Sharif Digital Repository

Model-based pH control is a difficult problem due to its inherent nonlinearity and time-varying characteristics. This is specially the case when the pH regulation of streams consisting hundreds of constituents with varying concentrations is desired. The pH process can be modeled by using conservation laws and neutrality condition. An alternative to this mechanistic modeling is using nonlinear empirical modeling such as fuzzy modeling. This paper proposes a new approach of fuzzy modeling of titration curves, which can be used for control purposes. The Takagi-Sugeno model was used for the modeling of titration curve. Two control algorithms, which are designed based on the titration curve,... 

The feasibility of measuring CO2 content in biogas was evaluated in this research. Firstly, Curtipot pH simulator was used to visualize the titration behaviors of various percentages of dissolved CO2 in a wide range of concentration of NaOH solution. As a general output of those simulations, it was shown that when the titration curves of different CO2 content samples are separated enough, titration can provided precise information about the value of dissolved CO2. In addition, when the ratio of molar concentration of NaOH to the molar concentration of CO2 is in the range of 1 to 2(equivalent to stoichiometric ratio of bi-carbonate and carbonat), the separability of the curves is enough... 

Paclitaxel as one of the most effective anticancer drugs has low aqueous solubility. This inevitably reveals its commercial formulation in Cremophor EL®/ethanol mixture. However, this formulation leads to several severe side effects such as hypersensitivity reactions, neurotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. Inclusion complexation has been introduced as a practical approach in increasing paclitaxel aqueous solubility. To this end, a hybrid nanocarrier system based on hyperbranched polyglycerol and β-cyclodextrin is designed with key components uniquely structured at nanoscale and evaluated according to medical requirements. Paclitaxel is included in the hydrophobic cavity of cyclodextrin as guest... 

Tetragonal Gd1-xPrxBaSrCu3O 7-δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) polycrystalline samples have been prepared by the standard solid-state reaction, and characterized by XRD and SEM. Resistance measurements and XRD patterns show site mixing between rare earth R and Sr is less than R and Ca. Contrary to Gd1-xPrxBa 2Cu3O7-δ, a hump on the ρ(T) curve is observed at about 80 K. Based on the resistivity measurements, the effect of Pr substitution in the 1113 structure, in comparison with the 123 structure, on the increase of pseudogap temperature is investigated. The normal state resistivity has been analyzed by the two and three dimensional variable range hopping (2D-VRH and 3D-VRH) and Coulomb gap. For the low... 

There are different thermodynamic models that have been applied for modelling of asphaltene precipitation caused by various reasons, such as solvent/CO2 injection and pressure depletion. In this work, two computer codes based on two different asphaltene precipitation thermodynamic models-the first being the thermodynamic micellization model with a different characterization approach and the second being the solid model-have been developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as in the obtained data for Sarvak reservoir crude, which is one of the most potentially problematic Iranian heavy oil reserves under gas injection conditions. For the... 

The acidity and stability constants of M (MNPPAP) (MNPPAP: 2((4-methyl-5-nitro-6-(pyrrolidine-l-yl)pyrimidine-2-yl)amino)propionic acid) M: Cu2+, Cu (Bpy)2+ (Bpy: 2,2'-Bipyridine), or Cu(Phen) (Phen: 1,10-Phenanthroline) complexes were determined by potentiometric pH titration. It is shown that the stability of the binary Cu (MNPPAP) complex is determined by the basicity of the carboxylate group on one side and amine group on the other side. It is demonstrated that the equilibrium, Cu(Har)2+ (H ar: Heteroaromatic ligand such as Bpy or Phen) + Cu(MNPPAP) ^ Cu(Har)(MNPPAP) + Cu2+, is displacement due to the well known experience that mixed ligand complexes formed by a divalent 3d ion, a... 

There are different thermodynamic models that have been applied for modelling of asphaltene precipitation caused by various reasons, such as solvent/CO2 injection and pressure depletion. In this work, two computer codes based on two different asphaltene precipitation thermodynamic models-the first being the thermodynamic micellization model with a different characterization approach and the second being the solid model-have been developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as in the obtained data for Sarvak reservoir crude, which is one of the most potentially problematic Iranian heavy oil reserves under gas injection conditions. For the... 

We have investigated the Hall measurement of Gd(Ba2-xNdx)Cu3O7+δ with x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, and 0.2 in a magnetic field of 0-1 T. The nominal samples has been prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction technique. The iodometric titration experiment was carried out for samples. The Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns indicates that samples are mainly single phase. The normal state Hall coefficient behaves as 1/T in all samples. All samples with nominal compositions show single sign reversal with variation of magnetic field and temperature. The Hall resistivity of the samples with x=0 and 0.1 close to the superconducting transition temperature changes its sign with... 

Asphaltene precipitation may occur during pressure depletion or gas injection processes in a reservoir. This phenomenon is an important problem during oil production, because it can result in formation damage and the plugging of wellbore and surface facilities. In this work, the precipitation of asphaltenes in an Iranian crude oil, under different pressures, is measured, using an experimental set up based on high-pressure isothermal expansion and also atmospheric titration. For the particular oil investigated, compositional data, precipitation phase diagrams, and bubble point and onset pressures are reported. Also, in this work, the Perturbed Chain form of the Statistical Associating Fluid... 

This paper presents a finite element method (FEM) free and forced lateral vibration analysis of beams made of functionally graded materials (FGMs). The temperature dependency of material properties along with damping had not previously been taken into account in vibration analysis. In the present study, the material properties were assumed to be temperature-dependent, and were graded in the thickness direction according to a simple power law distribution of the volume fractions of the constituents. The natural frequencies were obtained for functionally graded (FG) beams with various boundary conditions. First, an FG beam was assumed to be isotropic (metal rich) and the results were compared... 

The vibration of FG plate embedded with PZT4 rectangular patches on the top and/or the bottom surface(s) as actuators/sensors is investigated. Based on the classical laminated plate theory, the governing differential equations of motion are derived under a variable electric charge. The equation of motion for PZT4 patch is obtained and solved. The effect of feedback gain and FGM volume fraction exponent on the plate frequency and its deflection are studied. It is noticed that increasing the feedback gain leads to the reduction of frequency and displacement. Moreover, by increasing the value of the FGM volume fraction exponent the resonant frequency decreases  

The vibration of FG plate embedded with PZT5 rectangular patches on the top and/or the bottom surface(s) as actuators/sensors is investigated. Based on the classical laminated plate theory, the governing differential equations of motion are derived under a variable electric charge. The equation of motion for PZT5 patch is obtained and solved. The effect of feedback gain and FGM volume fraction exponent on the plate frequency and its deflection are studied. It is noticed that increasing the feedback gain leads to the reduction of frequency and displacement. Moreover, by increasing the value of the FGM volume fraction exponent the resonant frequency decreases  

The effect of aluminium content on the formation mechanism, volume fraction, morphology, and particle size distribution of graphite has been investigated. Addition of aluminium to ductile iron causes some fundamental changes in iron-carbon phase diagrams and, as a result, improves graphite formation during eutectic transformation. Results reveal that aluminium compounds have been formed in the core of graphite nodules; thus aluminium plays an important role in the formation of graphite nodules. Furthermore, it is indicated that an increase in the aluminium content also leads to an increase in the number of graphite nodules and a decrease in the nodule size. By using electron probe... 

Asphaltene deposition in porous media, wellbore and surface facilities has been a severe problem in petroleum industry which causes considerable remediation costs annually. Asphaltenes are heavy and polydisperse fractions of crude oil which are insoluble in n-alkanes such as n-heptane. In this work, three Iranian crude oils were prepared for titration experiments with n-pentane, n-heptane and n-dodecane at different solvent ratios and constant temperature. The experimental data were correlated by perturbed chain form of statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT). The association of asphaltene molecules has been considered in this model with adjusting the uncertain parameters (such as... 

In this work, the effect of hot deformation temperature on microstructure and mechanical properties of micro alloyed steel was studied. The results indicated that by decreasing the deformation temperature final microstructure is refined and the volume fraction of grain boundary ferrite is increased and some pearlite is produced. Therefore both the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength is increased, while the toughness is preserved in comparison to a ferritic-pearlitic microstructure. Also a model was developed to relate the deformation condition to the volume fraction of acicular ferrite at mixed microstructure. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved  

This study focuses on the spectrochemical estimation of pH and titratable acidity (TA) of apples of Fuji variety at different stages of ripening. A novel approach is proposed for near-infrared (NIR) spectral analysis using hybrid machine learning methods that combine artificial neural networks (ANN) and metaheuristic algorithms. One hundred twenty samples were collected at three ripening stages and spectral data within two bands of NIR were extracted from each sample to predict the acidity properties. Alternatively, the 4 most effective wavelengths were also selected using a hybrid of ANN and the cultural algorithm. The experimental results prove that the models using spectral bands and the... 

A comparative investigation has been developed for the stability constants of several amino acid complexes with divalent metal ions, which have been determined by potentiometric pH titration. Depending on the metal ion-binding properties, vital differences in the building complexes were observed. The present study indicates that in some M(L) complexes, metal ions are arranged in carboxyl groups, but in other M(L)complexes, some metal ions are able to build chelate over amine groups. The results mentioned-above demonstrate that for some M(L) complexes, the stability constants are also largely determined by the affinity of metal ions for amine group. This leads to a kind of selectivity of... 

The incorporation of modified β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) into a poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm)/chitosan (PNCS) nanohydrogel was studied. β-CD was functionalized with acrylic groups, with different numbers of vinyl bonds added per β-CD molecule. The surfactant-free dispersion polymerization (SFDP) semi-batch method was used to synthesize the nanohydrogel. Increasing the number of vinyl groups per β-CDAC (β-CD acrylate) molecule induced the formation of smaller nanogels with diameters ranging from 142 to 68 nm. The cyclodextrin-modified dual-responsive nanogels obtained presented an LCST (lower critical solution temperature) in aqueous medium at around 31 C. The incorporation of β-CDAC into...