Sharif Digital Repository

EDMC is an extended version of the dynamic matrix control (DMC) approach to control nonlinear processes. In this method, control input is determined based on linear model approximation of the process in each control/optimization interval. The difference between linear and nonlinear models of the process is considered as the known part of the feedback signal in DMC control formulation. Usually the fixed point or the secant method is applied to reduce the difference between two models. In this paper, an EDMC controller is designed for a DC-DC power converter of the boost type. The behavior of the scheme is discussed with the transient and steady state response to step and sinusoidal... 

An application of a new controller order reduction technique with stability and performance preservation based on linear matrix inequality optimization to an active suspension system is presented. In this technique, the rank of the residue matrix of a proper rational approximation of a high-order H∞controller subject to the H∞-norm of a frequency-weighted error between the approximated controller and the high-order H∞ controller is minimized. However, because solving this matrix rank minimization problem is very difficult, the rank objective function is replaced with a nuclear-norm that can be reduced to a semidefinite program so that it can be solved efficiently. Application to the active... 

H∞ controller order reduction with stability and performance preservation pose unique challenges to designers. In the paper, an approach for controller order reduction based on minimization of the rank of a matrix variable, subject to linear matrix inequality constraints, is presented. In this approach, the rank of a residue matrix of a high-order controller subject to the error between the loop gain of the closed-loop nominal system and the loop gain of the closed-loop system with the reduced order controller is minimized. However, since solving this matrix rank minimization problem is very difficult, the rank objective function is replaced with the nuclear-norm that can be reduced to a... 

We present an application of a new controller order reduction technique with stability and performance preservation based on linear matrix inequality optimization to an active suspension system. In this technique, the rank of the residue matrix of a proper rational approximation of a high-order H ∞ controller subject to the H∞ norm of a frequency-weighted error between the approximated controller and high-order H∞ controller is minimized. However, since solving this matrix rank minimization problem is very difficult, the rank objective function is replaced with the nuclear-norm that can be reduced to a semidefinite program, so that it can be solved efficiently. Application to the active... 

This paper considers the problem of stabilizing a class of linear time-invariant large-scale systems composed of a number of subsystems using several local dynamic output feedback controllers. For this problem, a sufficient condition on each closed-loop individual subsystem is derived under which the decentralized controller composed of the local controllers designed for individual subsystems, achieves stability for the overall system. This condition is used to convert the decentralized stabilization problem to a set of the H∞ disturbance rejection subproblems  

An application of a continuous-time H∞ control to a flexible transmission system is presented. This approach has been proposed in order to assure high control performance in the presence of large load variation on the system. In this approach, the loading variations are considered as the multiplicative perturbation of the nominal plant. The desired specifications are enforced in the H∞ problem as the constraints on weighting functions. After an initial design procedure, the parameters of weighting functions, in order to obtain the desired performances, are tuned and then the final weighting functions are derived. The simulation results for three different loadings are given and compared  

This paper considers the problem of stabilizing a class of linear time-invariant large-scale systems composed of a number of subsystems using several local dynamic output feedback controllers. For this problem, a sufficient condition on each closed-loop individual subsystem is derived under which the decentralized controller composed of the local controllers designed for individual subsystems, achieves stability for the overall system. This condition is used to convert the decentralized stabilization problem to a set of the H∞ disturbance rejection subproblems  

Background: Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene. A-T patients manifest considerable variability in clinical and immunological features, suggesting the presence of genetic modifying factors. A striking heterogeneity has been observed in class switching recombination (CSR) in A-T patients which cannot be explained by the severity of ATM mutations. Methods: To investigate the cause of variable CSR in A-T patients, we applied whole-exome sequencing (WES) in 20 A-T patients consisting of 10 cases with CSR defect (CSR-D) and 10 controls with normal CSR (CSR-N). Comparative analyses on modifier... 

Background: Ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene. A-T patients manifest considerable variability in clinical and immunological features, suggesting the presence of genetic modifying factors. A striking heterogeneity has been observed in class switching recombination (CSR) in A-T patients which cannot be explained by the severity of ATM mutations. Methods: To investigate the cause of variable CSR in A-T patients, we applied whole-exome sequencing (WES) in 20 A-T patients consisting of 10 cases with CSR defect (CSR-D) and 10 controls with normal CSR (CSR-N). Comparative analyses on modifier... 

A two dimensional rectangular microchannel with circular micropillars was modeled in the presence of an electric field. Continuity and Navier-Stokes equations were solved along with convection-diffusion equation using finite element method. Reaction phenomenon was applied via a partial differential equation on the reaction surfaces and electric force was added as a source term to the transport equations. Velocity, concentration and electric potential distributions were obtained, with the aid of which, capture efficiency and average surface concentration of reaction surfaces were calculated. To ameliorate the reaction rate, different designs of reaction surfaces were investigated; the designs... 

Cell separation is a key step in many biomedical research areas including biotechnology, cancer research, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery. While conventional cell sorting approaches have led to high-efficiency sorting by exploiting the cell's specific properties, microfluidics has shown great promise in cell separation by exploiting different physical principles and using different properties of the cells. In particular, label-free cell separation techniques are highly recommended to minimize cell damage and avoid costly and labor-intensive steps of labeling molecular signatures of cells. In general, microfluidic-based cell sorting approaches can separate cells using “intrinsic”... 

Recent advances in biomaterials, microfabrication, microfluidics, and cell biology have led to the development of organ-on-a-chip devices that can reproduce key functions of various organs. Such platforms promise to provide novel insights into various physiological events, including mechanisms of disease, and evaluate the effects of external interventions, such as drug administration. The neuroscience field is expected to benefit greatly from these innovative tools. Conventional ex vivo studies of the nervous system have been limited by the inability of cell culture to adequately mimic in vivo physiology. While animal models can be used, their relevance to human physiology is uncertain and... 

Droplet-based microfluidic systems have been employed to manipulate discrete fluid volumes with immiscible phases. Creating the fluid droplets at microscale has led to a paradigm shift in mixing, sorting, encapsulation, sensing, and designing high throughput devices for biomedical applications. Droplet microfluidics has opened many opportunities in microparticle synthesis, molecular detection, diagnostics, drug delivery, and cell biology. In the present review, we first introduce standard methods for droplet generation (i.e. passive and active methods) and discuss the latest examples of emulsification and particle synthesis approaches enabled by microfluidic platforms. Then, the applications... 

Modeling and analysis of information system vulnerabilities helps us to predict possible attacks to networks using the network configuration and vulnerabilities information. As a fact, exploiting most of vulnerabilities result in access rights alteration. In this paper, we propose a new vulnerability analysis method based on the Take-Grant protection model. We extend the initial Take-Grant model to address the notion of vulnerabilities and introduce the vulnerabilities rewriting rules to specify how the protection state of the system can be changed by exploiting vulnerabilities. Our analysis is based on a bounded polynomial algorithm, which generates the closure of the Take-Grant graph... 

We study the translocation of stiff polymers through a nanopore, driven by the chemical-potential gradient exerted by binding proteins (chaperones) on the trans side of the pore. Bound chaperones prevent backsliding through the pore and, therefore, partially rectify the polymer passage. We show that the sequence of chain monomers with different binding affinity for the chaperones significantly affects the translocation dynamics. In particular, we investigate the effect of the nearest-neighbor adjacency probability of the two monomer types. Depending on the magnitude of the involved binding energies, the translocation speed may either increase or decrease with the adjacency probability. We... 

Combining the advection-diffusion equation approach with Monte Carlo simulations we study chaperone driven polymer translocation of a stiff polymer through a nanopore. We demonstrate that the probability density function of first passage times across the pore depends solely on the Péclet number, a dimensionless parameter comparing drift strength and diffusivity. Moreover it is shown that the characteristic exponent in the power-law dependence of the translocation time on the chain length, a function of the chaperone-polymer binding energy, the chaperone concentration, and the chain length, is also effectively determined by the Péclet number. We investigate the effect of the chaperone size on... 

The amount of rippling in graphene sheets is related to the interactions with the substrate or with the suspending structure. Here, we report on an irreversibility in the response to forces that act on suspended graphene sheets. This may explain why one always observes a ripple structure on suspended graphene. We show that a compression-relaxation mechanism produces static ripples on graphene sheets and determine a peculiar temperature Tc, such that for T