Seasonal movements of muskellunge in the St. Clair – Detroit River System: Implications for multi-jurisdictional fisheries management

The St. Clair-Detroit River System contains a world-class Great Lakes muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) fishery that has avoided the declines observed in many Great Lakes muskellunge populations. Muskellunge are an upper trophic level predator, and therefore a naturally low-density species. Limited fishery-independent data exist on which to base management decisions. To remedy this, we initiated an acoustic telemetry study in May of 2016, in collaboration with the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System. Our objective was to describe patterns of movement of muskellunge in this large and open system to better understand their spatial ecology. We acoustically tagged 133 muskellunge in the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, and movements of 58 fish that passed our data quality control screens were analyzed. We utilized mixed modelling to assess the effects of sex, length, release location, and season on daily movement rates. We found that movement rates only differed among seasons, with highest movement rates occurring in the fall and lowest movement rates in the winter. Muskellunge tagged at different locations exhibited distinct residency patterns, and fish frequently crossed jurisdictional and waterbody boundaries. Ultimately our study highlights the scope and patterns of muskellunge movement in a large, unimpounded system and demonstrates that management of these fish would benefit from consideration of their full distribution covering multiple management jurisdictions.     

A Combined Ordered Macro‐Mesoporous Architecture Design and Surface Engineering Strategy for High‐Performance Sulfur Immobilizer in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

The practical application of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries is hindered by the “shuttle” of lithium polysulfides (LiPS) and sluggish Li–S kinetics issues. Herein, a synergistic strategy combining mesoporous architecture design and defect engineering is proposed to synthesize multifunctional defective 3D ordered mesoporous cobalt sulfide (3DOM N‐Co₉S_8?x) to address the shuttling and sluggish reaction kinetics of polysulfide in Li–S batteries. The unique 3DOM design provides abundant voids for sulfur storage and enlarged active interfaces that reduce electron/ion diffusion pathways. Meanwhile, X‐ray absorption spectroscopy shows that the surface defect engineering tunes the CoS₄ tetrahedra to CoS₆ octahedra on Co₉S₈, endowing abundance of S vacancies on the Co₉S₈ octahedral sites. The ever‐increasing S vacancies over the course of electrochemical process further promotes the chemical trapping of LiPS and its conversion kinetics, rendering fast and durable Li–S chemistry. Benefiting from these features, the as‐developed 3DOM N‐Co₉S_8?x/S cathode delivers high areal capacity, superb rate capability, and excellent cyclic stability with ultralow capacity fading rate under raised sulfur loading and low electrolyte content. This design strategy promotes the development of practically viable Li–S batteries and sheds lights on the material engineering in related energy storage application.     

Comprehensive tribological study of optimized N-DLC/DLC coatings fabricated by active screen DC-pulsed PACVD technique

The conventional DC-pulsed PACVD method was applied to deposit DLC and N-DLC coatings on AISI H13 substrate. ased on the optimized parameters achieved for single layer, N-DLC/DLC double layer coatings were deposited using two different techniques, namely: conventional and active screen. Chemical bindings and structural evolutions of double-layer coatings were investigated by visible Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Accordingly, the friction coefficient of the active screen N-DLC/DLC coating at the end of the wear test was obtained about the value of 0.12 which was found to be the lowest among all samples.     

Insights into biological delignification of rice straw by Trametes hirsuta and Myrothecium roridum and comparison of saccharification yields with dilute acid pretreatment

Rice straw is the most abundant agricultural residue on a global scale and is widely available as feedstock for cellulosic fuel production. However, it is highly recalcitrant to biochemical deconstruction and also generates inhibitors that affect enzymatic saccharification. Rice straw from eastern Arkansas was subjected to dilute acid pretreatment (160 °C, 48 min and 1.0% sulfuric acid) and solid-state fermentation with two lignocellulolytic fungi, Trametes hirsuta and Myrothecium roridum, and their saccharification efficacies were compared. T. hirsuta and M. roridum were tested separately; pretreatment of rice straw with either strain for seven days resulted in 19 and 70% enrichment of its holocellulose content, respectively. However, liquid chromatography analysis of the alkali extracts showed significant differences in cell wall degradation by T. hirsuta and M. roridum. T. hirsuta removed 15% more phenolic compounds and 38% more glucan than M. roridum, while M. roridum removed 77% more xylan than T. hirsuta. Fungal and dilute acid pretreated biomass was then hydrolyzed using Accellerase^® 1500, a saccharification cocktail. Saccharification efficiency of M. roridum was 37% higher than that of dilute acid pretreatment of rice straw, requiring 8% lower enzyme loading and 50% shorter enzymatic hydrolysis duration. Alkali extraction of fungal pretreated biomass also yielded 10–15 g kg⁻¹ of acid precipitable polymeric lignin (APPL), which is a valuable co-product for biorefineries. In comparison to dilute acid pretreatment, fungal pretreatment could be a cost-effective alternative for the degradation of recalcitrant biomass, such as rice straw.     

Room temperature oxidation of acetone by ozone over alumina-supported manganese and cobalt mixed oxides

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the major sources of air pollution. Catalytic ozonation is an efficient process for removing VOCs at lower reaction temperature compared to catalytic oxidation. In this study, a series of alumina supported single and mixed manganese and cobalt oxides catalysts were used for ozonation of acetone at room temperature. The influence of augmenting the single Mn and Co catalysts were investigated on the performance and structure of the catalyst. The manganese and cobalt single and mixed oxides catalysts of the formula Mn10%-CoX and Co10%-MnX (where X= 0, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) were prepared. It was found that addition of Mn and Co at lower loading levels (2.5% or 5%) to single metal oxide catalysts enhanced the catalytic activity. The mixed oxides catalysts of (Mn10%-Co2.5%) and (Mn10%-Co5%) led to acetone conversion of about 84%. It is concluded that lower oxidation state of the secondary metal improves ozone decomposition and oxidation of acetone.     

Structure and properties of poly(butylene succinate) filled with lignin: A case of lignosulfonate

A new kind of blend material was prepared by the incorporation of lignosulfonate calcium (LS), as the filler, into biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS), as the polymeric matrix, with the process of melt mixing and subsequent compression molding. The nucleation of LS improved the crystalline properties of the PBS component in the blends. Combined with the rigidity nature of the LS filler, the Young's modulus values of the blends were enhanced. Furthermore, the introduction of LS in this biodegradable polyester slightly increased the hydrophilicity of the blends, shown as higher values of water uptake at equilibrium; this might facilitate the biodegradation of hydrophobic polyesters. Consequently, this study opened one way of enhancing the rigidity and decreasing the cost of biodegradable PBS‐based polymeric plastics. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Review of Cellulose Nanocrystal-based Fluorophore Materials and Their Application in Metal Ion Detection

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), a unique and promising natural material extracted from native cellulose, have attracted considerable attention owing to their physical properties and special surface chemistry. This review focuses on chemical conjugation strategies that can be used for preparation of fluorescent-molecule labeled CNCs and the development of biomaterials. Furthermore, their application in the detection of metal ions and future development prospects are discussed. We hope to provide a clear view of the strategies for surface fluorescent modification of CNCs and their application in detection of metal ions.     

MCM-41-supported poly(γ-mercaptopropylsiloxane palladium(0)) complex as an efficient catalyst for Heck arylation of conjugated alkenes with aryl halides

MCM-41-supported poly(γ-mercaptopropylsiloxane palladium(0)) complex [MCM-41-SH-Pd(0)] was conveniently synthesized from commercially available and cheap γ-mercaptopropyltriethoxysilane via immobilization on MCM-41, followed by reacting with palladium chloride and then the reduction with hydrazine hydrate. XRD and XPS spectroscopy were employed to characterize the title palladium complex. It was found that this complex is a highly active and stereoselective catalyst for Heck arylation of conjugated alkenes with aryl halides and can be reused many times without loss of activity.