Combining a new baseboard radiator with a fan coil system for improving heating performance and reduce energy consumption

In the present work, the heating performance of a new system combined with a new modified baseboard radiator and fan coil is investigated. Using longitudinal fins with special geometry and also forced airflow at the end of the system causes that at the lower inlet water temperature compared with the conventional models, higher heat output rate be obtained. The heat output rate of the new modified system is obtained by experimental metrology based on the European Standard No. EN-442. Temperature and velocity distribution in the room space is done by simulation of the modified system in the Flovent software. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results are validated against experimental results and there is a good agreement between them. Also, the energy consumption of the system during the winter season is calculated in TRANSYS software. Experimental results show that the heat output rate of a new modified heating system with inlet water temperature in the range of 45–55°C is on average 4.17 times higher compared with the conventional model. CFD simulation also showed that the combined system provides good thermal comfort conditions. Energy consumption of the new system reduced about 13% compared with conventional models.     

A numerical study on nonlinear DPL model for analyzing heat transfer in tissue during thermal therapy

In the present paper, therapeutic treatment of infected tumorous cells has been studied through mathematical modeling and simulation of heat transfer in tissues by using a nonlinear dual-phase lag bioheat transfer model with Dirichlet boundary condition. The components of volumetric heat source in this model such as blood perfusion and metabolism are assumed experimentally validated temperature-dependent function, which gives more accurate temperature distribution in tissues through this model. We have used the finite difference and RK (4, 5) techniques of numerical methods to solve the proposed problem and obtained the exact solution in a particular case. After comparison, we got a good agreement between them. We have used dimensionless quantities throughout this paper. The effect of relaxation and thermalization time with respect to dimensionless temperature distribution has been analyzed in the treatment process.     

Comparative analysis on temperature characteristics of hydrogen-powered and traditional fossil-fueled vehicle fires in the tunnel under longitudinal ventilations

Vehicle fires in the tunnel are a great threat to the safe operation of the tunnel. Due to the rapid development of the hydrogen economy, the fire due to the hydrogen leakage could not be avoided and may bring great damage to the passengers and infrastructure. Due to the large difference between pool fires of traditional fossil-fueled and jet fires of hydrogen-powered vehicles, it is in doubt whether the existing longitudinal ventilation design could still be effective for the safety issue of hydrogen powered vehicles. To solve this problem, it is necessary to compare temperature characteristics of hydrogen-powered and traditional vehicle fires with and without longitudinal ventilations. In present work, we conducted a numerical investigation to discuss the different temperature distributions of traditional and hydrogen-fueled vehicle fires. Results indicate that the high temperature zone of the pool fire only exists above the ceiling of the vehicle. For hydrogen-powered vehicle fire, the high-speed hydrogen jet with the strong inertial force could push the hot smoke flows back to the ground. The ceiling temperature of hydrogen-powered vehicle fire is larger since hydrogen-powered vehicle has a larger heat release rate and the fire hazard of jet fires bring more danger compared with the pool fire. Although the temperature stratification is also obvious for the hydrogen-powered vehicle fire, the air temperature in the lower region could be heated and still high enough to bring a great damage to the passengers’ lives. This is quite different with the traditional pool fire. In addition, the critical ventilation velocity is also discussed. The theoretical equation could well predicted the critical ventilation velocity of traditional vehicle fires. For hydrogen-powered vehicle fires, the critical ventilation velocity could reach up to 6 m/s. The theoretical equation could not well predict the critical ventilation velocity of hydrogen-powered vehicle fires due to exist of hydrogen jet fires.     

Green Measurements for Software Product Based on Sustainability Dimensions

Software is a central component in the modern world and vastly affects the environment’s sustainability. The demand for energy and resource requirements is rising when producing hardware and software units. Literature study reveals that many studies focused on green hardware; however, limited efforts were made in the greenness of software products. Green software products are necessary to solve the issues and problems related to the long-term use of software, especially from a sustainability perspective. Without a proper mechanism for measuring the greenness of a particular software product executed in a specific environment, the mentioned benefits will not be attained. Currently, there are not enough works to address this problem, and the green status of software products is uncertain and unsure. This paper aims to identify the green measurements based on sustainable dimensions in a software product. The second objective is to reveal the relationships between the elements and measurements through empirical study. The study is conducted in two phases. The first phase is the theoretical phase, where the main components, measurements and practices that influence the sustainability of a software product are identified. The second phase is the empirical study that involved 103 respondents in Malaysia investigating current practices of green software in the industrial environment and further identifying the main sustainability dimensions and measurements and their impact on achieving green software products. This study has revealed seven green measurements of software product: Productivity, Usability, Cost Reduction, Employee Support, Energy Efficiency, Resource Efficiency and Tool Support. The relationships are statistically significant, with a significance level of less than 0.01 (p = 0.000). Thus, the hypothesised relationships were all accepted. The contributions of this study revolve around the research perspectives of the measurements to attain a green software product.     

Biohybrid Bovine Bone Matrix for Controlled Release of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cell Lyosecretome: A Device for Bone Regeneration

SmartBone^® (SB) is a biohybrid bone substitute advantageously proposed as a class III medical device for bone regeneration in reconstructive surgeries (oral, maxillofacial, orthopedic, and oncology). In the present study, a new strategy to improve SB osteoinductivity was developed. SB scaffolds were loaded with lyosecretome, a freeze-dried formulation of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-secretome, containing proteins and extracellular vesicles (EVs). Lyosecretome-loaded SB scaffolds (SBlyo) were prepared using an absorption method. A burst release of proteins and EVs (38% and 50% after 30 min, respectively) was observed, and then proteins were released more slowly with respect to EVs, most likely because they more strongly adsorbed onto the SB surface. In vitro tests were conducted using adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF) plated on SB or SBlyo. After 14 days, significant cell proliferation improvement was observed on SBlyo with respect to SB, where cells filled the cavities between the native trabeculae. On SB, on the other hand, the process was still present, but tissue formation was less organized at 60 days. On both scaffolds, cells differentiated into osteoblasts and were able to mineralize after 60 days. Nonetheless, SBlyo showed a higher expression of osteoblast markers and a higher quantity of newly formed trabeculae than SB alone. The quantification analysis of the newly formed mineralized tissue and the immunohistochemical studies demonstrated that SBlyo induces bone formation more effectively. This osteoinductive effect is likely due to the osteogenic factors present in the lyosecretome, such as fibronectin, alpha-2-macroglobulin, apolipoprotein A, and TGF-β.     

Solvothermal synthesis of zirconia nanomaterials: Latest developments and future

Due to excellent mechanical properties, thermal stability and catalytic characteristics, zirconia is considered as the most important ceramic materials. Different crystal forms make zirconia play a huge role in solid electrolyte fuel cells, catalysts, thermal barrier coatings, denture materials, mobile phone backplanes, etc. The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review about solvothermal synthesis of nano-zirconia. Firstly, the reactors and systems of solvothermal synthesis in recent years are introduced. Especially, the advancement of continuously flowing microreactors and field-coupled systems are analyzed. Secondly, influencing factors of zirconia solvothermal synthesis are discussed. In addition, solvent effects on the synthesis of nano-zirconia products are clarified, and suggestions for solvent selection are given. Furthermore, the design and mechanism of solvothermal synthesis of zero-, one-, two-and three-dimensional zirconia nanostructures are revealed. Simultaneously, experimental methods and kinetic studies are summarized. Finally, potential applications and challenges are presented for future research directions.     

The emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship: A study of financial technology-driven inclusive growth

Digital entrepreneurship possesses immense societal implications beyond its commercial significance. Yet our knowledge of the emancipatory potential of digital entrepreneurship remains limited because few studies have gone beyond the conventional emphasis on profits and wealth creation. Drawing on the emancipatory perspective that views entrepreneurship as change creation through the removal of constraints, this article examines how emancipation can occur through the actions of digital entrepreneurs. Using an empirical investigation of entrepreneurial endeavours set against disadvantaged communities in Indonesia, we uncover constraints facing a developing economy and the role of digital technologies in ameliorating them. Through extensive fieldwork and in-depth case study analyses, we identify constraining societal norms and restrictive practices, as well as the three forms of digital enablement - to emulate services, aggregate capital and equalise opportunities – necessary for the enactment of digitally enabled emancipation. We present a framework to illustrate the enactment of emancipatory digital entrepreneurship for the inclusive development of businesses and communities.     

Relevance- and interface-driven clustering for visual information retrieval

Search results of spatio-temporal data are often displayed on a map, but when the number of matching search results is large, it can be time-consuming to individually examine all results, even when using methods such as filtered search to narrow the content focus. This suggests the need to aggregate results via a clustering method. However, standard unsupervised clustering algorithms like $K$-means (i) ignore relevance scores that can help with the extraction of highly relevant clusters, and (ii) do not necessarily optimize search results for purposes of visual presentation. In this article, we address both deficiencies by framing the clustering problem for search-driven user interfaces in a novel optimization framework that (i) aims to maximize the relevance of aggregated content according to cluster-based extensions of standard information retrieval metrics and (ii) defines clusters via constraints that naturally reflect interface-driven desiderata of spatial, temporal, and keyword coherence that do not require complex ad-hoc distance metric specifications as in $K$-means. After comparatively benchmarking algorithmic variants of our proposed approach – RadiCAL – in offline experiments, we undertake a user study with 24 subjects to evaluate whether RadiCAL improves human performance on visual search tasks in comparison to $K$-means clustering and a filtered search baseline. Our results show that (a) our binary partitioning search (BPS) variant of RadiCAL is fast, near-optimal, and extracts higher-relevance clusters than $K$-means, and (b) clusters optimized via RadiCAL result in faster search task completion with higher accuracy while requiring a minimum workload leading to high effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction among alternatives.