Sharif Digital Repository

Machine learning algorithms often suffer from good generalization in testing domains especially when the training (source) and test (target) domains do not have similar distributions. To address this problem, several domain adaptation techniques have been proposed to improve the performance of the learning algorithms when they face accuracy degradation caused by the domain shift problem. In this paper, we focus on the non-homogeneous distributed target domains and propose a new latent subdomain discovery model to divide the target domain into subdomains while adapting them. It is expected that applying adaptation on subdomains increase the rate of detection in comparing with the situation... 

This chapter proposes a methodology for optimal dispatch of bilateral electricity contracts, which may endanger the system voltage stability in light of short-term operational planning of a deregulated power system. In this framework the value that each owner of a transaction is willing to pay reflects how much the electricity contract is important to be implemented physically. The proposed model dispatches optimally the bilateral transactions regarding the prices offered by owners of bilateral contracts for reactive power and transmission capacity utilization in one hand and, the total operational costs of reactive power resources in the other hand. The model also includes the limits... 

This paper proposes a methodology for optimal dispatch of bilateral electricity contracts, which may endanger the system voltage stability in light of short-term operational planning of a deregulated power system. In this framework the value that each owner of a transaction is willing to pay will reflect how much the electricity contract is important to be implemented physically. The proposed model dispatches optimally the bilateral transactions regarding the prices offered by owners of bilateral contracts for reactive power and transmission capacity utilization in one hand and, the total operational costs of reactive power resources in the other hand. The model also includes the limits... 

Using CNG as an additive for gasoline is a proper choice due to higher octane number of CNG enriched gasoline with respect to that of gasoline. As a result, it is possible to use gasoline with lower octane number in the engine. This would also mean the increase of compression ratio in SI engines resulting in higher performance and lower gasoline consumption. Over the years, the use of simulation codes to model the thermodynamic cycle of an internal combustion engine have developed tools for more efficient engine designs and fuel combustion. In this study, a thermodynamic cycle simulation of a conventional four-stroke spark-ignition engine has been developed. The model is used to study the... 

With the declining energy resources and increase of pollutant emissions, a great deal of efforts has been focused on the development of alternatives for fossil fuels. One of the promising alternative fuels to gasoline in the internal combustion engine is natural gas [1-5]. The application of natural gas in current internal combustion engines is realistic due to its many benefits. The higher thermal efficiency due to the higher octane value and lower exhaust emissions including CO2 as a result of the lower carbon to hydrogen ratio of the fuel are the two important feature of using CNG as an alternative fuel. It is well known that computer simulation codes are valuable economically as a cost... 

Turbocharging of gasoline engines has been improved less than diesel engines due to some difficulties, especially knock phenomena. They require wider air flow range and faster response too. A computer code is developed to simulate turbocharged gasoline engine behavior. A three zone combustion model is employed. Different performance curves at speed and equivalence ratio ranges are prepared. By this code naturally aspirated and turbocharged behavior are compared. A turbocharged aftercooled engine has been studied in various cases to complete the investigation. Some aftercooler effects are described experimentally. Modeling and experimental results are compared providing valuable achievements.... 

Network coding was first introduced in information theory for increasing the multicast rate in the networks with directed links. We can model many of the content distribution networks and overlay networks with such a network. Therefore, the solutions introduced in information theory can be used in these networks. In this paper, we analyze using of network coding in uncoordinated cooperative content distribution systems. Reaching the optimum performance in an uncoordinated system needs blocks of the system to be "equally important". In that case, we can retrieve the whole data without need of central controller or complex algorithms. In part of this paper, we exactly define the concept of... 

A new method has been employed in this research that optimizes a power generation system by maximizing the first and second law efficiencies and minimizing the entropy generation. Mass flow rates of pollutants and related external social cost of air pollution have been considered in estimating the electricity production cost. The effects of regenerative and CHP heat exchangers on power production, efficiencies, and production cost have been evaluated. The results show that a single regenerative heat exchanger lowers NOx, CO, and CO 2 emissions by 15%, 40%, and 0.4%, respectively, and decreases the electricity production cost by nearly 18%. A single CHP heat exchanger has little influence on... 

Human detection is one of the hard problems in object detection field. There are many challenges like variation in human pose, different clothes, non-uniform illumination, cluttered background and occlusion which make this problem much harder than other object detection problems. Defining good features, which can be robust to this wide range of variations, is still an open issue in this field. To overcome this challenge, in this paper we proposed a new set of hybrid features. We combined the Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) with the new features called Histogram of Small Edges (HOSE) which is introduced in this paper. These two kinds of features have two different approaches for... 

This paper presents an Artificial Neural Network (ANN)-based modeling technique for prediction of outlet temperature, pressure and mass flow rate of gas turbine combustor. Results obtained by present modeling were compared with those obtained by experiment. The results showed the effectiveness and capability of the proposed modeling technique with reasonable accuracies of about 95 percent. This paper describes a nonlinear SVFAC (State Vector Feedback Adaptive Control) controller scheme for gas turbine combustor. In order to achieve the satisfied control performance, we have to consider the effect of nonlinear factors contained in controller. The controller is adaptively trained to force the... 

A thermodynamic model considering flame propagation is presented to predict SI engine characteristics for hydrogen-methane blends. The partially charge stratification approach which involves micro direct injection of pure fuel or a fuel-air mixture, to create a rich zone near the spark plug, is proposed as a method to improve engine performance. Presented approach was validated with experimental data for the natural gas at lean condition. The model was generalized to predict the performance of engine for a variety of hydrogen contents in hydrogen-methane blends. Hydrogen molar concentrations of 0%, 15%, 30%, and 45% were used in the simulations. Results showed that partially charge... 

This research proposes a new method for optimisation of a power generation system based on exergy fuel cost and external social cost of air pollution. A thermodynamic model is provided to estimate the outlet mass flow rates of CO2, CO, NO and NO2 for a gas turbine based on maximising the first and second law efficiencies and minimising the objective function. Results show that inclusion of the external social cost of air pollution increases the optimum excess air ratio if temperature constraint due to metallurgical consideration is disregarded. Otherwise external social cost of air pollution is independent of optimised conditions  

Gasification of black liquor is an alternative recovery technology. Pulp and paper industries are turning their attention to black liquor gasification as a replacement for recovery boilers. Gasification-combined cycle exergoeconomic analyses have been used to study the economical and exergetical performance of black liquor. Both conventional iterative exergoeconomic optimization and multi objective evolutionary optimization have been applied. The iterative optimization results have been compared with evolutionary programming results in order to evaluate the accuracy. The strength of proposed optimization methods are elucidated in a case study applied to Mazandaran Wood and Paper Industries... 

Optimization methods for process integration of industrial networks presented so far have dealt with grass-root situation. For retrofit ones, the actual design of the existing heat exchanger network must be taken into account. Berntsson and Stromberg (1996) developed new Composite Curves for use in a targeting and options scanning in retrofitting. The aim of this development has been to create Pinch Technology based methods, with which the general problems with process integration in Retrofit can be treated. New Pinch Technology based curves for retrofitting of heat exchanger networks have provided a graphical representation of existing HEN, including heaters and utility levels, from which... 

This paper describes optimization of the combustion chamber geometry and injection timing of a new generation of EF7 engine, where CNG is directly injected to the combustion chamber, with the aim of providing the best mixture at low and high speeds. The Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) is coupled with the KIVA Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code, with grid generation, in order to maximize the flammable mass of the mixture. This would result in better combustion and improved fuel economy. The optimization variables related to the combustion chamber are seven geometry variables and injection timing. Through the present optimization, a great improvement in mixture distribution is... 

The bio-microfluidic systems are usually encountered with non-Newtonian behaviors of working fluids. The rheological behavior of some bio-fluids can be described by differential viscoelastic constitutive equations that are related to PTT and FENE-P models. In the present work, thermal transport characteristics of the steady fully developed electroosmotic flow of these fluids in a slit microchannel with constant wall heat fluxes have been investigated. The Debye-Huckel linearization is adopted and the effects of viscous dissipation and Joule heating are taken into account. Analytical solutions are obtained for the transverse distributions of velocity and temperature and finally for Nusselt... 

This study presents a semi analytical solution for the transient weakly underexpanded jet. Different polytropic processes are compared with available experimental data in the literature to assess the best process for steady and transient weakly underexpanded jets. The steady state results agree reasonably well with the experimental and analytical data. It is also shown that isentropic process evaluates steady injection better than other processes. Tip penetration of transient results was compared with available data in literature, and no exact agreement for isothermal and isentropic is observed. This appears due to the linearization of equation of state. It is suggested that more accurate... 

Doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbines with traditional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control provide no inertia response under system frequency events. Recently, the DFIG wind turbines have been equipped with virtual inertia controller (VIC) for supporting power system frequency stability. However, the conventional VICs with fixed gain have negative effects on inter-area oscillations of regional networks. To cope with this drawback, this paper proposes a novel adaptive VIC to improve both the inter-area oscillations and frequency stability. In the proposed scheme, the gain of VIC is dynamically adjusted using fuzzy logic. The effectiveness and control performance of... 

In this research, effects of excess air ratio and waste gate opening pressure threshold on NOx emission and performance in a turbocharged CNG SI engine are studied experimentally at 13-mode ECE-R49 test cycle. The engine power, boost ratio and charge air temperature are investigated experimentally at the cycle for different waste gate pressure thresholds. A code is developed in MATLAB environment for predicting engine performance and NOx and the results are validated with the research experiments. The effects of excess air ratio on the engine indicated power and specific fuel consumption as well as NOx emission are numerically investigated at WOT by the code. NOx emission of WOT is max at...