Designing Future Ships for Significantly Lower Energy Consumption

The likelihood of both increases in, and volatility of, the cost of conventional fuel in the coming decades combined with more stringent emission regulations, means that ships in the future will have to be significantly more efficient and make use of alternative sources of energy. Considering the regulatory aspect, it has been claimed that, if the IMO were to reduce international shipping’s carbon dioxide emissions to those consistent with limiting anthropogenic climate change to 2 degrees of warming, then ships in 2050 would have to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 75-90% compared to ships in 2012. To investigate what might be the appropriate mix of technologies and operational approaches for future ship designs the “Whole Ship Model” (WSM) was developed, which is a holistic ship design tool, primarily developed at UCL, that can generate many ship design options with different design, technology and fuel combinations. The Whole Ship model can be used to explore different arrangements and uses of energy efficiency measures on container ships, bulk carriers and tankers evaluating their performance over an operating profile. This paper will initially present some results from the Whole Ship Model, evaluating the potential performance of present-day ships and technologies and will then compare this to technically feasible future ship designs that use contemporary or near-term technology to achieve very high reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption

Pupil Size Changes Influence Lasting Person Perceptions

Pupil size changes represent a subtle social cue, often processed outside of conscious awareness. Despite this subtlety, changes in pupil size affect our perceptions of the character and emotions of others. In a series experiments we demonstrated for the first time that pupil size changes are also encoded into long-term memory. In the experiments participants were exposed 51 Poster abstracts to faces whose pupils dilated or constricted. In a subsequent task they were asked to judge the faces for friendliness and interest. Importantly, at this later stage all the faces displayed pupils of the same size. Despite not noticing the pupil size changes in the previous task, participants’ ratings were influenced by whether a face had displayed dilated or constricted pupils. This effect interacted with the gender and trustworthiness of the facial stimuli, and affected participants differently if they had been primed to feel socially excluded. Extending this last finding we present unpublished data examining the influence of loneliness on pupil-memory effects. We found participants who were high in loneliness demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to pupil size changes. Conversely those who were less lonely showed the predicted pu

Hydrogen on board ship: a first analysis of key parameters and implications

Shipping Green House Gas (GHG) emissions could increase significantly in the future, and hydrogen fuel for ships could theoretically lower the operational carbon dioxide emissions of a ship to zero. In addition the hydrogen and fuel cell combination could have a higher efficiency compared to the current marine diesel engines. This paper examines the implications of using hydrogen as a fuel for ships. Two hydrogen storage methods, 350 bar compressed hydrogen gas tanks and cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanks, are evaluated in terms of cargo, volume and mass impact in comparison with a conventional HFO tank and a LNG tank. Moreover, the potential loss of cargo capacity for each of them are estimated in relation with the desired range and power. A Panamax container ship was used as a reference ship, in order to visually examine the impact of different fuel storage choices on cargo. A further method has been applied to estimate the relative loss of cargo capacity. It was found that Hydrogen storage systems have a high volume requirement which has implications for both stability and available deadweight. Liquid hydrogen has a lower impact on cargo capacity mainly due to its higher volumetric density than the compressed hydrogen tank. Such conclusions, however, are the result of this early work on the study of hydrogen fuelling as so many of other more detailed issues have yet to be addressed

C-tactile afferent stimulating touch carries a positive affective value

The rewarding sensation of touch in affiliative interactions is hypothesized to be underpinned by a specialized system of nerve fibers called C-Tactile afferents (CTs), which respond optimally to slowly moving, gentle touch, typical of a caress. However, empirical evidence to support the theory that CTs encode socially relevant, rewarding tactile information in humans is currently limited. While in healthy participants, touch applied at CT optimal velocities (1-10cm/sec) is reliably rated as subjectively pleasant, neuronopathy patients lacking large myelinated afferents, but with intact C-fibres, report that the conscious sensation elicited by stimulation of CTs is rather vague. Given this weak perceptual impact the value of self-report measures for assessing the specific affective value of CT activating touch appears limited. Therefore, we combined subjective ratings of touch pleasantness with implicit measures of affective state (facial electromyography) and autonomic arousal (heart rate) to determine whether CT activation carries a positive affective value. We recorded the activity of two key emotion-relevant facial muscle sites (zygomaticus major—smile muscle, positive affect & corrugator supercilii—frown muscle, negative affect) while participants evaluated the pleasantness of experimenter administered stroking touch, delivered using a soft brush, at two velocities (CT optimal 3cm/sec & CT non-optimal 30cm/sec), on two skin sites (CT innervated forearm & non-CT innervated palm). On both sites, 3cm/sec stroking touch was rated as more pleasant and produced greater heart rate deceleration than 30cm/sec stimulation. However, neither self-report ratings nor heart rate responses discriminated stimulation on the CT innervated arm from stroking of the non-CT innervated palm. In contrast, significantly greater activation of the zygomaticus major (smiling muscle) was seen specifically to CT optimal, 3cm/sec, stroking on the forearm in comparison to all other stimuli. These results offer the first empirical evidence in humans that tactile stimulation that optimally activates CTs carries a positive affective valence that can be measured implicitly

Facial mimcry and emotion consistency : Influences of memory and context.

This study investigates whether mimicry of facial emotions is a stable response or can instead be modulated and influenced by memory of the context in which the emotion was initially observed, and therefore the meaning of the expression. The study manipulated emotion consistency implicitly, where a face expressing smiles or frowns was irrelevant and to be ignored while participants categorised target scenes. Some face identities always expressed emotions consistent with the scene (e.g., smiling with a positive scene), whilst others were always inconsistent (e.g., frowning with a positive scene). During this implicit learning of face identity and emotion consistency there was evidence for encoding of face-scene emotion consistency, with slower RTs, a reduction in trust, and inhibited facial EMG for faces expressing incompatible emotions. However, in a later task where the faces were subsequently viewed expressing emotions with no additional context, there was no evidence for retrieval of prior emotion consistency, as mimicry of emotion was similar for consistent and inconsistent individuals. We conclude that facial mimicry can be influenced by current emotion context, but there is little evidence of learning, as subsequent mimicry of emotionally consistent and inconsistent faces is similar

Construction and validation of the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ): a self-report measure to determine attitudes to and experiences of positive touch

Despite growing interest in the beneficial effects of positive touch experiences throughout our lives, and individual differences in how these experiences are perceived, a contemporary self-report measure of touch experiences and attitudes for which the factor structure has been validated, is as yet not available. This article describes four studies carried out during the construction and validation of the Touch Experiences and Attitudes Questionnaire (TEAQ). The original TEAQ, containing 117 items relating to positive touch experiences was systematically constructed. Principal component analysis reduced this measure to 57 items and identified six components relating to touch experiences during childhood (ChT) and adult experiences relating to current intimate touch (CIT) and touch with friends and family (FFT). Three attitudinal components were identified, relating to attitude to intimate touch (AIT), touch with unfamiliar people (AUT) and self-care (ASC). The structure of this questionnaire was confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis carried out on data obtained from a second sample. Good concurrent and predictive validity of the TEAQ compared to other physical touch measures currently available was identified. Known-group validity in terms of gender, marital status and age was determined, with expected group differences identified. This study demonstrates the TEAQ to have good face validity, internal consistency, construct validity in terms of discriminant validity, known-group validity and convergent validity, and criterion-related validity in terms of predictive validity and concurrent validity. We anticipate this questionnaire will be a valuable tool for the field of physical touch research

Incidental retrieval of prior emotion mimicry.

When observing emotional expressions, similar sensorimotor states are activated in the observer, often resulting in physical mimicry. For example, when observing a smile, the zygomaticus muscles associated with smiling are activated in the observer, and when observing a frown, the corrugator brow muscles. We show that the consistency of an individual's facial emotion, whether they always frown or smile, can be encoded into memory. When the individuals are viewed at a later time expressing no emotion, muscle mimicry of the prior state can be detected, even when the emotion itself is task irrelevant. The results support simulation accounts of memory, where prior embodiments of other's states during encoding are reactivated when re-encountering a person

THE POTENTIAL USE OF ENERGY SAVING TECHNOLOGIES IN FUTURE PATROL COMBATANTS

The application of energy saving technologies in merchant vessels has been studied in great detail during periods of economic uncertainty and environmental concern. Some technologies are being increasingly widely adopted, and are likely to become commonplace. Generally, the potential application of these technologies to naval vessels has been much rarer, due to a variety of reasons. This may change in the future, as wider application of those technologies to different merchant ships acts to de-risk them, and increasing fuel prices lead to navies considering energy saving measures. This paper examines the potential application of energy saving technologies to a 3000 tonne trimaran OPV / light frigate