The social uses and gratifications of text messaging

This study examines the social uses and gratifications of text messaging. The study consisted of a seventeen item survey that was given to 150 students on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas between the ages of 18--31; I tested four hypotheses suggested that females were more likely than males to edit their messages before sending them (H1), use text because it is less engaging (H2), and use it to avoid an extended verbal conversation (H3) and that females use text messaging more than males (H4). A fifth hypothesis tested that text messaging is used more for personal use than professional use (H5). Five more hypotheses suggested that higher users of the technology were more likely to report using text messaging as a non-intrusive way to communicate (H6), have a backstage conversation with an onstage user (H7), maintain control over the conversation (H8), use it to escape those around them when in public (H9), and text message when they are not alone (H10); HI-H4 were not supported suggesting there is no significant difference between males and females. H5 was supported suggesting that text message was used for more personal reasons. H6--H10 were also supported suggesting that there was a significant difference between Higher and Low Users of the technology. Higher users were more likely to use text messaging as a non-intrusive way to communicate, have a backstage conversation with an onstage user, maintain control over the conversation, use it to escape those around them when in public, and text message when they are not alone

Soil Contaminants and Best Practices for Healthy Gardens

Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Science

Profiling of micrometer sized laser beams in restricted volumes

We present a method for determining the 3D intensity distribution of directed laser radiation with micrometer resolution in restricted volumes. Our method is based on in-coupling and guiding properties of optical fibers, with the current version requiring only few hundred micrometers. We characterize the performance of the method and experimentally demonstrate profiling of micrometer sized laser beams. We discuss the limiting factors and routes towards a further increase of the resolution and beam profiling in even more restricted volumes. Finally, as an application example, we present profiling of laser beams inside a micro ion trap with integrated optical fibers

The effects of cylinder deactivation on the thermal behaviour and performance of a three cylinder spark ignition engine

A physics based, lumped thermal capacity model of a 1litre, 3 cylinder, turbocharged, directly injected spark ignition engine has been developed to investigate the effects of cylinder deactivation on the thermal behaviour and fuel economy of small capacity, 3 cylinder engines. When one is deactivated, the output of the two firing cylinders is increased by 50%. The largest temperature differences resulting from this are between exhaust ports and between the upper parts of liners of the deactivated cylinder and the adjacent firing cylinder. These differences increase with load. The deactivated cylinder liner cools to near-coolant temperature. Temperatures in the lower engine structure show little response to deactivation. Temperature response times following deactivation or reactivation events are similar. Motoring work for the deactivated cylinder is a minor loss; the net benefit of deactivation diminishes with increasing load. For the NEDC and FTP-75 cycle, the predicted fuel savings are ∼3½ %; the benefit is lower for more transient or highly loaded cycles

Carbon footprinting for design education

The use of Carbon Footprinting as a metric for gauging the sustainability of products has gained momentum in the past five to ten years. As such it needs to be introduced to design students studying sustainable design modules, despite the recognised limitations of the approach. Following the completion of the literature review, a teaching package comprising an introductory lecture, the new carbon footprinting tool – ‘Dirty Carbon’ and a practical workshop were developed. The new tool was assessed with design students against an industry leader called ‘Sustainable Minds’. Students (n=42) were provided with contextual information on what a carbon footprinting is by attending the lecture, then taught how to use the two tools and asked to perform a full carbon footprint analysis of a product using both tools within a workshop setting. The outputs from the project showed that Dirty Carbon outperformed the market leader in a teaching context. Further testing through end of semester exams demonstrated that the new teaching package had contributed to a high level of knowledge attainment regarding carbon footprinting

Towards keeping diesel fuel supply and demand in balance: dual-fuelling of diesel engines with natural gas

With the continuous growth of energy demand for the commercial transport sector, the market share of diesel vehicles is rising in several areas worldwide. Global demand for transport energy is therefore believed to be strongly skewed towards heavier fuels; particularly diesel. The strengthen emissions legislation is another issue facing the current generation of diesel engines; where there is an increasing concern with their high NOx and PM emissions. Dual-fuelling of diesel engines with natural gas (NG) stands as an attractive solution to reduce the dependence on diesel fuel and mitigate the harmful effects of diesel engines emissions. The main attractions of NG as a contributor to a more sustainable fuel market include its lower carbon content and relatively higher natural reserves, in addition to the renewable aspect of methane production from biogas. In dual-fuelling strategy, most of the engine power output is provided by the NG, while a pilot amount of diesel fuel is used as an ignition source for the NG-air mixture. While the concept is not new and it has been deliberated lengthily in the past two decades, several uncertainties still exist as relative to engine combustion, exhaust emissions, and practicality. The present contribution aims at critically reviewing part of the prevalent literature about NG-diesel dual-fuel engines; highlighting the concepts and challenges. Throughout this review, several topics are explored and evaluated based on research importance and maturity. The overview of these works indicates that research effort in this field could be broadly categorized into fuel delivery researches or charge composition studies; where each category is directly linked to either the NG or the pilot fuel. Following this, a roadmap for future research directions in the field is presented, to spot some potential topics for proceedings and continuation

CO2 reduction through low cost electrification of the diesel powertrain at 48V

In order to achieve fleet average CO2 targets, mass market adoption of low CO2 technologies is required. Application of low cost technologies across a large number of vehicles is more cost-effective in reducing fleet CO2 than deploying high-impact, costly technology to a few. Therefore, to meet the CO2 reduction challenge, commercially viable, low cost technologies are of significant interest. This paper presents results from the ‘ADEPT’ collaborative research program which focuses on CO2 reduction through the application of intelligent 48V electrification to diesel engines for passenger car applications. Results were demonstrated on a C-segment vehicle with a class-leading 4-cylinder 1.5 litre Euro 6 diesel engine. Electrification was applied through a high power, high efficiency, switched reluctance belt integrated starter generator (B-ISG) capable of both generation and motoring, and an Advanced Lead Carbon Battery for energy storage. The conventional alternator was replaced with a highly efficient DC-DC converter to supply energy to the 12V system. These technologies enabled powertrain efficiency improvement through the recovery of kinetic energy with regenerative braking and reapplication of the recovered energy through motoring to offset fuel usage. Efficiency was further optimised through application of engine downspeeding and advanced auto-stop strategies to extended engine-off time. Additional electrification was investigated through 48V ancillaries, including water-pump and air-conditioning compressor, and a turbo-compound generator for waste heat recovery from exhaust gas. These technologies have demonstrated a combined CO2 reduction of 10–11% against the conventional vehicle baseline. Additional studies of advanced thermal systems for improved warm-up, and lubrication control for FMEP reduction have also been conducted on this program. These indicate that by applying intelligent electrification to ancillaries a further 3–4% reduction in CO2 is achievable. Overall, this program shows that 48V technologies can achieve CO2 savings with a lower cost per gram CO2 than full hybrid solutions

The initiation and development of combustion under cold idling conditions using a glow plug in diesel engines

Factors determining the success or failure of combustion initiation using a glow plug have been investigated through experimental work on a single cylinder, common rail diesel engine with a geometric compression ratio of 15.5, and a quiescent combustion bomb with optical access. A glow plug was required to avoid engine misfires when bulk gas temperature at the start of injection was less than 413 C. The distance between the glow plug and the spray edge, the glow plug temperature, and the bulk gas temperature were important factors in meeting two requirements for successful ignition: a minimum local temperature of 413 C and a minimum air/fuel vapour equivalence ratio of 0.15–0.35

Phun With Phages: Discovering Novel Bacteriophages in the Soil

We used three bacterial hosts: Mycobacterium smegmatis, Microbacterium foliorum, and Gordonia terrae, to isolate novel bacteriophages from soil samples. We named these phages, created high titer lysates, and purified their DNA genomes. We have archived the high titer lysates at Northwestern College and the University of Pittsburgh. The genomes of three of our phages were sequences at the University of Pittsburgh and we will be sequencing the remaining genomes this summer. Additionally, we are planning to image our phages with transmission electron microscopy at the University of Iowa or Nebraska yet this semester