Kharazmi University

About: Kharazmi University is a education organization based out in Tehran, Iran. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Membrane & Supply chain. The organization has 3395 authors who have published 5321 publications receiving 45645 citations. The organization is also known as: Tarbiat Moallem University of Tehran & Teacher Training University.

Smart micro/nanoparticles in stimulus-responsive drug/gene delivery systems

Abstract: New achievements in the realm of nanoscience and innovative techniques of nanomedicine have moved micro/nanoparticles (MNPs) to the point of becoming actually useful for practical applications in the near future. Various differences between the extracellular and intracellular environments of cancerous and normal cells and the particular characteristics of tumors such as physicochemical properties, neovasculature, elasticity, surface electrical charge, and pH have motivated the design and fabrication of inventive “smart” MNPs for stimulus-responsive controlled drug release. These novel MNPs can be tailored to be responsive to pH variations, redox potential, enzymatic activation, thermal gradients, magnetic fields, light, and ultrasound (US), or can even be responsive to dual or multi-combinations of different stimuli. This unparalleled capability has increased their importance as site-specific controlled drug delivery systems (DDSs) and has encouraged their rapid development in recent years. An in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these DDS approaches is expected to further contribute to this groundbreaking field of nanomedicine. Smart nanocarriers in the form of MNPs that can be triggered by internal or external stimulus are summarized and discussed in the present review, including pH-sensitive peptides and polymers, redox-responsive micelles and nanogels, thermo- or magnetic-responsive nanoparticles (NPs), mechanical- or electrical-responsive MNPs, light or ultrasound-sensitive particles, and multi-responsive MNPs including dual stimuli-sensitive nanosheets of graphene. This review highlights the recent advances of smart MNPs categorized according to their activation stimulus (physical, chemical, or biological) and looks forward to future pharmaceutical applications.

Autonomous vehicles: challenges, opportunities, and future implications for transportation policies

Abstract: This study investigates the challenges and opportunities pertaining to transportation policies that may arise as a result of emerging autonomous vehicle (AV) technologies. AV technologies can decrease the transportation cost and increase accessibility to low-income households and persons with mobility issues. This emerging technology also has far-reaching applications and implications beyond all current expectations. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the relevant literature and explores a broad spectrum of issues from safety to machine ethics. An indispensable part of a prospective AV development is communication over cars and infrastructure (connected vehicles). A major knowledge gap exists in AV technology with respect to routing behaviors. Connected-vehicle technology provides a great opportunity to implement an efficient and intelligent routing system. To this end, we propose a conceptual navigation model based on a fleet of AVs that are centrally dispatched over a network seeking system optimization. This study contributes to the literature on two fronts: (i) it attempts to shed light on future opportunities as well as possible hurdles associated with AV technology; and (ii) it conceptualizes a navigation model for the AV which leads to highly efficient traffic circulations.

An efficient user authentication and key agreement scheme for heterogeneous wireless sensor network tailored for the Internet of Things environment

Abstract: The concept of Internet of Things (IOT), which is already at our front doors, is that every object in the Internet infrastructure (II) is interconnected into a global dynamic expanding network. Sensors and smart objects are beside classical computing devices key parties of the IOT. We can already exploit the benefits of the IOT by using various weareables or smart phones which are full of diverse sensors and actuators and are connected to the II via GPRS or Wi-Fi. Since sensors are a key part of IOT, thus are wireless sensor networks (WSN). Researchers are already working on new techniques and efficient approaches on how to integrate WSN better into the IOT environment. One aspect of it is the security aspect of the integration. Recently, Turkanovic et?al.'s proposed a highly efficient and novel user authentication and key agreement scheme (UAKAS) for heterogeneous WSN (HWSN) which was adapted to the IOT notion. Their scheme presented a novel approach where a user from the IOT can authenticate with a specific sensor node from the HWSN without having to communicate with a gateway node. Moreover their scheme is highly efficient since it is based on a simple symmetric cryptosystem. Unfortunately we have found that Turkanovic et?al.'s scheme has some security shortcomings and is susceptible to some cryptographic attacks. This paper focuses on overcoming the security weaknesses of Turkanovic et?al.'s scheme, by proposing a new and improved UAKAS. The proposed scheme enables the same functionality but improves the security level and enables the HWSN to dynamically grow without influencing any party involved in the UAKAS. The results of security analysis by BAN-logic and AVISPA tools confirm the security properties of the proposed scheme.