This study aims to evaluate the melting characteristics of a phase change material (PCM) in a latent heat storage system equipped with hemispherical and quarter-spherical fins. A vertical triple-pipe heat exchanger is used as the PCM-based heat storage unit to improve the melting performance compared with a double-pipe system. Furthermore, the fins are arranged in inline and staggered configurations to improve heat transfer performance. For the quarter-spherical fins, both upward and downward directions are examined. The results of the system equipped with novel fins are compared with those without fins. Moreover, a fin is added to the heat exchanger’s base to compensate for the natural convection effect at the bottom of the heat exchanger. Considering similar fin volumes, the results show that the system equipped with four hemispherical fins on the side walls and an added fin on the bottom wall has the best performance compared with the other cases with hemispherical fins. The staggered arrangement of the fins results in a higher heat transfer rate. The downward quarter-spherical fins with a staggered configuration show the highest performance among all the studied cases. Compared with the case without fins, the heat storage rate improves by almost 78% (from 35.6 to 63.5 W), reducing the melting time by 45%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, there have been concerns related to the preparedness of healthcare workers (HCWs). This study aimed to describe the level of awareness and preparedness of hospital HCWs at the time of the first wave.
This multinational, multicenter, cross-sectional survey was conducted among hospital HCWs from February to May 2020. We used a hierarchical logistic regression multivariate analysis to adjust the influence of variables based on awareness and preparedness. We then used association rule mining to identify relationships between HCW confidence in handling suspected
Biofilms formation by pathogens microbial Control considered important in medical research because it is the hazarded virulence factor leading to becoming difficult to treat because of its high resistance to antimicrobials. Glycopeptide antibiotic a (Vancomycin) and the commercial bacteriocin (Nisin A) were used to comparative with purification bacteriocin (MRSAcin) against MRSA biofilm. One hundred food samples were collected from Baghdad markets from July 2016 to September 2016, including (cheese, yogurt, raw milk, fried meat, grilled meat, and beef burger). All samples were cultures; S. aureus was confirmation by macroscopic culture and microscopic examination, in addition to biochemical tests. Methicillin resistance S. asureus (
... Show MoreSliding Mode Controller (SMC) is a simple method and powerful technique to design a robust controller for nonlinear systems. It is an effective tool with acceptable performance. The major drawback is a classical Sliding Mode controller suffers from the chattering phenomenon which causes undesirable zigzag motion along the sliding surface. To overcome the snag of this classical approach, many methods were proposed and implemented. In this work, a Fuzzy controller was added to classical Sliding Mode controller in order to reduce the impact chattering problem. The new structure is called Sliding Mode Fuzzy controller (SMFC) which will also improve the properties and performance of the classical Sliding Mode control
... Show MoreIn this paper, two new simple, fast and efficient block matching algorithms are introduced, both methods begins blocks matching process from the image center block and moves across the blocks toward image boundaries. With each block, its motion vector is initialized using linear prediction that depending on the motion vectors of its neighbor blocks that are already scanned and their motion vectors are assessed. Also, a hybrid mechanism is introduced, it depends on mixing the proposed two predictive mechanisms with Exhaustive Search (ES) mechanism in order to gain matching accuracy near or similar to ES but with Search Time ST less than 80% of the ES. Also, it offers more control capability to reduce the search errors. The experimental tests
... Show MoreThe present work aims to validate the experimental results of a new test rig built from scratch to evaluate the thermal behavior of the brake system with the numerical results of the transient thermal problem. The work was divided into two parts; in the first part, a three-dimensional finite-element solution of the transient thermal problem using a new developed 3D model of the brake system for the selected vehicle is SAIPA 131, while in the second part, the experimental test rig was built to achieve the necessary tests to find the temperature distribution during the braking process of the brake system. We obtained high agreement between the results of the new test rig with the numerical results based on the developed model of the brake
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The present investigation aimed to formulate a liquid self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) of tacrolimus to enhance its oral bioavailability by improving its dispersibility and dissolution rate. Four liquid SMEDDS were prepared using maisine CC as oil phase, labrasol ALF as surfactant and transcutol HP as co-surfactant based on the solubility studies of tacrolimus in these components. The phase behavior of the components and the area of microemulsion were evaluated using pseudoternary phase diagrams. The formulations were also assessed for thermodynamic stability, robustness to dilution, self-emulsification time, drug content, globule size and polydispersity index. The prepared SMEDDS formulations exhibi
... Show MoreObjective: The objective of this study was to prepare nanosuspension of a practical water insoluble antiulcer drug which is lafutidine to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate with studying the effect of different formulation variables to obtain the best formula with appropriate physical properties and higher dissolution rate.Methods: Nanosuspension of lafutidine was prepared using solvent anti-solvent precipitation method using Polyvinylpyrrolidone K-90(PVP K-90) as the stabilizer. Ten formulations were prepared to show the effect of different variables in which two formulations showed the effect of stabilizer type, three formulations showed the effect of stabilizer concentration, two formulations showed the effect of combinatio
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a collaborative system called Recycle Rewarding System (RRS), and focuses on the aspect of using information communication technology (ICT) as a tool to promote greening. The idea behind RRS is to encourage recycling collectors by paying them for earning points. In doing so, both the industries and individuals reap the economical benefits of such system. Finally, and more importantly, the system intends to achieve a green environment for the Earth. This paper discusses the design and implementation of the RRS, involves: the architectural design, selection of components, and implementation issues. Five modules are used to construct the system, namely: database, data entry, points collecting and recording, points reward
... Show MoreBackground: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging zoonotic disease caused by the new respiratory virus SARS-CoV2. It has a tropism in the lung tissues where excess target receptors exist. Periostin plays a role in subepithelial fibrosis associated with bronchial asthma. Since the Coronavirus's target is the human respiratory system, Periostin has been recently described as a valuable new biomarker in the diagnosis and evaluation of disease in patients with COVID-19 lung involvement. Objectives: To assess the level of Periostin in the serum of COVID-19 patients and to correlate its role in disease severity and prognosis. Subjects and Methods: Periostin serum levels were measured for 63 patients attending three main COVID
... Show MoreThe target of this study was to synthesize several new Ciprofloxacin drug analogs by providing a nucleophilic substitution procedure that provides new functionality at the carboxylic group location. The analogs were synthesized, designed, and characterized by 1HNMR, and FTIR. The synthetic path began from the reaction of ciprofloxacin drug with morpholine to give compound[B], ciprofloxacin derivative was linked with a variety of primary and secondary amines to give compounds[B1-B9]. The above-mentioned prepared compounds [B3 and B5] were applied to liver enzymes, and the increase in the activity of these enzymes was observed. In addition, a theoretical study was conducted to study the energies and properties of the prepared co
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