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Lycium ruthenicum Murray (black wolfberry) is an important economic plant producing black fruit with high anthocyanin content. The transcriptome of its fruits was compared with that of Lycium barbarum L. (wolfberry), which produces orange-red fruits, with its pigmentation depending largely on carotenoids, with the aim of identifying the key genes responsible for anthocyanin accumulation through RNA sequencing. A total of 32.05 and 28.52 Gb clean reads was obtained after filtering in L. barbarum and L. ruthenicum respectively. Altogether 192,869 unigenes were assembled with an average length of 1064 bp. These unigenes were predicted to encode 152,209 specific proteins with the help of protein databases. Compared with L. barbarum, 733,070 genes were upregulated while 25,779 genes appeared downregulated in the fruits of L. ruthenicum. The genes of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway exhibited more differences between the two species than did those of any other biosynthetic pathway. All structural genes in connection with anthocyanin biosynthesis had higher expression level in L. ruthenicum than in L. barbarum, except F3'H and 3GT. The downregulation of F'H and 3GT in L. ruthenicum would be responsible for the absence of cyanidin and glycosylation in this species. The MYB and bHLH genes regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis also displayed higher transcript levels in L. ruthenicum than in L. barbarum, especially the MYB transcription factor gene, which should be the reason for the activation of the anthocyanin biosynthesis structural genes. More work should be carried out to isolate the MYB and bHLH transcription factor genes, and to confirm their functions in producing the pigments found in the black fruits of L. ruthenicum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ZnFe2O4 films have been prepared using a sol-gel route. The influences of annealing temperature as well as annealing atmosphere on the structural, morphological, magnetic, and optical properties were investigated. The TEM and SEM images show that ZnFe2O4 films are polycrystalline in nature and homogeneous with densely packed grains. ZnFe2O4 films exhibit ferromagnetic behavior at 300 K and high transparency (≥80%) above the absorption band edge. With decreasing annealing temperature and annealing oxygen partial pressure, the saturated magnetism at 300 K is improved and the optical band gap is decreased. The reasons are discussed, and the results show that semitransparent ZnFe2O4 films with room- temperature ferromagnetism can be successfully prepared using a sol-gel method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic and transparent La0.5Sr0.5TiO3+ x/2 films were prepared by the chemical solution deposition (CSD) method using topotactic reduction processing. The use of Si powder as the reducing agent was facile and allowed easy manipulation. It was observed that metallic (resistivity at 300 K ∼2.43 mΩ cm) and transparent (∼80% transmittance at visible light) La0.5Sr0.5TiO3+ x/2 films could be obtained with an annealing temperature of 900°C, which was significantly lower than the hydrogen reduction temperature (∼1400°C). The successful preparation of metallic and transparent La0.5Sr0.5TiO3+ x/2 films using CSD has provided a feasible route for depositing other perovskite-structured functional layers on La0.5Sr0.5TiO3+ x/2 films using this low-cost all CSD method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical solution deposition (CSD) is used to prepare LaMnO3 (LMO) buffer layers on different substrates. The results show that biaxially oriented LMO films can be successfully prepared on single-crystal SrTiO3 (STO) and STO buffered single-crystal LaAIO3 substrates when humid 4%H2-N2 annealing atmosphere is used. The orientation of LMO-Ni is (ll0)-oriented even when the annealing atmosphere is humid 4%H2-N2. When CSD-derived STO-Ni is used as a template, biaxially oriented LMO buffer layers with c-axis orientation can be successfully prepared. The results provide an effective route to prepare LMO-based buffer layers using CSD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective approach to C1-difluoromethylated tetrahydroisoquinoline derivatives has been developed through C -H functionalization of tertiary amines by visible-light photoredox catalysis. This method uses stable, easily obtained ∝,∝-difluorinated gem-diol as the CF2 source. The corresponding products were obtained in moderate to high yields at ambient temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the film of Sr0.775Y0.225CoO3-δ, which shows the highest ferromagnetic Curie temperature in perovskite ABO3-based cobaltates due to antiferrotype orbital order, was first prepared successfully on LaAlO3 (100) substrate using the simple chemical solution deposition (CSD) method. The results show that the derived film is (h00)-epitaxial, and the transport property is semiconductor like with room-temperature ferromagnetism (FM). The result will provide a feasible route to prepare Sr0.775Y0.225CoO3-d film with room-temperature FM using CSD with a low-cost and nonvaccum method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric field (E) control of magnetism is a persistent challenge in low-power consumption spintronic devices. A promising way to realize this control is to use the conversemagnetoelectric (ME) effect in insulating multiferroics.Here,we report considerable and repeatable E-modulated magnetization (M) at room temperature and even at 350 K via the significantly enhanced converseME effect near the morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) of the Cr-Mn co-doped (1-y)BiFe1-xCrxO3- yBaTi1-xMnxO3 (0.15 ≤ y ≤ 0.33, 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03) solid solutions. In situ X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering experiments at different applied E for the sample near the MPB (i.e., y = 0.27, x = 0.03) show E-induced shift, broadening, and splitting in the {002}PC reflection, as well as a nearly monotonous variation in intensity of several phonon modes with E, reminiscent of the E-dependent M behavior. These results indicate that both E-induced lattice distortion and phase transformation dominate the converseME effects in these samples. Our demonstration of the E-regulation of magnetism via the E-sensitive crystal structures in designed insulating multiferroics near MPB may suggest a potential route to obtain efficient low-power spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanosized (Sr2FeMoO6)1-x/(CeO2)x composites were prepared by Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) obtained by sol-gel and nanosized CeO2 powders. The magnetoresistance (MR) of composites is explored as a function of the molybdate/insulator composition and magnetic field. The enhancement of the low-field magnetoresistance is observed with increasing CeO2. The MR ratio at 10 K with H=5 kOe is 7.9% and 10.2% for the x=0.05 and 0.3 samples, which are 1.1 times and 1.7 times as large as that for pure SFMO, respectively. The enhanced MR was attributed to the spin-dependent tunneling at the interface of grain boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating multiple functions in a single compound is still attractive and necessary to meet the demand of device miniaturization. In this work, we systemically modulate multifunctional properties in the 0.74BiFeO3–0.26(Ba0:85Ca0:15)TiO3–x wt. % MnO2 solid solution with the addition of MnO2. A highly rectangular and saturated polarization–hysteresis (P–E) loop is obtained with a large remanent polarization Pr of 49.5 μC/cm² as x = 0:8. Furthermore, the piezoelectric coefficient d33 also obviously improved with an optimized d33 = 137 pC/N by the introduction of MnO2 due to the grain size effect, the improvement of insulation, and relaxation regulation. With the addition of MnO2, the remanent magnetization Mr increases monotonically because of the enhanced exchange interactions between Fe2+and Fe3+. The results may provide an effective way to explore promising multifunctional materials in BiFeO3-based ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic properties of charge ordered (CO) Bi0.4Ca00.6Mn1[?]xTixO3 (0 [?] x [?] 0.2) are investigated. It is observed that the charge order temperature Tco is depressed gradually with Ti content increasing, and then disappears completely when x is 0.16. The high temperature magnetization and Curie temperature decrease with Ti content, whereas the low temperature magnetization and Curie temperature are increased. Moreover, exchange bias (EB) is observed in the field cooling mode for all samples. The relative EB parameters depend strongly on the Ti doping content. In particular, the exchange field shows a nonmonotonic variation with a maximum at Bi0.4Ca0.6Mn0.92Ti0.08O3. The EB has been explained in terms of the density of ferromagnetic nanodomains superposed on the antiferromagnetic matrix. The results suggest that it is possible to tune the EB through the Mn-site doping in CO manganites by controlling the density of ferromagnetic nanodomains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocrystalline CaMoO4 (CMO) thin films were fabricated on Si and glass substrates via the chemical solution deposition (CSD) method. From x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectra results, relatively smooth Scheelite-type CMO thin films can be fabricated within the annealing temperature range from 400 to 700 °C. The band gap is 4.18 eV calculated from the optical transmission spectra and the photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra show that the CMO thin films on Si have a broad green emission band centred at 490 nm. Our experimental results show that the CSD method is an alternative method to prepare nanocrystalline CMO thin films with a great PL property at low annealing temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High coercivity CoFe2O4 (CFO) thin films with large-area are very desirable for applications. Here, we report La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) layer decoration effects on coercivity in CFO thin films by solution processing. With LSMO layer decoration, the coercivity increases initially and then decreases with increasing LSMO layer thickness. Strain induced by the mismatched thermal expansion coefficient and magnetostrictive coefficient as well as the interfacial magnetic exchange coupling between CFO and LSMO are investigated. The room temperature out-of-plane and in-plane coercivity reached 7.6 and 4.9 kOe, respectively, are obtained, which are the highest values in solution derived CFO thin films. The improved coercivity is beneficial for applications and provides a facile route to enhance coercivity of CFO thin films through surface modification by soft magnetic layers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BiFeO3 films are prepared directly on n-type Si (100) substrates using chemical solution deposition method. The effects of individual-layer thickness via controlling the solution concentration on the texture, morphology, magnetic properties as well as the magnetoelectric properties are investigated. It was first observed that the derived films are the highly preferred c-axis oriented on Si substrates. With decreasing individual-layer thickness, the c-axis texture is improved due to preferred nucleation at the interfaces. The magnetization and the dielectric constant is increased and decreased with decreasing individual-layer thickness, respectively. It is interesting to observe that the magnetoelectric coupling is obviously enhanced with decreasing individual-layer thickness, which is beneficial for potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical solution deposition, a very useful method for oxide film growth, is used to fabricate Y2 Ti2 O7 (YTO)-La2 Zr2 O7 (LZO) composite buffer layers on NiW (200) substrates. It is found that the orientation of the YTO layer is epitaxially related to the orientation of the LZO-NiW template. When YTO is prepared on a 900 °C -annealed LZO layer, the orientation of the YTO is (222); however, the (400) oriented YTO layer is obtained when it is deposited on a 1000 °C-annealed LZO-NiW template. These results suggest that the YTO orientation can be tuned by the LZO orientation and that YTO can be considered as one of the cap layers for coated conductors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the significant enhancement of low-field magnetization and magnetoresistance (MR) in La2/3Ca1/3MnO3(LCMO) compounds with 5?at.% nano-MgO addition in the form of both nanoparticle and nanowire. It is found that the magnetization of the nano-MgO added compounds is highly sensitive to a low applied field below 7?kOe compared with the MgO-free LCMO. In addition, the enhancement of low-field MR is found in nano-MgO added compounds and the enhancement for the nanowire MgO-added composite is more remarkable than that for the nanoparticle MgO-added one. Moreover, two ferromagnetic phases with low-TCand high-TCin nano-MgO added compounds are observed. These results demonstrate that the low-field transport and magnetic properties of LCMO compounds can be effectively manipulated by controlling the morphology and dispersion of the insulating barrier using nano-MgO addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upper critical field of polycrystalline δ-Mo1-xZrxN ( 0x0.3) thin films by sol-gel was investigated. It showed that the upper critical field was continuously improved with Zr doping content, and the improvement of10 T in upper critical field was mainly attributed to the combined effects of obvious enhancements in normal-state resistivity with slight changes in Tc, obvious decrease in crystallite/grain size and enhanced microstrains. Flux jump was observed in low-level doped thin films due to enhanced critical current density by Zr doping. Finally, the vortex phase diagram of δ-Mo1-xZrxN thin films was presented, which will provide guidance for investigation about the vortex mechanisms of δ-Mo1-xZrxN thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High room temperature coercivity CoFe2O4 (CFO) thin films are desirable in view of many applications, which is seldom achieved over 3 kOe in solution deposited CFO thin films. Herein, grain growth kinetic is investigated in the solution derived CFO thin films with coercivity larger than 4 kOe, showing a relaxation mechanism. The coercivity and magnetization increase initially and then decrease with increasing dwell time. The high coercivity is originated mainly from the critical grain size and the growth strain induced by the small crystallites and poorly developed grains. The results will provide a route to fabricate larger-area CFO thin films with high coercivity on silicon wafers by low-cost solution processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver injury is a major hindrance to the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) patients due to the primary side effects associated with anti-TB drugs. Several investigations have identified sensitive biomarkers for the early diagnosis of anti-TB drug-induced liver injury (ADLI), including the use of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs). However, the association between miR-122/155 and ADLI remains unknown. Thus, the present study used reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to observe changes in tissue miR-122/155 expression levels during the course of liver injury in mice. Liver injury was induced by the administration of isoniazid (INH), a first-line anti-TB drug. miR-122/155 expression levels were quantified at seven time points throughout 1 day (0.25, 0.75, 1.5, 6, 12, 18 and 24 h) based on the pharmacokinetics of INH in mice. Notably, over the timecourse of INH-induced liver injury, the tissue miR-122 expression level significantly decreased at 0.25 h, which is the peak concentration time of INH, compared with the control group (P<0.05). The change was more rapid than that of the serum aminotransferase and miR-155, which were significantly increased at 0.75 h. In addition, the pathological score correlated with the ratio of miR-122/miR-155 (r=-0.779; P<0.01). In conclusion, the miR-122/155 ratio may be utilized as a sensitive biomarker for ADLI, which could contribute to the early diagnosis of patients following anti-TB treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high magnetic field assisted pulsed laser deposition (HMF-PLD) system has been developed to in situ grow thin films in a high magnetic field up to 10 T. In this system, a specially designed PLD cylindrical vacuum chamber is horizontally located in the bore configuration of a superconducting magnet with a bore diameter of 200 mm. To adjust the focused pulsed laser into the target in such a narrow PLD vacuum chamber, an ingeniously built-in laser leading-in chamber is employed, including a laser mirror with a reflection angle of 65∠ and a damage threshold up to 3.4 J/cm². A laser alignment system consisting of a built-in video-unit leading-in chamber and a low-energy alignment laser is applied to monitor and align the pulsed laser propagation in the PLD vacuum chamber. We have grown La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films on (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 (001) [LSAT (001)] substrates by HMF-PLD. The results show that the nanostructures of the LSMO films can be tuned from an epitaxially continuous film structure without field to a vertically aligned nanorod structure with an applied high magnetic field above 5 T, and the dimension size of the nanorods can be tuned by the strength of the magnetic field. The associated magnetic anisotropy is found to be highly dependent on the nanorod structures. We show how the HMF-PLD provides an effective route toward tuning the nanostructures and the physical properties of functional thin films, giving it an important role in development of nanodevices and their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the superconducting transition temperature Tc of FeSe0.5Te0.5 single crystals, which can be enhanced up to 14% by attaching onto a commercial Scotch tape. The Scotch tape exhibits a large cooling shrinkage at low temperatures, which is considerably more pronounced than that of the metallic FeSe0.5Te0.5 single crystal, thus providing a compressive strain of 2.4 x 10-3 at 15 K. For such strain, we calculated that the lattice parameter of c/a can be increased to ~0.31%, which corresponds to the enhancement of the superconductivity. The present finding provides a rapid and simple method to examine the microstructure sensitive physical properties of the layered-structure materials by using the Scotch tape as strain generator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

M-type hexaferrites BaFe12-2x(NiTi)xO19 (x=0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 0.9) were synthesized by the solvothermal method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that the samples are of pure-phase with the space group of p63/mmc. As the Ni-Ti substitution level increases from x=0 to 0.9, the results of field-emission scanning electronic microscopy indicate that the particles are agglomerated and the mean particle size decreases. With the increase in substitution concentration x, the saturation magnetization increases first, and then declines slowly, whereas the coercivity decreases gradually. The variation of magnetic properties can be explained by the effects of Ni-Ti substitution. The results above indicate that our samples have positive effects on high density perpendicular recording. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epitaxial antiperovskite superconducting CuNNi3 thin films have been grown by chemical solution deposition. The film is a type II superconductor and shows a Tc of 3.2 K with a transition of 0.13 K. The Hc2(0) and ξ0 are estimated to be 8.1 kOe and 201 Å, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 particles with different particle sizes have been synthesized by sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction results show that all the samples are pure cubic spinel structure with their sizes ranging from 9 to 96 nm. The lattice constant significantly decreases with further increasing annealing temperature. The magnetic measurements show super paramagnetic nature below the particle size of 30 nm, while others show ferrimagnetic nature above the corresponding blocking temperature. The blocking temperature increases with the increase in particle size, which can be explained by Stoner-Wohlfarth theory. The saturation magnetization increases as the particle size increases, which can be explained by the cation redistribution on tetrahedral A and octahedral B sites and the domain wall motion. The variation of coercivity as a function of particle size is based on the domain structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conducting CuCrO2thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) from a nanocrystalline CuCrO2target. The derived CuCrO2films were highly c-axis oriented deposited at 800?K. The microstructural, electrical as well as optical properties were studied. It was found that the films were relatively smooth and behaved as semiconductors. The energy band of the CuCrO2films is constructed based on the Mott-Davis model in order to investigate the conduction mechanism. The transmittances of the films in the visible region are about 60-80% with direct band gaps of about 3.2?eV. The results suggested that CuCrO2films could be successfully prepared by the PLD method, which can broaden the applications of the transparent conducting oxide films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the superconductor of FeSe0.5Te0.5, the superconductivity is highly sensitive to variations of microstructure. Therefore, a fine manipulation of the microstructures will be crucial not only for a better understanding of the superconductivity but also for potential applications. Here, we demonstrate an approach to control the superconductivity in-situ by using a magnetostrictive substrate ZnCr2Se4 as the strain generator. By mounting an FeSe0.5Te0.5 single crystal onto a magnetostrictive substrate, we show that the magnetoresistance of FeSe0.5Te0.5 is directly coupled to the magnetostriction of ZnCr2Se4. The strain is fine-tuned in-situ by an external magnetic field, leading to the superconductivity of FeSe0.5Te0.5 correspondingly favored by compressive strain while suppressed by tensile strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical transport properties of sol-gel derived ZnO:Cd thin films were investigated. It was observed that for the thin films with relatively high resistivity, a crossover from the Mott variable range hopping (VRH) conduction to the Efros-Shklovskii (ES) VRH conduction was observed at low temperatures. The temperature dependent resistivity within the whole VRH conduction range from the Mott type to the ES type could be well described by a universal scaling law. The observation of ES VRH conduction in ZnO:Cd thin films suggests that the many-body electron-electron interactions should be considered for the ZnO:Cd thin films with high resistivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conducting p-type Bi2Sr2Co2Oy thin films have been first grown on SrTiO3 substrates by a chemical solution deposition, showing c-axis self-orientation. The figure of merit can reach as high as 800 MΩ-1, which is the highest value for p-type transparent conducting thin films by solution methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LaVO4 thin films have been deposited on Pt / Ti /SiO2 /Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition in order to explore the resistive switching (RS) behavior of the Au/LaVO4/Pt devices. It is found that the as-prepared Au/LaVO4/Pt devices stay in the low resistance state (LRS) and no electroforming process (forming-free) is needed to trigger fresh devices for the subsequent RS. Furthermore, the devices show excellent switching parameters such as a reproducible switching effect, a high resistance ratio of  ∼104 between the LRS and high resistance state (HRS), good endurance and retention characteristics, and non-overlapping switching voltages. The dominant conduction mechanisms are Ohmic conduction in the LRS and the lower voltage region of the HRS, and Poole–Frenkel emission in the higher voltage region of the HRS. The combination of temperature dependence of resistance, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and model analysis suggests that the forming-free unipolar RS behavior can be explained by the formation and rupture of conical conducting filaments formed out of oxygen vacancies. These results may be important for practical application in nonvolatile resistive switching memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]