Sharif Digital Repository

What purpose, according to Muslim scholars, should technological development serve? To answer this question, first we explain the views of seven Muslim scholars who have theorized about technology from an Islamic viewpoint. We then set out Carl Mitcham's fourfold analysis of technology, and summarize the views of philosophers of technology on technological volition. This places us in a position to classify Muslim scholars' opinions on technological development under seven broad headings, namely: meeting human beings' needs, implementation of an Islamic culture and lifestyle, serving human beings, serving nature, understanding the splendor of creation, providing personal and social happiness,... 

Despite the importance of well-being, few studies have been conducted on the relationship between well-being and technology. In this paper, the development of technology from the perspective of well-being studies are divided into three generations. In higher generations, the main criterion of technology development becomes more comprehensive, in order to decrease the side effects of technology. We introduce the fourth generation in which well-being is the main criterion of the design process. Although it may not seem necessary to say that the purpose of most technologies is implicitly well-being, we show that the domination of physical pleasure in terms of “use and convenience” in the modern... 

This article concerns the notion of methodology in strategic management of R&D/technology. Though development of new tools and methods has received much attention during the recent decades, attention to understanding methodologies has remained disproportionally low. In this study we distinguish two methodologies that are used in strategic management of R&D/technology: planning methodology and evolutionary learning methodology. We mainly focus on defining and describing the origins, nature, and characteristics of the latter. We propose a framework for methodology selection by investigating context, content, and process factors. Using this framework, we provide supportive evidence for... 

Iran's petroleum industry is facing challenges including maturity of hydrocarbon fields, growing population of the nation that demands additional revenues from petroleum exports, and international economic sanctions that have limited access to technology sources. Restrictions from international technology providers have led managers of the industry enterprises to try to develop their needed technologies inside the country. The Ministry of Petroleum has supervised this and as a result, a technology planning systems has been developed and implemented since 2009. In this paper, an overview of the Iranian petroleum industry is provided from a technology planning perspective. The focus has been... 

Red tide, an impermanent natural phenomenon including harmful algal blooms, causes changing the color of the sea generally to red or almost brown, and has a serious impact on environment along the coast and aquatic ecosystem. Due to recent extensive steady harmful algal blooms events that cause adverse impacts on human healthsome, aquaculture and tourism industry, and the entire economy of the coastal region, the need of society for realizing these phenomena is much greater than the past. In the recent decades, consideration of algal blooms and determination of bloom-former species and fundamental researches about dynamics of blooms are increased worldwide. Development in technology has... 

In both public and private sectors, critical technology-based tasks, such as innovation, forecasting, and road-mapping, are faced with unmanageable complexity due to the ever-expanding web of technologies which can range into thousands. This context cannot be easily handled manually or with efficient speed. However, more precise and insightful answers are expected. These answers are the fundamental challenge addressed by tech-mining. For tech-mining, discovering the associations among them is a critical task. These associations are used to form a weighted directed graph of technologies called “association tech-graph” which is used for technology development, trend analysis, policymaking,... 

In both public and private sectors, critical technology-based tasks, such as innovation, forecasting, and road-mapping, are faced with unmanageable complexity due to the ever-expanding web of technologies which can range into thousands. This context cannot be easily handled manually or with efficient speed. However, more precise and insightful answers are expected. These answers are the fundamental challenge addressed by tech-mining. For tech-mining, discovering the associations among them is a critical task. These associations are used to form a weighted directed graph of technologies called 'association tech-graph' which is used for technology development, trend analysis, policymaking,... 

The aim of the present study is to provide an Atlas of IRAN Offshore Renewable Energy Resources (hereafter called 'the Atlas') to map out wave and tidal resources at a national scale, extending over the area of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman. Such an Atlas can provide necessary tools to identify the areas with greatest resource potential and within reach of present technology development. To estimate available tidal energy resources at the site, a two-dimensional tidally driven hydrodynamic numerical model of Persian Gulf was developed using the hydrodynamic model in the MIKE 21 Flow Model (MIKE 21HD), with validation using tidal elevation measurements and tidal stream diamonds from... 

A new design for a valveless micropumping device has been proposed that integrates two existing pumping technologies, namely, the wall induced traveling wave and the obstacle-type valveless micropump. The liquid in the microchannel is transported by generating a traveling wave on the channel, while the placing of two asymmetric trapezoid obstacles, along the centerline of the channel inlet and outlet, leads to a significant (up to seven times) increase of the net flow rate of the device. The effectiveness of this innovative design has been proved through a verified three-dimensional finite element model. FluidStructure Interaction (FSI) analysis is performed in the framework of an Arbitrary... 

Energy innovation is a key requirement to limit global warming and tackle climate change in the years to come. A better understanding of the public R&D mechanism is likely to improve allocation of resources for energy innovation. Thus, the present paper evaluates the impacts of public R&D and knowledge spillovers on the development of renewable energy sources. To achieve this goal, knowledge flow has been modeled as a function of public R&D expenditures, cumulative knowledge stocks and knowledge spillovers. To show the application of the model, the Nordic countries as one of the pioneers in renewable technologies have been chosen. Results show the cumulative knowledge stock will increase to... 

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) are a promising solution for reducing the impacts of passenger vehicles on the environment. However, their driving range is restricted due to the limitations of battery technologies. This range can be extended by adoption of multiple-speed transmissions. Most of the comparisons in the related studies are based on non-optimal designs or limited to modal driving cycles. Furthermore, the impact of Power-Split. Continuously Variable Transmission (PS-CVT) layout with type III power How on the power consumption of BEVs has never been examined. In this paper, single-, two-, and three-speed transmissions along with PS-C'VTs with type I and III power flows are... 

Intense global competition, dynamic product variations, and rapid technological developments force manufacturing systems to adapt and respond quickly to various changes in the market. Such responsiveness could be achieved through new paradigms such as Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). In this paper, the problem of configuration design for a scalable reconfigurable RMS that produces different products of a part family is addressed. In order to handle demand fluctuations of products throughout their lifecycles with minimum cost, RMS configurations must change as well. Two different approaches are developed for addressing the system configuration design in different periods. Both... 

Intense global competition, dynamic product variations, and rapid technological developments force manufacturing systems to adapt and respond quickly to various changes in the market. Such responsiveness could be achieved through new paradigms such as Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). In this paper, the problem of configuration design for a scalable reconfigurable RMS that produces different products of a part family is addressed. In order to handle demand fluctuations of products throughout their lifecycles with minimum cost, RMS configurations must change as well. Two different approaches are developed for addressing the system configuration design in different periods. Both...