Anaerobic biodecolorization of textile reactive anthraquinone and phthalocyanine dyebaths under hypersaline conditions.

The biological decolorization of two industrial, spent textile reactive dyebaths was investigated using a suspended-growth, halophilic mixed culture fed with glucose. Dyebath I contained mainly Reactive Blue 19 (RB19), an anthraquinone dye, whereas dyebath II contained mainly Reactive Blue 21 (RB21), a phthalocyanine dye. Batch assays under anaerobic conditions with the two neutralized dyebaths resulted in 87 and 37% extent of decolorization for dyebaths I and II, respectively. The rate of glucose utilization and the extent of acetate production were impacted in the presence of each dyebath as compared to the control culture. However, dyebath decolorization occurred despite moderate culture inhibition. Reuse of a biologically renovated RB19-containing dyebath in the dyeing process resulted in reproducible but not identical cotton fabric shades as compared to a standard dyeing (i.e., control) using fresh water. This difference is attributed to a variable degree of RB19 aggregation during the dyeing process and is not related to the efficiency of the biodecolorization process. Further improvement of the redyeing efficiency will lead to the development of an in-plant, closed-loop decolorization system resulting in significant water conservation and minimization of textile pollutants such as salt and dyes.     

Virtual circuit connection method for RSVP multicasting supportingheterogeneous receivers on the ATM network

The authors suggest a novel virtual circuit connection method based on the reverse traversing technique to minimise the waste of network bandwidth resources, when the Internet protocol multicast is interoperated using the resource reservation protocol over an asynchronous transfer mode network. Simulation results show that, as the number of receivers increases, the bandwidth requirements on all links of the network of the proposed scheme become more advantageous than those of other conventional methods     

Directly Compressible Acetaminophen Compositions Prepared by Fluidized-Bed Granulation

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in aqueous solution was used as a binding agent in a fluidized-bed system to agglomerate acetaminophen powder into directly compressible granules. It was found that a minimal amount of 5% w/w PVP in a concentration of 7.5% w/v or less was needed to produce granules with an acceptable flow and the corresponding tablets having enough hardness without capping. There was a strong correlation between the time for 80% dissolved (T₈₀) and the logarithm of granule volume-surface mean diameter. A directly compressible acetaminophen composition to manufacture tablets having a T₈₀ value less than 30 min can be prepared simply by adding an appropriate amount of disintegrant (crospovidone, sodium starch glycolate, or pregelatinized starch) to the agglomerated granules.     

An in vitro model of traumatic neuronal injury: loading rate-dependent changes in acute cytosolic calcium and lactate dehydrogenase release

We developed a new in vitro model of neuronal injury using NT2-N cells to examine the effects of hydrodynamic loading rate on intraneuronal calcium dynamics and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release. Our apparatus consisted of a parallel disk viscometer which induced fluid shear stress with well-defined magnitudes and loading rates to cultured cells. We found that the deformation response of the cells was dependent on the severity of the insult, with increased cellular strains generated for higher shear stresses at a constant loading rate. Peak intracellular free calcium concentration correlated with strain, suggesting that mechanical deformation may regulate calcium response. Slowly applied fluid shear stress elicited no response, whereas high loading rates resulted in peak calcium increases 2.9 to 3.6 times baseline values as injury severity was increased. LDH release measured within 5 min after the insult correlated with loading rate. In addition, LDH release continued to increase out to 24 h following high loading rate conditions, demonstrating that the application of fluid shear stress led to prolonged cell damage. The acute response in NT2-N cells subjected to an insult with the CSID is dependent on the loading rate, and these results suggest that initial membrane deformation may trigger subsequent events.     

Interfacial reactions in the squeeze-cast (SAFFIL+C)/SAE 329 Al composite

Interfacial reactions in the squeeze-cast SAE 329 Al alloy reinforced with SAFFIL and carbon fibers were investigated using scanning and transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The SiO₂ layer added as a binder for the preform of SAFFIL fiber appeared to prevent excessive reaction between the fiber and the molten Al alloy during casting. In the as-cast composite, the reaction between the SiO₂ layer and the Al alloy is considered to produce MgO crystals in the vicinity of SAFFIL fiber. With subsequent heat treatment of the composite to the T6 condition, small crystals of MgO and MgAl₂O₄ were found to form at the surface of SAFFIL fiber as a result of interfacial reaction between the SiO₂ layer and the Al alloy. Even at the T6 condition, significant reactions between the Al alloy and SAFFIL fiber itself were not observed, indicating the effective role of the binder layer in suppressing the degradation of SAFFIL fiber by reaction with the Al alloy.