Pilot-Scale Fermentation of Aqueous-Ammonia-Soaked Switchgrass

Aqueous-ammonia-steeped switchgrass was subject to simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) in two pilot-scale bioreactors (50- and 350-L working volume). Switchgrass was pretreated by soaking in ammonium hydroxide (30%) with solid to liquid ratio of 5 L ammonium hydroxide per kilogram dry switchgrass for 5 days in 75-L steeping vessels without agitation at ambient temperatures (15 to 33 °C). SSF of the pretreated biomass was carried out using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (D₅A) at approximately 2% glucan and 77 filter paper units per gram cellulose enzyme loading (Spezyme CP). The 50-L fermentation was carried out aseptically, whereas the 350-L fermentation was semiaseptic. The percentage of maximum theoretical ethanol yields achieved was 73% in the 50-L reactor and 52–74% in the 350-L reactor due to the difference in asepsis. The 350-L fermentation was contaminated by acid-producing bacteria (lactic and acetic acid concentrations approaching 10 g/L), and this resulted in lower ethanol production. Despite this problem, the pilot-scale SSF of aqueous-ammonia-pretreated switchgrass has shown promising results similar to laboratory-scale experiments. This work demonstrates challenges in pilot-scale fermentations with material handling, aseptic conditions, and bacterial contamination for cellulosic fermentations to biofuels.     

Nondestructive analysis of the gold quarter liras

In this study, we have prepared seven Au-Cu standards in the concentration range of 18–24 (as carat) for nondestructive control of gold quarter liras. Some calibration curves for quantitative analysis of Au in the gold quarter liras that commercially present in Turkey have been plotted using these standard samples. The characteristic X-rays of Au and Cu emitted from these standard samples and the test sample with known composition are recorded by using a Ge(Li) detector. These calibration curves provide a nondestructive analysis of gold quarter liras with the uncertainties about 1.18%.     

A comparison of the effect of the ellipticity on the small and large solid-core PCF’s characteristics

In this paper we study small and large solid-core PCFs with elliptical shaped air-holes for the hexagonal lattice, which were constructed by omitting one air-hole (small core) and seven air-holes (large core), respectively, and we compare their characteristics with those with circular holes. We use two types of ellipticity: vertical and horizontal. Birefringence, dispersion, and the numerical apertures of the fundamental modes are analyzed using commercial simulation software. Also, the confinement loss is obtained. The effect of ellipticity on these characteristics is investigated in detail. It is found that the type of ellipticity of the air holes affects the numerical aperture and hence confinement loss significantly, but it has no crucial effect on either the dispersion or the birefringence for the small and large core PCFs.     

Elastic scattering from a sapphire microsphere placed on a silica optical fiber coupler: Possible applications to biosensing

Elastic light scattering is performed in the original band of optical fiber communication at 1300 nm for a 500 μm sapphire microsphere placed on a silica optical fiber half coupler. The morphology dependent resonances (MDRs) are observed in the transverse magnetically (TM) polarized and transverse electrically (TE) polarized 0^° transmission and 90^° elastic scattering obtained from the sapphire microsphere. The TE and TM MDRs can be detected selectively with the use of a Glan polarizer. The TE and TM polarization selectivity provides the ability to select relative MDR to BG levels. The TM polarization provides higher MDR signal to background ratio (SBR) and is suitable for optical monitoring, biological sensing or any other optoelectronic application that requires a high resolution optical filter. The polar angular mode spacing of 0.36 nm of the resonances correlates well with the optical size of the sapphire microsphere. The autocorrelation of the 90^° elastic scattering spectra also shows peaks at 0.36 nm. The spectral linewidths of the resonances are on the order of 0.1 nm, which corresponds to quality factors on the order of 10⁴. A sapphire sphere with a radius of 500 μm and relative refractive index of 1.31, resonances will red-shift by 1.01 nm (0.077%). This shift is on the order of 10 linewidths, making sapphire biophotonic sensors an interesting alternative to silica biophotonic sensors.     

Cytotoxic effect,enzyme inhibition,and in silico studies of some novel N-substituted sulfonyl amides incorporating 1,3,4-oxadiazol structural motif

Molecular Diversity - The acetylcholinesterase and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (AChEIs and hCAIs) remain key therapeutic agents for many bioactivities such as anti-Alzheimer and antiobesity...     

Radical 4-exo cyclizations via template catalysis

The mechanism of catalytic 4-exo cyclizations without gem-dialkyl substitution was investigated by a comparison of cyclic voltammetry, EPR, and computational studies with previously published synthetic results. The most active catalyst is a super-unsaturated 13-electron titanocene(III) complex that is formed by supramolecular activation through hydrogen bonding. The template catalyst binds radicals via a two-point binding that is mandatory for the success of the 4-exo cyclization. The computational investigations revealed that formation of the observed trans-cyclobutane product is not possible from the most stable substrate radical. Instead, the most stable product is formed with the lowest energy of activation from a disfavored substrate in a Curtin-Hammett related scenario.     

An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Pollution-Routing Problem

The Pollution-Routing Problem (PRP) is a recently introduced extension of the classical Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows which consists of routing a number of vehicles to serve a set of customers, and determining their speed on each route segment so as to minimize a function comprising fuel, emission and driver costs. This paper presents an adaptive large neighborhood search for the PRP. Results of extensive computational experimentation confirm the efficiency of the algorithm.     

Identification of the atomic scale structures of the gold-thiol interfaces of molecular nanowires by inelastic tunneling spectroscopy

We examine theoretically the effects of the bonding geometries at the gold-thiol interfaces on the inelastic tunneling spectra of propanedithiolate (PDT) molecules bridging gold electrodes and show that inelastic tunneling spectroscopy combined with theory can be used to determine these bonding geometries experimentally. With the help of density functional theory, we calculate the relaxed geometries and vibrational modes of extended molecules each consisting of one or two PDT molecules connecting two gold nanoclusters. We formulate a perturbative theory of inelastic tunneling through molecules bridging metal contacts in terms of elastic transmission amplitudes, and use this theory to calculate the inelastic tunneling spectra of the gold-PDT-gold extended molecules. We consider PDT molecules with both trans and gauche conformations bound to the gold clusters at top, bridge, and hollow bonding sites. Comparing our results with the experimental data of Hihath et al. [Nano Lett. 8, 1673 (2008)], we identify the most frequently realized conformation in the experiment as that of trans molecules top-site bonded to both electrodes. We find the switching from the 42 meV vibrational mode to the 46 meV mode observed in the experiment to be due to the transition of trans molecules from mixed top-bridge to pure top-site bonding geometries. Our results also indicate that gauche molecular conformations and hollow site bonding did not contribute significantly to the experimental inelastic tunneling spectra. For pairs of PDT molecules connecting the gold electrodes in parallel we find total elastic conductances close to twice those of single molecules bridging the contacts with similar bonding conformations and small splittings of the vibrational mode energies for the modes that are the most sensitive to the molecule-electrode bonding geometries.     

Suzuki reaction of aryl chlorides using saturated N‐heterocarbene ligands

From readily available starting materials, six 1,3‐dialkyl‐imidazolinium bromides ( 2a–f ) have been prepared and characterized by conventional spectroscopic methods and elemental analyses. The incorporation of saturated N‐heterocyclic carbenes into palladium precatalysts gives high catalyst activity in the Suzuki coupling of deactivated aryl chloride substrates in aqueous media. The complexes were generated in the presence of Pd(OAc)₂ by in situ deprotonation of 2a–f . © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 16:557–561, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/hc.20140     

Determination of nucleation kinetics of potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate

In this study, the metastable zone width of potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate was determined for four different temperatures and cooling rates. The induction period of potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate in aqueous solution was examined according to polythermal method by using visual observation. The induction period, which changes inversely proportional to the nucleation rate has been used to determine the interfacial tension between the potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate and aqueous solution. By using interfacial tension, the nucleation parameters such as Gibbs free energy change for the formation of critical nucleus, ΔG*, free energy of formation, ΔG, radius of critical nucleus, r and number of molecules in the critical nucleus, i* has been calculated. The effect of Li⁺ and Ca²⁺ impurities on metastable zone width has been studied. The metastable zone width of aqueous solution of potassium tetraborate tetrahydrate decreases with increasing impurity concentrations. The equilibrium saturation concentration change is high in the presence of Ca²⁺ ions while it is low in the presence of Li⁺ ions. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)