Thermoascus aurantiacus CBHI/Cel7A production in Trichoderma reesei on alternative carbon sources

To develop functional enzymes in cellulose hydrolysis at or above 70 degrees C the cellobiohydrolase (CBHI/Cel7A) of Thermoascus aurantiacus was cloned and expressed in Trichoderma reesei Rut-C30 under the strong cbh1 promoter. Cellulase production of the parental strain and the novel strain (RF6026) was examined in submerged fermentation experiments using various carbon sources, which were lactose, Solka Floc 200 cellulose powder, and steam pretreated corn stover. An industrially feasible production medium was used containing only distiller's spent grain, KH(2)PO(4), and (NH(4))(2)SO(4). Enzyme production was followed by measurements of protein concentration, total cellulase enzyme activity (filter paper activity), beta-glucosidase activity, CBHI activity, and endogenase I (EGI) activity. The Thermoascus CBHI/Cel7A activity was taken as an indication of the heterologous gene expression under the cbh1 promoter.     

Ethanol fermentation of various pretreated and hydrolyzed substrates at low initial pH

Lignocellulosic materials represent an abundant feedstock for bioethanol production. Because of their complex structure pretreatment is necessary to make it accessible for enzymatic attack. Steam pretreatment with or without acid catalysts seems to be one of the most promising techniques, which has already been applied for large variety of lignocellulosics in order to improve enzymatic digestibility. During this process a range of toxic compounds (lignin and sugar degradation products) are formed which inhibit ethanol fermentation. In this study, the toxicity of hemicellulose hydrolysates obtained in the steam pretreatment of spruce, willow, and corn stover were investigated in ethanol fermentation tests using a yeast strain, which has been previously reported to have a resistance to inhibitory compounds generated during steam pretreatment. To overcome bacterial contamination, fermentations were carried out at low initial pH. The fermentability of hemicellulose hydrolysates of pretreated lignocellulosic substrates at low pH gave promising results with the economically profitable final 5 vol% ethanol concentration corresponding to 85% of theoretical. Adaptation experiments have shown that inhibitor tolerance of yeast strain can be improved by subsequent transfer of the yeast to inhibitory medium.     

Adsorption of arsenic(III) and arsenic(V) from groundwater using natural siderite as the adsorbent

Batch and column tests were performed utilizing natural siderite to remove As(V) and As(III) from water. One hundred milligrams of siderite was reacted at room temperature for up to 8 days with 50 mL of 1000 microg/L As(V) or As(III) in 0.01 M NaCl. Arsenic concentration decreased exponentially with time, and pseudoequilibrium was attained in 3 days. The estimated adsorption capacities were 520 and 1040 microg/g for As(V) and As(III), respectively. Column studies show that effluent As was below 1.0 microg/L after a throughput of 26,000 pore volumes of 500 microg/L As water, corresponding to about 2000 microg/g of As load in the filter. Results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveal that high As retention capacity of the filter arose from coprecipitation of Fe oxides with As and subsequent adsorption of As on the fresh Fe oxides/hydroxides. Arsenic adsorption in the filter from As-spiked tap water was relatively lower than that from artificial As solution because high HCO(-)(3) concentration restrained siderite dissolution and thus suppressed production of the fresh Fe oxides on the siderite grains. The TCLP (toxicity characteristic leaching procedure) results suggest that these spent adsorbents were inert and could be landfilled.     

Synthesis of alicyclic N‐substituted 1,3‐amino alcohols via 1,3‐oxazines

Alicyclic N‐substituted 1,3‐amino alcohols 13‐18 were prepared in a facile way in a one‐pot procedure from 1,3‐oxazines 5‐8 in the presence of a ketone 9‐12 . The complex reaction involves palladium‐catalyzed reduction, debenzylation and/or transimination and further reduction.     

A Novel Measure Inspired by Lyapunov Exponents for the Characterization of Dynamics in State-Transition Networks

The combination of network sciences, nonlinear dynamics and time series analysis provides novel insights and analogies between the different approaches to complex systems. By combining the considerations behind the Lyapunov exponent of dynamical systems and the average entropy of transition probabilities for Markov chains, we introduce a network measure for characterizing the dynamics on state-transition networks with special focus on differentiating between chaotic and cyclic modes. One important property of this Lyapunov measure consists of its non-monotonous dependence on the cylicity of the dynamics. Motivated by providing proper use cases for studying the new measure, we also lay out a method for mapping time series to state transition networks by phase space coarse graining. Using both discrete time and continuous time dynamical systems the Lyapunov measure extracted from the corresponding state-transition networks exhibits similar behavior to that of the Lyapunov exponent. In addition, it demonstrates a strong sensitivity to boundary crisis suggesting applicability in predicting the collapse of chaos.     

A combinatorial problem related to sparse systems of equations

Nowadays sparse systems of equations occur frequently in science and engineering. In this contribution we deal with sparse systems common in cryptanalysis. Given a cipher system, one converts it into a system of sparse equations, and then the system is solved to retrieve either a key or a plaintext. Raddum and Semaev proposed new methods for solving such sparse systems common in modern ciphers which are combinations of linear layers and small S-boxes. It turns out that the solution of a combinatorial MaxMinMax problem provides an upper bound on the average computational complexity of those methods. In this paper we initiate the study of a linear algebra variation of the MaxMinMax problem. The complexity bound proved in this paper significantly overcomes conjectured complexity bounds for Gröbner basis type algorithms.     

Treating measurement uncertainty in industrial conformity control

Every conformity control method based on measurements is subject to uncertainty, which distorts the decision. In the traditional conformity control approaches, this uncertainty is an inherent part of the deviation of the observed characteristic; however, the distribution of the real product characteristic may differ from the distribution of measurement uncertainty, which obscures the real conformity or nonconformity. The specification and consideration of this uncertainty are particularly necessary if it is high and/or the consequences associated with the decision errors are severe. This paper studies the effects of the cost structure associated with the decision outcomes and the skewness and kurtosis of the measurement uncertainty distribution. The proposed method can specify when and how the measurement uncertainty should be taken into account to increase the expected profit associated with the decision.     

IR-UV double resonance spectroscopy of xanthine

We present resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI), UV-UV, and IR-UV double resonance spectra of xanthine seeded in a supersonic jet by laser desorption. We show that there is only one tautomer of xanthine which absorbs in the wavelength range of 36 700 to 37 700 cm(-1). The IR-UV double resonance spectrum shows three strong bands at 3444, 3485, and 3501 cm(-1), all of which we assign as N-H stretching vibrations. Comparison of the IR-UV double resonance spectrum with frequencies and intensities obtained from density functional theory (DFT) and second order M?ller Plesset (MP2) calculations suggests that the observed xanthine is the diketo N(7)H tautomer.     

Exact many-electron ground states on the diamond Hubbard chain

Exact ground states of interacting electrons on the diamond Hubbard chain in a magnetic field are constructed which exhibit a wide range of properties such as flat-band ferromagnetism and correlation-induced metallic, half-metallic, or insulating behavior. The properties of these ground states can be tuned by changing the magnetic flux, local potentials, or electron density.     

A note on three-parameter families and generalized convex functions

The concept of generalized convex functions introduced by Beckenbach [E.F. Beckenbach, Generalized convex functions, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 43 (1937) 363–371] is extended to the two-dimensional case. Using three-parameter families, we define generalized convex (midconvex, M-convex) functions and show some continuity properties of them.