Sharif Digital Repository

Using 3-D scanned data to analyze and extract pore network plays a vital role in investigation of porous media's characteristics. In this paper, a new simple method is developed to detect pores and throats for analyzing the connectivity and permeability of the network. This automated method utilizes some of the common and well-known image processing functions which are widely accessible by researchers and this has led to an easy algorithm implementation. In this method, after polishing and quality control of images, using city-block distance function and watershed segmentation algorithm, pores and throats are detected and 3-D network is produced. This method can also be applied on 2-D images... 

Uncertainty is a critical factor in medical datasets needed to be overcome for increasing diagnosis efficiency. This paper proposes an intelligent classification algorithm comprising a fuzzy rule-based approach, a harmony search (HS) algorithm, and a heuristic algorithm to classify medical datasets intelligently. Two fuzzy approaches, as well as orthogonal and triangular fuzzy sets, are first utilized to define the attributes of data. Then, an HS algorithm is integrated with a heuristic to generate fuzzy rules to select the best rules in the fuzzy rule-based systems. Moreover, to improve the performance of the proposed classification approach, a three-phase parameter tuning approach is... 

Shared hosting is a kind of web hosting in which multiple websites reside on one webserver. It is cost-effective and makes the administration easier for websites' owners. However, shared hosting has some performance and security issues. In default shared hosting configuration, all websites' scripts are executed under the webserver's user account regardless of their owners. Therefore, a website is able to access other websites' resources. This security problem arises from lack of proper isolation between different websites hosted on the same webserver. In this survey, we have examined different methods for handling mentioned security issue. Also we evaluated the performance of mentioned... 

The major section of the city of Tehran, Iran has been developed on cemented coarse-grained alluvium. This deposit consists of gravely sand to sandy gravel with some cobbles and is dominantly cemented by carbonaceous materials. In order to understand the mechanical behaviour of this soil, a series of undrained triaxial compression tests and unconfined compression tests were performed on uncemented and artificially cemented samples. Portland cement type I was used as the cementation agent for preparing artificially cemented samples. Uncemented samples and lightly cemented samples (1.5% cement) tested at high confining pressure showed contractive behaviour accompanied with positive excess pore... 

A major problem in real-time packet-based communication systems, is misrouted or delayed packets which results in degraded perceived voice quality. If packets are not available on time, the packets are considered as lost. The easiest solution in a network terminal receiver is to replace silence for the duration of lost speech segments. In a high quality communication system, to avoid degradation in speech quality due to packet loss, a suitable method or algorithm is needed to replace the missing segments of speech. In this paper, we introduce an adaptive filter for replacement of lost speech segment. In this method Kalman filter as a state-space based method will be used to predict the... 

In the context of sustainable clean hydrogen production pathways, photovoltaic-electrolyzer systems are one of the most promising alternatives for acquiring hydrogen from renewable energy sources. In fact, determining the optimal set of design and operating variables are always a key issue while coupling directly renewable electricity sources to PEM electrolyzers. Few previous studies have attempted to find the optimal size and operational condition of directly coupled photovoltaic-electrolyzer (PV/El) systems in order to maximize the hydrogen production or to minimize energy transfer loss between photovoltaic devices and the electrolyzer. Nevertheless an easy and efficient approach still... 

In this research, an extended finite element model has been investigated. Investigation of opening and closure stress always has been one of the difficult parameters to analysis of results; therefore, the utilization of finite element methods would be a good and logical alternative for this purpose. In addition, linear elastic fracture criteria are used for validation of numerical results from the simulation. In this work, a detailed analysis of the influence of different parameters in the results of a specific specimen with a semi-elliptical tooling groove in terms of closure and opening stress is presented, and the impact of optimum element size in fracture characteristic in various load... 

The effects of different nano-SiO2 contents on the rheological properties of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) solution and mechanical, thermal, structural, and piezoelectric properties of composite nanofibers were investigated. Results showed an increase in fiber diameter (∼125 to 350 nm) and ∼450% increase in tensile strength as the content of nano-SiO2 particles increased. The degree of crystallinity decreased by 19% as the nano-SiO2 content increased by 2% (w/w). Further investigation demonstrated that silica could significantly improve the piezoelectric properties of PVDF nanofibers as the output voltage showed an increase in the presence of silica attributed to change in the crystalline... 

The challenge of finding an optimized and reliable path dates back to emersion of mobile robots. Several approaches have been developed that have partially answered this need. Satisfying results in previous implementations has led to an increased utilization of sampling-based motion planning algorithms in recent years, especially in high degrees of freedom (DOF), fast evolving environments. Another advantage of these algorithms is their probabilistic completeness that guarantees delivery of a path in sufficient time, if one exists. On the other hand, sampling based motion planners leave no comment on safety of the planned path. This paper suggests biasing the Rapidly-exploring Random Trees... 

This study was designed to compare one-step, two-step and spent medium bioleaching of spent catalyst by adapted Aspergillus niger in batch cultures. Aspergillus niger, which was adapted to heavy metal ions, Ni, Mo, Fe, and W, was grown in medium containing up to 5% (w/v) of spent catalyst. The main lixiviant in bioleaching was gluconic acid, which was produced at all pulp densities in the one-step bioleaching process. Gluconic acid was also produced in the two-step bioleaching process when the spent catalyst was present at pulp densities greater than 1% (w/v). In the spent medium leaching, however, the primary agent was citric acid. The pulp density of the spent catalyst was varied, and this... 

Blood vessels, especially large vessels have a greater thermal effect on freezing tissue during cryosurgery. Vascular networks act as heat sources in tissue, and cause failure in cryosurgery and reappearance of cancer. The aim of this study is to numerically simulate the effect of probe location and multiprobe on heat transfer distribution. Furthermore, the effect of nanoparticles injection is studied. It is shown that the small probes location near large blood vessels could help to reduce the necessary time for tissue freezing. Nanoparticles injection shows that the thermal effect of blood vessel in tissue is improved. Using Au, Ag and diamond nanoparticles have the most growth of ice ball... 

Shared Web Hosting service enables hosting multitude of websites on a single powerful server. It is a well-known solution as many people share the overall cost of server maintenance and also, website owners do not need to deal with administration issues is not necessary for website owners. In this paper, we illustrate how shared web hosting service works and demonstrate the security weaknesses rise due to the lack of proper isolation between different websites, hosted on the same server. We exhibit two new server-side attacks against the log file whose objectives are revealing information of other hosted websites which are considered to be private and arranging other complex attacks. In the... 

In real-time packet-based communication systems, one major problem is misrouted or delayed packets which results in degraded perceived voice quality. If packets are not available on time, the packet is known as lost packet. The easiest task of a network terminal receiver is to replace silence for the duration of lost speech segments. In a high quality communication system, to avoid quality reduction due to packet loss, a suitable method and/or algorithm is needed to replace the missing segments of speech. In this paper, we introduce a low order recursive linear prediction method for replacement of lost speech segment. In this method a normalized least mean square (NLMS) as an adaptive filter... 

Let 1 < ti < t2 < ••• < th < n. A Toeplitz graph G = (V,E) denoted by Tn(tiy ..., f) is a graph where V = {1,. .. ,n} and E = {(m) I i-JI. • • >}}•this paper, we classify all regular Toeplitz graphs. Here, we present some conditions under which a Toeplitz graph has no cut-edge and cut-vertex  

The mechanism of flow around a pier structure is so complicated that it is difficult to establish a general empirical model to provide accurate estimation for scour. Interestingly, each of the proposed empirical formula yields good results for a particular data set. Hence, in this study, alternative approaches, artificial neural networks (ANNs) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), are proposed to estimate the equilibrium and time-dependent scour depth with numerous reliable data base. Two ANN models, multi-layer perception using back-propagation algorithm (MLP/BP) and radial basis using orthogonal least-squares algorithm (RBF/OLS), were used. The equilibrium scour depth was... 

In this study, active vibration control of a cantilevered flexible beam structure equipped with bonded piezoelectric sensor/actuators is investigated. The linear quadratic regulator technique together with an observer is adopted to design the controller as well as to provide the full-state feedback. Two different approaches are subsequently used for simultaneously integrated optimization of the controller and observer parameters. In the first approach, a linear experimental model of the system is obtained using identification techniques, and the optimization is then performed based on a computer simulation of the system. However, in the second approach, a hardware-in-the-loop optimization... 

A new method for speeding up the approximate maximum posterior marginal (MPM) inference in meanfield approximation of a fully connected graph is introduced. Weight of graph edges is measured by mixture of Gaussian kernels. This fully connected graph is used for segmentation of image data. The bottleneck of the inference in meanfield approximation is where the similar bilateral filtering is needed for updating the marginal in the message passing step. To speed up the inference, the adaptive manifold high dimensional Gaussian filter is used. As its time complexity is 0(ND), it leads to accelerating the marginal update in the message passing step. Its time complexity is linear and relative to...