Sharif Digital Repository

The possibility of time travel in modern physics based on the theory of relativity has led to the study of this issue from various aspects. In this research, the metaphysical possibility of time travel will be examined and therefore its physical and technological possibility is out of the subject of this research. Metaphysical possibility is also considered to mean the compatibility of time travel with the laws of metaphysics. The metaphysical possibility of time travel is challenged by the paradoxes that arise from it. These paradoxes, despite their great diversity, fall into four general categories: Temporal Paradoxes, The paradoxes of freedom, The paradoxes of Causal, and The paradoxes of... 

In this thesis I evaluate two rival accounts: the knowledge norm of assertion and the justification norm of assertion. The former posits that “S has warrant to assert P iff S knows P”, while the latter states that “S has warrant to assert P iff S justifiedly believes (or has justification for believing) P”. I conduct this evaluation by assessing their explanatory power in two types of cases. First, I examine cases that are allegedly evidence for the knowledge norm, such as: lottery cases, Moorean cases, and challenges. In this thesis I argue that justification norm can also account for these cases. Second, I consider cases that are purported counterexamples to the knowledge norm, such as:... 

The debate over political philosophy has resurfaced five decades after the publication of John Rawls' famous book on the theory of justice. In that book, Rawls criticizes perfectionist states, And considers a state just that leaves the perfection and goodness of human beings to the citizens themselves. And the state can not be the final arbiter and interferor in the good and perfection of the citizens, and the state should never be one-sided in this conflict between the various opinions of the people about the good. Therefore, the state should only provide the means for citizens to be able to pursue their good deeds freely and equally, which is what Rawls calls the precedence of the right... 

The research examines the influence of Kant’s practical philosophy on John Rawls’ theory of justice, under the concept of “autonomy”. In the initial chapter, foundational concepts of the study such as “autonomy” and “duty” are discussed in detail within the context of prevailing views in moral philosophy, particularly deontological ethics. The overarching idea of this chapter is to establish a general conceptual framework for posing the main research question. The second chapter of this research specifically and independently elucidates Kant’s practical philosophy and clarifies his interpretation of the concept of “autonomy”. The aim of structuring this chapter is to demonstrate that... 

Black holes are theoretically significant because they are (ideal) entities fully described by just three properties: mass, charge, and spin. Their importance also stems from their unique status as spacetime entities with universal properties, including the event horizon and—when including the singularity—representing the boundary of space and time. Beyond their spacetime properties, black holes are also thermodynamic systems. Their behavior requires a theory that integrates both spacetime and thermodynamics. A black hole is something that requires both a theory of spacetime and a theory of thermodynamics to describe and explain its behavior. A consistent description of time, spacetime, and... 

With the growth of spreading information across social networks, users face with many options. More specifically, try to find out information is so troublesome in this context.In response to this problem, recommender systems aim at providing suggestions of interest for end-users. Also, we see many social networks in real-life which have the potential to be used in a variety of recommender systems. In the bipartite networks of users and items weighted edges is formed between each user and each item in the training set. On the other hand, developing a recommender system that takes into account the social network of the user improves the accuracy of traditional recommender systems.The purpose... 

Photochromism is defined as a reversible transformation of a chemical species between two forms having different absorption spectra induced in one or both directions by photoirradiation. Among various organic photochromic compounds, including spiropyrans, azobenzenes, spirooxazines, dyarylethenes and fulgides, spiropyranes have been attracted more attention due to their more sensitivity towards photo, pH, heat, pressure and solvent polarity. UV irradiation of spiropyrans, breaks the C-O bond of pyran ring and makes cis-trans isomers. Therefore, closed structure of the molecule, named as spiro (SP), is converting into the flattered and conjugated merocyanine (MC). Mc is photochromism, polar... 

It is undeniable that there is a great disagreement in the every field of religion. Reductionists argue that awareness of disagreements reduces the justification and rationality of beliefs, including religious beliefs. In contrast, non-reductionists believe that while reductionism may be true in other domains, it is not necessarily true in religion, because religious beliefs have characteristics that can deny a reductionist argument. They are in the realm of religion. In this thesis, I will discuss issues related to those characteristics that can deny reductionist argument in the realm of religion. In this thesis, I try to show that the arguments and responses presented in defense of the... 

The complexity of today's world has led us to the point where we will have problems in the intellectual and practical fields without relying on the testimony of experts. Maybe if we could measure the validity of the information by our own knowledge, we would definitely choose this option. But social life has made us rely on others to get the beliefs we need. We consider most of the beliefs we acquire in school, universities, in science books, news, debates and television documentaries to be examples of knowledge. We also claim to know a set of beliefs presented to us by experts. We consider experts as reliable people and we rely on them. In the meantime, we know that we have no other reason... 

The Austenitization, influence of ageing condition and the prediction kinetics of AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel were studied in this paper. The Austenitizing temperature of 9200C, 9500C and 10200C were achieved. The specimens were heated for 15, 30 and 60 minutes then quenched in 250C Oil. The cooled samples were tempered at 2000C for 1 hour. The maximum tensile strength obtained at 10200C and 60 minutes were about 1800 MPa. The effect and ageing temperature and time on the strengthening behavior of this steel was modeled and analyzed by shear punch test and means of artificial neural networks (ANNs). Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov (JMAK) analyses were applied to characterize the... 

This study was conducted in order to investigate the effect of difference in electrical resistivity between low carbon steel and austenitic stainless steel on the physical and mechanical properties and fracture mode of dissimilar resistance spot welds of these alloys. For this purpose, plastic deformation using constrained groove pressing combined with rolling applied to low carbon steel in three levels of 40%, 156% and 272%. Microstructural characterization, micro-hardness measurements and shear-tension test were performed. It was shown that by increasing the pre-strain in low carbon steel its electrical resistivity increases from 13.08 μΩ.cm to 19.5 μΩ.cm and because of reduction of... 

The manufacture of ultra high strength materials has always been a target for aerospace and transportation industries. Currently, the limitation of energy resources even makes this goal more serious. Nowadays, more than 50% of total extrusion products are made from Al alloys and around 90% of them are the 6000 series alloys. Therefore, regarding to high strength, low weight, and hardening aluminum AA6000 alloys capabilities can play a major role in fulfilling this task. Over the last decade, a number of techniques collectively referred to as severe plastic deformation (SPD), have emerged as a promising approach for the production of bulk ultrafine-grained (UFG) nano-structured materials.... 

Sever plastic deformation can be used for decreasing the grain size and increasing the mechanical properties. In this method a square or circular cross section specimen is passed from two intersecting channel with equal cross section. Thereby, a large plastic strain without change of cross section is produced in the specimen. This large strain is the main reason for the interest of researchers in many fields. In the experimental research fields, researchers can study the response of material in the large plastic strain range, investigation of stage III of hardening and after it, change of microstructure to submicron and Nano, and increase of strength simultaneously with preserving of... 

Springs parts are widely used in many industries including the automative industries where the disability of the springs can cause damage. Spring forming processes induce residual stresses on the surface of spring. Residual stress is affected by various processes, such as heat treatment or shot peening. When a coiled spring is heat treated, depending on the temperature and time of heat treatment residual stresses are partially relieved, but they generally do not disappear.An important characteristic of spring steel is its resistance against stress relaxation at different temperatures and times. Stress relaxation in valve springs working at high temperatures causes some problems for... 

A new method for production of bimetallic rods, utilizing the equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) process has been introduced before by previous researchers, but no attempt has been made to assess the effect of different temperatures and holding times in order to achieve a diffusional bond between the mating surfaces. In present research copper sheathed aluminum rods have been ECAEed at room temperature and subsequently held at a constant ECAE pressure, at different temperatures and holding times to produce a diffusional bond between the copper sheath and the aluminum core. The bonding quality of the joints was examined by shear strength test. The microstructure examinations were carried... 

In sliding wear, the process of making debris takes place with different mechanisms. Previous works estimating the wear rate have been carried out based on contact mechanics and material failure mechanisms. In present work, the possibility of existence of low-cycle fatigue as the dominant mechanism in the wear of an as-cast eutectoid steel is investigated. Moreover, wear coefficient and the the volume loss per distance of that steel was predicted. At first, wear tests were done in order to obtain the wear trend of the steel in different loads. Then, regarding the roughness of the disk surface, a finite element model was built to simulate the sliding of the pin surface over the asperities... 

This study was conducted in order to investigate on production and propeties of lead free solder alloy. For this purpose, Sn-Ag alloy with 3.5 weight percent of silver and sn-3.5Ag-0.7Cu at eutectic composition were produced with casting procedure.Single-lap Specimens were used to simulate real solder joints with the solder reflowed between two pure Cu substrate.Microstructural characterization, electrical resistance measurements and shear-tension test were performed.A deacrease of electrical resistance was observed in produced alloys in comparison with Sn-Pb . Experimental results showed that mechanical properties of produced alloys was better than common pb content alloy.The effect of... 

A Coiled Carbon Nanotube (CCNT) can be geometrically viewed as a graphene sheet whose rolled and twisted to form a helically coiled nanotube. It is the strongest material ever measured with strengthexceeding more than hundred times of steel.The strength of a CCNT iscritically influenced by temperature, tube diameter, strain rate and pitch angle. In this study,a Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulationis performed to understand the effect of temperature, strain rate, tube diameter and pitch angle on the mechanical properties of CCNTs. Results indicate thatexisting the stone-wales defects is necessaryfor thermodynamic stability of CCNTs.According to the stress-strain curves it was observed thatyield... 

The specific properties of some of magnesium alloys have caused these alloys to be used in medical and industrial applications. Adding new elements and applying severe plastic deformation to these alloys have been considered as a clue for improving their mechanical properties. The aim of this project is to improve the mechanical properties of a magnesium alloy by using new alloying elements and applying the ECAP process.
In this project, a new magnesium alloy by composition of Mg-1.78Zn-0.72Si-0.41Ca was cast. After casting, solution treating and annealing of the alloy were studied. Then, the effect of ECAP process on microstructure and mechanical properties of the annealed and solution...