Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, highly absorbent films based on alginate and Quince Seed Gum (QSG) were fabricated using ionic crosslinking. FTIR analysis was conducted to show crosslinking and network formation. The tensile test revealed an increase in crosslinking time and CaCl2 concentration reduced elongation and increased tensile strength and Young's modulus, but glycerol augmented elongation without a substantial effect on mechanical strength. According to the swelling test, (0.5% w/v CaCl2-2 min) was the optimum crosslinking condition and led to a maximum swelling degree (about 1700%). Exceptional swelling resulted from the high number of hydrophilic groups on the surface of QSG and repulsion forces... 

In this paper, model reference control of a fractional order system has been discussed. In order to control the fractional order plant, discrete-time approximation methods have been applied. Plant and reference model are discretized by Grünwald-Letnikov definition of the fractional order derivative using "Short Memory Principle". Unknown parameters of the fractional order system are appeared in the discrete time approximate model as combinations of parameters of the main system. The discrete time MRAC via RLS identification is modified to estimate the parameters and control the fractional order plant. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed method of model reference adaptive... 

In recent years axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) machines have found industrial applications because of such characteristics as high power density, compact structure and disc-like shape. Like other electrical machines, prediction of flux density distribution in the air gap of AFPM is essential. In this paper, an analytical method for calculation of air gap flux density caused by armature reaction is presented. The solution is based on Maxwell's equations. Separation of variables method is applied to field equations and 2D distribution of magnetic flux density in the air gap calculated in term of Fourier series. The 2-D distribution of three-phase armature winding is modeled exactly.... 

The idea of combining bioextracted polymers for wound healing applications has emerged in hopes of developing highly flexible and mechanically stable hydrogel films with controlled drug delivery, biocompatibility, and high collagen deposition. In the present research, polysaccharide films composed of Alginate and Quince Seed Gum (QSG) were fabricated by ionic crosslinking, and their potential for curcumin delivery and wound healing were examined. In this regard, microstructure, mechanical properties, thermal stability, physiochemical properties, and biocompatibility of films with three different QSG amounts (25 %, 50 %, and 75 %) were studied. Because of the optimum properties of 25 % QSG... 

A series of g-C3N4-SnO2/TiO2 nanotubes/Ti plates were fabricated via simple dipping of TiO2 nanotubes/Ti in a solution containing SnCl2 and g-C3N4 nanosheets and finally annealing of the plates. Synthesized plates were characterized by various techniques. The SEM analysis revealed that the g-C3N4-SnO2 nanosheets with high physical stability have been successfully deposited onto the surface of TiO2 nanotubes/Ti plate. Photocatalytic activity was investigated using two probe chemical reactions: oxidative decomposition of acetic acid and oxidation of 2-propanol under irradiation. Antibacterial activities for Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria were also investigated in dark and under UV/Vis... 

In synchros and resolvers, brushes, and slip-rings produce a lot of noise in the output signal. Compared to encoders, the application of such position sensors in precision control systems is restricted because of their low accuracy. In this paper, a novel scheme of a brushless synchro is introduced. In this scheme, the primary and secondary windings are mounted on the stator, and the stator magnetic flux passes a certain path in the rotor with inducing voltage in the secondary winding. In this paper, a software method based on simple look-up table is used to enhance accuracy and reliability of the output signal of the proposed synchro. The operation principle of the brushless synchro is... 

In synchroes and resolvers, brushes and slip-rings produce a lot of noise in the output signal. Compared to encoders, the application of such position sensors in precision control systems are restricted because of their lower accuracy. In this research, a novel scheme of a brushless synchro is introduced. In this scheme, the secondary windings are mounted on the stator and the stator magnetic flux passes a certain path in the rotor and induces voltage in the secondary windings. The operation principle is clearly described in the paper and by using 2D finite element method the novel synchro is initially designed and analyzed. The stator winding's turns is calculated by a method based on... 

In this paper, the parameters of a 4D Lü hyper-chaotic system are identified via synchronization of two identical systems. Unknown parameters of the drive system are identified by an adaptive method. Stability of the closed-loop system with one state feedback controller is studied by using the Lyapunov theorem. Also the convergence of the parameters to their true values is proved. Then a fractional adaptation law is applied to reduce the time of parameter convergence. Finally the results of both integer and fractional methods are compared  

In this paper, we are concerned with existence, uniqueness and numerical approximation of the solution process to an initial value problem for stochastic fractional differential equation of Riemann-Liouville type. We propose and analyze a Petrov-Galerkin finite element method based on fractional (non-polynomial) Jacobi polyfractonomials as basis and test functions. Error estimates in L2 norm are derived and numerical experiments are provided to validate the theoretical results. As an illustrative application, we generate sample paths of the Riemann-Liouville fractional Brownian motion which is of importance in many applications ranging from geophysics to traffic flow in telecommunication... 

In this paper, we are concerned with existence, uniqueness and numerical approximation of the solution process to an initial value problem for stochastic fractional differential equation of Riemann-Liouville type. We propose and analyze a Petrov-Galerkin finite element method based on fractional (non-polynomial) Jacobi polyfractonomials as basis and test functions. Error estimates in L2 norm are derived and numerical experiments are provided to validate the theoretical results. As an illustrative application, we generate sample paths of the Riemann-Liouville fractional Brownian motion which is of importance in many applications ranging from geophysics to traffic flow in telecommunication... 

Carbon-based quantum dots (CDs) are mainly divided into two sub-groups; carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which exhibit outstanding photoluminescence (PL) properties, low toxicity, superior biocompatibility and facile functionalization. Regarding these features, they have been promising candidates for biomedical science and engineering applications. In this work, we reviewed the efforts made to modify these zero-dimensional nano-materials to obtain the best properties for bio-imaging, drug and gene delivery, cancer therapy, and bio-sensor applications. Five main surface modification techniques with outstanding results are investigated, including doping, surface... 

Carbon-based quantum dots (CDs) are mainly divided into two sub-groups; carbon quantum dots (CQDs) and graphene quantum dots (GQDs), which exhibit outstanding photoluminescence (PL) properties, low toxicity, superior biocompatibility and facile functionalization. Regarding these features, they have been promising candidates for biomedical science and engineering applications. In this work, we reviewed the efforts made to modify these zero-dimensional nano-materials to obtain the best properties for bio-imaging, drug and gene delivery, cancer therapy, and bio-sensor applications. Five main surface modification techniques with outstanding results are investigated, including doping, surface... 

In this paper, we have proposed a quasi-static model of a multi-agent system as police agents with and without non-holonomic constraints for agents' motion. We also consider an active thief agent which has stochastic dynamic equation of motion. Our control purpose is that these police agents pursue the thief agent and the geometrical center of them aims the thief agent current position. Also in the motion of the police agents for surrounding the thief, the unity of the swarm should be preserved and collision between them should be avoided. Police agents do not have all of the dynamic states of the thief agent's motion andalso those that are available and observable for the police agents are... 

In the present study, bubble-driven magnesium-based micromotors were fabricated through a shading method, and the potential of magnetic guidance of magnesium-based Janus micro/nanomotors through functionalization with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) was investigated for the first time. SPIONs had physical electrostatic attraction with the positively charged magnesium spheres due to negative charges on their surfaces. It was also found that upon applying a field gradient, the micromotors’ velocity increased by 13% unlike other magnetically navigated spherical magnesium-based micromotors which only show a change in direction. In this work the cytotoxicity of the moving... 

In this study, a novel hybrid hydrogel based on chitosan, acrylic acid and amine-functionalized nanosilica was prepared and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. This hydrogel nanocomposite was used for removal of Co2+, Cu2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ ions from aqueous solution. The metal ion adsorption was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The adsorption behavior showed that the presence of modified nanosilica enhanced the porosity of the hydrogel network and affected its adsorption capacity in response to different parameters such as nanosilica content, metal ion concentration, adsorbent content,... 

It is well established that the heavy oil components including asphaltenes and resins play vital roles on the interfacial tension (IFT) of acidic crude oil (ACO) and aqueous solutions. Therefore, this experimental work is designed to investigate the possible synergism between salt ions, resin, and asphaltene on the IFT of ACO/low and high salinity brines containing MgCl2/NaCl and CaCl2. The results demonstrate that a complex ion of MgCl2 - resin component created in the solution could occupy the sites at the interface at high MgCl2 concentration. However, the results show that on the contrary, the molecular arrangement of MgCl2 and asphaltene at low and high MgCl2 concentration could be... 

With increasing concern of environmental protection and economic considerations, Wind energy has drawn much attention recently due to its high benefits to the reduction of emissions and reduction of dependency on fossil fuels. In this paper, a load dispatch model is developed for the system consisting of both thermal generators and wind turbine by GAMS Software and the recently introduced optimization strategy, Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA). In addition, transmission loss is considered which approximate the system losses as a quadratic function of the real power generation with B-losses coefficients. To better represent the conditions in real power systems, the cost of modern... 

In this study, the liquid-liquid phase behavior of aromatic compound. +. aliphatic compound. +. ionic liquid (IL) ternary systems was estimated by using two artificial neural networks (ANN) developed based on back propagation (BP) and hybrid group method of data handling (GMDH). Molar ratio of aliphatic compound, aromatic compound, and IL as well as temperature, molecular weight ratio of aliphatic compound to IL, and molecular weight ratio of aromatic compound to IL were chosen as the inputs to the networks. Additionally, the mole fraction of components in final alkane-rich phase and IL-rich phase was considered as desired outputs. The best topology of the BP-ANN model was found as (6-8-4).... 

This study aims to identify underlying fundamental factors behind high-tech exports by the established and emerging countries, separately. The author also examines whether the two export patterns converge over time. Based on the gravity approach, a generalized method of moments panel estimator is applied to rigorously address the endogeneity problem in both static and dynamic versions of the model. In addition, the nonstationary and cointegrating features of variables are discussed. The author finds that high-tech exports from the emerging countries are mainly based on foreign direct investment inflows and participation in the international production chain, as well as a high degree of... 

This study aimed to investigate the influence of processing parameters on the mechanical properties of auxetic polyurethane foams including Poisson’s ratio and Young’s modulus. 12 different processing scenarios were considered using the method of Plackett–Burman in the design of experiments with three replicates for each one. Eventually, 36 foams were prepared with different densities and initial thicknesses, heating temperatures and times, applied compression ratios, and the rest times between two heating steps. The microstructures of the conventional and auxetic samples were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All samples were subjected to tensile loading in one direction with...