A new method to warm up lubricating oil to improve the fuel efficiency during cold start

Cold start driving cycles exhibit an increase in friction losses due to the low temperatures of metal and media compared to normal operating engine conditions. These friction losses are responsible for up to 10% penalty in fuel economy over the official drive cycles like the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC), where the temperature of the oil even at the end of the 1180 s of the drive cycle is below the fully warmed up values of between 100°C and 120°C. At engine oil temperatures below 100°C the water from the blow by condensates and dilutes the engine oil in the oil pan which negatively affects engine wear. Therefore engine oil temperatures above 100°C are desirable to minimize engine wear through blow by condensate. The paper presents a new technique to warm up the engine oil that significantly reduces the friction losses and therefore also reduces the fuel economy penalty during a 22°C cold start NEDC. Chassis dynamometer experiments demonstrated fuel economy improvements of over 7% as well as significant emission reductions by rapidly increasing the oil temperature. Oil temperatures were increased by up to 60°C during certain parts of the NEDC. It is shown how a very simple sensitivity analysis can be used to assess the relative size or efficiency of different heat transfer passes and the resulting fuel economy improvement potential of different heat recovery systems system. Due to its simplicity the method is very fast to use and therefore also very cost effective. The method demonstrated a very good correlation for the fuel consumption within ±1% compared to measurements on a vehicle chassis roll.

Interpreting changes in heroin supply in melbourne: droughts, gluts or cycles?

In this Harm Reduction Digest Paul Dietze and John Fitzgerald provide another possible way of understanding what has come to be referred to as Australia's heroin 'drought'. They examine evidence from Melbourne, Victoria and suggest that the apparent downturn in heroin availability in 2000 may, in part, be the result of an end of a heroin 'glut' and that perceptions of this phenomenon may be coloured by the development of more sophisticated indicators of the heroin market. They conclude with claims that the reasons for the reduction in drug consumption and adverse health outcomes, such as those attributed to interdiction, are thus premature.

Exotic grass fuel in south eastern Australia

One potentially serious impact of environmental weed invasion is an alteration to the fuel characteristics and subsequent fire regimes of an area. Considerable global evidence indicates that environmental weed invasion may produce 'new' fuel types, but there is little documented evidence of the impact of invasive exotic species on fuel characteristics and fire regimes in south-eastern Australia. This study on the impact of invasive exotic grasses in southeastern Australia has revealed major changes to fuel characteristics, particularly fuel loads.

The culture-based fisheries in small, farmer-managed reservoirs in two provinces of northern Vietnam: an evaluation based on three production cycles

In this paper the results of a study conducted on the culture-based fisheries in small (ranging from 2 to 160 ha), farmer-managed reservoirs in YenBai and ThaiNguyen Provinces in the northern highland region of Vietnam, for the production cycles of 1997/98, 98/99 and 99/00 are presented. The small reservoirs are leased to small farmers by the provincial authorities for fishery activities, and all lessees adopt culture-based fisheries when fingerlings of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (Aristichthys nobilis), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and mrigal (Cirrihinus mrigala) are stocked between March and mid-April each year and harvested, using large seine nets, after approximately 11-12 months. The mean yields from reservoirs in YenBai and ThaiNguyen Provinces in 97/98, 98/99 and 99/00 production cycles were 251, 332 and 253, and 331, 372 and 210 kg ha⁻¹ respectively. There were major differences in the fish productivity in the reservoirs in the two Provinces, and in a reservoir between culture cycles. The stocking strategies appeared to be rather ad hoc, being determined by the availability of seed stock and the financial status of the lessees. Accordingly, there was no apparent consistent trend in the improvement of yields from the culture-based fishery practice throughout the growth cycles. The fish yields in reservoirs in each Province were significantly related to reservoir area (exponentially) and to mean weight of stocked fish and conductivity (logarithmically). Of the stocked fish, the highest returns were obtained with mrigal and bighead carp, which collectively contributed > 50% to the harvest. The return from common carp was the lowest. The mean growth rate of grass carp (2.7 g day⁻¹), followed by bighead carp (2.0 g day⁻¹) was the highest in reservoirs in YenBai Province, bighead carp (4.0 g day⁻¹) followed by grass carp (3.2 g day⁻¹) was the highest in ThaiNguyen Province. The seed stocked on average accounted for 65% and 48% of the total operating costs in YenBai and ThaiNguyen Provinces, and the mean cost:benefit ratio of the culture-based fishery in the two Provinces was 0.35 and 0.37 respectively. The culture-based fishery on average contributed about 28% to the gross income of a farmer lessee.

Reduction of fuel consumption in an industrial glass melting furnace

Reduction of fuel consumption in glass melting furnaces can cut the cost of production, and tackle the global warming. This paper presents three independent solutions to reduce the fuel consumption in industrial glass melting furnaces. The solutions include air preheating, raw material preheating, and improving the insulation of combustion space refractory. Energy balance equations are derived and used to identify the effects of each solution. The results indicate that the three solutions reduce the fuel consumption by 9.5%, 17%, and 34%, respectively.

Effects of creatine loading and prolonged creatine supplementation of body composition, fuel selection, sprint and endurance performance in humans

Most research on creatine has focused on short-term creatine loading and its effect on high-intensity performance capacity. Some studies have investigated the effect of prolonged creatine use during strength training. However, studies on the effects of prolonged creatine supplementation are lacking. In the present study, we have assessed the effects of both creatine loading and prolonged supplementation on muscle creatine content, body composition, muscle and whole-body oxidative capacity, substrate utilization during submaximal exercise, and on repeated supramaximal sprint, as well as endurance-type time-trial performance on a cycle ergometer. Twenty subjects ingested creatine or a placebo during a 5-day loading period (20g·day^-1) after which supplementation was continued for up to 6 weeks (2g·day^-1). Creatine loading increased muscle free creatine, creatine phosphate (CrP) and total creatine content (P<0.05). The subsequent use of a 2g·day^-1 maintenance dose, as suggested by an American College of Sports Medicine Roundtable, resulted in a decline in both the elevated CrP and total creatine content and maintenance of the free creatine concentration. Both short- and long-term creatine supplementation improved performance during repeated supramaximal sprints on a cycle ergometer. However, whole-body and muscle oxidative capacity, substrate utilization and time-trial performance were not affected. The increase in body mass following creatine loading was maintained after 6 weeks of continued supplementation and accounted for by a corresponding increase in fat-free mass. This study provides definite evidence that prolonged creatine supplementation in humans does not increase muscle or whole-body oxidative capacity and, as such, does not influence substrate utilization or performance during endurance cycling exercise. In addition, our findings suggest that prolonged creatine ingestion induces an increase in fat-free mass.

Elucidation of bucephalid parasite life-cycles using mutation scanning analysis

Nucleotide variation in a portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit1 (cox1) gene from asexual stages of bucephalids of southern Australian scallops (Chlamys asperrima, Chlamys bifrons and Pecten fumatus) was investigated using a mutation scanning–sequencing approach. Single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis revealed three main profile types (A, B and C) for parasites isolated from scallops. Sequence analysis revealed that samples represented by profiles B and C had a high degree (97.3%) of sequence similarity, whereas they were ~21% different in sequence from those represented by profile A. These findings suggested that at least two types or species (represented by profile A, or profile B or C) of bucephalid infect scallops, of which both were detected in South Australia, while only one was found in Victoria. The prevalence of bucephalids (and their SSCP haplotypes) appeared to differ among the three species of scallop in South Australia as well as between the two scallop species in Victoria, indicating a degree of host specificity. Adult bucephalids were collected from Eastern Australian Salmon (Arripis trutta), in an attempt to match them with the asexual stages from the scallop hosts. Neither of the two taxa of adult bucephalid (Telorhynchus arripidis and an un-named Telorhynchus species) shared SSCP profiles with the bucephalids from scallops, but were genetically similar, suggesting that the asexual stages from scallops may represent the genus Telorhynchus. This study, which assessed nucleotide sequence variation in a portion of the mitochondrial cox1 gene for bucephalids found in scallops and arripid fish, illustrates the usefulness of the mutation scanning approach to elucidate complex life-cycles of marine parasites.

Fuel cells for the classroom