Performance evaluation of ultrasonic transducer in a mist bioreactor by different nutrient media.

The mist bioreactor has been proved to have a higher performance relative to the liquid phase reactor. The water and conventional media (MS, ½MS, and B5) were tested in a mist bioreactor to evaluate the performance of the misting system. The physicochemical properties of liquids were measured at 0 (Fresh state) and when treated by ultrasonic system for 1 and 2 h.

Hydrophilic Natural Polymers for Sustained-controlled Release of Calcium Hydroxide.

Calcium Hydroxide (CH) is commonly employed as intracanal medicament in endodontics. In order to maximize its therapeutic effects, it is essential to develop new approaches for preparing the controlled drug release systems which, in turn, facilities the dissociation of CH into calcium and hydroxyl ions. This work studies the sustained-controlled release of calcium ions and the effect of pH changes on the different formulation of CH with hydrophilic natural polymers over a period of 30 days.

Isothermal Cyclic Conversion of Methane into Methanol over Copper-Exchanged Zeolite at Low Temperature.

Direct partial oxidation of methane into methanol is a cornerstone of catalysis. The stepped conversion of methane into methanol currently involves activation at high temperature and reaction with methane at decreased temperature, which limits applicability of the technique. The first implementation of copper-containing zeolites in the production of methanol directly from methane is reported, using molecular oxygen under isothermal conditions at 200 °C.

An artificial intelligence approach for modeling volume and fresh weight of callus - A case study of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.).

Cumin (Cuminum cyminum Linn.) is valued for its aroma and its medicinal and therapeutic properties. A supervised feedforward artificial neural network (ANN) trained with back propagation algorithms, was applied to predict fresh weight and volume of Cuminum cyminum L.

Ultra-deep adsorptive desulfurization of a model diesel fuel on regenerable Ni-Cu/γ-Al₂O₃ at low temperatures in absence of hydrogen.

A model diesel fuel containing 250 ppmw sulfur (as dibenzothiophene) in n-hexadecane was desulfurized at low temperatures in absence of hydrogen, down to about zero ppmwS on a novel adsorbent of well dispersed 3-12 nm Nix-Cu10-x (x=Ni wt%) nanoparticles formed by impregnation on γ-Al2O3 and reduced in H2 at 275 or 450°C. The sorbents were characterized by XRD, TEM-EDX, FESEM-EDS, H2-TPR, TPO, BJH and BET surface area measurement techniques. Effects of various parameters comprising Cu content, reduction and desulfurization temperatures, inhibition by naphthalene, and regeneration of spent sorbents were investigated.

A Hybrid Soft-computing Method for Image Analysis of Digital Plantar Scanners.

Digital foot scanners have been developed in recent years to yield anthropometrists digital image of insole with pressure distribution and anthropometric information. In this paper, a hybrid algorithm containing gray level spatial correlation (GLSC) histogram and Shanbag entropy is presented for analysis of scanned foot images. An evolutionary algorithm is also employed to find the optimum parameters of GLSC and transform function of the membership values.

Contamination levels and spatial distributions of heavy metals and PAHs in surface sediment of Imam Khomeini Port, Persian Gulf, Iran.

Imam Khomeini Port (IKP) is the largest Iranian commercial port. Because of many petrochemical industries and urban areas are located around this port and also having heavy ship traffic, concentrations of PAHs, mercury and other heavy metals were measured as the first time in surface sediment of the jetties. The highest concentrations of PAHs, Hg, Cu, Pb and Fe were recorded at Site 1, located in the vicinity of the petrochemical industrial zone, where ships are repaired.

Metal concentrations in tissues of two fish species from Qeshm Island, Iran.

The purpose of this study was to determine the concentrations of metals, cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel in Liza vaigiensis and Johnius carutta, in order to: compare metal concentrations between two species with different gender, and to determine the significance between metal concentrations in the gill, liver and muscle. The highest mean concentrations of cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel in different tissues of these two fish species were found in the liver of L. vaigiensis at 0.

Calculation of renal differential function following renal transplant: retrospective validation of a simplified method.

Objectives: The estimation of differential function (DF) in post-renal transplant patients (PRTPs) is challenging because of the different distances of the native kidneys (NKs) and transplant kidney (TK) to the gamma camera and because current commercial software allows evaluation of only 2 kidneys instead of 3. We retrospectively validated a simplified method (SM) to process renal scans and hypothesized that it is comparable with the reference method (RM).

Patients And Methods: Twelve 99mTc MAG3 renal scintigraphies of 10 PRTPs were performed on a dual-head gamma camera.

Synthesis of hydrophobic derivatives of the G/\C base for rosette nanotube self-assembly in apolar media.

Eleven self-complementary G/\C derivatives bearing hydrophobic moieties were synthesized and characterized. One representative derivative from this family was shown to self-assemble into rosette nanotubes in hexane and form Langmuir-Blodgett films at the air-water interface.

Transient electrokinetic transport in a finite length microchannel: currents, capacitance, and an electrical analogy.

Numerical simulations with the fluid mechanics based on the unsteady Navier-Stokes equations and the Poisson-Nernst-Planck formulation of electrostatics and ion transport were used to explore the transient transport of charge through a finite length cylindrical microchannel that is driven by a pressure difference. The evolution of the transcapillary potential from a no-flow equilibrium to the steady-state-steady-flow streaming potential was analyzed by following the convection, migration, and net currents. Observations of the unsteady characteristics of the streaming current, electrical resistance, and capacitance led to an electrical analogy.

Transient streaming potential in a finite length microchannel.

Pressure-driven flow of an electrolyte solution in a microchannel with charged solid surfaces induces a streaming potential across the microchannel. Such a flow also causes rejection of ions by the microchannel, leading to different concentrations in the feed and permeate reservoirs connecting the capillary, which forms the basis of membrane based separation of electrolytes. Modeling approaches traditionally employed to assess the streaming potential development and ion rejection by capillaries often present a confusing picture of the governing electrochemical transport processes.

The dynamics of impacting water droplets on alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers with co-adsorbed CH3 and CO2H terminal groups.

The impact of water droplets (diameter 3.6 mm) at a fixed Weber number of 59 on solid surfaces with precisely tailored surface wettabilities was studied experimentally using a high-speed imaging camera at 2500 frames per second. Solid surface wettability was varied using four fractional mixtures of self-assembled monolayers of 1-octadecanethiol and 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid.