Purification and characterization of extracellular chitinase from a novel strain Aspergillus fumigatus CS-01

Twelve samples derived from different locations in south central area of China are treated by enrichment and spread-plate technique for initial screening. Seven chitinase-producing strains are isolated. The chitinase present in the culture supernatant of strain CS-01 possesses the maximum activity of 0.118 U/mL. Analysis of the morphological feature and the ITS rDNA sequence reveals that strain CS-01 belongs to Aspergillus fumigatus. Production of the chitinase is regulated by a inducible way and the maximum activity appears at 36 h in colloidal chitin culture. Purification of the chitinase is carried out by salting out, gel filtrate chromatography and anion exchange chromatography sequentially. Native-PAGE and SDS-PAGE indicate that the chitinase from A. fumigatus CS-01 is a monomer with the relative molecular mass estimated to be 4.50×10⁴. Its maximum activity appears at pH 5 and 55 °C. The chitinase is stable at pH 4.0–7.5 and below 45 °C. Foundation item: Projects(50621063, 50674101) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Synthesis and coloring properties of Cd（S1-xSex） pigments by precipitate-hydrothermal method

Cd（S1-xSex） pigments （red to yellow） were synthesized by precipitate-hydrothermal method. The structure, morphology and hue of the powder were characterized by X-ray diffractometry （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDAX） and CIE chromaticity. The optimum synthesis conditions were obtained and reaction mechanism was further analyzed as well. The results show that molar ratio of S to Se, pH value and hydrothermal reaction conditions have great effects on the hues of the pigments. Pigments with vivid hues are obtained under the conditions that pH value is about 13.0, hydrothermal reaction condition is at 140 ℃ for 4 h or at 160 ℃ for 6 h. The reaction mechanism is that Se^2- of Cd（S1-xSex） substitutes S^2- of CdS and then forms a continuous solid solution.     

Screening, identification and desilication of a silicate bacterium

The strain Lv（1- z） isolated from the Henan bauxite was characterized by morphological observation, biochemical and physiological identification, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The influences of temperature, initial pH value, the volume of medium, shaking speed and illite concentration on the desilicating ability of the strain Lv（1- z） were investigated. The results show that the bacterium is a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium with oval endspores and thick capsule, but without flagellum. The biochemical and physiological tests indicate that the strain Lv（1- z） is similar to Bacillus rnucilaginosus. In GenBank the 16S rDNA sequence similarity of the strain Lv（1- z） and the B. rnucilaginosus YNUCC0001（AY571332） is more than 99%. Based on the above results, the strain Lv（1- z） is identified as B. rnucilaginosus. The optimum conditions for the strain L（1- z） to remove silicon from illite are as follows., temperature is 30℃ ;initial pH value is 7.5; medium volume in 200 mL bottle is 60 mL; shaking speed of rotary shaker is 220 r/m ; illite concentration is 1%.     

Characterization of tricalcium phosphate solubilization by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia YC isolated from phosphate mines

The phosphate solubilizing characteristics of a strain YC, which was isolated from phosphate mines (Hubei, China), were studied in National Botanical Research Institute’s phosphate (NBRIP) growth medium containing tricalcium phosphate (TCP) as sole phosphorus (P) source. The strain YC is identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) based upon the results of morphologic, physiological and biochemical characteristics and 16S rRNA sequences analysis. The results show that the strain S. maltophilia YC can solubilize TCP and release soluble P in NBRIP growth medium. A positive correlation between concentration of soluble P and population of the isolate and a negative correlation between concentration of soluble P and pH in the culture medium are observed from statistical analysis results. Moreover, gluconic acid is detected in the culture medium by HPLC analysis. It indicates that the isolate can release gluconic acid during the solubilizing experiment, which causes acidification of the culture medium and then TCP solubilization. S. maltophilia YC has a maximal TCP solubilizing capability when using maltose as carbon source and ammonium nitrate as nitrogen source, respectively, in NBRIP growth medium. Foundation item: Project(2004CB619201) supported by the Major State Basic Research and Development Program of China; Project(Z200515002) supported by the Key Project Foundation of the Education Department of Hubei Province, China; Project(GCP200801) supported by the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Process of Ministry of Education, China; Project(Q200811) supported by the Youths Science Foundation of Wuhan Institute of Technology, China     

μ Analysis and μ synthesis for nonlinear robust control systems

A μ analysis and μ synthesis method for nonlinear robust control systems was presented. The nonlinear robust control problem using μ method was described. By means of the nonlinear state feedback and state coordinates transformation, many uncertain nonlinear systems can be transformed as a linear fractional transformation (LFT) on the generalized plant and the uncertainty. Based on the LFT, a linear robust controller can be obtained by the D-K iteration and then a corresponding nonlinear robust control law is constructed. An example was given in the paper. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Synopsis of the first author Wu Min, professor, Ph. D, born in 1963, majoring in complex industrial process control, robust control, nonlinear control and expert control.     

Isolation and characterization of Acidithiobacillus caldus from several typical environments in China

Six strains of moderately thermophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were isolated from several different typical environments in China. The identities of the isolates were confirmed by analyses of their 16S rRNA genes, and some key physiological traits. The isolates are Gram negative, rod-shaped bacteria, their optimal temperature and pH value for growth are 45-50 ℃ and 2.5-3.5 respectively. They are autotrophic and used＇elemental sulfur, sodium thiosulfate and potassium tetrathionate as electron donor, while a little glucose stimulated their growth. 16S rDNA sequences analysis reveals that the strains are phylogenetically clustered to Acidithiobacillus caldus.     

Deformation behavior and microstructural evolution of Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy during high temperature compression

The deformation behavior of a new Al-Zn-Cu-Mg-Sc-Zr alloy was investigated with compression tests in temperature range of 380–470 °C and strain rate range of 0.001–10 s⁻¹ using Gleeble 1500 system, and the associated microstructural evolutions were studied by metallographic microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that true stress—strain curves exhibit a peak stress, followed by a dynamic flow softening at low strains (ɛ<0.05). The stress decreases with increasing deformation temperature and decreasing strain rate, which can be represented by a Zener-Hollomon exponential equation with the activation energy for deformation of 157.9 kJ/mol. The substructure in the deformed specimens consists of few fine precipitates with equaixed polygonized subgrains in the elongated grains and developed serrations at the grain boundaries. The dynamic flow softening is attributed mainly to dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization. Foundation item: Project(2006AA03Z523) supported by the National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China     

Antibiotic properties of Al2O3 doping silver

The preparation technique and properties of Ag-type inorganic antibiotic material carried by Al₂O₃ were studied. The results show that the material has good antibiotic and safety properties, the acute toxicity taken by stomata is LD ₅₀>8 000 mg/kg (little and big white rats), and the normal quantity in subacute toxicity test is 80 mg/(kg · d). The better mass fraction of doping Ag₂O in antibiotic material carried by Al₂O₃ is 4%–8%, and the optimal sintering temperature is from 1 000 °C to 1 100 °C. Foundation item: Project (2002AA327090) supported by National High Technology Research and Development Program of China     

Adsorption characteristics of thiobacillus ferrooxidans on surface of sulfide minerals

By using thiobacillus ferroxidans (T. f) from Qixiashan, Hubei Province, China, the adsorption characteristics of T. f on surface of sulfide mineral were studied. The influences of adsorption time, pH value, temperature, initial inoculated concentration of bacteria, concentration of sulfide mineral powder, and variety of minerals on the adsorption characteristics were firstly investigated by using the ninhydrin colorimetric method, and the changes of contact angles and Zeta potentials of mineral surface during the bacterial adsorption were then determined. The results show that when the leaching experiments are performed for a long time from several days to a month, the maximal quantity of adsorption of T f on the surface of pyrite is obtained under the following conditions: leaching for 20 d, pH value in range of 1–2 and temperature at 30 °C, respectively; when the bio-leaching experiments are performed for a shorter leaching time, the maximal quantity of adsorption is obtained under the conditions: bio-leaching for 2 h, at 2.4×10⁷ cell/mL of initial inoculated bacteria concentration, and at 10% of mineral powder concentration; and the adsorption quantities are different from one sulfide mineral to another, and the adsorption of T. f on the surface of sulfide minerals includes three phases: increasing phase, stationary phase and decreasing phase. Foundation item: Project(50321402) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; project (2004CB619204) supported by the National Key Fundamental Research and Development Program of China     

Leaching kinetics of low grade zinc oxide ore in NH3-NH4Cl-H2O system

The leaching kinetics of low grade zinc oxide ore in NH3-NH4Cl-H2O system was studied. The effects of ore particle size, reaction temperature and the sum concentration of ammonium ion and ammonia on the leaching efficiency of zinc were examined. The leaching kinetics of low-grade zinc oxide ore in NH3-NH4Cl-H2O system follows the kinetic law of shrinking-core model. The results show that diffusion through the inert particle pores is the leaching kinetics rate controlling step. The calculated apparent activation energy of the process is about 7.057 kJ/mol. The leaching efficiency of zinc is 92.1% under the conditions of ore particle size of 69μm, holding at 80℃ for 60 min, sum ammonia concentration of 7.5 mol/L, the molar ratio of ammonium to ammonia being 2：1, and the ratio （g/mL） of solid to liquid being 1：10.     

Isolation of Leptospirillum ferriphilum by single-layered solid medium

According to physiological and biochemical characteristics of Leptospirillum ferriphilum,a strain of object bacteria was isolated successfully.Bacteria were enriched by selective liquid medium and plated on designed single-layered agar solid medium.Colony was cultured and bacteria were collected.The morphologies of the object bacteria were observed using crystal violet staining,scanning electron microscope(SEM)and transmission electron microscope(TEM).The result of 16S rDNA identification shows that this bacterium belongs to Leptospirillum ferriphilum and it is named as Leptospirillum ferriphilum strain D1.These results indicate that this new single-layered agar solid medium is efficient and simple for isolation of Leptospirillum ferriphilum.Additionally,physiological-biochemical characteristics show that the optimum initial pH value and its growth temperature are 1.68 and 40 ℃,respectively.The culture of it is used to leach a complex concentrate chalcopyrite,the leaching efficiencies of copper and iron are 1.93 % and 13.74 %,respectively,and it is more effective than the A.ferrooxidans culture in the leaching of the complex concentrate chalcopyrite.     

Isolation, identification and characterization of cadmium-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain E1

Strain E₁ with resistance to 18 mmol/L cadmium (Cd), isolated from Cd-contaminated soil was identified by morphological observation, biochemical and physiological characterization and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The resistance to heavy metals Cd, Cu, Co, Mn, Pb, Zn and 12 antibiotics was examined. The ability of removing Cd from solution was studied. The characterizations show that strain E₁ is affiliated to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Strain E₁ has high resistance to heavy metals and the order is found to be Cd>Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Co in solid media. Strain E₁ also exhibits the resistance to 12 antibiotics. Both living and non-living cells of strain E₁ can remove Cd from solution, and living cell has better biosorption than non-living cell. Foundation item: Project (50621063) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project (2004CB619204) supported by the Major State Basic Research and Development Program of China     

Synthesis of γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles by chemical precipitation method

Highly pure active γ-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles were synthesized from aluminum nitrate and ammonium carbonate with a little surfactant by chemical precipitation method. The factors affecting the synthesis process were studied. The properties of γ-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles were characterized by DTA, XRD, BET, TEM, laser granularity analysis and impurity content analysis. The results show that the amorphous precursor Al(OH)₃ sols are produced by using 0.1 mol/L Al(NO₃)₃ · 9H₂O and 0.16 mol/L (NH₄)₂CO₃ · H₂O reaction solutions, according to the volume ratio 1.33, adding 0.024% (volume fraction) surfactant PEG600, and reacting at 40 °C, 1 000 r/min stirring rate for 15 min. Then, after stabilizing for 24 h, the precursors were extracted and filtrated by vacuum, washed thoroughly with deionized water and dehydrated ethanol, dried in vacuum at 80°C for 8 h, final calcined at 800 °C for 1 h in the air, and high purity active γ-Al₂O₃ nanoparticles can be prepared with cubic in crystal system, O _H ⁷ -FD3M in space group, about 9 nm in crystal grain size, about 20 nm in particle size and uniform size distribution, 131. 35 m²/g in BET specific surface area, 7 – 11 nm in pore diameter, and not lower than 99.93% in purity. Foundation item: Project(03JJY3015) supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province     

Removal of lead in wastewater by immobilized inactivated cells of Rhizopus oligosporus

A novel technology for lead removal with nonliving Rhizopus oligosporus immobilized in calcium alginate was studied. The results show that the main influencing factors include pH value and interfering cations. pH value has different effects on biosorption of various heavy metals and lead adsorption can be proceeded by controlling pH value in a range of 2-5; interfering cations especially Cu( Ⅱ ) can make the adsorption amount of Pb( Ⅱ ) decrease by immobilized Rhizopus oligosporus. Desorption efficiency of different eluants and kinetics were investigated. Citrate the reaction equilibrium reaches 3 h. Immobilized biomass keeps high lead biosorption capacity after five cycles of regeneration.     

Design of small-area multi-bit antifuse-type 1 kbit OTP memory

A multi-bit antifuse-type one-time programmable (OTP) memory is designed, which has a smaller area and a shorter programming time compared with the conventional single-bit antifuse-type OTP memory. While the conventional antifuse-type OTP memory can store a bit per cell, a proposed OTP memory can store two consecutive bits per cell through a data compression technique. The 1 kbit OTP memory designed with Magnachip 0.18 μm CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process is 34% smaller than the conventional single-bit antifuse-type OTP memory since the sizes of cell array and row decoder are reduced. And the programming time of the proposed OTP memory is nearly 50% smaller than that of the conventional counterpart since two consecutive bytes can be compressed and programmed into eight OTP cells at once. The layout area is 214 μm × 327 μm, and the read current is simulated to be 30.4 μA. Foundation item: Project supported by the 2nd Stage of Brain Korea; Project supported by the Korea Research Foundation     

Effects of temperature and initial molar ratio of Na2O to Al2O3 on agglomeration of fine Al（OH）3 seed in synthetic Bayer solution

Fine Al（OH）3 crystals were aggregated from supersaturated aluminate solution in the batch reaction tanks. By means of laser particle size analyzer and scanning electron microscopy, the influences of temperature and initial molar ratio of Na2O to Al2O3 （aK） on agglomeration of fine seed in Bayer process were investigated. The results show that agglomeration is almost finished in 8 h, and seeds with size less than 2 μm are easily aggregated together, and almost disappear in 8 h under the optimal process conditions. In the aluminate solution with the same moderate initial aK, when the reaction temperature reaches 75 ℃, the secondary nucleation does not occur, and the effect of agglomeration is better. And at the same reaction temperature, when the initial aK is 1.62, the initial supersaturation of aluminate solution is moderate, the binders on the surfaces of the seed are enough to maintain the agglomeration process, and the agglomeration degree is better. From SEM images, agglomeration mainly occurs in the fine particles, the combinations among the fine particles are loose and the new formed coarse crystal shapes are irregular.     

Thermo-analytical study on stainless steelmaking dust

1　INTRODUCTIONStainlesssteelmakingdustisaby productwastegeneratedfromsteelmakingindustry .Itcontainssig nificantamountsofiron ,lead ,nickel,chromium ,etc .Heavymetalmaybeleachedintotheenviron mentbyrainorundergroundwater ,soitisclassifiedashazardouswastesandbannedbeingdisposedinreg ularlandfill[1] .Thevaluablemetalsinthedustcanberecoveredinthewayofdirectrecycling[2 6 ] andtheworthlessdustshouldbetreatedinthewayofvitrifi cation[7] .But,itisnecessarytocommandthether malbehaviorofthedustbe…     

Main influence factors on desulfurization of coal by sulfolobas

By orthodox experiment, the main influence factors of desulfurization by sul folobas of pH value, temperature, coal slurry concentration and coal granularity are studied in detail and the optimal experimental conditions were also obtained. The experimental results demonstrate that sul folobas being kind of linking-heat, acidophilic and self-supported bacterium with double characters can effectively remove inorganic and organic sulfur in coal. The superlatively desulfurization rate is up to 48.57% total sulfur and 41.71% inorganic sulfur within 10 d and its desulfurization rate can be greatly affected by the four factors above mentioned. Therefore, the optimum conditions of desulfurization are obtained by comprehensive experiment and they are as following: pH value 3, temperature 70°C, coal slurry concentration 10% and coal granularity 150 μm, respectively. Moreover, the repetition experimental results confirm that the desulfurization by sul folobas is steady. Foundation item: The National Advanced Technology Research and Development Project (863 Project 2002AA649220) Biography of the first author: HE De-wen, postdoctor, born in April 1968, majoring in solid waste pollution control and resource, environmental assessment and plan.     

Enantiomeric separation of phenylsuccinic acid by cyclodextrin-modified reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography

The chiral separation of phenylsuccinic acid (PSA) was studied by reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) with cyclodextrins (CDs) as chiral mobile phase additives. The effects of types of CDs, concentration of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), percentage of organic modifier, pH value and column temperature on enantioselective separation were investigated. The quantification property of the developed RP-HPLC method was examined. The chiral recognition mechanism of PSA was also discussed. The results show that a baseline separation of PSA enantiomers is achieved on a Lichrospher C18 column (4.6 mm (inner diameter)×250 mm, 5 μm) with HP-β-CD as chiral mobile phase additive. The capacity factors of R-PSA and S-PSA are 3.94 and 4.80, respectively. The separation factor and resolution are respectively 1.22 and 8.03. The mobile phase is a mixture of acetonitrile and deionized water (20:80, volume ratio) containing 10 mmol/L HP-β-CD and 0.05% trifluoroacetic acid (pH 2.5, adjusted with triethylamine) with a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The ultraviolet (UV) detector is set at 254 nm. The likely roles are inclusion interaction, induction and hydrogen bonding between HP-β-CD and PSA enantiomers. Foundation item: Project(20776038) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China