Sharif Digital Repository

The synthesis of nano-sized CeO 2 powder was investigated via mechanochemical reactions between hydrate cerium chloride and sodium hydroxide as the starting materials. The process was followed by a subsequent calcination procedure. Characterization of as-synthesized powder was performed using X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, Brunner-Emmett-Teller (BET) nitrogen gas absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and particle size analyzer (PSA). The precursors were milled for different milling times and then were subjected to different heat treatment procedure at variable temperatures from 100 to 700 °C. According to the results, milling time and calcination temperatures induce... 

Accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) soluble forms in the cerebral parenchyma is the mainstream concept underlying memory deficit in the early phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). PKMζ plays a critical role in the maintenance of long-term memory. Yet, the role of this brain-specific enzyme has not been addressed in AD. We examined the impact of hippocampal PKMζ overexpression on AD-related memory impairment in rats. Oligomeric form of Aβ (oAβ) or vehicle was bilaterally microinjected into the dorsal hippocampus of male Wistar rats under stereotaxic surgery. One week later, 2 μl of lentiviral vector (108 T.U. / ml.) encoding PKMζ genome was microinjected into the dorsal hippocampus. Seven days... 

This study is aimed at optimizing the rice husk ash (RHA) content and bacterial concentration in self-compacting concrete (SCC). For this purpose, cement was partially replaced with RHA at 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% by weight of cement. In addition, micro-silica (MS) was added to all mixes at a dosage of 10% by weight of cementitious materials. The mix with the optimum RHA content was supplied with bacterial cells with concentrations of 103, 105, and 107 cells/ml to reduce the formation of micro-cracks. The RHA concretes showed reduced workability with increasing RHA content. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were performed on... 

The authors regret that there were minor errors in the labels of the XRD patterns of cement and micro-silica presented in Figs. 1 and 2, which have been corrected in the figures included here. In addition, due to concerns over the reliability of the XRD pattern of pumice shown in Fig. 9, as caused by a low signal count, the authors have re-analyzed the pumice and the updated XRD pattern has been included here. It is worth noting that these changes do not affect any of the conclusions. The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. © 2021  

The Persian Liquorice was introduced as a sustainable corrosion inhibitor with excellent inhibition action for mild steel in sodium chloride solution. Persian Liquorice is a root of Glycyrrhiza glabra including many active compounds like Glycyrrhizin (GL), 18β- Glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), Liquritigenin (LTG), Licochalcone A (LCA), Licochalcone E (LCE), and Glabridin (GLD). The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was utilized to track various active components exist in the Persian Liquorice extract. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical current noise measurements were conducted to investigate the corrosion inhibition role of various... 

In this paper, a high-performance epoxy nanocomposite with dual active/barrier protection ability based on calcium zinc phosphate (CZP) nanopigment was fabricated. Then chemistry, morphology, and anti-corrosion ability of the commercial zinc phosphate (ZP) and CZP pigments were studied. By electrochemical techniques, the inhibition potency of the CZP nanopigment was examined in a NaCl solution on mild steel (MS) substance and compared with that of ZP. Results revealed a higher corrosion inhibition degree of the CZP compared to the ZP. The growth of a protective layer on the metal coupons exposed to the CZP extract was illustrated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission... 

Joining of dissimilar light metals by friction stir welding (FSW) is of interest to reduce weight and fuel consumption in the transport sector. Such coupled metals may need protective surface treatments, e.g. against wear or corrosion, for some applications. In this work, the formation of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coatings in a silicate-based electrolyte for corrosion protection of FSW AZ31B magnesium alloy-titanium joints has been studied. The joints, if unprotected, may be susceptible to severe galvanic corrosion in chloride-containing environments. The coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Mg2SiO4 and... 

Stimulated devices are highly demanded for actuators and artificial muscles in the recent era but susceptible to low deformation at an applied voltage. In the present work, ionic liquids (ILs) based gel films were prepared from the polyvinyl chloride (PVC), dibutyl adipate (DBA), 1-butyl, 3-methimidazolium chloride, and 1-pentyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate by a simple solvent evaporation method. The structural, morphological, optical, and mechanical properties of the composite PVC/ILs gel were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Large Angle X-ray scattering (LAXS), UV–visible (UV–vis) absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron micrpscopy (SEM) and... 

Stimulated devices are highly demanded for actuators and artificial muscles in the recent era but susceptible to low deformation at an applied voltage. In the present work, ionic liquids (ILs) based gel films were prepared from the polyvinyl chloride (PVC), dibutyl adipate (DBA), 1-butyl, 3-methimidazolium chloride, and 1-pentyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate by a simple solvent evaporation method. The structural, morphological, optical, and mechanical properties of the composite PVC/ILs gel were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Large Angle X-ray scattering (LAXS), UV–visible (UV–vis) absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron micrpscopy (SEM) and... 

Pectin from two different plant sources: apple and sugar beet was studied. Apple pectin was modified by chemical treatments such as: acid, alkali and ammonia, so as to obtain an ester level equal to or less than 50 %, which is described as low methoxyl (LM) pectin. LM pectin form gels with significant characteristic. In this study, de-esterification of apple pectin with acid treatment resulted in gel specification with higher molecular weight and viscosity. Acid treatment resulted in pectin with average molecular weight of 32000 Dalton. Pectin was extracted from sugar beet pulp by acid and alkali treatments. The quality of gel formation and water uptake was improved using sugar source... 

Application of immobilized horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in porous calcium alginate (ca-alginate) for the purpose of phenol removal is reported. The optimal conditions for immobilization of HRP in ca-alginate were identified. Gelation (encapsulation) was optimized at 1.0% (w/v) sodium alginate in the presence of 5.5% (w/v) of calcium chloride. Upon immobilization, pH profile of enzyme activity changes as it shows higher value at basic and acidic solution. Increasing initial phenol concentration results in a decrease in % conversion. The highest conversion belongs to phenol concentration of 2 mM. Investigation into time course of phenol removal for both encapsulated and free enzymes showed... 

In the present research, ultrasonic-assisted emulsification-microextraction (USAEME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has been proposed for analysis of thirteen environmental protection agency (EPA) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aqueous samples. Tetrachloroethylene was selected as extraction solvent. The main parameters of USAEME affecting the efficiency of the method were modeled and optimized using a central composite design (CCD). Under the optimum conditions (9 μL for extraction solvent, 1.15% (w/v) NaCl (salt concentration) and 10min for ultrasonication time), preconcentration factor (PF) of the PAHs was in the range of 500-950. In order to have a... 

Introduction: Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is one of the most significant neurodegenerative diseases amongst the autosomal-recessive genetic disorders which is caused by the absence of protein survival of motor neuron (SMN). A critical nucleotide difference in SMN2 compared to SMN1 gene leads to an inefficient protein. Hence, homozygous lack of SMN1 provides a progressive disease. Due to the high prevalence, up to now, several molecular diagnostic methods have been used which most of them are lengthy, expensive, and laborious. Methods: In the present study, we exploited a gold nanoprobe-based method for semi-quantitative SMN1 gene dosage analysis compared to SMN2. The assay was... 

This paper describes the effects of using direct and pulse current on composition and corrosion resistance of Fe-Ni-Cr alloy coatings. In both direct and pulse current electrodeposition, increasing the current density has a decreasing effect on Fe and Ni and an increasing influence on Cr. In pulse current electrodeposition, duty cycle has a greater effect than frequency on composition of the alloy coating, particularly in the range of 10-50%. In this range, by increasing the duty cycle, Ni decreases, Fe sharply increase and Cr shows an increasing trend. Following a study of the microhardness of coatings, it is determined that the microhardness increases about 1.5 times by pulse current... 

Pechini process was used for preparation of three kinds of nanocrystalline powders of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ): doped with 1.5 mol% nickel oxide, doped with 15 mol% ceria, and doped with 1.5 mol% nickel oxide plus 15 mol% ceria. Zirconium chloride, yttrium nitrate, cerium nitrate, nickel nitrate, citric acid and ethylene glycol were polymerized at 80 °C to produce a gel. XRD, SEM and TEM analyses were used to investigate the crystalline phases and microstructures of obtained compounds. The results of XRD revealed the formation of nanocrystalline powder at 900 °C. Morphology of the powder calcined at 900 °C, examined with a scanning electron microscope, showed that the presence of... 

This paper presents for the first time a mathematical model for a mechanism of controlled drug release involving both ion exchange and transient counter diffusion of a drug and counterions. Numerical analysis was conducted to study the effect of different factors on drug release kinetics including environmental condition, material properties, and design parameters. The concentration profiles of counterions and drug species, the moving front of ion exchange, and three distinct regions inside a microsphere, namely unextracted region, ion-exchange region and drug diffusion region, were revealed by model prediction. The numerical results indicated that the rate of drug release increased with an... 

Lake Urmia is a thalassohaline ecosystem. It is an extremely simple ecological pyramid. This makes it a very sensitive ecosystem. This ecosystem has been facing various threats regarding the amount of water released from the associated basin. To calculate the lake water requirement with an ecological approach, we identified three variables: ecology, water quality, and water quantity indices as environmental indicators. The ecological index represented by Artemia urmiana is considered as an independent variable; while, the water quality index represented by concentration of NaCl, and the water quantity index represented by water elevation are regarded as dependent variables. The salinity...