Composition of structural carbohydrates in biomass: precision of a liquid chromatography method using a neutral detergent extraction and a charged aerosol detector

We adapted and optimized a method to quantify the cellulose, hemicellulose, xylan, arabinan, mannan, galactan contents in lignocellulosic biomass. This method is based on a neutral detergent extraction (NDE) of the interfering biomass components, followed by a sulfuric acid hydrolysis (SAH) of the structural polysaccharides, and a liquid chromatography with charged aerosol detection (LC-CAD) to analyze the released monosaccharides. The first step of this NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method aims at removing all compounds that interfere with the subsequent sulphuric acid hydrolysis or with the subsequent chromatographic quantification of the cellulosic and hemicellulosic monosaccharides. This step includes starch hydrolysis with an analytical thermostable α-amylase followed by an extraction of soluble compounds by a Van Soest neutral detergent solution (NDE). The aim of this paper was to assess the precision of this method when choosing fiber sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench), tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) and fiber hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) as representative lignocellulosic biomass. The cellulose content of fiber sorghum, tall fescue and fiber hemp determined by the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method were 28.7 ± 1.0, 29.7 ± 1.0 and 43.6 ± 1.2 g/100 g dry matter, respectively, and their hemicellulose content were 18.6 ± 0.5, 16.5 ± 0.5 and 14.5 ± 0.2 g/100 g dry matter, respectively. Cellulose, mannan and galactan contents were higher in fiber hemp (dicotyledon) as compared to tall fescue and fiber sorghum (monocotyledons). The xylan, arabinan and total hemicellulose contents were higher in tall fescue and fiber sorghum as compared to fiber hemp. The precision of the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method was better for polysaccharide concentration levels above 1 g/100 g dry matter. Galactan analysis offered a lower precision, due to a lower CAD response intensity to galactose as compared to the other monosaccharides. The dispersions of the results (expanded uncertainty) of the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method were smaller as compared to the Van Soest (VS) method. In addition, the NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method was able to provide additional information on the composition of the hemicellulose (xylan, arabinan, mannan and galactan content) that is not provided by the Van Soest method. The NDE-SAH-LC-CAD method offers also the advantage of a better specificity for hemicellulose and cellulose, as compared to the NREL and Uppsala methods.     

Inertial Effects in Nonequilibrium Work Fluctuations by a Path Integral Approach

Inertial effects in fluctuations of the work to sustain a system in a nonequilibrium steady state are discussed for a dragged massive Brownian particle model using a path integral approach. We calculate the work distribution function in the laboratory and comoving frames and prove the asymptotic fluctuation theorem for these works for any initial condition. Important and observable differences between the work fluctuations in the two frames appear for finite times and are discussed concretely for a nonequilibrium steady state initial condition. We also show that for finite times a time oscillatory behavior appears in the work distribution function for masses larger than a nonzero critical value.     

Accelerator Disaster Scenarios, the Unabomber, and Scientific Risks

The possibility that experiments at high-energy accelerators could create new forms of matter that would ultimately destroy the Earth has been considered several times in the past quarter century. One consequence of the earliest of these disaster scenarios was that the authors of a 1993 article in Physics Today who reviewed the experiments that had been carried out at the Bevalac at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory were placed on the FBI’s Unabomber watch list. Later, concerns that experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory might create mini black holes or nuggets of stable strange quark matter resulted in a flurry of articles in the popular press. I discuss this history, as well as Richard A. Posner’s provocative analysis and recommendations on how to deal with such scientific risks. I conclude that better communication between scientists and nonscientists would serve to assuage unreasonable fears and focus attention on truly serious potential threats to humankind. Joseph I. Kapusta: Joseph I. Kapusta received his Ph.D. degree at the University of California at Berkeley in 1978 and has been on the faculty of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota since 1982. He is the author of over 150 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and of Finite Temperature Field Theory (Cambridge University Press, 1989; second edition with Charles Gale, 2006).     

计算机实验室与应用型创新人才培养探讨

计算机实验室承担大学生在计算机上做实验的基础课、专业课、选修课和学科竞赛等各专业实验教学任务。通过对实验室在高校创新人才培养中存在问题和重要性进行分析,以计算机实验室为例研究了实验室与应用型创新人才培养之间的关系,以培养大学生计算机的综合应用能力和创新能力为目标的开放、互联、共享计算机实验室对应用性创新人才培养发挥了重要作用。     

大气边界层各向异性的室内模拟研究

 边界层的各向异性研究对于了解实际大气的湍流特性和经典理论的适用范围均具有较大的意义。利用室内水槽实验模拟了实际大气边界层,使用小波变换方法分析了对数光强起伏谱的特征,将获得的标度指数与理论值进行比较,结果表明混合层在水平方向较为接近各向同性,而垂直方向则呈现一定的各向异性。     

基于OBE和EHS理念的制药过程安全与环保课程体系建设

“制药过程安全与环保”为制药工程专业本科生必修核心课程，但其课程体系不完善，基于OBE和EHS理念，从课程目标、课程内容、课程思政、教材、教学方法、课程考核与评价方法等方面对该课程进行了建设和完善，取得了一些创新性成果与经验，制定了教学目标，创新性地设置了课程内容，开展了课程思政，主编了教材，提出了适宜的教学方法，建立了课程考核与评价方法，可以为全国其他高等院校类似课程的教学与建设提供有益的借鉴。