Sharif Digital Repository

The term “scientific naturalism” is the invention of Thomas H. Huxley. He used it to describe a philosophical outlook that shunned the supernatural and adopted empirical science as the only reliable basis of knowledge about the physical, social, and moral worlds. Recent decades have witnessed a flurry of philosophical activity in the name of naturalism. Most contemporary philosophers identify themselves as naturalist, and much recent work in philosophy can be seen as part of general trend toward conducting philosophical inquiry under the umbrella of naturalistic assumptions. Today the label “naturalism” refers to a particular worldview. Nevertheless, naturalism is not a clearly defined... 

A Polygonal finite element method without conforming mesh was introduced by the authors for modeling large deformation elastoplastic problems. In this method, the geometry and interfaces of the problem are modeled on a uniform mesh. The boundaries are defined on the uniform background mesh using the level set method. Different polygonal elements will be created at the intersection of the interface and the uniform mesh. Polygonal element shape functions are used for the interpolation. In this paper, the capability of this polygonal finite element approach for modeling large deformational frictionless dynamic contact-impact problems is investigated. Contact interfaces are modeled independent... 

The continuous rise in electricity demand and the ever growing power generation in different power networks over the world have caused the short circuit level in the power systems to exceed the operational rating of the installed power devices (including cables, circuit breakers and buses). Replacing these devices with new higher rating devices is an expensive solution. From this point of view, utilizing fault current limiters is an economical solution. Superconducting fault current limiters form an efficient category of current limiters. This type is expected to be studied and used widely in future due to their advantages. In this thesis, the first chapter reviews the superconductivity... 

Terahertz waves which includes frequencies between 100 GHz to 10 THz of electromagnetic spectrum have found many applications in science, medical treatments and industry. One of the recent methods to produce these waves is using nonlinear properties of superconductors based on Josephson junctions which inherently appear in some superconductors called BSCCO. Stack of intrinsic junctions of these superconducting materials can radiate terahertz waves by only applying a DC voltage across them. This Thesis investigates some of these structures based on Josephson junctions to produce coherent radiation of terahertz waves. For the optimization of the radiation power, this study also investigates... 

There are different approaches in modifications of General Relativity as the theory of gravity. The modified theories of gravity are important cases in this context, which mostly start by modifying the Einstein-Hilbert action, while keeping the general covariance. Within the modified theories of gravity, we consider two cases. The first is the f(R) theories of gravity, and the second is curvature squared theories of gravity with an action like S = ∫d4x pg( 116GR + (R)2 + R2 +(R)2). Curvature squared theories of gravity have interesting feautures, most important of which is renormalizability, in contrast with General Relativity. But this advantage, as noted by K.S. Stelle in 1977 comes at... 

Near Horizon Extremal Geometries (NHEG), are geometries which may appear in the near horizon region of the extremal black holes. These geometries have SL(2;R)U(1)n isometry, and constitute a family of solutions to the theory under consideration. In the first part of this report,their thermodynamic properties are reviewed, and their three universal laws are derived. In addition, at the end of the first part, the role of these laws in black hole thermodynamics is presented. In the second part of this thesis, we review building their classical phase space in the Einstein-Hilbert theory. The elements in the NHEG phase space manifold are built by appropriately chosen coordinate transformations of... 

Multiverse scenario has been recently addressed by physicists and they have found it useful in many areas of physics. In this dissertation, I have treated some issues about multiverse such as the kinds of multiverses, the arguments for or against multiverse, areas in which multiverse is introduced, etc. This dissertation has six chapters and an appendix. In the chapter one, some classifications of multiverse is introduced, and also some definitions of the concept of a world is presented. Then, my classification and definition of a multiverse and a world is introduced. In the chapter two, the concept of possible worlds in philosophy and its relationship with multiverse hypothesis is examined.... 

Employing high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes, instead of copper or aluminum wires for winding in a superconducting transformer, results in a series of significant advantages; such as: smaller volume, lighter weight, higher efficieny, greatly extended overload capability, better voltage regulation, lower life cycle cost, fault current limiting capability, lower environmental pollution and lower risk potential against fire hazards.In this thesis, optimal design of flux diverter using genetic algorithm for axial short circuit force reduction in HTS transformers has been performed. Then, multilayered flux diverters have been proposed for reduction of weight and losses. The impact of... 

Valve leak detection is very important due to bad direct effects on parts life and engine power. Acoustic emission (AE) has a good known ability on leak detection between fault detection methods. The aim of this thesis is presenting the ability of AE method for valve leak detection in internal combustion engines. The research method in a general framework based on the idea that firstly some evaluations were done in static tests for leakage due to three faults including clearance, quasi-crack and notch. Then, the evaluations were continued with dynamic analysis of rotational speeds and different loads on the engine. Finally, the neural network approach was used to automatically detect all...