Temperature and power-density-dependent inter-shell energy states in InAs/GaAs quantum dots

We have investigated the evolution of exciton state filling in InAs/GaAs quantum dot (QD) structures as a function of the excitation power density by using rnicro-photoluminescence spectroscopy at different temperatures. In addition to the emission bands of exciton recombination corresponding to the atom-like S, P and D, etc. shells of QDs, it was observed that some extra states V between the S and P shells, and D' between the P and D shells appear in the spectra with increasing number of excitons occupying the QDs at a certain temperature. The emergence of these inter-shell excitonic levels is power density and temperature dependent, which is an experimental demonstration of strong exciton-exciton exchange interaction, state hybridization, and coupling of a multi-exciton system in QDs. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydrogen production characteristics of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes by anaerobic mixed culture fermentation

The hydrogen production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) by anaerobic mixed culture fermentation was investigated using batch experiments at 37 degrees C. Seven varieties of typical individual components of OFMSW including rice, potato, lettuce, lean meat, oil, fat and banyan leaves were selected to estimate the hydrogen production potential. Experimental results showed that the boiling treated anaerobic sludge was effective mixed inoculum for fermentative hydrogen production from OFMSW. Mechanism of fermentative hydrogen production indicates that, among the OFMSW, carbohydrates is the most optimal substrate for fermentative hydrogen production compared with proteins, lipids and lignocelluloses. This conclusion was also substantiated by experimental results of this study. The hydrogen production potentials of rice, potato and lettuce were 134 mL/g-VS, 106 mL/g-VS, and 50 mL/g-VS respectively. The hydrogen percentages of the total gas produced from rice, potato and lettuce were 57-70%, 41-55% and 37-67%. 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.

Influence of Inter-Fiber Spacing and Interfacial Adhesion on Failure of Multi-Fiber Model Composites: Experiment and Numerical Analysis

The uniaxial tension experiments on glass-fiber-reinforced epoxy matrix composites reveal that the fragmentations of fibers display vertically aligned fracture, clustered fracture, coordinated fracture, and random fracture with the increase of inter-fiber spacing. The finite element analysis indicates that the fragmentations of fibers displaying different phenomena are due to the stress concentration as well as the inherent randomness of fiber defects, which is the dominant factor. The experimental results show that matrices adjacent to the fiber breakpoints all exhibit birefringent-whitening patterns for the composites with different interfacial adhesion strengths. The larger the extent of the interfacial debonding, the less the domain of the birefringent-whitening patterns. The numerical analysis indicates that the orientation of the matrix adjacent to a fiber breakpoint is caused by the interfacial shear stress, resulting in the birefringent-whitening patterns. The area of shear stress concentrations decides on the domain of the birefringent-whitening patterns.

Assessment of genetic diversities of selected Laminaria (Laminariales, Phaeophyta) gametophytes by inter-simple sequence repeat analysis

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis was used to assess genetic diversity among 10 pairs of male and female Laminaria gametophytes. A total of 58 amplification loci was obtained from 10 selected ISSR primers, of which 34 revealed polymorphism among the gametophytes. Genetic distances were calculated with the Dice coefficient ranging from 0.006 to 0.223. A dendrogram based on the unweighted pair-group method arithmetic (UPGMA) average showed that most male and female gametophytes of the same species were clustered together and that 10 pairs of gametophytes were divided into four groups. This was generally consistent with the taxonomic categories. The main group consisted of six pairs of gametophytes, which were selected from Laminaria japonica Aresch. by intensive inbreeding through artificial hybridization. One specific marker was cloned, but was not converted successfully into a sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of applying ISSR markers to evaluate Laminaria germplasm diversities.

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) analysis of genetic variation of Chondrus crispus populations from North Atlantic

ISSR analysis was used to investigate genetic variations of 184 haploid and diploid samples from nine North Atlantic Chondrus crispus Stackhouse populations and one outgroup Yellow Sea Chondrus ocellatus Holmes population. Twenty-two of 50 primers were selected and 163 loci were scored for genetic diversity analysis. Genetic diversity varied among populations, percentage of polymorphic bands (PPB) ranged from 27.0 to 55.8%, H(Nei's genetic diversity) ranged from 0.11 to 0.20 and I(Shannon's information index) ranged from 0.16 to 0.30. Estimators PPB, H and I had similar values in intra-population genetic diversity, regardless of calculation methods. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) apportioned inter-population and intra-population variations for C crispus, showing more genetic variance (56.5%) occurred in intra-population, and 43.5% variation among nine populations. The Mantel test suggested that genetic differentiation between nine C. crispus populations was closely related with geographic distances (R = 0.78, P = 0.002). Results suggest that, on larger distance scale (ca. > 1000 km), ISSR analysis is useful for determining genetic differentiations of C crispus populations including morphologically inseparable haploid and diploid individuals. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.