Sharif Digital Repository

Scour is an important cause of instability of breakwaters. In case of vertical-wall breakwaters, toe scour can cause collapse of the whole structure. This paper is concerned with an experimental study of the effects of regular breaking waves on scour at toe of vertical-wall breakwaters. Experiments were carried out in a wave flume with regular waves for two cases of a beach with and without a breakwater. Bed profiles and scour depths for various wave heights, periods and depths were recorded. For the case of a beach without a breakwater, the observed bed profile types are compared to predictions. For the case of a beach with a breakwater, factors affecting the scour are investigated, and an... 

In this paper, we present a machine learning model to estimate the blood pressure (BP) of a person using only his photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal. We propose algorithms to better detect some critical points of the PPG signal, such as systolic and diastolic peaks, dicrotic notch and inflection point. These algorithms are applicable to different PPG signal morphologies and improve the precision of feature extraction. We show that the logarithm of dicrotic notch reflection index, the ratio of low-to high-frequency components of heart rate (HR) variability signal, and the product of HR multiplied by the modified Normalized Pulse Volume (mNPV) are the key features in accurately estimating the BP... 

A controversial issue in artificial intelligence is human emotion recognition. This paper presents a fuzzy parallel cascades (FPC) model for predicting the continuous subjective emotional appraisal of music by time-varying spectral content of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The EEG, along with an emotional appraisal of 15 subjects, was recorded during listening to seven musical excerpts. The emotional appraisement was recorded along the valence and arousal emotional axes as a continuous signal. The FPC model was composed of parallel cascades with each cascade containing a fuzzy logic-based system. The FPC model performance was evaluated using linear regression (LR), support vector... 

This paper investigates several current control methods for load balancing and power factor correction based on distribution Static Compensator (STATCOM). Two different configurations are considered for STATCOM; a three leg inverter, and three single phase inverters. It is assumed that the STATCOM is associated with a load that is remote from the supply. After a brief introduction, control structure based on PWM method and simulation results using PSCAD are presented. Next, the same system is simulated using hystersis control method. Both methods employ the instantaneous symmetrical components theory for load balancing and power factor correction. At the end, a comparison between two methods... 

To investigate the factors affecting splashing in Peirce-Smith copper converters of Sarcheshmeh copper complex, South-East Iran, a laboratory scale model with dimensions one eighth of the actual converter was designed and assembled. The model was filled with water. Air was impinged onto the water. The sequence of events was subsequently recorded using high speed cameras. Factors affecting splashing such as blowing angle, volumetric flow rate of air, and the distance of the blowers from water surface were studied. Using a value of 2.65×10-11 for Morton dimensionless number, it was found that splashing may be reduced by 75% if the air speed in the tuyeres is reduced from 155 m/s to 30 m/s... 

Interface engineering of solar cell device is a prominent strategy to improve the device performance. Herein, we synthesize reduced-graphene scaffold (rGS) by using a new and simple chemical approach. In this regard, we synthesize a hollow structure of graphene and then fabricate a three-dimensional scaffold of graphene with a superior surface area using electrophoretic process. We employ this scaffold as an interface layer between the electron transfer and absorber layers in perovskite solar cell. The characterization tests and photovoltaic results show that rGS improves the carrier transportation, yielding a 27% improvement in device performance as compared to conventional device. Finally,... 

In this study, the separation of chromium (VI) ion as a dangerous heavy metal material from water by graphene oxide (GO) membrane was investigated using molecular simulation method. Pores were created in the middle of GO membrane and then the membrane pores were functionalized by adding -F, -H, and -OH chemical groups. The external voltages were applied to the studied system to improve the efficiency of Cr (VI) and water separation process. To study the functionalized GO membrane performance under applied voltage in the separation process, analyzes were performed, which include permeation, artificial neural network (ANN), radial distribution function, hydrogen bond, ion tracking path, water... 

The lattice Boltzmann simulation of natural convection fluid flow and heat transfer is performed. The double-MRT lattice Boltzmann method is employed. The D2Q5 and D2Q9 lattice models are used to simulate the temperature field and flow field, respectively. The configuration of the cavity is U-shaped, and the cavity is filled with CuO-water nanofluid. The KKL (Koo-Kleinstreuer-Li) model is utilized to estimate the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity; as well as, the nanoparticle shape effect on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluid is considered. The streamlines, temperature distribution, local entropy generation map, average Nusselt number, magnitude of total entropy generation... 

Promising properties of boron nitride nanomaterials such as their chemical, thermal, and mechanical stability have made them suitable materials in a various range of applications. However, their low electrical conductivity and wide bandgap, particularly in the case of boron nitride quantum dots (BNQDs), have given rise to severe limitations. Efforts on bandgap engineering through doping and surface functionalization have gained little success due to their high thermodynamic stability and inertness. Herein, we present a novel approach to functionalize BNQDs by hydroxyl, methyl, and amine functional groups aiming to adjust the electronic structure. The successful exfoliation is demonstrated by... 

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Concern has been raised about the identity of the author “David Ross” as the listed institution has denied the affiliation of a person with this name. Further inquiry revealed that the names of the co-authors were added to the revised version of the article without notifying the handling Editor, which is contrary to the journal policy on changes to authorship. Also, the co-authors were not able to provide a reasonable description of their contribution to the article.... 

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/our-business/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Concern has been raised about the identity of the author “David Ross” as the listed institution has denied the affiliation of a person with this name. Further inquiry revealed that the names of the co-authors were added to the revised version of the article without notifying the handling Editor, which is contrary to the journal policy on changes to authorship. Also, the co-authors were not able to provide a reasonable description of their contribution to the article.... 

This chapter reviews the recent advances in two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride-based electrochemical sensors. Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets are lesser utilized than other 2D nanostructures in electrochemistry and electrochemical sensing due to their unsuitable electrical conductivity. Recent studies have determined that high specific surface area, the presence of many active edges, the possibility of tunning the bandgap through interactions with other nanomaterials, and chemical motifs result in enhanced catalytic activity and conductivity. Therefore, 2D h-BN becomes a promising modifier for electroanalytical sensing applications. Herein, we present the recent progress in 2D... 

During the last decade, solution-processed colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) have attracted significant attention for low-cost fabrication of optoelectronic devices. In this study, lead sulfide (PbS) CQDs were synthesized via the hot injection method and the effect of doping elements with low electron affinity, including cadmium, calcium and zinc, on the passivation of trap states was investigated. A red-shift in the luminescence emission was observed by doping through passivation of lead dangling bonds. Time-resolved photoluminescence measurements showed that the lifetime of charged carriers was significantly enhanced by cadmium doping (∼80%) which is quite noticeable compared with calcium- and... 

Decreasing Drain-Induced-Barrier-Lowering (DIBL) is one of the nondesirable short-channel effects, causes the threshold voltage of the transistor to be reduced by increasing the drain voltage. DIBL makes it impossible for engineers to consider VT as a constant, and it is necessary to calculate VT as a function of the drain voltage. Therefore, to consider the DIBL effect in the design of ICs, a large computational burden is imposed on the system, which slows down the simulation process in circuit-level simulators. Accordingly, a Nonlinear Feed-Forward Memory-Less (NFFML) model using the Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization approach is proposed, which calculates the VT of the new generation of... 

Novel thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes modified by the MoS2@Zeolite X nanocomposite were made and studied for desalination by the forward osmosis (FO) method. Herein, MoS2@Zeolite X nanocomposite (MoS2@Z) and zeolite X particles are integrated into the polyamide (PA) selective layer of the TFN membranes, separately. The aim of this study is the synthesis of nanocomposites containing hydrophilic zeolite X particles with a modified surface and pore and improvement of their effective properties on desalination and antifouling performance. For this purpose, MoS2 nanosheets with a high hydrophilicity were selected. The existence of polymer-matrix-compatible MoS2@Z inside the PA active... 

Clustering-based image segmentation is a well-known multispectral image segmentation method. However, as it inherently does not account for the spatial relation among image pixels, it often results in inhomogeneous segmented regions. The recently proposed membership-connectedness (MC)-based segmentation method considers the local and global spatial relations besides the fuzzy clustering stage to improve segmentation accuracy. However, the inherent spatial and intraclass redundancies in multispectral images might decrease the accuracy and efficiency of the method. This letter addresses these two problems and proposes a segmentation method that is based on the MC method, watershed transform,... 

In this paper, a simpler implementation of the well-known droop method for the control of parallel Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems is presented. In this method, in the power-sharing control scheme, the output current is calculated by software without the need for a current sensor, resulting in a simpler and cheaper structure. By doing so, the number of feedback sensors is reduced from three to two. The paralleling strategy uses the droop method in which the control strategy is based on the drop in the inverter output frequency and amplitude. The application of Proportional-Resonant (PR) controllers is also extended to parallel inverter and its superior performance over the... 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques provide detailed anatomic information non-invasively and without the use of ionizing radiation. The development of new pulse sequences in MRI has allowed obtaining images with high clinical importance and thus joint analysis (multispectral MRI) is required for interpretation of these images. Fuzz rule-based systems can combine many inputs from widely varying sources so that they can be useful for description of tissues in MRI. In a fuzzy system an error free and optimized classifier can be obtained by genetic algorithms. In this paper, we have utilized a genetic fuzzy system for modeling different tissues in brain MRI and proposed a statistical... 

Comparative studies between response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods to find the effects of electrospinning parameters on the porosity of nanofiber mats is described. The four important electrospinning parameters studied included solution concentration (wt.%), applied voltage (kV), spinning distance (cm) and volume flow rate (mL/h). It was found that the applied voltage and solution concentration are the two critical parameters affecting the porosity of the nanofiber mats. The two approaches were compared for their modeling and optimization capabilities with the modeling capability of RSM showing superiority over ANN, having comparatively lower values of... 

The potential of carbon-based nanosheet membranes with functionalized pores is great as water treatment membranes. Using the molecular dynamic simulation technique, the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) separation from the water/DMSO binary solution is investigated, and the functionalized graphene nanosheets are used as a membrane. This membrane was functionalized by –F (fluorine) and –H (hydrogen) functional groups. For the separation of DMSO, external hydrostatic pressures up to 100 MPa were applied to the considered systems. The separation mechanism was based on molecular size. Multiple analyses were done to study the capability of considered membranes for the separation of DMSO molecules from...