Sharif Digital Repository

A practical coplanar Josephson junction left-handed transmission line based on a step-edge junction technique is proposed in high-temperature superconductor technology and analyzed by electromagnetic simulations. The layout is designed for monolayer Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide thin film fabrication process. The propagation stopbands are tunable by controlling bias currents of Josephson junction arrays acting as parallel inductors for unit cells of the transmission line. Unlike the reported designs, each unit cell of our left-handed transmission line is independently biasable due to dc isolation of the unit cells along the transmission line. Being individually biasable is practically... 

Josephson junction in superconductor circuits and metamaterials is modeled as a tunable inductance. The Josephson inductance is tunable by the bias current passing through it and can be tuned from an initial value to a very large value as much as one can push bias current near the critical current but not exceeding it. Tunability by bias current allows design of programmable metamaterials with flexible functions in microwave regime. In High-Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) tunable metamaterials, Josephson junctions should be used in series configuration to give usable tunable inductance. Each Step-Edge Josephson junction (SEJs) in HTS has a critical current that is dependent on its... 

Josephson junction in superconductor circuits and metamaterials is modeled as a tunable inductance. The Josephson inductance is tunable by the bias current passing through it and can be tuned from an initial value to a very large value as much as one can push bias current near the critical current but not exceeding it. Tunability by bias current allows design of programmable metamaterials with flexible functions in microwave regime. In High-Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) tunable metamaterials, Josephson junctions should be used in series configuration to give usable tunable inductance. Each Step-Edge Josephson junction (SEJs) in HTS has a critical current that is dependent on its... 

Josephson junction in superconductor circuits and metamaterials is modeled as a tunable inductance. The Josephson inductance is tunable by the bias current passing through it and can be tuned from an initial value to a very large value as much as one can push bias current near the critical current but not exceeding it. Tunability by bias current allows design of programmable metamaterials with flexible functions in microwave regime. In High-Temperature Superconductivity (HTS) tunable metamaterials, Josephson junctions should be used in series configuration to give usable tunable inductance. Each Step-Edge Josephson junction (SEJs) in HTS has a critical current that is dependent on its... 

Fast locking PLL-based wide-band frequency synthesizers used in high performance RF transceivers often require multi-band voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). These types of frequency synthesizers employ both discrete and continuous tuning mechanisms to satisfy wide frequency range and low VCO tuning gain simultaneously. To facilitate discrete tuning mechanisms, an auxiliary digital loop is required in order to select proper band of VCO. This digital loop is called adaptive frequency calibration (AFC). In this paper two methods of previous AFC architectures are discussed and improved to gain the minimum possible lock time of PLL. Then, these two methods are simulated and implemented over... 

The article proposes an approach to generate high-level test patterns from the arithmetic model of a register-transfer-level (RTL) circuit using a hybrid canonical data structure based on a decision diagram. High-level simplified and fast symbolic path activation strategy as well as input justification is combined with test pattern generation for circuits under consideration. For simplification of a test procedure, some ATPG approaches have been introduced based on binary decision diagram (BDD) tools. Since these methods require the design to be flattened into the bit level, they cannot be used to deal with large industrial benchmarks efficiently, either in terms of memory or runtime.... 

This paper presents a novel automatic debugging algorithm for a postsynthesis combinational arithmetic circuit. The approach is robust under wide varieties of arithmetic circuit architectures and design optimizations. The debugging algorithm in this paper consists of three phases of partial product initialization, XOR extraction, and carry-signalmapping. The run-time complexity of conventional carry-signal-mapping algorithms, such as the approach described by Stoffel and Kunz, is exponential. However, in the proposed algorithm, by making use of some important design issues, we categorize the extracted XORs into half/full-adders to make a very fast debugging algorithm. This approach is robust... 

This paper presents a novel automatic debugging algorithm for a postsynthesis combinational arithmetic circuit. The approach is robust under wide varieties of arithmetic circuit architectures and design optimizations. The debugging algorithm in this paper consists of three phases of partial product initialization, xor extraction, and carry-signal mapping. The run-time complexity of conventional carry-signal-mapping algorithms, such as the approach described by Stoffel and Kunz, is exponential. However, in the proposed algorithm, by making use of some important design issues, we categorize the extracted xors into half/full-adders to make a very fast debugging algorithm. This approach is... 

Integer multipliers with finite output bit-widths are widely used in many Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications. In such circuits high-level optimizations like Residue Number System (RNS) can be utilized to achieve more efficient architectures compared to the conventional binary representations. This paper presents an efficient high-level Don't-Care Optimization (DC-Opt) method for integer multipliers and in general Multiply Accumulator (MAC) units when the output result is limited to a finite bit-width. This high-level optimization approach can then be combined with logic optimizations at gate-level. Experimental results have shown major improvements in terms of area and latency... 

A simple and practical approach is introduced for the deposition of CuI as an inexpensive inorganic hole-transport material (HTM) for the fabrication of low cost perovskite solar cells (PSCs) by gas–solid phase transformation of Cu to CuI. The method provides a uniform and well-controlled CuI layer with large grains and good compactness that prevents the direct connection between the contact electrodes. Solar cells prepared with CuI as the HTM with Au electrodes displays an exceptionally high short-circuit current density of 32 mA cm−2, owing to an interfacial species formed between the perovskite and the Cu resulting in a long wavelength contribution to the incident photon-to-electron... 

Foaming and crystallisation behaviours of compacted glass powders based on a diopside glass-ceramic composition were investigated using the sintering route. The foaming agent was 2 wt.% SiC particles. The effect of PbO on the foaming ability of glasses was investigated. The results showed that the addition of PbO not only improved the foaming ability, by improving the wettability of the glass-SiC particles but also increased the crystallisation temperature and widened the temperature interval between the dilatometric softening point and the onset of crystallisation. The glass-SiC wetting angle was decreased from 85°for the lead-free glass, to 55°for the glass that contains 15 wt.% PbO  

The current article presents conceptual, preliminary and detailed aero-thermal redesign of a typical high pressure turbine nozzle guide vane. Design targets are lower coolant consumption, reduced manufacturing costs and improved durability. These goals are sought by 25% reduction in vane count number and lower number of airfoils per segment. Design challenges such as higher airfoil loading, associate aerodynamic losses and higher thermal loads are discussed. In order to maximize coolant flow reduction and avoid higher aerodynamic losses, airfoil Mach distribution is carefully controlled. There has been an effort to limit design changes so that the proven design features of the original vane... 

In natural gas pressure boosting stations, air coolers are used to reduce the gas temperature. Pressure drop as an essential factor in determining the energy performance of any pressure boosting station has a significant impact on the overall performance of the gas transmission. In this paper, a laboratory pilot is designed to investigate the effect of pressure drop reduction on the use of heating pipes at the air coolers. In addition, as a case for a gas pressure boosting station, its impact over energy performance index and pressure drop parameter has been calculated through simulating. The results show, implemented PHP tubes in an air cooler, lead to reduce tube length and improve... 

In this paper multivariate response surface methodology (RSM) has been used for the optimization of hydrodistillation-headspace solvent microextraction (HD-HSME) of thymol and carvacrol in Thymus transcaspicus. Quantitative determination of compounds of interest was performed simultaneously using gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector (GC-FID). Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were assessed and the optimized values were 5 min, 2 μL and 3 min for the extraction time, micro-drop volume and cooling time after extraction, respectively. The amounts of analyte extracted increased with plant weight. The calibration curves were linear in the ranges of 6.25-81.25 and... 

In this paper, nano/microstructured-conducting polypyrrole has been prepared on Cu/Au interdigital electrode surfaces by using constant potential amperometry technique. The Fe(II) ions were used as catalyst and X = ClO4 -, pTs-, Cl-, TCA-, DS-, DBS- was implemented as anion dopants. The morphologies of the films were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscope. A remarkable dependence was observed between the type of anion dopant and the morphology of polypyrrole (PPy). The sensing behavior of the PPy-X sensor has been studied toward acetone, methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol, nitromethane, propylamine, pyridine, and gas mixtures of aliphatic alcohols. The responses... 

Photovoltaic (PV) panels provide a suitable way for the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity. The electrical output and efficiency of PV modules are dependent on working temperature. The present study contributes to investigate the efficiency of utilizing a flat plate closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) to cool down a PV panel in both thermal and economic aspects. Accordingly, a numerical investigation is employed to obtain the surface temperature and electrical gain of the PV panel through four scenarios, including natural cooling without additional equipment, CLPHP-based passive cooling, CLPHP-based active cooling, and a conventional flat plate cooling methods. The... 

A multi-microgrid system – containing various complementary energy sources – must coordinate the power flow among microgrids and the utility grid for stability and reliability enhancement, and also should obtain optimum energy management. Multi-agent-based optimization techniques are ideal for the management of interconnected microgrids, due to their decentralized nature and multifactorial approach in the decision-making process. In this paper, an optimization model is proposed for interconnected multi microgrids which considers the overall cost of the system. For optimum system operation, the hierarchical energy management system is utilized based on the multi-agent systems (MAS) theory.... 

Connections have very important role in pre-cast concrete structures, especially in seismic zones, and grout connections increase strength and resistance of pre-cast concrete structures for lateral forces. High performance grout connections (HPGC) provide new opportunities to design cost-effective pre-cast concrete structures. HPGC have been proposed to decrease cost of insulation, erection and crane cost of pre-cast concrete structures and to overcome weakness of traditional pre-cast concrete structure connections .This research focuses on properties of grout materials properties which produced in Iran and the effect of propylene fiber on the performance of grout connection. In the first... 

This paper presents an efficient way of implementing Taylor expansion Diagrams (TED) that is called Binary Taylor Diagrams (BTD). BTD is based on Taylor series like TED, but uses a binary data structure. So BTD functions are simpler than those of TED. © 2005 IEEE  

We have investigated the water permeation through carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes as a model of peptide nanotube channels (PNCs). The effect of different charge configured CNTs which tailored based on some artificial ion channels on the water permeation through the channels have been studied. In addition, the temperature dependence of the permeation has been investigated. We have found that there is a jump in the permeation which is somehow related to the characteristics of each channel and the temperature of this permeation jump changes according to the channel configuration. Our investigation on the channels shows that the temperature at which the permeation jump occurs is related to the...