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Enzymatic degradation of biomass is preferred over chemical methods for environmental protection. However, in most cases, a chemical pretreatment is still required to help improve enzyme accessibility of the biomass. Therefore, it is necessary to develop highly efficient enzymes for those reasons and to save costs accordingly. Costs can be further reduced if the enzymes are recycled. XynR8(N58D) is an engineered and highly active xylanase originating from the rumen fungus Neocallimastix patriciarum. In this study, XynR8(N58D) was extracellularly over-expressed by Pichia pastoris. The resulting crude enzyme solution, with a purity of XynR8(N58D) of over 80%, was used to prepare the cross-linked enzyme aggregates (CLEA) of XynR8(N58D). Specific activity of the crude enzyme solution was 11,599.39 IU/mg, and that of CLEA was 6129.42 IU/mg. The immobilization yield and the immobilization efficiency were 62.68 ± 16.20% and 84.31 ± 3.11%, respectively. The thermostability, stress tolerance, and shelf life of CLEA were significantly better than those of the free enzyme. The free enzyme and CLEA both effectively decomposed insoluble xylan and autoclaved corncob powders. Therefore, XynR8(N58D) made into CLEA not only maintained high activity, but also improved its stability and permitted its reuse or recyclability. Both forms of the enzyme can effectively degrade lignocellulosic biomass without relying on chemical pretreatment to reduce recalcitrance of the biomass structure. The application of XynR8(N58D) and its CLEA to biomass degradation can help establish an eco-friendly and more cost-effective process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines Kenneth Burke's puzzling work on pure persuasion to suggest that pure persuasion has four characteristics, that it is: (1) primarily consummatory in purpose or becomes instrumental or resistant indirectly or secondarily; (2) a near relation of dramatic performance, ritual, and prayer; (3) creates and maintains identity; and (4) relies on form--formal elements are essential to its enactment. This essay argues that an unusual body of discourse, "Nushu", an allegedly thousand-year-old phonetic transcription of Jiangyong dialect articulated in a variety of texts sung and chanted by rural women over their needlework on red cloth, handkerchiefs, and fans in a remote area of China, may be an exemplar of discourse with many characteristics of Burke's pure persuasion.

This essay argues that an unusual body of discourse, Nushu, a reputedly thousand-year-old phonetic transcription of Jiangyong dialect articulated in a variety of texts sung and chanted by rural women [...]

For centuries Chinese women have been trained to Sanchung Side or “Three Obediences and Four Virtues,” as set forth in Nujie, [image omitted](Lessons for Women), written in 106 CE by Ban Zhao, [image omitted],1 during the East Han Dynasty.2 This essay reinterprets the oldest extant and most important female conduct manual in Chinese in order to question the traditional view that Ban silences Chinese women. It argues that Western feminists' approach to the idea of agency is not appropriate to understanding Chinese women's agency. It delineates a different concept of agency, based on Lessons for Women, forged out of the powerlessness of individual women, which is familial, communal, indirect, and conferred by others. In addition to expanding rhetorical scholarship on agency, I demonstrate that Ban's embedded concepts of familial agency are well illustrated by the 20th-century Taiwanese First Lady Chiang Fang-liang, a Russian Communist who married Chiang Ching-kuo, eldest son and heir of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who followed Ban's precepts to transform her perilous situation into an honored and respected life role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]