Sharif Digital Repository

OBJECTIVES: Recent advances in the field of acoustics and piezoelectric and ultrasound transducers have led to new approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of certain diseases. One method of treatment with ultrasonic waves is high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment, which is a thermal therapeutic method used to treat malignant tumors. Although a variety of treatment-planning strategies using ultrasonic waves have been investigated, little clinical success has been achieved. Computational modeling is a powerful tool for predicting device performance. METHODS: The heating induced by a concave transducer with operating powers of 85 and 135 W was studied, and the experimental results... 

Currently, the HIFU (High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound) therapy method is known as one of the most advanced surgical techniques of tumor ablation therapy. Simulation of the non-linear acoustic wave and tissue interaction is essential in HIFU planning to improve the usefulness and efficiency of treatment. In this paper, linear, thermoviscous, and nonlinear equations are applied using two different media: liver and water. Transducer power of 8.3-134 Watts with the frequency of 1.1 MHz is considered as the range of study to analyze the interaction of wave and tissue. Results indicate that the maximum focal pressure of about 0.5-4.3 MPa can be achieved for transducer power rates of 8.3 to 134 W.... 

Signal direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation using an array of sensors has been the subject of intensive research and development during the last two decades. Efforts have been directed to both, better solutions for the general data model and to develop more realistic models. So far, many authors have assumed the data to be independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) samples of a multivariate statistical model. Although this assumption reduces the complexity of the model, it may not be true in certain situations where signals show temporal correlation. Some results are available on the temporally correlated signal model in the literature. The temporally correlated stochastic Cramér-Rao... 

Polarity coincidence correlator (PCC), when used to estimate the covariance matrix on an element-by-element basis, may not yield a positive semi-definite (PSD) estimate. Devlin et al. (Devlin, 1975) claimed that element-wise PCC is not guaranteed to be PSD in dimensions p > 3 for real signals. However, no justification or proof was available on this issue. In this letter, it is proved that for real signals with p ≤ 3 and for complex signals with p ≤ 2, a PSD estimate is guaranteed. Counterexamples are presented for higher dimensions which yield invalid covariance estimates. © 2007 IEEE  

This research has modelled a queuing system with no standard states. In order to analyse these systems, some parameters such as the mean of waiting time and the length of queue are computed. These situations usually occur when there is delay in the service, for example, in the gas queuing system that cars are unable to leave after receiving the required services due to the presence of other cars in front of them. These kinds of non-standard queuing systems are usually applied to the assembly and production lines. In this paper, a queuing model for the special non-standard state queuing system is developed to be used in gas stations. The proposed model is implemented in fuel stations in Iran... 

In this correspondence, we focus on the performance analysis of the widely-used minimum description length (MDL) source enumeration technique in array processing. Unfortunately, available theoretical analysis exhibit deviation from the simulation results. We present an accurate and insightful performance analysis for the probability of missed detection.We also show that the statistical performance of the MDL is approximately the same under both deterministic and stochastic signal models. Simulation results show the superiority of the proposed analysis over available results  

In this study, the effect of surface modified nano-zirconia (nano-ZrO2) on the corrosion protection of epoxy coating on mild steel was investigated. An organosilane (trimethoxy methyl silane) was used as a surface modifier to improve the dispersability of the inorganic nanoparticles in the organic coating matrix. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to characterize the sol-gel surface modified nanoparticles. The dispersability of the modified and unmodified nano-zirconia in an epoxy coating was examined by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and salt spray were employed to... 

As the membrane technology developed at the last 30 years, the relevant processes have been significantly developed. One of which is the chlor alkali technology. The development of membrane technology and its effect on Chlor-Alkali process is capable of evaluation in to two different fields, environmental and energy consumption. Some of environmental problems of mercury and diaphragm processes because of their technological development have been eliminated the energy consumption of these processes is significantly decreased especially in membrane and diaphragm processes. Recently investigation in the field of membrane cell is more focused on cell construction, depolarized cathodes, and fluid... 

The flow and mixing behavior of two miscible liquids has been studied in an innovative static mixer by using CFD, with Reynolds numbers ranging from 20 to 160. The performance of the new mixer is compared with those of Kenics, SMX, and Komax static mixers. The pressure drop ratio (Z-factor), coefficient of variation (CoV), and extensional efficiency (α) features have been used to evaluate power consumption, distributive mixing, and dispersive mixing performances, respectively, in all mixers. The model is firstly validated based on experimental data measured for the pressure drop ratio and the coefficient of variation. CFD results are consistent with measured data and those obtained by... 

Graphene-based carbon hollow spheres (CHSs) fabrication, doped with 2-mercaptobenzimidazole (MBI) was successfully done in previous work. The active/barrier corrosion protection performance (CPP) of epoxy coatings was evaluated using salt spray test, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET). Results proved the active/barrier CPP enhancement of epoxy coatings in the presence of 3 wt. % MBI@CHSs. While the presence of MBI and empty CHSs in epoxy coatings did not further improve the active performance. An improvement in the adhesion loss of the epoxy coating, ca. 58 %, was observed in the presence of 3 wt. % MBI@CHSs. © 2021  

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a 2D layered structure, because of its unique properties has widely attracted many researchers. In this study, by employing physical and chemical methods, not only layers of MoS2 have been intercalated, but also their surface properties enhanced. Low-dimensional and potential properties of intercalated MoS2 nanosheets are the aim of many researches. Here, we report a novel four step method to intercalate the layers of MoS2 nanosheets successfully using acid treatment, sonication, oxidization and thermal shocking. The other goal in this study is to evaluate the cation exchange ability and anticorrosion performance of the Ce3+ doped MoS2 nanosheets. The... 

In this study, the different parts of carthamus tinctorius plant, including petal (SPE), leaf (SLE), and shoot (SSE), have been extracted. Adsorption of the extracts on mild steel in 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution was evaluated employing electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic polarization, and electrochemical noise measurements (EN). The field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) were employed to appraise the morphology of the samples surface subjected to the test solutions. According to the EIS results, the maximum adsorption efficiency belonged to the solution containing 1 g L−1 of... 

In this letter, we address the theoretical limitations in estimating the mixing matrix in noisy sparse component analysis (SCA) for the two-sensor case. We obtain the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) error estimation of the mixing matrix. Using the Bernouli-Gaussian (BG) sparse distribution, and some simple assumptions, an approximation of the Fisher information matrix (FIM) is calculated. Moreover, this CRLB is compared to some of the main methods of mixing matrix estimation in the literature. © 2008 IEEE  

The modified Hummer technique was used in the preparation of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, and then SiO 2 decorated GO [GO(SiO 2 )] nanosheets were synthesized via the sol–gel method. Then, ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) nanocomposites loaded with 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt % of GO(SiO 2 ) were prepared using magnesium ethoxide/GO(SiO 2 )-supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts via the in situ polymerization. Morphological study of the prepared polymer powders was assessed using field-emission scanning electron microscopy, which showed that GO(SiO 2 ) nanohybrids have been uniformly dispersed and distributed into the UHMWPE matrix. Also, the neat UHMWPE and its nanocomposites were... 

This study reports the fabrication of a new cathode electrode assembly using polyaniline (PANI) and graphene on a stainless steel mesh (SSM) as an alternative for the conventional expensive cathode of microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). With respect to the previous efforts to propose an efficient and cost-effective alternative for platinum (Pt) catalysts and cathode electrodes, the present study investigates the assessment of different catalysts to elucidate the potential of the modified SSM cathode electrode for larger-scale MECs. In the case of feeding dairy wastewater to the MEC, the maximum hydrogen production rate and COD removal were obtained by SSM/PANI/graphene cathode and had the... 

We investigate eigenvectors of rank-one deformations of random matrices B = A + θuu* in which A ∈ RN×N is a Wigner real symmetric random matrix, θ ∈ R+, and u is uniformly distributed on the unit sphere. It is well known that for θ > 1 the eigenvector associated with the largest eigenvalue of B closely estimates u asymptotically, while for θ < 1 the eigenvectors of B are uninformative about u. We examine O(1/N) correlation of eigenvectors with u before phase transition and show that eigenvectors with larger eigenvalue exhibit stronger alignment with deforming vector through an explicit inverse law 1/θ*-x with θ* := θ + 1/θ. This distribution function will be shown to be the ordinary... 

We investigate eigenvectors of rank-one deformations of random matrices boldsymbol B = boldsymbol A + theta boldsymbol {uu}{} in which boldsymbol A in mathbb R{N times N} is a Wigner real symmetric random matrix, theta in mathbb R{+} , and boldsymbol u is uniformly distributed on the unit sphere. It is well known that for theta > 1 the eigenvector associated with the largest eigenvalue of boldsymbol B closely estimates boldsymbol u asymptotically, while for theta < 1 the eigenvectors of boldsymbol B are uninformative about boldsymbol u. We examine mathcal O({1}/{N}) correlation of eigenvectors with boldsymbol u before phase transition and show that eigenvectors with larger eigenvalue exhibit... 

The present study is concerned with the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of turbulent dispersion of immiscible liquids, namely, water–silicone oil and water–benzene through Kenics static mixers using the Eulerian–Eulerian and Eulerian–Lagrangian approaches of the ANSYS Fluent 16.0 software. To study the droplet size distribution (DSD), the Eulerian formulation incorporating a population balance model (PBM) was employed. For the Eulerian–Lagrangian approach, a discrete phase model (DPM) in conjunction with the Eulerian approach for continuous phase simulation was used to predict the residence time distribution (RTD) of droplets. In both approaches, a shear stress transport (SST)... 

In this study, reinforcement of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) was investigated using the sol-gel surface modified diamond nanoparticles (NDs). Nanocomposite samples were synthesized via in-situ polymerization using bi-supported Ziegler-Natta catalyst. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and contact angle measurements proved the proper silanization (∼1.9%) of NDs. Characterization of the catalysts revealed decrease in the activity of catalysts in presence of NDs which were responsible for the lower average molecular weight of the samples. Field emission scanning electron microscopy revealed an improved dispersion of the modified NDs in...