Extreme sensitivity of graphene photoconductivity to environmental gases.

Graphene is a single layer of covalently bonded carbon atoms, which was discovered only 8 years ago and yet has already attracted intense research and commercial interest. Initial research focused on its remarkable electronic properties, such as the observation of massless Dirac fermions and the half-integer quantum Hall effect. Now graphene is finding application in touch-screen displays, as channels in high-frequency transistors and in graphene-based integrated circuits. The potential for using the unique properties of graphene in terahertz-frequency electronics is particularly exciting; however, initial experiments probing the terahertz-frequency response of graphene are only just emerging. Here we show that the photoconductivity of graphene at terahertz frequencies is dramatically altered by the adsorption of atmospheric gases, such as nitrogen and oxygen. Furthermore, we observe the signature of terahertz stimulated emission from gas-adsorbed graphene. Our findings highlight the importance of environmental conditions on the design and fabrication of high-speed, graphene-based devices.

Environment induced variation in the photoconductivity of graphene observed by terahertz spectroscopy

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) grown graphene sheets were investigated using optical-pump terahertz-probe spectroscopy, revealing a dramatic variation in the photoinduced terahertz conductivity of graphene in different atmospheres. © 2012 IEEE.

Nanoengineering coaxial carbon nanotube-dual-polymer heterostructures.

We describe studies of new nanostructured materials consisting of carbon nanotubes wrapped in sequential coatings of two different semiconducting polymers, namely, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly(9,9'-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT). Using absorption spectroscopy and steady-state and ultrafast photoluminescence measurements, we demonstrate the role of the different layer structures in controlling energy levels and charge transfer in both solution and film samples. By varying the simple solution processing steps, we can control the ordering and proportions of the wrapping polymers in the solid state. The resulting novel coaxial structures open up a variety of new applications for nanotube blends and are particularly promising for implementation into organic photovoltaic devices. The carbon nanotube template can also be used to optimize both the electronic properties and morphology of polymer composites in a much more controlled fashion than achieved previously, offering a route to producing a new generation of polymer nanostructures.

Light-directed writing of chemically tunable narrow-band holographic sensors

This tunable holographic sensor offers interrogation and a reporting transducer as well as an analyte-responsive hydrogel, rendering it label-free and reusable. A single 6 ns laser pulse is used to fabricate holographic sensors consisting of silver nanoparticles arranged periodically within a polymer film. The tunability of the sensor is demonstrated through pH sensing of artificial urine and validated through computational modeling. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Computational modelling and characterisation of nanoparticle-based tuneable photonic crystal sensors

Photonic crystals are materials that are used to control or manipulate the propagation of light through a medium for a desired application. Common fabrication methods to prepare photonic crystals are both costly and intricate. However, through a cost-effective laser-induced photochemical patterning, one-dimensional responsive and tuneable photonic crystals can easily be fabricated. These structures act as optical transducers and respond to external stimuli. These photonic crystals are generally made of a responsive hydrogel that can host metallic nanoparticles in the form of arrays. The hydrogel-based photonic crystal has the capability to alter its periodicity in situ but also recover its initial geometrical dimensions, thereby rendering it fully reversible and reusable. Such responsive photonic crystals have applications in various responsive and tuneable optical devices. In this study, we fabricated a pH-sensitive photonic crystal sensor through photochemical patterning and demonstrated computational simulations of the sensor through a finite element modelling technique in order to analyse its optical properties on varying the pattern and characteristics of the nanoparticle arrays within the responsive hydrogel matrix. Both simulations and experimental results show the wavelength tuneability of the sensor with good agreement. Various factors, including nanoparticle size and distribution within the hydrogel-based responsive matrices that directly affect the performance of the sensors, are also studied computationally. © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Pulsed laser writing of holographic nanosensors

Tuneable optical sensors have been developed to sense chemical stimuli for a range of applications from bioprocess and environmental monitoring to medical diagnostics. Here, we present a porphyrin-functionalised optical sensor based on a holographic grating. The holographic sensor fulfils two key sensing functions simultaneously: it responds to external stimuli and serves as an optical transducer in the visible region of the spectrum. The sensor was fabricated via a 6 nanosecond-pulsed laser (350 mJ, λ = 532 nm) photochemical patterning process that enabled a facile fabrication. A novel porphyrin derivative was synthesised to function as the crosslinker of a polymer matrix, the light-absorbing material, the component of a diffraction grating, as well as the cation chelating agent in the sensor. The use of this multifunctional porphyrin permitted two-step fabrication of a narrow-band light diffracting photonic sensing structure. The resulting structure can be tuned finely to diffract narrow-band light based on the changes in the fringe spacing within the polymer and the system's overall index of refraction. We show the utility of the sensor by demonstrating its reversible colorimetric tuneability in response to variation in concentrations of organic solvents and metal cations (Cu 2+ and Fe2+) in the visible region of the spectrum (λmax ≈ 520-680 nm) with a response time within 50 s. Porphyrin-functionalised optical sensors offer great promise in fields varying from environmental monitoring to biochemical sensing to printable optical devices. This journal is © the Partner Organisations 2014.

Reusable, robust, and accurate laser-generated photonic nanosensor.

Developing noninvasive and accurate diagnostics that are easily manufactured, robust, and reusable will provide monitoring of high-risk individuals in any clinical or point-of-care environment. We have developed a clinically relevant optical glucose nanosensor that can be reused at least 400 times without a compromise in accuracy. The use of a single 6 ns laser (λ = 532 nm, 200 mJ) pulse rapidly produced off-axis Bragg diffraction gratings consisting of ordered silver nanoparticles embedded within a phenylboronic acid-functionalized hydrogel. This sensor exhibited reversible large wavelength shifts and diffracted the spectrum of narrow-band light over the wavelength range λpeak ≈ 510-1100 nm. The experimental sensitivity of the sensor permits diagnosis of glucosuria in the urine samples of diabetic patients with an improved performance compared to commercial high-throughput urinalysis devices. The sensor response was achieved within 5 min, reset to baseline in ∼10 s. It is anticipated that this sensing platform will have implications for the development of reusable, equipment-free colorimetric point-of-care diagnostic devices for diabetes screening.

长白山森林生态系统中的稀有和濒危多孔菌

In last 10 years,extensive field inventories were carried out to investigate Polypore species, the major wood decaying fungi in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve of Northeastern China. The following 27 species were treated as rare or threathened species: Amylocystis lapponica (Romell) Singer, Anomoporia albolutescens (Romell) Pouzar, Anomoporia bombycina (Fr.) Pouzar, Anomoporia vesiculosa Y.C. Dai & Niemel, Antrodia carbonica (Overh.) Ryvarden & Gilb., Antrodia crassa (P. Karst.) Ryvarden, Antrodiella citrinella Niemel & Ryvarden, Diplomitoporus flavescens (Bres.) Dománski, Donkioporia expansa (Desm.) Kotl. & Pouzar, Gloeophyllum carbonarium (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Ryvarden, Haploporus odorus (Sommerf.) Bondartsev & Singer, Inonotopsis subiculosa (Peck) Parmasto, Nigroporus ussuriensis (Bondartsev & Ljub.) Y.C. Dai & Niemela, Oxyporus sinensis X.L. Zeng, Parmastomyces taxi (Bondartsev) Y.C. Dai & Niemela, Phellinidium sulphurascens (Pilat) Y.C. Dai, Phellinus vaninii Ljub., Polyporus vassilievae Thorn, Pycnoporellus fulgens (Fr.) Donk, Skeletocutis brevispora Niemela, Skeletocutis ochroalba Niemela, Skeletocutis perennis Ryvarden, Trechispora candidissima (Schwein.) Bondartsev & Singer, Wolfiporia dilatohypha Ryvarden & Gilb., Wolfiporia curvispora Y.C. Dai, Wrightoporia avellanea (Bres.) Pouzar and Wrightoporia lenta (Oveh. & J. Lowe) Pouzar. Polypores are richer in East Asia than in Europe and North America, not only because of destructive galciations and fewer hosts in the latters, but also because of the geography. NE Asia is a link between Europe and North America. Changbaishan Nature Reserve is very rich in polypores, and over 260 species were recorded in the reserve. Some rare species in North America and Europe, for instance, Anomoporia albolutescens, Antrodia crassa, Diplomitoporus flavescens, Inonotopsis subiculosa and Skeletocutis ochroalba etc. were found in Changbaishan Nature Reserve as well, and these species are in fact rare in the earth. Most of the 27 species occurred on fallen trunks or rotten wood in the reserve, but some of them grew on living trees. 18 species occured on substrate of gymnosperms, and 9 species grew on wood of angiosperm.Among the 27 species, 7 species caused a brown rot,and 20 species produced a white rot. The morphology, substrate and ecology of each species were briefly discussed. The most important tool for polypore conservation is the conservation of their habitats, and it is necessary to study the ecology of the rare and threathened species of polypores in the Changbaishan Nature Reserve. Because most of polypores live on the substrate of fallen trunks and rotten wood, it is very important to keep such substrate in the ecosystem.

Probabilistic modelling of soil moisture dynamics of irrigated cropland in the North China Plain

A probabilistic soil moisture dynamic model is used to estimate the soil moisture probability distribution and plant water stress of irrigated cropland in the North China Plain. Soil moisture and meteorological data during the period of 1998 to 2003 were obtained from an irrigated cropland ecosystem with winter wheat and maize in the North China Plain to test the probabilistic soil moisture dynamic model. Results showed that the model was able to capture the soil moisture dynamics and estimate long-term water balance reasonably well when little soil water deficit existed. The prediction of mean plant water stress during winter wheat and maize growing season quantified the suitability of the wheat-maize rotation to the soil and climate environmental conditions in North China Plain under the impact of irrigation. Under the impact of precipitation fluctuations, there is no significant bimodality of the average soil moisture probability density function.

The M-Machine Multicomputer

The M-Machine is an experimental multicomputer being developed to test architectural concepts motivated by the constraints of modern semiconductor technology and the demands of programming systems. The M- Machine computing nodes are connected with a 3-D mesh network; each node is a multithreaded processor incorporating 12 function units, on-chip cache, and local memory. The multiple function units are used to exploit both instruction-level and thread-level parallelism. A user accessible message passing system yields fast communication and synchronization between nodes. Rapid access to remote memory is provided transparently to the user with a combination of hardware and software mechanisms. This paper presents the architecture of the M-Machine and describes how its mechanisms maximize both single thread performance and overall system throughput.

Scalable Multi-Relational Association Mining

Clare, A., Williams, H. E. and Lester, N. M. (2004) Scalable Multi-Relational Association Mining. In proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Data Mining ICDM '04.

'Psyching-up' enhances force production during the bench press exercise

Tod, D., Iredale, F., McGuigan, M., Strange, D., Gill, N. (2005). 'Psyching-up' enhances force production during the bench press exercise. Tod, 19 (3), 599-603. RAE2008

'Psyching-up' and muscular force production

Tod, D. A., Iredale, F., Gill, N. (2003). 'Psyching-up' and muscular force production. Sports Medicine, 33 (1), 47-58. RAE2008