Sharif Digital Repository

The applications of Nomex honeycomb composite (NHC) structures in aerospace, automotive and defence sectors have been significantly increasing due to their high compressive strength, hexagonal thin-walled structure, ultra-light weight and excellent thermal resistance. Specific applications include composite sandwich structures in helicopter propellers, satellite cabins, aeroplane floors, engine cowls, wings and nacelles. Accuracy of the machined surface of NHC structures is required for adhesive bonding with face-sheets. Conventional machining processes generate machining defects in terms of tearing, damaged cell walls, burr formation, delamination and poor surface quality that result in... 

In order to optimize the aging treatment of Mg-1.8Zn-0.7Si-0.4Ca alloy, different times and temperatures of solid solution and age hardening were applied to the alloy specimens. Microstructures and mechanical properties of the specimens were investigated using the optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer, x-ray diffraction, hardness, and shear punch tests. The lowest hardness and strength were achieved by solution treating of the alloy at 500 °C for 8 h, presenting the optimal condition for solution treatment of the alloy. The microstructural examinations revealed three different precipitates consisting of CaMgSi,... 

The concept of a nonlinear transfer function of a fibre-optic communication link is reviewed. Also an approximation of the nonlinear transfer function is introduced, which allows to define an equivalent single-span model of a dispersion-managed multi-span system. In this paper we will show its limits of validity and try to extent these limits by enhancing the theoretical model. In this respect we will discuss the impact of dispersion precompensation and show the influence of residual dispersion per span, number of spans and local dispersion on transmission systems with on-off keying and differential phase-shift keying modulation formats. This approach allows fast assessment of the... 

In this paper, we prove the existence of capacity achieving linear codes with random binary sparse generating matrices over the Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC). The results on the existence of capacity achieving linear codes in the literature are limited to the random binary codes with equal probability generating matrix elements and sparse parity-check matrices. Moreover, the codes with sparse generating matrices reported in the literature are not proved to be capacity achieving for channels other than Binary Erasure Channel. As opposed to the existing results in the literature, which are based on optimal maximum a posteriori decoders, the proposed approach is based on a different decoder... 

We synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly route in basic solution Fe3O4–cysteine/RGO and Fe3O4/RGO–cysteine nanocomposites. In this method, electrostatic interaction was created via negatively charged surface of the reduced graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide–cysteine sheets and positively charged surface of the Fe3O4 and Fe3O4–Cys nanoparticles in aqueous solution. The structural and magnetic properties of the prepared samples were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The dependences of magnetization as a function of... 

We synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly route in basic solution Fe3O4–cysteine/RGO and Fe3O4/RGO–cysteine nanocomposites. In this method, electrostatic interaction was created via negatively charged surface of the reduced graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide–cysteine sheets and positively charged surface of the Fe3O4 and Fe3O4–Cys nanoparticles in aqueous solution. The structural and magnetic properties of the prepared samples were analyzed by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), respectively. The dependences of magnetization as a function of... 

The excellent photoluminescent properties of Fe3O4-graphene quantum dots (Fe3O4/GQD) nanoparticles prepared at 30 and 90 °C have made them as promising optical probes for imaging. Herein, the cytotoxicity of GQD and Fe3O4/GQD nanoparticles in L929 cells was investigated using MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium Bromide] assay. The cellular apoptosis or necrosis was then evaluated by flow cytometry analysis. The Fe3O4/GQD nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), photoluminescence (PL). Characterization results obtained, clearly show that Fe3O4/GQD nanoparticles... 

An electro membrane extraction (EME) methodology was utilized to study the isolation of some environmentally important pollutants, such as chlorophenols, from aquatic media based upon the electrokinetic migration process. The analytes were transported by application of an electrical potential difference over a supported liquid membrane (SLM). A driving force of 10 V was applied to extract the analytes through 1-octanol, used as the SLM, into a strongly alkaline solution. The alkaline acceptor solution was subsequently analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) detection. The parameters influencing electromigration, including volumes and pH of the donor and... 

In this study, the authors perform a complete survey on S-parameter method applications to compensate the coupling effect in circular arrays. The authors illustrate that, despite the simplicity and ease of measurements, the S-parameter algorithm has an adequate performance in comparison with the external calibration techniques in real environments. Based on the simulation and experimental results, for unmatched arrays and low-frequency applications [e.g. high-frequency (HF) radars], the S-parameter method performance is demonstrated to be comparable in accuracy to the external calibration techniques. Despite multipath effect and structural scattering, the direction of arrival can be... 

We propose an efficient optimal algorithm for determining the lot sizes for purchase component in Material Requirement Planning (MRP) environments with deterministic time-phased demand and zero lead time. In this model, backlog is not permitted, the unit purchasing price is based on the all-units discount system with single price break point and resale of the excess units is acceptable at the ordering time. The problem is divided into the sub-plans with specific properties by the dynamic programming (DP) method already presented. By modifying the main structure of the DP method, we present a branch-and-bound algorithm to obtain the optimal ordering policy for each sub-plans. Furthermore, we... 

For direction of arrival (DOA) estimation in compact arrays, a new approach based on time delay and amplitude estimation is presented for a known signal. The DOA can be accurately estimated without any calibration sources since the mutual coupling and multipath effects can be eliminated by the inherent mechanism of the proposed algorithm. The algorithm has significantly lower error and much less computational burden compared with the previous methods in high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions  

Time amplifiers (TA) are the key building blocks of the two-step time-to-digital converters. High resolution TAs suffer from inaccuracy the gain due to employing meta-stability behavior of the SR latches. In the proposed method, two offset NAND gates are placed in parallel with the NAND gates of the conventional SR latch to get a linear re-configurable gain. Gain of the TA is controlled only by the driving strength of the NAND gates. To confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method, an 8-bit two step time to digital converter (TDC) was designed and laid-out in 0.18 μ m CMOS technology. Using a supply voltage of 1.2V, the proposed TDC consumes 1.1mW at 30MS/s throughput. IEEE  

The fabrication of TixNi1-x shape memory films using simultaneous magnetron sputtering from two separate, elemental targets was investigated. The films were deposited at room temperature and then annealed at 500 °C to achieve the shape memory effect. The influence of sputtering parameters such as power ratio to the targets (to control the composition) and Ar gas pressure (to control the film structure) were studied. It was found that the Ar gas pressure had a critical influence on the shape memory effect of the films. Characterization of the films was carried out by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in a scanning electron microscope (to measure the film composition and uniformity), in... 

A technical-economic assessment was carried out in this study to determine the possibilities for wind and solar power generation in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The results showed that most of the province has a solar irradiance of over 400 W/m2, and also showed that wind and solar power generated in the province can be up to twice as cheap as the official price of renewable power in Afghanistan. The most suitable site for solar and hydrogen production was found to be Laškar Gāh, where solar and hydrogen can be produced at a cost of 0.066 $/kWh and 2.1496 $/kg-H2, respectively. In terms of wind power production and hydrogen production from wind, the most suitable site was Sangīn, where... 

In this paper, the energy absorption capacity of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic auxetic structures is examined experimentally and the results compared with both numerical and analytical methods. To this extent, a 3 D printing technology of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is implemented for fabricating the auxetic honeycombs and quasi-static compression test is conducted to extract the load-displacement behavior of the structure. Both hollow and foam filled lattice structures are tested, and the results revealed that the absorbed energy increased by 20% for PLA and 70% for PA specimens, when using foam. Finite element analysis is also performed using the explicit solver. The onset... 

The one-dimensional cutting stock problem, has so many applications in lots of industrial processes and during the past few years has attracted so many researchers’ attention all over the world. In this paper a metaheuristic method based on ACO is presented to solve this problem. In this algorithm, based on designed probabilistic laws, artificial ants do select various cuts and then select the best patterns. Also because of the problem framework, effective improvements has been made to problem solving process. The results of that algorithm in sample problems, show high efficiency of the algorithm in different levels of problems  

Compressibility of a nanostructured Al-5AlN composite powder synthesised via high energy ball milling for various times was studied by means of a modified Heckel equation. Since workhardening and morphological changes take place by milling evolution, the compressibility was consequently affected. Strengthening of composite compacts was influenced by milling and compaction processes, i.e. strength of compacts increased at longer milling times and higher compaction pressures. It was found that, at the initial stages of milling and higher compaction pressures, the strengthening was mostly affected from compaction process, whereas the milling strengthening fraction was near to unity at lower... 

Several metrics have been proposed for recognition of relationships between elements of two Ontologies. Many of these methods select a number of such metrics and combine them to extract existing mappings. In this article, we present a method for selection of more effective metrics - based on data mining techniques. Furthermore, by having a set of metrics, we suggest a data-mining-like means for combining them into a better ontology alignment  

The mean spherical approximation (MSA) has been applied to accurately correlate the activity coefficients of individual ions in aqueòus solutions of single 1:1 electrolytes. In order to account for changes in the hydration of the ions, the size parameters of the ions are considered to be composition dependent. The values of the size parameters show that the hydration of the ions decreases as the electrolyte concentration increases. Results obtained from the full MSA and from a simplified version of MSA (SMSA), were compared. The use of the simplified version had a small effect on the final results and dramatically reduced the computation of the effort  

Many companies face challenges in reducing their supply chain costs while increasing sustainability and customer service levels. A comprehensive framework for a sustainable closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network is a practical solution to these challenges. Hence, for the first time, this study considers an integrated multi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (MOMILP) model to design sustainable CLSC networks with cross-docking, location-inventory-routing, time window, supplier selection, order allocation, transportation modes with simultaneous pickup, and delivery under uncertainty. An intelligent simulation algorithm is proposed to produce CLSC network data with probabilistic...