Sharif Digital Repository

We outline a comprehensive numerical procedure for modeling of species transport and surface reaction kinetics in electrokinetically actuated microfluidic devices of rectangular cross section. Our results confirm the findings of previous simplified approaches that a concentration wave is created for sufficiently long microreactors. An analytical solution, developed for the wave propagation speed, shows that, when normalizing with the fluid mean velocity, it becomes a function of three parameters comprising the channel aspect ratio, the relative adsorption capacity, and the kinetic equilibrium constant. Our studies also reveal that the reactor geometry idealized as a slit, instead of a... 

For the first time, a new platform based on electrochemical growth of Au nanoparticles on aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNT) was developed for sensitive lable-free DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation, one of the most popular genes in cancer research. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the sequence-specific DNA hybridization events related to TP53 gene. Compared to the bare Ta or MWCNT/Ta electrodes, the synergistic interactions of vertically aligned MWCNT array and gold nanoparticles at modified electrode could improve the density of the probe DNA attachment and resulting the sensitivity of the DNA sensor greatly. Using EIS, over the extended... 

Modeling the behavior of suspended particles in gaseous phase is important for diverse reasons; e.g. aerosol is usually the main subject of CFD simulations in clean rooms. Additionally, to determine the rate and sites of deposition of particles suspended in inhaled air, the motion of the particles should be predicted in lung airways. Meanwhile there are two basically different approaches to simulate the behavior of particles suspension, Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches. This study compares the results of these two approaches on simulating the same problem. An in-house particle tracking code was developed to simulate the motion of particles with Lagrangian approach. In order to simulate the... 

A solution of polyamide (PA) containing polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a side low-molecular-weight polymer was electrospun. After synthesizing the PA-PEG nanofibers, the constituent was subsequently removed (modified PA) and confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The scanning electron microscopy images showed an average diameter of 640 and 148 nm for PA and PA-PEG coatings, respectively, while the latter coating structure was more homogeneous and porous. The extraction efficiencies of PA, PA-PEG, and the modified PA fiber coatings were assayed by headspace solid-phase microextraction of a number of chlorophenols from real water samples followed by their determination by gas... 

Purpose: Tests on animals of different species with large differences in intervertebral disc size are commonly used to investigate the therapeutic efficacy of intravenously injected solutes in the disc. We hypothesize that disc size markedly affects outcome. Methods: Here, using a small non-metabolized molecule, glucosamine (GL) as a model solute, we calculate the influence of disc size on transport of GL into rat, rabbit, dog and human discs for 10 h post intravenous-injection. We used transient finite element models and considered an identical GL supply for all animals. Results: Huge effects of disc size on GL concentration profiles were found. Post-injection GL concentration in the rat... 

A numerical study on mixing/segregation phenomena in a pressurized fluidized bed with large particles of Geldart D type of binary density but same diameter with high velocity gas was performed by the use of discrete particle simulation. Particle mixtures are composed of spherical particles with 2mm diameter and 1g/cm3 flotsam density and different jetsam densities of 1.25, 2 and 2.5g/cm3 with jetsam volume fraction of 0.5. The particles are initially packed approaching perfect mixing state in a rectangular bed and then fluidized by gas uniformly injected at the bottom of the bed. Effect of increase of pressure and density ratio was investigated and mixing/segregation behavior is discussed in... 

In the present work a central composite design based on response surface methodology (RSM) is employed for fine tuning of the aspect ratios of seed-mediated synthesized gold nanorods (GNRs). The relations between the affecting parameters, including ratio of l-ascorbic acid to Au3+ ions, concentrations of silver nitrate, CTAB, and CTAB-capped gold seeds, were explored using a RSM model. It is observed that the effect of each parameter on the aspect ratio of developing nanorods highly depends on the value of the other parameters. The concentrations of silver ions, ascorbic acid and seeds are found to have a high contribution in controlling the aspect ratios of NRs. The optimized parameters led... 

This paper presents a new method for spectrophotometirc detection of sulfide applying fungal peroxidase immobilized on sodium alginate. The sensing scheme was based on decrease of the absorbance of the orange compound, purpurogallin produced from pyrogallol and H2O2 as substrates, due to the inhibition of peroxidase by sulfide. Absorbance of purpurogallin was detected at 420nm by using a spectrophotometer. The proposed method could successfully detect the sulfide in the concentration range of 0.6-7.0μM with a detection limit of 0.4μM. The kinetic parameters of Michaelis-Menten with and without sulfide were also calculated. Possible inhibition mechanism of peroxidase by sulfide was deduced... 

A new sensor for simultaneous determination of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide using silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) as a chromogenic reagent is introduced. The silver nanoparticles have the catalytic ability for the decomposition of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide; then the decomposition of them induces the degradation of silver nanoparticles. Hence, a remarkable change in the localized surface plasmon resonance absorbance strength could be observed. Spectra-kinetic approach and artificial neural network was applied for the simultaneous determination of peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide. Linear calibration graphs were obtained in the concentration range of (8.20×10-5 to... 

In order to evaluate the long-term viability, the iron content stability, and the labeling efficiency of mammalian cells using magnetic cell labeling; dextran-coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIOs) nanoparticles with plain surfaces having a hydrodynamic size of 25 nm were used for this study. Tests were carried out in four groups each containing 5 flasks of 5.5 × 10 6 AD-293 embryonic kidney cells. The cell lines were incubated for 24 h using four different iron concentrations with and without protamine sulfate (Pro), washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and centrifuged three times to remove the unbounded USPIOs. Cell viability was also verified using USPIOs. There... 

Multivariate curve resolution (MCR) and multivariate clustering methods along with other chemometric methods are proposed to improve the analysis of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) fingerprints of secondary metabolites in citrus fruits peels. In this way, chromatographic problems such as baseline/background contribution, low S/N peaks, asymmetric peaks, retention time shifts, and co-elution (overlapped and embedded peaks) occurred during GC-MS analysis of chromatographic fingerprints are solved using the proposed strategy. In this study, first, informative GC-MS fingerprints of citrus secondary metabolites are generated and then, whole data sets are segmented to some... 

The kinetics of bioleaching of Mo, Ni, and Al from spent hydrocracking catalyst, using Aspergillus niger was studied. The four most effective bioleaching variables were selected in accordance with the Plackett-Burman design and were further optimized via central composite design (CCD). The optimal values of the variables for maximum multi-metal bioleaching were as follows: particle size 150-212. μm, sucrose 93.8. g/L, pulp density 3%. w/v, and pH 7. The maximum metal recoveries corresponding to these conditions were 99.5 ± 0.4% Mo, 45.8 ± 1.2% Ni, and 13.9 ± 0.1% Al. The relatively low Ni extraction was attributed to the precipitation of Ni in the presence of oxalic acid. Under the optimal... 

A bacterial strain, FBHYA2, capable of degrading naphthalene, was isolated from the American Petroleum Institute (API) separator of the Tehran Oil Refinery Complex (TORC). Strain FBHYA2 was identified as Achromobacter sp. based on physiological and biochemical characteristics and also phylogenetic similarity of 16S rRNA gene sequence. The optimal growth conditions for strain FBHYA2 were pH 6.0, 30°C and 1.0% NaCl. Strain FBHYA2 can utilize naphthalene as the sole source of carbon and energy and was able to degrade naphthalene aerobically very fast, 48 h for 96% removal at 500 mg/L concentration. The physiological response of Achromobacter sp., FBHYA2 to several hydrophobic chemicals... 

The effects of temperature, seed mass and agitation rate on agglomeration kinetics of aluminum hydroxide in Bayer process have been studied in a batch system. Collected raw data were analyzed and the kinetics data of agglomeration were derived through simulation of the process using a pre-developed software. The results showed that agglomeration kinetics constant (agglomeration kernel) increases with increase in temperature and agitation rate. Moreover a maximum value of agglomeration rate versus added seed mass was observed. Furthermore the magnitude of calculated activation energy of agglomeration was close to that of growth  

The effects of leachate recycling and bed mixing on the removal rate of H 2S from waste gas stream were investigated. The experimental setup consisted of an epoxy-coated three-section biofilter with an ID of 8cm and effective bed height of 120cm. Bed material consisted of municipal solid waste compost and PVC bits with an overall porosity of 54% and dry bulk density of 0.456gcm -3. Leachate recycling had a positive effect of increasing elimination capacity (EC) up to 21gSm -3 bedh -1 at recycling rates of 75mld -1, but in the bed mixing period EC declined to 8g Sm -3bedh -1. Pressure drop had a range of zero to 18mm H 2Om -1 in the course of leachate recycling. Accumulation of sulfur reduced... 

A novel solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was fabricated by electrospinning method in which a polymeric solution was converted to nanofibers using high voltages. A thin stainless steel wire was coated by the network of polymeric nanofibers. The polymeric nanofiber coating on the wire was mechanically stable due to the fine and continuous nanofibers formation around the wire with a three dimensional structure. Polyamide (nylon 6), due to its suitable characteristics was used to prepare the unbreakable SPME nanofiber. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of this new coating showed a diameter range of 100-200nm for polyamide nanofibers with a homogeneous and porous surface... 

Reinforced polydiphenylamine (PDPA) nanocomposite was synthesized by oxidation of diphenylamine in 4molL-1 sulfuric acid solution containing a fixed amount of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The surface characteristic of PDPA and PDPA/CNT nanocomposites was investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The prepared PDPA/CNT nanocomposite was used as an extraction medium for microextraction in packed syringe (MEPS) of selected pesticides from aquatic environment. The effect of CNT doping level and the presence of surfactant on the extraction capability of nanocomposite was investigated and it was revealed that when 4% (w/w) of CNT in... 

Background: Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been shown as a good radiosensitizer. In combination with radiotherapy, several studies with orthovoltage X-rays have shown considerable dose enhancement effects. This paper reports the dose enhancement factor (DEF) due to GNPs in 18 megavoltage (MV) beams. Materials and Methods: Different geometrical 50-nm GNPs configurations at a concentration of 5 mg/ml were used by both experimental and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation in a deep-seated tumor-like insertion within a phantom. Using MCNP repeated structure capability; a large number of gold nanospheres with a semi-random distribution were applied to simulate this phantom based study. Thermoluminescence... 

A modelling of the anaerobic digestion process of molasses was conducted in a 70-L multistage anaerobic biofilm reactor or hybrid anaerobic baffled reactor with six compartments at an operating temperature of 26 °C. Five hydraulic retention times (6, 16, 24, 72 and 120 h) were studied at a constant influent COD concentration of 10,000 mg/L. Two different kinetic models (one was based on a dispersion model with first-order kinetics for substrate consumption and the other based on a modification of the Young equation) were evaluated and compared to predict the organic matter removal efficiency or fractional conversion. The first-order kinetic constant obtained with the dispersion model was... 

A sensitive glutamate biosensor is prepared based on glutamate dehydrogenase/vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (GLDH, VACNTs). Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes were grown on a silicon substrate by direct current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (DC-PECVD) method. The electrochemical behavior of the synthesized VACNTs was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic methods. Glutamate dehydrogenase covalently attached on tip of VACNTs. The electrochemical performance of the electrode for detection of glutamate was investigated by cyclic and differential pulse voltammetry. Differential pulse voltammetric determinations of glutamate are performed...