Effect of feeding strategy and carbohydrate source on carbohydrate utilization by white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) and hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus X O-aureus)

Two 8-week growth trials were conducted to determine the effect of continuous (CF) versus 2 meals day(-1) (MF) feeding and 30% starch versus 30% glucose diets on the carbohydrate utilization of 9.0-g white sturgeon and 0.56-g hybrid tilapia. The two trials were conducted under similar conditions except that sturgeon were kept at 18.5 degrees C in a flow-through system and tilapia were kept at 26 degrees C in a recirculating system. Significantly (P less than or equal to 0.05) higher specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency ratio (PER), body lipid content and liver glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) activities were observed in the CF than MF sturgeon. Only SGR, FE and PER were higher in sturgeon fed the starch than the glucose diets. Only higher liver G6PDH and malic enzyme (ME) activities were observed in the CF than MF tilapia but higher SGR, FE, PER and liver G6PDH, 6PGDH and ME activities were observed in tilapia fed the starch diet than those fed the glucose diet. This suggested that carbohydrate utilization by sturgeon was more affected by feeding strategy whereas tilapia was more affected by carbohydrate source. Furthermore, white sturgeon can utilize carbohydrates better than hybrid tilapia regardless of feeding strategy and carbohydrate source.

Hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells from a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and TiO2 nanotubes

Hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells based on blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and TiO2 nanotubes or dye(N719) modified TiO2 nanotubes were processed from solution and characterized to research the nature of organic/inorganic hybrid materials. Compared with the pristine polymer P3HT and TiO2 nanoparticles/P3HT solar cells, the TiO2 nanotubes/P3HT hybrid solar cells show obvious performance improvement, due to the formation of the bulk heterojunction and charge transport improvement. A further improvement in the device performance can be achieved by modifying TiO2 nanotube surface with a standard dye N719 which can play a role in the improvement of both the light absorption and charge dissociation. Compared with the non-modified TiO2 nanotubes solar cells, the modified ones have better power conversion efficiency under 100 mW/cm(2) illumination with 500W Xenon lamp. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.

Electric tunable of electron spin polarization in hybrid magnetic-electric barrier structures

Electron spin-dependent transport properties have been theoretically investigated in two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) modulated by the magnetic field generated by a pair of anti-parallel magnetization ferromagnetic metal stripes and the electrostatic potential provided by a normal metal Schottky stripe. It is shown that the energy positions of the spin-polarization extremes and the width of relative spin conductance excess plateau could be significantly manipulated by the electrostatic potential strength and width, as well as its position relative to the FM stripes. These interesting features are believed useful for designing the electric voltage controlled spin filters. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Realization of MMI power splitter by UV-light imprinting technique using hybrid sol-gel SiO2 materials

An efficient fabrication scheme of buried ridge waveguide devices is demonstrated by UV-light imprinting technique using organic-in organic hybrid sol-gel Zr-doped SiO2 materials. The refractive indices of a guiding layer and a cladding layer for the buried ridge waveguide structure are 1.537 and 1.492 measured at 1550 nm, respectively. The tested results show more circular mode profiles clue to existence of the cladding layer. A buried ridge single-mode waveguide operating at 1550 nm has a low propagation loss (0.088 dB/cm) and the 1 x 2 MMI power splitter exhibits uniform outputs, with a very low splitting loss of 0.029 dB at 1549 nm.

Tunneling magnetoresistance in CoFeB/GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As hybrid magnetic tunnel junctions

We reported the all electronic demonstration of spin injection and detection in the trilayers with hybrid structure of CoFeB/GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As (metal/insulator semiconductor) by probing the magnetoresistance at low temperature from 1.8 to 30 K. Tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of 3.8%, 4.7%, 2.9%, and 1.4% at 1.8, 10, 20, and 30 K, respectively, were observed. Bias dependence of both the junction resistance and TMR ratio was studied systematically. V-half at which TMR drops to half of its maximum is 6.3 mV, being much smaller compared to that observed in (Ga,Mn)As/ZnSe/Fe and (Ga,Mn)As/AlAs/MnAs hybrid structures, indicating lower Fermi energy of (Ga,Mn)As.

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]

Electrically Pumped Room-Temperature Pulsed InGaAsP-Si Hybrid Lasers Based on Metal Bonding

A pulsed InGaAsP-Si hybrid laser is fabricated using metal bonding. A novel structure in which the optical coupling and metal bonding areas are transversely separated is employed to integrate the silicon waveguide with an InGaAsP multi-quantum well distributed feedback structure. When electrically pumped at room temperature, the laser operates with a threshold current density of 2.9 kA/cm(2) and a slope efficiency of 0.02 W/A. The 1542 nm laser output exits mainly from the Si waveguide.

Electric-tunable magneto resistance effect in a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by hybrid magnetic-electric barrier nanostructure

The electric-tunable spin-independent magneto resistance effect has been theoretically investigated in ballistic regime within a two-dimensional electron gas modulated by magnetic-electric barrier nanostructure. By including the omitted stray field in previous investigations oil analogous structures, it is demonstrated based on this improved approximation that the magnetoresistance ratio for the considered structure can be efficiently enhanced by a proper electric barrier up to the maximum value depending on the specific magnetic suppression. Besides, it is also shown the introduction of positive electrostatic modulation can effectively overcome the degradation of magnetoresistance ratio for asymmetric configuration and enhance the visibility of periodic pattern induced by the size effect, while for an opposite modulation the system magnetoresistance ratio concerned may change its sign. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ballistic electron transport in hybrid ferromagnet/two-dimensional electron gas sandwich nanostructure: Spin polarization and magnetoresistance effect

We have theoretically investigated ballistic electron transport through a combination of magnetic-electric barrier based on a vertical ferromagnet/two-dimensional electron gas/ferromagnet sandwich structure, which can be experimentally realized by depositing asymmetric metallic magnetic stripes both on top and bottom of modulation-doped semiconductor heterostructures. Our numerical results have confirmed the existence of finite spin polarization even though only antisymmetric stray field B-z is considered. By switching the relative magnetization of ferromagnetic layers, the device in discussion shows evident magnetoconductance. In particular, both spin polarization and magnetoconductance can be efficiently enhanced by proper electrostatic barrier up to the optimal value relying on the specific magnetic-electric modulation. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI 10.1063/1.3041477]

A Bragg-mirror-based semiconductor saturable absorption mirror at 800 nm with low temperature and surface state hybrid absorber

We present a novel 800-nm Bragg-mirror-based semiconductor saturable absorption mirror with low temperature and surface state hybrid absorber, with which we can realize the passive soliton mode locking of a Ti:sapphire laser pumped by 532-nm green laser which produces pulses as short as 37 fs. The reflection bandwidth of the mirror is 30 nm and the pulse frequency is 107 MHz. The average output power is 1.1 W at the pump power of 7.6 W.

A novel hybrid phase-locked-loop frequency synthesizer using single-electron devices and CMOS transistors

This paper proposes a novel phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer using single-electron devices (SEDs) and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistors. The PLL frequency synthesizer mainly consists of a single-electron transistor (SET)/MOS hybrid voltage-controlled oscillator circuit, a single-electron (SE) turnstile/MOS hybrid phase-frequency detector (PFD) circuit and a SE turnstile/MOS hybrid frequency divider. The phase-frequency detection and frequency-division functions are realized by manipulating the single electrons. We propose a SPICE model to describe the behavior of the MOSFET-based SE turnstile. The authors simulate the performance of the PILL block circuits and the whole PLL synthesizer. Simulation results indicated that the circuit can well perform the operation of the PLL frequency synthesizer at room temperature. The PILL synthesizer is very compact. The total number of the transistors is less than 50. The power dissipation of the proposed PLL circuit is less than 3 uW. The authors discuss the effect of fabrication tolerance, the effect of background charge and the SE transfer accuracy on the performance of the PLL circuit. A technique to compensate parameter dispersions of SEDs is proposed.

Fabrication of ZnO and its enhancement of charge injection and transport in hybrid organic/inorganic light emitting devices

ZnO nanocrystals were synthesized by hydrolysis in methanol. X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectra confirm that good crystallized ZnO nanoparticles were formed. Utilizing those ZnO nanoparticles and poly [2- methoxy-5 - (3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)- 1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV), light emitting devices with indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-oxyethyleneoxy-thiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/ ZnO:MDMO-PPV/Al and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MDMO-PPV/Al structures were fabricated. Electrolummescence (EL) spectra reveal that EL yield of hybrid MDMO-PPV and ZnO nanocrystals devices increased greatly as compared with pristine MDMO-PPV devices. The current-voltage characteristics indicate that addition of ZnO nanocrystals can facilitate electrical injection and charge transport. The decreased energy barrier to electron injection is responsible for the increased efficiency of electron injection. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of ultraviolet light on hybrid zinc oxide polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells

Compared to conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy-5- (3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV) solar cells, bulk heterojunction solar cells composed of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocrystals and MDMO-PPV have a better energy conversion efficiency, However, ultraviolet (UV) light deteriorates the performance of solar cells composed of ZnO and MDMO-PPV. We propose a model to explain the effect of UV illumination on these ZnO:MDMO-PPV solar cells. According to this model, the degradation from UV illumination is due to a decrease of exciton dissociation efficiency, Our model is based on the experimental results such as the measurements of current density versus voltage, photoluminescence, and photocurrent.

Photovoltaic and electroluminescence characters in hybrid ZnO and conjugated polymer bulk heterojunction devices

We report electroluminescence in hybrid ZnO and conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy-5-(3', 7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV) bulk heterojuriction photovoltaic cells. Photolummescence quenching experimental results indicate that the ultra,fast photoinduced electron transfer occurs from MDMO-PPV to ZnO under illumination. The ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer effect is induced because ZnO has an electron affinity about 1.2 eV greater than that of MDMO-PPV. Electron 'back transfer' can occur if the interfacial barrier between ZnO and MDMO-PPV can be overcome by applying a substantial electric field. Therefore, electroluminescence action due to the fact that the back transfer effect can be observed in the ZnO:MDMO-PPV devices since a forward bias is applied. The photovoltaic and electroluminescence actions in the same ZnO:MDMO-PPV device can be induced by different injection ways: photoinjection and electrical injection. The devices are expected to provide an opportunity for dual functionality devices with photovoltaic effect and electroluminescence character.