Search

Local dry underwater backward median pulse MIG welding (LDU-BMPMIG) was proposed in this study. The effects of different backward median currents on welding process stability, weld forming, microstructure, and mechanical properties of weldments were investigated comprehensively. The results reveal that the backward median current waveform effectively improved the welding stability. By calculating the approximate entropy of the voltage signal during welding, it is proved that the welding stability increases first and then decreases with the increase of the backward median current. The welding process stability was the most satisfied with the backward median current of 200 A. The quality of weld formation was consistent with welding stability. LDU-BMPMIG weldments exhibited fewer macroscopic defects and better overall morphology compared with LDU-PMIG weldment. The weldment microstructure was mainly composed of γ-austenite and δ-ferrite with different morphologies. The satisfied stability of the welding process contributed to improving the microstructure uniformity. The variation trend of tensile strength for LDU-BMPMIG weldments was approximately kept consistent with welding process stability. The weldment prepared by 200 A showed considerable mechanical properties with minimal fluctuation, which reached 97.58% of maximum average tensile strength, which meant the most excellent compared to the others. The experimental results can improve the stability of local dry underwater welding and provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the application of underwater welding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

304 stainless steel, which is widely used in the industrial field due to its excellent thermostability, corrosion resistance, and welding performance, was welded using local dry underwater pulse metal inert gas (LDU-PMIG) welding technology in this study. The effect of different pulse peak currents on droplet transfer behavior and weld formation was investigated. The results show that short circuit transfer, globular transfer, and projected transfer were observed in the LDU-PMIG process. With the peak current of 240 A, the droplet transfer modes were short-circuit transfer and globular transfer; the weld formation was irregular with large particle spatters around the weld. With the peak current increased to 260 A, the droplet transfer mode changed into the globular transfer, and the weld formation quality was improved. With the peak current of 280 A, the droplet transfer mode was projected transfer, the weld formation was satisfied with a few spatters, and the coefficient of weld formation was the largest, and projected transfer was the most stable mode. With the increase of the peak current from 300 to 320 A, the droplet transfer mode did not change, but the instability of the welding arc resulted in poor weld formation with serious spatters and undercuts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This letter reports a 28‐GHz multi‐port magneto‐electric (ME) dipole array for 5G applications. The proposed antenna array enlarges the system polarization diversity with the capability of being utilized as a balanced antenna, a dual‐polarized antenna and a circularly polarized antenna. Co‐planar waveguide (CPW) lines are used to connect ME dipole radiators to achieve a high gain with a simple feeding structure. The proposed antenna array exhibits a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 12.8% and a maximal peak realized gain of 13.52 dBi as a balanced antenna, and exhibits a −10 dB impedance bandwidth of 28.57%, a 3‐dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 16% and a maximal peak realized gain of 12.15 dBi as a circularly polarized antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lipid metabolism plays crucial roles during aging processes, but how it is regulated by diets and how it interplays with aging still remain unclear. We proposed a new optical imaging platform by integrating heavy water (D2O) probing with stimulated Raman scattering (DO‐SRS) microscopy, for the first time, to directly visualize and quantify lipid metabolism regulated by different diets and insulin signaling pathway in Drosophila fat body during aging. We found that calorie restriction, low protein diet, and (moderately) high protein and high sucrose diets enhanced lipid turnover in flies at all ages, while (moderately) high fructose and glucose diets only promoted lipid turnover in aged flies. The measured lipid turnover enhancements under diverse diets were due to different mechanisms. High protein diet shortened the lifespan while all other diets extended the lifespan. Downregulating the insulin signaling pathway enhanced lipid turnover, which is likely related to lifespan increase, while upregulating insulin signaling pathway decreased lipid turnover that would shorten the lifespan. Our study offers the first approach to directly visualize spatiotemporal alterations of lipid turnover in aging Drosophila in situ, for a better understanding of the interconnections between lipid metabolism, diets, and aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve anti-jamming, radar needs to identify the jamming signals to distinguish between the target echo signals and the jamming signals. Interrupted sampling repeater jamming (ISRJ) is a widely used jamming type in radar and electronic countermeasures. In this paper, we propose an efficient channel attention (ECA)-based one-dimensional residual neural network method for the ISRJ signal recognition. The joint features based on axially integral bispectrum and square integral bispectrum are used to extract the target echo signal and ISRJ signal. The ECA-based one-dimensional residual neural network is applied to the ISRJ recognition. The experiment results show that the proposed ECA-based one-dimensional residual neural network has better correct recognition rate under low signal-to-noise ratio and can offer 30.17% reduction in timeliness than the improved convolutional neural network-residual network (CNN-ResNet) method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging studies have shown that lipid metabolism plays an important role in aging. High resolution in situ imaging of lipid metabolic dynamics inside cells and tissues affords a novel and potent approach for understanding many biological processes such as aging. Here we established a new optical imaging platform that combines D2O-probed stimulated Raman scattering (DO-SRS) imaging microscopy and a Drosophila model to directly visualize metabolic activities in situ during aging. The sub-cellular spatial distribution of de novo lipogenesis in the fat body was quantitatively imaged and examined. We discovered a dramatic decrease in lipid turnover in 35-day-old flies. Decreases in protein turnover occurred earlier than lipids (25-day vs. 35-day), and there are many proteins localized on the cell and lipid droplet membrane. This suggests that protein metabolism may act as a prerequisite for lipid metabolism during aging. This alteration of maintenance of protein turnover indicates disrupted lipid metabolism. We further found a significantly higher lipid turnover rate in large LDs, indicating more active metabolism in large LDs, suggesting that large and small LDs play different roles in metabolism to maintain cellular homeostasis. This is the first study that directly visualizes spatiotemporal alterations of lipid (and protein) metabolism in Drosophila during the aging process. Our study not only demonstrates a new imaging platform for studying lipid metabolism, but also unravels the important interconnections between lipid metabolism and aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) to absorb and retain a large amount of aqueous solution enables their applications in agriculture, medicine and water treatment. As a result, there were numerous studies reporting the present status and application prospects of raw materials and the mechanism of cross-linking agents. Conversely, there was a lack of research on the factors affecting SAP performance and the summaries of methods to improve performance. In this paper, a comprehensive and systematic review based on the structure and water absorption mechanism of SAPs was performed. The methods of improving the performance and main factors of the synthesis of SAPs, such as monomer, cross-linking agent, initiator, ion concentration, hydrophilic group, neutralization degree and particle size, were discussed. The improvement methods of salinity tolerance, reusability, water absorption and rate of SAP were explored. In addition, some applications and future research in SAPs are also discussed in this review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlling charge‐spin current conversion by electric fields is crucial in spintronic devices, which can now be realized in diatom ferroelectric semiconductor GeTe. It is well demonstrated that ferroelectricity can change the spin texture in this compound. Herein, it is shown that the spin Hall conductivity (SHC) can be further tuned by ferroelectricity based on the density functional theory calculations. The spin texture variation driven by the electric fields is elucidated from the symmetry point of view, highlighting the interlocked spin and orbital degrees of freedom. It is observed that the origin of SHC can be attributed to the Rashba effect and the intrinsic spin–orbit coupling. The magnitude of one component of SHC σxyz can reach as large as 100 ℏ/e (Ω−1 cm−1) in the vicinity of the band edge, which is promising for engineering spintronic devices. The work on tunable spin transport properties via the ferroelectric polarization brings novel assets into the field of spintronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim is to study the characteristics of dual-net and dual-protection configuration of 750 kV substation and take into consideration the uncertainty of the substation, such as maloperation and rejection miss trip of protection and breaker. This paper proposed a diagnosis fault method with redundancy based on fuzzy Petri net in a framework of multi-agent system. The reasoning model is divided into global agent layer, local agent layer, and connected agent layer according to multi-agent hierarchical method, and the fault region and suspicious fault component are determined by the former two layer based on case information. The restriction and rule are formed by topological structure and protection configuration of grid. This algorithm adopts the information entropy to determine the credibility of initial information, the model of fuzzy Petri is established in the third layer and divided into main network and redundant network to carry out the sub-network, and then the diagnosis result with minimum uncertainty is obtained by fuzzy reasoning. The simulation results show this model has higher accuracy and better fault tolerance ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low-complexity channelizer is essential in passive radar multi-channel wideband receiver using array antennas. The digital filter bank is usually used to realize the channelizer. In the paper, a low-complexity channelizer based on frequency response masking (FRM) is proposed to reduce the high computational complexity of the narrow transition bandwidth filter bank. A half-band filter is used to design the prototype filter of the proposed low-complexity channelizer based on FRM. Compared to the maximally decimated filter bank, the decimation coefficient of the non-maximally decimated filter bank can be different from the number of channels, which makes the low-complexity channelizer more flexible. The low-complexity channelizer based on FRM can be directly applied to a wideband receiver without the limit of the sampling rate. The simulation and complexity analysis results show that the proposed low-complexity channelizer is correct and significantly reduces computational and hardware complexities. The proposed low-complexity channelizer makes it possible to implement passive radar multi-channel wideband receiver on a single hardware processor; thus, it is suitable to applied in passive radar multi-channel wideband receiver using array antennas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modulated filter bank with low complexity is the key to realize the engineering applications for speech signal processing, multicarrier communication, and wideband digital receivers. The frequency response masking (FRM) technology is an effective method to design finite impulse response filters with narrow transition band (NTB). In this paper, an interpolation FRM unified modulated filter bank (IFRM-UMFB) architecture with NTB is proposed to reduce the computational complexity of the modulated filter bank architecture. The IFRM approach increases the transition band of two masking filters by the interpolation of N and reduces the computational complexity of two masking filters compared with classic FRM approach. The proposed IFRM-UMFB architecture with NTB is suitable for different odd-stacked or even-stacked, maximally decimated or non-maximally decimated structures. The proposed IFRM-UMFB architecture with NTB is verified to be correct through simulation. The complexity comparison result shows that the proposed IFRM-UMFB architecture offers multipliers reduction of 77.4% over the directly design approach and 26.5% over the classic FRM approach. Moreover, the proposed IFRM-UMFB architecture with NTB also can be directly applied to wideband digital receivers with high sampling rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the locality and uncertainty of observations in large-scale multi-agent application scenarios, the model of Decentralized Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (DEC-POMDP) is considered, and a novel multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm based on local communication is proposed. For a distributed learning environment, the elements of reinforcement learning are difficult to describe effectively in local observation situation, and the learning behaviour of each individual agent is influenced by its teammates. The local communication with consensus protocol is utilized to agree on the global observing environment, and thus that a part of strategies generated by repeating observations are eliminated, and the agent team gradually reach uniform opinion on the state of the event or object to be observed, they can thus approach a unique belief space regardless of whether each individual agent can perform a complete or partial observation. The simulation results show that the learning strategy space is reduced, and the learning speed is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Double Deep Q Network. • Cognitive jamming decision-making. • Prioritized experience replay. With the development of artificial intelligence technology, more and more intelligent countermeasure methods are applied in military confrontation fields to improve the intelligent level of weapons. Traditional radar jammers generate different jamming types by template matching, game theory or reasoning, which lack intelligent and adaptive jamming strategies in the battlefield environment with intelligent confrontation. To solve the intelligent decision-making problem of jammers in radar countermeasure, a cooperative jamming decision-making (CJDM) method based on reinforcement learning (RL) is proposed in this paper. The double deep Q network based on priority experience replay (PER-DDQN) is brought into the cooperative jamming strategy, and the CJDM model based on PER-DDQN is established in this paper. The scene of multiple jammers against multi-functional networked radar was built to simulate and analyze the performance of the proposed CJDM model based on PER-DDQN. The simulation results show that the proposed PER-DDQN can overcome the problem of data correlation and avoid unnecessary iteration, which is more suitable for sparse reward environment compared with deep Q network (DQN). Meanwhile, the proposed CJDM method based on PER-DDQN can effectively and intelligently realize optimal jamming decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software radio channelizer is employed in the multi-standard wireless communication for extracting individual channels from the wideband input signal. Frequency response masking (FRM) finite impulse response (FIR) filters are used in software radio channelizer for reducing the computational complexity of the maximally decimated filter bank (MDFB) with narrow transition band (NTB). In this paper, we present an approach to design two well-known classes of efficient digital filters, namely the interpolated and full FRM FIR filters. In the proposed MDFB, the FRM is used to obtain flexible transition band and low complexity. The proposed improved FRM-based MDFB with NTB can be directly applied to high sampling rate software radio channelizer. We show the FRM filter examples for single carrier orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SC-OFDM) modulator and wideband digital receiver (WDR). The simulation results indicate that the improved FRM-based MDFB with NTB is correct. Design examples with complexity comparison are presented to demonstrate the complexity improvement of the proposed FRM-based MDFB with NTB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: The selective transport of ions has crucial importance in biological systems as well as modern‐day energy devices, such as batteries and fuel cells, and water purification membranes. Control over ion movement can be exerted by ligation, ion channel dimensions, solvation, and electrostatic interactions. Polyelectrolyte hydrogels can provide aligned pathways for counter ion transport but lack mechanical integrity, while polyelectrolyte membranes typically suffer from the absence of an ion transport channel network. To develop polymer membranes for improved ion transport, we present the design of a novel material that combines the advantages of aligned pathways found in polyelectrolyte hydrogel and mechanical robustness in conventional membranes. The ionic species were organized via controlled copolymerization of a quaternizable monomer. Additionally, dimensional stability was then incorporated through a cast/crosslinking method to lock in the network of connected cationic groups. This strategy resulted in dramatically enhanced ion transport, as characterized by ionic conductivities (>80 mS/cm for Cl–, and ∼200 mS/cm for OH–). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018, 56, 618–625 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Using sequential RAFT polymerization, single monomer insertion, and “click” chemistry, a series of triblock copolymers, poly(ethylene oxide)‐b‐polystyrene‐b‐poly(ethylene oxide), PEO‐b‐PS‐b‐PEO, were synthesized, where one of the two junction points is a UV cleavable ortho‐nitrobenzyl (ONB). Ordered patterns of PEO‐b‐PS‐b‐PEO were produced by solvent vapor annealing. Upon exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, the PEO‐b‐PS‐b‐PEO was converted into a mixture of a PEO homopolymer and a PS‐b‐PEO diblock copolymer. It was found that the microdomain spacing could be tuned by adjusting the UV exposure time, due to the change in the copolymer architecture and the swelling of the PEO microdomain by the PEO homopolymer produced. By selective area exposure of the PEO‐b‐PS‐b‐PEO thin films, the domain spacing was changed over selected locations across the film, generating patterns of different microdomain sizes. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018, 56, 355–361. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The insulating TiO2 (100) surface was transformed into conducting state after Ar+ ion irradiation, which is due to the formation of oxygen vacancies. The thickness of the conducting layer is about 5 nm according to the transmission electron microscopy, and its surface with a spatial asymmetry hosts Rashba spin-orbit coupling. A permalloy (Py) thin film was then deposited onto the irradiated TiO2 by magnetron sputtering. In this Py/TiO2 sample, an inverse Rashba-Edelstein effect (IREE) induced voltage was detected, which converted the spin current injected from Py by spin pumping into the charge current (voltage) due to the spin-orbit coupling. Through the two-step measurement with sample flipping, the voltages of the IREE at different microwave frequency and power are separated from the spin rectification effect in the Py films. The inverse Rashba-Edelstein length λIREE, which is used to characterize the spin-to-charge current conversion efficiency, is calculated to be about 0.58 nm in this work. From the similarity of the parameter, we may conclude that the effect is universal in these two dimensional electron gas hosted by the surfaces or interfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using salt-doped polystyrene- b -poly(2-vinylpyridine) star shaped block copolymer as a model, we show that the architecture of (A- b -B) n type multi-arm star block copolymers enhances the ordering of the block copolymers, enabling the generation of nanostructures with microdomain periods less than 10 nm. The influence of the arm number on the order-to-disorder transition temperature and molecular weight was systematically studied using small angle X-ray scattering. The configurational constraints placed on the chains by anchoring each block copolymer to a central junction point have a significant effect on the disorder-to-order transition behavior. In addition to an increase in the Flory-Huggins parameter ( χ ), block copolymers with multi-arm star shape chain architecture have a critical segregation strength ( χN ) C that decreases with arm number, opening a simple route to generate ordered nanostructures with periods below 10 nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave spin pumping at ferromagnetic resonance from ferromagnetic films into nonmagnetic films is an efficient method to realize spin injection. The spin injection efficiency is proportional to the spin mixing conductance and can be detected by measuring voltages converted from spin current via the inverse spin Hall effect. In this work, we modified the properties of the ferromagnetic layer by thermal annealing. The results show that the crystal quality of the ferromagnetic films, as well as the magnetic properties has been greatly modified while the spin mixing conductance is insensitive to it. The work represent an incentive to work on engineering the spin Hall angle of the nonmagnetic layer to improve the spin Hall effect or the inverse spin Hall effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electronic structures of four Laves phase iron compounds (e.g. YFe 2 , ZrFe 2 , LuFe 2 and HfFe 2 ) have been calculated with a state-of-the-art full potential electronic structure code. Our theoretical work predicted that the magnetic moments collapse under hydrostatic pressure. This feature is found to be universal in these materials. Its electronic origin is provided by the sharp peaks in the density of states near the Fermi level. It is shown that a first order quantum phase transition can be expected under pressure in Y(Zr, or Lu)Fe 2 , while a second order one in HfFe 2 . The bonding characteristics are discussed to elucidate the equilibrium lattice constant variation. The large spontaneous volume magnetostriction gives one of the most important characteristics of these compounds. Invar anomalies in these compounds can be partly explained by the current work when the fast continuous magnetic moment decrease with the decrease of the lattice constant was properly considered. This work may be as a first insight into the rich world of quantum phase transition and Invar mechanism in these Laves phase compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rechargeable zinc metal batteries are promising for large‐scale energy storage. However, their practical application is limited by harsh issues such as uncontrollable dendrite growth, low Coulombic efficiency, and poor temperature tolerance. Herein, a unique design strategy using γ‐valerolactone‐based electrolyte and nanocarbon‐coated aluminum substrate was reported to solve the above problems. The electrolyte with extremely low freezing point and high thermal stability enables the symmetric cells with long cycle life over a wide temperature range (−50 °C to 80 °C) due to its ability to regulate zinc nucleation and preferential epitaxial growth. Besides, the nanocarbon‐coated aluminum substrate can also promote a higher Coulombic efficiency over a wide temperature range in contrast to the low Coulombic efficiency of copper substrates with significant irreversible alloying reactions because this unique substrate with excellent chemical stabilization can homogenize the interfacial electron/ion distribution. The optimized zinc metal capacitors can operate stably under various temperature conditions (2000 cycles at 30 °C with 66 % depth of discharge and 1200 cycles at 80 °C with 50 % depth of discharge). This unique electrolyte and substrate design strategy achieves a robust zinc metal battery over a wide temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rechargeable zinc metal batteries are promising for large‐scale energy storage. However, their practical application is limited by harsh issues such as uncontrollable dendrite growth, low Coulombic efficiency, and poor temperature tolerance. Herein, a unique design strategy using γ‐valerolactone‐based electrolyte and nanocarbon‐coated aluminum substrate was reported to solve the above problems. The electrolyte with extremely low freezing point and high thermal stability enables the symmetric cells with long cycle life over a wide temperature range (−50 °C to 80 °C) due to its ability to regulate zinc nucleation and preferential epitaxial growth. Besides, the nanocarbon‐coated aluminum substrate can also promote a higher Coulombic efficiency over a wide temperature range in contrast to the low Coulombic efficiency of copper substrates with significant irreversible alloying reactions because this unique substrate with excellent chemical stabilization can homogenize the interfacial electron/ion distribution. The optimized zinc metal capacitors can operate stably under various temperature conditions (2000 cycles at 30 °C with 66 % depth of discharge and 1200 cycles at 80 °C with 50 % depth of discharge). This unique electrolyte and substrate design strategy achieves a robust zinc metal battery over a wide temperature range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software defined radios typically employ digital filter banks (FBs) for channelisation. Frequency response masking (FRM) approach is used to reduce the computational complexity of the complex modulated FB with narrow transition band. A unified FRM‐based complex modulated FB structure is proposed to design sharp filters with arbitrary passband bandwidth. The proposed unified FRM‐based complex modulated FB structure with low complexity is suitable for different even‐stacked or odd‐stacked, maximally decimated or non‐maximally decimated structures. It also can be directly applied to high sampling rate systems. It is shown that the proposed unified FRM‐based complex modulated FB structure can obtain the improvement of the computational complexity compared with the other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic structures of Rh 2 TMSn (TM = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu) full Heusler compounds are calculated by the state-of-the-art electronic structure codes with the local density approximation aiming to understand the structure instability microscopically. The instability of the compounds can be explained by the band Jahn–Teller effect. The compounds can be categorized into two groups: In the first group, the density of states at the Fermi level are contributed mainly from Rh, while in the rest, both the Rh and TM atoms contribute. The high density of states at the Fermi level of the first group compounds may be smoothed and the highly symmetric phase is stable as found in experiments. The compounds in the second group tetragonally distort according to our calculation and was found in the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Barium ferrite thin films were spin-coated on sapphire (00l) faces. Ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) was used to chelate metal ions. The conditions to obtain highly textured films were expanded by using EDTA, where the pH values of the solutions varied from 3 up to 9 and the molar ratio of EDTA to metal ions changed from 1.0 up to 1.5. The grains showed that the c-axis aligned normal to the film plane and the [110] direction of sapphire was parallel to the [100] direction of the film. The film showed uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the coercivity field of 21.5kA/m along the out-of-plane direction and very small hysteresis in the in-plane direction. The coercivity was likely to be controlled by wall nucleation according to the shape of the curves of the coercivity forces versus the maximum applied field. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Phonon dispersions of were calculated by small displacement methods using density functional theory where the exchange-correlation potential was approximated by the general gradient approximation. Magneto-volume coupling coefficient was estimated to be . The phonon dispersions were in good agreement with the experimental data. Results showed that the dispersions were quite sensitive to the magnetic moment. The phonon frequency along became negative when the system was spin polarized. The softening of the phonon was attributed to the high density of states at the Fermi level. Our results indicate the importance of taking magnetization into account when the equation of states of are to be established. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: M-type barium ferrite thin films were deposited onto sapphire (00 l) substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. An ultra-thin layer about 20nm was deposited and annealed before continuous deposition of the films up to 500nm under different sputtering pressures: 0.2, 0.5, 0.8 and 1.0Pa, respectively. It was found that the atomic ratios of Fe to Ba increased from 9.3 to 15.0 with the increase of the pressure. The films sputtered at all pressures have c-axis normal to the film plane by a four circle X-ray diffractometer, which is an improvement of the films directly sputtered on the substrate. Needle-like grains were formed on the surface of the films under higher sputter pressure with bubble domains, which is originated from high magnetocrystalline anisotropy of the film. Magnetic hysteresis loops recorded by vibrating sample magnetometer agree with them, where in-plane and out-of-plane loops of the samples prepared under high sputtering pressures are quite different, while they are almost identical of the samples under low pressures. The influence of the sputtering pressure was understood by that with the increase of the pressure, resputtering of the films was increased. Nucleation with c-axis normal to the film plane was deteriorated. Thus samples prepared under high pressure have more needle-like crystallites which have c-axis parallel to the film plane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hexagonal barium ferrites were deposited onto sapphire substrates by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The composition, microstructure, and magnetic properties of these isotropic thin films were investigated with Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, magnetic force microscopy and SQUID magnetometry. The intrinsic coercivity of the films reaches about 11.5kOe at room temperature. The mechanism of the coercivity is proposed to be nucleation in the decoupled single domain nanometer particles as shown by the characteristics of the magnetic domains and the virgin magnetization curves. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, magnetostrictive thick films are prepared by screen-printing and sintering. The morphology, magnetic character and magnetostriction prepared at different temperatures are studied. Characteristics of composite films thus prepared are compared with the original magnetostrictive blocks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, the emergence rate, emergence potential, root length, stem length, water consumption, and biomass around a root system were used as evaluation indexes, and we used the laboratory-prepared super absorbent resin watermelon rind (WMR)-p (AA–co–DAAM) (superabsorbent polymer 1—SAP1), WMR-p (AA–co–DAAM)/palygorskite (PGS) (SAP2) in a laboratory and commercially available water-retaining agents (SAPRX and SAPHDB) to assist the emergence of Artemisiadesertorum seeds and seedling growth; then, their water absorption and thermal stability were discussed. The results showed that the thermal stability of an SAP prepared in the laboratory and the water consumption during seed emergence, root length, and stem length after emergence were better than those of an SAP purchased on the market, and this information could help to promote the emergence and seedling growth of Artemisiadesertorum. While enhancing the drought resistance of plants, using a laboratory-produced SAP can effectively reduce the number of artificial irrigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hexagonal barium ferrite thin films were fabricated by spin coating of precursors obtained by sol-gel methods onto sapphire (00l) faces. Citric acid and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) were used to tune the morphology of the films. The films show texture with c-axis normal to the film plane as shown by the strong x-ray diffractions from the (001) plane with full width at half maximum of the rocking curves about 0.4°. The [100] direction of the film is parallel to the [110] direction of the sapphire. With the increase of the citric acid, the percentage of the acicular crystallites increased. EDTA can be used to produce films with the best texture where faceted grains were obtained. The maximum coercive force obtained was about 302 kA/m. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Barium ferrite films were prepared by spin-coating of gels on sapphire (00 l) faces. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid was used to bind the metal ions. Thin films prepared by this method show faceted hexagonal grains with c-axis normal to the film plane and [110]sapphire ||[100]film. Needle-like grains, which have c-axis in the film plane, are minimized. Epitaxial growth of the film can be observed by the high resolution images. Reduction of the a and c-axis of the film compared with those of the bulk materials is confirmed both in real space and reciprocal space. Magnetic hysteresis loops were recorded in-plane and out-of-plane. The film shows uniaxial anisotropy as exemplified by branched domains with coercivity field of 87.6kA/m along the in-plane direction and of 302.5kA/m along the out-of-plane direction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Electronic structures of MC, where M is the alkali and alkaline earth metals with the rocksalt structure, are calculated by full potential density functional codes. We find that the spin magnetic moment in the compounds is mainly contributed by the spin polarized p-orbitals of carbon. The large distance between the carbon makes the p-orbitals localized, which induces magnetic instability according to the Stoner criterion. The electronic structure can be mapped to the rigid band model. SrC, BaC, and RaC are half-metals, while KC, RbC, and CsC are magnetic semiconductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hexagonal barium ferrite (BaM) thin films have been prepared by sol–gel technique involving spin coating and annealing in air. Different ratios of Ba to Fe, different annealing temperatures and different annealing time are explored. X-ray diffraction shows that the films have been epitaxially grown on the sapphire (001) plane with [100] direction of BaM parallel to [110] of Al2O3, and the c-axes of them being parallel, while magnetic measurements show magnetically anisotropic loops with in-plane and out-of-plane intrinsic coercivity of 87.5kA/m and 230.8kA/m, respectively. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Distribution of induced microwave current in Py film depends on its geometry. • SRE signal can be neglected at specific magnetic field angle and geometry for Py film. • Pure ISHE signal can be obtained directly in Py(20 nm)/Ta(10 nm) bilayer (40 μm × 8 mm). • Spin Hall angle value of Ta in Py/Ta bilayer is similar to that of some literatures. We present a method to directly obtain the pure inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE) signal without the spin rectification effect (SRE) signal in ferromagnetic metal(FM)/nonmagnetic metal(NM) bilayers. This method is based on a fact that the distribution of the induced microwave current is largely dependent on the geometries of the samples. The ISHE signal can be maximized through shaping the samples and tuning the magnetic field directions, while the SRE signal can be minimized below the detection limit. This provides also a fast and simplified method to measure the ISHE signal in a wide frequency range. The spin Hall angle of Ta in a Py/Ta bilayer is −0.027 ± 0.015 in a wide frequency range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–organic framework nanoparticles (MOF NPs) have emerged as an important class of materials that display significantly enhanced performance in many applications compared to bulk MOF materials; their synthesis, however, commonly involves a tedious sequence that controls particle size and surface properties in separate steps. Now, a simple strategy to access functional MOF NPs in one pot is reported that uses a polyMOF ligand possessing a polymer block for surface functionalization and a coordination block with tunable multivalency for size control. This strategy produces uniform polyMOF‐5 NPs with sizes down to 20 nm, displaying exceptional structural and colloidal stability upon exposure to ambient conditions. A detailed time‐dependent study revealed that the polyMOF NPs were formed following an aggregation‐confined crystallization mechanism. Generality was demonstrated through the synthesis of well‐defined polyUiO‐66 NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal–organic framework nanoparticles (MOF NPs) have emerged as an important class of materials that display significantly enhanced performance in many applications compared to bulk MOF materials; their synthesis, however, commonly involves a tedious sequence that controls particle size and surface properties in separate steps. Now, a simple strategy to access functional MOF NPs in one pot is reported that uses a polyMOF ligand possessing a polymer block for surface functionalization and a coordination block with tunable multivalency for size control. This strategy produces uniform polyMOF‐5 NPs with sizes down to 20 nm, displaying exceptional structural and colloidal stability upon exposure to ambient conditions. A detailed time‐dependent study revealed that the polyMOF NPs were formed following an aggregation‐confined crystallization mechanism. Generality was demonstrated through the synthesis of well‐defined polyUiO‐66 NPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of carbon from a branch setting pod in alfalfa was investigated during the seed development of seeds to determine the relative contribution of pod and leaf photoassimilates to the total C balance and to investigate the partitioning of these photoassimilates to other plant organs. A 13Clabeling procedure was used to label C photoassimilates of pods and leaves in alfalfa, and the Δ13C values of a pod, leaves, a section of stem and roots were measured during seed development on day 10, 15, 20 and 25 after labeling of the pod. The results showed that the alfalfa pod had photosynthetic capacity early in the development of seeds, and that pod photosynthesis could provide carbon to alfalfa organs including seeds, pods, leaves, stems and roots, in addition to leaf photosynthesis. Photosynthesis in the pod affected the total C balance of the alfalfa branch with the redistribution of a portion of pod assimilates to other plant organs. The assimilated 13C of the pod was used for the growth requirements of plant seeds and pods. The requirements for assimilated C came primarily from the young pod in early seed development, with later requirements provided primarily from the leaf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a scanning inverse spin Hall effect measurement system based on a shorted coaxial resonator has been built, which provides a high throughput method to characterize spin transport properties. The system is capable of performing spin pumping measurements on patterned samples within an area of 100 × 100 mm2. Its capability was demonstrated with Py/Ta bilayer stripes deposited on the same substrate with different thicknesses of Ta. The results show that the spin diffusion length is about 4.2 nm with a conductivity of about 7.5 × 105 Ω−1 m−1, which leads to the conclusion that the intrinsic mechanism of spin relaxation of Ta is the Elliott–Yafet interactions. The spin Hall angle of Ta is estimated to be about −0.014 at room temperature. The setup developed in this work provides a convenient, efficient, and nondestructive way to obtain the spin and electron transportation characteristics of the spintronic materials, which will fertilize this community by developing new materials and figuring out their mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) in thin permalloy strips was calculated at each steps during magnetization by the finite element method. The magnetization at equilibrium under different external fields was obtained by micromagnetic simulations, while the resistance with different magnetization was obtained by solving the Poisson equations iteratively until self-consistence. We find that the relation between magnetization and AMR deviates from the predictions based on the Stoner-Wohlfarth model when the magnetization is reduced from saturation. The reason is that the demagnetization is not necessarily from coherent rotation of the magnetic moment. We conclude that it is necessary to use numeric simulations to optimize the responses of AMR sensors. Highlights • Anisotropic Magnetoresistance (AMR) was calculated by the finite element method. • The micromagnetic and electrostatic equations self-consistently. • The AMR is not proportional to cos2θ in nano plates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic conduction layer produced by the irradiation of the SrTiO 3 surface is an intriguing phenomenon, where the process and mechanism of the insulating to conducting transition are still under debate. We have studied the influence of argon ion bombardment on the SrTiO 3 (STO) single crystal by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Photoluminescence (PL). The former demonstrated the existence of a lower oxidation state of Ti, which implied oxygen vacancies were present at the near-surface region. The latter showed that the oxygen damage enhanced with increasing irradiation time, and decreased by annealing in oxygen at high temperature. The in-situ electrical conductance measurement during irradiation revealed the correlation between the resistance of ion-irradiated STO and the irradiation time. The existence of sufficient amount of oxygen vacancies was proposed to be responsible to the insulator to metal transition during the process of irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forage sorghum (FS; Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is growing in popularity as an important forage crop replaced corn ( Zea mays L.) in semi-arid regions of the world. FS can further be divided into white midrib (WMR), green midrib (GMR) and brown midrib (BMR) populations based on the color of leaf midrib. Understanding expression of nutritive values in different FS populations is essential to the breeding and utilization of the new FS varieties with high quality. A field experiment was conducted in 2012 and 2013 in order to analyze the change regulation of nutritive values and compare the differences in photosynthetic indexes and anatomy parameters among WMR, GMR, BMR-6 and BMR-12 forage sorghum populations. The results showed that there were significant ( P < 0.05) differences in nutritive values and anatomy parameters between BMR and other FS populations whereas no differences ( P > 0.05) were observed in photosynthetic indexes. When compared with non-BMR populations (WMR and GMR), the mean ADL, NDF and ADF content of BMR populations (BMR-6 and BMR-12) were decreased respectively by 28.0%, 4.1% and 5.8% while the mean CP content was increased by 8.0% during the two years. Especially, BMR-12 populations had significantly ( P < 0.05) lower ADL content and higher CP content than that of BMR-6 based on their dynamic curve regression model. The nutritive values of forage sorghum populations were ranked as following order: BMR-12 > BMR-6 > GMR > WMR. In conclusion, the BMR populations, particularly BMR-12, had exhibited consistently higher nutritive values since joint stage (the average plant height was about 130 cm). This result further reinforces the advantages of BMR gene effect in populations and also will provide scientific data for rational utilizing BMR forage sorghum resources in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, ultrathin lamellar g-C 3 N 4 /In 2 S 3 S-scheme heterojunctions doped with P were synthesized by urea recrystallization and investigated to see which ratio was more favorable for photocatalysis. The P doping formed a new Fermi energy level and reduced the forbidden bandwidth. The ultrathin lamellar structure facilitated rapid charge transfer, and the formation of S-scheme heterojunction, the presence of the interfacial electric field, and band bending effectively separated strong redox-capable electron-hole pairs, thus significantly improving the photocatalytic performance. Among the prepared materials, the 50UP-C 3 N 4 /In 2 S 3 photocatalyst with 50 % UP-C 3 N 4 mass fraction showed optimal photocatalytic H 2 production performance, with a hydrogen production rate of 12,387 μmol h−1 g−1. Moreover, it showed good performance in photocatalytic degradation, with a degradation efficiency of up to 90.2 % of ofloxacin after 120 min of light exposure. This article provided a new perspective on the synthesis of other photocatalysts with carbazide-based S-scheme heterojunction structures. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A new means for multi-source spectral fusion based on deep learning was proposed. • Soil quality index developed from 21 physical, chemical, environmental properties. • Continuous wavelet transform highlighted the spectra related to soil quality index. • The proposed method was superior to the commonly used data fusion methods. Soil quality assessment, as a means to assess the impact of human activities on soil, is of great significance to achieve sustainable development. Proximal sensing offers a rapid and cost-effective means for soil spectral acquisition, which resolves the shortcomings of traditional laboratory analysis and provides a new way for soil quality assessment. However, using a singular spectroscopic technique may not encompass adequate information needed for soil quality assessment. Therefore, in this research, the visible-near-infrared (vis-NIR) and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectral data were fused, and the continuous wavelet transform (CWT) was combined with the parallel input 2D convolutional neural network (PI-2D-CNN) algorithm, to enhance the prediction accuracy of soil quality index (SQI). A total of 287 soil samples were collected from the Yarkand-Kashgar River Basin in Xinjiang, China for proximal sensing in the laboratory, and 21 soil physicochemical properties were measured for SQI calculation simultaneously. After preprocessing the vis-NIR and pXRF spectral data with the CWT, partial least squares regression (PLSR) and CNN models were constructed to predict SQI. The results showed that the SQI prediction accuracy based on vis-NIR spectra (coefficient of determination for validation set (R2) = 0.32–0.54) was higher than that based on pXRF spectra (R2 = 0.17–0.36). The prediction accuracy of both vis-NIR and pXRF spectra were improved by CWT combined with CNN. Compared with the traditional spectral data fusion methods (concatenation, sequential and orthogonalised-partial least squares (SO-PLS)), the PI-CNN algorithm demonstrated superior SQI prediction accuracy, and the constructed PI-2D-CNN model obtained the highest prediction accuracy (R2 = 0.67). Overall, this study proved that the combination of CWT and PI-CNN could increase the SQI prediction accuracy. This research will provide a rapid and low-cost approach for large-scale soil quality assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel ternary photocatalyst Ni 3 S 4 @ZIS@C 3 N 5 with type II and Z-type heterojunctions was synthesized for the first time by hydrothermal and electrostatic self-assembly methods, effectively avoiding the thermal decomposition of C 3 N 5 during the synthesis of the complex. The best ternary catalyst Ni 3 S 4 @ZIS@C 3 N 5 is capable of achieving an optimal hydrogen evolution rate of 9750 mmol g−1 h−1, which is approximately 10.89 times as high as that of C 3 N 5 , indicating that the complex effectively enhanced the photocatalytic properties of the monomer. The coexistence of two types of heterojunctions in the complex effectively enhances photocatalytic performance, in which the monomer ZIS constructs type II scheme with Ni 3 S 4 and Z-type scheme with C 3 N 5 , respectively. The two heterojunctions complement each other and jointly promote the rapid electron transfer from Ni 3 S 4 and C 3 N 5 to the ZIS surface. In conclusion, the cooperation of the two heterojunctions efficiently facilitates the migration of photogenerated carriers, thus enhancing the photocatalytic hydrogen generation performance of Ni 3 S 4 @ZIS@C 3 N 5. • The ternary composite photocatalyst Ni 3 S 4 @ZIS@C 3 N 5 was successfully synthesized for the first time. • The thermal decomposition of C 3 N 5 was effectively avoided by electrostatic self-assembly. • The cooperation of type II and Z-type heterojunction enhanced the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Rice is a well-known silica-accumulating plant. The dumbbell-shaped silica bodies in the silica cells in rice leaf epidermis are formed via biosilicification, but the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. Methods: Leaves at different developmental stages were collected to investigate silica cell differentiation by analyzing structures and silicon localization in the silica cells. Results: Exogenous silicon application increased both shoot and root biomass. When silicon was supplied, silica cells in the leaf epidermis developed gradually into a dumbbell-shape and became increasingly silicified as leaves aged. Silicon deposition in the silica cells was not completed until the leaf was fully expanded. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that lignification of silica cell walls precedes silicon deposition in the lumen of silica cells. The organized needle-like silica microstructures were formed by moulding the inner cell walls and filling up the lumen of the silica cell following leaf maturation. Conclusions: Two processes were involved in silicon deposition: (1) the silica cell wall was lignified and silicified, and then (2) the silicon was deposited gradually in silica cells as leaves aged. Silica body formation was not completed until the leaf was fully mature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) triggers a cascade of events that lead to early brain injury (EBI), which contributes to poor outcomes and appears within 3 days after SAH initiation. EBI involves multiple process including neuronal death, blood-brain barrier (BBB) injury and inflammation response. Microglia are cluster of immune cells originating in the brain which respond to SAH by changing their states and releasing inflammatory molecules through various signaling pathways. M0, M1, M2 are three states of microglia represent resting state, promoting inflammation state, and anti-inflammation state respectively, which can be modulated by pharmacological strategies. After identified potential active ingredients and targets of Sanhua Decoction (SHD) for SAH, we selected aloe-emodin (AE) as a potential ingredient modulating microglia activation states. Molecular mechanisms, targets and pathways of SHD were reveal by network pharmacology technique. The effects of AE on SAH were evaluated in vivo by assessing neurological deficits, neuronal apoptosis and BBB integrity in a mouse SAH model. Furthermore, BV-2 cells were used to examine the effects of AE on microglial polarization. The influence of AE on microglia transformation was measured by Iba-1, TNF-α, CD68, Arg-1 and CD206 staining. The signal pathways of neuronal apoptosis and microglia polarization was measured by Western blot. Network pharmacology identified potential active ingredients and targets of SHD for SAH. And AE is one of the active ingredients. We also confirmed that AE via NF-κB and PKA/CREB pathway inhibited the microglia activation and promoted transformation from M1 phenotype to M2 at EBI stage after SAH. AE, as one ingredient of SHD, can alleviate the inflammatory response and protecting neurons from SAH-induced injury. AE has potential value for treating SAH-induced nerve injury and is expected to be applied in clinical practice. [Display omitted] • Network pharmacology identified potential ingredients and targets of Sanhua Decoction for SAH. • Aloe-emodin is chosen as a candidate ingredient for SAH-induced brain injury. • AE protected against early brain injury and reduced neurological deficits and blood-brain barrier disruption after SAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]