High-performance electroabsorption modulator

A 100-μm-long electroabsorption modulator monolithically integrated with passive waveguides at the input and output ports is fabricated through ion implantation induced quantum well intermixing, using only a two-step low-pressure metal-organic vapor phase epitaxial process. An InGaAsP/InGaAsP intra-step quantum well is introduced to the active region to improve the modulation properties. In the experiment high modulation speed and high extinction ratio are obtained simultaneously, the electrical-to-optical frequency response (E/O response) without any load termination reaches to 22 GHz, and extinction ration is as high as 16 dB.

溶藻菌群对铜绿微囊藻的溶藻效应及其作用机理研究

水华暴发是一个世界性的问题，近年来在发展中国家显得尤其严重。水华暴发给环境和公众健康带来巨大灾难，一些蓝藻产生的毒素可以造成鱼类、鸟禽和家畜的死亡，而臭名昭著的微囊藻产生的微囊藻毒素更是有强烈致癌效应。因此，寻找控制水华藻类的有效方法非常迫切。在利用物理和化学方法处理不甚理想的情况下，利用溶藻细菌控藻成为一个新的研究方向。溶藻细菌一般直接从富营养化水体中分离，杀藻活力对有害蓝藻具有较强的选择性而不危害其它生物，尤其适合在水华发生初期使用，可以在短时间内达到阻止藻类增殖的效果。本研究富集分离到一个高效溶解铜绿微囊藻的溶藻菌群，对其溶藻效应和溶藻机制进行了探索研究。 1溶藻菌群的富集筛选及其溶微囊藻效果 富集筛选得到一个有明显抑藻效果的菌群，它对铜绿微囊藻有显著溶藻效果。与对照组相比，加入富集的溶藻菌后，第4 d开始出现溶藻现象，6~8 d出现明显的溶藻效果，8 d后测得叶绿素去除率在85%以上。 2 溶藻菌群的作用范围及溶藻特性 富集分离到的溶藻菌群对铜绿微囊藻和念珠藻有显著溶藻作用，对水华微囊藻和其它几株受试微囊藻没有明显溶藻效应。该溶藻菌群不仅可以在液体中溶解铜绿微囊藻，生长在固体平板上的藻苔也有一定的溶藻效应，生成溶藻空斑。保证快速溶藻的最大稀释度可以达到1/100, 000。 3 环境因子对菌群溶藻效力的影响 试验发现，不同的pH、温度、和光照条件下，溶藻菌群溶藻效力明显不同，且不同种类的氮源对其溶藻作用也有一定影响。这些条件对该菌群溶藻作用的影响，在相当的程度上可能取决于它们对藻和细菌两者的生长状况的影响综合。 4 溶藻菌群的溶藻作用机理 溶藻菌液过滤除菌和煮沸灭菌处理后溶藻液，未见明显的溶藻效果，只有原液具有很好的溶藻效果。因此可初步确定，蓝藻细胞的溶解可能是由溶藻菌直接接触藻细胞产生的作用效果。显微镜观察发现，细菌在溶藻的过程中频繁地接触藻细胞并侵入藻细胞，破坏进而裂解杀死藻细胞。这也进一步说明了此溶藻菌是通过直接方式杀藻。 5 溶藻菌群的菌群结构解析 分离有溶藻效果的纯菌的多次尝试都没有成功。结合DGGE和16S rDNA文库综合分析发现：Rubritepida菌，假单胞菌和鞘氨醇单胞菌是存在于铜绿微囊藻中的三种伴生细菌。加入富集的溶藻菌群后，菌群结构发生明显的变化，Rubritepida菌、假单胞菌消失，混合菌群则包含未培养黄杆菌，鞘氨醇单胞菌和噬氢菌，其中黄杆菌是优势菌群，并且细菌种群结构的变化与藻细胞消亡之间有显著的相关性。通过菌种的分离鉴定与DGGE和16S rDNA文库的测序结果比较，一些未培养菌可能在溶藻过程中起重要调控作用。 6 溶藻细菌控藻应用基础 (1) 扩大规模的模拟水华实验进一步确定了细菌对微囊藻的强烈溶解作用。 (2) 铜绿微囊藻(Microcystis aeruginosa 905, zc)、微囊藻(Microcystis spp., zd)和溶藻菌群共培养试验表明，zc可以抑制zd生长，而溶藻菌群可以溶zc。 本研究是第一次报道混合菌群的溶藻效应。该溶藻菌群对带有藻际细菌的铜绿微囊藻具有高效的溶藻效力，表明它对自然界中存在的带菌铜绿微囊藻和其它一些蓝藻的生消具有一定的控制作用。对进一步研究菌藻关系与生态学作用，以及对富营养化湖泊和水库水体中蓝藻暴发的防控，该菌群具有一定的应用潜力。 Cyanobacterial blooms break out frequently all over the world, especially in developing countries. Blooms create enormous disasters to public health and to the environment. Some cyanobacterial blooms produce extremely toxic substances that have killed fish, domestic animals and birds. It has been well known that microcystins, a hepatoxin produced by Microcystis, can promote tumors in humans. So it is very important to find an effective method for controlling the growth of the bloom-forming algae. Measures for controlling such kind of algae include physical, chemic and biologic means, but the former two may damage the aquatic environment and require high-energy inputs. The alternative approach for the elimination of nuisance algae involves the application of algicidal bacteria. The algicidal bacteria, which are nontoxic to other organisms and most of which are isolated from the eutrophic lake in situ, may be potential microbial algaecides. In the initial stages of the water blooms, they are able to restrain the biomass or multiplication of the bloom-forming algae in a short time. In order to use algicidal bacteria to suppress blooms of M. aeruginosa, we isolated a bacterial culture capable of lysing the noxious cyanobacteria M. aeruginosa. In this paper we described some properties of the bacterial culture and its growth-inhibiting or algicidal effects on the growth of M. aeruginosa, and investigated its algicidal mechanisms. 1 Enrichment of a microbial culture that lyses Microcystis aeruginosa A mixed bacterial culture was isolated from a hypereutrophic pond and showed significant algicidal activity against the noxious Microcystis aeruginosa. Algae lysis would be seen obviously 4 days later when the algae culture was killed and became yellow contrast to no-addition controls, and chlorophyll a (chl-a) reduction went beyond 85% 8 days later. 2 The host range and some other algicidal feature of the mixed algicidal culture. Microcystis aeruginosa, Nostoc sp., were susceptible to the mixed algicidal culture, while the lytic effects of this mixed culture on Microcystis flos-aquae and some other tested Microcystis were feeble.The algicidal culture can not only lyse M. aeruginosa in liquid media, but aslo lyse M. aeruginosa lawns on soft agar plates and form plaques. The maximun dilution of the mixed culture required for rapid Microcystis lysis is 1/100, 000. 3 Influences of environmental factors such as pH, temperature, illumination, and the nitrogen source on the lytic activity of the mixed bacterial culture on Microcystis aeruginosa. In our investigations, it was shown that the lytic activity of the mixed bacterial culture on Microcystis aeruginosa was straightly correlated with pH, temperature, illumination, as well as the nitrogen source in the medium. The impacts of these environmental factors on the algicidal activity of the mixed bacterial culture, to a certain extent, may depend on both the algal and the bacterial growth rates under the tested environmental conditions. 4 The mechanisms of algal cell lysis by the algicidal bacteria Death was detected when the mixed bacterial culture was added to the algal culture, but not when only the culture filtrate or autoclaved bacterial culture was added. This indicates that the mixed bacterial culture did not release extracellular products inhibitory to Microcystis aeruginosa. In addition, under the microscope, we observed frequent contacts btween bacteria and algae cells, and some bacteria can even penetrate into target algal cells and destroyed them. These results may suggest that the bacterium kill the alga by direct contact. 5 Molecular Characterization of the algicidal bacterial culture Attempts for isolation of pure bacterium or bacteria from the enrichment culture responsible for Microcystis lysis have so far been failed. Based on PCR-DGGE (denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis) and 16S rDNA clone library analysis, Rubritepida sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Sphingomonas sp., as accompanying bacteria, were existed in M. aeruginosa. The bacterial community in M. aeruginosa showed significant change after adding the enrichment culture, where uncultured Flavorbacterium sp., Sphingomonas sp. and Hydrogenophaga sp. were observed, and the uncultured Flavorbacterium sp. became a dominant species. The obvious correlation can be seen between change of bacterial population and extinction of M. aeruginosa. Compared identification of pure bacterium with sequencing of DGGE bands and the clone distribution of the clone libraries, it was inferred that some uncultured bacteria were probably play an important role in controlling the growth and abundance of M. aeruginosa. This report is the first example of a mixed bacterial culture with the ability to lyse M. aeruginosa. 6 Further study for algae control by applications of algicidal bacteria (1) Algae lysis would be seen obviously 6 days later when the algae culture was killed and became yellow contrast to no-addition controls, and chlorophyll a (chl-a) was reducted to a low level 20 days later in the simulated water bloom experiments. (2) The growth of Microcystis sp. (zd) was restrained by Microcystis aeruginosa 905 (zc) when they were co-cultured together, and zc was lysed by the algicidal bacterial culture. This report is the first example of a mixed bacterial culture with the ability to lyse M. aeruginosa, and its algicidal activity remained high against non-axenic tested M. aeruginosa, suggesting that bacteria in the natural environment could play a role in controlling the growth and abundance of M. aeruginosa and other cyanobacteria. Such bacteria could also potentially be used as agents to prevent the mass development of cyanobacteria in eutrophic lakes and reservoirs.

Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny of two morphologically enigmatic fishes in the subfamily Schizothoracinae (Teleostei : Cyprinidae) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b gene (1140 bp) was sequenced in Herzenstein macrocephalus and Gymnocypris namensis and in 13 other species and sub-species (n = 22), representing four closely related genera in the subfamily Schizothoracinae. Conflicting taxonomies of H. macrocephalus and G. namensis have been proposed because of the character instability among individuals. Parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods produced phylogenetic trees with the same topology and resolved several distinctive clades. Previous taxonomic treatments, which variously placed these two species of separate genera or as sub-species, are inconsistent with the mtDNA phylogeny. Both H. macrocephalus and G. namensis appear in a well-supported clade, which also includes nine species of Schizopygopsis, and hence should be transferred to the genus Schizopygopsis. Morphological changes are further illustrated, and their adaptive evolution in response to the local habitat shifts during the speciation process appears to be responsible for conflicting views on the systematics of these two species and hence the contrasting taxonomic treatments. These species are endemic to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, a region with a history of geological activity and a rich diversity of habitats that may have result in the parallel and reversal evolution of some morphological characters used in their taxonomies. Our results further suggest that speciation and morphological evolution of fishes in this region may be more complex than those previously expected. (c) 2007 The Authors Journal compilation (c) 2007 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

条件反射性免疫抑制及其脑机制的c-fos研究

To explore the neural mechanisms underlying conditioned immunomodulation, this study employed the classical taste aversion (CTA) behavioral paradigm to establish the conditioned humoral and cellular immunosuppression (CIS) in Wistar rats, by paring saccharin (CS) with intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of an immunosuppressive drug cyclophophamide (UCS). C-fos immunohistochemistry method was used to observe the changes of the neuronal activities in the rat brain during the acquisition, expression and extinction of the conditioned immunosuppression (CIS). The followings are the main results: 1. Five days after one trial of CS-UCS paring, reexposure to CS alone significantly decreased the level of the anti-ovalbumin (OVA) IgG in the peripheral serum. Two trials of CS-UCS paring and three reexposures to CS not only resulted in further suppression of the primary immune response, but also reduced the numbers of peripheral lymphocytes and white blood cells. This finding indicates that CS can induce suppression of the immune function, and the magnitude of the effects is dependent on the intensity of training. 2. On day 5 following two trials of CS-UCS pairing, CS suppressed the spleen lymphocytes responsiveness to mitogens ConA, PHA and PWM, and decreased the numbers of peripheral lymphocytes and white blood cells. On day 15, only PHA induced lymphocyte proliferation was suppressed by CS. On day 30, presentation of CS did not have any effect on these immune parameters. These results suggest that the conditioned suppression of the cellular immune function can retain 5-15 days, and extinct after 30 days. 3. CTA was easily induced by one or two CS-UCS parings, and remained robust even after 30 days. These data demonstrate that CIS can be dissociated from CTA, and they may be mediated by different neural mechanisms. 4. Immunohistochemistry assays revealed a broad pattern of c-fos expression throughout the rat brain following the CS-UCS pairing and reexposure to CS, suggesting that many brain regions are involved in CIS. Some brain areas including the solitary tract nucleus (Sol), lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPB) and insular cortex (IC), showed high level c-fos expressions in response to both CS and UCS, suggesting that they may be involved in the transmission and integration of the CS and UCS signals in the brain. There were dense c-FOS positive neurons in the paraverntricular nucleus (PVN) and supraoptic nucleus (SO) of hypothalamus, subfornical organ (SFO) and area postrema (AP) etc. after two trials of CS-UCS paring and after the reexposure to CS 5 days later, but not in the first training and after the extinction of CIS (30 days later). The results reflect that these nuclei may have an important role in CIS expression, and may also response to the immunosuppression of UCS. The conditioned training and reexposure to CS 5 days later induced high level c-fos expression in the cingulate cortex (Cg), central amygdaloid nucleus (Ce), intermediate part of lateral septal nucleus (LSI) and ventrolateral parabrachial nucleus (VLPB) etc. But c-fos induction was not apparent when presenting CS 30 days later. These brain regions are mainly involved in CIS, and may be critical structures in the acquisition and expression of CIS. Some brain regions, including the frontal cortex (Fr), ventral orbital cortex (VO), IC, perirhinal cortex (PRh), LPB and the medial part of solitary nucleus (SolM), showed robust c-FOS expression following the conditioning training and reexposure to CS both on day 5 and day 30, suggesting that they are critically involved in CTA.

Genetic differentiation and cryptic speciation in natural populations of Drosophila lacertosa

Drosophila lacertosa, an Oriental member of the robusta species group in the virilis-repleta radiation, has a wide distribution from northern India throughout China to the Far East. Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial ND2 gene sequences revealed two ge

The decline and impending extinction of the South China tiger

The South China tiger Panthera tigris amoyensis is the rarest of the five living tiger subspecies, the most critically threatened and the closest to extinction. No wild South China tigers have been seen by officials for 25 years and one was last brought into captivity 27 years ago. The 19 reserves listed by the Chinese Ministry of Forestry within the presumed range of the tiger are spatially fragmented and most are too small to support viable tiger populations. Over the last 40 years wild populations have declined from thousands to a scattered few. Despite its plight and occasional anecdotal reports of sightings by local people, no intensive field study has been conducted on this tiger subspecies and its habitat. The captive population of about 50 tigers, derived from six wild-caught founders, is genetically impoverished with low reproductive output. Given the size and fragmentation of potential tiger habitat, saving what remains of the captive population may be the only option left to prevent extinction of this tiger subspecies, and even this option is becoming increasingly less probable. This precarious dilemma demands that conservation priorities be re-evaluated and action taken immediately to decide if recovery of the wild population will be possible.

High-Q and High-extinction-ratio Microdisk Add-drop Filter with Grating Couplers in Silicon-on-Insulator

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Revision of Yunnanilus with descriptions of a miniature species flock and six new species from China (Cypriniformes: Homalopteridae)

The genus Yunnanilus Nichols, 1925 is revised; Eonemachilus Berg, 1938 is a junior subjective synonym. Yunnanilus includes at least nine described species and five undescribed species. The status of Y; salmonides Chaudhuri is still incertae sedis. Six new species are described: Y. parvus, Y: altus, Y; pachycephalus, X niger, Y. macrogaster and Y. paludosus. The last three species occur sympatrically in a small endorheic basin of eastern Yunnan; they developed different feeding specializations which allowed them to use different niches. Other species also have peculiar specializations. The diversity of feeding habits and related adaptations in Yunnanilus is greater than in the whole subfamily Nemacheilinae and is one more example of supralimital specialization. Speciation of fishes on the Yunnan Plateau is discussed. Several species are endangered or possibly extinct. Introduction

Strained MQW electro-absorption modulators with high extinction ratio and low capacitance

We fabricate an electro-absorption modulator for optical network system using a new strategy, the improved modulation properties of the strained InGaAs/InAlAs MQW show it's polarization independent, high extinction ratio (> 40dB) and low capacitance (C <0.6pF) which can achieve an ultra-high frequency(> 10GHz). The device is be used in 10Gbps optical time division multiplex (OTDM) system as a signal generator.

Extinction of lean near-limit methane/air flames at elevated pressures under normal- and reduced-gravity

perimentally at evaluated pressures and under normal- and micro-gravity conditions utilizing the 3.5 s drop tower of the National Microgravity Laboratory of China. The results showed that under micro-gravity conditions the natural convection is minimized and the flames become more planar and symmetric compared to normal gravity. In both normal- and micro-gravity experiments and for a given strain rate and fuel concentration, the flame luminosity was found to enhance as the pressure increases. On the other hand, at a given pressure, the flame luminosity was determined to weaken as the strain rate decreases. At a given strain rate, the fuel concentration at extinction was found to vary non-monotonically with pressure, namely it first increases and subsequently decreases with pressure. The limit fuel concentration peaks around 3 and 4 atm under normal- and micro-gravity, respectively. The extinction limits measured at micro-gravity were in good agreement with predictions obtained through detailed numerical simulations but they are notably lower compared to the data obtained under normal gravity. The simulations confirmed the non-monotonic variation of flammability limits with pressure, in agreement with previous studies. Sensitivity analysis showed that for pressures between one and 5 atm, the near-limit flame response is dominated by the competition between the main branching, H + O2 ? OH + O, and the pressure sensitive termination, H+O2+M? HO2 + M, reaction. However, for pressures greater than 5 atm it was determined that the HO2 kinetics result in further chain branching in a way that is analogous to the third explosion limit of H2/O2 mixtures. 2010 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.