The melting duration in the photovoltaic/phase-change material (PV/PCM) system is a crucial parameter for thermal energy management such that its improvement can realize better energy management in respect to thermal storage capabilities, thermal conditions, and the lifespan of PV modules. An innovative and efficient technique for improving the melting duration is the inclusion of an exterior metal foam layer in the PV/PCM system. For detailed investigations of utilizing different metal foam configurations in terms of their convective heat transfer coefficients, the present paper proposes a newly developed mathematical model for the PV/PCM–metal foam assembly that can readily be implemented with a wide range of operating condition

Organizations adopt a number of procedures and instructions in their field of activities in order to aid their resources development   and energies to serve their entrepreneurial orientations. This calls for preparing a range of mechanisms to mitigate the strictness and complexity of procedures. The ambiguity and severe  complexity  of procedures means acknowledging the loss in energy and this in turn  impedes the hopes while in the same time weakens the  enthusiasm in these organizations and an impedes the possibility to achieve continues innovation, thereby losing opportunities to the level of surrender to the risks and  assuming them to be unconquered obstacles.

There

Background: The daily cleaning routine of the silicone maxillofacial prostheses by the patient may cause some alteration in the materials properties. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of different disinfection procedures on some properties of silicon dioxide reinforced Cosmesil M511 HTV maxillofacial silicone. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty (160) specimens were prepared by mixing 5% SiO2 nano particles and 0.5% intrinsic cream color into the silicone polymer according to manufacturer's instructions. Specimens were divided into 4 groups according to the performed test (tear strength, surface hardness, surface roughness and color) with 40 specimens each. Each group was further subdivided according to

The current study was conducted to find out the effect of the sediment source (sedimentary of Iraqi-Iranian borderline and Tigris River) on the content and distribution of feldspar minerals and their effect on the optical properties of these minerals in some soils of Wasit and Maysan province. Eight pedons were chosen to represent the study area, five of them represented sediments coming from the borderline, which included pedons of (Badra, Taj Al-Din, Al-Shihabi, Jassan, and Galat), while two of them represent the sediments of the Tigris River (Essaouira, Al-Dabouni). Finally, the pedon of Ali Al-Gharbi represented the mixing area of sediments of all the torrents coming from borderline and the sediments of the Tigris River. The diagnostic

Shallow foundations are usually used for structures with light to moderate loads where the soil underneath can carry them. In some cases, soil strength and/or other properties are not adequate and require improvement using one of the ground improvement techniques. Stone column is one of the common improvement techniques in which a column of stone is installed vertically in clayey soils. Stone columns are usually used to increase soil strength and to accelerate soil consolidation by acting as vertical drains. Many researches have been done to estimate the behavior of the improved soil. However, none of them considered the effect of stone column geometry on the behavior of the circular footing. In this research, finite ele

In this paper, a miniaturized 2 × 2 electro-optic plasmonic Mach– Zehnder switch (MZS) based on metal–polymer–silicon hybrid waveguide is presented. Adiabatic tapers are designed to couple the light between the plasmonic phase shifter, implemented in each of the MZS arms, and the 3-dB input/output directional couplers. For 6 µm-long hybrid plasmonic waveguide supported by JRD1 polymer (r33= 390 pm/V), a π-phase shift voltage of 2 V is obtained. The switch is designed for 1550 nm operation wavelength using COMSOL software and characterizes by 2.3 dB insertion loss, 9.9 fJ/bit power consumption, and 640 GHz operation bandwidth

This research deals with the nature of the Turkish attitude towards the events of the Arab Spring which the Arab region witnessed recently, as this attitude is characterized by hesitation and utter confusion about those events at its beginning. However, the development of events and the consequent repercussions led the Turkish decision makers of the foreign policy to reconsider their attitude towards those events for political, economic, cultural and social motives.