Search

The study aimed to explore the nutritional value of sea buckthorn by-products and the antibacterial effects of their extracts on Escherichia coli. The experiment employed the sodium nitrite-aluminum nitrate method to determine flavonoid content, while alcohol extraction and water extraction methods were used to extract active substances from sea buckthorn by-products. The antibacterial effects of sea buckthorn by-product extracts on Escherichia coli were investigated by the filter paper method, perforation method, and broth dilution method. The results showed that the dry matter (DM) content of sea buckthorn by-products was 97.98%, ash content was 3.41%, crude protein (CP) content was 12.87%, and crude fat (EE) content was 22.48%. With the increase of sea buckthorn by-product addition, gas production showed a decreasing trend. Among alcohol extraction and water extraction methods, the constant broth dilution method exhibited the best antibacterial effect. In the alcohol extraction method, the filter paper method showed good antibacterial effect with an inhibition zone of 14.6 mm. In the water extraction method, the filter paper method did not exhibit a significant inhibition zone, and the perforation method was not significant in both alcohol extraction and water extraction methods. The study suggests that sea buckthorn by-products have rich nutritional value, and alcohol extraction is more effective in inhibiting Escherichia coli compared to water extraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the discovery of graphene, 2D materials are establishing a rapidly growing and promising field, with great potential for diverse applications given their excellent conductivity and high transparency. In particular, graphene can isolate external chemical reactions when applied to back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect metals, thereby preventing the oxidation of the interconnect metals. In addition, it can improve the conductivity and breakdown current density of interconnects. However, the thermal budget remains an important problem in BEOL interconnects. We demonstrate an advanced graphene deposition method using an in-house plasma plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, which offers low thermal budget and high stability. We also optimize carbon precursors to improve the quality of graphene on Ru and Co thin films. We show the improvement of electrical conductivity, electromigration lifetime, and maximum breakdown current density after capping Ru and Co interconnects with graphene. The electromigration lifetimes of the Ru and Co interconnects increase by 4 and 4.5 times, respectively, and their maximum breakdown current density increases by 17.6 and 10.6%, respectively. The results show that capping with graphene has a high potential in BEOL applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many reports have demonstrated the high potential for multilayer graphene in semiconductor fabrication. As interconnects within semiconductors or electrodes for two-dimensional transistors, the preparation of large-area multilayer graphene is becoming increasingly important. Herein, we report a method for growing large-area multilayer graphene, which can achieve rapid heating and cooling. With the use of a high carbon concentration source, the preparation of multilayer graphene can be completed in a few seconds. This manufacturing method has the advantage of producing graphene with high quality, uniformity, and electrical conductivity. In commercial applications, this technology has great potential for the mass production and rapid fabrication of multilayer graphene. In addition, we found that the multilayer graphene produced by this method had cobalt atoms doped into the multilayer graphene during the process, resulting in its low resistivity. Combined with our intercalation technology, intercalated FeCl3 in the graphene interlayer can reduce the resistivity of graphene to 3.55 μΩ cm, which is very close to the resistivity of copper bulk. This result makes multilayer graphene more promising for various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For attaining good-performance perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the carrier collection from the perovskite material to the transport layer plays a prominent role; herein, we demonstrate an atmospheric pressure plasma treatment technique to enhance the interface properties between the active perovskite layer and electron transport layer (ETL). A scan-mode low-temperature helium dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) jet is applied to process the TiO2 nanoparticle layers for the flexible n-i-p PSCs made on ITO-coated polyethylene naphthalate substrates. When the surface of TiO2 nanoparticle ETL is treated by the DBD jet at a scan rate of 2 cm sâˆ'1 and scan height of 5 cm by ten times, the photoelectrical conversion efficiency of the cell is enhanced from 12.30% to 13.66%. The performance improvement can be attributed to the increase of hydrophilic Oâ€"C = O functional groups on the surface of the TiO2 nanoparticle layer and the reduction of charge transfer resistance of the cell revealed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, respectively. The results show that the low-temperature DBD jet treatment is a promising technique for processing flexible photovoltaic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cut flowers of the orchid Oncidium Gower Ramsey are valuable agricultural produce around the world because of their yellow color contributed by carotenoids in adaxial and abaxial epidermal layers in petals and labellum. Here, we investigated the regulation of carotenogenic genes in response to different light qualities in Oncidium flowers. Total chlorophyll content was high in young flower buds and reduced during flower development, but carotenoid content was increased during flower development. We detected 11 key carotenoid biosynthesis genes and determined their expression profiles with light treatment. Real-time PCR revealed high mRNA levels of most genes, except OncCHYB and OncSDR, in vegetative tissues; only OncLCYe showed low expression in flowers. White light upregulated OncPSY, OncLCYb, and OncNCED but downregulated OncPDS, OncZDS, OncCrtISO, OncLCYe, OncCHYB, OncZEP, OncCCD1, and OncSDR; red light upregulated OncPSY, OncLCYb, OncLCYe, and OncCCD1; and UV light upregulated OncPSY, OncPDS, OncLCYb, OncZEP, and OncNCED. We cloned the promoter region of the phytoene synthase gene and found it to have potential cis-regulatory elements, such as TATA-box and CAAT-box, in addition to multiple light-responsive elements such as G-box, I-box, GT-1 motif, GAG-motif, and H-box. Our results of light-regulated carotenogenic gene expression and promoter analysis in flowers of Oncidium Gower Ramsey suggest ways to manipulate carotenoid content for high-quality cut-flower production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Phalaenopsis orchid is an important potted flower of high economic value around the world. We report the 3.1 Gb draft genome assembly of an important winter flowering Phalaenopsis 'KHM190' cultivar. We generated 89.5 Gb RNA-seq and 113 million sRNA-seq reads to use these data to identify 41,153 protein-coding genes and 188 miRNA families. We also generated a draft genome for Phalaenopsis pulcherrima 'B8802,' a summer flowering species, via resequencing. Comparison of genome data between the two Phalaenopsis cultivars allowed the identification of 691,532 single-nucleotide polymorphisms. In this study, we reveal that the key role of PhAGL6b in the regulation of labellum organ development involves alternative splicing in the big lip mutant. Petal or sepal overexpressing PhAGL6b leads to the conversion into a lip-like structure. We also discovered that the gibberellin pathway that regulates the expression of flowering time genes during the reproductive phase change is induced by cool temperature. Our work thus depicted a valuable resource for the flowering control, flower architecture development, and breeding of the Phalaenopsis orchids.