Sharif Digital Repository

A new magnetic, catalytic nanocomposite of Hal-MT-Cys-Ag/MNCD was fabricated and utilized for catalyzing reductive de-colorization of methyl orange and rhodamin B in aqueous media at room temperature. To prepare this material, Cl-functionalized halloysite nanoclay was successively reacted with melamine and 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine to furnish multi-nitrogen containing ligand on halloysite surface. Then, magnetic carbon dots were crafted through a facile method and decorated with Ag nanoparticles and cysteine to furnish Cys-Ag/MNCD species. The final nanocomposite was obtained via incorporation of this latter species onto functionalized halloysite. This new composite was characterized... 

In this study, the perturbed hard sphere chain equation of state is utilized to calculate the activity of water in binary and ternary solutions of polyethylene glycol (PEG), salt and water. The liquid density of the binary and ternary solutions is also predicted. To estimate the water activity in PEG-water binary systems, a linear correlation is obtained for the binary interaction parameter between water and PEG. Then, using this correlation and without introducing any additional binary parameters, the water activities are predicted in ternary solutions of water, salt and PEG with different molecular weights (MW). Our results show that the mean absolute average relative deviation (AARD %) of... 

The rational design of composite catalysts is critically essential for electrochemical water splitting. Here, we report on a novel hierarchical composite that comprises NiFeSe2 nanoparticles and NiCo2O4 nanoflakes supported on nickel foam (NF) as an efficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The conjunction of the NiFeSe2 nanoparticles and NiCo2O4 nanoflakes introduces a new synergistic effect for the HER, resulting in an improved NiCo2O4 catalyst. The as-prepared NiFeSe2/NiCo2O4/NF electrode exhibited an enhanced HER activity, with a low overpotential of 83 mV at a current density of 10 mA cm−2, a low Tafel slope of 45 mV dec−1, and an excellent long-term... 

Heavy-duty gas turbines are usually devised in power plants to generate electrical energy. Sudden failure in any of its parts or subdivisions will result in a decrement of the efficiency of the system or emergency shutdown of the system. The highest risk of failure in these turbines is subjected to the hot gas path (HGP) of the turbine. Due to the existence of uncertainty in diagnosing process or damage growth, in this research, a modified risk-based probabilistic failure analysis model using Bayesian networks (BN) was developed. First, a failure model was developed using the Fault Tree Analysis, and then it is transformed into a BN model. This model is capable of predicting and diagnosing... 

First stage nozzles are considered as one of the most critical components in the heavy-duty gas turbines because of their operational in-service condition in the hot gas path. In the present research, the failure analysis of a first stage nozzle in a 159 MW gas turbine is investigated in order to specify the modes and mechanisms of the failure and their root causes. Various examinations including macroscopic and visual inspection of the nozzle outer surface, the micro examination of the fracture surface, chemical analysis and metallographic analysis were carried out to complete the investigation. The micro and macro examinations revealed cracks, erosion and oxidation damages in the nozzle... 

The ability of 5G wireless communication networks to effectively and simultaneously interact with incoming signals is made possible by antenna arrays, which play a vital role in assisting the functioning of 5G wireless communication networks. The utilization of beamforming enables the enhancement of signal strength, expansion of coverage area, and reduction of interference, thereby optimizing the performance of the communication networks. This paper introduces a deep learning approach that utilizes a deep neural network (DNN). This approach establishes an appropriate framework to implement beamforming for planar antenna arrays. The DNN utilizes the desired radiation pattern as an input to... 

The deployment of 5G networks requires advanced antenna technologies to meet the increasing demands for high-capacity and low-latency communication. Antenna arrays, known for their beamforming capabilities, are vital in achieving these goals. However, sidelobes in the antenna radiation pattern can introduce errors and significantly impact the system's overall performance. This paper proposes a novel beamforming optimization technique for linear antenna arrays (LLA) in 5G networks. Our approach leverages the power of metaheuristic algorithms, precisely the Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), to optimize the array configuration and reduce the Sidelobe Levels (SLL). The main objective is... 

Online Social Networks (OSNs) have become widely popular in recent years. In spite of users' interest to join OSNs, sharing vast amounts of personal information and resources in these networks might result in privacy issues for them. In the centralized OSNs, access control policies defined by users are enforced by OSN providers. Moreover, as these shared resources are stored by providers, they can access them. To avoid such problems, various architectures for decentralized OSNs are proposed. But the proposed architectures for P2P OSNs yet do not support any mechanism for collaborative privacy management on the shared content. By increasing the amount of resources such as photos which is... 

In this paper, we study the effect of non-Poisson traffic patterns on energy consumption for IEEE 802.16e nodes while operating in the sleep mode. In the sleep mode, a Mobile Subscribe Station (MSS) sleeps for a sleep interval and wakes up at the end of this interval in order to check buffered packet(s) at Base Station (BS) destined to it. If there is no packet, the MSS increases the sleep window up to the maximum value and sleeps again. For a more general traffic pattern (rather than Poisson), we evaluate the average power consumption. Based on our analysis, we conclude that traffic pattern plays an important role in power consumption. ©2007 IEEE  

The role of emulsions as a prevalent phenomenon is broadly investigated in the petroleum industry since forming the emulsion has many severe harmful implications. Heavy components of crude oil such as wax and asphaltene make the water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion more stable, while the role of these components on the emulsion viscosity has not been fully understood. In this regard, to find a proper demulsifier to break these emulsions, it is necessary to know the mechanisms of emulsion formation by heavy oil components. In this study, the effects of waxy-oil and asphaltenic-oil on w/o emulsion were investigated by measuring volume and viscosity of the formed emulsion after an elapsed time, followed... 

In this paper, we present a numerical simulation of a laminar, steady and Newtonian flow of f-graphene nanoplatelet/water nanofluid in a new microchannel design with factors for increasing heat transfer such as presence of ribs, curves to enable satisfactory fluid mixing and changing fluid course at the inlet and exit sections. The results of this study show that Nusselt number is dependent on nanoparticles concentration, inlet geometry and Reynolds number. As the nanofluid concentration increases from 0 to 0.1% and Reynolds number from 50 to 1000, the Nusselt number enhances nearly up to 3% for increase in fluid concentration and averagely from 15.45 to 54.1 and from 14.5 to 55.9 for... 

Titanium alloys have been used extensively as implants. However, they generally suffer from low biocompatibility as well as antibacterial activity. To date, several strategies have been proposed to address these issues. It is of practical interest to synergistically increase both cellular adhesion and antimicrobial activity in titanium-based implants. Here, Ti–6Al–4V alloys were surface-modified by Nd:YAG laser with different scanning speeds ranging from 1 to 5 mm s−1 and subsequently coated by drug-loaded polymer nanofibers for prolonged drug release. The laser-modified samples were both physically and metallurgically characterized through XRD, OM, AFM, FESEM, hardness, and wettability... 

A finite element technique is used to mimic radial deformation of single-walled carbon nanotubes under hydrostatic pressure. The elastic deformation of nanotubes is modeled via elastic beams. Properties of the beam element are evaluated by considering characteristics of the covalent bonds between the carbon atoms in a hexagonal lattice. Applying the beam model in a three dimensional space, the elastic properties of the nanotube in the transverse direction are evaluated. The effects of diameter and wall thickness on the radial and circumferential elastic moduli of zigzag and armchair nanotubes are considered. Results are in good agreement with molecular structural mechanics data in the... 

Spam mails are unwanted mails sent to large number of users. Spam mails not only consume the network resources, but cause security threats as well. This paper proposes an efficient technique to detect, and to prevent spam mail in the sender side rather than the receiver side. This technique is based on a counter set on the sender server. When a mail is transmitted to the server, the mail server checks the number of the recipients based on its counter policy. The counter policy performed by the mail server is based on some pre-defined criteria. When the number of recipients exceeds the counter policy, the mail server discontinues the rest of the process, and sends a failure mail to sender of... 

Spam mails are unwanted mails sent to large number of users. Spam mails not only consume the network resources, but cause security threats as well. This paper proposes an efficient technique to detect, and to prevent spam mail in the sender side rather than the receiver side. This technique is based on a counter set on the sender server. When a mail is transmitted to the server, the mail server checks the number of the recipients based on its counter policy. The counter policy performed by the mail server is based on some pre-defined criteria. When the number of recipients exceeds the counter policy, the mail server discontinues the rest of the process, and sends a failure mail to sender of... 

Background While several studies have investigated the traditional linear measures in patients with knee osteoarthritis, no study has yet reported the non-linear structure of postural sway in these patients. Methods We used two non-linear methods, recurrence quantification analysis (percent of determinism-%DET) and central tendency measure, to respectively investigate differences in the complexity and variability of sway dynamics between two groups of knee osteoarthritis patients (n = 27) and healthy controls (n = 27) under different conditions of postural and cognitive tasks. The experimental conditions included standing on (1) rigid surface with open eyes; (2) rigid surface with closed... 

In this research, it is investigated to numerically evaluate the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The performance is investigated through the nonuniformity gradient loading at the catalyst layer (CL) of the considered PEMFC. Computational fluid dynamics is used to simulate a 2D domain in which a steady-state laminar compressible flow in two-phase for the PEMFC has been considered. In this case, a particular nonuniform variation inside the CL along the channel is assumed. The nonuniform gradient is created using a nonisothermal domain to predict the flooding effects on the performance of the PEMFC. The computational domain is considered as the cathode of PEMFC,... 

Security constrained Preventive Maintenance (PM) scheduling is addressed as a crucial issue especially coping with new challenges of smart grids. Under the smart grid environment, Demand Response Resources (DRRs) are considered as virtual power plants in energy policy decisions which affect the controllability of power system ranging from short-term to long-term. Here, DRRs are regarded as a virtual resource of capacity reserve acquisition. Furthermore, under new environment, multifarious objectives will be imposed to PM scheduling which can be replicated into a single objective problem via a weighted approach with consideration of arbitrary weighting coefficients. In this paper, a new... 

In this research, a numerical investigation is done on the effect of employing the new combined vortex generators, the twisted tape turbulator and Al2O3-H2O nanofluid as the involved base fluid. Such study is carried out on the behavior of the heat transfer rate and the pressure drop of a double pipe heat exchanger. Accordingly, the response surface methodology (RSM) grounded on the central composite design (CCD) is used for acquiring the optimized geometry of the combined vortex generator and twisted tape turbulator. In order to have the maximum Nusselt number and minimum friction factor, twenty cases with different pitches ratio Pil=0.09-0.18, angles (θ=0-30°) and Reynolds numbers (Re =... 

The present work examines experimentally the effect of magnetic field on the viscosity and thermal conductivity of a hybrid nanofluid containing tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles and Gum arabic (GA) coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The hybrid nanofluid was prepared by using ultrasonic dispersion method. Magnetic field was created by a pair of spaced apart magnet plates. The effect of temperature on the time variation of thermal conductivity under applied magnetic field was also investigated. According to the results of this study, viscosity of the hybrid nanofluid increases with the strength of magnetic field, while it decreases with the increase of temperature....