Showing papers by "Chinese Academy of Sciences published in 2006"

Design and Creation of Superwetting/Antiwetting Surfaces

Abstract: Recent achievements in the construction of surfaces with special wettabilities, such as superhydrophobicity, superhydrophilicity, superoleophobicity, superoleophilicity, superamphiphilicity, superamphiphobicity, superhydrophobicity/superoleophilicity, and reversible switching between superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity, are presented. Particular attention is paid to superhydrophobic surfaces created via various methods and surfaces with reversible superhydrophobicity and superhydrophilicity that are driven by various kinds of external stimuli. The control of the surface micro-/nanostructure and the chemical composition is critical for these special properties. These surfaces with controllable wettability are of great importance for both fundamental research and practical applications.

Gold nanostructures: engineering their plasmonic properties for biomedical applications

Abstract: The surface plasmon resonance peaks of gold nanostructures can be tuned from the visible to the near infrared region by controlling the shape and structure (solid vs. hollow). In this tutorial review we highlight this concept by comparing four typical examples: nanospheres, nanorods, nanoshells, and nanocages. A combination of this optical tunability with the inertness of gold makes gold nanostructures well suited for various biomedical applications.

Self‐Assembled 3D Flowerlike Iron Oxide Nanostructures and Their Application in Water Treatment

Abstract: 3D nanostructures have attracted much attention because of their unique properties and potential applications. The simplest synthetic route to 3D nanostructures is probably selfassembly, in which ordered aggregates are formed in a spontaneous process. However, it is still a big challenge to develop simple and reliable synthetic methods for hierarchically selfassembled architectures with designed chemical components and controlled morphologies, which strongly affect the properties of nanomaterials. Iron oxides have been extensively studied in diverse fields including catalysis, environment protection, sensors, magnetic storage media, and clinical diagnosis and treatment. Various iron oxide structures, such as nanocrystals, particles, cubes, spindles, rods, wires, tubes, and flakes, have been successfully fabricated by a variety of methods. However, the self-assembly of these low-dimensional building blocks into complex 3D ordered nanostructures is still considerably more difficult. In order to further understand the mechanism of self-organization and expand the applications of iron oxide nanomaterials, self-assembled iron oxide 3D nanostructures need to be explored in more detail. Herein, we report the synthesis of novel 3D flowerlike iron oxide nanostructures by an ethylene glycol (EG)-mediated self-assembly process. Such a method has been adopted previously for the preparation of V2O5 hollow microspheres, [7]

GS3, a major QTL for grain length and weight and minor QTL for grain width and thickness in rice, encodes a putative transmembrane protein

Abstract: The GS3 locus located in the pericentromeric region of rice chromosome 3 has been frequently identified as a major QTL for both grain weight (a yield trait) and grain length (a quality trait) in the literature. Near isogenic lines of GS3 were developed by successive crossing and backcrossing Minghui 63 (large grain) with Chuan 7 (small grain), using Minghui 63 as the recurrent parent. Analysis of a random subpopulation of 201 individuals from the BC3F2 progeny confirmed that the GS3 locus explained 80–90% of the variation for grain weight and length in this population. In addition, this locus was resolved as a minor QTL for grain width and thickness. Using 1,384 individuals with recessive phenotype (large grain) from a total of 5,740 BC3F2 plants and 11 molecular markers based on sequence information, GS3 was mapped to a DNA fragment approximately 7.9 kb in length. A full-length cDNA corresponding to the target region was identified, which provided complete sequence information for the GS3 candidate. This gene consists of five exons and encodes 232 amino acids with a putative PEBP-like domain, a transmembrane region, a putative TNFR/NGFR family cysteine-rich domain and a VWFC module. Comparative sequencing analysis identified a nonsense mutation, shared among all the large-grain varieties tested in comparison with the small grain varieties, in the second exon of the putative GS3 gene. This mutation causes a 178-aa truncation in the C-terminus of the predicted protein, suggesting that GS3 may function as a negative regulator for grain size. Cloning of such a gene provided the opportunity for fully characterizing the regulatory mechanism and related processes during grain development.

Study of the electronic structure and photocatalytic activity of the BiOCl photocatalyst

Abstract: A novel bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) was synthesized by a hydrolysis method. The powder sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope and UV–vis spectrophotometer. The layered compound BiOCl was the first oxyhalide to be used as a photocatalyst. The prepared material has an optical indirect band-gap of 3.46 eV. For its photocatalytic reactivity, the methyl orange (MO) dye degradation was chosen to be investigated. In a comparison of a three-cycle measurement of BiOCl with that of TiO 2 (P25, Degussa), it was found that BiOCl had better performance than P25 at every recycle. The calculated electronic structure of BiOCl confirms that it has an indirect band-gap, and the Cl 3p and Bi 6p states dominate the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied orbitals (LUMO), respectively. The open crystal structure and indirect optical transitions of BiOCl play important roles in its excellent photocatalytic activity.

Physical Processes Shaping Gamma-Ray Burst X-Ray Afterglow Light Curves: Theoretical Implications from the Swift X-Ray Telescope Observations

Abstract: With the successful launch of the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer, a rich trove of early X-ray afterglow data has been collected by its onboard X-Ray Telescope (XRT). Some interesting features are emerging, including a distinct rapidly decaying component preceding the conventional afterglow component in many sources, a shallow decay component before the more "normal'' decay component observed in a good fraction of GRBs, and X-ray flares in nearly half of the afterglows. In this paper we systematically analyze the possible physical processes that shape the properties of the early X-ray afterglow light curves and use the data to constrain various models. We suggest that the steep decay component is consistent with the tail emission of the prompt gamma-ray bursts and/or the X-ray flares. This provides strong evidence that the prompt emission and afterglow emission are likely two distinct components, supporting the internal origin of the GRB prompt emission. The shallow decay segment observed in a group of GRBs suggests that very likely the forward shock keeps being refreshed for some time. This might be caused by either a long-lived central engine, or a wide distribution of the shell Lorentz factors, or else possibly the deceleration of a Poynting flux-dominated flow. X-ray flares suggest that the GRB central engine is very likely still active after the prompt gamma-ray emission is over, but with a reduced activity at later times. In some cases, the central engine activity even extends to days after the burst triggers. Analyses of early X-ray afterglow data reveal that GRBs are indeed highly relativistic events and that early afterglow data of many bursts, starting from the beginning of the XRT observations, are consistent with the afterglow emission from an ISM environment.

MPI-DING reference glasses for in situ microanalysis: New reference values for element concentrations and isotope ratios

Abstract: We present new analytical data of major and trace elements for the geological MPI-DING glasses KL2-G, ML3B-G, StHs6/80-G, GOR128-G, GOR132-G, BM90/21-G, T1-G, and ATHO-G. Different analytical methods were used to obtain a large spectrum of major and trace element data, in particular, EPMA, SIMS, LA-ICPMS, and isotope dilution by TIMS and ICPMS. Altogether, more than 60 qualified geochemical laboratories worldwide contributed to the analyses, allowing us to present new reference and information values and their uncertainties (at 95% confidence level) for up to 74 elements. We complied with the recommendations for the certification of geological reference materials by the International Association of Geoanalysts (IAG). The reference values were derived from the results of 16 independent techniques, including definitive (isotope dilution) and comparative bulk (e.g., INAA, ICPMS, SSMS) and microanalytical (e.g., LA-ICPMS, SIMS, EPMA) methods. Agreement between two or more independent methods and the use of definitive methods provided traceability to the fullest extent possible. We also present new and recently published data for the isotopic compositions of H, B, Li, O, Ca, Sr, Nd, Hf, and Pb. The results were mainly obtained by high-precision bulk techniques, such as TIMS and MC-ICPMS. In addition, LA-ICPMS and SIMS isotope data of B, Li, and Pb are presented.

A Framework for Evaluating the Effect of View Angle, Clothing and Carrying Condition on Gait Recognition

Abstract: Gait recognition has gained increasing interest from researchers, but there is still no standard evaluation method to compare the performance of different gait recognition algorithms. In this paper, a framework is proposed in an attempt to tackle this problem. The framework consists of a large gait database, a large set of well designed experiments and some evaluation metrics. There are 124 subjects in the database, and the gait data was captured from 11 views. Three variations, namely view angle, clothing and carrying condition changes, are separately considered in the database. The database is one of the largest database among the existing databases. Three sets of experiments, including a total of 363 experiments, are designed in the framework. Some metrics are proposed to evaluate gait recognition algorithms.

Elevated CO2 stimulates net accumulations of carbon and nitrogen in land ecosystems: a meta-analysis.

Abstract: The capability of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon (C) plays a critical role in regulating future climatic change yet depends on nitrogen (N) availability. To predict long-term ecosystem C storage, it is essential to examine whether soil N becomes progressively limiting as C and N are sequestered in long-lived plant biomass and soil organic matter. A critical parameter to indicate the long-term progressive N limitation (PNL) is net change in ecosystem N content in association with C accumulation in plant and soil pools under elevated CO2. We compiled data from 104 published papers that study C and N dynamics at ambient and elevated CO2. The compiled database contains C contents, N contents, and C:N ratio in various plant and soil pools, and root:shoot ratio. Averaged C and N pool sizes in plant and soil all significantly increase at elevated CO2 in comparison to those at ambient CO2, ranging from a 5% increase in shoot N content to a 32% increase in root C content. The C and N contents in litter pools are consistently higher in elevated than ambient CO2 among all the surveyed studies whereas C and N contents in the other pools increase in some studies and decrease in other studies. The high variability in CO2-induced changes in C and N pool sizes results from diverse responses of various C and N processes to elevated CO2. Averaged C:N ratios are higher by 3% in litter and soil pools and 11% in root and shoot pools at elevated relative to ambient CO2. Elevated CO2 slightly increases root:shoot ratio. The net N accumulation in plant and soil pools at least helps prevent complete down-regulation of, and likely supports, long-term CO2 stimulation of C sequestration. The concomitant C and N accumulations in response to rising atmospheric CO2 may reflect intrinsic nature of ecosystem development as revealed before by studies of succession over hundreds to millions of years.

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of two-dimensional conjugated polythiophenes with bi(thienylenevinylene) side chains.

Abstract: Three two-dimensional (2-D) conjugated polythiophenes with bi(thienylenevinylene) side chains (biTV-PTs), P1, P2, and P3, were designed and synthesized for application in polymer solar cells. The absorption spectral, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of the biTV-PTs were investigated and compared with those of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). The biTV-PTs show a broad absorption band from 350 to 650 nm; especially, the absorption spectrum of P3 displays a broad plateau and much stronger absorbance than that of P3HT in the wavelength range from 350 to 480 nm. Cyclic voltammograms reveal that the onset oxidation and reduction potentials of the biTV-PTs positively shifted by ca. 0.2 V in comparison with those of P3HT, indicating that the HOMO energy level of the biTV-PTs is ca. 0.2 eV lower than that of P3HT. Polymer solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated based on the blend of the polymers and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)propyl-1-phenyl-[6,6]-C-61 (PCBM) with a weight ratio of 1:1. The open circuit voltage of ...

Development and characterization of polymorphic microsatellite lociin endangered fern Adiantum reniforme var. sinense

Abstract: Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite loci in the endangered fern Adiantum reniforme var. sinense were developed and characterized using the Fast Isolation by AFLP of Sequences Containing repeats (FIASCO) protocol. Polymorphism of each locus was assessed in a bulked sample of 30 individuals from 8 natural populations. The number of alleles per locus varied from 2 to 11, with an average value of 6.2. The ranges of observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.000–0.895 and 0.226–0.868, respectively. These microsatellite markers provide useful tools for the ongoing conservation genetic studies of Adiantum reniforme var. sinense.

Regional and global concerns over wetlands and water quality

Abstract: Water quality in many stream catchments and river basins is severely impacted by nutrient enrichment as a result of agriculture. Water-resource managers worldwide are considering the potential role of riparian zones and floodplain wetlands in improving stream-water quality, as there is evidence at the site scale that such wetlands are efficient at removing nutrients from through-flowing water. However, recent studies have highlighted disadvantages of such use of wetlands, including emissions of greenhouse gases and losses of biodiversity that result from prolonged nutrient loading. Here, we discuss the water purification function of wetlands at the site and catchment scale and suggest ways in which these disadvantages could be overcome.

MnOx-CeO2 mixed oxide catalysts for complete oxidation of formaldehyde: Effect of preparation method and calcination temperature

Abstract: MnO x –CeO 2 mixed oxides prepared by sol–gel method, coprecipitation method and modified coprecipitation method were investigated for the complete oxidation of formaldehyde. Structure analysis by H 2 -TPR and XPS revealed that there were more Mn 4+ species and richer lattice oxygen on the surface of the catalyst prepared by the modified coprecipitation method than those of the catalysts prepared by sol–gel and coprecipitation methods, resulting in much higher catalytic activity toward complete oxidation of formaldehyde. The effect of calcination temperature on the structural features and catalytic behavior of the MnO x –CeO 2 mixed oxides prepared by the modified coprecipitation was further examined, and the catalyst calcined at 773 K showed 100% formaldehyde conversion at a temperature as low as 373 K. For the samples calcined below 773 K, no any diffraction peak corresponding to manganese oxides could be detected by XRD measurement due to the formation of MnO x –CeO 2 solid solution. While the diffraction peaks corresponding to MnO 2 phase in the samples calcined above 773 K were clearly observed, indicating the occurrence of phase segregation between MnO 2 and CeO 2 . Accordingly, it was supposed that the strong interaction between MnO x and CeO 2 , which depends on the preparation route and the calcination temperature, played a crucial role in determining the catalytic activity toward the complete oxidation of formaldehyde.

Adaptive synchronization of an uncertain complex dynamical network

Abstract: This note further investigates the locally and globally adaptive synchronization of an uncertain complex dynamical network. Several network synchronization criteria are deduced. Especially, our hypotheses and designed adaptive controllers for network synchronization are rather simple in form. It is very useful for future practical engineering design. Moreover, numerical simulations are also given to show the effectiveness of our synchronization approaches.

Spinning and processing continuous yarns from 4-inch wafer scale super-aligned carbon nanotube arrays

Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are an extremely interesting type of material due to their unique 1D structure, and their excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Many promising applications have been demonstrated. To exploit their excellent physical properties at a macroscopic level, it is desirable to create CNTs with macroscopic length. However, it has been very challenging to grow arbitrarily long CNTs. An alternative approach is to create long nanotube structures with many of them aligned into continuous yarns or ropes. In 2002, a breakthrough was made by our group to fabricate pure CNT yarns by directly drawing CNTs from super-aligned CNT arrays. Following that, Zhang et al. developed a draw– twisting spin method and demonstrated more interesting applications of the raw yarns. Since CNTs in the yarn are nearly parallel aligned, the CNT yarn is intrinsically an anisotropic material and has a special axis along the drawing direction, which demonstrates many fascinating properties and applications such as filaments for light bulbs, polarizers working in the UV region, thermal-field emitters, polarized-light emitters, transparent conducting membranes, etc. As these yarns are macroscopic objects, there is no doubt that they will be sought after for more and more applications as time goes on. However, to achieve real applications in the industry, some key issues have to be solved in advance. Currently many groups have achieved the growth of CNT arrays, but of these only two groups have reported spinning yarns from their arrays. The first question is why our CNT arrays can give rise to CNT yarn while others cannot? What is the critical factor that determines the ability for yarn formation? In our first paper and the recent paper of Zhang et al., the reported syntheses were carried out at atmospheric pressure (AP) in a tube furnace with diameters of 1–2 in. Can this synthesis be expanded to a larger scale at low pressure (LP) for commercial chemical vapor deposition (CVD) systems? The third problem is that, even though many applications have been demonstrated, the directly drawn-out yarns are very sticky due to their clean surfaces and extremely high surfaceto-volume ratio. It can easily to stick to the surfaces of other objects and can never be separated again, which greatly inhibits the real application of CNT yarns. Here, we show how these crucial problems were tackled by our group in the past two years. CNT arrays (or termed “CNT forests”) represent high-quality and highly ordered CNT structures, in which CNTs are nearly parallel aligned and perpendicular to the substrate. To date, a lot of groups have successfully synthesized CNT arrays since the initial papers were published. However, only two groups have reported that CNT yarns can be drawn from their arrays, which were defined as super-aligned arrays by us. We have tried to pull yarns from CNT arrays derived by a previously published method, which is denoted as a normal array, no yarns could be drawn out even though the height of the CNT array was above 1 mm. Now the question is what the difference is between normal and super-aligned arrays? Zhang et al. claimed that the formation of yarn was due to the disordered region at the top and bottom of the CNT array, which entangled together forming a loop. However we cannot agree with them based on the following points. First, in the normal array, the top and bottom part are more disordered and entangled than in the super-aligned array. Second, in our super-aligned array, the bottom part is highly ordered (see supporting information, Fig. S1) and without entanglement. Therefore, the disordered entanglement at the top may help the formation of yarn, but it cannot be the key factor for yarn formation. To elucidate the difference between normal and superaligned arrays, we performed comparative studies. Figure 1A is the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image of C O M M U N IC A IO N S

The deepest divergences in land plants inferred from phylogenomic evidence.

Abstract: Phylogenetic relationships among the four major lineages of land plants (liverworts, mosses, hornworts, and vascular plants) remain vigorously contested; their resolution is essential to our understanding of the origin and early evolution of land plants. We analyzed three different complementary data sets: a multigene supermatrix, a genomic structural character matrix, and a chloroplast genome sequence matrix, using maximum likelihood, maximum parsimony, and compatibility methods. Analyses of all three data sets strongly supported liverworts as the sister to all other land plants, and analyses of the multigene and chloroplast genome matrices provided moderate to strong support for hornworts as the sister to vascular plants. These results highlight the important roles of liverworts and hornworts in two major events of plant evolution: the water-to-land transition and the change from a haploid gametophyte generation-dominant life cycle in bryophytes to a diploid sporophyte generation-dominant life cycle in vascular plants. This study also demonstrates the importance of using a multifaceted approach to resolve difficult nodes in the tree of life. In particular, it is shown here that densely sampled taxon trees built with multiple genes provide an indispensable test of taxon-sparse trees inferred from genome sequences.

The Rice Tapetum Degeneration Retardation Gene Is Required for Tapetum Degradation and Anther Development

Abstract: In flowering plants, tapetum degeneration is proposed to be triggered by a programmed cell death (PCD) process during late stages of pollen development; the PCD is thought to provide cellular contents supporting pollen wall formation and to allow the subsequent pollen release. However, the molecular basis regulating tapetum PCD in plants remains poorly understood. We report the isolation and characterization of a rice (Oryza sativa) male sterile mutant tapetum degeneration retardation (tdr), which exhibits degeneration retardation of the tapetum and middle layer as well as collapse of microspores. The TDR gene is preferentially expressed in the tapetum and encodes a putative basic helix-loop-helix protein, which is likely localized to the nucleus. More importantly, two genes, Os CP1 and Os c6, encoding a Cys protease and a protease inhibitor, respectively, were shown to be the likely direct targets of TDR through chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses and the electrophoretic mobility shift assay. These results indicate that TDR is a key component of the molecular network regulating rice tapetum development and degeneration.

Decay of Loschmidt echo enhanced by quantum criticality.

Abstract: We study the transition of a quantum system S from a pure state to a mixed one, which is induced by the quantum criticality of the surrounding system E coupled to it. To characterize this transition quantitatively, we carefully examine the behavior of the Loschmidt echo (LE) of E modeled as an Ising model in a transverse field, which behaves as a measuring apparatus in quantum measurement. It is found that the quantum critical behavior of E strongly affects its capability of enhancing the decay of LE: near the critical value of the transverse field entailing the happening of quantum phase transition, the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix describing S vanish sharply.