Sharif Digital Repository

In tall buildings, seismic behavior depends on structural elements and their configuration. The usefulness of shear walls in the structural planning of multistory buildings has long been recognized. When walls are situated in advantageous positions in a building, they can be very efficient in resisting lateral loads originating from wind or earthquakes. Restriction in surrounding effects and the architectural design may contribute to have asymmetry in plan. In a number of papers, published mainly in the last decade, the analysis and design of shear walls has been studied. But just a few of them considered arrangement of shear walls to find the optimum layout. In the present study, analysis... 

Among different subfields of pragmatics some have been analyzed meticulously and some seem to be in a more stringent need of investigation. ILP rating is a novel branch of pragmatics studies through which various aspects and process of rating the L2 learners’ pragmatics knowledge are analyzed. Unfortunately, despite its great impact on learning and teaching second language, investigation of L2 raters’ behaviors and criteria has not been explored much. Problems in the process of ILP rating are very critical, as they can easily undermine the fairness of the test. Therefore, this study attempted to analyze overall 100 EFL teachers’ rating criteria (50 Iranian nonnative and 50 American native)... 

Conveying a successful message within a language profoundly stems from not only a linguistically appropriate utterance, but also a pragmatically appropriate discourse too. Broadly considering various facets of pragmatics, pragmatic assessment has not been potentially brought into perspective, and, as a result, the literature deserves more comprehensive attention. This study, guided by the principles of mixed methods design, pursued three purposes: to inspect the matches and mismatches, to explore rating variations, and to assess the rater consistency between the holistic and analytic rating methods of agreement and disagreement speech acts in L2 by non-native English teachers. To address... 

Vocabulary knowledge is one of the main building blocks in the process of learning a new language and presents many challenges to language learners. Using computer software and online programs is suggested as possible approaches for overcoming some of these challenges. In the present study, the researcher attempted to study the effect of creating and sharing different sets of online flash cards on the use of vocabulary items among Iranian English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students. Thirty-nine university students in two groups participated in this study (29 males, 10 females). One group were instructed to create online flash cards containing the definitions of words and their synonyms and... 

Corneal perforations are one of the most widespread illnesses which are associated with severe pains and vision loss. Eyes with corneal perforations must be treated immediately in order to preserve its morphology and prohibit secondary complications. Opthalmologist usually apply cyanoacrylate and fibrin glues for filling and sealing incisions, but they have several drawbacks besides their advantages. Cyanoacrylates which are unabsorbable remains as a foreign body in the patient’s eyes and will cause annoyment. Fibrin glues that are attained from ibrinogen and thrombin, can transfer blood diseases. Therefore, fabricating a bioadhesive with high biocompatibility, adhesion and... 

In this millennium there has been a thought-provoking dispute over the inclusion of Critical Thinking (CT) programs into teaching syllabi; this inspiring challenge of change has led researcher to investigate the teachability and transferability of Critical Thinking. Thus, this study investigated whether explicit critical thinking instruction can foster critical thinking skills of in-service EFL teachers and enhance their disposition, perception and attitude. To fulfill the purposes of this study, California Critical Thinking Skill Tests (CCTST), EMI Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, as well as perception and attitude questionnaires were utilized. The participants of this research were... 

In the past few decades the use of textbooks has increased dramatically in ELT due to the growing need for English both as a foreign and second language all over the world. Along with this growth in textbook application in ELT, textbook evaluation as a comparably new line of esearch has gained significant attention from both researchers and ELT specialists. As an attempt to contribute to this growing body of research, the present study was conducted to evaluate eight most popular global and local textbooks which are taught in Iranian ELT institutes in order to investigate the realization of environmental and human rights issues as well as other various topics in ELT textbooks in Iranian... 

Developing ESP knowledge of a specific academic discipline is not only a privilege but a prerequisite for successful performance in related academic and occupational settings. English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses at undergraduate level in Iranian universities are designed to serve this purpose. Needs analysis is the foremost step to design relevant and useful ESP courses, but how to approach needs in a motivating and interesting way is still a question pending further research. Accordingly, focusing on engineering fields in three Iranian state universities, this study aimed at identifying factors that affect engineering students’ motivation for learning technical English in ESP... 

Proteins are one of the most important bio-molecules. they play an important role in every aspect of living organisms. The information for synthesizing these important molecules is coded in the DNA of that organism. After the coded data is read and transcribed by some other bio-molecules that are proteins themselves, the protein is made and starts it's biological function in different organs. For this reason, investigating properties of proteins helps us to better understand how life works. Understanding the dynamics of proteins, which are some polymers with special energy landscape properties, has attracted the attention of physicists in the 20th century. Proteins are chains of amino... 

Double channel and coreless induction furnaces are used extensively in many processing industries due mainly to their good heating efficiency, high production rate, clean working environments and relatively low operating costs. The study of heat transfer treatment and evaluation of the heat losses of these furnaces becomes an important issue in melting industries. In this dissertation, a heat transfer analysis will be performed for an induction furnace and heat losses by conduction, convection, Eddy-Current and Hysteresis in a furnace structure, and radiation from the body of a specific induction furnace will be modeled considering the symmetry of the furnace chamber. The models presented in... 

Agriculture is one the most water consuming sections in the world and roughly 60% of water demand is dedicated for this purpose. A seawater greenhouse manages to combine fan and pad greenhouse with humidification-dehumidification desalination in order to achieve water production next to agriculture products using moister in air which was used for cooling. The most important aspect of a seawater greenhouse is the amount of produced water. Many research on the condenser type and materials have been conducted in order to achieve a better performance, suggesting the utilization of a low temperature water source for the condenser. In this research, using a thermodynamic correlations to model the... 

It is generally observed that the textbooks employed in the classrooms play a crucial role in the process of teaching and learning a second/foreign language. As a result, a number of studies have been carried out to evaluate English Language Teaching (ELT) materials. Trying to contribute to this growing body of literature, the present study was conducted to evaluate the eight most popular global textbooks which are taught in Iranian ELT institutes in terms of their task types according to Nunan’s (1999) classification of the tasks. Nunan (1999) classified tasks into different groups according to the strategies underpinning them. He divided tasks into five major groups each one consisting... 

No-one likes being confined to a hospital bed. Children particularly can feel lonely, bored or frightened in these conditions. Hours feel like days, and they may not be able to fully comprehend why they are there. Among kids hospitalized because of distinct diseases, children with cancer have incomparable status and needs. They experience physical and mental problems caused by cancer and medications. Cancer treatment may cause distress which can lessen the effectiveness of the treatment. Utilizing social robots to interact with children in clinical environments has been verified to both diminish their distress level and enhance the effectiveness of the treatment process. To improve the... 

In this thesis, the purpose of the research was to develop a four-wheeled Mobile platform (Lower body) with three degrees of freedom for a humanoid robot upper body which is called RASA. RASA robot was designed and constructed for helping kids who have speech and hearing impairments. The objective was to develop a low-cost and affordable robot as compared to its international models to be used at home or school as a teacher assistant. RASA can help kids to learn signs as fast as possible due to the game-based and entertaining education system. The wheeled base platform consists of a new mechanism with 6 bar linkage for bending robot from the hip to about 60 degrees from a vertical position...