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Background: Paclitaxel is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer patients. Accumulating evidence suggests that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play critical roles in the occurrence and development of human cancers. However, there are few studies on interactions between paclitaxel and circRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Materials and Methods: Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and colony formation assay were conducted to determine cell proliferation. Cell apoptosis was assessed by flow cytometry. The expression levels of circRNA baculoviral IAP repeat-containing 6 (circ-BIRC6), microRNA-877-5p (miR-877-5p), and tyrosine 3-monooxygenase/tryptophan 5-monooxygenase activation protein, zeta (YWHAZ) were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The mice xenograft model was established to investigate the roles of circ-BIRC6 and paclitaxel in vivo. The interaction between miR-877-5p and circ-BIRC6 or YWHAZ was predicted by bioinformatics analysis and verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Western blot assay was applied for measuring the protein expression of YWHAZ. Results: Paclitaxel suppressed HCC tumorigenesis through decreasing cell proliferation and accelerating apoptosis. Circ-BIRC6 and YWHAZ were upregulated, and miR-877-5p was downregulated in HCC tissues and cells. Paclitaxel treatment inhibited the expression of circ-BIRC6 and YWHAZ while promoted the expression of miR-877-5p. Circ-BIRC6 overexpression or miR-877-5p interference reversed the inhibitory effect of paclitaxel on HCC tumorigenesis. Moreover, miR-877-5p could specially bind to YWHAZ, and its knockdown abated the suppressive effect of circ-BIRC6 depletion on HCC tumorigenesis. Additionally, YWHAZ was identified as a direct target of miR-877-5p. Besides, circ-BIRC6 functioned as a molecular sponge of miR-877-5p to regulate YWHAZ expression. Conclusion: Paclitaxel limited HCC tumorigenesis via modulating circ-BIRC6/miR-877-5p/YWHAZ axis, providing a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growth process of carbon film on the surface of hydrocooling copper substrate in high-density direct current (DC) arc plasma was studied. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and UV confocal Raman spectroscopy were used to analyze the structural constituents of the intermediate products generated at different growth periods. Results show that despite the remarkable heating effect of DC arc plasma to the copper substrate, one layer of cauliflower saturated carbon and double carbon bond as main component loose matter are first formed because of water-cooled copper substrate. With the increase in thickness of carbon film, the surface temperature gradually increases, the etching ability of the atomic hydrogen is enhanced and high concentration reactive units are maintained on the surface of carbon film. The cauliflower structure may effectively reduce the diamond nucleation barrier and promote the generation of nano-diamond. The diamond grains gradually grow up to the micron scale by the continuing influence of carbon-based active group and plasma. The growth pattern of carbon film on the hydrocooling copper substrate in high-density DC arc plasma may provide a new way to prepare large crack-free diamond films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of titanium (Ti) interlayer was verified to reduce the residual stress of diamond films. The evolution of interfacial stress during the cooling process is critical for the fabrication of large-area crack-free diamond films, so it is very worthy of further study. Variable-temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests and finite element simulation were performed to evaluate the stress evolution of a diamond film. The film (with diameter of 150 mm) was prepared on a graphite substrate with Ti interlayer using DC arc plasma jet. Residual compressive stress in the diamond film is gradually increased during the cooling process. Moreover, the value and growth rate of the residual stress from the XRD tests are significantly lower than the finite element simulation results. All XRD peaks of diamond, graphite, and titanium carbide (TiC) generated on both sides of the Ti interlayer shift to a larger angle. By contrast, several XRD peaks of Ti deviate to a low angle. Elastic deformation of the Ti layer may offset the lattice contraction caused by the cooling effect. Elasticity modulus of TiC is significantly greater than that of Ti, which is more inclined to release the stress of the diamond film by self-fracturing. After the variable-temperature tests, residual compressive stress of the diamond film at room temperature is 1.1 GPa, whereas that before the tests is 1.4 GPa. These values are significantly lower than the finite element simulation results (3.05 GPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Y 2 O 3 film deposited on chemical oxidation diamond substrate exhibited high adhesion strength and survived thermal shock at 800 °C. Oxygenated functionalization of the diamond surface had been successfully achieved via wet chemical oxidation with the increase in O/C atomic ratio from 0.04 to 0.13. The surface energy of the diamond substrate was significantly improved from 35.7 mJ/m 2 to 61.4 mJ/m 2 . After depositing Y 2 O 3 film on the diamond substrate, the C O Y bonds were observed at the interface. In addition, the quantity of C O Y bonds significantly increased with the chemisorbed oxygen concentration increasing. The critical scratch load of Y 2 O 3 film deposited on chemical oxidation diamond substrate increased from 22.5 N to 34.1 N. Furthermore, the Y 2 O 3 film deposited on chemical oxidation diamond substrate can withstand harsh thermal change and protect the diamond substrate from elevated temperature oxidation in atmospheric air without showing degradation of infrared optical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 anti-reflection films were deposited on freestanding CVD diamond substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The thermal shock resistance and oxidation resistance of Y 2 O 3 /diamond/Y 2 O 3 samples at 727 °C and 800 °C in atmospheric air were investigated. No delamination of the Y 2 O 3 films occurred after thermal shock, thereby demonstrating extreme adhesion to freestanding diamond substrates. After thermal shock, Y atoms in the films were almost fully oxidized. Moreover, the majority of monoclinic phase in the Y 2 O 3 films transformed into cubic phase, crystallinity was enhanced, and the average grain size significantly increased. The maximum transmittance in the 8–12 μm long-wave IR range of the Y 2 O 3 /diamond/Y 2 O 3 samples increased from 81.3% ± 0.3% to 84.7% ± 0.2% and 83.6% ± 0.4%. These findings indicated that the Y 2 O 3 anti-reflection films displayed good resistance to thermal shock and provided sufficient protection for diamond substrates against elevated temperature oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of titanium (Ti) interlayer was verified to reduce the residual stress of diamond films by self-fracturing and facilitate the harvest of a crack-free free-standing diamond film prepared by direct current (DC) arc plasma jet. In this study, the evolution of the Ti interlayer between large-area diamond film and substrate was studied and modeled in detail. The evolution of the interlayer was found to be relevant to the distribution of the DC arc plasma, which can be divided into three areas (arc center, arc main, and arc edge). The formation rate of titanium carbide (TiC) in the arc main was faster than in the other two areas and resulted in the preferred generation of crack in the diamond film in the arc main during cooling. Sandwich structures were formed along with the growth of TiC until the complete transformation of the Ti interlayer. The interlayer released stress via self-fracture. Avoiding uneven fragile regions that formed locally in the interlayer and achieving cooperatively released stress are crucial for the preparation of large crack-free diamond films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously proposed optical image cryptosystems based on phase encoding mainly utilized 2D phase retrieval to retrieve ciphertexts, and the relationship between the plaintext and the ciphertext is very simple, which makes those cryptosystems vulnerable to several attacks. In this paper, we propose a security enhanced optical image cryptosystem based on phase encoding by generating a sparse volumetric ciphertext. Several complementary binary amplitude masks (BAMs) without overlapping are used as constraints to build a sparse volume field, and a sparse volumetric ciphertext can be retrieved by a novel volumetric phase retrieval algorithm. Afterwards, all pixels of the volumetric ciphertext are multiplexed into one 2D ciphertext for convenient storage and transmission. For decryption, the pixels should first be redistributed into the volume field. Once a beam with correct wavelength crosses the volumetric field sequentially, the decrypted image can be obtained by recording an intensity pattern. In this scheme, the parameters of the volume field serve as additional keys, which enlarges the key space and confuses the relationship between the plaintext and the ciphertext to realize much higher security. The effectiveness and security of this scheme is verified by some numerical simulations. • A plaintext is encoded into a sparse volumetric ciphertext via a novel volumetric phase retrieval algorithm. • The relationship between the plaintext and the ciphertext is confused by several binary amplitude masks. • This proposed scheme gains high sensitivity to secret keys for much higher security. • This scheme can retrieve a decrypted image with high quality easily by easy optical implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This review outlines the use of metabolomics to detect biomarkers for bovine mastitis, offering insights into disease prediction and early diagnosis. It details the use of various biological samples for metabolomic analysis, including milk, blood, urine, rumen fluid, feces, and mammary tissue. Bovine mastitis is an inflammatory disease of the mammary glands, and its pathogenesis and diagnosis are complicated. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis of small-molecule metabolites, the metabolomics technique plays an important role in finding biomarkers and studying the metabolic mechanism of bovine mastitis. Therefore, this paper reviews the predictive and diagnostic biomarkers of bovine mastitis that have been identified using metabolomics techniques and that are present in samples such as milk, blood, urine, rumen fluid, feces, and mammary tissue. In addition, the metabolic pathways of mastitis-related biomarkers in milk and blood were analyzed; it was found that the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle was the most significant (FDR = 0.0015767) pathway in milk fluid, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism was the most significant (FDR = 0.0081994) pathway in blood. The purpose of this review is to provide useful information for the prediction and early diagnosis of bovine mastitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various approaches have been exploited to copy nacreous structure into human‐made structural nanocomposites with similar structure and impressive mechanical performance. However, it is still facing a great challenge to produce large‐sized, strong, and tough, biopolymer‐based nanocomposite, especially for further scale‐up in practical application. Herein, a large‐sized and nacre‐inspired nanocomposite paper can be successfully prepared via a simple evaporation‐induced self‐assembly technique, based on assembling hybrid graphene oxide/sodium alginate (GO/SA) building blocks. Through optimizing the lamellar hybrid interfacial interactions derived from hydrogen‐bonding network, the nacre‐inspired nanocomposite achieves a unique integration of high strength (up to 350.3 MPa) and high toughness (22.4 ± 2.9 MJ m−3), are superior to natural nacre, almost all GO and SA‐related composites, and many engineering materials. The hydrogen bond‐property correlation, combined with a simple assembling technique, will provide a powerful path for the large‐scale production of lightweight, biopolymer‐based materials with excellent mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microporous polyethylene (PE) membrane is a representative lithium‐ion battery (LIB) separators but regularly shrinks especially in high‐temperature conditions, and is facilely pierced while growing Li dendrites, leading to severe consequences such as short circuits, thermal runaway, and even explosion. Herein, this article reports a quasi‐continuous strategy that utilizes in situ enamel mineralization engineering followed by thermal treatment to easily develop a large‐area, 3D interlaced hydroxyapatite nanosheets array‐reinforced PE nanocomposite separator with robust mechanical properties and excellent resistance to thermal shrinkage. Specifically, the 120 °C‐heated nanocomposite possesses excellent breaking stress, an ultrahigh toughness of ≈434.4 MJ m−3, and an enhanced friction coefficient of ≈0.69, which are distinctly higher than those of commercial PE separators, respectively, and far exceeding those of reported ceramic modified‐PE separators. The elongation of the resultant nanocomposite can achieve an extraordinary ≈2456.4% without any fracture under a 180 °C‐heating temperature. In situ observation and finite element simulation indicate that the impressive mechanical and thermostable integration profits from the co‐effect of efficient energy dissipation at organic–inorganic interfaces and mechanically interlocked, mutually‐supported hybrid microstructure. The enamel‐inspired separator can be potentially applied in safer high‐temperature LIBs and this strategy provides a valuable guide to develop other high‐performance polymer‐based nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract WeChat is now one of the most popular social media and WeChat public account is a special “We Media” service. By gathering the pageviews of 620 articles from 140 WeChat public accounts, this study finds that there is a power law relation between the pageviews of an article and time. It means that the pageviews and the effect of an article are predictable within a short period of time. In this paper, a model of information dissemination within WeChat was established to define the new probability of a WeChat user’s willingness to share the same article. It shows that the attractiveness of information and the activeness of WeChat user have significant effects on the scope of information dissemination. These results can provide valuable theoretical references to the information dissemination mechanism of WeChat and to the governance of WeChat. Highlights • This study finds that there is a power law relation between the pageviews of an article and time. • The pageviews of an article are predictable within a short period of time. • A model was proposed to explain the finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: We report the occurrence of Blastocystis spp., Enterocytozoon bieneusi, and Giardia duodenalis infections in Leizhou black goats in Zhanjiang City, Guangdong Province, China. The total prevalence rates of Blastocystis spp., E. bieneusi, and G. duodenalis were 33.63% (76/226), 17.7% (40/226), and 24.78% (56/226), respectively. Four Blastocystis spp. subtypes (ST5, ST10, ST14, and ST21), four E. bieneusi genotypes (CHG3, CM21, CHG1, and ET-L2) and two assemblages (A and E) of G. duodenalis were identified. The detection of zoonotic pathogen species, genotypes, and assemblages in Leizhou black goats implied their potential involvement in the transmission of zoonotic parasitic diseases. Blastocystis spp., Enterocytozoon bieneusi, and Giardia duodenalis are three common zoonotic intestinal parasites that cause severe diarrhea and enteric diseases. Leizhou black goats are characterized by a high reproductive rate, fast growth, and good meat quality, making them one of the pre-eminent goat breeds in China. Goats are reportedly common reservoirs of these three intestinal pathogens, but no information on their prevalence or genotypic distributions in black goats in Guangdong Province, China, is available. A total of 226 fecal samples were collected from goats in Zhanjiang city and genomic DNA was extracted from them. The presence of the three pathogens was detected using nested PCR targeting the sequences encoding SSU rRNA (Blastocystis spp.), the internal transcribed spacer of rRNA (ITS; E. bieneusi), as well as beta-giardin, glutamate dehydrogenase, and triosephosphate isomerase (G. duodenalis). All PCR products were sequenced to determine the species and genotypes of the organisms. The total prevalence rates of Blastocystis spp., E. bieneusi, and G. duodenalis were 33.63% (76/226), 17.70% (40/226), and 24.78% (56/226), respectively. Four subtypes of Blastocystis spp. were detected: ST5 (n = 6), ST10 (n = 50), ST14 (n = 14), and ST21 (n = 6). Among them, ST10 was the dominant genotype, accounting for 65.79% of strains, followed by the genotypes ST14 (18.42%), zoonotic ST5 (7.89%), and ST21 (7.89%). Four genotypes of E. bieneusi were detected: CHG3 (n = 32), CM21 (n = 4), CHG1 (n = 2), and ET-L2 (n = 2). Among these, CHG3 was the dominant genotype. Assemblage E (n = 54) and concurrent assemblages A and E (n = 2) were identified in the G. duodenalis-positive goats using multilocus genotyping. Blastocystis spp., E. bieneusi, and G. duodenalis infections were common in Leizhou black goats, all of which have zoonotic genotypes, indicating the potential risk of zoonotic transmission. Our results provide basic data for the prevention and control of these three intestinal pathogens. Further studies are required to better understand their genetic characteristics and zoonotic potential in Guangdong Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Mastitis is one of the most common diseases in the dairy industry in the world, and its treatment cost is also the most expensive of all diseases in the dairy industry. The research on the rapid diagnosis of cow mastitis is of great significance to the development of the dairy cow industry all over the world. In this study, we use microbiology and metabolomics techniques to explore the differential microbiota and metabolites in cow milk at different somatic levels, to find new biomarkers for the diagnosis of cow mastitis and provide a new plan for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mastitis in the future. Dairy cow mastitis is one of the common diseases of dairy cows, which will not only endanger the health of dairy cows but also affect the quality of milk. Dairy cow mastitis is an inflammatory reaction caused by pathogenic microorganisms and physical and chemical factors in dairy cow mammary glands. The number of SCC in the milk of dairy cows with different degrees of mastitis will increase in varying degrees. The rapid diagnosis of dairy cow mastitis is of great significance for dairy cow health and farm economy. Based on the results of many studies on the relationship between mastitis and somatic cell count in dairy cows, microflora, and metabolites in the milk of Holstein cows with low somatic cell level (SCC less than 200,000), medium somatic cell level (SCC up to 200,000 but less than 500,000) and high somatic cell level (SCC up to 5000,00) were analyzed by microbiome and metabolic group techniques. The results showed that there were significant differences in milk microbiota and metabolites among the three groups (p < 0.05), and there was a significant correlation between microbiota and metabolites. Meanwhile, in this experiment, 75 differential metabolites were identified in the H group and L group, 40 differential metabolites were identified in the M group and L group, and six differential microorganisms with LDA scores more than four were found in the H group and L group. These differential metabolites and differential microorganisms may become new biomarkers for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cow mastitis in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 films with different microstructures were deposited through radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The optical properties and the antireflection effects of the cubic and the monoclinic Y 2 O 3 films on diamond substrates were investigated. Results showed that the cubic Y 2 O 3 film had denser and more uniform grains with larger grain size. The band gap energies of the cubic and the monoclinic Y 2 O 3 films were 5.79 and 5.88 eV, respectively. This finding was mainly attributed to the decrease in grain size from 30.1 nm to 20.6 nm. Meanwhile, the reflective indices of the cubic and the monoclinic films were 1.887 and 1.817, respectively. Furthermore, the monoclinic and the cubic Y 2 O 3 films that have the same thickness generated antireflection effects on diamond at the 8–12 μm long-wave infrared (LWIR) range. However, due to the lower reflective index of the monoclinic Y 2 O 3 film compared with that of the cubic Y 2 O 3 film, the maximum antireflection effects of the Y 2 O 3 films on diamond shifted to lower wavelengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycrystalline CVD free-standing diamond films have been heat treated through a rapid heating process using a direct current (DC) arc plasma jet system within the temperature range of 1500–2000 °C. The optical transmission of the diamond film decreases when the treatment temperature exceeds 1500 °C. When the diamond film was annealed to 1800 °C for just 1 min, the infrared (IR) transmittance at λ = 10.6 μm of the film was significantly decreased from 60.5% to 4.0%, due to the transformation from diamond to graphite. Further increase of the temperature to 2000 °C leads to complete loss of optical transmittance in only 30 s, due to the detrimental occurrence of graphitization. XRD patterns indicate that graphite ultimately grows preferentially along the (0002) plane by forming disordered or turbostratic graphite as intermediate product. Raman spectra and SEM images verify that at 1500–1850 °C graphitic carbon transforms from the diamond surface in the form of protruding submicron crystallites, which were still containing a number of sp 3 C C bonds. In addition to graphitization on the external surface, the diamond-graphite phase transition also occurs along the grain boundaries and the calculated activation energy of the grain boundary graphitization process is 276 kJ·mol − 1 for the CVD diamond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated the temperature effects on the RF performances of the epitaxial bilayer graphene field-effect transistors (EBG-FETs) on a SiC substrate over a temperature range of 25–200 °C under the atmospheric environment. The temperature dependence of the cutoff frequency f T and the maximum oscillation frequency f max of the EBG-FETs with an identical gate-length and different gate-widths were measured by small-signal measurement up to 40 GHz. The results show that EBG-FETs are capable of operating at high temperature up to 200 °C with workable amounts of thermally induced performance degradation. To gain further insight into the underlying physics of the device parameters affected by temperature, the small signal device parameter variations with ambient temperature are discussed. This work reveals the great potential of graphene in high temperature device applications. Small signal current gain h 21 versus frequency measured in a temperature range of 25–200 °C. And the schematic diagram of dual-gated EBG-FET structure on SiC substrate. In this work, epitaxial bilayer graphene field-effect transistors (EBG-FETs) are fabricated on SiC substrate. The RF performances of the EBG-FETs are studied over a temperature range of 25–200 °C under the atmospheric environment. The results show that EBG-FETs are capable of operating at high temperature up to 200 °C. To gain further insight into the underlying physics of the device parameters affected by temperature, the small signal device parameter variations with ambient temperature are discussed. This work reveals the great potential for graphene in high temperature device applications. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers magnetometer is attracting more and more attention due to their room-temperature solid-state property. High sensitivity is crucial for practical applications of diamond NV magnetometers. However, the sensitivity of the diamond magnetometer needs to be improved for weak magnetic measurement. Recent studies have shown that diamond with magnetic flux concentrators (MFC) makes it feasible to achieve low-frequency sensitivity at fT/ Hz level. Here, we demonstrate an enhanced fluorescence collection method to improve the sensitivity of diamond NV magnetometer with MFC. A high magnetic field sensitivity of 0.47 pT/ Hz (> 100Hz) is achieved under resonance conditions, which is about two times higher than that without improved fluorescence collection. We then integrate the diamond magnetometer (probe size ∼ 8 × 9 × 13 cm3) with a shielded sensitivity of 1 pT/ Hz (> 30Hz). Our method offers a solution for the high-sensitivity diamond NV magnetometer. Thus, this work enables an ultra-compact and scalable platform for quantum sensing based on the diamond NV center technique. Future, diamond NV magnetometers could be proposed used in shipwreck detection, cardiac magnetic field measurement, explosives detection, etc. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene directly grown on an 4H-SiC (0 0 0 1) substrate by chemical vapor deposition was studied: it was shown that Si evaporation process is not completely halted during graphene growth when T G  ≥ 1400 °C, the SiC substrate decomposes at the position of graphene coverage. AFM and Raman spectrum results reveal that carbon concentration significantly influences graphene growth rate and morphology/structure. It is found that the quality of graphene film depends on the growth temperature and the flow of carbon source. We develop a new gradient growth method to produce a feasible graphene material for electronic devices. Graphene grown by this method has a flat-morphology structure, low wrinkle density, high crystal quality, good uniformity, and outstanding electrical transport properties. Nitrogen doping has an n-type doping effect on graphene carrier concentration. The main component of nitrogen-bond type is the graphitic configuration. The graphene material with nitrogen doping reaches a record mobility of 9010 cm 2 /V·s by room temperature Hall effect measurement, indicating graphene grown by gradient method with suitable nitrogen doping could yield a high quality film comparable to that by traditional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CVD diamond films at different growth stages were prepared on the same substrate by DC arc plasma jet CVD. The surface morphologies and residual stress of diamond films were characterized by scanning electron microscope and Raman spectroscopy. The intrinsic stress of diamond films were obtained by subtracting thermal stress from residual stress. The results showed that the intrinsic compress stress was 0.42 GPa for the precoalescence stage due to the sp 2 carbon inclusions in diamond islands. With the diamond islands growing up and even snapping together to form grain boundary at the coalescence stage the intrinsic compress stress was 0.06 GPa. Eventually, the diamond islands coalesced into a continuous polycrystalline film, the intrinsic compress stress vanished and converted to tensile stress, the intrinsic tensile stress reached 1.41 GPa due to the number of grain boundaries increasing. The evolution of intrinsic stress during diamond film initial growth was mainly attributed to the surface free energy of diamond islands changed to the free energy of grain boundaries which was consistent with the Nix-Clemens model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Y 2 O 3 anti-reflection films were deposited on freestanding chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The effects of oxygen–argon ratio on microstructure, composition, optical property and mechanical property were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, and nanoindentation. The results showed that the crystal structure of Y 2 O 3 films transformed from cubic to monoclinic with the increase of oxygen–argon ratio. Meanwhile, the degree of non-stoichiometry of the film with the monoclinic phase was higher than the film with the cubic phase. Both monoclinic and cubic Y 2 O 3 film had an anti-reflection effect on diamond in the 8–12 μm long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) range. However, the maximum transmittance of the Y 2 O 3 film-coated diamond was shifted to lower wavelengths, which were mainly attributed to the reflective indexes of the Y 2 O 3 film that decreased with the increase of the oxygen–argon ratio. The Y 2 O 3 film with a cubic phase had high resistance to abrasion and plastic deformation. Therefore, the Y 2 O 3 film with a cubic phase was much more suitable for long-wave infrared application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AlGaN/GaN polarization-doped field-effect transistors (PolFETs) were fabricated on the graded AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition, and the trap behaviors were first systemically evaluated by frequency-dependent conductance–voltage characterizations. It was found that there was no obvious effective traps accumulation in the graded AlGaN/GaN heterojunctions of the PolFETs due to the absence of abrupt heterostructure as in the traditional HFETs. The exactly exponential dependence of the trap state time constants on the bias voltage in PolFETs was observed, which was a typical characteristic for interface traps, indicating a multi-heterointerface feature of the PolFETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Giardia duodenalis is a flagellated parasite and is considered one of the most common causes of protozoal diarrhea in both humans and animals worldwide. This paper represents the first study of the prevalence of G. duodenalis in pet dogs in Guangzhou, China. Faecal samples (209 specimens) were obtained from young (<6 months old), adult (6 months to 3 years) and elder dogs (>3 years old). 8.61% (18/209) faecal samples were recorded positive using microscopy examination, and 11.00% (23/209) using PCR. The prevalence was significantly higher in diarrheic dogs (26.31%) compared with non-diarrheic dogs (5.10%), while it was higher in young (25.58%) than both adult (7.37%) and elder (7.04%) dogs and the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05). The prevalence in male dogs 11.30% (13/115) was higher than females 10.87% (10/92), and in suburban dogs (12.15%) higher than urban 9.80%, but the difference was not statistically significant (P >0.05). Sequence analysis of the 23 PCR-positive samples revealed the presence of Assemblage D (18/23), and zoonotic Assemblage A (5/23). The present investigation reported a high infection rate of G. duodenalis in pet dogs, especially in young dogs. Genotypic characterization demonstrated that the zoonotic Assemblage A was found, a fact that poses a potential risk of G. duodenalis transmission from pet dogs to humans. It is suggested that pet owners should take appropriate hygiene measures to prevent and control giardiasis in this region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The excellent electrical properties of graphene make it have broad application in electronic devices [1–2]. Grain boundaries and wrinkles will greatly scatter charge carriers of graphene [3–4]. Graphene with less gain boundaries and wrinkles are highly demanded. At present, the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of graphene on Cu foil/Cu-Ni surfaces has been known as the simplicity and low cost way to prepare large-sized high-quality graphene films. However, the suppressing nucleation density method also leads to a low growth rate. Here we demonstrate a surface oxygen supply strategy for the Cu Ni substrate on sapphire to form a Cu-Ni-O surface. With the Cu-Ni-O surface, the growth rate of graphene is greatly increased to 240 μm/min. The as-synthesized graphene has less wrinkles, and a small 2D peaks FWHM of 25.2 cm−1. The room temperature sheet resistance reaches 267 Ω/square. This study provides a meaningful method to time-saving synthesis of high-quality graphene. Unlabelled Image • Surface oxygen supply strategy for the Cu Ni substrate on sapphire to form Cu-Ni-O surface. • The high growth rate and high quality of graphene are obtained on Cu-Ni-O surface. • A meaningful method to time-saving synthesis of high-quality graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]