Sharif Digital Repository

Traditional fragmented and mechanistic science is unable to cope with issues about sustainability, as these are often related to complex, self-organizing systems. In the paper, sustainable development is seen as an unending process defined neither by fixed goals nor by specific means of achieving them. It is argued that, in order to understand the sources of and the solutions to modern problems, linear and mechanistic thinking must give way to non-linear and organic thinking, more commonly referred to as systems thinking. System Dynamics, which operates in a whole-system fashion, is put forward as a powerful methodology to deal with issues of sustainability. Examples of successful... 

In this paper, two basic new call admission control policies in soft-handoff regions in Code-Division Multiple-Access (CDMA) cellular networks are compared. The two policies are Independent Decision Policy (IDP), which is, approximately, equivalent to a directed retry policy proposed for non-CDMA cellular networks and Collective Decision Policy (CDP). The merits in this comparison include the tradeoff between carried traffic and quality loss probability while maintaining other traffic parameters (such as blocking and dropping (handoff failure) probabilities) sufficiently low. Using numerical results, it is deduced that the CDP leads to a better overall performance. Another important issue... 

Despite the fact that a variety of analyses are conducted based on the performance of business excellence models according to organization type such as ownership, size and etc., the performance of organizations based on the factor of being routine or non-routine has not been investigated yet. In this paper, implementation of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model for these types of organizations (routine and non-routine) has been examined. In order to do that, first we have developed a methodology to classify organizations into routine and non-routine categories. Then we have used discriminant analysis based on three factors, including process uncertainty, knowledge... 

Despite the fact that a variety of analyses are conducted based on the performance of business excellence models according to organization type such as ownership, size and etc., the performance of organizations based on the factor of being routine or non-routine has not been investigated yet. In this paper, implementation of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model for these types of organizations (routine and non-routine) has been examined. In order to do that, first we have developed a methodology to classify organizations into routine and non-routine categories. Then we have used discriminant analysis based on three factors, including process uncertainty, knowledge... 

This work deals with the popular topic of extending incompressible numerical formulations to the compressible or variable density regime. Based on an analogy between the incompressible and compressible governing equations, a general strategy is suitably developed to facilitate the compressible flow solution through using incompressible algorithms. It is shown that the implementation of the extended strategy to an arbitrarily incompressible algorithm requires two minor modifications in the original algorithm. In fact, two on/off switches suffice to implement the two required modifications. Switch one includes the compressible source terms to the momentum governing equations. Switch two... 

The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the feasibility of the standalone use of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to power buildings in the Bostegan village in the Hormozgan province of Iran. Technical, economic, and environmental assessments were performed with the help of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, and the optimal configuration for the system components was... 

The emerging environmental consequences of overdependence on fossil fuels have pushed many countries to invest in clean and renewable sources of power. Countries like Iran where these sources can be found in abundance can take advantage of this potential to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. This study investigated the feasibility of the standalone use of a hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to power buildings in the Bostegan village in the Hormozgan province of Iran. Technical, economic, and environmental assessments were performed with the help of the Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software, and the optimal configuration for the system components was... 

The random decisions of electric vehicle (EV) drivers, together with the vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy transfer modes, make scheduling for an intelligent parking lot (IPL) more complex; thus, they have not been considered simultaneously during IPL planning in other studies. To fill this gap, this paper presents a complete optimal schedule for an IPL in which all the above-mentioned items are considered simultaneously. Additionally, using a complete objective function—including charging/discharging rates and prices, together with penalties, discounts, and reward sets—increases the profits of IPL and EV owners. In addition, during peak times, the demand for energy... 

In this study, a two-echelon single-vendor supply chain is selected to do a cost-based comparison between short-term performances of a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and a Retailer Managed Inventory (RMI). While the inventory costs include ordering and storing expenses, the rate of consumption and the price of goods are constant, the rate of production and pace of transportation are infinite and shortage is not allowed. This paper, after a comprehensive literature review, is followed by three cases of single retailer, n-retailer and two-retailer chains. Unlike the second case, in the first case, VMI shows an absolute superiority to RMI, and this is the reason for devising the third case in... 

Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were prepared from blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) via phase inversion method induced by immersion precipitation. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was used as pore former and hydrophilic polymeric additive. N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) and water were used as solvent and coagulant (non-solvent), respectively. The effect of different concentrations of PVP on the morphology and performance of the prepared membranes was investigated. Performance of the membranes was evaluated based on pure water flux and filtration of buffered bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution. The contact angle measurements indicated that the hydrophilicity of... 

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) measures the relative efficiency of a homogenous set of decision-making units (DMUs) when multiple inputs and outputs are present. The DEA-based Malmquist productivity index measuring the productivity change of DMUs over time has proven itself to be a valid tool to compare group performance. However, in the previous models developed for this purpose, it was supposed that all factors were controllable or discretionary. It is noteworthy that in most real cases, there are some inputs and outputs that are non-discretionary or semi-discretionary. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to develop the DEA-based Malmquist productivity index on such... 

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is a rapid-developing desalination technology; however, it suffers from inefficient energy consumption. To reduce energy consumption, in this study, reverse osmosis thin-film composite membrane (TFC) module was prepared and composed of m-phenylenediamine (MPD), graphene oxide, and 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl chloride (TMC) by interfacial polymerization on the surface of a polysulfone substrate. The graphene oxide was embedded in the mentioned thin-film composite by adding it to MPD aqueous solution to enhance permeation flux and, thus, reduce energy consumption. This study assessed the performance of the membrane using a lab-scale RO setup and evaluated permeability and... 

In this paper the performance characteristics of a turbocharger twin-entry radial inflow gas turbine with asymmetrical volute and rotor tip diameter of 73.6 mm in steady state and under full and partial admission conditions are investigated. The employed method is based on one dimensional performance prediction which is developed for partial admission conditions. Furthermore, this method is developed for the asymmetrical volute of the turbine considering the flow specifications. Experimental investigation of the research was carried out on special test facilities under full and partial admission conditions for a wide range of speeds. A comparison of experimental and modeling results shows... 

The analysis and design of a tunable low noise active inductor is presented. The noise performance of the proposed gyrator-based active inductor is improved without either degrading its quality factor or consuming more power using a linear Feed Forward Path (FFP). The proposed low noise active inductor has been designed and fabricated using standard 0.18-μm CMOS technology. The measurements show a 3 fold improvement in the input noise current compared to that of conventional active inductors. The active inductor was tuned and measured at the resonance frequency of 2.5 GHz, which could be extended as high as 5.5 GHz, with a quality factor of 30. The circuit draws 4.8 mA from a 1.8 V supply  

Background: Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) wastewater from a petrochemical complex was utilized as a fuel in the anode of a microbial fuel cell (MFC). Effects of two important parameters including different dilutions of the PTA wastewater and pH on the performance of the MFC were investigated. Methods: The MFC used was a membrane-less single chamber consisted of a stainless steel mesh as anode electrode and a carbon cloth as cathode electrode. Both power density and current density were calculated based on the projected surface area of the cathode electrode. Power density curve method was used to specify maximum power density and internal resistance of the MFC. Results: Using 10-times,... 

In typical photocatalytic processes slurry reactors are used in which catalyst particles have to be separated from the solution after the process ends which means much higher time and costs. Hence, immobilizing process is carried out on the catalyst to overcome this problem. In this work, fiber and network geometries were produced by particle precipitation on substrates. The obtained structures were characterized by XRD, SEM, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analyses. Photocatalytic performance of the samples was investigated by methyl orange degradation and also by hydrogen generation from water/methanol splitting. From the SEM images, the size range of the TiO2 particles in the network... 

In this research, cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) electrospun nanofiber membrane (ENM) was prepared by electrospinning method in order to separate the contaminants of an industrial wastewater. The influence of various electrospinning parameters on morphology and average fiber diameter of the membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and image analysis. The permeability of the membranes was evaluated by measuring pure water flux. In order to investigate the performance of the prepared membranes for tomato wastewater treatment, the rejection of the pollution indices and flux were determined. The results demonstrated the potential of using CAB nanofiber membrane for... 

General Circulation Models (GCMs) are advanced tools for impact assessment and climate change studies. Previous studies show that the performance of the GCMs in simulating climate variables varies significantly over different regions. This study intends to evaluate the performance of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) GCMs in simulating temperature and precipitation over Iran. Simulations from 37 GCMs and observations from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were obtained for the period of 1901–2005. Six measures of performance including mean bias, root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), linear correlation coefficient (r), Kolmogorov-Smirnov... 

General Circulation Models (GCMs) are advanced tools for impact assessment and climate change studies. Previous studies show that the performance of the GCMs in simulating climate variables varies significantly over different regions. This study intends to evaluate the performance of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) GCMs in simulating temperature and precipitation over Iran. Simulations from 37 GCMs and observations from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were obtained for the period of 1901–2005. Six measures of performance including mean bias, root mean square error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), linear correlation coefficient (r), Kolmogorov-Smirnov... 

This paper describes a procedure that uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) combined with the simulated annealing (SA) to analyze the bidding strategy of Generating Companies (Gencos) in an electricity market where they have incomplete information about their opponents. In the proposed methodology, Gencos prepare their strategic bids according to the Supply Function Equilibrium (SFE) model and they change their bidding strategies until Nash equilibrium points are obtained. Nash equilibrium points constitute a central solution concept in the game theory and are computed with solving a global optimization problem. In this paper a new computational intelligence technique is introduced that can...