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Adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was measured on the endwall of a turbine vane under transonic flow conditions using binary pressure-sensitive paint. The combined effect of upstream and passage film cooling holes was evaluated. The experiments used a five-vane annular cascade in a blowdown wind tunnel. The mainstream velocity was set to exit isentropic Mach numbers of 0.7 and 0.9. The total coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratio (MFR) was varied from 0.75 to 2.50%. Coolant-to-mainstream density ratios (DRs) of 1.0 and 2.0 were investigated. The first row was located upstream of the vanes, and the second and third rows were located in the passage between the vanes. Coolant was supplied by a divided plenum, allowing independent control of the MFR to the upstream and the passage holes. The coolant MFR was evenly split between the upstream and passage holes. Generally, increasing the MFR, the DR, and the Mach number increased the film cooling effectiveness. However, increasing the DR at MFRs of 0.625% and below decreased the laterally averaged film cooling effectiveness by as much as 60%, largely because mainstream flow was ingested through the second row. Upstream coolant provided some protection through the passage, with effectiveness as high as 0.2 at the second row.

Background: Hypertension is defined as a sustained systolic blood pressure greater than 140 mm Hg or sustained diastolic blood pressure greater than 90mm Hg. Hypertension occurs due to increased peripheral vascular arteriolar smooth muscle tone which leads to increased arteriolar resistance and reduced capacitance of the venous system. Primary objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension in different areas of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Methods/Design: The survey was conducted among the population of different areas of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, evaluating the dietary habits of the habitants, age factors, marital status, and job status. Setting: Data was taken from Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology Pakistan. Participants: Data from 50 participants with different age groups was taken from the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology Pakistan. Intervention: Our 6th monthly survey showed that the major factors that exaggerate hypertension are, inappropriate diet, job stress, and workload, smoking in adults, age, and concomitant diseases. Primary Outcome Measures: The study is very effective for the community because it provides awareness about the emerging factors of hypertension and highlights the different ways of treating it both pharmacologically and non-pharmacologically. Results: The study revealed that people over 60 suffer more from hypertension. The disease was more common in working males than females. Smokers and patients suffering from other concomitant diseases were more prone to this disease. Conclusion: Studies help the community to modify their lifestyle to eradicate the disease. It will help in the early diagnosis of diseases and the appropriate therapy to enjoy a healthy and carefree lifestyle.

Background: Osteoarthritis is a disorder of joints that most often influences the knee, spine, hip, and small hands joints. It is one of the common types of arthritis. It can lead to reduced mobility in elder patients. Primary objective: The aim of the project is to evaluate the current etiology, pathogenesis, investigations, and management of osteoarthritis. Methods/Design: The history of patients suffering from osteoarthritis was collected on a designed questionnaire which includes age, gender, job status, duration of disease, weight, pain, and current medical history. Setting: Data was taken from different people in the community Participants: Data from 50 patients were taken. Intervention: This work will discuss the challenges of developing good quality outcome measures for use in large-scale multicenter clinical trials for new osteoarthritis treatments, especially disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs. Primary Outcome Measures: The data evaluation showed that this disease is most common in women than men having a weight greater than 50kg. Results: Most persons suffering from this disease were unemployed and had limited physical activities, and the maximum had complaints of knee pain and shoulder pain. A few patients complained of neck, elbow, feet, and backbone pain. Most were suffering from other concomitant diseases along with osteoarthritis, and a few were diagnosed with osteoarthritis only. Conclusion: This study clearly showed the prime factors involved in osteoarthritis which may help the community to avoid those factors to increase the quality of life.

Due to the rising population globally, and the demand for food, it is critical to significantly increase crop production by 2050. However, climate change estimates show that droughts and heatwaves will become more prevalent in many parts of the world, posing a severe danger to food output.Selective breeding based on genetic diversity is falling short of meeting the expanding need for food and feed. However, the advent of modern plant genetic engineering, genome editing, and synthetic biology provides precise techniques for producing crops capable of sustaining yield under stress situations.As a result, crop varieties with built-in genetic tolerance to environmental challenges are desperately needed. In the recent years, small RNA (sRNA) data has progressed to become one of the most effective approaches for the improvement of crops. So many sRNAs (18-30nt) have been found with the use of hi-tech bioinformatics and sequencing techniques which are involved in the regulation of sequence specific gene noncoding RNAs (short ncRNAs) i.e., microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA). Such research outcomes may advance our understanding of the genetic basis of adaptability of plants to various environmental challenges and the genetic variation of plant's tolerance to a number of abiotic stresses.The review article highlights current trends and advances in sRNAs' critical role in responses of plants to drought, heat, cold, and salinity, and also the potential technology that identifies the abiotic stress-regulated sRNAs, and techniques for analyzing and validating the target genes.

The study was carried out to determine genetic variability, heritability, and genetic progress among the F4-5 population of Brassica species for several biochemical and morphological traits at Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan, during the Rabi season 2018-19. In Pakistan, Brassica are economically important and high yielding oil seeds and it is needed to produce improved Brassica varieties for successful expansion of cultivation of oilseed crops. The genetic variability among 51 populations (genotypes) of four interspecific crosses Bn-531xBr-118, Bn-525xBr-118, Bn-514xBj-109 and Bn-510xBj-109 with six parents of Brassica species in paired rows of 4 m length with a spacing of 30 x 10-15 cm (row × plant). Data were recorded on ten different agro-morphological characters and six biochemical traits. The interspecific crosses of Brassica species highly performed all types of morphological traits in populations viz; 142, 129, 196, 186 and 142. Biochemical traits are highly performed in interspecific crosses of F4-5 populations other than parental genotypes. Majority had high to moderate heritability, whereas greatest had less environmental and genetic influence in the expression of these characters and had high heritability with substantial genetic advance. Interspecific crosses showed superior diversity for various traits and thus give a unique opportunity in further evaluation of these materials for profitable exploitation in next generations.

This work is an experimental study of film cooling effectiveness on two real-scale turbine vanes in a three-vane annular cascade. The cascade is connected to a high-flow steady compressor to provide the mainstream flow. The inlet velocity is maintained at 35 m/s at the centerline of the annular cascade. Two heavily cooled, real-scale turbine vanes are tested with cooling holes on the pressure (PS) and suction (SS) surfaces. Vane 1 has 645 cooling holes distributed around the vane. Vane 2 has an additional two rows of holes at the near leading edge SS of the vane. The mass flow ratio (MFR) is varied from 3.12% to 4.82%. Increasing the MFR increases film effectiveness. The introduction of additional rows of cooling holes resulted in the re-distribution of coolant from the pressure surface to the suction surface. The re-distribution of coolant is primarily due to the additional coolant supplied to the suction surface for vane 2. This study provides designers with more insight into how to place rows of cooling holes to have improved effectiveness.

Film cooling was measured on the endwall of a five-vane annular cascade in a blowdown wind tunnel at an exit Mach number of 0.9. The adiabatic film cooling effectiveness was calculated from the partial pressure of oxygen measured with binary pressure sensitive paint (BPSP). Cylindrical film cooling holes were located in the upstream and passage regions with the coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratio (MFR) independently varied for each region. One row was located upstream of the vanes and supplied by an upstream plenum. Two rows were located in the passage between two vanes and supplied by a downstream plenum. Three total MFRs were investigated: 1%, 1.5%, and 2%. For a given total MFR, four combinations of upstream and downstream MFRs were compared to an even split of coolant. Coolant-to-mainstream density ratios (DRs) of 1.0 and 2.0 were investigated. The most efficient use of coolant hinged on balancing the downstream MFR for the second row due to the endwall pressure gradient preventing coolant from exiting the holes or a high jet velocity causing liftoff. For this row, selecting the optimum MFR increased the area-averaged film cooling effectiveness by up to 200% with a reduction in row 1 of less than 25%. At high downstream MFRs, increasing the density ratio delayed liftoff and increased film cooling effectiveness in row 2 by 65%. However, at low MFRs, increasing the density ratio reduced film cooling effectiveness in row 2 by 60%.

Background Knowledge of the genetic diversity and population structure of germplasm collections is an important foundation for crop improvement. Rice production across a broad range of rice-growing environments results in a diverse array of local rice varieties. Many rice varieties have been lost as a result of biodiversity loss and are now grown in Pakistan. Methods and results To protect the biodiversity of rice varieties, an experiment was carried out to check the genetic and morphological variations between 8 exotic and 7 local rice genotypes, using 5 different SSR markers, i.e., RM3, RM259, RM341, RM520, and RM11943. The analysis of morphological and quality traits of rice observed significant variation across genotypes. The results revealed that genotype Irri-Pak attained the highest plant height and primary branch plant-1, while genotype Mushkan produced a higher number of productive tillers and obtained a higher fertility factor (%). Similarly, the highest value for panicle length was observed for genotype Faker-e-Malakand, 1000-grains weight in genotype Calmochi, and maximum days to maturity was noticed in genotype Swati-2014. Moreover, the genotype Brio attained the highest value of stem diameter, while maximum seed length was noted in the genotype Sug Dasi. The highest number of primary branches plant(-1) in genotype Ibge-I and secondary branches plant(-1) in genotype Calmochi were noticed. A higher concentration of sodium and potassium was observed for the genotype Marte, while the genotype Muskan attained the maximum content of copper. Moreover, the highest concentration of iron in genotype Originario, zinc in genotype JP-5, and cadmium content were noticed in genotype Ibge. Similarly, the dendrogram analysis for quantitative parameters showed three clusters at 74.13% similarities. Whereas all the genotypes of European origin formed a separate cluster. A set of 5 simple sequence repeat primers, covering four chromosomes, amplified a total of 14 alleles and showed 100% polymorphism with an average PIC value ranging from 0.39 to 0.91. The UPGMA cluster analysis separated the 15 rice genotypes into 3 main groups based on 32.5% similarities and the highest genetic distance (45.1%) was observed between two genotypes (Fakher-e-malakand and Musa), having different geographical origins. There was no genetic distance between the genotypes Marte and Brio, irrespective of having the same origin. Conclusions The maximum genetic distances were noted for genotype, Fakhre-e-Malakand and Musa having a different origin, while the minimum genetic distance was shown by genotypes, Marte and Onice, from the same origin.

The perception of phytoremediation is efficiently utilized as an eco-friendly practice of green plants combating and cleaning up the stressed environment without harming it. The industrial revolution was followed by the green revolution which fulfilled the food demands of the growing population caused an increase in yield per unit area in crop production, but it also increased the use of synthetic fertilizers in agriculture. Globally, the intensive use of inorganic fertilizers in agriculture has led to serious health problems and irreversible environmental damage. Biofertilizers improve the growth of the plant and can be applied as an alternative to chemical/synthetic fertilizers. Cyanobacteria, bacteria, and fungi are known as some of the principal microbe groups used to produce biofertilizers that form symbiotic associations with plants. Microorganisms perform a key role in phosphate solubilization and mobilization, nitrogen fixation, nutrient management, biotic elicitors and probiotics, and pollution management (biodegradation agents), specifically bacteria which also help in atmospheric nitrogen fixation and are thus available for the growth of the plant. Management or biodegradation of hazardous chemical residues and heavy metals produced by a huge number of large-scale industries should be given primary importance to be transformed by various bacterial strains, fungi, algae. Currently, modern omics technologies such as metagenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic are being used to develop strategies for studying the ecology of microorganisms, as well as their use in environmental monitoring and bioremediation. This review briefly discusses some of the major groups of microorganisms that can perform different functions responsible for plant health, crop production, phytoremediation and also focus on the omics techniques reportedly used in environmental monitoring to tackle the pollution load.

Salinity is a complex abiotic stress that affects physiology and biochemistry of plants and significantly reduces both crop yield and quality. Considering the global increase in soil salinity, it is required to develop salt-tolerant cultivars for various crops. Solanum lycopersicum L. is an important Solanaceous crop with a diverse level of genotype dependent salt tolerance. However, the evaluation of salt tolerance in tomato genotypes or screening for traits utilized reliably for breeding against salt tolerance is scarcely reported. Thirteen different genotypes of tomato were exposed to salinity with three simulated soil NaCl levels (0, 75 and 150 mM) in a complete randomized design with three pots per treatment. Morpho-physiological traits (fresh and dry weight of shoot and roots, chlorophyll content, Na+ accumulation, K+ content, Na+/K+ ratio, proline content and percent ion leakage) were measured to determine the extent of salt tolerance. Different genotypes, salinity levels and their interaction significantly influenced both the observed morphological and physiological traits of tomato. Fresh weight of shoot and root, dry weight of root and shoot, chlorophyll content, K+ content and proline content were significantly increased by Rio Grande genotype, while higher Na+ content and percent ion leakage was observed in Early King genotype. Among all tested genotypes, Rio Grande and Red Star were found salt tolerant and Early King and Vigo were found the most susceptible tomato genotypes.

Foliar application of micronutrients and plant growth regulators (PGRs) is one of the strategies of plant-feeding direct through leaves to allow rapid uptake irrespective of soil condition. This is the best way to enhance nutrient balance and its accumulation in the crops that, in turn, lead to improved crop yield and quality. This research studied the effect of boron (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 ppm) and gibberellic acid (GA3; 0, 20, 40, and 60 ppm) on quality fruit production of pear. Fruit weight, yield (kg/tree), minimum fruit drop (%) and disease incidence (%) were significantly enhanced in fruit sprayed with 75 ppm boron while fruit firmness (kg/cm), total soluble solids (° Brix), fruit juice pH, ascorbic acid content, and minimum titratable acidity (%) significantly increased in pear fruit sprayed with 100 ppm boron. The highest contents of phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidants (%) were observed in pear fruit sprayed with 100 ppm of boron and 60 ppm of GA3. Maximum fruit firmness, total soluble solids (° Brix), fruit juice pH, ascorbic acid with minimum titratable acidity (%) were recorded in plants sprayed with 60 ppm GA3. Boron (100 ppm) and GA3 (60 ppm) could be applied at the fruit set stage to obtain the quality fruit production of pear.

This study measures the film cooling effectiveness along the trailing edge of a turbine blade in a linear cascade. The film cooling effectiveness is measured and analyzed using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) technique. Two different trailing edge designs are investigated including the standard pressure side cutback and the new alternating discharge design (referred to as a wavy trailing edge design). The alternating discharge design is a new design with a wavy structure between the pressure and suction surfaces at the trailing edge. The new wavy structure allows the coolant to discharge from the trailing edge so that it alternates between the pressure and suction surfaces. Testing is carried out in a five-blade, linear, steady state cascade with inlet and exit Mach numbers of 0.20 and 0.30, respectively. The freestream turbulence intensity is measured to be 10.5% upstream of the blade leading edge. Coolant-to-mainstream mass flow ratios (MFR) vary from 0.30% to 1.25% and coolant to mainstream density ratios (DR) of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 are examined. The total pressure loss coefficients are also acquired to compare the aerodynamic loss between the two trailing edge designs. The pressure loss coefficient is acquired by traversing a group of pitot static probes across the blade span in a plane downstream of the trailing edge, resulting in a pressure map at the exit plane. A positive MFR and DR effect is witnessed with almost no change in aerodynamic loss. The results provide the potential of the alternating discharge as a promising trailing edge design and provide gas turbine designers with an improved trailing edge cooling scheme having acceptable aerodynamic loss.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is currently restricted by inferior desalination performance. To overcome this limitation, exploring novel pseudocapacitive materials is ongoing. Herein, we made the f...

Heavy metal(oid)s (HMs) contamination in soil directly related to food contamination and human health. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of HMs accumulation in eggplant irrigated through different water sources. Water samples were collected from three distinct sources, namely urban and rural sewage, urban and rural canal water, and urban and rural tube well water. A total of 20, 9, and 6 samples were obtained from each respective source. Soil samples were collected, with three replications each, from two layers i.e., 0–15 cm and 15–30 cm depth. Results depicted that, in irrigation water samples, turbidity was in this order: sewage water > canal water > tube well samples, while average total dissolved solids TDS) was in this order: canal water > sewage water > and tube well water. The overall HMs concentrations in all three sources of irrigation water samples were above the permissible limits of Punjab Environmental Quality Standards PEQs). The level of HMs in vegetables varies by the ability of plants to selectively translocate from the contaminated soil to the plant’s fruit (eggplant). Overall, the translocation factor of HMs in plant samples was in this order: Cadmium (Cd) > Zinc (Zn) > Nickel (Ni) > Iron (Fe) > Lead (Pb). On the basis of this study, it is concluded that irrigation source, especially sewage, is a major source of heavy metal contamination in eggplant. The study highlights the need for further research on gaps in the implementation of policies for irrigation water quality.

Hutan Rimba Alam (HRA), Putrajaya is an urban forest which is the habitat for various tropical rainforest species. A field survey was undertaken to state the floristic composition, investigate the soil characteristics and identify the relationship between the recorded plant communities and soil characteristics. Six plots sized 10 × 10 m square were established in a lowland area of which 93 individual trees were identified. Moreover, the floristic composition revealed vascular tree communities consisting of 10 botanical families, 15 genera, and 27 species with Dipterocarpaceae as being predominant. Based on the important value index (IVI), Mangifera odorata (Anacardiaceae) was the highest (IVI = 68.80%). Furthermore, large trees such as Koompassia excelsa (Becc.) Taub. (Fabaceae) and Sandoricum koetjape (Burm.f.) Merr. (Meliaceae), with heights ranging from 17 m to 24 m, indicated that HRA is on the way to becoming a mature forest. The soil pH in all plots showed acidic properties, with a mean pH of 4.69 that is considered normal for tropical rainforests. The pH of the soils in HRA, Putrajaya had a positive correlation with the CEC and with nitrogen, but the value was low; however, the correlation was negative with C and P. The CEC had a relatively low correlation with C, N and P. Carbon had a very high correlation with N but low with P. Meanwhile, nitrogen had a very negatively low correlation with P. Extractable phosphorus exhibited a mean of 2.22 mg/kg which is normally used in plants for fruits, roots, and flower development. The present study revealed that plant communities in the urban forest in Putrajaya, meaning the diversity of the plant species belonging to a wide range of families, were established on acid soil, matching with the overall characteristics of tropical forest soils. With regard to the climate change context, which is leading to many altered ecosystems, the authors expect that the outputs of this research will be valued by decision makers for a better management of the forest.

This work is an experimental study of film cooling effectiveness on a blade tip in a stationary, linear cascade. The cascade is mounted in a blowdown facility with controlled inlet and exit Mach numbers of 0.29 and 0.75, respectively. The freestream turbulence intensity is measured to be 13.5% upstream of the blade’s leading edge. A flat tip design is studied, having a tip gap of 1.6%. The blade tip is designed to have 15 shaped film cooling holes along the near-tip pressure side (PS) surface. Fifteen vertical film cooling holes are placed on the tip near the pressure side. The cooling holes are divided into a two-zone plenum to locally maintain the desired blowing ratios based on the external pressure field. Two coolant injection scenarios are considered by injecting coolant through the tip holes only and both tip and PS surface holes together. The blowing ratio (M) and density ratio (DR) effects are studied by testing at blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 and three density ratios of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. Three different foreign gases are used to create density ratio effect. Over-tip flow leakage is also studied by measuring the static pressure distributions on the blade tip using the pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) measurement technique. In addition, detailed film cooling effectiveness is acquired to quantify the parametric effect of blowing ratio and density ratio on a plane tip design. Increasing the blowing ratio and density ratio resulted in increased film cooling effectiveness at all injection scenarios. Injecting coolant on the PS and the tip surface also resulted in reduced leakage over the tip. The conclusions from this study will provide the gas turbine designer with additional insight on controlling different parameters and strategically placing the holes during the design process.

The present study was performed to provide a detailed explanation of leaf epidermal anatomy and pollen micromorphological features of selected species of family Apiaceae from Chitral, eastern Hindu Kush region as the basis of forthcoming studies. In the present article pollen morphology of eight species and foliar epidermal of seven species of family Apiaceae have been examined through microscopic techniques. In results two types of pollen prolate (five species) and perprolate (three species) with three colpi have been recorded. The exine ornamentation was found to be regulate, striate, and cerebroid. Largest pollen was found in Heracleum leucocarpum with the polar diameter of 43.25 μm and equatorial diameter of 21.6 μm. Smallest pollen was observed in Elaeosticta chitralica with the polar diameter of 18.4 μm. The P/E ratio varied from 1.59 to 2.16. Regarding to foliar epidermal anatomy, three types of epidermal cells including rectangular, irregular, and polygonal with variation in anticlinal wall pattern were determined. In the selected species three kinds of stomata comprising anisocytic, anomocytic, and paracytic type were reported in the current research. The size of epidermal cells ranged from 106 × 42.50 μm in Bupleurum falcatum subsp. cernuum and 77.25 × 26.35 μm in Prangos pabularia in adaxial surface. Largest stomatal complex was found in Prangos pabularia both in adaxial 33.55 × 20.05 μm and abaxial 50.25 × 39.40 μm. All the observed quantitative and qualitative features of the species were proved to be useful in the delimitation of species at generic and species level.

Metal nitrides are broadly applicable in the field of electrochemistry due to their excellent electrical properties. In this study, a 3D nanostructured Ni3N–Co3N catalyst was prepared by using a versatile urea glass method, and was tested as an anode catalyst for a glucose fuel cell. The synthesized Ni3N–Co3N exhibits uniform particle dispersion in structure, morphology, and composition, and has a interpenetrating three-dimensional network structure. Notably, the Ni3N–Co3N significantly improved the catalytic activity of glucose oxidation compared to Ni3N, Co3N, and conventional activated carbon electrodes. The superior electrochemical performance could be attributed to its porous structure and unique properties, which provided a fast transport network for charge and mass transfer as well as good synergetic effect. The glucose fuel cell equipped with a Ni3N–Co3N anode achieved 30.89 W m−2 power and 97.66 A m−2 current densities at room temperature. This investigation provides potential directions for the design of cost-effective bimetallic catalysts for a wide range of glucose fuel cell applications.

Heteroatom doped hierarchically porous carbon materials are considered as promising candidates for high performance capacitive deionization and supercapacitor applications. However, the development of carbons simultaneously having both a reasonable polar surface and a hierarchically porous structure via a flexible synthetic strategy is critical but still a great challenge. Herein, a facile and effective strategy is presented for the preparation of N and P dual-doped hierarchically porous carbon networks by one-pot carbonization of a rationally designed precursor that was built using a metal–organic gel with a zinc ion metallic cluster and nitrogen/phosphorus chelate ligands. Due to the abundant exposed polar surface groups and the highly developed interconnected macro-/meso-/microporous structure, the optimal sample delivers a high specific capacitance of 373 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 and retains 270 F g−1 at 100 A g−1 with a capacitive retention of 72.3%. Furthermore, the symmetric supercapacitors assembled in aqueous and PVA/KOH solid electrolytes exhibit excellent energy outputs of 38.5 and 7.5 W h kg−1, respectively. For capacitive deionization, the sample displays a superior salt adsorption capacity of 7.7, 10.3 and 18.1 mg g−1 in NaCl solution with an initial concentration of 250 mg L−1 at applied voltages of 1, 1.2 and 1.4 V, respectively. Additionally, kinetics studies and density functional theory simulations reveal that N/P dual-doping not only reliably introduces pseudocapacitance, but also greatly enhances the chemisorption of Na and Cl, resulting in a remarkable electrochemical performance. This work provides a new insight into the relationship between polar surface/structural engineering and the capacitive performance of the designed materials.

This paper experimentally examines the effect of hole shape and coolant trajectory on film cooling effectiveness by using PSP measurement technique. Three different density ratios DR = 1, DR = 1.5, and DR = 2 were tested with five blowing ratios ranging from M = 0.5–1.5 with an increment of 0.25. Three different hole geometries (round to slot, round to annulus, and round to annulus2) were used with linear and projectile trajectories. Results obtained agreed with the general trend of shaped holes. In terms of hole shape, the slot-shaped hole resulted in better performance as compared to annulus shaped holes. Particularly, the slot-shaped hole with projectile trajectory results in 30–35% increase in effectiveness as compared to its linear trajectory slot-shaped counterpart. This design is found to have lowest discharge coefficient, but it works best at DR = 2. A correlation was also developed for single row different exit shaped holes helping the designers to calculate the spanwise effectiveness at different conditions.

Macaroon-like FeCo2O4 nanomaterial was prepared and used as electrocatalyst in direct glucose alkaline fuel cell (DGAFC), which exhibited high catalytic activity towards glucose oxidation reaction. Maximum power density of 35.91 W m−2 was achieved in the DGAFC equipped with a FeCo2O4 modified activated carbon (AC) anode, which was almost 151% higher than the control. Physical and electrochemical characterizations were performed to provide further understanding of the origin of its high activity. Our results show that the introduction of FeCo2O4 into the AC anode remarkably increase the exchange current density and reduce the charge transfer resistance. It is supposed that there is a synergistic effect between Fe (III) and Co (III), which accelerates electron transfer from glucose to external circuits. This study will promote the development of cost effective and environmentally benign catalysts for electrochemical energy applications.

This work is an experimental study of film cooling effectiveness on a blade tip in a stationary, linear cascade. The cascade is mounted in a blowdown facility with controlled inlet and exit Mach numbers of 0.29 and 0.75, respectively. The free stream turbulence intensity is measured to be 13.5 % upstream of the blade’s leading edge. A flat tip design is studied, having a tip gap of 1.6%. The blade tip is designed to have 15 shaped film cooling holes along the near-tip pressure side (PS) surface. Fifteen vertical film cooling holes are placed on the tip near the pressure side. The cooling holes are divided into a 2-zone plenum to locally maintain the desired blowing ratios based on the external pressure field. Two coolant injection scenarios are considered by injecting coolant through the tip holes only and both tip and PS surface holes together. The blowing ratio (M) and density ratio (DR) effects are studied by testing at blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 and three density ratios of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. Three different foreign gases are used to create density ratio effect. Over-tip flow leakage is also studied by measuring the static pressure distributions on the blade tip using the pressure sensitive paint (PSP) measurement technique. In addition, detailed film cooling effectiveness is acquired to quantify the parametric effect of blowing ratio and density ratio on a plane tip design. Increasing the blowing ratio and density ratio resulted in increased film cooling effectiveness at all injection scenarios. Injecting coolant on the PS and the tip surface also resulted in reduced leakage over the tip. The conclusions from this study will provide the gas turbine designer with additional insight on controlling different parameters and strategically placing the holes during the design process.