Sharif Digital Repository

We study the problem of finding a target t from a start point s in street environments with the cooperation of two robots which have a minimal sensing capability; that is, robots do not know any information about the workspace including information on distances, edges, coordinates, angles etc. They just can detect the discontinuities in the visibility region of their location. The robots can detect target point t as soon as it enters their visibility region and have communication peripherals to send messages to each other. Our aim is to minimize the length of the path passed by the robots. We propose an online algorithm for robots such that they move in the workspace and find the target.... 

The purpose of this study is providing a framework for the evaluation of process and content of development programs and evaluating the fourth and fifth law development program of Iran. Policy evaluation is one the most important measures in the policy cycle and is implemented with the purpose of learning from the results of stage. Given the wide dimensions of policy making, achieving a model for evaluating policy is faced with many complexities. In this study with reviewing previous experiences in the field of policy evaluation, an integrated model for evaluating policy, is presented from two main aspects of the process and the content and then with using this model, the Fourth Program and... 

In this research, the occurrence of dynamic strain aging (DSA) phenomenon during equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) of a commercial air cooled Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloy is investigated. In order to detect the negative strain rate sensitivity behaviour associated with DSA, samples were ECAE-ed at various temperatures and strain rates. Subsequently, the extruded billets were subjected to mechanical and physical tests and it was found that at a certain ECAE temperature range there is a critical strain rate above which DSA occurs. The implication of the results to strengthening of dilute solid solutions is discussed  

We perform large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations of SLAC fermions on a two-dimensional square lattice at half filling with a single Dirac cone with N=2 spinor components and repulsive on-site interactions. Despite the presence of a sign problem, we accurately identify the critical interaction strength Uc=7.28±0.02 in units of the hopping amplitude, for a continuous quantum phase transition between a paramagnetic Dirac semimetal and a ferromagnetic insulator. Using finite-size scaling, we extract the critical exponents for the corresponding N=2 chiral Ising Gross-Neveu universality class: the inverse correlation length exponent ν-1=1.19±0.03, the order parameter anomalous dimension... 

We present a nonlocal spin transport theory for the coupled dynamics of magnetization and lattice vibrations in antiferromagnetic insulators. We find that magnon-polaron formation, i.e., coherently hybridized magnon and acoustic phonon modes, not only leads to anomalous features in the nonlocal spin current but also renormalizes the spin-flop transition field of the antiferromagnets. A length scale for the magnon-polaron formation below which the spin current is not affected by the lattice is also extracted from this nonlocal setup. © 2021 American Physical Society  

Nonlocal gravity (NLG), a classical extension of Einstein’s theory of gravitation, has been studied mainly in linearized form. In particular, nonlinearities have thus far prevented the treatment of cosmological models in NLG. In this essay, we discuss the local limit of NLG and apply this limit to the expanding homogenous and isotropic universe. The theory only allows spatially flat cosmological models; furthermore, de Sitter spacetime is forbidden. The components of the model will have different dynamics with respect to cosmic time as compared to the standard ΛCDM model; specifically, instead of the cosmological constant, the modified flat model of cosmology involves a dynamic dark energy... 

Within the framework of the local limit of nonlocal gravity (NLG), we investigate a class of Bianchi type I spatially homogeneous but anisotropic cosmological models. The modified field equations are presented in this case, and some special solutions are discussed in detail. This modified gravity theory contains a susceptibility function S(x) such that general relativity (GR) is recovered for S = 0. In the modified anisotropic cosmological models, we explore the contribution of S(t) and its temporal derivative to the local anisotropic cosmic acceleration. The implications of our results for observational cosmology are briefly discussed. © 2023 by the authors  

The HIGHT algorithm is a 64-bit block cipher with 128-bit key length, at CHES'06 as a lightweight cryptographic algorithm. In this paper, a new related-key impossible differential attack on the full-round algorithm is introduced. Our cryptanalysis requires time complexity of 2127.276 HIGHT evaluations which is slightly faster than exhaustive search attack. This is the first related-key impossible differential cryptanalysis on the full-round HIGHT block cipher. Copyright  

As membrane distillation (MD) is an under-developed separation process, specific membranes for MD applications are not yet commercially available. Therefore, microporous polymeric membranes made of hydrophobic materials fabricated for microfiltration purposes are usually used for MD applications. Characterization of such kind of membranes is important in order to achieve a better in-depth understanding of their performance and to fabricate specific membranes for MD process. One of the emerging characterization methods is atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis. AFM is a newly developed high-resolution method that is useful for studying the surface topography of various types of membranes, and... 

An experimental study on the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) is performed for water annular flow to provide a systematic database for low pressure and velocity conditions. A parametric study has been conducted to investigate the effect of pressure, inlet subcooling, heat and mass flux on flow boiling. The test section includes a Pyrex tube with 21 mm inner diameter and a stainless steel (SS-304) rod with outer diameter of 6 mm. Pressure, heat and mass flux are in the range of 1.73 < P < 3.82 bar, 40 < q < 450 kW/m2 and 70 < G < 620 kg/m2 s, respectively. The results illustrate that inception heat flux is extremely dependent on pressure, inlet subcooling temperature and mass flux; for example... 

Increasing redundant paths in transmission grids has always been thought to be a tool to enhance service reliability. However, network equations by intertwining power flows through redundant paths impose more limits on systems with more redundancy. Accordingly, autonomous removing of a few lines may relief capacity limit violations in some contingency events thereby enhancing service reliability. This paper aims to study impacts of manual removing of transmission lines on composite system reliability. For doing so, the existing model is extended to consider optimal transmission switching (OTS) as a remedial action. The model minimizes total damage cost imposed by load curtailments. The... 

The present work aims to provide an accurate description of the tensile behavior of the planar as well as low-buckled stanene and to capture their ideal strength in armchair (AC)- and zigzag (ZZ)-directions. For an accurate description of anisotropic response of such hyperelastic materials as stanene, consideration of a highly nonlinear constitutive model in which up to the fourth power of strains is incorporated is inevitable. By utilizing first principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT), the second, third, fourth, and fifth order elastic moduli tensors corresponding to both planar and low-buckled states are obtained. Moreover, the morphology of the free-standing... 

Increasing redundant paths in transmission grids has always been thought to be a tool to enhance service reliability. However, network equations by intertwining power flows through redundant paths impose more limits on systems with more redundancy. Accordingly, autonomous removing of a few lines may relief capacity limit violations in some contingency events thereby enhancing service reliability. This paper aims to study impacts of manual removing of transmission lines on composite system reliability. For doing so, the existing model is extended to consider optimal transmission switching (OTS) as a remedial action. The model minimizes total damage cost imposed by load curtailments. The... 

We consider the problem of walking a robot in an unknown polygon called “street”, starting from a point (Formula presented.) to reach a target (Formula presented.). The robot is assumed to have minimal sensing capability in a way that cannot infer any geometric properties of the environment, such as its coordinates, angles or distances; but it is equipped with a sensor that can only detect the discontinuities in the depth information (or gaps). Our robot can also locate the target point (Formula presented.) as soon as it enters in robot’s visibility region. In addition, one pebble is assumed to be available to the robot to be used as an identifiable point and to mark any position of the... 

We consider the problem of walking a simple robot in an unknown street. The robot that cannot infer any geometric properties of the street traverses the environment to reach a target t, starting from a point s. The robot has a minimal sensing capability that can only report the discontinuities in the depth information (gaps), and location of the target point once it enters in its visibility region. Also, the robot can only move towards the gaps while moving along straight lines is cheap, but rotation is expensive for the robot. We maintain the location of some gaps in a tree data structure of constant size. The tree is dynamically updated during the movement. Using the data structure, we... 

We consider the problem of walking in an unknown street, starting from a point s, to reach a target t by a robot which has a minimal sensing capability. The goal is to decrease the traversed path as short as possible. The robot cannot infer any geometric properties of the environment such as coordinates, angles or distances. The robot is equipped with a sensor that can only detect the discontinuities in the depth information (gaps) and can locate the target point as soon as it enters in its visibility region. In addition, a pebble as an identifiable point is available to the robot to mark some position of the street. We offer a data structure similar to Gap Navigation Tree to maintain the... 

In this paper the characteristic ratio assignment (CRA) method is employed to control transient response of a class of non-minimum phase fractional order systems. Since fractional order all-pass filter could not be realized, the fractional unstable zeros are converted to integer unstable zeros by multiplying complementary polynomials to numerator and denominator polynomials of system's transfer function. Doing so, the closed loop system would be an integer order all-pass filter multiple an all-pole fractional transfer function determined from CRA method. Computer simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method. m  

This paper focuses on robust performance analysis of a closed loop fractional order system through a sensitivity approach. The characteristic ratio assignment method is selected to attain a desired closed loop transient response. Then, we compute the sensitivity of such a desired transfer function with respect to its characteristic ratio and we explore its specifications. The relation between the coefficient diagram shape and the relative stability of the closed loop system is discussed. Also, the closed loop poles variations due to the changes in the characteristic ratios are investigated. Finally, we study a pseudo second order process to verify the robust performance of the characteristic... 

An approach is proposed to control transient response of fractional order systems with maximum permissible control signal. This goal is achieved using a newly suggested characteristic ratio assignment method. Based on the proposed method, the generalized time constant τ and the characteristic ratios including their pattern, an adjustable parameter β, and the product of two successive characteristic ratios ρ are determined such that predefined level of overshoot and time specification of closed loop step response are obtained while the control signal is confined to a pre assigned maximum magnitude. The raised issue is solved by defining an optimization problem in which the design parameters... 

This paper presents a new analytical method to design fractional-order proportional- integral-derivative (PID) controllers. The control parameters are calculated so that the closedloop system approximates a desired transfer function with transient response requirements. This function is determined based on the characteristic ratio assignment method. The control parameters are calculated by matching the first three moments of the closed-loop transfer function with the corresponding values of the desired system. Furthermore, to ensure closed-loop stability the proposed method is improved by using the shifted moments around the crossover frequency. Illustrative examples are given to show the...