Integrated Power/Attitude Control System (IPACS) study. Volume 2: Conceptual designs

For abstract, see N74-22706

Review of battery electric vehicle propulsion systems incorporating flywheel energy storage

The development of battery electric vehicles (BEV) must continue since this can lead us towards a zero emission transport system. There has been an advent of the production BEVs in recent years; however their low range and high cost still remain the two important drawbacks. The battery is the element which strongly affects the cost and range of the BEV. The batteries offer either high specific power or high specific energy but not both. To provide the BEVs with the characteristic to compete with conventional vehicles it is beneficial to hybridize the energy storage combining a high energy battery with a high power source. This shields the battery from peak currents and improves its capacity and life. There are various devices which could qualify as a secondary storage system for the BEV such as high power battery, supercapacitor and high speed flywheel (FW). This paper aims to review a specific type of hybridisation of energy storage which combines batteries and high speed flywheels. The flywheel has been used as a secondary energy system in BEVs from the early 1970s when the oil crises triggered an interest in BEVs. Since the last decade the interest in flywheels has strengthened and their application in the kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) in Formula 1 has further bolstered the case for flywheels. With a number of automotive manufacturers getting involved in developing flywheels for road applications, the authors believe commercial flywheel based powertrains are likely to be seen in the near future. It is hence timely to produce a review of research and development in the area of flywheel assisted BEVs

Application of multi-sensor advanced DInSAR analysis to severe land subsidence recognition: Alto Guadalentín Basin (Spain)

Multi-sensor advanced DInSAR analyses have been performed and compared with two GPS station measurements, in order to evaluate the land subsidence evolution in a 20-year period, in the Alto Guadalentín Basin where the highest rate of man-induced subsidence (> 10 cm yr−1) of Europe had been detected. The control mechanisms have been examined comparing the advanced DInSAR data with conditioning and triggering factors (i.e. isobaths of Plio-Quaternary deposits, soft soil thickness and piezometric level)

Mechanisms of Resistance to Noncovalent Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

Background Covalent (irreversible) Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors have transformed the treatment of multiple B-cell cancers, especially chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). However, resistance can arise through multiple mechanisms, including acquired mutations in BTK at residue C481, the binding site of covalent BTK inhibitors. Noncovalent (reversible) BTK inhibitors overcome this mechanism and other sources of resistance, but the mechanisms of resistance to these therapies are currently not well understood. Methods We performed genomic analyses of pretreatment specimens as well as specimens obtained at the time of disease progression from patients with CLL who had been treated with the noncovalent BTK inhibitor pirtobrutinib. Structural modeling, BTK-binding assays, and cell-based assays were conducted to study mutations that confer resistance to noncovalent BTK inhibitors. Results Among 55 treated patients, we identified 9 patients with relapsed or refractory CLL and acquired mechanisms of genetic resistance to pirtobrutinib. We found mutations (V416L, A428D, M437R, T474I, and L528W) that were clustered in the kinase domain of BTK and that conferred resistance to both noncovalent BTK inhibitors and certain covalent BTK inhibitors. Mutations in BTK or phospholipase C gamma 2 (PLCγ2), a signaling molecule and downstream substrate of BTK, were found in all 9 patients. Transcriptional activation reflecting B-cell-receptor signaling persisted despite continued therapy with noncovalent BTK inhibitors.Conclusions Resistance to noncovalent BTK inhibitors arose through on-target BTK mutations and downstream PLCγ2 mutations that allowed escape from BTK inhibition. A proportion of these mutations also conferred resistance across clinically approved covalent BTK inhibitors. These data suggested new mechanisms of genomic escape from established covalent and novel noncovalent BTK inhibitors. (Funded by the American Society of Hematology and others.

How to assess landslide activity and intensity with Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) : the PSI-based matrix approach

We provide a step-by-step analysis and discussion of the ‘PSI-based matrix approach’, a methodology employing ground deformation velocities derived through Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) for the assessment of the state of activity and intensity of extremely to very slow landslides. Two matrices based on PSI data are designed respectively for landslides already mapped in preexisting inventories and for newly identified phenomena. Conversely, a unique intensity scale is proposed indiscriminately for both. Major influencing factors of the approach are brought to light by the application in the 14 km2 area of Verbicaro, in Northern Calabria (Italy). These include lack of PSI data within the landslide boundaries, temporal coverage of the available estimates, and need of field checks as well as the operative procedures to set the activity and intensity thresholds. For the area of Verbicaro, we exploit 1992–2011 PSI data from ERS1/2 and RADARSAT1/2 satellites, projecting them along the maximum slope directions. An activity threshold of ±5 mm/year is determined by applying the average projection factor of local slopes to the PSI data precision. The intensity threshold between extremely and very slow phenomena (16 mm/year) is reduced by ~20% to account for temporal and spatial averages being applied to attribute representative velocities to each landslide. The methodology allows assessing the state of activity and the intensity for 13 of the 24 landslides premapped in the 2007 inventory and for two newly identified phenomena. Current limitations due to characteristics and spatial coverage of PSI data are critically tackled within the discussion, jointly with respective implications

Educational Assessment Semantic: Representation and ontologies

he search for possible applications in the field of Education, by means of domain specific ontologies on the issues of assessment of learning (assessment) and system (evaluation), has been implemented through the construction, testing and evolution of an integrated learning environment called EduOntoWiki. It is supported by ontological structures related to science education based on active consent of specific communities of practice. It allows selecting and incorporating the ontologies in order to organize learning objects to improve learning process. It is created as a setting in which they had the relevant formal descriptions (coding ontology) and informal (and narrative contextualization of concepts); where the possible intra-and inter-community relations were made explicit and recognized by all participants through specific social software. The last point in particular, has led to our hypothesis: only the transition from a technology-driven model (formal, static) to a community-driven model (dynamic and integrated in an open learning environment) could make really effective and relevant the ontologies that we built in several communities of practice. Therefore, the final goal was the realization of an integrated learning environment attempting the difficult transition from an “ontological-formal” system to an “ontological-relational” one

Valutare le abilità musicali nella scuola primaria

Il volume presenta le risultanze emerse dalla validazione sperimentale di un test sulla percezione e memoria musicali per la valutazione delle abilità musicali possedute, acquisite o sviluppate al termine del segmento d’istruzione primaria. In chiave formativa la prova è altresì da considerarsi come ausilio e valido strumento da mettere a disposizione degli insegnanti e delle istituzioni scolastiche per fare il punto, anche per l’Educazione al suono e alla musica, su una parte del percorso di studio che ha impegnato gli allievi. Un approccio corretto all’insegnamento della musica, sin dalla scuola Primaria, deve tener conto dei suoi due assi fondamentali: quello produttivo, ossia di elaborazione ed espressione musicale e quello critico-comprensivo. Ma senza uno sviluppo armonico di capacità discriminatorie del suono e di capacità cognitive legate alla memoria ritmico-melodica si preclude la strada agli ambiti complessi della comprensione e produzione della cosa musicale, essenziali per sviluppare la cosiddetta intelligenza musicale. Di qui la scelta di verificare sperimentalmente la validità del test che viene presentato in questo volume. La prova MUS V è suddivisa in quattro sub-test: percezione dei movimenti sonori, percezione e discriminazione delle altezze tonali, memoria musicale tonale, memoria ritmico-musicale. Nella versione definitiva, la somministrazione viene effettuata mediante l’ascolto di un cd nel quale sono riportate anche le indicazioni per la compilazione della relativa scheda di verifica