MOESM1 of Flowthrough pretreatment with very dilute acid provides insights into high lignin contribution to biomass recalcitrance

Additional file 1. Detailed material balances for Stage 1 (pretreatment) and Stage 2 (enzymatic hydrolysis) for all process conditions

Table_1_Correlation between lung cancer probability and number of pulmonary nodules in baseline computed tomography lung cancer screening: A retrospective study based on the Chinese population.docx

BackgroundScreening for lung cancer with LDCT detects a large number of nodules. However, it is unclear whether nodule number influences lung cancer probability. This study aimed to acquire deeply insight into the distribution characteristics of nodule number in the Chinese population and to reveal the association between the nodule number and the probability of lung cancer (LC).Methods10,167 asymptomatic participants who underwent LDCT LC screening were collected. Noncalcified nodules larger than 4 mm were included. The nodule number per participant was determined. We defined five categories according to the number of nodules (based on nodule type and size): one, two, three, four, and more than four nodules. We stratified the nodules as groups A, B, and C and participants as Amax, Bmax, and Cmax groups, and explored the association between nodule number and the probability of LC on nodule and participant levels.Results97 participants were confirmed to have LC. The probabilities of LC were 49/1719, 22/689, 11/327, 6/166, and 9/175 in participants with one, two, three, four, and more than four nodules (p>0.05), respectively. In the Bmax group, the probability of LC was significantly higher in participants with one nodule than those with >4 nodules (p4 nodules (pConclusionLC probability does not significantly change with the number of nodules. However, when stratified by the nodule size, the effect of nodule number on LC probability was nodule-size dependent, and greater attention and active follow-up are required for solitary nodules especially SNs/solid component of PSNs measuring 6-15 mm or NSNs measuring 8-15 mm. Assessing the nodule number in conjunction with nodule size in baseline LDCT LC screening is considered beneficial.</p

Understanding Multiscale Structural Changes During Dilute Acid Pretreatment of Switchgrass and Poplar

Biofuels produced from lignocellulosic biomass hold great promise as a renewable alternative energy and fuel source. To realize a cost and energy efficient approach, a fundamental understanding of the deconstruction process is critically necessary to reduce biomass recalcitrance. Herein, the structural and morphological changes over multiple scales (5–6000 Å) in herbaceous (switchgrass) and woody (hybrid poplar) biomass during dilute sulfuric acid pretreatment were explored using neutron scattering and X-ray diffraction. Switchgrass undergoes a larger increase (20–84 Å) in the average diameter of the crystalline core of the elementary cellulose fibril than hybrid poplar (19–50 Å). Switchgrass initially forms lignin aggregates with an average size of 90 Å that coalesce to 200 Å, which is double that observed for hybrid poplar, 55–130 Å. Switchgrass shows a smooth-to-rough transition in the cell wall surface morphology unlike the diffuse-to-smooth transition of hybrid poplar. Yet, switchgrass and hybrid poplar pretreated under the same experimental conditions result in pretreated switchgrass producing higher glucose yields (∼76 wt %) than pretreated hybrid poplar (∼60 wt %). This observation shows that other aspects like cellulose allomorph transitions, cellulose accessibility, cellular biopolymer spatial distribution, and enzyme–substrate interactions may be more critical in governing the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency

BVRI photometric observations and light-curve analysis of GEO objects

BVRI photometric observations of Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) objects were conducted with the 1.5 m Cassini Telescope located in Loiano, Italy. The observatory is operated by the INAF (National Institute for Astrophysics) Astronomical Observatory of Bologna, Italy. The Ritchey–Chre´tien optical system is equipped with the BFOSC (Bologna Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera), a multipurpose instrument for imaging and spectroscopy, with an EEV CCD (13401300 pixel). This paper deals with the results of the photometric observations of several targets from the SSN (Space Surveillance Network) catalog that were acquired in May and December 2013