Can I really save fuel with a Truck Wheel Alignment?

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Most heavy vehicle owners in the transport industry are asking themselves – How can I save money on my running costs? How can I save on fuel consumption? Will a truck wheel alignment help?

Research & studies conducted around the world show that around 80 percent of medium to heavy vehicles are incorrectly aligned, or have a mis-alignment. If your truck, trailer or bus has incorrectly aligned wheels & axles, you have what we call increased rolling resistance when travelling on the road. This means the engine is working harder than required to push the truck along the road, and the end result is an increase in fuel consumption. Given that fuel can account for up to 50% of the operating costs of a truck or fleet, smart operators must explore all avenues to reduce fuel consumption.
Generally speaking, correcting even slight alignment issues have been shown to result in a saving of 3 – 10 percent on fuel.

3% doesn’t sound too significant does it? Lets take a closer look – One truck runs Brisbane to Sydney (return) 3 times a week (6,000 kms). That’s 312,000 kms a year. Fuel consumption average is 1.85 litres/km. That’s 577,200 litres, current local prices are around $1.49 per litre. Fuel cost for the year – $860,028.00. If you reduced fuel consumption by 3%, you would save $25,800.84!!
Your scenario may be different, but you can see that small changes can make a big difference to the bottom line of your business. There are other areas where you can save on running costs, which will be covered in another article.

If you own one truck or one hundred, and you are not having a regular truck wheel alignment performed as part of your maintenance schedule, you really need to contact your local truck wheel alignment specialist for a chat.

Truckologist is a mobile truck wheel alignment business based in Brisbane, Australia.

Moodle Learning Management System Overview

moodle-lmsMoodle is the world’s most popular learning management system. Moodle is flexible and scaleable software designed to help educators create interactive and collaborative online learning experiences. Moodle originated in Australia around a decade ago and has since been internationalised in more than 200 countries and 100 languages. The official community site has more than a million registered users.

There are many ways in which Moodle can be capably used. These include
continuing professional development, staff compliance, workplace assessment, the delivery of online courses and induction training. Being open source software, there is a large amount of community support toward the development of third-party plugins to extend Moodle’s core functionality.

Moodle is free to use without licensing costs, however, it does take some level of technical expertise to install, configure and secure the software on a web server. Once deployed, it can be easily managed by a qualified system administrator.

Moodle’s key administrative functions include the ability to control authentication, assign roles and permissions, perform bulk user actions, change site appearance, automate course backups, manage accounts and generate various reports. Moodle enables integration with external systems, e-commerce plugins and SCORM compliance. Moodle is proactive in terms of data security and information privacy of its users, hence, patches are released on a periodic basis and there are global settings that can be configured by the system administrator.

Course creators can add online activities and resources intended for their learners. Moodle’s standard activities include assignment, chat, blog, forum, messaging, quiz and wiki. The learning sequence may be totally non-linear or controlled so learners engage with online course objects in a predetermined fashion. User activity and course completion tracking are monitored, moreover, assessment grades and feedback can be reported in real-time via the internet.

Moodle enables online content to be shared in several ways. Course participants can quickly upload existing files from their device, disk, or network. Using Moodle repositories, it is possible to import content and media from Cloud-based services such as Google Docs, YouTube, Flickr, Boxnet and Dropbox. On the same token, content can be export from Moodle to third-party services.

Assess, track and report on your learners via the web. Get started now and learn more today about Moodle Sydney, Moodle Brisbane and Moodle Melbourne providers.

 

Tips for Kids Parties

Parties for kids have come a long way in the last decade with more options, more expense and more expectation placed on an event that runs approx. two-three hours. Involved in the children’s party industry for over fifteen years, I’ve seen every kind of party from the informal backyard gathering to a virtual carnival with a great variety of entertainment hired.

A children’s party doesn’t require an event planner or a big budget to be wonderful. I want to give you some sure-fire pointers to get the party started and the kids having a ball.

1. Stick with the familiar. Children feel comfortable when predictable elements appear, and if they’re overlooked, it won’t go unnoticed! Must-haves are: Food, birthday cake, and the all important Party Bag! If you provide at least these three things, you have the basics of party.

2. What to provide for the kids. There are innumerable options: Party games; hire an activity or entertainer or have the party somewhere that will entertain the kids for you. The Golden Rule is: DON’T OVER-DO IT!

Just one or two sessions of entertainment are more than enough. Remember, the kids are already being commanded to eat now, cut the cake now, watch the gifts being opened now, etc etc.. If you add entertainers, activities and games, children may easily be overwhelmed, and the party whizzes by without the children having time to actually play.

3. Play time: This element should be the top party essential. Allowing time for children to run around, play, laugh and talk with each other is valuable. It suits children of all ages and capabilities, and what’s more , it’s free!

4. Age-appropriate entertainment. This tip may seem like a no-brainer, however many parties can have children feeling bored or bewildered. For example, hiring a magician-clown for two-year olds left most of the children terrified. Another example is a bowling party for four-year olds. The kids had no interest in being competitive and after just a few bowls, the excitement had definitely worn off. Even Pass-the-Parcel can cause distress when played with kiddies who are too young to know they haven’t missed out, they just have to wait their turn. When you are hosting a party with mixed ages and genders, there’s a broad range of entertainment that will appeal, such as jumping castles, face painting and balloon-twisting.

5. Relax! When planning a party, listen to your child and use your instincts – you know what they will enjoy the most. On the day have a mini run-sheet so you don’t forget anything, like when to get the party pies in the oven or to hand out the party bags.

And lastly, enjoy YOURSELF too…after all -it’s a party!

All the best!

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Stacked Stone Sydney

If you are looking for a place to get only the highest quality Stacked Stone Sydney has available then look no further than with Craftstoneoz.com.au. Craftstoneoz.com.au is able to deliver the unique beauty that a natural looking stone cladding wall has to offer. A stone feature wall made out of pure natural stone is very rare these days. It may have been commonplace eons ago but in this day and age the supply of very fine and beautifully crafted natural stone has dwindled to the point where it can be extremely expensive. Craftstoneoz.com.au gives the best solution if you truly want to have the best Stacked Stone Sydney can ever have.

The solution is in the material. Instead of scouring the world for very rare and pure natural stone, Craftstoneoz.com.au molds replicas from a mix of cement, pumice and other materials. Even if you were to take a magnifying glass and inspect the stone pieces very closely you will not find any difference between these products and real, natural stones. The color blends all the way through the product so even if you were to break a piece and shatter it on the ground, the color would be the same all throughout the broken shards, making them appear even more authentic.

You do not need to worry about any event of repetition either. When molding, over a few thousand molding models are used that will essentially remove any possibility of repetition. Another thing to note is that all of the stones are colored one by one, therefore there will never be any two stones that are exactly the same. You could inspect every stone installed onto your wall and you will never find any two identical stones.

No matter how you look at the replicas they will look and feel like the real thing. All of the molds are designed to be almost identical to natural stones and the process in making them ensures that each one is applicable to the construct. Craftstoneoz.com.au stone feature structures are best suited for walls. Since they are lightweight and can be cut by construction equipment they are not suited for walkways, fountains or patios and others. They are best when designed for a wall, post, or other side structure that will not be walked upon. They can be placed outside or inside, making them the best pieces for building stone fences around your house, the BBQ area or if you want to create a unique, natural looking façade of your home or establishment.

The best thing is that all of these stones are lightweight and make for a very beautiful Stacked Stone Sydney has ever seen. They are compatible to be installed onto any kind of material, making any kind of wall or post suitable to have stones installed over them. This will give your home or establishment a fresh and yet comforting new look that brings the natural beauty of the world and nature right into your doorstep. Craftstoneoz.com.au offers a total of nineteen different textures and over eighty colors that will guarantee you get the best designed Stacked Stone Sydney has to offer.

Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Options

Plantar fasciitis is extremely common affecting around 10% of the adult population at some time in life. Commonly plantar fasciitis is associated with heel spurs however on x-ray only 50% of patients with plantar fasciitis have evidence of calcification through the heel (DiMarcangelo, 1997).

Commonly plantar fasciitis symptoms start as an awareness or ache in the morning. Relief treatment can be quite simple at this time however if it is left, these symptoms will often slowly progress to pain that significantly impacts quality of life.

When targeting plantar fasciitis symptoms your practitioner will guide you through the best strategy or combination of strategies to help relieve and control your individual pain. At Body Leadership Australia we recommend a multimodal approach utilising a number of different treatment options.

Soft Tissue Release
Tightness of the muscles surrounding the foot have been found to pull hard enough on the bones that they alter the natural shape of the foot and ankle often leading to plantar fasciitis pain. Accordingly, release techniques and stretching of the lower limb muscles can have an effect on decreasing symptoms associated with plantar fasciitis.

Stretching
Strategic stretching of the calf muscles and Achilles tendon or on the plantar fascia itself can decrease pain associated with plantar fasciitis. You should get a program tailored to your individual needs.

Orthotics
Orthotics can help to relieve the effects of plantar fasciitis. Changing the weight load through the foot can allow the inflammatory response to settle by supporting the foot appropriately.

Night Splints (Strassburg Sock)
The use of a night splint can reduce recovery time compared to the same protocol utilising standing stretches through the calf.

Cortisone
Cortisone was always a last resort due to potential complications and pain post injection. Now with ultrasound guidance outcomes have improved and we see them used more effectively. Cortisone options can be discussed with your health care professional.

Surgery
A number of studies found 75% to 95% of patients had long term improvement as measured by various criteria. Up to 27% of patients still had significant pain, up to 20% had some activity restriction, and up to 12% had moderate pain that impaired function (Brown et al., 1999; Davies et al., 1999; Fishco et al., 2000). Surgical options are always a last resort.

Once your pain is treated and controlled it is important to understand your individual factors that predispose you to plantar fasciitis which can be explained by your physiotherapist. You can then be taught a home program to release tension, particularly through the calf as well as the foot to nip problems in the bud. This can also be optimised using home exercises to improve strength for better control of your biomechanics long term.

If you, your friend or family member suffer from plantar fasciitis please do not hesitate to contact one of our friendly Brisbane sports physiotherapists on 07 3847 8040. Our Brisbane sports physios can also provide treatment from our Brisbane Sports Physiotherapy practice.