Sharif Digital Repository

In this work the influence of different particulate gels on morphology and photoelectric performance of TiO2 dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) is studied. Two coagulant and flocculant agents are used to convert a TiO2 particulate sol into the gels using double layer compression and charge neutralization mechanisms. One more TiO2 particulate gel is also prepared by changing the pH of the sol using acid: alkoxide molar ratio higher than the critical ratio to obtain an unstable sol. Based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the films contain primary nanoparticles with average crystallite size of 13–15 nm. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images show uniform, nanostructured... 

The non-isothermal aging behaviour of a newly developed Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy containing 17 wt-% Zn was investigated. Hardness and shear punch tests demonstrated that during non-isothermal aging, the mechanical properties of the alloy first increased and then decreased. The best properties were obtained in a sample which was non-isothermally aged upto 250°C with heating rate of 20°C min−1, due to the presence of η′/η (MgZn2) phases. This was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetery. After homogenisation, residual eutectic phases remained at triple junctions or in a spherical form. During aging, these phases transformed into rodlike S (Al2CuMg)-phase at 400°C, with sizes ranging from 50 to... 

The non-isothermal aging behaviour of a newly developed Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy containing 17 wt-% Zn was investigated. Hardness and shear punch tests demonstrated that during non-isothermal aging, the mechanical properties of the alloy first increased and then decreased. The best properties were obtained in a sample which was non-isothermally aged upto 250°C with heating rate of 20°C min−1, due to the presence of η′/η (MgZn2) phases. This was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetery. After homogenisation, residual eutectic phases remained at triple junctions or in a spherical form. During aging, these phases transformed into rodlike S (Al2CuMg)-phase at 400°C, with sizes ranging from 50 to... 

In pervasive computing environments, a user can access resources and services from any where and at any time; thus a key security challenge in these environments is the design of an effective access control model which is aware of context modifications. Changes in context may trigger changes in authorizations. In this paper, we propose a new context-aware access control model based on role-based access control model for pervasive computing environments. We assign roles to users dynamically based on the long-term context information and tune active role's permissions according to the short-term context information of the users and environment. © 2007 IEEE  

Variable speed wind turbines are widely used in the modern power industry. These turbines that are usually driven by doubly fed induction generators (DFIG) contain two groups of controlling variables; mechanical variables like pitch angle, and electrical variables like rotor voltage. During the turbine operation, with variable wind speed, power must be managed in two different regimes; power optimization and power limitation. In the current research, initially a non-linear simulation, based on the general wind turbine dynamic model is presented. Then, the desired controllers for both pitch angle and generator voltage components are constructed. To validate turbine behavior and controller... 

Variable speed wind turbines are widely used in the modern power industry. These turbines that are usually driven by doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) contain two groups of controlling variables; mechanical variables like pitch angle and electrical variables like rotor voltage. During the turbine operation, with variable wind velocity, power must be managed in two regimes; power optimisation and power limitation. In the current research, initially a non-linear simulation, based on the general wind turbine dynamic model is presented. Then, the desired controllers for both pitch angle and generator voltage components are constructed. After designing the controller, in order to... 

A comparison of three common controllers for stabilising a vertical take-off and landing air vehicle is presented. RMIT is a small sized tail-sitter ducted fan air vehicle with a particular configuration layout, multiple control surfaces, low weight, and high-speed flight capability. The main problem here is control effectiveness at low flight speeds and transition manoeuvres because of the inherent instability. In the current study, a comprehensive nonlinear model is firstly developed for RMIT, followed by a validation process. Subsequently, linear, adaptive and model predictive controllers are designed in vertical flight. Based on the simulation results, it is shown that the linear... 

A novel adaptive model-based predictive controller for attitude and trajectory tracking of a vertical take-off and landing(VTOL) aircraft in the simultaneous presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances is introduced in this study. Animportant challenge of designing the model-based controllers is developing an accurate model, especially in the presence ofmodel uncertainties. In this study, first, the nominal model of a ducted-fan air vehicle, which is a multi-input multi-outputnonlinear system with non-minimum phase behaviour, is given as the test case of this research. After that, two modified robustand adaptive model predictive controllers are proposed for tracking a... 

The development of a multiple model-based identification algorithm is addressed in this paper for nonlinear modeling of a conventional aircraft in the entire flight envelope. The dynamic model of an aircraft varies significantly depending on changes in the flight condition of the air vehicle including the altitude and the equivalent air speed. Therefore, the conventional identification approaches for generating a single nonlinear model with time-invariant parameters cannot be used in the entire flight envelope of an aircraft. Accordingly, a multiple model-based approach using nonlinear autoregressive exogenous neural networks is introduced in this paper as a powerful tool in identifying... 

A novel fault-tolerant model predictive control (MPC)-based trajectory tracking approach for an aerial vehicle is presented in this study. A generalised online sequential extreme learning machine is introduced first to identify the corresponding coefficients of actuator faults. Subsequently, a robust trajectory tracking control is developed based on MPC, where the system constraints can be effectively considered in the designed control scheme. Trajectory tracking control is achieved by controlling only the acceleration of the aerial robot in the MPC structure. This leads to less computational burden and faster closed-loop dynamics. In addition, an effective disturbance observer is employed,... 

With the exception of a few works, the current approaches to aerial manipulation control do not typically consider the system constraints in the control design process. Also, the issue of closed-loop stability in the presence of system constraints is not thoroughly analyzed. In this paper, a novel multi-stage model predictive control (MPC)-based approach for aerial manipulation is proposed to ensure the closed-loop stability in the presence of model uncertainties and external disturbances, while satisfying the operational constraints. The detailed nonlinear model of a general aerial manipulator, consisting of a quadrotor equipped with a 3 degrees of freedom manipulator, is first developed... 

A novel basic poly(ionic liquid) (PIL) was synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization of ionic liquid monomer 1-ethyl-3-vinylimidazolium bromide [EVim][Br] which was cross-linked by ionic liquid cross-linker 1,4-butanediyl-3,3'-bis-l-vinylimidazolium dibromide (BVD). Exchange of bromide anions in PIL nanogel with hydroxide, produced a supported basic ionic liquid catalyst. The catalytic performances of PIL nanogel with a size of about 200. nm was evaluated in the synthesis of 4. H-benzo[. b]pyrans by multi-component reaction in water. The present protocol represents a simple, ecologically safe and cost-effective route to synthesize 4. H-benzo[. b]pyrans with high products yield  

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop an exclusive review framework for the Performance Prism. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature survey on performance measurement is used to identify the main aspects of the review in such systems. Various dimensions related to the characteristics of Performance Prism are explored. All the findings are then rationally put together to develop the proposed conceptual framework. Findings: The paper presents a conceptual model to review performance measurement systems (PMS) which are designed based on Performance Prism. The presented framework categorizes review processes and tools into two main categories; Business Performance... 

Development of design and production technology of centrifugal pumps for achieving better performance and less energy consumption in these devices has increasingly been taken into consideration. This is due to the fact that centrifugal pumps have an important contribution in industrial applications and energy consumption around the world. Accordingly, the international standards of centrifugal pumps, urge more precise analysis systems for obtaining the performance curves of these pumps. For this reason, a complete, precise and real-time monitoring and performance analysis system for centrifugal pumps is introduced in this paper. The pump characteristics are measured by precise measuring... 

This article presents a novel identification approach which can deal with nonlinear and time-varying characteristics of complex dynamic systems, especially an aerial vehicle in the entire flight envelope. A set of local sub-models are first developed at different operating points of the system, and subsequently a self-organizing multi-model ensemble is introduced to aggregate the outputs of the local models as a single model. The number of employed local models in the proposed multi-model ensemble is optimized using a novel self-organizing approach. Also, wavelet neural networks, which combine both the universal approximation property of neural networks and the wavelet decomposition... 

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) encourage the use of various Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) strategies, which can help reduce onsite construction time, minimize traffic and environmental impacts, improve work zone safety, and deliver longer lasting and more durable bridges. ABC approaches include the application of technical innovations and management techniques. The decision to use ABC must be made on a project-by-project basis as each bridge location is unique, and factors constraining each project are different. Toward this end, FHWA developed a qualitative decision making framework called... 

An adaptive neural guidance and control system is proposed in this paper for a generic fixed-wing aerial robot. Unlike most of the existing low-level control systems, which utilize a non-adaptive guidance loop, in this work both the guidance and control loops are trained using an efficient adaptive neural algorithm. A feedforward neural network is employed in each loop to identify uncertain dynamics, while an adaptive disturbance observer allows to compensate for both the external disturbances and estimation error of the neural network. This would lead to a resilient flight control system, and thus, the asymptotic stability of both the guidance and control loops can be theoretically ensured... 

Holding yokes made of investment cast 17-4PH stainless steel were too soft (below 20. HRC). Optical microscopy of the parts showed that there is a high fraction of retained austenite after oil quench due to high amount of molybdenum found in parts as an impurity. Subzero treatment in liquid nitrogen after solution heat treating was used to convert retained austenite to martensite but parts became too brittle and fractured during post-heat treating machining. Double and triple aging at 538 °C (1000 °F) after subzero cooling was done on parts. Detailed fractography and tensile testing along with optical microscopy (OM) investigation proved that repeated aging at 538 °C (1000 °F) led to lower... 

Text processing, as one of the main issues in the field of artificial intelligence, has received a lot of attention in recent decades. Numerous methods and algorithms are proposed to address the task of semantic textual similarity which is one of the sub-branches of text processing. Due to the special features of the Persian language and its non-standard writing system, finding semantic similarity is an even more challenging task in Persian. On the other hand, producing a proper corpus that can be used for training a model for finding semantic similarities, is of great importance. In this study, the main purpose is to propose a method for measuring the semantic similarity between short... 

At present, corrugated plates have numerous applications such as web of plate girders and aerospace applications. Higher out-of-plane stiffness and initial elastic strength of the corrugated plates compared with flat plates are reasons for consideration. This study investigates the behavior of trapezoidally corrugated steel plate shear walls (TCSPSWs) under monotonic and cyclic loadings. Finite element analyses that include both material and geometric nonlinearities are employed for the examination. The results from finite element analysis are verified through tested specimen findings. Moreover, the behavior of the steel shear walls with the flat infill panels and the corrugated plate infill...