Quantification of motor vehicle emission factors from on road measurements

Assessment and prediction of the impact of vehicular traffic emissions on air quality and exposure levels requires knowledge of vehicle emission factors. The aim of this study was quantification of emission factors from an on road, over twelve months measurement program conducted at two sites in Brisbane: 1) freeway type (free flowing traffic at about 100 km/h, fleet dominated by small passenger cars - Tora St); and 2) urban busy road with stop/start traffic mode, fleet comprising a significant fraction of heavy duty vehicles - Ipswich Rd. A physical model linking concentrations measured at the road for specific meteorological conditions with motor vehicle emission factors was applied for data analyses. The focus of the study was on submicrometer particles; however the measurements also included supermicrometer particles, PM2.5, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen. The results of the study are summarised in this paper. In particular, the emission factors for submicrometer particles were 6.08 x 1013 and 5.15 x 1013 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd respectively and for supermicrometer particles for Tora St, 1.48 x 109 particles per vehicle-1 km-1. Emission factors of diesel vehicles at both sites were about an order of magnitude higher than emissions from gasoline powered vehicles. For submicrometer particles and gasoline vehicles the emission factors were 6.08 x 1013 and 4.34 x 1013 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd, respectively, and for diesel vehicles were 5.35 x 1014 and 2.03 x 1014 particles per vehicle-1 km-1 for Tora St and Ipswich Rd, respectively. For supermicrometer particles at Tora St the emission factors were 2.59 x 109 and 1.53 x 1012 particles per vehicle-1 km-1, for gasoline and diesel vehicles, respectively.

John Frazer

John Frazer, Professor, trained at the Architectural Association, taught first at Cambridge University and then the AA in the 1970s and again in the '90s. He was Head of School of Design Research History and Criticism at the University of Ulster in the 1980s, he also ran a systems and design consultancy with his wife Julia (including projects for Cedric Price and Walter Segal) and was founder and chairman of Autographics software. He is currently Swire Chair Professor and Head of School of Design in Hong Kong.----- This is a very personal perspective on a concept of universal and future significance. It is personal, both is the sense that it is an unashamedly biased view of both the significance of the project, and the nature of that significance and because the author was personally involved as one of the consultants on GENERATOR and subsequently involved Cedric Price in its educational application at the Architectural Association. GENERATOR is still very much alive and was still developing whilst this chapter was being written.

Cooperation using a robotic ad hoc network made from Bluetooth, JXTA, OSGi and other commercial off the shelf (COTS) products

Abstract - Mobile devices in the near future will need to collaborate to fulfill their function. Collaboration will be done by communication. We use a real world example of robotic soccer to come up with the necessary structures required for robotic communication. A review of related work is done and it is found no examples come close to providing a RANET. The robotic ad hoc network (RANET) we suggest uses existing structures pulled from the areas of wireless networks, peer to peer and software life-cycle management. Gaps are found in the existing structures so we describe how to extend some structures to satisfy the design. The RANET design supports robot cooperation by exchanging messages, discovering needed skills that other robots on the network may possess and the transfer of these skills. The network is built on top of a Bluetooth wireless network and uses JXTA to communicate and transfer skills. OSGi bundles form the skills that can be transferred. To test the nal design a reference implementation is done. Deficiencies in some third party software is found, specifically JXTA and JamVM and GNU Classpath. Lastly we look at how to fix the deciencies by porting the JXTA C implementation to the target robotic platform and potentially eliminating the TCP/IP layer, using UDP instead of TCP or using an adaptive TCP/IP stack. We also propose a future areas of investigation; how to seed the configuration for the Personal area network (PAN) Bluetooth protocol extension so a Bluetooth TCP/IP link is more quickly formed and using the STP to allow multi-hop messaging and transfer of skills.

Initial CFD investigation of an MR fluid in a bicycle ergometer

A bicycle ergometer is a scientific device used by exercise physiologists which attempts to mimic on-road cycling characteristics such as foot technique, EMG activity, VO2, VCO2 and rider cardiology in a laboratory environment. Presently there are no known useful scientific ergometers that mimic these characteristics and are able to provide a satisfactory controlled resistance that is independent of speed. Previous research has suggested the use of a Magneto-Rheological (MR) Fluid as part of the ergometer design, as when used in a rotary brake application it is able to be controlled electronically to increase resistance instantly and independent of speed. In the target application, MR fluids are subject to immense tribological wear and temperature during viscous shearing, and will eventually show some degree of deterioration which is usually manifested as an increase in off-state viscosity. It is not known exactly how the fluid fails, however the amount of deterioration is related to the shear rate, temperature and duration and directly related to the power dissipation. Currently, there is very little literature that investigates the flow and thermal characteristics of MR fluid tribology using CFD. In this paper, we present initial work that aims to improve understanding of MR fluid wear via CFD modelling using Fluent, and results from the model are compared with those obtained from a experimental test rig of an MR fluid-based bicycle ergometer.

Understanding the physical processes of pollutant build-up and wash-off on roof surfaces

Pollutants originating with roof runoff can have a significant impact to urban stormwater quality. This signifies the importance of understanding pollutant processes on roof surfaces. Additionally, knowledge of pollutant processes on roof surfaces is important as roofs are used as the primary catchment surface for domestic rainwater harvesting. In recent years, rainwater harvesting has become one of the primary sustainable water management techniques to counteract the growing demand for potable water. Similar to all impervious services, pollutants associated with roof runoff undergo two primary processes: build-up and wash-off. The knowledge relating to these processes is limited. This paper presents outcomes of an in-depth research study into pollutant build-up and wash-off for roof surfaces. The knowledge will be important in order to develop appropriate strategies to safeguard rainwater users from possible health risks.