This paper numerically and theoretically investigates the optical and thermal performance of a parabolic trough collector PTC system. Many numerical simulations and theoretical analyses are conducted to demonstrate the influence of the receiver geometry and shifting from the focal position on the optical performance. The examined receiver geometries are circular, square, triangular, elliptical, and the new circular–square combined geometry is named as channel receiver. The thermal performance of PTC is examined for different volume flow rates theoretically in the range of (0.36 to 2.4 lpm). The results show that the best optical design is the channel receiver with an intercept factor of 84%, while the worst is the elliptical receiver with an intercept factor of 70%. Thermally the best design is the elliptical receiver with an average thermal efficiency of 90%, while the worst is the triangular receiver with an average thermal efficiency of 83%.
A new concrete rheometer is introduced including its innovation, actual design, working rules,
calibration, and reliability. A modified design of Tattersall two-point device is created. Some of
components are purchased from local and foreign markets, while other components and the
manufacturing process are locally fabricated. The matching viscosity method of determining the mixer
viscometer constants is demonstrated and followed to relate torque and rotational speed to yield stress
and viscosity (Bingham parameters). The calibration procedures and its calculation are explained.
Water is used as a Newtonian fluid, while; cement paste (cement + water) with w/c ratio equal to
(0.442) is used as a non-Newtonian fluid. Th
This study assesses the short-term and long-term interactions between firm performance, financial education and political instability in the case of Malaysia Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The simultaneous insertion of financial education and political instability within the study is done intentionally to inspect the effect of these two elements in one equation for the Malaysian economy. Using the bound testing methodology for cointegration and error correction models, advanced within an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework, we examine whether a long-run equilibrium connection survives between firm performance and the above mentioned independent variables. Using this method, we uncover evidence of a positive long-term link b
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The Iraqi economy faces complex economic challenges that threaten the prospects for growth and stability in the short and medium term, The decrease in oil revenues on which Iraq is based in financing its total expenditure, both operational and investment, led to the emergence of a deficit in the government budget, As the global oil price crisis affected the revenues of the Iraqi government negatively, especially as this negative impact coincided with the increase in military spending resulting from Iraq's war against terrorism, Which led to the Iraqi government to implement austerity measures were to reduce public spending on several projects, which are less important compared to projects that a
... Show MoreIn digital images, protecting sensitive visual information against unauthorized access is considered a critical issue; robust encryption methods are the best solution to preserve such information. This paper introduces a model designed to enhance the performance of the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) in encrypting images. Two approaches have been suggested for the image cipher process as a preprocessing step before applying the Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA). The step mentioned earlier aims to de-correlate and weaken adjacent pixel values as a preparation process before the encryption process. The first approach suggests an Affine transformation for image encryption at two layers, utilizing two different key sets for each layer. Th
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Objective: The study was done to evaluate nurses’ knowledge and practices toward physical restraint at critical care unit
Methodology: Fifty nurses, who were selected by a non-probability (convenient) sampling method, participated in this descriptive study. The instrument of the study was knowledge parts of the questionnaire were initially developed in the U.S.A for nursing homes; in 2006 they were adopted for all hospital units by the original developers. The knowledge section of the questionnaire consisted of 20 items, which were used to measure knowledge of nurses towards the definition, indications and contra
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The current study presents numerical investigation of the fluid (air) flow characteristics and convection heat transfer around different corrugated surfaces geometry in the low Reynolds number region (Re<1000). The geometries are included wavy, triangle, and rectangular. The effect of different geometry parameters such as aspect ratio and number of cycles per unit length on flow field characteristics and heat transfer was estimated and compared with each other. The computerized fluid dynamics package (ANSYS 14) is used to simulate the flow field and heat transfer, solve the governing equations, and extract the results. It is found that the turbulence intensity for rectangular extended surface was larg
... Show MoreBackground: Biologically active substances, such as Cathepsin B (CAB) which is a lysosomalcystein protease may be involved in periodontal metabolism in the degradation of organic bone matrix containing collagen fibers in response to mechanical stress from orthodontic appliance. The aims of study were to determine and compare salivary levels of CAB, pH as well as clinical periodontal parameters (Plaque index PLI and gingival index GI) with different orthodontic force magnitudes at different time intervals. Materials and methods: A twenty-four patients (both gender) with age range (17-23) years had Angle's Class II division 1 malocclusion with GI >0.5 enrolled in this study. The level of salivary CAB and pH, in addition to the clinical period
... Show MoreBackground: Stroke is an acute neurologic injury and represents the 2nd leading cause of mortality worldwide, and also the most leading cause of acquired disability and morbidity in adults.
Objective: Effect and association between stroke and risk factors.
Type of the study: A retrospective study.
Methods: The study conducted on 312 patients in 2016, all data were collected from patients’ files from the emergency unit, which included basic demographic and disease characteristic, co morbid diseases, risk factors, final diagnosis.
Results: both previous stroke, ischemic heart disease was strong predictor of new
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