The thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) using novel heat transfer fluids of aqueous colloidal dispersions of covalently functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes with β-Alanine (Ala-MWCNTs) has been studied. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with outside diameters of (< 8 nm) and (20–30 nm) having specific surface areas (SSAs) of (500 m2/g) and (110 m2/g), respectively, were utilized. For each Ala-MWCNTs, waterbased nanofluids were synthesized using weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1%. A MATLAB code was built and a test rig was designed and developed. Heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2; mass flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50°C were used to perform the test runs. Using water and nanofluids, the efficiency of the FPSC was found to increase with the increase in heat flux intensity and flow rate, and decrease with the increase in inlet fluid temperature. When applying nanofluids in the FPSC and as weight concentration and SSA increased, a reduction in the values of absorber plate temperature (AP) and tube wall temperature (TW) was observed down to 2.86% and 3.03%, respectively, while the FPSC’s efficiency increased up to 9.55% for 0.1-wt% Ala-MWCNTs < 8 nm at 1.4 kg/min, compared with water. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental values and MATLAB code predictions for AP, TW, and efficiency with maximum differences of 3.02%, 3.19%, and 3.26% for water, and 4.24%, 3.94%, and 12.64% for nanofluids, respectively. Consequently, the MATLAB code was judged suitable for modeling the nanofluid-based FPSC with suitable precision. It was proved that the positive effects of using nanofluids in the FPSC were higher their negative effects on pressure drop because all the calculated values of performance index (PI) were more than 1. As weight concentration and SSA increased, PI increased up to 1.095 for 0.1-wt% Ala-MWCNTs < 8 nm. Therefore, it was concluded that the nanofluids considered in this research can usefully be employed as working fluids in FPSCs for improved thermal performance, and the 0.1-wt% water-based Ala-MWCNTs < 8 nm nanofluid was fairly the distinguished one.
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the most common process for dealing with primary and secondary wastewater sludge. In the present work, four pre-treatment methods (ultrasonic, chemical, thermal, and thermo-chemical) are investigated in Al-Rustumya Wastewater Treatment plant in order to find their effect on biogas production and volatile solid removal efficiency during anaerobic digestion.
Two frequencies of ultrasonic wave were used 30 KHz and 50 KHz during the pre-treatment. Sodium hydroxide was added in different amounts to give three pH values of 9, 10 and 11 in chemical pre-treating processes. The sludge was heated at 60oC and 80oC through thermal pre-treatment experiment. Also, the sludge was treated thermo-chemically at 80 oC and pH
Reishi Mushroom, Ganoderma, is considered one of important wood-decaying medicinal mushrooms. This study aimed to identify three samples of this genus in Mosul city in February and April 2019. Three species of Ganoderma were collected from three various trees including Eucalyptus, Morus, and Olea (olive) in Mosul City, Northern Iraq. Their identifications and their DNA sequences were genetically identified by using PCR techniques according to detect nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. Results exhibited the finding of Ganoderma resinaceum, Ganoderma applanatum, and Ganoderma sp. This study is first attempt to identify Reishi Mushroom by molecular methods in Iraq. Thus, the current study is considered new good d
... Show MoreBackground: Alum has been used as a treatment medication in cases of oral and gingival ulcers, and also as antiseptic mouthwash. This study aimed to examine the effects of different concentrations of Alum on inhibition zone, viability counts and adherence ability of Mutans streptococci compared with deionized water and chlorhexidine gluconate in vitro. Materials and methods: The study dealt with an in vitro study to establish a concentration of Alum mouthrinse that would have the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bacteriocidal concentration. The second part evaluated the anti-adherence ability of the experimental agents. Results: This study found that the antibacterial effect of Alum increases with its concentration from 50 to 1
... Show MoreThis study aims to estimate the accuracy of digital elevation models (DEM) which are created with exploitation of open source Google Earth data and comparing with the widely available DEM datasets, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), version 3, and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM), version 2. The GPS technique is used in this study to produce digital elevation raster with a high level of accuracy, as reference raster, compared to the DEM datasets. Baghdad University, Al Jadriya campus, is selected as a study area. Besides, 151 reference points were created within the study area to evaluate the results based on the values of RMS.Furthermore, th
... Show MoreThe liver protective effects of pentoxifylline were studied through pre-treatment of rats with various intraperitoneal (IP) doses (25, 50 and 100mg/kg/day) 14 days before induction of liver toxicity by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). The parameters of oxidative stress, malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured in liver homogenate in addition to histopathological examinations. Analysis of data revealed significant amelioration of oxidative stress in groups of animals pre-treated with different doses of pentoxifylline (PTX) compared to group of animals intoxicated by CCl4 as evidenced by lowering MDA contents and elevation of GSH levels in liver tissue homogenate but the levels still signifi
... Show MoreAbstract Nephrotoxicity is defined as rapid deterioration in kidney functions. It arises from direct exposure to drugs or their metabolites. Methotrexate is a famous chemotherapeutic drug with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. A high-dose methotrexate-induced renal dysfunction can be life threatening. Cyanocobalamin, one of the forms of vitamin B12, acts as a coenzyme in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine in the cytosol, and the conversion of methylmalonyl-CoA to succinyl-CoA in the mitochondrion. This study is designed to examine the effect of cyanocobalamin in two different doses each co-administered with methotrexate at 20 mg/kg induced nephrotoxicity in rats through the involvement of Nrf2
... Show MoreThe herbal remedy individually or in combination with standard medicines has been used in diverse medical treatises for the cure of different diseases. Pumpkin seed oil is one of the recognized edible oil and has substantial medicinal properties due to the presence of unique natural edible substances. Inflammation is an adaptive response that is triggered by noxious stimuli and conditions, which involves interactions amongst many cell types and mediators, and underlies many pathological processes. Unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) can influence inflammation through a variety of mechanisms, and have been indicated as alternative anti-inflammatory agents to treat several inflammatory skin disorders. Pumpkin seed oil is rich in (UFAs), that its t
... Show MoreThe lethality of inorganic arsenic (As) and the threat it poses have made the development of efficient As detection systems a vital necessity. This research work demonstrates a sensing layer made of hydrous ferric oxide (Fe2H2O4) to detect As(III) and As(V) ions in a surface plasmon resonance system. The sensor conceptualizes on the strength of Fe2H2O4 to absorb As ions and the interaction of plasmon resonance towards the changes occurring on the sensing layer. Detection sensitivity values for As(III) and As(V) were 1.083 °·ppb−1 and 0.922 °·ppb
Scheduling considered being one of the most fundamental and essential bases of the project management. Several methods are used for project scheduling such as CPM, PERT and GERT. Since too many uncertainties are involved in methods for estimating the duration and cost of activities, these methods lack the capability of modeling practical projects. Although schedules can be developed for construction projects at early stage, there is always a possibility for unexpected material or technical shortages during construction stage. The objective of this research is to build a fuzzy mathematical model including time cost tradeoff and resource constraints analysis to be applied concurrently. The proposed model has been formulated using fuzzy the
... Show MoreThe support vector machine, also known as SVM, is a type of supervised learning model that can be used for classification or regression depending on the datasets. SVM is used to classify data points by determining the best hyperplane between two or more groups. Working with enormous datasets, on the other hand, might result in a variety of issues, including inefficient accuracy and time-consuming. SVM was updated in this research by applying some non-linear kernel transformations, which are: linear, polynomial, radial basis, and multi-layer kernels. The non-linear SVM classification model was illustrated and summarized in an algorithm using kernel tricks. The proposed method was examined using three simulation datasets with different sample
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