First report of the cyanotoxins cylindrospermopsin and deoxycylindrospermopsin from Raphidiopsis curvata (Cyantobacteria)

A strain of Raphidiopsis (Cyanobacteria) isolated from a fish pond in Wuhan, P. R. China was examined for its taxonomy and production of the alkaloidal hepatotoxins cylindrospermopsin (CYN) and deoxy-cylindrospermopsin (deoxy-CYN). Strain HB1 was identified as R. curvata Fritsch et Rich based on morphological examination of the laboratory culture. HB1 produced mainly deoxy-CYN at a concentration of 1.3 mg(.)g(-1) (dry ut cells) by HPLC and HPLC-MS/MS. CYN was also detected in trace amounts (0.56 mug(.)g(-1)). A mouse bioassay did not show lethal toxicity when tested at doses up to 1500 mg dry weight cells(.)kg(-1) body weight within 96 h, demonstrating that production of primarily deoxy CYN does not lead to significant mouse toxicity by strain BB I. The presence of deoxy-CYN and CYN in R curvata suggests that Raphidiopsis belongs to the Nostocaceae, but this requires confirmation by molecular systematic studies. Production of these cyanotoxins by Raphidiopsis adds another genus, in addition to Cylindrospemopsis, Aphanizomenon, and Umezakia, now known to produce this group of hepatotoxic cyanotoxins. This is also the first report from China of a CYN and deoxy-CYN producing cyanobacterium.

Mechanical and chemical bonding properties of ground state BeH2

The crystal structure, mechanical properties and electronic structure of ground state BeH2 are calculated employing the first-principles methods based on the density functional theory. Our calculated structural parameters at equilibrium volume are well consistent with experimental results. Elastic constants, which well obey the mechanical stability criteria, are firstly theoretically acquired. The bulk modulus B, Shear modulus G, Young's modulus E, and Poisson's ratio upsilon are deduced from the elastic constants. The bonding nature in BeH2 is fully interpreted by combining characteristics in band structure, density of states, and charge distribution. The ionicity in the Be-H bond is mainly featured by charge transfer from Be 2s to H 1s atomic orbitals while its covalency is dominated by the hybridization of H 1s and Be 2p states. The Bader analysis of BeH2 and MgH2 are performed to describe the ionic/covalent character quantitatively and we find that about 1.61 (1.6) electrons transfer from each Be (Mg) atom to H atoms.

Narrow line-width resonant cavity enhanced photodetectors operating at 1.55 mu m

A method for fabrication of long-wavelength narrow line-width InGaAs resonant cavity enhanced (RCE) photodetectors in a silicon substrate operating at the wavelength range of 1.3-1.6 mu m has been developed. A full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 0.7 nm and a peak responsivity of 0. 16 A/W at the resonance wavelength of 1.55 mu m have been accomplished by using a thick InP layer as part of the resonant cavity. The effects of roughness and tilt of the InP layer surface, and its free carrier absorption, as well as the thickness deviation of the mirror pair on the resonance wavelength shift and the peak quantum efficiency of the RCE photodetectors are analyzed in detail, and approaches for minimizing them toward superior performance are suggested. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Thermal entanglement in spin-1 biparticle system

The thermal entanglement in a two-qubit Spin-1 system with two spins coupled by exchange interaction is investigated in terms of the measure of entanglement called "negativity". It is found that the thermal entanglement exists and is symmetric for both ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange couplings. Moreover, the critical temperature at which the negativity vanishes increases with the exchange coupling constant J. From the temperature and magnetic field dependences we demonstrate that the temperature and the magnetic field can affect the feature of the thermal entanglement significantly. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Passive mode locking of diode-end-pumped Nd : GdVO4 laser with an In0.25Ga0.75As output coupler

Passive mode locking of a diode-pumped Nd:GdVO4 laser was demonstrated using In0.25Ga0.75As as saturable absorber as well as output coupler. The pulse width was measured to be about 16 ps with a repetition rate of 146 MHz. The average output power was 120 mW with pump power of 6 W. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration on a passively mode-locked Nd:GdVO4 laser by using an In0.25Ga0.75As output coupler. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous Q switching and mode locking with narrow envelope width in a microchip Nd : YVO4 laser with a composite semiconductor absorber

By using a composite semiconductor absorber and an output coupler, we demonstrated a Q-switched and mode-locked diode-pumped microchip Nd:YVO4 laser. With a 350-mu m-thick crystal, the width of the Q-switched envelope was as short as 12 ns; the repetition rate of the mode-locked pulses inside the Q-switched pulse was more than 10 GHz. The average output power was 335 mW at a maximum pump power of 1.6 W. Q-switched envelope widths of 21 and 31 ns were also achieved with crystals 0.7 and 1.0 mm thick, respectively.

Porous ZnAl2O4 spinel nanorods doped with Eu3+: synthesis and photoluminescence

Eu3+-doped zinc aluminate (ZnAl2O4) nanorods with a spinel structure were successfully synthesized via an annealing transformation of layered precursors obtained by a homogeneous coprecipitation method combined with surfactant assembly. These spinel nanorods, which consist of much finer nanofibres together with large quantities of irregular mesopores and which possess a large surface area of 93.2 m(2) g(-1) and a relatively narrow pore size distribution in the range of 6 - 20 nm, are an ideal optical host for Eu3+ luminescent centres. In this nanostructure, rather disordered surroundings induce the typical electric-dipole emission (D-5(0) --> F-7(2)) of Eu3+ to predominate and broaden.

Tunneling magnetoresistance in (Ga,Mn)As/Al-O/CoFeB hybrid structures

Tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) in Ga(0.9)2Mn(0.08)As/Al-O/Co40Fe40B20 trilayer hybrid structure as a function of temperature from 10 to 50 K with magnetic field vertical bar H vertical bar <= 2000 Oe has been studied. TMR ratio of 1.6% at low fields at 10 K was achieved with the applied current of 1 mu A. The behavior of junction resistance was well explained by the tunneling resistance across the barrier. Strong bias dependences of magnetoresistance and junction resistance were presented. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3068418]

In-Situ Boron and Aluminum Doping and Their Memory Effects in 4H-SiC Homoepitaxial Layers Grown by Hot-Wall LPCVD

The in-situ p-type doping of 4H-SiC grown on off-oriented (0001) 4H-SiC substrates was performed with trimethylaluminum (TMA) and/or diborane (B2H6) as the dopants. The incorporations of Al and B atoms and their memory effects and the electrical properties of p-type 4H-SiC epilayers were characterized by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and Hall effect measurements, respectively. Both Al- and B-doped 4H-SiC epilayers were p-type conduction. It was shown that the profiles of the incorporated boron and aluminum concentration were in agreement with the designed TMA and B2H6 flow rate diagrams. The maximum hole concentration for the Al doped 4H-SiC was 3.52x10(20) cm(-3) with Hall mobility of about 1 cm(2)/Vs and resistivity of 1.6 similar to 2.2x10(-2) Omega cm. The heavily boron-doped 4H-SiC samples were also obtained with B2H6 gas flow rate of 5 sccm, yielding values of 0.328 Omega cm for resistivity, 5.3x10(18) cm(-3) for hole carrier concentration, and 7 cm(2)/VS for hole mobility. The doping efficiency of Al in SiC is larger than that of B. The memory effects of Al and B were investigated in undoped 4H-SiC by using SIMS measurement after a few run of doped 4H-SiC growth. It was clearly shown that the memory effect of Al is stronger than that of B. It is suggested that p-type 4H-SiC growth should be carried out in a separate reactor, especially for Al doping, in order to avoid the join contamination on the subsequent n-type growth. 4H-SiC PiN diodes were fabricated by using heavily B doped epilayers. Preliminary results of PiN diodes with blocking voltage of 300 V and forward voltage drop of 3.0 V were obtained.

Measurement of GaN/Ge(001) Heterojunction Valence Band Offset by X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to measure the valence band offset (VBO) at the GaN/Ge heterostructure interface. The VBO is directly determined to be 1.13 +/- 0.19 eV, according to the relationship between the conduction band offset Delta E-C and the valence band offset Delta E-V : Delta E-C = E-g(GaN) - E-g(Ge) - Delta E-V, and taking the room-temperature band-gaps as 3.4 and 0.67 eV for GaN and Ge, respectively. The conduction band offset is deduced to be 1.6 +/- 0.19 eV, which indicates a type-I band alignment for GaN/Ge. Accurate determination of the valence and conduction band offsets is important for the use of GaN/Ge based devices.

The design and operation of a new clapboard-type internal circulating fluidized-bed gasifier

The design and operation of a new clapboard-type internal circulating fluidized-bed gasifier is proposed in this article. By arranging the clapboard in the bed, the gasifier is thus divided into two regions, which are characterized by different fluidization velocities. The bed structure is designed so that it can guide the circulating flow passing through the two regions, and therefore the feedstock particles entrained in the flow experience longer residence time. The experimental results based on the present new design, operating in the temperature range of 790 degrees C-850 degrees C, indicate that the gas yield is from 1.6-1.9 Nm(3)/kg feedstock, the gas enthalpies are 5,345 kJ/Nm(3) for wood chip and 4,875 kJ/m(3) for rice husk, and a gasification efficiency up to 75% can be obtained.

BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM DIFFERENT FEEDSTOCKS IN PILOT SCALE SYSTEM

In this study, the preparations of biodiesel from three different feedstocks, including rapeseed oil, high acidified Chinese wood oil and trap grease, were carried out in a pilot scale of 200 t yr(-1) biodiesel production system. The optimum operating conditions for transesterification of rapeseed oil in plug flow reactor were found to be as follows: the catalyst dosage is 1.2 wt%; the retention time is about 17 min; the bed temperature is 65 degrees C; the oil/methanol ratio is 1:6; the content of methyl ester is 96.33% under these conditions. A kind of ion exchange resin, a solid acid catalyst, filled in the fixed bed reactor was used as the esterification catalyst for the pretreating of high acidified oil. The acid value of Chinese wood oil could be reduced from 7 to 0.8 mg KOH.g(-1) after 88 min, the optimum operating conditions were obtained as follow: molar ratio of methanol to oil is about 6:1, the temperature of the fixed bed, 65 degrees C and the retention time, about 88 min. Also a kind of acidified oil, namely trap grease, with the acid value being 114 mg KOH.g(-1) could be equally converted to a good biodiesel product through this system. Generally, the refined biodiesel product generated through this system could meet China #0 Biodiesel Standard, as well as Germany Biodiesel Standard for most indexes. It indicates that the designed process in this system has a good adaptability for different kinds of oil.

原位聚合制备聚乙烯多相材料的微结构调控

聚合物多相材料的制备作为丰富材料品种，扩展材料用途的重要手段受到了广泛地关注和深入地研究。传统的熔融共混法制备聚合物多相材料时，一般需要加入增容剂来改善各相之间的相容性，从而使多相材料的性能达到预期的目标。但是由于增容剂本身也存在分散状态的问题，所以它的加入对多相材料的性能的影响比较复杂。因此，本论文致力于用原位共聚接枝的方法和粒子破碎的方法解决多相材料的界面结合和相分散问题。首先，采用对分散相进行共聚功能化改性的方法，使分散相与乙烯共聚，聚合过程中原位生成聚乙烯接枝物，这种聚乙烯接枝物能起到增容两相的作用，提高两相界面的粘结性，将这种方法应用到有机聚苯乙烯粒子和无机磁性钴粒子体系中，并分别进行了详细的研究；其次，通过聚苯乙烯载体的结构设计，使聚苯乙烯载体催化剂具有较高并且可控的活性，在较高的活性下，聚苯乙烯载体可以破碎，破碎后的聚苯乙烯均匀地分散到乙烯聚合产物中，并且碎片达到纳米级，用这种方法可以改善多相材料的相分散。 本论文的主要工作和研究结果总结如下： 1、采用悬浮聚合制备了交联聚苯乙烯粒子（c-PS），并且在聚苯乙烯粒子的表面引入了双键；c-PS粒子在乙烯填充聚合时，可以与乙烯共聚，从而制备了表面接枝聚乙烯的聚苯乙烯微球（PS-g-PE）；PS-g-PE微球上的聚乙烯的结晶温度与纯聚乙烯的结晶温度相比提高了6℃，说明聚乙烯与聚苯乙烯间的化学连接促进了PE的结晶；PS-g-PE与PE共混后，聚苯乙烯粒子与聚乙烯基体间的界面粘结增强。 2、采用乳液聚合制备了共聚型和不可共聚型交联聚苯乙烯乳胶粒子；将两种聚苯乙烯粒子用于乙烯填充聚合制备了聚苯乙烯/聚乙烯纳米共混材料，结果发现，共聚型聚苯乙烯/聚乙烯的断面上，两相间的界面模糊，并且拉伸断面上也没有不可共聚聚苯乙烯体系中由于拉应力作用而产生的空穴，超薄切片的透射电镜结果同样说明了可共聚型聚苯乙烯体系中界面粘结性的提高；当共聚型聚苯乙烯乳胶粒子的填充量较大（20 wt%）时，聚乙烯共混材料的凝胶含量比较高，说明有更多的共聚型聚苯乙烯在聚乙烯中充当交联点。总之，共聚型聚苯乙烯的填充量在非常少时（0.1 wt%）就能达到很好的改性效果。 3、采用阴离子共聚制备了两亲性的聚苯乙烯-b-聚-2-乙烯基吡啶嵌段共聚物（PS-b-P2VP）和聚4-（3-丁烯基）苯乙烯-聚苯乙烯-聚2乙烯基吡啶的三嵌段共聚物（PBSt-b-PS-b-P2VP）；两个嵌段共聚物在甲苯中均能自组装形成以PVP为核、PS为壳的胶束；Co2(CO)8在PS-b-PVP和PBSt-b-PS-b-P2VP甲苯胶束中热分解得到了由胶束稳定分散的Co磁流体；无水无氧的钴磁流体与乙烯填充聚合后得到了磁性聚乙烯纳米复合材料；钴纳米粒子在聚乙烯中稳定分散，不会发生聚集；PBSt-b-PS-b-P2VP与乙烯共聚后，纳米粒子与聚乙烯基体的相容性进一步提高，从而解决了金属纳米粒子在聚合物中的分散以及界面增强的问题。 4、采用悬浮聚合制备了三种溶胀能力不同的聚苯乙烯交联粒子，研究了溶胀时间对聚苯乙烯载体溶胀程度的影响，以及溶胀程度对乙烯聚合和产物聚乙烯形态的影响；实验结果发现溶胀程度较大、溶胀能力较强的聚苯乙烯载体的负载量和活性都较高；通过提高载体的溶胀程度可以增加催化剂对乙烯聚合的催化活性，最终使载体充分破碎分散到乙烯聚合产物中，原位形成纳米级聚乙烯共混物；乙烯聚合的动力学研究表明载体的破碎是一个由外向内逐步发生的过程；适当的活性可以控制载体破碎的速度，从而得到颗粒形态较好的聚乙烯产物。

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。

含联萘基团的旋光性聚喹啉的合成与性质

为了研究旋光性聚喹啉与相应非旋光性聚喹啉之间的物性差异，进而寻找旋光性聚喹啉的独特性能，合成了含有联萘基团的旋光性聚喹啉。并对其性质进行了研究。主要内容如下：1. 用(-)-辛可尼丁作为拆分剂，将(±)-联萘酚拆分为手性的对映体，(R)-联萘酚和(S)-联萘酚。并从他们出发，合成了手性的二酮化合物：6,6'-二乙酰基-2,2'-二甲氧基-1,1'-联萘。并与相应的外消旋化合物进行了对比研究。2.对文献中报道的3,3'-二苯甲酰基-4,4'-二氨基-二苯基醚的合成路线进行了优化，简化了实验操作，提高了产率。3.分别以6,6'-二乙酰基-2,2'-二甲氧基-1,1'-联萘为二酮单体，3,3'-二苯甲酰基-4,4'-二氨基-二苯基醚为芳香邻氨基酮类单体，通过Friedlander法进行缩合聚合，并通过控制二酮单体的旋光纯度及投料方式得到一系列的聚合物。它们的特性粘度达到0.4至1.25dL/g。通过聚合物物性测定分析，认为：1)聚合物有较高的Tg、Td和耐溶剂性能。2)聚合物在紫外可见光谱、荧光光谱和红外光谱等方面基本相同。3)聚合物仅存在微区有序，结晶度很低，系非晶高聚物。4)由不同旋光纯度单体和不同投料方式得到的聚合物在粘度、固体形态和旋光活性方面表现出一定的差异。这种差异发生的原因还有待进一步研究。