Performance and emissions testing of a small two stroke engine using mid-level ethanol blends

With the introduction of the mid-level ethanol blend gasoline fuel for commercial sale, the compatibility of different off-road engines is needed. This report details the test study of using one mid-level ethanol fuel in a two stroke hand held gasoline engine used to power line trimmers. The study sponsored by E3 is to test the effectiveness of an aftermarket spark plug from E3 Spark Plug when using a mid-level ethanol blend gasoline. A 15% ethanol by volume (E15) is the test mid-level ethanol used and the 10% ethanol by volume (E10) was used as the baseline fuel. The testing comprises running the engine at different load points and throttle positions to evaluate the cylinder head temperature, exhaust temperature and engine speed. Raw gas emissions were also measured to determine the impact of the performance spark plug. The low calorific value of the E15 fuel decreased the speed of the engine along with reduction in the fuel consumption and exhaust gas temperature. The HC emissions for E15 fuel and E3 spark plug increased when compared to the base line in most of the cases and NO formation was dependent on the cylinder head temperature. The E3 spark plug had a tendency to increase the temperature of the cylinder head irrespective of fuel type while reducing engine speed.

Life-patterns on the periphery : a humanities base for development imperatives and their application in the Chicago city-region

Life-Patterns on the Periphery: A Humanities Base for Development Imperatives and their Application in the Chicago City-Region is informed by the need to bring diverse fields together in order to tackle issues related to the contemporary city-region. By honouring the long-term economic, social, political, and ecological imperatives that form the fabric of healthy, productive, sustainable communities, it becomes possible to setup political structures and citizen will to develop distinct places that result in the overlapping of citizen life patterns, setting the stage for citizen action and interaction. Based in humanities scholarship, the four imperatives act as checks on each other so that no one imperative is solely honoured in development. Informed by Heidegger, Arendt, deCerteau, Casey, and others, their foundation in the humanities underlines their importance, while at the same time creating a stage where all fields can contribute to actualizing this balance in practice. For this project, theoretical assistance has been greatly borrowed from architecture, planning theory, urban theory, and landscape urbanism, including scholarship from Saskia Sassen, John Friedmann, William Cronon, Jane Jacobs, Joel Garreau, Alan Berger, and many others. This project uses the Chicago city-region as a site, specifically the Interstate 80 and 88 corridors extending west from Chicago. Both transportation corridors are divided into study regions, providing the opportunity to examine a broad variety of population and development densities. Through observational research, a picture of each study region can be extrapolated, analyzed, and understood with respect to the four imperatives. This is put to use in this project by studying region-specific suggestions for future development moves, culminating in some universal steps that can be taken to develop stronger communities and set both the research site specifically and North American city-regions in general on a path towards healthy, productive, sustainable development.

Analysis of a novel waste heat recovery mechanism for an I.C. engine

Typical internal combustion engines lose about 75% of the fuel energy through the engine coolant, exhaust and surface radiation. Most of the heat generated comes from converting the chemical energy in the fuel to mechanical energy and in turn thermal energy is produced. In general, the thermal energy is unutilized and thus wasted. This report describes the analysis of a novel waste heat recovery (WHR) system that operates on a Rankine cycle. This novel WHR system consists of a second piston within the existing piston to reduce losses associated with compression and exhaust strokes in a four-cycle engine. The wasted thermal energy recovered from the coolant and exhaust systems generate a high temperature and high pressure working fluid which is used to power the modified piston assembly. Cycle simulation shows that a large, stationary natural gas spark ignition engine produces enough waste heat to operate the novel WHR system. With the use of this system, the stationary gas compression ignition engine running at 900 RPM and full load had a net increase of 177.03 kW (240.7 HP). This increase in power improved the brake fuel conversion efficiency by 4.53%.

EVALUATION OF MAGNESIUM AS A HALL THRUSTER PROPELLANT

In this study, the use of magnesium as a Hall thruster propellant was evaluated. A xenon Hall thruster was modified such that magnesium propellant could be loaded into the anode and use waste heat from the thruster discharge to drive the propellant vaporization. A control scheme was developed, which allowed for precise control of the mass flow rate while still using plasma heating as the main mechanism for evaporation. The thruster anode, which also served as the propellant reservoir, was designed such that the open area was too low for sufficient vapor flow at normal operating temperatures (i.e. plasma heating alone). The remaining heat needed to achieve enough vapor flow to sustain thruster discharge came from a counter-wound resistive heater located behind the anode. The control system has the ability to arrest thermal runaway in a direct evaporation feed system and stabilize the discharge current during voltage-limited operation. A proportional-integral-derivative control algorithm was implemented to enable automated operation of the mass flow control system using the discharge current as the measured variable and the anode heater current as the controlled parameter. Steady-state operation at constant voltage with discharge current excursions less than 0.35 A was demonstrated for 70 min. Using this long-duration method, stable operation was achieved with heater powers as low as 6% of the total discharge power. Using the thermal mass flow control system the thruster operated stably enough and long enough that performance measurements could be obtained and compared to the performance of the thruster using xenon propellant. It was found that when operated with magnesium, the thruster has thrust ranging from 34 mN at 200 V to 39 mN at 300 V with 1.7 mg/s of propellant. It was found to have 27 mN of thrust at 300 V using 1.0 mg/s of propellant. The thrust-to-power ratio ranged from 24 mN/kW at 200 V to 18 mN/kW at 300 volts. The specific impulse was 2000 s at 200 V and upwards of 2700 s at 300 V. The anode efficiency was found to be ~23% using magnesium, which is substantially lower than the 40% anode efficiency of xenon at approximately equivalent molar flow rates. Measurements in the plasma plume of the thruster—operated using magnesium and xenon propellants—were obtained using a Faraday probe to measure off-axis current distribution, a retarding potential analyzer to measure ion energy, and a double Langmuir probe to measure plasma density, electron temperature, and plasma potential. Additionally, the off axis current distributions and ion energy distributions were compared to measurements made in krypton and bismuth plasmas obtained in previous studies of the same thruster. Comparisons showed that magnesium had the largest beam divergence of the four propellants while the others had similar divergence. The comparisons also showed that magnesium and krypton both had very low voltage utilization compared to xenon and bismuth. It is likely that the differences in plume structure are due to the atomic differences between the propellants; the ionization mean free path goes down with increasing atomic mass. Magnesium and krypton have long ionization mean free paths and therefore require physically larger thruster dimensions for efficient thruster operation and would benefit from magnetic shielding.

Conceptual and Theoretical Frameworks for Organised Violence

The possibility of violence is ubiquitous in human social relations, its forms are manifold and its causes complex. Different types of violence are interrelated but in complex ways, and they are studied within a wide range of disciplines, so that a general theory, while possible, is difficult to achieve. This paper acknowledges that violence can negate power and that all forms of social power can entail violence, proceeds on the assumption that the organisation of violence is a particular source of social power. It therefore explores the general relationships of violence to power, the significance of war as the archetype of organised violence, the relationships of other types (revolution, terrorism, genocide) to war, and the significance of civilian-combatant stratification for the understanding of all types of organised violence. It then discusses the problems of applying conceptual types in analysis, and the necessity of a historical framework for theorising violence. The paper concludes by offering such a framework in the transition from industrialised total war to global surveillance war.

Vascular turbine powering a cardiac pacemaker: an in-vivo case study

Background: Today’s medical devices are powered by batteries with a limited energy storage capacity. Depleted batteries have to be replaced, exposing the patients to the risk of adverse events. Thus, a method for harvesting energy inside the body is desirable since it would allow building devices without batteries. Methods: A miniaturized intravascular Tesla turbine was implanted as an arteriovenous shunt between the common carotid artery and external jugular vein of a pig. The harvested energy was used to power a custom-built temporary cardiac pacemaker. Results: At a flow rate of ~150 ml/min, an output power of 0.4 mW was measured. Successful ventricular pacing was performed. Conclusion: Harvesting energy from the circulation using an intravascular turbine is technically feasible and provides enough energy to power a cardiac pacemaker.

Wieczna kobiecość i emancypacja kobiet: obraz kobiecości w twórczości Karoliny Světlej

To nie przypadek, że wyrażenie „wieczna kobiecość" ukute przez Goethego zbiega się w czasie z pierwszymi zachodnimi próbami emancypacji kobiet. W chwili, kiedy model kobiety istniejącej tylko w zależności od mężczyzny zaczyna być kwestionowany, kategoria wiecznej kobiecości pozwala ponownie potwierdzić ten model, wypełniając go pozytywnymi wartościami. Naturą kobiety jest być uległą i oddaną, a te cechy sprawiają, że kobieta jest depozytariuszem wszelkiej potencjalnej zbawczej łaski. Tak w Fauście Goethego, przypada Małgorzacie, dziewczynie naiwniej, niewinnej, niewykształconej i bez własnej woli, wykupić Fausta siłą swojej miłości. Wszystko dzieje się tak, jakby pozytywna kodyfikacja właściwości kobiet dzięki kategorii wiecznej kobiecości służyła tylko lepszemu ukryciu rzeczywistości ich ucisku; feministki jednak nie dają się zwieść: ideały popierane przez kategorię wiecznej kobiecości są a priori niezgodne z emancypacją kobiet. Karolina Světlá, jedna z najważniejszych postaci w walce o zrównanie praw między mężczyznami i kobietami w Czechach w XIX wieku, wykorzystywała przecież intensywnie w swojej literackiej twórczości ten model kobiety, która poświęca się dla kochanego mężczyzny i tym samym udaje się jej go "podciągnąć do góry" ("hinan zu ziehen", Goethe) oraz dać mu dostęp do "nieskończoności", "nieśmiertelności" i "wieczności". Czy jej teoretyczne pisma i jej działalność na rzecz emancypacji kobiet zaprzeczałyby jej tekstom literackim, na pierwszy rzut oka tak konwencjonalnym? W tym wykładzie podejmuję próbę odpowiedzi na to pytanie uważną lekturą jednego z jej najbardziej faustowskich opowiadań, mianowice "Czarna dziewanna".

A Time-based Passive Source Localization System for Narrow-band Signal

Time-based indoor localization has been investigated for several years but the accuracy of existing solutions is limited by several factors, e.g., imperfect synchronization, signal bandwidth and indoor environment. In this paper, we compare two time-based localization algorithms for narrow-band signals, i.e., multilateration and fingerprinting. First, we develop a new Linear Least Square (LLS) algorithm for Differential Time Difference Of Arrival (DTDOA). Second, fingerprinting is among the most successful approaches used for indoor localization and typically relies on the collection of measurements on signal strength over the area of interest. We propose an alternative by constructing fingerprints of fine-grained time information of the radio signal. We offer comprehensive analytical discussions on the feasibility of the approaches, which are backed up by evaluations in a software defined radio based IEEE 802.15.4 testbed. Our work contributes to research on localization with narrow-band signals. The results show that our proposed DTDOA-based LLS algorithm obviously improves the localization accuracy compared to traditional TDOA-based LLS algorithm but the accuracy is still limited because of the complex indoor environment. Furthermore, we show that time-based fingerprinting is a promising alternative to power-based fingerprinting.

What Actually Matters? Understanding Attitudes toward Immigration in Switzerland

On 9 February 2014, the Swiss people accepted the popular initiative “against mass immigration” launched by the national-conservative Swiss People’s Party (SVP). This voting outcome has triggered wide-ranging debates about both the policy on immigrants as well as the future of Switzerland within the European context. Against this background, we evaluate attitudes toward immigration in Switzerland. Using hitherto unexplored survey data of MOSAiCH, our empirical analyses show that already in the year 2013, before the debate about the initiative on mass immigration was in full swing, roughly 53 percent of the 1011 interviewed Swiss citizens stated that immigration should be reduced. Moreover, our estimations indicate that the threats and fears induced by immigration and the will to maintain sovereignty and autonomy are particularly relevant for attitudes toward immigration. By contrast, education and national or personal economic conditions are only weakly related to the immigration issue.

Socrates on the Moral Mischief of Misology

In Plato’s dialogues, the Phaedo, Laches, and Republic, Socrates warns his interlocutors about the dangers of misology. Misology is explained by analogy with misanthropy, not as the hatred of other human beings, but as the hatred of the logos or reasonable discourse. According to Socrates, misology arises when a person alternates between believing an argument to be correct, and then refuting it as false. If Socrates is right, then misanthropy is sometimes instilled when a person goes from trusting people to learning that others sometimes betray our reliance and expectations, and finally not to placing any confidence whatsoever in other people, or, in the case of misology, in the correctness or trustworthiness of arguments. A cynical indifference to the soundness of arguments generally is sometimes associated with Socrates’ polemical targets, the Sophists, at least as Plato represents Socrates’ reaction to these itinerant teachers of rhetoric, public speaking and the fashioning of arguments suitable to any occasion. Socrates’ injunctions against misology are largely moral, pronouncing it ‘shameful’ and ‘very wicked’, and something that without further justification we must ‘guard against’, maintaining that we will be less excellent persons if we come to despise argument as lacking the potential of leading to the truth. I examine Socrates’ moral objections to misology which I show to be inconclusive. I consider instead the problem of logical coherence in the motivations supposedly underlying misology, and conclude that misology as Socrates intends the concept is an emotional reaction to argumentation on the part of persons who have not acquired the logical dialectical skills or will to sort out good from bad arguments. We cannot dismiss argument as directed toward the truth unless we have a strong reason for doing so, and any such argument must itself presuppose that at least some reasoning can be justified in discovering and justifying belief in interesting truths. The relevant passages from Socrates’ discussion of the soul’s immortality in the Phaedo are discussed in detail, and set in scholarly background against Socrates’ philosophy more generally, as represented by Plato’s dialogues. I conclude by offering a suggestive list of practical remedies to avoid the alienation from argument in dialectic with which Socrates is concerned.

[Future cardiac pacemakers – technical visions].

Cardiac pacemakers are routinely used for the treatment of bradyarrhythmias. Contemporary pacemakers are reliable and allow for a patient specific programming. However, pacemaker replacements due to battery depletion are common (~25 % of all implantation procedures) and bear the risk of complications. Batteryless pacemakers may allow overcoming this limitation. To power a batteryless pacemaker, a mechanism for intracorporeal energy harvesting is required. Such a generator may consist out of subcutaneously implanted solar cells, transforming the small amount of transcutaneously available light into electrical energy. Alternatively, intravascular turbines may harvest energy from the blood flow. Energy may also be harvested from the ventricular wall motion by a dedicated mechanical clockwork converting motion into electrical energy. All these approaches have successfully been tested in vivo. Pacemaker leads constitute another Achilles heel of contemporary pacemakers. Thus, leadless devices are desired. Miniaturized pacemaker circuits and suitable energy harvesting mechanisms (incorporated in a single device) may allow catheter-based implantation of the pacemaker in the heart. Such miniaturized battery- and leadless pacemakers would combine the advantages of both approaches and overcome major limitations of today’s systems.

Nosotros y los de extranjis. La identidad como programa : homenaje a Esteban Echeverría en el bicentenario de su nacimiento (1805-2005)

Con su obra y con su acción Esteban Echeverría marca un hito en el desarrollo y afianzamiento de la identidad político social y cultural argentina. Formula expresamente un programa de construcción identitaria y toda su obra se encuentra teñida por la voluntad de crear una literatura propia y original, en una lengua castellana enriquecida por el uso americano, con temas provenientes de la realidad del país y con la finalidad de contribuir, trascendiendo lo estético, al engrandecimiento de su patria. Subyace en cada página de Echeverría la necesidad de crear una sociedad democrática que continúe el pensamiento anticolonial de la Revolución de Mayo. Su “Apología del matambre" condensa ejemplarmente estas características.

Aportes ético-políticos a la discusión sobre el Programa de Salud Reproductiva

El trabajo, elaborado en ocasión de la discusión en el seno de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo sobre el tema de salud reproductiva, intenta realizar un aporte a tal discusión en relación con: 1. La oportunidad y conveniencia de establecer un debate de la comunidad universitaria en torno al proyecto de salud reproductiva que toca diferentes dimensiones de la vida comunitaria. 2. El concepto de vida, vida humana y vida moral. 3. La legitimidad y oportunidad de la intervención de las instituciones sociales (Estado, nacional o provincial, Universidad) en las cuestiones relacionadas con la vida.

La doble imagen de la moralidad de Augusto

Resumen: Augusto llegó al poder por ser hijo adoptivo de César. Hasta recibir el título de Augusto en el año 27 a. C., fue conocido como G. Iulius Caesar Diui filius. Ser heredero de César tenía que ser algo más que recibir su nombre y sus poderes: también sus cualidades personales debían recordar al Dictador. Por eso, durante la mitad del triunvirato, Augusto intentó emular a su padre adoptivo también en sus cualidades como amante. Su tumultuosa vida afectiva y conyugal, en efecto, se concentra entre los años 44 y 35 a. C., con varios matrimonios o esponsales, y el nacimiento de su única hija. De esta época proceden la mayoría de las historias que –ciento cincuenta años después- contaría Suetonio a partir de una fuente cercana a Marco Antonio. A partir de la sacrosantidad promulgada para Livia en el año 35 a. C., sin embargo, comienza una nueva etapa en la imagen moral de Augusto, centrada en la virtud y la monogamia: una etapa que le llevaría años después a desterrar a su propia hija y, después, a su nieta, por adulterio. De esta doble imagen de Augusto, la primera debida a la emulación de su padre adoptivo, y la segunda debida a una necesidad de justificación ideológica de su régimen frente al de su enemigo Marco Antonio, proceden las noticias aparentemente contradictorias sobre los “vicios privados y públicas virtudes” de Gayo Julio César Augusto.

¿Le temía Claudio a la muerte? (Suetonio, Claudio 43-46)

Todas las fuentes antiguas presentan el ascenso al poder de Claudio como un evento fortuito. De acuerdo con ellas, Claudio fue emperador por casualidad y todo su imperio se caracterizó por la inseguridad y la inestabilidad. Tan gran inestabilidad caracterizó todo su gobierno que era natural que él sintiera miedo. Pero este defecto, el temor, aparece notablemente exagerado por Suetonio, quien dedica varios capítulos a su descripción. Sin embargo, cuando llega el momento de narrar la muerte de Claudio y su decisión de favorecer a su hijo Británico en su ascenso al trono y el coraje que esta decisión implicó, Suetonio presenta una narración de los hechos simple y reducida. Suetonio ha disminuido intencionalmente la importancia de este último acto de Claudio, narrándolo de una manera muy simple y concisa, sin comentarios, sin interpretación, a la vez que ha enfatizado y exagerado los defectos del emperador, el miedo y la crueldad. El propósito de este artículo es, por lo tanto, mostrar la tendenciosidad del relato de Suetonio y rescatar la imagen del emperador injustamente vilipendiado