It is essential to maintain the aerodynamic performance of the air-conditioning system meanwhile reducing the noises (including aerodynamic, broadband, and discrete noises), determining the consumer's comfort level. In this work, depending on the coupling of the wavy leading-edge and the seagull airfoil, the aeroacoustics noise and aerodynamic performance of the impellers with the coupling bionic blade were investigated in detail. The results indicate the aerodynamic performance was improved by the coupling bionic optimization. Moreover, the total pressure efficiency (η) of the coupling bionic blade increases by 2. 28% in comparison to the original blade. Furthermore, A smaller static differential pressure is observed between the suction and pressure sides, and vortices and backflows from the pressure side to the suction side are hampered, causing a reduction in turbulence noise. Additionally, the broadband noise of the coupling bionic blade decreases by 3. 59 dB. Besides, the coupling bionic blade improves the directivity of the sound pressure level, especially in the middle-frequency and low-frequency region, resulting in a decrease of 7. 9 dB for the aeroacoustics noise of the coupling bionic blade. What's more, the modal analysis demonstrates the security of the designed coupling bionic blade. In generally, this work provides some inspiration to design axial flow fans with excellent aerodynamic performance and low-noise characteristics.

nature has developed materials, objects and processes that function from the macro scale to the nano scale. The understanding of the functions provided by objects and processes found in nature can guide us to imitate and produce appropriate architectural forms. Biomimicry is a science that derives inspiration for solutions to human problems through the study of natural designs, systems and processes. In consideration of the global trend of environmental protection, the disciplinary focal point also tends to work on the issue of sustainable development. However, though the researches of sustainable design and green design have been increased, the subjects of these researches yet were mostly undertaken from the aspects of material, structure and form; and the application of ‘bionics’ to architecture or design seems to be treated as a new, contemporary idea. The attraction of Biomimetics for architects is that it raises the prospect of closer integration of form, material, construction, process and function with regard to a holistic building design. It promises to yield new means by which buildings respond to, and interact with, their users means more subtle and more satisfying than present mechanical systems. The appeal of biomimetics is not only from a method for acquiring abstract design ideas from nature but also from the manner in which nature utilizes those ideas. Nature has adapted the plans from which it derives organisms to be based on a relatively simple set of instructions. Common to both natural and man made environments is the issue of cost. There is always an issue of how much an object, structure, or organism will cost to design, manufacture, construct, maintain and ultimately recycle. In an architectural sense this can be reduced to a monetary cost where often times the lowest tender wins. In the natural world the cost is energy, where competition for available resources favors the organism that can survive and grow with the least amount of required materials and energy expenditure. This project selects nature as model in the design of the auditorium acoustics. Bivalves are often the most common seashells that wash up on large sandy beaches or in sheltered lagoons. The goal of this paper was to design a biomimetic multipurpose auditorium inspired by seashells that would have appropriate acoustics for a variety of purposes, specifically conferences, lectures, movies and orchestra. The objective of this research is to investigate the relationship between room shapes and speech intelligibility in auditorium acoustics. Three different auditoriums shapes; seashell, fan and rectangular with the same RT and volume were modeled in Rhino and the models were then exported to EASE acoustic analysis software. The comparison of STI values estimated from EASE indicated that the seashell shaped room had the highest mean STI values. The comparison of C50 and center time (ts) values show that the shell shaped auditorium has the best values. In addition, musical sound qualities were investigated using clarity index (C80) and Ts acoustical parameters. Appropriate values were found in all of the rooms.

Knowledge of humanities in the thinking and practice of engineering nowadays is necessary because of the ambiguities of modern technology in terms of its use in development and its consequences for the future of human beings. The intent of Bionic Architecture، as a master’ s program، should not be simply considered positive، ignoring the associated ethical and humane criticisms. This study is conducted on two levels، i. e.، philosophy of technology and ethics of technology. Regarding the philosophy of technology، biotechnologies are explained epistemologically and ontologically. Regarding the ethics of technology، social ethics and environmental ethics are discussed. Then، the syllabus of the course Philosophy of Art is compared with that of similar courses in other engineering curricula in Iran as well as in the United States. The main finding of this research is that although presently the course of Islamic Wisdom is included in the Bionic Architecture program، it is not sufficient. Training for critical thinking as well as for ethical values instead of the mere description of modern technology must be placed at the core of the curriculum to give depth to students’ thinking and bring about ethical and value development in architectural technology.

Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is one of the most successful techniques of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and is mostly in use for the treatment of infertility with male factors. In this method, before injecting sperm into the intracytoplasmic of the oocyte, cumulus cells around the oocyte must be stripped to facilitate the injection process. To achieve this, both enzymatic and mechanical methods are used in embryological laboratories for denudation, which has major deficiencies, including the possibility of damaging the oocyte prior to the injection process. In this research, a microfluidic-based device is introduced for the separation of cumulus cells around the oocyte with minimum manual operations. The results prove high efficiency, and non-destructive denudation of the oocyte with the reduced amount of culture medium leads to the low-cost preparation process of oocytes. The process can also be integrated with ICSI chips under development and will be reported shortly.

The mucous membrane on the fish surface has excellent drag reduction performance. The mucous membrane can be regarded as the viscoelastic fluid, and a bionic friction drag reduction model is proposed with the consideration of a Carreau viscoelastic model-based mucus secretion process. Then, the drag reduction effect of the mucous membrane on the classical wall turbulence boundary layer is investigated by large-eddy simulations. Results show that the bionic mucous membrane is conducive to reducing the turbulence, and can achieve a drag reduction rate of about 14%. This study provides a hydrodynamics understanding of the drag reduction characteristics of the bionic mucous membrane.