MHD Equilibrium and Kink Stability in Damavand Tokamak

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium is vulnerable to numerous destabilizing mechanisms. Instabilities introduce distortions to the plasma magnetic surfaces and its boundaries, their driving force being the radial gradient of plasma toroidal current density. For certain modal numbers, internal kink modes may develop, and their study is feasible according to the energy principle, in which the change in total potential energy due to the disturbance is evaluated. In this article, we present a totally new analysis of MHD equilibrium and stability, and apply it to Damavand tokamak which has a large aspect ratio. For this purpose, we combine perturbation and Green’s function methods to solve for the equilibrium configuration. At this stage, plasma profiles are found explicitly in terms of Bessel functions, and we present a simple expression for estimation of total toroidal plasma current. Then the rest of plasma profiles, including poloidal magnetic flux, safety factor, and toroidal current density, are obtained and plotted. In the next step, we turn to the stability calculations and show that Damavand plasma is resistant to most of the disturbances.     

Surface Decoration of Peptide Nanoparticles Enables Efficient Therapy toward Osteoporosis and Diabetes

A versatile surface decoration strategy to efficiently encapsulate water-soluble peptides is developed. By assembling peptide molecules into nanoparticles, diverse physiochemical properties of these compacted molecules are equalized to the surface properties of nanoparticles. Primarily driven by the generic electrostatic attractions, the surface of as-prepared peptide nanoparticles is decorated with charged amino acids-grafted poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid). This adsorbed polymer layer versatilely blocks the phase transfer of peptide nanoparticles by increasing their affinity to the dispersed phase solvent molecules. Attributed to the ultrahigh encapsulation efficiencies (> 96%), the peptide mass fraction inside the obtained microcomposites is higher than 48%. The plasma calcium level has been efficiently reduced for ≈3 weeks with only one single injection of salmon calcitonin-encapsulated microcomposite in osteoporotic rats. Similarly, one single injection of exenatide-encapsulated microcomposites efficiently controls the glycemic level in type 2 diabetic rats for up to 3 weeks. Overall, the developed versatile surface decoration strategy efficiently encapsulates peptides and improves their pharmacokinetic features, regardless of the molecular structure of peptide cargos.     

Electrometallurgical recovery of nickel and vanadium from spent desulphurization catalysts using an acidic leaching–electrolysis technique

Spent desulphurization catalysts are considered a major secondary source of valuable metals. The contents of nickel and vanadium present in these catalysts, accompanied by environmental rules, have attracted scientists to explore diverse options for their effective processing. The electrometallurgy recovery of Ni and V from the spent desulphurization Ni-Mo-V/Al₂O₃ catalyst is described in this study. Using flat plate graphite electrodes, the electrochemical deposition of Ni and V from spent catalyst in an acid solution (HNO₃/H₂SO₄) was investigated. By the central composite design of the response surface methodology, the effect of the operating factors was examined and optimized. At the ideal conditions of reaction temperatures of 84.0 and 42.0°C, electrolysis times of 5.6 and 4.4 h, liquid/solid ratios of 22.7 and 15.4 ml/g, and current densities of 229.0 and 255.6 A/m², respectively, the recovery efficiencies of Ni and V were 81.96% and 93.07%. The statistical analysis revealed that the expected data (R² = 0.9984 and R² = 0.9883) were in good agreement with the observed data (R² = 0.9984), with an average variation from experimental data of 0.78% and 0.65% for the optimum conditions of Ni and V recovery, respectively. It shows that the Ni and V nanoparticles deposited have a spherical form with purities of 84.39% and 90.76%, respectively. Because of its great efficiency and purity, the current study can provide a dependable procedure for extracting Ni and V from solid waste.     

Grading of gliomas using transfer learning on MRI images

Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine - Despite the critical role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis of brain tumours, there are still many pitfalls in the...     

Innovative Diagnostic Peptide-Based Technologies for Cancer Diagnosis: Focus on EGFR-Targeting Peptides

Active targeting using biological ligands has emerged as a novel strategy for the targeted delivery of diagnostic agents to tumor cells. Conjugating functional targeting moieties with diagnostic probes can increase their accumulation in tumor cells and tissues, enhancing signal detection and, thus, the sensitivity of diagnosis. Due to their small size, ease of chemical synthesis and site-specific modification, high tissue penetration, low immunogenicity, rapid blood clearance, low cost, and biosafety, peptides offer several advantages over antibodies and proteins in diagnostic applications. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is one of the most promising cancer biomarkers for actively targeting diagnostic and therapeutic agents to tumor cells due to its active involvement and overexpression in various cancers. Several peptides for EGFR-targeting have been identified in the last decades, which have been obtained by multiple means including derivation from natural proteins, phage display screening, positional scanning synthetic combinatorial library, and in silico screening. Many studies have used these peptides as a targeting moiety for diagnosing different cancers in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials. This review summarizes the progress of EGFR-targeting peptide-based assays in the molecular diagnosis of cancer.     

Investigating the effect of zirconium-based and titanium-based metal–organic frameworks nanoparticles on the performance of polysulfone hollow fiber mixed matrix membrane for dialysis application

This study aims to investigate polysulfone (PSF) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) properties containing zirconium-based and titanium-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). for hemodialysis application. The nanoparticles were synthesized, and the membranes were produced by the phase inversion method. Membrane characterization conducted by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), field emission Scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed the presence of MOF nanoparticles. Also, the evaluation of the specific surface area of nanoparticles was done by BET. The water contact angle reduced from 64.4° to 51.2°, indicating the hydrophilicity improvement, enhancing the pure water flux from 46.8 L/m²h for the pristine membrane to 76.7 L/m2h for the pristine membrane M₄. The total fouling resistance decreased from 30% to 21%, and the bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption of modified membranes was lower than that of the pristine membrane. Urea and creatinine were cleared significantly for modified ones, up to 82.6% and 72.1%, respectively, and all membranes showed BSA retention of more than 93%. A comparison between MMMs that contained UIO-66-NH₂ and MIL-125-NH₂ showed that the former had a better effect on the performance. M₄ had better results, indicating high water flux, the lowest fouling resistance, high porosity, lower BSA adsorption, proper clearance for urea and creatinine, and 94.2% BSA retention.     

Cellulose nanocrystal addition in thin film nanocomposite membranes: Which monomer solution is preferred?

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are biodegradable nanoparticles with a high aspect ratio and abundant surface hydroxyl groups resulting in negatively charged hydrophilic surfaces that make them an ideal candidate to be incorporated in thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes. In this study, we modified the CNCs via acetylation (ACNCs) to reduce their hydrophilicity and via reaction with L-cysteine (CysCNCs) to impart them with functionality that promoted their interaction with the trimesoyl chloride organic monomer used in the preparation of the poly(amide) layer of the TFN membranes. These modifications allowed us to question in which monomer solution the nanoparticles should be dispersed. Addition of the unmodified CNCs in either the aqueous or organic monomer solution showed little difference in membrane performance. However, the addition of either the ACNCs or the CysCNCs to the organic monomer solution led to a significant increase in membrane performance in reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) systems compared to their addition to the aqueous monomer solution. In addition, the CysCNCs exhibited performance very near the upper-bound line for RO and NF.     

Simulation and multi-objective optimization of liquid hydrocarbons production by coupling Blast Furnace Gas with Coke Oven Gas of steelwork

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Steelwork is one of the main CO2 emitters due to three main off-gases of blast furnace gas, coke oven gas, and basic oxygen furnace...     

Preparation of Core/Shell CaO@SiO2-SO3H as a Novel and Recyclable Nanocatalyst for One-Pot Synthesize of Dihydropyrano[2,3-c]Pyrazoles and Tetrahydrobenzo[b]Pyrans

Silicon - The core/shell CaO@SiO2-SO3H nanoparticles were prepared by stabilizing of sulfonic acid on the surface of silica-coated CaO nanoparticles. The structure of CaO@SiO2-SO3H was...     

Optimization of in vitro and in vivo antifungal effects of trehalose coating included Artemisia sieberi essential oil on mulberry (Morus alba var. nigra) fruits using the hybrid RSM-GRA method

Food Science and Biotechnology - Mulberry is prone to microbial contamination due to mechanical damage during the harvesting. This study aimed to determine, and optimize fruit microbial loads, and...