Abstracts:Presents the recipients of Industry Applications Society (IAS) awards for 2025.

Abstracts:Provides society information that may include news, reviews or technical notes that should be of interest to practitioners and researchers.

Abstracts:The surge in Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption marks a crucial shift towards sustainable transportation solutions driven by environmental concerns. EVs offer various advantages, including reduced emissions, enhanced energy efficiency, and quieter operation. However, the EVs are also affected by faults and crashes, requiring personnel to repair them. Currently, no International, American, or European Standard is dedicated to work activities on EVs. This paper addresses the regulatory gap by examining the properties of the EVs, the risk sources, and the available standards related to generic electrical installations, or EV emergency scenarios. The study proposes suggestions for workshop setup, organizational procedures, and operational protocols to ensure safety during EV maintenance activities. Moreover, the processes of evaluating and managing the electric risks are presented for a real case study, in which technicians replace cells in a battery pack of an electric bus.

Abstracts:The squirrel cage rotor is commonly manufactured using aluminum, copper, and their respective alloys. User requests for extended service life, particularly concerning the number of starting cycles, have increased, and the requirements often exceed the specifications outlined in API 541 [15], which recommends a minimum of 5,000 starting cycles. This has raised questions about whether machines equipped with aluminum squirrel cage rotors can deliver the same performance and longevity as those with copper cages when used in identical industrial applications.

Abstracts:In 1985, the Westinghouse plant on Genesee Street, next to Buffalo Niagara Airport, in Buffalo, NY, USA, officially closed. The massive 2.5 million-square-foot facility, home of the motors and controls manufacturing business of Westinghouse Electric since 1947, was slated for purchase by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, which wanted the building. Instead, it was sold to a local developer, which failed to pay taxes and let it deteriorate. The vacant and battered site was considered a scar on the Buffalo landscape that could never again be occupied because of the lingering threat of lung cancer or mesothelioma due to asbestos processes used in manufacturing materials while the plant was in operation. The community finally caught a break, in 1999, with a US$7.6 million federal grant to demolish the local eyesore. Cranes and bulldozers arrived, the beginning of the large-scale demolition, culminating in October, when the main structure collapsed to the ground in a spectacular implosion. While the walls of the once massive structure are no more, what happened within them over nearly 50 years is a spectacular story of ingenuity.