Synthesis and Characterization of Lignin Grafting Modification-based Aliphatic Superplasticizer

Lignin as the main component of black liquor is generally employed to modify aliphatic superplasticizer（AFS）. However, the modification effect is hard to evaluate correctly due to the uncertain molecular structure of lignin and the disturbance from the complexity of black liquor compositions. In this paper, the purified lignin via acid precipitation from straw black liquor is used to modify AFS. The modified AFS named as LAFS for short presents lower molecular mass than AFS. It is assumed that it is due to the single active site of guaiacol segments in lignin by which lignin graft modifies AFS in virtue of methylolation reaction. In order to verify this assumption, guaiacol and dihydro eugenol as the typical segments of lignin macromolecule were selected, respectively, as the simplified model compounds of lignin to modify AFS, and corresponding products are abbreviated in GAFS and DAFS. Both GAFS and DAFS show the lower molecular mass than unmodified AFS. FTIR and TG-DTG analyses prove that lignin is successfully grafted onto AFS. The graft modification of lignin results in a decrease in electrostatic epulsion, but an enhanced steric hindrance. Therefore, although the replacement rate of lignin in LAFS was about 23.3%, the dispersion performance was only slightly affected.

Combination of ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction and high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of triazine herbicides in water samples

A temperature-controlled ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction in combination with high performance liquid chromatography was developed for the enrichment and determination of triazine herbicides such as cyanazine,simazine,and atrazine in water samples.1-Octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate（[C8MIM][PF6]） was selected as the extraction solvent.Several experimental parameters were optimized.Under the optimal conditions,the linear range for cyanazine was in the concentration range of 0.5–80 mg/L and the linear range for simazine and atrazine was in the range of1.0–100 mg/L.The limit of detection（LOD,S/N = 3） was in the ranges of 0.05–0.06 mg/L,and the intra day and inter day precision（RSDs,n = 6） was in the ranges of 3.2%–6.6% and 4.8%–8.9%,respectively.Four real water samples were analyzed with the developed method,and the experimental results showed that the spiked recoveries were satisfactory.All these exhibited that the developed method was a valuable tool for monitoring such pollutants.

Performance of dispersed Rayleigh interferometer on the active cophasing and alignment testbed

We report the laboratory experiment on a segmented mirror testbed that shows the use of a dispersed Rayleigh interferometer to phase segmented mirrors. Segment alignment of tip-tilt is fulfilled by overlapping diffraction pattern centroids of the three individual segments on the focal plane. A spherical interferometer is introduced to evaluate the performance of piston, tip-tilt sensing, and control closed-loop, and finally a total residual root-mean-square （RMS） surface error of about 45 nm is achieved, in which a typical error of about 20 nm is contributed by piston. These results demonstrate that the dispersed Rayleigh interferometer can successfully sense the piston of segmented mirrors and be used in phasing segmented telescopes under extensive studies.

Mating patterns and pollen dispersal in a Japanese larch(Larix kaempferi) clonal seed orchard： a case study

Pollination dynamics highly determines the genetic quality of seed orchard crops. However, there is less research about the effect of mating patterns on seed productivity of orchard crops. So far, clonal seed orchards have been producing genetically improved seedlings used for most Japanese larch(Larix kaempferi(Lamb.) Carr.) plantations in China. In the present study, a total of 17 highly variable simple sequence repeat(SSR) markers were used for genotyping a progeny trial population consisting of 647 open-pollinated progenies germinated from seeds which were collected from 63 maternal clones with 140 potential paternal clones in a Japanese larch clonal seed orchard in China. Paternity analysis was used in the present case study in order to evaluate the level of paternal gametic contribution, estimate pollen contamination and selfing rates, and investigate pollination patterns,pollen dispersal patterns and the impact of mating patterns on seed productivity of orchard crops. We observed 93.7% of the success rate of the parental assignment, unequal paternal gametic contribution(0–12.4%) with 6.3% of the progenies derived from pollen contamination or unsampled pollen donors, and absence of evidence for selfing. We also found that pollination rate highly depended on the distance between pollen donors and maternal parents, the majority of the identified crossing(65.7%)occurred between clones within a 150-m radius, and large variations in growth performance existed among the paternal halfsiblings. Progeny growth performance(diameter at breast(DBH) and height(HGT)) was measured at Age-20 in order to investigate the impact of mating patterns on timber production of orchard crops. As either the paternal or maternal, two clones(i.e., clones Z38 and Z62) were identified to have produced progenies with higher average stem volume breeding values than that of all of the progenies. Specifically, the genetic gains for volume were 3.53% for the two clones as paternal parents, and 8.26% as the maternal parents at Age-20. Thus, both elite clones were ideal candidates for the construction of next-generation clonal seed orchards due to their synchronous reproductive phenology with greater crossing rate and higher genetic gain. These results improved the pedigree information to provide solid evidence of mating patterns for future design and effective management of seed orchards and for the development of viable long-term breeding strategies for other coniferous species.