Sharif Digital Repository

Substance use disorder has always been one of the biggest challenges in the field of drug addiction. However, many substance use disorders have no drug treatment approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive brain stimulation method. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is expected to reduce cravings and risk of relapse by regulating brain function. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation on the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. In this research, the effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation twice a day on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex area of the brain during the time... 

The primary objective of this thesis is to provide solutions addressing some security loopholes in continuous variables quantum key distribution protocols. The coherent detection method is utilized in this particular quantum key distribution scheme, which is a phase-sensitive detection. To measure in the quantum noise limit in the detection part, we need a local optical oscillator, which must possess a high intensity and a consistent phase correlation with the quantum signal. Therefore, reconstructing the emitter’s reference phase in the receiver’s detection system is considered as one of the most critical challenges in these protocols. In order to attain this goal, in the early versions of... 

In this thesis, we introduce a novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) system inspired by the philosophical and psychoanalytical concept of imagination as a ``Re-construction of Experiences". Our AI system is equipped with an imagination-inspired module that bridges the gap between textual inputs and other modalities, enriching the derived information based on previously learned experiences. A unique feature of our system is its ability to formulate independent perceptions of inputs. This leads to unique interpretations of a concept that may differ from human interpretations but are equally valid, a phenomenon we term as ``Interpretable Misunderstanding". We employ large-scale models,... 

According to today’s medicine progress, the need for improving the medical facilities have been increased. Within the human body, the biomolecules concentration gradient is regulating the cell functions. Biological processes such as immune response, wound healing, and cancer metastasis have been affected by the bimolecular concentration gradient. So understanding the cell behavior in the presence of a chemical gradient can improve the understanding from these biological processes, and also would help in medical researches. On the other hand, finding the appropriate dose of the drugs and in some cases finding the most effective drug is a clinical challenge that made a new field of research in... 

The development of clean, renewable and alternative sources of fossil fuels has increased in recent years due to various factors such as environmental pollution, reduced fossil fuel resources and increased energy consumption. The application of microbial fuel cells is one of the clean energy production methods using renewable sources such as municipal sewage. The microbial fuel cell converts the chemical energy stored in organic materials into electrical energy and simultaneously purifies the sewage. Increasing current density and power density are the most important challenges for microbial fuel cells. In this study, the two biocatalysts of Shewanella Oneidensis MR1 and Escherichia coli... 

Tipping points occur in diverse systems in various disciplines such as ecology, climate science, economy, sociology, and engineering. Critical thresholds in system parameters or state variables at which a tiny perturbation can lead to a qualitative change in the system exist in many subsystems in complex systems. These thresholds are called tipping points, and these subsystems are called tipping elements. Additionally, many systems with tipping points can be modeled as networks of coupled multistable subsystems. Domino-like tippings are called tipping cascades. Considering that these tipping cascades are primarily unprecedented, it is essential to study the dynamics and control of these... 

During fuel combustion, aromatic sulfur compounds in energy fuels convert into sulfur oxides, which cause major environmental problems such as acidic rain, global warming, and air pollution. Absorption desulfurization is one of the promising and economical methods to remove these sulfur compounds from fuels. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of nanoporous materials that are of interest for use as adsorbents due to their high specific surface area, unique surface adsorption properties, high adsorption capacity, tunable porosity, flexible dynamic behavior, and diversity in functional and metal groups. In this research, we first synthesized five metal-organic frameworks, namely... 

In this research, molybdenum and tungsten catalysts modified with cobalt and nickel on a carbon support have been synthesized and investigated in the oxidation desulfurization process. A model fuel was used to evaluate the synthesized catalysts. This model fuel was n-decane. dibenzothiophene was also used as a sulfur model. The synthesized catalysts were subjected to various analyzes such as XRD, FTIR, Raman, BET-BJH, NH3-TPD, TEM and ICP-OES for structural evaluation. On the other hand, synthetic parameters such as metal loading rate, molar or weight ratio of secondary metal (cobalt and nickel) to primary metal (molybdenum and tungsten) and molar ratio of citric acid to primary metal as... 

Recent studies in various fields such as the environment, climate, economics, and neuroscience have shown that many systems exhibit dynamic responses based on catastrophic shifts—sudden and unexpected changes in the system's state and behavior in response to environmental changes. One of the simplest cases of these shifts occurs when the dynamical bifurcation diagram of a system has a tipping point, which serves as a critical threshold for system parameters, allowing small disturbances to lead to significant changes in the system's state. Research on many natural systems has revealed that tipping elements as the subsystems of a complex system are not independent, and the tipping of one...