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Low-temperature sintering to fabricate MgB2 is considered a promising method because it reduces the formation of MgO and reduces the grain size, thereby increasing the critical current density. Chemical doping, ball milling of precursor and modifying the Mg source in precursor for low-temperature sintering have all been carefully investigated. However, the threshold of sintering temperature have been kept near 500 °C. A new in-situ method to low-temperature sintering using Mg(BH4)2 as a precursor is presented in this paper. Mg(BH4)2 decomposes into highly reactive nanoscale Mg and B in a molar ratio of 1:2 without impurities. In this method, only 2 h of sintering at 400 °C is required to completely react Mg with B to produce MgB2, and after 54 h sintering, the sample has comparable JC to the normal MgB2 from solid-state reaction method sintered at 800 °C. The sample sintered at 500 °C give better JC than normal MgB2 under both high and low magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Daily average temperature data from 48 meteorological stations in Chinese oases that are within the distribution area of Populus euphratica were analyzed to determine the spatiotemporal responses of this tree to climate change. Specifically, the start and end date as well as the number of days that comprised the growing season were analyzed with a multi-year trend line and using the Mann-Kendall mutation test, inverse distance weighted interpolation (IDW) in the software ArcGIS, a Morlet wavelet power spectrum, and correlation analysis. The results of this study show that, over the last 56 years, the start date of the P. euphratica growing season has advanced, while the end date has been postponed, and the number of days that comprise the growing season have gradually increased. The changing trend rates recovered in this analysis for these three time slices are -1.34 d/10 a, 1.33 d/10a, and 2.66 d/10a (α ⩾ 0.001), respectively. Data show that while spatial disparity is extremely significant, it is nevertheless the case that along a southwest-to-northeast transect of Chinese oases, the later the start date of the P. euphratica season, the sooner the end data and the shorter the growing season. Mutations points in start and end date, as well as for the growing season overall were observed in 2001, 1989, and 1996, respectively, and the data presented in this paper show that, in particular, the date of this end of this period is most sensitive to climate warming. Growing season cycles for P. euphratica are between 3.56 years and 7.14 years, consistent with the periodicity of El Niño events, while a start date cycle between 3.56 years and 4.28 years is consistent with atmospheric circulation cyclicity. The causal analysis presented in this paper shows that the Asian polar vortex area index (APVAI), the Qinghai- Tibet Plateau index (TPI), the westerly circulation index (WCI), and carbon dioxide emissions (CDE) are the main factors influencing spatiotemporal changes in the growth of P. euphratica, the effect of latitude during the growing season is more significant than altitude, and the start date of the growing season is more significantly influenced by these factors than end date. In addition, data show that the start date, end date, and length of the growing season are all significantly correlated with their average corresponding monthly temperature (correlation coefficients are -0.875, 0.770, and 0.897; α⩾0.001). Thus, if the average temperature in March increases by 1°C, the start date of the growing season will advance by 2.21 days, while if the average temperature in October increases by the same margin then the seasonal end date will be delayed by 2.76 days. Similarly, if the average temperature between March and October increases by 1°C, the growing season will be extended by 7.78 days. The results of this study corroborate the fact that changes in the P. euphratica growing are sensitive to regional warming and are thus of considerable theoretical significance to our understanding of the responses of Chinese vegetation to climate change as well as to ecological restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demonstrates that high pressure chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) is an effective and efficient approach to the synthesis of thick magnesium boride films over the stainless substrate. X-ray diffraction pattern of magnesium boride film grown on the stainless steel substrate; Deposition rate of the film; Tenacity and the bonding strength of the film to the substrate.

Graphene is a well-known material with various potential applications. Here we report the manufacture of high-quality and large-scale monolayer graphene pasters via polyvinyl butyral (PVB). These pasters have good self-supporting properties and overcome the drawback of weak mechanical strength of PMMA. Manual manipulations to monolayer graphene become realizable via graphene pasters. Graphene pasters can be quickly diverted onto any substrate with sufficient contact and greatly minimize the challenges in graphene transfer, measurements, and other applications. The improved transfer process via graphene pasters protects the integrity of monolayer graphene and introduces few cracks or tears into graphene. Large-scale monolayer graphene films diverted onto SiO2/Si by using graphene pasters maintain low resistivity and low Dirac point, while also exhibiting a higher magnetoresistance than traditional results. High magnetoresistance up to 600% and signs of saturation at high magnetic fields can be seen. Obvious negative magnetoresistance at low magnetic fields due to weak localization also can be observed. Graphene pasters can be used in many different domains and will promote future studies and applications of graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High quality single-crystal magnesium diboride (MgB2) nanowires with lengths exceeding 10 μm were successfully synthesized by hybrid physical chemical vapor deposition. The magnetization and electrical transport properties of single-crystal MgB2 nanowires (NWs) were measured. The superconducting transition temperature of the NWs was 37 K, as confirmed by magnetization measurements. The disordered behavior of the nanowires was observed by four-terminal current–voltage characteristic measurements of an individual NW from T = 10 to 300 K. The temperature-dependent resistivity curves for seven NWs collapsed into a universal curve described by the variable range hopping model, showing intrinsic nonmetallic transport properties. This implies that the granular superconducting defect states are critical to the superconductivity of the individual MgB2 NWs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]