Sharif Digital Repository

The unwanted effects of diffraction and defocus aberration in three-dimensional integral imaging are taken into account by using the Fourier optics approach. The concepts of point spread function and optical transfer function widely in use for conventional two-dimensional imaging are generalized and applied to three-dimensional integral imaging systems. The effects of diffraction and defocus aberration are then studied and the performance of the conventional single lens imaging system is compared against that of the integral imaging  

The present work studied bioactive coatings on the surface of ceramic biomaterials. Zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) composites containing 15 mol.-%. Partially stabilised zirconia was prepared after 1 h sintering at 1550°C. Apatite layers were then coated onto the surfaces of composites by the biomimetic method using 1·5-2 multiply concentrations of simulated body fluid (SBF). Before treatment in SBFs, a sodium silicate layer was employed as nucleating agent to induce the formation of a calcium phosphate layer. The effect of immersion time on the morphology of the precipitate was monitored with a scanning electron microscope. X dot maps revealed that there is a relationship between... 

Zirconia Toughened Alumina (ZTA) Nanocomposites were prepared using Nano sized Zirconia (ZrO2) powders doped with 3% mol of yttria (Y 2O3) nanopowders. Diffusion of α-alumina (Al 2O3) nanoparticles as well as yttria into the Zirconia lattice network drives monoclinic - tetragonal martensitic transformation. Zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) composites containing different amount of partially stabilized Zirconia (PSZ) 5, 10, 15 and 20% mol, were prepared via wet mixing and axial pressing. After sintering at different temperatures,1450, 1550 and 1650 °C, phase change in the samples were monitored. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that at constant composition, tetragonal zirconia was increased... 

Palladium nanoparticles immobilized on a cross-linked imidazolium-containing polymer were evaluated as a catalyst for Suzuki carbon-carbon cross-coupling reactions using water as the solvent. The nanocatalysts show good catalytic activities for aryl iodides and aryl bromides and moderate activity with aryl chloride substrates. Coupling of sterically hindered substrates could also be achieved in reasonable yields. The heterogeneous catalyst is stable, can be stored without precautions to exclude air or moisture, and can be easily recycled and reused  

The interest in wearable systems among the biomedical engineering and clinical community continues to escalate as technical refinements enhance their potential use for both indoor and outdoor applications. For example, an important wearable technology known as a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is demonstrating promising applications in the area of biomedical engineering. Accordingly, this study was designed to investigate the Sharif-Human Movement Instrumentation System (SHARIF-HMIS), consisting of inertial measurement units (IMUs), stretchable clothing, and a data logger—all of which can be used outside the controlled environment of a laboratory, thus enhancing its overall utility.... 

Objective(s): Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered as a chronic type of an inflammatory disease characterized by loss of myelin of CNS. Recent evidence indicates that Interleukin 17 (IL-17)-producing T helper cells (Th17 cells) population are increased and regulatory T cells (Treg cells) are decreased in MS. Despite extensive research in understanding the mechanism of Th17 and Treg differentiation, the role of microRNAs in MS is not completely understood. Thereby, as a step closer, we analyzed the expression profile of miR-9-5p and miR-106a-5p, and protein level of retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-related orphan receptor C (RORC; Th17 master transcription factor) as direct target of miR-106a-5p... 

Modern societies are strongly dependent on the continuous and efficient operation of electric power systems as a critical infrastructure. Besides, information and communication systems play a crucial role in the resiliency enhancement of the power system. As power communication systems are vulnerable against physical and cyber attack, these systems themselves can be an internal source of threat for power grids. Therefore, there is a need to identify and study the threats and weaknesses of power communication systems using a comprehensive framework. This framework helps power communication network planners evaluate all challenges and their numerous effects on the system, as a very important... 

The local oscillator phase noise can severely affect the performance of OFDM systems. In this paper a new method is presented for compensation of this phase noise. The method is based on the fact that the scattered pilots, which are used for channel estimation, are subject to the same phase error as the OFDM symbols. Least square approach is used to exploit the phase noise information that exists in the scattered pilots and compensate the phase noise on the OFDM symbols. Simulation results show that the method is very effective, especially in high SNR  

A series of cross-linked ionic polymers based on styrene-functionalized imidazolium salts with chloride, hexafluorophosphate, or tetrafluoroborate counter anions have been prepared and characterized using a range of analytical and spectroscopic techniques and electron microscopy. The polymer with the chloride anion is an efficient catalyst for the cycloaddition of carbon dioxide with epoxides to afford cyclic carbonates. The cross-linked polymer is insoluble in organic solvents and is highly stable and therefore can be easily recycled and reused  

In this study, a simple and novel control technique for Power Factor Correction (PFC) is introduced, which is a SEPIC-based (Single-ended Primary-inductor Converter based) rectifier with high input power factor. Operation of the proposed method is based on sampling of input and output voltages in SEPIC rectifier. Using samples of input and output voltage, this control system makes the input current to follow a sinusoidal path. As a result, the line current?'s Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is reduced and the input power factor is improved. This paper also compares the new method with the conventional control method for the power factor correction. In order to examine the proposed control... 

Global environmental pollution and energy supply demand have been regarded as important concerns in recent years. Metal oxide semiconductor photocatalysts is a promising approach to apply environmental remediation as well as fuel generation from water splitting and carbon dioxide reduction. ZnO nanostructures have been shown promising photocatalytic activities due to their non-toxic, inexpensive, and highly efficient nature. However, its wide band gap hinders photo-excitation for practical photocatalytic applications under solar light as an abundant, clean and safe energy source. To overcome this barrier, many strategies have been developed in the last decade to apply ZnO nanostructured... 

Much efforts have been made in the area of energy security in recent years, but due to its wide scope, it is necessary to review relevant knowledge activities and to analyze the state of knowledge of the field of energy security measurement. The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive map of knowledge in the field of energy security. For this reason, many documents and articles have been collected during the period 2002–2019 using 7 large and reputable scientific databases as well as 53 different journals, 90% white Q1 quality. There is employed meta-synthesis, scientometrics and network analysis. In the initial survey stage where 1290 articles were found, after analyzing the... 

In this study a new method is proposed for quantification of cardiac muscle motions in echocardiography frames based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and manifold learning method. EMD algorithm is able to extract intrinsic mode functions (IMF) from a signal. In the first bi-dimension intrinsic mode functions (BIMF) of echocardiography frames myocardial is shown with more details than the second BIMF and the second BIMF shows more details than the third BIMF. By using manifold learning method, quantification difference between each pair of consecutive frames in the first, second and third BIMF series (similarities between the frames were extracted). Acquired trajectories of three... 

WO3 thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as dispersing agent. Physical and photoelectrochemical properties of the synthesized nanocrystalline films were studied by varying weight ratio of PEG to tungsten precursor (x). Based on AFM observations and statistical modeling of the WO3 surface, the thickness of the films increased by increasing the amount of x with a nearly linear fashion while the surface roughness reached to a saturated value. However, the film synthesized with x = 4 showed a chaotic surface behavior. Optical analysis revealed that by increasing the x, transmittance of the films decreased while their band gap energies remained unchanged.... 

Transparent electrowetting is a branch of Electrowetting on Dielectric (EWOD) devices that use transparent electrodes. These devices are often utilized for optical applications like liquid lenses and reflective displays. In this paper, for the first time, a transparent EWOD with permanent liquid electrodes is introduced. A conductive solution was used as electrodes instead of conventional solid-state ones. We study the speed of droplets in both the proposed design and a similar conventional Printed Circuit Board (PCB) EWOD. The concept of Liquid Electrode EWOD (LEWOD) is successfully implemented on both rigid and flexible substrates. Our results generally show a promising performance similar... 

This paper proposes a risk analysis framework for substation structures based on reliability methods. Even though several risk assessment approaches have been developed for buildings, detailed risk analysis procedures for infrastructure components have been lacking in prior studies. The proposed framework is showcased by its application to a system of interconnected structures at a power substation in Tehran. Finite element models of structures are developed and validated in accordance with previous experiments. The uncertainties in the material, mass, and geometric properties of structures are described by random variables that are input to the finite element model. An artificial ground... 

Three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide (3D-rGO) structures decorated with CuO particles (GCu) are synthesized through a simple and scalable method for detection of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. For characterization and investigation of porous structure various techniques were employed. Decorated 3D structures demonstrated higher sensitivity and selectivity in comparison to pure structure. Optimized structure for sensing was obtained through introducing different amounts of CuO. The GCu heterostructures containing 35 μmol of CuO powder demonstrated reproducible response of about 30% to the concentration of 10 ppm at room temperature, while complete recovery was obtained through heating to 150... 

We proposed a Primal-Dual Interior Point Method (PDIPM) to solve a combined Environmental and Economic Power Dispatch (EEPD) problem. The EEPD problem is a multiobjective problem with competing and non-commensurable objectives. The PDIPM produces a set of nondominated Pareto optimal solutions for the problem. Fuzzy set theory is employed to extract a compromise nondominated solution. The proposed algorithm is applied to the standard IEEE 30 bus six-generator test system. Comparison of our PDIPM results with the various algorithms reported in the literature shows that the solutions of the proposed algorithm are very accurate for the EEPD problem  

The inventory replenishment policy exploited by a supply chain has a principle role in amplification of order variability compared to fluctuations in customers' demands. This phenomenon is known as the bullwhip effect. In this paper, a four echelon supply chain is simulated and the impacts of continuous and periodic review order-up-to policies on the bullwhip effect are examined. Experiments have been conducted to analyze the influence of the lead time in deterministic conditions, and also the variance of demand and lead time in stochastic circumstances on the bullwhip effect and the corresponding cost. It was observed that in low demand and lead time variances, it is more efficient to...