Sharif Digital Repository

Background and Purpose: Shigella is a human shigellosis and its lipopolysaccharide is identified by 4TLR. The 4TLR is a family of pseudo-TOLL receptors and many immune routes are triggered by stimulating these receptors. Many studies show increasing of 4TLR expression in Mesenchyme stem cells under the influence of lipopolysaccharide. The main objective of this study was to identify the appropriate lipopolysaccharide of Shigella strains by stimulating the immune system for vaccine studies. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, the stem cell of human Mesenchymal derived from bone marrow was treated by three dilution of 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 extract of Shigella strains (Flexneri,... 

This experiment investigates the effects of utilizing Rahnama cultivar with high non-starchy polysaccharide content and supplementation of xylanase enzyme in poultry feed on the productivity features, nutrient digestibility and intestinal enzymes activity of 21-47 week laying hens. The experiment was conducted quite randomly and in factorial design that included eight treatments with 4 wheat levels (zero, 23, 46 and 69% that contained 1.8, 2.0, 2.2, 2.4% of xylose respectively) and two level enzymes (with and without enzyme) and 5 replications (6 hens) in each replication. During the experiment, by xylose level increase in diet, the weight (p > 0.05) and mass of the egg (p > 0.01) decreased... 

The operation of the three-cavity magneto mercury reciprocating (MMR) micropump, whose prototype were presented in an earlier companion paper, was numerically explored. In the three-cavity MMR micropump, three mercury slugs are moved by a periodic Lorentz force with a phase difference in three separate cavities. A consecutive motion of the slugs in their cavities transfer air from the inlet to the outlet. Two-dimensional OpenFOAM simulations were carried out to explore the influence of electric current excitation phase difference and back-pressure. The numerical simulations predicted the MMR micropump (with no valve) with a phase difference of (Formula presented.) and (Formula presented.)... 

The approximation power of general feedforward neural networks with piecewise linear activation functions is investigated. First, lower bounds on the size of a network are established in terms of the approximation error and network depth and width. These bounds improve upon state- of-the-art bounds for certain classes of functions, such as strongly convex functions. Second, an upper bound is established on the difference of two neural networks with identical weights but different activation functions. © The Author(s) 2018  

As one of the key technologies for high performance electronic devices, composite solders have been recently developed to improve thermal and mechanical properties of solder joints. In this research, melt spinning was employed to fabricate a lead-free based nanocomposite solder for electronic application materials via introducing Ni-coated Al2O3 nanoparticles (0.1 wt%) into a Sn-Ag-Cu ternary eutectic alloy during rapid solidification. These surface-modified nanoparticles were synthesized by an in situ chemical reduction method. The effect of rapid solidification on the distribution of reinforcing nanoparticles, microstructural evolution, and solderability of the tin alloy were studied.... 

Shear connectors are essential elements in the design of steel-concrete composite systems. These connectors are utilized to prevent the occurrence of potential slips at the interface of steel and concrete. The two types of shear connectors which have been recently employed in construction projects are C- and L-shaped connectors. In the current study, the behavior of C and L-shaped angle shear connectors is investigated experimentally. For this purpose, eight push-out tests were composed and subjected to monotonic loading. The load-slip curves and failure modes have been determined. Also, the shear strength of the connectors has been compared with previously developed relationships. Two... 

The capacity factor is an important wind turbine parameter which is ratio of average output electrical power to rated electrical power of the wind turbine. Another main factor, the AEP, the annual energy production, can be determined using wind characteristics and wind turbine performance. Lower rated power may lead to higher capacity factor but will reduce the AEP. Therefore, it is important to consider simultaneously both the capacity factor and the AEP in design or selecting a wind turbine. In this work, a new semi-empirical secondary capacity factor is introduced for determining a rated wind speed at which yearly energy and hydrogen production obtain a maximum value. This capacity factor... 

During the past few years, a considerable attention has been devoted to the development of textile- based energy storage devices and wearable electronics applications. In this paper, for the first time, we report a flexible high performance graphene-based supercapacitor using silver fiber fabric as the current collector. The silver fiber fabric offers remarkable advantages such as light weight, mechanical flexibility and ease of integration with electronic textiles, which well-suited for wearable energy storage devices. A new hybrid material of graphene-silver fiber fabric (rGO/SFF) was prepared through a facile electrophoretic deposition of graphene and being used as a binder-free flexible... 

Distribution companies are pressurized into investing in many projects for ensuring customer satisfaction and increasing their profitability. There are a lot of feasible projects that may help companies to improve their services, but resources for accomplishing them are limited. Therefore, financial subjects are crucially important for related decision making and budget allocation is a bone of contention between different departments of companies. Project net present value (NPV), which depends on investment, expected annual profit, interest rate and inflation rate, is realistic criterion of project economic value. Interest rate and inflation rate are not predefined coefficients.... 

We study the wave optics features of gravitational microlensing by a binary lens composed of a planet and a parent star. In this system, the source star near the caustic line produces a pair of images in which they can play the role of secondary sources for the observer. This optical system is similar to the Young double-slit experiment. The coherent wavefronts from a source on the lens plane can form a diffraction pattern on the observer plane. This diffraction pattern has two modes from the close- and wide-pair images. From the observational point of view, we study the possibility of detecting this effect through the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project in the resonance and... 

The effect of an impact polypropylene copolymer (IPC) having excellent stiffness–toughness balance on the microstructure and properties of a blend comprising 80 wt% recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and 20 wt% recycled isotactic polypropylene (rPP) was studied. Morphological observations revealed improved interfacial interactions, a finer dispersion state and a more homogeneous phase morphology upon IPC incorporation into the blend up to 20 wt%. Flexural modulus, flexural strength, tensile strength and tensile ductility were steadily increased with IPC loading, and exhibited 13%, 14%, 35% and 520% improvement at 20 wt% IPC. A monotonic rise in Izod impact energy, accompanied by a...