Sharif Digital Repository

This study aims to find the differences between national and international relationships in Iran and Switzerland’s Nanoscience research between 2008–2015. The results show significant differences some of which are attributed to the general dichotomy of developed-developing countries like stronger University-Industry-Government relations in Switzerland; but others are not, especially those pertaining to bilateral relations. In summary, the Government-Industry relations in Switzerland are generally closer in this field because the emerging characteristics of Nanoscience call for more state intervention, even in the context of developed countries. Greater Government-University relations in Iran... 

This paper presents the results of the shared task with the aim of arousal level recognition for the competition held in conjunction with the 27th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE 2019). A database annotated with arousal level labels released by Research Center for Development of Advanced Technologies. The contest was held on arousal database according to a defined protocol. Three teams were able to enter into the final stage of the competition according to compare their performance measure with the baseline method. The baseline method is proposed by the data owner. The aim of this paper is outlining the database, protocol design, and providing an overview of top-ranked... 

The social impact of robotics applied to domains such as education, religion, nursing, and therapy across the world depends on the level of technology as well as the culture in which it is used. By studying how robots are used in Iran, a technologically-savvy country with a long history and a rich culture, we explore their possible impact on interrelated areas of religious and ethical features in education in an Islamic society. To accomplish this task, a preliminary exploratory study was conducted using two social robots as teaching assistants in Islamic religion classes for 42 elementary students. More than 90% of the participants in the study absolutely preferred the robot-assisted... 

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use correlation analysis to understand how knowledge structure, task structure and collaboration affect collective knowledge (CK) by the mediating mechanism of communication. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on an existing gap in the literature related to CK, a research model with five hypotheses is proposed. The hypotheses were analyzed based on data collected from 114 work-team practitioners using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results indicate that communication, knowledge structure, task structure and collaboration significantly contribute to CK and that communication partially mediates the impact of these constructs on CK.... 

Recent research revisits pairwise-correlating data prefetching due to its extremely low overhead. Pairwise-correlating data prefetching, however, cannot accurately detect where data streams end. As a result, pairwise-correlating data prefetchers either expose low accuracy or they lose timeliness when they are performing multi-degree prefetching. In this letter, we propose a novel technique to detect where data streams end and hence, control the multi-degree prefetching in the context of pairwise-correlated prefetchers. The key idea is to have a separate metadata table that operates one step ahead of the main metadata table. This way, the runahead metadata table harnesses the degree of... 

The theoretical model developed in this article predicts that collaboration with top-funded scientists positively affects the number of scientific publications of an individual scientist. Having combined data on funding and publication of Quebec scientists, this article empirically tests the theoretical predictions. This article examines numerous definitions of top-funded scientists as those in the top 10 per cent, or top 5 per cent in terms of total funding, funding from the public sector, and funding from the private sector. The results show that collaborating with such top-funded scientists has a positive effect on a scientist's number of publications, hence confirming our theoretical... 

Diurnal volume changes is one of the main factors influencing socket fit in trans-tibial prosthesis and causing pressure problem issues. Embedded bladder liners have been recently a potential approach to deal with this problem. The aim of this technical note was to introduce a new transtibial silicone liner designed based on hybrid socket theory. To make expandability in the liner, an integrated wax structure was constructed over the selected areas of the positive model and then removed after lamination process. In addition, a mechanical system with manual control was designed to fit the liner with the residual limb volume by pumping the water in or out of the liner through connec-tive... 

Although Face detection is not a recent activity in the field of image processing, it is still an open area for research. The greatest step in this field is the work reported by Viola and the recent analogous one is proposed by Huang et al. Both of them use similar features and also similar training process. The former is just for detecting upright faces, but the latter can detect multi-view faces in still grayscale images using new features called 'sparse feature'. Finding these features is very time consuming and inefficient by proposed methods. Here, we propose a new approach for finding sparse features using a genetic algorithm system. This method requires less computational cost and... 

Because of their various desirable properties, OTIS networks are subject to active research in the field of parallel processing. In this paper, the OTIS network architecture is presented, emphasizing two important varieties, the OTIS-mesh and the OTIS-hypercube. Next, a randomized sorting algorithm presented in the literature for OTIS-mesh structures will be reviewed. Finally, a discussion of sorting on OTIS-hypercubes will be offered, and a suggested algorithm for sorting on these networks, with an MPI implementation will be introduced. © 2008 Springer-Verlag  

There is a unanimous agreement that "systems thinking" helps both individuals and organizations make more intelligent and more effective decisions. On the other hand, the unsatisfactory rate of systems thinking evolution among managers, collegians, students and other stratums raises this question that, why such a useful, discriminating and tasteful concept in theory, does not spread with the desirable pace in practice. Where exactly does the problem originate from? The tragedy is more sensible when noting the fact that even those who know the concept methodically do not apply it in action and in their decisions. Unfortunately, despite relatively numerous literatures on changing beliefs,... 

In the sleep mode, a Mobile Subscribe Station (MSS) sleeps for a sleep interval and wakes up at the end of this interval in order to check buffered packet(s) at Base Station (BS) destined to it. If there is no packet, the MSS increases the sleep window up to the maximum value or keeps it unchanged and sleeps again. In this paper, we study the effect of presence of multi service connections with different power saving classes (PSCs) on power consumption for IEEE 802.16e nodes while operating in the sleep mode. Using multi service connections may result in overlapping of availability and unavailability intervals and reducing the effectiveness of power saving mode of the subscriber. © 2007 IEEE... 

Fiber/matrix debonding at the free surface of unidirectional composites deteriorates their performance and ultimately reduces the working life of these materials. Identifying the source, controlling the propagation and elimination of the damages has been the subject of many research attempts. The results show that the singular radial thermal residual stress at the fiber/matrix interface on the free surface of composites is the main reason for initiation of the debonding. Also, it has been experimentally and numerically proven that a thin layer of matrix-like cover on the free surface could highly help in elimination and/or reduction of the damage. However, the results were limited to the... 

Metal-oxide gas sensors are widely used for detection of detrimental H2S gas. Among them, SnO2-CuO system has been proved to be an excellent candidate. The previous theoretical 2D thin bilayer model was able to explain some aspects of H2S sensing performance of this promising system. However, experimental researches have indicated that response values for this system are very diverse and various SnO2-CuO multicomponent heterostructures such as rods, wires and particles have much higher response than their thin bilayer counterparts. Understanding the reason behind this differences would help fabrication of optimized sensor element. However, the previous model cannot address this issue mainly... 

Micro/Nano mechatronic systems might be defined as systems that include nano- or micro-scale components. These components can be sensors, actuators, and/or physical structures. Furthermore, the high-precision control laws for such small scales are important to ensure stability, accuracy, and precision in these systems. In this writing, four categories of such small-scale systems are considered by providing multifarious novel or key examples from the literature: control engineering and modeling, design and fabrication, measurement engineering, and sensor/actuator development. The applications discussed in the examples vary from nano-positioners, crucial in systems such as atomic force... 

The development of graphene-based nanocomposites is currently the issue of enormous research interest. Recent advancements have exhibited that semiconductor/graphene nanocomposites can be purposed as a promising new category of catalysts for the heterogeneous photocatalytic treatment of wastewaters. Since semiconductor/graphene nanocomposites have been found efficient in degradation of organic pollutants, photodegradation of phenol and phenolic compounds as hazardous contaminants in aqueous solution has been most widely investigated by these aforementioned nanocomposites. In the present review, after introduction on the properties and the different synthesis methods of semiconductor/graphene... 

Optimal allocation of resources for R&D on new energy technologies is an important issue in the process of development of energy system models. In this study, a model of R&D planning in energy sector has been developed and it is then linked to the energy system model. Energy system model is used as a tool for the technology assessment and prioritization of new energy technologies is evaluated with the help of this model. Based on the economic and environmental impact of new technologies, the optimal allocation of resources for R&D of new technology is estimated with the help of the R&D planning model. The conceptual formulation of the model and its integration with the energy technology... 

Devising effective methods to reduce drag forces is of great interest as these methods could prevent the wastage of fuel and decrease carbon emission and the global warming rate. Since the invention of Liquid-Infused Surfaces (LISs) in 2011, numerous investigations have been conducted to study their capability in various applications. Due to recirculation or drawing of the penetrated liquid within the surface structure, these surfaces acquire a slippiness property. The conducted investigations showed that these slippery surfaces have great potential for reducing drag forces, whether in a laminar or turbulent flow. In the present work, we first briefly elucidate common drag reduction methods,... 

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have shown rapid progress in a decade of extensive research and development, aiming now towards commercialization. However, the development of more facile, reliable, and reproducible manufacturing techniques will be essential for industrial production. Many lamination methods have been initially designed for organic photovoltaics (OPVs), which are conceptually similar to PSCs. Lamination could provide a low-cost and adaptable technique for the roll-to-roll production of solar cells. This review presents an overview of lamination methods for the fabrication of PSCs and OPVs. The lamination of different electrodes consisting of various materials such as metal back... 

Cooperation and competition between pathogens can alter the amount of individuals affected by a coinfection. Nonetheless, the evolution of the pathogens' behavior has been overlooked. Here, we consider a coevolutionary model where the simultaneous spreading is described by a two-pathogen susceptible-infected-recovered model in an either synergistic or competitive manner. At the end of each epidemic season, the pathogens species reproduce according to their fitness that, in turn, depends on the payoff accumulated during the spreading season in a hawk-and-dove game. This coevolutionary model displays a rich set of features. Specifically, the evolution of the pathogens' strategy induces abrupt... 

The current research focuses on suggesting a new potential application of polymeric materials for capacitor applications by focusing on polystyrene (PS)/ethylene-α-octene copolymer (EOC) blends. Polymeric materials have high dielectric strength (≈ 200 for PS), good processability, and flexibility. However, their low dielectric constants make them not suitable for capacitor applications. Therefore, suggesting a method for enhancing their dielectric constant accompanied by low tan δ proposes an excellent substitute for commonly used ceramic dielectrics. The current article investigates the control of the dielectric properties of PS/EOC blends by manipulating the graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs)...