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Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a typical two-dimensional material, which is widely used in many fields because of its excellent electrical and optical properties. In recent years, the high-quality growth of MoS2 has attracted more and more attention from researchers. Many studies have reported a two-step method for the production of MoS2 by pre-deposition of molybdenum (Mo) source and then vulcanization, which is cumbersome and time-consuming, and the preparation temperature is mostly above 800 °C, increasing energy consumption and experimental risk. In this paper, S source and Mo source can be distinguished by double temperature zone tube furnace to prepare MoS2 material in one-step method. The temperatures of S and Mo sources were designed separately, and the effect of each temperature on the quality of MoS2 was investigated. And the monolayer MoS2 with high crystalline quality was obtained at a S source temperature of 165 °C and a Mo source temperature of 680 °C. We produce MoS2 in one-step method at low temperature, which provides a reference for the synthesis of high-quality monolayer MoS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is a typical two-dimensional material, which is widely used in many fields because of its excellent electrical and optical properties. In recent years, the high-quality growth of MoS2 has attracted more and more attention from researchers. Many studies have reported a two-step method for the production of MoS2 by pre-deposition of molybdenum (Mo) source and then vulcanization, which is cumbersome and time-consuming, and the preparation temperature is mostly above 800 °C, increasing energy consumption and experimental risk. In this paper, S source and Mo source can be distinguished by double temperature zone tube furnace to prepare MoS2 material in one-step method. The temperatures of S and Mo sources were designed separately, and the effect of each temperature on the quality of MoS2 was investigated. And the monolayer MoS2 with high crystalline quality was obtained at a S source temperature of 165 °C and a Mo source temperature of 680 °C. We produce MoS2 in one-step method at low temperature, which provides a reference for the synthesis of high-quality monolayer MoS2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high brightness and low energy spread (∆E) ion source is essential to the production of a high-quality primary ion beam applied in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). A compact 13.56 MHz radio-frequency (RF) ion source with an external planar spiral antenna has been developed as a candidate ion source for the production of negative oxygen ion beams for SIMS application. This ion source is designed with a three-and-a-half-turn water-cooled planar antenna for RF power coupling, a multi-cusp magnetic field for effective plasma confinement, and a three-electrode extraction system. The experimental results show that more than 50 µA negative oxygen ion beams have been extracted, which consist of 56% O−, 25% O2−, and 19% O3−. The ion energy distribution of the negative oxygen ion beam exhibits a Gaussian distribution with a minimum ∆E of 6.3 eV. The brightness of the O− beam is estimated to be 82.4 A m−2 Sr−1 V−1. The simulation, design, and experimental study results of this RF ion source will be presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy spread (ΔE) of an ion source is an important parameter in the production of a finely focused primary ion beam applied in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). A variable-focusing retarding field energy analyzer (RFEA) has been developed and tested with an Ar+ beam and an oxygen ion beam extracted from a 2.45 GHz microwave ion source, which is developed as a candidate ion source for SIMS applications. The simulation results show that the relative resolution ΔE/E of the designed RFEA reaches 7 × 10−5. The experimental results indicate that a focusing electrode can improve the ΔE measurement results, which is consistent with the simulation results. The ion energy distributions of the Ar+ beam and oxygen ion beam are of Gaussian distribution with the value of ΔE of 3.3 and 2.9 eV, respectively. These results indicate that the designed RFEA is reliable for measuring the ion beam energy spread. The developed RFEA is also used to study the plasma behavior in different settings, which reveals that plasma stability is critical to making a low energy spread ion beam. This paper will present the simulation, design, and test of the variable-focusing RFEA. Preliminary ion beam quality studies with this instrument will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it is shown that with the increase of the number of layers of ultrathin MoS2 nanomaterials, the spacing of Raman shift increased and the photoluminescence intensity decreased. The monolayer MoS2 nanomaterials had the strongest photoluminescence intensity due to the rapid decrease of electron relaxation rate. With decreasing of temperature, the intensity emission enhanced and had a blue shift gradually. At the temperature of 79 K, the bound exciton luminescence peak was found, which was caused by the defect of the contact surface of the MoS2 and the SiO2/Si substrate or the impurities on the surface of the sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Salmonella is one of the most important enteric pathogenic bacteria that threatened poultry health. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella isolates in goose farms. Methods: A total of 244 cloacal swabs were collected from goose farms to detect Salmonella in Northeast China. Antimicrobial susceptibility, and resistance gene distribution of Salmonella isolates were investigated. Results: Twenty-one Salmonella isolates were identified. Overall prevalence of Salmonella in the present study was 8.6%. Among the Salmonella isolates, the highest resistance frequencies belonged to amoxicillin (AMX) (85.7%), tetracycline (TET) and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (SXT) (81%), followed by chloramphenicol (CHL) (76.2%), florfenicol (FLO) (71.4%), kanamycin (KAN) (47.6%), and gentamycin (GEN) (38.1%). Meanwhile, only 4.8% of the isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (CIP) and cefotaxime (CTX). None of the isolates was resistant to cefoperazone (CFP) and colistin B (CLB). Twenty isolates (95%) were simultaneously resistant to at least two antimicrobials. Ten resistance genes were detected among which the blaTEM-1, cmlA, aac(6')-Ib-cr, sul1, sul2, sul3, and mcr-1.1 were the most prevalent, and presented in all 21 isolates followed by tetB (20/21), qnrB (19/21), and floR (15/21). Conclusion: Results indicated that Salmonella isolates from goose farms in Northeast China exhibited multi-drug resistance (MDR), harboring multiple antimicrobial resistance genes. Our results will be useful to design prevention and therapeutic strategies against Salmonella infection in goose farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, Ag doped ZnO nanorods with N plasmon treatment were synthesized on Si substrate based on diffusion doping principle. At the same time, pure ZnO, Ag doped ZnO and ZnO nanorods with N plasmon treatment were also prepared. The experimental results showed that the surface of ZnO/Ag/N is the roughest, but there is no redundant Ag on the surface. The red shift of the absorption edge is the largest. The most noteworthy is that ZnO/Ag/N has a good acceptor emission behavior, and the calculated acceptor binding energy is about 128 meV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The NiCr/Cr3C2-10CaF2 (wt-%) composite coatings were fabricated on Ti-6Al-4V alloy by laser surface alloying. Ageing treatments were performed at 600°C for 0, 24, 48 and 96 h, respectively. Microstructure and tribological properties of the as-laser-alloyed and aged composite coatings were investigated systematically. Results showed that microstructure became more homogeneous after ageing at 600°C for 48 h. Wear rates and friction coefficients of the aged composite coatings were slightly higher than that of the as-laser-alloyed coating. It indicates that microstructure and tribological properties of the composite coatings present good high-temperature stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of the cumulatively environmental pollution and the worldwide fossil fuel reserves shortage, nanostructrued photocatalysts have attracted much attention as a potential solution due to their unique performance advantages. Over the past decades, different strategies for synthesis and modification of oxide materials on the nanometer scale have been developing rapidly. Therefore, it is of significance to highlight recent approaches in the development of oxide nanomaterials as activity-enhanced photocatalysts. This report presents recent research progress of the high photocatalytic activity of nanostructured photocatalysts for expansion of solar spectrum response and enhancement of charge separation efficiency. Significantly, all the researchers and their achievements in this field are making contributions to the development of catalytic industry and environment purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on solid-liquid flow mechanics, considering the interaction between layers, the slip between solid and liquid phase, and the effect of drillpipe rotation, a dynamic three-layer cutting transport model was developed. By orthogonal experiment regression, a formula for calculating the thickness of the cutting bed was developed that is suitable for field application. The dynamic thickness of the cutting bed can be predicted by measured equivalent circulating density (ECD). Research has shown that the field equipment cannot attain the capability to keep the borehole clean, and when the thickness of the cutting bed exceeds 10%, a flushing method must be used to keep the borehole clean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a feedforward–feedback control is developed for the air–fuel ratio (AFR) of spark ignition engines using neural network estimators. To maintain the AFR at stoichiometric value, the throttle angle change is seen as a disturbance, from which the air flowrate is predicted. The injected fuel is also predicted using the inverse of the fuel injection dynamics. The proposed method is evaluated on an engine simulation benchmark and the performance is shown much improved over proportional–integral control. The new method needs moderate computation and therefore has strong potential to be used in production engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various devices can be realized on strained GeSi/Si substrates by doping the substrate with different impurities such as As. As is an n-type dopant in both Ge and Si. As cross contamination can also arise during germanium preamorphization implantation due to inadequate mass resolution in the implanter. Thus, it is important to be able to accurately measure low-level As concentrations in the presence of Ge. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is the standard technique for these types of measurements but is constrained by mass interferences from molecular ions ([sup 74]GeH, [sup 29]Si[sup 30]Si[sup 16]O). The trace element accelerator mass accelerator technique allows the breakup of interfering molecules. As is measured in a GeSi matrix with sensitivity significantly better than SIMS. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appearance and prevalence of multidrug-resistance (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) have limited our antibiotic capacity to control bacterial infections. The clinical efficacy of colistin (COL), considered as the "last resort" for treating GNB infections, has been severely hindered by its increased use as well as the emergence and prevalence of mobile colistin resistance (MCR)-mediated acquired drug resistance. Identifying promising compounds to restore antibiotic activity is becoming an effective strategy to alleviate the crisis of increasing MDR. We first demonstrated that the combination of berberine (BBR) and EDTA substantially restored COL sensitivity against COL-resistant Salmonella and Escherichia coli . Molecular docking indicated that BBR can interact with MCR-1 and the efflux pump system AcrAB-TolC, and BBR combined with EDTA downregulated the expression level of mcr-1 and tolC . Mechanically, BBR combined with EDTA could increase bacterial membrane damage, inhibit the function of multidrug efflux pump, and promote oxidative damage, thereby boosting the action of COL. In addition, transcriptome analysis found that the combination of BBR and EDTA can accelerate the tricarboxylic acid cycle, inhibit cationic antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) resistance, and attenuate Salmonella virulence. Notably, the combination of BBR and EDTA with COL significantly reduced the bacterial load in the liver and spleen of a mice model infected with Salmonella . Our findings revealed that BBR and EDTA can be used as adjuvants collectively with COL to synergistically reverse the COL resistance of bacteria., Importance: Colistin is last-resort antibiotic used to treat serious clinical infections caused by MDR bacterial pathogens. The recent emergence of transferable plasmid-mediated COL resistance gene mcr-1 has raised the specter of a rapid worldwide spread of COL resistance. Coupled with the fact of barren antibiotic development pipeline nowadays, a critical approach is to revitalize existing antibiotics using antibiotic adjuvants. Our research showed that berberine combined with EDTA effectively reversed COL resistance both in vivo and in vitro through multiple modes of action. The discovery of berberine in combination with EDTA as a new and safe COL adjuvant provides a therapeutic regimen for combating Gram-negative bacteria infections. Our findings provide a potential therapeutic option using existing antibiotics in combination with antibiotic adjuvants and address the prevalent infections caused by MDR Gram-negative pathogens worldwide., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The outer membrane (OM) in gram-negative bacteria contains proteins that regulate the passive or active uptake of small molecules for growth and cell function, as well as mediate the emergence of antibiotic resistance. This study aims to explore the potential mechanisms for restoring bacteria to azithromycin susceptibility based on transcriptome analysis of bacterial membrane-related genes. Transcriptome sequencing was performed by treating multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli T28R with azithromycin or in combination with colistin and confirmed by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Azithromycin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test, ompC gene overexpression, and molecular docking were utilized to conduct the confirmatory research of the potential mechanisms. We found that colistin combined with azithromycin led to 48 differentially expressed genes, compared to azithromycin alone, such as downregulation of tolA , eptB , lpxP , and opgE and upregulation of ompC gene. Interestingly, the addition of colistin to azithromycin differentially downregulated the mph (A) gene mediating azithromycin resistance, facilitating the intracellular accumulation of azithromycin. Also, overexpression of the ompC elevated azithromycin susceptibility, and colistin contributed to further suppression of the Mph(A) activity in the presence of azithromycin. These findings suggested that colistin firstly enhanced the permeability of bacterial OM, causing intracellular drug accumulation, and then had a repressive effect on the Mph(A) activity along with azithromycin. Our study provides a novel perspective that the improvement of azithromycin susceptibility is related not only to the downregulation of the mph (A) gene and conformational remodeling of the Mph(A) protein but also the upregulation of the membrane porin gene ompC .IMPORTANCEUsually, active efflux via efflux pumps is an important mechanism of antimicrobial resistance, such as the AcrAB-TolC complex and MdtEF. Also, bacterial porins exhibited a substantial fraction of the total number of outer membrane proteins in Enterobacteriaceae, which are involved in mediating the development of the resistance. We found that the upregulation or overexpression of the ompC gene contributed to the enhancement of resistant bacteria to azithromycin susceptibility, probably due to the augment of drug uptakes caused and the opportunity of Mph(A) function suppressed by azithromycin with colistin. Under the combination of colistin and azithromycin treatment, OmpC exhibited an increased selectivity for cationic molecules and played a key role in the restoral of the antibiotic susceptibility. Investigations on the regulation of porin expression that mediated drug resistance would be important in clinical isolates treated with antibiotics., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Space charge effect of intense ion beam has critical influence on separation efficiency in the electromagnetic isotope separator. In this paper, a ribbon beam extraction system with slit electrodes for an electromagnetic isotope separator was designed and studied. The extracted beam currents were varied from 10 to 40 mA and the corresponding extracted beam energies were 40 keV and 100 keV respectively. The simulated output beam density distributions were used in the subsequent multi species particle transmission simulation with the space charge effect included. The separated isotope beam spot distributions at the focal plane were simulated under different space charge compensation factors and thus the optimum operation gas pressures in vacuum box were roughly estimated. For the case of high intensity and high power isotope beam collection, an isotope collector with a deceleration electrode was proposed to mitigate the effect of high power beam bombardment and the resultant temperature rising on the collector surface., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective. To study the characteristics of EEG after transient ischemic attack and to offer reference for screening procedure of aircrew and astronaut selection. Method. The dominant frequency uncertainty of alpha band EEG in 12 pilots (males; age 30 +/- 5) with transient ischemic episodes in middle cerebral artery (MCA) territories and in 20 normal healthy pilots was analyzed with frequency-fluctuation analysis. Result. The dominant probability of the main frequency coinciding with sites affected by transient ischemic attack (TIA) in patient pilots was higher than that in healthy pilots (P<0.01), and the dominant probability ratio logarithmic index I >or= 0 in all patient pilots with normal EEG, but I<0 in all healthy pilots. It was also found that not only I >or= 0, but the second component shifted to lower frequency (8 Hz) in patients with slight focal EEG alterations, i.e. slowing of frequency. The relative entropy values (percentage) were decreased significantly in pilots with TIA as compared with healthy pilots (P<0.05). Conclusion. The dominant frequency uncertainty analysis of alpha band showed clear superiority of computerized evaluation over routine visual assessment for the diagnosis of minor cerebral ischemia. It offers not only a possibility of studying pathophysiological functional parameter, but also the reference for screening procedure in aircrew and astronaut selection.