Sharif Digital Repository

This paper presents results of an experimental study to evaluate a retrofit technique for strengthening shear deficient short concrete columns. In this technique a ferrocement jacket reinforced with expanded steel meshes is used for retrofitting. Six short concrete columns, including four strengthened specimens, were tested. Specimens were under a constant compressive axial force of 15% of column axial load capacity based on original concrete gross, A g, and the concrete compressive strength, fc′. Main variables were the spacing of ties in original specimens and the volume fraction of expanded metal in jackets. Original specimens failed before reaching their nominal calculated flexural... 

Multiple Description Coding (MDC) is a technique for video transmission over error prone networks where the descriptions are routed over multiple paths. Intra coding like MDC provides error resiliency but coding in this mode must be decided with care since it degrades the compression ratio. In this paper, we present our investigation results for a new intra coding approach in MDC. We have found that, in MDC streams, the best policy is to encode selective frames as I-frame instead of coding some macroblocks of frames in intra mode. In order to find the most suitable I-frame positions within a given video stream, we developed a cost function based on which intra/inter frame type is decided.... 

This letter addresses the problem of joint localization and clock synchronization in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems. While the well-known two-stage weighted least squares (WLS) method provides an acceptable estimate of target position when a rough approximation of antennas clock parameters, the drifts and offsets, is available, its performance can degrade quickly if the level of uncertainty in these values increases. The proposed method offers a solution for synchronizing the clocks while simultaneously improving the target position estimate. The uncertainty in positions of antennas is also taken into account. The presented method is shown to be approximately... 

Isolated Word Recognition (IWR) is becoming increasingly attractive due to the improvement of speech recognition techniques. However, the accuracy of IWR suffers when large databases or words with similar pronunciation are used. The criterion for accurate speech recognition is suitable segmentation. However, the traditional method of segmentation equal segmentation does not produce the most accurate result. Furthermore, utilizing manual segmentation based on events is not possible in large databases. In this paper, we introduce an intelligent segmentation based on Hierarchical Temporal Decomposition (HTD). Based on this method, a temporal decomposition (TD) algorithm can be used to... 

The cooperative relay cognitive interference channel (RCIC) is a four-node network with two source nodes (primary source and cognitive source) and two destination nodes, in which sources try to communicate at certain rates with their corresponding destinations simultaneously through a common medium and each destination can act as a relay to assist the other one. In this paper, we study partially and fully cooperative state-dependent relay cognitive interference channels (RCICs) with perfect causal channel state information (CSI). For each of these channels, we investigate three different cases. For the first case, perfect causal CSI is available at both the source and relay nodes; for the... 

The hydrodistilled oils of the aerial parts of Artemisia armeniaca and Artemisia splendens have been analyzed by a combination of GC and GC/MS. The main components of A. armeniaca were α-pinene (41.9%) and 1,8-cineole (20.6%) followed by spathulenol (6.7%) and limonene (5.6%). l,8-cineole(14.5%), germacrene D (14.3%), α-pinene (11.3%) and bicyclogermacrene (11.3%) were found to be the major constituents of A. splendens  

In this letter, an efficient estimator for 3-D target localization in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars using time delay (TD) and angle of arrival (AOA) measurements is proposed. First, an approximately equivalent maximum likelihood (ML) estimation problem is formulated. Then, the aforementioned ML problem is recast into a convex optimization problem for which we derive a semi closed-form solution that eventually boils down to finding the roots of certain polynomials. Using numerical simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed estimator reaches the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) up to relatively high Gaussian measurement noise levels. Furthermore, the proposed method... 

Automation can greatly enhance distribution-network reliability by speeding up service restoration and thus significantly reduce customer-outage time. The paper presents an approach to assess quantitatively the adequacy of a particular automated distribution scheme designated as the 'low interruption system' (LIS). Owing to the use of a high-speed communication system and line sensors, this automated scheme can reduce drastically the number of interruptions, the service interruption time and also the area affected by the fault. This scheme provides a simple and cost-effective way to automate distribution systems in which the remotely controlled switches speed up isolation of faulted sections... 

In rail transportation, there have been several attempts to determine the best routes for shipments (a number of cars with the same origin-destination) through the network. Shipments enter into several intermediate yards on their routes to separate and regroup shipments into new trains. Most of time, every entering into a yard includes excessive delay for shipments; therefore it is an ideal plan that each shipment has been transported by an exclusive train service. Mainly because of restriction on a number of running trains, this plan cannot be adapted in most cases. Finding the optimal route over the rail network with above and other common constraints would be handled by railroad blocking... 

The cooperative relay cognitive interference channel (RCIC) is a four-node network with two source nodes (primary source and cognitive source) and two destination nodes, in which sources try to communicate at certain rates with their corresponding destinations simultaneously through a common medium and each destination can act as a relay to assist the other one. For the partially cooperative RCIC (PC-RCIC), in which only one of the destinations (corresponding to the cognitive source) acts as a relay, we derive an achievable rate region based on using rate splitting and superposition coding at the cognitive source, and using decode-and-forward scheme at the relay. For the degraded PC-RCIC, we... 

This letter deals with the problem of moving target localization in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems using time delay (TD) and Doppler shift (DS) measurements. The proposed solution to this problem consists of two stages. In the first stage, an initial estimation of target location is obtained by solving the formulated maximum likelihood (ML) problem based on the TD measurements. In the second stage, by recognizing the obtained position estimate in the previous stage as a priori data and exploiting the DS measurements, another ML problem is formulated, which is efficiently solved via a tractable numerical method to produce a simultaneous estimation of target... 

In this article, an algebraic solution for localizing a moving target using a nonstationary multistatic radar system is proposed. By utilizing the quadruple hybrid measurement set, which consists of time delay, Doppler shift, angle of arrival, and angle rate measurements, the proposed method can estimate the target position and velocity vectors via a simple one-stage weighted least squares estimator without the need for introduction of the nuisance parameters, which enables us to locate the target with the minimum number of antennas. The proposed estimator takes the uncertainty concerned with the position and velocity of the antennas in its design. The proposed estimator is shown to be... 

In this letter, an efficient method for solving the multi-target localization problem in distributed MIMO radars is proposed. The proposed method attempts to simultaneously carry out the localization and data association tasks by formulating a mixed-integer optimization problem, which is approximated as a convex problem that can be efficiently solved with a polynomial complexity. Numerical simulations substantiate the efficacy of the proposed method. © 1997-2012 IEEE  

In this work, cristobalite crystallization and its effects on mechanical and chemical behaviour of injection moulded silica-based ceramic cores were investigated. In order to simulate casting process condition, the sintered samples at 1220 °C were also heated up to 1430 °C. Flexural strength test was carried out on both sintered and heat treated samples. Chemical resistance of the cores was evaluated by leaching the samples inside 43. wt% KOH solution at its boiling point. Phase evolution and microstructure were investigated by thermal analyses (DTA and DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM). Results showed that cristobalite was... 

This paper considers the problem of digital data transmission through the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). A data modem is presented that utilizes codebooks of Speech-Like (SL) symbols to transmit data through the GSM Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) voice codec. Using this codebook of finite alphabet, the continuous vocoder channel is modeled by a Discrete Memory less Channel (DMC). A heuristic optimization algorithm is proposed to select codebook symbols from a database of observed human speech such that the capacity of DMC is maximized. Simulation results show that the proposed data modem achieves higher data rates and lower symbol error rates compared to previously reported... 

This paper considers the problem of digital data transmission through the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) for security applications. A data modem is presented that utilizes codebooks of Speech-Like (SL) symbols to transmit data through the GSM Adaptive Multi Rate (AMR) voice codec. Using this codebook of finite alphabet, the continuous vocoder channel is modeled by a Discrete Memory less Channel (DMC). A heuristic optimization algorithm is proposed to select codebook symbols from a database of observed human speech such that the capacity of DMC is maximized. Using the DMC capacity, a lower bound on the capacity of the considered voice channel can be achived. Simulation results... 

This paper incorporates a discrete wavelet transform and a radial basis function neural network to implement a vibration-based crack-like damage identification approach to the simulated welds of chassis cross members. After finite element method modelling of a vehicle, eight acceleration sensors are placed on the chassis, and their responses are measured to the upward displacement on the excitation of two tyres while the other two tyres are fixed. Then, a discrete wavelet transform with a Daubechies 3 mother wavelet is applied to the responses of the sensors. All detail coefficients and approximation coefficients of the nine levels of the discrete wavelet transform are introduced into the... 

The rapid development and growth of cellular mobile networks in recent years has made voice channels widely available almost everywhere. On the other hand, voice dedicated channels possess properties that make them ideal options for high priority real-time secure communications. Beside these realities, information embedding has gained remarkable attention in recent years due to its potential application in multimedia security. In this regard, this study aims to propose an efficient scheme for data hiding to show the feasibility of exploiting these channels for covert communications. To this end, the authors propose new suboptimal but practical schemes based on additive and multiplicative... 

Oil trapping behavior during the pre-flush stage is critically important to evaluate the effectiveness of matrix acidizing for the oil well stimulation. In this study, the visco-capillary behavior of the two-phase flow in the pore-scale is analyzed to investigate the influence of wetting properties for a natural rock sample. A two-dimensional model, based on Cahn-Hilliard phase-field and Navier-Stokes equations, was established and solved using the finite element method. A stability phase diagram for log capillary number (Ca)-log viscosity ratio (M) was constructed and then compared with the reported experimental works. The maximum and minimum ranges of capillary number and viscosity ratio... 

This paper aims to quantitatively evaluate and compare the reliability impact of employing an automatic loop restoration scheme in a typical distribution system, with and without pulse closing technology. Sustained interruptions, momentary interruptions and voltage sags are the three major attributes of the service reliability that are taken into account in the reliability case studies