Characterization of two membrane-associated protease genes obtained from screening out-membrane protein genes of Flavobacterium columnare G(4)

In order to identify genes encoding the outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of the myxobacter Flavobacterium columnare G(4), the expression library of the bacterium was screened by using rabbit antisera developed against its OMPs. Positive colonies of Escherichia coli M15 containing fragments encoding the bacterial OMPs were selected for cloning the relevant genes by genomic walking methods. Two genes encoding a membrane-associated zinc metalloprotease and prolyl oligopeptidase are reported in this paper. The membrane-associated zinc metalloprotease gene (map) is 1800 bp in length, coding for 449 amino acids (aa). Despite the presence of a conserved motif HEXXH for all metalloproteases, the special HEXXH similar to 32 aa similar to E motif of the F. columnare G(4) Map and its low level of identity with other reported zinc-containing metalloproteases may imply that the membrane-associated zinc metalloprotease of F. columnare G(4) represents a new family of zincins. The gene encoding prolyl oligopeptidase (Pop), a serine proteinase, is 2352 bp in length, coding for 649 aa. Sequence homology analysis revealed that the Pop is also novel as it has <50% identity with other reported prolyl oligopeptidase family proteins. The present study represents the first to employ anti-fish bacterial OMP sera to screen genes of membrane-associated proteases of fish pathogenic bacteria, and to provide necessary information for the examination of the role of the two genes in the infection and pathogenesis of F. columnare.

OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SILICA-SCALED CHRYSOPHYTES IN ZHEJIANG, JIANGSU, HUBEI, YUNNAN AND SHANDONG PROVINCES, CHINA

Fifty-one phytoplankton samples were collected from different ecological environments in five provinces located in the central, eastern and southwestern parts of China. 41 taxa of silica-scaled chrysophytes, 8 of them belonging to the Chrysophyceae and 33 to the Synurophyceae, have been identified by means of electron microscopy. Among them, Mallomonas parvula, M. calceolus, M. cyathellata (?), M. costata, M. crassisquama, and Synura echinulata are new to China. The silica-scaled chrysophyte flora and its geographical distribution in this region are analysed and discussed.

Low threshold lasing of GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers with an asymmetric coupled quantum well active region

We have fabricated and characterized GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) with a unique active region structure, in which three sets of InGaN asymmetric coupled quantum wells are placed in a half-wavelength (0.5 lambda) length. Lasing action was achieved under optical pumping at room temperature with a threshold pumping energy density of about 6.5 mJ/cm(2). The laser emitted a blue light at 449.5 nm with a narrow linewidth below 0.1 nm and had a high spontaneous emission factor of about 3.0x10(-2). The results indicate that this active region structure is useful in reducing the process difficulties and improving the threshold characteristics of GaN-based VCSELs.

Quantum transport from the perspective of quantum open systems

By viewing the non-equilibrium transport setup as a quantum open system, we propose a reduced-density-matrix based quantum transport formalism. At the level of self-consistent Born approximation, it can precisely account for the correlation between tunneling and the system internal many-body interaction, leading to certain novel behavior such as the non-equilibrium Kondo effect. It also opens a new way to construct time-dependent density functional theory for transport through large-scale complex systems. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relaxed GexSi1-x layer formation with reduced dislocation density grown by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition

A new alternative method to grow the relaxed Ge0.24Si0.76 layer with a reduced dislocation density by ultrahigh vacuum chemical vapor deposition is reported in this paper. A 1000-Angstrom Ge0.24Si0.76 layer was first grown on a Si(100) substrate. Then a 500-Angstrom Si layer and a subsequent 5000-Angstrom Ge0.24Si0.76 overlayer followed. All these three layers were grown at 600 degrees C. After being removed from the growth system to air, the sample was first annealed at 850 degrees C for 30 min, and then was investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy. It is shown that the 5000-Angstrom Ge0.24Si0.76 thick over layer is perfect, and most of the threading dislocations are located in the embedded thin Si layer and the lower 1000-Angstrom Ge0.24Si0.76 layer. The relaxation ratio of the over layer is deduced to be 0.8 from Raman spectroscopy.

小麦/玉米苗期磷累积量对介质供磷水平反应的差异

小麦和玉米苗期是磷素营养的关键期和敏感期,研究两种作物苗期对介质供磷反应,可为合理施用磷肥提供参考。试验设缺磷对照、低磷胁迫、中等磷胁迫和正常供磷(P_2O_5含量分别为0、0.05mmol·L~(-1)、0.3mmol·L~(-1)和0.5mmol·L~(-1))4种磷水平,选取小麦"小偃22号"、"兰考4号"和玉米"屯玉65号"、"户单4号"为指标作物,用营养液培养法研究小麦、玉米苗期磷累积量对介质不同供磷水平的反应差异。结果表明,不同介质供磷水平下,两种作物苗期磷累积量显著不同且因作物类型、基因型、器官及测定时期不同而异。总体而言,介质供磷后,苗期早期生长阶段(出苗后25d以前),小麦的介质最佳供磷水平较玉米高;苗期后期(出苗后40～50d),小麦和玉米最佳供磷水平一致。如果以低磷胁迫作为对比进行分析,玉米苗期整株磷累积量对介质供磷的敏感性比小麦强;从不同基因型来看:"兰考4号"对介质供磷的敏感性强于"小偃22号","屯玉65号"和"户单4号"基本一致。缺磷条件下小麦较玉米磷效率高,供磷条件下玉米较小麦高;但不同基因型间规律性较差。

ON THE DANGLING-BOND RELAXATION PROBLEM IN HYDROGENATED AMORPHOUS-SILICON

The influence of pulsed bias light excitation on the absorption in the defect region of undoped a-Si:H film has been investigated. Ac constant photocurrent method has been used to measure the absorption spectrum. The absorption in the defect region increases with the light pulse duration.The analysis of obtained results does not support the existence of a long time relaxation process of dangling-bond states in a-Si:H.

GaN基垂直腔面发射激光器的研制

作者在我国大陆首次实现了GaN基垂直腔面发射激光器（VCSEL）的激射．首先采用金属有机物化学气相沉积（MOCVD）技术在蓝宝石衬底上进行高质量氮化物增益区的外延生长．然后在表面沉积高反射介质膜分布布拉格反射镜（DBR）．将样品键合到其它支撑片上后，采用激光剥离技术将蓝宝石衬底去除．再在去除蓝宝石后露出的氮化物表面沉积第二组介质膜DBR制成VCSEL．在室温光泵条件下，观察到VCSEL的激射．激射波长449．5nm。阈值6．5mJ／cm~2．激射峰的半高宽小于0．1nm，这些指标达到了国际领先水平．本文为进一步研制实用化氮化物VCSEL奠定了重要的基础．

Fabrication of Silicon Condenser Microphone Using Oxidized Porous Silicon as Sacrificial Layer

A new technique to fabricate silicon condenser microphone is presented. The technique is based on the use of oxidized porous silicon as sacrificial layer for the air gap and the heavy p~+-doping silicon of approximately 15μm thickness for the stiff backplate. The measured sensitivity of the microphone fabricated with this technique is in the range from -45dB (5.6mV/Pa) to -55dB (1.78mV/Pa) under the frequency from 500Hz to 10kHz, and shows a gradual increase at high frequency. The cut-off frequency is above 20kHz.