Developments are carried out to enhance the performance of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). This paper studies the performance of the ducted wind turbine with convergent duct (DAWT). Basically, the duct technique is utilized to provide the desired wind velocity facing the turbine. Methodology was developed to estimate the decisive performance parameter and to present the effect of the convergent duct with different inlet angles. The ducted wind turbine was analyzed and simulated using MATLAB software and numerically using ANSYS-Fluent 17.2. Result of both approaches were presented and showed good closeness for the two cases of covering angles 12  and 20 respectively. Results also showed that the convergent duct with an inlet angl

Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites (ALMMCs) was prepared by using stir casting technique for AA 7075 aluminum alloy as a matrix reinforced with SiC particles at various percentages (3, 6, 9 and 12 wt. % ) and 75µm in grain size. The prepared composite material can be used for many applications such as aerospace, automobiles and many industrial sectors. Abrasive wear test was carried out by two stages: the first stage was done by changing the emery papers at various grit sizes 180, 320, 500, and 1000µm with constant applied load 15N. While the second stage was carried out by changing the applied loads 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25N with constant emery paper at 320 µm grit size. Microstructure examination, hardness test and roughn

This study concerns the removal of a trihydrate antibiotic (Amoxicillin) from synthetically contaminated water by adsorption on modified bentonite. The bentonite was modified using hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (HTAB), which turned it from a hydrophilic to a hydrophobic material. The effects of different parameters were studied in batch experiments. These parameters were contact time, solution pH, agitation speed, initial concentration (C0) of the contaminant, and adsorbent dosage. Maximum removal of amoxicillin (93 %) was achieved at contact time = 240 min, pH = 10, agitation speed = 200 rpm, initial concentration = 30 ppm, and adsorbent dosage = 3 g bentonite per 1L of pollutant solution. The characterization of the adsorbent, modi

Medication safety and effectiveness can be improved through interprofessional collaboration. The goals of this study were to measure the degree of physician–pharmacist collaboration within Iraqi governmental healthcare settings and to investigate factors influencing this collaboration.

Understanding, promoting, and teaching media literacy is an important societal challenge. STEM educators are increasingly looking to incorporate 21st century skills such as media literacy into core subject education. In this paper we investigate how undergraduate Computer Science (CS) students can learn media literacy as a by-product of collaborative video tutorial production. The paper presents a study of 34 third-year CS undergraduates who, as part of their learning, were each asked to produce three video tutorials on Raspberry Pi programming, using a collaborative video production tool for mobile phones (Bootlegger). We provide results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis of the production process and resulting video tutorials,

Image classification is the process of finding common features in images from various classes and applying them to categorize and label them. The main problem of the image classification process is the abundance of images, the high complexity of the data, and the shortage of labeled data, presenting the key obstacles in image classification. The cornerstone of image classification is evaluating the convolutional features retrieved from deep learning models and training them with machine learning classifiers. This study proposes a new approach of “hybrid learning” by combining deep learning with machine learning for image classification based on convolutional feature extraction using the VGG-16 deep learning model and seven class

Two dimensional meso-scale concrete modeling was used in finite element analysis of plain concrete beam subjected to bending. The plane stress 4-noded quadrilateral elements were utilized to model coarse aggregate, cement mortar. The effect of aggregate fraction distribution, and pores percent of the total area – resulting from air voids entrapped in concrete during placement on the behavior of plain concrete beam in flexural was detected. Aggregate size fractions were randomly distributed across the profile area of the beam. Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed to treat the discontinuities problems result from double phases of concrete and cracking that faced during the finite element analysis of concrete beam. Crac

This paper presents an improved technique on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. The procedure is applied on Single Machine with Infinite Bus (SMIB) system with power system stabilizer (PSS) at three different loading regimes. The simulations are made by using MATLAB software. The results show that by using Improved Ant Colony Optimization (IACO) the system will give better performance with less number of iterations as it compared with a previous modification on ACO. In addition, the probability of selecting the arc depends on the best ant performance and the evaporation rate.

The poly(ethylene oxide) polymer (PEO) is doped with fine powder of MnCl₂ salt and thin films of thickness (50–150 mm) with salt content (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) are obtained. The AC electrical conductivity and dielectric constants are studied as a function of temperature through an impedance technique. It is found that AC conductivity increases and the calculated activation energy decreases with increasing temperature due to enhancement of the ionic conduction in the film bulk. The dielectric constants of the doped membranes increase with temperature. It is found that the peak value of the tanloss is shifted to a higher frequency at higher temperatures. The dielectric behavior is explained on the basis of

The performance of composite prestressed concrete beam topped with reinforced concrete flange structures in fire depends upon several factors, including the change in properties of the two different materials due to fire exposure and temperature distribution within the composition of the composite members of the structure. The present experimental work included casting of 12 identical simply supported prestressed concrete beams grouped into 3 categories, depending on the strength of the top reinforced concrete deck slab (20, 30, and 40 MPa). They were connected together by using shear connector reinforcements. To simulate the real practical fire disasters, 3 composite prestressed concrete beams from each group were exposed to high t