Sharif Digital Repository

This thesis presents the results of the performance of a novel technology called submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR). The SMEBR treats wastewater by combining membrane filtration, electrokinetic phenomena, and biological processes in one reactor, and improves treatment performance while helping to control membrane fouling. The newly designed SMEBR system was based on applying an intermittent direct current (DC) field between immersed perforated electrodes around a membrane filtration module. The SMEBR system significantly reduced the fouling rate when iron worked as electrodes and an intermittent DC with an operational different mode was applied.
In Phase 1 of this project,... 

Leachate migration from solid waste landfills into the subsurface environment is one of the significant problems of landfills. This can cause lots of problems for local soil and water to sources according to the contaminants appear in the leachate. Usually, landfill sites include at least one compact clay liner to prevent contamination of groundwater by produced leachate. Over the last decades investigators have been attracted to the structure and removal capacity of this liner. In this study, the effect of the addition of Zeolite to Kaolinite soil for the removal of heavy metal (manganese and zinc) from landfill leachate and the effect of decreasing the thickness of the soil layer has been... 

In the present study we examined the fabrication of electrospun polymer drug delivery system for the production of polymeric film containing Rizatriptan drug. Fabricated films were underwent X-ray diffraction and DSC tests to ensure that the drug is not in crystalline and amorphous form. And the results revealed the fact that the drug is fully dispersed in the polymer. pH changes in the aqueous phase is too low so that it enable the polymeric film to be suitable for use in oral administration. In-vitro assay for different combination of sublingual polymeric suggested that Rizatriptan film with 3% weight by volume and 30% by weight by volume of electrospun polymer PVP is the best combination... 

In present study, two bioreactors for biological and chemical removal of nitrogen oxides are modeled. Nitrogen oxides are of the most important pollutants in flue gas stream. These components are hazardous materials and could lead to acid rain, ground-level ozone, smog and the depletion of ozone layer. There are several methods for removing these pollutants which are categorized to two main groups: non-biological and biological methods. Biological removal has the advantage of removing the pollutants by an acceptable efficiency. In present study, two packed-bed bioreactors are modeled by the means of considering two kinds of biological removal mechanism in defined operating conditions. The... 

Disposal of molasses wastewater of Alcohol production and sugar refinery plants into water resources make irreparable damages to the environment. Continuous disposal of this wastewater causes decreases soil quality and destroys agricultural products. Wastewater which is produced from molasses alcoholic fermentation causes numerous environmental issues due to the dark color and high level of organic compounds. Most of these organic compounds can be eliminated by aerobic or anaerobic biological treatments. Nevertheless, the color which is due to the presence of heavy organic compounds, named melanoidin, in wastewater is hardly removed by conventional biological treatments. In this project, the... 

In the present study, synthesis, preparation, and application of bimetallic iron/nickel nano-particles were experimentally investigated with the aim of groundwater remediation. Firstly, iron/nickel nano-particles were synthesized according to chemical reduction and stabilization with starch biopolymer, and then characterized. Results confirmed the formation of bimetallic iron/nickel nano-particles with mean size of 75 nm that starch placed around of them. The more stability characteristic and also enough mobility ensure their diffusion through porous media. Secondly, reactivity of synthesized nano-particles for removal of various contaminants including nitrate, chromium, and lead were... 

Conjugation of proteins to nanoparticles has numerous applications in sensing, imaging, delivery, catalysis, therapy and control of protein structure and activity. Therefore, characterizing the nanoparticle–protein interface is of great importance. A variety of covalent and non-covalent linking chemistries have been reported for nanoparticle attachment. Typically, a specific protein residue is linked directly to the nanoparticle core or to the ligand. As conjugation often affects the protein structure and function, techniques to probe structure and activity are assessed Characterization studies of nanoparticle–protein complexes show that the structure and function are influenced by the... 

The present M.Sc. thesis consists of two sections including the static calculation and neutron noise calculation in rectangular and hexagonal geometries. The multi-group, two dimensional neutron diffusion equations and corresponding adjoint equations are solved in the static calculation. The spatial discretization of equations is based on Average Current Nodal Expansion Method (ACNEM). Size of nodes is the same size of the fuel assemblies in modeling both of rectangular and hexagonal geometries. The results are benchmarked against the valid results for BIBLIS-2D and IAEA-2D benchmark problems. In the second section, neutron noise calculations are performed for two types of noise sources,... 

Based on symbolic theories BRANDS have personalities and according to this, brands like human beings have personality and stable behaviors in a period of time. Customers can imagine brands like a live creature according to different causes such as marketing communications, social responsibility of brand, CEO behaviors, clients, customers, etc. “BRAND PERSONALITY” is an interesting concept in world of marketing and it is one of the most important part of the brand identity. Brand personality makes people think at “brands” as friends. We consider “personality” as a perception of knowing, feelings and motivations that make people reactions toward their environment. Consuming is a way of... 

Customer needs of Iran Print Industry have permanently been a secret for all producers, print centers and even many of the customers themselves. This research tries to find the relationship gaps between Iran Print Industry and its Individual /Industrial Customers, by identifying their needs. This will give recommendations on how manufacturers can increase their customers' satisfaction by providing them with what they need. Also it helps find the customers` satisfaction coefficient of the needs, which is a good guide for Customer Relationship Management in this industry.Therefore, manufacturers can spot these results by providing appropriate machines which can achieve these goals and offer... 

One of the subjects that have been title for many research proposals in recent years is application of Nano Zero Valent Iron (NZVI) particles in contaminant removal from groundwater sources. Despite many studies being done, field application of this particles in a practical scale is not widespread yet which is due to many challenges like rapid settlement of particles or their unclear behavior through field application. The main purpose of this thesis in the first place is to find a practical and productive method for stabilization of particles and enhancement of their transport properties. To reach this goal, application of a natural polymer like starch has been studied as a solution. To... 

Marketing nowadays is an extremely dynamic field in which brand plays a critical role. Although comparing to developed countries, marketing is not a very old science area in Iran, but in the past decade brand concept has become more and more important among marketing managers of domestic industries. Nevertheless, there is no scientific approach to manage this critical concept, i.e. brand among local companies.Since managing any concept requires measuring it, there have been many global research conducted in the past 4 decades in order to construct a measurement framework to evaluate brand equity. But in Iran however, there is a big gap in this area and brands are evaluated by marketing... 

This study analyzes determinants of customers’ switching intentions. The context of this study is service area and we have studied customers’ behavior of internet service providers. In this research we focus both on transactional and relational variables. We have tried to clarify the role of consumers’ commitment on their intentions to switch. Drawing from literature and based on previous service switching research we have developed a switching model. This includes two component of customer commitment and the antecedents of commitment. We have developed our hypothesis according to this model and the literature review. The survey was administered to ADSL internet home users. A sample of 130... 

Nowadays, different technologies help businesses in their various processes, especially marketing, so that their activities can be carried out in a better way.One of the emerging technologies that has come to the attention of retailers in recent years is augmented reality. With the help of this technology and only with a smartphone, a product can be viewed virtually and three-dimensionally in real space. There have been several studies on the effect of augmented reality technology on marketing processes and customers' shopping experience. Most of these studies have focused on the online shopping experience. This study examines how augmented reality technology, allows buyers to have more... 

One way for businesses to grow and compete, in any age (especially the digital age), is to create a Brand Relevance through creating or finding, and then owning new categories or subcategories. In this way, instead of beating competitors; they become irrelevant by enticing customers to buy a new category or subcategory for which other alternative brands are not considered relevant. Firms traditionally rely on interviews and focus groups to identify these subcategories and customer needs. Nowadays, with the growth of social media, user-generated content (UGC) is also a good alternative source. However, Due to the large size of UGC and the non-informative or repetitive data it contains,... 

This thesis seeks to answer the following research questions: 1-How customers’ engagement with social media activation campaigns is conceptualized and operationalized? 2- What are the main antecedents of customers’ engagement with such campaigns? 3-How customers’ engagement with these campaigns affects brand image? The first research question is addressed in the first section of this research and includes five phases. Using the conceptualization of engagement in psychology, marketing, information systems, and some other fields, Phase 1 conceptualizes customers’ engagement with social media activation campaigns. This phase offers a comprehensive definition of this construct and discuss the... 

Brand perceptual map is a practical tool for visualizing the position of a brand and its competitors in the mind of customers. In traditional ways of building a brand perceptual map, the researcher identifies important aspects of the product and designs a questionnaire to measure the scores of different brands to gather the required information from users. With the increasing development of online shopping, users have been voluntarily registering their reviews in online shops, in a free and unstructured manner, and have created valuable data sources in these online stores. Due to the large size of registered reviews, processing them requires the use of automated methods in computers. In... 

In the past two decades, there have been significant advancements in responsible management education at the international level. These developments have led to new discourses and pathways in the field of management education and research. Responsible Management Education (RME) involves considering perspectives related to the responsibilities of enterprises, the social impacts of private sector activities on society, attention to the environment and sustainable development, and business ethics in the curriculum of business schools. Business schools worldwide have initiated numerous programs, studies, initiatives, lessons, and events to address social issues, responsible management, and... 

In this research the tendency of the Iranian companies in using marketing metrics will be examined. Business orientation and size of the firms have been considered as factors to be effective on diversified taste of companies in using financial, non-financial or a combination of both measures in evaluating marketing performance. An export-oriented sector of our country such as companies affiliated in IDRO must be able to measure the marketing performance as a prerequisite to be able to enter a global competition. In this research it has been attempted to determine the metrics favored by Iranian firms. It has been also concluded that the size of the companies has a direct relation with the... 

Among businesses operating under the sharing economy model, ride-sharing platforms or Internet taxis have attracted a lot of attention and have been able to encourage millions of people to use them in a few years. Meanwhile, what has been the subject of numerous researches in recent years is the motivation of people to use this type of business. Understanding what motivates users to use these businesses is important to them because it helps them allocate their resources optimally by focusing on the benefits, shortcomings, and potential disadvantages of their product, And then by improving the provided service, have more advantages and attractiveness in the eyes of customers. Accordingly, in...