Sharif Digital Repository

We analyze the VIPA demultiplexer for different reflection profiles, i.e., uniform, graded, and Gaussian. It is shown that VIPA demultiplexer characteristics can be improved dramatically by innovative reflection profile engineering. These improvements enhance the performance of demultiplexers in UWB-Over-Fiber systems  

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to propose a framework for developing business intelligence systems (BIS). Design/methodology/approach: Following a qualitative research method, a comprehensive framework at organizational and individual level, as well as team level, was developed. Findings: The findings revealed that team-level influential factors play a more significant role in BIS development success. The results also indicate that BIS development relies on suppliers, customers and their relationships, whereas the supplier side has a more significant impact on determining successful development. Drawing on these findings, embedded knowledge, knowledge management process capability... 

In order to improve the communications inside and outside the enterprise, efficient utilization of enterprise capitals and make improvements in the services and products of enterprise, many enterprises have turned to use enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. On the other hand, the more the role of knowledge assets in enterprises grows, the higher the position of knowledge management (KM) in the enterprises becomes and it gradually becomes fundamental to success. The role of knowledge management in today’s knowledge-based world has attracted considerable attention to this topic in industry and academia. The use of ERP and knowledge management in enterprises for the continuation of... 

Meanwhile with increasing demand for energy sources in the world, hydropower plants can be considered as clean energy sources for sustainable development. Hydropower plant environmental impact is almost none. They are easy to construct and operate with much lower cost in comparison with other types of power plants. Currently in Iran, Conventional methods for determining hydropower plant potent location are very complicated and do not always eventuated to the best result. This study focuses on run of river projects and proposes a new methodology to spot hydropower plan best location according to specific engineering criteria, using ArcGIS and an algorithm developed in MATLAB. An economic... 

Internet banking is a tool to achieve competitive advantage and its usage has been spreading rapidly in recent years. This paper strives to identify a comprehensive study of the major internet banking quality measurements, which covers a wide range of literature relevant to international papers and scholars and then evaluate them through using a precise method, Shannon entropy. At the last stage the validated criteria were exploited to survey in Iranian banks. The empirical research consists of a quantitative study of internet banking by a sample of employees in two banks of Iran. In this regard, the raised question is about whether or not the internet banking is a strategic information... 

This paper introduces a novel multiobjective approach for capacity benefit margin (CBM) assessment taking into account tie-line reliability of interconnected systems. CBM is the imperative information utilized as a reference by the load-serving entities (LSE) to estimate a certain margin of transfer capability so that a reliable access to generation through interconnected system could be attained. A new Pareto-based evolutionary programming (EP) technique is used to perform a simultaneous determination of CBM for all areas of the interconnected system. The selection of CBM at the Pareto optimal front is proposed to be performed by referring to a heuristic ranking index that takes into... 

Owing to wide-ranging searches (there are various alignments between two points) as well as complex and nonlinear cost functions and a variety of geometric constraints, the problem of optimal railway alignment is classified as a complex problem. Thus, choosing an alignment between two points is usually done based on a limited number of alignments designed by experts. In recent years, the study of railway alignment optimization has shown the importance of optimization and the introduction of various algorithms and their usefulness in solving different problems. It is expected that applying meta-heuristic optimization algorithms such as methods based on swarm intelligence can lead to better... 

We have combined the idea of renormalization group and quantum-information theory. We have shown how the entanglement or concurrence evolve as the size of the system becomes large, i.e., the finite size scaling is obtained. Moreover, we introduce how the renormalization-group approach can be implemented to obtain the quantum-information properties of a many-body system. We have obtained the concurrence as a measure of entanglement, its derivatives and their scaling behavior versus the size of system for the one-dimensional Ising model in transverse field. We have found that the derivative of concurrence between two blocks each containing half of the system size diverges at the critical point... 

Fuzzy rule-based classifiers are one of the famous forms of the classification systems particularly in the data mining field. Genetic algorithm is a useful technique for discovering this kind of classifiers and it has been used for this purpose in some studies. In this paper, we propose a new symbiotic evolutionary approach to find desired fuzzy rulebased classifiers. For this purpose, a symbiotic combination operator has been designed as an alternative to the recombination operator (crossover) in the genetic algorithms. In the proposed approach, the evolution starts from simple chromosomes and the structure of chromosomes gets complex gradually during the evolutionary process. Experimental... 

An information system network (ISN) can be modeled as a stochastic-flow network (SFN). There are several algorithms to evaluate reliability of an SFN in terms of Minimal Cuts (MCs). The existing algorithms commonly first find all the upper boundary points (called d-MCs) in an SFN, and then determine the reliability of the network using some approaches such as inclusion-exclusion method, sum of disjoint products, etc. However, most of the algorithms have been compared via complexity results or through one or two benchmark networks. Thus, comparing those algorithms through random test problems can be desired. Here, the authors first state a simple improved algorithm. Then, by generating a... 

various researchers and practitioners have identified a range of problems and deficiencies with existing change-related frameworks, while each framework can include unique valuable elements in its people/process/technology aspects and theoretical foundations. In such a setting, we have adopted a holistic approach through examining an armada of existing frameworks and methodologies. Several decades of combined intercontinental experience of the authors (and much more from their academic/practice network) in the field of change management is culminating in development of a novel overarching framework referred to as Total Change Management (TCM). In the three years course of establishment of... 

Exergoeconomic Composite Curves (EECC) - a synergy of Exergoeconomic and Composite Curves of Pinch Analysis is a novel method and propounded for the first time in this Paper. This is the first attempt to represent investment and annual operating and maintenance costs in addition to Exergy in a graphical form similar to Composite Curves. In this Paper a simplified methodology that represents the Exergy of chemical units of a process in a graphical form and preliminary investment strategy is developed for use with the EECC. The object has therefore been to study the possibilities to save money in Northern Pulp and Paper Mill, an Iranian mill with a capacity of 600 tons/day  

Recently, AIDA/cube testers have been revealed to be useful in building distinguishers for several cryptography schemes. χ2 tests, on the other hand, are well known and extensively used for distinguishing purposes. In this study, the notion of multi-χ2 test and AIDA/cube testers are utilised to introduce the superpoly algebraic normal form monomial test through which the output of reduced round Trivium is distinguished from being random. The test successfully distinguishes the keystream of Trivium with 830 out of 1152 initialisation rounds with a complexity of 239 operations, which is the most effective distinguisher on reduced Trivium thus far. Applying algebraic IV differential attack... 

People usually get involved in multiple social networks to enjoy new services or to fulfill their needs. Many new social networks try to attract users of other existing networks to increase the number of their users. Once a user (called source user) of a social network (called source network) joins a new social network (called target network), a new inter-network link (called anchor link) is formed between the source and target networks. In this paper, we concentrated on predicting the formation of such anchor links between heterogeneous social networks. Unlike conventional link prediction problems in which the formation of a link between two existing users within a single network is... 

Several methodologies with their own characteristics have been proposed in the area of agent-oriented software engineering. Consequently, deciding which methodology to select in a specific case is an important issue and it can lead to decrease software development cost and effort. Thus, importance of evaluation of methodologies will be highlighted in choosing the appropriate methodology in the development process of an application. It can also help in developing new methodologies and improving existing ones. In this paper, we are going to provide an evaluation framework of agent oriented methodologies. To demonstrate the usage of the suggested framework, it is applied to evaluate two... 

A new methodology has been proposed to enhance inverse dynamics applications in the process of trajectory planning and optimization in terrain following flights (TFFs). The new approach uses a least square scheme to solve a general two-dimensional (2-D) TFF in a vertical plane. In the mathematical process, Chebyshev polynomials are used to model the geographical data of the terrain in a given route in a manner suitable for the aircraft at hand. The aircraft then follows the modeled terrain with sufficient clearance. In this approach the terrain following (TF) problem is effectively converted to an optimal tracking problem. Results show that this method provides a flexible approach to solve...