Sharif Digital Repository

This work introduces a new gradient fiber coating for microextraction of chlorobenzenes. Nanoclusters of organoclay-Cu(II) on a copper wire were fabricated by wireless electrofunctionalization. The resultant gradient coatings are more robust, and thermally and mechanically stable. Wireless electrofunctionalization was carried out in a bipolar cell under a constant deposition potential and using an ethanolic electrolyte solution containing stearic acid and montmorillonite. Stearic acid acts as an inexpensive and green coating while montmorillonite acts as a modifier to impart thermal stability. The gradient morphology of the nanoclusters was investigated by scanning electron microscopy,... 

In this research, three fibers including cellulose acetate (CA), CA–phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES) prepared via sol–gel electrospinning and sol–gel–based CA fibers immersed in PTES solution (dipped–CA–PTES) were prepared. The composition and morphology of the prepared fibers were evaluated by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The prepared fibers were implemented in a home–made needle trap device, followed by thermal desorption of the selected chlorobenzenes (CBs) to a gas chromatography–flame ionization detector. Finally, parameters affecting the extraction methodology such as the amount of sorbent, extraction time and temperature, desorption... 

The aim of this study is to introduce an extractive phase based on gradient concept by continuous changing in chemical functional groups for non–targeted analysis. For this purpose, three different two–component coatings containing (3–aminopropyl)trimethoxysilane (APTES) as polar and either phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES), octyl–trimethoxysilane (OTMS) or methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as nonpolar precursors were formed on the modified stainless steel wires using controlled rate infusion (CRI) method. The presence of polar and/or non–polar functional groups on the surface of substrate was evaluated by Fourier–transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) together with contact angles determined... 

A gradient derived base layer extractive phase was synthesized and applied for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in saliva samples using the headspace cooled in–tube microextraction (HS–CITME) method. The base layers from three different sols of phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES), octyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as nonpolar precursors were individually dip coated on the stainless steel wires (SSW). Then, the hydrolyzed polar precursor aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) reacted with the silanol groups already formed on the surface of SSWs via controlled rate infusion (CRI) method. The presence of polar and non–polar functional groups on the... 

In this article, two adaptive model predictive controllers (AMPC) are applied to regulate the blood glucose in type 1 diabetic patients. The first controller is constructed based on a linear model, while the second one is designed by using a nonlinear Hammerstein model. The adaptive version of these control schemes is considered to make them more robust against model mismatches and external disturbances. The least squares method with forgetting factor is used to update the model parameters. For simulation study, two well-known mathematical models namely, Puckett and Hovorka which describe the dynamical behavior of patient's body have been selected. The performances and robustness of the... 

The anomalous top quark interactions with gluon (tug, tcg) allow the production of single top quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Using the angular distribution of the charged lepton from the W boson in the top decay, we show that with the data of 10 fb-1 of integrated luminosity and in the collisions with the center of mass energy of 14TeV, the anomalous up and charm quarks coupling parameters κu,c/Λ can be measured down to 0.005 and 0.007 TeV-1, respectively  

This paper is concerned with the investigation of an optical band-pass filter based on subwavelength surface plasmon polaritons. The transmission characteristics are numerically analyzed by the finite-difference time-domain method, and simulation results reveal that the structure has a band-pass filtering characteristic. The metal–insulator–metal plasmonic nanostructure is implemented by several vertical rectangular cavities across an optical waveguide. The metal and dielectric materials utilized for the realization of the filter are silver and air, respectively. Furthermore, the performance can be efficiently modified by tuning the geometric parameters such as the cavities’ length and width... 

In this study, the local composition based models such as the Wilson, the nonrandom two-liquid (NRTL), and the Wilson-NRF have been applied in correlation and estimation of density, viscosity, and surface tension of biodiesels. The thermodynamic models have been used in correlating the thermophysical properties for 215 experimental data points. These models have the interaction energy between each pair that is considered as adjustable parameters. To decrease the number of these adjustable parameters, it is assumed that the biodiesels are composed of two hypothetical components. The average absolute deviation (AADs) of the correlated density of biodiesels for the Wilson, the NRTL, and the... 

A significant portion of Iranian flat breads are produced in semi-industrial, indirect-heating ovens. Therefore, an efficient oven design and a proper selection of operating conditions are crucial to improve the product quality and reduce energy consumption. In the present study, a mathematical model is developed to simulate a semi-industrial, indirect-heating, continuous oven performance during contact baking of an Iranian flat bread, referred to as Taftoon. Individual modes of heat transfer are considered among various components of the baking system to estimate the system performance and the bread quality in terms of design and operating conditions. The predictions of this model are in... 

In this research, direct conversion of wet algal biomass into biodiesel using supercritical methanol was studied. In this process, microalgal lipids simultaneously was extracted and converted to biodiesel under high pressure and temperature conditions without using any catalyst. Several experiments have been performed to optimize the methanol amount and it has been revealed that the best performance was achieved by using methanol/wet biomass ratio of 8:1. The effect of using various co-solvents in increasing the efficiency of the supercritical process was investigated. It has been shown that hexane was the most effective co-solvent and its optimal ratio respect to wet biomass was 6:1. The... 

The extraction and purification of lipids from the microalgae Chlorella vulgaris have been investigated. First, a mixture of hexane and ethanol was used to extract lipids from the algal biomass. Ultrasonication was employed to disrupt the cell wall and increase the extraction performance. Under these conditions, over 90% of the fatty acids in the biomass were extracted. Second, a biphasic system was formed by adding water and hexane to the extracted crude oil. In this way, fatty acids were mainly distributed in the organic phase (mostly hexane and ethanol) while most of the contaminants remained in the aqueous phase (mostly water and ethanol). Equilibrium distribution data between the phases... 

This paper proposes an Age-Dependent Clustering (ADC) structure to be used for prognostics. To achieve this aim, a step-by-step methodology is introduced, that includes clustering, reproduction, mapping, and finally estimation of Remaining Useful Life (RUL). In the mapping step, a neural fitting tool is used. To clarify the age-based clustering concept, the main elements of the ADC model is discussed. A Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the elements of the optimal model. Lastly, the fuzzy technique is applied to modify the clustering. By investigating a case study on the health monitoring of some turbofan engines, the efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated. The results showed... 

Design and development of FGMs as the heat treatable materials for high-temperature environments with thermal protection require understanding of exact temperature and thermal stress distribution in the transient state. This information is primary tool in the design and optimization of the devices for failure prevention. Frequently FGMs are used in many applications that presumably produce thermal energy transport via wave propagation. In this study, transient non-Fourier temperature and associated thermal stresses in a functionally graded slab symmetrically heated on both sides are determined. Hyperbolic heat conduction equation in terms of heat flux is used for obtaining temperature... 

The governing equations of coupled thermoelasticity of Timoshenko micro-beams are developed based on the generalized thermoelastic theory and non-Fourier heat conduction model. Such problems may arise in MEMS such as micro-pumps as well as micro-sensors. The present model is on the basis of non-classical continuum theory and non-Fourier heat conduction model which has capability of capturing the size-effect in micro-scaled structures. Governing equations and both classical and non-classical boundary conditions of motion are obtained using the variational approach. As the case study, the present model is utilized for the simply supported micro-beams subjected to a constant impulsive force per... 

A size-dependent, explicit formulation for coupled thermoelasticity addressing a Timoshenko microbeam is derived in this study. This novel model combines modified couple stresses and non-Fourier heat conduction to capture size effects in the microscale. To this purpose, a length-scale parameter as square root of the ratio of curvature modulus to shear modulus and a thermal relaxation time as the phase lag of heat flux vector are considered for predicting the thermomechanical behavior in a microscale device accurately. Governing equations and boundary conditions of motion are obtained simultaneously through variational formulation based on Hamilton's principle. As for case study, the model is... 

This paper reviews the applications of experimental design to optimize some analytical chemistry techniques such as extraction, chromatography separation, capillary electrophoresis, spectroscopy, and electroanalytical methods  

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) have been introduced to significantly reduce the temperature and thermal stresses on structures at severe thermal loading. Design and development of FGMs as the heat treatable and energy-absorbing materials for high-temperature and thermal protection systems requires understanding of exact temperature and thermal stress distribution, in order to optimize their resistance to failure. In this study, transient temperature and associated thermal stresses in a functionally graded slab symmetrically heated on both sides are determined by separation of the variables scheme. This method is applied to the heat conduction equation in terms of heat flux for... 

This paper reviews the main concepts of experimental design applicable to the optimization of analytical chemistry techniques. The critical steps and tools for screening, including Plackett-Burman, factorial and fractional factorial designs, and response surface methodology such as central composite, Box-Behnken, and Doehlert designs, are discussed. Some useful routines are also presented for performing the procedures  

Multivariate curve resolution-particle swarm optimization (MCR-PSO) algorithm is proposed to exploit pure chromatographic and spectroscopic information from multi-component hyphenated chromatographic signals. This new MCR method is based on rotation of mathematically unique PCA solutions into the chemically meaningful MCR solutions. To obtain a proper rotation matrix, an objective function based on non-fulfillment of constraints is defined and is optimized using particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. Initial values of rotation matrix are calculated using local rank analysis and heuristic evolving latent projection (HELP) method. The ability of MCR-PSO in resolving the chromatographic...