Sharif Digital Repository

Based on content externalism, the question of whether self-knowledge is authoritative or not has launched a real controversy in the philosophy of mind. Boghossian proposed slow switching argument in defense of incompatibility of the two views. This argument has been criticized by some philosophers through different approaches. Vahid is one of them. He claimed that Boghossian's argument appeals to some controversial assumptions without which it cannot achieve its conclusion. In this article, I criticize Vahid's response to slow switching argument and show that self-knowledge in Vahid's response differs in having authority and therefore in function from that of Boghossian  

Due to the advent of new technologies, devices, and communication tools such as social networking sites, the amount of data produced by mankind is growing rapidly every year. Big data is a collection of large datasets that cannot be processed using traditional computing techniques. MapReduce has been introduced to solve large-data computational problems. It is specifically designed to run on commodity hardware, and it depends on dividing and conquering principles. Nowadays, the focus of researchers has shifted towards Hadoop MapReduce. One of the most outstanding characteristics of MapReduce is data locality-aware scheduling. Data locality-aware scheduler is a further efficient solution to... 

Manual material handling (MMH) tasks were evaluated and compared under different lifting conditions. For the theoretical evaluations, a two-dimensional sagittally symmetric human-body model was established to compute the moment and joint load time histories for MMH tasks for a variety of different lift specifications and constraints such as lifting durations, loads, and modes. Nonlinear control techniques and genetic algorithms were utilized in the optimizations to explore optimal lifting patterns. Since the kinetic measures such as joint moments are vital metrics in the assessment of the likelihood of injury, the simulation results obtained may be compared using these metrics for each lift... 

The multi-vehicle travelling purchaser problem with priority in purchasing (MTPP-PIP) is a new variant of the classic travelling purchaser problem (TPP) in which the set of products is divided into different priority groups. The purpose of this article is to find the least cost cycles in which each product should be purchased according to its predefined priority. To fit the model with the real world further, multiple purchasers (multi-vehicle) and uncertainty in the products demands are assumed. In this paper, a mathematical programming formulation is developed based on a clustered supplier graph whereby the suppliers are categorised into different clusters according to their corresponding... 

Three newly synthesized room temperature ionic liquids containing molybdate anion, [DMIm][MoO 2(NCS) 4], [RPy][MoO 2(NCS) 4] (R = butyl or decyl), and previously reported [BMIm][MoO 2(NCS) 4] were used as catalysts for the reduction of sulfoxides. For facilitating the recyclability of the catalysts, the ionic liquids [RMIm][PF 6] and [RPy][PF 6] (RMIm = 1-n-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium, RPy = 1-n-alkylpyridinium) were applied as ionic solvents and toluene is used as solvent for the organic phase. Molybdenum salts immobilized in RTILs constituted a reusable and efficient heterogeneous catalyst system. A maximum conversion (>99%) was achieved for reduction of diphenyl sulfoxide to diphenyl... 

A new one-pot synthesis of hitherto unknown polyheterocyclic systems via tandem C-alkylation and intramolecular O-alkylation of 4-hydroxycoumarin or 4-hydroxypyran-2-one with quinolinium salts in excellent yields (71-89%) is reported. The present approach provides a powerful route into polycyclic structures containing nitrogen and oxygen related to alkaloids  

Reaction of the electron-rich complex cis-[Pt(p-Me-C6H4)2(SMe2)2] with 2,2′-bipyridine N-oxide, O-bpy occurred by rollover cyclometalation to afford complex [Pt(O-bpy)(p-Me-C6H4)(SMe2)], 1. The obtained complex was characterized using NMR spectroscopy and its solid state structure was determined by the single crystal X-ray diffraction method. The reaction of 1 with seven diphosphine ligands, 1,1-bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm), 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe), 1,3-bis(diphenylphosphino)propane (dppp), 1,4-bis(diphenylphosphino)butane (dppb), N,N-bis(diphenylphosphino)amine (dppa), 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene (dppbz) and 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene (dppf), in... 

Heteropoly acid was found to be an effective and efficient catalyst for the ring opening reaction of epoxides with various aromatic amines to produce the corresponding β-amino alcohols in moderate to excellent yields in water. This method provides a new and efficient protocol in terms of mild reaction conditions, clean reaction profiles, small quantity of catalyst, and simple work-up procedure. © 2006  

In this paper we introduce two methods for measuring irregularities in human heartbeat time series (HHTS). First we consider the multi-fractal structure of HHTS to distinguish healthy individuals and from those with congestive heart failure. In this way we modify the Extended Self-Similarity (ESS) method and apply it to HHTS. Our second approach is based on the recursive method, which we use to predict the duration of the next heartbeat by considering a few previous ones. We use standard physiological data and show that these approaches lead to very satisfactory methods to resolve the healthy and CHF individuals. These methods can be used potentially in portable electronic heart alarm... 

Spinal load models have become an increasingly valuable tool for the evaluation of the stress placed on the spine. In order to get an accurate representation of these spinal loads, they must be compared to known tolerance values. Bone mineral content and density of the lumbar spine of 23 males and 21 females was measured using a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Compression tolerance values were predicted by previously published studies based upon bone mineral levels. Anthropometric measurements were recorded and related to the compression tolerance values through the use of multivariate linear regression techniques. Compression tolerance values based on the bone mineral content or density... 

This paper presents a priority based dynamic programming approach for long term maintenance scheduling of overhead distribution networks. The proposed approach is based on risk management approach and utilizes the model of decoupled risk factors. Two heuristic factors are defined and utilized in order to establish a maintenance priority list and to curtail the dynamic programming search space. The proposed methodology yields a significant computational saving compare to the previously reported dynamic programming. Risk management approach enables the asset managers to consider the actual condition of electrical equipments and expected consequence of their failures. Furthermore, the decoupled...