Sharif Digital Repository

Single phase Ca-substituted W-type hexaferrites Sr1-xCaxZn2Fe16O27(x = 0.00(0.25)1.00) have successfully been synthesized by using sol–gel self-combustion at 1300°C. These hexaferrites are investigated by x-ray difrractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, and vector network analysis. XRD analysis confirms the formation of a single W-type hexaferrites phase. The DC electrical resistivity increases with incrementing Ca contents. The morphology of all the hexaferrites shows hexagonal platelet-like structure. The prepared ferrites depict soft magnetic nature with high saturation... 

Background: Computer aided diagnosis has gained momentum in the recent past. The advances in deep learning and availability of huge volumes of data along with increased computational capabilities has reshaped the diagnosis and prognosis procedures. Objective: These methods are proven to be relatively less expensive and safer alternatives of the otherwise traditional approaches. This study is focused on efficient diagnosis of three very common diseases: lung cancer, pneumonia and Covid-19 using X-ray images. Methods: Three different deep learning models are designed and developed to perform 4-way classification. Inception V3, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short Term Memory... 

Pr doped spinel nanoferrites having following composition Cu Pr x Fe 2-x O 4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00) were synthesized using sol-gel route. Prosademium (Pr) which is a rare earth metal was doped to tailor the properties of the Cu spinel nanoferrites. Characterization tools such as FTIR, XRD, FESEM and VSM were employed to investigate the phase, absorption bands, structure, microstructure and magnetic properties. FTIR was used to see the absorption bands and force constants of the Pr doped Cu spinel nanoferrites. Crystallite size, lattice parameters, cell volume and micro strains were determined from XRD data. Bulk density, X-ray density and porosity of the Pr doped Cu spinel... 

The study aimed to investigate the most effective leadership style that enhances the employees’ performance at the workplace and also evaluate the impact of leadership styles (Laissez-faire leadership, Transformational leadership, Transactional leadership,) on employees’ performance in the textile sector of Pakistan. The study explored the moderating role of Positive psychological capital to examine the relationship between leadership styles and employee performance. A quantitative research technique was used, and Data were collected from the lower to middle-level manager of the textile sector. The findings of this study showed that laissez-faire leadership has a significant but negative... 

The carbon dioxide (CO2) separation can be enhanced by using modified materials like a deep eutectic solvent (DES) modified mesoporous silica SBA-15 in polymeric support i.e polysulfone via mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). The pure SBA-15 and DES are potential candidates for the CO2 capturing and their combination has not been reported yet. In this work, a fresh DES was synthesized by combining equal concentrations of Decanoic acid and choline chloride by mass. MMMs were fabricated by DES functionalized SBA-15 (DES-SBA) filler. The DES-SBA-based polymeric MMMs of different compositions, from 5% to 20% with the difference of five each, were developed and subjected to the gas permeation analysis... 

Chitosan-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles (CS-ZnO NPs) were meticulously fabricated using the sol-gel methodology. The CS-ZnO NPs underwent comprehensive analytical assessments, employing advanced techniques, encompassing X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). An average crystallite size of 15 nm was calculated through XRD. These NPs showed an absorption band at 292 nm. TGA revealed the two-phase weight loss mechanism in the investigated nanocomposite. Effective antibacterial activity, at various NPs concentrations, was observed against Xanthomonas... 

Finding an optimal control strategy for a nonlinear uncertain system is a challenging problem in the area of nonlinear controller design. In this paper, a two-level control algorithm is developed for robust optimal control of large-scale nonlinear systems. For this purpose, using a decomposition/coordination framework, the large-scale nonlinear system is first decomposed into several smaller subsystems, at the first level, where a closed-form solution as a feedback of states and interactions is obtained to optimize each subsystem. At the second level, a substitution-type prediction method, as a coordination strategy, is used to compensate the nonlinear terms of the system and to predict the... 

The current study aims to provide insights into the drying of agro products, with a specific focus on Capsicum annum L. (red pepper). Among open sun drying (OSD), polyethylene bag drying (PBD), and polycarbonate sheet drying (PCSD), PCSD was efficient requiring around 24 hours with a maximum yield of 350 g of dried product per 1000 g of supplied fresh peppers. The PCSD dried chili also showed greater retention of antioxidant markers (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin) than OSD and PBD as evidenced by UV-VIS spectroscopy. Additionally, the PCSD dried chili demonstrated highest antioxidant potential via ABTS (2, 2'-Azinobis-3-Ethylbenzothiazoline-6-Sulfonic Acid). Interestingly, the presence of... 

The structural, electrical, magnetic and high frequency properties of Ni-substituted Zn2W-type hexagonal ferrites were investigated for microwave applications. Ferrite powders with chemical compositions Ba0 · 5Sr0.5NixZn2-xFe16O27 (where Ni-substitution was varied from 0.0 to 1.5 with a step size of 0.5) were prepared using sol-gel auto-combustion at 1300 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the single-phase hexagonal ferrite structure. The lengths of both the axis i.e. minor and major (a, c) obtained from hkl values of XRD peaks were decreased with Ni-substitution due to the difference in ionic radius of the substituted metal ions. DC electrical resistivity obtained by two-point... 

The application of Machine Learning (ML) in healthcare has opened unprecedented avenues for predictive analytics, diagnostics, and personalized medicine. However, the sensitivity of healthcare data and the ethical dilemmas associated with automated decision-making necessitate a rigorous ethical framework. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing ethical frameworks that guide ML in healthcare and evaluates their adequacy in ad-dressing ethical challenges. Specifically, this article offers an in-depth examination of prevailing ethical constructs that oversee healthcare ML, spotlighting pivotal concerns: data protection, in-formed assent, equity, and patient... 

Checkpointing with rollback recovery is a well-established technique to tolerate transient faults. However, it incurs significant time and energy overheads, which go wasted in fault-free execution states and may not even be feasible in hard real-time systems. This paper presents a low-overhead two-state checkpointing (TsCp) scheme for fault-tolerant hard real-time systems. It differentiates between the fault-free and faulty execution states and leverages two types of checkpoint intervals for these two different states. The first type is nonuniform intervals that are used while no fault has occurred. These intervals are determined based on postponing checkpoint insertions in fault-free... 

The principal objective involved in this research is to explore the mechanical behaviour of the binder using different mineral fillers such as stone dust (SD), brick dust (BD) and fly ash Class F (FA). Currently, a large quantity of roads is being constructed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. It is a major concern for quality of road to with stand heavy loads. For the investigation of the quality of roads, it is mandatory to evaluate the behaviour of mineral fillers addition in asphalt mastic. Fatigue cracking, thermal cracking and permanent deformation have been found a major common distress in the construction of road networks. In this study, the behaviour of... 

Type 2 diabetes (T2d), also known as diabetes mellitus or adult-onset diabetes, is a chronic condition that disrupts the body’s insulin regulation, a crucial hormone for controlling blood glucose levels. Glucose, a form of sugar, is the primary energy source for cells in the human bloodstream. Regulating glucose metabolism is vital for the body’s proper functioning. The primary challenges in managing T2d include blood sampling, timely analysis, risk of skin infections, and blood-borne diseases. This paper presents the design of an IoT-based, non-invasive system for monitoring blood glucose levels. Our system utilizes medical sensors to gather data, which is then cleaned and transformed using... 

Nanomaterials are chemical compounds or substances which are moderately produced and used. Nanomaterials are engineered to reveal novel properties of nanocells that contrast with related non-visible substances, such as expanded consistency, conductivity or synthetic reaction. Topological indexes are quantities related to molecules that capture the harmony of molecular structures and give scientifically related properties, such as: viscosity, boiling point, radius of gravity, and so on. Their demands in genetics, chemistry, physics and nanoscience are infinite. The molecular topology of such compounds would be clarify by the quantitative structure properties relationship (QSPR) and... 

The microfluidic device, known simply as microfluidics, is an emerging technology that has become a significant tool for pharmaceutical businesses to process and analyze materials for developing, optimizing, testing, and delivering various drugs in advanced nanocarriers. Technically, microfluidics is a technique to handle small solution volumes (nanoliters to picoliters) in microchambers of different geometries and dimensions ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. Each year, many pharmaceutical drug delivery systems have failed clinical translation because of scale-up problems. Now, scientists are trying to find some suitable alternatives and more robust methodologies to... 

This review paper examines the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamic ensemble techniques in enhancing healthcare services. By systematically reviewing literature and case studies from the past decade, we explore how these advanced computational methods improve diagnostic accuracy, personalize treatment plans, and optimize patient monitoring. Dynamic ensemble techniques, which leverage multiple predictive models to improve outcome accuracy, offer significant promise in addressing the complexities of patient data and disease manifestations. This paper delves into applications spanning AI-driven diagnostics, personalized medicine, and remote patient monitoring,... 

Many-core processors facilitate coarse-grained reliability by exploiting available cores for redundant multithreading. However, ensuring high reliability with reduced power consumption necessitates joint considerations of variations in vulnerability, performance and power properties of software as well as the underlying hardware. In this paper, we propose a power-efficient reliability management system for many-core processors. It exploits various basic redundancy techniques (like, dual and triple modular redundancy) operating in different voltage-frequency levels, each offering distinct reliability, performance and power properties. Our system performs Dynamic Redundancy and Voltage Scaling... 

Due to the tight power envelope, in the future technology nodes it is envisaged that not all cores in a many-core chip can be simultaneously powered-on (at full performance level). The power-gated cores are referred to as Dark Silicon. At the same time, growing reliability issues due to process variations and soft errors challenge the cost-effective deployment of future technology nodes. This paper presents a reliability management system for Dark Silicon chips (dsReliM) that optimizes for reliability of on-chip systems while jointly accounting for soft errors, process variations and the thermal design power (TDP) constraint. Towards the TDP-constrained reliability optimization, dsReliM... 

Over the years, the fruit industry has been entirely dependent on artificial ripening of fruits to satisfy the demands of the consumers. Both in nutrition and economics, fruits play a very critical role, and hence farmers and vendors need to keep the supply optimal. In developing countries, nearly 70–80% of fruits are artificially ripened using different agents, making chemical-induced ripening a health hazard and presenting a challenge for fruit sellers in maintaining safe and healthy practices. The review offers an insight into the benefits and risks associated with ripening agents while also stressing the need to explore newer, safer, and environmentally friendly ripening methods. This...