Adsorption and reduction of palladium (Pd<Superscript>2+</Superscript>) by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus licheniformis</Emphasis> R08

Preliminary study on the mechanism of Pd²⁺ biosorption by resting cells of Bacillus licheniformis R08 biomass has been carried out by means of chemical kinetics and AAS, TEM, XRD and FTIR methods. The results showed that at 30℃ and pH 3.5, when dry R08 biomass powder (800 mg/L) was mixed with Pd²⁺ (100 mg/L) for 45 min, the rate constant k of biosorption of Pd²⁺ attained a maximum of 5.97×10^-2 min^-1 and the half life period of the reaction reached 12 min. The part of Pd²⁺ adsorbed by R08 biomass was reduced to elemental, cell-bound Pd⁰ at the same condition. The cell wall of R08 biomass was the primary location for accumulating Pd²⁺ , and aldoses, i. e. hydrolysate of a part of polysaccharides on the peptidoglycan layer in the acidic medium, serving as the electron donor, in situ reduced the Pd²⁺ to Pd⁰.     

Up-conversion luminescence of Er^3＋ doped and Er^3＋/Yb^3＋ co-doped YTaO4

The synthesis and up-conversion luminescent properties of YTaO4：Er^3＋ and YTaO4：Er^3＋/Yb^3＋ are reported for the first time. According to the measurement results of up-conversion spectra, Yb^3＋ co-doping can remarkably enhance the green （^2H11/2/^4S3/2→^4I15/2） and red （^4F9/2→^4I15/2） emissions, but depress the infrared emission （^4I9/2→^4I15/2）. With the increase of the Yb^3＋ concentration, the intensity of green emission increases, after that, when the Yb^3＋ concentration increases continuously, the intensity of green emission decreases, while those of the red and infrared emissions increase and decrease alternately. In addition, the up-conversion mechanisms of Er^3＋ doped and Er^3＋/Yb^3＋ co-doped YTaO4 are also discussed. It is found that the transform of up-conversion mechanism from two-step energy transfer to cooperating sensitization takes place when Yb^3＋ concentration is increased up to 12 mol%. With the further increase of Yb^3＋ concentration, the energy-back-transfer gradually becomes the dominant up-conversion mechanism, which results in the quenching of the green emission and slight increasing of the red and infrared emissions.     

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy on the B′2Σ+ and B2Π states of NS

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization （REMPI） spectra of N^32S and N^34S have been recorded in the range of 35700-40200 cm^-1. The radical was generated by a pulsed dc discharge of a mixture of SF6 and N2 under a supersonic free jet condition. All the 16 observed bands of N^32S radicals have been assigned, among which 12 bands belong to three transition progressions （v′=0-4, 0）, （v′=1-4, 1） and （v′=2-4, 2） from the X^2П ground state to the B′^2∑^＋ upper state and the rest correspond to （9, 0）, （10, 0）, （11, 0） and （12, 0） bands of B^2П-X^2П transition, respectively. Analysis of the rotationally resolved spectra yields exhaustive spectroscopic constants of both the X^2П ground state and the B′^2∑^＋ excited state. The electronic transition bands of the isotopic molecule N^34S have been rotationally analyzed for the first time and the rotational constants of the ground and upper states have been determined simultaneously.     

Effects of Yb^3＋ codoping on visible and near infrared emissions of Er^3＋-Yb^3＋ codoped Al2O3 powders by the sol-gel method

The 0.1 mol% Er^3＋ and 0-2 mol% Yb^3＋ codoped Al2O3 powders were prepared by the sol-gel method, and the phase structure, including only two crystalline types of doped Al2O3 phase, γ-（Al,Er, Yb）2O3 and θ-（Al,Er, Yb）2O3, was detected at the sintering temperature of 1000℃. The visible and near infrared emissions properties depended strongly on the Yb^3＋ codoping, and the corresponding maximal peak intensities centered at about 523, 545, 660 and 1533 nm were obtained respectively for the 0.1 mol% Er^3＋ and 0.5 mol% Yb^3＋ codoped Al2O3 powders, which were composed of θ-（Al,Er,Yb）2O3 and a small amount of γ-（Al,Er, Yb）2O3 phases. The two-photon absorption process was responsible for the visible up-conversion emissions, and the one-photon absorption process was involved in the near infrared emissions of the Er^3＋-yb^3＋ codoped Al2O3 powders.     

Kinetic parameters of oscillating reaction of amino acid- BrO3^——Mn^2＋-H2SO4-acetone system

In the previous papers[1—3], the oscillating reactionusing amino acids as organic substrates was studied. Inorder to obtain information about the kinetic parameters ofoscillating reaction of amino acids in amino acid- BrO3 - ?Mn2 -H2SO4-acetone sy…     

Near-infrared to visible up-conversion emissions of Er^3＋ doped Al2O3 powders derived from the sol-gel method

The Er3 doped Al2O3 powders were prepared by the sol-gel method using the aluminium isopropoxide [Al(OC3H7)3]-derived Al2O3 sols with addition of the erbium nitrate [Er(NO3)3.5H2O]. The different phase structure, including three crystalline types of (Al,Er)2O3 phases, γ, θ, α, and two Er-Al-O phases, ErAlO3 and Al10Er6O24, was obtained with the 1 mol% Er3 doped Al2O3 powders at the different sintering temperatures of 600―1200℃. The green and red up-conversion emissions centered at about 523, 545 and 660 nm, corresponding respectively to the 2H11/2, 4S3/2→4I15/2 and 4F9/2→4I15/2 transitions of Er3 , were detected by a 978 nm semiconductor laser diodes excitation. The phase structure and OH content had evident influence on the up-conversion emissions intensity. The maximum intensities of both the green and red emissions were obtained respectively for the Er3 doped Al2O3 powders sintered at 1200 ℃, which was composed mainly of α-(Al,Er)2O3, less of ErAlO3 and Al10Er6O24 phases, and with the least OH content. The two-photon absorption up-conversion process was involved in the green and red up-conversion emissions of the Er3 doped Al2O3 powders.     

Al^3＋ -induced vesicle formation

Aluminium laurate [Al(OOCC11H23)3] was synthesized as a surfactant, which can dissolve in micellar solution of a zwitterionic surfactant, tetradecycldimethylamine oxide (C14DMAO). The phase behavior of the mixtures of Al(OOCC11H23)3 and C14DMAO in water was studied and birefringent Lα-phase was observed. The birefringent Lα-phase consists of vesicles that were demonstrated by Polarizer and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) micrographs. Al3 -coordinated vesicles could be used as templating-precursor, providing a vesicle-route for preparation of inorganic nanoscale particles.     

CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> gas emplacement age in the Songliao Basin: Insight from volcanic quartz <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar-<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar stepwise crushing

Due to a lack of suitable minerals, the gas/oil emplacement ages have never been accurately obtained before. CH₄-CO₂-saline- bearing secondary inclusions are found in quartz from the volcanic rocks of the Yingcheng Formation, the container rocks of the deep CO₂ gas reservoir in the Songliao Basin. The inclusion fluid was trapped into microcracks in quartz during the gas emplacement and accumulation, providing an optimal target for the ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar stepwise crushing technique to determine the CO₂ gas emplacement age. ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar dating results of a quartz sample by stepwise crushing yield a highly linear-regression isochron with an age of 78.4±1.3 Ma, indicating that the accumulation of the deep CO₂ gas reservoir in the Songliao Basin occurred in the late Cretaceous. This is the first time to report an exact isotopic age for a CO₂ gas reservoir, which indicates that the ⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar dating can serve as a new technique to date the oil/gas emplacement ages.     

UV/visible spectroscopic analysis of CO<Superscript>3+</Superscript> and CO<Superscript>2+</Superscript> during the dissolution of cobalt from mixed Co-Cu oxidized ores

The leaching of cobalt from four-mixed Co-Cu oxidized ores containing cobalt at levels ranging from 0.5wt% to 34wt% was studied and the results has been reported. Conventional dissolution of these oxidized Co-Cu ores with diluted H₂SO₄ and SO₂ as a reducing agent resulted in a substantial improvement in the solution based recovery of cobalt. UV/visible spectroscopic analysis of the leached solutions indicated that the increased cobalt content in the solution was a result of flushing the acidified cobalt leaching solution with SO₂. Furthermore, UV/visible spectroscopy confirmed that as SO₂ was flushed into the acidified leaching solution, Co³⁺ bearing minerals were reduced to the readily soluble Co²⁺ bearing minerals, and this resulted in the increase of total cobalt in the collected solution. The mechanism of the reduction of Co³⁺ to Co²⁺ bearing minerals when SO₂ is flushed during the leaching of mixed Co-Cu oxidized ores, including the stability trends of Co³⁺, Co²⁺, and Cu²⁺ complexes, as shown by their UV/visible spectra, are also discussed.     

Preparation and luminescence properties of YeO3：Er^3＋/TiO2 with high specific surface area

The three composites Y2O3 :Er3+ , Y2O3 :Er3+ /Yb 3+ andY2O3 :Er3+ /TiO2 were prepared using coprecipitation and sol-gel techniques. Their morphology, specific surface area, porosity, UV-vis. absorption spectra and fluorescence spectra were measured using SEM, TEM, surface analysis, UV-vis. absorption and photoluminescence spectrophotometry. SEM and TEM showed that samples prepared using coprecipitation were dispersed, while Y2O3 :Er3+ /TiO2 particles possessed a mesoporous surface and average diameter of ab...     

Performance of cryogenic regenerator with <Superscript>3</Superscript>He as working fluid

Almost all experimental and theoretical studies on regenerative cryocoolers at temperatures below 20 K mention the use of 4He as working fluid.A preliminary qualitative evaluation indicates that because of the superfluid phase transition,a working fluid of 3 He would overcome the cooling temperature limitation set by 4He.Starting with a comparison of the thermophysical properties of 3He and 4He,cryogenic regenerator simulations applied to the third/last stage of a pulse tube refrigerator,with 3He and 4He separately,were implemented to quantitatively analyze performance differences of the regenerator with respect to regenerator loss, cooling power and COP.Results conclude that 3He could significantly improve the performance of a regenerative cryocooler.     

Resistless photochemical etching of a silicon wafer by UV laser with an H<Superscript>2</Superscript>O<Superscript>2</Superscript> and HF aqueous solution

A new resistless etching method has been developed for Silicon wafers. This new method uses an aqueous solution consisting of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and hydrogen fluoride (HF) as the activating etchants. A 193 nm ArF excimer laser and a 266 nm fourth harmonic generation Nd: YAG laser were used as the photon sources. Results showed that pattern etching has been achieved without any photoresist film. In the case of the 193 nm laser, the optimal etching appeared at a 1.3 H₂O₂÷HF ratio, where an etch depth of 210 nm was achieved with a fluence of 29 mJ/cm² and shot number of 10000. At the same conditions, the etch depth with H₂O₂ and HF solution was three times of that by using H₂O and HF mixture. In the case of the 266 nm Nd: YAG laser, the optimal etching appeared at twice ratio of H₂O₂/HF, where the etch depth of 420 nm was achieved with a fluence of 12 mJ/cm² and shot number of 30000. Results showed that the etch effect of the 266 nm Nd: YAG laser was more desirable than that of the 193 nm ArF excimer laser.     

Structural investigation and luminescent properties of BaZr(BO<Subscript>3</Subscript>)2:Eu<Superscript>3+</Superscript> phosphors containing Si

Si⁴⁺-doped BaZr(BO₃)₂:Eu³⁺ phosphors are prepared by a conventional solid-state reaction. The influence of Si⁴⁺ addition on the charge transfer state of Eu³⁺-O^2– and photoluminescence (PL) properties of BaZr(BO₃)₂:Eu³⁺ are discussed. Room temperature PL spectra indicated that efficient emission is obtained by Si doping. Increased values for the peak-peak ratio (PPR) of BaZr(BO₃)₂:Eu³⁺ at higher Si doping concentrations implied that the Eu³⁺ ion is located in a more asymmetric environment in BaZr_0.8Si_0.2(BO₃)₂:Eu³⁺ than in the undoped samples. The Judd-Ofelt parameters Ω_λ (λ=2,4) were calculated from the PL data, giving results that were consistent with those from the PPR. The maximum radiative quantum efficiency was achieved at a Si doping concentration of 20 mol%.     

An algorithm for the spectral immunity of binary sequence with period 2<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis></Superscript>

To resist the fast algebraic attack and fast selective discrete Fourier transform attacks, spectral immunity of a sequence or a Boolean function was proposed. At the same time, an algorithm to compute the spectral immunity of the binary sequence with odd period N was presented, here N is a factor of 2 ⁿ ? 1, where n is an integer. The case is more complicated when the period is even. In this paper, we compute linear complexity of every orthogonal sequence of a given sequence using Chan-Games algorithm and k - error linear complexity algorithm. Then, an algorithm for spectral immunity of binary sequence with period N = 2 ⁿ is obtained. Furthermore, the time complexity of this algorithm is proved to be O(n).     

Behavior of argon gas release from manganese oxide minerals as revealed by <Superscript>40</Superscript>Ar/<Superscript>39</Superscript>Ar laser incremental heating analysis

Manganese oxides in association with paleo- weathering may provide significant insights into the multiple factors affecting the formation and evolution of weathering profiles, such as temperature, precipitation, and biodiversity. Laser probe step-heating analysis of supergene hollandite and cryptomelane samples collected from central Queensland, Australia, yield well-defined plateaus andconsistent isochron ages, confirming the feasibility dating very-fined supergene manganese oxides by 40Ar/39Ar technique. Two distinct structural sites hostingAr isotopes can be identified in light of their degassing behaviors obtained byincremental heating analyses. The first site, releasing its gas fraction at thelaser power 0.2-0.4 W, yields primarily 40Aratm, 38Aratm, and 36Aratm (atmospheric Ar isotopes). The second sites yield predominantly 40Ar* (radiogenic 40Ar),39ArK, and 38ArK (nucleogenic components), at ～0.5-1.0 W. There is no significant Ar gas released at the laser power higher than 1.0 W, indicating the breakdown of the tunnel sites hosting the radiogenic and nucleogenic components. The excellent match between the degassing behaviors of 40Ar*, 39ArK, and 38ArK suggests that these isotopes occupy the same crystallographic sites and that 39ArK lossfrom the tunnel site by recoil during neutron irradiation and/or bake-out procedure preceding isotopic analysis does not occur. Present investigation supports that neither the overwhelming atmospheric 40Ar nor the very-fined nature of the supergene manganese oxides poses problems in extracting meaningful weathering geochronological information by analyzing supergene manganese oxides minerals.     

The short C-terminal hydrophilic domain of NhaH Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter from Halobacillus dabanensis with roles in resistance to salt and in pH sensing

The Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter plays key roles in maintaining low cytoplasmic NaNa^＋ level and pH homeostasis, while little is known about the Carboxyl-terminal hydrophilic tails of prokaryotic antiporters. In our previous study, the first Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter gene nhaH from moderate halophiles was cloned from Halobacillus dabanensis D-8 by functional complementation. A topological model suggested that only nine amino acid residues （^395PLIKKLGMI403） existed in the hydrophilic C-terminal domain of NhaH. The C-terminal truncated mutant of NhaH was constructed by PCR strategy and designated as nhaH△C. Salt tolerance experiment demonstrated that the deletion of hydrophilic C-terminal nine amino acid residues significantly inhibited the complementation ability of E. coil KNabc, in which three main Na^＋/H^＋ antiporters nhaA, nhaB and chaA were deleted. Everted membrane vesicles prepared from E. coil KNabc/nhaHAC decreased both Na^＋/H^＋ and Li^＋/H^＋ exchange activities of NhaH, and also resulted in an acidic shift of its pH profile for Na^＋, indicating a critical role of the short C-terminal domain of NhaH antiporter in alkali cation binding/translocation and pH sensing.     

Preparation and luminescence characteristics of Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ phosphor for white LED

The Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ phosphor was synthesized by high temperature solid-state reaction. The emission spectrum of Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ shows two bands centered at 487 and 575 nm, which well agree with the theoretic values of emission spectrum. The excitation spectrum for 575 nm emission center has several excitation bands at 365, 418, 458 and 473 nm. And the results show that the emission spectrum of Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ is influenced by the Eu^2＋ concentration. The relative emission spectra of the white-emitting InGaN-based YAG：Ce^3＋ LED and Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ LED were investigated. The results show that the color development of InGaN-based Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ is better than that of InGaN-based YAG：Ce^3＋, and the CIE chromaticity of InGaN-based Sr3SiO5：Eu^2＋ is （x=0.348, y=0.326）.     

Photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence properties of a novel CaLaGa307：Dy3＋ phosphor

A single host white emitting phosphor, CaLaGa3O7:Dy3+, was synthesized by chemical co-precipitation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, laser particle size analysis, and photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectra were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of the phosphor. The phosphor particles were composed of microspheres with a slight tendency to agglomerate, and an average diameter was of about 1.0 μm. The Dy3+ ions acted as luminescent centers, and substituted La3+ ions in the single crystal lattice of CaLaGa3O7 where they were located in Cs sites. Under excitation with ultraviolet light and a low voltage electron beam, the CaLaGa3O7:Dy3+ phosphor exhibited the characteristic emission of Dy3+ (4F9/2-6H15/2 and 4F9/2-6H13/2 transitions) with intense yellow emission at about 573 nm. The chromaticity coordinates for the phosphor were in the white region. The relevant luminescence mechanisms of the phosphor are investigated. This phosphor may be applied in both field emission displays and white light-emitting diodes.     

Luminescent research of Sr5（PO4）3Cl：Eu^2＋ blue phosphor used for electron beam excitation

Eu^2 -aetivated strontium choloro-phosphate has been used for lamp phosphor traditionally with high efficiency. In this paper, the cathodoluminescent properties of Sr5(PO4)3Cl：Eu^2 have been investigated for application in field emission display. The influence of Ba^2 , Ca^2 impurities on the cathodoluminescent spectrum of Sr5(PO4)3Cl:Eu^2 has also been measured. When operate voltage varied from mid- to low-voltage, the relative brightness and saturation behavior of phosphor was observed at different current density.     

Effects of Nd<Superscript>3+</Superscript> and Sm<Superscript>3+</Superscript> on the proliferation,differentiation and mineralization function of primary osteoblasts <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis>

A series of experimental methods including 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) test, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity measurement, Oil Red O stain and measurement, mineralized function expression and quantitive real time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) were employed to assess the effect of Nd³⁺ and Sm³⁺ on the proliferation, differentiation and mineralization function of primary osteoblasts (OBs) in vitro at cell and molecular levels. The experimental results suggest that concentration, culture time and ion species are pivotal factors for switching the biological effects of rare earth ions from toxicity to activity, from damage to protection, or from down-regulation to up-regulation.