Sharif Digital Repository

In this article, behavior of cantilever retaining walls with various flexibilities, which retain saturated cohesive soil behind, is studied using numerical modeling. Generally, pattern of lateral earth pressure behind retaining walls is complex and this complexity becomes greater for clayey soils. In this investigation, effects of different wall bending stiffnesses, and backfill drainage conditions on the failure height and on the lateral earth pressure are investigated using finite elements. Comparison between the obtained results from numerical simulation and those based on empirical or conventional design methods indicate that soil-structure interaction and c drainage conditions play... 

Nitric Oxide (NO) provides myocardial oxygen demands of the heart during exercise and cardiac pacing and also prevents cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and platelet adhesion and aggregation. However, the direct in vivo measurement of NO in coronary arteries is still challenging. To address this matter, a mathematical model of dynamic changes of calcium and NO concentration in the coronary artery was developed for the first time. The model is able to simulate the effect of NO release in coronary arteries and its impact on the hemodynamics of the coronary arterial tree and also to investigate the vasodilation effects of arteries during cardiac pacing. For these purposes, flow... 

There are many steel structures in Iran with semi-rigid saddle connections. It has been observed that, during a strong earthquake, this type of connection can experience a premature fracture, which will endanger the stability of the structure. The present study endeavored to improve the mechanical characteristics including the initial stiffness, yield moment, maximum moment, crack rotation, and load transfer mechanisms of the conventional saddle connections using retrofitting methods. An experimental study was conducted on six full-scale specimens to study the effect of the retrofitting methods on the stiffness, yield moment, and maximum moment of the connection and for the prevention of... 

Saddle connections are semi-rigid connections that are widely used in Iran. Many existing buildings contain this type of connection. The present study conducted full-scale experiments and used extensive numerical modeling to study the mechanical characteristics of saddle connections. The mechanical characteristics examined were the moment-transfer mechanism, initial stiffness, yield moment, maximum moment, and fracture rotation. The configuration and dimensions of the experimental and numerical specimens were chosen to be similar to those of saddle connections in existing buildings. A parametric study was conducted to determine the factors affecting the mechanical characteristics of these... 

Motivated by surface plasmon polariton waveguides in the optical regime, spoof surface plasmon (SSP) waveguides have received a lot of attention in terahertz and millimeter wave frequencies.Most research on these kinds of waveguides is numerical. However, some limited analytical work can be seen in the literature. In this paper, one type of SSP waveguide that is composed of a rectangular corrugation with finite lateral width on the ground is considered, and an analytical method, which is inspired byMarcatili's method, is proposed in order to calculate the dispersion curve of the first mode. The results of this analytical method and a numerical commercial eigenmode solver are compared. The... 

Abstract: In the present paper, an efficient Cu-catalyzed regioselective acylation of indoles with phenylglyoxals was developed which is the first example of indolyl diketones synthesis by a heterogeneous catalyst. The magnetic polyacrylonitrile was synthesized through anchoring acrylonitrile monomers on Fe3O4 nanoparticles surface and then modified with 2-aminopyridine. At the final step, copper nanoparticles were immobilized onto the polymeric support containing stable ligands from functionalized nitrile groups of polyacrylonitrile. The different techniques such as Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Field emission scanning electron microscopy, Transmission... 

Abstract: In the present paper, an efficient Cu-catalyzed regioselective acylation of indoles with phenylglyoxals was developed which is the first example of indolyl diketones synthesis by a heterogeneous catalyst. The magnetic polyacrylonitrile was synthesized through anchoring acrylonitrile monomers on Fe3O4 nanoparticles surface and then modified with 2-aminopyridine. At the final step, copper nanoparticles were immobilized onto the polymeric support containing stable ligands from functionalized nitrile groups of polyacrylonitrile. The different techniques such as Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Field emission scanning electron microscopy, Transmission... 

This paper analyzes the second-order mode of the spoof surface plasmon (SSP) waveguide, which consists of PEC pillars (dominos) with finite lateral widths on a PEC ground. The space is first divided into four regions. The electromagnetic fields of each region are then written as TE and TM. The boundary conditions and matching integrals are employed to determine the dispersion relations of the second-order mode of the SSP waveguide consisting of two relations. Inspired by Marcatili's method, the analytical approach is to develop a recently-used method for the first mode of the SSP waveguide. The dispersion relations are then solved; therefore, the dispersion curve is plotted. The analytical... 

A facile and efficient synthesis of 2-oxindole derivatives bearing tetrahydropyrazine scaffold has been developed. Using water as solvent without any additional acid or metal catalyst, easy work up and high yield of products are the main advantages of this protocol. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc  

In this article, the propagation of one-dimensional stress waves in a plate made of functionally graded materials excited by a harmonic force is studied. The material properties of the functionally graded material plate are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction according to a power law distribution in terms of the volume fractions of the constituents. The governing equations are based on stress-strain relation and the equation of motion. Keeping generality, the functionally graded material plate is assumed as a multilayer with linear material property in each layer while arbitrary exponential material property through the thickness. A plate made of aluminum and alumina is... 

Drilling fluid is a complex fluid, including base fluid and other materials, carrying out the vital functions during drilling operation such as cutting transport and controlling formation pressure. In order to optimize performance of a drilling process, a reliable rheological model is required in the computation of fluid flow dynamics. Time-independent Generalized Newtonian formulation are the most common models for describing the rheological behavior of drilling fluids due to its simplicity and ease of use, in spite the fact that they are not able to predict the normal stresses and could not consider effects of active components on the rheological behavior of the drilling fluid and also... 

Drilling fluids consist of several components with different physical and structural form which can be assumed as complex fluids. Optimum performance of drilling process could be obtained through the dynamic fluid computation which requires a reliable mathematical model capable to predict transient and steady state rheological behavior of drilling fluid. Generalized Newtonian formulations are the most popular models for drilling fluids due to their simplicity in spite of their inabilities to predict transient and elastic behavior of such fluids. In this paper, we have developed a mathematical model to predict transient and steady state rheological behavior of the complex fluids on the scale... 

A methodology is presented for optimization of the dynamic response of concentrically braced steel frames subjected to seismic excitation, based on the concept of uniform distribution of deformation. In order to obtain the optimum distribution of structural properties, an iterative optimization procedure has been adopted. In this approach, the structural properties are modified so that inefficient material is gradually shifted from strong to weak areas of a structure. This process is continued until a state of uniform deformation is achieved. It is shown that the seismic performance of such a structure is optimal, and behaves generally better than those designed by conventional methods. In... 

Systematic management of enterprise knowledge, e.g. new ideas, innovations and patents, has a great impact on business sustainability and growth. Without comprehensive assessment of knowledge assets, agile companies can not design and run knowledge promotion programs required for survival in competitive environments in modern economy. A comprehensive framework for the assessment of as-is situation and development of knowledge promotion plans includes (a) assessing the as-is situation- the quantity and quality of organizational knowledge; (b) developing a situational program based on assessment results, business strategy and knowledge maturity indicators; (c) and working out an action plan in... 

An improved compression algorithm for ECG signals is presented using temporal alignment of beats and 2-D wavelet packet transform (WPT). This 2-D transform based approach utilizes the fact that the electrocardiogram (ECG) signals generally show two types of correlation, namely correlation between subsequent samples within each ECG cycle (intrabeat) and correlation between subsequent cycles (interbeat). One simple compression algorithm in the 2-D WPT domain, which is applied to some records in the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database shows lower percent root mean square difference (PRD) than 1-D wavelet based compression methods for the same compression ratio (CR). © 2001 IEEE  

The objective of this study was to model the extent of improvement in the degradability of phenol dyes by SnO2/Fe3O4 nanoparticles using a photocatalytic reactor. The effect of operative parameters including catalyst concentration, initial dye concentration, stirring intensity, and UV radiation intensity on the photocatalytic batch reactor during removal of phenol red was investigated. Fractional factorial design and response surface methodology were used to design the experiment layout. The SnO2/Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized using the core-shell method. The results of x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy showed the successful synthesis of these nanoparticles. The... 

The aim of this study is to develop a non-linear robust controller with adaptive gains in order to prevent malaria epidemic as a positive system with an uncertain model. The malaria outbreak is modelled by seven non-linear coupled differential equations for the population variables: susceptible, exposed, symptomatic infected and recovered humans and the susceptible, exposed and infected mosquitoes. The non-linear robust adaptive integral-sliding-mode controller is developed in order to appropriately adjust the use of treated bednets, treatment rate of infected individuals and the use of insecticide spray to control malaria epidemic. Accordingly, the numbers of exposed and infected humans and...