Sharif Digital Repository

Given the significance of providing any logical and empirical pieces of evidence to “support the assentation that a test measures the construct as defined and nothing else” (Ary et al., 2013, p. 248), numerous studies have been conducted to investigate construct validity, adopting various approaches. However, there are few studies employing the experimental approach to validation. The current study is aimed at obtaining statistically persuading evidence to answer the question regarding the adequacy of the experimental approach to construct validation, drawing upon the concept of advertising literacy as the construct of the researcher’s concern. To meet this end, the researcher, having... 

In recent years, machine learning techniques have been available to predict and interpret the structural behavior of dams. The main goal of this research is to predict structural behavior through modeling with data read by accurate instruments of dams. This requires the selection of several machine learning methods such as Random Forests (RF), Boosted Regression Trees (BRT), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), and Decision Tree Regression (DTR) algorithms. In this research, considering the 24 target variables defined from the detailed instrumentations studied, the behavior of the dam is modeled using selected machine learning models. These precision instruments... 

The present research aims to examine the influence of response format on the reliability and validity of grammaticality judgment tests, which will also reveal some facts about the superiority of each format. To this end, the grammaticality judgment (GJ) test developed by Gass (1994) was selected as the instrument of the study, which was manipulated in terms of the response format while the original items remained intact. Thus, in the first phase of the study, a multiple-choice GJ test (MCGJT) was constructed to be compared with the traditional form, i.e., the dichotomous type (DGJT). In an interval of a month, the two tests were administered to a group of 110 engineering-major BS students at... 

In this work solid circulation pattern in 2-D gas-solid fluidized beds has been investigated carefully. In this regard TFM approach was used. In addition KTGF was applied along with Gidaspow drag model. A commercial CFD software (ANSYS FLUENT 15.0) was used to simulate the hydrodynamics of the bed. Effects of a number of operating and design parameters on the solid circulation pattern were examined in detail. These parameters were gas velocity, restitution coefficient, pressure, solid density, temperature and vertical plates. The simulation results were validated against experimental data reported in the literature. Furthermore, the solid vertical velocity was investigated carefully  

One of the main problems in human health, both in advanced societies and in growing societies, is a variety of cancers, one of which is brain tumor. One of the non-invasive methods of treating tumors is the use of ultrasound.HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) therapy method is known as one of the most advanced surgical techniques in tumor ablation therapy. HIFU are produced and concentrated by powerful transducers. The two main mechanisms in HIFU are mechanical and thermal mechanisms, and the effects of these two mechanisms appear as thermal effects and cavitation. The fundamental mechanism in the HIFU is to absorb ultrasonic waves and to convert them into heat.The purpose of this... 

In this thesis, we are going to study the consistency properties of one of the most well-known linear estimators – LASSO estimator. First, we bring up some necessary background for introducing this estimator. Then, we are able to introduce primary and secondary forms of LASSO estimator. After that, we prove that primary form of the LASSO estimator is weakly consistent under certain weak conditions. We, also, prove a much stronger statement about the secondary form. We prove that the secondary form is strongly consistent. What’s more, with extra assumptions, we specify the convergence rate of the estimator. Finally, we propose a method for determining free parameter of primary form of LASSO,... 

Translation quality assessment (TQA) as a systematic field of inquiry has been under scholarly investigation over the past decades. In spite of the challenges appeared in the path to success, theoretical and practical developments have already been made in translation studies. One of the unsettled and challenging problems concerning translation assessment, yet, is the subjectivity that is inherent in the process of scoring test-takers’ translation performances. In the absence of any granular objective criteria which includes all the subcomponents of translation as a multi-layer rather than unitary construct, the raters inevitably bring their intuition and will to the act of measurement.... 

With the considerable increase in academic publications and ever-growing concern for academic writing, academic literacy, and plagiarism in recent years, investigating academic writers’ ‘authorial identity’ and ‘authorial voice’ has been of utmost importance in academic milieu. The main purposes of this study were achieved by going through five main phases including 1) hypothesizing a model of authorial identity, 2) developing and validating a questionnaire based on the model, 3) testing the model based on the questionnaire data, 4) searching for possible significant difference in authorial identity of academic writers from three different fields of English, Biology, and Engineering, and 5)... 

Travel time estimation is a central issue in the urban transportation industry and is the basis of many analyses and services in businesses related to this area. In the past few years, various statistical approaches have been devised to solve this problem. The purpose of this dissertation is to review existing methods by focusing on segment-based approaches for urban travel time estimation. A big challenge is the small amount of data in hand compared to the size of the urban network. Exploring historical data and extracting correlation between urban network segments leads to modeling the urban traffic condition and travel time estimation in one specific time interval of the day  

Technology introduces different possibilities to different contexts. Educational milieu is one of those situations where technology plays a crucial role. Computer as an outstanding technological feature has changed our daily life. Computer in the educational contexts has affected the way we learn. Every new innovation has its specifications and problems. Computer like other innovations has aspects that should be investigated. In some cases, computer can distort the tests results and be a source of threat for test validity (construct irrelevant variance). Therefore, the researcher chose to analyze the role of this phenomenon in the assessing procedure. Gender, age, mother tongue, and field of... 

Debugging programs is a time-consuming and error-prone activity. So far, much research has tried to repair the programs automatically. Many of them try to change the location of the fault for a faulty program that fails at least one of its test cases so that all cases in the test suite pass. However, in real projects, the test suite is usually not enough, and the methods that aim to pass the test suite, often lead to the production of incorrect repairs, which is known as overfitting or weak test suite. In this regard, attention to methods based on program specification and the use of static code analysis have shown promising results. In this thesis, a method is presented that recommends... 

Hydro power is a clean energy resource which has numerous advantages over other renewable energy systems including competitiveness with fossil fuel systems, high reliability, considerable potential, and availability of technology. These advantages have drawn attention to hydropower systems. Small Hydro Power (SHP) systems can be used for supplying the demand of rural and remote areas where electricity network rarely exists. SHP may also provide an investment opportunity. Comprehensive analysis of design features and operation of SHP and management of risks involved requires development and application of reliable analytical tools. The present research aims at developing a model for optimal... 

To study the interaction between energy sector and the Iranian economy, an energy-economy model has been developed which itself is a part of an integrated model of Energy Planning Support System (EPSS). The model is a dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) model which evaluates the medium to long-term economic developments through investment decisions. Four groups of economic agents have been considered: households, firms, governments and foreign sectors. The economic behavior of each agent along with the institutional links among them has been modeled based on neoclassical theory of general equilibrium. Therefore, the model simulates the working of a market economy and solves for a... 

Clustering presents valuable information in discovery of the climatic zones. To use clustering approaches, similarity measure, clustering algorithm, and clustering validity index should be determined. To find climatic zones over Middle East nad North Africa (MENA), this study performs k-means clustering with Euclidean distance as the similarity measure on four monthly precipitation datasets (CRU, GPCC, UDEL, and PREC/L) and two monthly temperature datasets (CRU, NOAA GHCN-CAMS). This study aims to validate clustering results and find a proper number of clusters. For this purpose, five traditional validity indices are examined on experimental datasets. Results show significant differences... 

The problem of spacecraft attitude determination (AD) using thermal data is investigated. Given the Solar space environment, the key dominant mechanism of heat transfer will be radiation, in which the Sun and Earth are the major contributing heat sources that affect the satellite external surface temperatures. In this sense, the net heat fluxes (NHF) of a satellite surface that is insulated against any internal heat communication will only be related to these main radiating sources. In order to utilize the satellite temperature data for AD, a heat attitude model (HAM) that relates the satellite surfaces NHF to its attitude is developed using three orthogonal satellite surfaces. Assuming... 

thermoacuostic heat pump (THP) is One of the most important thermoacuostic applications which is used for heat lost recovery in industrial applications and civil applications.In this project, we have a quick review on thermoacuostic theory and researches in this field. Also a thermoacuostic heat pump in a lab scale will be designed and analyzed.For achieving this goal, first, mathematical equations of thermoacuostic systems are reviewed; a thermoacuostic heat pump is designed on the base of Tijani method and final model is validated by DeltaEC software. In the next step, after investigating about laboratory equipments which is used in testing process, we generate test matrix and study about... 

Traditional assumptions about assessment and learning have been challenged in higher education. Alternative types of assessment have been introduced to align to the students’ learning aims. Although, the growing body of literature of alternative types of assessment such as peer-assessment and self-assessment shed light on the advantages and benefits of embedding assessment in classroom activities, there is not absolute agreement on the consistency and accuracy of these types of assessment. To this aim, this study attempted to investigate the reliability and validity of self-assessment and peer-assessment of Iranian EFL learners’ written and oral production. The data was obtained from 32... 

Validation is an important enterprise especially when the test to be validated is a high-stakes one the results of which bring about life-changing implications for the candidates (Roever, 2001). Messick’s (1988) notion of construct irrelevant factors is pertinent in test validation. Demographic variables like gender, field of study and age can affect test results and interpretations. A fair test needs to be neutral when it comes to construct irrelevant factors such as gender. Differential Item Functioning is a way of making sure that the test does not favor one group of test takers over the others. The current study investigated differential item functioning (DIF) in terms of gender in the... 

Due to the expansion of digital system threats, trusted computation with a new approach for countering such threats has emerged. This approach is based on using a hardware module for implementing a trusted platform (TPM). TPM includes a chipset and the trusted systems core. Nowadays many of mobile computers do include this technology. This hardware creates trust using a trust chain and expanding this trust to other parts of the system. The starting point in this chain is the computer BIOS. BIOS is the first code that the system usually executes. One of the most powerful recent attacks on computer systems is to infect the BIOS and other firmware. One of such complicated attacks is the rootkit... 

Spinal fusion surgery is usually followed by accelerated degenerative changes in the unfused segments above and below the treated segment(s), i.e., adjacent segment disease (ASD). While a number of risk factors for ASD have been suggested, its exact pathogenesis remains to be identified. Finite element (FE) models are indispensable tools to investigate mechanical effects of fusion surgeries on post-fusion changes in the adjacent segment kinematics and kinetics. Existing modeling studies validate only their intact FE model against in vitro data and subsequently simulate post-fusion in vivo conditions. The present study provides a novel approach for the comprehensive validation of a lumbar...