results to confirm the validity of the numerical models. Furthermore, we added a “Base” model, which has neither GBA nor TIBA to reduce the impact force, in order for us to compare against the GBA and TIBA results and to examine the improvement that the two EV battery systems delivered. REFERENCES [1] Parab, N.D., Claus, B., Hudspeth, M.C., Black, J.T., Mondal, A., Sun, J., Fezzaa, K., Xiao, X., Luo, S.N., Chen, W. Experimental assessment of fracture of individual sand particles at different loading rates. International Journal of Impact Engineering. 2014, 68, 8–14. [2] Mather, A., Cipra, R., Siegmund, T. Structural integrity during remanufacture of a topologically interlocked material. International Journal of Structural Integrity. 2012, 3(1), 61–78

Noncommutative QCD corrections to the gluonic decays of heavy quarkonia

We compute the Noncommutative QCD (NCQCD) contributions to the three gluon decay modes of heavy quarkonia. For triplet quarkonia (ortho-quarkonia), the NCQCD correction to the QCD three gluon decay mode, like the standard model contribution, is infrared finite. In the case of singlet quarkonia (para-quarkonia), whose QCD three gluon decay mode has infrared singularities which are removed using one-loop corrections to the two gluon mode, we find that NCQCD contribution is also infrared finite. The calculations are performed in the weak binding limit and do not require the introduction of additional effective couplings.Comment: Version accepted for publicatio

Surveillance of health status in minority communities - Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) Risk Factor Survey, United States, 2009.

PROBLEM: Substantial racial/ethnic health disparities exist in the United States. Although the populations of racial and ethnic minorities are growing at a rapid pace, large-scale community-based surveys and surveillance systems designed to monitor the health status of minority populations are limited. CDC conducts the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) Risk Factor Survey annually in minority communities. The survey focuses on black, Hispanic, Asian (including Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander), and American Indian (AI) populations. REPORTING PERIOD COVERED: 2009. DESCRIPTION OF SYSTEM: An address-based sampling design was used in the survey in 28 communities located in 17 states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington). Self-reported data were collected through telephone, questionnaire mailing, and in-person interviews from an average of 900 residents aged ≥ 18 years in each community. Data from the community were compared with data derived from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) for the metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area (MMSA), county, or state in which the community was located and also compared with national estimates. RESULTS: Reported education level and household income were markedly lower in black, Hispanic, and AI communities than that among the general population living in the comparison MMSA, county, or state. More residents in these minority populations did not have health-care coverage and did not see a doctor because of the cost. Substantial variations were identified in self-perceived health status and prevalence of selected chronic conditions among minority populations and among communities within the same racial/ethnic population. In 2009, the median percentage of men who reported fair or poor health was 15.8% (range: 8.3%-29.3%) among A/PI communities and 26.3% (range: 22.3%-30.8%) among AI communities. The median percentage of women who reported fair or poor health was 20.1% (range: 13.3%-37.2%) among A/PI communities, whereas it was 31.3% (range: 19.4%-44.2%) among Hispanic communities. AI and black communities had a high prevalence of self-reported hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. For most communities, prevalence was much higher than that in the corresponding MMSA, county, or state in which the community was located. The median percentages of persons who knew the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and stroke were consistently lower in all four minority communities than the national median. Variations were identified among racial/ethnic populations in the use of preventive services. Hispanics had the lowest percentages of persons who had their cholesterol checked, of those with high blood pressure who were taking antihypertensive medication, and of those with diabetes who had a glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C) test in the past year. AIs had the lowest mammography screening rate within 2 years among women aged ≥40 years (median: 72.7%; range: 69.4%-76.2%). A/PIs had the lowest Pap smear screening rate within 3 years (median: 74.4%; range: 60.3%-80.8%). The median influenza vaccination rates in adults aged ≥65 years were much lower among black (57.3%) and Hispanic communities (63.3%) than the national median (70.1%) among the 50 states and DC. Pneumococcal vaccination rates also were lower in black (60.5%), Hispanic (58.5%), and A/PI (59.7%) communities than the national median (68.5%). INTERPRETATIONS: Data from the REACH U.S. Risk Factor Survey demonstrate that residents in most of the minority communities continue to have lower socioeconomic status, greater barriers to health-care access, and greater risks for and burden of disease compared with the general populations living in the same MMSA, county, or state. Substantial variations in prevalence of risk factors, chronic conditions, and use of preventive services among different minority populations and different communities within the same racial/ethnic population provide opportunities for public health intervention. These variations also indicate that different priorities are needed to eliminate health disparities for different communities. PUBLIC HEALTH ACTION: These community-level survey data are being used by CDC and community coalitions to implement, monitor, and evaluate intervention programs in each community. Continuous surveillance of health status in minority communities is necessary so that community-specific, culturally sensitive strategies that include system, environmental, and individual-level changes can be tailored to these communities

Acute Effects of Fine Particulate Air Pollution on Cardiac Arrhythmia: The APACR Study

Background: The mechanisms underlying the relationship between particulate matter (PM) air pollution and cardiac disease are not fully understood

Production of neutral scalar Higgs bosons at eγe\gamma colliders

We study the production of neutral scalar (CP even) Higgs bosons in the process $e\gamma\to e h$ by including supersymmetric corrections to the dominant $t$-channel photon exchange amplitude. In addition to the standard model $W^{\pm}$ and fermion loops, there are substantial contributions from chargino loops. For some cases, these contributions can exceed those of the $W$'s and ordinary fermions. The cross sections in this channel are generally one or two orders of magnitude larger than those in the related channel $e\bar{e}\to\gamma h$.Comment: 12 pages RevTeX, 5 postscript figures included, uses epsf.st

Four-Dimensional Computed Tomography-Based Treatment Planning for Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy and Proton Therapy for Distal Esophageal Cancer

Purpose: To compare three-dimensional (3D) and four-dimensional (4D) computed tomography (CT)-based treatment plans for proton therapy or intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for esophageal cancer in terms of doses to the lung, heart, and spinal cord and variations in target coverage and normal tissue sparing. Methods and Materials: The IMRT and proton plans for 15 patients with distal esophageal cancer were designed from the 3D average CT scans and then recalculated on 10 4D CT data sets. Dosimetric data were compared for tumor coverage and normal tissue sparing. Results: Compared with IMRT, median lung volumes exposed to 5, 10, and 20 Gy and mean lung dose were reduced by 35.6%, 20.5%, 5.8%, and 5.1 Gy for a two-beam proton plan and by 17.4%, 8.4%, 5%, and 2.9 Gy for a three-beam proton plan. The greater lung sparing in the two-beam proton plan was achieved at the expense of less conformity to the target (conformity index [CI], 1.99) and greater irradiation of the heart (heart-V40, 41.8%) compared with the IMRT plan(CI, 1.55, heart-V40, 35.7%) or the three-beam proton plan (CI, 1.46, heart-V40, 27.7%). Target coverage differed by more than 2% between the 3D and 4D plans for patients with substantial diaphragm motion in the three-beam proton and IMRT plans. The difference in spinal cord maximum dose between 3D and 4D plans could exceed 5 Gy for the proton plans partly owing to variations in stomach gas filling. Conclusions: Proton therapy provided significantly better sparing of lung than did IMRT. Diaphragm motion and stomach gas-filling must be considered in evaluating target coverage and cord doses. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

A partitioned 88-loci psoriasis genetic risk score reveals HLA and non-HLA contributions to clinical phenotypes in a Newfoundland psoriasis cohort

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated inflammatory skin disease typically characterized by erythematous and scaly plaques. It affects 3% of the Newfoundland population while only affecting 1.7% of the general Canadian population. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in psoriasis have identified more than 63 genetic susceptibility loci that individually have modest effects. Prior studies have shown that a genetic risk score (GRS) combining multiple loci can improve psoriasis disease prediction. However, these prior GRS studies have not fully explored the association of GRS with patient clinical characteristics. In this study, we calculated three types of GRS: one using all known GWAS SNPs (GRS-ALL), one using a subset of SNPs from the HLA region (GRS-HLA), and the last using non-HLA SNPs (GRS-noHLA). We examined the relationship between these GRS and a number of psoriasis features within a well characterized Newfoundland psoriasis cohort. We found that both GRS-ALL and GRS-HLA were significantly associated with early age of psoriasis onset, psoriasis severity, first presentation of psoriasis at the elbow or knee, and the total number of body locations affected, while only GRS-ALL was associated with a positive family history of psoriasis. GRS-noHLA was uniquely associated with genital psoriasis. These findings clarify the relationship of the HLA and non-HLA components of GRS with important clinical features of psoriasis

The Enduring Hypoxic Response of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

deletion mutant. mutant. for long-term bacteriostasis in the face of oxygen deprivation

Endoscopic ultrasonography-identified celiac adenopathy remains a poor prognostic factor despite preoperative chemoradiotherapy in esophageal adenocarcinoma

ObjectiveWe reviewed our experience with preoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus and pretreatment endoscopic ultrasonography-identified celiac adenopathy.MethodsOne hundred eighty-six patients with adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus were staged with endoscopic ultrasonography before treatment from 1997 through 2004. All patients were treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT group) and surgical intervention or induction chemotherapy followed by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (C→CRT group) and surgical intervention. Survival analysis (excluding operative mortality) evaluated various pretreatment factors.ResultsMultivariable Cox regression analysis showed that pretreatment endoscopic ultrasonography-identified celiac adenopathy was a significant predictor of decreased long-term survival (P = .03). Median and 3-year survivals were 49 months and 54% in the endoscopic ultrasonography-identified cN0 M0 group (n = 65), 45 months and 56% in the endoscopic ultrasonography-identified cN1 M0 group (n = 96), and 19 months and 12% in the endoscopic ultrasonography-identified celiac adenopathy (cM1a) group (n = 18; P = .03). Increased systemic relapse was noted in the endoscopic ultrasonography-identified cM1a group (44% vs 22%, P = .07). The only factor associated with increased survival in the endoscopic ultrasonography-identified cM1a group (27 vs 15 months, P = .02) was the addition of induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy and surgical intervention.ConclusionsEndoscopic ultrasonography-identified celiac adenopathy in patients with adenocarcinoma of the distal esophagus conveys a poor prognosis despite preoperative chemoradiotherapy. These patients should be stratified in future multimodality trials. The investigation of induction chemotherapy before concurrent chemoradiotherapy might be warranted in this high-risk group of patients