Sharif Digital Repository

Fuel cells belong to an avant-garde technology family for a wide variety of applications including micro-power, transportation power, stationary power for buildings and other distributed generation applications. The first objective of this contribution is to find a suitable reduced model of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). The derived reduced model is then used to design a state estimator. In the first step, the distributed model of the SOFC that is derived using the first principle balance equations is solved by the method of lines. Since this model is too complex and sluggish for real-time applications, a representation of this model with lower number of states and good accuracy is needed.... 

In this paper, we combine a novel Sequential Graph Coloring Heuristic Algorithm (SGCHA) with a non-systematic method based on a cultural algorithm to solve the graph coloring problem (GCP). The GCP involves finding the minimum number of colors for coloring the graph vertices such that adjacent vertices have distinct colors. In our solving approach, we first use an estimator which is implemented with SGCHA to predict the minimum colors. Then, in the non-systematic part which has been designed using cultural algorithms, we improve the prediction. Various components of the cultural algorithm have been implemented to solve the GCP with a self adaptive behavior in an efficient manner. As a result... 

A new air shower experiment of the Alborz Observatory, Alborz-I, located at the Sharif University of Technology, Iran, will be constructed in near future. An area of about 30×40 m2 will be covered by 20 plastic scintillation detectors (each with an area of 50×50 cm2). A series of experiments have been performed to optimize the height of light enclosures of the detectors for this array and the results have been compared to an extended code simulation of these detectors. Operational parameters of the detector obtained by this code are cross checked by the Geant4 simulation. There is a good agreement between the extended-code and Geant4 simulations. We also present further discussions on the... 

Meteorological droughts due to the concurrent occurrence of low-precipitation and high-temperature events can lead to severe negative impacts on agriculture, economy, ecosystem, and society. This study proposes a novel framework to characterize such drought conditions based on the joint variability of precipitation–temperature, particularly under climate change. Generalized hierarchical linear model is used to downscale precipitation and temperature at multiple stations from the outputs of nine General Circulation Models (GCMs) under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. A bivariate drought index called Precipitation–Temperature Deciles Index (PTDI) is developed using... 

Meteorological droughts due to the concurrent occurrence of low-precipitation and high-temperature events can lead to severe negative impacts on agriculture, economy, ecosystem, and society. This study proposes a novel framework to characterize such drought conditions based on the joint variability of precipitation–temperature, particularly under climate change. Generalized hierarchical linear model is used to downscale precipitation and temperature at multiple stations from the outputs of nine General Circulation Models (GCMs) under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. A bivariate drought index called Precipitation–Temperature Deciles Index (PTDI) is developed using... 

The reliability of data driven prognostics algorithms severely depends on the volume of data. Therefore in case of limited data availability, life estimations usually are not acceptable; because the quantity of run to failure data is not sufficient to train prognostics model efficiently. To board this problem, a life clustering prognostics (LCP) framework is proposed. LCP regenerates the train data at different ages and outcomes to increment of the training data volume. So, the method is useful for limited data conditions. In this research, initially LCP performance is studied in normal situation is; successively robustness of the framework under limited data conditions is considered. For... 

Mooring lines may be damaged under severe conditions during the life of an offshore platform. In the event of a mooring failure, it is possible to break remaining mooring lines in a severe condition, which ultimately leads to the total structural failure; Therefore, the post-failure analysis is very important for the mooring system. In this study, the Amir-Kabir semi-submersible platform has been modeled which is installed in 700 m’ depth of the Caspian Sea, and random waves have been generated towards the structure in the form of the JONSWAP wave spectrum according to the conditions of the Caspian Sea. For analysis, four different mooring configurations have been considered. Then, in each... 

Meteorological droughts due to the concurrent occurrence of low-precipitation and high-temperature events can lead to severe negative impacts on agriculture, economy, ecosystem, and society. This study proposes a novel framework to characterize such drought conditions based on the joint variability of precipitation–temperature, particularly under climate change. Generalized hierarchical linear model is used to downscale precipitation and temperature at multiple stations from the outputs of nine General Circulation Models (GCMs) under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5. A bivariate drought index called Precipitation–Temperature Deciles Index (PTDI) is developed using... 

A downscaling model capable of explaining the temporal and spatial variability of regional hydroclimatic variables is essential for reliable climate change studies and impact assessments. This study proposes a novel statistical approach based on generalized hierarchical linear model (GHLM) to downscale precipitation from the outputs of general circulation models (GCMs) at multiple sites. GHLM partitions the total variance of precipitation into within- and between-site variability allowing for transferring information between sites to develop a regional downscaling model. The methodology is demonstrated by downscaling precipitation using the outputs of eight GCMs in Lake Urmia basin in... 

This paper proposes an Age-Dependent Clustering (ADC) structure to be used for prognostics. To achieve this aim, a step-by-step methodology is introduced, that includes clustering, reproduction, mapping, and finally estimation of Remaining Useful Life (RUL). In the mapping step, a neural fitting tool is used. To clarify the age-based clustering concept, the main elements of the ADC model is discussed. A Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the elements of the optimal model. Lastly, the fuzzy technique is applied to modify the clustering. By investigating a case study on the health monitoring of some turbofan engines, the efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated. The results showed... 

In the current paper, we have investigated the generalized FitzHugh-Nagumo model. We have shown that symmetric bursting behaviors of different types could be observed in this model with an appropriate recovery term. A modified version of this system is used to construct bursting activities. Furthermore, we have shown some numerical examples of delayed Hopf bifurcation and canard phenomenon in the symmetric bursting of super-Hopf/homoclinic type near its super-Hopf and homoclinic bifurcations, respectively  

Ornamental stone sawability is important in predicting the prime cost of production and planning of the stone quarries and factories. Ornamental stone sawability with two standard methods, wire and circular sawing, is dependent on many parameters including; the stone that be sawn and machine characteristics and saw operating characteristic. The investigation of these parameters and the determination of the optimum working conditions for sawing machines in the stone industry is significant for establishing the most suitable and economic usage of the sawing method in the future. Up to now, various attempts have been made to determine these parameters. In this review paper, the important... 

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to estimate long-run elasticities for housing prices in Tehran's (capital of Iran) 20 different zones relative to several explanatory variables available for use such as land price, total substructure area, material price, etc. Moreover, another goal of this paper is to propose a new approach to deal with problems which arise due to a lack of proper data. Design/methodology/approach: The data set is gathered from "The Municipality of Tehran" and "The Central Bank of Islamic Republic of Iran (CBI)". One-way fixed effects and one-way random effects approaches (which are panel data approaches) are applied to model housing price forecasting function in... 

This paper describes the construction of a silver-based LSPR biosensor for endotoxin detection. We used GLAD method to procure reproducible silver nanocolumns. In this work, the silver nanostructures were considerably stabilized by a SAM of MPA, and the limit of detection of biosensor was measured to be 340 pg/ml for endotoxin E. coli. Considering endotoxin B. abortus as the second type of endotoxin contamination in our target samples (HBs-ag produced in Institute Pasteur, Iran), we investigated selectivity of the biosensor in various experiments. We showed that this biosensor can selectively detect both types of endotoxins compared to other biological species. Overall, this study proposes... 

General Circulation Models (GCMs) are advanced tools for impact assessment and climate change studies. Previous studies show that the performance of the GCMs in simulating climate variables varies significantly over different regions. This study intends to evaluate the performance of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) GCMs in simulating temperature and precipitation over Iran. Simulations from 37 GCMs and observations from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were obtained for the period of 1901–2005. Six measures of performance including mean bias, root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), linear correlation coefficient (r), Kolmogorov-Smirnov... 

General Circulation Models (GCMs) are advanced tools for impact assessment and climate change studies. Previous studies show that the performance of the GCMs in simulating climate variables varies significantly over different regions. This study intends to evaluate the performance of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) GCMs in simulating temperature and precipitation over Iran. Simulations from 37 GCMs and observations from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were obtained for the period of 1901–2005. Six measures of performance including mean bias, root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), linear correlation coefficient (r), Kolmogorov-Smirnov... 

Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM) addresses the problem of choosing an optimum choice containing the highest degree of satisfaction from a set of alternatives which are characterized in terms of their attributes. In order to make a decision or choose a best alternative, a decision maker (DM) is often asked to provide his/her preferences either on alternatives or on the relative weights of attributes or on both of them. In this paper some basic principles from data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used in order to extract the necessary information for solving an MADM problem. We will introduce a comprehensive yet efficient approach for accountable and understandable MADM. For obtaining... 

Unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings are rather popular around the globe due to low construction costs, even though they can be prone to substantial damage caused by even moderate earthquakes. Numerous URM buildings that have experienced damages from past earthquakes require to be upgraded or at least return to their undamaged state in order to be able to withstand future earthquakes. In many cases, reconstruction is not the best choice because of financial and time restrictions. As such, repair/retrofit is the best choice, assuring the post-earthquake serviceability. Furthermore, seismic repair/retrofit can be a cost-efficient method to avoid reconstruction complexities and expenses. In...