Sharif Digital Repository

We study the problem of finding a target t from a start point s in street environments with the cooperation of two robots which have a minimal sensing capability; that is, robots do not know any information about the workspace including information on distances, edges, coordinates, angles etc. They just can detect the discontinuities in the visibility region of their location. The robots can detect target point t as soon as it enters their visibility region and have communication peripherals to send messages to each other. Our aim is to minimize the length of the path passed by the robots. We propose an online algorithm for robots such that they move in the workspace and find the target.... 

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to review the knowledge management literature from a content-related perspective using cluster analysis. Design/methodology/approach: A critical analysis of previous review articles in KM provided a conceptual framework with nine dimensions. A survey was then administered to 120 KM authors asking them to review which dimensions they considered in their own research. Findings: Three clusters of KM research were identified as follows: the socialization school, the collaboration school, and the codification school. Research limitations/implications: The study does not consider the dimension of strategic versus operational KM issues nor does it consider... 

It is beyond dispute that technological change acts as a driver of economic growth. In developing countries where highly suffer from lack of this process, incremental innovation is considered as main source of technology capability building and development In moving toward this pass and to meet with time pressure of catching up, developing countries acquire the initial required knowledge base through technology absorption from outside sources; On the other hand as development is a lengthy process, it is important that the absorbed knowledge still has the potential of more advancement in future. Therefore a selection instrument with ability of assessing different knowledge base or... 

Porter's model of Competitive advantage of nations (named as Diamond Model) has been widely used and criticized as well, over recent two decades. On the other hand, non-mainstream economists have tried to propose new frameworks for industrial analysis, that among them, Sectoral Innovation System (SIS) is one of the most influential ones. After proposing an assessment framework, we use this framework to compare SIS and Porter's models and apply them to the case of second mobile operator in Iran. Briefly, SIS model sheds light on the innovation process and competence building and focuses on system failures that are of special importance in the context of developing countries, while Diamond... 

In this paper we consider the problem of joint location and pricing optimization for a firm in a heterogeneous market producing a single product. We assume that customers have a different willingness to pay for the product. We consider two classes of customers who are not uniformly distributed in the market and develop an analytical framework to determine the relationship between the optimal price and location of the firm. We demonstrate that the optimal price and location are closely related to each other, and thus there is a need for simultaneous optimization of the price and location. We provide both analytical and numerical results to illustrate the impact of transportation cost and the... 

Composite friction materials used in the braking system of vehicles are composed of different ingredients (typically up to 20 materials). The overall physical properties of these products are determined by the type and percentage of the individual ingredients in the final composition and consequently, may differ from one product to another. This paper studies the cure characteristics of railroad composite brake blocks during compression molding. Numerical simulations using the control volume/finite element method (CV/FEM) are utilized to predict temperature fields and cure conversion during the process. As railroad brake blocks are normally thick-sectioned parts, a three-dimensional modeling... 

In compression resin transfer moulding (CRTM), resin flows inside a mould filled with fibrous reinforcement as a result of resin injection and mould compression. This process facilitates the resin flow through the fibrous reinforcement particularly for high fiber content parts. This paper presents the numerical simulation of filling process of CRTM in full three-dimensional domain. A mathematical model of three-dimensional resin flow inside the CRTM mould is presented. An effective elastic modulus is introduced for multi-layer preforms connecting the mould closing speed to deformation rate of individual layers. Control volume/finite element method (CV/FEM) is used and the numerical algorithm... 

In resin injection/compression molding (RI/CM), a preform often comprises layers of different fiber reinforcements. Each fiber reinforcement has unique through thickness and in-plane permeabilities as well as compressibility, creating a heterogeneous porous medium in the mold cavity. In the present article, numerical simulation is utilized to investigate the filling process of RI/CM in such a heterogeneous porous medium. The filling stage is simulated in a full three-dimensional space by using control volume/finite element method and based upon an appropriate filling algorithm. The flow in the open gap which may be present in the mold cavity is modeled by Darcy's law using an equivalent...