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Bias-stress instability has been a challenging problem and a roadblock for developing stable p-type organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). This device instability is hypothesized because of electron-correlated charge carrier trapping, neutralization, and recombination at semiconductor/dielectric interfaces and in semiconductor channels. Here, in this paper, a strategy is demonstrated to improve the bias-stress stability by constructing a multilayered drain electrode with energy-level modification layers (ELMLs). Several organic small molecules with high lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels are experimented as ELMLs. The energy-level offset between the Fermi level of the drain electrode and the LUMOs of the ELMLs is shown to construct the interfacial barrier, which suppresses electron injection from the drain electrode into the channel, leading to significantly improved bias-stress stability of OFETs. The mechanism of the ELMLs on the bias-stress stability is studied by quantitative modeling analysis of charge carrier dynamics. Of all injection models evaluated, it is found that Fowler-Nordheim tunneling describes best the observed experimental data. Both theory and experimental data show that, by using the ELMLs with higher LUMO levels, the electron injection can be suppressed effectively, and the bias-stress stability of p-type OFETs can thereby be improved significantly.

Magnesium (Mg) and silver (Ag) alloys are staple electrodes for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study, the Mg:Ag binary phase diagram is used to establish an electrode materials selection guide for both bottom- and top-emitting OLEDs. To achieve low turn-on voltage and high efficiency in bottom-emitting OLEDs, it is found that Mg:Ag cathodes must be selected from AgMg3 Mg phase region which provides the best figure of merits in low work function and high optical reflectance. For top-emitting OLEDs, however, Mg:Ag cathodes in the AgMg3 Mg region show large imaginary refractive index, and thus a stacked Mg:Ag/Ag is found essential to achieve optimal device performance. Furthermore, insertion of a thin LiF layer is found to create an effective charge injection cathode. In order to theoretically compute the devices’ optical characteristics, a database of complex optical constants of various materials including the metals is obtained by using a spectroscopic ellipsometer. This new database is found essential for accurate device optical design and engineering.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) movement across cellular membranes is passive and governed by Fick's law of diffusion. Until recently, we believed that gases cross biological membranes exclusively by dissolving in and then diffusing through membrane lipid. However, the observation that some membranes are CO2impermeable led to the discovery of a gas molecule moving through a channel; namely, CO2diffusion through aquaporin-1 (AQP1). Later work demonstrated CO2diffusion through rhesus (Rh) proteins and NH3diffusion through both AQPs and Rh proteins. The tetrameric AQPs exhibit differential selectivity for CO2versus NH3versus H2O, reflecting physico-chemical differences among the small molecules as well as among the hydrophilic monomeric pores and hydrophobic central pores of various AQPs. Preliminary work suggests that NH3moves through the monomeric pores of AQP1, whereas CO2moves through both monomeric and central pores. Initial work on AQP5 indicates that it is possible to create a metal-binding site on the central pore's extracellular face, thereby blocking CO2movement. The trimeric Rh proteins have monomers with hydrophilic pores surrounding a hydrophobic central pore. Preliminary work on the bacterial Rh homologue AmtB suggests that gas can diffuse through the central pore and three sets of interfacial clefts between monomers. Finally, initial work indicates that CO2diffuses through the electrogenic Na/HCO3cotransporter NBCe1. At least in some cells, CO2-permeable proteins could provide important pathways for transmembrane CO2movements. Such pathways could be amenable to cellular regulation and could become valuable drug targets.

The ytterbium oxide (Yb3+) is found to have an extremely low work function of 2.42 eV, which is even lower than that of its metallic form Yb0 (2.64 eV). The stability of oxides makes Yb3+ an ideal electron injection material for both top-emitting and bottom-emitting organic light-emitting diodes (TOLED and BOLED). The device test data indeed show that at 1000 nit luminance, the TOLED has a 94 cd/A current efficiency and 70 lm/W power efficiency, and BOLED has a 76 cd/A and 60 lm/W efficiency, respectively. X-ray and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopical studies indicate that the Fermi level of the metal oxide is pinned to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the electron transport layer, leading to the formation of a cathode interface with an ultra-low electron injection barrier.

In a non-crystalline molecular material, glass-transition temperature Tg is typically defined by an inflection point in the specific volume (or thickness) vs. temperature plot. In this paper, the glass-transitions in thin-film organic semiconductors are investigated by using various temperature spectroscopic ellipsometer. We observed that glass transition temperatures in organic thin films are characterized by a disruptive change in thickness vs. temperature plot. In order to modify the glass transition temperature of an organic semiconductor, we also made composite thin-films by inclusion of another organic molecule with higher Tg. We found that the transition temperature can be significantly improved by inclusion of another organic molecule. The glass-transition processes of these composite semiconductors, however, also proceed in a disruptive manner, in stark contrast to typical polymeric materials. Despite this disruptive glass transition behavior, the experimental Tg of the composite semiconductors are found to follow precisely a simple inverse sum equation of constituent temperatures with their respective weight factors.

High-contrast organic light-emitting diodes (HC-OLEDs) with black phase-changing (PC) cathodes have been designed and fabricated. The black PC-cathode consists of a front thin semitransparent metal layer, an organic PC layer, and a rear thick reflective metal layer. To achieve a targeted high contrast over the full visible spectrum, several organic molecules and their binary and ternary compounds were researched to meet optical design requirement. By combining a design in the complex refractive index and in the thickness of the PC layer, it is demonstrated that the optical reflectance of the HC-OLED can be reduced from ∼80% to below that of the glass substrate (∼5%) by using a ternary organic compound as the PC layer. This black PC-cathode produces extremely high optical contrast, and yet it does not alter the current–voltage characteristics of the device.

The electroneutral Na+/HCO3 - cotransporter NBCn2 (SLC4A10) of solute carrier family 4 (SLC4) plays important physiological and pathological roles in the body. Our previous study showed that NBCn2 is expressed on the protein level in the small intestine of rat. Here, by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we identified a novel full-length NBCn2 variant, i.e., NBCn2-K, from rat small intestine. By pHi measurement with Xenopus oocytes, the activity of NBCn2-K is not significantly different from NBCn2-G. By western blotting, NBCn2 and the Na+/H+ exchanger NHE3 (SLC9A3) are predominantly expressed in the jejunum of rat small intestine. By immunofluorescence, NBCn2 and NHE3 are localized at the apical domain of the jejunum. NaCl overload decreases the expression of NBCn2 by 56% and that of NHE3 by 40% in the small intestine. We propose that NBCn2 is involved in the transepithelial NaCl absorption in the small intestine, and that the down-regulation of NBCn2 by NaCl represents an adaptive response to high salt intake in rat.

Molecular orientation in organic semiconductors plays a critical role in maximizing external quantum efficiencies of organic light-emitting diodes. It was generally believed that the molecular packing of organic semiconductors is either amorphous or liquid-crystal-like with a preferred molecular orientation distributed uniformly throughout the film. In this paper, however, we report that the orientation of organic molecules in physical-vapor deposited films varies drastically depending on thickness. The thermal stability of the molecular network, measured by its characteristic glass transition temperature, also varies as a function of the film thickness. Based on a two-layered film-structure model, we propose a simple function to quantify the molecular dipole orientation S parameter as a function of film thickness. This function describes well experimental data. In addition to contributing to external quantum efficiency, the molecular orientation parameter S is found to have a strong impact on disruptive change in material density after thermal anneal and glass transition.

Nonradiative recombination is one of the key electronic processes in semiconductor devices. In this study, we demonstrate that nonradiative recombination rate of intermolecular charge-transfer (CT) exciton at organic heterojunction increases exponentially with decreasing energy difference between the LUMO of acceptor and the HOMO of donor. In addition, the effect of orbital overlap between the acceptor LUMOs and donor HOMOs on nonradiative recombination is studied using a wide bandgap organic spacer layer. It is found that the rate for nonradiative CT exciton recombination decreases exponentially as the donor–acceptor separation distance increases. Nonradiative CT exciton recombination is an important consideration in selecting materials for organic devices such as organic solar cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and so on.

Connecting electrodes play a crucial role to assist charge injection into the adjacent electroluminescent units in tandem organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study, we demonstrate that Mg:Ag alloy is an effective connecting electrode for bottom- and top-emitting tandem OLEDs. Optical cavity design and simulation are also conducted to predict the luminance of tandem OLEDs. It is found that the theoretical luminance of tandem OLEDs is close to but not higher than twofold enhancement over the luminance of a single OLED optimized to the first resonance mode, which is theoretically higher than high-order resonance modes. It is also found that the optical properties of Mg:Ag connecting electrodes, while having relatively small influence on weak microcavity bottom-emitting tandem OLEDs, have large influence on strong microcavity top-emitting tandem OLEDs.

The dipole orientation of a light-emitting molecule dictates the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of an organic light emitting diode (OLED). In this paper, we studied both experimental and theoretical relationships between dipole orientation and measurable optical properties of working OLEDs. Theoretical electroluminescence (EL) spectrum, EQE, and luminance angle distribution are simulated by incorporating the dipole radiation pattern into Fabry- Perot cavity theory with horizontal dipole ratio as a variable parameter. The horizontal ratio is determined by optimizing the fitness of theoretical EL spectra to the experimental data and EL angular distribution. We show that the optical model proposed in this paper describes well the emission dipole dependent device optical data including EL spectra, EQEs, and EL luminance angular distributions. The emission fill factor (EFF), defined as the area ratio of EL angular distribution to the Lambertian curve, is found to follow a linear relationship with horizontal dipole ratio. These results provide a simple guide to deduce dipole orientations in working OLEDs.

The kidney maintains systemic acid-base balance by reclaiming from the renal tubule lumen virtually all HCO3− filtered in glomeruli and by secreting additional H+ to titrate luminal buffers. For proximal tubules, which are responsible for about 80% of this activity, it is believed that HCO3− reclamation depends solely on H+ secretion, mediated by the apical Na+/H+ exchanger NHE3 and the vacuolar proton pump. However, NHE3 and the proton pump cannot account for all HCO3− reclamation. Here, we investigated the potential contribution of two variants of the electroneutral Na+/HCO3– cotransporter NBCn2, the amino termini of which start with the amino acids MCDL (MCDL-NBCn2) and MEIK (MEIK-NBCn2). Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry revealed that MEIK-NBCn2 predominantly localizes at the basolateral membrane of medullary thick ascending limbs in the rat kidney, whereas MCDL-NBCn2 localizes at the apical membrane of proximal tubules. Notably, NH4Cl-induced systemic metabolic acidosis or hypokalemic alkalosis downregulated the abundance of MCDL-NBCn2 and reciprocally upregulated NHE3. Conversely, NaHCO3-induced metabolic alkalosis upregulated MCDL-NBCn2 and reciprocally downregulated NHE3. We propose that the apical membrane of the proximal tubules has two distinct strategies for HCO3− reclamation: the conventional indirect pathway, in which NHE3 and the proton pump secrete H+ to titrate luminal HCO3−, and the novel direct pathway, in which NBCn2 removes HCO3− from the lumen. The reciprocal regulation of NBCn2 and NHE3 under different physiologic conditions is consistent with our mathematical simulations, which suggest that HCO3− uptake and H+ secretion have reciprocal efficiencies for HCO3− reclamation versus titration of luminal buffers.

Tandem device is an important architecture in fabricating high performance organic light-emitting diodes and organic photovoltaic cells. The key element in making a high performance tandem device is the connecting materials stack, which plays an important role in electric field distribution, charge generation and charge injection. For a tandem organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with a simple Liq/Al/MoO3 stack, we discovered that there is a significant current lateral spreading causing light emission over an extremely large area outside the OLED pixel when the Al thickness exceeds 2 nm. This spread light emission, caused by an inductive electric field over one of the device unit, limits one’s ability to fabricate high performance tandem devices. To resolve this issue, a new connecting materials stack with a C60 fullerene buffer layer is reported. This new structure permits optimization of the Al metal layer in the connecting stack and thus enables us to fabricate an efficient tandem OLED having a high 155.6 cd/A current efficiency and a low roll-off (or droop) in current efficiency.

A simple organic diode structure has been made based on N,N′-bis(naphthalen-1-yl)-N,N′-bis(phenyl)-benzidine (NPB)/Fullerene (C 60 ) heterojunction. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show an energy level alignment at the heterojunction as such that no potential barrier near this heterojunction to hinder the formation of charge transfer excitons, which recombines at a very fast rate. This fast exciton recombination at this heterojunction makes NPB/C 60 behave like an ideal Ohmic contact and thus leads to an extremely high 7.8 × 10 4 rectifying ratio from the electrode/organic contacts.

Used as a blue emitter, fluorescent dye 4,4′-bis(9-ethyl-3-carbazovinylene)-1,1′-biphenyl (BCzVBi) is compounded with Bis[2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-pyridine]beryllium(Bepp2) to yield high efficiency. When combined with green and red phosphorescent emitting layers, a broad band white light organic light-emitting diodes are obtained and studied. In this device, both singlet and triplet excitons can be harvested to generate white color. Through device structure optimization, a high efficiency of 20.8 cd/A, which corresponds to an external quantum efficiency of 11.3% has been achieved.

Key points • The human SLC4A7 gene and the mouse Slc4a7 gene each have alternative promoters that can yield two groups of NBCn1 variants, one in which the extreme N terminus begins with MEAD (representing the first four residues of the N-terminal domain (Nt)) and the other in which it begins with MERF. • The mouse Slc4a7 gene contains, and the human SLC4A7 gene is predicted to contain, a novel exon that encodes an alternatively spliced cassette IV of 20 aa in the cytoplasmic Nt domain of NBCn1. This new cassette IV is in a position homologous to that of a previously described cassette in the Nt of NBCn2. • From combinations of known optional structural elements (OSEs), SLC4A7 is theoretically able to produce 32 major variants, of which 16 have now been identified, 10 for the first time in the present study. • With heterologous expression in Xenopus oocytes, the OSEs have strong effects on surface abundance and intrinsic HCO3− transport activity. Cassettes II, III and the novel cassette IV have stimulatory effects on the intrinsic HCO3− transport activity of NBCn1. Abstract The SLC4A7 gene encodes the electroneutral sodium/HCO3 cotransporter NBCn1, which plays important physiological and pathophysiological roles in many cell types. Previous work identified six NBCn1 variants differing in the sequence of the extreme N terminus – MEAD in rat only, MERF in human only – as well as in the optional inclusion of cassettes I, II, and III. Earlier work also left open the question of whether optional structural elements (OSEs) affect surface abundance or intrinsic (per-molecule) transport activity. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that SLC4A7 from one species can express both MEAD- and MERF-NBCn1. We also identify a novel cassette IV of 20 aa, and extend by 10 the number of full-length NBCn1 variants. The alternative N termini and four cassettes could theoretically produce 32 major variants. Moreover, we identify a group of cDNAs predicted to encode just the cytosolic N-terminal domain (Nt) of NBCn1. A combination of electrophysiology and biotinylation shows that the OSEs can affect surface abundance and intrinsic HCO3− transport activity of NBCn1, as expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Specifically, MEAD tends to increase whereas novel cassette IV reduces surface abundance. Cassettes II, III and novel cassette IV all appear to increase the intrinsic activity of NBCn1.

A large number of laboratory experiments on the gas seepage characteristics by the self-developed gas-bearing coal triaxial compression experimental system and conducts the comparative analysis of the similarities and differences of the permeability among CO2, CH4 and N2. The results show that given the condition of constant gas pressure, the permeability of the coal sample decreases with the increase of the confining pressure; under the constant confining pressure, the permeability of the coal sample decreases with the increase of the gas pressure; gases of different adsorbabilities have different permeabilities. The stronger the gas adsorption is, the worse its permeability will be; in the axial loading case, the permeabilities of different gases all reduce firstly and increase afterward, showing the generally V-shaped variation law. The results are of certain theoretical values on the in-depth understanding of the migration law of the gas in coal seams.

White organic light emitting diodes (WOLEDs) is becoming a new platform technology for a range of applications such as flat-panel displays, solid-state lightings etc. and are under intensive research. For general solid-state illumination applications, a WOLED’s color rendering index (CRI) and correlated color temperature (CCT) are two crucial parameters. This paper reports that WOLED device structures can be constructed using four stacked emission layers which independently emit lights at blue, green, yellow and red color respectively. The intensity of each emission layer is then engineered by funneling excitons to the targeted emission layer to achieve an ultrahigh 92 CRI at 5000 cd/m2 and to reduce CCT to below 2500 K.

Considering the variation of the porosity and permeability of coal containing gas at differential deformation stages, a dynamic model for porosity and permeability is developed based on the previous researches. Furthermore, taking coal containing gas as a kind of isotropic elastoplastic material and taking into account the effect of gas adsorption, the stress and seepage equations are derived and, the solid gas coupling model for coal containing gas is constructed, which is appropriate to describe the skeleton deformability of coal containing gas and the compressibility of gas under the solid-gas interaction condition. In addition, the numerical simulation model is built by using the finite element method, and the numerical calculation solution of the model for a special loading case is given in term of the constraint conditions and corresponding parameters. The research results may have significance for further enriching and improving solid-gas coupling theories for coal containing gas.

The choice of closure order of long span prestressed concrete continuous rigid frame bridge is the key part on its construction procedure, which has a big influence on the gross force and alignent of the whole structure. On the Basis of the Hanjiang bridge, the paper studies the closure order of long span prestressed concrete continuous rigid frame bridge and its system transformation procedure as well as the effect of jacking force etc. It shows that the technique of the midspan and the sidespan close at the same time not only meets the requirement of allowable internal force, but also has the benefit of shorten the construction period as well as reducing the degree of construction difficulty.

The SLC4A10 gene, which is highly expressed in the mammalian brain, contains two known alternative splicing units, inserts A and B, and is theoretically capable of producing four NBCn2 splice variants: NBCn2-A, -B, -C, and -D. By immunoprecipitation and western blotting, a previous study showed the putative NBCn2-D to be expressed predominantly in the subcortex (SCX) and medulla (MD) of mouse brain. However, no evidence has been provided, in any species, for the existence of a full-length transcript encoding NBCn2-D. In the present study, we report for the first time the cloning of the full-length cDNAs encoding NBCn2-D from mouse SCX and MD. Based on the frequency of bacterial colonies obtained after PCR, we conclude that in SCX, the NBCn2-A transcript is dominant, whereas in MD, NBCn2-B is dominant. NBCn2-D is the least abundant transcript in each of these two brain regions. An analysis based upon the present PCR data as well as the previous immunoprecipitation/western-blot data suggests the following prevalence of NBCn2 variants in total mouse brain: NBCn2-A (~ 83%), NBCn2-B (~ 10%), NBCn2-C (~ 5%), and NBCn2-D (~ 2%). We also estimate the prevalence of each variant in each of the five brain regions (i.e., cerebral cortex, SCX, cerebellum, hippocampus, and MD). We hypothesize that the expression of different NBCn2 splice variants is characteristic of specific tissue/cells.

Thermal stability is one of the key technical challenges in developing high brightness organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study, thermal catastrophic failure, a process involving temperature-induced abrupt device breakdown, is found to have a high degree of correlation to the glass transition process of the organic molecules. It is also found that C60-organic nano-composites can be used effectively to increase the glass transition temperature of the organic small molecular thin-films leading to the improvement of the thermal stability of OLEDs. In addition, a universal mathematical formula with only one variable, concentration, is discovered to quantify well the glass transition temperatures of all C60 nano-composites. The thermal catastrophic failure temperature of OLEDs with C60 nano-composites as a hole transport layer is found to be proportional to the glass transition temperature of C60 nano-composites.Thermal stability is one of the key technical challenges in developing high brightness organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). In this study, thermal catastrophic failure, a process involving temperature-induced abrupt device breakdown, is found to have a high degree of correlation to the glass transition process of the organic molecules. It is also found that C60-organic nano-composites can be used effectively to increase the glass transition temperature of the organic small molecular thin-films leading to the improvement of the thermal stability of OLEDs. In addition, a universal mathematical formula with only one variable, concentration, is discovered to quantify well the glass transition temperatures of all C60 nano-composites. The thermal catastrophic failure temperature of OLEDs with C60 nano-composites as a hole transport layer is found to be proportional to the glass transition temperature of C60 nano-composites.

An efficient organic near-infrared (NIR) to visible upconversion imaging device is obtained by integrating a photoactive buffer layer between two organic light-emitting diodes in a tandem configuration. As both types of photo-carriers (electrons and holes) are harvested to generate visible photons, this tandem device exhibits a significantly higher On/Off switching and has higher photon-photon conversion efficiency than conventional upconversion devices. We show that a high 5% photon-photon conversion rate is possible by optimizing the various functional layers in the tandem structure. We also demonstrate that a pixel-less NIR imaging chip can be made simply by using a large area single tandem organic upconversion device.

采用非平衡物理气相蒸发法在氢气-氩气混合气氛下制备了氧化硅包覆铁“壳/核”型纳米复合粒子.通过X射线衍射（XRD）、透射电子显微镜（TEM）和能谱分析（EDS）等方法表征了纳米复合粒子的相组分、结构以及颗粒形貌.结果表明,制备的氧化硅包覆铁纳米复合粒子的尺寸在50nm左右,在铁纳米粒子的表面还出现了非晶态的氧化硅纳米棒,长度为150-200nm.利用电磁参数模拟微波吸收特性得出,涂层厚度为1.79mm时,在15.4GHz频率处达到最小反射损耗值为-14.5dB,反射损耗在8-18GHz的频段低于-10dB,且损耗机制为自然共振.

Nonradiative Auger recombination and radiative exciplex emissions at organic-organic heterojunctions are found to be mediated by the nature of the majority charge carrier. The Auger recombination is dominant when the heterojunction is electron rich, the exciplex emission is dominant when the heterojunction is hole rich, and both Auger recombination and exciplex emission are present when the heterojunction is charge balanced.

The SLC4 genes are all capable of producing multiple variants by alternative splicing or using alternative promoters. The physiological consequences of such diversity are of great interest to investigators. Here, we identified two novel variants of the electroneutral Na+/"Equation missing" cotransporter NBCn1, one full-length starting with “MIPL” and the other Nt-truncated starting with “MDEL”. Moreover, we identified a new promoter of Slc4a10 encoding NBCn2 and a novel type of Nt-truncated NBCn2 starting with “MHAN”. When heterologously expressed, the new NBCn1 variants were well localized to the plasma membrane and exhibited characteristic NBCn1 activity. However, MHAN-NBCn2 was poorly localized on the plasma membrane. By deletion mutations, we identified the Nt regions important for the surface localization of NBCn2. Interestingly, coexpressing the full-length NBCn2 greatly enhances the surface abundance of the Nt-truncated NBCn2. Co-immunoprecipitation and bimolecular fluorescence complementation studies showed that the full-length and Nt-truncated NBCn2 interact with each other to form heterodimers in neuro-2A cells. Finally, we showed that the isolated Nt domain interacts with and enhances the surface abundance of the Nt-truncated NBCn2. The present study expands our knowledge of the NBCn1 and NBCn2 transcriptome and provides insights into how the Nt domain could affect transporter function by regulating its membrane trafficking.

For everyday applications, low-voltage devices are desirable, but in a typical organic light-emitting diode (OLED) the turn-on voltage is rather high, greater than the HOMO-LUMO energy gap of the emitter. In this study a combination of materials is strategically selected to construct an OLED in which the energy of emitted photons is higher than that supplied by the applied electrical potential. The mechanism is based on an Auger process at the organic heterojunction, where the relevant energy gap is between the LUMO of the acceptor and the HOMO of the donor.

The SLC4A7 gene encodes the electroneutral sodium/HCO3 cotransporter NBCn1, which plays important physiological and pathophysiological roles in many cell types. Previous work identified six NBCn1 variants differing in the sequence of the extreme N terminus – MEAD in rat only, MERF in human only – as well as in the optional inclusion of cassettes I, II, and III. Earlier work also left open the question of whether optional structural elements (OSEs) affect surface abundance or intrinsic (per-molecule) transport activity. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that SLC4A7 from one species can express both MEAD- and MERF-NBCn1. We also identify a novel cassette IV of 20 aa, and extend by 10 the number of full-length NBCn1 variants. The alternative N termini and four cassettes could theoretically produce 32 major variants. Moreover, we identify a group of cDNAs predicted to encode just the cytosolic N-terminal domain (Nt) of NBCn1. A combination of electrophysiology and biotinylation shows that the OSEs can affect surface abundance and intrinsic HCO3− transport activity of NBCn1, as expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Specifically, MEAD tends to increase whereas novel cassette IV reduces surface abundance. Cassettes II, III and novel cassette IV all appear to increase the intrinsic activity of NBCn1.

HCO(3)(-) plays critically important roles during virtually the entire process of reproduction in mammals, including spermatogenesis, sperm capacitation, fertilization, and development of early stage embryos. Therefore, the acid-base balance in the male and female reproductive tracts must be finely modulated. The fluid milieu in the epididymis is acidic, containing very low concentration of HCO(3)(-). In this acidic low HCO(3)(-) environment, mature sperm are rendered quiescent in the epididymis. In contrast, the luminal fluid in the female uterus and oviduct is alkaline, with very high concentration of HCO(3)(-) that is essential for sperm to fulfill fertilization. HCO(3)(-) transporter of solute carrier 4 (SLC4) and SLC26 families represent the major carriers for HCO(3)(-) transport across the plasma membrane. These transporters play critical roles in intracellular pH regulation and transepithelial HCO(3)(-) transport. The physiological roles of these transporters in mammalian reproduction are of fundamental interest to investigators. Here we review recent progress in understanding the expression of HCO(3)(-) transporters in reproductive tract tissues as well as the physiological roles of these transporters in mammalian reproduction.

Blue organic light emitting diodes are made based on 4,4′-bis(9-ethyl-3-carbazovinylene)-1,1′-biphenyl (BCzVBi) as a fluorescent emitter mixed with two charge transport hosts, 4,4′-bis(carbazol-9-yl)biphenyl and Bis[2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-pyridine]beryllium. It is found that the device efficiency increases as BCzVBi concentration increases. An extremely high 6.1% external quantum efficiency (EQE) with Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage coordinate of (0.18, 0.31) is obtained when the BCzVBi concentration reaches 50 wt. %, which is exceedingly high above a typical 1-2 wt. % concentration for typical fluorescent emitters. The 6.1% EQE is also much higher than the expected 3% value calculated using the prevailing theorem.

Gold nanorods with aspect ratios of from 1 (particles) to 31.6 were synthesized by the seed-mediated method and packed in a highly ordered structure on a large scale on silicon substrates through capillary force induced self-assembly behaviour during solvent evaporation. The gold nanorod surface exhibits a strong enhancing effect on Raman scattering spectroscopy. The enhancement of Raman scattering for two model molecules (2-naphthalenethiol and rhodamine 6G) is about 5-6 orders of magnitude. By changing the aspect ratio of the Au nanorods, we found that the enhancement factors decreased with the increase of aspect ratios. The observed Raman scattering enhancement is strong and should be ascribed to the surface plasmon coupling between closely packed nanorods, which may result in huge local electromagnetic field enhancements in those confined junctions.

Na(+)-coupled HCO(3)(-) transporters (NCBTs) of the SLC4 family play critical roles in pH regulation as well as transepithelial HCO(3)(-) transport. We systematically examined, in the mouse reproductive tract tissues, the mRNA expression of five NCBTs as well as the five NBCe1 (Slc4a4) variants NBCe1-A through -E, of which NBCe1-D and NBCe1-E are novel. Cloning of NBCe1-D and NBCe1-E, both lacking a 27-nucleotide cassette I, reveals a novel alternative splicing unit in the mouse Slc4a4 gene. Transcripts of Slc4a4 lacking cassette I are expressed in diverse murine tissues as shown by RT-PCR analysis and in diverse tissues of other vertebrate species as shown by blast against GenBank database. Genomic sequence analysis indicates that cassette I of SLC4A4 is conserved in all NCBT genes except for SLC4A5, which presumably lost cassette I during its evolution. Our present study represents an important step towards understanding the molecular physiology of NBCe1, and presumably other NCBTs.