Sharif Digital Repository

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the simulation and analysis of piezoelectric transducers with the he help of equivalent electrical circuit simulations (EECS). This paper has been devoted to study of such approach for two designed and fabricated ultrasonic sandwich transducers. By using analytical analysis, the dimensions of components of the two piezoelectric transducers were determined for the assumed resonance frequencies of 30 kHz and 40 kHz. Then, by using a two dimensional finite element model, and regarding two different modeling techniques for the transducers and by application of a current source which was connected directly to the piezoelectric pieces of the... 

Constant volume transparent test combustion chambers are extensively used for investigating injection and fuel burning properties of various combustion engines. Their configuration depends on the engine type and the research purpose. Material of components, shape and dimensions of the chamber and its parts, ease of use, accessibility, sealing and safety of the assembly are the parameters needed to be considered in designing the test cell. This paper explains, structural design of a test combustion chamber and its optical windows using finite element analysis of ANSYS 12.0 software for bearing high pressure variations and thermal shocks of combustion. It was designed for conducting CNG direct... 

Porous PZT-PCN ceramics were fabricated with this formula, “0.8 Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3-0.2 Pb(Co1/3Nb2/3)O3”, abbreviated as “PZTPCN” by introducing Polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and stearic acid (SA) as pore forming agents (PFA) with varied percentages (5, 10 and 15 wt%). The optimum sintering procedure was designed according to the thermogravimetric analysis of pore formers. XRD and FESEM were applied to study the formed phase and the microstructure of the system. Electrical Characterization was conducted using Piezo meter. A decrease in density reduced longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient (d33) and relative dielectric constant (ε) and enhanced hydrostatic figure of merit (dhgh) of PZTPCN ceramics.... 

Abstract Porous lead zirconate titanate-lead cobalt niobate 0.8Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3-0.2Pb(Co1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PZT-PCN) piezoelectric ceramics were fabricated by introducing pore-forming agent polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), and the effect of sintering behavior on their microstructure, dielectric, and piezoelectric properties were investigated. The optimum sintering procedure was designed according to the thermogravimetric analysis of pore former. Finally the electrical properties were measured. The porosity of PZT-PCN ceramics decreased and the grain size increased with an increase in the sintering temperature at a fixed PMMA addition. "An increase in density with sintering temperature from 1050 to... 

Nanofluids play an important role in order to augment of the heat transfer characteristics in many energy systems. As compared to usual fluids, nanofluids comprise better physical strength and thermal conductivity. Our aim in studying this work is to numerically interpret the flow and heat transfer features of copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles in the coexistence of thermal radiation and inclined magnetic fields. The model equations are first simplified by the similarity transformations and then finite difference discretization is used to apply the numerical technique known as the successive over-relaxation method. We have mainly examined that how much the thermal radiation and inclined... 

Malaysian secondary schools are facing a shortage of male teachers. Almost 70% of the teaching profession is dominated by female teachers. There is an obvious gap in the reason why teaching is not preferred by the male gender. This study intends to find the determinants of career success among male teachers with the hope of revealing the career success factors that are associated with male teachers. A survey was done among 140 male teachers in secondary schools in the state of Malacca, Malaysia. Results showed that 4out of 5 of the determinants factors are significantly explaining career success among the teachers (Emotional Intelligence, Person-Job-Fit, Career Adaptability & Work-Life... 

A multiplexing technique, which is based on duty-cycle division, is proposed. The channel multiplexing and demultiplexing are performed electrically at the single user bit rate, which is very economic. In a three-user system (3×10 Gb/s), the simulation results show that the best receiver sensitivity value achieved is -30.1 dBm with an optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) of 22.3 dB, while the chromatic dispersion tolerance ranges from 192 to 280 ps/nm. Migration from 30 to 120 Gb/s is achieved with the penalty of 6.4 and 5.2 dB in the receiver sensitivity and OSNR, respectively, for the worst user  

Background: Diesel mainly consists of paraffin and thio-aromatic compounds. Sulfur present in diesel exhaust is the major challenge for oil refineries. Sulfur is an oxidizing element that discharges as acute pollutant in the environment, having adverse effects on human and animal life. Introduction: The scope of this review paper is to discuss and highlight the recent advancements in the process of desulfurization of diesel oil to explore the less energy-intensive and more economical process. Methods: Recently, different techniques are widely used for desulfurization of diesel oil to remove sulfur containing compounds from diesel. These techniques mainly involve hydrodesulfurzation,... 

Background: Water contamination by noxious heavy metals due to urbanization is a global environmental problem. Heavy metal ions pollution makes the water unsuitable for drinking and is also highly toxic to human beings and eco-system. The remediation of heavy metals is therefore very crucial. Methods: Adsorbents based on biopolymer and eco-friendly polymer composites have been developed and fabricated to remediate and remove heavy metals from the ecosystem. Results: In recent years biocomposites have been successful as cost-effective adsorbents for the remediation of various contaminants with their eco-friendly nature and sustainability. Conclusion: This review article gives an overview on... 

Background: cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide and its management remains challenging and complex. As Cytochrome4Z1 (CYP4Z1) is overex-pressed in many tumours, its expression in cervical cancer is unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate CYP4Z1 expression in cervical cancers. Methods: CYP4Z1 expression was immunohistochemically assessed in 100 cases of cervical cancers along with ten normal cervix tissues, and the enzyme’s relationship to several clinicopathological features and survival was explored. Results: CYP4Z1 was strongly expressed in 55% of cervical cancer patients. Normal cervix samples were negative for CYP4Z1 expression.... 

Characterizing the electrical resistance of the formation rock is of great importance in, for example, interpreting the well log data, calculating the porosity, and water saturation for the formation rocks. The relation between the resistivity factor and porosity and also between the resistivity index and water saturation (Archie equation) in the formation rock uses the parameters, such as the cementation factor and saturation exponent. However, the direct application of Archie equation to carbonate rocks that are very heterogeneous and mostly oil-wet needs further investigation. In this experimental work, the effects of overburden pressure, temperature, and interfacial tension on the... 

The nanotubular arrays of titanium dioxide (TiO2 NTs) have recently received considerable interest for fabrication of dental and orthopedic implants. However, their antibacterial activity requires substantial improvement for the potential infections minimization, without compromise of their biocompatibility. In this work, TiO2 NTs were developed on Ti6Al4V substrates via anodization at a constant potential of 60 V for 60 min, followed by heat treatment at 500 °C for 90 min. Physical vapor deposition (PVD) was further employed to decorate silver oxide nanoparticles (Ag2O NPs) on the nanotubular edges. The results indicated that the highly-ordered TiO2 NTs with decorated Ag2O NPs could promote... 

Permeability reduction in porous media as a result of frail and tenuous fine particles migration would decrease the productivity index in the subterranean reservoirs. During reservoir stimulation by injecting fluids into the reservoir, as the salinity condition of the formation brine changes, fine particles initiate the triggering process. In this study, MgO-based nanofluid as a fines fixation agent was stably prepared based on the particle size distribution and characterized through transmission electron microscopy analysis. Afterward, several core flooding tests were performed using Berea sandstone cores to study the effect of nanofluid injection on fines fixation in the water shock... 

In poorly developed fractured rocks, the contribution of individual fracture on rock conductivity should be considered. However, due to the lack of data, a deterministic approach cannot be used. The conventional way to model discrete fractures is to use a Poisson process, with prescribed distribution, for fracture size and orientation. Recently, a stochastic approach, based on the idea that the elastic energy due to fractures follows a Boltzmann distribution, has been used to generate realizations of correlated fractures in two dimensions. The elastic energy function has been derived by applying the appropriate physical laws in an elastic medium. The resulting energy function has been used... 

Background: The development of colon cancer has been described as a multistep process of carcinogenesis. Understanding molecular and cellular changes underlying this process is required to determine potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets in colon cancers. Several molecular entities, including glypicans, are implicated in cancer development. Among these is glypican-6, which is overexpressed in a limited number of cancers. This study aims to characterise the glypican-6 expression in different types of colon cancer. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was used to characterise glypican-6 expression in a panel of archived formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded colon tissue types. These types included... 

Purpose: Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by high mortality rate, and its clinical management is difficult and complex. Therefore, there is a need for extensive efforts aimed at accelerating the discovery of novel therapies for TNBC. CYP4Z1 has been implicated in the development of breast cancer. The current study aimed at characterizing the expression of CYP4Z1 on TNBC. Materials and Methods: Using immunohistochemistry, CYP4Z1 expression was evaluated on 122 TNBC samples, four samples of breast cancers expressing ER, PR, and HER-2, and four samples of normal breast tissues. The association between the enzyme and various histopathological features and survival of... 

This book provides a comprehensive presentation of issues and challenges faced by researchers and practicing engineers in motion planning and hybrid control of dynamical legged locomotion. The major features range from offline and online motion planning algorithms to generate desired feasible periodic walking and running motions and tow-level control schemes, including within-stride feedback laws, continuous time update laws and event-based update laws, to asymptotically stabilize the generated desired periodic orbits. This book describes the current state of the art and future directions across all domains of dynamical legged locomotion so that readers can extend proposed motion planning...