Ford Motor Company

About: Ford Motor Company is a company organization based out in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Internal combustion engine & Signal. The organization has 36123 authors who have published 51450 publications receiving 855200 citations. The organization is also known as: Ford Motor & Ford Motor Corporation.

Hybrid drive system

Abstract: A hybrid drive system for use in an electric vehicle comprising an electric motor generator for moving the vehicle, plural electrical energy sources in electric contact with electric motor/generator and a control source in electrical contact with the plural electrical energy sources include a variable-rate energy storage system, a low-rate energy storage system and a high-rate energy storage system. In operation, the control source determines the average power consumption of the vehicle during emission operation throughout its ongoing duty cycle and controls the extent to which each of the energy sources energizes the electric motor/generator to move the vehicle, such that the vehicle may be efficiently operated in both emission and non-emission modes in accordance with environmental restrictions and operator-imposed power demands.

An improvement for tensile instability in smoothed particle hydrodynamics

Abstract: A corrective Smoothed-Particle Method (CSPM) is proposed to address the tensile instability and, boundary deficiency problems that have hampered full exploitation of standard smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The results from applying this algorithm to the 1-D bar and 2-D plane stress problems are promising. In addition to the advantage of being a gridless Lagrangian approach, improving the above two major obstacles in standard SPH makes it attractive for applications in computational mechanics.

Macroscopic Quantum Interference Effects through Superconducting Point Contacts

Abstract: A small-area contact between two pieces of superconducting metal or alloy is a remarkably sensitive and convenient device for demonstrating long-range quantum interference effects. It has been shown in many experiments that the critical supercurrent through a pair of such contacts in a parallel superconducting circuit has a component periodic in the flux enclosed by the topological ring formed by the parallel circuit, the periodicity being $\frac{h}{2e}$, showing that the wave function is coherent around the ring. With this configuration we have demonstrated coherence lengths of the order of millimeters or centimeters in Nb, V, Ta, Sn, Pb, and ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{0.85}$ ${\mathrm{Zr}}_{0.15}$, in rings where the enclosed area was as large as 1 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, so that the periodicity in applied field was of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}7}$ G. Both bulk and thin-film materials have been used. These experiments provide general proof of London's concept of long-range phase coherence in both type-I and type-II superconductors, and in addition lead to useful laboratory instruments. We have used such devices to show quantized flux pinning in bulk type-II superconductors and to measure the magnetic field of a rotating superconductor.

Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine promotes glioma invasion and delays tumor growth in vivo.

Abstract: Secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) is highly expressed in human astrocytomas, grades II-IV. We demonstrated previously that SPARC promotes invasion in vitro using the U87MG-derived clone U87T2 and U87T2-derived SPARC-transfected clones, A2b2, A2bi, and C2a4, in the spheroid confrontation assay. Additional in vitro studies demonstrated that SPARC delays growth, increases attachment, and modulates migration of tumor cells in extracellular matrix-specific and concentration-dependent manners. Therefore, we propose that SPARC functionally contributes to brain tumor invasion and delays tumor growth in vivo, and that the effects of SPARC are related to the level of SPARC secreted into the extracellular matrix. To test these hypotheses, we stereotactically injected these clones into nude rat brains (six animals were injected per clone). Animals were sacrificed on day 7 to assess growth and invasion for all clones at the same time in tumor development. To determine whether SPARC delayed but did not inhibit growth, rats were injected with U87T2 or clone A2b2, and the animals were sacrificed on days 9 (U87T2) and 20 (A2b2), when the animals demonstrated neurological deficit. Brains were removed, fixed, photographed, paraffin embedded, and sectioned. Sections were then serially stained with H&E for morphological assessment of invasion and to measure tumor volume, immunohistochemically stained to visualize SPARC, subjected to in situ hybridization with the human AluII DNA-binding probe to identify human cells, and immunohistochemically stained with MIB-1 to measure proliferation index. The results demonstrate that SPARC promotes invasion in vivo at day 7. Both the low (A2bi) and the high (A2b2) SPARC-secreting clones produced invasive tumors, invading with fingerlike projections and satellite masses into adjacent brain, as well as along the corpus collosum. The intermediate SPARC secreting clone (C2a4) primarily migrated as a bulk tumor along the corpus collosum. SPARC significantly decreased tumor growth at day 7, as measured both by adjusted MIB-1 proliferation indices (U87T2 = 95.3 +/- 1.4 versus A2bi = 73.4 +/- 4.0, A2b2 = 30.8 +/- 6.7 and C2a4 = 15.7 +/- 13.0) and tumor volumes (U87T2 = 13.4 +/- 0.6 mm(3) versus A2bi = 4.5 +/- 0.6 mm(3), A2b2 = 1.1 +/- 0.1 mm(3), and C2a4 = 0.4 +/- 0.1 mm(3)). Furthermore, SPARC delayed but did not inhibit tumor growth. The patterns of invasion and the extent of growth delay correlated with the level of SPARC expression. We propose that the ability of SPARC to promote invasion depends on the level of its secretion and the resultant modulation of the level of adherence and motility induced. This demonstration that SPARC functionally contributes to brain tumor invasion in vivo suggests that SPARC is a candidate therapeutic target for the design of therapies directed toward inhibition of the invasive phenotype.

Aperture-coupled patch antennas with wide-bandwidth and dual-polarization capabilities

Abstract: The authors discuss the design of a wideband, dual-proportion, C-band patch radiator with a 20% bandwidth for input voltage-standing-wave ratio >