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In this study, the removal of nitrogen from anaerobically pretreated husbandry wastewater using a continuous stirred tank reactor of a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) process coupled with a simple aeration setup was investigated. The reactor was operated with anaerobically pretreated husbandry wastewater at hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 16, 8, and 6 h with stepwise increased in average nitrogen loading rates (NLRs) of 0.47, 0.95, and 1.16 kg N m−3 d−1. The highest and stable nitrogen removal was obtained at HRT of 8 h (NLR of 0.95 kg N m−3 d−1). The key operating conditions were intermittent aeration for maintaining low dissolved oxygen concentrations (0.1–0.2 mg l−1) and alkalinity adjustment for obtaining pH values of 7.6–7.8. The effluent quality met Vietnamese husbandry wastewater standard for total nitrogen ( 400 mg l−1) in the feed wastewater reduced ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) activity. At shorter HRT (6 h), the washout of fine bioflocs containing aerobic heterotrophs and AOB occurred, while the reddish anammox granules still remained in the reactor.

This work aimed to prepare the spinel phase Li4Ti5O12 by a combination of the low-temperature precipitation technique and assisted calcination step. X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed that the intermediated phase was Li2TiO3, and the spinel phase could be evidently formed at 700°C for 12 to 20 hours. The morphology of spinel powder, determined by SEM and TEM, exhibited a good distribution at the submicrometric scale that promoted a fast kinetic of Li migration and an excellent performance at the high-rate cycling test. The stable performances were achieved in the charge-discharge test at different current densities: 80 mA/g (165 mAh/g), 320 mA (160 mAh/g), and 1600 mA (145 mAh/g) upon 100 cycles. Moreover, we observe a capacity retention of 48% (corresponding 80 mA/g) at a high rate of 5000 mAh/g. The cyclic voltammetry measurement displayed a reversible system and revealed the lithium diffusion coefficient of 1.15 × 10−11 cm2/s.

Flexible electronics have a great potential to impact consumer electronics and with that our daily life. Currently, no direct growth of epitaxial functional oxides on commercially available flexible substrates is possible. In this study, in order to address this challenge, muscovite, a common layered oxide, is used as a flexible substrate that is chemically similar to typical functional oxides. We fabricated epitaxial MoO2 films on muscovite via pulsed laser deposition technique. A combination of X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirms van der Waals epitaxy of the heterostructures. The electrical transport properties of MoO2 films are similar to those of the bulk. Flexible or free-standing MoO2 thin film can be obtained and serve as a template to integrate additional functional oxide layers. Our study demonstrates a remarkable concept to create flexible electronics based on functional oxides.

We present here, the results of a thorough study of the longitudinal permeability ratio (LPR) and transverse permeability ratio (TPR) in sputtered Co 19.35 Fe 53.28 Hf 7.92 O 19.35 films with varying thicknesses (t = 1, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.4 μm) in the frequency range of 100 - 1000 MHz. It is found that for all samples investigated, the LPR/TPR first increases with increasing frequency, reaches a maximum at 710 MHz, and then decreases at higher frequencies. This is related to the ferromagnetic resonance. The LPR and TPR profiles measured along the easy axis of the film show a single-peak feature, whereas those measured along the hard axis of the film show a double-peak one. This indicates an existence of magnetic anisotropy and its dispersion in the films. It reveals that the study of LPR and TPR spectra provides an alternative way for the evaluation of the high-frequency magnetic softness of film-type materials.

Influence of film thickness on the soft magnetic properties of Co19.35Fe53.28Hf7.92O19.35 films, which were deposited on Si(100) substrates using the oxygen reactive RF-sputtering method, has been thoroughly investigated. It is found that as the film thickness (t) increases from 50 to 430 nm, the easy-axis coercivity (HCE) strongly decreases from 26.2 to 1.5 Oe, while the hard-axis anisotropy field (HKH) significantly increases from 68.7 to 84.8 Oe and the saturation magnetization (4πMs) tends to increase from 16.8 to 19.7 kG. As t exceeds 430 nm, HKH gradually decreases, while both HCE and 4πMs remain almost unchanged. It reveals that a strong phase separation appears to occur in films with t > 430 nm, resulting in the decrease of HKH. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

This paper reports on the excellent high-frequency magnetic performance of Co-Fe-Hf-O thin films, which were deposited on Si(100) substrates by the oxygen reactive rf-sputtering method. It was shown that the films possessed not only high electrical resistivity but also large saturation magnetization and hard-axis anisotropy field. Among the compositions investigated, Co 19.35 Fe 53.28 Hf 7.92 O 19.35 exhibited the ultrasoft magnetic properties of high saturation magnetization, 4πM s ∼19.86 kG, and low coercivity, H c ∼1.5 Oe. The magnetic permeability remained almost constant up to 3 GHz and reached a maximum at the ferromagnetic resonant frequency of 4.024 GHz. These properties of this film together with a high electrical resistivity of 3569 μΩcm make it ideal for producing micromagnetic devices for high-frequency applications.

We present here, the results of a thorough study of the surface and magnetic properties of as-deposited and annealed Co–Fe–Al–O thin films using the magneto-optical Kerr effect technique. An increase in magnetic anisotropy was found in the near-surface region of the film, which is ascribed to the microstructural change occurring in this region. It is found that the partial pressure of oxygen caused considerable changes in the transverse Kerr effect spectra and hence the magnetic properties of the thin films. The step-like magnetization behavior was observed at a light wavelength of 310 nm while it disappeared for higher wavelengths of light. The step-like magnetization phenomenon is due to the magnetic wall displacement process of each fracturized domain in the surface region.

Fe-Al-O thin films exhibit good magnetic properties. However, their application in RF devices is mainly restricted by the low ferromagnetic resonance frequency. For practical applications it would be useful to try to shift this frequency to higher regions by exploiting the extra anisotropy induced by patterning the film. In this work, we discuss a model describing the permeability behavior as a function of frequency in patterned film samples and apply this model to explain experimental results for patterned Fe 87.3 Al 4.2 O 8.5 thin films.

The exchange bias (HE) coupling in MnCr/Co bilayers has been analysed. The exchange bias and coercivity (Hc) of the samples were investigated as a function of temperature. They reached the largest value for an annealing temperature of 300 °C at a measuring temperature of 123 K. Moreover, HE and Hc also exhibited a dependence on the thickness of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

The effect of microstructures on the electrical and magnetic properties of Co-Fe-Al-O thin films was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that excellent soft magnetic properties were associated with granular nanoscale grains of α-CoFe and α-Co(Fe) phases. The introduction of aluminium and oxygen to CoFe films led to a refinement of the granular microstructure. When the partial pressure of oxygen was less than 4%, oxide particles CoFe 2 O 4 , CoAl 2 O 4 or FeAl 2 O 4 were embedded in α-CoFe, α-Co(Fe) grains. A higher partial pressure of oxygen changed the crystalline oxide to amorphous oxide, resulting in the formation of smaller grains of α-CoFe and α-Co(Fe) phases. The partial pressure of oxygen caused drastic changes in the coercivity (H c ), anisotropy field (H k ), and electrical resistivity (p), the reason for which was discussed based on the microstructural observations and X-ray diffraction results. Co-Fe-Al-O thin films exhibit excellent high frequency characteristics: an effective permeability larger than 1000 and stability above 1 GHz.

Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), a member of the transforming growth factor-β family, plays critical roles in cell differentiation, modeling and regeneration processes in several tissues. BMP-2 is also closely associated with various malignant tumors. microRNAs negatively and posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression and function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Herein, we report that miR-656 expression was significantly downregulated in glioma cell lines and tissues. We identified and confirmed that BMP receptor, type 1A (BMPR1A) is a direct target of miR-656. The expression of BMPR1A was negatively correlated with that of miR-656 in human glioma tissues. We further demonstrated that miR-656 suppressed glioma cell proliferation, neurosphere formation, migration and invasion with or without exogenous BMP-2. Engineered knockdown of BMPR1A diminished the antiproliferation effect of miR-656 in vitro. Moreover, the canonical BMP/Smad and non-canonical BMP/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways were inhibited by miR-656 overexpression. Several cancer-related signaling molecules, including cyclin B, cyclin D1, matrix metalloproteinase-9, p21 and p27, were also involved in miR-656 function in glioma cells. The tumor-suppressing function of miR-656 was validated using an in vivo intracranial xenograft mouse model. Notably, ectopic expression of miR-656 markedly reduced tumor size and prolonged the survival of mice treated with or without BMP-2. These results elucidate the function of miR-656 in glioma progression and suggest a promising application for glioma treatment.

Background Peptidyl-prolyl isomerase cyclophilin A (CypA) plays important roles in signaling, protein translocation, inflammation, and cancer formation. However, little is known about the mechanisms by which CypA exerts its effects. C57BL/6 Ppia (encoding CypA)-deficient embryonic fibroblasts show reduced activation of the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), the p65/RelA subunit, suggesting that CypA may mediate modulation of NF-κB activity to exert its biological effects. Methodology Western blotting and qRT-PCR analyses were used to evaluate the association of CypA deficiency with reduced activation of NF-κB/p65 at the protein level. GST pull-down and co-immunoprecipitation were used to examine interactions between CypA and p65/RelA. Truncation mutants and site-directed mutagenesis were used to determine the sequences of p65/RelA required for interactions with CypA. Enhancement of p65/RelA nuclear translocation by CypA was assessed by co-transfection and immunofluorescent imaging. Treatment of cells with cycloheximide that were harvested at various time points for Western blot analyses was carried out to evaluate p65/RelA protein stability. The functional activity of NF-κB was assessed by electrophoretic mobility-shift assays (EMSA), luciferase assays, and changes in expression levels of target genes. Results GST pull-down assays in vitro and co-immunoprecipitation analyses in vivo provided evidence for protein-protein interactions. These interactions were further supported by identification of a CypA-binding consensus-like sequence within NF-κB subunit p65 at the N-terminal 170–176 amino acid residues. Significantly, CypA provided stability for NF-κB p65 and promoted NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation, resulting in increased nuclear accumulation and enhanced NF-κB activity. Conclusions Our findings revealed important mechanisms that regulate NF-κB activation, and offer new insights into the role of CypA in aberrant activation of NF-κB-mediated signaling for altered expression of its target genes, resulting in pathological effects in various diseases.

— It is shown that the results presented in the article by Wu et al. (IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 23 (n° 8) 2011, pp. 468-470), and attributed by the authors to amplitude-to-phase conversion in the photodetector, do not originate in the photodetector under test, due to the power dependence observed. More recent results show that conversion effects with the same size and frequency dependence are observed in passively mode-locked NPR (non-linear polarization rotation) mode-locked lasers. Index Terms — Phase measurement, Phase noise, Photodetectors, mode-locked lasers. n their article, K. Wu et al. [1] address the problem of the amplitude-to-phase conversion in photodetectors, already observed in earlier publications. They present a particularly simple set-up, that may provide a convenient means to characterize the AM-to-PM conversion in high bandwidth photodetectors. They use a 2.4 mW free-running passively mode-locked laser at 147 MHz repetition rate, and modulate the power of the laser at audio frequencies by modulating the power of the pump diode. They subsequently detect the pulse train emitted by the mode-locked laser using a 2GHz photodiode. The signal of the photodiode is analyzed by a signal analyzer FSUP26, which can deliver - the relative intensity noise power spectrum and the phase noise of the 147 MHz signal, separately, (Fig. 2 a- and b-, respectively) as a function of the offset frequency - or the spectrum, in dBm of the signal around 147 MHz, Fig. 4. Both figures show that the 147 MHz signal is phase-modulated at the frequency of the power modulation and at its harmonics. In Fig. 4, the phase modulation appears as a an asymmetry in the side bands: the asymmetry

In this paper, research on a CO catalytic gas sensor based on nano-crystalline perovskite oxide NdFeO 3 designed for exhaust gas measurement is presented. Nano-crystalline oxide NdFeO 3 was synthesized by a sol–gel citrate technique. The gas sensing characteristics of this sensor were investigated in the concentration range of CO between 0 and 5 vol.% in air. The influences of C 3 H 8, C 4 H 16 gases, relative humidity and air-flow rate on the cross-sensitivity of the CO sensor were also studied.

Ferromagnetic layer thickness dependence of anisotropic magnetoresistivities in Ta∕NiFe(t)∕IrMn (10 nm)∕Ta has been investigated for t=3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 nm by the method of anisotropic magnetoresistance and planar Hall effect. Our results revealed that the parallel and perpendicular resistivity components performed a varying function with increment in NiFe thickness. Both the resistivities at first were observed to increase when the NiFe thickness increases from 3 to 10 nm; then for the NiFe thicknesses from 10 to 20 nm, the resistivities of NiFe layer decrease as the NiFe thickness increases. However, the anisotropic resistivity change, which is the difference between parallel and perpendicular resistivities, was observed to increase for the whole range of thicknesses when the NiFe thickness increases. The measured quantities were found to be in good agreement with the theoretically estimated parameters using single domain model; thus these behaviors are well explained based on the modern...