A method of switch selection for an electric vehicle drive

The key to reducing cost of electric vehicles is integration. All too often systems such as the motor, motor controller, batteries and vehicle chassis/body are considered as separate problems. The truth is that a lot of trade-offs can be made between these systems, causing an overall improvement in many areas including total cost. Motor controller and battery cost have a relatively simple relationship; the less energy lost in the motor controller the less energy that has to be carried in the batteries, hence the lower the battery cost. A motor controller’s cost is primarily influenced by the cost of the switches. This paper will therefore present a method of assessing the optimal switch selection on the premise that the optimal switch is the one that produces the lowest system cost, where system cost is the cost of batteries + switches.

No right to live? Malaysia’s Islam and implications for its sexual minority storytellers

This paper discusses the fast emerging challenges for Malay and Muslim sexual minority storytellers in the face of an aggressive state-sponsored Islamisation of a constitutionally secular Malaysia. I examine the case of Azwan Ismail, a gay Malay and Muslim Malaysian who took part in the local ‘It Gets Better’ Project, initiated in December 2010 by Seksualiti Merdeka (an annual sexuality rights festival) and who suffered an onslaught of hostile comments from fellow Malay Muslims. In this paper, I ask how a message aimed at discouraging suicidal tendencies among sexual minority teenagers can go so wrong. In discussing the contradictions between Azwan’s constructions of self and the expectations others have of him, I highlight the challenges for Azwan’s existential self. For storytellers who are vulnerable if visible, the inevitable sharing of a personal story with unintended and hostile audiences when placed online, can have significant repercussions. The purist Sunni Islam agenda in Malaysia not only rejects the human rights of the sexual minority in Malaysia but has influenced and is often a leading hostile voice in both regional and international blocs. This self-righteous and supremacist political Islam fosters a more disabling environment for vulnerable, minority communities and their human rights. It creates a harsher reality for the sexual minority that manifests in State-endorsed discrimination, compulsory counselling, forced rehabilitation and their criminalisation. It places the right of the sexual minority to live within such a community in doubt. I draw on existing literature on how personal stories have historically been used to advance human rights. Included too, is the signifance and implications of the work by social psychologists in explaining this loss of credibility of personal stories. I then advance an analytical framework that will allow storytelling as a very individual form of witnessing to reclaim and regain its ‘truth to power’.

Ignition delay of bio-fuels in a common-rail compression ignition engine

The utility of a novel technique for determining the ignition delay in a compression ignition engine has been shown. This method utilises statistical modelling in the Bayesian paradigm to accurately resolve the start of combustion from a band-pass in-cylinder pressure signal. Applied to neat diesel and six biofuels, including four fractionations of palm oil of varying carbon chain length and degree of unsaturation, the relationships between ignition delay, cetane number and oxygen content have been explored. It is noted that the expected negative relationship between ignition delay and cetane number held, as did the positive relationship between ignition delay and oxygen content. The degree of unsaturation was also identified as a potential factor influencing the ignition delay.

A qualitative investigation of drug use among Pakistani road users

Background Statistics on drug use by Pakistani drivers are not available, yet considerable numbers of drivers are believed to be drug addicted. The National Drug Abuse Assessment 2006/07, conducted by the United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime and the Ministry of Narcotics Control Pakistan reported that opiate users numbered 628,000, of which 77%were chronic heroin abusers. Injecting drug users have reportedly doubled in the decade to 2006 and drug use has been linked with many major crashes involving professional drivers. Aims This study explored a broad range of risk taking behaviours of road users, including drug use. It also investigated associations between risky road use and fatalism and other cultural beliefs. Methods This paper reports findings relating to drug driving in the cities of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with bus, truck, and taxi drivers, policy makers and field police officers. Results Interviews suggested widespread use of illicit drugs, particularly among bus, truck and taxi drivers. Reasons for drug use included recreational purposes, stimulants during long driving episodes, and substance addiction. Furthermore, the use of drugs and any association with road crashes was generally viewed as linked to fatalism rather than to any fault of an individual. In other words, people did not believe there was an association between drug use and road crashes, even if they had personally experienced such. Police knowledge of drug use among drivers was evident, although there is no formal drug driving testing regime in Pakistan. Discussion and conclusions The substantial increase in drug use among the population in recent years highlights a significant public health challenge in Pakistan. This qualitative research, although recognized as not representative of the broader population, suggests that there is significant cause for concern about drug driving, especially among professional drivers, and a need for further investigation and intervention.

The discursive nature of citizenship : Indigenous sovereign rights, racism and welfare reform

Citizenship is more than a status associated with a bundle of rights; it is also the formal contract by which the sovereignty of a nation is extended to the individual in exchange for being governed. Who can and who cannot contract into this status and what rights are able to be exercised is also shaped by who possesses the nation. In this article it is argued that citizenship operates discursively to contain Indigenous people’s engagement with the economy through social rights. This containment precludes consideration of Indigenous sovereign rights to our lands and resources, to enable Indigenous economic development within a capitalist market economy.

Development of empirical equations for irradiance profile of a standard parabolic trough collector using Monte Carlo ray tracing technique

Irradiance profile around the receiver tube (RT) of a parabolic trough collector (PTC) is a key effect of optical performance that affects the overall energy performance of the collector. Thermal performance evaluation of the RT relies on the appropriate determination of the irradiance profile. This article explains a technique in which empirical equations were developed to calculate the local irradiance as a function of angular location of the RT of a standard PTC using a vigorously verified Monte Carlo ray tracing model. A large range of test conditions including daily normal insolation, spectral selective coatings and glass envelop conditions were selected from the published data by Dudley et al. [1] for the job. The R2 values of the equations are excellent that vary in between 0.9857 and 0.9999. Therefore, these equations can be used confidently to produce realistic non-uniform boundary heat flux profile around the RT at normal incidence for conjugate heat transfer analyses of the collector. Required values in the equations are daily normal insolation, and the spectral selective properties of the collector components. Since the equations are polynomial functions, data processing software can be employed to calculate the flux profile very easily and quickly. The ultimate goal of this research is to make the concentrating solar power technology cost competitive with conventional energy technology facilitating its ongoing research.

Treaty talk : past, present and future -- [Edited version of the inaugural Ngunnawal Lecture at the University of Canberra]

WELL I HEARD it on the radio and I saw it on the television. John Howard said there would be no talk of a treaty between his government and Indigenous people. He is not the first government leader to hold such views. Let me consider some of the public and official conversations that the concept of a treaty has invoked and what they reveal about white sovereignty. My interest in such dialogues stems from the fact that the idea of a treaty between white Australia and Indigenous people is not new and in the year of the centenary of Federation the Australian nation is still having trouble discussing it. Australian culture is less white than it used to be, but Anglicised whiteness forms the centre where white men established and defend institutions encouraging a possessive investment in white sovereignty. My intention is to invoke critical thought about these conversations. White sovereignty is a subject that asserts its dominance on social, political...

Dry powder inhaler formulations-effect of polymer carrier size on the drug dispersion

Background The size of the carrier influences the aerosolization of drug from a dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation. Currently, lactose monohydrate particles in a variety of sizes are preferably used in carrier based DPI formulations of various drugs; however, contradictory reports exist regarding the effect of the size of the carrier on the dispersion of drug. In this study we examined the influence of the intrinsic particle size of the polymeric carrier on the aerosolization of a model drug salbutamol sulphate (SS). Methods Four different sizes (20–150 lm) of polymer carriers were fabricated using solvent evaporation technique and the dispersion of SS particles from these carriers was measured by a Twin Stage Impinger (TSI). The size and morphological properties of polymer carriers were by laser diffraction and SEM, respectively. Results The FPF from these carriers was found to be increasing from 5.6% to 21.3% with increasing the carrier size. The FPF was found to be greater (21%) with the highest particle size of the carrier (150 lm). Conclusions The aerosolization of drug was dependent on the size of polymer carriers. The smaller size of the carrier resulted in lower FPF which was increased with increasing the carrier size. For a fixed mass of drug particles in a formulation, the mass of drug particles per unit area of carriers is higher in formulations containing the larger carriers, which leads to an increase in the dispersion of drug due to the increased mechanical forces occurred between the carriers and the device walls.

Effect of chemical conjugation of L-leucine to chitosan on the dispersibility and drug release of a dry powder inhaler nanoparticle formulation

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of chemical conjugation of the amino acid L-leucine to the polysaccharide chitosan on the dispersibility and drug release pattern of a polymeric nanoparticle (NP)-based controlled release dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation. Methods: A chemical conjugate of L-leucine with chitosan was synthesized and characterized by Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy, Elemental Analysis and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Nanoparticles of both chitosan and its conjugate were prepared by a water-in-oil emulsification – glutaraldehyde cross-linking method using the antihypertensive agent, diltiazem (Dz) hydrochloride as the model drug. The surface morphology and particle size distribution of the nanoparticles were determined by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The dispersibility of the nanoparticle formulation was analysed by a Twin Stage Impinger (TSI) with a Rotahaler as the DPI device. Deposition of the particles in the different stages was determined by gravimetry and the amount of drug released was analysed by UV spectrophotometry. The release profile of the drug was studied in phosphate buffered saline at 37 ⁰C and analyzed by UV spectrophotometry. Results: The TSI study revealed that the fine particle fractions (FPF), as determined gravimetrically, for empty and drug-loaded conjugate nanoparticles were significantly higher than for the corresponding chitosan nanoparticles (24±1.2% and 21±0.7% vs 19±1.2% and 15±1.5% respectively; n=3, p<0.05). The FPF of drug-loaded chitosan and conjugate nanoparticles, in terms of the amount of drug determined spectrophotometrically, had similar values (21±0.7% vs 16±1.6%). After an initial burst, both chitosan and conjugate nanoparticles showed controlled release that lasted about 8 to 10 days, but conjugate nanoparticles showed twice as much total drug release compared to chitosan nanoparticles (~50% vs ~25%). Conjugate nanoparticles also showed significantly higher dug loading and entrapment efficiency than chitosan nanoparticles (conjugate: 20±1% & 46±1%, chitosan: 16±1% & 38±1%, n=3, p<0.05). Conclusion: Although L-leucine conjugation to chitosan increased dispersibility of formulated nanoparticles, the FPF values are still far from optimum. The particles showed a high level of initial burst release (chitosan, 16% and conjugate, 31%) that also will need further optimization.

Numerical simulations of particle deposition in metal foam heat exchangers

Australia is a high-potential country for geothermal power with reserves currently estimated in the tens of millions of petajoules, enough to power the nation for at least 1000 years at current usage. However, these resources are mainly located in isolated arid regions where water is scarce. Therefore, wet cooling systems for geothermal plants in Australia are the least attractive solution and thus air-cooled heat exchangers are preferred. In order to increase the efficiency of such heat exchangers, metal foams have been used. One issue raised by this solution is the fouling caused by dust deposition. In this case, the heat transfer characteristics of the metal foam heat exchanger can dramatically deteriorate. Exploring the particle deposition property in the metal foam exchanger becomes crucial. This paper is a numerical investigation aimed to address this issue. Two dimensional (2D) numerical simulations of a standard one-row tube bundle wrapped with metal foam in cross-flow are performed and highlight preferential particle deposition areas.

Numerical simulations of particle deposition in metal foam heat exchangers

Australia is a high potential country for geothermal power with reserves currently estimated in the tens of millions of petajoules, enough to power the nation for at least 1000 years at current usage.However, these resources are mainly located in isolated arid regions where water is scarce. Therefore, wet cooling systems for geothermal plants in Australia are the least attractive solution and thus air-cooled heat exchangers are preferred. In order to increase the efficiency of such heat exchangers, metal foams have been used. One issue raised by this solution is the fouling caused by dust deposition. In this case, the heat transfer characteristics of the metal foam heat exchanger can dramatically deteriorate. Exploring the particle deposition property in the metal foam exchanger becomes crucial. This paper is a numerical investigation aimed to address this issue. Two-dimensional(2D numerical simulations of a standard one-row tube bundle wrapped with metal foam in cross-flow are performed and highlight preferential particle deposition areas.

Space-time clusters of dengue fever in Bangladesh

Objective:  To examine the space-time clustering of dengue fever (DF) transmission in Bangladesh using geographical information system and spatial scan statistics (SaTScan). Methods:  We obtained data on monthly suspected DF cases and deaths by district in Bangladesh for the period of 2000–2009 from Directorate General of Health Services. Population and district boundary data of each district were collected from national census managed by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. To identify the space-time clusters of DF transmission a discrete Poisson model was performed using SaTScan software. Results:  Space-time distribution of DF transmission was clustered during three periods 2000–2002, 2003–2005 and 2006–2009. Dhaka was the most likely cluster for DF in all three periods. Several other districts were significant secondary clusters. However, the geographical range of DF transmission appears to have declined in Bangladesh over the last decade. Conclusion:  There were significant space-time clusters of DF in Bangladesh over the last decade. Our results would prompt future studies to explore how social and ecological factors may affect DF transmission and would also be useful for improving DF control and prevention programs in Bangladesh.

Home and the embodiment of privacy

A home is an embodiment of human privacy, apart from providing shelter, security and several other functions. Achieving the desired level of privacy at home is very important in Muslim societies. Privacy is intended to protect the female members of the family from strangers, especially while entertaining guests at home. One way of controlling levels of exposure of the domestic domains to strangers is by controlling privacy levels. This research will investigate perceptions of privacy among Australian Muslims when entertaining guests at their homes. This research will also investigate the extent that modesty (achieved through both appearance and design) acts as the balancing factor in achieving a family’s desired levels of privacy while also affording them the capacity to be hospitable to guests. This research will use a qualitative approach to investigate Australian Muslim homes around Queensland, predominantly in the Brisbane area. A total number of 20 to 60 participants (10 to 30 males, 10 to 30 females) ranging from 25 to 55 years old will be interviewed. Ideally, participants will be those who have children or extended families (parents or siblings) living in the house. The data will be coded and analysed for the purpose of generating new knowledge for architects and designers when designing Muslim homes. It will also extend the current body of knowledge related to privacy mechanisms in housing designs, thereby benefitting architects and designers in the future.

Mining universities : can we count on the integrity of research coming out of today's mining-funded tertiary sector?

Australia's economic growth and national identity have been widely celebrated as being founded on the nation's natural resources. With the golden era of pastoralism fading into the distance, a renewed love affair with primary industries has been much lauded, particularly by purveyors of neoliberal ideology. The considerable wealth generated by resource extraction has, despite its environmental and social record, proved seductive to the university sector. The mining industry is one of a number of industries and sectors (alongside pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnological) that is increasingly courting Australian universities. These new public-private alliances are often viewed as the much-needed cash cow to bridge the public funding shortfall in the tertiary sector. However, this trend also raises profound questions about the capacity of public good institutions, as universities were once assumed to be, to maintain institutional independence and academic freedoms.