Daily timing of emersion and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration affect photosynthetic performance of the intertidal macroalga Ulva lactuca (Chlorophyta) in sunlight

The lunar day differs in length from the solar day so that times of low tide vary from day to day. Thus, aerial exposure of intertidal seaweeds may be during the day or during the night. We measured photosynthetic CO, assimilation rates of the intertidal green macroalga Ulva lactuca during exposures of varied daily timings during sunny days of summer to establish how photosynthetic performance responds to emersion timing under varied CO2 levels [at ambient (360 ppmv) and 2x ambient (720 ppmv) atmospheric CO2 concentrations]. There was an increase in net photosynthetic rates following some duration of exposure when the initial timing of exposure occurred during early morning (06.30 h) and late afternoon (17.15 h). In contrast, net rates exhibited a sharp decline with exposure duration when the initial timing of exposure occurred at 09.30 h, 15.30 h and especially at noon (12.30 h), implying the occurrence of a severe photoinhibition resulting from mid-day insolation. Doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration significantly enhanced the emersed photosynthetic rates, indicating that the emersed photosynthesis is CO2-limited at ambient CO2 levels. However, increasing CO2 barely stimulates the emersed photosynthetic rates during mid-day insolation.

Relationship between organic carbon concentration and potential pond bottom soil respiration

There was a positive correlation between the concentration of organic carbon and potential respiration as measured by carbon dioxide evolution (R-2 = 0.923) and oxygen consumption (R-2 = 0.986) in soil samples collected from the bottoms of drained ponds. This finding supports the frequent use of organic carbon analysis as an indicator of sediment respiration rate under optimal conditions in commercial aquaculture facilities. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nitrate and phosphate supplementation to increase toxin production by the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense

Alexandrium tamarense toxins have great value in biotechnology research as well as important in connection with shellfish poisoning. The influence of nitrate or nitrate and phosphate supplementation on cell biomass and toxin content were investigated in batch cultures. When cultures at low nitrate (88.2 mu M NaNO3) Were supplemented with 793.8 mu M NaNO3 at day 10 the cell density and cellular toxin contents were increased by 6-29% and 20-76%, respectively, compared with controls, and maximal values were 43,600 cells/ml (day 38) and 0.91 pg/cell (day 31). Supplementation with nitrate at day 14 or with nitrate and phosphate at day 10/14 to the cultures did not increase the cell density compared with the non-supplemented middle nitrate or high phosphate (108 mu M NaH2PO4) cultures, respectively, but increased the cellular toxin contents by an average of 52%. The results showed that supplementation with nitrate or with nitrate and phosphate at different growth phases of the cultures increased toxin yield by an average of 46%. Supplementation with nitrate at selected times to maintain continuous low level of nitrate might contribute to the effective increase of toxin yield of A. tamarense. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in the patterns of inorganic nitrogen and TN/TP ratio and the associated mechanism of biological regulation in the shallow lakes of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River

The changes of NH3-N, NO3-N, NO2-N and TN/TP were studied during growth and non-growth season in 33 subtropical shallow lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. There were significant positive correlations among all nutrient concentrations, and the correlations were better in growth season than in non-growth season. When TP > 0.1 mgL(-1), NH3-N increased sharply in non-growth season with increasing TP, and NO3-N increased in growth season but decreased in non-growth season with TP. These might be attributed to lower dissolved oxygen and low temperature in non-growth season of the hypereutrophic lakes, since nitrification is more sensitive to dissolved oxygen and temperature than anti nitrification. When 0.1 mgL(-1)> TP > 0.035 mgL(-1), TN and all kinds of inorganic nitrogen were lower in growth season than in non-growth season, and phytoplankton might be the vital regulating factor. When TP < 0.035 mgL(-1), inorganic nitrogen concentrations were relatively low and NH3-N, NO2-N had significant correlations with phytoplankton, indicating that NH3-N and NO2-N might be limiting factors to phytoplankton. In addition, TN/TP went down with decline in TIP concentration, and TN and inorganic nitrogen concentrations were obviously lower in growth season than in non-growth season, suggesting that decreasing nitrogen (especially NH3-N and NO3-N) was an important reason for the decreasing TN/TP in growth season. The ranges of TN/TP were closely related to trophic level in both growth and non-growth seasons, and it is apparent that in the eutrophic and hypertrophic state the TN/TP ratio was obviously lower in growth season than in non-growth season. The changes of the TN/TP ratio were closely correlated with trophic levels, and both declines of TN in the water column and TP release from the sediment were important factors for the decline of the TN/TP ratio in growth season.

Ni(Pt)-silicide contacts on CMOS devices: Impact of substrate nature and Pt concentration on the phase formation

Ni silicides used as contacts in source/drain and gate of advanced CMOS devices were analyzed by atom probe tomography (APT) at atomic scale. These measurements were performed on 45 nm nMOS after standard self-aligned silicide (salicide) process using Ni(5 at.% Pt) alloy. After the first annealing (RTA1), δ-Ni2Si was the only phase formed on gate and source/drain while, after the second annealing (RTA2), two different Ni silicides have been formed: NiSi on the gate and δ-Ni2Si on the source and drain. This difference between source/drain and gate regions in nMOS devices has been related to the Si substrate nature (poly or mono-crystalline) and to the size of the contact. In fact, NiSi seems to have difficulties to nucleate in the narrow source/drain contact on mono-crystalline Si. The results have been compared to analysis performed on 28 nm nMOS where the Pt concentration is higher (10 at.% Pt). In this case, θ-Ni2Si is the first phase to form after RTA1 and NiSi is then formed at the same time on source (or drain) and gate after RTA2. The absence of the formation of NiSi from δ-Ni 2Si/Si(1 0 0) interface compared to θ-Ni2Si/Si(1 0 0) interface could be related to the difference of the interface energies. The redistributions of As and Pt in different silicides and interfaces were measured and discussed. In particular, it has been evidenced that Pt redistributions obtained on both 45 and 28 nm MOS transistors correspond to respective Pt distributions measured on blanket wafers. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Positive effects of continuous low nitrate levels on growth and photosynthesis of Alexandrium tamarense (Gonyaulacales, Dinophyceae)

The growth and photosynthesis of Alexandrium tamarense (Lebour) Balech in different nutrient conditions were investigated. Low nitrate level (0.0882 mmol/L) resulted in the highest average growth rate from day 0 to day 10 (4.58 x 10(2) cells mL(-1) d(-1)), but the lowest cell yield (5420 cells mL(-1)) in three nitrate level cultures. High nitrate-grown cells showed lower levels of chlorophyll a-specific and cell-specific light-saturated photosynthetic rate (P-m(chl a) and P-m(cell)), dark respiration rate (R-d(chl a) and R-d(cell)) and chlorophyll a-specific apparent photosynthetic efficiency (alpha(chl a)) than was seen for low nitrate-grown cells; whereas the cells became light saturated at higher irradiance at low nitrate condition. When cultures at low nitrate were supplemented with nitrate at 0.7938 mmol/L in late exponential growth phase, or with nitrate at 0.7938 mmol/L and phosphate at 0.072 mmol/L in stationary growth phase, the cell yield was drastically enhanced, a 7-9 times increase compared with non-supplemented control culture, achieving 43 540 cells mL(-1) and 52 300 cells mL(-1), respectively; however, supplementation with nitrate in the stationary growth phase or with nitrate and phosphate in the late exponential growth phase increased the cell yield by no more than 2 times. The results suggested that continuous low level of nitrate with sufficient supply of phosphate may facilitate the growth of A. tamarense.

Effects of doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration on the photosynthesis and growth of Chlorella pyrenoidosa cultured at varied levels of light

Chlorella pyrenoidosa was cultured with 350 and 700 p.p.m.v. CO2 at varied levels of light to see the impacts of doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration on its growth and photosynthesis. The CO2 enrichment did not affect the growth rate (mu), but significantly increased the cell density when light was sufficiently supplied. The CO2 enrichment significantly depressed light-saturated photosynthesis and dark respiration in the cells grown under a high-light regime, but not those under a low-light regime. The light-saturating point for photosynthesis and photosynthetic efficiency was not affected by the CO2 enrichment under either the high-light or low-light conditions.

The effect of food concentration on the life history of three types of Brachionus calyciflorus females

The effect of food concentration on the life history of three types of Brachionus calciflorus females (amictic, unfertilized mictic and fertilized mictic female) was studied with replicated individual cultures at 25 degrees and at four food concentrations (1.5, 3.0, 6.0 and 9.0 x 10(6) cells mL(-1)) of Scenedesmus obliquus. There were highly significant effects of both food concentration and female type, independently and in interaction on the duration of juvenile period of the rotifer, but neither a;ere the effects on the duration of post-reproductive period and mean life-span. The duration of juvenile period of unfertilized mictic female at the food concentration of 9.0 x 10(6) cells mL(-1) was the longest among all the food concentration-female type combinations. Both food concentration and female type influenced significantly the duration of reproductive period and the number of eggs produced by each type of female per life cycle, respectively. There was, however, no significant interaction between food level and female type. Among the three types of females, the number of eggs produced by an unfertilized mictic female was the largest. and that of a fertilized mictic female was the smallest.

Growth of Chlorella vulgaris in cultures with low concentration dimethoate as source of phosphorus

The growth response of Chlorella vulgaris to low concentration of dimethoate, an organophosphorus pesticide, was studied. Results show that cell density, protein content, chlorophyll pigment and alkaline phosphatase activity were all increased, which indicates that low concentration dimethoate can accelerate growth of Chlorella vulgaris. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Hole concentration test of p-type GaN by analyzing the spectral response of p-n(+) structure GaN ultraviolet photodetector

A new method to test the hole concentration of p-type GaN is proposed, which is carried out by analyzing the spectral response of p-n(+) structure GaN ultraviolet photodetector. It is shown that the spectral response of the photodetector changes considerably with reversed bias. It is found that the difference between photodetector's quantum efficiency at two wavelengths, i.e. 250 and 361 nm, varies remarkably with increasing reversed bias. According to the simulation calculation, the most characteristic change occurs at a reversed voltage under which the p-GaN layer starts to be completely depleted. Based on this effect the carrier concentration of p-GaN can be derived.

Annealing study of carrier concentration in gradient-doped GaAs/GaAlAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We measured the carrier concentration distribution of gradient-doped GaAs/GqAlAs epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy before and after annealing at 600 degrees C, using electrochemical capacitance voltage profiling, to investigate the internal variation of transmission-mode GaAs photocathodes arising from the annealing process. The results show that the carrier concentration increased after annealing. As a result, the total band-bending energy in the gradient-doped GaAs emission layer increased by 25.24% after annealing, which improves the pbotoexcited electron movement toward the surface. On the other hand, the annealing process resulted in a worse carrier concentration discrepancy between the GaAs and the GaAlAs, which causes a lower back interface potential barrier, decreasing the amount of high-energy photoelectrons. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

Effect of the oxygen concentration on the properties of Gd2O3 thin films

Gd2O3 thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates at 650degreesC by a magnetron sputtering system under different Ar/O-2 ratios of 6:1, 4:1 and 2:1. The effect of the oxygen concentration on the properties of oxide thin films was investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and capacitance-voltage (C-V)measurement. X-ray diffraction shows that the structure of oxide films changed from the monoclinic Gd2O3 phase to cubic Gd2O3 phase when the oxygen concentration increased. According to C-V measurement, the dielectric constant value of the samples deposited at different Ar/O-2 ratios is about 12. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Concentration effect of Mn2+ on the photoluminescence of ZnS : Mn nanocrystals

Mn-doped ZnS nanocrystals of about 3 nm diameter were synthesized by a wet chemical method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements showed that the nanocrystals have the structure of cubic zinc blende. The broadening of the XRD lines is indicative of nanomaterials. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the undoped sample only exhibited a defected-related blue emission band. But for the doped samples, an orange emission from the Mn2+ T-4(1)-(6)A(1) transition was also observed, apart from the blue emission. The peak position (600 nm) of the Mn2+ emission was shifted to longer wavelength compared to that (584 nm) of bulk ZnS:Mn. With the increase of the Mn2+ concentration, the PL of ZnS:Mn was significantly enhanced. The concentration quenching effect was not observed in our experiments. Such PL phenomena were attributed to the absence of Mn2+ pairs in a single ZnS:Mn nanocrystal, considering the nonradiative energy transfer between Mn2+ ions based on the Poisson approximation. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of fabrication conditions on I-V properties for ZnO varistor with high concentration additives by sol-gel technique

Polycrystalline nano-grain-boundary multi-doping ZnO-based nonlinear varistors with higher concentration additives have been fabricated by sol-gel and standard solid-state reaction method, of which the best sample has a very high threshold voltage of E-b = 3300 V/mm. The effect of sintering processes, sintering temperature and sintering time, and that of additive concentration of Bi2O3 on E-b of the samples are systematically investigated. The results show that the great merit of sol-gel method is its high threshold voltage obtained by a lower sintering temperature than the solid-state reaction method. The present work also shows that five phases including solid-state sintering, rich Bi liquid phase formation and ZnO as well as other additive dissolution, ZnO grain growth, the secondary phase sufficient formation and evolution have been experienced at different sintering temperatures. The hole type defect and nonhomogeneity of the microstructure will lead to the decrease of threshold voltage, i.e., the grain size and the homogeneity of the material will be important factors and directly affect the characteristic of the varistor. The sintering characteristic and the influence of Bi2O3 content on the threshold voltage are also discussed. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.