An improved ECU for extending the lifespan of fuel injectors.

The research paper presents the outcomes of an improved Electronic Control Unit (ECU) designed for automobiles equipped with Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI). The primary objective was to find a sustainable solution for various issues caused by decayed Petrol fuel injectors recommended to be replaced, but not done due to reasonable justifications. The issues include emissions produced by improper fuel combustion, wastage of fuel and possible damage to engine since incomplete combustion leave residual matter inside the engine's combustion chamber. The ideology is to control the excess fuel released by decayed fuel injectors by modifying the control instructions produced by the ECU. Experimental results have proven that employment of the improved ECU could reduce the emissions up to 84.9 % with an average of 75.8% and most excitingly, the improved ECU is capable to renounce the fuel wastage caused by decayed injectors by a percentage over 70 %

Characterisation and outcome of idiopathic pyogranulomatous lymphadenitis in 64 English springer spaniel dogs

Objectives To describe the history, clinicopathological abnormalities, diagnostic imaging findings, lymph node cytological/histological appearance, treatment and outcome of English springer spaniels diagnosed with idiopathic pyogranulomatous lymphadenitis. Materials and Methods In this retrospective UK‐based multicentre study, 64 dogs were recruited from 10 referral centres, 32 first‐opinion practices and three histopathology/cytology laboratories, between 2010 and 2016. Results The median age at presentation was 6 years (range: 0.17 to 11.75). Neutered females were frequently affected. Pyrexia (83.8%), peripheral lymphadenomegaly (78.4%), dermatological lesions (72.9%), lethargy (67.6%), hyporexia (54%), diarrhoea (29.7%), coughing (24.3%), epistaxis, sneezing or nasal discharge (21.6%), ocular signs (21.6%) and vomiting (16.2%) were reported in dogs for which the history and physical examination records were available. Popliteal (45.3%), superficial cervical (35.9%) and submandibular (37.5%) lymphadenomegaly were frequently reported. Haematology and serum biochemistry revealed non‐specific changes. When undertaken, testing for infectious diseases was negative in all cases. Lymph node cytology, histopathology or both demonstrated mixed inflammatory (27%), pyogranulomatous (24%), neutrophilic (20%) or granulomatous (11%) lymphadenitis. Treatment details were available for 38 dogs, with 34 receiving prednisolone for a median duration of 15 weeks (range: 1 to 28 weeks). A good to excellent clinical response was reported in all but one case. Ten dogs relapsed after discontinuing prednisolone. Clinical Significance Idiopathic pyogranulomatous lymphadenitis should be considered as a differential diagnosis for lymphadenopathy and pyrexia in English springer spaniels. The characteristics of the disease, absence of identifiable infectious aetiology and response to glucocorticoid therapy suggest an immune‐mediated aetiology

POTENTIAL FOR ECO- TOURISM AS A SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO UTILIZE RESOURCES IN UP-COUNTRY TEA ESTA TES IN SRI LANKA

In the context of tea industry in Sri Lanka, ecotourism has been recognized asan economically viable, environmentally friendly, and socially acceptablenon-crop diversification mechanism to increase profits according to AsianDevelopment Bank report, 2000.The purpose of this study was to assess the potential for ecotourism inupcountry tea plantations in Sri Lanka. Six estates, namely: (1) Hellbodda;(2) Kaloogala; (3) Melfort; (4) Rothschild; (5) Sanquhar, and (6) Sogama thatare located in the Pussellawa plantation sub district have been selected as thecases.Collection of data was characterized by: (1) a field survey at each location toidentify the availability of potential resources for ecotourism (e.g. attractions,infrastructure); (2) a community survey with the estate households; (3) aseries of personnel interviews with the estate management, and (4)questionnaire-based surveys with potential local and foreign tourists to thesesites.The information collected through the field, community, and managementsurveys were used to develop an index - "Tourism Potential Index" (TPI),that explain the capacity of each estate to develop ecotourism. The resultsbased on the TPI suggest that the best location for ecotourism was theRothschild followed by Hellbodda, and Sogama. The results also show thatabout 75% of estate community was in favor of implementing an ecotourismproject, and about 84% and 78% of foreign and local tourists, respectively,are willing to visit such a project. The results highlight the necessity ofimplementing sustainable alternative projects to enhance the quality of life ofthe estate community.

Viable approach towards the sustainable utilization of Negombo lagoon

Ncgombo lagoon is a shallow coastal water body located on the west coast of Sri Lanka with vitaleconomic importance. It has had a long association with the fisheries industry of the country. Duringthe past 25 years development activities associated with the fisheries industry in Negornbo lagoonhave been taken place without due consideration to its aquatic environment. To ensure sustainablemanagement of the Negornbo lagoon it is imperative to conserve the natural habitats and extract onlythe sustainable fish yield, which does not exceed the reproductive capacity of the lagoon.In this study an attempt was made to identi fy the major factors that determine the use of illegal fishingmethods which disturb the sustainable utilization of the lagoon, to examine the factors that determinefishing income of the fisherman and to explore the contribution of the Special Area Management(SAM) project in order to reduce illegal fishingThe results highlight that the fishing methods employed in Negombo lagoon are significantly determinedby the participation to the awareness programmes of the project, initial capital requirement and costof fishing. This study further reveals that the fishing income of the fishermen is significantly determinedby the method of fishing used, education level and fishing experience of the fishermen.

Decentralised and Collaborative Auditing of Workflows

Workflows involve actions and decision making at the level of each participant. Trusted generation, collection and storage of evidence is fundamental for these systems to assert accountability in case of disputes. Ensuring the security of audit systems requires reliable protection of evidence in order to cope with its confidentiality, its integrity at generation and storage phases, as well as its availability. Collusion with an audit authority is a threat that can affect all these security aspects, and there is room for improvement in existent approaches that target this problem. This work presents an approach for workflow auditing which targets security challenges of collusion-related threats, covers different trust and confidentiality requirements, and offers flexible levels of scrutiny for reported events. It relies on participants verifying each other's reported audit data, and introduces a secure mechanism to share encrypted audit trails with participants while protecting their confidentiality. We discuss the adequacy of our audit approach to produce reliable evidence despite possible collusion to destroy, tamper with, or hide evidence

Fungal diversity notes 1512-1610: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

This article is the 14th in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, wherein we report 98 taxa distributed in two phyla, seven classes, 26 orders and 50 families which are described and illustrated. Taxa in this study were collected from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, French Guiana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are 59 new taxa, 39 new hosts and new geographical distributions with one new combination. The 59 new species comprise Angustimassarina kunmingense, Asterina lopi, Asterina brigadeirensis, Bartalinia bidenticola, Bartalinia caryotae, Buellia pruinocalcarea, Coltricia insularis, Colletotrichum flexuosum, Colletotrichum thasutense, Coniochaeta caraganae, Coniothyrium yuccicola, Dematipyriforma aquatic, Dematipyriforma globispora, Dematipyriforma nilotica, Distoseptispora bambusicola, Fulvifomes jawadhuvensis, Fulvifomes malaiyanurensis, Fulvifomes thiruvannamalaiensis, Fusarium purpurea, Gerronema atrovirens, Gerronema flavum, Gerronema keralense, Gerronema kuruvense, Grammothele taiwanensis, Hongkongmyces changchunensis, Hypoxylon inaequale, Kirschsteiniothelia acutisporum, Kirschsteiniothelia crustaceum, Kirschsteiniothelia extensum, Kirschsteiniothelia septemseptatum, Kirschsteiniothelia spatiosum, Lecanora immersocalcarea, Lepiota subthailandica, Lindgomyces guizhouensis, Marthe asmius pallidoaurantiacus, Marasmius tangerinus, Neovaginatispora mangiferae, Pararamichloridium aquisubtropicum, Pestalotiopsis piraubensis, Phacidium chinaum, Phaeoisaria goiasensis, Phaeoseptum thailandicum, Pleurothecium aquisubtropicum, Pseudocercospora vernoniae, Pyrenophora verruculosa, Rhachomyces cruralis, Rhachomyces hyperommae, Rhachomyces magrinii, Rhachomyces platyprosophi, Rhizomarasmius cunninghamietorum, Skeletocutis cangshanensis, Skeletocutis subchrysella, Sporisorium anadelphiae-leptocomae, Tetraploa dashaoensis, Tomentella exiguelata, Tomentella fuscoaraneosa, Tricholomopsis lechatii, Vaginatispora flavispora and Wetmoreana blastidiocalcarea. The new combination is Torula sundara. The 39 new records on hosts and geographical distribution comprise Apiospora guiyangensis, Aplosporella artocarpi, Ascochyta medicaginicola, Astrocystis bambusicola, Athelia rolfsii, Bambusicola bambusae, Bipolaris luttrellii, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Chlorophyllum squamulosum, Colletotrichum aeschynomenes, Colletotrichum pandanicola, Coprinopsis cinerea, Corylicola italica, Curvularia alcornii, Curvularia senegalensis, Diaporthe foeniculina, Diaporthe longicolla, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Diatrypella quercina, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Helicoma aquaticum, Lepiota metulispora, Lepiota pongduadensis, Lepiota subvenenata, Melanconiella meridionalis, Monotosporella erecta, Nodulosphaeria digitalis, Palmiascoma gregariascomum, Periconia byssoides, Periconia cortaderiae, Pleopunctum ellipsoideum, Psilocybe keralensis, Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium dehoogii, Scedosporium marina, Spegazzinia deightonii, Torula fici, Wiesneriomyces laurinus and Xylaria venosula. All these taxa are supported by morphological and multigene phylogenetic analyses. This article allows the researchers to publish fungal collections which are important for future studies. An updated, accurate and timely report of fungus-host and fungus-geography is important. We also provide an updated list of fungal taxa published in the previous fungal diversity notes. In this list, erroneous taxa and synonyms are marked and corrected accordingly

Temperature and soil moisture effects on growth, development, physiology, storage root initiation, and biomass yield in sweetpotato

Temperature and soil moisture (SM) are the two main environmental factors affecting sweetpotato growth and yield. Quantitative functional algorithms of plant growth and developmental processes under a wide range of above factors are needed for developing tools for modeling. Four experiments were conducted to quantify early and late season SM and temperature effects on sweetpotato growth, development, and physiology. In experiment I, effects of five SM levels were evaluated in a greenhouse using cultivars, Beauregard and Evangeline. Experiment II was conducted to evaluate late-season SM effects with four evapotranspiration (ET) based irrigation. In experiment III, five temperatures were imposed at early season (0-59 days after transplanting (DAT)). Late season temperature effects were evaluated with four day/night temperatures from 17 to 91 DAT, in experiment IV. Experiments II, III, and IV were conducted in soil plant atmosphere research facility using Beauregard. Growth, developmental, and physiological parameters were measured. Rate of storage root (SR) development of both cultivars showed a quadratic decline with decreasing SM. Soil moisture optima for SR initiation were 0.168 and 0.199 m3 m-3, equivalent to 63 and 75% field capacity (FC), for cultivars Beauregard and Evangeline, respectively. Shoot biomass declined more rapidly than root with declining SM. Results revealed that, maintaining SM closer to FC during early season is beneficial for early development of root and shoot. Storage root biomass declined quadratically with declining irrigation. The optimum irrigation was 72% of ET and less biomass was partitioned to SRs above that level. Early season temperature study revealed, SR conversion efficiency increased quadratically and reached optimum at 23.9°C with increasing temperature. Maximum rate of SR initiation was reached at 29.5°C in 16.7 d. Biomass partitioned to roots declined linearly with increasing temperature. The SR production efficiency declined from 0.43 to 0.08 g SR kg-1 total weight, and dropped by 81% relative to optimum temperature. The SR fresh weight at high temperature declined 99% relative to optimum temperature. High temperature during mid- and late-seasons partitioned more biomass to shoots, less to roots lowering SR yield. The functional algorithms developed are vital to make management decisions and to develop crop models

Analysis of the vienna rectifier under nonunity power factor operation

The Vienna rectifier is an attractive topology due to the three-level voltage generation and its simplicity compared to other converter solutions. The Vienna rectifier generates voltage and current waveforms with low distortion under unity power factor operation. However, when the reference voltages and the grid currents are not in phase, the output voltages become distorted and therefore the grid currents as well. This paper evaluates the distortions produced due to nonunity power factor operation in the Vienna rectifier. It also discusses on possible solutions to mitigate the problem and evaluates their effectiveness and limitations.National Research Foundation (NRF)Accepted versionThis work is jointly funded by National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore, Rolls-Royce Singapore Pte. Ltd, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Z-Source-Inverter-Based Flexible Distributed Generation System Solution for Grid Power Quality Improvement

Distributed generation (DG) systems are usually connected to the grid using power electronic converters. Power delivered from such DG sources depends on factors like energy availability and load demand. The converters used in power conversion do not operate with their full capacity all the time. The unused or remaining capacity of the converters could be used to provide some ancillary functions like harmonic and unbalance mitigation of the power distribution system. As some of these DG sources have wide operating ranges, they need special power converters for grid interfacing. Being a single-stage buck-boost inverter, recently proposed Z-source inverter (ZSI) is a good candidate for future DG systems. This paper presents a controller design for a ZSI-based DG system to improve power quality of distribution systems. The proposed control method is tested with simulation results obtained using Matlab/Simulink/PLECS and subsequently it is experimentally validated using a laboratory prototype