Sharif Digital Repository

This article presents an investigation on the durability of different glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites when subjected to harsh outdoor conditions, including freeze/thaw cycles, ultraviolet radiation and moisture, as well as when used with seawater sea-sand concrete for construction applications. To achieve this, the effects of a number of parameters, including the environment of exposure, exposure time, profile cross-sectional configuration and orientation of fibres, on the mechanical properties of different glass-fibre-reinforced polymer composites were studied. To investigate the degradation of the mechanical properties, three-point bending, compression and tension tests were... 

Signal machines form an abstract and idealized model of collision computing. Based on dimensionless signals moving on the real line, they model particle/signal dynamics in Cellular Automata. Each particle, or signal, moves at constant speed in continuous time and space. When signals meet, they get replaced by other signals. A signal machine defines the types of available signals, their speeds, and the rules for replacement in collision. A signal machine A simulates another one B if all the space-time diagrams of B can be generated from space-time diagrams of A by removing some signals and renaming other signals according to local information. Given any finite set of speeds S we construct a... 

Direct reduction of iron process in steel industry has special production conditions. Low quality cooling water, low cold and high hot cooling water temperature, space limitation for new equipment installation, high value-added of product and severe effect of cooling water temperature on production rate are of these conditions. Considering technical and economic constraints and limitations, this situation makes this process an attractive case study for converting the existing wet cooling tower to hybrid cooling system. In this paper, based on integration of process, dry and wet cooling system and ambient conditions profiles, a new method for designing hybrid cooling system has been proposed.... 

This study aims at the simultaneous determination of relative permeability and capillary pressure from steady-state corefloods. Besides using the measurements of pressure-drop across the core and average saturation under steady-state conditions, we use the transient data between the sequential steady states. The inverse algorithm is based on four type curves “stabilizsation period versus water-cut” revealed by asymptotic analysis of the transient solution near end-point saturations, and on the exponential shape of transition data histories observed by direct numerical runs. The transition measurements are approximated in the stabilisation periods by the type curves using non-linear... 

For traditional calculations of relative phase permeability (Kr) from coreflood Steady-State Test (SST), the capillary pressure (Pc) is required. Usually, Pc is determined from a separate test, using a centrifuge or porous-plate methods. However, during SSTs, water cut and pressure drop are measured during the transition period between two sequential fractional-flow steps. We developed a novel method for simultaneous determination of Kr and Pc from SST by using both steady-state and transient data. In the proposed method, the transition data on the pressure drop across the core are used instead of the traditionally utilised Pc-curve. The main idea is that the stabilisation period during each... 

Background: Bone and Site Hold Tendon Inside (BASHTI) technique is an organic implant-less technique for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with some clinical advantages, such as speeding up the healing process, over implantable techniques. The study aims to compare the mechanical properties of BASHTI technique with the conventional interference screw technique. Methods: To investigate the mechanical properties, 20 in-vitro experimental tests were conducted. Synthetic dummy bone, along with fresh digital bovine tendons, as a graft, were used for experiments. Three loading steps were applied to all specimens, including a preconditioning, a main cyclic, and a pull-out loading.... 

In this research, carbon nanotube decorated with Cu nanoparticles (CNT/Cu) was synthesized by a new solvothermal process. Solvothermal treatment of CuSO4 and NaOH was completed in ethanol containing ultrasonically dispersed CNTs at 160 °C for 3 h. In the solvothermal process, Cu nanoparticles were heterogeneously deposited on the surface of COOH-functionalized CNTs through the reduction of the Cu+2 ions. Cu nanoparticles with the size of ≈8 nm on CNTs (and some in the solution) and strong bonding between Cu and CNT were obtained by the used process. Microstructural characterization revealed that the solvothermal method is an appropriate method for producing homogenous CNT/Cu nanostructure.... 

In this study, ternary MWCNTs/CoFe2O4/FeCo nanocomposite coated with conductive PEDOT-polyaniline (PA@MW/F/C) co-polymers were synthesized by microwave-assisted sol-gel followed in-situ polymerization methods. The phases, crystal structures, morphologies, magnetic and electromagnetic features of the as-prepared samples were identified via XRD, SEM, XPS, VSM, and VNA respectively. Absorption characteristics were investigated in the frequency (12–18 GHz) Ku band. XRD, VSM and SEM analysis confirmed the partial reduction process of CoFe2O4 and successfully decorated magneto-dielectric particles with co-polymers. By measuring electromagnetic features of the samples, it was found that coating... 

Creating laser texture on dental implants is a novel method for accelerating osseointegration and prolongation of lifespan. The purpose of this research was twofold: (1) Creating intersecting lines pattern with different angles (0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°) on the surface of Ti6Al4V, using pulse Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 1064 nm and a pulse length of 170 ns and (2) comparing optical and SEM images, EDS analyses, contact angles (CAs), and surface free energies (FEs) for different intersecting lines angles. CA and FE depended on the intersecting lines angle according to Y = Y 0 + A sin (x B + C), where Y is the CA or FE; x is the intersecting lines angle; and Y0, A, B, and C... 

Background: Melittin, a peptide component of honey bee venom, is an appealing candidate for cancer therapy. In the current study, melittin, melittin-loaded niosome, and empty niosome had been optimized and the anticancer effect assessed in vitro on 4T1 and SKBR3 breast cell lines and in vivo on BALB/C inbred mice. "Thin-layer hydration method" was used for preparing the niosomes; different niosomal formulations of melittin were prepared and characterized in terms of morphology, size, polydispersity index, encapsulation efficiency, release kinetics, and stability. A niosome was formulated and loaded with melittin as a promising drug carrier system for chemotherapy of the breast cancer cells.... 

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) encompass a wide range of compounds containing carbon–fluorine bonds. Due the strength of this bond and the high electronegativity of fluorine atoms, PFAS display stability, wettability and other characteristics that are unique for industrial applications and products. However, PFAS induce adverse effects on the environment and human health. Here we review the chemistry, synthesis, properties, analysis, occurrence in water, filtration, removal and oxydation of PFAS. We highlight emerging hybrid treatments to remove PFAS from water. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG  

Scandium is a rare earth element that is not very abundant on Earth, however in recent years due to the employment of scandium in various high-tech fields the interest in the analytical chemistry of this metal is growing. Currently, the methods for scandium quantification are mainly based on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission and mass-spectrometry and to the best of our knowledge no potentiometric sensors for scandium detection were reported so far. This study is devoted to the development of simple and cost-effective ion-selective sensors for quantification of Sc3+ in aqueous media. Employing the variety of lipophilic ligands suggested in liquid extraction for separation of... 

In this article, a novel cooperative secondary voltage/frequency control considering time-varying delays and noises in fading channels is presented for an autonomous alternating current (AC) voltage sourced-based converter (VSC)-based microgrid (MG), including inverter-interfaced distributed generations (DGs). Fading phenomenon makes complex random fluctuations on the voltage and frequency of every DG received from its neighbor DGs. In multi-agent cooperative systems, in addition to the total additive noise and time-variant delay, a multiplicative complex random variable is considered to model the main received signal and its replicas due to multipath propagation. The proposed... 

Novel PVA/PEG cross-linked membranes were prepared with (0–20 wt. %) of silica nanoparticles. The presence of both the polymers and additive was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The thermal properties of the membranes were analyzed by TGA and DSC analysis. The morphological and mechanical properties of the membranes were studied by SEM analysis and tensile testing, respectively. The gas permeation performances of the membranes were examined using state-of-the-art gas permeability cell. It was found that permeability of all the gases increased with the increase of silica loading, whereas ideal selectivity of carbon dioxide with respect to nitrogen and methane increased up to 10 wt. % loading and... 

Observability and estimation are closely tied to the system structure, which can be visualized as a system graph-a graph that captures the inter-dependencies within the state variables. For example, in social system graphs such inter-dependencies represent the social interactions of different individuals. It was recently shown that contractions, a key concept from graph theory, in the system graph are critical to system observability, as (at least) one state measurement in every contraction is necessary for observability. Thus, the size and number of contractions are critical in recovering for loss of observability. In this paper, the correlation between the average-size/number of... 

In this study, dynamic modeling of an elbow axially functionally graded (AFG) macro/micro-tube carrying magnetic flow with different cross-sections is considered. Parametric optimization is performed for vibration suppression of such fluid-interaction systems. Implementing computer simulations, passive vibration control procedures, along with the effect of AFG materials and magnetic properties of the fluid as well as precisely manufactured geometry of the system, is investigated. It is assumed that the material characteristics of the system vary in the longitudinal direction based on exponential and power-law distribution profiles. Influence of the downstream inclination angle and... 

The goal of this research is to formulate an inventory control problem of a single item with variable demand dependent on displayed stock level and selling price of the commodity. The item deteriorates based on a three-parameter Weibull distribution and advance payment is needed to purchase the item with the all-unit discount policy. Shortages are allowed partially and backlogged with the rate dependent on the length of customers' waiting time. The corresponding problem is formulated as a profit maximisation model. For solving this problem, four different variants of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) are utilised. Then, the application of the model is illustrated with the help of a numerical... 

Perovskite solar cells suffer from various instabilities on all time scales. Some of them are driven by light, in particular when employing compounds with mixed halides. Such light soaking effects have been observed to result in performance changes of solar-cell devices. They have also been spectroscopically investigated in detail on films, where the formation of a low-gap iodine-rich phase, seen as a red shift of the PL, has been found to be responsible for a reduced open-circuit voltage. However, studies synchronously examining device performance and its relation to spectroscopy data are scarce. Here, we perform an in operando study, where we investigate the changes of open-circuit voltage... 

Stability of Cassie-Baxter (CB) state is very critical in application of superhydrophobic surfaces. The most industrial applications of superhydrophobic surfaces are limited by the transition from the CB state to Wenzel (W) state. In this research, CB state stability of branched hierarchical ZnO nanowires (BH-ZnO NWs) was investigated as compared with ZnO nanowires (ZnO NWs) by using theoretical and experimental approaches. For this purpose, surface of the BH-ZnO NWs and ZnO NWs were modified by thin layers of methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS). The MTMS thickness was optimized by varying NH4F (0, 5, 10, 20 μL) as used catalyst. The highest water contact angle (WCA) was measured at about 153 ± 3°... 

The potential of end-users to modify their consumption pattern makes them an interesting resource for providing energy flexibility in energy communities. Thus, active end-users require sufficient incentives and automated trading and management schemes. In order to enable increased small-scale end-users participation for flexibility service provision, a new design for flexibility trading is required to model the behavior of different agents and their interactions in energy communities. The novelty of our work lies in proposing an iterative game-based approach in which all agents - consisting of the distribution system operator (DSO), aggregators, and customers- can determine their decision...