Sharif Digital Repository

Providing home hemodialysis (HHD) therapy is a complex process that not only requires the use of a complex technology but also involves a diverse group of stakeholders, and each stakeholder has their requirements and may not share a common interest. Bringing them together will require the alignment of their interests. A process management perspective can help to accomplish the alignment of their interests. To align their interests, it is crucial to identify interest groups and understand their interests. The main objective of this paper is to identify the stakeholders and represents their interests as a list of requirements in the HHD process. An extensive literature review has been carried... 

The growth and productivity of different varieties of beetroot Beta vulgaris were examined in presence of urea, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, compost and salt during the field trial, and the chemical constitution of three different varieties, dark red, ruby queen and detroit-2 was identified quantitatively by spectrophotometer. Ruby queen shows maximum growth as compared to dark red and detroit-2. The application of urea, nitrogen, phosphate, potassium and compost reduces the amount of catalase and total antioxidant enzymic potensial while increasing the concentrations of proteins, lipids, and sugars, with high growth and yield. Maximum growth was observed in the presence of urea, while... 

This study focuses on a forward looking approach in which deep eutectic solvents (DESs), a new class of designer solvents, were impregnated into micro porous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane for the separation of CO2 from CH4. Three types of DESs were prepared by mixing and heating of hydrogen bond acceptor (choline chloride) with either malic acid, tartaric acid or oxalic acid as hydrogen bond donor. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the hydrogen bond interactions in the resulting DES. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to evaluate the thermal stability of the prepared membranes. The DES based supported liquid membranes were investigated systematically to... 

Based on exclusive thermal dynamic of nanomaterials, various applications are noted in engineering and industrial processes. Owing to such thermal impact, the researchers have presented comprehensive research on nanomaterials. While claiming novel applications of nanofluids, the stability of nanomaterials is important for which less attention has been paid. On this end, the aim of current research is to predict the thermal instability of graphene nanoparticles with suspension of water base fluid due to transient Hartmann flow. The Poiseuille flow of water-based nanoparticles subject to the magnetic force is assumed between two plates. The numerical outcomes are predicted with implementation... 

The current study revealed the effectiveness of polypropylene (PP) fibers and cement to enhance the strength of black cotton soil. PP fibers and cement with different concentrations were mixed with black cotton soil. The strength of PP fiber and cement-based soil samples was measured in terms of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and California Bearing ratio (CBR). Specimens for UCS and CBR tests were prepared at 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% of cement (by dry weight of soil) and seven percentages of polypropylene fibers i.e. 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5% and 0.6% (by dry weight of soil). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis confirmed the presence of polypropylene and cement contents in... 

The current study revealed the effectiveness of polypropylene (PP) fibers and cement to enhance the strength of black cotton soil. PP fibers and cement with different concentrations were mixed with black cotton soil. The strength of PP fiber and cement-based soil samples was measured in terms of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and California Bearing ratio (CBR). Specimens for UCS and CBR tests were prepared at 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% of cement (by dry weight of soil) and seven percentages of polypropylene fibers i.e. 0.0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4%, 0.5% and 0.6% (by dry weight of soil). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis confirmed the presence of polypropylene and cement contents in... 

Novel PVA/PEG cross-linked membranes were prepared with (0–20 wt. %) of silica nanoparticles. The presence of both the polymers and additive was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The thermal properties of the membranes were analyzed by TGA and DSC analysis. The morphological and mechanical properties of the membranes were studied by SEM analysis and tensile testing, respectively. The gas permeation performances of the membranes were examined using state-of-the-art gas permeability cell. It was found that permeability of all the gases increased with the increase of silica loading, whereas ideal selectivity of carbon dioxide with respect to nitrogen and methane increased up to 10 wt. % loading and... 

The recent work investigates the heat transfer attributes in the flow of engine oil which comprises of nano-particles such as Cu and TiO2. The performance of Copper and Titanium oxide is over looked in the flow of engine oil. The energy equation is amended by the features of thermal radiation, viscous dissipation, and heat generation. The mathematical model signifies the porosity, entropy generation and moving flat horizontal surface with the non-uniform stretching velocity. Quasi-linearization, which is a persuasive numerical technique to solve the complex coupled differential equations, is used to acquire the numerical solution of the problem. Flow and heat transfer aspects of Cu–TiO2 in... 

The microfluidic device, known simply as microfluidics, is an emerging technology that has become a significant tool for pharmaceutical businesses to process and analyze materials for developing, optimizing, testing, and delivering various drugs in advanced nanocarriers. Technically, microfluidics is a technique to handle small solution volumes (nanoliters to picoliters) in microchambers of different geometries and dimensions ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. Each year, many pharmaceutical drug delivery systems have failed clinical translation because of scale-up problems. Now, scientists are trying to find some suitable alternatives and more robust methodologies to... 

Despite many revolutionary asset pricing models developed over the past decades, traditional finance does not explain investor behavior very well. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of behavioral biases on the investment decisions of investors of Pakistan Stock Exchange. In addition, the moderating influence of investment experience investigated in this study. The findings were reported using a sample of 230 individual investors, who make their own investments, typically through a mutual fund, bank, or internet broker. They make investments to achieve their unique investment objectives, such as saving for retirement, a child’s education, or increasing their overall wealth.... 

Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials are essential components in modern photonics and optical devices due to their ability to generate new frequencies through the nonlinear interaction with intense light. Synthesizing porphyrin-based NLO materials is complex and challenging, requiring specialized techniques to achieve high purity and yield. Controlling chromophore orientation and optimizing nonlinear optical properties are key difficulties that demand interdisciplinary efforts for practical photonics and optical applications. In the present study by using z-scan technique some of non-linear optical (NLO) parameters includingthird order NLO susceptibility (χ3), and molecular second... 

The bonding temperature is an important parameter for optimization of the Transient Liquid Phase (TLP) bonding process in order to achieve a sound joint with good mechanical properties. However, the bonding temperature used can also be restricted by the microstructural stability of the base metal. In this study, the effect of bonding temperature (1050-1200 °C) on the joint microstructure and mechanical properties was studied for TLP bonding of FSX-414 superalloy using MBF-80 interlayer with thickness of 50 μm. Increasing bonding temperature from 1050 to 1150 °C caused reduction in the time required for complete isothermal solidification in agreement with models based on the diffusion induced... 

Co-based FSX-414 superalloy is especially used for first-stage nozzles of gas turbines. Transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding has potential as repair process for these nozzles. In this study, homogenization of TLP-bonded FSX-414 superalloy at optimum bonding condition (1150 °C/5 min) was conducted at 1175, 1200, and 1225 °C for 1, 3, and 6 h. Homogenization at 1175 °C/1 h had no effect on removing the diffusion-affected zone (DAZ) phases. Increasing the time to 6 h was effective in removing DAZ phases and boride phases formed due to liquefaction, but compositional homogenization was not complete. Homogenization at 1200 °C for 1 h caused boride phases to form adjacent to the joint and in the... 

Aluminum alloys have promising characteristics which make them more useful in industrial applications for thermal management and entropy of the fluidic system. Hence, the current research deals with the analysis of entropy and thermal performance of (C2H6O2–H2O)/50:50% saturated by (AA7072/AA7076/Ti6AI4V) alloys. Traditional problem modified using enhanced characteristics of ternary alloys and hydrocarbon 50:50% base fluid. Further, significant effects of nonlinear solar radiations, dissipation and convective heat condition effects are also taken in the problem formulation. The developed model analyzed numerically and simulated the results for thermal performance, comparative entropy, shear... 

This paper focuses on characterization of intervertebral disc behavior upon fatigue stress. It consists in in-vitro experiments to measure intervertebral disc deformation with regard to forces applied to produce fatigues test. In this paper, a system modeling based non-invasive method to assess back pain is proposed which may be used for designing of prediction model to predict the failure of intervertebral disc (IVD) experiencing fatigue loading. An artificial compression fracture was simulated in the lower level of vertebra followed by a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cement injection. Fatigue loading was applied on the specimens and the load was incrementally increased form 650 N... 

In this letter, we discuss cost optimization of sensor networks monitoring structurally full-rank systems under distributed observability constraint. Using structured systems theory, the problem is relaxed into two subproblems: first, sensing cost optimization; and second, networking cost optimization. Both problems are reformulated as combinatorial optimization problems. The sensing cost optimization is shown to have a polynomial-order solution. The networking cost optimization is shown to be NP-hard in general, but has a polynomial-order solution under specific conditions. A 2-approximation polynomial-order relaxation is provided for general networking cost optimization, which is... 

This paper models the cyber-social system as a cyber-network of agents monitoring states of individuals in a social network. The state of each individual is represented by a social node, and the interactions among individuals are represented by a social link. In the cyber-network, each node represents an agent, and the links represent information sharing among agents. The agents make an observation of social states and perform distributed inference. In this direction, the contribution of this paper is threefold: First, a novel distributed inference protocol is proposed that makes no assumption on the rank of the underlying social system. This is significant as most protocols in the... 

Recent progress in the areas of network science and control has shown a significant promise in understanding and analyzing epidemic processes. A well-known model to study epidemics processes used by both control and epidemiological research communities is the susceptible–infected–susceptible (SIS) dynamics to model the spread of disease/viruses over contact networks of infected and susceptible individuals. The SIS model has two metastable equilibria: one is called the endemic equilibrium and the other is known as the disease-free or healthy-state equilibrium. Control theory provides the tools to design control actions (allocating curing or vaccination resources) in order to achieve and... 

In this article, we explore a novel numerical solution of a triple diffusive flow of Casson fluid taking slip boundary condition on a stretching sheet along with suction and magnetic field effects. Total entropy generation in flow of viscous fluid under coupling effects of concentrations of two heterogeneous salts ((Formula presented.)) is evaluated by different Bejan numbers. Magnetic Bejan number and mass Bejan number have been defined for the estimation of novel irreversibilities due to salts’ concentrations and magnetic retardation over the non-linearly stretching sheet. Order reduction and then finite difference techniques are employed on system of equations thus obtained. Persuasive... 

Betaine-based natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs), a new class of green solvents, were immobilized into a porous polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) support and evaluated for the separation of CO2 from CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 mixtures. Two types of NADESs were synthesized by mixing betaine (hydrogen bond acceptor-HBA) with malic acid and tartaric acid (hydrogen bond donors-HBD) respectively. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy were studied to confirm the synthesis and purity of the NADESs. The thermal strength of the NADESs was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis. The gas permeation results of the fabricated NADES-based-supported liquid membranes (NADES-SLMs) showed that the permeability of CO2...