Effect of diethyl ether blended with neem oil methyl esters in CI engine

Vegetable oils are now considered to be a potential alternative that can be used in place of partial or total substitution of diesel fuels. In this study, we used diethyl ether as an oxygenated additive to investigate the possible use of higher percentages of biodiesel in an unmodified diesel engine. Neem oil was selected for biodiesel production. The tests were performed at a steady-state condition in a single-cylinder constant speed DI diesel engine. The combustion process involved in diesel engine would be improved and the particulate matter would be reduced if these biodiesels are blended. An experimental investigation is carried out to establish the emission characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine using diethyl ether as additive in Neat Neem oil Biodiesel. Emissions of hydro carbon oxides of nitrogen and carbon monoxide significantly reduced by adding diethyl ether into neem oil biodiesel at 10% and 20% on volume basis.     

Zero-tillage is a proven technology for sustainable wheat intensification in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains: what determines farmer awareness and adoption?

In India, there is increasing recognition among policy-makers of the largely untapped potential of the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) for meeting state- and national-level food needs. Zero-tillage (ZT) is a proven technology for enhancing wheat productivity and, hence, food security in the IGP, while reducing production costs – a ‘win-win’ scenario that should support rapid technology scaling even though adoption remains modest to date. In order to inform policies and derive recommendations for a more effective extension strategy, this study investigated determinants of ZT adoption in the Eastern IGP using a random sample of 1000 wheat-growing households from Bihar, stratified by ZT adoption status. We corrected for potential non-exposure bias by using a two-stage estimation procedure that differentiates between factors affecting farmers’ awareness of ZT and those affecting adoption conditional on awareness. Owing to the relatively nascent stage of ZT diffusion in the area, we emphasized the role of information in the adoption process, including social networks, whereby we allowed for endogenous and exogenous network effects. Only 44% of sample households knew about ZT technology, and there was substantial scale bias in favor of larger scale farmers both with respect to awareness and adoption. Both the adoption behavior and characteristics of the respondents’ network members influenced their own awareness and adoption of ZT, particularly among farmers in the smallest landholding tercile. Farmers valued the time-saving potential of ZT, especially under conditions of increasingly unreliable monsoon rains resulting in a delayed rice crop and, consequently, late establishment of wheat which reduces yield. The fact that most farmers accessed ZT via custom-hire services was accounted for in the model, and the importance of proximate service providers confirmed. We conclude that there is need for further awareness-raising campaigns for ZT technology, whereby, apart from mass media, agricultural extension should use contact farmers belonging to different social strata for effective within-village diffusion of messages, especially to the poorer farmers. The social inclusiveness of ZT use can be enhanced by supporting the emergence of more ZT service providers and by developing business models that lower the transaction costs of servicing smaller farms.     

Design of an upgradeable 45–100 mA RFQ accelerator for FAIR

A 325 MHz, 35 mA, 3 MeV Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) accelerator will be operated as the first accelerating structure of the proton linac injector for the newly planned international science center Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at GSI, Germany. In previous design studies, two high beam intensities, 70 and 100 mA, were used. Most recently, the design intensity has been changed to 45 mA, which is closer to the operational value. Taking advantage of the so-called New Four-Section Procedure, a new design, which is upgradable from 45 to 100 mA, has been developed for the FAIR proton RFQ. Besides the upgradability analyses, robustness studies of the new design to spatial displacements of the input beam and field errors are presented as well.     

Evaluation and assessment of lumbar load during total shifts for occupational manual materials handling jobs within the Dortmund Lumbar Load Study – DOLLY

The load on the lumbar spine during occupational manual materials handling was previously investigated with respect to short activity sections or to specified load-handling types such as lifting or carrying. Within the so-called Dortmund Lumbar Load Study, analysis of the occupationally induced load on the lumbar spine during total working shifts in the field of surface construction, drop forge, industrial meat processing, and refuse collection was performed on the shop-floor. The body postures adopted, the action forces applied at the hands, and the resultant lumbar load for all load-handling tasks were analysed for 2 shifts in each field on the basis of video evaluations. Via a newly developed detailed classification procedure, the spatial position of the body segments as well as amplitude and direction of the action forces were described in a detailed manner. Consecutive biomechanical model calculations lead, for total shifts, to time courses of various measures for the load on the lumbar spine, such as flexion or torsional moments of force as well as compression and shear forces at the lumbosacral disc. In relation to recommended limits for the maximal disc compression provided in the literature, lumbar load is exceeded in numerous situations during a shift, in particular, with regard to persons of higher age. In a “dose model” applied in this study, the cumulative effect of single-task exposures was considered by superproportional weighting of the compressive force with respect to the corresponding duration of a working task.

Relevance to industry

A comprehensive evaluation of lumbar load for complete shifts is presented considering the real shop-floor conditions. Analyses for dustbin removal, surface construction and industrial meat processing have discovered numerous exceedings of lumbar-load limits. Such tasks should not be performed by older persons from the preventive point of view.     

Leiterrüstung an der Siegessäule Berlin

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Design of Engineered Elastomeric Substrate for Stretchable Active Devices and Sensors

In the field of flexible electronics, emerging applications require biocompatible and unobtrusive devices, which can withstand different modes of mechanical deformation and achieve low complexity in the fabrication process. Here, the fabrication of a mesa‐shaped elastomeric substrate, supporting thin‐film transistors (TFTs) and logic circuits (inverters), is reported. High‐relief structures are designed to minimize the strain experienced by the electronics, which are fabricated directly on the pillars' surface. In this design configuration, devices based on amorphous indium‐gallium‐zinc‐oxide can withstand different modes of deformation. Bending, stretching, and twisting experiments up to 6 mm radius, 20% uniaxial strain, and 180° global twisting, respectively, are performed to show stable electrical performance of the TFTs. Similarly, a fully integrated digital inverter is tested while stretched up to 20% elongation. As a proof of the versatility of mesa‐shaped geometry, a biocompatible and stretchable sensor for temperature mapping is also realized. Using pectin, which is a temperature‐sensitive material present in plant cells, the response of the sensor shows current modulation from 13 to 28 °C and functionality up to 15% strain. These results demonstrate the performance of highly flexible electronics for a broad variety of applications, including smart skin and health monitoring.     

Neurotrophins are increased in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid after segmental allergen provocation

The mechanisms linking inflammation and airway hyperresponsiveness in allergic bronchial asthma are still not completely defined. Since neurotrophic factors increase nerve excitability and neurotransmitter synthesis and are produced by immunocompetent cells, they are likely candidates as mediators of inflammation and hyperresponsiveness. We tested the hypothesis that neurotrophin concentrations will increase in the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from patients with asthma after segmental allergen provocation. For this purpose an individually standardized dose of allergen or saline was instilled into different segments during bronchoscopy in eight subjects with mild allergic bronchial asthma. Segments were then lavaged 10 min and 18 h after allergen challenge or saline instillation. There was a significant increase in the neurotrophins nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and neurotrophin-3 in BAL fluids 18 h after allergen but not saline challenge. We conclude that neurotrophins are produced endobronchially following allergen provocation, suggesting a contribution to the pathogenesis of asthma.     

Minimizing the number of tool switches on a flexible machine

This article analyzes a tool switching problem arising in certain flexible manufacturing environments. A batch of jobs have to be successively processed on a single flexible machine. Each job requires a subset of tools, which have to be placed in the tool magazine of the machine before the job can be processed. The tool magazine has a limited capacity, and, in general, the number of tools needed to produce all the jobs exceeds this capacity. Hence, it is sometimes necessary to change tools between two jobs in a sequence. The problem is then to determine a job sequence and an associated sequence of loadings for the tool magazine, such that the total number of tool switches is minimized. This problem has been previously considered by several authors; it is here revisited, both from a theoretical and from a computational viewpoint. Basic results concerning the computational complexity of the problem are established. Several heuristics are proposed for its solution, and their performance is computationally assessed.     

The load on the lumbar spine during asymmetrical bi-manual materials handling.

Previous biomechanical analyses of typical load manipulation tasks were mainly limited to sagittal-plane activities or to static cases. This paper includes the biomechanical determination and assessment of lumbar load during asymmetrical bi-manual materials handling tasks which involve lateral turning of the body, trunk inclination, and sagittal flexion and lateral bending of the spine. Diagonal lifting tasks were analysed for different values for load weight (0-40 kg) and task duration (0.75-1.5 s). Whereas a constant grasp height of 15 cm was assumed, the height for releasing the load differed (50, 100, 150 cm). A dynamic spatial human model ('The Dortmunder') was used for calculating the torque in the sagittal, frontal, and transversal planes through the lumbosacral joint and for determining the compressive and the sagittal and lateral shear force at the L5-S1 disc. The trajectories of body segments and load are computer-simulated on the basis of postures adopted during the movement. During diagonal lifting of loads, lumbosacral torque in the sagittal plane is considerably larger than the lateral bending and torsional torque components. Dynamic analyses result in higher maximum values in the lumbar-load time curves than static analyses. The shorter the time for task execution, the higher the resultant dynamic effects and, in consequence, the higher the lumbar load. Lumbosacral compression and shear increase with increasing load-release heights due to higher acceleration and retardation of body and load when the same grasp position and task duration are assumed. The maximum load-bearing capacity of the lumbar spine was determined on the basis of strength data for isolated lumbar segments provided in the literature. The compressive strength falls within the same range as the compressive forces calculated for asymmetrical lifting of loads up to 40 kg. On account of the wide scattering of the compressive strength values, the main influences were determined (age and gender). At an age of 40 years, strength is approx. 6.7 kN for males and 4.7 kN for females (decrease with age per decade: 1.0 kN males, 0.6 kN females). In order to avoid overestimating an individual's lumbar compressive strength, predicted values should be reduced, e.g., by the standard deviation in the male or female samples (2.6 kN or 1.5 kN). Although only a few maximum shear force values are available in the literature, comparison with the calculated values for diagonal lifting leads to the conclusion that sagittal and lateral shear should not be ignored in the assessment of lumbar load during asymmetrical handling tasks.