Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper we develop a stochastic programming approach to solve a multi-period multi-product multi-site aggregate production planning problem in a green supply chain for a medium-term planning horizon under the assumption of demand uncertainty. The proposed model has the following features: (i) the majority of supply chain cost parameters are considered; (ii) quantity discounts to encourage the producer to order more from the suppliers in one period, instead of splitting the order into periodical small quantities, are considered; (iii) the interrelationship between lead time and transportation cost is considered, as well as that between lead time and greenhouse gas emission level; (iv)... 

Passive steel dampers have shown favorable performance in last earthquakes, numerical and experimental studies. Although steel dampers are more affordable than other types of damper, they are not economically justified for ordinary buildings. Therefore, in this paper, an innovative steel damper with shear yielding mechanism is introduced, which is easy to fabricate also can be easily replaced after sever earthquakes. The main goal of implementing such a mechanism is to control the possible damage in the damper and to ensure the elastic behavior of other structural components. The numerical results indicate an enhancement of the hysteretic behavior of the concentrically braced frames... 

The first asymmetric synthesis of α,β-disubstituted γ-phosphono sulfonates is reported. The key step is the Michael addition of a lithiated enantiopure sulfonate bearing an inexpensive chiral sugar auxiliary to α,β-unsaturated phosphonates in good diastereoselectivities. After chromatographic purification, the cleavage of the chiral sugar auxiliary proceeds without any epimerization or racemization to form the corresponding isopropyl sulfonate in very good overall yield (75%) and excellent diastereomeric and enantiomeric excess (de, ee ≥ 95%). © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

Permeability reduction in porous media as a result of frail and tenuous fine particles migration would decrease the productivity index in the subterranean reservoirs. During reservoir stimulation by injecting fluids into the reservoir, as the salinity condition of the formation brine changes, fine particles initiate the triggering process. In this study, MgO-based nanofluid as a fines fixation agent was stably prepared based on the particle size distribution and characterized through transmission electron microscopy analysis. Afterward, several core flooding tests were performed using Berea sandstone cores to study the effect of nanofluid injection on fines fixation in the water shock... 

Background: cervical cancer is one of the most common malignancies in women worldwide and its management remains challenging and complex. As Cytochrome4Z1 (CYP4Z1) is overex-pressed in many tumours, its expression in cervical cancer is unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate CYP4Z1 expression in cervical cancers. Methods: CYP4Z1 expression was immunohistochemically assessed in 100 cases of cervical cancers along with ten normal cervix tissues, and the enzyme’s relationship to several clinicopathological features and survival was explored. Results: CYP4Z1 was strongly expressed in 55% of cervical cancer patients. Normal cervix samples were negative for CYP4Z1 expression.... 

In this study, a simple and novel control technique for Power Factor Correction (PFC) is introduced, which is a SEPIC-based (Single-ended Primary-inductor Converter based) rectifier with high input power factor. Operation of the proposed method is based on sampling of input and output voltages in SEPIC rectifier. Using samples of input and output voltage, this control system makes the input current to follow a sinusoidal path. As a result, the line current?'s Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) is reduced and the input power factor is improved. This paper also compares the new method with the conventional control method for the power factor correction. In order to examine the proposed control... 

In this work, a method for increasing the storage capability of a solar thermal energy system has been discussed. The system includes two tanks with the flexibility in choosing the best storage medium on the basis of the solar collector's outlet temperature. The results show that using such a hybrid storage system, the storable energy can be increased. Comparing the results with those for simple common storage systems, the extent of improvement was calculated. For verification of the results, a small pilot system was assembled. The test apparatus operated during 2008-2009 cold months and the parameters were recorded. Comparison of the theoretical and experimental results showed a good... 

The influences of cupric oxide layer thickness, cuprous oxide particles and pores on the mechanical properties and micro structure of an alumina-copper eutectic bond have been investigated. The furnace, atmosphere in the. first stage was argon gas with 2 × 10-6 atm oxygen partial pressure. In the second stage, the. furnace atmosphere was the. same as the first stage except that the cooling interval was between 900-100l°C and the hydrogen gas was injected into the. furnace, atmosphere. Finally, in the last stage, a vacuum furnace with 5 × 10-8 atra pressure was chosen for the bonding procedure. The peel strength of first stage specimens shows that a, cupric oxide layer with 320 ± 25 ran... 

The influences of CuO layer thickness, Cu2O particles, and pores on mechanical properties and microstructure of alumina-copper eutectic bond have been investigated. The furnace atmosphere in the first stage was argon gas with 2 × 10-6 atm oxygen partial pressure. In the second stage, the furnace atmosphere was same as the first stage except for the cooling interval between 900 and 1000 °C, the hydrogen gas was injected into furnace atmosphere. Finally, in the last stage a vacuum furnace with 5 × 10-8 atm pressure was chosen for bonding procedure. Peel strength of first stage specimens shows that CuO layer with 320 ± 25 nm thick generates the maximum peel strength (13.1 ± 0.3 kg/cm) in joint... 

The influences of cupric oxide layer thickness, cuprous oxide particles, and pores on mechanical properties and microstructure of alumina-copper eutectic bond have been investigated. The furnace atmosphere in the first stage was argon gas with 2 × 10-6 atm oxygen partial pressure. In the second stage, the furnace atmosphere was same as the first stage unless that in cooling between 900-1000 °C, the hydrogen gas was purged in furnace atmosphere. Finally, in the last stage a vacuum furnace with 5 × 10 -8 atm pressure was chosen for bonding procedure. Peel strength of first stage specimens shows that cupric oxide layer with 320 ± 25 nm thick generates the maximum peel strength (13.1 ± 0.3... 

The aim of this study is to quantify the water-energy-emissions nexus in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). At first, energy auditing is done for two real WWTPs to find out the energy consumption of different plant stages and the energy-saving potentials. The power plant and carbon capture units are taken into account to assess the energy-emission nexus based on emergy flows. Then, the emergy analysis is applied to evaluate the environmental, economic and technical aspects. An emergy performance index (EmIGHG) is presented by the means of emergy flow diagram of the WWTP beside a power plant (considering the electricity production emergy cost) and carbon capture unit (considering the CO2... 

In the field of energy storage by high-rate supercapacitors, there has been an upper limit for the total interfacial capacitance of carbon-based materials. This upper limit originates from both quantum and electric double-layer capacitances. Surpassing this limit has been the focus of intense research in this field. Here, we precisely investigate the effect of chemical functional groups and physical confinement on the electrochemical performance of graphene nanoribbons. We present the results of a quasi-one-dimensional single-layer graphene nanoribbon (120 nm in width and -100 μm in length) microelectrode fabricated by mechanical exfoliation of graphite, followed by electron beam lithography... 

Correlations between electrical and thermal conduction in polymer composites are blurred due to the complex contribution of charge and heat carriers at the nanoscale junctions of filler particles. Conflicting reports on the lack or existence of thermal percolation in polymer composites have made it the subject of great controversy for decades. Here, we develop a generalized percolation framework that describes both electrical and thermal conductivity within a remarkably wide range of filler-to-matrix conductivity ratios (Y f / Y m), covering 20 orders of magnitude. Our unified theory provides a genuine classification of electrical conductivity with typical Y f / Y m ≥ 10 10 as... 

This paper reports a hybrid intelligent controller for application in single axis MEMS vibratory gyroscopes. First, unknown parameters of a micro gyroscope including unknown time varying angular velocity are estimated online via normalized continuous time least mean squares algorithm. Then, an additional interval type-2 fuzzy sliding mode control is incorporated in order to match the resonant frequencies and to compensate for undesired mechanical couplings. The main advantage of this control strategy is its robustness to parameters uncertainty, external disturbance and measurement noise. Consistent estimation of parameters is guaranteed and stability of the closed-loop system is proved via... 

This paper reports a hybrid intelligent controller for application in single axis MEMS vibratory gyroscopes. First, unknown parameters of a micro gyroscope including unknown time varying angular velocity are estimated online via normalized continuous time least mean squares algorithm. Then, an additional interval type-2 fuzzy sliding mode control is incorporated in order to match the resonant frequencies and to compensate for undesired mechanical couplings. The main advantage of this control strategy is its robustness to parameters uncertainty, external disturbance and measurement noise. Consistent estimation of parameters is guaranteed and stability of the closed-loop system is proved via... 

TiO2 thin films containing different concentrations of Ag nanoparticles have been synthesized by sol-gel method. According to UV-visible spectra, presence of an intense surface plasmon resonance peak at 490 nm of wavelength indicated formation of silver nanoparticles in the TiO2 films. Based on atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, the surface roughness and the effective surface ratio increased by increasing the Ag mol%. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed formation of Ag nanoparticles on the surface for the samples containing high Ag concentration. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed that the size of Ag nanocrystals increased by increasing the Ag content in... 

In this study a new method is proposed for quantification of cardiac muscle motions in echocardiography frames based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and manifold learning method. EMD algorithm is able to extract intrinsic mode functions (IMF) from a signal. In the first bi-dimension intrinsic mode functions (BIMF) of echocardiography frames myocardial is shown with more details than the second BIMF and the second BIMF shows more details than the third BIMF. By using manifold learning method, quantification difference between each pair of consecutive frames in the first, second and third BIMF series (similarities between the frames were extracted). Acquired trajectories of three... 

WO3 thin film photoanodes containing different concentrations of Ag nanoparticles were synthesized by solegel method. Based on UV-visible spectra, presence of a surface plasmon resonance peak at 470 nm of wavelength indicated formation of silver nanoparticles in the WO3 films. According to atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis, the highest value for surface roughness and the effective surface ratio was observed for the sample containing 2 mol% of Ag. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed that WO 3 nanocrystalline structure was formed in the monoclinic phase with the average size of about 18.2 nm while Ag nanocrystals were determined in cubic phase. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)... 

Various physical and biological aspects of the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) structure still remain unfolded. Therefore, among the several mechanisms of drug delivery, only a few have succeeded in breaching this barrier, one of which is the use of Magnetic Nanoparticles (MNPs). However, a quantitative characterization of the BBB permeability is desirable to find an optimal magnetic force-field. In the present study, a molecular model of the BBB is introduced that precisely represents the interactions between MNPs and the membranes of Endothelial Cells (ECs) that form the BBB. Steered Molecular Dynamics (SMD) simulations of the BBB crossing phenomenon have been carried out. Mathematical modeling...