To date, the algal biofuel industry has focused on the cultivation of monocultures of highly productive algal strains, but scaling up production remains challenging. Algal monocultures are difficult to maintain because they are easily contaminated by wild algal strains, grazers, and pathogens. In contrast, theory suggests that polycultures (multispecies assemblages) can promote both ecosystem stability and productivity. A greater understanding of species interactions and how communities change with time needs to be developed. Ultimately a predictive model of community interactions is needed to harness the capacity of biodiversity to enhance productivity of algal polycultures at industrial scales. Here we review the agricultural and ecological literature to explore opportunities for increased annual biomass production through the use of algal polycultures. We discuss case studies where algal polycultures have been successfully maintained for industries other than the biofuel industry, as well as the few studies that have compared biomass production of algal polycultures to that of monocultures. Assemblages that include species with complementary traits are of particular promise. These assemblages have the potential to increase crop productivity and stability presumably by utilizing natural resources (e.g. light, nutrients, and water) more efficiently via tighter niche packing. Therefore, algal polycultures show promise for enhancing biomass productivity, enabling sustainable production and reducing overall production costs.

One of the most pressing issues for many land grant institutions is the ever increasing cost to build and operate wet chemistry laboratories. A partial solution is to develop computer‐based teaching modules that take advantage of animation, web‐based or off‐campus learning experiences directed at engaging students’ creative experiences. We used the learning objectives of one of the most difficult topics in food chemistry, enzyme kinetics, to test this concept. Students are apprehensive of this subject and often criticize the staid instructional methods typically used in teaching this material. As a result, students do not acquire a useful background in this important subject. To rectify these issues, we developed an interactive augmented reality application to teach the basic concepts of enzyme kinetics in the context of an interactive search that took students to several locations on campus where they were able to gather raw materials and view videos that taught the basics of enzyme kinetics as applied to the production of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The students needed this background to prepare for a mock interview with an HFCS manufacturer. Students and instructors alike found the game to be preferable to sitting in a classroom listening to, or giving, a PowerPoint presentation. We feel that this use of gaming technology to teach difficult, abstract concepts may be a breakthrough in food science education and help alleviate the drain on administrative budgets from multiple wet labs.

SUMMARYThe U.S. Department of Energy is currently investigating alternative sorbents for the removal and immobilization of radioiodine from the gas streams in a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant. One of these new sorbents, Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogels, shows promise as a potential replacement for Ag-bearing mordenites because of its high selectivity and sorption capacity for iodine. Moreover, a feasible consolidation of iodine-loaded Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogels to a durable SiO 2 -based waste form makes this aerogel an attractive choice for sequestering radioiodine.This report provides a preliminary assessment of the methods that can be used to consolidate iodineloaded Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogels into a final waste form. In particular, it focuses on experimental investigation of densification of as-prepared Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogel powders, with or without an organic moiety and with or without a sintering additive (colloidal silica), with three commercially available techniques: 1) hot uniaxial pressing (HUP), 2) hot isostatic pressing (HIP), and 3) spark plasma sintering (SPS). Since there are no studies reported in literature on the sintering of aerogels with HIP and SPS, the preliminary experiments were performed without iodine-loaded aerogels and were focused on investigating feasibility of these methods to produce a fully dense product. Iodine was excluded from these initial studies to avoid potential damage to vendor equipment due to the potential release of iodine during consolidation. The densified products were evaluated with a helium gas pycnometer for apparent density, with the Archimedes method for apparent density and open porosity, and with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) for the extent of densification and distribution of individual elements.The preliminary investigation of HUP, HIP, and SPS showed that these sintering methods can be used to effectively consolidate powders of Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogel into products of near-theoretical density. Also, removal of the organic moiety and adding 5.6 mass% of colloidal silica to Ag 0 -functionalized silica aerogel powders before processing resulted in denser products. Furthermore, the ram travel data for SPS indicated that rapid consolidation of powders with SPS can be performed at temperatures below 950 °C.