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Using molecular dynamics simulations, the structural properties and vibrational behavior of single- and double-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under physical adsorption (functionalization) of Flavin Mononucleotide (FMN) biomolecule are analyzed and the effects of different boundary conditions, the weight percentage of FMN, radius and number of walls on the natural frequency are investigated. As the functionalized nanotubes mainly operate in aqueous environment, two different simulation environments, i.e. vacuum and aqueous environments, are considered. Considering the structural properties, increasing the weight percentage of FMN biomolecules results in linearly increasing the gyration radius. Also, it is observed that presence of water molecules expands the distribution of FMN molecules wrapped around CNTs compared to that of FMN molecules in vacuum. It is demonstrated that functionalization reduces the frequency of CNTs, depending on their boundary conditions in vacuum which is more considerable for fully clamped (CC) boundary conditions. Performing the simulations in aqueous environments demonstrates that, in the case of clamped-free (CF) boundary conditions, the frequency increases unlike that of CNTs with fully clamped and fully simply supported boundary conditions. The value of frequency shift increases by rising the weight percentage of FMN biomolecule. Moreover, it is observed that the frequency shifts of SWCNTs with bigger radius are more considerable, whereas the sensitivity of frequency shift to the weight percentage of FMN biomolecule reduces and this is more pronounced as the simulation environment is aqueous.

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In this study, the effect of enzyme type (alcalase and pepsin) and process time (50-300 minutes) on the degree of hydrolysis and antioxidant indices including free radical scavenging of DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, reducing power, and chelating activity of Iron and copper ions were evaluated for navy bean protein (Phaseolus vulgari L.). Also, the composition of amino acids (hydrophobic and antioxidants types) and structural properties (FTIR) of primary protein and hydrolysates were investigated. The results showed that enzymatic hydrolysis improves antioxidant properties. Also, the composition of amino acids has a significant effect on antioxidant activities. On the other hand, the type of enzyme and the time of the hydrolysis process affected the degree of hydrolysis and the antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates. Thus, the highest percentage of free radicals scavenging of DPPH (82.4%), ABTS (58.3%), reducing power (0.97), hydroxyl radical scavenging (57.5%), and chelation of Fe (53.7%) and Cu ions (12.1%) were affected by the type of enzyme and process time. Among different treatments, the highest value of these indices (except copper ion chelating) was related to hydrolysates with alcalase. Structural properties of white bean protein were evaluated and enzymatic hydrolysis caused changes in the amide regions (I and II) as well as exposure to some hydrophobic-buried groups. The results of this study indicated the positive effect of enzymatic hydrolysis on the production of antioxidant hydrolysates that can be used in the food industry.

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Given the growing interest in the production of new and low cost bioemulsifiers, the rice and wheat bran and straw were investigated in this study for the production of bioemulsifier by Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 (probiotic). The strain produced bioemulsifier only in the rice bran hydrolysate medium. The bioemulsifier amount reached around 0.7 g L^-1 for 72 hours of fermentation. The new biomolecule was extracted, purified, and its structural and thermal properties were evaluated. The functional groups and the structure of the molecule were revealed by GPC, FT-IR, ¹HNMR and ¹³CNMR techniques. The bioemulsifier was a water soluble extracellular high molecular weight (>10⁷ Da) α-glucan (81.74%) bound with protein (18.18%). Thermal behavior was studied using DSC and TG analysis. Thermal analysis showed the bioemulsifier broke down above 211.74°C, and the melting point was 182.0°C with the enthalpy value of 101.7 J g^-1. These results might provide incentives for the industrial production of the biodegradable and safe bioemulsifier introduced in this study, which seems to offer potential applications in the food and medical industries.

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The present study aims to extract cellulose fibers from the walnut shell using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma pretreatment and to evaluate its properties. For this purpose, powdered walnut shells were exposed to 18 and 20 kV DBD plasma for 10 min in three stages. First, before sodium hydroxide alkaline treatment, next, before sodium chlorite bleaching treatment, and then, before both alkaline and bleaching treatments. The extraction efficiency, FTIR, XRD, thermal properties, FESEM and diameters of the cellulose fiber were evaluated. Based on the results, the extraction efficiency was significantly affected by applied voltage (p<0.05) and due to plasma destruction of glycosidic, the efficiency was reduced. The removal of peaks related to impurities from the walnut shell and the purity of all extracted cellulose was confirmed with FTIR. The results showed that applying DBD plasma during cellulose extraction did not affect its crystal structure, but the reduction of crystallization index was observed. Furthermore, the effect of plasma on the thermal-gravimetry of the samples was observed at temperatures below 100 ° C, and after the onset temperature of degradation, the behavior of the treated and untreated fibers until the final thermal decomposition was not significantly different. The microstructure of plasma-treated samples showed an increase in cellulose fiber's roughness and swelling, followed by the transformation of microfibrils to nanofibrils with a diameter of 80 nm at the higher voltage. In general, the results showed that applying 20 kV DBD plasma in both stages before the alkaline and delignification process is a more suitable treatment for extracting cellulose and producing cellulose nanofibers.