Development of computational tools for modeling engine fuel economy and emissions

The Integrated Bus Information System (IBIS) is a vehicle fleet emission and fuel economy prediction software. IBIS is under development by faculty and students of West Virginia University (WVU). The overall goal of IBIS is to provide an approachable and reliable method for users, primarily transit agencies, to evaluate overall fleet emissions and fuel consumption. This approach differs from current modeling packages as IBIS is an online tool and allows for a customizable, user-defined vehicle fleet.;The modeling strategy for IBIS involves creating models using data obtained from the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFEE) testing database. These models are multiple variable polynomials created through regression analysis. Additionally, multiplicative and additive correction factors are computed and applied to backbone models to account for variances in vehicle configurations and technologies.;This modeling strategy includes the necessary development of tools to aid in the creation of continuous models. The first to be implemented is a polynomial regression tool. This methodology utilizes data gleaned from the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emission database. The tool is designed to perform multivariable regression for standard driving cycles: where second-by-second data is available.;The accuracy of these models is reliant upon large sets of data. Furthermore, in cases where limited a dataset is available, additional information may be computed by concatenating experimental data isolated from within existing testing cycles for which testing has been preformed. This data is extracted from a driving cycle by defining periods of non-idle. These periods, or microtrips, are rearranged into new cycles of varying length by a second computational tool.;This second tool is a driving cycle generator which utilizes a genetic algorithm to reorder and concatenate microtrips such that the resulting cycle fulfills criteria supplied by the user. These parameters align with input parameters defining a driving cycle for both IBIS and the polynomial tool: parameters include average speed with idle, standard deviation of speed with idle, kinetic intensity, percentage idle, and number of stops per mile. In addition to providing additional data, the cycle generator yields insight as to acceptable limits on the user inputs defining a driving cycle.;Once the data set has been expanded by the cycle generator, the new data is reintroduced to the polynomial regression tool. Expansion of the data set allows the polynomial tool to generate a much more realistic trend for a domain of average speed than was previously obtained with limited data. With the integration of the cycle generator into the polynomial tool, adverse effects caused by interpolation are significantly minimized in the polynomial model.;The use of the polynomial tool has improved and accelerated the design process for models for IBIS. Additionally, the integration of the newly generated cycles through the use of a GA allows for accurate expansion of experimental data without necessitating supplementary dynamometer testing

Development of low-cost feeds for fattening of native catfish, Clarias macrocephalus

Growth performance, survival, and feed efficiency in native catfish, Clarias microcephalus, fed chicken entrails, earthworm meal, and low-value fish meal were investigated. A simple cost-benefit analysis using this fattening approach was done to evaluate the profitability of using these low-value feed ingredients. Nine 30L aquaria were stocked with native catfish juveniles (about 20 cm in total length and 80 g in weight) at a density of 1 fish per liter. The catfish were fed cooked chicken entrails (Treatment 1), earthworm meal (Treatment 2) and low-value fish meal (Treatment 3) at 3% body weight for 60 days. At the end of the feeding trial, the growth of the fish fed various low-cost feeds was not significantly different. Survival was better in fish fed cooked chicken entrails than with either earthworm meal or low-value fish meal. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) was relatively similar among the three types of feeds. A simple cost-benefit analysis using these low-cost feeds showed a return of investment (ROI) of 68-79%, indicating the feasibility of using these feeds for fattening of catfish. These preliminary results show that utilizing low value feed ingredients or food wastes as sources of feeds during fattening of native catfish are feasible. In addition, food wastage is reduced by bringing these food sources back to the food chain during aquaculture operations

Sorl1 as an Alzheimer's disease predisposition gene?

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressively disabling impairments in memory, cognition, and non-cognitive behavioural symptoms. Sporadic AD is multifactorial and genetically complex. While several monogenic mutations cause early-onset AD and gene alleles have been suggested as AD susceptibility factors, the only extensively validated susceptibility gene for late-onset AD is the apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele. Alleles of the APOE gene do not account for all of the genetic load calculated to be responsible for AD predisposition. Recently, polymorphisms across the neuronal sortilin-related receptor (SORL1) gene were shown to be significantly associated with AD in several cohorts. Here we present the results of our large case-control whole-genome scan at over 500,000 polymorphisms which presents weak evidence for association and potentially narrows the association interval

Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and the Dynamics of Inequality in Small-Scale Societies

Small-scale human societies range from foraging bands with a strong egalitarian ethos to more economically stratified agrarian and pastoral societies. We explain this variation in inequality using a dynamic model in which a population’s long-run steady-state level of inequality depends on the extent to which its most important forms of wealth are transmitted within families across generations. We estimate the degree of intergenerational transmission of three different types of wealth (material, embodied, and relational), as well as the extent of wealth inequality in 21 historical and contemporary populations. We show that intergenerational transmission of wealth and wealth inequality are substantial among pastoral and small-scale agricultural societies (on a par with or even exceeding the most unequal modern industrial economies) but are limited among horticultural and foraging peoples (equivalent to the most egalitarian of modern industrial populations). Differences in the technology by which a people derive their livelihood and in the institutions and norms making up the economic system jointly contribute to this pattern

A survey of genetic human cortical gene expression

It is widely assumed that genetic differences in gene expression underpin much of the difference among individuals and many of the quantitative traits of interest to geneticists. Despite this, there has been little work on genetic variability in human gene expression and almost none in the human brain, because tools for assessing this genetic variability have not been available. Now, with whole-genome SNP genotyping arrays and whole-transcriptome expression arrays, such experiments have become feasible. We have carried out whole-genome genotyping and expression analysis on a series of 193 neuropathologically normal human brain samples using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping 500K Array Set and Illumina HumanRefseq-8 Expression BeadChip platforms. Here we present data showing that 58% of the transcriptome is cortically expressed in at least 5% of our samples and that of these cortically expressed transcripts, 21% have expression profiles that correlate with their genotype. These genetic-expression effects should be useful in determining the underlying biology of associations with common diseases of the human brain and in guiding the analysis of the genomic regions involved in the control of normal gene expression