K.Tanaka has completed his PhD at the age of 31 years from Kyushu University. He is a professor of Dept. Biological and Environmental Chemistry, Sch.Humanity-Oriented Science & Engineering, Kindai University. His research field is bioprocess engineering. He has published many papers for microbial production of biodegradable plastic from CO2 and biomass.

Poly((R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate) [P(3HB-co-3HHx)], a flexible and practical biodegradable plastic, is generally produced from plant oils and fatty acids by several wild and recombinant bacteria. Fukui and his coworkers constructed many recombinants of Ralstonia eutropha for studying biosynthesis of [P(3HB-co-3HHx)] with high 3HHx composition from the structurally unrelated carbon source. The engineered strain with ΔphaB1 genotype expressing ccr, phaJ4a, and emd (R.eutropha strain MF01ΔB1/pBPP-ccrMeJ4a-emd) produced P (3HB-co-3HHx) composed of 22 mol% 3HHx at high cellular content from fructose (Metabolic Engineering, 27:38–45, 2015). Such high C6–monomer composition was achieved by improving artificial pathway for biosynthesis of monomer unit as follows:- (i) depression of (R)-specific reduction of acetoacetyl-CoA by the deletion of phaB1 for formation of the C6–monomer unit from fructose driven by crotonyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase (Ccr) (ii) Co-overexpression of phaJ4a, which encodes medium-chain-length (R)-enoyl-CoA hydratase, with ccr promoted the incorporation of both 3HB and 3HHx units (iii) introduction of emdMm, a synthetic gene encoding ethylmalonyl-CoA decarboxylase derived from mouse which is probably converting ethylmalonyl-CoA generated by the reductive carboxylase activity of Ccr back into butyryl-CoA. R.eutropha is a facultative hydrogen-oxidizing bacterium that chemolithoautotrophically grows due to carbon dioxide fixation using H2 and O2 as the energy source. Hence, we also investigated the production of P(3HB-co-3HHx) from CO2 by the engineered strains of R.eutropha in chemolithoautotrophic condition using the substrate gas mixture (H2/O2/CO2=8:1:1) and mineral salts medium. As a result, the strain MF01ΔB1/pBPP-ccrMeJ4a-emd produced P(3HB-co-3HHx) with a remarkably high composition of 3HHx (51.7mol%) at a high cellular content (65.1wt%) from CO2.

M.C. Veiga obtained her PhD in the field of environmental bioengineering at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Afterwards she had a postdoctoral position at Michigan State University. At present she coordinates the Environmental Engineering Group at University of A Coruña. Main research interests are on the development of sustainable processes for the removal of pollutants from wastewater and production of biopolymers from renewable sources.

Food wastes are produced in large quantities in markets, intensive production areas and in canned vegetable companies. Solid waste generation from these companies is a major source of pollution in landfills where they are deposited and have many environmental problems associated. An efficient alternative to prevent this accumulation is the re-valorisation through acidogenic fermentation to produce volatile fatty acids (VFA), precursors for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). In this work five different types of wastes were used: potato solids from a chips factory, salad from vegetable factory and three wine wastes generated in different stages of winemaking process. The diversity of these wastes related with their origin, composition and production period needs to be studied separately. In a batch experiment were compared all of them to evaluate VFAs productivity and distribution. The highest yield was reached with potato solids (0,8 g VFA/ g VS waste), salad waste (0,75 g VFA/ g VS waste) and marc grape (0,7 g VFA/ g VS waste). The VFA profile showed acetic and butyric as predominant acids in the potato and salad wastes. In the case of two wine substrates produced in different stages of distillery wine, the degree of acidification was lower than 0,25 g VFA/ g VS waste added. The predominant acids were acetic and propionic in all of wine wastes. These results will help to optimize the acidogenic fermentation of each particular waste and to stablish a new strategy for their co-digestion. Acknowledgements: The present research was financed through project CTQ2013-45581-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.

Jiyou Gu is a Professor and the Dean in the College of Material Science and Engineering at Northeast Forestry University. He obtained his BSc degree in 1982 and his MSc degree in 1988 from Northeast Forestry University, and received his PhD degree from Kyushu University in Japan in 1996. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Tokyo in Japan and in Finland. His research interests cover the adhesives used on wood and the manufacture of plywood, fiberboard, and other wood products. He is particularly interested in design and synthesis of adhesives, improving the properties of adhesives, manufacture of adhesives, and optimization of adhesives functions.

The modified urea-formaldehyde resin with low formaldehyde release was synthesized with different kinds of additives in this paper. And the curing characteristics were studied mostly. The results indicated that: the urea-formaldehyde resin with additive 1+2+3 showed the fastest cure rate, which improved about 15% compared with the blank sample, but the mechanical properties was poor. So the synthesis process was optimized based on the addition of assistant 1+2+3, the results showed that:â‘ melamine has a very significant effect on reducing free formaldehyde, when the added amount reached 3%, the formaldehyde release was only 0.28mg/L;â‘¡increased the viscosity of the resin can improve the bonding strength of the adhesive obviously.

ZHENHUA GAO has completed his PhD at the age of 27 years from Northeast Forestry University and postdoctoral studies at Wood Composite Department of Forintek Canada Corp in Canada. He is a professor at College of Material Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University in China. He has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals. One article published in Pigment & Resin Technology has been chosen as an Outstanding Paper Award Winner at the Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2008. Five invention patents were Authorized. He has finished more than 10 projects as leader so far.

Soy protein isolate is an abundant and renewable industrial crops product that can be an environmentally and sustainable alternative to petrochemicals for producing wood adhesives by eliminating its inherent defects such as poor water resistance. A novel method to improve water resistance of soybean protein was proposed in this study by the thermal treatment in the presence of Na2SO3 and SDS based on investigations of the effects of thermal treatment temperature, Na2SO3, SDS and their combination on the water resistance of protein using FTIR, XRD, TGA and SEM. partial soybean protein formed stable three-dimensional network during the thermal treatment via the re-polymerization and the rearrangement of soybean protein molecules, which improved the water resistance of soybean protein as confirmed by the increased water insoluble content and hydrothermal-aged wet bond strength. Attributing to the capacities of Na2SO3 to cleave disulfide bonds and SDS to destroy the hydrophobic interactions of proteins, their combination during thermal treatment released the active groups buried within the globular structure of soybean protein via partial unfolding, which not only further promote the re-polymerizations of soybean protein molecules but also yield more active cites for crosslinking by post-added crosslinker, resulting in higher water insoluble content and hydrothermal-aged bond strength compared with the thermal treated soybean protein without Na2SO3 and SDS. The optimal levels of Na2SO3 and SDS during thermal treatment were all 1wt%, producing a modified soybean protein with the best water resistance that can be used to prepare a wood adhesive for structural-use plywood according to JIS K6806-2003 commercial standard.

SHUANGYING WEI completed her doctor's degree in biomaterials engineering in December of 2008 from College of Material Science and Engineering, Northeast Forestry University in China. She has published several papers in reputed journals. One paper was awarded the three prize of the fourth Liang Xi Youth Paper Award in 2012 and was awarded the two prize of the thirteenth Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Technology Academic Achievement Award. She sponsored one project of the National Natural Science Foundation and Province Youth Science Fund Project of Heilongjiang.

Rice husk is an important biomass resource on the earth. The rice husk ash is the product of the burning of rice husk and the yield of it is huge. Its main component is silicon dioxide. The rice husk ash as modifiers has been successfully applied in the fields such as rubber, waterproof coating and so on. Acrylic wood coatings show the excellent comprehensive performance, but the properties in the aspect of the hardness and abrasion resistance are poor. The rice husk ash was added to the acrylic wood coatings system in this study in order to improve the performance of coatings. Firstly, the rice husk ash was treated with different temperature gradient, 600℃、650℃、700℃、750℃、800℃. They were added respectively to the waterborne acrylic wood coatings as modified fillers after grinding fully. The physical properties, gloss and mechanical properties of the coating film were tested. Scanning electron microscopy （SEM）and atomic force microscopy （AFM）were used to observe and analyze the microstructure of the coating film. The results showed that the rice husk ash handled with temperature of 700℃ has the best modification effect. The modified coating film reflected 33.4℃of MFT, solid content increased of 18.3%, the abrasion resistance increased 33.3%, hardness increased from HB to H, gloss decreased 74%, fineness decreased nearly three times. The heat resistance and adhesion of the coating film were not changed, all of which were grade 2. The pigment and filler in the coating system were dispersed evenly with no aggregation.

Yanhua Zhang has completed her PhD from Northeast Forestry University and postdoctoral studies from Northeast Forestry University School of Electrical and Mechanical. She has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.

The differences of the performances between corn and cassava starch caused by the different content of amylose and amylopectin were studied contrastively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and bonding strength were characterized to analysis the difference between corn starch and cassava starch. The results showed that: both the dry and wet bonding strengths of cassava starch adhesive were higher than that of corn starch. The FTIR results indicated that the number of hydroxyl groups in corn starch structure was higher than that in cassava starch. According to the TGA analysis, the thermal stability of corn starch and cassava starch showed unclear difference, but the residual mass of corn starch was higher than that of cassava starch. XPS data demonstrated that the content of carbon in corn starch was slightly higher than that in the cassava starch. According to the characterization of SEM, the corn starch exhibited an irregular shape while the cassava starch particles were oval.

Rebeca Betancourt Galindo is a researcher of the Department of Advanced Materials. Rebeca has extensive experience in emulsion polymerization, polymer and nanoparticle functionalization, preparation and physico-chemical characterization of polymer nanocomposites, including the determination of antimicrobial properties of polymer nanocomposites. She has published more than 29 papers in reputed journals.

Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-Naps) have been used in different bionanocomposites for wound healing and skin infection based in the antibacterial intrinsic properties. However controversial toxic effect has been identified and preliminary results observed in animal models, give limitations for the uses of this nanoparticles in humans. Here we report the benefits observed in dermal wound healing and control of infection in patient diagnosed with allergic dermatitis associated with infected ulcers. Nanotechnology is considered as a multidisciplinary area that is part of Nano scale systems that is very important from the materials science, colloidal science, and medical science, among others. Currently nanotechnology is a rapidly growing area primarily for Biotechnology and Medicine in both the development of new diagnostic techniques and therapeutic treatments aimed at organs and damaged tissues. One of the alternatives with the greatest potential application is the use of ZnO-Naps as an antimicrobial agent and ulcer healing properties. The mechanisms of action are: 1) cofactor in enzymatic complexes that promote migration of keratinocytes 2) participates in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which penetrate the bacterial cell membrane producing oxidant injury. According to the mechanisms of action of ZnO Nps could be an alternative as promoters of healing in chronic diabetic foot ulcers and other ulcers associated with allergic dermatitis. The objective of this work is to assess the effectiveness of dressings of calcium alginate impregnated with ZnO-Naps, along with the local application of powder of ZnO-Naps, in the control of infection and healing of ulcers in patients with allergic dermatitis.

Anju Ramakrishnan is pursuing PhD in the department of chemistry - Indian Institute of Technology- Madras under the guidance of Prof. R. Dhamodharan. She has extensive experience in preparation of nanocellulose using banana fiber, surface modification of cellulose and chitin extracted from various natural resources, using silane coupling agents.

With increasing global concern over depletion of non-renewable fossil fuel and rising price for petroleum and petroleum derived products, present and future demands natural materials that are eco-friendly (with minimum waste disposal), having light weight, high durable with mechanical properties greater than or equal to those of traditional petroleum based materials. Chitin is such an abundant biopolymer found in cell walls and skeletal structure of numerous invertebrates. But one of the drawback in chitin whisker based composite is the presence of hydrogen bonds in chitin tend the fibers to agglomerate into bundles and unevenly distribute throughout the non-polar polymer matrix during compounding processing; resulting a weak interfacial adhesion. Therefore fiber treatment is beneficial towards improving the water resistance and wettabilitty of the fiber surface by polymers and enhances interfacial adhesion. A coupling agent is a chemical that functions at the interface to create a chemical bridge between the reinforcement and matrix. Mainly organosilanes are efficient coupling agents and they have been extensively used in composites. The hydroxyl groups present on the surface of the chitin powder is allowed to condense with the hydroxyl groups of the silicates under alkaline pH conditions. In this present work chitin whisker surface was modified by the treatment with a suitable silane coupling agent. The properties of surface modified chitin characterized by PXRD, SEM, TGA and FTIR. This reinforcing material was used in mortar composites and the mechanical properties enhancement studied.

Ning Zhang has completed her PhD from Nanjing Technology University and Post-doctoral studies from Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, CAF.

Curve equations were established to fit the survival rates of Blakeslea trispora (−), Trichoderma reesei and Streptomyces hygroscopicus var. Jingganggensis Yen. These were implanted by low energy N+, and the survival-dose effect models were built. The results showed that the GCAS function can well describe the survival-dose effect curves of the 3 microorganisms with correlation coefficients (R2) close to or greater than 0.95. And with these models, the “saddle shape” and “double saddle shape” survival rate curves of microorganisms implanted by N+ were explained. For the “saddle or double saddle type” survival rates curves of microorganism implanted by low energy N+, GCAS function was used to fit these curves and the result shows the effectiveness of this method. From the functions we speculated that DNA rupture of B. trispora (-), T. reesei and Streptomyces hygroscopicus induced by ion implantation includes the double chains rupture caused by the one radiation effect and the secondary ionization radiation effect, so the mutagenic effect caused by N+ implantation to microorganism is more complicated than other mutation technology. The cell repair system (by repair enzymes such as CAT POD or SOD) was activated after implantation by low energy N+ and repaired timely until the damage was irreparable. That is why the survival rate curves showed the trend of shock downward and took a “saddle or double saddle type”.