Molecular dynamics studies on the thermostability of family 11 xylanases

Twelve members of the family 11 xylanases, including both mesophilic and thermophilic proteins, were studied using molecular dynamics (MD). Simulations of xylanases were carried out in an explicit water environment at four different temperatures, 300, 400, 500 and 600 K. A difference in thermotolerance between mesophilic and thermophilic xylanases became clear: thermophilic xylanases endured heat in higher simulation temperatures better than mesophilic ones. The unfolding pathways seemed to be similar for all simulations regardless of the protein. The unfolding initiates at the N-terminal region or alternatively from the alpha-helix region and proceeds to the 'finger region'. Unfolding of these regions led to denaturated structures within the 4.5 ns simulation at 600 K. The results are in agreement with experimental mutant studies. The results show clearly that the stability of the protein is not evenly distributed over the whole structure. The MD analysis suggests regions in the protein structure which are more unstable and thus potential targets for mutation experiments to improve thermostability.     

Catalytic Transformation of Abietic Acid to Hydrocarbons

Catalytic and thermal conversion of abietic acid was investigated in a laboratory scale high-pressure autoclave. Fractionation of crude tall oil produces rosin acids of which abietic acid is the main compound. Tall oil rosin acid, a forest product industry residue, is an abundant, inexpensive and chemically desirable feedstock for production of lighter hydrocarbons that can be used as diesel fuel additives. The carboxylic acid functionality of the main reactant, abietic acid, must first be removed, followed by double bond hydrogenation of the remaining aromatic rings. In this study, a number of catalytic and non-catalytic reaction steps in the conversion of abietic acid were investigated. The aim was to study hydrogenation and decarboxylation reactions of abietic acid in order to produce lighter hydrocarbons. The experiments were performed by using toluene as a solvent as well as with neat abietic acid, in the absence of any solvent. Hydrogenation of abietic acid to tetrahydroabietic acid in toluene was successfully performed over palladium on carbon catalyst at the temperature range of 100?C200?°C and at 30?bar hydrogen pressure. Thermal non-catalytic decarboxylation of abietic acid in toluene takes place at 200?C300?°C resulting in one main product. The hydrocarbon products were further hydrogenated under hydrogen pressure. Catalytic decarboxylation of abietic acid in toluene was achieved over 5?wt% Ru/C, giving a wider product distribution than thermal decarboxylation.     

Photodarkening rate in Yb-doped silica fibers

Yb-doped fibers are widely used in laser applications requiring high average output powers and high-peak-power pulse amplification. Photodarkening (PD) is recognized as one limiting factor in these fibers when pumped with high-intensity radiation. We describe an approach for performing quantitative PD studies of fibers, and we present measurements of the rate of PD in Yb-doped single-mode fibers with varying inversion levels. The method is applicable to large-mode-area fibers. We observed a seventh-order dependence of the PD rate on the excited-state Yb concentration for two different fibers; this result implies that PD of a Yb-doped fiber source fabricated using a particular fiber will be strongly dependent on the configuration of the device.     

Predicting effects of exploitation rate on weight-at-age, population dynamics, and bioaccumulation of PCDD/Fs and PCBs in herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Northern Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea ecosystem and fish stocks contain high concentrations of environmental chemicals such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). This study forecasts how changes in fishing or natural mortality would probably influence concentrations of PCDD/F and PCB in the Bothnian Sea (Northern Baltic) herring (Clupea harengus L.). An age-structured simulation model was developed to forecast herring stock dynamics, catches, and weight-at-age under different assumptions about exploitation and natural mortality. The simulated herring weight-at-age estimates were employed in a bioenergetics model capable of simultaneous estimation of bioaccumulation of 17 PCDD/F and 37 PCB congeners. Although the natural variability in recruitment greatly influences the stock dynamics, considerable changes in weight-at-age would ensue changes in exploitation rate or in natural mortality rate. If exploitation rates increase, growth rates would be higher and herring in the weight categories of commercial fisheries would be younger and contain less PCDD/F and PCB. Hence, the average toxicant concentrations in catches would also decline. However, it is likely that only fairly small changes would occur in toxicant concentrations-at-age. On the other hand, a drastic decrease in herring fishing would substantially increase PCDD/F and PCB concentrations in herring. The study indicated that, in spite of the clear influences of fishing on the toxicant concentrations, fishing alone cannot resolve the problems associated with a high concentration of toxicants in herring; further decreases in loading are still required.     

Method for measuring the losses and loading of a quartz crystal microbalance

A novel, experimentally simple, and highly sensitive method for measuring the loading of a quartz crystal resonator was developed. The method is based on the use of double-sideband suppressed-carrier modulated high-frequency signal, which is swept through the resonance range of the resonator. Induced current in the resonator is passed through a capacitor, and the voltage over the capacitor is demodulated on an analog multiplier. The phase and amplitude information is carried to the frequency-doubled modulation signal and measured on a conventional low-frequency two-phase lock-in amplifier. A complex dimensionless loading parameter is obtained from the experimental data by nonlinear model fitting. The real and complex parts of this loading parameter have a simple relationship with other parameters commonly used for characterizing the resonator loading. The performance of the method was demonstrated by measuring a series of different glycerol-water mixtures ranging from 0 up to 100% glycerol. The results were close to the shear acoustic impedance of these mixtures measured and calculated from their viscosities and densities.     

A common‐gate common‐source low noise amplifier based RF front end with selective input impedance matching for blocker‐resilient receivers

This paper presents an integrated wideband radio frequency front end with improved blocker resilience achieved through selective voltage attenuation at both input and output nodes of the low noise amplifier (LNA). The architecture differs from traditional LNA architectures where blockers are only attenuated at LNA output node. The proposed dual attenuation is attained by designing a low intrinsic input impedance common‐gate common‐source LNA with capacitive feedback, together with an N‐path filtering load. The capacitive feedback across the LNA ensures that the selective N‐path filtering profile at the LNA output is transferred to the LNA input nodes creating a selective input impedance. Consequently, the achieved front‐end input impedance is low at blocker frequencies and matched to the source impedance at the desired frequencies, creating the desired voltage attenuation for blockers. Further, a detailed theoretical analysis of proposed architecture is presented, which leads to clear design guidelines. Evaluated in a 28‐nm fully depleted silicon‐on‐insulator complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process, front end is designed for wideband operation from 0.7 to 2.7 GHz. It consumes 11‐mA current from a 1‐V supply (excluding local oscillator (LO) buffering) and possesses a maximum noise figure of 5.1 dB. The front end demonstrates an out‐of‐band blocker compression point of ?1.5 dBm and out‐of‐band IIP3 of +14 dBm at a 100‐MHz offset from LO frequency. In comparison with a traditional common‐gate common‐source LNA‐based front end with wideband input impedance matching, the proposed front end achieves 3.5‐dB improvement in the blocker compression point at a 100‐MHz offset from LO.     

Microwave dielectric properties of low-temperature sinterable α-MoO3

The α-MoO₃ ceramics were prepared by uniaxial pressing and sintering of MoO₃ powder at 650 °C and their structure, microstructure, densification and sintering and microwave dielectric properties were investigated. The sintering temperature of α-MoO₃ was optimized based on the best densification and microwave dielectric properties. After sintering at 650 °C the relative permittivity was found to be 6.6 and the quality factor was 41,000 GHz at 11.3 GHz. The full-width half-maximum of the A_1g Raman mode of bulk α-MoO₃ at different sintering temperatures correlated well with the Qf values. Moreover, the sintered samples showed a temperature coefficient of the resonant frequency of ?25 ppm/°C in the temperature range from ?40 to 85 °C and they exhibited a very low coefficient of thermal expansion of ±4 ppm/°C. These microwave dielectric properties of α-MoO₃ will be of great benefit in future MoO₃ based materials and their applications.     

ELPI Response and Data Reduction I: Response Functions

Response functions of the ELPI impactor with normal and porous substrates are presented together with fit functions to describe particle collection. In addition to primary collection efficiency, fits for the secondary collection mechanisms, diffusion, image charge force, and space charge field are presented. Charging efficiency for different configurations is also presented. Presented response functions can be used in data reduction and inversion of ELPI data.     

Etherification of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural to a Biodiesel Component Over Ionic Liquid Modified Zeolites

In this work, ionic liquid (IL) modified H-Beta zeolites were prepared and the physicochemical properties of the catalysts were investigated. IL modified zeolites were applied in 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) etherification to tert-butoxymethylfurfural (tBMF) which is a potential (bio)diesel component. The best catalyst, IL-H-Beta-25, yielded at BMF selectivity of 76 % corresponding to a HMF conversion of 46 %.     

Compressibility of porous TiO2 nanoparticle coating on paperboard

Compressibility of liquid flame spray-deposited porous TiO₂ nanoparticle coating was studied on paperboard samples using a traditional calendering technique in which the paperboard is compressed between a metal and polymer roll. Surface superhydrophobicity is lost due to a smoothening effect when the number of successive calendering cycles is increased. Field emission scanning electron microscope surface and cross‒sectional images support the atomic force microscope roughness analysis that shows a significant compressibility of the deposited TiO₂ nanoparticle coating with decrease in the surface roughness and nanoscale porosity under external pressure.

PACS

61.46.-w; 68.08.Bc; 81.07.-b