Sharif Digital Repository

The out-of-pack cementation method was applied to coat the Nickel-based super alloy IN738LC with Si-modified aluminide. Different mixtures of the pack containing pure Al, Si, alumina powders as an inert filler, and NH4Cl as a halide salt activator were used for co-deposition at 950 and 1,050°C. The results showed although the amount of subhalide vapour pressures of Al and Si were equal at 1,050°C, Al atoms diffused only after Si atoms had been deposited. Before heat treatment, the coating thickness formed by the pack containing 2.3 wt.% Al was 6 μm more than that containing 3.5 wt.% Al. After heat treatment, thickening coatings formed within the pack containing 2.3 wt.% Al was less than that... 

We report the effect of the geometric parameters on transparency and conductivity in a metallic nanowire mesh as a transparent electrode. Today, indium tin oxide and fluorine-doped tin oxide are used as the transparent electrode for displays and solar cells. Still, there is a definite need for their replacement due to drawbacks such as brittleness, scarcity, and adverse environmental effects. Metallic nanowire mesh is likely the best replacement option, but the main issue is how to find the optimal structure and how to get the best performance. Since the interaction of light with nanowire mesh is complicated, there is no straightforward rule with a simple analytical solution. We developed a... 

Computational models of the central nervous system after a stroke helps to reveal the physiological mechanisms that may have strong impacts on the neuro-motor rehabilitation approaches. This paper studies the stroke subject's motor control mechanism in reaching movements by extending the previous study by incorporating the kinematics of motion as well as neural disconnection between the muscles and the CNS to further develop a planar patient specific neuro-musculoskeletal model of arm. The developed model was calibrated to eight post-stroke individuals by altering the Muscle Significance Factors (MFS) using numerical optimization to match the simulated motions with those measured... 

Transparent Conductive Electrode (TCE), as an essential part of the optoelectronic devices, has become popular owing to its unique properties such as high optical transmittance and conductivity. Among utilized materials for fabrication of TCE, copper nanofibers (NFs)-network have been attracting much attention due to its extraordinary properties such as low sheet resistance, the scalable manufacturing and low-cost fabrication method. However, many challenges exist in the way of multi-step fabrication of network to increase the NFs continuity and consequently, improvement of their electrical conductivity as TCE. Herein, we report a deep investigation of the effective parameters on diameter... 

Transparent Conductive Electrode (TCE), as an essential part of the optoelectronic devices, has become popular owing to its unique properties such as high optical transmittance and conductivity. Among utilized materials for fabrication of TCE, copper nanofibers (NFs)-network have been attracting much attention due to its extraordinary properties such as low sheet resistance, the scalable manufacturing and low-cost fabrication method. However, many challenges exist in the way of multi-step fabrication of network to increase the NFs continuity and consequently, improvement of their electrical conductivity as TCE. Herein, we report a deep investigation of the effective parameters on diameter... 

It is commonly known that the properties of materials are strongly related to their microstructure. This paper introduces a method that is a combination of rapid solidification (melt spinning) and semisolid forming (thixoforming) processes, which are used to refine the microstructure of “as-cast” Al–30Si–5Fe alloy and improve its mechanical properties. Produced Al–30Si–5Fe ribbons by melt-spinning process, were pulverized and subsequently consolidated at 300 °C in argon atmosphere. Prepared specimens were thixoformed at temperatures ranging from 580 to 700 °C in various holding times. Some samples were also directly thixoformed from as-cast condition. Microstructure of the as-cast, meltspun,... 

In this study, a combination of rapid solidification (melt-spinning) and semisolid forming (thixoforming) processes was used to refine the coarse microstructure of “as-cast” Al–30Si–5Fe alloy and improve its mechanical properties. Al–30Si–5Fe ribbons produced by the melt-spinning process were pulverized and subsequently consolidated at 300 °C in an argon atmosphere. Prepared specimens were thixoformed at temperatures ranging from 580 to 700 °C for various holding times. Some cast samples were also directly thixoformed as reference. In all thixoformed samples, microstructures were modified and needle-like intermetallic compounds as well as silicon particles in the as-cast part were changed... 

In the present contribution, the effects of different contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs), including parabens, drugs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on antioxidant activity of Lactuca sativa L. in different concentration levels (10–500 µg L−1) were evaluated using ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometry combined with chemometric techniques. The extracts of lettuce samples were investigated for the antioxidant activity (AA), total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC) after 39 days of planting and 14 days of exposure. Then, the spectroscopic data were arranged in two different data matrices, including (i) the control lettuce samples and PAHs... 

Recently in electricity markets, a massive focus has been made on setting up opportunities for participating demand side. Such opportunities, also known as demand response (DR) options, are triggered by either a grid reliability problem or high electricity prices. Two important challenges that market operators are facing are appropriate designing and reasonable pricing of DR options.In this paper, time-of-use program (TOU) as a prevalent time-varying program is modeled linearly based on own and cross elasticity definition. In order to decide on TOU rates, a stochastic model is proposed in which the optimum TOU rates are determined based on grid reliability index set by the operator. Expected... 

Semisolid stir joining has been under deliberation as a possible method for joining of copper alloys. In this study, the effect of temperature and rotational speed of stirrer on macrostructure evaluation and mechanical properties of samples were investigated. Optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction were performed for macro and microstructural analysis. A uniform micro-hardness profile was attained by semisolid stir joining method. The ultimate shear strength and bending strength of welded samples were improved in comparison with the cast sample. There is also lower area porosity in welded samples than the cast metal. The mechanical properties were improved by increasing temperature and... 

Magnetic encoders as position sensors are widely used in industrial applications. They have numerous benefits, including resilience, cheap maintenance costs, minimal sensitivity to EMI noise, and a wide temperature range. However, they suffer from relatively low resolution. Therefore, the highest resolution that a magnetic encoder may achieve is estimated in this study. Then, a low-cost output circuit is proposed to increase the resolution of magnetic encoder without changing its primary parameters. The experimental measurements on the porotype of the sensor approve the success of the proposed method. © 2023 IEEE  

We study the optimal pricing for revenue maximization over social networks in the presence of positive network externalities. In our model, the value of a digital good for a buyer is a function of the set of buyers who have already bought the item. In this setting, a decision to buy an item depends on its price and also on the set of other buyers that have already owned that item. The revenue maximization problem in the context of social networks has been studied by Hartline, Mirrokni, and Sundararajan [4], following the previous line of research on optimal viral marketing over social networks [5,6,7]. We consider the Bayesian setting in which there are some prior knowledge of the... 

In this study, Ni-Fe/SiC nanocomposite coatings with smooth and crack-free surface were successfully prepared by means of the conventional electrodeposition in the presence of saccharin in electrolyte. The goal of this work was to investigate the effect of SiC nanoparticles and saccharin on the structure and properties of permalloy nanocomposite coatings. The nanocomposite coatings were characterized using optical and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The significant variation in the crystallographic texture of the coatings was observed due to the addition of SiC nanoparticles and saccharin in the electrodeposition... 

A colorful path in a graph G is a path with χ(G) vertices whose colors are different. A v-colorful path is such a path, starting from v. Let G ≠ C7 be a connected graph with maximum degree Δ (G). We show that there exists a (Δ(G)+1)-coloring of G with a v-colorful path for every v ∈ V (G). We also prove that this result is true if one replaces (Δ (G) + 1) colors with 2 χ(G) colors. If χ (G) = ω(G), then the result still holds for χ(G) colors. For every graph G, we show that there exists a χ(G)-coloring of G with a rainbow path of length ⌊ χ(G)/2⌋ starting from each v ∈ V (G)  

Lack of demand response has always been the main reason for price increasing, shortage of production capacity and system risk increasing as the electricity markets have been greatly involved during the past years. In Electricity market, the exchanges are profitable for producers and consumers when both can participate freely. Based on this new environment, we are currently facing with a new concept as demand-side participation or demand response. There are several demand response programs that accurate pricing of each them is the major challenge that retailers and market operators are facing with. In this article the day-ahead real time pricing contract (DA-RTP) based on two different... 

In the present study, an optimized liquid-phase microextraction technique based on the deep eutectic solvent (LPME-DES) followed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) is developed to determine 13 carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water and juice samples. In this regard, central composite design (CCD) was used to design, multiple linear regression (MLR) to model, and Nelder-Mead simplex optimization to optimize the effective LPME-DES factors. The optimum values for DES volume, temperature, extraction time, and salt amount were 112 µL, 72 °C, 9.14 min, and 2.5% (w/v), respectively. Afterward, multivariate calibration based on partial least squares...