Treesearch

A semi-automatic image analysis program, SMART, was used to analyze transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images from four laboratories that participated in an interlaboratory comparison study by Meija et al. on CNC particle size measurement by TEM using conventional manual image analysis approaches. Detailed image-to-image comparisons found that the percentage of “correctly” identifed CNCs by SMART was 58% to 78%, while manual was 70% to 87%, depending on TEM image quality from a given laboratory. SMART was able to parameterize image quality, and it was found that SMART had diffculties...

Due to increasing global trade of timber commodities and illegal logging activities, wood species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) appendices are facing extinction, and their international trade has been banned or is under supervision. Reliable and applicable species-level discrimination methods have become urgent to protect global forest resources and promote the legal trade of timbers. This study aims to discriminate CITES-listed species from their look-alikes in international trade using quantitative wood anatomy (QWA)...

Syntactic foams and their reinforcement with cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) in a thermosetting polyester resin (PR) matrix were studied in order to provide a pathway for lightweight composites for automotive applications with enhanced performance including thermomechanical properties and water uptake. A novel method for coating hollow glass spheres (HGS) with CNC was developed. Various combinations of functionalized CNC and surface modified HGS were studied to determine interactions between the two materials. Surface analysis techniques indicated that CNC were successfully deposited onto the...

Glucose isomerization to fructose is a crucial step for the efficient production of fuel and valuable chemicals from renewable carbohydrates. Aluminum (Al) was introduced into the structure of a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) by a simple thermal polycondensation of urea and aluminum chloride, and thereby, provided a series of Al-doped g-C3N4 (xAl-UCN) catalysts for the isomerization reaction. A high fructose yield of 48.29%, comparable to the quantitative yields (ca. 50%) by enzymatic routes, was achieved with the 0.5Al–UCN catalyst. Detailed characterizations of a series of Al–UCN...

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) productivity over the past century has increased significantly from genetic improvements and more intensive management practices. The current study concludes a series of assessments of loblolly pine growth/physiological responses to continuous resource management treatments of weed control (W), weed control plus irrigation (WI), and weed control plus irrigation and fertigation (WIF). Increment cores were analyzed by X-ray densitometry to assess treatment impacts on wood properties. Plotting the wood property data against assigned years allowed results to be...

A lignin-derived mesoporous carbon solid acid (LDMCS) catalyst was prepared by high temperature carbonization and subsequent sulfonation treatment using alkali lignin as the carbon source and KCl as a salt template. The prepared LDMCS has an irregular mesoporous structure with a narrow pore size 2 distribution (concentrated at 4 nm), large specific surface area (1123.0 m2 g1 ) and high -SO3H group density (2.20 mmol g 1). Compared with other types of solid acids reported in the literature, the prepared LDMCS catalyst has equivalent or better catalytic performance in the catalytic conversion...

The forest industry typically uses visual appearance to evaluate the wood quality when salvaging dead standing trees. We investigated whether the visual appearance of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) defoliated by the spruce budworm (Choristoneura fumiferana (Clem.)) accurately reflects wood quality measured using nondestructive techniques. Longitudinal and transverse acoustic velocities were measured on white spruce, representing three condition categories assessed visually, ranging from live trees to dead standing trees with signs of decay. Generalized linear models were used to...

Bioconversion of lignocellulosic resources offers an economically promising path to renewable energy. Technological challenges to achieving bioconversion include the development of cost-effective processes that render the cellulose and hemicellulose components of these resources to fermentable hexoses and pentoses. Natural bioprocessing of the hemicellulose fraction of lignocellulosic biomass requires depolymerization of methylglucuronoxylans. This requires secretion of endoxylanases that release xylooligosaccharides and aldouronates. Physiological, biochemical, and genetic studies with...

In June, month-over-month data continued a negative movement in most categories. Year-over-year data indicated some improvement; however, single-family permits and starts decreased again (the fourth consecutive month). This suggests further moderation in single-family activity in the forthcoming months. The impact of increasing borrowing costs combined with rising house prices (though new median/mean declined precipitously in June) have resulted in a major obstacle for new house sales. The increase in borrowing costs has resulted in potential house buyers canceling contracts or postponing...

As most pest management professionals (PMPs) know, soil termiticides are required to have specific efficacy data for federal registration by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The data collected annually by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), Durability and Wood Protection research work unit (RWU 4723) serves to fulfill this need. The FPL-RWU team installs and evaluates wooden test pieces on plots of soil treated with candidate termiticide products. Data from these studies are used in the registration process for...