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Indopalpares pardus (Rambur, 1842), Palpares contrarius (Walker, 1853), and Stenares harpyia (Gerstaecker, 1863) are the species of the tribe Palparini which are recorded for the first time from the Kerala part of Western Ghats. All three taxa are redescribed and the genitalia features of P. contrarius, and S. harpyia are illustrated for the first time based on the freshly collected specimens. Lectotype and paralectotype specimens of S. harpyia are designated. The key to the genera of the tribe Palparini from India and the distribution of three species in India are also mapped. Moreover, their flight period in India is plotted.

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This study reports nine species of Nomiinae bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) for the first time from Kerala, India: Austronomia capitata (Smith, 1875), A. goniognatha (Cockerell, 1919), A. ustula (Cockerell, 1911), Gnathonomia argenteobalteata (Cameron, 1902), Hoplonomia incerta (Gribodo, 1894), Lipotriches torrida (Smith, 1879), L. exagens (Walker, 1860), Lipotriches minutula (Friese, 1909), and L. pulchriventris (Cameron, 1897). Lipotriches torrida, a rarely collected species, is documented outside its type locality for the first time. Another uncommon species, G. argenteobalteata, last recorded in 1902 from an unspecified location in India, has been rediscovered in the present study. A comprehensive checklist of 42 Nomiinae species from Kerala is provided, incorporating new distributional records and floral associations based on original records and literature review. Brief diagnoses for all collected species are also presented.

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The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to determine the extent to which the role of leadership style preferences correlate with employee satisfaction with supervision among employees and leaders of an Iranian oil company. This study measured preferences for each of five common leadership styles and examined correlations with measures of employee satisfaction. The styles studied were transactional leadership, transformational leadership, autocratic leadership, charismatic leadership, and situational leadership. Results indicated that each of the five leadership styles has a positive correlation with employee satisfaction, suggesting that the situational leadership style may be the most appropriate style for leaders in an Iranian oil company.

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The share of DC-based Renewable Energy Resources (RERs) and electricity storage systems are increasing due to developments of smart grid technologies. Moreover, the share of DC-based load has rapid growth due to significant developments of power electronic technologies. Therefore, a more flexible power system is required for efficient integration of emerging loads and generators. In this paper, hybrid AC-DC Local Network (LN) is incorporated as an appropriate topology versus conventional AC LN to reinforce the integration of RERs and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs). A mixed integer linear model is developed for operation of both hybrid AC-DC LN and conventional AC LN topologies considering high penetration of RERs and PHEVs. This operation model is solved by GAMS optimization software to minimize the operation cost and find the optimum inter-resource scheduling in the day-ahead market. Moreover, investment analysis and reliability assessment are carried out for the mentioned LNs. Numerical study is conducted to evaluate the ability of both topologies for better utilizing the opportunities of integration

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In the present study the validity of two conventional Nusselt number definitions were investigated using analytical and numerical methods for convection heat transfer in a pipe partially filled with porous media. The first definition is denoted as Nu_1 (x)=(2R(∂T/∂r)_(r=R))⁄((T_w-T_m (x)) ) and the second one follows: Nu_2 (x)=(2Rq_cond^'')⁄(k_ref (T_w-T_m (x)) ). The Nusselt number resulted from these two definitions was investigated analytically in a pipe for different porous configurations. The results show that the calculated Nusselt numbers using these two definitions, are different in porous media boundary arrangement. In the first definition, the heat transferred to the fluid flowing thorough the porous media is not considered, so the Nusselt number which is calculated via this definition cannot demonstrate the physics of heat transfer phenomenon properly. The boundary arrangement of porous in a pipe with turbulent flow is simulated numerically and the Nusselt number was calculated by the two definitions. The calculated Nusselt from the first definition shows that the Nusselt number increases as the heat conduction coefficient of porous grows which is not a proper expression of physics of this problem. So, the first definition of the Nusselt number is not proper for porous boundary arrangement in a pipe. However, with investigating of the second definition, it is seen that with increasing the porous heat conduction coefficient, the Nusselt number increases which this result is physically valid; therefore the second definition is more appropriate for the porous media boundary arrangement.

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In present study, heat transfer in double-tube heat exchanger filled with metal porous material has been investigated. In contrast to the most of previous studies, fluid flow is considered turbulent in heat exchanger which is in a good agreement with the practical performance of these exchangers in the industry. Fluid flow and heat transfer equations have been discretized on a collocated grid by the means of finite volume method with simple algorithm. Discretized equations are solved with a numerical program in FORTRAN language in order to study the effect of porous material parameters and Reynolds of fluid flow on the heat transfer in double-tube heat exchanger. According to the results and analysis of porosity in the range of 0.8 to 0.95 as well as pore diameter of 1 mm up to 6 mm and diverse types of porous material, it is observed that the decrease in porosity, the increase in pore diameter and use of copper porous material (with high heat conduction coefficient), increase heat transfer. In the best case, overall heat transfer coefficient enhances up to 7 times. Moreover, the results reveal that the heat transfer enhancement ratio have no distinct difference with changing Reynolds number of turbulent flow in the range of 10000 to 80000. Performance evaluation criteria, which investigate the effects of pump lost power and thermal power, depicts that with using porous material the value of the pump lost power is of major importance which can be decrease by increasing the porous pore diameter.

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In the present study, effect of nanofluid aluminum oxide-water on heat transfer in a pipe partially filled with porous material in a turbulent flow is investigated numerically. In this regard, the heat pipe is studied in four structures: without porous material, filled with porous material, boundary and central arrangement of porous material. The results of numerical solution show that use of nano particles with changing thermo physical base fluid's properties, enhances heat transfer in all of the above structures. However, with using of nanofluid, heat conduction enhancement ratio in porous medium is lower than clear medium (without porous material). As a result, heat transfer enhancement in boundary arrangement is less and in central arrangement is more.

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An artificial neural network (ANN) approach was used to model the wheat production. From an extensive data collection involving 40 farms in Canterbury, New Zealand, the average wheat production was estimated at 9.9 t ha^-1. The final ANN model developed was capable of predicting wheat production under different conditions and farming systems using direct and indirect technical factors. After examining more than 140 different factors, 6 factors were selected as influential input into the model. The final ANN model can predict wheat production based on farm conditions (wheat area and irrigation frequency), machinery condition (tractor hp ha^-1 and number of passes of sprayer) and farm inputs (N and fungicides consumption) in Canterbury with an error margin of ±9% (±0.89 t ha^-1).

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