Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, the time-varying auto regressive moving average (ARMA) process is used as a simple yet efficient method for simulating earthquake ground motions. This model is capable of reproducing the nonstationary amplitude as well as the frequency content of the earthquake ground accelerations. The moving time-window technique is used to estimate the time variation of the model parameters from the actual earthquake records. The method is applied to synthesize the near field earthquakes, Naghan 1977, Tabas 1978, and Manjil 1990 recorded on dense soils in Iran, as well as the Mexico City 1985 earthquake recorded on a site with soft soil. It is shown that the selected ARMA (2,1) model and... 

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of phosphate solution with Ca2+ additives on weight, surface morphology and electrochemical behavior of phosphated Zn-Ni film. In order to characterize structure and morphology of surface, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied, respectively. Results showed that the main composition in produced coatings was hopeite Zn3(PO4)2·4H2O, which has high corrosion resistance. On one hand, in the presence of Ca2+ cations in solution, the weight of phosphate coating decreased, but on the other hand surface uniformity and corrosion resistance of the coating increased  

The current study is aimed at comparison of adsorption behaviors of silica-supported Cu nanoparticles (Si-N-Cu) and micrometric copper powder (Mi-Cu) for uptake of iodine vapor. The Si-N-Cu was synthesized by the decomposition of aqueous Cu(NO3)2 solution at supercritical condition, followed by reduction of the sample by H 2-N2 mixture. The Si-N-Cu sample with 29.4 nm Cu particles adsorbed 95% of I2 at partial pressure 10-5 bar in 1 h, while the 1 μm Mi-Cu adsorbed 51% of iodine in 6 h, indicating higher yield and faster kinetics of the nanometric sample. Theoretical analysis revealed the existence of a strong thermodynamic size effect in the Cu-I2 reaction system, so that molar |ΔG| for 2... 

In this paper, the airflow field including the velocity, pressure and turbulence intensity distributions during sneezing of a female subject was simulated using a computational fluid dynamics model of realistic upper airways including both oral and nasal cavities. The effects of variation of reaction of the subject during sneezing were also investigated. That is, the impacts of holding the nose or closing the mouth during sneezing on the pressure and velocity distributions were studied. Few works have studied the sneeze and therefore different aspects of this phenomenon have remained unknown. To cover more possibilities about the inlet condition of trachea in different sneeze scenarios, it... 

This paper presents a designed system for measuring three dimensions (height, width and length) of steel billets during molding process. The system has been equipped with a GigaEthernet camera and an industrial computer (IPC). The billet is moved in front of the inspection system with an external moving mechanism. Image processing techniques and calibration are used to measure dimensions from the succeeding single view images. ©2006 IEEE  

The energy system is one of the major sub-sectors of the economy in every society in which both supply with high reliability and compatibility of the energy sector with the environment is a necessity in the process of economic reconstruction and sustainable development. The energy system has been more susceptible to various disruptive events in recent years. Thus, designing a resilient energy system capable of resisting and recovering rapidly from high-impact low-probability (HILP) disruptive events is essential. This paper focuses on developing a two-stage long-term optimization framework for evaluating the energy system resilience as a crucial Critical Infrastructure (CI) system against... 

Thorium dioxide (thoria) nano-particle was synthesized by employing supercritical water (SCW) as an excellent reaction environment for hydrothermal crystallization of metal oxide particles. This method is ideal for production of ultrafine powder having controlled stoichiometry, high quality, purity and crystallinity. The nano-crystalline thoria was prepared in a stainless steel (316 L) autoclave, fed with an aqueous solution of Th(NO 3) 4.5H 2O as a reactant and took place under SCW condition up to 450 °C for 45 min. The product was recovered and characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermal Gravimetry Analysis (TG/DTA) and Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) surface area analysis. The... 

We revisit the mathematical formulation of the famous Jaynes-Cummings-Paul Hamiltonian, which describes the interaction of a two-level atom with a single mode of an electromagnetic cavity reservoir. We rigorously show that under the condition of ultrastrong coupling between the atom and cavity in which the transition frequency is comparable to the coupling frequency, the bosonic field operators undergo non-sinusoidal time variations. As a result, the well-known solutions to the Jaynes-Cummings-Paul model are no longer valid, even when the rotating wave approximation is not used. We show how a correct mathematical solution could be found instead  

Fast, accurate and efficient sensing is of important aspects in cognitive radio technology. A new sensing circuit is proposed using a phase frequency detector for cognitive radio applications. Using this method, spectral sensing can be done in a very short time by a low cost, low power circuit, compared with available implemented methods. The PFD circuit resolves different frequencies without the need of variable filter bandwidth or the banks of filters. Also it accelerates sensing procedure because of short time needed to detect the signal. Simulations show the accurate operation of this method and comparison with other methods shows faster sweep rates  

In this paper, a mechanism for fabrication of nanostructured hydroxyapatite coating on TiO2 nanotubes is presented. Also, the physical, biological, and nanomechanical properties of the anodized Ti6Al4V alloy consisting TiO2 nanotubes, electrodeposited hydroxyapatite, and the hydroxyapatite/TiO2 nanotubes double layer coating on Ti6Al4V alloy implants are compared. Mean cell viability of the samples being 84.63 % for uncoated plate, 91.53 % for electrodeposited hydroxyapatite, and 94.98 % for hydroxyapatite/TiO2 nanotubes coated sample were in the acceptable range. Merely anodized prototype had the highest biocompatibility of 110 % with respect to the control sample. Bonding strength of... 

Fast, accurate and efficient sensing is of important aspects in cognitive radio technology. We propose a simple, practical design for two-dimensional sensing in spectral and spatial domain. In fact detection and localization of signal are done in a wide band elliptical array. Two sets of phase differences help to fast calculation of frequency and angle of arrival. We study the constraints, advantages and accuracy of the method. ©2009 IEEE  

An experimental study on the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) is performed for water annular flow to provide a systematic database for low pressure and velocity conditions. A parametric study has been conducted to investigate the effect of pressure, inlet subcooling, heat and mass flux on flow boiling. The test section includes a Pyrex tube with 21 mm inner diameter and a stainless steel (SS-304) rod with outer diameter of 6 mm. Pressure, heat and mass flux are in the range of 1.73 < P < 3.82 bar, 40 < q < 450 kW/m2 and 70 < G < 620 kg/m2 s, respectively. The results illustrate that inception heat flux is extremely dependent on pressure, inlet subcooling temperature and mass flux; for example... 

Overall turbine analysis requires large CPU time and computer memory, even in the present days. As a result, choosing an appropriate computational domain accompanied by a suitable boundary condition can dramatically reduce the time cost of computations. This work compares different geometries for numerical investigation of the 3D flow in the runner of a Francis turbine, and presents an optimum geometry with least computational effort and desirable numerical accuracy. The numerical results are validated with a GAMM Francis Turbine runner, which was used as a test case (GAMM workshop on 3D computation of incompressible internal flows, 1989) in which the geometry and detailed best efficiency... 

The efficient planning of search and rescue (SAR) operations is highly impactful in the disaster response phase, which offers a limited time window with a declining chance for saving trapped people. The present paper introduces a new robust decision support framework for planning SAR resource deployment in post-disaster districts. A two-stage decomposition approach is applied to formulate the problem as iterative interrelated stages of mixed-integer programming (MIP) models. The first stage presents a robust multi-period allocation model for maximizing fair and effective demand coverage in the affected districts during the entire planning horizon. It takes into account the time-sensitiveness... 

In our previous report (J. Phys. Org. Chem., 2017), we discussed the dual behavior of gold nanocluster (Au3 NC), where it scavenged reactive oxygen species (ROS) while promoted their generation to a lesser extent. Continuing this quest, we investigate the effects of Au3 NC on common reactive nitrogen species (RNS: O=N˙ and O=N-O) and their precursors (O=N-H and O=N-O-H, respectively), at B3LYP/LACVP+* level of theory. We compare the results with those of prevalent ROS (H-O˙ and H-O-O˙) and their precursors (H-O-H and H-O-O-H, respectively). To this end, various parameters are probed such as binding energy (Eb), bond dissociation energy (BDE), bond lengths, Mullikan spin density (MSD),... 

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Road traffic noise is a matter of challenge for both people and policymakers. For instance, the price of lands/houses which are close to road traffic noise is reduced. The key objective of this study is to propose a conceptual model to illustrate details of a road traffic noise model along with its policy and societal relevance. The second objective is to consider the honking of horns in such a conceptual model, as honking is a remarkable traffic noise factor, however, it has been neglected in some noise abatement policies. METHODS: By the use of previously proposed traffic noise models, some attempts were made to figure out how the models were applicable in... 

The efficient planning of search and rescue (SAR) operations is highly impactful in the disaster response phase, which offers a limited time window with a declining chance for saving trapped people. The present paper introduces a new robust decision support framework for planning SAR resource deployment in post-disaster districts. A two-stage decomposition approach is applied to formulate the problem as iterative interrelated stages of mixed-integer programming (MIP) models. The first stage presents a robust multi-period allocation model for maximizing fair and effective demand coverage in the affected districts during the entire planning horizon. It takes into account the time-sensitiveness... 

The use of energy storage systems (ESS) and distributed generators (DGs) to improve reliability is one of the solutions that has received much attention from researchers today. In this study, we utilize a multi-objective optimization method for optimal planning of distributed generators in electric distribution networks from the perspective of multi-objective optimization. The objective is to improve the reliability of the network while reducing the annual cost and network losses. A modified version of the multi-objective sine–cosine algorithm is used to determine the optimal size, location, and type of DGs and the optimal capacity, location, and operation strategy of the ESS. Three case... 

In this paper we demonstrate a dynamical system simulator that runs on a single GPU. The model (running on an NVIDIA GT325M with 1GB of memory) is up to 50 times faster than a CPU version when more than 10 million adaptive Hopf oscillators have been simulated. The simulation shows that the oscillators tune to the correct frequencies for both discrete and continuous spectra. Due to its dynamic nature the system is also capable to track non-stationary spectra. With the help of this model the frequency spectrum of an ECG signal (as a non-stationary signal) obtained and was showed that frequency domain representation of signal (i.e. FFT) is the same as one MATLAB generates  

In the 21st century, the world population is growing at a spiraling pace. Much of this growth is occurring in developing countries, where access to food, sanitary water, education, and health is severely limited. The ever-increasing urbanization highlighted the need for sustainable development based on human-environment interaction. The excessive and unplanned expansion of cities has resulted in numerous environmental predicaments due to clearly emphasized economic issues at the expense of social and environmental concerns. The most significant features of megacities are indicated in this paper and the environmental, social, physical, and economic criteria are addressed in order to attain...