Scale effect on the behaviour of geogrid-reinforced soil under repeated loads

One of the most useful geosynthetics in soil reinforcement is geogrid due to its high tensile strength, having a great influence on soil skeleton reinforcement and eventually, increasing bearing capacity of the foundation. In this research, a series of 36 repeated plate load tests have been carried out to investigate the scale effect on geogrid-reinforced soil, tending to further understanding of the behaviour of geogrid-reinforced soil system. Four different soil grains sizes, two different geogrid's aperture sizes (with roughly the same tensile strength) and three different loading plate sizes are the variables considered. During the tests, the applied loading and soil surface settlements were recorded to evaluate the systems' response. As it was expected, the reinforced soil exhibited higher bearing capacity than the unreinforced status, up to 635%. The results show that increasing loading plate size and soils' particle size fortify the response of foundation, especially in reinforced status, against the loading plate penetration. The results further focused on the important role of scale effect on the response of reinforced foundation. It was understood that the optimum nominal aperture size of geogrids should be about 4 times of medium grain size of soil. Also, it was found out that in order to acquisition of highest reinforcement benefits, the footing's width should be in the range 13–25 (20 in average) times of medium grain size of the backfill. Finally, to achieve the best results, it is recommended that the aperture size of geogrids should be selected roughly 0.2 times of footing width.     

Green synthesis of 5-arylidene-2,4-thiazolidinedione, 5-benzylidene rhodanine and dihydrothiophene derivatives catalyzed by hydrated ionic liquid tetrabutylammonium hydroxide in aqueous medium

An efficient synthesis of 5-arylidene-2,4-thiazolidinediones and 5-benzylidene rhodanines by the Knoevenagel condensation of 2,4-thiazolidinedione or rhodanine with aromatic aldehydes was studied. It proceeded smoothly in the presence of tetrabutylammonium hydroxide/H ₂O-EtOH to afford the corresponding products in high yields at 50°C. Also, a series of dihydrothiophene derivatives were synthesized via the four-component reaction of aldehyde, malonitrile, 2,4-thiazolidinedione, and piperidine in the presence of Bu₄NOH as a basic ionic liquid in aqueous medium. This new method offers several advantages, such as excellent yields, short reaction times, and simple procedure.     

Synthesis hydrophilic hybrid nanoparticles and its application in wettability alteration of oil-wet carbonate rock reservoir

In this study, synthesized SiO₂/ZnO hybrid nanoparticles were used to change the wettability of carbonate rock from highly oil-wet to strongly water-wet state. The SiO₂/ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by modified sol-gel method. In this method, TEOS was used to increase the functional groups on the surface of the ZnO nanoparticles to produce highly hydrophilic nanoparticles. The contact angle measurements were conducted on the rock surface before and after nano-treatment. The contact angle of oil droplet with the rock changed from 0° to 150°, 161°, 164° and 170° after impregnation the rock with 0.01, 0.033, 0.07 and 0.33 wt.% nanofluids.     

A New Eigen-Structure Based DOA Estimation Method for Wideband Coherent Signals

Wireless Personal Communications - A new Direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method for wideband coherent sources is presented in this paper. This method does not require any prior knowledge of...     

Enhancement of in vitro antitumour activity of epirubicin in HER2+ breast cancer cells using immunoliposome formulation

Epirubicin (EPI) is one of the potent breast cancer (BC) chemotherapeutic agents, but its adverse effects limit its efficacy. Herein, EPI was selected to be loaded in liposomal carrier, which has been targeted by a monoclonal antibody, Herceptin. The preparation process of liposomes was a modified ethanol injection method followed by Herceptin conjugation. The in vitro cell toxicity and cellular uptake of optimum formulation against HER2+ and HER2− cancer cell lines were evaluated. The results showed that the drug loading (DL%) and encapsulation efficiency (EE%) of liposome preparation method yielded 30.62% ± 0.49% and 62.39% ± 8.75%, respectively. The average size of naked liposomes (EPI‐Lipo) and immunoliposomes (EPI‐Lipo‐mAb) was 234 ± 9.86 and 257.26 ± 6.25 nm, with a relatively monodisperse distribution, which was confirmed by SEM micrographs. The release kinetic followed Higuchi model for both naked and immunoliposomes. In vitro cytotoxicity study on three different BC cell lines including BT‐20, MDA‐MB‐453 and MCF‐7 demonstrated higher toxicity of EPI in the Herceptin conjugated form (EPI‐Lipo‐mAb) in comparison with the free EPI and EPI‐Lipo in HER2 overexpressing cell line. In addition, the cellular uptake study showed a higher uptake of immunoliposomes by MCF‐7 cells in comparison with naked liposomes. In conclusion, these data show that the targeted delivery of EPI to breast cancer cells can be achieved by EPI‐Lipo‐mAb in vitro, and this strategy could be used for breast cancer therapy with further studies.     

A Novel Alternative Method for Modeling the Effects of Air Temperature and Slice Thickness on Quality and Drying Kinetics of Tomato Slices: Superposition Technique

The effect of air temperature (AT) and slice thickness (ST) on the quality and drying kinetics of tomato slices were studied. The drying period of tomato slices to reach the moisture content of 15% (wb) ranged from 2.6 to 18.7 h. The water diffusivity, activation energy, and resistance to diffusion ranged from 1.4 × 10^?10 to 2.8 × 10^?9 m²/s, 21.25 to 23.4 kJ/mol, and from 939 to 4590 m² s/kg, respectively. Drying had a significant effect on ascorbic acid, soluble solid, acidity, and pH (P = 0.01). The ascorbic acid degradation was greatly influenced by ST. The results show that time-temperature superposition technique (TTST) was very efficient in the modeling of the drying process. The proposed TTST provides a novel alternative in curve-fitting exercise of drying data. Neural networks also showed favorable performance in estimating the drying functions.     

Creating shared value to redesigning IT-service products using SYRCS; Diagnosing and tackling complex problems

The existence of different stakeholders in a system, the actual and potential contradictions that may not be identified, and the long-term consequences of each decision are significant challenges in the process of developing a system. Information technology-based services are among the systems that usually interact with users and have a significant impact on their environment. The present study attempts to properly understand and develop the services of an intercity payment system in Iran. After recognizing the problem step by step, an innovative methodology was designed to structure the problem. In the early stages, using one of the critical frameworks after identifying stakeholders, research on the system was conducted, and interviews were identified, which are involved and affected people by the system. Critiques of stakeholders became to viable option during the specified process. Additionally, inspired by the soft operational research (OR), the obtained results were examined in terms of the executive contradictions, and then to evaluate and select the correct options, the long-term consequences of each decision were identified using Multi Attribute Decision-Making. Moreover, the evaluation of options for different stakeholders was done by their representatives using their related criteria to select the best options from the opposing options. Ultimately, the presented methodology is designed to provide a slow movement from qualitative to quantitative form. Consequently, based on creating shared value, the product has been redesigned to satisfy all stakeholders.

     

Design of ionic liquid 1,3-disulfonic acid imidazolium hydrogen sulfate as a dual-catalyst for the one-pot multi-component synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles

Novel ionic liquid 1,3-disulfonic acid imidazolium hydrogen sulfate {[Dsim]HSO₄} efficiently catalyzes the synthesis of 1,2,4,5-tetrasubstituted imidazoles via the one-pot multi-component condensation of benzyl with aldehydes, primary amines and ammonium acetate at 90 °C under solvent-free conditions. Dual hydrogen-bond donors can be used to direct the assembly of this catalyst and the efficiency of it.