STUDY ON THE NON-STIOCHIOMETRIC SNO2-X NANOCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL BY XRD, XPS AND ESR

Nonstiochiometric SnO2-x nanocrystalline material were successfully prepared through Sol-Gel process using anhydrous stannic chloride and iso-propyl alcohol. TEM observation shows that the mean diameter of the powder sintered at 700 degrees C for 2 hours is about 20 nm. By the investigation of XRD and ESR, we can conclude that the sample sintered at 300 degrees C for 2 hours was amorphous and it grew into nanocrystalline with the oxygen vacancies and defects when sintered at 700 degrees C for 2 hours. Using these conclusion, the ESR signals and the difference between the two SnO2-x samples are explained.

非化学计量比SnO_(2-x)纳米微晶材料的XRD,XPS和ESR研究

采用溶胶凝胶法,以无水四氯化锡及异丙醇为原料,制得非化学计量比的SnO_(2-x)纳米微晶材料.透射电镜图片显示700℃焙烧2h得到的粉体的粒度为20nm,由X射线衍射及X射线光电子能谱的分析可知,300℃焙烧2h得到颗粒边界部分原子无规排布的纳米粉体,而700℃焙烧2h得到的是晶格趋于完整的纳米微晶,它们都存在氧空位及晶格缺陷,利用这些结论可以解释SnO_(2-x)纳米微晶材料中出现的顺磁信号.

ELECTROCHEMICAL FORMATION OF NI-Y INTERMETALLIC COMPOUND LAYER IN MOLTEN CHLORIDE

The reduction of Y(III) ions in molten chloride is known to be a one-step three electron reaction [1, 2, 3], but a voltammogram of YCl3 in molten LiCl-KCl-NaCl at a nickel electrode shows at least two reduction peaks of Y(III) ions, indicating the possibility of formation of Ni-Y intermetallic compounds. Using a galvanostatic electrolysis method, samples were prepared at several current densities at 450, 500, 600 and 700-degrees-C, respectively, and were identified with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) methods. The results show that Ni2Y, Ni2Y3 and NiY can be produced by electrolysis and Ni2Y is found to be the predominant Ni-Y intermetallic compound under the experimental conditions. Nickel appears to diffuse in Ni2Y faster than yttrium, and the diffusion process is the rate determining step during Ni2Y formation.

裂解色谱法研究环化顺-1,4-丁二烯-异戊二烯无规共聚物

如同顺-1,4-聚丁二烯(PBd)和聚异戊二烯(PIP),在一定的催化条件下,顺-1,4-丁二烯-异戊二烯无规共聚物(PBI,简称丁戊无规共聚物)可生成环化顺-1,4-丁戊无规共聚物(CP-BI)。作者曾报道用裂解色谱法表征环化顺-1,4-聚丁二烯(CPBd),本文对不同组成的CPBI和PBI进行了裂解色谱比较研究。 表1所列试样由实验室合成。用CDS pyro-probe 190型裂解器,SP-2305E型气相色谱仪,FID。裂解温度700℃,裂解时间5秒,色谱柱4mm×3m不锈钢柱,填充20%SE-30固定相(101白色担体),柱温106℃,载气氮气40mL/min。试样量约30μg,放于石英管内,后者再插入

固熔体60%NaAlSi_2O_6-40%CaMgSi_2O_6在高温高压下的相图的研究

在1.0～5.0GPa、700～1750℃条件范围内,对固熔体0.6NaAlSi_2O_6-0.4CaMgSi_2O_6进行了研究,探讨了该固熔体在高温高压下的存在行为,研究了由非晶态玻璃向翡翠转化过程中γT作用的相图,得到的透辉石翡翠的晶胞参数为α=0.9439nm,b=0.8573nm,c=0.5233nm,β=107.28°和V=0.41702nm~3。本实验中合成的宝石级翡翠为色泽温润,具有玻璃光泽,半透明的极富观赏性的透辉石翡翠。

Cloning and characterization of beta-carotene ketolase gene promoter in Haematococcus pluvialis

The unicellular green alga Haematococcus pluvialis accumulates a highly valuable ketocarotenoid, astaxanthin, under various environmental stresses. beta-carotene ketolase (BKT) plays a key role in astaxanthin biosynthesis in H. pluvialis. In this paper, an approximate 700 bp 5'-flanking region of the bkt gene containing a putative promoter was cloned through walking upstream. The results of the sequence analysis showed that this bkt 5'-flanking region might have cis-acting elements such as sterol regulatory element (SRE-1)-like motifs, the C-repeat/dehydration responsive element (DRE) and al-3 proximal element (APE)-like motifs, except for typical TATA and CCAAT boxes. The results of the P-galactosidase assay and the transient expression of lacZ driven by a series of sequential deletions revealed that a minimal promoter-like region might exist from -630 to -408 bp, and the highest promoter activity was observed to span the positions from -630 to -308 bp. The results of the site-directed mutagenesis of a C-repeat/DRE and two APE-like motifs in a promoter-like region (-630 to -308 bp) suggested that two APE-like motifs might be essential for transcriptional control of the bkt gene.

Growth promotion of vegetative gametophytes of Undaria pinnatifida by blue light

Through an acclimation period of 10 days, compared to white light, the maximal net photosynthetic rates were significantly higher for gametophytes of Undaria pinnatifida cultivated under blue light (400-500 nm), and were lower under red light (600-700 nm). Chlorophyll c and the carotenoid content of gametophytes were similar under blue light and red light but were much lower under white light. The growth rate of female gametophytes under blue light was higher than that under other lights, and the growth rate of male gametophytes showed little variation with respect to blue and white light. Male and female gametophytes were mixed together to form sporophytes under white, blue and red light. After approximately 5 days, 50% gametophytes became fertile under blue and white light, but remained vegetative under red light after 10 days.

Construction of shuttle, expression vector of human tumor necrosis factor alpha (hTNF-alpha) gene and its expression in a cyanobacterium, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120

The construction of the shuttle, expression vector of human tumor necrosis factor alpha (hTNF-alpha) gene and its expression in a cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 was reported. The 700-bp hTNF cDNA fragments have been recovered from plasmid pRL-rhTNF, then inserted downstream of the promoter PpsbA in the plasmid pRL439. The resultant intermediary plasmid pRL-TC has further been combined with the shuttle vector pDC-8 to get the shuttle, expression vector pDC-TNF. The expression of the rhTNF gene in Escherichia coil has been analyzed by SDS-PAGE and thin-layer scanning, and the results show that the expressed TNF protein with these two vectors is 16.9 percent (pRL-TC) and 15.0 percent (pDC-TNF) of the total proteins in the cells, respectively, while the expression level of TNF gene in plasmid pRL-rhTNF is only 11.8 percent. Combined with the participation of the conjugal and helper plasmids, pDC-TNF has been introduced into Anabaena sg PCC 7120 by triparental conjugative transfer, and the stable transgenic strains have been obtained. The existence of the introduced plasmid pDC-TNF in recombinant cyanobacterial cells has been demonstrated by the results of the agarose electrophoresis with the extracted plasmid samples and Southern blotting with alpha-(32)p labeled hTNF cDNA probes, while the expression of the hTNF gene in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120 has been confirmed by the results of Western blotting with extracted protein samples and human TNF-alpha monoclonal antibodies. The cytotoxicity assays using the mouse cancer cell line L929 proved the cytotoxicity of the TNF in the crude extracts from the transgenic cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC 7120.

An estimate of divergence time of parazoa and eumetazoa and that of cephalochordata and vertebrata by aldolase and triose phosphate isomerase clocks

Previously we suggested that four proteins including aldolase and triose phosphate isomerase (TPI) evolved with approximately constant rates over long periods covering the whole animal phyla. The constant rates of aldolase and TPI evolution were reexamined based on three different models for estimating evolutionary distances, It was shown that the evolutionary rates remain essentially unchanged in comparisons not only between different classes of vertebrates but also between vertebrates and arthropods and even between animals and plants, irrespective of the models used, Thus these enzymes might be useful molecular clocks for inferring divergence times of animal phyla, To know the divergence time of Parazoa and Eumetazoa and that of Cephalochordata and Vertebrata, the aldolase cDNAs from Ephydatia fluviatilis, a freshwater sponge, and the TPI cDNAs from Ephydatia fluviatilis and Branchiostoma belcheri an amphioxus, have been cloned and sequenced, Comparisons of the deduced amino acid sequences of aldolase and TPI from the freshwater sponge with known sequences revealed that the Parazoa-Eumetazoa split occurred about 940 million years ago (Ma) as determined by the average of two proteins and three models, Similarly, the aldolase and TPI clocks suggest that vertebrates and amphioxus last shared a common ancestor around 700 Ma and they possibly diverged shortly after the divergence of deuterostomes and protostomes.

Molecular cloning, genomic organization and functional analysis of an anti-lipopolysaccharide factor from Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis

Anti-lipopolysaccharide factor (ALF) represents one kind of basic proteins, which binds and neutralizes LPS and exhibits strong antibacterial activity against Gram-negative R-type bacteria. The ALF gene of Chinese mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis (Milne Edwards, 1853) (denoted as EsALF) was identified from haemocytes by expressed sequence tag (EST) and PCR approaches. The full-length cDNA of EsALF consisted of 700 nucleotides with a canonical polyadenylation signal-sequence AATAAA, a polyA tail, and an open-reading frame of 363 bp encoding 120 amino acids. The high similarity of EsALF-deduced amino acid sequence shared with the ALFs from other species indicated that EsALF should be a member of ALF family. The mRNA expression of EsALF in the tissues of heart, gonad, gill, haemocytes, eyestalk and muscle was examined by Northern blot analysis and mRNA transcripts of EsALF were mainly detected in haemocytes, heart and gonad. The temporal expression of EsALF in haemocytes after Vibrio anguillarum challenge was recorded by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. The relative expression level of EsALF was up-regulated rapidly at 2 h post-injection and reached 3-fold to that in blank group. After a drastic decrease to the original level from 4 to 8h, the expression level increased again and reached 4-fold to that in the blank group at 12 h post-injection. The genomic DNA sequence of EsALF gene consists of 1174bp containing three exons and two introns. The coding sequence of the EsALF mature peptide was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3)-pLysS to further elucidate its biological functions. The purified recombinant product showed bactericidal activity against both Gram-positive (G(+)) and Gram-negative (G(-)) bacteria, which demonstrated that the rEsALF was a broad-spectrum antibacterial peptide. All these results indicated that EsALF was an acute-phase protein involved in the immune responses of Chinese mitten crab, and provided a potential therapeutic agent for disease control in aquaculture. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular coordinated regulation of gene expression during ovarian development in the penaeid shrimp

To understand the molecular events of ovarian development in penaeid shrimp, RNA arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (RAP-PCR) was used to identify differentially expressed genes during ovarian maturation in Metapenaeus ensis. From a screening of 700 clones in a cDNA library of the shrimp ovary by the products of RAP-PCR of different maturation stages, 91 fragments with differentially expressed pattern as revealed by dot-blot hybridization were isolated and sequenced. Forty-two of these fragments show significant sequence similarity to known gene products and the differentially expressed pattern of 10 putative genes were further characterized via Northern hybridization. Putative glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and arginine kinase are related to provision of energy for active cellular function in oocyte development. Translationally controlled tumor protein, actin, and keratin are related to the organization of cytoskeleton to accomplish growth and development of oocytes. High mobility group protein DSP1, heat shock protein 70, and nucleoside diphosphate kinase may act as repressors before the onset of ovarian maturation. Peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase and glutathione peroxidase are related to the stabilization of proteins and oocytes. This study provides new insights on the molecular events in the ovarian development in the shrimp.

Optimization of conditions for cell cultivation of Porphyra haitanensis conchocelis in a bubble-column bioreactor

Process conditions for cell cultures derived from conchocelis of female red macroalga Porphyra haitanensis were optimized in an illuminated 0.3-l bubble-column photobioreactor, using CO2 in air as the sole carbon source during a 20-day cultivation period. It reached the highest growth rate when the initial cell density was 700 mg l(-1)(dry weight), the optional aeration rate was 1.2 v/v/min, inorganic nitrate concentration was 15 mM and inorganic phosphate concentration was 0.6 mM. This is the first reported bioreactor cultivation study of cell cultures derived from conchocelis of Porphyra haitanensis.

Experimental study on the fractionation of yttrium from holmium during the coprecipitation with calcium carbonates in seawater solutions

The partitioning of Y and Ho between CaCO3 (calcite and aragonite respectively) and seawater was experimentally investigated at 25 degrees C and I atm. Both Y and Ho were observed to be strongly partitioned into the overgrowths of calcite or aragonite. Their partition coefficients, D-Y and D-Ho, were determined to be similar to 520-1400 and similar to 700-1900 in calcite, similar to 1200-2400 and similar to 2400-4300 in aragonite, respectively. Y fractionates from Ho during the coprecipitation with either calcite or aragonite. Within our experimental conditions, the fractionation factor, k = D-Y/D-Ho, was determined to be similar to 0.62-0.77 in calcite and similar to 0.50-0.57 in aragonite, respectively. The aqueous complexation of Y and Ho, which is a function of solution chemistry, probably plays an important role in both the partitioning and the fractionation. Further analyses suggest that the difference in covalency between Y and Ho associated with changes in their coordination environments is the determinant factor to the Y-Ho fractionation in the H2CO3-CaCO3 System.

Cold event at 5 500 a BP recorded in mud sediments on the inner shelf of the East China Sea

A 700-year record (1.0-1.5 a resolution) of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM), based on grain-size analysis and AMS(14)C dating of Core EC2005 from the inner-shelf mud wedge of the East China Sea (ECS), was compared with the Dongge stalagmite delta O-18 record during the mid-Holocene. The upper muddy section of Core EC2005 has been formed mainly by suspended sediments derived from the Changjiang (Yangtze) River mouth since 7.3 ka BP. High precipitation and a strengthened EAWM might have played key roles in the high sedimentation rate (1 324-1 986 cm/ka) between 5.9-5.2 ka BP. The EAWM strengthened when the Asian summer monsoon weakened, especially around 5 500 a BP, which corresponded to a worldwide cold event. The EAWM during the mid-Holocene shows statistically significant solar periodicities at 62 and 11 a. The 5 500 a BP cold event might be resulted from orbital forcing and changes in solar activity.

Suspended particulate matter fluxes through the Straits of Dover, English Channel: observations and modelling

Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) concentrations at various levels within the water column, together with salinity and temperature, were measured using water samples collected from six stations across the Straits of Dover. The sampling programme covered a 16-month period, undertaken during 23 cruises. On the basis of the spatial variability in the concentrations, the water bodies are divided by several boundaries, controlled by tidal and wind conditions. Within the water column, SPM concentrations were higher near the sea bed than in the surface waters. Throughout the cross-section, maximum concentrations occurred adjacent to the coastlines. Temporal variability in the SPM concentration exists on daily and seasonal scales within the coastal waters (4.2 to 74.5 mg L-1): resuspension processes, in response to semi-diurnal tidal cycles (with a period of around 12.4 h) and spring-neap cycles (with a period of 15 days) make significant contributions. Distinctive seasonal/annual concentration changes have also been observed. In the offshore waters, such variability is much less significant (0.9 to 6.0 mg L-1). In the summer the English Coastal Zone is associated with relatively high SPM concentrations: the Central Zone has a low and stable SPM concentration between these zones, there is a Transitional Zone, where there is a rapid response of SPM concentration to wind forcing. Finally, the French Coastal Zone is characterized by variable (sometimes high) SPM concentrations. Because of the zonation, SPM fluxes within the Dover Strait are controlled by different transport mechanisms. Within the Central Zone, the flux can be represented by the product of mean water discharges and SPM concentrations. However, within the coastal zones fluctuations in SPM concentrations on various time-scales must be considered. In order to calculate the maximum and minimum SPM fluxes, 10 cells were divided in the strait. A simple modelling calculation has been proposed for this complex area. The effect of spring-neap tidal cycles and seasonal changes can contribute significantly to the overall flux, which is of the order of 20 x 10(6) t.yr(-1) (through the Dover Strait, towards the North Sea). Such an estimate is higher than most obtained previously. (C) 2000 Ifremer/CNRS/IRD/Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.