Sharif Digital Repository

Enabling cooperation in a NOMA system is a promising approach to improve its performance. In this paper, we study the cooperation in a secure NOMA system, where the legitimate users are distributed uniformly in the network and the eavesdroppers are distributed according to a homogeneous Poisson point process. We consider a cooperative NOMA scheme (two users are paired as strong and weak users) in two phases: 1) Direct transmission phase, in which the base station broadcasts a superposition of the messages, 2) Cooperation phase, in which the strong user acts as a relay to help in forwarding the messages of the weak user. We study the secrecy outage performance in two cases: (i) security of... 

This paper studies the robust stability of the fractional-order (FO) LTI systems with polytopic uncertainty. Generally, the characteristic polynomial of the system dynamic matrix is not an affine function of the uncertain parameters. Consequently, the robust stability of the uncertain system cannot be evaluated by well-known approaches including LMIs or exposed edges theorem. Here, an over-parameterization technique is developed to convert the main characteristic polynomial into a set of local over-parameterized characteristic polynomials (LOPCPs). It is proved that the robust stability of LOPCPs implies the robust stability of the uncertain system. Then, an algorithm is proposed to explore... 

In this study, a multi-item economic order quantity model with shortage under vendor managed inventory policy in a single vendor single buyer supply chain is developed. This model explicitly includes warehouse capacity and delivery constraints, bounds order quantity, and limits the number of pallets. Not only the demands are considered imprecise, but also resources such as available storage and total order quantity of all items can be vaguely defined in different ways. An ant colony optimization is employed to find a near-optimum solution of the fuzzy nonlinear integer-programming problem with the objective of minimizing the total cost of the supply chain. Since no benchmark is available in... 

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-item economic order quantity (EOQ) model with shortage for a single-buyer single-supplier supply chain under green vendor managed inventory (VMI) policy. This model explicitly includes the VMI contractual agreement between the vendor and the buyer such as warehouse capacity and delivery constraints, bounds for each order, and limits on the number of pallets. To create a kind of green supply chain, tax cost of green house gas (GHG) emissions and limitation on total emissions of all items are considered in the model. A hybrid genetic and imperialist competitive algorithm (HGA) is employed to find a near-optimum solution of a nonlinear... 

In non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems, serving multiple users in shared resource blocks can allow untrusted users to overhear the messages of other users. In this context, we study a network consisting of a base station (BS), a near user and a far user, where the latter attempts to overhear the message of the former. The near user is a full-duplex (FD) node that can also act as a relay. Two operating scenarios are considered: 1) friendly jammer (FJ), where the FD node broadcasts noise for degrading the channel between the BS and the far user, while receiving data from the BS; and 2) friendly jammer relay (FJR), where, in addition to degrading the channel between the BS and the far... 

Recent researches have shown the importance of improving the supply chain competitiveness by means of strategic alliances. This study considers the retailer-supplier partnership through a vendor-managed inventory (VMI) system and develops an analytical model to explore the effect of important supply chain parameters on the cost savings realized from collaborative initiatives. This model is developed for a two-level supply chain consisting of a single supplier and a single retailer and examines the inventory management practices before and after implementation of VMI. The results of analytical examination show that VMI implementation in economic order quantity model when shortage is... 

Flow sensors play a critical role in monitoring flow parameters, including rate, velocity, direction, and rotation frequency. In this paper, inspired by biological hair cells in the human vestibular system, an innovative flow sensor is developed based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel nanocomposites with a maze-like network of vertically grown graphene nanosheets (VGNs). The VGNs/PVA hydrogel absorbs a copious amount of water when immersed in water, making the sensor highly sensitive to tiny stimuli underwater. The sensor demonstrates a high sensitivity (5.755 mV (mm s−1)−1) and extremely low velocity detection (0.022 mm s−1). It also reveals outstanding performance in detecting... 

With an ageing population, hearing disorders are predicted to rise considerably in the following decades. Thus, developing a new class of artificial auditory system has been highlighted as one of the most exciting research topics for biomedical applications. Herein, a design of a biocompatible piezoresistive-based artificial hair cell sensor is presented consisting of a highly flexible and conductive polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite with vertical graphene nanosheets (VGNs). The bilayer hydrogel sensor demonstrates excellent performance to mimic biological hair cells, responding to acoustic stimuli in the audible range between 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The sensor output demonstrates stable... 

Flow sensors play a critical role in monitoring flow parameters, including rate, velocity, direction, and rotation frequency. In this paper, inspired by biological hair cells in the human vestibular system, an innovative flow sensor is developed based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel nanocomposites with a maze-like network of vertically grown graphene nanosheets (VGNs). The VGNs/PVA hydrogel absorbs a copious amount of water when immersed in water, making the sensor highly sensitive to tiny stimuli underwater. The sensor demonstrates a high sensitivity (5.755 mV (mm s−1)−1) and extremely low velocity detection (0.022 mm s−1). It also reveals outstanding performance in detecting... 

With an ageing population, hearing disorders are predicted to rise considerably in the following decades. Thus, developing a new class of artificial auditory system has been highlighted as one of the most exciting research topics for biomedical applications. Herein, a design of a biocompatible piezoresistive-based artificial hair cell sensor is presented consisting of a highly flexible and conductive polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite with vertical graphene nanosheets (VGNs). The bilayer hydrogel sensor demonstrates excellent performance to mimic biological hair cells, responding to acoustic stimuli in the audible range between 60 Hz to 20 kHz. The sensor output demonstrates stable... 

Flow sensors play a critical role in monitoring flow parameters, including rate, velocity, direction, and rotation frequency. In this paper, inspired by biological hair cells in the human vestibular system, an innovative flow sensor is developed based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel nanocomposites with a maze-like network of vertically grown graphene nanosheets (VGNs). The VGNs/PVA hydrogel absorbs a copious amount of water when immersed in water, making the sensor highly sensitive to tiny stimuli underwater. The sensor demonstrates a high sensitivity (5.755 mV (mm s−1)−1) and extremely low velocity detection (0.022 mm s−1). It also reveals outstanding performance in detecting...