Three-dimensional numerical investigation of film boiling by the lattice Boltzmann method

A three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann model is presented to simulate the film-boiling phenomenon. Single- and multimode film boilings are investigated. The flow and temperature fields around the vapor phase are obtained for various Jakob numbers. Furthermore, the effects of Jakob number on the Nusselt number and vapor tip velocity are investigated. The results show that on increasing the Jakob number, the bubble tip velocity increases while the Nusselt number decreases. Furthermore, it is found that in multimode film boiling, the peak and trough values of the local Nusselt number happen at the bubble position and the gap valleys between adjacent bubbles, respectively.     

Oxidative stability of olive oil during the thermal process: Effect of Pistacia khinjuk fruit oil

The oxidative stability of refined olive oil with incorporated Pistacia khinjuk fruit oil (PKFO; 0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5%, and 10%) during thermal processing at 170ºC for 8 h was evaluated. The conjugated diene values, carbonyl values, acid values, oil/oxidative stability indices, and total tocopherol content were measured during thermal processing. Olive oil containing 0.5% PKFO was identified as the most oxidative stable oil followed by oils containing 100 ppm TBHQ and 1, 5, 10, and 2% PKFO. No significant difference between samples of olive oil containing 100 ppm TBHQ and 1% PKFO was observed. Thus, it was concluded that PKFO at levels lower than 1% could provide stronger antioxidation activity in comparison with TBHQ (the strongest syntactic antioxidant used in the food industry). Moreover, reduction in tocopherol compounds during thermal processing was higher in olive oil containing TBHQ as compared to those in pure olive oil.     

All two-input logic gates by a single-stage single electron box

In this paper, the design of all two-input logic gates is presented by only a single-stage single electron box (SEB) for the first time. All gates are constructed based on a same circuit. We have used unique periodic characteristics of SEB to design these gates and present all two-input logic gates (monotonic/non-monotonic, symmetric/non-symmetric) by a single-stage design. In conventional monotonic devices, such as MOSFETs, implementing non-monotonic logic gates such as XOR and XNOR is impossible by only a single-stage design, and a multistage design is required which leads to more complexity, higher power consumption and less speed of the gates. We present qualitative design at first and then detailed designs are investigated and optimised by using our previous works. All designs are verified by a single electron simulator which shows correct operation of the gates.     

RACER: accurate and efficient classification based on rule aggregation approach

Neural Computing and Applications - Rule-based classification is one of the most important topics in the field of data mining due to its wide applications. This article presents a novel rule-based...     

Calf massager: Intervention for body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing

Many occupations require workers to stand for long periods of time without proper interventions, which causes discomfort in the back and lower limbs. Therefore, this study aims to assess the effectiveness in alleviating body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing through the use of a calf massager. This study was conducted among male workers at a manufacturer with production line workers and the list was obtained from the HR Department and simple random sampling was done by number categorization. A total of 100 respondents (50 respondents for both the control and the experimental groups) participated in this study. The experiment took place in a room with a similar setup for the production line. Each respondent was requested to perform the simulated task for 2 hr. For the experimental group, the calf massager was turned on every 15 min. At every 15‐min interval after turning on the calf massager, respondents from both groups were required to evaluate their discomfort level on a Borg's scale CR‐10 questionnaire. The results showed that the level of body discomfort among respondents in the experimental group reduced (20–30%) compared with that of the control group. Multivariate analysis results revealed that the discomfort rating for the lower back, knees, thighs, calves, and feet was significantly lower (p < .05) among the experimental group compared with the control group. For lower body parts, the lower back region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 90th, 105th, and 120th min; the thigh region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 120th min; the knee region was statistically significant (p < .05) at the 105th and 120th min; the calf region was statistically significant (p < .05) at all minute intervals except the 15th and 45th min, while the feet region, was statistically significant at the 105th and 120th min. Therefore, this study indicates that calf massage treatment is capable of reducing body muscle discomfort during prolonged standing and highlights the significance of calf massage.     

Analysis of autoignition of a turbulent lifted H2/N2 jet flame issuing into a vitiated coflow

Due to energy crisis and concern regarding the environmental emission, hydrogen as an alternative clean fuel has received more attention. To develop new devices or upgrade the conventional combustion systems for hydrogen flames, fundamental concepts necessary for burner design need to be investigated. In the present work, characteristics of flame stabilization for a turbulent lifted H₂/N₂ jet flame issuing into a hot coflow of lean combustion are investigated using the Scalar probability density function (PDF) approach. Calculations are carried out for different coflow temperatures, concentrations of species and equivalence ratio. Reaction rate analyses are used to investigate the dominant chemistry at the flame base for a variety of conditions. The results show the occurrence of autoignition at the flame base that is responsible for the stabilization of the lifted turbulent flame. The coflow temperature plays an important role in the relative contribution of elementary reactions and the determination of the dominant chemistry at the flame base. This leads to a high sensitivity of lift-off height to the coflow temperature. Oxygen and water content in the hot coflow could affect the ignition process and lift-off height depending on the dominant chemistry at the flame base. Furthermore, the effect of oxygen content in hot coflow is found to be very important on the reactions controlling the high temperature combustion.     

Chemical structure of autoignition in a turbulent lifted H2/N2 jet flame issuing into a vitiated coflow

In the present paper autoignition is studied as the main stabilization mechanism in turbulent lifted H₂/N₂ jet flames issuing into a vitiated hot coflow. The numerical study is performed using the joint scalar PDF approach with detailed chemistry in a two dimensional axisymmetric domain. The SSG Reynolds stress model is used as a turbulence model in the simulation. Chemical structure and characteristics of autoignition are investigated using various methods and parameters. Reaction rate analysis is made to analyze the ignition process at the flame base. The results show the occurrence of a chain branching reaction preceding thermal runaway, which boosts the chain branching process in the flame. This demonstrates the large impact of autoignition at the flame base on the stabilization of the lifted turbulent flame. Further investigation using the scatter-plots of scalars reveals the characteristics of the ignition. The relation between the behavior of temperature and of key intermediate species demonstrates the formation of OH through consumption of HO₂ at nearly isothermal conditions in a very lean-fuel mixture at the flame base. Flux analyses in the conservation equations of species are used to explore the impacts of mass transport on ignition process. Ignition is found to be mainly controlled by chemical features rather than the mixing processes near the flame base. Characteristics of autoignition are also investigated in terms of Damköhler number and progress variable.     

Experimental studies on the catalytic behavior of alloy and core-shell supported Co-Ni bimetallic nano-catalysts for hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of sodium borohydride

Monometallic (Co) and bimetallic (Co-Ni and Co-Cu) oxides catalysts supported on the almond based activated carbon (AC) were prepared by the heterogeneous deposition-precipitation method. The activity of these catalysts was evaluated as a function of reaction temperature, NaOH, and NaBH₄ concentration. Several analysis methods including XRD, XPS, FTIR, TEM, FESEM, ICP-OES, and BET were applied to characterize the structure of prepared samples. Well-dispersed supported bimetallic nano-catalysts with the size of particles below 20 nm were formed by using nickel and copper oxides as a promoter which was confirmed by XRD and TEM techniques. Surface composition of alloy and core-shell cobalt-nickel oxides catalysts was analyzed by ICP-OES which was in a good agreement with nominal content during catalyst preparation. The performance of bimetallic cobalt-nickel oxides catalysts indicated the synergic effect between cobalt and nickel in comparison with monometallic and bimetallic cobalt-copper samples for hydrogen production. Maximum hydrogen generation rate was measured for the supported core-shell catalyst as named Ni1/Co3/AC. The reaction rate increased with increasing the temperature of the alkaline solution as a significant parameter while other operating conditions were kept constant. The optimal values for NaOH and NaBH₄ content were calculated to be 10 wt % for both variables at 30 °C. Hydrogen production rates were calculated to be 252.0, 310.8 and 658.8 mL min^?1.g^?1 by applying Co3/Ni1/AC, Co3-Ni1/AC (alloy) and Ni1/Co3/AC at 30 °C in 5 wt % NaBH₄ and 5 wt % NaOH solutions, respectively. Obtained activation energy (50 kJ mol^?1) illustrated that the suitable catalysts were synthesized for hydrogen generation. The experimental study showed that the hydrolysis of NaBH₄ was a zero-order type reaction with the respect to the sodium borohydride concentration. A semi empirical kinetic model was derived at the various temperatures and NaOH concentrations.     

Quenching and Partitioning (Q&P) Processing of Martensitic Stainless Steels

Austenite was stabilized in the martensitic stainless steel grade AISI 420 by means of quenching and partitioning (Q&P) processing. The effects of quenching temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. The specimens processed at low quench temperatures (regime I) had a microstructure consisting of tempered martensite and retained austenite. At high quench temperatures (regime II), fresh martensite was present too. The highest austenite fraction of about 0.35 was obtained at the quench temperature delineating regimes I and II. The amount of carbon in retained austenite increased as the quench temperature decreased. The carbon level of austenite was, however, much lower than the carbon concentrations expected from full partitioning assumption. This was mainly due to the extensive cementite formation in the partitioning step. Stabilization of austenite by Q&P processing was found not to be purely chemical. Austenite stabilization was also assisted by locking, because of local carbon enrichment, of potential martensite nucleation sites in the austenite/martensite boundaries and in austenite defects. The importance of the latter stabilization mechanism increased at higher martensite fractions. According to the tensile test results, the Q&P processed specimen with the highest austenite fraction was not associated with the best combination of strength and ductility. The mechanical stability of austenite was found to increase with its carbon concentration being the highest at the lowest quench temperature. The thermal stability, on the other hand, was almost inversely proportional to the retained austenite fraction, being low at intermediate quench temperatures where the retained austenite fraction was high.     

Incidence of aflatoxin M1 in human breast milk in Tehran, Iran

This study examined the exposure of infants to aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) and of lactating mothers to aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), using AFM1 in breast milk as a biomarker for exposure to AFB1. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was modified for the analysis of AFM1 in breast milk samples from 160 women in Tehran, Iran. AFM1 was detected in 157 samples by average concentration of 8.2 ± 5.1 ng/kg (range 0.3–26.7 ng/kg).The concentration of AFM1 in one sample was higher than the maximum tolerance limit accepted by European Union and USA (25 ng/kg), but in 55 samples was higher than the maximum concentration recommended by Australia and Switzerland (10 ng/kg).Logistic regression Analysis failed to show significant correlation between AFM1 and gestational age, education, postnatal age, gender, nationality, clinical condition, the number of family member, the number of children, type and amount of dairy consumption, vegetable, fruits, oil and meat. But it was significant relation to the cereal consumption, also to the height at birth.