Sharif Digital Repository

This study presents a new method called FCSMM (Fuzzy Customer Satisfaction Measurement Method) for measuring individual customer satisfaction using a fuzzy inference system. The main advantage of this method is its simplification in evaluation of Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) based on simple linguistic statements collected from experienced people. In contrast with assumptions used in other methods such as linear regression principles and predefined criteria weights, the aforementioned statements form the FCSMM computational structure. Since the drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction and performance indexes can be simultaneously applied, concurrent direct and indirect customer... 

In this paper, a practical simulation method for optimizing of x-ray reflection of nano-multilayer mirrors in three different edge energies: Cr-Kα, Co-Kα, and Ti-Kα is discussed in order to obtain the most reflection based on quarter-wave thickness method (QW). In this method, the reflected x-ray will have a constructive interference, and a peak, called Brag peak, will appear in reflection curve when the tickness of the layer is an odd multiple of the quarter-wave thickness. The quarter-wave thickness is dependent to on the angle and energy of the entrance photon beam. In the mentioned edge energies, for different nano-multilayer mirrors, and for incident angle ranges from 0.5 to 8 degrees,... 

The current work deals with modification of the surface of a silica-polyamine with amine-based ionic liquid (IL) and its application for removal of Cu2+ from an aqueous media. The absorbent is simply prepared from commercially available reagents. The material is characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), N2 adsorption-desorption, and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). Effects of several parameters on absorption efficiency, as well as activity of the absorbent to other metals, are also investigated. Moreover, the reusability of the absorbent is studied at the optimized condition. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016  

One of the most primary phases of automatic text processing is spelling error detection and grapheme normalization. Storing textual documents faces several problems without passing this phase, which causes a disturbance in retrieving the documents automatically. Therefore, specialists in the fields of natural language processing and computational linguistics usually make an attempt to sample various data through presenting ideal methods and algorithms in order to reach the normalized data. Several researches have been conducted on English and some other languages, which have been followed by a certain amount of researches on Farsi too. Sometimes, these several researches have remained to be... 

An essential requirement for performing robotic assisted surgery on a freely beating heart is a prediction algorithm which can estimate the future trajectory of the heart in the varying heart rate (HR) conditions of real surgery with a high accuracy. In this study, a hybrid amplitude modulation- (AM) and autoregressive- (AR) based algorithm was developed to enable estimating the global and local oscillations of the beating heart, raised from its major and minor physiological activities. The AM model was equipped with an estimator of the heartbeat frequency to compensate for the HR variations. The RMS of the prediction errors of the hybrid algorithm was in the range of 165–361 μm for the... 

Background: An essential requirement for performing robotic-assisted surgery on a freely beating heart is a prediction algorithm that can estimate the future heart trajectory. Method: Heart motion, respiratory volume (RV) and electrocardiogram (ECG) signal were measured from two dogs during thoracotomy surgery. A comprehensive multimodality prediction algorithm was developed based on the multivariate autoregressive model to incorporate the heart trajectory and cardiorespiratory data with multiple inherent measurement rates explicitly. Results: Experimental results indicated strong relationships between the dominant frequencies of heart motion with RV and ECG. The prediction algorithm... 

Present work illustrated that the performance of ultrafine silica (Si) particles was improved considerably by rational hybridization with nanodiamond (ND). For this, Si@ND hybrid particles synthesized by chemical hybridization were incorporated into styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) up to 10 phr. Scanning electron microscopy revealed coarse flower-like clusters for Si@ND nanohybrids, while Si exhibited rigid agglomerates in SBR. Comparing with physical hybrid (Si&ND) and single Si particles, it was revealed that chemical hybrids synergistically improved tensile properties, like 100% and 135% improvements in tensile strength and elongation at break, respectively. Dynamic mechanical analysis of... 

Background: Accurate tracking of the heart surface motion is a major requirement for robot assisted beating heart surgery. Method: The feasibility of a stereo infrared tracking system for measuring the free beating heart motion was investigated by experiments on a heart motion simulator, as well as model surgery on a dog. Results: Simulator experiments revealed a high tracking accuracy (81 μm root mean square error) when the capturing times were synchronized and the tracker pointed at the target from a 100 cm distance. The animal experiment revealed the applicability of the infrared tracker with passive markers in practical heart surgery conditions. Conclusion: With the current technology,... 

Biomarkers-based QCM-biosensors are suitable tools for the label-free detection of infectious diseases. In the current study, a QCM-biosensor was developed for the detection of HBsAg. Briefly, anti-HBsAg antibodies were covalently bound to the primary amines after PEI and thiolated-PEI surface modifications of gold-electrode. After RSM optimization, the statistical analysis revealed no significant difference between the immobilization yields of modified layers. Therefore, the PEI-modified QCM-biosensor was selected for further analysis. The PEI-surface was evaluated by FESEM, AFM, ATR-FTIR, and CA measurement. The surface hydrophilicity and its roughness were increased after PEI-coating.... 

The procedures currently used for hepatitis B (HB) detection are not suitable for screening, clinical diagnosis, and point-of-care testing (POCT). Therefore, we developed and tested a QCM-based immunosensor by surface modification with AuNP-PEIs to amplify the signal and provide an oriented-immobilization surface. The AuNP-PEIs were characterized by ICP-Mass, UV/Vis, DLS, FE-SEM, and ATR-FTIR. After coating AuNP-PEIs on the gold electrode surface, anti-HBsAg antibodies were immobilized using NHS/EDC chemistry based on response surface methodology (RSM) optimization. The efficiency of the immunosensor was assessed by human sera and data were compared to gold-standard ELISA using... 

The history of plants to be utilized as medicines is thousands of years old. Black cumin is one of the most widely examined plant possessing naturally occurring compounds with antimicrobial potential. Foliar application of growth stimulators is a successful strategy to enhance yield and quality in many crops. A field study was planned to apply growth stimulator like moringa leaf extract on black cumin crop grown under field conditions using RCB design with three replications. All other agronomic inputs and practices were uniform. The treatments were moringa leaf extract concentrations (10%, 20%), growth stages (40 days after sowing, 80 DAS, 120 DAS, 40 + 80 DAS, 40 + 120 DAS, 80 + 120 DAS,... 

Silver nanoparticles (Ag. NPs) have shown a biological activity range, synthesized under different environment-friendly approaches. Ag. NPs were synthesized using aqueous crude extract (ACE) isolated from Plantago lanceolata. The ACE and Ag. NPs were characterized and assessed their biological and antioxidant activities. The existence of nanoparticles (NPs) was confirmed by color shift, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and UV–Vis’s spectroscopy. The FT-IR analysis indicated the association of biomolecules (phenolic acid and flavonoids) to reduce silver (Ag+) ions. The SEM study demonstrated a sphere-shaped and mean size in the range of 30 ± 4 nm. The EDX spectrum revealed that the Ag. NPs were...