From the article Essentially, the difference between effectiveness and efficiency is that one relates to how worthwhile the results of an action are, and the other to how economically a result was achieved. A common way of remembering this difference is to define effectiveness as an evaluation of what has been achieved and to think of efficiency as measuring how the result was reached.

>"Using an innovative and proprietary NRL electrolytic cation exchange module (E-CEM), both dissolved and bound CO2 are removed from seawater at 92 percent efficiency by re-equilibrating carbonate and bicarbonate to CO2 and simultaneously producing H2. The gases are then converted to liquid hydrocarbons by a metal catalyst in a reactor system.

"In close collaboration with the Office of Naval Research P38 Naval Reserve program, NRL has developed a game-changing technology for extracting, simultaneously, CO2 and H2 from seawater," said Dr. Heather Willauer, NRL research chemist. "This is the first time technology of this nature has been demonstrated with the potential for transition, from the laboratory, to full-scale commercial implementation."

CO2 in the air and in seawater is an abundant carbon resource, but the concentration in the ocean (100 milligrams per liter [mg/L]) is about 140 times greater than that in air, and 1/3 the concentration of CO2 from a stack gas (296 mg/L). Two to three percent of the CO2 in seawater is dissolved CO2 gas in the form of carbonic acid, one percent is carbonate, and the remaining 96 to 97 percent is bound in bicarbonate.

NRL has made significant advances in the development of a gas-to-liquids (GTL) synthesis process to convert CO2 and H2 from seawater to a fuel-like fraction of C9-C16 molecules. In the first patented step, an iron-based catalyst has been developed that can achieve CO2 conversion levels up to 60 percent and decrease unwanted methane production in favor of longer-chain unsaturated hydrocarbons (olefins). These value-added hydrocarbons from this process serve as building blocks for the production of industrial chemicals and designer fuels.

In the second step these olefins can be converted to compounds of a higher molecular using controlled polymerization. The resulting liquid contains hydrocarbon molecules in the carbon range, C9-C16, suitable for use a possible renewable replacement for petroleum based jet fuel. 

The predicted cost of jet fuel using these technologies is in the range of $3-$6 per gallon, and with sufficient funding and partnerships, this approach could be commercially viable within the next seven to ten years. Pursuing remote land-based options would be the first step towards a future sea-based solution."<

What is the Heartbleed bug?

>"Heartbleed is a flaw in OpenSSL, the open-source encryption standard used by the majority of websites that need to transmit the data that users want to keep secure. It basically gives you a secure line when you’re sending an email or chatting on IM.

Encryption works by making it so that data being sent looks like nonsense to anyone but the intended recipient.

Occasionally, one computer might want to check that there’s still a computer at the end of its secure connection, and it will send out what’s known as a heartbeat, a small packet of data that asks for a response. 

Because of a programming error in the implementation of OpenSSL, the researchers found that it was possible to send a well-disguised packet of data that looked like one of these heartbeats to trick the computer at the other end into sending data stored in its memory.

The flaw was first reported to the team behind OpenSSL by Google security researcher Neel Mehta, and independently found by security firm Codenomicon. According to the researchers who discovered the flaw, the code has been in OpenSSL for about two years, and using it doesn’t leave a trace."<

>"On Monday night, a number of leading Bitcoin companies jointly announced that Mt. Gox, the largest exchange for most of Bitcoin’s existence, was planning to file for bankruptcy after months of technological problems and what appeared to have been a major theft. A document circulating widely in the Bitcoin world said the company had lost 744,000 Bitcoins in a theft that had gone unnoticed for years. That would be about 6 percent of the 12.4 million Bitcoins in circulation.

While Mt. Gox did not respond to numerous requests for comments, and the companies issuing the statement scrambled to determine the exact situation at Mt. Gox, which is based in Japan, the news helped push the price of a single Bitcoin below $500 for the first time since November, when it began a spike that took it above $1,200.

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RELATED COVERAGE DealBook: Defending Bitcoin, Andreessen Says Mt. Gox Is ‘Like MF Global’FEB. 25, 2014

But at the same time that the news about Mt. Gox was emerging, a New York firm announced plans to create an exchange that could draw the world’s largest banks into the virtual currency market for the first time."<

>"Expect to use more fuel in the winter. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that a drop in temperature from 24°C to 7°C increased fuel consumption in urban commutes by 12 to 28 percent for eight different vehicles tested. For a vehicle that typically achieves a 500 km range on a full tank of fuel, this represents a loss of 60 to 140 km per fill-up during the winter months.

• Aerodynamic resistance is greater in the winter. Cold, dry, winter air is about 12 percent denser than warm, humid, summer air, increasing highway fuel consumption by about 1.3 percent in the winter. The average wind speed is also higher in the winter, which contributes to increased aerodynamic resistance and fuel consumption.

• Winter roads create difficult driving conditions. With increased asphalt deterioration and a mix of snow, ice, slush, water, salt, gravel and sand, Canadian roads can be pretty awful in winter and harder to manage. Your vehicle’s engine works harder to offset the increased rolling resistance, as your tires have to work to push aside heavy snow and road cover. The snow and ice also increase wheel slippage, which results in higher fuel consumption.

• Winter gas normally has lower energy density. Gasoline composition is seasonally and geographically adjusted based on historical temperature data. A litre of winter gas has less energy content than a litre of summer gas, typically in the range of 1.5 to three percent.

• Winter driving taxes a vehicle’s electrical system. Except for air conditioning, your vehicle’s electrical loads are normally higher in cold weather due to greater demand from heating, defrosting, head lights and interior lights, heated seats, heated mirrors and increased use of the windshield washer pump. The energy for these electrical loads is provided by the vehicle’s electrical system, which obtains power from the engine."<