Sharif Digital Repository

The central nervous system (CNS) dynamically employs a sophisticated weighting strategy of sensory input, including vision, vestibular and proprioception signals, towards attaining optimal postural control during different conditions. Non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) patients frequently demonstrate postural control deficiencies which are generally attributed to challenges in proprioceptive reweighting, where they often rely on an ankle strategy regardless of postural conditions. Such impairment could lead to potential loss of balance, increased risk of falling, and Low back pain recurrence. In this study, linear and non-linear indicators were extracted from center-of-pressure (COP) and... 

In this study, plasmonic properties of transition metal atoms (Sc-Zn, Pd, Pt) adsorbed on various sites of graphene sheets were investigated before and after CO adsorption by density functional theory (DFT). To this aim, Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) of these systems were obtained by periodic DFT. The results indicated that the highest in-plane plasmon peaks undergo blue shifts after CO adsorption, in such a way that Co–graphene system demonstrates the highest blue shift of 2.42 eV from Visible to UV region. Also, out-of-plane plasmons do not exhibit significant sensitivity to CO adsorption. For deeper understanding of electronic structure of metal-graphene systems, appropriate... 

Nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) constitutes a critical health challenge that impacts millions of people worldwide with devastating health and socioeconomic consequences. In today’s clinical settings, practitioners continue to follow conventional guidelines to categorize NSLBP patients based on subjective approaches, such as the STarT Back Screening Tool (SBST). This study aimed to develop a sensor-based machine learning model to classify NSLBP patients into different subgroups according to quantitative kinematic data, i.e., trunk motion and balance-related measures, in conjunction with STarT output. Specifically, inertial measurement units (IMU) were attached to the trunks of ninety-four... 

The successful clinical application of patient-specific personalized medicine for the management of low back patients remains elusive. This study aimed to classify chronic nonspecific low back pain (NSLBP) patients using our previously developed and validated wearable inertial sensor (SHARIF-HMIS) for the assessment of trunk kinematic parameters. One hundred NSLBP patients consented to perform repetitive flexural movements in five different planes of motion (PLM): 0◦ in the sagittal plane, as well as 15◦ and 30◦ lateral rotation to the right and left, respectively. They were divided into three subgroups based on the STarT Back Screening Tool. The sensor was placed on the trunk of each... 

Infill walls are realized to affect the nonlinear response of infilled frames. Yet, due to modeling and analysis complexities, infill walls are usually neglected in the modeling and analysis phase. In this paper, the nonlinear behavior of infilled steel braced frames is investigated using the Endurance Time (ET) method. The ET method is a novel and straightforward approach for the nonlinear analysis of structures under dynamic excitations. Two 2D braced frames, one concentrically braced frame and one eccentrically braced frame, with unreinforced masonry clay brick walls as infills, are considered. The infill panels are macro-modeled using equivalent compressive struts, with appropriate... 

Central nervous system (CNS) uses vision, vestibular, and somatosensory information to maintain body stability. Research has shown that there is more lumbar proprioception error among low back pain (LBP) individuals as compared to healthy people. In this study, two groups of 20 healthy people and 20 non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) participants took part in this investigation. This investigation focused on somatosensory sensors and in order to alter proprioception, a vibrator (frequency of 70 Hz, amplitude of 0.5 mm) was placed on the soleus muscle area of each leg and two vibrators were placed bilaterally across the lower back muscles. Individuals, whose vision was occluded, were placed... 

This paper presents a novel Gait Pattern Generator ((IPC) developed for the "Alice" social humanoid robot, which up to now lacked an appropriate walking pattern. Due to t he limitations of this robot, the proposed gate pattern generator was formulated based on a nine-mass model to decrease the modeling errors and t he inverse kinematics of the whole lower-body was solved in such a way that the robot remained statically stable during t he movements. The main challenge of this work was to solve t he inverse kinematics of a 7-link chain with 12 degrees of freedom. For this purpose, a new graphical-numerical technique has been provided using the definition of the kinematic equations of the robot... 

This paper presents a novel Gait Pattern Generator ((IPC) developed for the "Alice" social humanoid robot, which up to now lacked an appropriate walking pattern. Due to t he limitations of this robot, the proposed gate pattern generator was formulated based on a nine-mass model to decrease the modeling errors and t he inverse kinematics of the whole lower-body was solved in such a way that the robot remained statically stable during t he movements. The main challenge of this work was to solve t he inverse kinematics of a 7-link chain with 12 degrees of freedom. For this purpose, a new graphical-numerical technique has been provided using the definition of the kinematic equations of the robot... 

In the present work, nanostructured aluminum titanate (Al2TiO5 or AT) was synthesized by the sol-gel method and potential effects of mechanical strain on its phase analysis, morphology, and thermal stability were investigated in some details for the first time, because the thermal instability of AT is beneficial to the fabrication of in-situ aluminum matrix composites. To characterize the particle distribution, microstructure and thermal durability of AT after the strain induction, field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) were utilized. The experimental results showed that a 3-h ball milling process... 

Numerical analysis has been conducted to simulate and capture Buzz phenomenon in a supersonic mixed compression air intake. Buzz is an unsteady self-sustained phenomenon occurred in supersonic intakes, especially when operating its subcritical condition, during which the system of compression and shock waves oscillate and move upstream and downstream along the intake. An axisymmetric and unsteady numerical simulation was used to solve Navier-Stokes equations in combination with URANS SST k-ω turbulence model The simulations were performed at M=2.0 and at a specific subcritical point of the intake operation where buzz was detected experimentally. Results are compared with experimental... 

The free vibration analysis of generally laminated composite beam (LCB) with a delamination is presented using the finite element method (FEM). The effect of material couplings (bending-tension, bending-twist, and tension-twist couplings) with the effects of shear deformation, rotary inertia, and Poisson's effect are taken into account. To verify the validity and the accuracy of this study, the numerical solutions are presented and compared with the results from available references and very good agreement observed. Furthermore, the effects of some parameters such as slenderness ratio, the rotary inertia, the shear deformation, material anisotropy, ply configuration, and delamination... 

In this study, the dynamic response of the laminated composite beam with arbitrary lay-ups has been investigated within the framework of the third-order shear deformation theory using the finite element method. A new three-nodded finite element compliant with the theory is introduced next. To deal with the dynamic contact between the delaminated segments, unilateral contact constraints are employed in conjunction with Lagrange multiplier method. Furthermore, the Poisson's effect is incorporated in the formulation of the beam constitutive equation. Also, the higher-order inertia effects and material couplings (flexure-tensile, flexure-twist and tensile-twist couplings) are considered in the... 

The geometry structures of hexa-coordinated [NiLX]X complexes (X = Cl -, Br-, I-) {L = 8,9,18,19-tetrahydro-7H,17H- dibenzo[f,o] [1,5,9,13]dioxadiaza cyclohexadecine-8,18-diol} are optimized by density functional theory (DFT) using B3LYP/LANL2DZ. The calculated geometric parameters are in good agreement with the corresponding experimental values. Calculation results about these complexes show that dipole moment decreases, and the energy levels of HOMOs descend from iodo-complex to chloro-complex. The energy levels of HOMOs descend gently from iodo-complex to chloro-complex, while the energy levels of LUMOs in the present complexes are almost similar; therefore the energy gapes between HOMOs... 

A rather new semi-analytical method towards investigating the free vibration analysis of generally laminated composite beam (LCB) with a delamination is presented. For the first time the combined effects of material couplings (bending-tension, bending-twist, and tension-twist couplings) with the effects of shear deformation, rotary inertia and Poisson's effect are taken into account. The semi-analytical solution for the natural frequencies and mode shapes are presented by incorporating the constraint conditions using the method of Lagrange multipliers. To verify the validity and the accuracy of the obtained results, they were compared with the results from other available references. Very... 

In this paper, the free vibration analysis of generally laminated composite beam (LCB) based on Timoshenko beam theory are presented using the method of Lagrange multipliers where in the free vibration problem is posed as a constrained variational problem. The effect of material couplings (bending-tension, bending-twist, and tension-twist couplings) with the effects of shear deformation, rotary inertia and Poisson's effect are taken into account. Analytical expression for the natural frequencies and mode shapes are presented. The calculated natural frequencies are verified against some available results in the literature and very good agreement is observed. Furthermore, the effects of some... 

This paper deals with the dynamic analysis of a delaminated Bernoulli-Euler beam with constrained model under the action of an external moving force. The beam is analyzed as four interconnected sub-beams using the delamination as their boundaries. The continuity and compatibility conditions are satisfied between adjoining beams. An analytical solution is presented in a basis of the series expansion of the unknown deflection. The delaminated beam response differences with the healthy beam have been investigated. Effect of the parameters like the moving speed of the force and the size, depth and spanwise location of the delamination on the dynamic response of the beam has been studied.... 

The objective of this study is to present a brief survey on the geometrically nonlinear free vibrations of the Bernoulli-Euler, the Rayleigh, shear, and the Timoshenko beams with simple end conditions using the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM). Expressions for the natural frequencies, the transverse deflection, postbuckling load-deflection relation to, and critical buckling load are presented. The results of nonlinear analysis are validated with the published results, and excellent agreement is observed. The effects of some parameters, such as slender ratio, the rotary inertia, and the shear deformation, are examined as other parameters are fixed. Copyright  

The aim of this paper is to present analytical and exact expressions for the frequency and buckling of large amplitude vibration of the symmetrical laminated composite beam (LCB) with simple and clamped end conditions. The equations of motion are derived by using Hamilton's principle. The influences of axial force, Poisson effect, shear deformation, and rotary inertia are taken into account in the formulation. First, the geometric nonlinearity based on the von Karman's assumptions is incorporated in the formulation while retaining the linear behavior for the material. Then, the displacement fields used for the analysis are coupled using the equilibrium equations of the composite beam.... 

Single-phase ac-dc Power Factor Correction (PFC) rectifiers have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to the adoption of increasingly stringent power quality regulations. In this paper a nonlinear model predictive controller design for a single-phase Flyback PFC rectifier is presented. After approximation of the tracking error in the receding horizon by its Taylor-series expansion to a specified order, an analytic solution to the model predictive control (MPC) is developed and a closed-loop nonlinear predictive controller is introduced. The main advantage of this digital control method is that unity power factor can be achieved over wide input voltage, load current range and... 

Quality and continuity of electrical power to sensitive loads especially in power plants and industrial sectors is of great importance. For this reason, bus transfer is used. During the bus transfer interval, sensitive loads especially motors will be interrupted, and may encounter difficulties. So, it is used reactive power compensator and custom power devices to mitigate stress in motors and improve power quality indices. This paper presents the effect of reactive power compensator and custom power devices paralleling with motor in process of bus transfer which is done in two methods: EMTS and STS. Also, it is investigated dynamic performance of induction motor and spin-down curves in...