Sharif Digital Repository

Due to the avascular nature of articular cartilage, damaged tissue has little capacity for spontaneous healing. Three-dimensional scaffolds have potential for use in tissue engineering approach for cartilage repair. In this study, bovine cartilage tissue was decellularized and chemically crosslinked hybrid chitosan/extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds were fabricated with different ECM weight ratios by simple freeze drying method. Various properties of chitosan/ECM scaffolds such as microstructure, mechanical strength, swelling ratio, and biodegradability rate were investigated to confirm improved structural and biological characteristics of chitosan scaffolds in the presence of ECM. The... 

Separation of particles or cells has various applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industry. Inertial cell separation, in particular, has been gaining a great attention in the recent years since it has exhibited a label-free, high-throughput and efficient performance. In this work, first, an inertial contraction–expansion array microchannel device, capable of passively separating two particles with diameters of 4 and 10 μm, was numerically studied. Then, the validated model was combined with curved geometries in order to investigate the effect of curve features on the separation process. The overall purpose was to investigate the interaction between the two different... 

The widespread growth of Big Data and the evolution of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies enable cities to obtain valuable intelligence from a large amount of real-time produced data. In a Smart City, various IoT devices generate streams of data continuously which need to be analyzed within a short period of time; using some Big Data technique. Distributed stream processing frameworks (DSPFs) have the capacity to handle real-time data processing for Smart Cities. In this paper, we examine the applicability of employing distributed stream processing frameworks at the data processing layer of Smart City and appraising the current state of their adoption and maturity among the IoT... 

In this paper, we divide a wide frequency range into multiple subbands and in each subband detect whether in a primary user (PU) is active or not. We assume that PU signal at each subband and the additive noise are white zeromean independent Gaussian random processes with unknown variances. We also assume that at least a minimum given number of subbands is vacant of PU signal and propose an invariant Generalized Likelihood Ratio (GLR) detector. The concept of the grouping of subbands allows faster spectrum sensing of a subset of subbands which may be occupied by a specific PU. Also, we evaluate trade-offs involved in the proposed algorithms by simulation. © 2009 IEEE  

The spectrum sensing of a wideband frequency range is studied by dividing it into multiple subbands. It is assumed that in each subband either a primary user (PU) is active or absent in a additive white Gaussian noise environment with an unknown variance. It is also assumed that at least a minimum given number of subbands are vacant of PUs. In this multiple interrelated hypothesis testing problem, the noise variance is estimated and a generalised likelihood ratio detector is proposed to identify possible spectrum holes at a secondary user (SU). Provided that it is known that a specific PU can occupy a subset of subbands simultaneously, a grouping algorithm which allows faster spectrum... 

In this paper, vehicle longitudinal velocity during the braking process is estimated by measuring the wheels speed. Here, a new algorithm based on the unknown input Kalman filter is developed to estimate the vehicle longitudinal velocity with a minimum mean square error and without using the value of braking torque in the estimation procedure. The stability and convergence of the filter are analysed and proved. Effectiveness of the method is shown by designing a real experiment and comparing the estimation result with actual longitudinal velocity computing from a three-axis accelerometer output  

In this paper, a novel structure for a dual-gated graphene nanoribbon field-effect transistor (GNRFET) is offered, which combines the advantages of high and low dielectric constants. In the proposed Two Different Insulators GNRFET (TDI-GNRFET), the gate dielectric at the drain side is a material with low dielectric constant to form smaller capacitances, while in the source side, there is a material with high dielectric constant to improve On-current and reduce the leakage current. Simulations are performed based on self-consistent solutions of the Poisson equation coupled with Non-Equilibrium Green's Function (NEGF) formalism in the ballistic regime. We assume a tight-binding Hamiltonian in... 

Despite the advantages of employing an electric propulsion system in All-Electric Ships (AES), additional power fluctuation sources have emerged in the ship power system as a result. Since the propellers are the primary power consumers in the AES, these fluctuations may significantly affect its power system power quality. Thus, for optimal performance of the ship power system, these fluctuations need to be rigorously investigated at the design level of vessels. Waves collision is one of the critical conditions where propellers inject power fluctuations into the ship power system. Therefore, a comprehensive model is essential to analyze the propellers in-and-out-of-water effect on the ship... 

In recent years, utilizing the electrical propulsion system in the marine industry has become widely popular. Control of the propeller has been a high-priority design challenge in this industry. One of the essential issues in propeller control is the speed control of the ships. A suitable control strategy for the propeller should be economically-efficient while ensuring stability, reliability, and power quality of the ship's power system. This article proposes an improved propeller control strategy for increasing/decreasing the ship's speed. This scheme consists of two strategies: a maximum acceleration strategy and an efficient operation strategy. The maximum acceleration strategy aims to... 

Ship motions affect the propulsion system, which causes fluctuations in the power system. Mutually, the power system variations impact the ship velocity by generating speed changes in the propeller. Therefore, interconnecting the ship hydrodynamic and power system has paramount importance in designing and analysing an all-electric ship (AES). The lack of an integrated model that can be evaluated in various operating conditions, such as manoeuvring, is evident. This paper explores the required perceptions for the power system and hydrodynamic analysis of an AES. Then, an integrated theoretical model comprising both the ship motion and power system is proposed. In addition to providing an... 

This article proposes two novel power management strategies (PMSs) to enhance the electrical power quality in twin-screw all-electric ships (AESs) during vessel-wave encountering. Soothing PMS (SPMS) focuses on mitigating power fluctuations of the propulsion system since it has significant impacts on the power system in extreme conditions. For this purpose, the PMS modifies propellers' speed based on the in-and-out-of-water effect loss factor (LF) in wave collisions. This method does not require typical equipment, such as energy storage systems (ESSs), to moderate the variations. Hence, it decreases the ESS demand capacity and maintenance costs at the design and operation levels. An... 

Waves encountering can cause significant ship motions and affect the photovoltaic power generation capacity in All-Electric Ships (AES) during extreme conditions. In this paper, a comprehensive strategy is proposed to examine the impact of modern vessels' movements on the PV system output and the ship power quality during various operating scenarios. The proposed theoretical model-based technique determines ship angles in a wave collision and assesses sun-related angles concerning the vessel motions. Based on the panel angles, the solar irradiance and the PV system power variations can be derived. The developed method can simultaneously evaluate the effect of ship motions on the photovoltaic... 

Time domain analysis of multilayer graphene nano ribbon (MLGNR) interconnects, based on transmission line modeling (TLM) using a six-order linear parametric expression, has been presented for the first time. We have studied the effects of interconnect geometry along with its contact resistance on its step response and Nyquist stability. It is shown that by increasing interconnects dimensions their propagation delays are increased and accordingly the system becomes relatively more stable. In addition, we have compared time responses and Nyquist stabilities of MLGNR and SWCNT bundle interconnects, with the same external dimensions. The results show that under the same conditions, the... 

We present two compact analytic formulae for calculating the channel number in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs), in terms of GNRs' width and Fermi energy. Numerical data obtained from these analytic formulae fit those obtained numerically from the exact formula, with accuracies within 1%. Using appropriate fit parameters, the compact formulae are valid for zigzag, armchair-metallic, and armchair-semiconducting GNRs, at room, liquid nitrogen, and liquid helium temperatures (i.e. 300, 77 and 4.2 K)  

Achieving dense off-chip interconnection with satisfactory electrical performance is emerging as a major challenge in advanced system engineering. Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have been recently proposed as one of the potential candidate materials for both transistors and interconnect. In addition, development is still underway for alternative materials and processes for high aspect ratio (AR) contacts. Studding the effect of varying aspect ratio on relative stability of graphene nanoribbon interconnects is an important viewpoint in performance evaluation of system. In this paper, Nyquist stability analysis based on transmission line modeling (TLM) for GNR interconnects is investigated. In... 

The remarkable properties of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) make them attractive for nano-scale devices applications, especially for transistor and interconnect. Furthermore, for reduction interconnects signal delay, low dielectric constant materials are being introduced to replace conventional dielectrics in next generation IC technologies. With these regards, studding the effect of varying dielectric constant (e{open}r) on relative stability of graphene nanoribbons interconnect is an important viewpoint in performance evaluation of system. In this paper, Nyquist stability analysis based on transmission line modeling (TLM) for graphene nanoribbon interconnects is investigated. In this... 

Bode stability analysis based on transmission line modeling (TLM) for single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) interconnects used in 3D-VLSI circuits is investigated for the first time. In this analysis, the dependence of the degree of relative stability for SWCNT interconnects on the geometry of each tube has been acquired. It is shown that, increasing the length and diameter of each tube, SWCNT interconnects become more stable  

In this study, a new two-way relaying scheme based on compute-and-forward (CMF) framework and relay selection strategies is proposed, which provides a higher throughput than the conventional two-way relaying schemes. Two cases of relays with or without feedback transmission capability are considered. An upper bound on the computation rate of each relay is derived, and based on that, a lower bound on the outage probability of the system is presented assuming block Rayleigh fading channels. Numerical results show that while the average sum rate of the system without feedback, named as max-CMF (M-CMF), reaches the derived upper bound only in low SNRs, that of the system with feedback, named as... 

We address the noninvasive temperature estimation from pulse-echo radio frequency signals from standard diagnostic ultrasound imaging equipment. In particular, we investigate the use of a high-resolution spectral estimation method for tracking frequency shifts at two or more harmonic frequencies associated with temperature change. The new approach, employing generalized second-order statistics, is shown to produce superior frequency shift estimates when compared to conventional high-resolution spectral estimation methods Seip and Ebbini (1995). Furthermore, temperature estimates from the new algorithm are compared with results from the more commonly used echo shift method described in Simon...