Sharif Digital Repository

The viscoelasticity effects on the reaction-diffusion rates in a Y-shaped microreactor are studied utilizing the PTT rheological model. The flow is assumed to be fully developed and considered to be created under a combined action of electroosmotic and pressure forces. In general, finite-volume-based numerical simulations are conducted to handle the problem; however, analytical solutions based on the depthwise averaging approach are also obtained for the case for which there is no reaction between the inlet components. The analytical solutions are found to predict accurate results when the width to height ratio is at least 10 and acceptable results for lower aspect ratios. An investigation... 

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest in dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) plasma actuators. The lack of a general model to accurately simulate the related phenomena is one of the primary limitations in studying such type of actuators. One of the most frequently used models of this type was proposed by Suzen and Huang (S-H). Despite the numerous efforts made to improve this model, including a recent work of the authors, some deficiencies still exist. In this study, new modifications have been introduced to improve the performance and accuracy of the S-H phenomenological model. Here, a relation between the electrical-potential and charge-density equations has been made in... 

Infinite series solutions are obtained for electrical potential, electroosmotic velocity, ionic conductance, and surface physicochemical properties of long pH-regulated rectangular nanochannels of low surface potential utilizing the double finite Fourier transform method. Closed form expressions are also obtained for channels of large height to width ratio for which the depthwise variations vanish. Neglecting the Stern layer impact, the effects of EDL (Electric Double Layer) overlap, multiple ionic species, and association/dissociation reactions on the surface are all taken into account. Moreover, finite-element-based numerical simulations are conducted to account for the end effects as well... 

Perovskite solar cells with an inverted p-i-n architecture were constructed under ambient conditions by employing materials of lower cost than standard cells. Thus, graphene oxide was used as a hole transporting material and Li-modified graphene oxide as an electron transporting material, while Al was used as a counter electrode. A maximum solar conversion efficiency of 10.2% was achieved by adding a Ti-based sol on the top of the Li-modified graphene oxide layer. © The Royal Society of Chemistry  

Bacterial transport parameters play a fundamental role in microbial population dynamics, biofilm formation and bacteria dispersion. In this study, the novel model was extended based on the capability of microsized microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as amperometric biosensors to predict the cells' chemotactic and bioelectrochemical properties. The model prediction results coincide with the experimental data of Shewanella oneidensis and chemotaxis mutant of P. aeruginosa bdlA and pilT strains, indicating the complementary role of numerical predictions for bioscreening applications of microsized MFCs. Considering the general mechanisms for electron transfer, substrate biodegradation, microbial growth... 

We study the hydrodynamic dispersion (HD) by electroosmotic flow in soft microchannels. Considering a fully developed flow in a slit microchannel of low surface potential and adopting the Taylor dispersion theory, we derive analytical solutions for the solute concentration field and the effective dispersion coefficient. We also conduct numerical analyses to broaden the paper's scope to high surface potentials and to specify a criterion for the validity of the Debye-Hückel linearization in soft microconduits as well as to investigate the broadening of an analyte band from the time of injection. It is demonstrated that the effective dispersion coefficient of a neutral solute band is generally... 

In recent years, applications of dielectrophoresis-based platforms have been recognized as effective and dependable approach to separate cells and bioparticles, suspended in different carrier fluids, based on particle size and electrical properties. In this study, a microfluidic device was fabricated by an unprecedented electrode pattern, and several experiments were performed to enrich samples including either of yeast, Escherichia coli, or latex particles. A chemical deposition-based method was employed for fabrication of microelectrodes, inducing nonuniform electric field required for dielectrophoresis-based separation. One major advantage of our employed method is low fabrication cost,... 

Herein, we demonstrate a facile low temperature approach to prepare a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE) based on the triiodide/iodide redox couple in a quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Only one polymeric agent (i.e., hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC)) is used for the preparation of a non-volatile GPE system for the standard liquid electrolyte containing 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium iodide (MPII). The prepared GPE completely penetrates into a TiO2 photoanode at room temperature due to the uniform distribution of Ti, Ru and I elements in the cross-section of the electrode, forming an interpenetrating GPE/TiO2 network to access all dye molecules. The GPE with the optimum HPC : MPII... 

In this work, the electrokinetic properties of asphaltene particles have been investigated. Micro-electrophoresis method by applying DC electric field, was utilized to different mixtures containing asphaltene to determine its electric charge. It was observed that in the case of using n-heptane and its mixture with toluene (heptol), the asphaltene particles were showed to be positively charged however for toluene itself, they expressed no tendency toward the electrodes. While it is expected that larger asphaltene aggregates carry higher electric charge, the results contradictorily showed that they are mainly governed by gravity rather than electro-static force and that “aggregation” reduces... 

This paper presents a reliability assessment algorithm for distribution systems using a Static Series Voltage Regulator (SSVR). Furthermore, this algorithm considers the effects of Distributed Generation (DG) units, alternative sources, system reconfiguration, load shedding and load adding on distribution system reliability indices. In this algorithm, load points are classified into 8 types and separated restoration times are considered for each class. Comparative studies are conducted to investigate the impacts of DG and alternative source unavailability on the distribution system reliability. For reliability assessment, the customer-oriented reliability indices such as SAIFI, SAIDI, CAIDI... 

An electro membrane extraction (EME) methodology was utilized to study the isolation of some environmentally important pollutants, such as chlorophenols, from aquatic media based upon the electrokinetic migration process. The analytes were transported by application of an electrical potential difference over a supported liquid membrane (SLM). A driving force of 10 V was applied to extract the analytes through 1-octanol, used as the SLM, into a strongly alkaline solution. The alkaline acceptor solution was subsequently analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection. The parameters influencing electromigration, including volumes and pH of the donor and... 

Scaling transistor size to the scale of the nanometer coupled with reduction of supply voltage has made SRAMs more vulnerable to soft errors than ever before. The vulnerability has been accentuated by increased variability in device parameters. In this paper, we present an analytical model for critical charge in order to assess the soft error vulnerability of 6T SRAM cell. The model takes into account the dynamic behavior of the cell and demonstrates a simple technique to decouple the nonlinearly coupled storage nodes. Decoupling of storage nodes enables solving associated current equations to determine the critical charge for an exponential noise current. The critical charge model thus... 

This paper investigates the dynamic pull-in behavior of microplates actuated by a suddenly applied electrostatic force. Electrostatic, elastic and fluid domains are involved in modeling. First-order shear deformation plate theory and classical plate theory are used to model the geometrically nonlinear microplates. The equations of motion are descritized by the finite element method. The effects of nonlinearity, fluid pressure, initial stress and different geometric parameters on dynamic behavior are examined. In addition, the influences of initial stress and actuation voltage on oscillatory behavior of microplates are evaluated. © 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved  

Based on classical plate theory (CLPT), free vibration analysis of a circular plate composed of functionally graded material (FGM) with its upper and lower surfaces bounded by two piezoelectric layers was performed. Assuming that the material properties vary in a power law manner within the thickness of the plate the governing differential equations are derived. The distribution of electric potential along the thickness direction in piezoelectric layers is considered to vary quadratically such that the Maxwell static electricity equation is satisfied. Then these equations are solved analytically for two different boundary conditions, namely clamped and simply supported edges. The validity of... 

This paper presents a new unified power-quality conditioning system (MC-UPQC), capable of simultaneous compensation for voltage and current in multibus/multifeeder systems. In this configuration, one shunt voltage-source converter (shunt VSC) and two or more series VSCs exist. The system can be applied to adjacent feeders to compensate for supply-voltage and load current imperfections on the main feeder and full compensation of supply-voltage imperfections on the other feeders. In the proposed configuration, all converters are connected back to back on the dc side and share a common dc-link capacitor. Therefore, power can be transferred from one feeder to adjacent feeders to compensate for... 

In this study a more precise formulation of electrical capacitance for a cylindrical capacitive sensor is reported. By using different theoretical models such as Coulomb law, Gauss law and Laplace equation the electrical capacitance is calculated. Based on the given models the relation between the capacitance and the geometrical parameters (e.g., cylindrical length) is formulated and by using suitable software capacitance variation is computed and compared for different methods. In Coulomb method, the electrical potential is first solved numerically by using Mathematica and then the electrical capacitance is computed. It is found that the active capacitor length is crucial parameter in the... 

In spite of various works which were carried out on CdO and porous Si (PSi) separately, the interesting properties of CdO/PSi/Si system are not known well. In this work, we study the photoconductivity of deposited CdO layer on PSi/Si system. PS and CdO layers were prepared by electrochemical anodisation of p-type crystalline silicon and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of cadmium oxide target. Then samples were annealed in air at 500°C to increase their optical transmissions to a value as large as 90% for wavelengths above 700 nm. The XRD study reveals that the annealed films are polycrystalline with grain size of about 25 nm. SEM micrograph of the CdO/PSi/Si system indicates that CdO layer has... 

We used two digital methods—rise time discrimination (RTD) and an artificial neural network (ANN)—to simultaneously discriminate alpha particles and gamma rays detected by a phoswich detector (50 μm BC-400 coupled to 3 mm CsI(Tl)). The results for 10,000 pulses discriminated by the RTD method showed that the rise time distribution of the pulses is rather vast (between 200 and 800 ns for gamma rays and less than 40 ns for alpha particles). The same result was also observed in the dual-parameter diagram (pulse rise time versus area under the pulse) for an 241Am source. Then, as another approach, three pulse features—rise time, pulse height ratio, and charge ratio—were extracted from 2000... 

So-called negative capacitance seems to remain an obscure feature in the analysis of the frequency-dependent impedance of perovskite solar cells. It belongs to one of the puzzling peculiarities arising from the mixed ionic-electronic conductivity of this class of semiconductor. Here we show that apparently high capacitances in general (positive and negative) are not related to any capacitive feature in the sense of a corresponding charge accumulation. Instead, they are a natural consequence of slow transients mainly in forward current of the diode upon ion displacement when changing voltage. The transient current leads to a positive or negative ‘capacitance’ dependent on the sign of its... 

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a noninvasive, low-cost brain recording tool with high temporal but poor spatial resolution. In contrast, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a rather expensive brain recording tool with high spatial and poor temporal resolution. In this study, we aim at recovering the brain activity (source localization and activity-intensity) with high spatial resolution using only EEG recordings. Each EEG electrode records a linear combination of the activities of various parts of the brain. As a result, a multi-electrode EEG recording represents the brain activities via a linear mixing matrix. Due to distance attenuation, this matrix is almost sparse. Using...