Sharif Digital Repository

Using the unique pricing method of Tapsi, the second-largest ride-hailing company in Iran, we estimate the price elasticity of demand for Tapsi rides. Tapsi mechanically divides Tehran, the largest city of Iran, into 256 regions using a 16 × 16 matrix of straight lines, to implement surge pricing in response to excess regional demand or supply. Surge multiplier works for all ride requests within each region, independent of supply and demand in neighboring regions or rides characteristics. We exploit this sharp discontinuity in pricing by running a regression discontinuity to estimate the causal effect of the price change on the number of ride requests, i.e., price elasticity of demand. Using... 

In this study, 40% CaO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst was used for biodiesel production from corn oil. A transesterification reaction was done for 5h at a temperature of 65°C in the presence of corn oil, methanol (methanol to oil molar ratio of 12:1), and CaO/γ-Al2O3 catalyst (0.06g/g (6wt%)). Catalyst used in this study was synthesized using the sol-gel method. In this method, two parameters of gelation temperature and nitric acid concentration were used as variables in the catalyst synthesis step, and experiments were designed using central composite design (CCD). The results indicate that the optimal point is achieved at a gelation temperature of 70°C and... 

Transesterification reaction was performed in the presence of soybean oil, methanol, and Demineralized water plant sedimentation catalyst at 60°C for 8 h in this study. Central composite design method was used to study the effect of catalyst concentration and methanol to oil molar ratio on purity and yield of produced biodiesel. The results showed catalyst concentration of 9.08 wt% and methanol to oil molar ratio of 22.49 as the optimum condition in which the values of purity and yield of the produced biodiesel in the second-order models were 99.89% and 81.83%, respectively. Experiments are in good agreement with the mentioned values as corresponded values are 99.95% and 86.68%,... 

The formation of crystals from solutions plays a key role in various industrial applications. In this study, a new approach is presented into the optimal control of batch cooling crystallizers through a genetic algorithm. The Population balance is formularized for a typical batch crystallizer. The objective functions considered here are related to quality of products at the end of the batch. These functions are objective function of maximum mean weight size, closeness to the specified value and minimum coefficient of variation. By using an optimization algorithm (genetic algorithm), the minimum and maximum values of the objective function the input temperature parameter are obtained. The... 

Development of new techniques for detection and analysis of xenon/krypton mixtures is significant for both industrial and environmental purposes. In this research, direct simulation Monte Carlo is applied to analysis Xenon/Krypton gas mixtures through different molecular forces inside a new micro gas sensor (MIKRA). In this device, a temperature difference inside a rectangular enclosure with heat and cold arms as the non-isothermal walls induces a molecular force known as Knudsen force at low pressure condition. This force is proportional to the main characteristics of the gas mixture. In order to simulate a rarefied gas inside the micro gas detector, Boltzmann equations are applied to... 

Development of a new micro gas sensor is essential for the analysis of the outcome of gas separation devices. In this paper, direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) modeling of low-pressure gas sensor was performed to investigate the effect of physical parameters on the performance and main characteristics of this type of actuator in various operating conditions. Extensive parametric studies were done and the effect of ambient pressure, temperature and gap of arms were comprehensively investigated. Our findings showed that gap size significantly influences the flow features and force generation inside the sensor. © 2018 Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Union of Chemists in Bulgaria  

In this study, the existence of a sinusoidal splitter on the formation and distribution of hydrogen and air co-jets are investigated in a dual-combustion ramjet engine. The main scope of this research is to analyze the comprehensive flow structure and flame features directly downstream of the sinusoidal splitter. In this work, shockwave/shear-layer interactions behind the sinusoidal splitter are thoroughly studied through a computational fluid dynamic approach. Two different splitter profiles are compared with a simple splitter to demonstrate the main effects of multi shock wave interactions on fuel distribution and penetrations. To simulate co-air jet, Reynolds Average Navier-Stocks... 

Iran is home to a treasury of languages representing diverse language families: Iranic, Turkic, Semitic, Indic, Dravidian, Armenian, and Kartvelian, as well as sign languages. Despite valuable research carried out by Iranian and western scholars, there is still no comprehensive publication depicting the geographic distribution and linguistic status of language varieties in Iran. In order to work toward this goal, the Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI) (www.iranatlas.net) was officially launched in 2015 as an international, online research programme. The present study opens with a historical overview of the research context and underlines the ongoing necessity of constructing such an atlas...