Sharif Digital Repository

Conflict is one of the important factors affecting user satisfaction and trust in smart environments, yet conflict modeling in mixed initiative smart environments has not been sufficiently explored. Most of the existing literature on conflict in smart homes are centered on conflicts between users. Although research has shown that about 75% of conflicts are between users and system [1], only a few studies have considered user-system conflicts in smart homes. The aim of this article is to empirically propose both a definition and a run-time detection method for conflicts between users and smart home systems. Our empirical study is based on conflict sample scenarios collected from 163 users.... 

Previous experiments on the fouling/current and fouling/wave interactions were mostly limited to two dimensional (2D) net panels or isolated twines. The current paper deals with the wave-induced forces/moments in three dimensional (3D) physical models of a gravity net-cage. The colonial hydroid Ectopleura larynx, a common fouling organism in the aquaculture industry, was artificially modelled and considered in the current experiments. A clean cage and cages with different fouling lengths were tested under deep-water regular wave trains. The time series of the wave-induced forces/moments in the surge, sway, roll and pitch degrees of freedom were recorded and analysed. The experimental results... 

In this paper, we propose a run-time strategy for managing writes onto last level cache in chip multiprocessors where STT-RAM memory is used as baseline technology. To this end, we assume that each cache set is decomposed into limited SRAM lines and large number of STT-RAM lines. SRAM lines are target of frequently-written data and rarely-written or read-only ones are pushed into STT-RAM. As a novel contribution, a low-overhead, fully-hardware technique is utilized to detect write-intensive data blocks of working set and place them into SRAM lines while the remaining data blocks are candidates to be remapped onto STT-RAM blocks during system operation. Therefore, the achieved cache... 

In this paper, we propose a run-time strategy for managing writes onto last level cache in chip multiprocessors where STT-RAM memory is used as baseline technology. To this end, we assume that each cache set is decomposed into limited SRAM lines and large number of STT-RAM lines. SRAM lines are target of frequently-written data and rarely-written or read-only ones are pushed into STT-RAM. As a novel contribution, a low-overhead, fully-hardware technique is utilized to detect write-intensive data blocks of working set and place them into SRAM lines while the remaining data blocks are candidates to be remapped onto STT-RAM blocks during system operation. Therefore, the achieved cache... 

In this paper, we study theoretically the generation of high repetition rate short pulses using fiber optical parametric amplification. We show that the pulse shape and duration depend on the signal location relatively to the pump frequency. We demonstrate that in order to get the shortest pulse width, the signal must be located at one of the extremities of the gain spectrum associated with the pump peak power. We derive the analytical expression of the pulse shape in this case and compare it to the exponential gain regime case. Using numerical simulations, we also analyze the impact of walk-off and pump phase modulation that is required to suppress Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and derive... 

Scoliosis, kyphosis, and bone fracture are health problems, especially of the elderly throughout the world. The vertebra protects the spinal cord. Any impairment to the vertebra can lead to pain and nervousness. NiTi alloy (Nitinol) helps to resolve the problem by fulfilling such requirements as for strength, durability, resistance to wear, and shockwave damping which is due to the shape memory effect. Nitinol medical applications have so far been restricted to surgical devices and orthopaedics. Little has been said about Nitinol use for medication of the spinal vertebra disorder. This article appraises the potential features of Nitinol for vertebral implantation and therapeutic prescription... 

Microbiological analyses of soil chronically exposed to petroleum complex compounds of some oil springs in south of Iran resulted in isolation and purification of a new native thermophilic strain which is capable to desulfurize petroleum sulfur compounds by 4-S mechanism. Dibenzothiophene (DBT) was selected as a complex sulfiir compound model and many experiments were done to identify the metabolic pathway. The results of these experiments show that DBT is ultimately converted to 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2-HBP) and sulfite. This is a special metabolic pathway in that there is no effect on the carbon skeleton of organic compounds and would be ideal for desulfurization to upgrade the petroleum... 

In this paper, we study theoretically the generation of high repetition rate short pulses using fiber optical parametric amplification. We show that the pulse shape and duration depend on the signal location relatively to the pump frequency. We demonstrate that in order to get the shortest pulse width, the signal must be located at one of the extremities of the gain spectrum associated with the pump peak power. We derive the analytical expression of the pulse shape in this case and compare it to the exponential gain regime case. Using numerical simulations, we also analyze the impact of walk-off and pump phase modulation that is required to suppress Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and derive... 

Large-scale ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations have been carried out to compute, at human-body temperature, the vibrational modes and lifetimes of pure and hydrated dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) lipids. The projected atomic vibrations calculated from the spectral energy density are used to compute the vibrational modes and the lifetimes. All the normal modes of the pure and hydrated DPPC and their frequencies are identified. The computed lifetimes incorporate the full anharmonicity of the atomic interactions. The vibrational modes of the water molecules close to the head group of DPPC are active (possess large projected spectrum amplitudes) in the frequency range 0.5-55 THz,... 

The current study is aimed at getting a further insight into the changes the fouling brings to the Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) of circular cylinders. Instead of regular patterns considered in previous studies, using the Poisson Cluster Process, an aggregated spatial distribution was considered for the artificial marine fouling. This is believed to better simulate the natural settlement of the marine biofouling. Different coverage ratios and fouling shapes plus regular and aggregated distributions were considered. The towing tank VIV tests were conducted on elastically mounted rigid cylinders. The Reynolds number ranged from around 7.8 × 103 to 4.9 × 104. On the whole, the maximum... 

We investigate the structure and electronic properties of phosphatidylcholine (PC) under different degrees of hydration at the single-molecule and monolayer type level by linear scaling ab initio calculations. Upon hydration, the phospholipid undergoes drastic long-range conformational rearrangements which lead to a sickle-like ground-state shape. The structural unit of the tilted gel-phase PC appears to be a water-bridged PC dimer. We find that hydration dramatically alters the surface potential, dipole and quadrupole moments of the lipids and consequently guides the interactions of the lipids with other molecules and the communication between cells  

The structure and autoionization of water at the water-phospholipid interface are investigated by ab initio molecular dynamics and ab initio Monte Carlo simulations using local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) for the exchange-correlation energy functional. Depending on the lipid headgroup, strongly enhanced ionization is observed, leading to the dissociation of several water molecules into H+ and OH- per lipid. The results can shed light on the phenomena of the high proton conductivity along membranes that has been reported experimentally  

Comparison of the traditional linear heating method of TPD with an original stepwise heating scheme was reported for the first time. Stepwise heating TPD was carried out by keeping the temperature constant as soon as ammonia desorption signal rises until the signal returns to the baseline. More ammonia desorption peaks on a SAPO-34 catalyst were identified using TPD with stepwise heating. The effect of temperature ramp on desorption peak broadening in TPD curve was also addressed. The more distinct ammonia desorption peaks in stepwise TPD indicates that ammonia adsorbs in about five or six different ways on SAPO-34, and attribution of different adsorptions may be explained considering some... 

Most part of Iran is dominated by arid and semi-arid areas due to low annual rainfall. The need for production of fresh water from brackish water is considerably high, especially in dry regions. In this study 1 month daily-based experimental data from a solar still site has been reported. The technical and operational problems of this site which finally contributed to the total cease of the site are described. Then a detailed analysis is investigated on progress of a prototype which constructed in order to solve the site's problems. The results of 1 month of experimental data of the final design showed that the last prototype could be used to solve the current problems of the site. The... 

Hydrocracking is one of the most versatile petroleum refining processes for production of valuable products including gasoline, gas oil, and jet fuel. In this paper, a five-parameter continuous lumping model was used for kinetic modeling of hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil (VGO). The model parameters were estimated from industrial data obtained from a fixed bed reactor operating at an average temperature of 400°C and residence time of 0.3 h. Product distributions were obtained in terms of the weight fraction of various boiling point cuts. The model parameters were estimated using the Nelder-Mead optimization procedure and were correlated with temperature. Comparison of experimental and... 

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an improved methodology for design of custom-made hip prostheses, through integration of advanced image processing, computer aided design (CAD) and additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Design/methodology/approach - The proposed methodology for design of custom-made hip prostheses is based on an independent design criterion for each of the intra-medullary and extra-medullary portions of the prosthesis. The intra-medullar part of the prosthesis is designed using a more accurate and detailed description of the 3D geometry of the femoral intra-medullary cavity, including the septum calcar ridge, so that an improved fill and fit performance...