Sharif Digital Repository

Potential applications of the molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) demand physical configurations in different size ranges. Nowadays, research on MIPs is focused on the development of new or improved morphologies, which involves control and modification of the different parameters during the synthesis. In this study, the effect of different synthesis conditions on the particle size and morphology is investigated. Carbamazepine-imprinted polymers were prepared using precipitation polymerization under various conditions such as: the amounts of cross-linker and functional monomers, initiator, porogen, temperature and time of polymerization. We studied the polymerization conditions to obtain... 

The aim of this work was to synthesize molecularly imprinted polymer-poly ethylene glycol-folic acid (MIP-PEG-FA) nanoparticles for use as a controlled release carrier for targeting delivery of paclitaxel (PTX) to cancer cells. MIP nanoparticles were synthesized by a mini-emulsion polymerization technique and then PEG-FA was conjugated to the surface of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles showed high drug loading and encapsulation efficiency, 15.6 ± 0.8 and 100%, respectively. The imprinting efficiency of MIPs was evaluated by binding experiments in human serum. Good selective binding and recognition were found in MIP nanoparticles. In vitro drug release studies showed that MIP-PEG-FA have a... 

Mitochondria is a major regulator of inducing tumor apoptosis and it is as a prime target for chemotherapy. Anticancers need to access specific tumor cells and also pass through different barriers such as outer and inner membranes of mitochondria. Targeted accumulation of paclitaxel (PTX) within the mitochondria was achieved by direct conjugation of PTX with triphenylphosphonium (TPP) as a mitochondrial membrane-permeable cation. PTX-TPP prodrug was synthesized by pH-sensitive ester bond between the hydroxyl function of PTX and the carboxylic function of TPP. This ester bond is only cleaved by the mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase. Prodrug was loaded in the albumin nanoparticles by... 

Chitosan-coated human serum albumin nanoparticles were functionalized by MUC1 aptamer to obtain a selective drug carrier toward cancers overexpressing MUC1. The negative charges of albumin nanoparticles were shifted to positive charges by surface modification with chitosan, and MUC1 was conjugated through an acrylate spacer. The cytotoxicity of targeted nanoparticles was significantly more than non-aptamer nanoparticles, and also the chitosan-coated nanoparticles had more cytotoxic effects than the negatively charged albumin nanoparticles. The IC50 of targeted nanoparticles was 28 and 26% of free paclitaxel in MCF7 and T47D cells at 48 h, respectively. Confocal laser scanning electron... 

In this study the ability of artificial neural network (ANN) in forecasting the daily NASDAQ stock exchange rate was investigated. Several feed forward ANNs that were trained by the back propagation algorithm have been assessed. The methodology used in this study considered the short-term historical stock prices as well as the day of week as inputs. Daily stock exchange rates of NASDAQ from January 28, 2015 to 18 June, 2015 are used to develop a robust model. First 70 days (January 28 to March 7) are selected as training dataset and the last 29 days are used for testing the model prediction ability. Networks for NASDAQ index prediction for two type of input dataset (four prior days and nine... 

In this study, a new polymeric functionalized magnetic nanocatalyst containing a molybdenum Schiff base complex was prepared using a few consecutive steps. Poly (methylacrylate)-coated magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized via radical polymerization of methyl acrylate onto modified magnetic nanoparticles followed by the amidation of the methyl ester groups with hydrazine. Polymeric functionalization efficiently provides the advantage that more catalytic units can be grafted on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles. The functionalization process was continued with salicylaldehyde which introduced Schiff base groups on to the surface of the polymeric support. In the final step, the desired... 

In recent decades, utilizing of water-based muds (WBMs) in drilling oil and gas wells is ever increasing comparing to oil-based muds and synthetic-based muds due to the lower environmental issues. However, the main drawbacks with WBMs are rheological properties inefficiency and shale swelling which have caused attentions turn to improvement of WBMs’ rheological properties. In this study, the effects of various nanoparticles (NPs) namely titanium dioxide (TiO2), silicon dioxide (SiO2), and zinc oxide (ZnO) on improving rheological properties and shale recovery rate of a WBM sample at two temperatures (25 and 50 °C) were investigated. The concentrations of NPs in the base mud were set at 0.01,... 

In this paper, the swing-up problem of the Furuta pendulum has been solved by introducing a new combined method based on the frequency response, and the sliding mode method. Furthermore, a trajectory tracking controller has been introduced and applied to the Furuta pendulum; which the pendulum remained regulated at the upward position, while the arm tracks a desired time-varying trajectory. The hierarchical sliding mode control (HSMC) approach has been employed to achieve the mentioned goals. The Furuta system is made up of two subsystems. Based on this physical structure, the hierarchical structure of the sliding surfaces is designed as follows: first, the sliding surface of each subsystem... 

A new magnetically separable nanocatalyst was successfully synthesized by immobilizing of vanadyl acetylacetonate complex, [VO(acac)2], onto silica coated magnetite nanoparticles previously functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (3-APTES) and reacted by 5-bromosalicylaldehyde to form Schiff base moiety. The obtained nanocatalyst was characterized by elemental analysis (CHN), FT-IR spectroscopy, Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Eventually, the resulting nanoparticles were used as catalyst for epoxidation of alkenes and... 

Oxidation of a variety of organic compounds, using Mn-porphyrin, mesotetrakis(4-hydroxyphenyl)porphyrinatomanganese(III), supported onto functionalized silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles via “Click” reaction has been investigated. The heterogeneous catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP/OES) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) demonstrated that the prepared catalyst was thermally stable to almost 300 °C, exhibiting high thermostability of the nanocatalyst over a broad range of temperatures. This... 

Condensation of pyrrole with various aldehydes in the presence of BF3•etherate as an acid catalyst in water provides good yield of some dipyrromethanes. Prolongation of the reaction time with aldehydes substituted by electron-donating (mesityl) or electron-withdrawing (2,6-dichlorophenyl) groups on the ortho positions of the phenyl did not lead to decomposition or scrambling. Manganese trans disubstituted porphyrin complexes which derive from various dipyrromethanes and manganese tetraaryl porphyrin complexes including various substituents with different steric and electronic properties show good catalytic activity in epoxidation of alkenes by NaIO4 in the presence of imidazole (ImH). The... 

A novel MED-based desalination system for low-grade heat sources with a temperature between 65 °C and 90 °C has been proposed. Low-grade heat-driven desalination systems are of the most important methods for increasing energy efficiency and assisting the environment along with alleviating the water scarcity problem. The new proposed system is known as cascade multi-effect distillation (CMED). It is designed based on multi-step heat extraction from the heat source fluid (HSF). Multi-step heat absorption helps to form two arrays of MED effects and to utilize two boosters to achieve better performance. The advantage of this system is less complexity (for example, lower vapor injection), and... 

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), Fe3O4@SiO2, have been prepared and functionalized by 3-(chloropropyl)trimethoxysilane and then by imidazole to synthesize Fe3O4@SiO2-Im. The functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles were used as a support to anchor manganese porphyrin via axial ligation. The prepared catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, UV-vis spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Application of immobilized manganese porphyrin as a heterogeneous catalyst in oxidation of alkenes and sulfides was explored. To find suitable reaction conditions,... 

A manganese porphyrin, meso-tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)porphyrinato manganese(iii) acetate, Mn(TPFPP)OAc, was immobilized on silica-coated magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTS) through the amino propyl linkage using a grafting process in toluene solvent. This enabled the covalent immobilization of Mn(iii) porphyrin via an aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction, to afford the Fe3O4@SiO2-NH2@MnPor catalyst. The resulting nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, elemental analysis (CHN), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), and vibrating... 

In this paper, the effects of annealing temperature and time on mechanical properties and bond strength of aluminum clad steel sheet are evaluated. The results indicate that there exist an optimum annealing temperature and time for achieving a suitable formability and bonding strength between the clad layer and base metal. At this annealing time and temperature, the brittle intermetallic layer at the intimate interface of the layers is minimized. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

A mathematical model for cold rolling of two-layer strip is proposed using the upper bound theorem to investigate the plastic deformation behavior of the strip at the roll gap. The effects of total thickness reduction on the rolling power, rolling force, thickness reductions of each layer, and bonding strength of bimetal strip are discussed. Furthermore, experiments on two-layer strip rolling are conducted by employing aluminum-tin alloy and mild steel as the layers of the two-layer strips. It is found that all of theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental measurements. Through the study, it becomes clear that the proposed analytical model is applicable for... 

A mathematical model for cold rolling of symmetrical sandwich strip is proposed using the upper bound theorem to investigate the plastic deformation behavior of the strip at the roll gap. The velocity fields derived from the proposed upper bound model can satisfy automatically the volume constancy and the velocity boundary conditions within the roll gap. Effects of various rolling conditions such as the initial thickness and flow stress of each layer in the strip, total thickness reduction and the frictional condition between the strip and roll on the rolling power, rolling force, and thickness reduction of each layer are discussed. Furthermore, experiments on sandwich strip rolling are... 

The production of an aluminum-clad steel sheet by the cold rolling process is a more efficient and economical approach compared with the other types of processes utilized for the production of such sheets. In this process, high plastic deformation of two metals, aluminum and steel, is necessary to create the cold bonding between the intermediate surfaces. Therefore, the work-hardened sheet must be annealed in order to obtain a high formability. Heat treatment of the sheet is, however, difficult due to the formation of a brittle intermetallic compound of aluminum and iron at the interface between the layers during heat treatment. In this investigation, the formability of these sheets was... 

The mechanisms of cold roll welding of aluminium alloy to steel strip has been assessed based on a study of interfacial behaviour at deformations of up to 60% together with the surface characteristics of peeled Al clad steel strip. The proposed mechanisms are applicable where the contact surfaces are degreased and then scratch brushed before the rolling deformation. According to this mechanisms the scratch-brushed layers are fractured shortly after entering the roll gap at a reduction of approximately 10%, which is about the threshold deformation for the roll bonding of aluminium to steel. The transfer cracks formed then become wider so that the distance between each coherent block increases...