Sharif Digital Repository

In transportation literature, User Equilibrium (UE) has been widely studied since early 1950's, many studies of which define equilibrium flow of traffic for uncapacitated networks based on Wardrop's first principle, implying also a Nash Equilibrium (NE). Although, in general, the two equilibria (UE and NE) are not explicitly the same, they are shown to be equivalent under special conditions for uncapacitated UE, when volume delay functions are separable, continuous, non-decreasing and non-negative. A good deal of research is devoted to explain UE in capacitated networks based on Wardrop's first principle and the concept of generalized costs. However, UE for capacitated networks, even under... 

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countries, from 1990 to 2019. Because GBD is highly standardised and comprehensive, spanning both fatal and non-fatal outcomes, and uses a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of hierarchical disease and injury causes, the study provides a powerful basis for detailed and broad insights on global health trends and emerging challenges. GBD... 

ABSTRACTs: The need for fully dense material with well-engineered microstructures has led to the promising emergence of innovative sintering technologies among which the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is one of the most favorite. Unlike the conventional sintering processes, SPS takes advantage of a current flow passing through the sintering die and metallic powders by which fast densification with minimal grain growth and enhanced physicomechanical properties can be obtained. Albeit there is a growing interest in the exploitation of SPS in producing sufficiently consolidated metallic parts, no analytical review has been released over the effects of SPS parameters on the densification behavior,... 

Background: Foot orthoses are used to optimize lower extremity function and can improve postural stability by enhancing the afferent somatosensory feedback available to the central nervous system. Objective: The aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of foot orthoses on balance control in older subjects. Study design: Systematic review. Methods: The search strategy was based on the Population Intervention Comparison Outcome method. A search was performed in PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and ISI Web of Knowledge databases by using selected keywords. A total of 22 articles were selected for final evaluation. Results: The results demonstrated that older people should be advised... 

Background and aim: Gait and balance disorders are common in the elderly populations, and their prevalence increases with age. This systematic review was performed to summarize the current evidence for subthreshold vibration interventions on postural control and gait in elderly. Method: A review of intervention studies including the following words in the title/abstract: insole, foot and ankle appliances, vibration, noise and elderly related to balance and gait. Databases searched included PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge, Ovid, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Fifteen articles were selected for final evaluation. The procedure was followed using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews... 

This review highlights using nanotechnology in increasing the bioavailability of AP (Apigenin) to enhance its therapeutic efficacy in breast cancer treatment. Breast cancer is one of the most leading causes of cancer death in women both in developed and developing countries. According to several epidemiological and clinical trial studies that indicate progestin-stimulated breast cancer in post-menopausal women; it is necessary to determine compounds to suppress or attenuate the tumor-promoting effects of progestins in breast cells. For this purpose, using the natural anti-progestins, including AP compared with the chemical ones could be significantly effective due to the lack of toxicities... 

Despite the great potential of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in various areas of biomedicine, concerns regarding their carcinogenicity, inefficient dispersion in aqueous solutions and biological activity in vivo still remain. One important and feasible route to overcome these barriers is modification of CNTs with polymers, which are widely studied and play a vital role in biological and biomedical fields, especially in drug delivery. This comprehensive review focuses on the achievements of our and other groups in currently used methods to functionalize the surface of CNTs with polymers to produce anticancer drug delivery systems. We have intensively studied covalent and noncovalent interactions... 

Different experimental techniques which have been developed to obtain data related to force-deformation behaviour of soft tissues play an important role in realistically simulating surgery processes as well as medical diagnoses and minimally invasive procedures. Indeed, an adequate quantitative description of soft-tissue-mechanical-behaviour requires high-quality experimental data to be obtained and analysed. In this review article we will first scan the motivations and basic technical issues on surgery simulation. Then, we will concentrate on different experimental techniques developed for recording force-deformation (stress-strain) behaviour of soft tissues with focussing on the in-vivo... 

In this paper, an exact solution procedure is presented for the Weighted Earliness-Tardiness Project Scheduling Problem (WETPSP) with Generalized Precedence Relations (WETPSP-GPR), taking into account the time value of money (WETPSPDC-GPR) and a fixed deadline for the project. The WETPSP-GPR extends the WETPSP to arbitrary minimal and maximal time-lags between the starting and completion times of activities. We present a new depth-first Branch and Bound (B&B) algorithm for an extended form of the problem, in which the time value of money is taken into account by discounting cash flows, and minimum, as well as maximum, time-lags between different activities may be given. The algorithm is... 

Considering the wide spread locations of wind farms in Iran, it is important to develop a suitable decision support system (DSS) to fulfill proper management of wind farms. Extensive literature survey indicates that there are no integrated forms of DSS to manage a set of wind farms. The existing wind farms are performing independently, and there is no practical method for exchanging the online data. DSS can contribute to optimal operation of wind farms, operation and maintenance scheduling, pricing policy, etc. In this study, a geographic information system and RETSCREEN software were linked to the designed DSS to achieve a more suitable result. Also, a huge number of data are constantly... 

There are many equations available in the literature using the results of CPT (cone penetration test) and SPT (standard penetration test) measurements to predict the end bearing capacity of drilled shafts in sand. However, there are few equations that use soil parameters, such as friction angle and elastic modulus, as input values. Also, these available equations usually overestimate the end bearing capacity, and at times show conflicting results with respect to the parameters they use. This paper describes a numerical procedure to overcome the above shortcomings. The results obtained in this study were compared with both experimental and numerical results available in the literature. A... 

There are many equations available in the literature using the results of CPT (cone penetration test) and SPT (standard penetration test) measurements to predict the end bearing capacity of drilled shafts in sand. However, there are few equations that use soil parameters, such as friction angle and elastic modulus, as input values. Also, these available equations usually overestimate the end bearing capacity, and at times show conflicting results with respect to the parameters they use. This paper describes a numerical procedure to overcome the above shortcomings. The results obtained in this study were compared with both experimental and numerical results available in the literature. A... 

In recent years, a range of studies have been conducted with the aim to design and characterize delivery systems that are able to release multiple therapeutic agents in controlled and programmed temporal sequences, or with spatial resolution inside the body. This sequential release occurs in response to different stimuli, including changes in pH, redox potential, enzyme activity, temperature gradients, light irradiation, and by applying external magnetic and electrical fields. Sequential release (SR)-based delivery systems, are often based on a range of different micro- or nanocarriers and may offer a silver bullet in the battle against various diseases, such as cancer. Their distinctive... 

The rise of the damage to energy systems caused by both natural and man-made disruptive events and the connection between energy systems and socio-economic systems have motivated the study of energy system resilience. This paper conceptualizes and comprehensively presents a systematic review of the recent literature focused on the analytical, technical, and mathematical points from the standpoint of the energy systems facing disruptive events. To this end, five phases are developed. Firstly, the concept of the energy system resilience is presented, and then the energy resilience characters and the resilience states are introduced and connected. Thirdly, the formulation and indicators of the... 

The rise of the damage to energy systems caused by both natural and man-made disruptive events and the connection between energy systems and socio-economic systems have motivated the study of energy system resilience. This paper conceptualizes and comprehensively presents a systematic review of the recent literature focused on the analytical, technical, and mathematical points from the standpoint of the energy systems facing disruptive events. To this end, five phases are developed. Firstly, the concept of the energy system resilience is presented, and then the energy resilience characters and the resilience states are introduced and connected. Thirdly, the formulation and indicators of the... 

The novel coronavirus pandemic has rapidly spread around the world since December 2019. Various techniques have been applied in identification of SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 infection including computed tomography imaging, whole genome sequencing, and molecular methods such as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This review article discusses the diagnostic methods currently being deployed for the SARS-CoV-2 identification including optical biosensors and point-of-care diagnostics that are on the horizon. These innovative technologies may provide a more accurate, sensitive and rapid diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 to manage the present novel coronavirus outbreak, and could be... 

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have recently achieved much attention to eliminating toxic pollutants because of their attractive attributes, including large specific surface area, ultra-high porosity, abundant active adsorption sites, tunable surface chemistry, well-controlled pore size distribution, and strong host–guest interactions. Among the many developed MOFs, the Zr-based MOFs, particularly the UiO-66 family, are considered extremely attractive for wastewater treatment applications. The fascinating properties of UiO-66 such as high thermal stability, superior chemical resistance towards several solvents, including benzene, acetone, different alcohols, dimethylformamide, acidic and... 

Although medical advancements have successfully helped a lot of couples with their infertility by assisted reproductive technologies (ART), sperm selection, a crucial stage in ART, has remained challenging. Therefore, we aimed to investigate novel sperm separation methods, specifically microfluidic systems, as they do sperm selection based on sperm and/or the female reproductive tract (FRT) features without inflicting any damage to the selected sperm during the process. In this review, after an exhaustive studying of FRT features, which can implement by microfluidics devices, the focus was centered on sperm selection and investigation devices. During this study, we tried not to only point to... 

Among all the rare earth elements, Pr is known to behave as a singularity in the high-Tc families. When high-temperature cuprates are doped with Pr the superconductivity is quenched, and a metal insulator transition occurs. The origin of this behavior, being of fundamental interest, may also shed light on the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, since any reasonable theory for this mechanism should explain the behavior of the Pr-based system. The physical properties and the several theories which have been proposed to describe the anomalous behavior of Pr-doped systems in the normal and superconducting states are reviewed. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved  

In this paper, we study the differences between the Centralized and Decentralized approaches in a two-echelon stochastic inventory system under the lost sale policy. We formulate the condition in which the retailer applies (r, Q) inventory policy, and his relation with the upper echelon who acts as a manufacturer. This situation has not been considered in the literature before. The Centralized approach results in optimal solution of the system and the Decentralized one is based on Stackelberg game in which the manufacturer is the leader. The demand arrives according to the stationary Poisson process. We drive the long-run average cost functions, then a set of computational steps are...