Enrichment of macaroni with cellulose-derivative protein complex from whey and corn steep liquor

Macaroni was prepared from semolina fortified with 3, 6 and 9% CMC-protein (CMC — carboxymethyl cellulose) or HEC-protein (HEC — hydroxyethyl cellulose) complexes from whey and corn steep liquor to increase the protein quality and quantity. Fortification increased the protein content up to 14.2% in DM (vs. 12.1% in control) for macaroni. Water absorption, dough weakening and mixing tolerance index were decreased, while dough development time and dough stability were increased when the amount of precipitated cellulose-protein complex from whey and corn steep liquor in the blends increased. Addition of both tested cellulose-protein complexes improved cooking quality by increasing the weight and volume of cooked macaroni, but cooking losses were greater. Sensory evaluation of the colour, flavour and appearance of macaroni were improved as a result of adding cellulose-protein complex from whey. Macaroni samples prepared from dough mixtures with 6 and 9% of cellulose-protein complex from corn steep liquor were less acceptable than those prepared from 100% semolina.     

Simultaneous minimization of total tardiness and waiting time variance on a single machine by genetic algorithms

This paper considers a single machine scheduling problem, with the objective of minimizing a linear combination of total tardiness and waiting time variance in which the idle time is not allowed. Minimizing total tardiness is always regarded as one of the most significant performance criteria in practical systems to avoid penalty costs of tardiness, and waiting time variance is an important criterion in establishing quality of service (QoS) in many systems. Each of these criteria is known to be non-deterministic polynomial-time hard (NP-hard); therefore, the linear combination of them is NP-hard too. For this problem, we developed a genetic algorithm (GA) by applying its general structure that further improves the initial population, utilizing some of heuristic algorithms. The GA is shown experimentally to perform well by testing on various instances.     

Electrokinetic potential of kaolinite clay in the presence of polystyrene sulfonate

The determination of the electrokinetic potential of clay is very important in many applications. Therefore, this work was aimed at studying the effect of poly(4‐ sodium styrene sulfonate) on the electrokinetic potential and the sedimentation behavior of kaolinite clays at different pH values and/or in the presence of sodium or calcium chlorides. At pH values lower than the point of zero charge (PZC) of the kaolinite clay, the zeta potential of Na‐ or Ca‐kaolinite in CaCl₂ solutions was higher than that in NaCl solutions at the same concentration. Above the PZC, the zeta potential of Na‐ or Ca‐kaolinite in NaCl solution was higher than that in CaCl₂ at the same electrolyte concentration. These results reflect the ability of calcium cations to compress the double layer of the kaolinite clay better than sodium cations. Also, below the PZC and at low concentrations of poly(4‐sodium styrene sulfonate), the zeta potential of the kaolinite clay suspensions had low value, while the sediment volumes had higher values. On the other hand, above the PZC at increasing polymer concentrations, the zeta potentials increased but the sediment volumes had lower values compared to those produced below the PZC. The data showed the zeta potential of Na‐kaolinite suspensions are higher than Ca‐kaolinite, producing lower sediment volumes of Na‐kaolinite compared to Ca‐kaolinite at the same concentrations of polymer and/or pHs. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 1705–1711, 2006     

Obtaining full-diversity space-frequency codes from space-time codes via mapping

This paper considers the problem of space-frequency code design for frequency-selective multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation. We show that space-time codes achieving full diversity in quasistatic flat fading environment can be used to construct space-frequency codes that can achieve the maximum diversity available in frequency-selective MIMO fading channels. Since the codes are constructed via a simple mapping from space-time codes to space-frequency codes, the abundant classes of existing space-time block and trellis codes can be used for full diversity transmission in MIMO-OFDM systems. The proposed mapping provides a tradeoff between the achieved diversity order and the symbol rate. Moreover, we characterize the performance of the space-frequency codes obtained via the mapping by finding lower and upper bounds on their coding advantages as functions of the coding advantages of the underlying space-time codes. This result will allow us to investigate the effects of the delay distribution and the power distribution of the channel impulse responses on the performance of the resulting space-frequency codes. Extensive simulation results are also presented to illustrate and support the theory.     

Lignocellulose–polymer composite. I

Bagasse grinded to different mesh sizes was used for the production of lignocellulose polymer composites. Samples of different polymer loads were prepared from crude-grafted bagasse with polymethyl methacrylate. A sodium bisulfite–soda lime glass system was used as an initiator for the grafting reaction. The properties of the resulting composites have been found to be affected by both the polymer load and the mesh size of the ground bagase. Grafting in the absence of soda lime glass from the initiator system was successful, and the properties of the composite produced from the prepared samples differed greatly from those containing glass. Other oxides, namely, copper (cupric) oxide and iron (ferric) oxide, were used in replacing glass in the initiator system. Some of the properties of the composite containing the latter were deteriorated. A composite from the true-grafted sample (homopolymer free) showed improvement in some of the properties, while the others deteriorated. Composites prepared from impregnated bagasse with polymer or homopolymer behaved differently in their properties and from those from crude-grafted samples, depending on the mesh size of the ground bagasse they are made from.     

Lignocellulose–polymer composite. III

A linear relationship was achieved between the polymer load and the monomer concentration up to 200% when china clay or talc replaced the glass in the initiating system, sodium bisulfite–soda lime glass, for the free-radical graft polymerization reactions using semichemical pulp of bagasse as substrate. The results showed that china clay is better than talc, which may be contributed to the difference in their network structure. The properties of the composites prepared from the cografted semichemical pulp–polymethyl methacrylate revealed that the china clay leads to composites with high compression strength and hardness. Deformation percent increased with increasing polymer load. However, decreasing or increasing the polymer load affects the properties of the composites up to a limit, where there is a maximum or minimum for both compression strength and hardness at china clay ratio of 2 or 3. Composites were also prepared from poly(methyl methacrylate)-cografted-pith of bagasse using the initiating system sodium bisulfite in the absence or presence of soda lime glass. Compression strength, deformation percent, and hardness increased on decreasing the glass ratio from 1 to 0, at nearly the same polymer load. The presence of waxes and resins decreased the compression strength of the composites prepared by impregnation of the lignocellulose in polymer solution. The hardness of these composites increased on removing waxes and resins. Removal of part of hemicellulose by alkali treatment of the lignocellulose has increased the effect on hardness. Alkali treatments of the substrates lead to a high deformation percentage. The compression strength of alkali-treated lignocellulose are lower than the untreated ones. The change of compression strength to deformation percent and the compressibility due to complete removal of waxes and resins by the extraction with methanol–benzene or partial removal of the waxes, resins, and hemicellulose through alkali treatment followed the change of both the compression strength and percent of deformation. Water uptake of the composites prepared in this work was ranged between 6.8 and 7%. After 48 h the water uptake increased to the range 8.5–14.1%. Impregnation of the composites in water for 72 h increased the water uptake to the range 10.2–18.1%. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Copper Ion Cementation in Presence of a Magnetic Field

The effect of an electromagnetic field (EMF) on the rate of copper(II) cementation from copper sulfate solutions on a rotating iron cylinder was investigated. The studied variables were cylinder rotation speed, magnetic field strength, and magnetic field direction. The application of EMF increased the rate of cementation in both parallel and perpendicular direction of the magnetic field where the latter proved to be more effective. The rate of mass transfer under an EMF was found to be more than doubled. The enhancement of copper recovery in presence of the EMF is due to the induced motion of Fe⁺ⁿ in the solution which is limited to a certain range of cylinder rotation speed. The power consumption for cementation of copper could be significantly reduced by utilizing EMF.     

Lignocellulosic polymer composite IV

Palm leaves as a woody lignocellulose, together with polystyrene, were used to produce composites. Chemithermal mechanical pulps (CTMP) were obtained from palm leaves under alkaline or acidic conditions. Appropriate bending strength was obtained from palm leaves and their CTMP pulps prepared under neutral or acidic conditions. The bulky fibers resulted from the alkaline pulps lead to composites of low bending strength. Thus, the cooking conditions of the palm leaves to obtain CTMP pulp play an important role on the properties of the composites. The nonbulky fibers lead to the formation of trapped pockets air as the number of the hydrogen bond are few. The presence of these air pockets allows the polystyrene solution to enter forming bonding between the interfaces. It is also found that the lower the density of the composites, the lower the internal bond strengths. The chemical constituents of the CTMP pulps, as well as the yields of the pulps, may influence the properties of the composites. Increasing the percentage of polystyrene in the composites, the mechanical properties increased. The water uptake and the swellability decreased until 20% polystyrene concentration and then levelled off. The thickness and density behaved the same. However, the type of substrate of the composite and the weight fraction are the important factors in determining the properties of the composites. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 69: 845–855, 1998     

Potential of using nonwoven polyester fabric (NWPF) as a packing media in multistage passively aerated biological filter for municipal wastewater treatment

The performance of a multistage passively aerated biological filter (PABF) packed with Nonwoven polyester fabric (NWPF) for municipal wastewater treatment was investigated under different operating conditions. The system was operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 2.3, 1.72 and 1.38 h and corresponding to organic loading rates (OLRs) of 1.77, 2.15 and 2.9 kg BOD/m³. d. Increasing HRT and decreasing OLR, increased dissolved oxygen (DO) and consequently increased the removal rate of organic matters (87%), suspended solids (95.8%) and ammonia (88%). Profile results from different compartments showed that the major part of organic and suspended matters was removed in the upper layers of the system, whereas most of the suspended solids were trapped, while the nitrification process took place in the lower part of the PABF system because of the increase in DO concentrations. The results proved the advantage of using NWPF. It has pleated and rough surface which retain more biomass compared with plain surface. Excess biomass produced from PABF was negligible compared to conventional treatment systems.     

Novel dispersed magnetite core–shell nanogel polymers as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in acidic medium

Novel core–shell preparing poly(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) (PAMPS) and copolymers with acrylic acid (AA) or acrylamide (AM) magnetic nanogels with controllable particle size produced via free aqueous polymerization at room temperature have been developed for the first time. The crosslinking polymerization was carried out in the presence of N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a crosslinker, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) and potassium peroxydisulfate (KPS) as redox initiator system. The structure and morphology of the magnetic nanogels were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM). The effectiveness of the synthesized compounds as corrosion inhibitors for carbon steel in 1 M HCl was investigated by various electrochemical techniques such as potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The results showed enhancement in inhibition efficiencies with increasing the inhibitor concentrations and temperatures. The results showed the nanogel particles act as mixed inhibitors. Adsorption of nanogel particles was found to fit the Langmuir isotherm and was chemisorption.