Sharif Digital Repository

In the present work, micro-climate control of a fan-ventilated tunnel greenhouse with evaporative cooling is investigated via simulation study. For this purpose, the adaptive generalized predictive control (AGPC) strategy is adopted to control temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 concentration in the greenhouse on extremely hot summer days. A dynamic model which integrates a distributed model of greenhouse micro-climate with a crop growth model is used for numerical simulation of the tunnel greenhouse. The controller performance is analyzed via numerical simulation. The relative gain array analysis confirms that greenhouse micro-climatic parameters are highly interactive. However,... 

In this study, a new feature-based steganalytic method is presented and four classification methods: Fisher Linear Discriminant, Gaussian naïve Bayes, Multilayer perceptron, and k nearest neighbor, are compared for steganalysis of suspicious images. The method exploits statistics of the histogram, wavelet statistics, amplitudes of local extrema from the 1D and 2D adjacency histograms, center of mass of the histogram characteristic function and co-occurrence matrices for feature extraction process. In order to reduce the proposed features dimension and select the best subset, genetic algorithm is used and the results are compared through principle component analysis and linear discriminant... 

A new adaptive steganography method based on image contrast to improve the embedding capacity and imperceptibility of the stego images is presented. The method exploits the average difference between the gray level values of the pixels in 2x2 blocks of non-overlapping spatially and their mean gray level in order to select valid blocks for embedding. The method was tested on different gray scale images. Results show that our proposed approach provides larger embedding capacity, while being less detectable by steganalysis methods such as χ2 attack and machine learning steganalysis systems, as compared to some well-known adaptive and non-adaptive steganography algorithms  

The use of manipulators in space missions has become popular, as their applications can be extended to various space missions such as on-orbit servicing, assembly, and debris removal. Due to space reachability limitations, such robots must accomplish their tasks in space autonomously and under severe operating conditions such as the occurrence of faults or uncertainties. For robots and manipulators used in space missions, this paper provides a unique, robust control technique based on Model Predictive Path Integral Control (MPPI). The proposed algorithm, named Planner-Estimator MPPI (PE-MPPI), comprises a planner and an estimator. The planner controls a system, while the estimator modifies... 

Oil analysis technique is used as predictive and proactive tools to identify the wear modes of rubbing parts and to diagnose the faults in machinery. In this paper, the wear behavior of diesel engines, especially on oil analysis, is studied based on condition data. In terms of analyzing historical data, descriptive statistics is used as data mining tools to find the relationship between condition factors of the machine and its final status. The equipments have been monitored in two different environments which are: plantation-forestry, and general construction. Based on this relationship a specific baseline is achieved for selected sets of equipment in their specific conditions. A striking... 

In this paper, the method of additive plasticity at finite deformations is generalized to the micropolar continuous media. It is shown that the non-symmetric rate of deformation tensor and gradient of gyration vector could be decomposed into elastic and plastic parts. For the finite elastic deformation, themicropolar hypo-elastic constitutive equations for isotropicmicropolar materials are considered.Concerning the additive decomposition and the micropolar hypo-elasticity as the basic tools, an elastic-plastic formulation consisting of an arbitrary number of internal variables and arbitrary form of plastic flow rule is derived. The localization conditions for the micropolar material obeying... 

In this paper, the concept of hyper-elasticity in the micropolar continuum theory is investigated. The restrictions on the fourth-order elasticity tensors are investigated. Using the representation theorems, a general form of constitutive equations for micropolar hyper-elastic isotropic materials is presented. As some special cases, generalizations of the neo-Hookean and Mooney-Rivlin type materials to the micropolar continuum theory are presented. The generalized constitutive equations reduce to those of the microplar linear elasticity theory when the deformations are infinitesimal. Also, Updated Lagrangian finite element formulations for the micropolar hyper-elastic materials are... 

In this paper, a linear theory for the analysis of beams based on the micropolar continuum mechanics is developed. Power series expansions for the axial displacement and micro-rotation fields are assumed. The governing equations are derived by integrating the momentum and moment of momentum equations in the micropolar continuum theory. Body couples and couple stresses can be supported in this theory. After some simplifications, this theory can be reduced to the well-known Timoshenko and Euler-Bernoulli beam theories. The nature of flexural and longitudinal waves in the infinite length micropolar beam has been investigated. This theory predicts the existence of micro-rotational waves which... 

In this paper, updated Lagrangian finite element formulations for large elastic deformation of micropolar hypo-elastic materials are presented. Using representation theorems of tensor functions, the general form of the constitutive equations for the micropolar hypo-elastic materials model are presented. The finite element formulations are based on the general form of the micropolar hypo-elastic constitutive equations in conjunction with Jaumann rate and a new rate called gyration rate. Gyration rate describes the deformation of the material in view of an observer attached to the micro-structure. An incrementally objective stress and couple stress update procedure is developed and its... 

Nickel ferrite nanoparticle is a soft magnetic material whose appealing properties as well as various technical applications have rendered it as one of the most attractive class of materials; its technical applications range from its utility as a sensor and catalyst to its utility in biomedical processes. The present paper focuses first on the synthesis of NiFe2O4 nanoparticles through co-precipitation method resulting in calcined nanoparticles that were achieved at different times and at a constant temperature (773 k). Afterward, they were dispersed in water that was mixed by chitosan. Chitosan was bonded on the surface of nanoparticles by controlling the pH of media. In order to assess the... 

Extrusion-based three-dimensional (3D) printing has recently become a major field that provides significant benefits, as it is principally employed to fabricate 3D scaffolds, exploiting soft biomaterials. The 3D printing hydrogel-based ink requires crucial properties, such as printability and printing fidelity to fabricate the appropriate structure. However, it typically uses trial and error techniques to achieve a three-dimensional structure, which wastes material and time. This study employed multiphysics simulation to predicate the potential printability of chitosan hydrogel as a desirable biomaterial used in tissue engineering. The flow was presumed to be laminar and two-phased in the... 

If at least one out of two serial machines that produce a specific product in manufacturing environments malfunctions, there will be non conforming items produced. Determining the optimal time of the machines' maintenance is the one of major concerns. While a convenient common practice for this kind of problem is to fit a single probability distribution to the combined defect data, it does not adequately capture the fact that there are two different underlying causes of failures. A better approach is to view the defects as arising from a mixture population: one due to the first machine failures and the other due to the second one. In this article, a mixture model along with both Bayesian... 

In this research, an iterative approach is employed to analyze and classify the states of uni-variate quality control systems. To do this, a measure (called the belief that process is in-control) is first defined and then an equation is developed to update the belief recursively by taking new observations on the quality characteristic under consideration. Finally, the upper and the lower control limits on the belief are derived such that when the updated belief falls outside the control limits an out-of-control alarm is received. In order to understand the proposed methodology and to evaluate its performance, some numerical examples are provided by means of simulation. In these examples, the... 

In this research, we employ Bayesian inference and stochastic dynamic programming approaches to select the binomial population with the largest probability of success from n independent Bernoulli populations based upon the sample information. To do this, we first define a probability measure called belief for the event of selecting the best population. Second, we explain the way to model the selection problem using Bayesian inference. Third, we clarify the model by which we improve the beliefs and prove that it converges to select the best population. In this iterative approach, we update the beliefs by taking new observations on the populations under study. This is performed using Bayesian... 

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an irreversible bulge in the artery with higher prevalence among the elderlies. Increase of the aneurysm diameter by time is a fatal phenomenon which will lead to its sidewall rupture. Invasive surgical treatments are vital in preventing from AAA development. These approaches however have considerable side effects. Targeted drug delivery using microbubbles (MBs) has been recently employed to suppress the AAA growth. The present study is aimed to investigate the surface adhesion of different types of drug-containing MBs to the inner wall of AAA through ligand-receptor binding, using fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation by using a patient CT-scan... 

The advancement in technology, information and communication has forced banks and financial institutions into hard competition. In this new era technology, people and customer are the elements which the banks are concentrating on them to manage customer relationship and success of banking in customer satisfaction. Electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) is seen to arise from the consolidation of traditional CRM with the e-business applications marketplace and has created a flurry of activity among companies. The purpose of this study is to examine the competitive advantages on e-CRM in financial institutions and banks and obtain better understanding of the e-CRM benefits. A... 

Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) are designed for precision inspection of complex industrial products. Even though CMMs have high accuracy in electrical systems, mechanical structures prevent very high accuracy in these machines. Mechanical accuracy of CMMs depends on both static and dynamic sources of error. In automated CMMs, one of the dynamic error sources is the vibration of probes, due to inertia forces resulting from parts deceleration. Modeling of a gantry type CMM, based on the Timoshenko beam theory, is developed and the natural frequencies of the CMM system, at different positions of the probe, are calculated. Findings from the analytical and finite elements method indicate... 

Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMMs) are designed for precision inspection of complex industrial products. The mechanical accuracy of CMMs depends on both static and dynamic sources of error. In automated CMMs, one of the dynamic error sources is vibration of the probe, due to inertia forces resulting from parts acceleration and deceleration. Modeling of a gantry type CMM, based on the Timoshenko beam theory with moving mass effects, is developed and the dynamic errors of the probe resulting from the acceleration and deceleration of moving parts, are calculated. Findings from analytical solution and dynamic modeling software indicate high accuracy and good agreement between the results. ©... 

Background: In the present study, a novel bioink was suggested based on the OAlg, GL, and SF hydrogels. Methods: The composition of the bioink was optimized by the rheological and printability measurements, and the extrusion-based 3D bioprinting process was performed by applying the optimum OAlg-based bioink. Results: The results demonstrated that the viscosity was continuously decreased by increasing the SF/GL ratio, but the bioink displayed a maximum achievable printability (92 ± 2%) at 2% (w/v) of SF and 4% (w/v) of GL. Moreover, the cellular behavior of the scaffolds investigated by MTT and live/dead assays confirmed the biocompatibility of the prepared bioink. Conclusion: The bioprinted...