Sharif Digital Repository

In the presence of a strong magnetic field, the effective action of a composite scalar field in a scalar O(N) model is derived using two different methods. First, in the framework of world-line formalism, the 1PI n-point vertex function for the composites is determined in the limit of a strong magnetic field. Then, the n-point effective action of the composites is calculated in the regime of lowest Landau level dominance. It is shown that in the limit of a strong magnetic field, the results coincide and an effective field theory arises which is comparable with the conventional noncommutative field theory. In contrast to the ordinary case, however, the UV/IR mixing is absent in this modified... 

The Adler-Bell-Jackiw (ABJ) anomaly of a 3+1 dimensional QED is calculated in the presence of a strong magnetic field. It is shown that in the regime with the lowest Landau level (LLL) dominance a dimensional reduction from D=4 to D=2 dimensions occurs in the longitudinal sector of the low energy effective field theory. In the chiral limit, the resulting anomaly is therefore comparable with the axial anomaly of a two-dimensional massless Schwinger model. It is further shown that the UA(1) anomaly of QED in a strong magnetic field is closely related to the nonplanar axial anomaly of a conventional noncommutative U(1) gauge theory. © 2006 The American Physical Society  

Available transfer capability (ATC) provides important information for power marketers and planning sectors in restructured power systems. The stochastic nature of power system behaviour, however, made ATC determination a difficult and complicated task. A stochastic framework has been established for ATC calculation with implication of uncertainties in transmission failures, hourly peak loads and system cascading collapse. The proposed ATC calculation framework is based on parametric bootstrap technique which enables generating random samples of system operating condition with uncertainty at a predefined confidence interval. The IEEE RTS-96 network is employed to demonstrate the... 

Groundwater contamination is a significant problem related strongly to both the protection of the environment and the need for water. In the present study, groundwater quality was investigated in the Bojnourd watershed. The Bojnourd watershed is located in the northeast of Iran, which covers 65.5 km2 of the North Khorasan province area. There are 11 extracting wells in the region. Annual water extraction from the alluvial aquifer in the area is used for agriculture, drinking, sanitary and industrial consumptions. In this research, groundwater quantity modeling, including calibration and verification by GMS software, had been performed. In the quality modeling stage, pollution contours for... 

The paper aims at investigating the microstructure, failure mode transition, peak load and energy absorption of DP600 dual phase steel during the tensile-shear test. It was found that the welding current has profound effect on the load–displacement characteristics. In the low welding current, welds failed in interfacial failure mode. Increasing welding current resulted in sufficient weld nugget growth to promote double-sided pullout failure mode with improved mechanical properties. Further increase in the welding current caused expulsion and failure mode was changed to single-sided pullout with reduced energy absorption capability. It was found that the fusion zone size is the key parameter... 

The paper aims at investigating the microstructure, failure mode transition, peak load and energy absorption of DP600 dual phase steel during the tensile-shear test. It was found that the welding current has profound effect on the load–displacement characteristics. In the low welding current, welds failed in interfacial failure mode. Increasing welding current resulted in sufficient weld nugget growth to promote double-sided pullout failure mode with improved mechanical properties. Further increase in the welding current caused expulsion and failure mode was changed to single-sided pullout with reduced energy absorption capability. It was found that the fusion zone size is the key parameter... 

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between microRNAs and viral and immunological markers in HIV-1 infection. Materials & methods: The expression level of miRNAs was evaluated in 60 HIV-1 patients and 20 healthy controls using real-time PCR assays. Results: The results showed that among all miRNAs, miR-29 and miR-150 were significantly downregulated in HIV-1 patients compared with healthy controls, while miR-155 and miR-223 were significantly upregulated compared with healthy controls (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Conclusion: The mentioned miRNAs seem to influence the clinical progression of HIV-1 infection in naive patients. Moreover, determining the profiles of... 

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is an extracellular natural polymer produced by many microorganisms and its properties could be tailored via specific fabrication methods and culture conditions. There is a growing interest in BC derived materials due to the main features of BC such as porous fibrous structure, high crystallinity, impressive physico-mechanical properties, and high water content. However, pristine BC lacks some features, limiting its practical use in varied applications. Thus, fabrication of BC composites has been attempted to overcome these constraints. This review article overviews most recent advance in the development of BC composites and their potential in biomedicine including... 

The aim of this paper is the design and development of a novel user interface to interact with a meta system. Our focus is rather on interacting with Ambient Intelligence as a whole, which would for example enable users to influence the overall behaviors and attributes of dynamic device compositions. We call such interfaces Meta User Interfaces. The design details of a proposed user interface as well as a cognitive walkthrough evaluation are presented in this paper  

In this work, novel chitosan/bacterial cellulose (CS/BC) nanofibrous composites reinforced with graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets are introduced. As cell attachment and permeability of nanofibrous membranes highly depend on their fiber diameter, the working window for successful electrospinning to attain sound nanofibrous composites with a minimum fiber diameter was determined by using the response surface methodology. It is shown that the addition of GO nanosheets to CS/BC significantly reduces the average size of the polymeric fibers. Their mechanical properties are also influenced and can be tailored by the concentration of GO. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy reveals hydrogen bonding... 

A series of reduced graphene oxide/ZnxCd1-xS (RGO/ZnxCd1-xS) nanocomposites (0 < x < 1) with different ratios of Zn/Cd were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route under optimized experimental conditions and were carefully characterized by various techniques. Because very little is known about the morphology, specific surface area, and crystal phase effects of RGO/ZnxCd1-xS crystals on their photoresponsivity, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), BET surface area analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) data were studied to investigate their effects on photoactivity. Based on the results, a crystal phase transition from a cubic phase in RGO/Zn0.9Cd0.1S to a hexagonal... 

Superhydrophobic surfaces demonstrate significant characteristics which make them suitable for a wide variety of applications. In this study, we propose a facile, one-step, and cost-effective anodizing scheme using aluminum nitrate/stearic acid mixture solution to create a superhydrophobic surface on an aluminum mesh. The surface outperforms the surface anodized by the widely used oxalic acid solution in terms of superhydrophobicity and water-surface friction behavior. The proposed surface reduced the friction by 11% on average respective to the surface prepared by oxalic acid. The durability of the introduced superhydrophobic surface has also been investigated. The proposed surface retained... 

This paper presents a dynamic programming methodology for finding the optimum preventive maintenance schedule of generating units of a GENCO in open power systems. The objective function for the GENCO is to sell electricity as much as possible, according to the market price forecast. Various constraints such as generation capacity, duration of maintenance and maintenance crew are taken into account. In a case study, introducing a GENCO with six generating units, and implementing dynamic programming, we obtain the optimal maintenance schedule over the planning period. © 2002 IEEE  

A variety of bacterial communities can be found in heavy metal leachate-contaminated soil. These bacteria might have molecular defenses that allow them to endure a high heavy metal concentration. However, there aren't enough datasets on bacterial populations to be exploited for bioremediation, especially the biotreatment of leachate contaminated with heavy metals. This research examined the diversity of the bacterial population in heavy metal leachate-contaminated soil from the Jalan Lipis Sanitary Landfill in Pahang, Malaysia. The soil samples were taken from three (3) different locations. pH analysis showed that the heavy metal leachate-contaminated soil possesses alkaline pH. ICPMS... 

A dense membrane of La0.6Sr0.4Co0.8Fe0.2O3- δ (LSCF) perovskite was prepared by a new chelating agent, ethylene diamine N,N,N′,N′-tetra N-acetyl diamine (EDTNAD). As a potent ligand, EDTNAD provided a facile one-step method to form complexes of the four metal ions, simultaneously. The oxygen permeation flux through the pure perovskite LSCF dense membrane was measured over temperature range of 1073-1223 K, thickness of 0.7-1.0 mm and oxygen partial pressure of 0.1-1.0 bar. Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction using LSCF disk in the atmospheric membrane reactor and over the temperature range of 1073-1173 K showed a C2 selectivity of 100% and C2 yield of 5.01% at 1153 K. Furthermore,... 

Synchronization of fractional-order hyperchaotic complex systems is an interesting phenomenon since it has several applications in applied sciences. Based on the complexity of hyperchaotic dynamical systems and unpredictability of hidden attractors, which may exist in their phase spaces and could be beneficial in secure communications, a scheme to derive the analytical formula of the control functions is stated to study active control synchronization. Further comparison of this analytical formula with numerical experiments yields an interesting agreement. A novel fractional-order complex Sprott system is proposed to study this kind of synchronization and its dynamics. A secure communication...