Sharif Digital Repository

A wide range of loading conditions involving external forces with varying magnitudes, orientations and locations are encountered in daily activities. Here we computed the effect on trunk biomechanics of changes in force location (two levels) and orientation (5 values) in 4 subjects in upright standing while maintaining identical external moment of 15. Nm, 30. N. m or 45. Nm at the L5-S1. Driven by measured kinematics and gravity/external loads, the finite element models yielded substantially different trunk neuromuscular response with moderate alterations (up to 24% under 45 Nm moment) in spinal loads as the load orientation varied. Under identical moments, compression and shear forces at... 

A novel optimisation algorithm is developed to predict coactivity of abdominal muscles while accounting for both trunk stability via the lowest buckling load (Pcr) and tissue loading via the axial compression (Fc). A nonlinear multi-joint kinematics-driven model of the spine along with the response surface methodology are used to establish empirical expressions for Pcr and Fc as functions of abdominal muscle coactivities and external load magnitude during lifting in upright standing posture. A two-component objective function involving Fc and Pcr is defined. Due to opposite demands, abdominal coactivities that simultaneously maximise Pcr and minimise Fc cannot exist. Optimal solutions are... 

Development of a subject-specific computational musculoskeletal trunk model (accounting for age, sex, body weight and body height), estimation of muscle forces and internal loads as well as subsequent validation by comparison with measured intradiscal pressure in various lifting tasks are novel, important and challenging. The objective of the present study is twofold. First, it aims to update and personalize the passive and active structures in an existing musculoskeletal kinematics-driven finite element model. The scaling scheme used an existing imaging database and biomechanical principles to adjust muscle geometries/cross-sectional-areas and passive joint geometry/properties in accordance... 

Maximum voluntary exertion (MVE) tasks quantify trunk strength and maximal muscle electromyography (EMG) activities with both clinical and biomechanical implications. The aims here are to evaluate the performance of an existing trunk musculoskeletal model, estimate maximum muscle stresses and spinal forces, and explore likely differences between males and females in maximum voluntary exertions. We, therefore, measured trunk strength and EMG activities of 19 healthy right-handed subjects (9 females and 10 males) in flexion, extension, lateral and axial directions. MVEs for all subjects were then simulated in a subject-specific trunk musculoskeletal model, and estimated muscle activities were... 

Maximum voluntary exertion (MVE) tasks quantify trunk strength and maximal muscle electromyography (EMG) activities with both clinical and biomechanical implications. The aims here are to evaluate the performance of an existing trunk musculoskeletal model, estimate maximum muscle stresses and spinal forces, and explore likely differences between males and females in maximum voluntary exertions. We, therefore, measured trunk strength and EMG activities of 19 healthy right-handed subjects (9 females and 10 males) in flexion, extension, lateral and axial directions. MVEs for all subjects were then simulated in a subject-specific trunk musculoskeletal model, and estimated muscle activities were... 

Workplace safety assessment, personalized treatment design and back pain prevention programs require accurate subject-specific estimation of spinal loads. Since no noninvasive method can directly estimate spinal loads, easy-to-use regression equations that are constructed based on the results of complex musculoskeletal models appear as viable alternatives. Thus, we aim to develop subject-specific regression equations of L4-L5 and L5-S1 shear and compression forces during various symmetric/asymmetric tasks using a nonlinear personalized finite element musculoskeletal trunk model. Kinematics and electromyography (EMG) activities of 19 young healthy subjects were collected during 64 different... 

Subject-specific parameters influence spinal loads and the risk of back disorders but their relative effects are not well understood. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of changes in age (35–60 years), sex (male, female), body height (BH: 150–190 cm) and body weight (BW: 50–120 kg) on spinal loads in a full-factorial simulation using a personalized (spine kinematics, geometry, musculature and passive properties) kinematics driven musculoskeletal trunk finite element model. Segmental weight distribution (magnitude and location along the trunk) was estimated by a novel technique to accurately represent obesity. Five symmetric sagittal loading conditions were considered,... 

Musculoskeletal models represent spinal motion segments by spherical joints/beams with linear/nonlinear properties placed at various locations. We investigated the fidelity of these simplified models (i.e., spherical joints with/without rotational springs and beams considering nonlinear/linear properties) in predicting kinematics of the ligamentous spine in comparison with a detailed finite element (FE) model while considering various anterior-posterior joint placements. Using the simplified models with different joint offsets in a subject-specific musculoskeletal model, we computed local spinal forces during forward flexion and compared results with intradiscal pressure measurements. In... 

Musculoskeletal models represent spinal motion segments by spherical joints/beams with linear/nonlinear properties placed at various locations. We investigated the fidelity of these simplified models (i.e., spherical joints with/without rotational springs and beams considering nonlinear/linear properties) in predicting kinematics of the ligamentous spine in comparison with a detailed finite element (FE) model while considering various anterior-posterior joint placements. Using the simplified models with different joint offsets in a subject-specific musculoskeletal model, we computed local spinal forces during forward flexion and compared results with intradiscal pressure measurements. In... 

The unwanted effects of diffraction and defocus aberration in three-dimensional integral imaging are taken into account by using the Fourier optics approach. The concepts of point spread function and optical transfer function widely in use for conventional two-dimensional imaging are generalized and applied to three-dimensional integral imaging systems. The effects of diffraction and defocus aberration are then studied and the performance of the conventional single lens imaging system is compared against that of the integral imaging  

Modern societies are strongly dependent on the continuous and efficient operation of electric power systems as a critical infrastructure. Besides, information and communication systems play a crucial role in the resiliency enhancement of the power system. As power communication systems are vulnerable against physical and cyber attack, these systems themselves can be an internal source of threat for power grids. Therefore, there is a need to identify and study the threats and weaknesses of power communication systems using a comprehensive framework. This framework helps power communication network planners evaluate all challenges and their numerous effects on the system, as a very important... 

A method based on immersed solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS) for the determination of organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) in aqueous samples was developed. A sol-gel based coating fiber was prepared using 3-(trimethoxysilylpropyl) amine as precursor. The synthesized fiber was prepared in a way to impart polar moiety into the coating network and would be more suitable for extracting polar and semi-polar organic pollutants. Important parameters influencing the extraction process were optimized and an extraction time of 40 min at 30 °C gave maximum peak area, when NaCl (20% w/v) was added to the aqueous sample. The linearity for... 

This paper proposes a full-featured fault injection framework to assess reliability of FPGA-based designs. The framework provides non-intrusiveness, portability, flexibility and performance in reliability evaluation of FPGA-based designs against adverse effects of SEUs. It works in a non-intrusive manner, allowing the reliability of ready-to-be-released designs to be assessed independently, without any intrusion into their place and route characteristics. We have studied implications of framework's intrusiveness into design under test by comparing proposed non-intrusive framework with previous intrusive methods; up to 5% deviation in the number of effective faults is observed in intrusive... 

In this study a new method is proposed for quantification of cardiac muscle motions in echocardiography frames based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and manifold learning method. EMD algorithm is able to extract intrinsic mode functions (IMF) from a signal. In the first bi-dimension intrinsic mode functions (BIMF) of echocardiography frames myocardial is shown with more details than the second BIMF and the second BIMF shows more details than the third BIMF. By using manifold learning method, quantification difference between each pair of consecutive frames in the first, second and third BIMF series (similarities between the frames were extracted). Acquired trajectories of three... 

WO3 thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as dispersing agent. Physical and photoelectrochemical properties of the synthesized nanocrystalline films were studied by varying weight ratio of PEG to tungsten precursor (x). Based on AFM observations and statistical modeling of the WO3 surface, the thickness of the films increased by increasing the amount of x with a nearly linear fashion while the surface roughness reached to a saturated value. However, the film synthesized with x = 4 showed a chaotic surface behavior. Optical analysis revealed that by increasing the x, transmittance of the films decreased while their band gap energies remained unchanged.... 

La0.3Sr0.7FeO3-δ (LSF) perovskite was prepared according to two methods: (1) applying new phenolic derivative of serine amino acid (L) as chelating agent, and (2) in absence of L as ligand-free perovskite (LFP). The newly prepared aminophenolic ligand L was fully characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, IR as well as elemental analysis while the LSF perovskite samples were characterized using the IR spectra, powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns, and SEM micrographs. The PXRD pattern obtained for the perovskite prepared by L (PPP) indicated on the presence of pure perovskite phase. The hydrogen permeation through PPP and LFP membranes with thickness of 1.0mm were measured as a function of... 

The discrete fracture network (DFN) and Multiple-Continua concept are among the most widely used methods to model naturally fractured reservoirs. Each faces specific limitations. The recently introduced recovery curve method (RCM) is believed to be a compromise between these two current methods. In this method the recovery curves are used to determine the amount of mass exchanges between the matrix and fracture mediums. Two recovery curves are assigned for each simulation cell, one curve for gas displacement in the presence of the gravity drainage mechanism, and another for water displacement in the case of the occurrence of the imbibition mechanism. These curves describe matrix-fracture... 

Quantitative structure-properties relationship (QSPR) has been applied to modelling and predicting the gas to acetone and gas to acetonitrile solvation enthalpies (ΔH Solv) of organic compounds using partial least squares (PLS), artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector machine (SVM) techniques. Two different datasets were assessed. The first one contained a set of gas to acetone enthalpy of solvation data of 68 different organic compounds while the second one included a total of 69 experimental data points for the enthalpy of solvation in acetonitrile. Genetic algorithm (GA) was used to search the descriptor space and select the descriptors responsible for property. After the... 

The discrete fracture network (DFN) and Multiple-Continua concept are among the most widely used methods to model naturally fractured reservoirs. Each faces specific limitations. The recently introduced recovery curve method (RCM) is believed to be a compromise between these two current methods. In this method the recovery curves are used to determine the amount of mass exchanges between the matrix and fracture mediums. Two recovery curves are assigned for each simulation cell, one curve for gas displacement in the presence of the gravity drainage mechanism, and another for water displacement in the case of the occurrence of the imbibition mechanism. These curves describe matrix-fracture... 

The Discrete Fracture Network and Dual Continuum concept are two common methods to model naturally fractured reservoirs. Each has specific limitations. The newly introduced recovery curve method is believed to be a compromise between these two current methods. In the recovery curve method, two recovery curves for water and gas displacements are used to more realistically calculate matrix-fracture mass exchanges. This paper presents a new approach to determine appropriate recovery curves by using the recovery curve method and production data. In particular, two recovery curves were determined for a column model by matching phase contact positions throughout the production data. Hybrid genetic...