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The paper aims to discuss the design, fabrication, communication, testing, and simulation of a new tactile probe called Elastirob used to measure the modulus of elasticity of biological soft tissues and soft materials.

Both finite element modeling and experimental approaches were used in this analysis. Elastirob, with the ability to apply different rates of strain on testing specimens, is accompanied by a tactile display called TacPlay. This display is a custom‐designed user‐friendly interface and is able to evaluate the elasticity in each part of the stress‐strain curve.

A new device is being constructed that can measure the modulus of elasticity of a sensed object. The results of Elastirob applied on two specimens are reported and compared by the results of experiments obtained by an industrial testing machine. Acceptable validations of Elastirob were achieved from the comparisons.

The designed system can be miniaturized to be used in minimally invasive surgeries in the future.

Elastirob determines the elasticity by drawing the stress‐strain curve and then calculating its slope. The combination of the force sensing resistor, microcontroller and stepper motor provides Elastirob with the ability to apply different rates of strain on testing specimens.

It can be employed in both in vivo and in vitro tests for measuring stiffness of touch objects. For the first time, a device has been designed and tested which is a few orders of magnitude smaller than its industrial counterparts and has considerably lower weight.

This paper aims to propose a novel integrated control method (ICM) for high-power-density non-inverting interleaved buck-boost DC-DC converter. To achieve high power conversion by conventional single phase DC-DC converter, inductor value must be increased. This converter is not suitable for industrial and high-power applications as large inductor value will increase the inductor current ripple. Thus, two-phase non-inverting interleaved buck-boost DC-DC converter is proposed.

The proposed ICM approach is based on the theory of integrated dynamic modeling of continuous conduction mode (CCM), discontinuous conduction mode and synchronizing parallel operation mode. In addition, it involves the output voltage controller with inner current loop (inductor current controller) to make a fair balancing between two stages. To ensure fast transient performance, proposed digital ICM is implemented based on a TMS320F28335 digital signal microprocessor.

The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed ICM algorithm to achieve high voltage regulating (under 0.01 per cent), very low inductor current ripple (for boost is 1.96 per cent, for buck is 1.1) and fair input current balance between two stages (unbalancing current less than 0.5A).

The proposed new ICM design procedure is developed satisfactorily to ensure fast transient response even under high load variation and the solving R right-half-plane HP zeros of the CCM. In addition, the proposed method can equally divide the input current of stages and stable different parallel operation modes with large input voltage variations.

Hepatitis C is one of the major health issues in both developed and developing countries. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is more common in prisoners than in the general population. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of HCV and its associated risk factors in Iranian male prisoners in Tehran.

In this cross-sectional study, the authors investigated the frequency and risk factors of hepatitis C infection among male prisoners in the Great Tehran Prison. Information on risk factors including the length of imprisonment, previous history of imprisonment, history of drug injection, history of tattooing, history of piercing, history of high-risk sex and family history of hepatitis C were extracted from patients’ records. To evaluate HCV status, blood samples were collected and tested.

In this study, 179 participants were included. Nine participants (5.0%, 95% CI, 2.3-9.3) were positive for hepatitis C. HCV infection was not significantly associated with age, marital status, education, previous history of imprisonment, length of imprisonment, piercing and high-risk sex; however, there was a significant association between a history of tattooing and a history of injecting drug use and Hepatitis C.

The prevalence of hepatitis C among male prisoners in Great Tehran Prison was 5% in this study, similar to recent studies on prisoners in Tehran. A history of drug injections as well as tattooing were the most important risk factors for hepatitis C in male prisoners.