Hydrothermal Characteristics of Spinel Manganese Ferrite Nanofluid in a Metal Foam Tube: Modeling of Experimental Results using Artificial Neural Network

In this research, an experimental evaluation is conducted on the hydrothermal behavior of water-based manganese ferrite nanofluid flowing in a metal foam tube. For this purpose, manganese ferrite nanoparticles are synthesized, and X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy are implemented to specify the samples for determination of phase and size of nanoparticles. The effects of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and presence of MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles inside the water on the Nusselt number and friction factor have been studied. The experimental analysis shows that the increment of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and nanoparticles concentration improve the heat transfer performance. The maximum of 19.1% and 10.5% increase in Nusselt number and friction factor have been achieved respectively by dispersion of 2 wt% manganese ferrite nanoparticles inside the deionized water at Reynolds number of 1,000. A hydrothermal index is proposed to consider the thermal and hydrodynamic characteristics of the nanofluid, and it is attained that the convection heat transfer improvement dominates the pressure drop in this work. According to the experimental results, the Nusselt number and friction factor of the nanofluid is modeled as a function of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and nanoparticles concentration using artificial neural network with an acceptable precision.     

Applying metamer sets to investigate data dependency of principal component analysis method in recovery of spectral data

Principal component analysis (PCA) has been widely studied for reconstruction of spectral reflectance of a color sample from its tristimulus values. One of the most important factors that influences the recovery performance is the characteristic of the data set used for obtaining principal vectors. In this article, we investigated the influence of color similarities or color differences between the recovered and principal component (PC) data sets on the reconstruction error. For this purpose, two metamer sets that have similar color differences with the recovered samples, are used. The results show that two metamer sets can make completely different performance in recovery of specific color samples. It was shown that the most important factor that influences the recovery of spectral reflectance by PCA method is the characteristics of the data set used for obtaining PC vectors independent of the recovered samples. Another factor that influences the performance of PCA for spectral recovery is the characteristic of the sample that would be recovered. Some spectral data cannot be recovered precisely even applying different PC data sets. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

Sensitive Spectroscopic Analysis of Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath

We have developed a novel optical setup which is based on a high finesse cavity and absorption laser spectroscopy in the near-IR spectral region. In pilot experiments, spectrally resolved absorption measurements of biomarkers in exhaled breath, such as methane and acetone, were carried out using cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS). With a 172-cm-long cavity, an efficient optical path of ~?132 km was achieved. The CRDS technique is well suited for such measurements due to its high sensitivity and good spectral resolution. The detection limits for methane of ~?8 ppbv and acetone of ~?2.1 ppbv with spectral sampling of 0.005 cm^?1 were achieved, which allowed to analyze multicomponent gas mixtures and to observe absorption peaks of ¹²CH₄ and ¹³CH₄. Further improvements of the technique have the potential to realize diagnostics of health conditions based on a multicomponent analysis of breath samples.     

Glass transition of pomegranate skin,as analyzed by thermal,mechanical, and nuclear magnetic resonance methods

Glass transition of pomegranate skin was measured by thermal, mechanical, and magnetic resonance techniques. Differential scanning calorimetry thermogram showed a shift (i.e., onset glass transition at 20°C) followed by an endothermic peak (i.e., solids-melting peak at 165°C and enthalpy 140 kJ/kg). Overlapping of the glass transition and melting was observed in the differential scanning calorimetry thermogram; however, more sensitive modulated differential scanning calorimetry allowed to separate two transitions (i.e., glass transition from reversible and melting from non-reversible thermograms). The onset of mechanical glass-rubber transition from differential mechanical thermal analysis was observed at 122°C with a shift in the storage modulus (E′); however, the onset of liquid-like or entangled-reaction dominating transition was observed at 70°C (i.e., onset peak in loss modulus, E′′) and peak at 184°C. In addition onset peak in tan δ was observed at 113°C and peak at 201°C. Spin–spin (T₂ relaxation) and spin-lattice (T₁ relaxation) relaxations in time domain nuclear magnetic resonance was modeled by two-exponential relaxation curve (i.e., rigid and flexible domains). T₂ relaxation showed maximum peak with an onset at 40°C with maximum peak at 150°C. Rigid domain of T₁ relaxation showed a minimum peak onset at 40°C and a minimum peak at 120°C, whereas flexible component showed an onset at 20°C and a minimum peak at 160°C.     

Structural and optical study of Fe3+-doped Al2O3 nanocrystals prepared by new sol gel precursors

Pure and Fe-doped Al₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized with different iron doping percentage of 1, 3, and 5 mol% employing sol gel technique with AlCl₃, FeCl₃ as well as ethylene glycol (EG) and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) stabilizers as precursors. The XRD results indicated that the hexagonal structure of Fe/Al₂O₃ nanocomposite with alpha phase was formed by the substitution of Fe³⁺ ions in the alumina network. The sizes of the NPs obtained for the pure samples and doped samples at percentage dopant of 5% were 35 and 28 nm, respectively. The results of FTIR optical analysis showed the vibrational bond at the wavelength of 448 cm⁻¹, indicating the Al-O band in the sample. The UV-DRS analysis showed that the energy band gap for the pure NPs was 4 eV, but with increase in iron dopant up to 5%, it decreased to 3.42 eV. In addition, the results of photoluminescence (PL) analysis demonstrated that with increase in doping percentage, the PL intensity diminished. VSM magnetic analysis showed that with increase in iron dopant, the ferromagnetic state emerged in the NPs at saturation magnetism of 0.136 emu/g. Finally, photocatalytic experimental results demonstrated that 5% Fe-doped Al₂O₃ NPs effectively degrade MB approximately 53%.     

Properties and microstructural aspects of TiO2‐doped sintered Alumina‐Zirconia composite ceramics

The effect of titania content on the densification, the phase transformation, the microstructures, and mechanical properties of 50 wt% Al₂O₃‐50 wt% ZrO₂ (12 mol% CeO₂) was evaluated. Ceramic composites with different TiO₂ content (0.27, 5, 10 wt%) were prepared by pressureless sintering at low temperature (1400°C) for 2 hours in air. Dense ceramic was obtained by adding 5 wt% of TiO₂ loading to improved mechanical properties. The microstructure analysis provided lots of information about solid‐state reactivity in alumina‐zirconia‐titania ternary system. The content of TiO₂ strongly affected the phases evolution and the grain growth during sintering. Furthermore, a significant effect on mechanical properties and fracture behavior was also observed.     

Gaseous slip flow affected by inclined low magnetic field using second‐order boundary conditions

In this study, asymptotic solutions of a near continuum gaseous slip flow in two‐dimensional rectangular microchannels under the effect of electromagnetic force are presented. An inclined magnetic field was assumed in this study. Nondimensional equations were obtained that relate the pressure ratio, Mach number, magnetic Reynolds number, magnetic force number, and Reynolds number. The asymptotic solutions for the compressible, laminar, and steady flow were obtained by applying second‐order slip velocity and temperature jump wall boundary conditions. It was found that the electric and magnetic field with inclined angle had significant effects on the flow properties. The solutions obtained here using the second‐order boundary conditions result in tangible improvement over those obtained using first‐order boundary conditions. We compared our solutions against the numerical solutions that were provided in the literature and showed that our solutions were in good agreement with the numerical solution.     

Correlation of source rocks and crude oils in Kupal and its near oil fields,SW of Iran

The Kupal oil field is located in the north of Dezful Embayment in southwest of Iran. The purposes of this study were correlations between the Sarvak and Asmari reservoirs oils in the Kupal oil field and determining the source of oil in this field. In order to achieve these objectives, different geochemical methods, including Rock Eval, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and carbon isotope analyses of asphalthene in oils and source rocks, were used. The results of pyrolyzed possible source rocks of the Kupal and its near fields by the Rock Eval apparatus indicated good source rock potential for the Kazhdumi and Pabdeh formations. In addition, Kazhdumi formation in the Haft-Kel oil field indicated gas production potential while the samples of the Gurpi formation were in a non-source rock zone. The Asmari and Bangestan reservoir oils had the same components and geochemical characteristics, except the Sarvak (Bangestan) reservoir oil in the Kupal field contained Oleanane biomarkers, whereas Asmari reservoir oil had no Oleanane biomarker. This fact was attributed to the fault in the southwestern part of the Kupal oil field, which moved the Pabdeh formation (in which its oil contains Oleanane biomarkers) to more depths and near the Sarvak formation. This movement caused the maturation of Pabdeh formation and migration of the produced oil to the Sarvak reservoir.     

The Human Gut Microbiome as a Potential Factor in Autism Spectrum Disorder

The high prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders among autism spectrum disorder (ASD) patients has prompted scientists to look into the gut microbiota as a putative trigger in ASD pathogenesis. Thus, many studies have linked the gut microbial dysbiosis that is frequently observed in ASD patients with the modulation of brain function and social behavior, but little is known about this connection and its contribution to the etiology of ASD. This present review highlights the potential role of the microbiota–gut–brain axis in autism. In particular, it focuses on how gut microbiota dysbiosis may impact gut permeability, immune function, and the microbial metabolites in autistic people. We further discuss recent findings supporting the possible role of the gut microbiome in initiating epigenetic modifications and consider the potential role of this pathway in influencing the severity of ASD. Lastly, we summarize recent updates in microbiota-targeted therapies such as probiotics, prebiotics, dietary supplements, fecal microbiota transplantation, and microbiota transfer therapy. The findings of this paper reveal new insights into possible therapeutic interventions that may be used to reduce and cure ASD-related symptoms. However, well-designed research studies using large sample sizes are still required in this area of study.