Sharif Digital Repository

An Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is a capable tool to manipulate nanoparticles by exerting pushing force on the nanoparticles located on the substrate. In reality, the substrate cannot be considered as a smooth surface particularly at the nanoscale. Hence, the particle may encounter a step on the substrate during a manipulation. In this study, dynamics of the nanoparticle on a stepped substrate and critical pushing force in the manipulation are investigated. There are two possible dynamic modes that may happen in the manipulation on the stepped substrate. In one mode, the nanoparticle may slide on the step edge and then climb up to the step which is a desired mode. Another possible mode is... 

Data are presented on the solidification of aluminum alloys and their macro segregation behavior. Three alloys with different solidification ranges were prepared in two temperatures. Two types of molds were also prepared by sand and metallic materials. The solidification of Al alloys were studied and the effects of four parameters were determined, including cooling rate, casting temperature, degassing and nucleation effects on solidification and a comparison was conducted to Scheil model performance. Three types of aluminum alloys (Al-12.1%Si, Al-6.9%Si and Al-4.4% Cu) with short, medium and wide solidification ranges were studied and the results showed that degassing, nucleation, increasing... 

Bilateral PPG signals have been used for comparative study of two groups of healthy (free from any cardiovascular risk factors) and diabetic (as cardiovascular disease risk group) subjects in the age-matched range 40-50 years. The peripheral blood pulsations were recorded simultaneously from right and left index fingers for 90 s. Pulses have been modeled with the ARX440 model in the interval of 300 sample points with 100 sample points overlap between segments. Model parameters of three segments based on the highest fitness (higher than 80%) of modeled segments were retained for each subject. Subsequently, principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to the parameters of retained segments... 

Quality of Experience (QoE) measures the overall quality of a service from users’ point of view by considering several system, human, and contextual factors. There exist various objective and subjective methods for QoE prediction. Although the subjective approach is more expensive and challenging than the objective approach, QoE’s level can be more accurately determined by a subjective test. This paper investigates various features affecting QoE by proposing a comprehensive subjective evaluation. First, we show that many unconsidered factors can significantly affect QoE. We have generated voice samples featuring different values for novel factors related to the speaker, signal, and network.... 

The use of Computer Science in order to categorize and store information, improve diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, patient education and the training of a skilled labor force, has taken important steps and there are constantly new developments in this area  

Simulation is the gold standard for training in aviation and trauma medicine. Now it is available for diseases diagnosis and treatment. With simulation, clinicians can practice their art in a realistic, consequence free environment, combining both theory and practice in a comprehensive program. Method and materials - In the virtual clinical environment of "VPsoft mentor" software, the practitioner reviews a patient's history, orders laboratory tests and procedures, interprets findings, renders diagnoses, and prescribes medication. Every diagnostic or treatment decision the clinician makes for the patient is analyzed by E-mentor, providing instant feedback.Results - This software have been... 

One of the most important issues in railway wheels is residual stresses. It is desirable to produce less residual stresses when possible and to decrease the remaining residual stresses in the wheels. The objective of this paper is to provide an estimation of the residual stresses in the rail wheel caused by the stress field from heat treatment process of a railway wheel. A three-dimensional nonlinear stress analysis model has been applied to estimate stress fields of the railway mono-block wheel in heat treatment process. After forging or casting, railway wheels are heat-treated to induce the desirable circumferential compressive residual stress in the upper rim. Finite element analysis... 

The robots that can move on rough terrains are very important especially in Rescue operation, exploration, etc. In this research, a mechanism is introduced for a ring-like robot with a flexible body. This robot is moved by arms which are placed radially and have Reciprocating motion in this direction. By controlling the contraction and the extension of the arms which contact lhe ground, the robot will be forced to move which is called rolling-creeping motion. The robot is stable in stationary state.; also the maximum angle which it can be stable is determined. Considering the speed of contracted arm is the input parameter, the speed of the extended arm for locomotion of the robot has been... 

Effect of alkaline metal salts on the solvent extraction of platinum from leached spent dehydrogenation catalysts (Pt/Al2O3) in aqua-regia by the Trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) has been investigated. Best salting out effect was achieved using KCl as the additive salt in which process upto 90% of Platinum extraction achieved. Response Surface methodology utilized in order to design the experiments, model the extraction process for platinum and aluminum as well as; optimize the whole process. It was shown that solvent extraction of platinum by TOPO was kinetically fast and the needed equilibrium time for it was less than 30 seconds. In the present study, proposed models for platinum and... 

This paper presents several efficient architectures of dynamic/static edge-triggered flip-flops with a compact embedded logic. The proposed structure, which benefits from the overlap period, fixes most of the drawbacks of the dynamic logic family. The design issues of setting the appropriate overlap period for this architecture are explained. The proposed overlap-based approach is compared with several state-of-the-art dynamic/static logic styles in implementing a 4-bit shift register and an odd-even sort coprocessor using different CMOS technologies. The simulation results showed that the overlap-based logic cells become much more efficient when the complexity of their embedded logic... 

We propose a hybrid graphene molybdenum disulphide-based photoconductive antenna to overcome the restrictions of metallic photoconductive antennas and graphene-based photoconductive antennas, simultaneously. The structure is composed of a hybrid graphene-MoS2 strip as the antenna deposited on a low-temperature gallium arsenide substrate. A full-wave electromagnetic solver, namely, high frequency structural simulator (HFSS) is used to analyze the whole structure. It is shown that the proposed photoconductive antenna provides us with not only high input impedance and reconfigurability but also high values of matching efficiency and radiation efficiency. The impact of increasing MoS2 layers on... 

In this paper, we report on a novel resonant THz sensor for label-free analysis. The structure consists of a silicon nitride dielectric ring resonator vertically coupled to a thin layer of graphene strip ring resonator on top. The cladding is assumed to be porous alumina on the top of the graphene strip, which enhances the interaction of the surface plasmon wave and the target molecules. Finite difference time domain analysis is used to systematically design the structure and to investigate the performance of the sensor. Our simulations show that the proposed structure has larger refractive index sensitivity and lower intrinsic quality factor with respect to the similar optical structure. It... 

In this study, polypropylene/clay nanocomposites were prepared by melt blending method and their thermal conductivity and the thermal conductivity of polypropylene/multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanocomposites were investigated and modeled. It is found that the thermal conductivity of the PP/Clay and PP/MWCNT nanocomposites is increased with increasing temperature. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites is improved due to incorporation of nanoclay and MWCNT compared with pure PP matrix  

Design and implementation of Architecture is a knowledge-driven process. Evaluation and verification the knowledge, in order to ensure its quality, have important role in improving overall design process. Furthermore, Architectural decision making is a complex and multi-criteria decision making problem in which multiple stakeholders make decisions from their perspectives causing overlaps and conflicts in the adopted decisions. Therefore, the requirement for strategies to manage these issues and also to improve coordination and cooperation among the various stakeholders to improve the overall process design is necessary. In this regard, there have been several activities that focus on...