Sharif Digital Repository

A new approach for PID tuning, based on GA (Genetic algorithm) and Internal Model Control (IMC) technique, is presented in this paper. PID tuning is based on using Method. The IMC technique reduces the number of parameters that must be tuned for a multivariable system using PID controller. The algorithm uses GA for optimal determination of IMC variables. Simulation results present the good performance of the proposed method. © 2007 IEEE  

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were synthesized in aqueous solutions containing FeCl2, FeCl3, FeSO4 and Fe2(SO4)3. The effects of iron charge and the counter ions on the formation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were investigated. Thermogravimetric (TG) analysis indicated that carbon multilayer structures including CNTs and multishell graphite particles were formed in deionized (DI) water without the iron precursor. SWCNTs were also synthesized in the presence of the iron ions. It was also found that the mole ratio of [Fe2+]/[Fe3+] in the solution has a significant influence on the purity of CNTs and the process yield. The highest yield was... 

Nowadays there are more than thirty maturity models in different knowledge areas. Maturity model is an area of interest that contributes organizations to find out where they are in a specific knowledge area and how to improve it. As Information Resource Management (IRM) is the concept that information is a major corporate resource and must be managed using the same basic principles used to manage other assets, assessment of the current IRM status and reveal the improvement points can play a critical role in developing an appropriate information structure in organizations. In this paper we proposed a framework for information resource management maturity model (IRM3) that includes ten best... 

This paper presents a new mechanism with unique and prominent features for a helical swimmer robot. "Double Helices Propulsion Mechanism" consists of two parallel helices with a single axis rotating in the same direction. The outer helix acts as the main propulsion component, and the inner helix, which is made of a Shape Memory Alloy (SMA), controls the forward velocity during swimming. This mechanism, by varying the geometrical parameters of its helical tail, can change the forward velocity of the helical swimmer robot that is required by its predefined missions. In order to study the effects of geometric parameters on the forward velocity in the single helical swimmer, a hydrodynamic model... 

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a method to measure the efficiency of a DMU (Decision Making Unit, e.g. school, public agencies and banks). One of the ways for determining rank of DMUs is efficient score of each DMU. An interesting research issues is to discriminate between efficient DMUs. In literatures, supper efficiency is an applicable method for ranking efficient DMUs. The main drawback of this method is an inability of this method to rank non-extreme efficient DMUs. Therefore, this issue reduces the usefulness of this method. In this paper we propose a new ranking system for non-extreme efficient DMUs (Decision Making Units) based upon the omission of DMUs from reference set of the... 

The purpose of this paper is to present a polynomial time algorithm which determines the lot sizes for purchase component in Material Requirement Planning (MRP) environments with deterministic time-phased demand with zero lead time. In this model, backlog is not permitted, the unit purchasing price is based on the all-units discount system and resale of the excess units is possible at the ordering time. The properties of an optimal order policy are argued and on the basis of them, a branch and bound algorithm is presented to construct an optimal sequence of order policies. In the proposed B&B algorithm, some useful fathoming rules have been proven to make the algorithm very efficient. By... 

In this study, the effects of pulse current parameters on corrosion resistance and mechanical properties of anodized coatings were evaluated. Hardness measurements, polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests were employed to investigate the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of these coatings. Also, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to analyze the surface morphology and microstructure of the coatings. It was found that the properties of anodized coatings were dependent on various parameters, among which, time, temperature and pulse current parameters (current density limit, frequency and duty cycle) were optimized. Analysis of Variance... 

Calculation of camera projection matrix, also called camera calibration, is an essential task in many computer vision and 3D data processing applications. Calculation of projection matrix using vanishing points and vanishing lines is well suited in the literature; where the intersection of parallel lines (in 3D Euclidean space) when projected on the camera image plane (by a perspective transformation) is called vanishing point and the intersection of two vanishing points (in the image plane) is called vanishing line. The aim of this paper is to propose a new formulation for easily computing the projection matrix based on three orthogonal vanishing points. It can also be used to calculate the... 

Novel types of highly swelling hydrogels were prepared by grafting crosslinked polyacrylamide-co-poly-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (PAAm-co-PAMPS) chains onto sodium alginate (Na-Alg) through a free radical polymerization method. The superabsorbent formation was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR). The controlled release behavior of diclofenac sodium (DS) from superabsorbent polymer was factinvestigated, and shown that the release profiles of DS from superabsorbent polymer were slow in simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.2) over 3 h, but nearly all of the initial drug content was released in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF, pH 7.4) within 21 h after... 

Novel types of highly swelling hydrogels were prepared by grafting crosslinked polyacrylic acid-co-poly-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (PAA-co-PAMPS) chains onto κ-carrageenan through a free radical polymerization method. Here, we propose a mechanism for κ-carrageenan-g-PAA-co-PAMPS formation and confirm the hydrogel structure using FTIR spectroscopy. The effect of grafting variables (i.e. concentration of methylenebisacrylamide (MBA), acrylic acid/-2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AA/AMPS) weight ratio, ammonium persulfate (APS), κ-carrageenan, neutralization percent and reaction temperature) were systematically optimized to achieve a hydrogel with a maximum swelling... 

The subject of the present paper is the investigation of the sharp edged gust effects on the aeroelastic behavior of a flexible wing. It is important to determine the response of the wing to the atmospheric turbulences during normal flight. So, linear modal analysis technique and linear quasi-steady aerodynamic are used for structural modeling and aerodynamic loading, respectively. Also, Lagrange method is used to obtain the system of equations of motion. Using the normal modes of free vibration, structural and aerodynamic matrices can be constructed. Then the aeroelastic instability of the system is determined using p method. Kussner function is used to model the sharp gust effects on the... 

In dealing with human nervous system, the sensation of pain is as sophisticated as other physiological phenomena. To obtain an acceptable model of the pain, physiology of the pain has been analysed in the present paper. Pain mechanisms are explained in block diagram representation form. Because of the nonlinear interactions existing among different sections in the diagram, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been exploited. The basic patterns associated with chronic and acute pain have been collected and then used to obtain proper features for training the neural networks. Both static and dynamic representations of the ANNs were used in this regard. The trained networks then were employed... 

A novel superabsorbent hydrogel composed of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and sodium alginate (Na-Alg) was prepared by using methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinking agent. Ammonium persulfate (APS) was used as an initiator. For investigation of the effect of reaction variables on water absorbency of the hydrogels, the synthetic conditions were systematically optimized through studying the influential factors, including temperature, Na-Alg/CMC weight ratio and concentration of MBA and APS. Increase in MBA and APS concentration results in the decrease in water absorbency of the hydrogels. The water absorbency of the hydrogels increased with increasing of reaction temperature and... 

This paper presents a low-order and accurate method for the design of FIR fractional delay (FD) filters with complex coefficients. This method employs least square technique in Hilbert space to approximate the ideal FD transfer function with a FIR filter and to calculate its coefficients. The main advantages of the resulting filter are: very good response at all frequencies compared to other FD filter design methods and a good method to create very small delay. Design examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of this new design approach. © World Scientific Publishing Company  

This study investigates different types of career orientation of a sample of Iranian software engineers and antecedents of these orientations. A qualitative study was conducted in seven Iranian small to large sized companies, where forty-nine software engineers were interviewed. Using the thematic analysis technique, technical, managerial, entrepreneurial, project based, and hybrid orientations were identified. For some orientations, several sub-orientations were also identified. In addition, the results propose some antecedents of career orientation, mainly based on engineer needs, competencies and values, which may be moderated by some external factors, including organizational and... 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a shape optimization technique for powder forming processes based on the genetic algorithm approach. The genetic algorithm is employed to optimize the geometry of component based on a fixed-length vector of design variables representing the changes in nodal coordinates. The technique is used to obtain the desired optimal compacted component by changing the boundaries of component and verifying the prescribed constraints. Design/methodology/approach - The numerical modeling of powder compaction simulation is applied based on a large deformation formulation, powder plasticity behavior, and frictional contact algorithm. A Lagrangian finite... 

Rail noise prediction models enable consideration of different scenarios for the optimal management of noise prevention and mitigation. This project is aimed at developing an equation that enables computation of LA,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train, a type of Diesel-Electric Locomotive. The form of the proposed model is derived from equations for predicting LA,max for a single locomotive pass-by, proposed in the manual prepared by Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc. for the US Federal Transit Administration, and in the French rail noise prediction model. The algorithm for predicting LA,max for the Tehran-Karaj commuter train has been developed on the basis of the 50 measurements from 5... 

In this paper, the computational aspects of large deformation frictional contact are presented in powder forming processes. The influence of powder-tool friction on the mechanical properties of the final product is investigated in pressing metal powders. A general formulation of continuum model is developed for frictional contact and the computational algorithm is presented for analyzing the phenomena. It is particularly concerned with the numerical modeling of frictional contact between a rigid tool and a deformable material. The finite element approach adopted is characterized by the use of penalty approach in which a plasticity theory of friction is incorporated to simulate sliding... 

The Taguchi method, a robust experimental design, was used for optimization of synthesis of a novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel, kappa-carrageenan (K-C)-g-acrylic acid (AA)-co-2-acrylamido-2- methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS). The Taguchi method was applied for the experimental and standard 18 orthogonal arrays (OA) with seven factors and three levels for each factor. In the synthesis of the superabsorbent, N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker, ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator, monomer ratio (AA/AMPS), K-C concentration, Total Monomer, neutralization percent (NU), and reaction temperature were used as important factors. After analyzing with analysis of... 

In this study, current distribution data were obtained from a controlled variation of electrolyte conductivity, using a 267 mL Hull cell. Current distribution measurement was made using a sectioned electrode. The current density for each strip was calculated by measuring the weight gain of the strips during plating and applying Faraday's Law. Finally, the Hull cell formula was derived by plotting the regression line for current density versus average logarithmic distance along the segmented Hull cell panel. Three systems were studied: acid sulfate copper, all-chloride nickel, and all-chloride zinc. We found that the solution conductivity affects the current distribution. As the conductivity...