Sharif Digital Repository

We develop heuristic procedures for concurrent design of block layout, material flow network, and input and output stations. Unlike the common practice in the flexible bay structure layout design, our objective function includes both loaded and empty flow between pairs of I/O stations. This measure of effectiveness is the main determinant of the fleet size of the vehicles, which in turn is the major driver of the total investment and operational costs in vehicle-based material handling. Our work is the first to design flexible bay structure layouts for loop-based material flow patterns. We first develop heuristic algorithms to configure the layout on the foundations of a unidirectional loop... 

The purpose of this paper is to develop a global optimization model, simplification schemes, and a heuristic procedure for the design of a shortcut-enhanced unidirectional loop aisle-network with pick-up and drop-off stations. The objective is to minimize the total loaded and empty trip distances. This objective is the main determinant for the fleet size of the vehicles, which in turn is the driver of the total life-cycle cost of vehicle-based unit-load transport systems. The shortcut considerably reduces the length of the trips while maintaining the simplicity of the system. The global model solves simultaneously for the loop design, stations' locations and shortcut design. We then develop... 

Globalization is shaping a new socio-economic order with profound, and still unfolding, implications for transportation development. A prerequisite for national competitiveness in the global market place is efficacious transportation when its recent technological advances have created an unprecedented rise in mobility and accessibility. Developments of efficient and effective transportation infrastructure and services are among the principal driving forces for the globalization process. Using international databanks, this paper describes an attempt to shed some light on national trends of globalization and transportation, and their relationships. Deploying a comparative macroscopic approach... 

An attempt to extend helical terahertz radiation generation based on pump depletion is presented here. By considering an upward plasma density ramp, such a reasonable extension is examined to improve the results. It is claimed that the output terahertz energy is saturated which is attributed to laser pump divergence. The saturation effect is enhanced by considering suitable laser and plasma parameters. The adjustable slope of the density ramp is an important parameter for tuning terahertz generation effciency, which is restricted to the up and down limit. For the resonant excitation of terahertz radiation, the ripple wave number is suitably chosen to satisfy the phase matching condition.... 

An attempt to extend helical terahertz radiation generation based on pump depletion is presented here. By considering an upward plasma density ramp, such a reasonable extension is examined to improve the results. It is claimed that the output terahertz energy is saturated which is attributed to laser pump divergence. The saturation effect is enhanced by considering suitable laser and plasma parameters. The adjustable slope of the density ramp is an important parameter for tuning terahertz generation effciency, which is restricted to the up and down limit. For the resonant excitation of terahertz radiation, the ripple wave number is suitably chosen to satisfy the phase matching condition.... 

The resonant second harmonic generation in the presence of a wiggler magnetic field by twisted laser plasma interaction is surveyed. The wiggler magnetic field provides additional momentum required for the phase matching. The Laguerre-Gaussian modes can be used to control the self-focusing and improve the second harmonic generation in laser plasma interaction. The wave equations for the fundamental and the second harmonic fields have been solved in the paraxial approximation. The generation of the second harmonic considering self-focusing is investigated. Also, the dependence of the second harmonic power on the propagation distance for different values of initial fundamental beam intensity,... 

In this study, the effect of nanoclay on the rheological and morphological properties of polyamide 6 (PA6)/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) blends was investigated. The scanning electron microscopy micrographs showed that with increment in the nanoclay content, the dispersed phase droplets size and their polydispersity index decreased, and the finer and more uniform dispersed phase was obtained. The transmission electron microscopy micrographs of nanocomposites indicated well-dispersed nanoclay tactoids in the polymer matrix produced by exfoliation of the nanoclay in the polymeric blends. Dynamic strain sweep experiments showed that the extent of the linear viscoelastic region is... 

Linear and nonlinear (in both steady and transient shear flows) rheological properties of polyamide 6/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (PA6/ABS) nanocomposite blends have been investigated. Characterization of nanocomposite samples morphology by scanning electron microscopy revealed that with increasing nanoclay loading, size of dispersing phase droplets decreases significantly and their uniformity improved considerably. Transmission electron microscopy observations clearly display a coexistence of intercalate and exfoliate structure for nanoclay in the polymer-blend nanocomposite. On the other hand, we see that the tactoids are collected of a few silicate layers and possibly also of a single... 

The photon orbital and/or spin angular-momentum absorption in absorbing plasma medium causes the circular motion of electrons and generate the azimuthal component of current density. The axial magnetic field generation due to the azimuthal component of generated current density is known as inverse Faraday effect. In this paper, the axial magnetic field generation in an absorbing plasma with ramped density by the propagation of linear polarized Laguerre-Gaussian beam is taken into consideration. It is shown that the positive slope of the initial electron density causes a considerable enhancement of self-generated axial magnetic field. The magnetic field enhancement depends on the twisted... 

The positive coupling effect decreases the condensate saturation as a result of very high flow rates in vicinity of the wellbore. The current work challenges the notion that the positive rate effect does not lead in falling trend of condensate saturation around the wellbore in the case of rich gas composition. According to the results obtained from this parameter case study, four distinct trends would appear in the condensate saturation profile of both lean and rich gas compositions. These quadruplet trends are consistent and their occurrence is mainly related to the considered base capillary number (Ncb) which is likely dependent to the composition of the fluid  

In the present study, Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1058 was microencapsulated in Alginate-chitosan blended beads based on ionically dual cross-linking by Na-tripolyphosphate (Na-TPP). The homogenous solution of bacteria and alginate was dripped into the gelling bath of calcium chloride. After 30 min hardening, filtrate beads were transferred into the solution of chitosan. Dual cross-linked gel beads were prepared by employing Na-TPP solution to the chitosan coated beads. Morphology, particle size, alginate-chitosan interaction, characterizing the structure of single and dual cross-linked beads were determined by using scanning electron microscopy SEM, FTIR and XRD analysis. FTIR analysis... 

Lactobacillus Plantarum PTCC 1058 bacteria and DHA-rich oil were microencapsulated together or individually in an optimized alginate-pectin-gelatin biocomposite hydrogel. The survivability of L. plantarum and oxidative stability of DHA were evaluated using simulated gastrointestinal (SGI) conditions and 4 wk storage in commercial orange juice at 4 and 25 °C. The results showed that the multilayer biocomposite had significant influence on the stability of the microcapsules in terms of survivability of probiotic bacteria and oxidative stability of DHA with SGI conditions and storage at 4 and 25 °C compared to the free cells. Incorporation of probiotic bacteria and DHA showed the synergistic... 

This paper is an endeavour to give an alternative definition for sustainable development (SD). It reviews the previous works in this area, and finds common grounds of these works, namely dynamism and quantification of the system. The paper then discusses dynamic stability and relates it to the concept of sustainability. It constructs an analogy between sustainability objectives and dynamic stability. The discussion continues to introduce chaos as one inherent characteristic of socio-economic systems because of their nonlinear behaviour. A new definition of SD is then proposed. It is applied to the dynamic models that describe the inter-relationships of environmental, economic and social... 

The aim of this study was to investigate the co-microencapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum and DHA-rich oil in a novel gastrointestinal-resistant biocomposite composed of alginate, pectin and gelatin. The optimal biocomposite consisted of 1.06% alginate, 0.55% pectin and 0.39% gelatin showed 88.66% survivability of the microencapsulated cells compared to the free cells (50.36%). In addition, co-microencapsule containing probiotic and DHA fatty acid was synthesized and physicochemically analyzed using SEM, FTIR, TGA, XRD. The results from SEM clearly confirmed that cells were completely entrapped in the matrix and DHA increased smoothness and compactness of the surface of the particles.... 

The present study aimed to improve the survivability of L. acidophilus encapsulated in alginate-whey protein isolate (AL-WPI) biocomposite under simulated gastric juice (SGJ) and simulated intestinal juice (SIJ). Microcapsules were prepared based on emulsification/internal gelation technique. Optimal compositions of AL and WPI and their ratio in the aqueous phase were evaluated based on minimizing mean diameter (MD) of the microcapsules and maximizing encapsulation efficiency (EE), survivability of cells under SGJ (Viability), and release of viable cells under SIJ (Release) using Box-Behnken experimental design. Optimal composition comprising 4.54% (w/v) AL, 10% (w/v) WPI, and 10% (v/v)... 

Potential effects of folates on the treatment of several human diseases like cognitive function, neural tube defects, coronary heart disease and certain kinds of cancers have been discovered. However, the stability of folic acid against adverse conditions is a great concern. The present study investigates various alginate (A)–pectin (P) gastrointestinal-resistant hydrogel to immobilize folic acid. This involves evaluating different compositions of alginate–pectin to achieve higher encapsulation efficiency and stability during simulated gastric (SG) and simulated intestinal (SI) conditions. Coated alginate hydrogels with pectin resulted significant (p < 0.05) better protection of folic acid... 

This paper describes an attempt to shed some light on road safety in Asia Pacific region by characterizing and assessing its road accidents. The relevant national road accident data were extracted from centralized data sources of international agencies. Due to data incompleteness and missing values, 21 Asia Pacific countries, presenting more than half of the world's population, were selected for detailed analysis. The study database consisted of 7 variables, covering years 1980 and 1995. The univariate and multivariate statistical analyses for the selected countries showed interesting results and relations for the selected variables. Accident rates, reflecting road accident risk and... 

Roadway traffic noise pollution for the Greater Tehran Metropolitan Area (GTMA) was analyzed. The study database consisted of relevant information about the noise level, traffic, roadway and meteorological characteristics. The collected noise level information at the roadway sound level meter receptor site included equivalent noise level. The equivalent noise level at reception points along the GTMA roadways was found often in breach of noise standards  

Development of a highway congestion index on the basis of expert and user opinions with fuzzy set theory was attempted. Forty 1-min videotape segments showing different highway traffic flow conditions were displayed to a group of highway experts and users. They were asked to complete the relevant questionnaires on the existence and acceptability of congestion for each video segment display. Five congestion-descriptive variables of travel speed, travel rate, delay rate, travel rate ratio, and delay ratio were determined for each video segment. Information about the values of congestion-descriptive variables for the displayed videos, questionnaire responses, and fuzzy set theory were used to...