The primary purpose of this study was to try to (1) provide information on the chemical nature, including turbidity formation, of polygalacturonic acid in different concentrations of NaCl solution. (2) use turbidity formation characteristics to develop an assay for determining the activities polygalacturonic acid depolymerases by using a polyelectrolyte. (3)...
Many meteorologists rely heavily on their experience of past weather events to supplement their forecasting tools, such as using past experience to help decide between conflicting numerical weather prediction models. Experiential knowledge is an important piece of forecasting, however it is highly subjective and variable from one forecaster to another....
The work described in this dissertation focused on chemistry related to the use of aqueous sodium hydroxide as a treatment in the processing of wheat straw. A major emphasis was the comprehensive evaluation of straw component partitioning due to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) processing. This was evaluated over a range of...
The movements of digestion markers in the gut of the rat were investigated and
the results of the investigation are reported in two manuscripts. The objective of
the first study was to determine the influence of particle size of dietary wheat
bran, chosen as a representative insoluble fiber, on the...
The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of physicochemical
properties of lignocellulosic biomass on the rate and extent of cellulose conversion, i.e.
the "hydrolyzability" of the substrate.
The initial two parts of this thesis investigated the interactions between various
components of pretreated biomass. The relevance of cellulase...
Lignocellulosic biomass represents a vast supply of fermentable carbohydrates and functional aromatic compounds. Conversion of lignocellulosics to ethanol and other useful products would be of widespread economical and environmental benefit. Better understanding of the behavior of different lignicellulosic feedstocks in fermentation protocols as well as catalytic activities involved in lignocellulosic...
A novel type of model substrates, i.e. immobilized p-aminophenyl-β-D-cellooligosaccharides,
was developed and used in the study of exocellulases. The
two major cellobiohydrolases from Trichoderma reesei, CBH I and CBH II were
used as representative enzymes. p-Aminophenyl derivatives of cellobiose (PAPG₂),
cellotriose (PAPG₃), and cellotetraose (PAPG₄) were synthesized from the reaction...
An analysis method for moving loads computes the internal demand history in a structural member at integration points of force-based finite elements as opposed to the end forces of a refined displacement-based finite element mesh. The force-based formulation satisfies strong equilibrium of internal section forces with the element end forces...
A generalized, three-dimensional, finite element bridge model was created in order to efficiently and accurately assess live-load girder distribution factors for a variety of bridge types. This model shortens the time required by bridge analysts to develop individual finite element models for bridges of varying geometries. The creation of the...
To facilitate the evaluation and design of structures subjected to fluid loading, a study of fluid-structure interaction (FSI) using the particle finite element method (PFEM) is presented to approximate the responses and sensitivities of structures which interact with fluid. A wide range of structural types are permissible by making no...