Effects of engine cooling water temperature on performance and exhaust emission characteristics of a multi-cylinder CI engine operated with Jatropha-Butanol blend

Renewable alternatives such as biofuels and optimisation of the engine operating parameters can enhance engine performance and reduce emissions. The temperature of the engine coolant is known to have significant influence on engine performance and emissions. Whereas much existing literature describes the effects of coolant temperature in engines using fossil derived fuels, very few studies have investigated these effects when biofuel is used as an alternative fuel. Jatropha oil is a non-edible biofuel which can substitute fossil diesel for compression ignition (CI) engine use. However, due to the high viscosity of Jatropha oil, technique such as transesterification, preheating the oil, mixing with other fuel is recommended for improved combustion and reduced emissions. In this study, Jatropha oil was blended separately with ethanol and butanol, at ratios of 80:20 and 70:30. The fuel properties of all four blends were measured and compared with diesel and jatropha oil. It was found that the 80% jatropha oil + 20% butanol blend was the most suitable alternative, as its properties were closest to that of diesel. A 2 cylinder Yanmar engine was used; the cooling water temperature was varied between 50°C and 95°C. In general, it was found that when the temperature of the cooling water was increased, the combustion process enhanced for both diesel and Jatropha-Butanol blend. The CO2 emissions for both diesel and biofuel blend were observed to increase with temperature. As a result CO, O2 and lambda values were observed to decrease when cooling water temperature increased. When the engine was operated using diesel, NOX emissions correlated in an opposite manner to smoke opacity; however, when the biofuel blend was used, NOX emissions and smoke opacity correlated in an identical manner. The brake thermal efficiencies were found to increase slightly as the temperature was increased. In contrast, for all fuels, the volumetric efficiency was observed to decrease as the coolant temperature was increased. Brake specific fuel consumption was observed to decrease as the temperature was increased and was higher on average when the biofuel was used, in comparison to diesel. The study concludes that the effects of engine coolant temperature on engine performance and emission characteristics differ between biofuel blend and fossil diesel operation. The coolant temperature needs to be optimised depending on the type of biofuel for optimum engine performance and reduced emissions.

An examination of the development of LTL hub-and-spoke freight distribution systems

Over recent years, hub-and-spoke distribution techniques have attracted widespread research attention. Despite there being a growing body of literature in this area there is less focus on the spoke-terminal element of the hub-and-spoke system as being a key component in the overall service received by the end-user. Current literature is highly geared towards discussing bulk optimization of freight units rather than to the more discrete and individualistic profile characteristics of shared-user Less-than-truckload (LTL) freight. In this paper, a literature review is presented to review the role hub-and-spoke systems play in meeting multi-profile customer demands, particularly in developing sectors with more sophisticated needs, such as retail. The paper also looks at the use of simulation technology as a suitable tool for analyzing spoke-terminal operations within developing hub-and spoke systems.

European Union development:challenges and strategies

The publication represents a multi-dimensional and multi-faced, in depth assessment of the most significant determinants of the EU development as a political, economic and legal entity, in its format emerging from the Lisbon Treaty. The book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the most profound issues in the recent process of EU integration, including the issue of maintaining its cohesion and coherence under the stress of global challanges faced also by the European Union. Autohors formulated worthwhile conclusions of high value not only for academics but also for political decision-makers, which gives the book same competitive edge over its more theoretical and, hence, less practice-oriented, knack. The arumentation presented in the book would not be left without a reaction of the academic and/or professional circles. I take it almost for granted that the overall setting of the argumentation presented in it, as well as specific points made in its various chapters would find their adequate resonance in a high profile discussion likely to emerge after the book would have been published.

Quantitative analysis of multi-spectral fundus images

We have developed a new technique for extracting histological parameters from multi-spectral images of the ocular fundus. The new method uses a Monte Carlo simulation of the reflectance of the fundus to model how the spectral reflectance of the tissue varies with differing tissue histology. The model is parameterised by the concentrations of the five main absorbers found in the fundus: retinal haemoglobins, choroidal haemoglobins, choroidal melanin, RPE melanin and macular pigment. These parameters are shown to give rise to distinct variations in the tissue colouration. We use the results of the Monte Carlo simulations to construct an inverse model which maps tissue colouration onto the model parameters. This allows the concentration and distribution of the five main absorbers to be determined from suitable multi-spectral images. We propose the use of "image quotients" to allow this information to be extracted from uncalibrated image data. The filters used to acquire the images are selected to ensure a one-to-one mapping between model parameters and image quotients. To recover five model parameters uniquely, images must be acquired in six distinct spectral bands. Theoretical investigations suggest that retinal haemoglobins and macular pigment can be recovered with RMS errors of less than 10%. We present parametric maps showing the variation of these parameters across the posterior pole of the fundus. The results are in agreement with known tissue histology for normal healthy subjects. We also present an early result which suggests that, with further development, the technique could be used to successfully detect retinal haemorrhages.

Assessing aviation e-marketplaces:a multi-criteria approach

After a proliferation of logistics e-Marketplaces during the dot.com boom of 1998-2000, there has been a high rate of failure and survivals are developing much more slowly than expected. This is the case in the aviation industry where a large number of B2B e-Marketplaces emerged according to the focus of aviation companies’ strategies on electronic B2B in the late 1990s. However, the current use of e-Marketplaces in the industry is low and many of them have ceased trading. The traditional e-Marketplaces model has been characterised by poor quality portals and a lack of technical standards. Such an approach is unsustainable in today’s competitive scenario. Improvements in website quality attributes may strongly contribute to the simplification of website functionality by users and speed up communication with all supply chain partners. In this context, it appears critical to develop models for the evaluation of e-Marketplace web sites. This chapter, after a discussion about the development of e-Marketplaces in the transport and logistics service industry and its application in the aviation industry, proposes a multi-criteria model for assessing different types of aeronautic B2B e-Marketplaces.

Local economic development initiatives and the transition from training and enterprise councils to new institutional structures in England

Current British government economic development policy emphasises regional and sub-regional scale, multi-agent initiatives that form part of national frameworks to encourage a 'bottom up' approach to economic development. An emphasis on local multi-agent initiatives was also the mission of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). Using new survey evidence this article tracks the progress of a number of initiatives established under the TECs, using the TEC Discretionary Fund as an example. It assesses the ability of successor bodies to be more effective in promoting local economic development. Survey evidence is used to confirm that many projects previously set up by the TECs continue to operate successfully under new partnership arrangements. However as new structures have developed, and policy has become more centralized, it is less likely that similar local initiatives will be developed in future. There is evidence to suggest that with the end of the TECs a gap has emerged in the institutional infrastructure for local economic development, particularly with regard to workforce development. Much will depend in future on how the Regional Development Agencies deploy their growing power and resources.

Multi-class subcellular location prediction for bacterial proteins

Two algorithms, based onBayesian Networks (BNs), for bacterial subcellular location prediction, are explored in this paper: one predicts all locations for Gram+ bacteria and the other all locations for Gram- bacteria. Methods were evaluated using different numbers of residues (from the N-terminal 10 residues to the whole sequence) and residue representation (amino acid-composition, percentage amino acid-composition or normalised amino acid-composition). The accuracy of the best resulting BN was compared to PSORTB. The accuracy of this multi-location BN was roughly comparable to PSORTB; the difference in predictions is low, often less than 2%. The BN method thus represents both an important new avenue of methodological development for subcellular location prediction and a potentially value new tool of true utilitarian value for candidate subunit vaccine selection.

Managing enterprise resource planning and multi-organisational enterprise governance:a new contingency framework for the enterprisation of operations

This research has been undertaken to determine how successful multi-organisational enterprise strategy is reliant on the correct type of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) information systems being used. However there appears to be a dearth of research as regards strategic alignment between ERP systems development and multi-organisational enterprise governance as guidelines and frameworks to assist practitioners in making decision for multi-organisational collaboration supported by different types of ERP systems are still missing from theoretical and empirical perspectives. This calls for this research which investigates ERP systems development and emerging practices in the management of multi-organisational enterprises (i.e. parts of companies working with parts of other companies to deliver complex product-service systems) and identify how different ERP systems fit into different multi-organisational enterprise structures, in order to achieve sustainable competitive success. An empirical inductive study was conducted using the Grounded Theory-based methodological approach based on successful manufacturing and service companies in the UK and China. This involved an initial pre-study literature review, data collection via 48 semi-structured interviews with 8 companies delivering complex products and services across organisational boundaries whilst adopting ERP systems to support their collaborative business strategies – 4 cases cover printing, semiconductor manufacturing, and parcel distribution industries in the UK and 4 cases cover crane manufacturing, concrete production, and banking industries in China in order to form a set of 29 tentative propositions that have been validated via a questionnaire receiving 116 responses from 16 companies. The research has resulted in the consolidation of the validated propositions into a novel concept referred to as the ‘Dynamic Enterprise Reference Grid for ERP’ (DERG-ERP) which draws from multiple theoretical perspectives. The core of the DERG-ERP concept is a contingency management framework which indicates that different multi-organisational enterprise paradigms and the supporting ERP information systems are not the result of different strategies, but are best considered part of a strategic continuum with the same overall business purpose of multi-organisational cooperation. At different times and circumstances in a partnership lifecycle firms may prefer particular multi-organisational enterprise structures and the use of different types of ERP systems to satisfy business requirements. Thus the DERG-ERP concept helps decision makers in selecting, managing and co-developing the most appropriate multi-organistional enterprise strategy and its corresponding ERP systems by drawing on core competence, expected competitiveness, and information systems strategic capabilities as the main contingency factors. Specifically, this research suggests that traditional ERP(I) systems are associated with Vertically Integrated Enterprise (VIE); whilst ERPIIsystems can be correlated to Extended Enterprise (EE) requirements and ERPIII systems can best support the operations of Virtual Enterprise (VE). The contribution of this thesis is threefold. Firstly, this work contributes to a gap in the extant literature about the best fit between ERP system types and multi-organisational enterprise structure types; and proposes a new contingency framework – the DERG-ERP, which can be used to explain how and why enterprise managers need to change and adapt their ERP information systems in response to changing business and operational requirements. Secondly, with respect to a priori theoretical models, the new DERG-ERP has furthered multi-organisational enterprise management thinking by incorporating information system strategy, rather than purely focusing on strategy, structural, and operational aspects of enterprise design and management. Simultaneously, the DERG-ERP makes theoretical contributions to the current IS Strategy Formulation Model which does not explicitly address multi-organisational enterprise governance. Thirdly, this research clarifies and emphasises the new concept and ideas of future ERP systems (referred to as ERPIII) that are inadequately covered in the extant literature. The novel DERG-ERP concept and its elements have also been applied to 8 empirical cases to serve as a practical guide for ERP vendors, information systems management, and operations managers hoping to grow and sustain their competitive advantage with respect to effective enterprise strategy, enterprise structures, and ERP systems use; referred to in this thesis as the “enterprisation of operations”.

Development and psychometric evaluation of a new team effectiveness scale for all types of community adult mental health teams:a mixed-methods approach

Defining 'effectiveness' in the context of community mental health teams (CMHTs) has become increasingly difficult under the current pattern of provision required in National Health Service mental health services in England. The aim of this study was to establish the characteristics of multi-professional team working effectiveness in adult CMHTs to develop a new measure of CMHT effectiveness. The study was conducted between May and November 2010 and comprised two stages. Stage 1 used a formative evaluative approach based on the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System to develop the scale with multiple stakeholder groups over a series of qualitative workshops held in various locations across England. Stage 2 analysed responses from a cross-sectional survey of 1500 members in 135 CMHTs from 11 Mental Health Trusts in England to determine the scale's psychometric properties. Based on an analysis of its structural validity and reliability, the resultant 20-item scale demonstrated good psychometric properties and captured one overall latent factor of CMHT effectiveness comprising seven dimensions: improved service user well-being, creative problem-solving, continuous care, inter-team working, respect between professionals, engagement with carers and therapeutic relationships with service users. The scale will be of significant value to CMHTs and healthcare commissioners both nationally and internationally for monitoring, evaluating and improving team functioning in practice.

A multi-modular second life hybrid battery energy storage system for utility grid applications

The modern grid system or the smart grid is likely to be populated with multiple distributed energy sources, e.g. wind power, PV power, Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV). It will also include a variety of linear and nonlinear loads. The intermittent nature of renewable energies like PV, wind turbine and increased penetration of Electric Vehicle (EV) makes the stable operation of utility grid system challenging. In order to ensure a stable operation of the utility grid system and to support smart grid functionalities such as, fault ride-through, frequency response, reactive power support, and mitigation of power quality issues, an energy storage system (ESS) could play an important role. A fast acting bidirectional energy storage system which can rapidly provide and absorb power and/or VARs for a sufficient time is a potentially valuable tool to support this functionality. Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are one of a range suitable energy storage system because it can provide and absorb power for sufficient time as well as able to respond reasonably fast. Conventional BESS already exist on the grid system are made up primarily of new batteries. The cost of these batteries can be high which makes most BESS an expensive solution. In order to assist moving towards a low carbon economy and to reduce battery cost this work aims to research the opportunities for the re-use of batteries after their primary use in low and ultra-low carbon vehicles (EV/HEV) on the electricity grid system. This research aims to develop a new generation of second life battery energy storage systems (SLBESS) which could interface to the low/medium voltage network to provide necessary grid support in a reliable and in cost-effective manner. The reliability/performance of these batteries is not clear, but is almost certainly worse than a new battery. Manufacturers indicate that a mixture of gradual degradation and sudden failure are both possible and failure mechanisms are likely to be related to how hard the batteries were driven inside the vehicle. There are several figures from a number of sources including the DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Control) and Arup and Cenex reports indicate anything from 70,000 to 2.6 million electric and hybrid vehicles on the road by 2020. Once the vehicle battery has degraded to around 70-80% of its capacity it is considered to be at the end of its first life application. This leaves capacity available for a second life at a much cheaper cost than a new BESS Assuming a battery capability of around 5-18kWhr (MHEV 5kWh - BEV 18kWh battery) and approximate 10 year life span, this equates to a projection of battery storage capability available for second life of >1GWhrs by 2025. Moreover, each vehicle manufacturer has different specifications for battery chemistry, number and arrangement of battery cells, capacity, voltage, size etc. To enable research and investment in this area and to maximize the remaining life of these batteries, one of the design challenges is to combine these hybrid batteries into a grid-tie converter where their different performance characteristics, and parameter variation can be catered for and a hot swapping mechanism is available so that as a battery ends it second life, it can be replaced without affecting the overall system operation. This integration of either single types of batteries with vastly different performance capability or a hybrid battery system to a grid-tie 3 energy storage system is different to currently existing work on battery energy storage systems (BESS) which deals with a single type of battery with common characteristics. This thesis addresses and solves the power electronic design challenges in integrating second life hybrid batteries into a grid-tie energy storage unit for the first time. This study details a suitable multi-modular power electronic converter and its various switching strategies which can integrate widely different batteries to a grid-tie inverter irrespective of their characteristics, voltage levels and reliability. The proposed converter provides a high efficiency, enhanced control flexibility and has the capability to operate in different operational modes from the input to output. Designing an appropriate control system for this kind of hybrid battery storage system is also important because of the variation of battery types, differences in characteristics and different levels of degradations. This thesis proposes a generalised distributed power sharing strategy based on weighting function aims to optimally use a set of hybrid batteries according to their relative characteristics while providing the necessary grid support by distributing the power between the batteries. The strategy is adaptive in nature and varies as the individual battery characteristics change in real time as a result of degradation for example. A suitable bidirectional distributed control strategy or a module independent control technique has been developed corresponding to each mode of operation of the proposed modular converter. Stability is an important consideration in control of all power converters and as such this thesis investigates the control stability of the multi-modular converter in detailed. Many controllers use PI/PID based techniques with fixed control parameters. However, this is not found to be suitable from a stability point-of-view. Issues of control stability using this controller type under one of the operating modes has led to the development of an alternative adaptive and nonlinear Lyapunov based control for the modular power converter. Finally, a detailed simulation and experimental validation of the proposed power converter operation, power sharing strategy, proposed control structures and control stability issue have been undertaken using a grid connected laboratory based multi-modular hybrid battery energy storage system prototype. The experimental validation has demonstrated the feasibility of this new energy storage system operation for use in future grid applications.

Multi-wavelength regeneration of phase encoded signals based on phase sensitive amplifiers

Future high capacity optical links will have to make use of frequent signal regeneration to enable long distance transmission. In this respect, the role of all-optical signal processing becomes increasingly important because of its potential to mitigate signal impairments at low cost and power consumption. More substantial benefits are expected if regeneration is achieved simultaneously on a multiple signal band. Until recently, this had been achieved only for on-off keying modulation formats. However, as in future transmission links the information will be encoded also in the phase for enhancing the spectral efficiency, novel subsystem concepts will be needed for multichannel processing of such advanced signal formats. In this paper we show that phase sensitive amplifiers can be an ideal technology platform for developing such regenerators and we discuss our recent demonstration of the first multi-channel regenerator for phase encoded signals.

Large scale multi-view stereopsis evaluation

The seminal multiple view stereo benchmark evaluations from Middlebury and by Strecha et al. have played a major role in propelling the development of multi-view stereopsis methodology. Although seminal, these benchmark datasets are limited in scope with few reference scenes. Here, we try to take these works a step further by proposing a new multi-view stereo dataset, which is an order of magnitude larger in number of scenes and with a significant increase in diversity. Specifically, we propose a dataset containing 80 scenes of large variability. Each scene consists of 49 or 64 accurate camera positions and reference structured light scans, all acquired by a 6-axis industrial robot. To apply this dataset we propose an extension of the evaluation protocol from the Middlebury evaluation, reflecting the more complex geometry of some of our scenes. The proposed dataset is used to evaluate the state of the art multiview stereo algorithms of Tola et al., Campbell et al. and Furukawa et al. Hereby we demonstrate the usability of the dataset as well as gain insight into the workings and challenges of multi-view stereopsis. Through these experiments we empirically validate some of the central hypotheses of multi-view stereopsis, as well as determining and reaffirming some of the central challenges.

Temperature management for heterogeneous multi-core FPGAs using adaptive evolutionary multi-objective approaches

Heterogeneous multi-core FPGAs contain different types of cores, which can improve efficiency when used with an effective online task scheduler. However, it is not easy to find the right cores for tasks when there are multiple objectives or dozens of cores. Inappropriate scheduling may cause hot spots which decrease the reliability of the chip. Given that, our research builds a simulating platform to evaluate all kinds of scheduling algorithms on a variety of architectures. On this platform, we provide an online scheduler which uses multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (EA). Comparing the EA and current algorithms such as Predictive Dynamic Thermal Management (PDTM) and Adaptive Temperature Threshold Dynamic Thermal Management (ATDTM), we find some drawbacks in previous work. First, current algorithms are overly dependent on manually set constant parameters. Second, those algorithms neglect optimization for heterogeneous architectures. Third, they use single-objective methods, or use linear weighting method to convert a multi-objective optimization into a single-objective optimization. Unlike other algorithms, the EA is adaptive and does not require resetting parameters when workloads switch from one to another. EAs also improve performance when used on heterogeneous architecture. A efficient Pareto front can be obtained with EAs for the purpose of multiple objectives.

Understanding sustainable development

This new and expanded edition builds upon the first edition’s powerful multi-perspective approach and breath of coverage. A truly comprehensive introduction to sustainable development, it is designed specifically to allow access to the topic from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds and to develop understanding of a diversity of approaches and traditions at different levels. This second edition includes: •a complete update of the text, with increased coverage of major topics including ecosystems; production and consumption; business; urban sustainability; governance; new media technologies; conservation; leadership; globalization and global crises; sustainability literacy and learning; •more examples from the Global South and North America, while retaining its unique coverage of first world countries; •chapter aims at the start and summaries at the end of each chapter; •glossary of key terms; •a new chapter on Conservation with a focus on behaviour change and values; •a brand new website which includes discussion of how projects are done on the ground, additional exercises and online cases, test questions and recommended readings and films. Offering boxed examples from the local to the global, Understanding Sustainable Development is the most complete guide to the subject for course leaders, undergraduates and postgraduates.

A methodological evaluation and predictive in silico investigation into the multi-functionality of arginine in directly compressed tablets

The acceleration of solid dosage form product development can be facilitated by the inclusion of excipients that exhibit poly-/multi-functionality with reduction of the time invested in multiple excipient optimisations. Because active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and tablet excipients present diverse densification behaviours upon compaction, the involvement of these different powders during compaction makes the compaction process very complicated. The aim of this study was to assess the macrometric characteristics and distribution of surface charges of two powders: indomethacin (IND) and arginine (ARG); and evaluate their impact on the densification properties of the two powders. Response surface modelling (RSM) was employed to predict the effect of two independent variables; Compression pressure (F) and ARG percentage (R) in binary mixtures on the properties of resultant tablets. The study looked at three responses namely; porosity (P), tensile strength (S) and disintegration time (T). Micrometric studies showed that IND had a higher charge density (net charge to mass ratio) when compared to ARG; nonetheless, ARG demonstrated good compaction properties with high plasticity (Y=28.01MPa). Therefore, ARG as filler to IND tablets was associated with better mechanical properties of the tablets (tablet tensile strength (σ) increased from 0.2±0.05N/mm2 to 2.85±0.36N/mm2 upon adding ARG at molar ratio of 8:1 to IND). Moreover, tablets' disintegration time was shortened to reach few seconds in some of the formulations. RSM revealed tablet porosity to be affected by both compression pressure and ARG ratio for IND/ARG physical mixtures (PMs). Conversely, the tensile strength (σ) and disintegration time (T) for the PMs were influenced by the compression pressure, ARG ratio and their interactive term (FR); and a strong correlation was observed between the experimental results and the predicted data for tablet porosity. This work provides clear evidence of the multi-functionality of ARG as filler, binder and disintegrant for directly compressed tablets.