"papers. Compulsory voting is increasingly resented by citizens in some countries such as Brazil, the largest country where compulsory voting is enforced: at the last presidential election in 2014, some 30 million voters, about 21% of registered voters, did not vote, despite the fact that Brazil has some of the most severe penalties enforced against non voters. A study of a Swiss canton where compulsory voting was enforced found that compulsory voting significantly increased electoral support for leftist policy positions in referenda by up to 20 percentage points. Another study found that the effects of universal turnout in the United"
"Catalytic converter A catalytic converter is an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction (an oxidation and a reduction reaction). Catalytic converters are usually used with internal combustion engines fueled by either gasoline or diesel—including lean-burn engines as well as kerosene heaters and stoves. The first widespread introduction of catalytic converters was in the United States automobile market. To comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stricter regulation of exhaust emissions, most gasoline-powered vehicles starting with the 1975 model year must"
"wood stoves to control emissions. This is usually in response to government regulation, either through direct environmental regulation or through health and safety regulations. Catalytic converter prototypes were first designed in France at the end of the 19th century, when only a few thousand ""oil cars"" were on the roads; it was constituted of an inert material coated with platinum, iridium, and palladium, sealed into a double metallic cylinder. A few decades later, a catalytic converter was patented by Eugene Houdry, a French mechanical engineer and expert in catalytic oil refining, who moved to the United States in 1930. When"
"had already passed the law that would effectively enforce the use of catalytic converters for cars sold there, though at this stage the industry was still being given time, in West Germany, to prepare for the new laws to come into force: Switzerland and Sweden had already introduced much more stringent standards than other European nations, and catalytic converters began making inroads in the mid-80s. It was still believed that carbureter fed engines were liable to pass unburnt fuel into the exhaust chamber, with potentially damaging results for the converter, so the manufacturer chose to combine the new anti-pollution device"
"engine on more expensive vehicles including luxury and sports models. EEC legislation required all vehicles sold and produced in member countries to have a catalytic converter after December 1992. This legislation had been in the pipeline for some time, with many cars becoming available with catalytic converters or fuel injection from around 1990. However, some versions of the Peugeot 106 were sold with carburettor engines from its launch in 1991, as were versions of the Renault Clio and Nissan Primera (launched in 1990) and initially all versions of Ford Fiesta range except the XR2i when it was launched in 1989."
"Law in the United States and other countries to not have a catalytic converter. Converters may not be removed from a vehicle that is used only for ""off-road"" driving in the United States. The main purpose of a catalytic converter on an automobile is to reduce harmful emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. They work by transforming the polluted exhaust components into water and carbon dioxide. Cat-back (also cat back and catback) refers to the portion of the exhaust system from the outlet of the catalytic converter to the final vent to open air. This"
"which is estimated to be the cause for 6.2 lakh early deaths in 2010, and the health cost of air pollution in India has been assessed at 3% of its GDP. The first emission norms were introduced in India in 1991 for petrol and 1992 for diesel vehicles. These were followed by making the Catalytic converter mandatory for petrol vehicles and the introduction of unleaded petrol in the market. On 29 April 1999 the Supreme Court of India ruled that all vehicles in India have to meet Euro I or India 2000 norms by 1 June 1999 and Euro II"
"Birmingham, England, experimented with the wick carburetor in cars. In 1896, Frederick and his brother built a gasoline-driven car in England, a single cylinder internal combustion engine with chain drive. Unhappy with the car's performance and power, they re-designed the engine the following year using two horizontally-opposed cylinders and a newly designed wick carburetor. Carburetors were the common method of fuel delivery for most US-made gasoline engines until the late 1980s, when fuel injection became the preferred method. This change was dictated by the requirements of catalytic converters and not due to an inherent inefficiency of carburation. A catalytic converter"
"of the antiknock agent tetraethyl lead from most types of gasoline. Lead is a ""catalyst poison"" and would effectively disable a catalytic converter by forming a coating on the catalyst's surface. Catalytic converters were further developed by a series of engineers including Carl D. Keith, John J. Mooney, Antonio Eleazar, and Phillip Messina at Engelhard Corporation, creating the first production catalytic converter in 1973. William C. Pfefferle developed a catalytic combustor for gas turbines in the early 1970s, allowing combustion without significant formation of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide. The catalytic converter's construction is as follows: Upon failure, a catalytic"
"between climbing and descending trains on the steep approaches to the tunnel. The system was also used for suburban electrification in East London and Manchester, now converted to 25 kV AC. It is now only used for the Tyne and Wear Metro. In India, 1,500 V DC was the first electrification system launched in 1925 in Mumbai area. Between 2012-2016, the electrification was converted to which is the countrywide system. 3 kV DC is used in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Poland, the northern Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Chile, former Soviet Union countries (also using ) and the Netherlands (from"
"China Compulsory Certificate The China Compulsory Certificate mark, commonly known as a CCC Mark, is a compulsory safety mark for many products imported, sold or used in the Chinese market. It was implemented on May 1, 2002 and became fully effective on August 1, 2003. It is the result of the integration of China's two previous compulsory inspection systems, namely ""CCIB"" (Safety Mark, introduced in 1989 and required for products in 47 product categories) and ""CCEE"" (also known as ""Great Wall"" Mark, for electrical commodities in 7 product categories), into a single procedure. The CCC mark is required for both"
"metric system was adopted by almost all European countries: Portugal (1814); Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (1820); Switzerland (1835); Spain (1850s); Italy (1861); Romania (1864); Germany (1870, legally from 1 January 1872); and Austria-Hungary (1876, but the law was adopted in 1871). Thailand did not formally adopt the metric system until 1923, but the Royal Thai Survey Department used it for cadastral survey as early as 1896. Denmark and Iceland adopted the metric system in 1907. ""Links in the country point to articles about metrication in that country."" Notes There are three common ways that nations convert from traditional measurement systems"
"and immediate replacement. In the United States, for example, it is a violation of Section 203(a)(3)(A) of the 1990 amended Clean Air Act for a vehicle repair shop to remove a converter from a vehicle, or cause a converter to be removed from a vehicle, except in order to replace it with another converter, and Section 203(a)(3)(B) makes it illegal for any person to sell or to install any part that would bypass, defeat, or render inoperative any emission control system, device, or design element. Vehicles without functioning catalytic converters generally fail emission inspections. The automotive aftermarket supplies high-flow converters"
"Following World War II, Houdry started the Oxy-Catalyst Company. Houdry was concerned with possible health risks relating to automobile and industrial air pollution. He built a generic catalytic converter capable of reducing carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons from automobile exhausts. For his design, he received U.S. Patent 2,742,437 in 1956. Catalytic converters eventually became standard equipmemt in American cars, following passage of the Clean Air Act, introduced by Edmund S. Muskie in 1970. Houdry's contributions to catalytic technology were recognized by numerous awards, including the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1948, the Perkin Medal of the Society of"
"voluntarily"", with few exceptions like compulsorly military service. The convention excludes ""adult able-bodied males"", to whom legal imposition of forced labour is allowed. The Convention was adopted in Geneva 28 June 1930 and came into force on 1 May 1932. By the end of 1932 ten countries had ratified the convention (Japan, Bulgaria, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Australia, Sweden, United Kingdom, Liberia, and Ireland). Austria in 1960, Luxembourg in 1964 and Malta in 1965 were the last Western European countries to ratify the convention. Canada ratified it in 2011 and as of 2015 the United States has not ratified it. The"
"Renewables Obligation (United Kingdom) The Renewables Obligation (RO) is designed to encourage generation of electricity from eligible renewable sources in the United Kingdom. It was introduced in England and Wales and in a different form (the Renewables Obligation (Scotland)) in Scotland in April 2002 and in Northern Ireland in April 2005, replacing the Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation which operated from 1990. The RO places an obligation on licensed electricity suppliers in the United Kingdom to source an increasing proportion of electricity from renewable sources, similar to a renewable portfolio standard. In 2010/11 it is 11.1% (4.0% in Northern Ireland). This figure"
"the results of early studies of smog in Los Angeles were published, Houdry became concerned about the role of smokestack exhaust and automobile exhaust in air pollution and founded a company called Oxy-Catalyst. Houdry first developed catalytic converters for smokestacks called ""cats"" for short, and later developed catalytic converters for warehouse forklifts that used low grade, unleaded gasoline. In the mid-1950s, he began research to develop catalytic converters for gasoline engines used on cars. He was awarded United States Patent for his work. Widespread adoption of catalytic converters did not occur until more stringent emission control regulations forced the removal"
"catalytic converters may be required by law. Fires occur naturally, ignited by lightning strikes or by volcanic products. Combustion (fire) was the first controlled chemical reaction discovered by humans, in the form of campfires and bonfires, and continues to be the main method to produce energy for humanity. Usually, the fuel is carbon, hydrocarbons or more complicated mixtures such as wood that contains partially oxidized hydrocarbons. The thermal energy produced from combustion of either fossil fuels such as coal or oil, or from renewable fuels such as firewood, is harvested for diverse uses such as cooking, production of electricity or"
"the UK, Cyprus, Ireland, and Malta. Nationalist China adopted RHT in 1946. This convention was preserved when the CCP took the mainland and the KMT retreated to Taiwan. Hong Kong and Macau continue to be LHT. Both North Korea and South Korea switched to RHT in 1945 after liberation from Japanese colonial power. Myanmar switched to RHT in 1970. Samoa, a former German colony, had been RHT for more than a century. It switched to LHT in 2009, being the first territory in almost 30 years to switch. The move was legislated in 2008 to allow Samoans to use cheaper"
"standards for new motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines. The last few sub chapters deal with high altitude performance adjustments, motor vehicle compliance program fees, prohibition on production of engines requiring leaded gasoline and urban bus standards. This part of the bill was extremely controversial the time it was passed. The automobile industry argued that it could not meet the new standards. Senators expressed concern about impact on the economy. However the stricter standards led to the creation of the catalytic converter, which was a revolutionary development. (Coincidentally, these converters didn't work well with leaded gas, which contributed to the"
"in the manufacture of batteries (lead, mercury, cadmium, etc.) and setting standards for the waste management of these batteries. Many European member states have passed battery and waste management laws. Among those nations are: Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and others. Finland and Denmark have supported a total prohibition of cadmium in batteries. Belgium and Sweden have battery recycling rates of 59% and 55% respectively. With the finalisation of the 2006 Battery Directive, European states now have specific guidelines to which to make rules to comport. The first of the western European directives"
"Engelhard Engelhard Corporation is a former American Fortune 500 company headquartered in Iselin, New Jersey, USA. It is credited with developing the first production catalytic converter. In 2006, the German chemical manufacturer BASF bought Engelhard for $US5 billion (5,000,000,000). The company was started by Charles W. Engelhard, Sr. in 1902 when he purchased the Charles F. Croselmire Company in Newark, New Jersey. He subsequently founded the American Platinum Works in 1903 and acquired several other companies. In 1904, he purchased Baker & Co., a platinum smelting and refining business located in Newark and in 1905, he established Hanovia Chemical and"
"damage the catalytic converter. Emissions regulations vary considerably from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Most automobile spark-ignition engines in North America have been fitted with catalytic converters since 1975, and the technology used in non-automotive applications is generally based on automotive technology. Regulations for diesel engines are similarly varied, with some jurisdictions focusing on (nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) emissions and others focusing on particulate (soot) emissions. This regulatory diversity is challenging for manufacturers of engines, as it may not be economical to design an engine to meet two sets of regulations. Regulations of fuel quality vary across jurisdictions. In North America,"
"Darussalam, Cambodia, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe. AC power plugs and sockets: British and related types Plugs and sockets for electrical appliances not hardwired to mains electricity originated in Britain in the 1880s and were initially two-pin designs. These were"
"converter can be recycled into scrap. The precious metals inside the converter, including platinum, palladium, and rhodium, are extracted. Catalytic converters require a temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit (426 °C) to efficiently convert harmful exhaust gases into inert gases, such as carbon dioxide and water vapor. Therefore, the first catalytic converters were placed close to the engine, to ensure fast heating. However, such placement can cause several problems. One of these is vapor lock - which may occur several minutes after the engine is shut off, as radiant heat from the catalytic converter causes fuel in surrounding fuel lines to"
"Award and Lectureship from Johns Hopkins University in 1971. Bloch was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975. Bloch was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants Aaron and Esther Bloch. He received his B.A. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1936 from the University of Chicago. Herman S. Bloch Herman Samuel Bloch (June 15, 1912 – June 16, 1990) was an American chemist and an inventor. Bloch invented the catalytic converter, a device that removes pollutants from automobile exhaust fumes. Bloch held more than 270 patents. He was the deputy director of research of AlliedSignal"
"during the winter, Italy, Hungary and Romania require daytime running lamps outside populated areas, and Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia require the use of full or reduced voltage low beam headlights at all times. Whether this requirement is met by the DRLs required on new cars since February 2011 is a matter of individual countries' laws. DRLs were first mandated in the Nordic countries, where ambient light levels in the winter are generally low even during the day. Sweden was the first country to require widespread DRLs in 1977. At the"
"registration cost savings. 1986 sees the introduction F2/N2, but in 1987 a round light full fairing model appears. Discontinued in 1988. USA - In the USA the RZ came with catalytic converters for emissions requirements, and was the first motorcycle to do so. It was only sold in California in 1985, as the RZ350NC, and a second version was sold in late 1985 and 1986 as the RZ350NC2, both of which had an EVAP canister and an additional catalytic converter in the exhaust pipe header to meet California emission regulations. Sales of the RZ350 were discontinued in the US after"
"of Fame in 2002. The Clean Air Act (1970) set new standards for automotive emissions. Bagley, as part of a Corning team that also included Irwin Lachman and geologist Ronald Lewis, invented the core, or substrate, used in modern catalytic converters. They developed the extrusion die along with a process that made a thin-walled, honeycomb cellular ceramic substrate. Thousands of cellular channels through the structure allowed for a large surface area. The inside surface area was then coated with a catalyst that reacted with pollutants, converting 95% of exhaust pollutants into harmless emissions, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and water vapor."
"unnecessary by high power locomotive rectifiers that can convert any AC frequency to DC: first the mercury-arc rectifier and then the semiconductor rectifier. Some AC railways have been converted to standard grid frequencies, but low frequencies are still widely used due to large sunken equipment costs. Five European countries, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden, have standardized on 15 kV Hz (the 50 Hz mains frequency divided by three) single-phase AC. On 16 October 1995, Germany, Austria and Switzerland changed from Hz to 16.7 Hz which is no longer exactly one-third of the grid frequency. This solved overheating problems with"
"in 1952–1953 by the Austrian steelmaking company VOEST and ÖAMG. The LD converter, named after the Austrian towns Linz and Donawitz (a district of Leoben) is a refined version of the Bessemer converter where blowing of air is replaced with blowing oxygen. It reduced capital cost of the plants, time of smelting, and increased labor productivity. Between 1920 and 2000, labor requirements in the industry decreased by a factor of 1,000, from more than three man-hours per metric ton to just 0.003. The majority of steel manufactured in the world is produced using the basic oxygen furnace. In 2000, it"
"electricity to homes, the largest in Britain at the time. Privatisation of the energy sector in 1989 caused direct governmental research funding to cease. Two years later the UK's first onshore windfarm was opened in Delabole, Cornwall. The farm consists of 10 turbines and produces enough energy for 2,700 homes. This was followed by the UK's first offshore windfarm in North Hoyle, Wales. The share of renewables in the country's electricity generation has risen from below 2% in 1990 to 14.9% in 2013, helped by subsidy and falling costs. Introduced on 1 April 2002, the Renewables Obligation requires all electricity"
"China, Croatia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, the Netherlands, New Zealand (restricted licence only), Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia (as of April 2014), Saudi Arabia (as of March 2012), Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, Vietnam, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. A conventional manual transmission is frequently the base equipment in a car, with the option being an automated transmission such as a conventional automatic, semi-automatic, or CVT. Unexpected gear changes can affect"