Excess arsenic in GaAs grown at low temperatures by molecular beam epitaxy

The structural properties of GaAs grown at low temperatures by molecular beam epitaxy (LTMBE GaAs) were studied. The excess arsenic atoms in LTMBE GaAs exist in the form of arsenic interstitial couples (i,e, two ns atoms share the one host site), and cause an increase in the lattice parameter of LTMBE GaAs. Annealing at above 300 degrees C, the arsenic interstitial couples decomposed, and As precipitates formed, resulting in a decrease in the lattice parameter.

Homoepitaxial Growth and Characterization of 4H-SiC Epilayers by Low-Pressure Hot-Wall Chemical Vapor Deposition

Horizontal air-cooled low-pressure hot-wall CVD (LP-HWCVD) system is developed to get highly qualitical 4H-SiC epilayers.Homoepitaxial growth of 4H-SiC on off-oriented Si-face (0001) 4H-SiC substrates is performed at 1500℃ with a pressure of 1.3×103Pa by using the step-controlled epitaxy.The growth rate is controlled to be about 1.0μm/h.The surface morphologies and structural and optical properties of 4H-SiC epilayers are characterized with Nomarski optical microscope,atomic force microscopy (AFM),X-ray diffraction,Raman scattering,and low temperature photoluminescence (LTPL).N-type 4H-SiC epilayers are obtained by in-situ doping of NH3 with the flow rate ranging from 0.1 to 3sccm.SiC p-n junctions are obtained on these epitaxial layers and their electrical and optical characteristics are presented.The obtained p-n junction diodes can be operated at the temperature up to 400℃,which provides a potential for high-temperature applications.

增温对川西亚高山针叶林不同光环境下几种幼苗生长的影响

由于人类活动所引起的地球大气层中温室气体的富集已导致全球地表平均温度在20 世纪升高了0.6 ¡æ，并预测在本世纪将上升1.4-5.8 ¡æ。气候变暖对陆地植物和生态系统产生深远影响，并已成为全球变化研究的重要议题。位于青藏高原东部的川西亚高山针叶林是研究气候变暖对陆地生态系统影响的重要森林类型。森林采伐迹地和人工云杉林下作为目前该区人工造林和森林更新的两种重要生境，二者截然不同的光环境对亚高山针叶林不同物种更新及森林动态有非常重要的影响。 本文以青藏高原东部亚高山针叶林几种主要森林树种为研究对象，采用开顶式增温法（OTCs）模拟气候变暖来研究增温对生长在两种不同光环境下（全光条件和林下低光环境）的几种幼苗早期生长和生理的影响，旨在从更新角度探讨亚高山针叶林生态系统不同树种对气候变暖在形态或生理上的响应差异，其研究结果可在一定程度上为预测气候变暖对亚高山针叶林物种组成和演替动态提供科学依据，同时也可为未来林业生产管理者提供科学指导。 1、与框外对照相比，OTCs 框内微环境发生了一些变化。OTCs 框内与框外对照气温年平均值分别为5.72 ¡æ和5.21 ¡æ，而地表温度年平均值分别为5.34 ¡æ和5.04 ¡æ，OTCs 使气温和地表年平均温度分别提高了0.51 ¡æ和0.34 ¡æ；OTCs框内空气湿度年平均值约高于框外对照，二者分别为90.4 %和85.3 %。 2、增温促进了三种幼苗生长和生物量的积累，但增温效果与幼苗种类及所处的光环境有关。无论在全光或林下低光条件下，增温条件下云杉幼苗株高、地径、分支数、总生物量及组分生物量（根、茎、叶重）都显著地增加；增温仅在全光条件下使红桦幼苗株高、地径、总生物量及组分生物量（根、茎、叶重）等参数显著地增加，而在林下低光条件下增温对幼苗生长和生物量积累的影响效果不明显；冷杉幼苗生长对增温的响应则与红桦幼苗相反，增温仅在林下低光条件下对冷杉幼苗生长和形态的影响才有明显的促进作用。 增温对三种幼苗的生物量分配模式产生了不同的影响，并且这种影响也与幼苗所处的光环境有关。无论在全光或林下低光环境下，增温都促使云杉幼苗将更多的生物量分配到植物地下部分，从而导致幼苗在增温条件下有更高的R/S 比；增温仅在林下低光条件下促使冷杉幼苗将更多的生物量投入到植物叶部，从而使幼苗R/S 比显著地降低；增温在全光条件下对红桦幼苗生物量分配的影响趋势与冷杉幼苗在低光条件下相似，即增温在全光条件下促使红桦幼苗分配更多的生物量到植物同化部分—叶部。 3、增温对亚高山针叶林生态系统中三种幼苗气体交换和生理表现的影响总体表现为正效应（Positive），即增温促进了几种幼苗的生理活动及其表现：（i）无论在全光或林下低光环境下，增温使三种幼苗的光合色素含量都有所增加；（ii）增温在一定程度上提高了三种使幼苗的PSII 光系统效率（Fv/Fm），从而使幼苗具有更强的光合电子传递活性；增温在一定程度使三种幼苗潜在的热耗散能力（NPQ）都有所增强，从而提高幼苗防御光氧化的能力；（iii）从研究结果来看，增温通过增加光合色素含量和表观量子效率等参数而促进幼苗的光合作用过程。总体来说增温对幼苗生理过程的影响效果与幼苗种类及所处的光环境有关，增温仅在全光条件下对红桦幼苗光合过程的影响才有明显的效果，而冷杉幼苗则相反，增温仅在低光条件下才对幼苗的生理过程有显著的影响。 4、增温对三种幼苗的抗氧化酶系统产生了一定的影响。从总体来说，增温使几种幼苗活性氧含量及膜脂过氧化作用降低，从而在一定程度上减轻了该区低温对植物生长的消极影响；增温倾向表明使三种幼苗体内抗氧化酶活性和非酶促作用有所提高，从而有利于维持活性氧代谢平衡。但增温影响效果与幼苗种类所处的光环境及抗氧化酶种类有关，增温对冷杉幼苗抗氧化酶活性的影响仅在林下低光环境下效果明显，而对红桦幼苗抗氧化酶活性的影响仅在全光条件下才有明显的效果。 总之，增温促进了亚高山针叶林生态系统中三种幼苗的生长和生理表现，但幼苗生长和生理对增温的响应随植物种类及所处的光环境不同而变化，这种响应差可能异赋予了不同植物种类在未来气候变暖背景下面对不同环境条件时具有不同的适应力和竞争优势，从而对亚高山针叶林生态系统物种组成和森林动态产生潜在的影响。 Enrichment of atmospheric greenhouse gases resulted from human activities suchas fossil fuel burning and deforestation has increased global mean temperature by 0.6¡æ in the 20th century and is predicted to increase it by 1.4-5.8 ¡æ. The globalwarming will have profound, long-term impacts on terrestrial plants and ecosystems.The ecoologcial consequences arising from global warming have also become thevery important issuses of global change research. The subalpine coniferous forests inthe eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau provide a natural laboratory for the studying theeffects of climate warming on terrestrial ecosystems. The light environment differssignificantly between clear-outs and spruce plantations, which is particularlyimportant for plant regeneration and forest dynamics in the subalpine coniferous forests. In this paper, the short-term effects of two levels of air temperature (ambient andwarmed) and light (full light and ca. 10% of full light regimes) on the early growthand physiology of Picea asperata, Abies faxoniana and Betula albo-sinensis seedlingswas determined using open-top chambers (OTCs). The aim of the present study wasto understand the differences between tree species in their responses to experimentalwarming from the perspective of regeneration. Our results could provide insights intothe effects of climate warming on community composition and regeneration behavior for the subalpine coniferous forest ecosystem processes, and provide scientificdirection for the production and management under future climate change. 1. The OTCs manipulation slightly altered thermal conditions during the growingseason compared with the outside chambers. The annual mean air temperature andsoil surface temperature was 5.72 and 5.34 ¡æ (within the chambers), and 5.21 and5.04 ¡æ (outside the chambers), respectively. The OTCs manipulation increased airtemperature and soil surface temperature by 0.51 and 0.34 ¡æ on average, respectively.Air relative humidity was slightly higher inside the OTCs compared with the controlplots, with 90.4 and 85.3 %, respectively. 2. Warming generally stimulated the growth and biomass accumulation of thethree tree species, but the effects of warming on growth and development variedbetween light conditions and species. Irrespective of light regimes, warmingsignificantly increased plant height, root collar diameter, total biomass, componentbiomass (stem, foliar and root biomass) and the number of branches in P. asperataseedlings; For A. faxoniana seedlings, significant effects of warming on all the tested parameters (plant height, root collar diameter, total biomass, and component biomass) were found only under low light conditions; In contrast, the growth responses of B.albo-sinensis seedlings to warming were found only under full light conditions. Warming had pronounced effects on the pattern of carbon allocation. Irrespectiveof light regimes, the P. asperata seedlings allocated relatively more biomass to rootsin responses to warming, which led to a higher R/S. Significant effects of warming onbiomass allocation were only found for the A. faxoniana seedlings grown under lowlight conditions, with significantly increased in leaf mass ratio (LMR) and decreasedin R/S in responses to warming manipulation. The carbon allocation responses of B.albo-sinensis seedling to warming under full light conditions were similar with theresponse of A. faxoniana seedlings grown under low light conditions. Warmingsignificantly decreased root mass ratio (RMR), and increased leaf mass ratio (LMR)and shoot/root biomass ratio (S/R) for the B. albo-sinensis seedlings grown under full light conditions. 3. Warming generally had a beneficial effect on physiological processes of dominant tree species in subalpine coniferous forest ecosystems: (i) Warming markedincreased the concentrations of photosynthetic pigments in both tree species, but theeffects of warming on photosynthetic pigments were greater under low lightconditions than under full light conditions for the two conifers; (ii) Warming tended toenhance the efficiency of PSII in terms of increase in Fv/Fm, which was related tohigher chloroplast electron transport activity; and enhance non-radiative energydissipation in terms of in increase in NPQ, which may reflect an increased capacity inpreventing photooxidation; (iii) Warming may enhance photosynthesis and advancephysiological activity in plants by increasing photosynthetic pigment concentration,the efficiency of PSII and apparent quantum yield (Φ) etc. From the results, theeffects of warming on seedlings’ physiological performance varied between lightenvironment and species. The effects of warming on photosynthesis performance of B.albo-sinesis seedlings were pronounced only under full light conditions, while thephysiological responses of A. faxoniana seedlings to warming were found only underthe 60-year plantation. These results provided further support for the observationsabove on growth responses of seedlings to warming. 4. Warming had marked effects on antioxidative systems of the three seedlings.Warming generally decreased H2O2 accumulation and the rate of O2- production, andalleviated degree of lipid peroxidation in terms of decreased MDA content, whichalleviated to some extent the negative effects of low temperature on the plant growthand development in this region; Warming tended to increase the activities ofantioxidative enzymes and stimulate the role of non-enzymatic AOS scavenging,which helped to create an balance in maintaining AOS metabolites for the threeseedlings. Nevertheless, the effects of warming on antioxidative defense systems werepronounced only under the 60-year plantation for the A. faxoniana seedlings. Incontrast, the marked effects of warming on antioxidative defense systems for the B.albo-sinesis seedlings were found only under the full light conditions. In sum, warming is considered to be generally positive in terms of growth andphysiological process. However, the responses of growth and physiology performanceto warming manipulation varied between species and light regimes. Competitive and adaptive relationships between tree species may be altered as a result of responsedifferences to warming manipulation, which is one mechanism by which globalwarming will alter species composition and forest dynamics of subalpine coniferousforest ecosystems under future climate change.

鲜甘薯快速乙醇发酵条件的初步研究

本文对不同菌种（酵母菌和运动发酵单胞菌）快速生产燃料乙醇的条件进行了研究，实现了鲜甘薯快速转化为燃料乙醇。全文分为两部分： 第一部分：酵母菌快速生产燃料乙醇的条件研究。通过单因素试验，酵母菌快速生产燃料乙醇的条件为：发酵方式采用边糖化边发酵（SSF），蒸煮温度为85 ℃，料水比2:1（初始糖浓度 210 g/kg），糖化酶用量0.75 AGU/g 鲜甘薯，接种量10%（v/w）。在最优条件下，经过24 h发酵，乙醇浓度可达97.44 g/kg, 发酵效率为92%，发酵强度为4.06 g/kg/h。由于采用了低温蒸煮和SSF，可以大大节约能耗，从而降低乙醇生产的成本。同时，利用摇瓶优化的条件，进行了10 L，100 L，500 L发酵罐的放大试验，由于发酵罐初期可以人为通氧，使菌体能迅速积累，发酵时间缩短2 h，发酵效率在90%以上。 第二部分：运动发酵单胞菌快速生产燃料乙醇条件研究。通过单因素试验和正交试验获得了发酵的最佳参数：初始pH值6.0-7.0，硫酸铵5.0 g/kg，糖化酶量1.6 AUG/kg淀粉，初始糖浓度200 g/kg，接种量12.5%（v/w）。经过21 h发酵，乙醇浓度为95.15 g/kg，发酵效率可达94%。同时对不灭菌发酵也进行了研究，发酵效率可达92%。为鲜甘薯运动发酵单胞菌燃料乙醇的工业化生产打下基础。 对发酵结束后的残糖进行了研究。通过薄层层析和葡萄氧化酶测定证明：无论是酵母菌还是运动发酵单胞菌发酵结束后的发酵液中都不含葡萄糖。经过HPLC进一步分析残糖说明：发酵液中已没有葡萄糖成分；经糖化酶水解后仍没有葡萄糖出现；但经酸水解后又出现了葡萄糖，说明结束后的残糖是一些低聚糖结构。有关残糖的结构需要进一步研究。可以通过开发高效的低聚糖水解酶来降低发酵液的残糖，提高原料的利用率。 A new technology for rapid production fuel ethanol from fresh sweet potato by different microorganisms (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis) was gained in this research. The paper involved two parts: Part 1: The study on fuel ethanol rapid production from fresh sweet potato by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The following parameters of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was investigated by a series of experiments: fermentation models, cooking temperature, initial sugar concentration and glucoamylase dosage. The results showed that SSF (simultaneous saccharification and fermentation) not only reduced the fermentation time (from 30 to 24h) but also enhanced the ethanol concentration (from 73.56 to 95.96 g/kg). With low-temperature-cooking (85 ℃) using SSF, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae was able to produce ethanol 97.44 g/kg which the fermentation yield could reach to 92% and ethanol productivity 4.06 g/kg/h from sweet potato enzymatic hydrolysis. Furthermore, the savings in energy by carrying out the cooking (85 ℃) and saccharification (30 ℃) step at low temperature had been realized. The results were also verified in 10 L, 100 L and 500 L fermentor. The fermentation yield was no less than 90%. The fermentation time of fermenter was shorter than Erlenmeyer flask. This may be that the aeration in the early fermentation period is available, which lead to the rapidly commutations of biomass. Part 2: The technology of ethanol rapid production with simultaneous saccharification and fermentation ( SSF ) by Zymomonas mobilis，using fresh sweet potato as raw material was studied. The effects of various factors on the yield of ethanol were investigated by the single factor and the orthogonal experiments. As a result, the optimal technical conditions were obtained from those experiments：initial pH value 6.0-7.0, nitride 5.0 g/kg，(NH4)2SO4, glucoamylase 1.6 AUG/kg starch, inoculums concentration 12.5% (v/w). The Zymomonas mobilis was able to produce ethanol 95.15 g/kg, with 94% of the theoretical yield, from fresh sweet potato after 24 h fermentation. The fermentation efficiency of non-sterilized was also reach to 92%. We also analyzed the final fermentation residual sugars of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Zymomonas mobilis. When the residual sugars were analyzed by thin-layer chromatogram and glucose oxidase, there was no glucose. The analysis of reducing sugars by HPLC showed that there was no glucose existed in the fermentation liquor. However, the glucose appeared after being hydrolyzed by acid. It is indicated that the residual sugars in the final fermentation liquor were the configuration of oligosaccharide, which was linked by the special glycosidic bonds. It was feasible for reducing residual sugars to develope the enzyme that can degradation the oligosaccharide.

非粮原料燃料乙醇发酵关键技术的研究

生物质燃料乙醇是一种高度清洁的交通液体燃料，是减少温室气体排放，缓解大气污染的最佳技术选择。以非粮原料生产燃料乙醇可以在进行能源生产的同时保证粮食安全，有利于产业的可持续发展。在众多的非粮原料中，甘薯是我国开发潜力最大的生物质能源作物之一。我国占世界甘薯种植总面积和产量的90％。同时，甘薯的单位面积燃料乙醇产量远大于玉米和小麦。其成本是目前酒精中最低廉的，因此利用甘薯生产乙醇是发展生物质燃料乙醇的首要选择。目前采用薯类全原料主要采用分批发酵生产乙醇，其技术水平低，发酵强度低，一般在0.7－2.5g/（L•h），乙醇浓度低，甘薯发酵乙醇为6－8％(v/v)，能耗高，环境负荷大，污染严重。针对上述问题，本文从菌株选育、原料预处理、中试放大、残糖成分分析等方面进行研究。 为了研究乙醇发酵生产规模扩大过程中，大型发酵罐底部高压条件下，CO2对酵母乙醇发酵的影响，我们通过CO2 加压的方法进行模拟试验，研究结果表明，发酵时间随压强的升高而逐渐延长，高压CO2 对乙醇发酵效率影响不大，在0.3 MPa 以下时，发酵效率均可达到90%以上。高压CO2 对发酵的抑制作用是高压和CO2 这两个因素联合作用的结果。高压CO2 条件下，酵母胞外酶和胞内重要酶类的酶活均表现出特征性。0.2 MPa 下，酶活性的变化趋势和0.1 MPa 条件下的较为一致。而0.3 MPa 下的酶活变化趋势与0.4 MPa 下的酶活更为接近。通过全基因表达分析发现在CO2 压力为0.3 MPa 下，乙醇发酵途径中多个基因表达量下调，同时海藻糖合成酶和热激蛋白基因表达量上调。 筛选耐高温的乙醇酵母菌株能够解决糖化温度和发酵温度不协调的矛盾，实现真正意义上的边糖化边发酵。高温发酵还能够降低发酵时的冷却成本，实现乙醇的周年生产。本研究筛选出一株高温发酵菌株Y-H1，进而我们对该菌株的胞外酶和胞内乙醇代谢重要酶类的酶活性进行了分析。结果表明Y-H1 能够在40 ℃条件下正常进行乙醇发酵，发酵33h，最终乙醇浓度达到10.7%（w/w），发酵效率达到90%以上。同时发酵液最终pH 在3.5 左右，显示菌株具有一定的耐酸性能力。同时观察到40 ℃下，菌株的胞外酶和胞内乙醇代谢重要酶类的酶活性发生了变化，乙醇发酵途径中关键酶基因表达下调，而海藻糖合成酶与热激蛋白基因表达量上调，这些结果为进一步研究酵母菌耐热调控机理提供了依据。 糖蜜是一种大规模工业生产乙醇的理想原料，本研究利用选育高浓度乙醇发酵菌株结合配套的发酵稳定剂，研究了糖蜜高浓度乙醇发酵情况。结果表明采用冷酸沉淀预处理糖蜜溶液，采用分批补料的发酵方式，乙醇浓度最高达到了10.26% (w/w)，发酵时间为42 h。同时观察到在糖蜜发酵中，乙醛含量与乙醇浓度存在一定的相关性。 快速乙醇发酵对于缩短乙醇生产周期、降低乙醇生产成本、减少原料腐烂损失具有重要意义。本研究诱变和筛选得到了一株快速乙醇发酵菌株10232B。在优化后的发酵条件下，采用10L 发酵罐进行分批乙醇发酵，经过18h,乙醇的最终浓度达到88.5g/L,发酵效率93.6%，平均乙醇生产速度达到4.92 g/L/h。此菌株在保持较高乙醇生产浓度的同时，拥有快速生产乙醇的能力，适合作为快速乙醇发酵生产菌种。 由于鲜甘薯具有粘度大的特点，传统液化糖化处理很难在短时间内充分糖化原料；高粘度的醪液也难以进行管道输送，容易堵塞管路；同时，也会降低后续的乙醇发酵效率。 本文采用了快速粘度分析法对鲜甘薯糊化粘度特性进行了分析，进而对预处理条件进行了研究，在最佳预处理条件下，糖化2h 后，醪液葡萄糖值最高可达99.3，粘度4.5×104 mPa.s，而采用传统糖化工艺，醪液DE 值仅为85.8，粘度大于1.0×105 mPa.s。 此预处理方法也可用于快速糖化不加水的醪液。后续的乙醇发酵试验表明，通过此预处理方法获得的糖化醪液对乙醇发酵无负面影响。 在前期已实现了实验室水平的鲜甘薯燃料乙醇快速乙醇发酵基础上，进一步将发酵规模扩大到500L，在中试水平上对甘薯乙醇发酵进行了研究。结果表明在500L 中试规模，采用边糖化边发酵（SSF）工艺，在料液比为3∶1，发酵醪液最高粘度为6×104mPa.s 条件下，发酵37h，乙醇浓度达到了12.7%（v/v），发酵效率91%，发酵强度为2.7 g/（L•h）。与目前国内的薯类乙醇发酵生产技术水平具有明显的优越性。 为研究甘薯、木薯乙醇发酵中残糖的组成，采用了高效液相色谱—蒸发光散射检测法，对乙醇发酵残糖进行了分析。结果表明，甘薯、木薯乙醇发酵残糖均为寡聚糖，主要由葡萄糖、木糖、半乳糖、阿拉伯糖和甘露糖构成。随着发酵时间延长，寡聚糖中的葡萄糖、半乳糖、甘露糖可被缓慢的水解释放。提高糖化酶量仅在一定程度上降低残糖，过量的糖化酶反而会导致残糖增加。同时发现3, 5-二硝基水杨酸法不能准确测定甘薯、木薯乙醇发酵中的残总糖含量。进一步筛选了两株残糖降解菌株，对甘薯乙醇发酵残糖的降解利用率均达到了40%以上，而且还能显著降低发酵醪液粘度。经形态学和rRNA ITS 序列分析，确定这两株菌分别属于为木霉属和曲霉属黑曲霉组。 通过对以甘薯原料为代表的非粮原料发酵技术研究开发，以期形成乙醇转化率高，能耗低，生产效率高、季节适应性好，原料适应性广，经济性强，符合清洁生产机制的燃料乙醇高效转化技术，为具有我国特色的燃料乙醇发展模式提供技术支持。 Sweet potato is one of the major feedstock for the fuel ethanol production in China. The planting area and the yield in China take 90% of the world. Sweet potato is an efficient kind of energy crops. The energy outcome per area is higher than corn or wheat. And the manufacture cost of ethanol is the lowest, compared with corn and wheat. So sweet potato is the favorable crop for the bioethanol production in China. However, the low-level fermentation technology restricts the development of ethanol production by sweet potato, including slow ethanol production rate, low ethanol concentration and high energy cost. To solve these problems, we conducted research on the strain breeding, pretreatment, pilot fermentation test and residual saccharides analysis. To study the impact of hyperbaric condition at bottom of the large fermentor on yeast fermentation, high pressure carbon dioxide (CO2) was adopted to simulate the situation. The results showed that the fermentation was prolonged with the increasing pressure. The pressure of CO2 had little impact on the ethanol yield which could reach 90% under the pressure below 0.3 MPa. The inhibition was combined by the high pressure and CO2. Under the high CO2 pressure, the extracellular and important intracellular enzyme activities were different from those under normal state. The changes under 0.1 MPa and 0.2 MPa were similar. The changes under 0.3 MPa were closer to those under 0.4 MPa. The application of thermotolerance yeast could solve the problem of the inconsistent temperature between fermentation and saccharificaton and fulfill the real simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. And it could reduce the cooling cost. A thermotolerance strain Y-H1 was isolated in our research. It gave high ethanol concentration of 10.7%（w/w）at 40 ℃ for 33 h. The ethanol yield efficiency was over 90%. At 40 ℃, the extracellular and important intracellular enzyme activities of Y-H1 showed the difference with normal state, which may indicate its physiological changes at the high temperature. Molasses is another feedstock for industrial ethanol production. By our ethanol-tolerance strain and the regulation reagents, the fermentation with high ethanol concentration was investigated. In fed-batch mode combined with cold acid deposition, the highest ethanol concentration was 10.26% (w/w) for 42h. The aldehyde concentration in fermentation was found to be related to ethanol concentration. The development of a rapid ethanol fermentation strain of Zymomonas mobilis is essential for reducing the cost of ethanol production and for the timely utilization of fresh material that is easily decayed in the Chinese bioethanol industry. A mutant Z. mobilis strain, 10232B, was generated by UV mutagenesis. Under these optimized conditions, fermentation of the mutant Z. mobilis 10232B strain was completed in just 18 h with a high ethanol production rate, at an average of 4.92 gL-1h-1 per batch. The final maximum ethanol concentration was 88.5 gL-1, with an ethanol yield efficiency of 93.6%. This result illustrated the potential use of the mutant Z. mobilis 10232B strain in rapid ethanol fermentation in order to help reduce the cost of industrial ethanol production. As fresh sweet potato syrup shows high viscosity, it is hard to be fully converted to glucose by enzymes in the traditional saccharification process. The high-viscosity syrup is difficult to be transmitted in pipes, which may be easily blocked. Meanwhile it could also reduce the later ethanol fermentation efficiency. To solve these problems, effects of the pretreatment conditions were investigated. The highest dextrose equivalent value of 99.3 and the lowest viscosity of 4.5×104 mPa.s were obtained by the most favorable pretreatment conditions, while those of 85.8 and over 1.0×105 mPa.s was produced by traditional treatment conditions. The pretreatment could also be applied on the material syrup without adding water. The later experiments showed that the pretreated syrup had no negative effect on the ethanol fermentation and exhibited lower viscosity. The fuel ethanol rapid production from fresh sweet potato was enlarged in the 500L pilot scale after its fulfillment on the laboratory level. The optimal ratio of material to water was 3 to 1 in 500L fermentor. With low-temperature-cooking (85 ℃) using SSF, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae was able to produce ethanol 97.44 g/kg for 37h, which reached 92% of theoretical yield. The average ethanol production rate was 4.06 g/kg/h. And the maximum viscosity of syrup reached 6×104mPa.s. The results showed its superiority over current industrial ethanol fermentation. The compositions of the residual saccharides in the ethanol fermentation by sweet potato and cassava were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light-scattering detector. The results showed that all the residual saccharides were oligosaccharides, mainly composed of glucose, xylose, galactose, arabinose and mannose. The glucose, galactose and mannose could be slowly hydrolyzed from oligosaccharides in syrup during a long period. To increase the glucoamylase dosage could lower the residual saccharides to a certain extent. However, excess glucoamylase dosage led to more residual saccharides. And the method of 3, 5-dinitrosalicylic acid could not accurately quantify the residual total saccharides content. Two residual saccharides degrading strains were isolated, which could utilize 40% of total residual saccharide and lower the syrup viscosity. With the analysis of morphology and internal transcribed spacer sequence, they were finally identified as species of Trichoderma and Aspergillus niger.

Heat capacity and enthalpy of fusion of penconazole (C13H15C12N3)

Low-temperature heat capacities of penconazole (C13H15Cl2N3) were precisely measured with an automated adiabatic calorimeter over the temperature rang from 78 to 364 K. The sample was observed to melt at 332.38 +/- 0.06 K. The molar enthalpy and entropy of fusion of the compound were determined to be 33580 +/- 11 J mol(-1), 101.03 +/- 0.02 J mol(-1) K-1, respectively. Further research of the melting process for this compound was carried out by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. The result was in agreement with that obtained from the measurements of heat capacities. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Indium sulfide microflowers: Fabrication and optical properties

With the assistance of urea, uniform 2D nanoflakes assembled 3D In2S3 microflowers were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method at relative low temperature. The properties of the as-obtained In2S3 flowers were characterized by various techniques. In this work, the utilization of urea and L-cysteine, as well as the amount of them played important roles in the formation of In2S3 with different nanostructures. Inferred from their morphology evolution, a urea induced precursor-decomposition associated with the Ostwald-ripening mechanism was proposed to interpret these hierarchical structure formation.

Controlled synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals by a two-phase approach without the separation of nucleation and growth processes

The synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals is an important topic in the field of nanomaterials not only for practical applications, but also for scientific interest in fundamental research. In this feature article, we mainly focus on synthesis of monodisperse nanocrystals by a two-phase approach without the separation of nucleation and growth processes, and report some progress made recently in the observation and understanding of nucleation and growth of semiconductor nanocrystals. Firstly, a novel two-phase approach to monodisperse nanocrystals, which is different from the well-established synthesis models, is discussed. We demonstrate that the two-phase approach has a quite lengthy nucleation process, and can be applied to the synthesis of many kinds of binary monodisperse nanocrystals.

Synthesis and Electrical Properties of New Solid State Electrolyte Materials Ce6-xHoxMoO15-delta(0.0 <= x <= 1.2)

Ce6-xHoxMoO15-delta(0.0 <= x <= 1.2) was synthesized by modified sol-gel method and characterized by differential X-ray diffraction(XRD), Raman, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) methods. The oxide ionic conductivity of the samples was investigated by AC impedance spectroscopy. It shows that all the samples are single phase with a cubic fluorite structure. The solid solution Ce6-xHoxMoO15-delta(x=0.6) was detected to be the best conducting phase with the highest conductivity(sigma(t)=1.05x10(-2) S/cm) at 800 degrees C and the lowest activation energy(E-a=1.09 eV). These properties suggest that this kind of material has a potential application in intermediate-low temperature solid oxide fuel cells.

Stable ordered mesoporous silica materials templated by high-temperature stable surfactant micelle in alkaline media

Ordered hexagonal mesoporous silica material (JLU-30) has been successfully synthesized in alkaline media at high temperature (> 160 degreesC, using cationic (1,3-dimethyl-2-imidazolidin-2-ylidene)hexadecylmethyl-ammonium bromide (DIHAB) as a template, and characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption isotherms, differential thermal analysis (DTA), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG), as well as Al-27 and Si-29 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Mesoporous JLU-30 shows much higher hydrothermal stability than MCM-41. Si-29 NMR spectra indicate that the pore walls of JLU-30 samples synthesized at high temperature (160 degreesC) are fully condensed, giving a Q(4)/Q(3) ratio as high as 6.2. In contrast, MCM-41 synthesized at relatively low temperature (100 degreesC) shows the Q(4)/Q(3) + Q(2) ratio at 1.1. Such unique structural feature might be responsible for the observed highly hydrothermal stability of the mesoporous silica materials (JLU-30).

Synthesis of cyclic carbonates from CO2 and epoxides catalyzed by hexaalkylguanidinium halides

Hexaalkylguanidinium halides exhibit an efficient catalytic activity in the synthesis of cyclic carbonates from, epoxides and carbon dioxide. By this method cyclic carbonates can be obtained in a high yield and a high selectivity at a low temperature and atmospheric pressure. This procedure is easy for the product isolation and recycling of the catalyst.

The complex kinetics of protein folding in wide temperature ranges

The complex protein folding kinetics in wide temperature ranges is studied through diffusive dynamics on the underlying energy landscape. The well-known kinetic chevron rollover behavior is recovered from the mean first passage time, with the U-shape dependence on temperature. The fastest folding temperature T-0 is found to be smaller than the folding transition temperature T-f. We found that the fluctuations of the kinetics through the distribution of first passage time show rather universal behavior, from high-temperature exponential Poissonian kinetics to the relatively low-temperature highly nonexponential kinetics. The transition temperature is at T-k and T-0, T-k, T-f. In certain low-temperature regimes, a power law behavior at long time emerges. At very low temperatures ( lower than trapping transition temperature T< T-0/(4&SIM;6)), the kinetics is an exponential Poissonian process again.

Structures and electrochemical characteristics of several kinds of alloys

The structures and the electrochemical characteristics of La0.7-xCexMg0.3Ni2.8Co0.5 (x = 0.1-0.5) alloy, Ti0.25-xZrxV0.35Cr0.1Ni0.3 (x = 0.05-0.15) alloy and AB(3low temperature.

Sintering of nanopowders of amorphous silicon nitride under ultrahigh pressure

Nanopowders of amorphous silicon nitride were densified and sintered without additives under ultrahigh pressure (1.0-5.0 GPa) between room temperature and 1600 degrees C. The powders had a mean diameter of 18 nm and contained similar to 5.0 wt% oxygen that came from air-exposure oxidation, Sintering results at different temperatures were characterized in terms of sintering density, hardness, phase structure, and grain size. It was observed that the nanopowders can be pressed to a high density (87%) even at room temperature under the high pressure. Bulk Si3N4 amorphous and crystalline ceramics (relative density: 95-98%) were obtained at temperatures slightly below the onset of crystallization (1000-1100 degrees C and above 1420 degrees C, respectively. Rapid grain growth occurred during the crystallization leading to a grain size (>160 nm) almost 1 order of magnitude greater than the starting particulate diameters, With the rise of sintering temperature, a final density was reached between 1350 and 1420 degrees C, which seemed to be independent of the pressure applied (1.0-5.0 GPa), The densification temperature observed under the high pressure is lower by 580 degrees C than that by hot isostatic pressing sintering, suggesting a significantly enhanced low-temperature sintering of the nanopowders under a high external pressure.

Luminescence of RE2+ (RE = Sm, Yb) in barium octoborate

The reduction process from trivalent to divalent state for Sm3+ and Yb3+ ions in barium berates (BaB8O13) prepared in air was observed. The luminescence properties of these divalent rare-earth ions were studied. Yb2+ shows an f-d broad emission band, due to the 4f(14) --> 4f(13)5d transition, while the Sm2+ ion shows an f --> f transition. From the spectra of Yb2+, and using the D-5(0) --> F-7(0) transition of Sm2+ as a structural probe, two crystallographic sites were found to be available for the cations in the host. Vibronic transitions of Sm2+ were observed at low temperature. BaB8O13 was found to be a good host for reducing the trivalent rare-earth ions to divalent state and to exhibit interesting spectroscopic properties,