Assessment of information technology effects on management of supply chain based on fuzzy logic in Iran tail industries

Evolutions rooted in technology in market arena, business, and demands reforms in supply chain and consequently more demands for created value by end user are among factors causing reforms on management of supply chain. Integrity of supply chain activities and utilized technologies is an essential factor to survive competitions in the market. Organizations, therefore, need to adopt policies to coordinate themselves with new arena in market and electronic commerce. Despite bad news from Iran tail industries about unplanned production, the industry is still in growing path. In addition to easy access to mineral resources and low-energy costs, which have made it quite reasonable to invest in the industry, state tariff policies for imported tail products have made new investment chances in the industry. As a result, Iran recently won a position among five leading counties in world tail industry. However, knowing about high profit margin in tail industries, many countries have stepped into the market and through producing high-quality products have intensified competition in the market. This study tries to identify and assess IT indexes in Iran tail industry’s supply chain and hopes to take a step forward to gain better market position in international market by prioritizing the indexes using fuzzy logic.     

Optimising the ice cream formulation using basil seed gum (Ocimum basilicum L.) as a novel stabiliser to deliver improved processing quality

Mixture design was used to determine the optimum ratio as well as concentration of basil seed gum (BSG), guar gum (GG) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) in the formulation of ice cream stabilisers. Predicted equations and contour plots of physicochemical responses were also generated. Generally, increasing the ratio of BSG in gums mixture increased the apparent viscosity of ice cream mixes and decreased the melting rate. Increasing the proportion of GG at concentration of 0.35% enhanced overrun of samples. High ratios of BSG at concentration of 0.35% and CMC at concentration of 0.15% increased the fat destabilisation in ice creams. Combination of 84.31% BSG and 15.69% CMC at concentration of 0.35% proposed as optimum formulation which verified in practice. Introducing BSG as a novel source of stabiliser could be promising as alternative and improve the quality and diversity of ice cream and related products.     

Role of morphology in electrochemical hydrogen storage using binary DyFeO3-ZnO nanocomposites as electrode materials

Hydrogen storage technology is one of the most challenging issues due to the increasing demand for fossil fuel replacement and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In the current paper, the main aim is one-step and eco-friendly preparation of DyFeO₃-ZnO nanocomposites using Barberry fruit extract as natural precursor (with the role of both fuel and capping agent) to compare with various conventional carboxylic acids. To further examine, the effect of different parameters like calcination temperature and the type of the chelating agent was scrutinized to acquire optimum shape, structure, morphology and size of the obtained products. This is the first effort on the investigation of the hydrogen storage capacity of DyFeO₃-ZnO nanocomposites in terms of role of morphology. The electrochemical hydrogen storage capacity of obtained DyFeO₃-ZnO nanocomposites was studied mediated by chronopotentiometry charge-discharge methods in KOH medium. The synthesis of nanocomposites in the presence of chemical or natural capping agent (carboxylic acids or Barberry fruit extract) led to different morphologies which affects to the electrochemical performance. As a result, the electrode which is provided by plate-like DyFeO₃-ZnO nanocomposites performed 600.11 mAh/g discharge capacity compared with other samples. Based on the obtained results, DyFeO₃-ZnO nanocomposites can be promising compounds to improve the electrochemical performance of hydrogen storage.     

Lighting preferences in office spaces concerning the indoor thermal environment

The accurate prediction of the visual comfort zone in an indoor environment is difficult as it depends on many parameters. This is especially the case for large compact urban areas in which the density and shadow from neighboring buildings can limit the accessible daylighting in indoor spaces. This paper investigates the satisfaction range for illuminance regarding indoor air temperature in office buildings and the significant parameters affecting this range in six office buildings in Tehran, Iran. Lighting comfort has been evaluated by a subjective survey (509 total responses) and field measurement. The questionnaires were filled out in 146 and 109 rooms in summer and winter, respectively. The results show that the illuminance should not be less than 550 lx, while illuminance between 600 and 650 lx provides the highest satisfaction level. The satisfaction with lighting level is affected by individual parameters such as age, type of activity, and environmental parameters such as window orientation, external obscurations, and season. A relationship was observed between lighting level satisfaction and thermal condition acceptance, and the overall comfort depends more on thermal conditions than the lighting level.     

Pure Hydrogen and Propylene Coproduction in Catalytic Membrane Reactor-Assisted Propane Dehydrogenation

Propane dehydrogenation on a commercial Pt-Sn/Al₂O₃ catalyst in a Pd-Ag membrane reactor is considered. A mathematical model is developed to evaluate the performance of the catalytic membrane reactor for the process of propane dehydrogenation. Design and operating conditions are systematically evaluated for key performance metrics such as propane conversion, propylene selectivity, hydrogen selectivity, and hydrogen recovery under different operating conditions. The results confirm that the high performance of the membrane reactor is related to the continuous removal of hydrogen from the reaction zone to shift the reaction equilibrium towards the formation of more propylene and hydrogen.     

A computer-aided diagnostic system for liver tumor detection using modified U-Net architecture

The Journal of Supercomputing - A multimedia-based medical decision-making system is an ultimate requirement in the medical imaging domain. In the healthcare sector, achieving quick and efficient...     

Eddy Current Detection of Retained Austenite in Ni-Hard4 Cast Iron

In this article, the nondestructive eddy current (EC) method was used for microstructural evaluation of Ni-hard4 cast iron (NiHCI). Different destabilizing heat treatments were used to produce different microstructures and hardness. The microstructural analysis and hardness measurement were done for conventional characterization of the reference blocks. Then, the EC techniques were applied to evaluate the hardness and microstructural changes by the detection of EC parameters at different frequencies. Metallurgical investigations showed that increasing the destabilizing soaking time and temperature decreases the amount of retained austenite in NiHCIs. The nondestructive evaluation method (NDT) revealed that it can be good correlated between retained austenite amount and hardness with EC parameters. This shows that the EC technique can detect NiHCIs products according to the metallurgical characterization with good accuracy.     

Investigating the effect of paper properties on color reproduction of digital printing

Digital printing is affected by several parameters including printer and paper type which determine the final printed color gamut and the quality of reproduction. For investigation of those effects, tests were done on the three types of laser printer and six types of paper with different properties of whiteness, roughness, and gloss. The gamut volume was generated by Eye-One spectrophotometer, ProfileMaker, and ColorThink software. Properties of the different types of paper were measured by the atomic force microscopy, spectrophotometer and, goniophotometer. Results showed that the reproducibility was considerably dependent on the type of printer and type of paper. High whiteness and gloss increased the color gamut volume, while high roughness decreased the reproducibility of the printer. Tests on paper properties showed that whiteness had the most significant effect on color gamut volume.