Due to the potential cost saving and minimal temperature stratification, the energy storage based on phase-change materials (PCMs) can be a reliable approach for decoupling energy demand from immediate supply availability. However, due to their high heat resistance, these materials necessitate the introduction of enhancing additives, such as expanded surfaces and fins, to enable their deployment in more widespread thermal and energy storage applications. This study reports on how circular fins with staggered distribution and variable orientations can be employed for addressing the low thermal response rates in a PCM (Paraffin RT-35) triple-tube heat exchanger consisting of two heat-transfer fluids flow in opposites directions through the inner and the outer tubes. Various configurations, dimensions, and orientations of the circular fins at different flow conditions of the heat-transfer fluid were numerically examined and optimized using an experimentally validated computational fluid-dynamic model. The results show that the melting rate, compared with the base case of finless, can be improved by 88% and the heat charging rate by 34%, when the fin orientation is downward–upward along the left side and the right side of the PCM shell. The results also show that there is a benefit if longer fins with smaller thicknesses are adopted in the vertical direction of the storage unit. This benefit helps natural convection to play a greater role, resulting in higher melting rates. Changing the fins’ dimensions from (thickness × length) 2 × 7.071 mm2 to 0.55 × 25.76 mm2 decreases the melting time by 22% and increases the heat charging rate by 9.6%. This study has also confirmed the importance of selecting the suitable values of Reynolds numbers and the inlet temperatures of the heat-transfer fluid for optimizing the melting enhancement potential of circular fins with downward–upward fin orientations.
The importance of forecasting has emerged in the economic field in order to achieve economic growth, as forecasting is one of the important topics in the analysis of time series, and accurate forecasting of time series is one of the most important challenges in which we seek to make the best decision. The aim of the research is to suggest the use of hybrid models for forecasting the daily crude oil prices as the hybrid model consists of integrating the linear component, which represents Box Jenkins models and the non-linear component, which represents one of the methods of artificial intelligence, which is long short term memory (LSTM) and the gated recurrent unit (GRU) which represents deep learning models. It was found that the proposed h
... Show MoreGlutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are enzymes that included, in a more range of detoxifying reactions by conjugation of glutathione, to electrophilic material. Polymorphisms n the genes that responsible of GSTs affect, the function of the GSTs. GSTs play an active role in protection of cell against oxidative stress mechanism. Polymorphisms of GSTP1 at codon 105 amino acids forms GSTP1 important site for bind of hydrophobic electrophiles and the substitution of Ile/Val affect substrate specially catalytic activity of the enzyme and may correlate with reach to different diseases in human like diabetes mellitus type2 disease. Correlation between these polymorphisms and changes in the parameters file of diabetic patients has also bee
... Show MoreBackground: The prevention of the enamel demineralization at the periphery of the brackets is a significant challenge to orthodontic professionals. The aim of this clinical study was to compare the Streptococcus mutants count in the plaque surrounding two orthodontic adhesive types, Fuji Ortho LC and Enlight (Ormco). Materials and methods: A total of 13 patients (7 male and 6 female) needing fixed orthodontic appliance therapy were participated. A split mouth technique was followed with appliances bonded by two orthodontic adhesive types, Fuji Ortho LC and Enlight (Ormco). Saliva was collected before placement of appliances (T0) and again at three weeks (T1) and six weeks (T2) after placement of appliances. Plaque was collected from areas a
... Show MoreThe aim of this study was to propose and evaluate an eco-epidemiological model with Allee effect and nonlinear harvesting in predators. It was assumed that there is an SI-type of disease in prey, and only portion of the prey would be attacked by the predator due to the fleeing of the remainder of the prey to a safe area. It was also assumed that the predator consumed the prey according to modified Holling type-II functional response. All possible equilibrium points were determined, and the local and global stabilities were investigated. The possibility of occurrence of local bifurcation was also studied. Numerical simulation was used to further evaluate the global dynamics and the effects of varying parameters on the asymptotic behavior of
... Show MoreHuman cystic echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus is one of most important and widespreadparasitic zoonoses in the world. The present study was aimed to identify the immunomodulatory activity ofaqueous extract of Cordia myxa fruit since this plant considers one of medically important plants, which is widely used for treatment of numerous diseases, that correlate with the effectiveness of immunized by hydatid cyst fluid antigen HCFAg. Forty Balb/c mice were divided into equal groups, first group was immunized with HCFAg, the second group was treated with aqueous extract of C. muxa fruit, the third group was immunized and treated, the fourth group was as a control. Delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), Mitotic index (MI) and histop
... Show MoreBackground: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Clopidogrel, antiplatelet drug, has been widely used for management of CAD. Arylesterase, the activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), is mainly contributed in the biotransformation of clopidogrel to its active thiol form. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the arylesterase activities in CAD patients. The effect of receiving clopidogrel drug on the antioxidant activity of arylesterase was also monitored by determination of malondialdehyde (MDA) level. Methods: One hundred CAD patients, who were followed-up for 5 days after reciving clopidogrel, and 50 healthy volunteers were included in our study
... Show MoreThis study was initiated to examine the tomato-infecting viruses belonging to the Tobamovirus and Potexvirus genera in Iraq. Field observations and surveys were carried out for three successive cropping seasons (2020/21 to 2022/23) in selected tomato production areas. The purpose was to identify the main viruses associated with tomato epidemics and assess the impact of different tomato cultivars on disease occurrence. A total of 700 tomato leaf samples were collected from seven governorates (Baghdad, Diyala, Babylon, Najaf, Kerbala, Nasiriya, and Basrah) and tested using pathogen-specific immunostrip kits. The survey showed a presence of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV), Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), Pepper mild mottle virus (
... Show MoreThe study aimed to assess the frequency of invasive fungal infection in patients with respiratory diseases by conventional and molecular methods. This study included 117 Broncho alveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected from patients with respiratory disease (79 male and 38 female) with ages ranged between (20-80) years, who attended Medicine Baghdad Teaching hospital and AL-Emamain AL-Khadhymian Medical City, during the period from September 2019 to April 2020. The results in PCR versus culture methods in this study showed that out of 117 samples of fungal infections 30(25.6 %) were detected by culture method, while the 24(20.5%) samples were detected by PCR technique, the most commonly diagnosed pathogenic fungi is Candida spp.
... Show MoreBackground: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is the result of an initial episode of acute otitis media and is characterized by a persistent discharge from the middle ear through a tympanic perforation for at least 2 weeks duration. It is an important cause of preventable hearing loss, particularly in the developing world.Objective: To get an overview on the bacterial ear infection profile in general and to assess the antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonal infection (PS) particularly since it is usually the commonest infection to cause otitis media and the most difficult to treat due to the problem of multi drug resistance..Methods: A cross sectional study was done which included 405 patients of CSOM patients, 196 (48%) case were mal
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