A Combined Organic Rankine Cycle-Heat Pump System for Domestic Hot Water Application

This paper investigates a novel system to improve the efficiency of using natural gas for domestic heating. The exhaust from a gas burner powers a small-scale Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system using hexane as the working fluid, which is used to directly drive the compressor of a heat pump, using R134a as the working fluid. Water is heated from ambient by passing it through three heat exchangers, the condenser of the Heat Pump, the condenser of the ORC, and the secondary heat exchanger that is heated by the hot flue gas from the burner after it transfers the heat to the evaporator of the ORC subsystem. By using the heat generated from the burning of gas in a burner in this way, a fuel-to-usable-heat efficiency of up to 160% is projected, outperforming the other technologies discussed, giving it the potential to significantly reduce energy demand and carbon emissions. This paper investigates the effect of varying ambient conditions upon the cycle, namely the temperature of ambient air, which has a strong effect on the performance of the heat pump

SHAPE MODIFICATION OF SQUARE COLUMN SECTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FRP CONFINEMENT

FRP SARGILAMANIN ETKINLIĞININ ARTTIRILMASI AMACIYLA KARE KESITLI KOLONLARIN BIÇIMSEL MODIFIKASYONU AL-TAMEEMI H. Aydın Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü, İnşaat Mühendisliği Programı, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Aydın, 2021. Amaç: Bu tez çalışması kare kesitli beton kolonlarda lifli polimer sargılamanın etkinliğinin arttırılabilmesi amacıyla önerilen yeni bir biçimsel modifikasyon yönteminin irdelenmesi amacıyla yürütülmüştür. Materyal ve Yöntem: Çalışma kapsamında ölçekli kare kesitli beton kolonlar ve biçimsel modifikasyon için gerekli beton parçalar üretilmiştir. Beton kolonların bir kısmı sivri köşelidir, bir kısmında ise köşeler yuvarlatılmıştır. Sivri köşeli numunelerde uygulanan biçimsel modifikasyon daha önceki çalışmalarda önerilen yöntemdir. Yuvarlatılmış köşeye sahip kolonlarda uygulanan biçimsel modifikasyon ise bu tez çalışmasında önerilen yöntemdir. Ayrıca köşeleri yuvarlatılmış numunelerden bazılarına biçimsel modifikasyon uygulanmamıştır. Biçimsel modifikasyon uygulanmış ve uygulanmamış numunelerin çoğu tek kat cam lifli polimer (GFRP) vasıtasıyla sargılanmıştır. Sargılamada tam ve parçalı olmak üzere iki yöntem izlenmiştir. Güçlendirmenin etkinliğini ortaya koyabilmek amacıyla sargılama ve biçimsel modifikasyon uygulanmamış numuneler de hazırlanmıştır. Tüm numuneler monotonik eksenel yük altında test edilmiştir. Bulgular: Beton basınç cihazı kullanılarak toplamda 24 numune test edilmiştir. Test sonuçları sargılanmış betonda eksenel basınç dayanımı ve birim deformasyon kapasitesinin arttırılmasında önerilen biçimsel modifikasyonun başarısını ortaya koymuştur. Dahası, önerilen biçimsel modifikasyon yönteminde lifli polimer üzerinde ölçülen nihai çekme birim deformasyon değeri kupon çekme deneylerinde aynı malzeme için elde edilen değerlere yaklaşmıştır. Tam ve parçalı olmak üzere her iki sargılama yöntemi de numunelerin eksenel basınç dayanımı ve birim deformasyon kapasitesini arttırmıştır. Her ne kadar parçalı xvi sargılamada elde edilen dayanım ve birim deformasyon artışı tam sargılamaya kıyasla daha az olsa da daha ekonomiktir. Sonuç: Bu çalışmayla GFRP’nin sargılamadaki etkinliğinin biçimsel modifikasyon yoluyla ciddi oranda arttırılabileceği anlaşılmıştır. Önerilen biçimsel modifikasyon, sargı malzemesinin etkinliğini arttırmada dikkat çekici bir yöntem olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Artan eksenel dayanım, birim deformasyon kapasitesi ve sargı malzemesi kopma dayanımı yanında, önerilen güçlendirme yöntemiyle kullanılan sargı malzeme miktarı, daha önceki çalışmalarda önerilen yöntemlere kıyasla %15 oranında azaltılmıştır; ayrıca kesit boyutundaki artışlar da daha az olmuştur. Dolayısıyla, bu çalışmadaki biçimsel modifikasyon yöntemi kare kesitli beton kolonların lifli polimerlerle sargılanmasında önerilmektedir.TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE AND APPROVAL …………………………………………..……………... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………..………………...………..….. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………....………….. iv LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVAITIONS ……………………………......…………... vii LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………..…………….… x LIST OF PICTURES ………………………………………………..……………...……….. xii LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………...…………....... xiv ÖZET …………………………………………………………………………...………….... xv ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………..….....……... xvii 1. INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………...………….. 1 1.1. Background ……………………………………………………………………...…….…. 1 1.2. Research Significance ……………………………………………………………...…….. 3 1.3. Research Objective and Scope …………………………………………………...……..... 4 1.4. Thesis Organization ………………………………………………………………..….…. 5 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………………..….... 6 2.1. General Introduction ………………………………………………………………...….... 6 2.2. Strengthening the Concrete Column by Concrete Jacket and Steel Cage or Tube …...….. 6 2.3. Strengthening the Concrete Column by Fibre Reinforced Polymer …………………....... 8 2.4. Shape Modification of the Rectangular Concrete Column Strengthened by Fibre Reinforced Polymer …………………………………………………………………………………..….. 14 2.5. Strengthening the Concrete Column by Other Materials …………………...………….... 17 2.6. Theoretical Investigation of Concrete Column Strengthened by Fibre Reinforced Polymer ………………………………………………………………………………………...……... 18 2.7. Summary of Literature Review ……………………………………………...………….. 19 v 3. MATERIAL AND METHODS …………………………………………………...…….... 22 3.1. General Introduction ……………………………………………………………...…….. 22 3.2. Design of the Specimens …………………………………………………………...….... 22 3.3. Test Configuration ……………………………………………………………..……….. 22 3.4. Formwork Setup ……………………………………………………………...…………. 26 3.5. Preparation of the Specimens ………………………………………………...………..... 28 3.5.1. Concrete Mix Materials …………………………………………………...………...… 28 3.5.2. Concrete Pouring Process …………………………………………………...……….... 28 3.5.3. Concrete Curing Process …………………………………………………...………..... 29 3.5.4. Shape Modification Process ……………………………………………...………….... 31 3.5.5. Wrapping the External Confinement ….……………………………………...……….. 36 3.6. Preliminary Test ……………………………………………………………...……….... 41 3.6.1. Concrete ……………………………………………………………………...……….. 41 3.6.2. FRP-composite ………………………………………………………………...…….... 42 3.7. Experimental Setup Instrumentation …………………………………………...……….. 43 3.8. Test Process …………………………………………………………………...……….... 44 4. RESULTS ……………………………….……………………………………...……….... 46 4.1. General Introduction ……………………………………………………...…………….. 46 4.2. Failure Mode ……………………………………………………………...…………….. 46 4.3. Test Results ………………………………………………………………...………….... 51 4.4. Stress-Strain Curves …………………………………………………………...…….….. 55 5. DISCUSSION ……………………………………………………………….....…………. 62 5.1. General Introduction ………………………………………………………...……..…… 62 5.2. Effect of the Shape Modification Techniques …………………………..……………..... 62 5.3. Effect of the Wrapping Methods …………………………………………..……………. 63 6. THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION ……………………………………...………….….. 64 vi 6.1. General Introduction ………………………………………………………...………….. 64 6.2. Behaviour of the Concrete Column Under Axial Load ……………………...………….. 64 6.2.1. Behaviour of the Unconfined Concrete Column ………………………..…………….. 64 6.2.2. Behaviour of the FRP Confined Concrete Column ……………………………...……. 65 6.2.3. The Difference in the Behaviour of the Concrete Confined by Full and Partial Wrapping …………………………………………………………………………………...…………... 67 6.2.4. Parameters Affecting FRP Efficiency ………………………………………...………. 67 6.3. Analytical Calculations ……………………………………………………...………….. 70 6.3.1. Prediction of the Maximum Axial Stress and Strain of the Circular Cross-section ...… 70 6.3.2. Prediction of the Maximum Axial Stress and Strain of the Rectangular Cross-section ………………………………………………………………………………………...……... 71 6.4. Validation of the Test Results …………………………………………………...………. 74 7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ……………..………………...…….…. 77 7.1. General Introduction …………………………………………………………...……….. 77 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………...……..... 79 SCIENTIFIC ETHICAL STATEMENT …………………………………………...……..… 83 CURRICULUM VITAE …………………………………………………………...………... 8

Surfactant Cloud Point Extraction as a Procedure of Preconcentrating for Metoclopramide Determination Using Spectro Analytical Technique

 في هذه المقالة نقدم طريقه بسيطة وانتقائية لفصل وتقدير الطيفي لكميات ضئيلة من ميتاكلوروبرمايد في المنتجات الصيدلانية باستخدام تقنيه استخلاص نقطه السحب. وتعتمد هذي الطريقة على استخلاص ميتاكلوروبرمايد في محيط قاعدي باستخدام تريتون-١١٤ الغير ايوني لتكوين صبغه بنفسجية داكنة. تحت الظروف المثلى منحني المعايرة خطيا ضمن المدى 9-0.34 ملغم\مل وقيمه معامل الارتباط 0.9959. معدل الاسترجاع للنماذج يتراوح بين 104.11-96.99٪. والانحراف المعياري النسبي 0.89٪ وكانت الامتصاصية المولاريه105×1.733. استخدام حجوم قليله من المذيبات العضوية (500ميكروليتر لكل عينه) يجعل من الطريقة الاستخلاص صديقه للبيئة وفعاله من حيث التكلفة. تم تطبيق الطريقة المقترحة لتقدير الدواء في المستحضرات الصيدلانية.In current article an easy and selective method is proposed for spectrophotometric estimation of metoclopramide (MCP) in pharmaceutical preparations using cloud point extraction (CPE) procedure. The method involved reaction between MCP with 1-Naphthol in alkali conditions using Triton X-114 to form a stable dark purple dye. The Beer’s law limit in the range 0.34-9 μg mL-1 of MCP with r =0.9959 (n=3) after optimization. The relative standard deviation (RSD) and percentage recoveries were 0.89 %, and (96.99–104.11%) respectively. As well, using surfactant cloud point extraction as a method to extract MCP was reinforced the extinction coefficient(ε) to 1.7333×105L/mol.cm in surfactant-rich phase. The small volume of organic solvent (500mL/sample) provides an environmentally friendly and low-cost preconcentration method. The suggested method was utilized for analyzing of MCP in commercial pharmaceutical injections

Imaging in Low Back Pain

Medical imaging plays an important role in the evaluation of low back pain (LBP). The choice of certain radiological method over other depends on many factors like patient’s presentation, presence of contraindication, availability, relative cost of the test, and the expected impact of the results on management. Radiological evaluation helps the physician reach the most likely cause of LBP, confirm the provisional diagnosis, provide alternative one, or narrow the differential diagnosis. Plain X-ray radiograph is useful in initial general assessment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the imaging modality of choice in the evaluation of LBP because of elegant demonstration of anatomical details and many pathologies. Computerized tomography (CT) can provide high-resolution images of the bony structures and is particularly invaluable in trauma. Other imaging modalities are rarely used usually as problem-solving or in selected conditions. For example, sonography may have a role in the evaluation of soft tissue lesions and the sacroiliac joints. Angiography is useful for vascular evaluation. Isotope imaging may be used in the elucidation of of hidden cause of pain (tumors or fracture). Conventional myelography and discography are virtually obsolete in current clinical practice because of the presence of much safer and accurate new modalities. Finally, interventional radiology has an increasing role in treating certain conditions

Performance Evaluation of Connectivity and Capacity of Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks

Recent measurements on radio spectrum usage have revealed the abundance of under- utilized bands of spectrum that belong to licensed users. This necessitated the paradigm shift from static to dynamic spectrum access (DSA) where secondary networks utilize unused spectrum holes in the licensed bands without causing interference to the licensed user. However, wide scale deployment of these networks have been hindered due to lack of knowledge of expected performance in realistic environments and lack of cost-effective solutions for implementing spectrum database systems. In this dissertation, we address some of the fundamental challenges on how to improve the performance of DSA networks in terms of connectivity and capacity. Apart from showing performance gains via simulation experiments, we designed, implemented, and deployed testbeds that achieve economics of scale. We start by introducing network connectivity models and show that the well-established disk model does not hold true for interference-limited networks. Thus, we characterize connectivity based on signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) and show that not all the deployed secondary nodes necessarily contribute towards the network\u27s connectivity. We identify such nodes and show that even-though a node might be communication-visible it can still be connectivity-invisible. The invisibility of such nodes is modeled using the concept of Poisson thinning. The connectivity-visible nodes are combined with the coverage shrinkage to develop the concept of effective density which is used to characterize the con- nectivity. Further, we propose three techniques for connectivity maximization. We also show how traditional flooding techniques are not applicable under the SINR model and analyze the underlying causes for that. Moreover, we propose a modified version of probabilistic flooding that uses lower message overhead while accounting for the node outreach and in- terference. Next, we analyze the connectivity of multi-channel distributed networks and show how the invisibility that arises among the secondary nodes results in thinning which we characterize as channel abundance. We also capture the thinning that occurs due to the nodes\u27 interference. We study the effects of interference and channel abundance using Poisson thinning on the formation of a communication link between two nodes and also on the overall connectivity of the secondary network. As for the capacity, we derive the bounds on the maximum achievable capacity of a randomly deployed secondary network with finite number of nodes in the presence of primary users since finding the exact capacity involves solving an optimization problem that shows in-scalability both in time and search space dimensionality. We speed up the optimization by reducing the optimizer\u27s search space. Next, we characterize the QoS that secondary users can expect. We do so by using vector quantization to partition the QoS space into finite number of regions each of which is represented by one QoS index. We argue that any operating condition of the system can be mapped to one of the pre-computed QoS indices using a simple look-up in Olog (N) time thus avoiding any cumbersome computation for QoS evaluation. We implement the QoS space on an 8-bit microcontroller and show how the mathematically intensive operations can be computed in a shorter time. To demonstrate that there could be low cost solutions that scale, we present and implement an architecture that enables dynamic spectrum access for any type of network ranging from IoT to cellular. The three main components of this architecture are the RSSI sensing network, the DSA server, and the service engine. We use the concept of modular design in these components which allows transparency between them, scalability, and ease of maintenance and upgrade in a plug-n-play manner, without requiring any changes to the other components. Moreover, we provide a blueprint on how to use off-the-shelf commercially available software configurable RF chips to build low cost spectrum sensors. Using testbed experiments, we demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed architecture by comparing its performance to that of a legacy system. We show the benefits in terms of resilience to jamming, channel relinquishment on primary arrival, and best channel determination and allocation. We also show the performance gains in terms of frame error rater and spectral efficiency

RMSRS: Rover Multi-purpose Surveillance Robotic System

أصبح تطوير إنترنت الأشياء (IoT) وإنترنت الروبوتات (IoR) أكثر وأكثر مشاركة في حياتنا اليومية. إنه يخدم مجموعة متنوعة من المهام بعضها مهم في الحياة البشرية مثل المراقبة في الوقت الفعلي عن بعد لتجنب المخاطر في الاماكن الخطرة . الهدف الرئيسي من نظام المراقبة المتنقل الذكي هو تطوير نظام مراقبة للكشف عن الأماكن المشبوهة والمستهدفة للمستخدمين دون أي خسائر في الأرواح البشرية. تعرض هذه الورقة تصميم وتنفيذ منصة مراقبة آلية للمراقبة في الوقت الفعلي بمساعدة معالجة الصور ، والتي يمكن أن تستكشف أماكن الوصول الصعب أو المخاطرة العالية. يتدفق البث المباشر الآلي عبر كاميرتين، الأولى ثابتة مباشرة على الطريق والثانية ديناميكية مع إمكانية الإمالة. كلتا الكامرتين لديها قدرات المعالجة الصورية لتحليل وكشف وتعقب الكائنات بالإضافة إلى عدد قليل من الوظائف الرسومية. المكونات المذكورة أعلاه مبنية على قمة نظام المركبات الرباعي مع عزم دوران عالي لتوفير القدرة على الحركة في المناطق الوعرة. يستند هذا العمل إلى الراسبيري باي ويمكن التحكم فيه عبر الواي فاي محليًا أو عالميا عبر الإنترنت. تظهر النتائج إنشاء روبوت ذو إمكانات عالية ومنخفض الكلفة نسبيًا مع الكثير من الميزات والوظائف التي يمكن أن تؤدي مهام متعددة في وقت واحد ، وكلها مهمة للغاية بالنسبة لمشاكل المراقبة ، والتي يتحكم فيها المستخدم من مسافات بعيدة ولفترة طويلة.The development of the internet of things (IoT) and the internet of robotics (IoR) are becoming more and more involved with our daily lives. It serves a variety of tasks some of them are essential to us. The main objective of SRR is to develop a surveillance system for detecting suspicious and targeted places for users without any loss of human life. This paper shows the design and implementation of a robotic surveillance platform for real-time monitoring with the help of image processing, which can explorer places of difficult access or high risk. The robotic live streaming is via two cameras, the first one is fixed straight on the road and the second one is dynamic with tilt-pan ability. All cameras have image processing capabilities to analyze, detect and track objects plus few other graphical functions. The components mentioned above built on top of the four-wheel vehicle system with high torque to provide mobility on rough terrain. This work is based on Raspberry Pi and can be controlled over Wi-Fi locally or publicly over the internet. The results show making a high potential, relatively low price robot with lots of features and functions that can perform multiple tasks simultaneously, all are crucial to surveillance and monitoring problems, controlled by a user from far distances and for a long time

LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS: AN OVERVIEW

Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a tropical disease caused by infection with the parasitic filarial worms: Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi, and Brugia timori. The symptoms of this chronic disease appear in adults (in men more than in women) and include damage to the lymphatic system, arms, legs, and genitals, which cause significant pain, reducing productivity, and social problems. LF is a cause of continued disability, pain, disfigurement, and sexual disability in the world, so the knowledge of the disease and the infection control is very important. In addition to the importance of prevention, that includes giving medicine and using controlling ways of mosquitoes. Moreover, the prevention of disease is important, that includes giving medicine and using controlling ways of mosquitoes. However, although the efforts of health organizations to reduce the LF infections, there are still many challenges including the early diagnosis and control of infection among people

An Experimental Study of Fractional Wettability Effects on Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD)

Utilizing the power of nature to solve engineering problems has been a time-honored tradition, for example, using the sunlight as a heat and light source. From this principle, the visionary idea of Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) came. The GAGD process utilizes the natural segregation phenomenon of fluids with different densities in order to produce oil efficiently and economically. Waterflooding processes typically do not recover more than 40% of the original oil in place (OOIP), leaving a vast amount of oil behind. A practical and well-planned enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method is needed. However, to plan a successful project, the knowledge of reservoir characteristics and physics that govern these characteristics is required. Wettability and spreading are critical properties of fluid flow in a porous medium and the recovery of oil. The objective of this work is to study the role that rock-fluid (wettability) and fluid-fluid (spreading) interactions play on GAGD performance. For this purpose, an experimental study has been conducted using sandpacks containing oil-wet sand ratios of 0, 12.5, 25, 62.5, and 100% with different spreading conditions (Decane as non-spreading oil and Soltrol as spreading oil). This core-scale study also described the pore-scale mechanisms to evaluate a reservoir-scale problem. The results, regarding the recovered oil percent, are as follows: The highest recovery occurred in both complete water-wet sand with the spreading system and complete oil-wet with the non-spreading system. The lowest recovery occurred in both complete water-wet sand with the non-spreading system and complete oil-wet with the spreading system. The second highest recovery was in 12.5% fractional-wet with spreading oil (Soltrol). The second lowest recovery was in 12.5% fractional-wet with non-spreading oil (Decane). Similar oil recoveries were obtained in 25% fractional-wet and 12.5% fractional-wet, either in spreading conditions or non-spreading conditions. Finally, oil recovery in 62.5% fractional-wet sand in both spreading and the non-spreading system was alike. The element of innovation in this work is the evaluation of GAGD process in fractional-wettability systems and will help to plan more successful GAGD projects and is considered a step forward in understanding wettability and spreading phenomena and their influence on GAGD performance

Towards an Intelligent System to Improve Student Engagement and Retention

The impact of the learning platforms on student performance has always been a popular subject of research on improving student academic performance during the course study. A variety of research and studies have been conducted based on the student opinions to determine the effectiveness of the student engagement in learning platform on student performance. However, these opinions may not be accurately affected. In this paper, we will track the student activities inside the learning platform in real-time during their course study. Only the meaningful activities such as downloading assignments, lectures, viewing notification and visiting the resources will be extracted from the learning platform. An algorithm has been developed for mining and measuring student performance inside the learning platform

The impact of organisational culture and leadership on performance improvement in Iraq

In 2013, the World Bank ranked Iraq 165 out of 185 countries in its overall “ease of doing business” category. Transparency International ranked Iraq 169 out of 176 in its 2012 Corruption Perception Index (BEBA, 2013). This reflects the poor performance of the public sector organisations responsible for the delivery of the various services in Iraq. By looking at the literature, it is clear that organisational culture and leadership have a significant impact on the performance of organisations. Thus, this makes them important factors that need to be taken into consideration when reforming public sector performance in the developing world. However, there has not been any research that discusses this relationship from the context of the public sector in Iraq. Therefore, this paper aims at expanding the base of knowledge and empirically tests the impact of leadership, people and organisational culture on a public sector organisation’s performance in Iraq. The study has used a public service “Practices & Performance” Benchmarking tool called PROBE, which stands for PROmoting Business Excellence, to assess the current organisational leadership and people practices of a government organisation and has benchmarked them to best practices of world-class organisations. Interviews have also been conducted, first with the staff members to gain consensus on the assessment results. Then the organisation’s customers (who are mainly contractors) have also been interviewed to understand their level of satisfaction with the current practices of the organisation. The result derived from the interviews accord with the results generated by the PROBE tool. The assessment result has showed how poor leadership and people practices have led to a weak overall organisational performance. This result supports previous studies and confirms the impact of organisational culture, people and leadership on the performance of organisations