Sharif Digital Repository

In this letter, we study the resource allocation for a multiuser intelligent reflecting surface (IRS)-aided simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) system. Specifically, a multi-antenna base station (BS) transmits energy and information signals simultaneously to multiple energy harvesting receivers (EHRs) and information decoding receivers (IDRs) assisted by an IRS. Under this setup, we introduce a multi-objective optimization (MOOP) framework to investigate the fundamental trade-off between the data sum-rate maximization and the total harvested energy maximization, by jointly optimizing the energy/information beamforming vectors at the BS and the phase shifts at the... 

In Mixed-Criticality (MC) systems, there are often multiple Worst-Case Execution Times (WCETs) for the same task, corresponding to system operation mode. Determining the appropriate WCETs for lower criticality modes is non-trivial; while on the one hand, a low WCET for a mode can improve the processor utilization in that mode, on the other hand, using a larger WCET ensures that the mode switches are minimized, thereby maximizing the quality-of-service for all tasks, albeit at the cost of processor utilization. Although there are many studies to determine WCET in the highest criticality mode, no analytical solutions are proposed to determine WCETs in other lower criticality modes. In this... 

Coiled carbon nanotubes (CCNTs) have increasingly become a vital factor in the new generation of nanodevices and energy-absorbing materials due to their outstanding properties. Here, the multiobjective optimization of CCNTs is applied to assess their mechanical properties. The best trade-off between conflicting mechanical properties (e.g., yield stress and yield strain) is demonstrated and the optimization of the geometry enables us to find the astonishing CCNTs with a stretchability of 400%. These structures have been recognized for the first time in the field. We derived several highly accurate analytical equations for the yield stress and yield strain by the implementation of... 

This article introduces an architecture exploration tool to study and understand the tradeoffs of future processor systems using nonvolatile memory and help guide the design of the future. Energy efficiency serves as a critical factor in designing embedded systems. Furthermore, the growing dominance of energy harvesting systems (EHSs) in sensor-rich applications has eventuated an emerging trend in wearable-systems and IoT devices as an alternative to battery-powered embedded systems. In this article, researchers have presented CATNAP-Sim, a simulator for EHSs, with NVP and hybrid NVM-SRAM memory  

Trip attraction has long been considered as a major element in trip demand estimation. Many models have been presented for this purpose. Models use socio-economic variables in order to predict trip attraction. Neural networks and neuro-fuzzy systems are suitable approaches to establish proper models. This paper develops neural and fuzzy-neural models to predict school trip attraction. Neural networks are organized in different architectures and the results have been compared in order to determine the best fitting one. Then an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is used to estimate number of school trip attraction. Different models were trained, validated and tested with a real... 

Here, asymmetric phase-covariant quantum cloning machines are defined and trade-off between qualities of their outputs and its impact on entanglement properties of the outputs are studies. In addition, optimal families among these cloners are introduced and also their entanglement properties are investigated. An explicit proof of optimality is presented for the case of qubits, which is based on the no-signaling condition. Our optimality proof can also be used to derive an upper bound on trade-off relations for a more general class of optimal cloners which clone states on a specific orbit of the Bloch sphere. It is shown that the optimal cloners of the equatorial states, as in the case of... 

In this paper, a different interpretation of sustainable transportation, is introduced, in which sustainability with respect to transportation sector for the selected countries is evaluated. This interpretation characterizes "sustainable development" through "harmonic development". It means sustainable development with special focus on transportation can be measured by the degree of conformity between environment, economy, and social aspects on one hand, and transportation on the other hand. The best indicator to perform such a measurement is elasticity. The database used for the study encompasses a series of national indicators for each country Seventy nine countries were initially selected... 

Tunable metasurfaces can shift their resonant frequency through different approaches, one of which is applying mechanical deformations. Here, we show the effects of two key factors on the tunability of deformable metasurfaces; the resonator geometry and substrate stiffness. To show the effects, we compared the tunability of unit cells with three resonator geometries and three common substrates at microwave frequencies from 1 GHz to 10 GHz under a given mechanical deformation. We showed that the resonator geometry affects the deformation field, as a consequence, causes different resonant frequency shifts. Moreover, it affects the stress field in the metasurface which in turn limits the... 

Transcritical-CO2, supercritical-CO2, and organic Rankine cycles are numerically investigated and compared in simple Rankine, Rankine with internal heat exchanger, and regenerative Rankine configurations to assess their thermodynamic and thermoeconomic performance indicators. Subsequently, the systems are optimized using a multi-objective optimization method. Pareto optimal solutions are provided to present the trade-off between thermodynamic and thermoeconomic indicators. In addition, scatter plots of decision variables are presented to ascertain the optimal operating range of input variables. The results show that transcritical-CO2 systems can generate the highest power. The levelized cost... 

This study investigates a supply chain of perishable fruits and vegetables. A simulation model using system dynamics approach is proposed to study the behaviors and relationships within the supply chain and to determine the impact of the supply, demand and price interactions. The proposed model yields an insight into the overall agricultural system, taking into account the influence of import quota policies. The purpose of this study is to develop a multi-objective model identifying the best import quota policy for Tehran Municipality Organization of Fruits and Vegetables. The multiple objectives are considered to be price mean, price variation and markup. Key conclusions were reached on how... 

Energy hubs that incorporate a variety of energy generation and energy transformation technologies can be used to provide the energy storage needed to enable the efficient operation of a ‘smart energy network’. When these hubs are combined as a network and allowed to exchange energy, they create efficiency advantages in both financial and environmental performance. Further, the interconnectedness of the energy network design provides an added layer of reliability. In this paper, a complex network of energy hubs is modeled and optimized under different scenarios to examine both the financial viability and potential reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Two case studies consisting of two and... 

A joint pre- and post-coder (JPROC) is proposed for MIMO OFDM-based cognitive radio systems over correlated fading channels. The main aim is to have a trade-off between licensed networks and un-licensed networks in the underlay scenario. To handle the un-desired interferences on the main networks, the eigen-values of this JPROC should be small in each licensed network, as much as possible, whereas un-licensed users have higher rates. Frequency selective MIMO fading channels are coded with orthogonal space-time-frequency block codes (OSTFBCs) to improve the bad effects of these small eigen-values on the signal to noise ratio (SNR) in the main network. On the other hand, the system is operated... 

Application of solar energy compared to conventional gas-burning boilers for steam generation in thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery processes is a newly attended technology, which brings significant benefits to the petroleum industry through environmental and economical aspects. This technique is especially designed for the regions in which gas-burning steam generation is not viable in large scale. The objective of this study is to investigate about viability of using solar energy to generate steam instead of using conventional steam generators in a Venezuelan extra heavy oil reservoir. Limited gas production policy of the Venezuelan government is the major challenge for utilizing gas steam... 

The present study aims to analyze a combined heat and power (CHP) system with an approach towards exergy analysis and employing biomass gasification. The cycle modeling was carried out using Cycle-Tempo and the main purpose was to achieve parametric analysis of the model. The systems function was studied by categorizing alternative biomass fuels, also qualitative and quantitative analyses of the biomass fuel samples were presented and considering the trade-off points, most appropriate biomass fuel with respect to exergy efficiency and delivered power were determined. The results indicated that the bagasse and wood chips had the total exergy efficiency of 54.5 and 57.1% in trade-off point,... 

This paper presents a supervisory multi-agent control policy over an acoustic communication network subject to imperfections (packet dropout and transmission delay) for localisation of an underwater flow source (e.g., source of chemical pollution, fresh water, etc.) with an unknown location at the bottom of the ocean. A two-loop control policy combined with a coding strategy for reliable communication is presented to perform the above task. A simulator is developed and used to evaluate the trade-offs between quality of communication, transmission delay and control for a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles supervised over a noisy acoustic communication network by an autonomous surface... 

Nowadays the maintenance of the deteriorating structures is an important subject in industry and research. Due to the limitations of the budget and time, the optimization algorithms have been used widely to determine the best maintenance strategies to provide the more economical structures. On the other side, the Less life-cycle cost will result in less safe structures. As safety is a vital criterion for the users of a structural system, there is a severe need to make a suitable trade-off between cost and safety. So, the optimal maintenance strategies are those that fulfill both the safety and the economical requirements. In this paper, the reliability of the structural system is selected to... 

Combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) play an important role in electricity production throughout the world. Their energy efficiency is relatively high and their production rates of greenhouse gases are considerably low. In a country like Iran with huge oil and gas resources, most CCPP's use natural gas as primary fuel and diesel as secondary fuel. In this study, effect of using diesel instead of natural gas for a selected power plant will be investigated in terms of exergy, economic and environmental impacts. The environmental evaluation is performed using life cycle assessment (LCA). In the second step, the operation of the plant will be optimized using exergy and economic objective... 

In this research, Plackett–Burman experimental design was used as a screening method to investigate seven processing factors in the preparation of new polyethersulfone based porous nanocomposite membrane. Polymer concentration, nanoparticle type, nanoparticle concentration, solvent type, solution mixing time, evaporation time, and annealing temperature are variables that were evaluated to fabricate mixed matrix membranes using the evaporation phase inversion method for gas separation. According to obtained results, polymer concentration, nanoparticle concentration, solution mixing time, and evaporation time processing factors had significant effects on gas permeation. In addition, the... 

The emergence of new memory technologies provides us with opportunity to enhance the properties of existing memory architectures. One such technology is Phase Change Memory (PCM) which boasts superior scalability, power savings, non-volatility, and a performance competitive to Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM). In this paper, we propose a write buffer architecture for Solid-State Drives (SSDs) which attempts to exploit PCM as a DRAM alternative while alleviating its issues such as long write latency, high write energy, and finite endurance. To this end and based on thorough I/O characterization of desktop and enterprise applications, we propose a hybrid DRAM-PCM SSD cache design with an... 

We consider load balancing in a network of caching servers delivering contents to end users. Randomized load balancing via the so-called power of two choices is a well-known approach in parallel and distributed systems. In this framework, we investigate the tension between storage resources, communication cost, and load balancing performance. To this end, we propose a randomized load balancing scheme which simultaneously considers cache size limitation and proximity in the server redirection process. IEEE