Sharif Digital Repository

This paper aims to find the causal structure among the criteria of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model in the organisations of the healthcare sector to prioritise improvement actions for excellence in hospitals. In this regard, a framework of relations among the criteria of EFQM model is developed by theoretical studies and then, this framework is tested based on the results of self-evaluations performed in Iran public hospitals using the Structural Equation Modelling statistical technique. The required data have been collected from 40 public hospitals from 30 provinces and more than 1200 senior and middle managers of clinical departments of the Iran healthcare... 

In this study, the effect of phosphating time and temperature on microstructure and corrosion behavior of Zn-Ni electrophosphate coating with a galvanized steel as a substrate, were investigated. SEM and X-ray diffraction methods were used for investigation the microstructure and phase analysis, respectively. And immersion test, potentiodynamic polarization test, and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy tests were used for the study of corrosion behavior. The results of this study indicated that the best coating morphology is obtained in the range between 20 and 30 min and 40–50° C. Moreover, results of corrosion studies showed that the corrosion mechanism is under diffusion control due to... 

This paper aims to find the causal structure among the criteria of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model in the organisations of the healthcare sector to prioritise improvement actions for excellence in hospitals. In this regard, a framework of relations among the criteria of EFQM model is developed by theoretical studies and then, this framework is tested based on the results of self-evaluations performed in Iran public hospitals using the Structural Equation Modelling statistical technique. The required data have been collected from 40 public hospitals from 30 provinces and more than 1200 senior and middle managers of clinical departments of the Iran healthcare... 

Electrophosphating is a novel method that is used for accelerating the low-temperature phosphating bath. In this study, Zn–Mn phosphate coating was fabricated on mild steel substrate using the cathodic electrochemical method. Afterward, the effect of electrolyte pH and applied current density was investigated on coating properties. Microstructure, phase analysis and corrosion resistance of coating were evaluated using SEM, X-ray diffraction, potentiodynamic, immersion test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests, respectively. Results indicated that the metallic and nonmetallic phases are present in the coating fabricated by the cathodic electrochemical method. The results of the... 

In the present study, bioceramic composites based hydroxyapatite (HAp) reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was synthesized via sol-gel technique. The dried gels were individually heated at a rate of 5°C/min up to 600°C for 2 h in a muffle furnace in order to obtain HAp-MWCNTs mixed powder. Composites were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM/SAED/EDX and Raman spectroscopy techniques. Results showed the synthesis of HAp particles in the MWCNTs sol which was prepared in advance, leads to an excellent dispersion of MWCNTs in HAp matrix. Apparent average size of crystallites increased by increasing the percentage of MWCNTs. The average crystallite size of samples (at 600°C), estimated by... 

Background: Archaeological metallic artefacts buried in soils deteriorate by means of various environmental as well as internal factors and mechanisms over time such as change in composition and microstructure of metal and corrosive factors due to long-term burial environment. Corrosion in metals occurs in different morphologies and results in different types of corrosion products based on soil composition. Identification of corrosion mechanisms and morphology in archaeological metals can help conservators to characterize deterioration occurred in metals and make decisions to protect artefacts about preventing further deterioration. In archaeological bronzes, different layers may form on the... 

Roll bonding is the most important stage of the accumulative roll bonding process, which is used to produce high strength composites. The presence of a particle layer at the interface alters the bonding condition and increases the threshold reduction for the commencement of bonding. In this study, the bonding mechanism in presence of powder at the interface is analyzed and a theoretical model is proposed to predict the required threshold reduction in warm roll bonding of commercially pure aluminum sheets as a function of amount of alumina particles at the interface. The model considers the rolling parameters and the effect of amount and size of particles by defining some constants, which are... 

In the present study, the roll bonding behaviour of Al-3003/Al-4043 and Al-3003/Zn sheets were compared. The bi-layer sheets were produced by a roll bonding process at different reductions in thickness and rolling temperatures. The joint strengths of the sheets were evaluated by peel and bend testing before and after supplemental annealing treatment. The peeled surfaces were examined using a scanning electron microscope. The results indicated that the Al-3003/Al-4043 sheets were bonded with higher joint strength and lower threshold reductions in thickness with respect to the Al-3003/Zn sheets. In contrast to the Al-3003/Zn sheets, significant improvement was observed in the joint strength of... 

An effect of a grinding method, that is ball mill and high pressure grinding rolls (HPGR), on the particle size, specific surface area and particle shape of an iron ore concentrate was studied. The particle size distribution was meticulously examined by sieve, laser and image analyses. To measure the specific surface area of particles, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Blaine methods were used. It was found that for samples having equal Blaine specific surface areas numbers, the amount of fine particles produced in HPGR was higher than that produced in a ball mill. A higher surface area was observed from HPGR treatment in comparison to ball mill grinding, provided by a higher porosity,... 

The densification behavior and the attendant microstructural features of iron powder processed by direct laser sintering were investigated. The effects of processing parameters such as laser power, scan rate, scan line spacing, thickness of layer, scanning geometry and sintering atmosphere were studied. A specific energy input ( ψ ) was defined using the "energy conservation" rule to explore the effects of the processing condition on the density and the attendant microstructure of laser sintered iron. It was found that the sintered density increased sharply with increasing the specific energy input until a critical energy input had been reached ( ψ ∼0.2 kJ mm-3). The microstructure consists... 

This research focused on fabrication of various carbon nanofibers (CNFs) from electrospun Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by utilization of iodine (I2) and cadmium acetate dihydrate (Cd) as stabilizers. Moreover, the influence of carbon nanotube (CNT) incorporation on structure and morphology of CNFs was investigated. In this regard, PVA and PVA-Cd solutions were individually prepared and electrospun. The resulting nanofibers were treated in I2 vapor and then carbonized. In the case of CNT incorporation, oxidized CNTs were first scattered in PVA and PVA-Cd solutions and then electrospun, iodinated and carbonized in the same conditions as mentioned above. It was found that the I2, Cd and their... 

Archaeological excavations in western Iran have recently revealed a significant Luristan Bronzes collection from Sangtarashan archaeological site. The site and its bronze collection are dated to Iron Age II/III of western Iran (10th-7th century BC) according to archaeological research. Alloy composition, microstructure and manufacturing technique of some sheet metal vessels are determined to reveal metallurgical processes in western Iran in the first millennium BC. Experimental analyses were carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy and Optical Microscopy/Metallography methods. The results allowed reconstructing the manufacturing process of bronze... 

Porous PZT-PCN ceramics were fabricated with this formula, “0.8 Pb(Zr1/2Ti1/2)O3-0.2 Pb(Co1/3Nb2/3)O3”, abbreviated as “PZTPCN” by introducing Polyvinyl chloride(PVC) and stearic acid (SA) as pore forming agents (PFA) with varied percentages (5, 10 and 15 wt%). The optimum sintering procedure was designed according to the thermogravimetric analysis of pore formers. XRD and FESEM were applied to study the formed phase and the microstructure of the system. Electrical Characterization was conducted using Piezo meter. A decrease in density reduced longitudinal piezoelectric coefficient (d33) and relative dielectric constant (ε) and enhanced hydrostatic figure of merit (dhgh) of PZTPCN ceramics.... 

This paper aims to determine the factors influencing technology transfer (TT) in an empirical study using structural equation modelling (SEM). A sample of 100 experts working in the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) as empirical study is randomly selected. The data are collected through the questionnaire and then analysed using LISREL software. Results show that law and policy, companies’ capabilities, skilled human resource, localisation of technology, and characteristics of technology significantly influence on the technology transfer. In addition, it is shown that the highest correlation is between companies’ capabilities and technology transfer. Fit indices show that the model has an... 

The influence of solution treatment on precipitation behavior of AEREX™350 was investigated using hardness testing, TEM and SEM. Samples were solution treated at 1050°C and 1075°C for 1 hr and then aged at 700°C, 750°C and 800°C for 1,2,4,8 and 25 hrs. It was found that different solution treatment may be used for different applications of AEREX™350  

The study intends to examine the role of financial literacy in sustainable performance of SME’s in Saudi Arabia, with the moderating effect of entrepreneurial resilience. The data for this study were gathered from 203 different SME’s sector entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia using a convenience sampling technique. The hypothesis was tested through Smart-PLS software 3.3.9 version and structural equation modeling technique was used to verify the hypothesis relationships. The findings show that financial literacy has a significant and positive impact on sustainable performance. Moreover, results indicate that entrepreneurial resilience has a significant and positive effect on sustainable... 

In this paper, a 2D shuffle-exchange based mesh topology, or 2D shuffle-exchange mesh (SEM) for short, is presented for network-on-chips. The proposed 2D topology applies the conventional well-known shuffle-exchange structure in each row and each column of the network. Compared to an equal sized mesh which is the most common topology in on-chip networks, the proposed shuffle-exchange based mesh network has smaller diameter but for an equal cost. Finally for better performance cross-shuffle is proposed. Simulation results show that the 2D SEM and 2D cross-shuffle effectively reduce the power consumption and improve performance metrics of the on-chip networks compared to the conventional mesh...