Sharif Digital Repository

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... 

Particulate VC-reinforced high-manganese austenitic steel matrix composites with different vanadium and tungsten contents were synthesized by conventional alloying and casting route. Microstructural characterizations showed that the composites processed by in situ precipitation of the reinforcements were composed of V8C7 particulates distributed in an austenitic matrix. It was observed that addition of tungsten to austenite increases work-hardening rate of subsurface layer during pin-on disk wear test. The maximum abrasive wear resistance was achieved at tungsten content equal to 2 wt pct. However, excessive addition of tungsten promoted the formation of W 3C phase and reduced the abrasive... 

In this work, novel chitosan/bacterial cellulose (CS/BC) nanofibrous composites reinforced with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets are introduced. As cell attachment and permeability of nanofibrous membranes highly depend on their fiber diameter, the working window for successful electrospinning to attain sound nanofibrous composites with a minimum fiber diameter was determined by using the response surface methodology. It is shown that the addition of GO nanosheets to CS/BC significantly reduces the average size of the polymeric fibers. Their mechanical properties are also influenced and can be tailored by the concentration of GO. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals hydrogen bonding... 

The main aim of the present study was to enhance the degradation capacity of Acid Blue 92 (AB92) by visible-light-active Ag3PO4 nanocomposites based on g-C3N4 and Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs). The nanocomposites were fabricated through a tunable in situ deposition method. The properties of the resulting samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity results revealed that the Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 heterojunction inorganic/organic composite exhibited an improvement in both efficiency and the rate of AB92 photodegradation in comparison with the others. The enhanced photocatalytic... 

A series of reduced graphene oxide/ZnxCd1-xS (RGO/ZnxCd1-xS) nanocomposites (0 < x < 1) with different ratios of Zn/Cd were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route under optimized experimental conditions and were carefully characterized by various techniques. Because very little is known about the morphology, specific surface area, and crystal phase effects of RGO/ZnxCd1-xS crystals on their photoresponsivity, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), BET surface area analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were studied to investigate their effects on photoactivity. Based on the results, a crystal phase transition from a cubic phase in RGO/Zn0.9Cd0.1S to a hexagonal... 

Light propagation in turbid media, such as biological tissues, experience scattering due to inhomogeneous distribution of refractive indices. Control of light scattering is important for focusing the light or imaging through scattering medium. By spatially shaping the wave-front of the incident beam, using spatial light modulator (SLM), the scattered light can be focused to a point. Iterative optimization is a popular way of obtaining the most optimum phase map on the SLM. In this study, we implement six optimization algorithms including continuous sequential, partitioning algorithm, transmission matrix estimation method, genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, and simulated... 

In recent decades, multistate two-terminal reliability problem has attracted several researchers, and accordingly many exact and approximation approaches have been proposed in the literature in terms of minimal cuts (MCs) or minimal paths (MPs) to address this problem. Here, an MP-based approximation approach is developed based on exact algorithms. With all the MPs at hand, the approach rearranges the MPs ascendingly with respect to their lengths and then sets the flow on some MPs to be zero which turns to reduce the computing cost in solving the problem. We provide the complexity results, and by employing some benchmarks and one thousand randomly generated networks illustrate that not only... 

RGO-α-Fe2O3/β-FeOOH ternary heterostructure composite has been developed as an active photocatalyst for photoelectrochemical water splitting. RGO-α-Fe2O3/β-FeOOH has been successfully synthesized through one-pot hydrothermal-ionic liquid assisted route using tetrabutyl ammonium L-methioninate [TBA][L-Met]and graphene oxide (GO). The electrochemical studies were carried out to demonstrate the oxygen evolution reaction (OER)and photocatalytic activities. The overpotential reduction by rGO-α-Fe2O3/β-FeOOH sample was higher than the nanobean α-Fe2O3/β-FeOOH and pristine α-Fe2O3 samples. The photocurrent density enhanced for rGO-α-Fe2O3/β–FeOOH urchin-like structure and obtained as 0.62 mA·cm−2.... 

We propose a cosmological model, üΛCDM, based on "über gravity," which is a canonical ensemble average of many theories of gravity. In this model, we have a sharp transition from (a purely) ΛCDM era to a phase in which the Ricci scalar is a constant. This transition occurs when the Ricci scalar reaches a critical scale or alternatively a transition redshift, z. We use the observations of baryonic acoustic oscillations and supernovae Ia, as well as the cosmic microwave background data to constrain üΛCDM. This yields H0=70.6-1.3+1.1 km/s/Mpc, ωm=0.2861±0.0092, and z=0.537-0.375+0.277, providing a marginally better fit with a Akaike information criterion of 0.8. Therefore, üΛCDM can ease the H0... 

In a stochastic-flow network, a (d, T, b, P1, P2)-MP is a system state vector for which d units of flow can be transmitted through two separate minimal paths (SMPs) P1 and P2 simultaneously from a source node to a sink node satisfying time and budget limitations T and b, respectively. Problem of determining all the (d, T, b, P1, P2)-MPs, termed as the (d, T, b, P1, P2)-MP problem, has been attractive in reliability theory. Here, some new results are established for the problem. Using these results, a new algorithm is developed to find all the (d, T, b, P1, P2)-MPs, and its correctness is established. The algorithm is compared with a recently proposed one to show the practical efficiency of... 

Design technology is expected to rise to electronic system-level (ESL). This necessitates new techniques and tools for synthesizing ESL designs and for verifying them before and after ESL synthesis. A promising verification strategy for future very complex designs is to initially verify the design at the highest level of abstraction, and then check the equivalence of the lower level automatically generated models against that initial golden model. We present one such approach to simulation-based functional verification implemented in our ESL design methodology called ODYSSEY. Our ESL synthesis tool generates a transaction-level model (TLM) at TLM level 2 (i.e., design with partial timing)... 

The effects of both Li modification and cooling rate on the microstructure and tensile properties of an in situ prepared Al-15%Mg2Si composite were investigated. It was found that the addition of 0.3%Li reduces the average size of Mg2Si primary particles from ∼30 to ∼6 μm. The effect of cooling rate was investigated by the use of a mold with different section test bars. The results showed an increase in both UTS and elongation values with reduction in section thicknesses corresponding to increasing cooling rates. Adding Li also raised the tensile strength and elongation values and reduced the number of decohered particles observed in fracture surfaces thereby increasing the alloy's... 

Superhydrophobic surfaces demonstrate significant characteristics which make them suitable for a wide variety of applications. In this study, we propose a facile, one-step, and cost-effective anodizing scheme using aluminum nitrate/stearic acid mixture solution to create a superhydrophobic surface on an aluminum mesh. The surface outperforms the surface anodized by the widely used oxalic acid solution in terms of superhydrophobicity and water-surface friction behavior. The proposed surface reduced the friction by 11% on average respective to the surface prepared by oxalic acid. The durability of the introduced superhydrophobic surface has also been investigated. The proposed surface retained... 

This paper presents a dynamic programming methodology for finding the optimum preventive maintenance schedule of generating units of a GENCO in open power systems. The objective function for the GENCO is to sell electricity as much as possible, according to the market price forecast. Various constraints such as generation capacity, duration of maintenance and maintenance crew are taken into account. In a case study, introducing a GENCO with six generating units, and implementing dynamic programming, we obtain the optimal maintenance schedule over the planning period. © 2002 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... 

This study was aimed at evaluating the effects of alkali activator solution and utilization of silica fume (SF) on durability and microstructural characteristics of alkali-activated ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) pastes. The pastes were activated with sodium silicate (SS) blended with NaOH (SH) solution with molar concentrations of 8 M, 12 M, and 16 M and SS:SH ratios of 1.0, 2.5, and 4.0. The same mixes were prepared with SF as partial replacement of GGBFS at a dosage of 10% by weight. The initial and final water absorption as well as the electrical resistivity of the specimens were measured. The optimal paste fabricated with 12 M NaOH solution and SS:SH ratio of 2.5 showed... 

In this investigation, in-situ precipitation of vanadium carbides was employed to reinforce Fe-13Mn and Fe-13Mn-3W alloys by means of conventional melting and casting route. Microstructures were characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy techniques.Mechanical properties of the materials were determined by hardness, impact toughness and tension tests. It was observed that tungsten improved the strength of the matrix and the reinforcements as well as tensile properties and work hardening rate of the VC-reinforced composite. Ball mill abrasion test was utilized to simulate impact-abrasion wear condition using two types of abrasive minerals. The results showed that the degree of... 

Improvement of microcantilever-based sensors and actuators chiefly depends on how comprehensively they are modeled and precisely formulated. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is the most widespread application of microcantilever beam as a sensor, which is usually influenced by the tip-sample interaction force. For this, vibration of AFM microcantilever probe is analyzed in this paper, along with analytical, numerical and experimental investigation of the influence of the sample interaction force on the microcantilever vibration. Nonlinear integro-partial equation of microcantilever vibration subject to the tip-sample interaction is then derived and numerically simulated. Moreover, multiple time... 

Distributed-parameters vibration model of microcantilevers in tapping-mode Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) is developed and is shown to be highly nonlinear. The question of why these nonlinearities are important and how they influence the predicted frequency response behavior of the cantilevers is addressed by comparing the results of developed model with a simple lumpedparameters model that has been extensively studied in the literature so far. The interaction forces between the microcantilever tip and the sample is supposed to be the same in both models and consist of attractive and repulsive interaction force regimes. In addition, experimental measurements are provided for a typical... 

Despite their simple structure and design, microcantilevers are receiving increased attention due to their unique sensing and actuation features in many MEMS and NEMS. Along this line, a non-linear distributed-parameters modeling of a microcantilever beam under the influence of a nanoparticle sample is studied in this paper. A long-range Van der Waals force model is utilized to describe the microcantilever-particle interaction along with an inextensibility condition for the microcantilever in order to derive the equations of motion in terms of only one generalized coordinate. Both of these considerations impose strong nonlinearities on the resultant integro-partial equations of motion. In...