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This work prepared carbonaceous microspheres by hydrothermal carbonization of yeast cells followed by sulfonation with concentrated sulphuric acid (98%) at room temperature. The obtained carbonaceous product (CM-SO 3 H) had a high acid density (1.80 mmol g À1 ). We evaluated CM-SO 3 H as a solid catalyst for the dehydration of fructose-based carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) in the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM] [Cl]). The effects of the catalyst and substrate loadings as well as the reaction temperature and time on the yield of 5-HMF were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, a 5-HMF yield of up to 83.5% was obtained from fructose with a reaction temperature of 80 C for 30 min. Furthermore, 44.8% and 59.2% 5-HMF yields were obtained from sucrose (80 C for 30 min) and inulin (80 C for 60 min), respectively. CM-SO 3 H and [BMIM][Cl] showed high stability and could be recycled between five and eight times without significant loss of catalytic activity. More importantly, the catalytic system could be applied to high substrate concentrations. CM-SO 3 H combined with [BMIM][Cl] is a promising system for transforming fructose-based carbohydrates into 5-HMF.

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Green building projects have been adopted by many universities in Australia as part of their renovation and expansion. In order to investigate the motivations of academic decision makers to invest in green facilities, a comprehensive analysis of media articles of 24 green academic buildings approved by the Green Building Council of Australia (between 2004 and 2011) were analysed using a qualitative analytical approach based on grounded theory. Findings in this work show that the decision makers in Australian universities are more likely to be driven by the direct benefits green buildings brought to the universities, enhancing universities’ reputation and meeting the specific needs for education and research. Other factors that deal with improving universities’ financial conditions and environmental protection were found to be a lower significance for investments. However the connections between the motivating factors also reveal the indirect benefits of green buildings which are an enhancement in reputation by fulfilling an environmental protection responsibility and research capacity enhancement by supplying technical study opportunities for students and researchers. This paper proposes an approach to deal with the complex network of vague and subjective concepts of the green buildings comprehension. It supplies researchers with tools for analysing abstract concepts and determining their interactions.

The peroxidase mimetic properties of nanoceria have attracted extensive attention in recent years.