The roles of xylan and lignin in oxalic acid pretreated corncob during separate enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation

High yields of hemicellulosic and cellulosic sugars are critical in obtaining economical conversion of agricultural residues to ethanol. To optimize pretreatment conditions, we evaluated oxalic acid loading rates, treatment temperatures and times in a 2(3) full factorial design. Response-surface analysis revealed an optimal oxalic acid pretreatment condition to release sugar from the cob of Zea mays L ssp. and for Pichia stipitis CBS 6054. To ferment the residual cellulosic sugars to ethanol following enzymatic hydrolysis, highest saccharification and fermentation yields were obtained following pretreatment at 180 degrees C for 50 min with 0.024 g oxalic acid/g substrate. Under these conditions, only 7.5% hemicellulose remained in the pretreated substrate. The rate of cellulose degradation was significantly less than that of hemicellulose and its hydrolysis was not as extensive. Subsequent enzymatic saccharification of the residual cellulose was strongly affected by the pretreatment condition with cellulose hydrolysis ranging between 26.0% and 76.2%. The residual xylan/lignin ratio ranged from 0.31 to 1.85 depending on the pretreatment condition. Fermentable sugar and ethanol were maximal at the lowest ratio of xylan/lignin and at high glucan contents. The model predicts optimal condition of oxalic acid pretreatment at 168 degrees C, 74 min and 0.027 g/g of oxalic acid. From these findings, we surmised that low residual xylan was critical in obtaining maximal glucose yields from saccharification. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Residual stresses in TiN, DLC and MoS(2) coated surfaces with regard to their tribological fracture behaviour

Thin hard coatings on components and tools are used increasingly due to the rapid development in deposition techniques, tribological performance and application skills. The residual stresses in a coated surface are crucial for its tribological performance. Compressive residual stresses in PVD deposited TiN and DLC coatings were measured to be in the range of 0.03-4 GPa on steel substrate and 0.1-1.3 GPa on silicon. MoS(2) coatings had tensional stresses in the range of 0.8-1.3 on steel and 0.16 GPa compressive stresses on silicon. The fracture pattern of coatings deposited on steel substrate were analysed both in bend testing and scratch testing. A micro-scale finite element method (FEM) modelling and stress simulation of a 2 mu m TiN-coated steel surface was carried out and showed a reduction of the generated tensile buckling stresses in front of the sliding tip when compressive residual stresses of 1 GPa were included in the model. However, this reduction is not similarly observed in the scratch groove behind the tip, possibly due to sliding contact-induced stress relaxation. Scratch and bending tests allowed calculation of the fracture toughness of the three coated surfaces, based on both empirical crack pattern observations and FEM stress calculation, which resulted in highest values for TiN coating followed by MoS(2) and DLC coatings, being K(C) = 4-11, about 2, and 1-2 MPa M(1/2), respectively. Higher compressive residual stresses in the coating and higher elastic modulus of the coating correlated to increased fracture toughness of the coated surface. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ciratefi: An RST-invariant template matching with extension to color images

Template matching is a technique widely used for finding patterns in digital images. A good template matching should be able to detect template instances that have undergone geometric transformations. In this paper, we proposed a grayscale template matching algorithm named Ciratefi, invariant to rotation, scale, translation, brightness and contrast and its extension to color images. We introduce CSSIM (color structural similarity) for comparing the similarity of two color image patches and use it in our algorithm. We also describe a scheme to determine automatically the appropriate parameters of our algorithm and use pyramidal structure to improve the scale invariance. We conducted several experiments to compare grayscale and color Ciratefis with SIFT, C-color-SIFT and EasyMatch algorithms in many different situations. The results attest that grayscale and color Ciratefis are more accurate than the compared algorithms and that color-Ciratefi outperforms grayscale Ciratefi most of the time. However, Ciratefi is slower than the other algorithms.

Rotation-discriminating template matching based on Fourier coefficients of radial projections with robustness to scaling and partial occlusion

We consider brightness/contrast-invariant and rotation-discriminating template matching that searches an image to analyze A for a query image Q We propose to use the complex coefficients of the discrete Fourier transform of the radial projections to compute new rotation-invariant local features. These coefficients can be efficiently obtained via FFT. We classify templates in ""stable"" and ""unstable"" ones and argue that any local feature-based template matching may fail to find unstable templates. We extract several stable sub-templates of Q and find them in A by comparing the features. The matchings of the sub-templates are combined using the Hough transform. As the features of A are computed only once, the algorithm can find quickly many different sub-templates in A, and it is Suitable for finding many query images in A, multi-scale searching and partial occlusion-robust template matching. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial portability of numerical models of leaf wetness duration based on empirical approaches

Leaf wetness duration (LWD) models based on empirical approaches offer practical advantages over physically based models in agricultural applications, but their spatial portability is questionable because they may be biased to the climatic conditions under which they were developed. In our study, spatial portability of three LWD models with empirical characteristics - a RH threshold model, a decision tree model with wind speed correction, and a fuzzy logic model - was evaluated using weather data collected in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Italy and the USA. The fuzzy logic model was more accurate than the other models in estimating LWD measured by painted leaf wetness sensors. The fraction of correct estimates for the fuzzy logic model was greater (0.87) than for the other models (0.85-0.86) across 28 sites where painted sensors were installed, and the degree of agreement k statistic between the model and painted sensors was greater for the fuzzy logic model (0.71) than that for the other models (0.64-0.66). Values of the k statistic for the fuzzy logic model were also less variable across sites than those of the other models. When model estimates were compared with measurements from unpainted leaf wetness sensors, the fuzzy logic model had less mean absolute error (2.5 h day(-1)) than other models (2.6-2.7 h day(-1)) after the model was calibrated for the unpainted sensors. The results suggest that the fuzzy logic model has greater spatial portability than the other models evaluated and merits further validation in comparison with physical models under a wider range of climate conditions. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The conserved and divergent roles of carbonic anhydrases in the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nidulans

P>Carbon dioxide (CO(2)) and its hydration product bicarbonate (HCO(3)-) are essential molecules in various physiological processes of all living organisms. The reversible interconversion between CO(2) and HCO(3)- is in equilibrium. This reaction is slow without catalyst, but can be rapidly facilitated by Zn2+-metalloenzymes named carbonic anhydrases (CAs). To gain an insight into the function of multiple clades of fungal CA, we chose to investigate the filamentous fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and A. nidulans. We identified four and two CAs in A. fumigatus and A. nidulans, respectively, named cafA-D and canA-B. The cafA and cafB genes are constitutively, strongly expressed whereas cafC and cafD genes are weakly expressed but CO(2)-inducible. Heterologous expression of the A. fumigatus cafB, and A. nidulans canA and canB genes completely rescued the high CO(2)-requiring phenotype of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Delta nce103 mutant. Only the Delta cafA Delta cafB and Delta canB deletion mutants were unable to grow at 0.033% CO(2), of which growth defects can be restored by high CO(2). Defects in the CAs can affect Aspergilli conidiation. Furthermore, A. fumigatus Delta cafA, Delta cafB, Delta cafC, Delta cafD and Delta cafA Delta cafB mutant strains are fully virulent in a low-dose murine infection.

The 2008 update of the Aspergillus nidulans genome annotation: A community effort

The identification and annotation of protein-coding genes is one of the primary goals of whole-genome sequencing projects, and the accuracy of predicting the primary protein products of gene expression is vital to the interpretation of the available data and the design of downstream functional applications. Nevertheless, the comprehensive annotation of eukaryotic genomes remains a considerable challenge. Many genomes submitted to public databases, including those of major model organisms, contain significant numbers of wrong and incomplete gene predictions. We present a community-based reannotation of the Aspergillus nidulans genome with the primary goal of increasing the number and quality of protein functional assignments through the careful review of experts in the field of fungal biology. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Aboriginal Art Collection: Highlights from Australia's Public Museums and Galleries

Contents: Introduction SUSAN COCHRANE National Gallery of Australia, Canberra WALLY CARUANA National Museum of Australia, Canberra DAVID KAUS Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin MARGIE WEST Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney HETTI PERKINS AND KEN WATSON Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney BERNICE MURPHY Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane MARCO NEALE Queensland Museum, Brisbane RICHARD ROBINS National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne JUDITH RYAN Museum Victoria, Melbourne GAYE SCULTHORPE Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart KIM AKERMAN AND DAVID HANSEN Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth MICHAEL O'FERRALL AND BRENDA L. CROFT Western Australian Museum, Perth ROSS CHADWICK AND MANCE LOFGREN Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide JANE HYLTON South Australian Museum, Adelaide PHILIP A. CLARKE List of Plates Bibliography Editor's Acknowledgments Contributors Index

Increased apoptosis of T lymphocytes and macrophages in the central and peripheral nervous systems of Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis treated with dexamethasone

Using light and electron microscopic histological and immunocytochemical techniques, we investigated the effects of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone on T cell and macrophage apoptosis in the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) of Lewis rats with acute experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced with myelin basic protein (MBP). A single subcutaneous injection of dexamethasone markedly augmented T cell and macrophage apoptosis in the CNS and PNS and microglial apoptosis in the CNS within 6 hours (h). Pre-embedding immunolabeling revealed that dexamethasone increased the number of apoptotic CD5+ cells (T cells or activated B cells), αβ T cells, and CD11b+ cells (macrophages/microglia) in the meninges, perivascular spaces, and CNS parenchyma. The induction of increased apoptosis was dose-dependent. Daily dexamethasone treatment suppressed the neurological signs of EAE. However, the daily injection of a dose of dexamethasone (0.25 mg/kg). which, after a single dose, did not induce increased apoptosis in the CNS or PNS, was as effective in inhibiting the neurological signs of EAE as the high dose (4 mg/kg), which induced a marked increase in apoptosis. This indicates that the beneficial clinical effect of glucocorticoid therapy in EAE does not depend on the induction of increased apoptosis. The daily administration of dexamethasone for 5 days induced a relapse that commenced 5 days after cessation of treatment, with the severity of the relapse tending to increase with dexamethasone dosage.

Anodic-oxide-induced interdiffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells

Enhancement of interdiffusion in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells due to anodic oxides was studied. Photoluminescence, transmission electron microscopy, and quantum well modeling were used to understand the effects of intermixing on the quantum well shape. Residual water in the oxide was found to increase the intermixing, though it was not the prime cause for intermixing. Injection of defects such as group III vacancies or interstitials was considered to be a driving force for the intermixing. Different current densities used in the experimental range to create anodic oxides had little effect on the intermixing. ©1998 American Institute of Physics.

The haliclonacyclamines, cytotoxic tertiary alkaloids from the tropical marine sponge Haliclona sp

2D-NMR spectroscopic data is reported for the haliclonacyclamines A - D (1)-(4) and for two bismethiodide adducts (5) and (6). The structures of two new alkaloids, haliclonacyclamines C (3) and D (4), which are the 15,16-dihydro analogues of the haliclonacyclamines A (1) and B (2) are described. Revised assignments deduced by 2D-INADEQUATE spectroscopy are presented for (1) and (2). The alkene substituent in the C,, spacer group of (2) and (4) is positioned between C27-C28 by NMR, and confirmed by x-ray structural analysis for (2). Metabolite (3) has a C25-C26 double bond. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Beyond prejudice as simple antipathy: Hostile and benevolent sexism across cultures

The authors argue that complementary hostile and benevolent components of sexism exist across cultures. Male dominance creates hostile sexism IHS), but men's dependence on women fosters benevolent sexism (BS)-subjectively positive attitudes that put women on a pedestal but reinforce their subordination. Research with 15,000 men and women in 19 nations showed that (a) HS and BS are coherent constructs that correlate positively across nations, but (b) HS predicts the ascription of negative and BS the ascription of positive traits to women, (c) relative to men, women are more likely to reject HS than BS, especially when overall levels of sexism in a culture are high, and (d) national averages on BS and HS predict gender inequality across nations. These results challenge prevailing notions of prejudice as an antipathy in that BS tan affectionate, patronizing ideology) reflects inequality and is a cross-culturally pervasive complement to HS.