Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, a new diffusion mechanism called "double cross-phase diffusion"is introduced and applied to simulate the non-equilibrium gas injection process into fractured rocks. This new mechanism represents additional multicomponent gas diffusion into the crude oil through the water phase, existing in porous media as initial water saturation. Therefore, a lab-scale simulator, by implementing the generalized Fick's law of multicomponent diffusion, is developed and used for predicting the experimental data of oil recovery during CO2 injection in chalk fractured rocks in the presence of initial water saturation. The results revealed a significant difference in the oil recovery predicted... 

Preventing asphaltene aggregation is one of the most severe technical challenges facing the oil industry in all stages, from extraction to transportation and refining. Alkylphenols are known as one of the most effective inhibitors of asphaltene aggregation, but the self-association through H-bonding, as well as the lack of proper interaction with asphaltene molecules (with low heteroatom), are the main disadvantages that limit their use. Using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in a mixture of different asphaltene structures, the performance of 2,6-di-tert-butylnaphthalene in improving the inhibitory effect of octylphenol (as a non-ionic surfactant) is investigated. The proposed compound... 

The need for privacy makes data centers not provide their datasets to inference centers. On the other hand, inference centers need more data to train learning algorithms and provide suitable and acceptable services. Therefore, the existence of a structure that can keep the data confidential while maintaining its usefulness for utility providers is of great importance. In this paper, by modifying the structure of the auto encoder, a method is presented that manages the trade-off between utility and privacy. Moreover, the performance of the proposed method has been evaluated by simulation. © 2023 IEEE  

Inference centers need more data to have a more comprehensive and beneficial learning model, and for this purpose, they need to collect data from data providers. On the other hand, data providers are cautious about delivering their datasets to inference centers in terms of privacy considerations. In this paper, by modifying the structure of the autoencoder, we present a method that manages the utility-privacy trade-off well. To be more precise, the data is first compressed using the encoder, then confidential and non-confidential features are separated and uncorrelated using the classifier. The confidential feature is appropriately combined with noise, and the non-confidential feature is... 

Infill walls are realized to affect the nonlinear response of infilled frames. Yet, due to modeling and analysis complexities, infill walls are usually neglected in the modeling and analysis phase. In this paper, the nonlinear behavior of infilled steel braced frames is investigated using the Endurance Time (ET) method. The ET method is a novel and straightforward approach for the nonlinear analysis of structures under dynamic excitations. Two 2D braced frames, one concentrically braced frame and one eccentrically braced frame, with unreinforced masonry clay brick walls as infills, are considered. The infill panels are macro-modeled using equivalent compressive struts, with appropriate... 

Pulsating heat pipes are complex heat transfer devices, and their optimum thermal performance is largely dependent on different parameters. In this paper, in order to investigate these parameters, first a closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) was designed and manufactured. The CLPHP was made of copper tubes with internal diameters of 1.8 mm. The lengths of the evaporator, adiabatic, and condenser sections were 60, 150, and 60 mm, respectively. Afterward, the effect of various parameters, including the working fluid (water and ethanol), the volumetric filling ratio (30%, 40%, 50%, 70%, 80%), and the input heat power (5 to 70 W), on the thermal performance of the CLPHP was investigated... 

The steady 2-D boundary layer flow over a flat plate is studied analytically by homotopy perturbation method to analyze the entropy generation inside the boundary layer with constant wall temperature. By the transformations of go-verning equations including continuity, momentum, and energy by similarity va-riables, a dimensionless equation for entropy generation inside the boundary layer is obtained. The effects of important parameters such as Reynolds and Eck-ert numbers are investigated and the physical interpretations of the results are explained in details  

The Latian dam reservoir is one of the most important drinking water sources for Tehran, Iran. Nitrate is a major water quality problem in this reservoir. The Jajrood River, the most important water source for the reservoir, discharges large amounts of nutrients to it every year including high levels of nitrate, a pollutant of particular concern. This study presents the results obtained from simulating different point source and nonpoint source impacts on the fate and transport of nitrate in the 470 km2 Jajrood watershed using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model version 2000 (SWAT2000). The SWAT model was calibrated and validated over an extended time period (1997-2005) for this... 

The Jajrood River watershed is on of the main drinking water resurces of Tehran, the capital city of Iran. In addition it provides many recreational usages. However, a variety of microbial pollutions is commonly perecived in the Jajrood River, among them a high concentration of coliform group bacteria that has caused strong concerns. In this article, different aspects of microbial pollution as well as the main microbial pollution sources in the region are discussed. Coliform group bacterial die-off rates have been evaluated as the key parameters that govern bacterial fate in the watershed and were estimated using both laboratory and field data investigations. The high values of the bacterial... 

Background: Early prediction of symptoms and mortality risks for COVID-19 patients would improve healthcare outcomes, allow for the appropriate distribution of healthcare resources, reduce healthcare costs, aid in vaccine prioritization and self-isolation strategies, and thus reduce the prevalence of the disease. Such publicly accessible prediction models are lacking, however. Methods: Based on a comprehensive evaluation of existing machine learning (ML) methods, we created two models based solely on the age, gender, and medical histories of 23,749 hospital-confirmed COVID-19 patients from February to September 2020: a symptom prediction model (SPM) and a mortality prediction model (MPM).... 

Rationale: Given the expanding number of COVID-19 cases and the potential for new waves of infection, there is an urgent need for early prediction of the severity of the disease in intensive care unit (ICU) patients to optimize treatment strategies. Objectives: Early prediction of mortality using machine learning based on typical laboratory results and clinical data registered on the day of ICU admission. Methods: We retrospectively studied 797 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in Iran and the United Kingdom (U.K.). To find parameters with the highest predictive values, Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Pearson chi-squared tests were used. Several machine learning algorithms, including Random Forest... 

Reaction of the known cycloplatinated (II) complexes [PtAr(C^N)(SMe2)], in which Ar=p–MeC6H4 or p–MeOC6H4 and C^N= 2-phenylpyridinate (ppy) or benzo[h]quinolinate (bhq), with 0.5 equivalent of the bidentate phosphine ligand 1,1′–bis(diphenylphosphino)acetylene, dppac, in acetone at room temperature gave the symmetrical binuclear cycloplatinated(II) complexes [Pt2Ar2(C^N)2(μ–dppac)], 1–4, in which dppac acts as a bridging bidentate ligand. All the complexes were fully characterized using multinuclear (1H, 31P and 195Pt) NMR spectroscopy and the complex [Pt2(p–MeC6H4)2(ppy)2(μ–dppac)], 1, was further identified by single crystal X-ray structure determination. Additional information about the... 

The current study aims to assess the influence of EPS beads inclusion on the strength properties of stabilized poorly-graded sands. Various contents of zeolite and cement as stabilizing agents, with the total amounts of 4, 8, and 12% by dry soil weight, and also 0, 0.25, and 0.5% weight ratios of EPS beads (η) are examined. Zeolite is opted among a variety of pozzolanic materials so as to replace a part of cement (0, 10, 30, 50, 70, and 90%) due to its superior environmentally friendly properties. The stress–strain behavior, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), peak strain energy (Eu), and California bearing capacity (CBR) of the zeolite and cement-treated sand-EPS beads mixtures are... 

Motor abundance allows reliability of motor performance despite its variability. The nature of this variability provides important information on the flexibility of control strategies. This feature of control may be affected by low back pain (LPB) and trunk flexion/extension conditions. Goal equivalent manifold (GEM) analysis was used to quantify the ability to exploit motor abundance during repeated trunk flexion/extension in healthy individuals and people with chronic non-specific LBP (CNSLBP). Kinematic data were collected from 22 healthy volunteers and 22 CNSLBP patients during metronomically timed, repeated trunk flexion/extension in three conditions of symmetry, velocity, and loading;... 

Gas condensate production using technology of multi-stage hydraulically fracturing in shale gas condensate reservoirs' horizontal wells is a new topic of unconventional resources studies. Thus, shale gas condensate as a new source of energy can be considered as an important issue for development and further studies. In this work, a semi-analytical solution of gas and oil two-phase flow is presented for pressure transient analysis (PTA) and rate transient analysis (RTA) of a shale gas condensate reservoir's production data. Fluid flow assumption here is flow in a pseudo triple-porosity porous media, which are matrix, natural fractures and adsorbed gas. Adsorbed gas is a form of gas in porous... 

Human body is constantly under the influence of acceleration loads in environments such as combat flying. This study investigates the effect of body acceleration on human heart function by using finite element analysis. The nonlinear mechanical behavior of myocardium is modeled by Yeoh hyperelastic model. Stress-strain curves of myocardium are determined based on uniaxial compression tests on bovine heart samples. Nonlinear least square curve fitting is conducted in order to obtain material parameters. Heart geometrical modeling in threedimension is done by segmentation of cardiac MRI images. Obtained material coefficients are assigned to the constructed heart model and appropriate pressure... 

This study investigates the effect of body acceleration on human cardiac function. Finite element analysis is conducted to simulate geometrical and mechanical properties of human heart. Heart geometrical modeling in three-dimension is performed by segmentation of cardiac MRI images. The nonlinear mechanical behavior of myocardium is modeled by Mooney-Rivlin, Polynomial, Ogden and Yeoh hyperelastic material models. Stress-strain curves of myocardial tissue are obtained from experimental compression tests on bovine heart samples. The experimental results are employed for the evaluation of material coefficients by the nonlinear least squares method. Among hyperelastic models, the Yeoh model... 

We propose a new coded cooperation scheme for wireless communications to obtain transmit diversity in the scenarios that agents such as mobile handsets, sensor network nodes and etc., due to size, power or other constraints, cannot utilize multiple antennas. New scheme supports more than two cooperative users with a relatively low cooperation level. We evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme in a frequency nonselective slow fading channel. For two cooperative users, we provide the exact analytical analysis. However, for more than two users, as the analytical analysis is very complicated, our performance evaluation is based on computer simulations. Our numerical results show that each... 

In this paper, we present two physical layer cooperative protocols for heterogeneous sensor networks. There is one cooperator near the transmitter and a second cooperator (as a relay) near the receiver. Although the focus is on heterogeneous sensor networks, the methods can be applied to homogeneous sensor networks as well. Analytical and simulation results show that, under an additive white Gaussian noise channel assumption for the links between the transmitter and its partner and between the receiver and its partner, the proposed protocols achieve a diversity order of three or four by using the amplify-and-forward cooperation strategy and maximal ratio combining in the receiver. In... 

To enhance the accuracy of learning models, it becomes imperative to train them on more extensive datasets. Unfortunately, access to such data is often restricted because data providers are hesitant to share their data due to privacy concerns. Hence, it is critical to develop obfuscation techniques that empower data providers to transform their datasets into new ones that ensure the desired level of privacy. In this paper, we present an approach where data providers utilize a neural network based on the autoencoder architecture to safeguard the sensitive components of their data while preserving the utility of the remaining parts. More specifically, within the autoencoder framework and after...