Sharif Digital Repository

Aluminium alloys are lightweight materials relatively used in automotive industries. However, welding using the conventional welding methods is known to be difficult. In this study, the friction stir welding (FSW) known as the solid state joining process was extensively used for joining similar and dissimilar 5 mm aluminium alloy plates. The butt-joint type of similar joints (AA5083-AA5083) and dissimilar joints (AA5083-AA6061) were carried out under the same welding parameters; 1000 rpm (rotational speed) and 100 mm/min (transverse speed). Macro- and microstructural observations were acquired at the cross-section of the weld regions by stereo and optical microscopes. The microstructural... 

This article, introduces a new haptic robot, wrist-RoboHab, for upper limb rehabilitation of post stroke, orthopedic and Parkinson patients., The robot is designed for hand movement therapy and could be used for both treatment and evaluation purposes in three operational states; forearm supination/pronation, wrist flexion/extension and ulnar/radial deviation. At first the mechanical design and control system are described. Then the results of a case study are demonstrated. Clinical results, showed an improvement in Fugle-Meyer, AROM, power and the biomechanical assessment of the spasticity in a chronic patient. Furthermore, it was approved that the robot can have a good interaction with... 

An operationally simple and entirely green protocol for heteropoly acid catalyst conjugate addition of indoles and pyrrole to unsaturated carbonyl compounds and nitro-alkene in water was investigated. It is important that the products arising from 1,2-addition were not observed under the reaction conditions. Pyrroles also readily underwent Michael addition at Α-positions under the same reaction conditions. Indole and many of its derivatives are present in many substances commonly found in nature. Micheal addition reactions are performed in organic solvents with the reactions in water are relatively scarce. The Michael addition between indole and methyl vinyl ketone in the presence of... 

A highly efficient and simple synthesis of dithiocarbamates is possible based on the one-pot reaction of amines, CS2, and alkyl halides without using a catalyst under solvent-free conditions. The mild reaction conditions, high yields, and broad scope of the reaction illustrate the good synthetic utility of this method. The reaction is a highly atom-economic process for production of S-alkyl thiocarbamates and successfully can be used in high quantities in the pharmaceutical or agrochemical industries  

Introduction. Dental caries is the most common cause of tooth loss. However, it can be stopped by enhancing remineralization. Fluoride and casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) are among the most important remineralizing agents. Recent studies have used bioactive glass as a remineralizing agent in different forms. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a composite paste (prepared by mixing urethane polypropylene glycol oligomer with bioactive glass powder for easier application). Materials and Methods. Enamel disks were cut out of the buccal surface of extracted sound third molars. The samples were randomly divided into 3 groups of 15 and underwent Vickers... 

This study examines the air quality on line 1 and 2 of Tehran underground metro. The total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10, PM2.5, PM1, CO2, NO, NO2, SO2, relative humidity and air temperature were measured. An integrated air quality index was also calculated for each location. The results revealed that, PMlO, PM2.5, and SO2 concentrations are higher than their environmental standard levels. The in station CO2 levels are higher while its' in train levels are lower than environmental permissible level. The air quality index showed that the in-train air quality is more acceptable than the instation air quality  

Software architectures and architectural styles are increasingly used for designing large-scale software systems. Alfa is a framework for the composition of style-based software architectures from a small set of primitives. It models the behavior of architectural components and connectors as orderings among events at their inputs and outputs. Formalizing such behavior is useful for checking conformance of architectures to their styles. We therefore propose a formal approach that uses data-abstract constraint automata to model the behavior of Alfa's compositions, and to verify their behavioral style conformance. We have also developed an automated conformance analyzer for Alfa. © 2004 IEEE  

Objective(s): The molecular basis of “metabolically healthy obese” and “metabolically unhealthy non-obese” phenotypes is not fully understood. Our objective was to identify metabolite patterns differing in obese (metabolically healthy vs unhealthy (MHO vs MUHO)) and non-obese (metabolically healthy vs unhealthy (MHNO vs MUHNO)) individuals. Materials and Methods: This case-control study was performed on 86 subjects stratified into four groups using anthropometric and clinical measurements: MHO (21), MUHO (21), MHNO (22), and MUHNO (22). Serum metabolites were profiled using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Multivariate analysis was applied to uncover discriminant metabolites, and enrichment... 

In recent years, a range of studies have been conducted with the aim to design and characterize delivery systems that are able to release multiple therapeutic agents in controlled and programmed temporal sequences, or with spatial resolution inside the body. This sequential release occurs in response to different stimuli, including changes in pH, redox potential, enzyme activity, temperature gradients, light irradiation, and by applying external magnetic and electrical fields. Sequential release (SR)-based delivery systems, are often based on a range of different micro- or nanocarriers and may offer a silver bullet in the battle against various diseases, such as cancer. Their distinctive... 

In this work, synthesis of CuIn0.75Ga0.25S2 (CIGS) nanoparticles, the formation of stable dispersion, deposition of high-quality films and, fabrication of thin-film Perovskite solar cells are reported. The stability of nanoparticle ink is crucial in the formation of device-quality films. The chalcogenide-based materials are widely used in thin-film solar cells; in particular, Cu(In,Ga)S2 are used as an absorber and hole transporting layer. In the present study, the nanoparticles of about 20 nm size and bandgap of 1.5 eV are synthesized using a heat-up method. A variety of solvents are used as dispersing media and the stability of the inks is evaluated by precise optical monitoring. We... 

In this work, synthesis of CuIn0.75Ga0.25S2 (CIGS) nanoparticles, the formation of stable dispersion, deposition of high-quality films and, fabrication of thin-film Perovskite solar cells are reported. The stability of nanoparticle ink is crucial in the formation of device-quality films. The chalcogenide-based materials are widely used in thin-film solar cells; in particular, Cu(In,Ga)S2 are used as an absorber and hole transporting layer. In the present study, the nanoparticles of about 20 nm size and bandgap of 1.5 eV are synthesized using a heat-up method. A variety of solvents are used as dispersing media and the stability of the inks is evaluated by precise optical monitoring. We... 

Performance of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) as a solid-state process is approved in several engineering applications, especially aluminum industries. Identification of mechanical behavior of the associated welded zone is necessary due to these extensive applications of FSW. In this study, considering the effect of rotational and forward speed of welding tool on the mechanical properties of welded region, a hybrid optimization method based on combination of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Response Surface Method (RSM) named here as GA-RSM is proposed to achieve maximum tensile and ultimate strength. The results of GA-RSM are validated by per-forming necessary experimental tests on two wide-used... 

A six-degree-of-freedom musculoskeletal model of the lumbar spine was developed to predict the activity of trunk muscles during light, moderate and heavy lifting tasks in standing posture. The model was formulated into a multi-objective optimization problem, minimizing the sum of the cubed muscle stresses and maximizing the spinal stability index. Two intelligent optimization algorithms, i.e., the vector evaluated particle swarm optimization (VEPSO) and nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA), were employed to solve the optimization problem. The optimal solution for each task was then found in the way that the corresponding in vivo intradiscal pressure could be reproduced. Results... 

The noise level of the magnetometer and gradiometer RF SQUIDs were investigated using different shielding methods. The used methods include different active and passive shielding, such as Helmholtz configurations, locally compensation coils, superconducting bulks and μ-metal shields. For the passive shielding approach, using FEM simulation we have investigated the shielding effectiveness of superconducting bulks versus the use of μ-metal shielding. The superconducting shield is a YBCO circular bulk, which was made using melt-texture method and located in a distance in front of the SQUID. In this work the results of these shielding methods are presented and compared, while their effectiveness... 

In this paper we propose a new method for image noise reduction based on wavelet transform. In this method we: introduce an improved version of thresholding neural networks. (TNN) by utilizing a new class of smooth nonlinear thresholding functions as the activation function. Using this approach we will find the best thresholds in the sense of minimum mean square error (MMSE). Then using, TNN with obtained thresholds, we employ a cycle-spinningbased technique to reduce image artifacts. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms several other established wavelet denoising techniques, in terms of Peak-Signal-to-Noise-Ratio (PSNR) and visual quality. © 2007 IEEE  

The dearth of efficient, robust, and economical electrocatalysts for water oxidation is dubiously the key obstacle for renewable energy devices, so synthesis of efficient, and cost-effective metal-based water oxidation catalysts is vital. Herein, Co3O4, Co9S8 catalysts and their heterostructure Co3O4/Co9S8 were synthesized and evaluated as water oxidation electrocatalysts. The characterization of Co3O4, Co9S8, and Co3O4/Co9S8 electrocatalysts was performed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The heterostructure Co3O4/Co9S8 (1.46 V) exhibited water oxidation electrocatalysis at extremely low onset potential compared to... 

Hybrid inorganic/organic compounds opened up the window of opportunities to a wide variety of fields. The carbon-based nanocomposite (Fe3O4/MWCNT-COOH/Extract/PdL@DOX/p-CRISPR/Extract) have been prepared using tangerine and egg white extract as a second layer of nanocomposites. Then, doxorubicin (DOX) and PdC16H10N4O3 (PdL) were added to the mixture. Based on the previous studies, L (carboxamide-based ligand) has a potent desire for connecting and then blocking the HER-2, and σ2 (tumor's overexpressed receptors) and PdL could enhance the sustainability of the DOX by hydrogen bonding and π-π interaction. The effect of biotin on site-specific delivery has been investigated by utilizing two... 

The aim of this work was to provide a novel approach to designing and synthesizing a nanocomposite with significant biocompatibility, biodegradability, and stability in biological microenvironments. Hence, the porous ultra-low-density materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), have been considered and the MIL-125(Ti) has been chosen due to its distinctive characteristics such as great biocompatibility and good biodegradability immobilized on the surface of the reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Based on the results, the presence of transition metal complexes next to the drug not only can reinforce the stability of the drug on the structure by preparing π–π interaction between ligands and the... 

The authors regret the following mistakes: 1) In section 2, 3rd paragraph, the sentence:“Fe3O4/MWCNT-COOH/Extract has a much higher roughness than Fe3O4/MWCNT-COOH, which is unacceptable in agreement with similar results in the literature and electron microscopy observations [88–90].” must be replaced by “Fe3O4/MWCNT-COOH/Extract has a much higher roughness than Fe3O4/MWCNT-COOH, which is in agreement with similar results in the literature and electron microscopy observations [88–90].” 2) In section 3.8, the sentence:“The release of DOX from prepared nanocomposites were investigated under typical conditions: At 37 °C and different pH values of 7.4, 5.5, and 4.5 were tested in the phosphate...