Sharif Digital Repository

Although satisfiability checking is known to be an effective approach in classical planning, it has scarcely been investigated in the field of temporal planning. Most notably, the usage of ∃-step semantics for encoding the problem into a SAT formula, while being demonstrably quite efficient for decreasing the size of the encodings in classical planning, has not yet been employed to tackle temporal planning problems. In this paper, we define temporal versions of classical ∀-step and ∃-step plans. We show that when the casual and temporal reasoning phases of a SAT-based temporal planner are separated, these semantics can be used to translate a given temporal planning problem into a SAT... 

Water and energy supply are two of the key issues human beings must address to attain sustainable development. Humidification-dehumidification technology has been proven to be a cost-effective approach to fulfill the freshwater demand. Particular attention has been given to coupling the humidification-dehumidification cycles with refrigeration, power and other desalination technologies with the aim of enhancing the performance of the combined cycle as well as increasing the amount of produced freshwater, cooling effect, power, etc. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art investigations in terms of humidification-dehumidification technologies and their integration... 

Uncoordinated adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) imposes further load on the distribution network, and therefore may result in disruptive impacts on the grid. Transactive coordination of PEVs has been introduced as an effective approach to mitigate these negative consequences. This paper furthers efforts enabling PEVs to participate in a real-time retail electricity market under a transactive energy (TE) paradigm. In this regard, PEV owners will estimate their willingness to pay/accept using a user-friendly strategy and submit the estimated values to the retail market operator. Then using a network-constrained market clearing mechanism, the clearing prices, i.e., dual variables of... 

This paper presents an effective approach for the seismic design of off-center bracing systems (OBSs). The nonlinear behavior of an OBS can be specified by evaluation of two yielding stages representing tensile yielding of different bracings. This can be achieved when stiffness of the corner brace member is deliberately considered less enough to act as a fuse-like component. An accurate two-dimensional finite element modeling for the geometric and material nonlinearity of such systems considering buckling behavior of the brace members is developed. Through an extensive parametric study, the optimal ratios of the influential parameters of OBS are obtained, and their effects on the nonlinear... 

To solve a fuzzy optimization problem, we need to compare fuzzy numbers. Here, we make use of our recently proposed modified Kerre’s method as an effective approach for comparison of LR fuzzy numbers. Using our new results on LR fuzzy numbers, we show that to compare two LR fuzzy numbers, we do not need to compute the fuzzy maximum of two numbers directly. We propose a new variable neighborhood search approach for solving fuzzy number quadratic programming problems by using the modified Kerre’s method. In our algorithm, a local search is performed using descent directions, found by solving five crisp mathematical programming problems. In several available methods, a fuzzy optimization... 

In today's competitive supply chains, providing products which can stimulate the customer's demand and enhance the revenues of companies is an important objective. Therefore, three stimulating factors, including the carbon emission reduction, return policy and quality improvement efforts are taken into consideration in a supply chain (SC). In line with reducing carbon emission, two possibilities in the forward flow, including the technologies investment and the trade and cap are employed. In the reverse flow, hybrid remanufacturing of the imperfect quality products under technology license is investigated. The impacts of collecting-remanufacturing processes on carbon reduction, quality... 

Lithium ion batteries as one of the most important energy storage equipments, have several challenges including capacity drop as number of cycles increases. Cathode particle coating is an effective approach in improvement of electrochemical performance of the batteries. In this study, TiO2-Ag coating was used to improve NCM cathode performance. The microstructure and crystal structure properties of coated NCMs were evaluated by the FE-SEM and XRD. Electrochemical behavior of the batteries was investigated by cycling performance analysis and EIS. TiO2 coating was deposited as a uniform layer and Ag coating was precipitated as dispersed nanoparticles. The results shows that using of TiO2-Ag... 

The pool boiling is one of the heat transfer mechanisms used in cooling systems. Using an external force to improve the efficiency of thermo-fluid systems is among the most effective approaches, and also highly applicable in enhancing heat transfer. In this study, the pool boiling of water, as the working fluid, in the presence of a variable magnetic field, is studied. To this end, ferromagnetic beads were placed on the boiling surface, and the effect of their movements due to a variable magnetic field was observed and measured. The number of beads was selected such that they would cover 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 of the surface in different cases and the magnetic field was controlled by altering... 

Abstract Software product line engineering is a method of producing a set of related products that share more commonalities than variability in a cost-effective approach. Software product lines provide systematic reuse within a product family. Extended feature models with cardinalities are widely used for managing variability and commonality in the software product line domains. In this paper, we use promotion technique in Alloy to formalize constraint based extended feature models with cardinalities and their specialization and generalization. This technique has a significant influence on applying analysis operations on feature models. To show the benefits of the promotion technique, we... 

Performance of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) as a solid-state process is approved in several engineering applications, especially aluminum industries. Identification of mechanical behavior of the associated welded zone is necessary due to these extensive applications of FSW. In this study, considering the effect of rotational and forward speed of welding tool on the mechanical properties of welded region, a hybrid optimization method based on combination of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Response Surface Method (RSM) named here as GA-RSM is proposed to achieve maximum tensile and ultimate strength. The results of GA-RSM are validated by per-forming necessary experimental tests on two wide-used... 

A new and effective hot milling system was designed and applied to the synthesis of PbZr0.95Ti0.05O3 (PZT) powder. PbO, ZrO2 and TiO2 powders were used as starting materials and hot milled at various temperatures ranging from 10 ̊°C to 800 ̊°C. The obtained powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Results indicated that pure, crystalline, and fine PZT powders with the average particle size of 170 nm can be successfully synthesized directly after a relatively short synthesis time of 12 h at lower temperature of 800 ̊°C by the hot milling technique. In contrast to this method, this study demonstrates that conventional solid-state... 

A new comparative performance measure based on a structure's seismic fragility curve is introduced. This factor, called the performance improvement factor (PIF), was used to compare the seismic performance and reliability of two structures. Using the PIF, the efficiency of viscous dampers on the behaviour of a weak mid-rise steel structure was investigated. A prototype five-span 12-storey steel frame was equipped with three patterns of viscous dampers and their seismic performance was studied. The distribution of dampers along the height of the structure was optimised in three hazard levels using a genetic algorithm and the structure was subjected to 12 ground motion records scaled to levels... 

Photovoltaic (PV) panels provide a suitable way for the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity. The electrical output and efficiency of PV modules are dependent on working temperature. The present study contributes to investigate the efficiency of utilizing a flat plate closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) to cool down a PV panel in both thermal and economic aspects. Accordingly, a numerical investigation is employed to obtain the surface temperature and electrical gain of the PV panel through four scenarios, including natural cooling without additional equipment, CLPHP-based passive cooling, CLPHP-based active cooling, and a conventional flat plate cooling methods. The... 

Interface engineering has emerged as a great strategy for fabrication of high efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, we deposit a thin layer of ZnS as a buffer layer at the interface of the perovskite absorber and electron transporting layer (ETL) using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The impact of the ZnS layer on the photovoltaic characteristics of PSCs was investigated by comparison of two mesoscopic configurations, in which the ZnS layer is grown on compact TiO2 and on mesoporous TiO2 surfaces. Our results revealed that the addition of an ultrathin ZnS layer between the perovskite and ETL drastically improves the charge extraction properties and reduces... 

We present a new approach for emergency response planning to the injured on a multi-type transportation network. We consider a three-type transportation network with separate connection links simultaneously: road, rail and air networks. In this study, a circle-based approach is presented where using concentric circles with various radiuses, different levels of the effect of a disaster are considered. After formulating the relations, we present an integer nonlinear programming model for the problem. The model is to determine the locations for establishment of temporary aid stations among the candidate locations, the type of aid stations, the percentage of the injured allocated to each...