Sharif Digital Repository

Recent research works have shown that control statistics based on squared deviation of observations from target have the ability to monitor variability in both univariate and multivariate processes. In the current research, the properties of the control statistic S t that has been proposed by Huwang et al. (J. Quality Technology 2007; 39:258-278) are first reviewed and three new S t-based multivariate schemes are then presented. Extensive simulation experiments are performed to compare the performances of the proposed schemes with those of the multivariate exponentially weighted mean squared deviation (MEWMS) and the L 1-norm distance of the MEWMS deviation from its expected value (MEWMSL 1)... 

In this paper, in order to find an adequate method of monitoring the mean vector and covariance matrix of a production process simultaneously, first, some available univariate control methods were reviewed and evaluated. Then, the maximum exponentially weighted moving average method with a better potential application and good performances in terms of average time to signal (ATS) criterion was selected to be extended to the bivariate case. In the extended procedure, by proper transformation of the control parameters, the primary control space is transformed such that all control elements have the same probability distributions. In this case, only the maximum absolute value of the transformed... 

A traditional approach to monitor both the location and the scale parameters of a quality characteristic is to use two separate control charts. These schemes have some difficulties in concurrent tracking and interpretation. To overcome these difficulties, some researchers have proposed schemes consisting of only one chart. However, none of these schemes is designed to work with individual observations. In this research, an exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA)-based control chart that plots only one statistic at a time is proposed to simultaneously monitor the mean and variability with individual observations. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with one of the two... 

It has recently been shown that the performance of multivariate exponentially weighted mean square and multivariate exponentially weighted moving variance charts of Huwang et al. (J. Qual. Technol. 2007; 39:258-278) in monitoring the variability of a multivariate process for individual observations is better than existing schemes. Both of these control charts monitor a distinct matrix which is an estimator of the in-control covariance matrix. Instead of using the trace, in this paper, we propose a L1-norm and a L2-norm-based distance between diagonal elements of the estimators from their expected values to design new control charts in monitoring the covariance matrix of a multivariate... 

Graphene oxide (GO)–chitosan composite layers with stacked layer structures were synthesized using chemically exfoliated GO sheets (with lateral dimensions of ∼1 μm and thickness of ∼1 nm), and applied as antibacterial and flexible nanostructured templates for stem cell proliferation. By increasing the GO content from zero to 6 wt%, the strength and elastic modulus of the layers increased ∼80% and 45%, respectively. Similar to the chitosan layer, the GO–chitosan composite layers showed significant antibacterial activity (>77% inactivation after only 3 h) against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Surface density of the actin cytoskeleton fibers of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) cultured... 

Terahertz (THz) anisotropic absorption in graphene could be significantly modified upon applying a static magnetic field on its ultra-fast 2D Dirac electrons. In general, by deriving the generalized Fresnel coefficients for monolayer graphene under applied magnetic field, relatively high anisotropic absorption for the incoming linearly polarized light with specific scattering angles could be achieved. We also prove that the light absorption of monolayer graphene corresponds well to its surface optical conductivity in the presence of a static magnetic field. Moreover, the temperature-dependent conductivity of graphene makes it possible to show that a step by step absorption feature would... 

Vertically aligned ZnO@CdS nanorod heterostructure films with various loadings of CdS nanoparticle shell were synthesized and applied in photoinactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria under visible light irradiation. While neither the bare ZnO nanorods (with band-gap energy (Eg) of ∼3.28 eV) under visible light irradiation nor the nanorod heterostructures in dark exhibited any significant antibacterial activity, the ZnO@CdS nanorod heterostructures (with Eg ∼2.5-2.6 eV) could successfully inactivate the bacteria under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, it was found that an optimum loading of the CdS shell (corresponding to the effective thickness less than ∼15 nm) is required to achieve... 

Travel speeds between 25–300 mm/min and tool rotational speeds of 800 and 1250 rpm were employed for this study. The microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture surfaces of the joints were studied. Underwater environment and an increase in travel speed significantly increase the precipitates’ volume fraction, reduce the average grain and precipitate sizes of the weld nugget zones. A critical travel speed of 150 mm/min is attained in underwater welds beyond which the average grain sizes remain relatively the same. Average grain and precipitate sizes have linear relationships with the tool rotational and travel speed ratio. Optimum weld strengths of 396 and 360 MPa were obtained in the... 

This paper examines the use of pre-fabricated interlocking arms/threading in enhancing the strength of friction stir spot welded hybrid joints of AA2219/PP-C30S polypropylene polymer by varying parameter combination. The process involves the fabrication of a pre-threaded hole on the Al alloy prior to the joining process, and the threading/crest-pitch profile aids mechanical interlocking. The peak temperature, crest-pitch interlocked profiles, microstructural and mechanical properties of the joints were examined. The results show that an increase in the tool rotational speed increases the thickness of the reaction layer (between the Al and the polymer substrates), the shear-tensile load... 

Pulsed neutron decay simulation of BeO moderator as a result of injecting 14 MeV neutron pulses into finite size systems are carried out with the MCNP Monte Carlo code. The simulated decay constants as compared against a previous experimental work showed variations of about 2%. The resulting decay constants and the fitted diffusion coefficients based on the simulation results are found to agree with the experimental results within a margin of about 4%. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

In this investigation, we have studied the elemental diffusion coefficients of the Cu/Ta and Ta/Si interfaces in the Cu/Ta/Si(1 1 1) structure. The diffusion parameters for Cu diffusion into the Ta barrier layer, Ta diffusion into the Si substrate and diffusion of Si atoms into the Ta layer have been calculated using conversion of RBS data to concentration-depth profile curves and the solution of Fick's equation based on a constant diffusing amount boundary conditions. Furthermore, by calculating grain boundary diffusion coefficients, we have estimated grain boundary slabs of the Ta layer at different temperatures. It was shown that, the width of grain boundary slabs in the Ta layer at 700°C... 

In this investigation, we have studied the effect of negative bias voltage on the properties of a sputtered Ta layer deposited at high Ar pressure (13.3 Pa) which is used as a diffusion barrier in a Cu/Ta/Si structure focusing on its silicidation process. According to Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, the Cu(85 nm)/Ta(100 nm, unbiased)/Si(111) structure was found to be stable up to 300°C in a N2 environment for 30 min. At a temperature of 450°C, TaSi2 was formed at the Ta/Si(111) interface, and the Ta diffusion barrier completely failed. By applying various negative bias voltages ranging from 0 to -150 V, an optimum bias voltage of Vb = -50 V for the sputtered Ta layer was found from... 

Thermal noise is one of the most important challenges in analogue integrated circuits design. This problem is more crucial in switched-capacitor (SC) filters due to the aliasing effect of wide-band thermal noise. In this article, a new simple method is proposed for estimating the power spectrum density of output thermal noise in SC filters, which have acceptable accuracy and short running time. In the proposed method, first using HSPICE simulator, accurate value of accumulated sampled noise on sampler capacitors in each clock state is achieved. Next, using difference equations of the SC filter, frequency response of the SC filter is shaped by time domain analysis. Based on the proposed... 

For an undirected graph G, a zero-sum flow is an assignment of non-zero real numbers to the edges, such that the sum of the values of all edges incident with each vertex is zero. It has been conjectured that if a graph G has a zero-sum flow, then it has a zero-sum 6-flow. We prove this conjecture and Bouchet's Conjecture for bidirected graphs are equivalent. Among other results it is shown that if G is an r-regular graph (r ≥ 3), then G has a zero-sum 7-flow. Furthermore, if r is divisible by 3, then G has a zero-sum 5-flow. We also show a graph of order n with a zero-sum flow has a zero-sum (n + 3)2-flow. Finally, the existence of k-flows for small graphs is investigated  

In this research, we have focused on the formation of Ag nanoparticles dispersed in SiO2 matrix using sol-gel method. The influences of the metal concentration on the size variation of Ag nanoparticles and the size effect on the surface plasmon absorption have been studied. Sol-gel silica thin films containing Ag particles were synthesized by dip-coating on soda-lime glasses. The molar ratio of Ag / Si was chosen from 0.2% to 8%. All films were dried in air at 100 °C for 1 h. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the Ag / Si ratios in the prepared films have been measured. In addition, it was shown that the prepared matrix was a stoichiometric composition as SiO2, and the synthesized... 

Underground pipelines are important infrastructure for transporting energy resources, particularly water and oil. Due to the high risk of damage and possible consequences, close monitoring of pipelines is a serious challenge for researchers and decision makers. Piezoelectric sensors/actuators are being used to monitor the physical characteristics of pipelines, including corrosion and crack. Piezoelectric ceramics as transmitters and/or receivers are connected to data concentrators in order to monitor the defects in pipelines. The performance and accuracy of this system highly depends on the accurate interpretation of the received electrical signals due to changing mechanical fields. However,... 

In industrial liquid-liquid extraction processes, the feed is not clean liquid but there are various kinds of contaminants in the feed entering the extractors. In this regard, a two-impinging-jets contacting device (TIJCD) was tested through the standard test system recommended by the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFCE), namely toluene-acetone-water, in the presence and absence of various types of surface-active agents (SAAs). The influences of anionic, cationic, and nonionic SAAs such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (DTMAC), and octylphenol decaethylene glycol ether (Triton X-100), respectively, on the extraction efficiency and overall... 

In this work, we compared formation and properties of heat-treated Ag nanoparticles in silica matrix synthesized by RF- reactive magnetron cosputtering and sol-gel methods separately. The sol-gel and sputtered films were annealed at different temperatures in air and in a reduced environment, respectively. The optical UV-visible Spectrophotometry have shown that the absorption peak appears at 456 and 400 nm wavelength indicating formation of silver nanoparticles in SiO2 matrix for both the sol -gel and sputtering methods at 100 and 800 °C, respectively. XPS measurements showed that the metallic Ag0 nanoparticles can be obtained from both the techniques at these temperatures. According to XPS... 

In this paper, the 3D cohesive crack propagation is presented in partially saturated porous media. The double-nodded zero-thickness cohesive interface elements are employed to capture the mixed mode fracture behavior. In order to describe the behavior of fractured media, two balance equations are applied similar to those employed for the mixture of solid-fluid phase in semi-saturated media, including: the momentum balance of fractured media, and the balance of fluid mass within the fracture. Crack permeability is modified based on the data obtained from experimental results to consider the roughness of fracture walls effect