Effects of CO2 enrichment on the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa (Cyanophyceae): Physiological responses and relationships with the availability of dissolved inorganic carbon

Microcystis aeruginosa Kutz. 7820 was cultured at 350 and 700 muL.L-1 CO2 to assess the impacts of doubled atmospheric CO2 concentration on this bloom-forming cyanobacterium. Doubling Of CO2 concentration in the airflow enhanced its growth by 52%-77%, with pH values decreased and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) increased in the medium. Photosynthetic efficiencies and dark respiratory rates expressed per unit chl a tended to increase with the doubling of CO2. However, saturating irradiances for photosynthesis and light-saturated photosynthetic rates normalized to cell number tended to decrease with the increase of DIC in the medium. Doubling of CO2 concentration in the airflow had less effect on DIC-saturated photosynthetic rates and apparent photosynthetic affinities for DIC. In the exponential phase, CO2 and HCO3- levels in the medium were higher than those required to saturate photosynthesis. Cultures with surface aeration were DIC limited in the stationary phase. The rate of CO2 dissolution into the liquid increased proportionally when CO2 in air was raised from 350 to 700 muL.L-1, thus increasing the availability of DIC in the medium and enhancing the rate of photosynthesis. Doubled CO2 could enhance CO2 dissolution, lower pH values, and influence the ionization fractions of various DIC species even when the photosynthesis was not DIC limited. Consequently, HCO3- concentrations in cultures were significantly higher than in controls, and the photosynthetic energy cost for the operation of CO2 concentrating mechanism might decrease.

Construction and analysis of a high-CO2-requiring mutant of the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp strain PCC7120

A mutant of Anabaena sp. strain PCC7120 requiring high CO2 was generated using Tn5 mutagenesis. This is the first data for a filamentous cyanobacterium. The mutant was capable of growing at 5% CO2, but incapable of growing at air levels of CO2. Southern hybridization analysis indicated that the Anabaena genome was inserted by the transposon at one site. The apparent photosynthetic affinity of the mutant to external dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) was about 300 times lower that of the wild type (WT), and the medium alkalization rate as well as the carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase activity of the mutant was also lower than those of the WT. When the mutant was transferred from the culture medium bubbled with 5% CO2 to higher DIC (8.4% CO2) or 1% CO2, it showed similar responses to the WT. However, aberrant carboxysomes were found in the mutant cells through ultrastructural analysis, indicating it was most probably the wrong organization of the carboxysomes that eventually led to the inefficient operation of carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase and the subsequent defectiveness of the mutant in utilizing DIC.

Fabrication and characterization of active and sequential circuits utilizing Schottky-wrap-gate-controlled GaAs hexagonal nanowire network structures

For realization of hexagonal BDD-based digital systems, active and sequential circuits including inverters, flip flops and ring oscillators are designed and fabricated on GaAs-based hexagonal nanowire networks controlled by Schottky wrap gates (WPGs), and their operations are characterized. Fabricated inverters show comparatively high transfer gain of more than 10. Clear and correct operation of hexagonal set-reset flip flops (SR-FFs) is obtained at room temperature. Fabricated hexagonal D-type flip flop (D-FF) circuits integrating twelve WPG field effect transistors (FETs) show capturing input signal by triggering although the output swing is small. Oscillatory output is successfully obtained in a fabricated 7-stage hexagonal ring oscillator. Obtained results confirm that a good possibility to realize practical digital systems can be implemented by the present circuit approach.

Solid source MBE growth of quantum cascade lasers

High material quality is the basis of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Here we report the solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth details of realizing high quality of InGaAs/InAlAs QCL structures. Accurate control of material compositions, layer thickness, doping profile, and interface smoothness can be realized by optimizing the growth conditions. Double crystal x-ray diffraction discloses that our grown QCL structures possess excellent periodicity and sharp interfaces. High quality laser wafers are grown in a single epitaxial run. Room temperature continuous-wave (cw) operation of QCLs is demonstrated.

Monolithic integration of an InGaAsP-InP strained DFB laser and an electroabsorption modulator by ultra-low-pressure selective-area-growth MOCVD

The design and basic characteristics of a strained InGaAsP-InP multiple-quantum-well (MQW) DFB laser monolithically integrated with an electroabsorption modulator (EAM) by ultra-low-pressure (22 mbar) selective-area-growth (SAG) MOCVD are presented. A fundamental study of the controllability and the applicability of band-gap energy by using the SAG, method is performed. A large band-gap photoluminescence wavelength shift of 88 mn. was obtained with a small mask width variation (0-30 mu m). The technique is then applied to fabricate a high performance strained MQW EAM integrated with a DFB laser. The threshold current of 26 mA at CW operation of the device with DFB laser length of 300 mu m and EAM length of 150 mu m has been realized at a modulator bias of 0 V. The devices also exhibit 15 dB on/off ratio at an applied bias voltage of 5 V.

Realization of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-cascade lasers with high average optical power

Quasi-continuous-wave operation of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-cascade lasers with high average optical power is demonstrated. Double X-ray diffraction has been used to investigate the quality of the epitaxial material. The compositional gradients and the interface quality are controlled effectively. The corrected average power of per facet about 17 mW and temperature tuning coefficient of the gain peak about 0.91 nm/K from 83 K to 140 K is achieved in pulse operation. Best value of threshold current density is less than 3.0 kA/cm(2) at 83 K. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scale study of direct synthesis of dimethyl ether from biomass synthesis gas

We investigated the synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from biomass synthesis gas using a kind of hybrid catalyst consisting of methanol and HZSM-5 zeolite in a fixed-bed reactor in a 100 ton/year pilot plant. The biomass synthesis gas was produced by oxygen-rich gasification of corn core in a two-stage fixed bed. The results showed that CO conversions reached 82.00% and 73.55%, the selectivities for DME were 73.95% and 69.73%, and the space-time yields were 124.28 kg m- 3 h- 1 and 203.80 kg m- 3 h- 1 when gas hourly space velocities were 650 h- 1 and 1200 h- 1, respectively. Deoxidation and tar removal from biomass synthesis gas was critical to the stable operation of the DME synthesis system. Using single-pass synthesis, the H2/CO ratio improved from 0.98-1.17 to 2.12-2.22. The yield of DME would be increased greatly if the exhaust was reused after removal of the CO2.

Operational characteristics of a 1.2-MW biomass gasification and power generation plant

In this study, we analyzed the operational characteristics of a 1.2-MW rice husk gasification and power generation plant located in Changxing, Zhejiang province, China. The influences of gasification temperature, equivalence ratio (ER), feeding rate and rice husk water content on the gasification characteristics in a fluidized bed gasifier were investigated. The axial temperature profile in the dense phase of the gasifier showed that inadequate fluidization occurred inside the bed, and that the temperature was closely related to changes in ER and feeding rate. The bed temperature increased linearly with increasing ER when the feeding rate was kept constant, while a higher feeding rate corresponded to a lower bed temperature at fixed ER. The gas heating value decreased with increasing temperature, while the feeding rate had little effect. When the gasification temperature was 700-800C, the gas heating value ranged from 5450-6400kJ/Nm3. The water content of the rice husk had an obvious influence on the operation of the gasifier: increases in water content up to 15% resulted in increasing ER and gas yield, while water contents above 15% caused aberrant temperature fluctuations. The problems in this plant are discussed in the light of operational experience of MW-scale biomass gasification and power generation plants.

THE DEPENDENCE OF THE INVERSION LAYER THICKNESS ON THE FILM THICKNESS IN THIN-FILM SOI STRUCTURES

The dependence of the inversion-layer thickness on the film thickness in thin-film SOI structure is analyzed theoretically by using computer simulation. A new concept and parameter, the critical thickness of thin film all-bulk inversion, is introduced for the design of thin-film MOS/SOI devices. It is necessary to select the film thickness T(s1) close to the all-bulk strong inversion critical thickness in order to get high-speed and high-power operation of ultra-thin film MOS/SOI devices.

Low-timing-jitter, stretched-pulse passively mode-locked fiber laser with tunable repetition rate and high operation stability

We design a low-timing-jitter, repetition-rate-tunable, stretched-pulse passively mode-locked fiber laser by using a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror (NALM), a semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM), and a tunable optical delay line in the laser configuration. Low-timing-jitter optical pulses are stably produced when a SESAM and a 0.16 m dispersion compensation fiber are employed in the laser cavity. By inserting a tunable optical delay line between NALM and SESAM, the variable repetition-rate operation of a self-starting, passively mode-locked fiber laser is successfully demonstrated over a range from 49.65 to 50.47 MHz. The experimental results show that the newly designed fiber laser can maintain the mode locking at the pumping power of 160 mW to stably generate periodic optical pulses with width less than 170 fs and timing jitter lower than 75 fs in the 1.55 mu m wavelength region, when the fundamental repetition rate of the laser is continuously tuned between 49.65 and 50.47 MHz. Moreover, this fiber laser has a feature of turn-key operation with high repeatability of its fundamental repetition rate in practice.

Extraction and separation of thorium and ytterbium with bis (2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinic acid using a hollow fiber membrane extractor

The based membrane extraction of Th4+ and Yb3+ was studied in HBTMPP-heptane using a hollow fibber membrane. The separation method of Th4+ and Yb3+ was proposed by kinetics competition. The separation operation of Th4+ and Yb3+ mixture was carried out by two successive extraction and stripping simultaneously. The concentration ratio of Th4+ to Yb3+ is 16.74 in the stripping solution. The recovery and purity of Th4+ are 71.6% and 95.74% respectively.

Response of cyanobacterial carbon concentrating system to light intensity: a simulated analysis

Cyanobacteria possess a delicate system known as the carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM), which can efficiently elevate the intracellular inorganic carbon (Ci) concentration via active transportation. The system requires energy supplied by photosystems; therefore, the activity of the Ci transporter is closely related to light intensity. However, the relationship between CCM and light intensity has rarely been evaluated. Here, we present an improved quantitative model of CCM in which light is incorporated, and developed a CCM model that modified after Fridlyand et al. in 1996. Some equations used in this model were inducted to describe the relationship between transport capacity and light intensity, by which the response of the CCM to light change is simulated. Our results indicate that the efficiency of the carbon concentrating system is sensitive to light intensity. When the external Ci concentration was low, CO2 uptake dominated the total Ci uptake with increasing light intensity, while under high external Ci concentrations HCO3- uptake primarily contributed to the total Ci uptake. Variations in the ratio of energy allocated between the transport systems could markedly affect the operation of CCM. Indeed, our simulations suggest that various combinations of Ci fluxes can provide a possible approach to detect the way by which the cell distributes energy produced by the photosystems to the two active Ci transport processes. The proportion of the energy consumed on CCM to the total energy expenditure for the fixation of one CO2 molecule was determined at 18%-40%.

Continuous oxygen ion transfer medium as a catalyst for high selective oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane

An oxygen permeable mixed ion and electron conducting membrane (OPMIECM) was used as an oxygen transfer medium as well as a catalyst for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to produce ethylene. O2- species transported through the membrane reacted with ethane to produce ethylene before it recombined to gaseous O-2, so that the deep oxidation of the products was greatly suppressed. As a result, 80% selectivity of ethylene at 84% ethane conversion was achieved, whereas 53.7% ethylene selectivity was obtained using a conventional fixed-bed reactor under the same reaction conditions with the same catalyst at 800 degreesC. A 100 h continuous operation of this process was carried out and the result indicates the feasibility for practical applications.

Modeling of protein adsorption in membrane affinity chromatography

For the design of affinity membranes, protein adsorption in membrane affinity chromatography (MAC) was studied by frontal analysis. According to fast mass transfer, small thickness of affinity membranes and high affinity between the protein and the ligand, an ideal adsorption (IA) model was proposed for MAC and was used together with equilibrium-dispersive (E-D) model to describe the adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) onto cellulose diacetate/polyethyleneimine (CA/PEI) blend membranes with and without Cu2+ chelating. E-D model was found to better describe the initial region of experimental breakthrough curves. The influence of axial dispersion was revealed and it showed the importance of design of the module to homogenously distribute feed solution. IA model was found to be better for the whole experimental breakthrough curve. According to it, the capacity of affinity membranes and the specificity of the interaction are of equal importance for the design of affinity membranes. An optimum feed concentration was also found in the operation of MAC. The discrepancy between experimental optimum feed concentrations and predicted ones from IA model may be due to the ignorance of some experimental effects such as axial dispersion.

Developing communities of practice in the NeLH (National electronic Library for Health)

Urquhart, C., Yeoman, A., Sharp, S. (2003). Developing communities of practice in the NeLH (National electronic Library for Health). In Proceedings of the UKAIS (UK Academy for Information Systems) annual conference, University of Warwick, April 2003. Sponsorship: NHS Information Authority/National electronic Library for Health