parabolic trough

A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve

Epoxy resin has many chemical features and mechanical properties, but it has a small elongation at break, low impact strength and crack propagation resistance, i.e. it exhibits a brittle behavior. In the current study, the influence of adding kaolin with variable particle size on the mechanical properties (flexural modulus E, toughness Gc, fracture toughness Kc, hardness HB, and Wear rate WR) of epoxy resin was evaluated. Composites of epoxy with varying concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 weights %) of kaolin were prepared by hand-out method. The composites showed improved (E, Gc, Kc, HB, and WR) properties with the addition of filler. Also, similar results were observed with the decrease in particle size. In addition, in this study, mult

Adaptive responses in larval behavior may be of two kinds: Taxis: This involves a change in direction relative to source of a stimulus. Kinesis: Kinesis has no directional component, but involves change in the rate of performance in response to a stimulus. Drosophila larvae exhibited flexible behavioral responses associated with food acquisition and selection for different environmental conditions. In this investigation, we are concerned explosively with kinetic responses to food viability. Third instar larvae were subjected to test for thirty minutes in each of the following conditions i) in distilled water, ii) in Ringer's solution, iii) in glucose solution and on live yeast suspension. In each case the larva was in a thin layer of solu

Background: Cancer is a lethal disease that results from a multifactorial process. Progression into carcinogenesis and an abnormal cell proliferation can occur due to the micro and macro environment as well as genetic mutations and modifications. In this review, cancer and the microbiota – mainly bacteria that inhabit the tumour tissue – have been discussed. The positive and negative impacts of the commensal bacteria on tumours being protective or carcinogenic agents, respectively, and their strategies have also been described. Methods: Related published articles written in English language were searched from Google Scholar, PubMed, Mendeley suggestions, as well as Google search using a combination of the keywords ‘Microbiota, commens

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic changed the world; its most important achievement for education was changing the approach from traditional to virtual education. The present study aimed to investigate the role of virtual education networks on mental health of students including personality, beliefs, scientific, and cultural dimensions, in selected countries.Methods: This was an exploratory and applied study. According to the phenomenology strategy, theoretical saturation occurred after 24 semi-structured and targeted qualitative interviews with teachers from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, in 2023. Quantitative data was collected through a researcher-made online questionnaire with 423 participants. Teachers with at least a Bachelor’s degr

Thin films whose compositions can be expressed by (GeS₂)_100-xGa_x (x=0, 6,12,18) formula were obtained by thermal evaporation technique  of bulk material at a base pressure of ~10^-5 torr. Optical transmission spectra of the films were taken in the range of 300-1100 nm then the optical band gap, tail width of localized states,  refractive index, extinction coefficient were calculated. The optical constants were found to increase at low concentration of Ga (0 to12%) while they decreases with further addition of Ga. The optical band gap was found to change in opposite manner to that of optical constants. The variation in the optical parameters are explained in terms of average bond energy

In this paper, the method of estimating the variation of Zenith Path Delay (ZPD) estimation method will be illustrate and evaluate using Real Time Kinematic Differential Global Positioning System (RTK-DGPS). The GPS provides a relative method to remotely sense atmospheric water vapor in any weather condition. The GPS signal delay in the atmosphere can be expressed as ZPD. In order to evaluate the results, four points had been chosen in the university of Baghdad campus to be rover ones, with a fixed Base point. For each rover position a 155 day of coordinates measurements was collected to overcome the results. Many models and mathematic calculations were used to extract the ZPD using the Matlab environment. The result shows that the ZPD valu

The presentwork is a theoretical study in the field of charged particle optics. It concentrates on the design of electrostatic enzil lens for focusing charge particles beams, using inverse method in designingthe electrostatic lens. The paraxial ray equation was solved to obtain the trajectory of the particles, the optical properties such as the focal length and spherical and chromatic aberration coefficients were determined. The shape of the electrode of the electrostatic lens were determined by solving poison equation and the results showed low values of spherical and chromatic aberrations, which are considered as good criteria for good design.