Sharif Digital Repository

MOG as a modified gravity theory is designed to be replaced with dark matter. In this theory, in addition to the metric tensor, a massive vector is a gravity field where each particle has a charge proportional to the inertial mass and couples to the vector field through the four-velocity of a particle. In this work, we present the Hamiltonian formalism for the dynamics of particles in this theory. The advantage of Hamiltonian formalism is a better understanding and analysing the dynamics of massive and massless particles. The massive particles deviate from the geodesics of space-time and photons follow the geodesics. We also study the dynamics of particles in the Newtonian and post-Newtonian... 

An autonomous hedge trimmer robot was developed to reduce the harmful effects of traditional hedge trimming method (gasoline-powered hedge trimmer) on operators' bodies and increase the speed and quality of the operation. The robot had five degrees of freedom (PRRRR) structure and was geometrically optimized to simplify the control strategy, enabling it to trim simple, stepped, and circular forms. The control system, consisting of a host computer, servo motors and servo drivers, and controller, guided the robot platform, manipulator, and end-effector as it approached and trimmed the hedge. By using a recognition algorithm and vision-based navigation system, the robot was able to detect the... 

Clay liners are widely used as porous membrane barriers to control solute transport and to prevent the leakage of leachate both in horizontal and vertical flow scenarios, such as the isolated base and ramps of sanitary landfills. Despite the primary importance of saturated hydraulic conductivity in a reliable simulation of fluid flow through clay barriers, there is no model to predict hydraulic conductivity of clayey soils permeated with saline aqueous solutions because most of the current models were developed for pure water. Therefore, the main motivation behind this study is to derive semi-empirical models for simulating the hydraulic conductivity of clayey soils in the presence of... 

The selection of a suitable duty factor (DF) remains a major challenge in respiratory-gated treatments. Therefore, this study aims at presenting a new methodology for fast optimizing the gating window width (duty factor (DF)) in respiratory-gated proton partial breast irradiation (PBI). To do so, GATE Monte Carlo simulations were performed for various target sizes and locations in supine and prone positions. Three different duty factors of 20, 25, and 33% were considered. Sparing factors (SF) for four organs-at-risk (OARs) were then assessed. The weighted-sum method was employed to search for an optimal DF. The results indicate that an SF higher than unity was obtained for all plans. The SF... 

Copper anode (∼98%) is widely used to produce the cathode (99.995 wt%) in electrorefining process. These anodes sometimes become problematic from the production line due to the presence of bumps/holes on their surface. To find the reason of this defect, chemical composition of the three casted anodes was determined by the quantmeter analysis. Also, the microscopic and phase analysis were done by FESEM, EDS, XRD, and XRF for three types of anodes bump. The chemical analysis of anodes confirmed a high level of sulfur and oxygen, which have a key role in the formation of bumps. The results confirmed the presence of impurities including Cu2S, BaSO4, CaCO3 and MgCO3, which cause the formation of... 

A modified two-surface critical state plasticity model for saturated and unsaturated soil is presented in this study. The key modification in new model is inclusion of an alternative yield surface used to simulate the behavior of unsaturated soils in addition to corresponding saturated conditions. Moreover, a numerical technique is used to obtain an incremental stress–strain response from loading curves. Modification is applied continuously in each incremental step to return the final stress states and hardening parameters to the yield surface. Results revealed that the adopted modeling approach can predict two independent sets of laboratory unsaturated experiments under various conditions... 

In the present study, damage initiation and growth in a polycrystalline aggregate are investigated. In this regard, an anisotropic continuum damage mechanics coupled with rate-dependent crystal plasticity theory is employed. Using a thermodynamically consistent procedure, a finite deformation formulation is derived. For this purpose, the damage tensor is incorporated in the crystal plasticity formulation for a cubic single crystal. The damage evolution is considered to be dependent on the history of damage, equivalent plastic strain, stress triaxiality, and Lode parameters. This material model is implemented in the commercial finite-element code Abaqus/Standard by developing a user material... 

The creation of surfaces with various super nonwetting properties is an ongoing challenge. We report diverse modifications of novel synthesized zirconia-ceria nanocomposites by different low surface energy agents to fabricate nanofluids capable of regulating surface wettability of mineral substrates to achieve selective superhydrophobic, superoleophobic-superhydrophilic, and superamphiphobic conditions. Surfaces treated with these nanofluids offer self-cleaning properties and effortless rolling-off behavior with sliding angles ≤7° for several liquids with surface tensions between 26 and 72.1 mN/m. The superamphiphobic nanofluid coating imparts nonstick properties to a solid surface whereby... 

Research on the characteristics of composites material has received enormous interest in recent years. The multi-scale nature of composite material leads to employing advanced techniques. Moreover, the presence of a wave with the high-frequency source adds complexity to the analysis. In this paper, a novel multi-scale elasticity model was developed to predict the wave dispersion property of particulate composites. The methodology was based on the simultaneous participation of translational and rotational degrees of freedom in motion equations. The method scheme of gaining motion equations was accomplished by using Taylor's expansion as a continualization method. The framework of the motion... 

Present work illustrated that the performance of ultrafine silica (Si) particles was improved considerably by rational hybridization with nanodiamond (ND). For this, Si@ND hybrid particles synthesized by chemical hybridization were incorporated into styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) up to 10 phr. Scanning electron microscopy revealed coarse flower-like clusters for Si@ND nanohybrids, while Si exhibited rigid agglomerates in SBR. Comparing with physical hybrid (Si&ND) and single Si particles, it was revealed that chemical hybrids synergistically improved tensile properties, like 100% and 135% improvements in tensile strength and elongation at break, respectively. Dynamic mechanical analysis of... 

Plastic packaging is causing a serious environmental concern owing to its difficulty in degrading and micro-particulates' emissions. Developing biodegradable films has gained research attention to overcome ecological and health issues associated with plastic based packaging. One alternative substitute for petroleum-based plastic is nanocellulose based films, having distinguishing characteristics such as biodegradability, renewability, and non-toxicity. Nanocellulose is classified into three major types, i.e., cellulose nanofibril, cellulose nanocrystals, and bacterial nanocellulose. However, the scope of this review is limited to cellulose nanofibril (CNF) because this is the only one of... 

The effects of Sr additions, heat treatment (T4 and T6), and multi-directional forging on the microstructural evolution, mechanical properties and biodegradability of Mg-4Zn-xSr alloys were investigated. Corrosion behavior of the alloys was evaluated by the polarization and hydrogen evolution tests. Shear punch and hardness tests were employed to determine the mechanical properties. It was found that mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of the as-cast Mg-4Zn alloy increased by 0.3 wt% Sr addition. However, further increasing the Sr content not only did not improve the mechanical strength, but also had detrimental effects on the corrosion resistance, due to the increased size and... 

In this study, an attempt has been made to fabricate Cu-SiC nanocomposites by flake powder metallurgy and high-pressure torsion processing techniques at room temperature. Pure Cu and a mixture of Cu and nano-sized SiC powders were mechanically milled separately for 3 h and then green compacts were prepared by uniaxial pressing under 1 GPa pressure. The green compacts experienced 6-turn high-pressure torsion under a pressure of 6 GPa to prepare bulk Cu and Cu-SiC samples. The microstructures of the consolidated samples were characterized using an X-ray diffractometer and a high resolution scanning/transmission electron microscope, and the mechanical properties were evaluated by microhardness,... 

Coating is an effective approach to address the high corrosion rate of biodegradable Mg alloys, as their main challenge toward their extensive use. In this regard, it was tried to control the degradation process of an Mg-4Zn alloy by Ca addition, equal channel angular pressing (ECAP), and hydrothermal coating. The obtained results indicated that excellent grain refinement induced by Ca incorporation and ECAP simultaneously, improved both mechanical strength and corrosion resistance of the Mg-based substrate. The achieved grain refinement resulted in a thicker, more compact and integrated coating, where the ECAP-processed Mg-4Zn-0.5Ca alloy exhibited the best coating quality with no... 

In this study, magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles are incorporated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to reinforce Mg-3Zn-1Mn alloy (ZM31 alloy) by semi-powder metallurgy, followed by hot extrusion, with the purpose of improving the mechanical and biological properties of Mg-based alloy. The microstructural analysis of the nanocomposites indicated a reduction in grain size of Mg alloy with the incorporation of CNTs with a maximum reduction of 61% (ZM31/CNTs), with further reduction in grain size (68%) detected when MgO integrated CNTs composites (ZM31/MgO-CNTs). The compression characteristics of the composites indicate an increase in ultimate compressive strength of 36% and 44%, respectively, with... 

In quantum computing, calculations are achieved using quantum mechanics. Typically, two main phenomena of quantum mechanics (i.e., superposition and entanglement) allow quantum computing to solve some problems more efficiently than classical algorithms. The most well-known advantage of quantum computing is the speedup of some of the calculations, which have been performed before by classical applications. Scientists and engineers are attempting to use quantum computing in different fields of science, e.g., drug discovery, chemistry, computer science, etc. However, there are few attempts to use quantum computing in power and energy applications. This paper tries to highlight this gap by... 

Introducing suitable electrode materials and electrolytes for supercapacitors and next-generation batteries should be considered for the industrial application of these devices. Among the proposed materials for them, transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs), are attractive and efficient options due to their unique properties such as appropriate layered structure, good oxidation state of transition metals, high thermal and mechanical stabilities, etc. However, applying other layered materials with high electrical conductivity e.g. carbon-based materials can lead to producing remarkable results for the mentioned applications. However, an interesting point is how making TMCs composite with... 

A flexible, porous and biocompatible titanium dioxide nanotubes (TNT) - polyurethane (PU) film has been produced as a new scaffold for artificial vascular grafts. Synergistic improvements in the properties of vertical TNT and PU was reached, including enhancements in their biocompatibility, mechanical strength, flexibility and porosity. Open-ended (OE) TNT-PU and close-ended (CE) TNT-PU films were synthesized and their mechanical and biological properties were compared with their pure PU counterparts. TNT were attached to PU with a new strategy. The resulting flexible structure was hydrophilic and super hydrophilic in OE-TNT-PU and CE-TNT-PU scaffolds, respectively. The gas leakage during... 

Optical structures can serve as low-power high-capacity alternatives of electronic processors for more efficient neuromorphic computing, but can suffer from large footprints and weak scalability. In this work, properly phased time-perturbed microrings side-coupled to a waveguide are utilized to realize a compact processor for linear transformations. We build up a synthetic frequency dimension to provide sufficient degrees of freedom, where the linear time-varying structures enable the linear intermixing and transformation of frequency-multiplexed data. Moreover, non-reciprocal and asymmetric flow of data in the forward and backward modes, due to phasing of the perturbations, helped to build... 

In this paper, the V-shape development model approach for designing an automotive floor panel made by laminated structure is investigated to attain the best trade-off between the system and subsystem level requirements while improving the local and global performance of the vehicle. For this purpose, the bending and torsional stiffness of the body structure, as well as mass, strength, and vibration attenuation of the floor panel, are considered as design objectives at the system and subsystem levels. A multi-objective discrete optimization of a laminated configuration is performed using the Taguchi-based grey relational analysis. Material grades and thicknesses of the sandwich panel face...