Sharif Digital Repository

Understanding the fresh groundwater lens (FGL) behavior and potential threat of climatic-induced seawater intrusion (SWI) are significant for the future water resources management of many small islands. In this paper, the FGL of Kish Island, an arid-region case in the Persian Gulf, Iran, is modeled using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) simulations. These simulations are based on the application of SUTRA, a density-dependent groundwater numerical model. Also, the numerical model parameters are calibrated using PEST, an automated parameter estimation code. Firstly a detailed conceptualization of the FGL model is completed to understand the sensitivity of the FGL to some... 

Time of concentration (TC) of surface flow in watersheds depends on the coupled response of hillslopes and stream networks. The important point in this background is to study the effects of the geometry and the shape of complex hillslopes on the time of concentration considering the degree of flow convergence (convergent, parallel or divergent) as well as the profile curvature (concave, straight or convex). In this research, the shape factor of complex hillslopes as introduced by Agnese et al. (2007) is generalized and linked to the TC. A new model for calculating TC of complex hillslopes is presented, which depends on the plan shape, the type and degree of profile curvature, the Manning... 

This study describes spectrometric monitored kinetic processes to determine the size of citrate-capped Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) based on aggregation induced by L-cysteine (L-Cys) as a molecular linker. The Au NPs association process is thoroughly dependent on pH, concentration and size of nanoparticles. Size dependency of aggregation inspirits to determine the average diameters of Au NPs. For this aim the procedure is achieved in aqueous medium at pH 7 (phosphate buffer), and multivariate data including kinetic spectra of Au NPs are collected during aggregation process. Subsequently partial least squares (PLS) modeling is carried out analyzing the obtained data. The model is built on the... 

The energy calibration and resolution of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) of the CMS detector have been determined using proton-proton collision data from LHC operation in 2010 and 2011 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV with integrated luminosities of about 5fb-1. Crucial aspects of detector operation, such as the environmental stability, alignment, and synchronization, are presented. The in-situ calibration procedures are discussed in detail and include the maintenance of the calibration in the challenging radiation environment inside the CMS detector. The energy resolution for electrons from Z-boson decays is better than 2% in the central region of the ECAL barrel (for... 

At the Large Hadron Collider, the identification of jets originating from b quarks is important for searches for new physics and for measurements of standard model processes. A variety of algorithms has been developed by CMS to select b-quark jets based on variables such as the impact parameters of charged-particle tracks, the properties of reconstructed decay vertices, and the presence or absence of a lepton, or combinations thereof. The performance of these algorithms has been measured using data from proton-proton collisions at the LHC and compared with expectations based on simulation. The data used in this study were recorded in 2011 at s = 7 TeV for a total integrated luminosity of 5.0... 

A new sensor for simultaneous determination of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide using silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) as a chromogenic reagent is introduced. The silver nanoparticles have the catalytic ability for the decomposition of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide; then the decomposition of them induces the degradation of silver nanoparticles. Hence, a remarkable change in the localized surface plasmon resonance absorbance strength could be observed. Spectra-kinetic approach and artificial neural network was applied for the simultaneous determination of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Linear calibration graphs were obtained in the concentration range of (8.20×10-5 to... 

In the present study, a prediction model was derived for the effective angle of shearing resistance (φ′) of soils using a novel hybrid method coupling genetic programming (GP) and orthogonal least squares algorithm (OLS). The proposed nonlinear model relates φ′ to the basic soil physical properties. A comprehensive experimental database of consolidated-drained triaxial tests was used to develop the model. Traditional GP and least square regression analyses were performed to benchmark the GP/OLS model against classical approaches. Validity of the model was verified using a part of laboratory data that were not involved in the calibration process. The statistical measures of correlation... 

Design and operation of three different optical designs based on the light intensity modulation for investigation of the humidity effects on the air index of refraction are described. The measurement variable is the transmitted power, which depends on the refractive index of the medium in the path of a fiber-to-fiber optical design. Three different probes (probe #1, #2, and #3) are tested in which probe #1 and probe #2 can also check the presence of water or any other transparent liquid in the gap between the two axial fibers. Performances of the new systems are tested as a refractive index monitoring mean and experimental results are given. The variations of the modulated powers as... 

Wearable system is a proper solution for rehabilitation and instrumentation applications for human daily activities. Recently, several researches are concentrated on this technology significantly because of new progress in sensors and fusion sensors. In the near future, wearable and ambulatory devices will be used considerably in biomedical applications. In this study, we reviewed some methods about wearable measuring system then introduced and designed innovative wearable clothing for this purpose. Some specifications and advantages of our system in comparison with relevant researches are; using painted sensors that are manufactured through nano electro active polymer technology, low... 

We report herein the development of a highly sensitive colorimetric method for the determination of cysteine and glutathione, based on aggregation of the citrate capped gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). This was exploited from high affinity of low-molecular-weight aminothiols towards the Au NPs surface, which could induce displacement of the citrate shell by the thiolate shell of target molecules, resulting in aggregation of the NPs through intermolecular electrostatic interaction or hydrogen-bonding. As a result of aggregation, which can be affected by the ionic strength, pH and concentration of Au NPs, the plasmon band at around 521 nm decreases gradually, along with formation of a new red... 

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is a disorder associated with body reaction to gluten. After the gluten intake, an immune reaction against the protein occurs and damages villi of small intestine in celiac patients gradually. Objectives: The OSC, a filtering method for minimization of inter- and intra-spectrom-eter variations that influence on data acquisition, was applied to biofluid NMR data of CD patients. Patients and Methods: In this study, metabolites of total 56 serum samples from 12 CD patients, 15 CD patients taking gluten-free diet (GFD), and 29 healthy cases were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and associated theoretical analysis. Employ-ing ProMetab (version... 

In this study operation of an optical design based on the intensity modulation for the refractive index change has been described. The reported instrument measures the transmitted output power depending up on the medium refractive index in the light path of a fiber-to-fiber design. A liquid cell is located between the fibers in the light path and power variations for different cold and hot water levels in the cell are measured. By using a reference humidity meter the calibration curve representing the relative humidity (%RH) as a function of the transmitted output power is obtained. For the hot water with the final temperature of T = 32.7°C the output power range of 255.0 -313.OnW is... 

A multicomponent analysis method based on principal component analysis-artificial neural network model (PC-ANN) is proposed for the simultaneous determination of levodopa (LD) and benserazide hydrochloride (BH). The method is based on the reaction of levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride with silver nitrate as an oxidizing agent in the presence of PVP and formation of silver nanoparticles. The reaction monitored at analytical wavelength 440 nm related to surface plasmon resonance band of silver nanoparticles. Differences in the kinetic behavior of the levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride were exploited by using principal component analysis, an artificial neural network (PC-ANN) to resolve...