Sharif Digital Repository

A novel impedance-controlled teleoperation system is developed for robot-assisted tele-echography of moving organs such as heart, chest and breast during their natural motions (beating and/or breathing). The procedure of devising the two impedance models for the master and slave robots is developed such that (a) the slave robot holding the ultrasound (US) probe follows the master trajectory but complies with the oscillatory interaction force of the moving organ, and (b) the sonographer receives feedback from the non-oscillatory portion of the slave-organ interaction force via the master robot similar to the haptic feedback received in echography of a stationary organ. These goals are... 

In this paper, a new impedance-based teleoperation strategy is proposed for assist-as-needed tele-rehabilitation via a multi-DOF telerobotic system having patient–master and therapist–slave interactions. Unlike a regular teleoperation system and as the main contribution of this work to minimize the therapist's movements, the therapist's hand only follows the patient's deviation from the target trajectory. Also it provides a better perception of the patient's problems in motor control to the therapist The admissible deviation of the patient's limb from a reference target trajectory is governed by an impedance model responding to both patient's and therapist's interaction forces. As the other... 

Cubic MgO micro-particles with approximately 5-10 μm dimensions were synthesized indirectly from magnesium salt solutions through three consecutive steps, namely: wet chemical precipitation, hydrothermal and thermal dissociation. In wet chemical precipitation step Mg(OH)2 uniform lamellar hexagonal nano-structure with about 30 nm in thickness were synthesized from 0.2 M Mg(NO3)2 • 6H2O solution, subsequent hydrothermal processing of synthesized Mg(OH)2 lamellar hexagonal nano-structure in 10, 20, 30, 60, 120 and 180 min produced 5-10 μm MgCO3 micro-cubes which calcinations of these particles leads to production of the same size MgO micro-cubes. Most pure MgCO3 micro-cubes were synthesized... 

The failure analysis of a ruptured superheater tube after 20. years service in the oil-fueled boiler, as the typical problems in power plants, was investigated. A thin-lipped rupture at failed region was observed in superheater tube. By measuring the tube's wall thicknesses far from failed region, non-uniformity was seen. The suggested main root cause of failure was fireside corrosion of the tube during the service. Because of low grade of used fuel, sodium, sulfur, and vanadium elements were observed at the outer surface, which caused continuously scale formation and reduction of wall thickness, by metal consumption. In addition, it seems that it has been worsened by occurrence of long-term... 

The accuracy of the object tracking is dependent on the tracking time interval. Smaller tracking time interval increases the accuracy of tracking a moving object. However, this increases the power consumption significantly. This paper proposes a new adaptive algorithm (AEC) to adapt tracking time interval such that it minimizes power consumption while keeping the required accuracy. Simulation results show that using the proposed algorithm, the tracking network has a good performance with the added advantage of reducing the power consumption significantly when compared with existing nonadaptive methods (like PATES). Moreover, simulation results show that the performance of the proposed... 

Over the recent decades, many different ducted turbines have been designed to augment efficiency of wind turbines. The design and number of blades are the most important parameters to optimize efficiency of wind turbines. In this paper, effects of design, number and attack angles of blades on rotational speed are experimentally studied in a duct which increases wind velocity up to 2.46 times numerically and 2.32 times experimentally as great as far-field flow. In order to realize this, 3 different types of aerodynamic blades were designed and then, 2-bladed, 3-bladed and 4-bladed impellers were created by these blades; finally, 9 impellers were built on aggregate. The rotational speed of... 

Voting logic or k out of p redundancy is widely used in safety systems to meet two key objectives: enhancing reliability and reducing spurious performance. Even so, in designing gas detector systems especially of flammable gas type, it is a common engineering practice to consider at least two different detection levels in addition to normal voting. Under such circumstances, the presence of gas is confirmed if sensed by two detectors at two different concentrations: one at a low level and another one in the same voting network at a high level. Existing formulations for optimal placement of gas detectors do not consider this type of voting. In this study, first the general form of multi-level... 

The photocatalytic decolorization of aqueous solutions of Direct Red 27 in the presence of various amounts of semiconductor powder suspensions has been investigated in a batch reactor with the use of artificial light sources. ZnO and TiO2 have been found the most active photocatalysts; the effect of catalyst loading and type on the reaction rate was optimized for maximum degradation. The results imply that 1:1 ratio is proper for the photocatalytic removal of Direct Red 27. In addition, the effects of particle size and surface area were examined in this photocatalytic process. The results showed that the decolorization efficiency increases with increase in surface area, and decrease in... 

Interfacial tension of both 36 binary and 6 ternary liquid-liquid systems at 298 K, has been predicted through a reliable thermodynamic model. To properly predict interfacial tension, it is necessary to calculate interfacial area of each constituent of the mixtures. For such estimation, two empirical correlations have been proposed for binary mixtures whose one component is water and experimental data have been used to calculate interfacial area of ternary mixtures. The UNIQUAUC Excess Gibbs Free energy model and its parameters have been used to calculate the concentration and activity coefficients in the bulk and interface phases. The overall average deviation of the predicted binary... 

Although simvastatin (SIM) has been proven to be a powerful agent against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (MI/R) injury, poor water solubility, short half-life, and low bioavailability have made it futile while using conventional drug delivery system. Hence, this study aims to investigate therapeutic efficacy of SIM-loaded nano-niosomes on MI/R injury. Surface active agent film hydration method was used to synthesize nano-niosomes. The physicochemical properties of nano-niosomes were characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Moreover, niosomes were characterized in entrapment efficiency (EE) and releasing pattern. Male Wistar rats were... 

The main objective of this paper is to make a detailed systematic analysis of two-stage, axial flow turbine by using of different losses models and a new suggested algorithm based on one-dimensional simulation. The suggested method is found to be effective, fast and stable, in obtaining performance characteristics of multi-stage axial flow turbines. In one-dimensional modeling, mass flow rate, pressure ratio and efficiency are unknown, with define turbine geometry, inlet total pressure and temperature the turbine performance characteristics can be modeled. This modeling is based on common thermodynamics and aerodynamics principles in a mean stream line analysis under steady state condition.... 

Point matching technique is applied to a pyramidal horn antenna to expand its aperture field in a wide angular range in terms of Gaussian beams using the Jacobi iterative method. The obtained far field pattern is compared with the results of Gabor's Gaussian beam expansion. Convergence, speed, the impact of initial condition and the selection of sample points is discussed. The implemented point matching scheme is almost as fast and accurate as the Gabor's expansion. It can even be faster and more accurate in some cases especially when the Gaussian beams are neither wide-waisted nor narrow-waisted  

This work is concerned with the monitoring of ultrasound effects on inhibition, as well as the reversible kinetics modeling of asphaltene flocculation in toluene-n-alkane systems, which has been rarely reported in the literature. A crude oil sample was exposed to ultrasound waves, and then the colloidal structural evolutions of flocculated asphaltene particles induced by addition of n-alkane were studied, using a confocal microscopy. Observations confirmed that radiation of ultrasound can change the irreversibility of asphaltene flocculation in crude oil. To interpret the kinetics of asphaltene flock aggregation, the Smoluchowski model was used, and the time dependent size distribution of... 

The aim of present research is the performance simulation of axial flow turbine on different operating conditions by using of one dimentional modeling method. In this method by receiving the flow inlet conditions and turbine geometry, velocity triangles at blade inlet and outlet are obtained and performance characteristics of the turbine are calculated. As respects the importance of modeling for performance prediction and optimization in initial desing level, in following work, that is based on one dimentional modeling method, after the presentation of solution algorithm by trial and error method and introduction of different loss models for modeling, the obtained results of modeling were... 

Ammonia detoxification is one of the main functions of the liver results in production of urea. In this study ammonia elimination and urea production was simulated in a microchannel mimicking the hepatic porto central axis. Navier- Stockes equations along with convection equations were solved for the related species in the entire domain. Since the Reynolds number was small (~1) the fluid flow regime was laminar. Urea cycle was modeled regarding its four main enzymes. Twelve rate equations were also solved in order to obtain the concentration of each metabolites participating in urea cycle. Concentration of the urea reached its maximum ca. 1.2e-5 M at the end of the channel which is in good... 

The aim of this study is to develop a non-linear robust controller with adaptive gains in order to prevent malaria epidemic as a positive system with an uncertain model. The malaria outbreak is modelled by seven non-linear coupled differential equations for the population variables: susceptible, exposed, symptomatic infected and recovered humans and the susceptible, exposed and infected mosquitoes. The non-linear robust adaptive integral-sliding-mode controller is developed in order to appropriately adjust the use of treated bednets, treatment rate of infected individuals and the use of insecticide spray to control malaria epidemic. Accordingly, the numbers of exposed and infected humans and... 

One important functionality of liver cells is ammonia detoxification and urea production. In this study, a numerical model of the urea cycle in hepatocytes was developed. Navier Stokes and convection equations were employed to study the process of ammonia elimination and urea production using a microfluidic channel. The concentration of urea and ammonia throughout the channel was obtained. Furthermore, the urea cycle was modelled with respect to its four main enzymes. This resulted in twelve rate equations that were solved to determine the concentration of each metabolite participating in the urea cycle. Application of results implied common disorders such as hyperammonemia types I and II... 

One important functionality of liver cells is ammonia detoxification and urea production. In this study, a numerical model of the urea cycle in hepatocytes was developed. Navier Stokes and convection equations were employed to study the process of ammonia elimination and urea production using a microfluidic channel. The concentration of urea and ammonia throughout the channel was obtained. Furthermore, the urea cycle was modelled with respect to its four main enzymes. This resulted in twelve rate equations that were solved to determine the concentration of each metabolite participating in the urea cycle. Application of results implied common disorders such as hyperammonemia types I and II... 

Nowadays, around 70% percent of global energy usage is consumed in urban areas. Undoubtedly, this figure will increase in coming decades due to population rise. As a result, energy resiliency can be considered as an important issue in urban context. Resilience of energy supply in urban areas can be categorized in two approaches, short-term and long-term. Short-term applies to cope with threats such as earthquakes and floods, and long-term applies to deal with impacts of climate change on global warming. In this study, literature review was applied to design questionnaire for expert survey, followed by Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method to categorize 34 sub-criteria divided under four... 

The preparation of high aspect-ratio TiO2 nanotubes and their photocatalytic activity were demonstrated in this study. The high aspect-ratio TiO2 nanotube thin films were produced by electrochemical anodic oxidation of Ti in chloride-containing electrolytes. Nanotubes were doped with different concentrations of ZnO particles through anodization. The catalytic behavior was evaluated under batch reactor with photo-degradation test of Red Dye. The experimental results collectively demonstrate the successful ZnO doping of the resultant nanotube layers with significant abundant OH groups on their increased surfaces. The nanotubes doped with high content combined with an anatase as a two phase...