Application of titanium oxide nanotube films containing gold nanoparticles for the electroanalytical determination of ascorbic acid

Au/TiO₂/Ti electrodes have been prepared by galvanic deposition of gold particles on TiO₂ nanotube substrates. Titanium oxide nanotubes are fabricated by anodizing titanium foil in a Dimethyl Sulfoxide electrolyte containing fluoride. The scanning electron microscopy results indicated that gold particles are homogeneously deposited on the surface of TiO₂ nanotubes. The TiO₂ layers consist of individual tubes of about 40-80 nm diameters. The electro-catalytic behavior of Au/TiO₂/Ti and flat gold electrodes for the ascorbic acid electro-oxidation was studied by cyclic voltammetry. The results showed that the flat gold electrode is not suitable for the oxidation of ascorbic acid. However, the Au/TiO₂/Ti electrodes are shown to possess catalytic activity toward the oxidation reaction. Catalytic oxidation peak current showed a linear dependence on the ascorbic acid concentration and a linear calibration curve is obtained in the concentration range of 1-5 mM of ascorbic acid. Also, determination of ascorbic acid in real samples was evaluated. The obtained results were found to be satisfactory. Finally the effects of interference on the detection of ascorbic acid were investigated.     

Resource discovery approaches in cloudIoT: a systematic review

The Journal of Supercomputing - The cloud of things (CloudIoT) represents a general system of supporting infrastructure for storing and processing information gathered from smart objects and their...     

Access point selection in the network of Internet of things (IoT) considering the strategic behavior of the things and users

The Journal of Supercomputing - With the expansion in the use of IoT, increasing the efficiency of these networks has become even more significant. Objects need reliable communications at suitable...     

A cost-effective approach to generate accurate correlations via analyzing a minimum number of data points; Case study on the convection heat transfer problem

It is very common in the heat transfer area to analyze and design heat equipment using the past available heat correlations. Basically, demanding higher-accuracy correlations enforces the heat laboratories to test and collect larger banks of laboratory data. However, this conversely affects the laboratory cost. Therefore, it becomes challenging to create new approaches that let the correlation developers use smaller experimental datasets and provide correlations with sufficient accuracies. To surmount this challenge, the present work develops a new approach that benefits from the computational fluid dynamics method as a reliable and cheap tool and adequately enriches the original, insufficient dataset. Then, suitable enhanced correlations are developed using the new enriched experimental-numerical-based dataset. In parallel, the artificial neural network (ANN) is used to enrich the original insufficient dataset separately. Using this experimental-ANN-based dataset, it provides a totally ANN-based correlation. It is shown that the results of enhanced correlations are as accurate as those of the ANN-based correlation. However, the point is that the use of the present approach is about 100 times faster than using the ANN. The typical forced convection heat transfer through a pipe is examined here to show the capabilities of the current approach.     

Models for estimation of TBM performance in granitic and mica gneiss hard rocks in a hydropower tunnel

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The risk of excavation operations due to high capital costs can be reduced by correct estimation of machine performance. Many models have been...     

Intelligent and independent processes for overcoming big graphs

Poor locality as a natural property of graph data structures causes enormous amount of network traffic in large-scale distributed graph processing systems. Moreover, data transmission through the network is one of the most expensive operations in a distributed system. Therefore, reduction of network usage is highly required by a new graph computational model. In this paper, increasing the degree of machine independency has been considered a key factor of network traffic reduction. The proposed system benefits from a three-layered computational model to perfectly leverage the power of local information as much as possible. Moreover, this model simultaneously takes the advantages of both message-based and shared-state communication paradigms. Vertices can read and update values of others in the lowest layer directly, while they must send messages in other layers. By the use of memorization techniques, the proposed model introduces a new kind of intelligence that has encouraging effects on removing useless communications. Distinctive results of our experiments confirm significant improvements of the proposed model in relation to the previous systems like Pregel, GPS, and Blogel, as well as ExPregel. The results also show that the overhead of making processes independent along with intelligent is negligible in comparison with the cost of additional network communications.     

pH- and thermo-sensitive MTX-loaded magnetic nanocomposites: synthesis,characterization, and in vitro studies on A549 lung cancer cell and MR imaging

In the current study, we proposed a facile method for fabrication of multifunctional pH- and thermo-sensitive magnetic nanocomposites (MNCs) as a theranostic agent for using in targeted drug delivery and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To this end, we decorated Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm), best known for their pH- and thermo-sensitive properties, respectively. We also conjugated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) to polymer matrix acting as drug container to enhance the drug encapsulation efficacy. Methotroxate (MTX) as a model drug was successfully loaded in MNCs (M-MNCs) via surface adsorption onto MSNs and electrostatic interaction between drug and carrier. The pH- and temperature-triggered release of MTX was concluded through the evaluation of in vitro release at both physiological and simulated tumor tissue conditions. Based on in vitro cytotoxicity assay results, M-MNCs significantly revealed higher antitumor activity compared to free MTX. In vitro MR susceptibility experiment showed that M-MNCs relatively possessed high transverse relaxivity (r₂) of about 0.15?mM^?1·ms^?1 and a linear relationship between the transverse relaxation rate (R₂) and the Fe concentration in the M-MNCs was also demonstrated. Therefore, the designed MNCs can potentially become smart drug carrier, while they also can be promising MRI negative contrast agent.     

Experimental optimization studies on steel core lengths in buckling restrained braces

Concentric braced frames are commonly used in steel structures to withstand lateral forces. However, brace hysteretic behavior is asymmetric in tension and compression. These frames typically exhibit substantial strength deterioration when loaded in compression. Consequently, the concept of Buckling Restrained Brace (BRB) has been introduced to overcome this deficiency.The length of a BRB steel core could have a significant effect on its overall behavior since it directly influences the energy dissipation of the member. Furthermore, BRB could be effectively utilized as a damper to dissipate seismic input energy, particularly when used as a fuse within the brace in a frame. Modified BRBs with shorter lengths may be called damper BRBs, because they function as if a typical damper is utilized along any brace member. These damper BRBs are fabricated and tested in this study both experimentally and analytically. Useful insights into local retrofitting of core plates and connections are also provided.     

Synthesis, characterization and magnetic properties of NiS1+x nanocrystals from [bis(salicylidene)nickel(II)] as new precursor

[Bis(salicylidene)nickel(II)] was used as a precursor to prepare nickel sulfides nanoparticles of average size 20 nm by a chemical process in oleylamine. The products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Magnetization measurement indicates that both of the α-NiS and Ni₃S₄ nanoparticles show pramagnetism due to the size effect.     

Optimal design of gas turbine CHP plant with preheater and HRSG

Located in the south of Iran, Jiroft Paper Mill Company requires an integrated combined heat and power plant, which can provide 50 MW of electric power and 100 ton h^?1 saturated steam at 13 bar, to produce paper from an adjacent eucalyptus forest. The plant is composed of an air compressor, combustion chamber, air preheater, turbine, as well as a heat recovery steam generator. The design parameters of the plant were chosen as: compressor pressure ratio (r_c), compressor isentropic efficiency (η_AC), gas turbine isentropic efficiency (η_T), combustion chamber inlet temperature (T₃), and turbine inlet temperature (T₄). In order to optimally find the design parameters a thermoeconomic approach has been followed. An objective function representing the total cost of the plant in terms of dollar per second was defined as the sum of the operating cost related to the fuel consumption and the capital investment for equipment purchase and maintenance costs. Subsequently, different parts of the objective function have been expressed in terms of decision variables. Finally, the optimal values of decision variables were obtained by minimizing the objective function using sequential quadratic programming. The influence of changes in the demanded power and steam on the design parameters has also been studied for 40, 50, 60, and 70 MW of net power output, and 100, 120, and 150 ton h^?1 of saturated steam mass flow rate. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of change in design parameters with change in fuel or investment cost was performed. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.