Sharif Digital Repository

One of the main issues in the field of social and cognitive robotics is the robot’s ability to recognize emotional states and emotional interaction between robots and humans. Through effective emotional interaction, robots will be able to perform many tasks in human society. In this research, we have developed a robotic platform and a vision system to recognize the emotional state of the user through its facial expressions, which leads to a more realistic humanrobot interaction (HRI). First, a number of features are extracted according to points detected by a vision system from the face of the user. Then, the emotional state of the user is analyzed with the help of these features. For the... 

Reciprocal interaction and facial expression are some of the most interesting topics in the fields of social and cognitive robotics. On the other hand, children with autism show a particular interest toward robots, and facial expression recognition can improve these children’s social interaction abilities in real life. In this research, a robotic platform has been developed for reciprocal interaction consisting of two main phases, namely as Non-structured and Structured interaction modes. In the Non-structured interaction mode, a vision system recognizes the facial expressions of the user through a fuzzy clustering method. The interaction decision-making unit is combined with a fuzzy finite... 

This paper presents the design performance characteristics of a novel Robotic Mannequin, “RoMa”, developed for the fashion industry. RoMa, a full-body humanoid social robot platform, is currently in the final stages of development for visual merchandising to promote customer appeal. RoMa is characterized by nine features which are listed as: appealing appearance, avoiding the uncanny valley, easy maintenance, interactive, light weight, low developmental cost, suitable body movements, suitable color, and user friendly. In this paper, important design procedures and considerations are briefly presented and discussed. © 2017, Springer International Publishing AG  

This letter adopts an atomistic modeling approach to study free vibrational characteristics of C60, C70, and C80 fullerenes. In this regard, we use the molecular structural mechanics consisting of equivalent structural beams to calculate the nonzero natural frequencies. The simulation results indicate that the first natural frequency of the fullerene is in the order terahertz and decreases nonlinearly with respect to the number of the carbon atoms  

Underground pipelines are important infrastructure for transporting energy resources, particularly water and oil. Due to the high risk of damage and possible consequences, close monitoring of pipelines is a serious challenge for researchers and decision makers. Piezoelectric sensors/actuators are being used to monitor the physical characteristics of pipelines, including corrosion and crack. Piezoelectric ceramics as transmitters and/or receivers are connected to data concentrators in order to monitor the defects in pipelines. The performance and accuracy of this system highly depends on the accurate interpretation of the received electrical signals due to changing mechanical fields. However,... 

This paper presents a new group key management protocol, CKC (Code for Key Calculation) for secure IP multicast. In this protocol which is based on logical key hierarchy, only the group key needs to be sent to new member at join. Then, using the group key current members and the new member calculate the necessary keys by node codes and one-way hash function. A node code is a random number assigned to each node to help users calculate necessary keys. Again, at leave server just sends the new group key to the remaining members. By this key, members calculate necessary keys using node codes and one-way hash function. The security of the keys is based on one-wayness of hash function. The results... 

This paper presents a new group key management protocol, CKC (Code for Key Calculation). This protocol is based on logical key hierarchy. When a new member joins the group, server sends only the group key for that member. Then, current members and the new member calculate the necessary keys using node codes and one-way hash function. Node code is a code which is assigned to each node of the key tree. Again at leave, server just sends the new group key to remaining members. By this key, members calculate necessary keys using node codes and one-way hash function. The security of the keys is based on one-wayness of hash function. The results show that CKC reduces computational and communication... 

Potential effects of folates on the treatment of several human diseases like cognitive function, neural tube defects, coronary heart disease and certain kinds of cancers have been discovered. However, the stability of folic acid against adverse conditions is a great concern. The present study investigates various alginate (A)–pectin (P) gastrointestinal-resistant hydrogel to immobilize folic acid. This involves evaluating different compositions of alginate–pectin to achieve higher encapsulation efficiency and stability during simulated gastric (SG) and simulated intestinal (SI) conditions. Coated alginate hydrogels with pectin resulted significant (p < 0.05) better protection of folic acid... 

In the sleep mode, a Mobile Subscribe Station (MSS) sleeps for a sleep interval and wakes up at the end of this interval in order to check buffered packet(s) at Base Station (BS) destined to it. If there is no packet, the MSS increases the sleep window up to the maximum value or keeps it unchanged and sleeps again. In this paper, we study the effect of presence of multi service connections with different power saving classes (PSCs) on power consumption for IEEE 802.16e nodes while operating in the sleep mode. Using multi service connections may result in overlapping of availability and unavailability intervals and reducing the effectiveness of power saving mode of the subscriber. © 2007 IEEE... 

Spam mails are unwanted mails sent to large number of users. Spam mails not only consume the network resources, but cause security threats as well. This paper proposes an efficient technique to detect, and to prevent spam mail in the sender side rather than the receiver side. This technique is based on a counter set on the sender server. When a mail is transmitted to the server, the mail server checks the number of the recipients based on its counter policy. The counter policy performed by the mail server is based on some pre-defined criteria. When the number of recipients exceeds the counter policy, the mail server discontinues the rest of the process, and sends a failure mail to sender of... 

Spam mails are unwanted mails sent to large number of users. Spam mails not only consume the network resources, but cause security threats as well. This paper proposes an efficient technique to detect, and to prevent spam mail in the sender side rather than the receiver side. This technique is based on a counter set on the sender server. When a mail is transmitted to the server, the mail server checks the number of the recipients based on its counter policy. The counter policy performed by the mail server is based on some pre-defined criteria. When the number of recipients exceeds the counter policy, the mail server discontinues the rest of the process, and sends a failure mail to sender of... 

Here in this research, we report on surface engineering of bulk Cu2O photocathode thorough employing nanostructured materials. Nanorods (NRs) of copper oxide with average lengths of 150 nm have been synthesized by anodization of Cu foil in aqueous KOH electrolyte, followed by annealing treatment. Several heating processes were examined to reach pure Cu2O nanostructures and lastly the moderate annealing procedure at 700 °C under Ar gas flow resulted in pure Cu2O nanostructures, confirmed by XRD analysis. Surface modified nanorod/bulk Cu2O electrode was prepared by spin coating of sediments suspension of anodized drop on bulk Cu2O film fabricated through thermal oxidation method, followed by... 

A high-throughput micro-solid-phase extraction device based on a 96-well plate was constructed and applied to the determination of pesticide residues in various apple samples. Butyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were copolymerized as a monolithic polymer and placed in the cylindrically shaped stainless-steel meshes of 96-micro-solid-phase extraction device and used as an extracting unit. Before the micro-solid-phase extraction, microwave-assisted extraction was employed to facilitate the transfer of the pesticide residues from the apple matrix to liquid media. Then, 1 mL of the aquatic samples was transferred into the 96-well plate and the 96-micro-solid-phase extraction... 

Vibrational analysis of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is performed using a finite element method (FEM). To this end, the vibrational behavior of bridge and cantilever SWCNTs with different side lengths and diameters is modeled by three-dimensional elastic beams and point masses. The beam element elastic properties are calculated by considering mechanical characteristics of the covalent bonds between the carbon atoms in the hexagonal lattice. The mass of each beam element is assumed as point masses at nodes coinciding with the carbon atoms. Implementing the atomistic simulation approach, the natural frequencies of zigzag and armchair SWCNTs are computed. It is observed that the... 

High mountains and cold climate in the north-west of Iran are critical factors for the design of optimized District Heating (DH) systems and energy-efficient buildings. It is essential to consider the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) that includes all costs, such as initial investment and operating costs, for designing an optimum DH system. Moreover, considering climate change for accurately predicting the required heating load is also necessary. In this research, a general optimization is carried out for the first time with the aim of a new design concept of a DH system according to a LCC, while considering all-involved parameters. This optimized design is based on various parameters such as ceiling... 

High mountains and cold climate in the north-west of Iran are critical factors for the design of optimized District Heating (DH) systems and energy-efficient buildings. It is essential to consider the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) that includes all costs, such as initial investment and operating costs, for designing an optimum DH system. Moreover, considering climate change for accurately predicting the required heating load is also necessary. In this research, a general optimization is carried out for the first time with the aim of a new design concept of a DH system according to a LCC, while considering all-involved parameters. This optimized design is based on various parameters such as ceiling... 

The application of incinerators for the municipal solid waste (MSW) is growing due to the ability of such instruments to produce energy and, more specifically, reduce waste volume. In this paper, a numerical simulation of the combustion process with the help of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) inside a portable (mobile) incinerator has been proposed. Such work is done to investigate the most critical parameters for a reliable design of a domestic portable incinerator, which is suitable for the Iranian food and waste culture. An old design of a simple incinerator has been used to apply the natural gas (NG), one of the available cheap fossil fuels in Iran. After that, the waste height,... 

Molecular structural mechanics is implemented to model vibrational behavior of defect free single-layered graphene sheets (SLGSs) at constant temperature. To mimic these two-dimensional layers, zigzag and armchair models with cantilever and bridge boundary conditions are adopted. Fundamental frequencies of these nano structures are calculated, and it is perceived that they are independent of the chirality and aspect ratio. Effects of point mass and atomistic dust on the fundamental frequencies are also considered in order to investigate the possibility of using SLGSs as sensors. Results of exhibit the principle frequencies are highly sensitive to the added mass in the order of 10-6fg.... 

Molecular structural mechanics approach is implemented to investigate vibrational behavior of single-layered graphene sheets. By using the atomistic modeling, mode shapes and natural frequencies are obtained. Vibration analysis is performed under different chirality and boundary conditions. Numerical results from the finite element technique are applied to develop empirical equations via a statistical multiple non-linear regression model. With the proposed empirical equations, fundamental frequencies of single-layered graphene sheets under considered boundary conditions can be predicted within 3 percent accuracy. Copyright © 2007 by ASME