The Performance of a Diesel Engine Fueled with Diesel Oil, Biodiesel and Preheated Coconut Oil

Fossil fuel crisis and depletion, environmental pollution and ever-increase in vehicle and transportation means have renewed the scientist\u27s interest in the world in order to look for potential alternative fuels, which are attractive such as biodiesel, bioethanol, DME and vegetable oils. Inedible vegetable oils such as coconut oil, Jatropha oil, linseed oil or animal fat are full of potential for using directly or manufacturing biodiesel. This work is carried out in order to study the four stroke diesel engine D240 performance characteristics fueled with preheated pure coconut oil (PCO), Jatropha oil methyl ester (JOME) and compare with diesel oil (DO). The test diesel engine performance such as power (Ne), torque (Me), specific fuel consumption (ge) and thermal efficiency (ηe) is determined, calculated and evaluated while using JOME, preheated PCO and compared to DO. The results show that, power (Ne), torque (Me) and thermal efficiency (ηe) while engine is fueled with JOME and PCO are lower, otherwise specific fuel consumption (ge) is higher than those of diesel fuel, the test engine performance are gained the best for JOME and PCO100. Keywords: biofuel, biodiesel, preheated vegetable oils, engine performance, efficiency, specific fuel consumption.Article History: Received Dec 9, 2016; Received in revised form January 28, 2017; Accepted February 4, 2017; Available onlineHow to Cite This Article: Hoang, T.A and Le,V. V. (2017). The Performance of A Diesel Engine Fueled With Diesel Oil, Biodiesel and Preheated Coconut Oil. International Journal of Renewable Energy Development, 6(1), 1-7.http://dx.doi.org/10.14710/ijred.6.1.1-

Genomic data for 78 chickens from 14 populations

Background: Since the domestication of the red jungle fowls (Gallus gallus; dating back to~10 000 B.P.) in Asia, domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) have been subjected to the combined effects of natural selection and human-driven artificial selection; this has resulted in marked phenotypic diversity in a number of traits, including behavior, body composition, egg production, and skin color. Population genomic variations through diversifying selection have not been fully investigated. Findings: The whole genomes of 78 domestic chickens were sequenced to an average of 18-fold coverage for each bird. By combining this data with publicly available genomes of five wild red jungle fowls and eight Xishuangbanna game fowls, we conducted a comprehensive comparative genomics analysis of 91 chickens from 17 populations. After aligning ~21.30 gigabases (Gb) of high-quality data from each individual to the reference chicken genome, we identified ~6.44 million (M) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for each population. These SNPs included 1.10 M novel SNPs in 17 populations that were absent in the current chicken dbSNP (Build 145) entries. Conclusions: The current data is important for population genetics and further studies in chickens and will serve as a valuable resource for investigating diversifying selection and candidate genes for selective breeding in chickens.Peer reviewedAnimal Scienc

Analysis of Morphological Variability, Correlation and Principal Component in a Cultivated Population of an Important Medicinal Plant, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz. (Asteraceae)

Abstract: Although Atractylodes macrocephala is an important economically medicinal plant with a centuries' cultivation history, our understanding of its morphological variation remains rudimentary. Here, in order to generate information on character association, and influence of characters on rhizome yield of cultivated Atractylodes macrocephala, variability, correlation and principal component analysis for 21 morphological characters were studied on 100 morphologically distinct accessions of this medicinal crop. The significant and positive correlation for dry rhizome yield per plant was observed with the largest diameter, number of buds, number of branches and shape of the rhizome, and closely followed by primary branches per plant, plant height, plant crown, and apical lobule length and width of the largest lower leaf. Factor analysis was also used for defining of the determinant factors and the characters constituted in each factor. In Principal component analysis (PCA), the first four main and independent factors could explain 65.75% of the total variation related to main effective characters. Additionally, the results grouped the accessions into two clusters based the scatter plot of principal component analysis defined by the first two axes, which separated accessions with more than two-branched rhizome from other accessions. This characterization on the basis of morphological analysis will help in identification of economically useful accessions for further germplasm conservation programmes and crop improvement

Dietary Methionine Increased the Growth Performances and Immune Function of Partridge Shank Broilers after Challenged with Coccidia

The present study investigated the effects of methionine (Met) on growth, immune function, and antioxidant capacity in partridge shank broilers, which were treated with either an anticoccidial drug or a coccidia vaccine. Chickens were fed five graded levels of Met (0.33%, 0.39%, 0.45%, 0.51%, or 0.57%) for 21 days in combination with the drug or vaccine. The results revealed that an optimal level of Met supplementation (1) increased ADFI (average daily feed intake), ADG (average daily gain), and F/G values (feed-to-gain ratio), indicating improved production; (2) increased OPG levels (oocysts per gram feces), intestinal lesion scores, bursa of Fabricius and thymus indexes, and sIgA content; (3) improved GSH-Px activities, and increased content levels of T-protein, albumin, and urea nitrogen. In addition, birds in the anticoccidial drug group had higher final weights, higher ADFI and ADG values, as well as lower F/G values, compared with birds in the vaccine group, indicating that coccidia vaccine reduces the performance of broilers. In conclusion, we found that an optimal level of dietary Met improved the production of partridge shank broilers, and this result might be related to immune function and antioxidant capacity. Optimal levels of digestible Met in terms of production performance (ADG and F/G) and immune function (sIgA in ileum mucosa) in partridge shank broilers (1–21 days) were found to be 0.418, 0.451, and 0.451 of diet, respectively, when birds were given anticoccidial drug treatment, with corresponding figures of 0.444, 0.455, and 0.452% when the coccidia vaccine was administered

Ion Flux in Roots of Chinese Fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook) under Aluminum Stress.

Chinese fir is a tall, fast-growing species that is unique to southern China. In Chinese fir plantations, successive plantings have led to a decline in soil fertility, and aluminum toxicity is thought to be one of the main reasons for this decline. In this study, Non-invasive Micro-test Technology was used to study the effect of aluminum stress on the absorption of 4 different ions in the roots of the Chinese fir clone FS01. The results are as follows: with increased aluminum concentration and longer periods of aluminum stress, the H+ ion flow gradually changed from influx into efflux; there was a large variation in the K+ efflux, which gradually decreased with increasing duration of aluminum stress; and 1 h of aluminum stress uniformly resulted in Ca2+ influx, but it changed from influx to efflux after a longer period of aluminum stress. Changes in the different concentrations of aluminum had the largest influence on Mg2+

The comparison of blood characteristics in low- and high-altitude chickens

Tibetan chicken (TC) is a unique chicken breed that has inhabited the Tibetan Plateau for thousands of years and has adapted to the harsh environment of an altitude of over greater than 4000 m. The changes in blood characteristics that occur in high-altitude rearing of TCs are unknown. To obtain a deeper insight into the blood characteristics of chickens in low and high altitudes, we focussed on four chicken populations to compare the variations among them. In the present study, we found significant differences in white blood cell (WBC) count, red blood cell (RBC) count and haematocrit (HCT) values between TCs and other chicken populations. When TCs were reared at low altitude, there was a significant (p < .05) decrease in the WBC, RBC and HCT values compared with the TCs reared at high altitude; however, whether the mean corpuscular volume (MCV) value is related to oxygen transport and hypoxia adaptation requires further study. It is likely that haemoglobin (HGB), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH) and MCH concentration (MCHC) values are decrease at high-altitude hypoxic environments. Therefore, the increase in WBC, RBC and HCT values may be the common haematological mechanism for TCs to adapt to high-altitude hypoxia. These research results provide the scientific basis and theory to explain how TCs are able to adapt to high-altitude hypoxia

Example of agarose gel electrophoresis of total RNA isolated.

<p>Visualization of three intact RNA bands for 28 S RNA (b), 18 S RNA (c) and 5 S RNA (d). Lanes A and B contain 1 μg of total RNA from Chinese fir leaves, and Lanes C and D contain 1 μg of total RNA from Chinese fir roots.</p