Aging treatment plays an important role in strengthening of 2198 Al–Li alloy. Through a serious of heat treatment processes, a large amount of precipitates emerge, mainly observed to be θ′(Al2Cu), Al3Zr, and T1(Al2CuLi), among which, T1 turns to be the most important precipitate that contributes to the strengthening of 2198 Al–Li alloy. While the temperature of the aging process is 175 °C, the density and size of T1 phase keep increasing through the process and reach peak in about 18 h. T1 phase tends to have a certain orientation relationship of ${\left( {0001} \right)_{{{\rm{T}}_1}}}//{\left\{ {111} \right\}_{{\rm{Al}}}}$ , ${\left\langle {1010} \right\rangle _{{{\rm{T}}_{\rm{1}}}}}//{\left\langle {110} \right\rangle _{{\rm{Al}}}}$ and may have different kinds of multilayered structures. In most of the multilayered structures, the distance between two adjacent copper-rich laths is less than that in classical single-layered phase. Thus, it can be inferred that the microstructure of T1 phase might change in the process of developing from single-layered structure to multilayered structure. In addition, the interactions between different phases become relatively frequent when the density of T1 phase reaches a threshold.

Effective suppression of transverse stimulated Raman scattering (TSRS) in a large-aperture potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystal is an important scientific and technical problem in high-intensity laser research and applications. In this work, a method to suppress TSRS using pulse stacking is proposed. The method suppresses TSRS significantly, with greater numbers of subpulses producing more obvious suppression effects, and the threshold intensity growth rate of the 3ω laser in the KDP crystal reaches up to about 1.9 when the stacked pulse contains four subpulses. This suppression effect is attributed to the fact that the polarization directions of adjacent subpulses are perpendicular to each other. The method can be used to suppress other nonlinear effects, including transverse stimulated Brillouin scattering in large-aperture optical devices and stimulated rotational Raman scattering in long air paths.

Dyeing wastewater has caused serious environmental problems nowadays. In this work, nickel–phosphorus plating–titanium dioxide (Ni-P-TiO2) electroless plating polyimide (PI) fabric was fabricated as an excellent visible light response composite. First, polyaniline (PANI) was in situ polymerized on the surface of the PI fabric. Second, PANI reduced palladium ions to be active seeds for initiating electroless plating of Ni-P-TiO2 layer. Finally, the Ni-P-TiO2/PANI/PI fabric with all-in-one structure was prepared, which can effectively overcome the drawbacks of poor loading fastness and insensitivity to visible light response. It was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by degrading reactive blue 19, methylene blue, and reactive red (M-3BE) under visible light irradiation. The results show that the degradation rates of the all three dyes were over 91% with robust cycle stability for repeated 5 cycles of use. The possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism of fabrics was also proposed based on free radical and hole removal experiments.

Transverse stimulated Raman scattering (TSRS) is strongly generated in the third-harmonic-generation crystal potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) and can even damage the KDP crystal in inertial confinement fusion drivers. In this work, a method to suppress TSRS is proposed in which the polarization control plate (PCP) is moved to a new position in the existing optical path. The proposed method can suppress TSRS significantly and doubles the laser threshold intensity in KDP crystal when the order of the PCP is 16. This result is attributed to the reduction of the gain length for the Stokes radiation. The proposed method may also be used to suppress other nonlinear effects, including transverse stimulated Brillouin scattering in large-aperture optical components.

The grazing incidence diffraction (GID) method in side inclination mode, described by Ma et al. in 2002, of polycrystalline thin-film residual stress was revisited and explained using simple geometric relations. To overcome the issue of decreasing peak intensity of this method, which is induced by the decreasing incident angle because of the Eulerian cradle Chi-tilt, an improvement of Omega (ω)–Phi (φ) compensation was devised and applied to a NiFe thin-film sample. The geometry of this improved ω–φ compensated GID method in side inclination mode is detailed in this paper. This improvement guarantees a constant incident angle on the sample surface and a fixed sample illumination volume during measurement. The measured data were analysed using parametric refinement in DIFFRAC.TOPAS v6 software in Launch Mode, and details of the input file (.INP) are explained in this paper. The tensile stress of the NiFe thin-film sample was measured to be 1181 ± 85 MPa using this improved method.

We prove that, for $C^{1}$ -generic diffeomorphisms, if a homoclinic class is not hyperbolic, then there is a non-trivial non-hyperbolic ergodic measure supported on it. This proves a conjecture by Díaz and Gorodetski.

The oxidation behavior of nonstoichiometric Ti2AlC x (x = 0.69) powders synthesized by combustion synthesis was investigated in flowing air by means of simultaneous thermal gravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscope/energy dispersive spectroscopy, with an effect of powder size. The oxidation of the fine Ti2AlC powders with the size of about 1 μm starts at 300 °C and completes at 980 °C, while with increasing the powder size around 10 μm the corresponding temperature increases to 400 and 1040 °C, respectively. The oxidation of nonstoichiometric Ti2AlC x (x = 0.69) powders is controlled by surface reaction in 400–600 °C, and mainly diffusion in 600–900 °C, with the corresponding oxidation activation energy of 2.35 eV and 0.12 eV, respectively. In other words, the critical temperature of changing oxidation controlling step is around 600 °C. The oxidation products were mainly rutile-TiO2 and α-Al2O3. The tiny white flocculent particles of α-Al2O3 appeared on the surface of fine Ti2AlC powders and increased with increasing the oxidation temperature.

We prove that, for $C^{1}$ -generic diffeomorphisms, if the periodic orbits contained in a homoclinic class $H(p)$ have all their Lyapunov exponents bounded away from zero, then $H(p)$ must be (uniformly) hyperbolic. This is in the spirit of the works on the stability conjecture, but with a significant difference that the homoclinic class $H(p)$ is not known isolated in advance, hence the ‘weak’ periodic orbits created by perturbations near the homoclinic class have to be guaranteed strictly inside the homoclinic class. In this sense the problem is of an ‘intrinsic’ nature, and the classical proof of the stability conjecture does not work. In particular, we construct in the proof several perturbations which are not simple applications of the connecting lemmas.

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of a high concentration of vitamin E supplementation in sow diet during the last week of gestation and lactation on the performance, milk composition, and vital immunological variables and antioxidative parameters in sows and piglets. The experiment started on day 107 of gestation and lasted until the piglets were weaned on day 21 of lactation. 48 sows were divided into two groups and fed either a basal diet with 44 IU/kg of vitamin E or a basal diet supplemented with additional vitamin E, total content of 250 IU/kg. Sow milk and blood samples were obtained on day 0 (farrowing) and on day 21 of lactation. One 21-day-old piglet per litter was selected to collect plasma. Results showed that supplementation of the maternal diet with 250 IU/kg vitamin E improved the average daily gain (ADG) and weaning weight of piglets (P < 0·05), and the concentrations of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) in sow plasma, colostrum and milk. The concentrations of fat in the colostrum and milk were significantly increased by supplementation with 250 IU/kg of vitamin E (P < 0·05). The level of plasma IgG, IgA, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and catalase (CAT) were all higher (P < 0·05) in piglets from sows that were fed 250 IU/kg of vitamin E than in those from the control group. The high concentration of vitamin E supplementation to the sows enhanced the concentrations of α-tocopherol in the sow milk and plasma as well as piglet plasma (P < 0·05). In conclusion, the addition to the maternal diet of vitamin E at high concentration improved the weight of piglets at weaning, and enhanced humoral immune function and antioxidant activity in sows and piglets.

SG-III laser facility is now the largest laser driver for inertial confinement fusion research in China. The whole laser facility can deliver 180 kJ energy and 60 TW power ultraviolet laser onto target, with power balance better than 10%. We review the laser system and introduce the SG-III laser performance here.

To evaluate the effects of defoliation on green forage performance and grain yield (GY) variation in barley, five barley genotypes were imposed on three levels of defoliation treatments over two consecutive growing seasons in this study. The results indicated that green forage yields were significantly improved by repeated defoliation. The traits of green forage quality, including the ratio of dry weight to fresh weight, crude ash and calcium content were improved, while crude protein and crude fat were reduced, and crude fiber and phosphorus contents appeared not to be influenced by repeated defoliation. Plant height (PH), GY and other yield components, grain number per spike and thousand kernel weight, were significantly reduced by defoliation over the two growing seasons, while internode length below spike was less affected. Reduction in spike length and the number of spikes per plant were identified in only one year. Correlation analysis revealed that only PH exhibited a positive correlation with GY. Effects of genotype, interaction between genotype and defoliation, and environments on changes of forage yield and quality and GY were also discussed. Our current work provides a feasible approach to select elite barley cultivars with optimal defoliation treatments for both forage and grain uses in barley breeding programme.

The distribution of the Critically Endangered tree Manglietia longipedunculata, of which there are only 11 known wild individuals, is restricted to the Nankunshan Nature Reserve in South China. The species is threatened with extinction because of its small number of individuals and the impediments to its reproduction (a combination of protogyny, a short period of stigma receptivity, and a lack of efficient pollinators). To reduce the risk of extinction we conducted two conservation translocation trials: one to augment the sole extant population, and the other 202 km north of the current range. The latter trial was a conservation introduction in which the goals were to increase the population and to buffer against the effects of climate change. We used emerged and grafted seedlings as translocation materials. We compared the survival, growth, and eco-physiological properties of emerged and grafted seedlings at the two sites. The survival rate and growth were higher for grafted seedlings than for emerged seedlings at both sites. Eco-physiological data indicated that grafted seedlings at both sites were as efficient or more so in light and water usage than wild individuals, whereas emerged seedlings were less efficient. Grafted seedlings attained the flowering stage sooner than emerged seedlings. Our study suggests that grafting can facilitate the augmentation and establishment of new populations of M. longipedunculata and perhaps of new populations of other threatened species facing reproductive difficulties and climate change.

In this work, the morphology of BiFeO3 was successfully modulated from microsphere to microcube by using a polyanion, poly (methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) (PMVEMA), in a microwave assisted hydrothermal route. A simple ultrasonic purification method has been developed to obtain pure phase BiFeO3 from the crude products without using any chemicals. X-ray diffraction results confirmed the capability of this purification method. When increasing the amount of PMVEMA, the morphology of BiFeO3 gradually changed from microsphere to microcube as illustrated by scanning electron microscopy. A mechanism was suggested for the morphology evolution of BiFeO3. After the formation of the small BiFeO3 single crystal, PMVEMA preferentially absorbed on one side of the crystals through specific and/or noncovalent interactions, resulting in the preferential integration of these crystals to form microcubes. The magnetic properties of these microcrystals were also investigated and the magnetization of the microcubes increased with the decrease of temperature.

A study about the achievement of dichromatic white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) was performed. A series of dual wavelength LEDs with different last quantum-well (LQW) structure were fabricated. The bottom seven blue light QWs (close to n-GaN layer) of the four samples were the same. The LQW of sample A was 3 nm, and that of sample B, C and D were 6 nm, a special high In content ultra-thin layer was inserted in the middle of the LQW of sample C and on top of that of sample D. XRD results showed In concentration fluctuation and good interface quality of the four samples. PL measurements showed dual wavelength emitting, the blue light peak position of the four samples were almost the same, sample A with a narrower LQW showed an emission wavelength much shorter than that of sample B, C, D. EL measurement was done at an injection current of 100 mA. Sample A only showed LQW emission due to holes distribution. Because of wider LQW, the emission wavelength of sample B, C and D was longer and peak intensity was weaker. Sample D with insert layer on top of LQW showed strongest yellow light emission with a blue peak. As the injection current increased, sample A showed highest output light power due to narrower LQW. Of the other three samples with wider LQW, sample D showed highest output power. Effective yellow light emission has always been an obstacle to the achievement of dichromatic white LED. Sample D with insert layer close to p-GaN can confine the hole distribution more effectively hence the recombination of holes and electrons was enhanced, the yellow light emission was improved and dichromatic white LED was achieved.

SiH4 and GeH4 Deposition and In-Situ Doping of SiGe/Si Strained Heterostructures by Rapid Thermal Process Very Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition method have been studied in this paper. Ge incorporation rate increases to a maximum value and then decreases as temperature increases, the growth rate of SiGe alloy reaches its maximum value and then decreases as Ge composition increases. Ge incorporation also enhances Si deposition rate in SiGe alloy. The Boron and Phosphorus doping would change thegrowth rate of SiGe layers and the sharp doping interfaces in SiGe/Si heterostructures have been obtained.