Sharif Digital Repository

The multiuser performance of two kinds of ultra-wideband (UWB) systems, namely, multi-carrier frequency-hopping-UWB and time-hopping-UWB, is evaluated. We derive the bit error rate of these systems in both AWGN and fading channels. Our numerical results show that the TH-UWB system always outperforms the MC-FH-UWB system with non-coherent detection. However, the MC-FH-UWB system with coherent detection presents a better performance than TH-UWB in a very few cases. Then, we use a practical low-rate convolutional error correcting code, which does not require any extra bandwidth further than that needed by the uncoded scheme, to improve the system performance. The results show that the coded... 

In this paper, the multiuser performance of a multicarrier frequency-hopping (MC-FH)CDMA system employing non-coherent detection is evaluated. We derive the bit error rate of the system for both uncoded and coded systems in AWGN and slowly frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel, based on Gaussian distribution assumption for the decision variable. We use a practical low-rate convolutional error correcting code, which does not require any extra bandwidth further than what is needed by the uncoded scheme. Our numerical results indicate that the coded scheme significantly outperforms the uncoded scheme in both AWGN and fading channels. Furthermore, it is observed that the performance... 

In this paper, we evaluate and compare the multiuser performance of the Fast Frequency-Hopping (FFH) and the MultiCarrier slow Frequency-Hopping (MC-FH) systems employing non-coherent detection for both uncoded and coded schemes in AWGN and slowly frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels, based on Gaussian distribution assumption for the decision variable. Our numerical resulte indicate that with non-coherent detection, both systems show the same performance. However, the MC-FH system can be easily implemented using FFT algorithm. Furthermore with a slow hopping rate and high number of carriers, a coherent detection for the MC-FH system is feasible. Our results will indicate that the... 

In this paper, we evaluate and compare the multiuser performance of the multicarrier frequency-hopping (MCFH) CDMA system using coherent and non-coherent detections in AWGN and slowly frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channels in a downlink application. For fair comparison, we use BFSK modulation for both cases. Our numerical results indicate that in both AWGN and fading channels, the coherent detection sub-stantially outperforms the non-coherent detection. Furthermore, it has been realized that the performance enhancement due to the diversity order is only observable for coherent detection  

In this study, the fatigue behavior of composite reinforced cracked aluminum 1050 plates is investigated experimentally and numerically. The tests are conducted in four different stress ratios between 0 and 1. At first step, plates with similar cracks and geometries have been prepared. Then the glass/epoxy patches have been attached to the cracked plates using Araldite 2015 adhesive. Fatigue load has been applied to three cases of samples including non-patch, one-side patch and two-side patch, where in all stress ratios the maximum force is considered constant. A three-dimensional finite element analysis is developed in ABAQUS. A good correlation between finite element results and the... 

Noise analysis techniques including Feynman-α (variance-to-mean) and Rossi-α (correlation) have been simulated by MCNP computer code to calculate the prompt neutron decay constant (α0), effective delayed neutron fraction (βeff) and neutron generation time (Λ) in a subcritical condition for the first operating core configuration of Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). The reactor core is considered to be in zero power (reactor power is less than 1 W) in the entire simulation process. The effect of some key parameters such as detector efficiency, detector position and its dead time on the results of simulation has been discussed as well. The results of proposed method in the current study are... 

In this paper, we address a basic production planning problem with price dependent demand and stochastic yield of production. We use price and target quantity as decision variables to lower the risk of low yield. The value of risk control becomes more important especially for products with short life cycle. This is because, the profit implications of low yield might be unbearable in the short run. We apply Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) to model the risk. CVaR measure is a coherent risk measure and thereby having nice conceptual and mathematical underpinnings. It is also widely used in practice. We consider the problem under general demand function and general distribution function of... 

Bathymetric mapping for an accurate estimation of stored water volume in drying lakes is a key information for an effective monitoring of their recession or restoration status. Extraction of bathymetry in shallow saline lakes using remote sensing techniques has always been challenging due to the complex influences imposed by the physical properties of substrate and the spatial variability of salinity. In this study, we developed a machine learning-based model to quantify the implicit, non-linear relationship between water depth and surface reflectance by leveraging extensive in-situ data and high-resolution satellite imagery. We trained and tested the learning model in the hyper-saline Lake... 

The hospital location and service allocation is one of the most important aspects of healthcare systems. Due to lack of studies on covering location-allocation and scheduling problems with respect to the uncertain budget, this paper develops a bi-objective hybrid model to locate hospitals and allocate machines and services scheduled. The costs of establishing facilities are assumed to be uncertain, while a robust counterpart model is employed to overcome the uncertainty. Covering the demand of each service is limited as well. Moreover, hospitals have a limited space to the specialized equipment like CT scan and MRI machines, while there is a cost constraint on hospitals and the specialized... 

Heavy damages on structures caused by near field earthquakes in recent years has brought serious attention to this problem. An examination of previous records has shown significant differences for near field earthquakes, including a large energy pulse, unlike far field earthquakes. But as a general rule, the effects of near field earthquakes have been ignored in most building codes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of near field earthquakes on reinforced concrete (RC) moment frames. To achieve this goal, the Erduran damage index, an efficient way to calculate damage, was employed to analyze two 4- and 8-story RC moment frame buildings. The buildings with moderate and... 

Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites have been observed to demonstrate enhanced mechanical properties particularly at low weight fractions of silicate. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that numerous structural parameters strongly influence the modulus of such nanocomposites. A multiscale micromechanical model is developed which considers a wide range of different affecting parameters including the particle aspect ratio, the number of silicate layers per stack, the d-spacing ratio between the layers, the penetration of polymer chains along silicate sheets, the intercalation feature, and the particle volume fraction. The developed model illustrates the accuracy and... 

The hospital location and service allocation is one of the most important aspects of healthcare systems. Due to lack of studies on covering location-allocation and scheduling problems with respect to the uncertain budget, this paper develops a bi-objective hybrid model to locate hospitals and allocate machines and services scheduled. The costs of establishing facilities are assumed to be uncertain, while a robust counterpart model is employed to overcome the uncertainty. Covering the demand of each service is limited as well. Moreover, hospitals have a limited space to the specialized equipment like CT scan and MRI machines, while there is a cost constraint on hospitals and the specialized... 

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) was produced from castor oil using washed cells of Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1058 and Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC1745 as the catalyst. Under the optimal reaction conditions, the washed cells of Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC1058 produced 1661.26 mg of CLA/L reaction mixture (36% yield of production) from 4.6 mg/ml of castor oil after using 15% (w/v) cell for 121 h. The resulting CLA was a mixture of two CLA isomers, cis-9, trans-11 (or trans-9, cis-11)-octadecadienoic acid (CLA1, 44% of total CLA) and trans-10, cis-12-octadecadienoic acid (CLA2, 46% of total CLA). The total production of CLA is extracellular in all of the reactions performed... 

This paper develops a stochastic multi-period mixed-integer model for collection, production, storage, and distribution of platelet in Blood Transfusion Organizations ranging from blood collection centers to clinical points. In this model, the age of platelet and ABO-Rh priority matching rules are incorporated based on the type of patient to raise the quality and safety of platelet transfusion services. At first, a discrete Markov Chain Process is applied to predict the number of donors. Afterwards, the uncertain demand is captured using a two-stage stochastic programming. A challenging aspect of applying stochastic programming in a dynamic setting is to construct an appropriate set of... 

In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical model is developed to analyze flow characteristics of pressure driven, electroosmotic and combined pressure driven-electroosmotic flows through micro-channels. The governing system of equations consists of the electric-field and flow-field equations. The solution procedure involves three steps. The net charge distribution on the cross section of the microchannel is computed by solving two-dimensional Poisson-Boltzmann equation using the finite element method. Then, using the computed fluid's charge distribution, the magnitude of the resulting body force due to interaction of an external electric field with the charged fluid is calculated along the... 

In this paper, a two-component Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) has been utilized to simulate the natural convection of TiO2-water nanofluid in a curved geometry. The main purpose of this research is to study the effect of nanoparticle size and also boundary conditions on the thermal characteristics of the nanofluid. Furthermore, the effect of Rayleigh number (Ra) and volume fraction of nanoparticles (ϕ) on the average Nusselt number (Nuave) have been investigated. Two different thermal boundary conditions, namely adiabatic and constant temperature, have been considered in the current work for the curved boundaries. The Rayleigh number varies from 103 to 109. Four different sizes, namely 10,... 

This article proposes a novel index along with a user-friendly platform for resilience evaluation of the urban water distribution networks (WDN). WDN is of great importance in preserving the safety and sustainability of communities and cities. Resilience of a given system results in its sustainability. In recent years, many studies have focused on resilient urban WDN. However, these studies did not provide a comprehensive evaluation index and platform that could simultaneously consider hydraulic analysis, resilience parameters, and significant uncertainties. In this study, a novel resilience index was defined, and a user-friendly and practical platform (REWAT) was developed to calculate the... 

In this paper, we present the bit error probability (BEP) of a relay network employing UWB links between its nodes. Since UWB systems can resolve many paths and are thus rich in multipath diversity, the use of the Rake diversity combining is very effective. However, because of the complexity, it is impractical in the scenarios with portable terminals or in the networks with multiple relays. Time-reversal technique, in which the transmitting nodes can do the pre-diversity filtering of UWB signal before transmission, is known as an approach to achieve the performance equivalent to the Rake combining without increasing the receiver complexity. The performance of such a network with simple... 

The electrokinetic phenomena at high zeta potentials may show several unique features which are not normally observed. One of these features is the ionic size (steric) effect associated with the solutions of high ionic concentration. In the present work, attention is given to the influences of finite ionic size on the cross stream diffusion process in an electrokinetically actuated Y-shaped micromixer. The method consists of a finite difference based numerical approach for non-uniform grid which is applied to the dimensionless form of the governing equations, including the modified Poisson-Boltzmann equation. The results reveal that, neglecting the ionic size at high zeta potentials gives... 

Some of electrokinetic-based biomicrofluidic devices work at zeta potentials that are sufficiently high for ionic size (steric) effects to show up. In the present effort, consideration is given to the steric effects on the hydrodynamics of electroosmotic flow in a rectangular microchannel. The distinction between this research and the previous ones is that we account for non-linear rheology of the fluids encountered in biomicrofluidic systems by means of the power-law viscosity model. The method of analysis consists of a finite-difference-based numerical procedure for a non-uniform distribution of grid points, which is applied to the dimensionless form of the governing equations including...