Sharif Digital Repository

This paper proposes an approach to enhance the reliability regulation based on the relative performance. In the proposed approach, the distribution system feeders are clustered based on the parameters, which cannot be controlled by distribution companies. Afterward, a reliability incentive regulation is applied to each cluster so that the performance of each feeder is compared to its counterparts in the same cluster. The quality regulation is designed based on the reward-penalty mechanism, which penalizes feeders whose performance is worse than a benchmark and rewards those providing a performance higher than the benchmark. Then, the reward and penalty associated to the electric distribution... 

Pharmaceutical pollutants, such as gastrointestinal drugs, pose a significant environmental concern due to their widespread use and potential adverse effects on ecosystems. Insights obtained from computational simulations yielded a more profound grasp of the adsorption mechanism. This study investigated the pH-sensitive adsorption characteristics of two commonly used gastrointestinal drugs, famotidine (FA) and pantoprazole (PA), as pharmaceutical pollutants. The adsorption process was studied using a computational modelling approach, focusing on the Au-doped@ZIF-90-glycerol adsorbent (A@Z/G) as a pivotal adsorbent. This adsorbent demonstrated remarkable adsorption capabilities for both FA... 

Graphene nanoplatelets with different oxidation degrees, from low polar few-layer graphene (FLG) to high polar graphene oxide (GO) in the same current and concentration of the oxidizing agent in low concentrated electrolytes ((NH4)2SO4, Sodium Do-decyl Sulfate (SDS), and HNO3) are prepared through a one-step and cost-effective electrochemical synthesis route to find the effect of electrolyte on the surface polarity of powders. In order to use a wide variety of electrolytes, basic, neutral, and acidic electrolytes in a concentration as low as 0.2 M are used. Exfoliated graphene nanoplatelets without any further process are obtained to simplify and accelerate the synthesis process. Several... 

A family of conformational rheological models for multi-component miscible polymer blends is developed using a modified form of the Poisson bracket formulation. Two conformation tensors called c1 and c2 are introduced to show the orientation of the first and the second components of a blend, respectively. The mobility tensor and the energy function for each blend component are expressed in terms of these conformation tensors. The interaction effects are also included by energy expressions. The predictions of this family of "volume-preserving" models are illustrated for a Hookean-type energy function and several expressions of the modified mobility tensors. The results are illustrated for... 

The current research focuses on suggesting a new potential application of polymeric materials for capacitor applications by focusing on polystyrene (PS)/ethylene-α-octene copolymer (EOC) blends. Polymeric materials have high dielectric strength (≈ 200 for PS), good processability, and flexibility. However, their low dielectric constants make them not suitable for capacitor applications. Therefore, suggesting a method for enhancing their dielectric constant accompanied by low tan δ proposes an excellent substitute for commonly used ceramic dielectrics. The current article investigates the control of the dielectric properties of PS/EOC blends by manipulating the graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs)... 

Super-tough poly(lactic acid)/polycarbonate (PLA/PC) (50/50) blends with an excellent balance of stiffness, toughness, and thermal stability were systematically designed and characterized. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was utilized as a novel, highly effective nonreactive interphase to promote PLA-PC phase compatibility. Partial miscibility of PMMA with both PLA and PC produced strong molecular entanglements across the PLA-PC phase boundary followed by an excellent phase adhesion. This was predicted from interfacial energy measurements and supported by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, morphological observations, and mechanical tests. Ternary PLA/PC/PMMA blends exhibited an exceptional... 

Polycarboxylate superplasticizers based on acrylic acid (AA) and maleic anhydride (MAn) were synthesized via free-radical copolymerization with an ethylene glycol monomer and characterized. The copolymerization temperature (ranging from 50 to 90 °C) appeared to be the key operating factor governing the chemical structure of the superplasticizers. The chemical structures of the products were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography, whereas an optimized sample was further analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and 1H-NMR. Superplasticizers of the AA and MAn classes were then incorporated into concrete, and their performances were measured by slump and slump loss tests, where a... 

In this study, the effects of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) molecular weight and the type and presence of nanosilica on the non-isothermal crystallization behavior of PCL in the PCL/poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN)/nanosilica systems have been quantitatively investigated. The PCL/SAN system have been chosen as an ideal model system because of the special phase behavior of the blends, which include a lower-critical solution temperature (LCST) phase diagram over a virtual upper-critical solution temperature. By this choose, the great importance of phase separation, mutual phase dissolution and preferential nanoparticle migration to one of the polymeric phases on the crystallization behavior... 

The vacuum sector of the Brans-Dicke theory is studied from the viewpoint of a non-conformally invariant gravitational model. We show that, this theory can be conformally symmetrized using an appropriate conformal transformation. The resulting theory allows a particle interpretation, and suggests that the quantum aspects of matter may be geometrized  

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) technology is a new trend in manufacturing complex geometric structures from metals. This technology allows producing topologically optimized parts for aerospace, medical and industrial sectors where a high performance-to-weight ratio is required. Commonly the feature size for such applications is higher than 300–400 microns. However, for several possible applications of LPBF technology, for example, microfluidic devices, stents for coronary vessels, porous filters, dentistry, etc., a significant increase in the resolution is required. This work is aimed to study the resolution factors of LPBF technology for the manufacturing of superelastic instruments for... 

We propose an effective model for an exponentially expanding universe in the brane-world scenario. The setup consists of a 5D black hole and a brane close to the black hole horizon. In case the brane acquires a specific configuration, which we deduce from stability arguments, the induced metric outside the black hole horizon on the brane becomes de Sitter in static coordinates. Studying the Einstein equations perturbatively we find the effective gravity on the brane at this level and derive the 4D gravitational constant. Considering a homogeneous and isotropic fluid in the corresponding FLRW coordinates we find that the bulk fluid density inside the brane, which has the same equation of... 

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) aggregation pressure causes extensive strains in cell segments. The compression of each segment takes place through the cell modeling method. In addition, a very heterogeneous compressive load is produced because of the recurrent channel rib design of the dipole plates, so that while high strains are provided below the rib, the domain continues in its initial uncompressed case under the ducts approximate to it. This leads to significant spatial variations in thermal and electrical connections and contact resistances (both in rib–GDL and membrane–GDL interfaces). Variations in heat, charge, and mass transfer rates within the GDL can affect the... 

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM-FC) aggregation pressure causes extensive strains in cell segments. The compression of each segment takes place through the cell modeling method. In addition, a very heterogeneous compressive load is produced because of the recurrent channel rib design of the dipole plates, so that while high strains are provided below the rib, the domain continues in its initial uncompressed case under the ducts approximate to it. This leads to significant spatial variations in thermal and electrical connections and contact resistances (both in rib–GDL and membrane–GDL interfaces). Variations in heat, charge, and mass transfer rates within the GDL can affect the... 

Establishing high-quality communication in construction projects is essential to securing successful collaboration and maintaining understanding among project stakeholders. Indeed, poor communication results in low productivity, poor efficiency, and substandard deliverables. While high-quality communication is recognized as contingent on the interpersonal skills of workers, the impacts of communication quality on job performance remain unknown. This study addresses this deficiency by developing a method to evaluate construction workers' communication quality. A literature review is undertaken to capture salient interpersonal skills. Leadership style, listening, team building, and clarifying... 

The effectiveness of Islamic preaching is often hindered by the need for localized data on societal issues, which leads to lectures that may not address the community's specific needs. This study seeks to bridge this gap by developing a system that provides relevant preaching outlines tailored to issues detected within a 1 km radius of a mosque. The system incorporates data from 185 mosques and is enhanced by integrating societal issues as a feature. The Haversine formula was employed for precise distance calculations to identify nearby issues accurately. Blackbox testing verified that the system functions correctly. In addition, response time experiments showed an average time of 0.17... 

Riau Province has a population of 6,642,874 and a diverse geography, which poses significant challenges in optimizing Islamic preaching activities. Traditional assignment methods often lead to inefficiencies due to misalignment between the preacher’s expertise and congregational needs, as well as logistical issues. This study integrates K-Means clustering and DBSCAN algorithms with interactive geographic visualization to optimize the assignment of preachers to mosques. We collected 435 data points, including 185 mosques and 250 preachers. K-Means was evaluated using the Elbow Method and Silhouette Score, identifying 10 clusters as optimal with a Silhouette Score of 0.435654. However, K-Means... 

We present an attempt to improve the performance of multi-class image segmentation systems based on a multilevel description of segments. The multi-class image segmentation system used in this paper marks the segments in an image, describes the segments via multilevel feature vectors and passes the vectors to a multi-class object classifier. The focus of this paper is on the segment description section. We first propose a robust, scale-invariant texture feature set, named directional differences (DDs). This feature is designed by investigating the flaws of conventional texture features. The advantages of DDs are justified both analytically and experimentally. We have conducted several... 

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a powerful machine-learning tool for pattern recognition, decision making and classification. SVM classifiers outperform other classification technologies in many applications. In this paper, two implementations of SVM classifiers are presented using Logarithmic Number System. In the basic classifier all operations (multiplication, addition and ...) are performed using logarithmic numbers. In the logarithmic domain, multiplication and division can be simply treated as addition or subtraction respectively. The main disadvantage of LNS is the large memory requirement for high precision addition and subtraction. In the improved classifier, multiplication... 

In this study, the essential oil of aerial parts species of a plant called Spearmint was extracted by CO 2 to optimize the results of the supercritical extraction process. In order to achieve maximum total yield extraction and SF-CO 2 concentration, tests were done in a laboratorial pilot considering the Taguchi method under following condition: pressure. 90,100,140,170 bar, temperature. of 35, 40, 45, 50 °C, mean particles size: 250,500,710,1000 μm, flow rate 1,3,5,8 ml/s and dynamic time 30,50,90,120 min. The optimizing conditions for SCE and SF-CO 2 concentration are: 90 bar, 45 °C, 500 μm, 5 ml/s, 120 min and 90 bar, 35 °C, 250 μm, 1 ml/s, 30 min. SCE total yield and CO 2 concentration... 

Processing time and segmentation quality are two main factors in evaluation of image segmentation methods. Oversegmentation is one of the most challenging problems that significantly degrade the segmentation quality. This paper presents a framework for decreasing the oversegmentation rate and improving the processing time. Significant variations in both color and texture spaces are the main reasons that lead to oversegmentation. We exploit Affine Invariant Region Detectors to mark regions with high variations in both color and texture spaces. The results are then utilized to reduce the oversegmentation rate of image segmentation algorithms. The performance of the proposed framework is...