Numerical simulation of the effects of plate separation and inclination on heat transfer in buoyancy driven open channels

 Effects of plate separation and inclination on free convection between asymmetrically heated vertical and inclined parallel plates have been simulated. The upper isothermally heated plate is facing downwards, the lower plate is passively heated by the upper one. The plate inclinations are chosen to be 0^∘, 30^∘, 45^∘ with respect to vertical position. Three-dimensional laminar numerical simulations are obtained by solving the full elliptic governing equations using a commercial finite volume based computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. Comparisons of computational results with experiments and data from the literature are made in terms of relevant dimensionless numbers. It was observed that plate spacing and inclination influence the overall heat transfer rate. Received on 3 November 1998     

Possible stretched exponential parametrization for humidity absorption in polymers

Polymer thin films have irregular transient current characteristics under constant voltage. In hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers, the irregularity is also known to depend on the humidity absorbed by the polymer sample. Different stretched exponential models are studied and it is shown that the absorption of humidity as a function of time can be adequately modelled by a class of these stretched exponential absorption models.     

Coalitional strategy-proofness and resource monotonicity for house allocation problems

We consider the problem of allocating houses to agents when monetary compensations are not allowed. We present a simple and independent proof of a result due to Ehlers and Klaus (Int J Game Theory 32:545–560, 2004) that characterizes the class of rules satisfying efficiency, strategy-proofness, resource monotonicity and nonbossiness. I am very much indebted to William Thomson for his invaluable suggestions.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of transition to turbulent flow and heat transfer inside a horizontal smooth rectangular duct under uniform bottom surface temperature

In this study, steady-state turbulent forced flow and heat transfer in a horizontal smooth rectangular duct both experimentally and numerically investigated. The study was carried out in the transition to turbulence region where Reynolds numbers range from 2,323 to 9,899. Flow is hydrodynamically and thermally developing (simultaneously developing flow) under uniform bottom surface temperature condition. A commercial CFD program Ansys Fluent 12.1 with different turbulent models was used to carry out the numerical study. Based on the present experimental data and three-dimensional numerical solutions, new engineering correlations were presented for the heat transfer and friction coefficients in the form of $ {\text{Nu}} = {\text{C}}_{2} {\text{Re}}^{{{\text{n}}_{ 1} }} $ and $ {\text{f}} = {\text{C}}_{3} {\text{Re}}^{{{\text{n}}_{3} }} $ , respectively. The results have shown that as the Reynolds number increases heat transfer coefficient increases but Darcy friction factor decreases. It is seen that there is a good agreement between the present experimental and numerical results. Examination of heat and mass transfer in rectangular cross-sectioned duct for different duct aspect ratio (α) was also carried out in this study. Average Nusselt number and average Darcy friction factor were expressed with graphics and correlations for different duct aspect ratios.     

Anti-proliferative effects of gold nanoparticles functionalized with Semaphorin 3F

The new vessel formations play a vital role in growth and spread of cancer. Current anti-angiogenic therapies, predominantly based on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibition, can inhibit vascular development; however, they are usually ineffective against the primary tumor occurrence. The aim of this study was to assess anti-angiogenic effects of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with Semaphorin (Sema) 3F protein. The polyethylene glycol (PEG)-coated AuNPs were covalently functionalized with Sema 3F and labeled with the TAMRA fluorescent dye. The effect of the NPs on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) is probed in the way of internalization and viability assays. AuNP-Sema 3F bioconjugates showed great endothelial cell uptake. AuNP-Sema 3F bioconjugates reduced VEGF₁₆₅-induced endothelial cell proliferation more effectively than Sema 3F alone, suggesting that the therapeutic effects of Sema 3F can be improved by conjugation to AuNPs. Also, no significant toxicity effect was induced by bioconjugates. This is the first study that reports a covalent binding of full length Sema 3F to NPs. The exogenously administration of Sema 3F, which has both anti-angiogenic and anti-tumoral activity, to tumor vasculature via a carrying platform may not only lead to more effective anti-angiogenic treatment but also may make current approach more applicable in clinical use like drug delivery system.

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Graphical abstract Anti-proliferative effects of gold nanoparticles conjugated with Semaphorin 3F against VEGF₁₆₅-stimulated cell proliferation

     

The design of Helmholtz resonator based acoustic lenses by using the symmetric Multi-Level Wave Based Method and genetic algorithms

Sonic crystals can be used as acoustic lenses in certain frequencies and the design of such systems by creating vacancies and using genetic algorithms has been proven to be an effective method. So far, rigid cylinders have been used to create such acoustic lens designs. On the other hand, it has been proven that Helmholtz resonators can be used to construct acoustic lenses with higher refraction index as compared to rigid cylinders, especially in low frequencies by utilizing their local resonances. In this paper, these two concepts are combined to design acoustic lenses that are based on Helmholtz resonators. The Multi-Level Wave Based Method is used as the prediction method. The benefits of the method in the context of design procedure are demonstrated. In addition, symmetric boundary conditions are derived for more efficient calculations. The acoustic lens designs that use Helmholtz resonators are compared with the acoustic lens designs that use rigid cylinders. It is shown that using Helmholtz resonator based sonic crystals leads to better acoustic lens designs, especially at the low frequencies where the local resonances are pronounced.     

Experimental investigation of flow and heat transfer in rectangular cross-sectioned duct with baffles mounted on the bottom surface with different inclination angles

In this study, steady-state forced convection heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a horizontal rectangular cross-sectioned duct, baffles mounted on the bottom surface with different inclination angles were investigated experimentally in the Reynolds number range from 1 × 10³ to 1 × 10⁴. The study was performed under turbulent flow conditions. Effects of different baffle inclination angles on flow and heat transfer were studied. Results are also presented in terms of thermal enhancement factor. It is observed that increasing in baffle inclination angle enhances the heat transfer and causes an increase in pressure drop in the duct.     

A mononuclear, mixed (salicylato) (nicotinamide) complex of Zn(II) with penta- and hexa-coordination sites: a novel framework structure

The title compound, diaqua(bissalicylato-??O)(bisnicotinamide-??N)zinc(II)][bis(triaqua (monosalicylato-??O)(mononicotinamide-??N)zinc(II)salicylate, includes three Zn(II) ions, four nicotinamide ligands, six salicylate ligands and eight coordinated aqua ligands in the asymmetric unit in complex structure. The geometry around one of the Zn(II) ions is a slightly distorted octahedron, of which the equatorial plane is formed by two carboxylate oxygens and two aqua oxygens, while the axial positions are occupied by two pyridyl nitrogen atoms. The other Zn(II) ions adopt fivefold coordinations with one carboxylate oxygen atom from salicylate ligand, one N atom from nicotinamide ligand and three oxygen atoms from aqua ligands. In addition, there are two salicylate anions in the unit cell that are not coordinated. They provide charge balance as counter-ions in the complex framework.     

Integrated rapid-diagnostic-test reader platform on a cellphone

We demonstrate a cellphone-based rapid-diagnostic-test (RDT) reader platform that can work with various lateral flow immuno-chromatographic assays and similar tests to sense the presence of a target analyte in a sample. This compact and cost-effective digital RDT reader, weighing only ~65 g, mechanically attaches to the existing camera unit of a cellphone, where various types of RDTs can be inserted to be imaged in reflection or transmission modes under light-emitting diode (LED)-based illumination. Captured raw images of these tests are then digitally processed (within less than 0.2 s per image) through a smart application running on the cellphone for validation of the RDT, as well as for automated reading of its diagnostic result. The same smart application then transmits the resulting data, together with the RDT images and other related information (e.g., demographic data), to a central server, which presents the diagnostic results on a world map through geo-tagging. This dynamic spatio-temporal map of various RDT results can then be viewed and shared using internet browsers or through the same cellphone application. We tested this platform using malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV RDTs by installing it on both Android-based smartphones and an iPhone. Providing real-time spatio-temporal statistics for the prevalence of various infectious diseases, this smart RDT reader platform running on cellphones might assist healthcare professionals and policymakers to track emerging epidemics worldwide and help epidemic preparedness.