A numerical comparison of partial solutions in the decomposition method for linear and nonlinear partial differential equations

In this study, the decomposition method for solving the linear heat equation and nonlinear Burgers equation is implemented with appropriate initial conditions. The application of the method demonstrated that the partial solution in the x-direction requires more computational work when compared with the partial solution developed in the t-direction but the numerical solution in the x-direction are performed extremely well in terms of accuracy and efficiency.     

Epicardial fat thickness is associated with impaired coronary flow reserve in hemodialysis patients

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Epicardial fat tissue (EFT) is a new risk factor in CVD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between EFT and coronary artery flow reserve (CFR), which is an early indicator of endothelial dysfunction in coronary vessels of HD patients. We performed a cross‐sectional study including 71 chronic HD patients and 65 age‐ and sex‐matched healthy controls. Epicardial fat tissue was significantly higher in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (6.53 ± 1.01 mm vs. 5.79 ± 1.06 mm, respectively, P < 0.001). On transthoracic Doppler echocardiography, CFR values were significantly lower in HD patients when compared to healthy controls (1.73 ± 0.11 vs. 2.32 ± 0.28, P < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed CFR values to be inversely correlated with EFT (r = ?0.287, P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to define independent determinants of EFT in HD patients. Artery flow reserve, age, body mass index and total cholesterol levels were independently correlated with EFT thickness. This study demonstrated that EFT was significantly higher among HD patients compared to healthy controls. In addition, this study was the first to demonstrate an inverse correlation between EFT and CFR in this patient population.     

Investigation of Inclined Turbulators for Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Solar Air Heater

ABSTRACT

In the present study, the effect of forward inclined turbulators on the heat transfer enhancement in a duct is investigated, for forced convection. Turbulator configurations with three different pitch ratios and three different inclination angles are investigated for seven Reynolds numbers within the range 500–50,000. Investigations are performed experimentally as well as computationally, within a computational fluid dynamics framework. A distinguishing feature of the latter has been the employment of a turbulence model, the transitional shear stress transport model that is applicable throughout the presently considered range of Reynolds numbers containing laminar, transitional, and turbulent regions. At the beginning of the study, measurements and predictions are validated against analytical and empirical expressions known for a plain duct. The results obtained for turbulators configurations indicate that Nusselt number increases with the inclination angle but decreases with the pitch ratio. The influence of the inclination angle on the Nusselt number and thermal enhancement factor is found to be stronger than that of the pitch ratio. For all Reynolds numbers and for all configurations, the thermohydraulic performance is observed to increase, leading to thermal enhancement factors within the range 2–5. In all cases, a quite good agreement of the predictions and experiments is observed, which increases the confidence in the accuracy of both approaches.     

Effect of Solution Treatment on Thermal Conductivity of Porous NiTi Shape Memory Alloy

In this study, a new solution treatment “solution treatment under loading” was applied to a porous Ni–50 at.%Ti shape memory alloy (SMA), which was fabricated by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), to explore the microstructural improvement regarding single-phase NiTi. The effects of solution treatment under loading and without loading on the phase constituent and thermal conductivity were investigated and discussed. The phase constituent and thermal conductivity of the specimens considerably changed with solution treatment under loading, but they were not affected significantly with solution treatment without loading. Intermetallic phases such as B19′(NiTi), Ti₂Ni, and Ni₄Ti₃ disappeared, the density of the B2(NiTi) phase increased with solution treatment under loading, and thus the thermal conductivity was increased. It was also seen that the thermal conductivity of porous NiTi was less than that of solid NiTi.     

Periodic variation method for blind symbol rate estimation

In order to obtain unknown symbol rate of incoming signal at a receiver, in this paper, cyclostationary features of linear digitally modulated signals are exploited by proposed periodic variation method. A low complexity but highly accurate symbol rate estimation technique is obtained. The proposed method is based on a superposed epoch analysis over autocorrelations obtained blindly in different sampling frequencies. The obtained autocorrelations are analyzed in the frequency domain, and it is seen that there are large oscillations when the autocorrelation is obtained around the symbol rate. Then, a superposed epoch analysis is developed in order to estimate symbol rate based of the periodic variations on the frequency responses of autocorrelations. The proposed algorithm is quite accurate in the noisy environment because the noise is having no frequency component after taking Fourier transform of autocorrelations in all sampling rates, and this feature is also valid for the offset frequency that the purposed estimation is not affected by offset frequency. Thus, a successful blind symbol rate estimation algorithm is obtained, and it performs much better error performance than those using the well‐known cyclic correlation based symbol rate estimations, as it is proven by the obtained performances presented in the paper. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance evaluation of a submerged membrane bioreactor for the treatment of brackish oil and natural gas field produced water

Produced water, which is co-produced during oil and gas manufacturing, represents one of the largest sources of oily wastewaters. Therefore, treatment of this produced water may improve the economic viability and lead to a new source of water for beneficial use. In this study a submerged hollow fiber membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been studied experimentally for the treatment of brackish oil and natural gas field produced water. This type of wastewater is also characterized with relatively moderate to high amount of salt, oil and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). However, the bacteria which are growing in conventional activated sludge and MBR cannot survive at these strict conditions, therefore acclimation of the bacteria is of vital importance. The performance of the biological system, membrane permeability, the rate and extent of TPH biodegradability have been investigated under different sludge age and F/M ratios. The results obtained by gas chromatography analyses showed that the MBR system could be very effective in the removal of TPH from produced water and a significant improvement in the effluent quality was achieved.     

Poly(azomethine-imide)s containing siloxane moities: Optical,thermal, mechanical,and morphological properties

A new series of poly(azomethine-imide)s having siloxane moities in backbone was prepared using different dianhydrides.Thermal, optical, and morphological properties of these polymers were clarified. Also, bulky  CO and  CF₃ group effects and meta or para-substituted aldeyhde effects on the mentioned properties were evaluated. The structural characterization of poly(azomethine-imide)s was carried out using a FT-IR spectroscopy. The optical properties of the polymers were performed via an UV–Vis spectrophotometer. Optical band gap of the poly(imide)s containing azomethine was calculated between 2.20 and 2.33 eV. Thermal behavior of poly(azomethine-imide)s was also studied using TG-DTA, DSC, and DMA techniques. The onset degradation temperature and percentage char values of the polyimides were found in the range from 429 to 545 °C and 22 to 35%, respectively. Thermal stability results demonstrated that benzophenone bearing poly(azomethine-imide)s have higher onset temperature, percentage char, and the glass transition temperature than poly(azomethine-imide)s derived from hexafluoroisopropylidene. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48364.     

Multiple-toughening behaviour in SiC platelet-reinforced TZP/Al2O3 ceramic composites

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Optimisation of microwave digestion for determination of Fe,Zn, Mn and Cu in various legumes by flame atomic absorption spectrometry

Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu levels in three Turkish legumes, kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), lentil (Lens esculenta) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum), were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Dissolution conditions in the microwave‐assisted wet digestion method were studied by investigating several variables, including type of acid mixture, acid volume, digestion time, microwave power input and sample weight. Comparison with conventional wet acid digestion was also made. In order to check the element losses during digestion and the accuracy of the results, all tests were repeated after the addition of a spiked standard element solution to the legume sample. The microwave‐assisted digestion procedure optimised for kidney bean was adapted for lentil and chickpea. Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu concentrations (mg per 100 g sample) were determined in kidney bean as 6.27 ± 0.94, 2.23 ± 0.36, 1.64 ± 0.14 and 0.99 ± 0.19, in lentil as 8.24 ± 1.11, 2.46 ± 0.06, 1.17 ± 0.19 and 1.01 ± 0.28 and in chickpea as 6.00 ± 1.40, 2.21 ± 0.14, 1.60 ± 0.43 and 0.58 ± 0.18 respectively. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry