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In this study, the non-linear bending analysis of isotropic and orthotropic rectangular plates is performed by Dynamic Relaxation (DR) method. In order to model the plate, the four-variable refined plate theory, which is a new and simple higher-order shear deformation theory and has a good capability in analysis of thick plates, is adopted. Despite the first-order shear deformation plate theory; this theory does not need the shear correction factor, predicts shear strains and stress parabolically across the plate thickness and satisfies the zero stress conditions on free surfaces. The governing equations are obtained using virtual work principle and the Von-Karman nonlinear terms are considered in strain-displacement equations. The non-linear coupled governing equations are solved by DR method combined with finite difference technique, and for this purpose a computer code is provided in MATLAB software. In order to demonstrate the accuracy of present method, the numerical results are compared with the existing ones and very good agreement is observed. Also the effects of side-to-thickness ratio and boundary conditions on the results are examined. Finally, the variations of shear effects by changing the plate thickness and also changing the orthotropy ratio in orthotropic plates are investigated.

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A finite element formulation for bending analysis of isotropic and orthotropic plates based on two-variable refined plate theory is developed in this paper. The two-variable refined plate theory which can be used for both thin and thick plates predicts parabolic variation of transverse shear stresses across the plate thickness and therefore, it does not need shear correction factor in the formulation and the zero stress conditions are satisfied on free surfaces. The von-Karman nonlinear terms are considered in strain-displacement equations and governing equations are derived using the Hamilton's principle. After constructing weak form equations, a new 4-node rectangular plate element with six degrees of freedom at each node is used for discretization of the domain. The non-linear coupled governing equations are solved by Newton–Raphson method. The finite element code is written in MATLAB which can be used for analysis of thin and thick, isotropic and orthotropic plates with various boundary conditions. Some benchmark problems are solved by the developed code and the obtained displacements and stresses are compared with the existing results in the literature which show the accuracy and efficiency of presented finite element formulation.

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In this research, a combined photovoltaic / thermal solar dryer containing phase change materials (PCM) was designed and fabricated for drying mint leaves. The performance of this dryer was evaluated under the climatic conditions of Mashhad city with a longitude of 59.62 and a latitude of 36.26. The components of this dryer mainly include: photovoltaic panel, solar collector, blowers, phase change material chamber containing paraffin wax and drying chamber. Solar dryer and natural drying in shade as two different drying types were used to perform experiments on mint leaves. The initial moisture content of the mint leaves was 80% which reduced to 12%. The required drying time for the combined solar drying and natural drying was 290 minutes and 1560 minutes, respectively. Eight thin layer drying models available in the literature were fitted to the experimental data in which the Two-term model and the Wang and Singh model were the best fit models for natural and combined solar drying respectively. These models have the highest correlation (highest coefficient of determination and least root mean square error and Chi-square) with the experimental moisture ratio among the other models.

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Under Paragraph 9 of the “Declaration of the Government of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria” (or the General Declaration) the US undertook to transfer Iranian properties to Iran. The Iran-United States Tribunal interpreted this paragraph of the Declaration in Partial verdicts Nos. 529, 601, 604, and 382. Generally speaking, the Tribunal interpreted the term “Iranian property” in Partial verdicts Nos. 529, 601, and 604 as tangible properties solely owned by Iran. To determine the ownership criterion, the Court considered the United States Uniform Commercial Code as the standard of practice, according to which the transfer of ownership as a general rule is subject to the delivery of the subject matter of the transaction to the buyer or customer. With this interpretation, the Court stated in Partial verdict No. 604 in many cases that due to the failure to transfer ownership of the disputed properties to Iran, the United States' obligation to transfer them to Iran was not enforceable. Given the thematic similarity of Case B-61 with Case A-15 (Two: A), the second stage of which requires the issuance of an verdict, assuming the applicability of the findings of partial verdict No. 604 in making a decision in Case B-61, the answer to this question becomes important: what arrangement can be considered to prevent this?