Sharif Digital Repository

The use of neural networks for the optimization of amine mixtures formulations in gas sweetening is presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Spring National Meeting (Orlando, FL 4/24-26/2006)  

This study concentrated on the formulation of self-flowing and an energy efficient lightweight aggregate foamed concrete (LAFC) to be employed as thermal insulation, thermal mass and structural material. Low density concrete mixtures (for the density values from 800 to 1300 kg/m3) were prepared by changing the volume of lightweight expanded clay aggregate (ECA) from 49.4% to 20.1%. Flowing properties of concrete mixtures were improved with the help of stable foam. Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) was replaced by the 5% and 10% silica fume (SF) to examine the influence of SF on the properties of LAFC. Compressive strength and tensile strength of LAFC mixtures were respectively enhanced from 6.5... 

Bubble point pressure is a crucial PVT parameter of reservoir fluids, which has a significant effect on oil field development strategies, reservoir evaluation and production calculations. This communication presents a new mathematical model to calculate the saturation pressures of crude oils as a function of temperature, hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon reservoir fluid compositions, and characteristics of the heptane-plus fraction. The model was developed and tested using a total set of 130 experimentally measured compositions and saturation pressures of crude oil samples from different geographical locations covering wide ranges of crude oil properties and reservoir temperatures. In-depth... 

The vacuum sector of the Brans-Dicke theory is studied from the viewpoint of a non-conformally invariant gravitational model. We show that, this theory can be conformally symmetrized using an appropriate conformal transformation. The resulting theory allows a particle interpretation, and suggests that the quantum aspects of matter may be geometrized  

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technology is a new trend in manufacturing complex geometric structures from metals. This technology allows producing topologically optimized parts for aerospace, medical and industrial sectors where a high performance-to-weight ratio is required. Commonly the feature size for such applications is higher than 300–400 microns. However, for several possible applications of LPBF technology, for example, microfluidic devices, stents for coronary vessels, porous filters, dentistry, etc., a significant increase in the resolution is required. This work is aimed to study the resolution factors of LPBF technology for the manufacturing of superelastic instruments for... 

We propose an effective model for an exponentially expanding universe in the brane-world scenario. The setup consists of a 5D black hole and a brane close to the black hole horizon. In case the brane acquires a specific configuration, which we deduce from stability arguments, the induced metric outside the black hole horizon on the brane becomes de Sitter in static coordinates. Studying the Einstein equations perturbatively we find the effective gravity on the brane at this level and derive the 4D gravitational constant. Considering a homogeneous and isotropic fluid in the corresponding FLRW coordinates we find that the bulk fluid density inside the brane, which has the same equation of... 

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) aggregation pressure causes extensive strains in cell segments. The compression of each segment takes place through the cell modeling method. In addition, a very heterogeneous compressive load is produced because of the recurrent channel rib design of the dipole plates, so that while high strains are provided below the rib, the domain continues in its initial uncompressed case under the ducts approximate to it. This leads to significant spatial variations in thermal and electrical connections and contact resistances (both in rib–GDL and membrane–GDL interfaces). Variations in heat, charge, and mass transfer rates within the GDL can affect the... 

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) aggregation pressure causes extensive strains in cell segments. The compression of each segment takes place through the cell modeling method. In addition, a very heterogeneous compressive load is produced because of the recurrent channel rib design of the dipole plates, so that while high strains are provided below the rib, the domain continues in its initial uncompressed case under the ducts approximate to it. This leads to significant spatial variations in thermal and electrical connections and contact resistances (both in rib–GDL and membrane–GDL interfaces). Variations in heat, charge, and mass transfer rates within the GDL can affect the... 

Establishing high-quality communication in construction projects is essential to securing successful collaboration and maintaining understanding among project stakeholders. Indeed, poor communication results in low productivity, poor efficiency, and substandard deliverables. While high-quality communication is recognized as contingent on the interpersonal skills of workers, the impacts of communication quality on job performance remain unknown. This study addresses this deficiency by developing a method to evaluate construction workers' communication quality. A literature review is undertaken to capture salient interpersonal skills. Leadership style, listening, team building, and clarifying... 

We present an attempt to improve the performance of multi-class image segmentation systems based on a multilevel description of segments. The multi-class image segmentation system used in this paper marks the segments in an image, describes the segments via multilevel feature vectors and passes the vectors to a multi-class object classifier. The focus of this paper is on the segment description section. We first propose a robust, scale-invariant texture feature set, named directional differences (DDs). This feature is designed by investigating the flaws of conventional texture features. The advantages of DDs are justified both analytically and experimentally. We have conducted several... 

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a powerful machine-learning tool for pattern recognition, decision making and classification. SVM classifiers outperform other classification technologies in many applications. In this paper, two implementations of SVM classifiers are presented using Logarithmic Number System. In the basic classifier all operations (multiplication, addition and ...) are performed using logarithmic numbers. In the logarithmic domain, multiplication and division can be simply treated as addition or subtraction respectively. The main disadvantage of LNS is the large memory requirement for high precision addition and subtraction. In the improved classifier, multiplication... 

In this study, the essential oil of aerial parts species of a plant called Spearmint was extracted by CO 2 to optimize the results of the supercritical extraction process. In order to achieve maximum total yield extraction and SF-CO 2 concentration, tests were done in a laboratorial pilot considering the Taguchi method under following condition: pressure. 90,100,140,170 bar, temperature. of 35, 40, 45, 50 °C, mean particles size: 250,500,710,1000 μm, flow rate 1,3,5,8 ml/s and dynamic time 30,50,90,120 min. The optimizing conditions for SCE and SF-CO 2 concentration are: 90 bar, 45 °C, 500 μm, 5 ml/s, 120 min and 90 bar, 35 °C, 250 μm, 1 ml/s, 30 min. SCE total yield and CO 2 concentration... 

Processing time and segmentation quality are two main factors in evaluation of image segmentation methods. Oversegmentation is one of the most challenging problems that significantly degrade the segmentation quality. This paper presents a framework for decreasing the oversegmentation rate and improving the processing time. Significant variations in both color and texture spaces are the main reasons that lead to oversegmentation. We exploit Affine Invariant Region Detectors to mark regions with high variations in both color and texture spaces. The results are then utilized to reduce the oversegmentation rate of image segmentation algorithms. The performance of the proposed framework is... 

The remarkable rotational symmetry of the photosynthetic antenna complexes of purple bacteria has long been thought to enhance their light harvesting and excitation energy transport. We study the role of symmetry by modeling hypothetical antennas whose symmetry is broken by altering the orientations of the bacteriochlorophyll pigments. We find that in both LH2 and LH1 complexes, symmetry increases energy transfer rates by enabling the cooperative, coherent process of supertransfer. The enhancement is particularly pronounced in the LH1 complex, whose natural geometry outperforms the average randomized geometry by 5.5 standard deviations, the most significant coherence-related enhancement... 

An effective process for reducing milk cholesterol by enzymatic treatment was investigated in this study. Cholesterol oxidase from Nocardia erythropolis was used for this purpose. The target of this investigation was to obtain the optimum operational conditions for bioconversion of milk cholesterol by cholesterol oxidase (COD). The bioconversion process was investigated first, to obtain basic information about the process, and was further optimised by analysing the parameters, including temperature, pH, incubation time and enzyme content, by using the Taguchi Approach, which is a statistical method for optimisation. Also the direct effect of each parameter on cholesterol bioconversion rate... 

Photosynthetic complexes improve the transfer of excitation energy from peripheral antennas to reaction centers in several ways. In particular, a downward energy funnel can direct excitons in the right direction, while coherent excitonic delocalization can enhance transfer rates through the cooperative phenomenon of supertransfer. However, isolating the role of purely coherent effects is difficult because any change to the delocalization also changes the energy landscape. Here, we show that the relative importance of the two processes can be determined by comparing the natural light-harvesting apparatus with counterfactual models in which the delocalization and the energy landscape are... 

Background and Objective: Since ancient times, it has been said that drinking green tea brings relaxation. The substance that is responsible for a sense of relaxation is theanine. Theanine (γ-glutamylethylamide) is a unique non-protein amino acid. It gives an umami taste and a unique flavor to the tea, and has many physiological and pharmaceutical effects such as anti-tumor, anti-cancer, neuro-protective, anti-hypertensive and anti-obesity effects; it may further help in relaxation and increase focus. So this compound is essential for human body; however, it is not synthesized in the body and should be administrated orally. In the present study, the enzymatic biosynthesis of theanine was... 

This paper presents an online highly accurate system for automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) that can be used as a basis for many real-world ITS applications. The system is designed to deal with unclear vehicle plates, variations in weather and lighting conditions, different traffic situations, and high-speed vehicles. This paper addresses various issues by presenting proper hardware platforms along with real-Time, robust, and innovative algorithms. We have collected huge and highly inclusive data sets of Persian license plates for evaluations, comparisons, and improvement of various involved algorithms. The data sets include images that were captured from crossroads, streets, and... 

Background and Objective: Acrylamide as a toxic substance for human beings is produced by Maillard reaction at high temperatures. In this research, this reaction can be inhibited based on using aspariganse enzyme, controlling the cooking time and temperature during baking in yeast-leavened bread. Materials and Methods: In this study, a response surface methodology 5-level-3-factor central composite design was applied to study the effects of asparaginase (300-900 U Kg-1 of flour), baking temperature (230-280°C) and baking time (13-16 min) on acrylamide formation in yeast-leavened wheat bread. Results and Conclusion: Added asparaginase showed a reducing effect on acrylamide formation...