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

The state-of-the-art (SOTA) of electric vehicles built since 1965 was reviewed to establish a base for the preliminary design of a power train for a SOTA electric vehicle. The performance of existing electric vehicles were evaluated to establish preliminary specifications for a power train design using state-of-the-art technology and commercially available components. Power train components were evaluated and selected using a computer simulation of the SAE J227a Schedule D driving cycle. Predicted range was determined for a number of motor and controller combinations in conjunction with the mechanical elements of power trains and a battery pack of sixteen lead-acid batteries - 471.7 kg at 0.093 MJ/Kg (1040 lbs. at 11.7 Whr/lb). On the basis of maximum range and overall system efficiency using the Schedule D cycle, an induction motor and 3 phase inverter/controller was selected as the optimum combination when used with a two-speed transaxle and steel belted radial tires. The predicted Schedule D range is 90.4 km (56.2 mi). Four near term improvements to the SOTA were identified, evaluated, and predicted to increase range approximately 7%

Consumer Voices for Coverage: Advocacy Evaluation Toolkit

Offers step-by-step guidance on evaluating advocacy projects, including developing a logic model, collecting evaluation data, and using focus groups and interviews to evaluate or inform program performance. Includes surveys on RWJF's advocacy initiative

Building Advocacy Capacity: Where Grantees Started

Describes the baseline levels of core advocacy capacities of groups participating in Consumer Voices for Coverage, a twelve-state initiative to build consumer organizations' network and advocacy capacity. Discusses lessons learned and recommendations

Mass extinctions past and present: a unifying hypothesis

International audienceEnzymes are often referred to as the "agents of life" ? a very apt term, since essentially all life processes are controlled by them. Typically, these enzymes only function across a narrow band of environmental conditions, particularly temperature and pH. Ambient conditions that challenge these operating conspecifics trigger enzyme dysfunction. Here, it is proposed that the pH-dependent inactivation of a single enzyme, urease, provides a unifying kill-mechanism for at least four of the "big five" mass extinctions of the past 560 million years. The triggering of this kill-mechanism is suggested to be sensitive to both gradualistic and catastrophic environmental disturbances that cause the operating pH of urease-dependent organisms to cross enzymatic "dead zones", one of which is suggested to exist at ~pH 7.9. For a wide range of oceanic and terrestrial ecosystems, this pH threshold coincides with an atmospheric CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) of ~560 ppmv ? a level that at current CO2 emission trajectories may be exceeded as early as 2050. The urease hypothesis thus predicts an impending Anthropocene extinction event of equivalence to the "big five" unless future atmospheric pCO2 levels can be stabilised well below 560 ppmv. Immediate scientific discussion and testing is required to confirm the validity of the urease hypothesis

Propellant combustion phenomena during rapid depressurization Final report

Idealized combustion model in which exothermic or endothermic reactions are permitted at or very near solid-gas interface

A theoretical and experimental study of propellant combustion phenomena during rapid depressurization Final report

Modified solid propellant combustion model for steady state analyses of burning rate and flame temperatur

Regional-scale hydrological modelling using multiple-parameter landscape zones and a quasi-distributed water balance model

Regional-scale catchments are characterised typically by natural variability in climatic and land-surface features. This paper addresses the important question regarding the appropriate level of spatial disaggregation necessary to guarantee a hydrologically sound consideration of this variability. Using a simple hydrologic model along with physical catchment data, the problem is reconsidered as a model parameter identification problem. With this manner of thinking the subjective nature as to what to include in the disaggregation scheme is removed and the problem reconsidered in terms of what can be supported by the available data. With such an approach the relative merit of different catchment disaggregation schemes is viewed in terms of their ability to provide constrained parameterisations that can be explained in terms of the physical processes deemed active within a catchment. The outlined methodology was tested for a regional-scale catchment, located in eastern Australia, and involved using the quasi-distributed VIC catchment model to recover the characteristic responses resulting from the disaggregation of the catchment into combinations of climate, soil and vegetation characteristics. A land-surface classification based on a combination of soil depth and land cover type was found to provide the most accurate streamflow predictions during a 10-year validation period. Investigation of the uncertainty associated with the predictions due to weakly identified parameters however, revealed that a simpler classification based solely on land cover actually provided a more robust parameterisation of streamflow response. The result alludes to the hydrological importance of distinguishing between forested and non-forested land cover types at the regional-scale, and suggests that given additional information soil-depth / storage considerations may also have proved significant. Improvements to the outlined method are discussed in terms of increasing the informative content available to differentiate between competing catchment responses.</p> <p style='line-height: 20px;'><b>Keywords:</b> regional-scale, spatial variability, disaggregation, hydrotype, quasi-distributed, parameterisation, uncertaint

Automating decision making to help establish norm-based regulations

Norms have been extensively proposed as coordination mechanisms for both agent and human societies. Nevertheless, choosing the norms to regulate a society is by no means straightforward. The reasons are twofold. First, the norms to choose from may not be independent (i.e, they can be related to each other). Second, different preference criteria may be applied when choosing the norms to enact. This paper advances the state of the art by modeling a series of decision-making problems that regulation authorities confront when choosing the policies to establish. In order to do so, we first identify three different norm relationships -namely, generalisation, exclusivity, and substitutability- and we then consider norm representation power, cost, and associated moral values as alternative preference criteria. Thereafter, we show that the decision-making problems faced by policy makers can be encoded as linear programs, and hence solved with the aid of state-of-the-art solvers

Online Automated Synthesis of Compact Normative Systems

Peer reviewedPostprin

Regional-scale hydrological modelling using multiple-parameter landscape zones and a quasi-distributed water balance model

International audienceRegional-scale catchments are characterised typically by natural variability in climatic and land-surface features. This paper addresses the important question regarding the appropriate level of spatial disaggregation necessary to guarantee a hydrologically sound consideration of this variability. Using a simple hydrologic model along with physical catchment data, the problem is reconsidered as a model parameter identification problem. With this manner of thinking the subjective nature as to what to include in the disaggregation scheme is removed and the problem reconsidered in terms of what can be supported by the available data. With such an approach the relative merit of different catchment disaggregation schemes is viewed in terms of their ability to provide constrained parameterisations that can be explained in terms of the physical processes deemed active within a catchment. The outlined methodology was tested for a regional-scale catchment, located in eastern Australia, and involved using the quasi-distributed VIC catchment model to recover the characteristic responses resulting from the disaggregation of the catchment into combinations of climate, soil and vegetation characteristics. A land-surface classification based on a combination of soil depth and land cover type was found to provide the most accurate streamflow predictions during a 10-year validation period. Investigation of the uncertainty associated with the predictions due to weakly identified parameters however, revealed that a simpler classification based solely on land cover actually provided a more robust parameterisation of streamflow response. The result alludes to the hydrological importance of distinguishing between forested and non-forested land cover types at the regional-scale, and suggests that given additional information soil-depth / storage considerations may also have proved significant. Improvements to the outlined method are discussed in terms of increasing the informative content available to differentiate between competing catchment responses. Keywords: regional-scale, spatial variability, disaggregation, hydrotype, quasi-distributed, parameterisation, uncertaint