Some observations on the growth and cyst production characteristics of the brine shrimp Artemia sp. (Gujarat strain) in pond culture and its potential for import substitution

Experimental culture of the brine shrimp Artemia sp. (Gujarat strain) and production of cyst is discussed. The qualitative and quantitative aspects of the cyst and its economic potential for import substitution are highlighted.

Improving the superconducting properties of single grain Sm-Ba-Cu-O bulk superconductors fabricated in air by increased control of Sm/Ba substitution effects

The extreme sensitivity of Sm/Ba at high temperature in air becomes an obstacle to the fabrication of SmBCO single grains that exhibit stable and reliable superconducting properties. In this research, the superconducting properties of SmBCO single grains fabricated by top seeded melt growth (TSMG) from different batches of commercial SmBa2Cu3O 7-d (Sm-123) precursor powder using different processing atmospheres (air and 0.1% O2 in Ar), different processing methods (isothermal growth and continuous cooling) and different amounts of BaO2 content to suppress Sm/Ba substitution in air have been investigated in an attempt to understand fully the TSMG process for this system. As a result, based on extensive data, a novel and simple, low temperature post-annealing approach is proposed specifically to overcome the sensitivity of Tc to Sm/Ba substitution in order to simplify the fabrication of SmBCO and to increase its reliability with a view to the practical processing of these materials. Initial processing trials have been performed successfully to demonstrate the viability of the novel post-annealing process. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Exciton localization due to isoelectronic substitution in ZnSTe

We have systematically investigated the optical properties of isoelectronic centers (IECs) of ZnSTe in the whole composition range from ZnS to ZnTe. In the S-rich ZnSTe photoluminescence is dominated by Te-bound excitons, while in Te-rich side, S-related bound exciton emission dominates the radiative recombination. Localization nature of IEC bound exciton emissions in both S-rich and Te-rich side ZnSTe alloys are studied in detail. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Creation and suppression of point defects through a kick-out substitution process of Fe in InP

Indium antisite defect In-P-related photoluminescence has been observed in Fe-diffused semi-insulating (SI) InP. Compared to annealed undoped or Fe-predoped SI InP, there are fewer defects in SI InP obtained by long-duration, high-temperature Fe diffusion. The suppression of the formation of point defects in Fe-diffused SI InP can be explained in terms of the complete occupation by Fe at indium vacancy. The In-P defect is enhanced by the indium interstitial that is caused by the kick out of In and the substitution at the indium site of Fe in the diffusion process. Through these Fe-diffusion results, the nature of the defects in annealed undoped SI InP is better understood. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Substitution Matrices of Residue Triplets Derived from Protein Blocks.

In protein sequence alignment, residue similarity is usually evaluated by substitution matrix, which scores all possible exchanges of one amino acid with another. Several matrices are widely used in sequence alignment, including PAM matrices derived from homologous sequence and BLOSUM matrices derived from aligned segments of BLOCKS. However, most matrices have not addressed the high-order residue-residue interactions that are vital to the bioproperties of protein.With consideration for the inherent correlation in residue triplet, we present a new scoring scheme for sequence alignment. Protein sequence is treated as overlapping and successive 3-residue segments. Two edge residues of a triplet are clustered into hydrophobic or polar categories, respectively. Protein sequence is then rewritten into triplet sequence with 2 · 20 · 2 = 80 alphabets. Using a traditional approach, we construct a new scoring scheme named TLESUMhp (TripLEt SUbstitution Matrices with hydropobic and polar information) for pairwise substitution of triplets, which characterizes the similarity of residue triplets. The applications of this matrix led to marked improvements in multiple sequence alignment and in searching structurally alike residue segments. The reason for the occurrence of the ‘‘twilight zone,’’ i.e., structure explosion of lowidentity sequences, is also discussed.

Effect of substitution of chromium for nickel on structure and electrochemical characteristic of Ti0.26Zr0.07V0.24Mn0.1Ni0.33 multi-phase hydrogen storage alloy

Ti-Zr-V-Mn-Ni-based multi-component alloys demonstrate high discharge capacity in KOH electrolyte. However, the drastic decrease in their discharge capacities makes them unsuitable for use as negative electrode material in the Ni/MH battery. In present work, Ni is partially replaced by Cr in the Ti-Zr-V-Mn-Ni-based alloys to improve their cycle life. The effects of Cr substitution on microstructures and the electrochemical characteristics of the alloys are investigated. It is found that Cr substitution is very effective to improve the cyclic durability of the alloys although the discharge capacity decreases with changing x from 0.05 to 0.20. Some kinetic performances have been also investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiostatic discharge technique.

Preparation and characterization of cationic corn starch with a high degree of substitution in dioxane-THF-water media

Cationic corn starch derivatives with a high degree of substitution are prepared in alkaline solution or in mixed media of organic solvent and water with different levels of the cationic reagent, 2,3-epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride. The starch cationization yield is investigated, and the results indicate that the degree of substitution (DS) of the samples depends on the reaction conditions and reaction media. The maximum DS values are up to 1.37 in 1,4-dioxane alkali ne-aqueous solution. Meanwhile, the structures of the cationic starch derivatives are characterized by elemental analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and C-13 NMR spectroscopy, as well as by SEM techniques.

Effect of strontium substitution on the activity of La2-xSrxNiO4 (x=0.0-1.2) in NO decomposition

The aim of this work is to study the effect of Sr substitution on the redox properties and catalytic activity of La2-xSrxNiO4 (x = 0.0-1.2) for NO decomposition. Results suggest that the x = 0.6 sample shows the highest activity. The characterization (TPD, TPR, etc.) of samples indicates that the x = 0.6 sample possesses suitable abilities in both oxidation and reduction, which facilitates the proceeding of oxygen desorption and NO adsorption. At temperature below 700 degrees C, the oxygen desorption is difficult, and is the rate-determining step of NO decomposition. With the increase of reaction temperature (T > 700 degrees C), the oxygen desorption is favorable and, the active adsorption of NO on the active site (NO + V-o + Ni2+ -> NO--Ni3+) turns out to be the rate-determining step. The existence of oxygen vacancy is the prerequisite condition for NO decomposition, but its quantity does not relate much to the activity.

Substitution effect of nitrogen atoms with carbon atoms in porphyrin on the electronic structure and excited states properties

Density functional theory (DFT) electronic structure calculations were carried out to predict the structures and the absorption and emission spectra for porphyrin and a series of carbaporphyrins-carbaporphyrin, adj-dicarbaporphyrin, opp-dicarbaporphyrin, tricarbaporphyrin and tetracarbaporphyrin. The ground- and excited-state geometries were optimized at the B3LYP/6-31g(d) and CIS/6-31g(d) level, respectively. The optimized ground-state geometry and absorption spectra of porphyrin, calculated by DFT and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT), are comparable with the available experimental values. Based on the optimized excited-state geometries obtained by CIS/6-31g(d) method, the emission properties are calculated using TDDFT method at the B3LYP/6-31g(d) level. The effects of the substitution of nitrogen atoms with carbon atoms at the center positions of porphyrin are discussed. The results indicate that the two-pyrrole nitrogens are important to the chemical and physical properties for porphyrin.

Preparation of divalent rare earth ions in air by aliovalent substitution and spectroscopic properties of Ln(2+)

When alkaline earth ions in borates, phosphates or borophosphates [SrB4O7, SrB6O10, BaB8O13, MBPO5 (M=Ca,Sr)] are substituted partially and aliovalently by trivalent rare earth ions such as Sm3+, Eu3+, these rare earth ions can be reduced to divalent state by the produced negative charge vacancy V-M". The matrices must have appropriate structure containing a rigid three-dimensional network of tetragonal AO(4) groups (A=B,P). These groups can surround and isolate the produced divalent RE2+ ions from the reaction with oxygen. Therefore, this reduction reaction can be carried out even in air at high temperature. The produced divalent rare earth ions can be detected by luminescence and XANES methods and their spectroscopic properties are discussed.