Sharif Digital Repository

The effect of various methods of drying (sun drying, bin drying, vertical continuous drying, vertical cylindrical drying, and funnel cylindrical drying) on moisture content, lipid quality (peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid value, and free fatty acids), sensory attributes (firmness, sweetness, rancidity, roasted flavor, split shell, shell appearance, and overall palatability), and percent split shell of pistachio nuts (Pistacia vera L.) were studied. Sun drying and bin drying resulted in higher split shell percent on pistachio nuts than other drying methods. The different drying methods used in this study did not have any significant influence on the free fatty acids, peroxide value, and... 

Signal generation techniques for visual detection of analytes have received a great deal of attention in various sensing fields. These approaches are considered to be advantageous when instrumentation cannot be employed, such as for on-site assays, point-of-care tests, and he althcare diagnostics in resource-constrained areas. Amongst various visual detection approaches explored for non-invasive quantitative measurements, ratiometric fluorescence sensing has received particular attention as a potential method to overcome the limitations of intensity-based probes. This technique relies on changes in the intensity of two or more emission bands (induced by an analyte), resulting in an effective... 

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... 

As in many other methods that have integrated nanoparticles (NPs), the chemical nose/tongue strategy has also progressed greatly since the entrance of NPs into this field. The fascinating tunable physicochemical properties of NPs have made them powerful candidates for array-based sensing platforms and have enabled the development of real-time, sensitive and portable systems that are able to target complex mixtures of analytes. In particular, the unique optical properties of NPs have a key role in providing promising array-based sensing approaches. This review will describe the main aspects and processes of most common NP-based optical sensor arrays. The fundamental steps in the design of a... 

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  

As in many other methods that have integrated nanoparticles (NPs), the chemical nose/tongue strategy has also progressed greatly since the entrance of NPs into this field. The fascinating tunable physicochemical properties of NPs have made them powerful candidates for array-based sensing platforms and have enabled the development of real-time, sensitive and portable systems that are able to target complex mixtures of analytes. In particular, the unique optical properties of NPs have a key role in providing promising array-based sensing approaches. This review will describe the main aspects and processes of most common NP-based optical sensor arrays. The fundamental steps in the design of a... 

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts are commonly used for the construction of oil and gas production facilities. These projects are subjected to many uncertainties. EPC contractors often assume most of the project risks. Several studies have focused on the identification and analysis of EPC project risks. However, they generally fail to define appropriate and effective risk management strategies. The objective of this study is to define efficient risk mitigation strategies that can be utilized in EPC oil and gas projects. A comprehensive review of literature was conducted to identify the risks in EPC projects. Experts' opinion were used to analyze and categorize these... 

This paper proposes a sublime-optimum soft- computing based controller to follow a desired path with a desired velocity by mobile robots with identified dynamical behavior. This method consists of a fuzzy controller where a trained Neural Network sets its membership functions values in On-line mode. Training of the Network is done by a Genetic Algorithm for various vehicle initial positions and different path convexities in Off-line. After the training of the network, during vehicle motion, it retrieves sub-optimized fuzziness values and sends them to the fuzzy control algorithm according to the vehicle position. Meanwhile, the influential of the path convexity is considered in fuzziness of... 

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... 

In this research, data on liquid-liquid extraction of platinum from commercial spent catalysts by trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) in toluene were experimentally obtained. Alkaline metal salts were used to optimize the separation process. Best Salting-out effect was obtained by KCl which extracted up to 90% of platinum utilizing TOPO. Furthermore, extraction percentages of Pt and Al depending upon different factors were investigated. It was observed that the extraction process was kinetically fast and achieving the equilibrium time took less than 30 seconds. Optimized points obtained utilizing response surface methodology (RSM) by the "Design Expert" software in order to minimize the... 

Design and manufacturing of a high performance micro-hydro-kinetic turbine is discussed in the present paper. The main goal is manufacturing an equipped experimental model of hydro-kinetic turbine with highest energy absorption from water current. A multi-shape ducted turbine comprised of a multi-part diffuser was manufactured that can be converted to many experimental models for studying various diffuser enhancing effects. Turbine's rotor included a three-blade axial propeller and a mixed six-blade propeller with high power coefficient. Simple experiments on propeller were performed for flow visualization, torque measurement and illustrating dynamic balance at high speed rotation in air and... 

We report herein the development of a highly sensitive colorimetric method for detection of d-Penicillamine using citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). This assay relies upon the distance-dependent of gold nanoparticles surface plasmon resonance band of gold nanoparticles. By replacing the thiol-containing chelator drug, d-Penicillamine, with citrate on the gold nanoparticles surface, a new peak appearing at a longer wavelength intensifies and shifts further to the red from the original peak position due to aggregation of gold nanoparticles which depends on ionic strength, gold nanoparticles and d-Penicillamine concentration. During this process, the plasmon band at 521 nm decreases... 

There is a growing interest in developing high-performance sensors monitoring organophosphate pesticides, primarily due to their broad usage and harmful effects on mammals. In the present study, a colorimetric sensor array consisting of citrate-capped 13 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been proposed for the detection and discrimination of several organophosphate pesticides (OPs). The aggregation-induced spectral changes of AuNPs upon OP addition has been analyzed with pattern recognition techniques, including hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). In addition, the proposed sensor array has the capability to identify individual OPs or mixtures of them in... 

Construction managers regularly monitor projects to ensure that the project performance is under control. The earned value method (EVM) is a widely used tool to forecast project cost and time at completion. However, the effectiveness of the EVM in forecasting schedule performance has been questioned particularly because of its inability to address the associated uncertainties and poor performance in predicting project duration. The objective of this study is to present an activity-based model to conduct a probabilistic assessment and estimation of schedule performance in repetitive construction projects. This model, called the Weibull evaluation and forecasting model (WEFM), emphasizes the... 

Most array-based sensing platforms, to date, utilize static response patterns for discrimination of a wide variety of analytes, but only a few studies have focused on the important task of quantitatively resolving structural isomers, which are nowadays important because of their broad usage in medicines and industries. A possible way of accomplishing this feat is to combine kinetic (rather than static) sensor response profiles with the chemical tongue strategy to allow the development of array-based sensors for isomeric discrimination. Here, by adding the time dimension, a simple and novel gold nanorod (AuNR)-based chrono-colorimetric sensor array is proposed for chemical discrimination... 

Building owners’ appropriate risk-mitigation decisions can minimize the social, economic, and socioeconomic consequences of earthquakes. Implementation of appropriate policies can increase the adoption of seismic retrofit measures through the modification of owners’ beliefs. Social interactions among owners can influence their response to the implemented policies. There is a need for appropriate tools that consider the social interactions among the owners and facilitate the evaluation of their response to seismic retrofit promotion policies. The agent-based simulation model in this manuscript addresses this need. The implementation of policies and interactions among agents can influence... 

Building owners’ appropriate risk-mitigation decisions can minimize the social, economic, and socioeconomic consequences of earthquakes. Implementation of appropriate policies can increase the adoption of seismic retrofit measures through the modification of owners’ beliefs. Social interactions among owners can influence their response to the implemented policies. There is a need for appropriate tools that consider the social interactions among the owners and facilitate the evaluation of their response to seismic retrofit promotion policies. The agent-based simulation model in this manuscript addresses this need. The implementation of policies and interactions among agents can influence... 

The widespread use of pesticides in pest management has boosted the demands for developing highly sensitive probes for on-site monitoring. Herein we presented a sensitive enzyme-free ratiometric probe for determination of methyl parathion (MP), as an organophosphate pesticide using TGA-capped CdTe QDs and carbon dots (CDs). Unlike previous methods in which hydrolysis product of MP is instrumental in the response of the sensors, here, self-assembly of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) on the surface of non-modified yellow-emissive CdTe QDs facilitates the quenching of CTAB-QDs upon addition of MP while the fluorescence intensity of CDs remains constant. Using a smartphone, the ratiometric... 

The effect of vehicles’ compatibility on the odds of death or injury of drivers involved in two-vehicle crashes was investigated. This was done through indexing Crashworthiness (CW) and Crashaggressivity (CA) of major vehicle types. For this purpose, a dataset consisting the information about 551,138 drivers involved in two-vehicle crashes in Iran was used and a two-step analysis framework was employed. In this regard, the Classification and Regression Tree (CART) method was applied in the first step to identify the most significant factors contributing to drivers’ Injury Status (IS). Next, Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) with a Binomial distribution and a Logit link function were...