Sharif Digital Repository

Needle insertion simulation and planning systems (SPSs) will play an important role in diminishing inappropriate insertions into soft tissues and resultant complications. Difficulties in SPS development are due in large part to the computational requirements of the extensive calculations in finite element (FE) models of tissue. For clinical feasibility, the computational speed of SPSs must be improved. At the same time, a realistic model of tissue properties that reflects large and velocity-dependent deformations must be employed. The purpose of this study is to address the aforementioned difficulties by presenting a cost-effective SPS platform for needle insertions into the liver. The study... 

In this paper, we study a variation of the equations of a chemotaxis kinetic model and investigate it in one dimension. In fact, we use fractional diffusion for the chemoattractant in the Othmar-Dunbar-Alt system (Othmer in J Math Biol 26(3):263-298, 1988). This version was exhibited in Calvez in Amer Math Soc, pp 45-62, 2007 for the macroscopic well-known Keller-Segel model in all space dimensions. These two macroscopic and kinetic models are related as mentioned in Bournaveas, Ann Inst H Poincaré Anal Non Linéaire, 26(5):1871-1895, 2009, Chalub, Math Models Methods Appl Sci, 16(7 suppl):1173-1197, 2006, Chalub, Monatsh Math, 142(1-2):123-141, 2004, Chalub, Port Math (NS), 63(2):227-250,... 

In this study, the corrosion behaviour of Ni-Co alloys with low Co content, electroplated on steel substrate in sulphate bath, was investigated. The morphology of coatings was studied by optical and SEM microscopy. The corrosion products were analyzed using EDX. The results showed that Ni-1%Co coatings had a better corrosion resistance 0.30, 0.92 and 3.75 mpy for atmospheric, salt spray and polarization tests, respectively. These are 0.41, 1.20 and 5.40 mpy for pure nickel coatings that indicate the least corrosion resistance. Surface analysis revealed the presence of oxides, sulphides and chlorides in corrosion products  

The flight of unmanned aerial vehicles is often associated with model uncertainties, measurement noises, and environmental disturbances such as wind gust. To mitigate these challenges, the accurate estimation of states is vital. Moreover, the wind model and its parameters should also be estimated and compensated during the flight. In this paper, a multiple model filter is implemented for this purpose. To investigate the performance of the multiple model filter, three different models including constant wind, '1-cosine' model and wind shear model are considered. The multiple model filter utilizes three extended Kalman filter to simultaneously estimate the model of wind, the parameters of the... 

In this paper, a new nonlinear robust adaptive impedance controller is addressed for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) equipped with a robot manipulator that physically interacts with environment. A UAV equipped with a robot manipulator is a novel system that can perform different tasks instead of human being in dangerous and/or inaccessible environments. The objective of the proposed robust adaptive controller is control of the UAV and its robotic manipulators end-effector impedance in Cartesian space in order to have a stable physical interaction with environment. The proposed controller is robust against parametric uncertainties in the nonlinear dynamics model of the UAV and the robot... 

A new method for fabrication of silver nano-islands on glass fibers using a top-down process is introduced. A thin layer of silver chemically coated on the surface of the glass fibers evolves into silver islands by heat treatment. The effect of the concentration of the initial solution and the temperature were investigated. Segregation was more clearly observed for lower solution concentrations and higher temperatures. The temperature of 500 °C was found optimum where separated islands form. At higher temperatures, the coagulation and burial of silver islands occur. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) were... 

In this paper, a nonlinear robust adaptive sliding mode control strategy is presented for the influenza epidemics in the presence of model uncertainties. The nonlinear epidemiological model of influenza with five state variables (the numbers of susceptible, exposed, infected, asymptomatic and recovered individuals) and two control inputs (vaccination and antiviral treatment) is considered. The objective of the proposed controller is decreasing the number of susceptible and infected humans to zero by tracking the desired scenarios. As a result of this decreasing, the number of exposed and asymptomatic individuals is also decreased and converged to the zero. Accordingly, it is shown that the... 

A new composite adaptive control strategy is developed for both of the reduction of cancer tumor volume and the online identification of tumor parameters during the drug delivery process in chemotherapy. This control strategy is developed for three different nonlinear mathematical cell-kill models of the cancer tumor including the log-kill hypothesis, Norton-Simon hypothesis and Emax hypothesis. All of these models are considered to have fully parametric uncertainties. The stability, tracking convergence and parameters identification convergence during the chemotherapy process are proved using the Lyapunov method. For the first time, the parameters identification of the uncertain... 

Veronica genus (Plantaginaceae) is broadly distributed in different habitats. In this study, the inhibitory activity of free soluble and conjugated phenolic extracts of Veronica persica on key enzymes associated to type 2 diabetes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase) and hypertension (angiotensin I converting enzyme, ACE) was assessed, as well as their antioxidant power. Our results showed that both the extracts inhibited α-amylase, α-glucosidase and ACE in a dose-dependent manner. In particular, free phenolic extract significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited α-glucosidase (IC50 532.97 μg/mL), whereas conjugated phenolic extract significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited a-amylase (IC50 489.73 μg/mL) and ACE...