Sharif Digital Repository

This paper studies the effective parameters of a skilled service in playing tennis and determines their relationship with skill deals. Effective service in tennis plays an important role in gaining more desirable result and the most important factor of success in getting scores depends on the player's skills in serving an effective service. The characteristics of a good service are the high speed of the ball and the precision of landing the ball. The several parameters affecting on these two characteristic in the service, are studied in this paper. Therefore, the Kinematic parameters of 8 Iranian professional tennis athletes of first division tennis league and also 8 non-professional Iranian... 

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of carbon nanotube (CNT) addition on the morphology as well as mechanical and electrical and shape memory properties of immiscible polystyrene/ethylene octene copolymer (PS/EOC) blends prepared by melt compounding. To prepare PS and EOC blends, weight percent of 80/20 and 50/50, different amounts of CNTs were varied between 0.05 and 1.5 phr. An investigation of the morphology of the PS/EOC blends using scanning electron microscopy revealed that when CNTs are added, the morphology of the blends changes from matrix-droplet to co-continuous. Based on the rheological results, blend nanocomposites exhibited solid-like behavior at low... 

Gaseous reduction of manganese ores has been studied as it is beneficial for both understanding the common ferromanganese production process and the development of new processes. Thermodynamics, kinetics, and the mechanisms of reduction by methane have been reviewed, supported by thermodynamic calculations from the commercial HSC Chemistry and FactSage software. While there were similarities in reduction process by CO and H2, methane was a more efficient reductant and yielded reduction levels beyond MnO, which was due to the large thermodynamic driving force for carbide formation by metastable methane. The practical aspects of gaseous reduction by methane, such as application of a... 

In the present study, the thermodynamics and mechanisms of vanadium extraction by a mixture of bis-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) and tri-n butyl phosphate (TBP) from sulfate medium were investigated. It was found that the maximum extraction percent of vanadium occurs at pH 1.8 under ambient conditions; this phenomenon was ascribed to the predominant presence of cationic species of vanadium (VO2+) at this pH. Based on the Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrums, the POH bond of D2EHPA was found responsible for the extraction of VO2+ species through a cationic exchange mechanism. Employing the slope analysis method showed that the stoichiometric reaction... 

Characterization and calcination behavior of a low-grade manganese ore, as a part of Mn ferroalloys production, was studied by XRF, ex-situ XRD, in-situ XRD, and SEM-EDS techniques. Calcination experiments were carried out at and up to 900 °C (1173 K) in air and argon atmospheres. The samples were in particles and powder forms. The results indicated that both quartz and calcite phases in the ore exhibit a bimodal spatial distribution; as relatively large regions and finely distributed in the Mn- and Fe-containing phases. By Rietveld analysis of the in-situ XRD data, the reactions occurring upon heating during the calcination process were deduced. Thermal decomposition and reactive diffusion... 

In this article, the synthesis of magnetite nanostructures was successfully carried out by the sonochemical process. In this method, stoichiometric amount of iron chlorides (FeCl3.6H2O and FeCl2.4H2O), ammonia (NH3) and polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP) were used to synthesize pure Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The effect of initial sonication power of the ultrasonic device on the size and morphology of the final products as one of the effective parameters was investigated. For this, the initial power of the sonicator was evaluated at 90, 70, 50 and 30 W at 40°C. Characterization of Fe3O4 nanoparticles was done by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and its magnetic... 

Green iron oxide pellets are indurated with thermal treatment in pelletizing plant to achieve sufficient mechanical properties and to be used in iron-steel industry. In the first stage, the pellets are dried with hot air coming from the firing unit. High heat transfer makes the evaporation rate exceeding the outgoing steam rate from the pellets and as a result, increasing the inner pressure of the pellets and fragment. On the other hand, low heat transfer causes low production rate. Using the related equations and considering the pellets' moisture and porosity and applying the pellets' condition on parameters such as specific heat capacity and heat conductivity, an acceptable standard is... 

When the number of projects in a company increases, it becomes very important to choose the right strategy to supply resources and raw materials in profit and loss and finish the work according to the schedule. This study presents a new mathematical model using the fractal method to optimize the resource planning system in project-oriented construction and industrial companies, and the results are analyzed. This article aims to introduce a fractal resource requirement planning (FRRP) model in project-oriented construction and industrial companies by providing a fractal framework to minimize resource costs and the smooth flow of materials between projects to meet the existing demand. Assuming... 

In vivo dose-dependent effects of nanoscale graphene oxide (NGO) sheets on reproduction capability of Balb/C mice were investigated. Biodistribution study of the NGO sheets (intravenously injected into male mice at dose of ∼2000 μg/mL or 4 mg/kg of body weight) showed a high graphene uptake in testis. Hence, in vivo effects of the NGO sheets on important characteristics of spermatozoa (including their viability, morphology, kinetics, DNA damage and chromosomal aberration) were evaluated. Significant in vivo effects was found at the injected concentrations ≥200 μg/mL after (e.g., ∼45% reduction in sperm viability and motility at 2000 μg/mL). Observation of remarkable DNA fragmentations and... 

Asian red ginseng was used for green reduction of chemically exfoliated graphene oxide (GO) into reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The reduction level and electrical conductivity of the ginseng-rGO sheets were comparable to those of hydrazine-rGO ones. Reduction by ginseng resulted in repairing the sp 2 graphitic structure of the rGO, while hydrazine-rGO showed more defects and/or smaller aromatic domains. The ginseng-rGO sheets presented a better stability against aggregation than the hydrazine-rGO ones in an aqueous suspension. Whilst the hydrophobic hydrazine-rGO films exhibited no toxicity against human neural stem cells (hNSCs), the hydrophilic GO and ginseng-rGO films (as more... 

Vigorous debates have taken place within and between many countries about regulatory policy regimes covering the assessment and approval of genetically modified (GM) crops. In Iran, a very vigorous and hotly contested policy debate concerning legislation covering GM crops occurred between 2004 and 2009, but it was confined within government circles with almost no public discussion. This paper analyses the Iranian policy-making process in the period 2006-9. It explains how and why a stalemate arose in disputes between ministries and departments. The chosen analytical framework draws mainly on the regulation of technological risks and the analysis of public policy-making. It deploys the... 

A μ-way latin trade of volume s is a set of μ partial latin rectangles (of inconsequential size) containing exactly the same s filled cells, such that if cell (i, j) is filled, it contains a different entry in each of the μ partial latin rectangles, and such that row i in each of the μ partial latin rectangles contains, set-wise, the same symbols and column j, likewise. In this paper we show that all μ-way latin trades with sufficiently large volumes exist, and state some theorems on the non-existence of μ-way latin trades of certain volumes. We also find the set of possible volumes (that is, the volume spectrum) of μ-way latin trades for μ = 4 and 5. (The case μ = 2 was dealt with by Fu,... 

The set of integers k for which there exist three latin squares of order n having precisely k cells identical, with their remaining n2 -k cells different in all three latin squares, denoted by I3[n], is determined here for all orders n. In particular, it is shown that I3[n] = {0,.,n2 -15}U [n2 - 12,n2-9,n2], for n ≫8. ©2002 Eisevier Science B.V. All rights reserved