Top News of Last Week with ANA
Azad News Agency (ANA) published a number of scientific and technological news during the past week whose top ones are as follows:
Iranian Researchers Invent Device for Rehabilitation of Old Worn-Out Wells
Water and sewage industry specialists of a knowledge-based company stationed at the Science and Technology Park of Sharif University of Technology succeeded in designing and building a worn-out well rehabilitation device by using nitrogen shock technology.
“This device creates highly powerful nitrogen shocks at certain time intervals and in an engineered form in the well. After creating nitrogen shocks, this device is able to remove all deposits from the walls. The nitrogen shocks can destroy the sediments of the walls and grids of the well,” Omid Mazaheri, the managing director of the knowledge-based company, told ANA.
He added that after removing the deposits from the walls of the well, the flow of water moves easily into the well, noting that one of the most important features of this device is its use in the petrochemical industry and oil wells.
“Similar samples of this device are produced in the US and Austria. In fact, the specialists of our country have indigenized it with domestic technical know-how,” Mazaheri said.
The CEO of Iran’s Water and Wastewater Company Hashem Amini announced in January that 80% of water industry equipment was produced by domestic companies.
“Now, with the efforts of experts, 80% of the needs are met by domestic suppliers. This is while in the past, even the hoses needed by the industry were imported,” he said.
AI-Based Transformer Fleet Asset Management System Developed in Iran
Iranian researchers active in the field of steel-making and mining industries succeeded in designing a transformer fleet asset management system based on the artificial intelligence.
“This system is necessary in the mining industry and specially the steel industry that has furnace transformers,” Rashid Dehsangi, a technologist and manager of the startup team which has developed the system, told ANA.
“This fleet management system is actually a monitoring system to check the status of transformers. In fact, this plan is a management software that provides a detailed report on the status of transformers at regular intervals; information like which parts need repair or which parts need more money to spend,” he added.
“One of the most basic capabilities of this system is to recognize which transformer is functional and strategic and which one is less important,” Dehsangi said.
Iran Unveils Several New Knowledge-Based Pharmaceutical Products
Several pharmaceutical products made by an Iranian knowledge-based company stationed at Pardis Science and Technology Park near the capital city of Tehran were unveiled in the presence of Vice-President for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy Rouhollah Dehqani Firouzabadi and other senior officials.
Six new pharmaceutical products of the knowledge-based company were unveiled in a ceremony participated by Dehqani Firouzabadi, Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Abbas Aliabadi, and Head of Iran's Food and Drug Administration Heidar Mohammadi.
The products included ‘Volgat Eczema (chewable tablet)’, ‘Volgat D3 (oral drops)’, ‘Volgat Multi (chewable tablet)’, ‘Biobion (oral liquid vial)’, ‘Rojuvit (chewable tablet)’, ‘Ibrutinib (tablet)’ and the 3 primary ingredients of ‘Tofacitinib’, ‘Edaravon’, and ‘Ibrutinib’.
“The pharmaceutical raw materials produced by our company are classified as high-risk materials in terms of health-oriented exposure limits,” said Sahar Bahmani, the managing director of the knowledge-based company.
She noted that production and working with these materials has international requirements and rules, adding, “These products are in the field of cancer treatment and probiotics which are among the special medicine.”
Ninety Percent of Engine Oils Consumed in Iran Produced Domestically
Domestic companies in Iran produce more than 90% of the greases (lubricants) and motor oils consumed inside the country, an industrial activists has said.
Speaking in a seminar on lubricant industry and motor oil in Tehran, Mehdi Feizi, said that the annual consumption of lubricants in the country is about 700-750,000 tons, of which about 150,000 tons are industrial oils and the rest are motor oils used in the country.
“More than 90% of the lubricants needed in the country are being supplied and produced sustainably by domestic companies and are used by people and various industries,” the industrial activists said.
He stated that the SN5W20 oil, which was recently unveiled at the 10th Iran Motor Show and the 13th International Conference internal combustion engine (ICE), is suitable for the current needs of domestically produced engines, whose engine and performance tests are conducted in domestic automobile manufacturing companies, and is produced based on their protocol, receiving their approval.
Six Knowledge-Based Products in Agricultural Field Unveiled at "NamadIran" Expo
Six products in the field of agriculture and livestock farming were unveiled at the first edition of NamadIran (Iran's national knowledge-based economy exhibition in the field of agriculture and food security.)
The first edition of NamadIran was held in Iran Innovation and Technology House in Tehran. On February 13, 2024, a total number of six new knowledge-based products in the field of agriculture and animal raising were unveiled at NamadIran in the presence of Rouhollah Dehghani Firouzabadi, the Vice-President for Science, Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy.
Iran-Made Activated Carbon Helps Resolving Drought Crisis
Iranian researchers at a knowledge-based company succeeded in producing activated carbon and various advanced laboratory materials by using chemistry, polymer science, and nanotechnology to help the settlement of drought problem.
“Our company has produced water and wastewater treatment materials with the aim of dealing with the drought crisis. At present, the industrial production plant of this complex is equipped with the latest technology in the world and a rotary vacuum furnace, capable of continuous production of active carbon,” Fatemeh Nejati, the head of the laboratory sector of the Iranian knowledge-based company, told ANA.
Noting that activated carbon is actually a completely black, tasteless and odorless chemical powder made from coal, i.e. materials containing carbon, like wood, she explained that activated charcoal is obtained from materials like coal, coconut shell, bamboo, pistachio and walnut shells, which is activated during special operations by using heat, pressure and washing.
“Activated carbon is an absorbent and purifier that can absorb all types of harmful substances and impurities and it is used in different household and industrial water purification filters. For instance, activated carbon is used to remove sediments and water particles in water purification devices or to control the amount of color, smell and taste in drinks and also in swimming pools to regulate water chlorine,” Nejati said.
Iranian Scientist, Colleagues Develop 'Unhackable' Computer Chip
Nader Enghata, an Iranian researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues have developed a new computer chip that uses light instead of electricity and cannot be hacked.
This could improve the training of artificial intelligence (AI) models by improving the speed of data transfer and, more efficiently, reducing the amount of electricity consumed.
Humanity is building the exascale supercomputers today that can carry out a quintillion computations per second. While the scale of the computation may have increased, computing technology is still working on the principles that were first used in the 1960s.
Researchers have been working on developing computing systems based on quantum mechanics, too, but these computers are at least a few years from becoming widely available if not more. The recent explosion of AI models in technology has resulted in a demand for computers that can process large sets of information. The inefficient computing systems, though, result in high consumption of energy.
A team led by Nader Enghata, a professor at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, has designed a silicon-photonic (SiPh) chip that can perform mathematical computations using light. The team turned to light as it is the fastest means of transferring data known to humanity. However, using widely abundant silicon ensures the technology can be scaled quickly.
The researchers aimed to design a chip that can perform vector-matrix multiplications. A common mathematical computation, the system is widely used in developing and functioning neural networks that are critical when developing architecture to power AI models being developed today.
Iranian Scientists Make ‘Taban’ Robot to Help Children with Dyslexic Disorder
Engineers at Iran’s Sharif University of Technology managed to make a robot named ‘Taban’ which helps the dyslexic children to improve their reading skills.
“Taban robot was built as the ninth robot of Sharif University of Technology social cognitive robotics laboratory with the aim of helping dyslexic children and it is completely up-to-date with the help of artificial intelligence. The software of Taban robot enjoys the capability to implement robot movement scenarios, recognize different people, change the robot's facial expressions, recognize speech and sound, and play animations,” Mojtaba Shahab, a PhD student of mechanical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, told ANA.
Noting that the robot interacts with the child in the clinical interventions department in the three roles of teacher assistant, fellow student and novice and enjoys the capability to communicate with the child in three ways, he said, “The first method is facial recognition by using a camera, the second method is using a microphone and the ability to process voice and talk to the child, and in the last method, an application is designed for the robot to raise questions and answer the child’s questions and play with him/her.”
“A monitor has been mounted on the robot's chest and is like a blackboard on which the robot can, for instance, show its training exercises to the child. Taban also gives feedback when the child answers the questions,” Shahab said.
Nat’l Center of Genetic, Biological Resources of Iran Introduces 6 New Species of Saffron Genus
Researchers at the Plant Bank of the National Center for Genetic and Biological Resources of Iran introduced 6 new species of saffron from the country.
“Apart from cultivated saffron species, there are 23 other species of this genus in Iran, of which 18 species are exclusive to Iran and 5 other species have limited distribution,” said Alireza Dolatyari, a faculty member of the National Center for Genetic and Biological Resources of Iran.
Noting that the 5 species are distributed only in Iran and the neighboring countries, he said, “Over 30 days of fieldwork and cooperation with international experts and a fundamental review of the botanical status of the species of this genus in Iran was carried out.”
“As a result of the plan, 6 new species of this genus were introduced to the world from Iran,” Dolatyari said.
Iranian Experts Use Virtual Reality to Increase Effectiveness of Rehabilitation Treatments
An Iranian technologist announced designing and development of rehabilitation software with the ability to use virtual reality cameras.
“The software has been designed for application in the field of physical and mental rehabilitation and is used to increase attention, strengthen memory, boost hand-eye coordination, perceptual-motor skills or physical rehabilitation like walking,” Mohammad Reza Oshaqi told ANA.
He noted that one of the important features of the software is the possibility of continuous monitoring of the treatment process and reporting at the end of each use of the software, adding it is possible to determine how the person's progress has been.
“Individual-oriented nature is another feature of this software; for instance, for a normal student who may only have attention deficit or another student who has a learning disorder, the software smartly considers appropriate cognitive exercises to improve that function,” Oshaqi said.
“This technology can also be used in children with autism in mild spectrums, and it is also used in the treatment of attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity in adults, in elderly people to preserve the cognitive capacities of the brain, and also in stroke patients to rehabilitate cognitive function,” he added.
Iran’s Pasteur Institute Produces Bladder Cancer, Pasteurellosis vaccines
The head of the Pasteur Institute of Iran said that the researchers at the famous Iranian research center have managed to produce vaccines against bladder cancer and Pasteurellosis.
“For the first time after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, we exported the BCG vaccine (for tuberculosis disease) to Venezuela,” Rahim Sarvari, the president of the Pasteur Institute of Iran, told reporters on a visit to Iran Media Expo 2024 in Tehran.
“Also, after making Pastocovok vaccine (or Soberana which is a COVID-19 vaccine jointly produced with Cuba’s Finlay), we are working on a new vaccine called Pasteurellosis vaccine,” Sarvari added.
Referring to the diagnostic measures for monkeypox (Mpox), the president of the Pasteur Institute of Iran said, “As regards this issue, we have assigned 12 centers and detected only one case in Khuzestan Province and prevented the spread of the virus in the country.”
“We have produced Omicron detection kits for all sub-variants of Corona,” he added.
Saying that the Pasteur Institute is one of the Iranian institutions that have taken giant steps in the direction of people's health, Sarvari added, “The progress in health field [in Iran] owes too much to the Pasteur Institute. The establishment of the field of biotechnology was a big step for the production of other vaccines.”
Catalytic Combo Transforms CO2 to Solid Carbon Nanofibers
Scientists have devised a strategy for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere into valuable carbon nanofibers.
The process uses tandem electrocatalytic (blue ring) and thermocatalytic (orange ring) reactions to convert the CO2 (teal and silver molecules) plus water (purple and teal) into “fixed” carbon nanofibers (silver), producing hydrogen gas (H2, purple) as a beneficial byproduct. The carbon nanofibers could be used to strengthen building materials such as cement and lock away carbon for decades, the journal Nature Catalysis reported.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University have developed a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2), a potent greenhouse gas, into carbon nanofibers, materials with a wide range of unique properties and many potential long-term uses. Their strategy uses tandem electrochemical and thermochemical reactions run at relatively low temperatures and ambient pressure. As the scientists describe in the journal Nature Catalysis, this approach could successfully lock carbon away in a useful solid form to offset or even achieve negative carbon emissions.
“You can put the carbon nanofibers into cement to strengthen the cement,” said Jingguang Chen, a professor of chemical engineering at Columbia with a joint appointment at Brookhaven Lab who led the research. “That would lock the carbon away in concrete for at least 50 years, potentially longer. By then, the world should be shifted to primarily renewable energy sources that don’t emit carbon.”
Industrial Blue, Green Phthalocyanine Pigments Produced in Iran
A faculty member of Islamic Azad University’s Qom branch succeeded in production of industrial blue and green phthalocyanine pigments by using a modern and economical technology.
“Phthalocyanine pigments are not produced in the country; but due to high consumption in paint, ink and plastic industries, most consumers use foreign samples and are forced to import it; therefore, we decided to produce high-quality phthalocyanine pigments at a reasonable price for application in plastic, coating and ink industries,” Massoud Kazzemi Tabayee Zavareh told ANA.
Noting that the produced pigments for the use of masterbatch paint and ink have no domestic competitors, and only foreign samples can compete with the company’s products, he said, “Our technology to produce the pigments is equal to European samples and has better performance than the Chinese and Indian ones.”
“Our product is also 60% of the price of foreign samples,” Kazzemi Tabayee Zavareh stated.
Iranian Scientists Indigenize Drug for Breast, Stomach Cancers
Iranian researchers at a knowledge-based company succeeded in producing the drug ‘Trastuzumab’ used for the treatment of breast and stomach cancers.
One of the products that has been indigenized by the knowledge-based company and will make the country needless of similar foreign drugs, is ‘AryoTrust’ with the generic name ‘Trastuzumab; a recombinant monoclonal antibody directed against the human epidermal growth factor receptor II. This receptor is naturally present on the surface of normal cells and regulates cell growth and proliferation.
“The main field of activity of our company is the production of special drugs like cancer and MS drugs, and AryoTrust is one of the newest products of our company. This drug is similar to the Iran-made drug Herceptin and the main purpose of producing the drug is to treat breast cancer,” said Mohammadreza Yazdannasab, a clinical studies expert at the company.
Noting that the drug is now in the phase of clinical studies and will receive the export license after this stage, he said, “At present, we are studying the impacts of the drug in the fourth phase of clinical studies. This phase is one of the official phases approved by the Iranian and foreign regulators to see the side effects on the unscreened population, and we are cooperating with various doctors across the country.”
Yazdannasab said that after mass-production of AryoTrust, all needs to the drug will be met in the country.
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