Afagh Higher Education Institute

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing (EC) play an essential role in today’s communication systems, supporting diverse applications in industry, healthcare, and environmental monitoring; however, these technologies face a major challenge in accurately determining the geographic origin of sensed data, as such data are meaningful only when their source location is known. The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) is often impractical or inefficient in many environments due to limited satellite coverage, high energy consumption, and environmental interference. This paper recruits the Distance Vector-Hop (DV-Hop), Jellyfish Search (JS), and Artificial Rabbits Optimization (ARO) algorithms and presents an innovative GPS-free positioning framework for three-dimensional (3D) EC environments. In the proposed framework, the basic DV-Hop and multi-angulation algorithms are generalized for three-dimensional environments. Next, both algorithms are structurally modified and integrated in a complementary manner to balance exploration and exploitation. Furthermore, a Lévy flight-based perturbation phase and a local search mechanism are incorporated to enhance convergence speed and solution precision. To evaluate performance, sixteen 3D IoT environments with different configurations were simulated, and the results were compared with nine state-of-the-art localization algorithms using MSE, NLE, ALE, and LEV metrics. The quantitative relative improvement ratio test demonstrates that the proposed method is, on average, 39% more accurate than its competitors.

Clustering is an appealing paradigm exploited to improve the lifetime and scalability of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Considering the NP-completeness of the clustering problem, numerous meta-heuristic algorithms are provided in the literature for the clustering of WSNs. Teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO) is an optimization algorithm employed to tackle continuous optimization problems. In this paper, a novel discrete version of the TLBO algorithm is being presented that employs the swap and mutation operators to deal with discrete solutions. Subsequently, the new-fangled algorithm was utilized to design a hierarchical energy-aware clustering scheme for the WSNs to minimize the energy usage of the sensor nodes. In addition, an energy-aware local search algorithm was provided to enhance the network lifetime by taking factors such as energy and distance into account. Extensive simulations are conducted to indicate the effectiveness of this scheme in reducing the power usage of the sensor nodes and improving the WSN lifetime.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the photocatalytic/antimicrobial properties of biodegradable film based on wheat gluten/zinc oxide nanocomposites (WG/ZnO) for the active packaging of food products. In this study, central composite design (CCD) was used to study the effect of gluten percent (15, 22.5 and 30%) and ZnO percent (0, 2 and 4%) on the photocatalytic, mechanical and physicochemical properties of WG/ZnO film. Some properties of films, including antimicrobial, antioxidant, FT-IR, SEM, solubility, water absorption, thickness, moisture, colorimetric (L*, a* and b*) and opacity were investigated. Antibacterial and antifungal properties of films based on photocatalytic activity were investigated in three wavelengths of 500, 365 and 254 nm on the Escherichia coli and Aspergillus Niger. The results of the photocatalytic/antimicrobial activity of the films showed that pure gluten film had no effect on bacteria and fungi at three wavelengths, but films containing zinc oxide nanoparticles showed a significant inhibitory effect on bacteria and fungi at 365 and 254 nm. Antibacterial and anti-fungal inhibitory effects were observed at 254 nm stronger than 365 nm (p < 0.05). This result showed that at lower wavelengths the photocatalytic activity was induced to the film. The results of the antioxidant test showed that pure gluten had no antioxidant activity, but antioxidant activity increased with increasing zinc oxide nanoparticles significantly (p < 0.05). The results of the FT-IR analysis showed that new interactions between zinc oxide nanoparticles and gluten polymer of wheat were created. The results showed that when the ZnO particle concentration was low, these particles were distributed uniformly, but high concentration of zinc oxide in the film leaded to agglomeration of these particles.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate effects of simultaneous supplementation of milk protein concentrate (MPC) as texture modifier and microencapsulated Lactobacillus paracasei (L. paracasei) (entrapped in gellan–caseinate) on physico-chemical, sensorial and microbial characteristics of yogurt during storage time.Design/methodology/approachL. paracasei cells were encapsulated through unique pH triggered gelation technique using combination of sodium caseinate-gellan gum as protective shell material. MPC was also used to improve physico-chemical indices of probiotic yogurt at different levels (0–3 percent).FindingsThe results showed that yogurt samples containing encapsulated L. paracasei showed lower post-acidification and higher viability. Samples containing encapsulated L. paracasei showed less syneresis amount, due to possible hydration of shell material, also application of MPC could reduce this attribute during storage time. The numbers of probiotic bacteria were remained above the recommended therapeutic minimum throughout the samples.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest a practical ingredient in probiotic dairy product. Simultaneous usage of this kind of encapsulation via MPC enhanced sensorial and physical properties of probiotic yogurt while of no reduction in viable counts survival.Originality/valueThis study revealed usage of microcapsules of L. paracasei prepared by the gelation of sodium caseinate-gellan gum could be a suitable manner for delivery of probiotics in fermented dairy products like yogurt.

The main aim of this study is using of L-ascorbic acid to improve quality of apple concentrate. Generally, the bentonite-gelatin mix is used to improve a quality of fruit juice and concentrate, but in this study, L-ascorbic acid as a new clarificant matter was used to improve apple concentrate quality (clarity and color enhancement and turbidity decrease) by flocculation and precipitation. So two mix, including 1- bentonite-gelatin mix (as a blank mix) and 2- L-ascorbic acid-gelatin-bentonite mix was used. The mix solution was added to apple concentrate in the four separate stages including; 1: to the mash enzyme tank product, 2: to the crude apple juice, 3- to the fining tank product (in single-stage) and 4- to the fining tank product (in two-stage). The ratio of bentonite, gelatin and L-ascorbic acid in the mix solution and adding stage were studied by General Full Factorial Design (GFFD). Bentonite, gelatin and L-ascorbic acid concentration in two levels as a numeric factor and adding stage in four levels as text factor were considered. The linear regression method was used to study the relation between bentonite, gelatin and L-ascorbic acid concentration and adding stage of the clarificant mix. The desirability function (D) was used to find the optimum condition for analysis. The results showed that L-ascorbic acid had a significant effect on the clarification process and adding of clarificant mix to the fining tank product (in single-stage) is the best way to adding the clarificant mix.

We consider the subclass $$S(\beta ,\gamma )$$ of the normalized analytic functions. The extended form of this class was introduced and investigated by Aghalary et al. (Tamkang J Math 39(4):325–334, 2008). In the present paper, we define two double integral operators which preserve properties of this class. Applications and consequences of the main results are also considered.

Background:The increasing number of mobile phones can physically cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) in medical environments; can also cause errors in immunoassays in laboratories. The ELISA readers are widely used as a useful diagnostic tool for Enzymun colorimetric assay in medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ELISA reader could be interfered by the exposure to the 900 MHz cell phones in the laboratory.Materials and Methods:Human serum samples were collected from 14 healthy donors (9 women and 5 men) and each sample was divided into four aliquots and was placed into four batches for the in-vitro quantitative determination of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). During colorimetric reading of the first, second, and third batches, the ELISA reader (Stat Fax 2100, Awareness Technology, Inc., USA) was exposed to 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 W exposure of 900 MHz radiation, respectively. For the forth batch (control group), no radiation was applied. All experiments were performed comparing ELISA read out results of the I, II, and III batches with the control batch, using the Wilcoxon test with criterion level of P = 0.050.Results:The final scores in the exposed batches I, II, and III were not statistically significant relative to the control batch (P > 0.05). The results showed that 900 MHz radiation exposure did not alter the ELISA measured levels of hCG hormone in I (P = 0.219), II (P = 0.909), and III (P = 0.056) batches compared to the control batch.Conclusion:This study showed that ELISA reader does not interfere by mobile phone RF radiation at a closed contact (less than 5 cm distance). However, we recommend that medical institutions discuss these issues in the context of their specific use of technologies and frame a policy that is clear and straightforward to guide staff, patients, and visitors.