Molecular identification and expression analysis of natural resistance associated macrophage protein (Nramp) cDNA from Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

Natural resistance associated macrophage protein (Nramp) controls partially innate resistance to intracellular parasites. Its function is to enhance the ability of macrophages to kill pathogens. However, little is known about the structure and function of Nramp in lower vertebrates such as teleosts. We have recently isolated a cDNA encoding Nramp from Japanese flounder (Paratichthys olivaceus). The full-length cDNA of the Nramp is 3066 bp in length, including 224 bp 5' terminal UTR, 1662 bp encoding region and 1180 bp 3' terminal UTR. The 1662-nt open reading frame was found to code for a protein with 554 amino acid residues. Comparison of amino acid sequence indicated that Japanese flounder Nramp consists of 12 transmembrane (TM) domains. A consensus transport motif (CTM) containing 20 residues was observed between transmembrane domains 8 and 9. The deduced amino acid sequence of Japanese flounder had 77.30%, 82.71%, 82.67%, 79.64%, 80.72%, 90.97%, 91.16%, 60.14%, 71.48%, 61.69%, 72.37% identity with that of rainbow trout Nramp alpha and beta, channel catfish Nramp, fathead minnow Nramp, common carp Nramp, striped sea bass Nramp, red sea bream Nramp, mouse Nramp 1 and 2, human Nramp 1 and 2, respectively. RT-PCR indicated that Nramp transcripts were highly abundant in spleen, head kidney, abundant in intestine, liver and gill, and less abundant in heart. The level of Nramp mRNA in embryos gradually increases during embryogenesis from 4 h (8 cell stage) to 80 h (hatched stage) after fertilization. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Realization of SOI submicrometer optical waveguide components - art. no. 68380L

Submicrometer channel and rib waveguides based on SOI (Silicon-On-Insulator) have been designed and fabricated with electron-beam lithography and inductively coupled plasma dry etching. Propagation loss of 8.39dB/mm was measured using the cut-back method. Based on these so-called nanowire waveguides, we have also demonstrated some functional components with small dimensions, including sharp 90 degrees bends with radius of a few micrometers, T-branches, directional couplers and multimode interferometer couplers.

SOI submicron rib waveguides: Design, Fabrication and Characterization

We present detailed design, fabrication, and characterization issues of submicron rib waveguides based on silicon-on-insulator. The waveguides fabricated by EBL and ICP processes have propagation loss of 1.8dB/mm and bend loss of 0.14dB/90 degrees for bends with radius of 5 mu m.

Investigation of vertical radiation loss for whispering-gallery modes in 3-D microresonators by FDTD simulation

The vertical radiation loss of three-dimensional (3-D) microresonators is investigated by 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The simulation shows that the vertical radiation causes an important loss in the microresonators with weak waveguiding, and result in decrease of the quality factors (Q-factors) of whispering-gallery (WG) modes. Through the simulation, we find that TM-like modes have much weaker vertical radiation loss than TE-like modes. High Q-factor TM-like modes are observed in the 3-D microresonators with weak vertical waveguiding, but the Q-factors of TE-like modes decrease greatly.

Silicon thin films prepared in the transition region and their use in solar cells

Diphasic silicon films (nc-Si/a-Si:H) have been prepared by a new regime of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition in the region adjacent of phase transition from amorphous to microcrystalline state. Comparing to the conventional amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), the nc-Si/a-Si:H has higher photoconductivity (sigma(ph)), better stability, and a broader light spectral response range in the longer wavelength range. It can be found from Raman spectra that there is a notable improvement in the medium range order. The blue shift for the stretching mode and red shift for the wagging mode in the IR spectra also show the variation of the microstructure. By using this kind of film as intrinsic layer, a p-i-n junction solar cell was prepared with the initial efficiency of 8.51 % and a stabilized efficiency of 8.01% (AM 1.5, 100 mw/cm(2)) at room temperature. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Hydrogenated p-type nanocrystalline silicon in amorphous silicon solar cells

A wide bandgap and highly conductive p-type hydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) window layer was prepared with a conventional RF-PECVD system under large H dilution condition, moderate power density, high pressure and low substrate temperature. The optoelectrical and structural properties of this novel material have been investigated by Raman and UV-VIS transmission spectroscopy measurements indicating that these films are composed of nanocrystallites embedded in amorphous SiHx matrix and with a widened bandgap. The observed downshift of the optical phonon Raman spectra (514.4 cm(-1)) from crystalline Si peak (521 cm(-1)) and the widening of the bandgap indicate a quantum confinement effect from the Si nanocrystallites. By using this kind of p-layer, a-Si:H solar cells on bare stainless steel foil in nip sequence have been successfully prepared with a V c of 0.90 V, a fill factor of 0.70 and an efficiency of 9.0%, respectively. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A V-shaped module technique for promoting generation photocurrent density of silicon solar cells

A V-shaped solar cell module consists of two tilted mono-crystalline cells [J. Li, China Patent No. 200410007708.6 (March, 2004)]. The angle included between the two tilted cells is 90 degrees. The two cells were fabricated by using polished silicon wafers. The scheme of both-side polished wafers has been proposed to reduce optical loss. Compared to solar cells in a planar way, the V-shaped structure enhances external quantum efficiency and leads to an increase of 15% in generation photocurrent density. The following three kinds of trapped photons are suggested to contribute to the increase: (1) infrared photons converted from visible photons due to a transformation mechanism, (2) photons reflected from top contact metal, and (3) a residual reflection which can not be eliminated by an antireflection coating.

Circuit design and simulation of a CMOS-based preamplifier for brain neural signals

A novel CMOS-based preamplifier for amplifying brain neural signal obtained by scalp electrodes in brain-computer interface (BCI) is presented in this paper. By means of constructing effective equivalent input circuit structure of the preamplifier, two capacitors of 5 pF are included to realize the DC suppression compared to conventional preamplifiers. Then this preamplifier is designed and simulated using the standard 0.6 mu m MOS process technology model parameters with a supply voltage of 5 volts. With differential input structures adopted, simulation results of the preamplifier show that the input impedance amounts to more than 2 Gohm with brain neural signal frequency of 0.5 Hz-100 Hz. The equivalent input noise voltage is 18 nV/Hz(1/2). The common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of 112 dB and the open-loop differential gain of 90 dB are achieved.

超声化学法合成稀土纳米材料

稀土纳米材料因其独特的光、电、磁和催化等性能，在纳米器件和功能材料等诸多领域具有重要的应用价值。大量研究表明，纳米材料的物理和化学性质与其尺寸、成分、形貌和晶型密切相关。稀土纳米材料的合成方法有许多，然而，要真正实现这类材料的简单可控合成仍然是个艰难的课题。超声化学法由于具有操作简单、合成周期短、反应温度低、成本低廉并且产物均匀、粒径分布窄和纯度高等突出优点，已经在无机纳米材料制备领域中显示出独特的魅力。因此，本论文的工作是运用超声化学法合成有广泛应用前景的稀土纳米材料，对产物的形貌和粒径进行有效的调控，研究和分析其形成机理，并进一步考察其形貌、结构与性能之间的相互关系。 在本论文中，我们研究的体系集中在稀土磷酸盐、稀土氟化物和稀土钒酸盐三类纳米材料。 采用超声化学法得到的CePO4:Tb和CePO4:Tb/LaPO4(核/壳)纳米棒结晶完好，具有CePO4体材料的六方相结构。CePO4:Tb纳米棒直径为10-30 nm，长度为200 nm，CePO4:Tb/LaPO4(核/壳)纳米棒的LaPO4壳的厚度为2-10 nm。CePO4:Tb和CePO4:Tb/LaPO4(核/壳)纳米棒均具有Ce3+ (5d - 4f)和Tb3+ 5D4-7FJ(J = 6-3)的特征发射。与CePO4:Tb纳米棒核相比，CePO4:Tb/LaPO4(核/壳)纳米棒的光谱强度及荧光寿命均有较大的提高，这是由于形成核/壳结构后发光中心镧系金属离子与表面淬灭中心的距离增大，减少了能量传递过程中非辐射复合的路径，使能量淬灭受到抑制。 采用简单、快速、无模板辅助的超声化学法合成了稀土氟化物，并对产物的形貌和粒径进行了有效的调控。通过应用不同氟源(KBF4、NaF和NH4F)选择性合成了具有不同形貌的CeF3纳米材料，如片状、棒状和颗粒状。对具有不同形貌的CeF3样品进行了UV-Vis吸收光谱和荧光光谱测试和比较。研究结果表明不同形貌的样品，它们的光学性质存在很大差异，这说明纳米材料的光学性质与其形貌、粒径、晶体结构等因素有密切的关系。得到的EuF3单晶纳米材料具有三维花状形貌。这些纳米花的外形为球状，平均直径为0.9 μm-1.0 μm，每个花瓣的厚度约为0.14 μm。在其他实验条件不变的情况下，采用搅拌法而不经过超声辐射的对比实验只能得到二维纳米片，这表明超声辐射对花状EuF3的形成起到了至关重要的作用。基于不同反应时间的实验结果，我们提出了这种三维花状EuF3纳米材料可能的形成机理。 采用超声化学法选择性地合成了介孔及棒状CeVO4和纺锤状的YVO4:Eu3+ 纳米材料。CeVO4纳米棒的平均直径为5 nm，长度为150 nm。介孔CeVO4材料的比表面积较高(122 m2•g-1)，孔径分布窄，其催化性能有望得到提高。纺锤状的YVO4:Eu3+ 纳米粒子具有四方相锆石结构，其直径为90-150 nm，长度为250-300 nm。超声辐射对样品的形貌起着关键作用，在其他反应条件不变，未采用超声辐射的情况下只能得到团聚严重的纳米颗粒。荧光测试表明，纺锤状YVO4:Eu样品表现为Eu3+ 5D0-7FJ(J = 1- 4)的特征跃迁，以5D0-7F2电偶极跃迁(614nm)为最强峰，属于红光发射。

藏酋猴(Macaca thibetana)电刺激采精、精液冻存和精子活力的检测

本文研究中国特有的藏酋猴(Macaca thibetana)电刺激采精、精液冻存及精子活力检测。用电刺激方案[(DDR)_(17-c)V]：延搁(delay)17毫秒、间期(duration)17毫秒、刺激频率17脉冲／秒、单方波变电压连续刺激，对笼养藏酋猴进行电刺激采精，测定精液的各种特征参数，包括每次射精量、液化率、精子密度、运动精子的百分率、死活精子以及异常精子比例。并与其它非人灵长类进行了比较。在精液冻存实验中，通过对不同的防冻液、不同的降温程序及防冻液分散系的比较研究，从而确定了适于藏酋猴精液冻存的冻存方案：PSF-4%的甘油-TH-7.5%的小牛血清(PSF-TH/FBS-G)和PSF-MDM。用前一方案冻存藏酋猴精液，复苏运动度为63.58±0.06%；精子的存活率为90.14±0.03%(n=5)。冻存精液用金黄地鼠裸穿透分析法检测，结果表明具有相应新鲜精液穿透力的51.90±0.08%。后一冻存方案能保存88.00±1.03%的运动精子，但运动寿命较短。研究结果表明：1).刺激方案(DDR)_(17-c)V适于藏酋猴的电刺激采精。2).藏酋猴的精液量和精子数在已有过研究的非人灵长类动物中是最多的，藏酋猴有可能成为较理想的精子生物学研究用的非人灵长类动物。3).脂蛋白对维持精子膜的完整可能有重要作用。4).接近生理条件的防冻剂分散系有助于精液的冻存。5).两种冻存方案PSF-TH/FBS-G和PSF-MDM均适于藏酋猴的精液冻存。