Sharif Digital Repository

This paper proposes a class of estimators for population correlation coefficient when information about the population mean and population variance of one of the variables is not available but information about these parameters of another variable (auxiliary) is available, in two phase sampling and analyzes its properties. Optimum estimator in the class is identified with its variance formula. The estimators of the class involve unknown constants whose optimum values depend on unknown population parameters. In earlier research it has been shown that when these population parameters are replaced by their consistent estimates the resulting class of estimators has the same asymptotic variance... 

In this article, the relation between meteorological parameters and dust activities in western Iran has been studied. Satellite-based data achieved from TOMS are used to investigate the dust activities within a time period of 30 years. In the first part of this study, we examine the statistical trend of Aerosol Index (AI) and local meteorological parameters in 15 different stations. The same patterns of AI variations in all stations indicate that this region has always been subjected to dust storms which originate from similar sources in the neighboring countries that could be known as a sole dust transfer system. In the second part, we investigate the spatial correlation between the... 

In this part of the work, to illustrate the strength of the "partial and semipartial correlation analysis, as the proposed solution described in detail in part 1, we consider design problem of the manufacturing system of a given product based on a set of hypothetical data and show how to explore the most appropriate integration choices in which the (causal) dependencies of the concerned PVs are minimal. Based on the results of this study, we emphasize that incorporating the identified sensitive PVs into the integration process will eventually lead to coupling among a subset of the product's FRs and isolation of these PVs is recommended as an ideal solution. However, sometimes, in the real... 

We prepared single-phase polycrystalline Gd1-xPrx Ba2Cu3O7-δ samples with x = 0, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20. The deoxygenation process of these samples was performed by an annealing method. Electrical resistivity measurements revealed depression of the transition temperature with the increase of x and δ. We calculated the hole concentration in the CuO2 plane for different values of x and δ. A linear dependence of transition temperature and hole concentration in the CuO2 plane was found as a function of 2δ + x. It is proposed that a combination of the localization and filling of holes should be considered as the effective mechanisms for the appearance of the Pr anomaly in HTSCs  

In this study, a new method is proposed to evaluate the utility harmonic impedance and the harmonics responsibilities at the point of common coupling. The former task is accomplished by involving the harmonic phase angles in the data correlation method, and the latter one is done using an approach based on the fluctuation of the background harmonic voltage. An important advantage of the method is to take the load harmonic impedance into account in appropriate manner. The performance of the proposed method is verified using simulation studies for different cases and also field measurements. Long-term measurement data are used to determine the harmonic contribution of the industrial customers... 

Functional connectivity in human brain can be represented as a network using electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Network representation of EEG time series can be an efficient vehicle to understand the underlying mechanisms of brain function. Brain functional networks whose nodes are brain regions and edges correspond to functional links between them are characterized by neurobiologically meaningful graph theory metrics. This study investigates the degree to which graph theory metrics are sex dependent. To this end, EEGs from 24 healthy female subjects and 21 healthy male subjects were recorded in eyes-closed resting state conditions. The connectivity matrices were extracted using... 

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use correlation analysis to understand how knowledge structure, task structure and collaboration affect collective knowledge (CK) by the mediating mechanism of communication. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on an existing gap in the literature related to CK, a research model with five hypotheses is proposed. The hypotheses were analyzed based on data collected from 114 work-team practitioners using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results indicate that communication, knowledge structure, task structure and collaboration significantly contribute to CK and that communication partially mediates the impact of these constructs on CK.... 

We use the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), the detrended cross correlation analysis (DCCA) and the magnitude and sign decomposition analysis to study the fluctuations in the turbulent time series and to probe long-term nonlinear levels of complexity in weakly and high turbulent flow. The DFA analysis indicate that there is a time scaling region in the fluctuation function, segregating regimes with different scaling exponents. We discuss that this time scaling region is related to inertial range in turbulent flows. The DCCA exponent implies the presence of power-law cross correlations. In addition, we conclude its multifractality for high Reynold's number in inertial range. Further, we... 

Motivated by the fact that in computer vision data samples are matrices, in this paper, we propose a matrix-variate probabilistic model for canonical correlation analysis (CCA). Unlike probabilistic CCA which converts the image samples into the vectors, our method uses the original image matrices for data representation. We show that the maximum likelihood parameter estimation of the model leads to the two-dimensional canonical correlation directions. This model helps for better understanding of two-dimensional Canonical Correlation Analysis (2DCCA), and for further extending the method into more complex probabilistic model. In addition, we show that two-dimensional Linear Discriminant... 

Discouraging the divorce between Language teaching and language testing, dynamic assessment has changed into a strong tool not only for language assessment but also for language development and leaner involvement in the learning process. This study aimed to investigate (a) Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners' off-task self-assessment and on-task self-rating of their writing ability and the impact of a dynamic-assessment-based course on the accuracy of their self-assessment and self-rating, and (b) the interrelationships among teacher rating, self-assessment, and self-rating in the writing performance of 22 engineering students taking a writing course as part of an EAP... 

Utilizing the Axiomatic Design (AD) principles to develop a perfect product, design of a manufacturing system with minimal complexity is required. For the purpose of reducing the manufacturing system complexity, theoretically, it is preferred to integrate multiple Process Variables (PVs) of the product into a single process unit. However, due to significant presence of some active noise factors, this integration practice may result in failing to maintain the independence among some of Functional Requirements (FRs) of the product. This event is the result of statistical causal relationships unintentionally developed among a subset of the integrated PVs. In such a condition, the AD's... 

There are relatively few comprehensive studies on driving errors and violations in Iran, a non-Western country with a high traffic fatality rate. In this study, 712 drivers completed a questionnaire at technical inspection centres and carwashes in Tehran, Iran. Respondents were asked about their demographic characteristics, accident involvement, traffic fines, and driving aberrations in the form of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ). The results of a principal component analysis of the DBQ showed a distinction between errors and two types of violations: speeding and non-speeding violations. Correlation analyses showed that DBQ violations were associated with a higher driving mileage, a... 

In this study isolated perfused rat muscle was used to examine the direct effect of temperature changes on the eccentric contraction-induced force and desmin loss. The left medial gastrocnemius muscle was separated and the entire lower limb was transferred into a prewarmed (35°C) organ bath. Temperature was adjusted to 31 or 39°C before and during eccentric contractions. Maximal isometric force and desmin loss were measured after 15 isometric or eccentric contractions. According to our data, organ bath temperature changes before or during eccentric contractions had no significant effect on force loss. However, a strong correlation between desmin loss and temperature changes before (r = 0.93,... 

Solid-phase microextraction probes based on poly(ethylene glycol)/C18-bonded silica were used for in vivo monitoring of drugs from circulating blood of beagles, over a period of 8 h. After sampling, the extracted drugs were subsequently quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. External calibrations in whole blood and phosphate-buffered saline were used to correlate the amount of analytes extracted in regard to the total and free concentrations in blood respectively. The probe provided sufficient sensitivity for the drugs in the blood matrix, while the need for drawing blood was eliminated. The limit of detections of the method from whole blood were 1.7, 1.4... 

In recent years, researchers have paid particular attention to safety, air pollution, and energy consumption, which are all affected by vehicle type. The primary objective of this study is to achieve a thorough understanding of the relationships of transportation attitudes, safety attitudes, personality, and lifestyle with vehicle type for the first time in Iran, as a developing country. For this purpose, an interview questionnaire was designed, and 740 participants were interviewed in Tehran. Vehicle types are categorized into seven groups: mini, compact, medium, heavy, Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), pickup, and motorcycle. In the first stage, factor analysis was employed to identify the... 

Abnormalities in the topology of brain networks may be an important feature and etiological factor for psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). To explore this possibility, we applied a graph theoretical approach to functional networks based on resting state EEGs from 13 PNES patients and 13 age- and gender-matched controls. The networks were extracted from Laplacian-transformed time-series by a cross-correlation method. PNES patients showed close to normal local and global connectivity and small-world structure, estimated with clustering coefficient, modularity, global efficiency, and small-worldness metrics, respectively. Yet the number of PNES attacks per month correlated with a... 

A number of challenges including instability, nonconvergence, nonuniqueness, nonoptimality, and lack of a general guideline for inverse modelling have limited the application of automatic calibration by generic inversion codes in solving the saltwater intrusion problem in real-world cases. A systematic parameter selection procedure for the selection of a small number of independent parameters is applied to a real case of saltwater intrusion in a small island aquifer system in the semiarid region of the Persian Gulf. The methodology aims at reducing parameter nonuniqueness and uncertainty and the time spent on inverse modelling computations. Subsequent to the automatic calibration of the... 

Transportation has significant and long lasting economical, social and environmental impacts, and so is an important dimension of urban sustainability. Some attempts have been made to develop sustainable transport indicators, STI. A few studies actually apply STI to compare sustainability among various world cities. In this paper various world cities ranked in terms of urban sustainable transport composite index. The study database is created from UITP databank: "Millennium cities database for sustainable mobility" or MCDST. Firstly sustainable transportation indicators were selected by reviewing past researches. Some indicators are edited or redefined. Consequently 9 STI were developed, 3...