Review: the latest advances in biomedical applications of chitosan hydrogel as a powerful natural structure with eye-catching biological properties

Journal of Materials Science - Chitosan is one of the natural cationic polymers with unique properties such as non-toxicity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, environmentally friendly that has...     

Electrospun nanofibres in agriculture and the food industry: a review

The interesting characteristics of electrospun nanofibres, such as high surface‐to‐volume ratio, nanoporosity, and high safety, make them suitable candidates for use in a variety of applications. In the recent decade, electrospun nanofibres have been applied to different potential fields such as filtration, wound dressing, drug delivery, etc. and a significant number of review papers have been published in these fields. However, the use of electrospun nanofibres in agriculture is comparatively novel and is still in its infancy. In this paper, the specific applications of electrospun nanofibres in agriculture and food science, including plant protection using pheromone‐loaded nanofibres, plant protection using encapsulation of biocontrol agents, preparation of protective clothes for farm workers, encapsulation of agrochemical materials, deoxyribonucleic acid extraction in agricultural research studies, pre‐concentration and measurement of pesticides in crops and environmental samples, preparation of nanobiosensors for pesticide detection, encapsulation of food materials, fabrication of food packaging materials, and filtration of beverage products are reviewed and discussed. This paper may help researchers develop the use of electrospun nanofibres in agriculture and food science to address some serious problems such as the intensive use of pesticides. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Optimal wide-area hybrid fuzzy controller to enhance the stability in power system

To stabilise power oscillation, power system stabilizer is often used as an effective device to enhance the damping of electromechanical oscillations in power systems. This device is working with small-signal stability, which is often applied as part of excitation control system. Different methods have been proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of remote signals application in increasing damping of power system. In this paper, we used both local and remote signals control based on fuzzy controller and wide-area control, respectively. Accordingly, Takagi Sugeno controller based an intelligent algorithm and clustering algorithm is optimised. A global signal from the centralised controller is employed in wide-area control scheme to damp out the inter-area mode as well as local mode of oscillations. To demonstrate the capability of proposed strategy, three case studies have been used in this paper. The results obtained demonstrate the validity of the proposed model.     

Intensified biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using a native extremophilic Ureibacillus thermosphaericus strain

The microflora of Ramsar geothermal hot springs located in Mazandaran province, Iran was screened for native thermophilic bacteria that are capable of biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles. One isolate identified as “Ureibacillus thermosphaericus” showed high potential for silver nanoparticle biosynthesis with extracellular mechanism and selected for the biosynthesis optimization. Biosynthesis reactions were conducted using the culture supernatant at different temperatures (60-80 °C) and silver ion concentrations (0.001-0.1 M). The results obtained showed that pure spherical nanoparticles in the range of 10-100 nm were produced, and the maximum nanoparticle production was achieved using 0.01 M Ag-NO₃ at 80 °C. In conclusion, the findings of this study confirmed the great biocatalyzing potential of the extremophilic U. thermosphaericus supernatant for intensified biosynthesis of silver nanoparticle at elevated temperatures and high silver ion concentrations.     

Mapping Iranian patents based on International Patent Classification (IPC), from 1976 to 2011

Patents are used as an indicator to assess the growth of science and technology in a given country or area. They are being examined to determine research potentials of research centers, universities, and inventors. The aim of this study is to map the past and current trends in patenting activities with a view to better understanding and tracking the changing nature of science and technology in Iran. The patenting activity in the Iran was investigated for the period 1976?C2011, based on the USPTO, WIPO, and EPO (Esp@cenet). We analyzed the affiliation of inventers and collected patents which have at least an Iranian inventor. The collected data were analyzed applying Microsoft Excel. Analytical results demonstrate that between 1976 and 2011, 212 patents have been registered by Iranian inventors in the three above-mentioned databases. The average number of Iranian patents registered per year has increased significantly from 25 in 1976?C1980 period to 119 in 2006?C2011. It was noted that the highest number of registered patents (27?%) were in ??chemistry, metallurgy?? area of International Patent Classification (IPC), followed by ??human necessities?? (18?%), ??electricity?? (17?%), and ??performing operations; transporting?? (15?%). Overall, it can be concluded that patent-activities are highly country-specific, the results indicate that Iran is focused on ??chemistry, metallurgy?? technology.