Temperature-sensitive goldnanotube array membranes modified with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)

A kind of temperature-sensitive nanotube array membrane was developed by modifying gold-nanotube array membranes with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAm). The permeation ability of the mem-branes at different temperatures was investigated using sodium fluorescein and quantum dots as probes. The results showed that the pore diameter of nanotube was changed due to the reversible re-sponse of PNIPAm-modified membranes to temperature, and then the permeation ability of the mem-branes was changed. The permeation of fluorescence probes was slow and even almost blocked at 25℃ (below the lower critical solution temperature, LCST), since PNIPAm formed expanded structures and decreased the pore size. While at 40℃ (above the LCST), the permeation was increased, since PNIPAm became compact structures and the pore diameter was increased. Furthermore, the permea-tion ability of the temperature-sensitive nanotube array membranes could be adjusted reversibly and it is possible to use the membranes in nanofluidic devices, nanogates, etc.     

Synthesis of carbon nanotube array using corona discharge plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition

A corona discharge phasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition with the features of atmospheric pressure and low temperature has been developed to synthesize the carbon nanotube array ,The array was synthesized from methane and hydrogen mixture in anodic aluminum oxide template channels in that cobalt was electrodeposited at the bottom.The characterization results by the scanning electron microscopy,transmission electron microscopy,energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicate that the array consists of carbon nanotubes with the diameter of about 40 nm and the length of more than 4 μm, and the carbon anotubes are mainly restrained within the channels of templates.     

Gradient distribution of radial structure of PAN-based carbonfi ber treated by high temperature

High-performance graphite fibers were prepared and analyzed. The gradient distribution of radial structure of PAN-based carbon fibers was characterized by two different Raman test methods(incident laser beam perpendicular to and parallel to the fiber axis) and studied by the distribution of graphitization degree. Meanwhile difference between the two Raman test methods was used to describe the orientation of the graphite crystallite along the fiber axis. The results showed that the radial structure of PAN-based carbon fiber presented different gradient distribution states at different heat treatment temperatures,and the graphitization degree in the skin region changed more rapidly compared with the core region since the skin region was more affected by temperature which resulted in the obvious difference between skin and core structures.The difference of graphitization degree(Δg) characterized by two different Raman test methods increased with heat treatment temperature,indicating that the high temperature treatment(HTT) promoted further stacking of graphite crystallite,and the orientation degree of the graphite crystallite along the fiber axis was continuously increased.     

Effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure and properties of foamed glass-ceramics prepared from high-titanium blast furnace slag and waste glass

Foamed glass-ceramics were prepared via a single-step sintering method using high-titanium blast furnace slag and waste glass as the main raw materials The influence of sintering temperature (900-1060℃) on the microstructure and properties of foamed glass-ceramics was studied. The results show that the crystal shape changed from grainy to rod-shaped and finally turned to multiple shapes as the sintering temperature was increased from 900 to 1060℃. With increasing sintering temperature, the average pore size of the foamed glass-ceramics increased and subsequently decreased. By contrast, the compressive strength and the bulk density decreased and subsequently increased. An excessively high temperature, however, induced the coalescence of pores and decreased the compressive strength. The optimal properties, including the highest compressive strength (16.64 MPa) among the investigated samples and a relatively low bulk density (0.83 g/cm3), were attained in the case of the foamed glass-ceramics sintered at 1000℃.     

Perovskite-type B-site Bi-doped ceramic membranes for oxygen separation

Novel mixed conducting oxides, B-site Bi-doped perovskites were exploited and synthesized.Cubic perovskite structures were formed for BaBi0.2CoyFe0.8-yO3-δ (y≤0.4) and BaBixCo0.2Fe0.8-xO3-δ(x=0.1-0.5).The materials exhibited considerable high oxygen permeability at high temperature.The oxygen permeation flux of BaBi0.2Co0.35Fe0.45O3-δ membrane reached about 0.77×10-6 mol/cm2.s under an air/helium oxygen partial pressure gradient at 900℃, which was much higher than that of other bismuth-contained mixed conducting membranes.The permeation fluxes of the materials increased with the increase of cobalt content, but no apparent simple relationship was found with the bismuth content.The materials also demonstrated excellent reversibility of oxygen adsorption and desorption.Stable time-related oxygen permeation fluxes were found for BaBi0.2Co0.35Fe0.45O3-δ and BaBi0.3Co0.2Fe0.5O3-δ membranes at 875℃.     

用焦煤和氧化钙制备含CaO碳球团: 热解炉中温度、孔分布和碳结构对球团抗压强度的影响

CaO-containing carbon pellets (CCCP) were successfully prepared from well-mixed coking coal (CC) and calcium oxide (CaO) and roasted at different pyrolysis temperatures. The effects of temperature, pore distribution, and carbon structure on the compressive strength of CCCP was investigated in a pyrolysis furnace (350–750°C). The results showed that as the roasting temperature increased, the compressive strength also increased and furthermore, structural defects and imperfections in the carbon crystallites were gradually eliminated to form more organized char structures, thus forming high-ordered CC. Notably, the CCCP preheated at 750°C exhibited the highest compressive strength. A positive relationship between the compressive strength and pore-size homogeneity was established. A linear relationship between the compressive strength of the CCCP and the average stack height of CC was observed. Additionally, a four-stage caking mechanism was developed.     

Preparation of CaO-containing carbon pellets from coking coal and calcium oxide: Effects of temperature,pore distribution and carbon structure on compressive strength in pyrolysis furnace

CaO-containing carbon pellets(CCCP) were successfully prepared from well-mixed coking coal(CC) and calcium oxide(CaO) and roasted at different pyrolysis temperatures. The effects of temperature, pore distribution, and carbon structure on the compressive strength of CCCP was investigated in a pyrolysis furnace(350–750°C). The results showed that as the roasting temperature increased, the compressive strength also increased and furthermore, structural defects and imperfections in the carbon crystallites were gradually eliminated to form more organized char structures, thus forming high-ordered CC. Notably, the CCCP preheated at 750°C exhibited the highest compressive strength. A positive relationship between the compressive strength and pore-size homogeneity was established. A linear relationship between the compressive strength of the CCCP and the average stack height of CC was observed. Additionally, a four-stage caking mechanism was developed.     

Piezoresistive effect in carbon nanotube films

The piezoresistive effect of the pristine carbon nanotube(CNT)films has been studied.Carbon nanotubes were synthesized by hot filament chemical vapor deposition.The piezoresistive effect in the pristine CNT films was studied by a three-point bending test.The gauge factor for the pristine CNT films under 500 microstrains was found to be at least 65 at room temperature,and increased with temperature,exceeding that of polycrystalline silicon(30at)30℃.The origin of the piezoresistivity in CNT films may be ascribed to a pressure-induced change in the band gap and the defects.     

Stochastic method to determine the scale and anomalous diffusion of gusts in a windy atmospheric boundary layer

In the atmospheric boundary layer, especially during strong wind period, the coherent structures are obvious and related to the direct interaction of the air masses with the ground. In this paper, we used the observation data during dust weather in Northwest Gansu to study the coherent structure and their ＂anomalous diffusion＂. The structures in the atmospheric boundary layer included turbulent fluctuations and gusty wind disturbances, and could be denoted as ＂critical events＂. Their fractal dimensions were expressed by the complex index μ of waiting times. Although the complex index can indicate the ability of the system to generate coherent structures, it has a strong dependence on the threshold marking the ＂critical events＂. Hence, the continuous time random walk method was used to analyze the coherent structures. The scaling law of anomalous diffusion of coherent structures was obtained, and the diffusion scaling exponent H that indicated the ability of diffusion of different structures was analyzed. The exponents changed with structure scales which were affected by velocities and heights. At small scales, it was almost isotropic, and at large scales, the coherent structures were obvious and the diffusion was anomalous.     

Preparation of Cu-SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> composite aerogel by ambient drying and the influence of synthesizing conditions on the structure of the aerogel

A copper-doped silica composite aerogel with high specific surface area was prepared using a sol-gel method at ambient pressure. A drying control chemical additive (DCCA) N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was introduced to the composite sol of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and copper nitrate (Cu(NO3)2·3H2O) during the synthesizing process. The influence of the preparation conditions including Cu loading, catalyst concentration and heat treatment on the structure of copper-doped silica was investigated. The results showed that the obtained aerogel particles were uniformly distributed. The pore diameter was in a range of 2 to 15 nm. Heavier Cu loading benefited the formation of CuO crystalline, and reduced the specific surface area and pore diameter. When the catalyst concentration was high, the aggregation of Si-O network was reduced with the increase of it. The composite aerogel exhibited a good thermal stability after the heat treatment at high temperature.     

Novel protein detection method based on proximity-dependent polymerase reaction and aptamers

In recent years, specific detection of proteins is one of the hot issues about aptamers in proteomics. Here we reported a simple, sensitive and specific proximity-dependent protein assay with dual DNA aptamers. Thrombin was used as the model protein, and two aptamer probes with complementary sequence at 3′-end were designed for the two distinct epitopes of the protein. Association of the two aptamers with thrombin resulted in stable hybrids due to the proximity of 3′-end, then polymerase reaction was induced. The amount of obtained dsDNA was indicated using the fluorescence dye Sybr Green I. The results showed that the initial velocity of polymerase reaction had a positive correlation with concentration of thrombin. The advantages of this dual-aptamer-based approach included simple and flexible design of aptamer probes, high selectivity and high sensitivity. The detection limit was 6.9 pmol/L.     

Study on the specific interaction between angiogenin and aptamer by atomic force microscopy （AFM）

The specific interaction between angiogenin and aptamer has been investigated by using AFM. The specificity of the interaction is revealed by comparing the binding probability of aptamer to other elements in a series of control experiments. The results have shown that there is specific interaction force between angiogenin and aptamer. Moreover, the single molecular pull-off force between angiogenin and aptamer has also been determined using the Poisson statistical method to be 133.7±11.7 pN. These findings obtained are helpful to the better revelation of recognition mechanism between angiogenin and aptamer, which provided basis for further understanding the inhibition of the aptamer to angiogenic activity.     

mRNA detection in living cell using phosphorothioate-modified molecular beacon

In this study, GFP mRNA in COS-7 cell and GFP-transfected COS-7 cell was detected in real time using phosphorothioate-modified molecular beacon based on living cell imaging method. Results showed that phosphorothioate-modified molecular beacon still kept the advantages of molecular beacon, such as, excellent selectivity, high sensitivity, and no separation detection. In addition, this modification could significantly increase the nuclease resistance of molecular beacon. Phosphorothioate-modified molecular beacon can efficiently reduce the false positive signal and improve the accuracy of living cell mRNA detection. Supported by the National Key Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2002CB513110), International Technologies Collaboration Program of China (Grant No. 2003DF000039), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90606003 and 20620120107)     

Proteomic analysis of long-term salinity stress-responsive proteins in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Thellungiella halophila</Emphasis> leaves

Salinity is one of the most severe environmental factors that may impair crop productivity. A proteomic study based on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis is performed in order to analyze the long-term salinity stress response of Thellungiella halophila, an Arabidopsis-related halophyte. Four-week-old seedlings are exposed to long-term salinity treatment. The total crude proteins are extracted from leaf blades, separated by 2-DE, stained with Coomassie Brilliant Blue, and differentially displayed spots are identified by MALDI-TOF MS or QTOF MS/MS. Among 900 protein spots reproducibly detected on each gel, 30 spots exhibit significant change and some of them are identified. The identified proteins include not only some previously characterized stress-responsive proteins such as TIR-NBS-LRR class disease resistance protein, ferritin-1, and pathogenesis-related protein 5, but also some proteins related to energy pathway, metabolism, RNA processing and protein degradation, as well as proteins with unknown functions. The possible functions of these proteins in salinity tolerance of T. halophila are discussed and it is suggested that the long-term salinity tolerance of T. halophila is achieved, at least partly, by enhancing defense system, adjusting energy and metabolic pathway and maintaining RNA structure.     

Novel azobenzene-phthalocyanine dyads―― design of photo-modulated J-aggregation

Based on the J-aggregation mechanism of α-aryl/alkoxy-substituted zinc phthalocyanines(Pcs) in non-coordinating solvents, two novel azobenzene-phthalocyanine dyads (3-azo-ZnPc and 4-azo-ZnPc) were synthesized with the aim of developing Pc compounds whose ability to form J-aggregation could be photo-modulated. It was found that 3-azo-ZnPc in chloroform could be effectively photo-controlled in a wide range. This phenomenon could be explained by the changes in the geometry and dipole moment of azobenzene during the photo-isomerization process. 4-azo-ZnPc did not have this ability at all, with or without UV light illumination. The positions of the oxygen atoms to which the aryl/alkoxy substitution was attached relatively were found important in determining the aggregation ability. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 20572059, 20502013 and 20773077), National Key Fundamental Research Program (Grant No. 2007CB808000)     

Stability study of saturated red polymer light-emitting diodes

Saturated red polymer light-emitting diodes have been fabricated with a single emitting polymer blend layer of poly[2-(2-ethylhexyloxy)-5-methoxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MEH-PPV) and poly[9,9-dioc- tylfluorene-co-4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole] (PFO-DBT15). Saturated red emission with the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.67, 0.33) was obtained. The device stability was investigated. The results showed that energy transfer occurred from MEH-PPV to PFO-DBT15, and MEH-PPV improved the hole injection and transportation.     

Genome-wide distribution of histone H3 acetylation in all- trans retinoic acid induced neuronal differentiation of SH-SY5Y cells

With chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and promoter DNA microarray analyses (ChIP-on-chip), we analyzed the variations of acetylation on histone H3 in all-trans retinoic acid (RA) induced neuronal cell differentiation. Neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells were treated with RA for 24 h and the acetylation on histone H3 in the promoter region of the genes was detected. Results showed that, after treatment, the level of acetylation on histone H3 elevated in 597 genes in the genome, and reduced in the other 647 genes compared with those of the control. In summary, we have successfully adopted a high throughput technique to detect and analyze variations of acetylation of histone H3 in human genome at the early phage of RA induced neuronal differentiation of the SH-SY5Y cells. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90408007 and 30721063) and National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB518605)     

Male panda （Ailuropoda melanoleuca） urine contains kinship information

Chemical communication plays an important role in kin selection and mate choice in mammals. The covariance of odor-genes of rodents has been documented and kinship odor has been proposed and termed, yet little is known of the relationship between genetic relatedness and chemical composition of kinship odors. Giant pandas （Ailuropoda melanoleuca） rely substantially on chemical communication to mediate their social interactions. To examine the relationship between genetic relatedness and compounds in the urine/anogenital gland secretions, we compared the similarities between genetic relatedness and the chemical profiles of anogenital gland secretions and urine via lineage construction and GC-MS （gas chromatography and mass spectrometry）. We found that information about kinship odors was present only in the urine of male adults in the mating season but absent in the non-mating season. Adult females and all sub-adults did not have such kinship odors in either mating or non-mating season. Therefore, kinship odor in the panda was contingent on age, sex, and season. This is the first report about the condition-dependent expression of kinship odor, which may have a significant implication in the practice of panda conservation in relation to chemical communication and sexual selection.     

The program structure designing and optimizing tests of GRAPES physics

According to the modularization and standardization of program structure in Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System （GRAPES）, the plug-compatible and transplantable regional meso-scale and global middle-range physics software package is established. The package＇s component integrality is comparative with the other advanced models physics. A three-level structure of connecting GRAPES physics and dynamic frame has been constructed. The friendly interface is designed for users to plug in their own physics packages. Phenomenon of grid-point storm rainfall in numerical prediction is analyzed with the numerical tests. The scheme of air vertical velocity calculation is improved. Opti- mizing tests of physics schemes are performed with the correlative parameters adjusting. The results show that the false grid-point storm rainfall is removed by precipitation scheme improving. Then the score of precipitation forecast is enhanced.     

Process modeling of fuel cell vehicle power system

Constructed here is a mathematic model of PEM Fuel Cell Vehicle Power System which is composed of fuel supply model, fuel cell stack model and water-heat management model. The model was developed by Matlab/Simulink to evaluate how the major operating variables affect the output performances. It shows that the constructed model can represent characteristics of the power system closely by comparing modeling results with experimental data, and it can be used in the study and design of fuel cell vehicle power system. Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA05Z145), State Key Development Program for Basic Research of China (Grant No. 2007cb209707) and Shanghai Science and Technology Project (Grant Nos. 06SN07115 and 07JC14024)