A study of external mass transfer effect on biodegradation of phenol using low‐density polyethylene immobilized Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) in a packed bed bioreactor

The impact of external mass transport on the biodegradation rate of phenol in a packed bed bioreactor (PBBR) was studied. A potential bacterial species, Bacillus flexus GS1 IIT (BHU), was isolated from the petroleum‐contaminated soil. Low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) immobilized with the B. flexus GS1 IIT (BHU) was used as packing material in the PBBR. The PBBR was operated by varying the inlet feed flow rate from 4 to 10 mL/min, and the corresponding degradation rate coefficients were found to be in the range of 0.119–0.157 L/g h. In addition, the highest removal rate of phenol was obtained to be 1.305 mg/g h at an inlet feed rate of 10 mL/min. The external mass transfer was studied using the model . A new empirical correlation for the biodegradation of phenol in the PBBR was developed after the evaluation at various values of K and n.     

Roles of soluble and insoluble aggregates induced by soy protein processing in the gelation of myofibrillar protein

The role of soluble and insoluble aggregates induced by soy protein isolate (SPI) processing in the gelling properties of myofibrillar protein (MP) was studied. Incorporating soluble SPI aggregate could greatly improve (P < 0.05) the elastic modulus (G’) and water‐holding capacity (WHC) of MP gel, but had no notable effect on MP gel strength. In contrast, incorporating the insoluble SPI aggregate significantly enhanced the G’, strength and WHC of MP gel, although the improvement in WHC was smaller than that produced by the soluble aggregate. The results of environmental scanning electron microscopy showed that the soluble SPI aggregate induced a less randomly composite gel structure, which may explain its notable enhancement of WHC. However, the insoluble SPI aggregate appeared to be granules embedded in the continuous MP gel matrix, which may be related to the reinforcement of gel strength. Hence, the results of this study suggest further means of processing commercial SPI for use in meat products.     

Migration cost optimization for service provider legacy network migration to software-defined IPv6 network

This paper studies a problem for seamless migration of legacy networks of Internet service providers to a software-defined networking (SDN)-based architecture along with the transition to the full adoption of the Internet protocol version 6 (IPv6) connectivity. Migration of currently running legacy IPv4 networks into such new approaches requires either upgrades or replacement of existing networking devices and technologies that are actively operating. The joint migration to SDN and IPv6 network is considered to be vital in terms of migration cost optimization, skilled human resource management, and other critical factors. In this work, we first present the approaches of SDN and IPv6 migration in service providers' networks. Then, we present the common concerns of IPv6 and SDN migration with joint transition strategies so that the cost associated with joint migration is minimized to lower than that of the individual migration. For the incremental adoption of software-defined IPv6 (SoDIP6) network with optimum migration cost, a greedy algorithm is proposed based on optimal path and the customer priority. Simulation and empirical analysis show that a unified transition planning to SoDIP6 network results in lower migration cost.     

Thermal behavior of poly(ethylene‐co‐propylene) containing carbon nanofibers

The effect of carbon nanofiber on the thermal behavior of poly(ethylene‐co‐propylene) (PEP) as revealed by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis is reported. Analysis showed faster crystallization of PEP at higher temperature upon cooling with the increase of carbon nanofiber (CNF) content. The crystallization behavior changed to a single narrow crystallization peak as compared with the broad double crystallization peak of the neat polymer. This demonstrates the nucleation ability of CNF to induce crystals with more uniform distribution. The modified‐Avrami approach was used to study the crystallization behavior. We found that the crystallization rate constant increased with addition of CNFs. The dimensionality of crystal growth was found not to depend significantly on the content of CNF. Thermal degradation in air was monitored using thermogravimetric analysis and observed that the incorporation of nanofiber greater than 2.4 vol% improves thermal stability of PEP. All these results indicate that CNFs can significantly help polymer processing and increase thermal stability of polymers. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Evaluation of Carbon Partitioning in New Generation of Quench and Partitioning (Q&P) Steels

Quenching and partitioning (Q&P) and a novel combined process of hot straining (HS) and Q&P (HSQ&P) treatments have been applied to a TRIP-assisted steel in a Gleeble®3S50 thermomechanical simulator. The heat treatments involved intercritical annealing at 800 °C and a two-step Q&P heat treatment with a partitioning time of 100 seconds at 400 °C. The “optimum” quench temperature of 318 °C was selected according to the constrained carbon equilibrium (CCE) criterion. The effects of high-temperature deformation (isothermal and non-isothermal) on the carbon enrichment of austenite, carbide formation, and the strain-induced transformation to ferrite (SIT) mechanism were investigated. Carbon partitioning from supersaturated martensite into austenite and carbide precipitation were confirmed by means of atom probe tomography (APT) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Austenite carbon enrichment was clearly observed in all specimens, and in the HSQ&P samples, it was significantly greater than in Q&P, suggesting an additional carbon partitioning to austenite from ferrite formed by the deformation-induced austenite-to-ferrite transformation (DIFT) phenomenon. By APT, the carbon accumulation at austenite/martensite interfaces was observed, with higher values for HSQ&P deformed isothermally (≈ 11 at. pct), when compared with non-isothermal HSQ&P (≈ 9.45 at. pct) and Q&P (≈ 7.6 at. pct). Moreover, a local Mn enrichment was observed in a ferrite/austenite interface, indicating ferrite growth under local equilibrium with negligible partitioning (LENP).