The triplite LiFeSO4F displays both the highest potential ever reported for an Fe-based compound, as well as a comparable specific energy with that of popular LiFePO4. The synthesis is still a challenge because the present approaches are connected with long time, special equipments or organic reagents, etc. In this work, the triplite LiFeSO4F powder was synthesized through an ambient two-step solid-state route. The reaction process and phase purity were analyzed, coupled with structure refinement and electrochemical test.

The discovery of the first electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal has generated follow-up observations by over 50 facilities world-wide, ushering in the new era of multi-messenger astronomy. In this paper, we present follow-up observations of the gravitational wave event GW170817 and its electromagnetic counterpart SSS17a/DLT17ck (IAU label AT2017gfo) by 14 Australian telescopes and partner observatories as part of Australian-based and Australian-led research programs. We report early- to late-time multi-wavelength observations, including optical imaging and spectroscopy, mid-infrared imaging, radio imaging, and searches for fast radio bursts. Our optical spectra reveal that the transient source emission cooled from approximately 6 400 K to 2 100 K over a 7-d period and produced no significant optical emission lines. The spectral profiles, cooling rate, and photometric light curves are consistent with the expected outburst and subsequent processes of a binary neutron star merger. Star formation in the host galaxy probably ceased at least a Gyr ago, although there is evidence for a galaxy merger. Binary pulsars with short (100 Myr) decay times are therefore unlikely progenitors, but pulsars like PSR B1534+12 with its 2.7 Gyr coalescence time could produce such a merger. The displacement (~2.2 kpc) of the binary star system from the centre of the main galaxy is not unusual for stars in the host galaxy or stars originating in the merging galaxy, and therefore any constraints on the kick velocity imparted to the progenitor are poor.

Little is known about Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in Asia. The aims of our study were to explore (i) the prevalence, risk factors and molecular epidemiology of CDI and colonization in a tertiary academic hospital in North-Eastern Peninsular Malaysia; (ii) the rate of carriage of C. difficile among the elderly in the region; (iii) the awareness level of this infection among the hospital staffs and students. For stool samples collected from hospital inpatients with diarrhea (n = 76) and healthy community members (n = 138), C. difficile antigen and toxins were tested by enzyme immunoassay. Stool samples were subsequently analyzed by culture and molecular detection of toxin genes, and PCR ribotyping of isolates. To examine awareness among hospital staff and students, participants were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire. For the hospital and community studies, the prevalence of non-toxigenic C. difficile colonization was 16% and 2%, respectively. The prevalence of CDI among hospital inpatients with diarrhea was 13%. Out of 22 C. difficile strains from hospital inpatients, the toxigenic ribotypes 043 and 017 were most common (both 14%). In univariate analysis, C. difficile colonization in hospital inpatients was significantly associated with greater duration of hospitalization and use of penicillin (both P < 0·05). Absence of these factors was a possible reason for low colonization in the community. Only 3% of 154 respondents answered all questions correctly in the awareness survey. C. difficile colonization is prevalent in a Malaysian hospital setting but not in the elderly community with little or no contact with hospitals. Awareness of CDI is alarmingly poor.

We present the status of the Yale/San Juan Southern Proper Motion program (SPM) which is the southern hemisphere extension of the Lick Observatory Northern Proper Motion program with respect to faint galaxies (Platais et al., 1993). To date, measurements and reductions in the South Galactic Pole region comprising ≈ 1000 square-degrees on the sky have been finished. At this stage of the SPM program particular attention has been paid to the plate model choice along with an assessment of and accounting for systematic errors. For our establishing of a secondary reference frame we have noticed the presence of a potentially dangerous effect, so–called field–independent coma which is caused by lens decentering. We acknowledge the superb Hipparcos preliminary positions without which such analysis would be virtually impossible. The SPM data at the SGP region have also been used to constrain a multi–component Galaxy model. First results of this analysis are presented.

Following the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey and Xuyi's Photometric Survey of the Galactic anti-center (GAC), we plan to conduct a time-domain survey of GAC to study the variable sky using Nanshan 1m telescope. The survey will be conducted during winter (in Nov., Dec., and Jan.). The first goal of the survey is to cover 270 sq.deg. of sky area in three years. The survey intends to detect some strong transient events of stars and find some short time-scale variable stars of different types. In this paper, we introduce the survey and present the preliminary results already carried out.

To understand the clinical epidemiology and molecular characteristics of human bocavirus (HBoV) infection in children with diarrhoea in Guangzhou, South China, we collected 1128 faecal specimens from children with diarrhoea from July 2010 to December 2012. HBoV and five other major enteric viruses were examined using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Human rotavirus (HRV) was the most prevalent pathogen, detected in 250 (22·2%) cases, followed by enteric adenovirus (EADV) in 76 (6·7%) cases, human astrovirus (HAstV) in 38 (3·4%) cases, HBoV in 17 (1·5%) cases, sapovirus (SaV) in 14 (1·2%) cases, and norovirus (NoV) in 9 (0·8%) cases. Co-infections were identified in 3·7% of the study population and 23·5% of HBoV-positive specimens. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 14 HBoV strains to be clustered into species HBoV1 with only minor variations among them. Overall, the detection of HBoV appears to partially contribute to the overall detection gap for enteric infections, single HBoV infection rarely results in severe clinical outcomes, and HBoV sequencing data appears to support conserved genomes across strains identified in this study.

We advertise a new method of preliminary orbit determination for space debris using radar observations, which we call Infang†. We can perform a linkage of two sets of four observations collected at close times. The context is characterized by the accuracy of the range ρ, whereas the right ascension α and the declination δ are much more inaccurate due to observational errors. This method can correct α, δ, assuming the exact knowledge of the range ρ. Considering no perturbations from the J2 effect, but including errors in the observations, we can compare the new method, the classical method of Gibbs, and the more recent Keplerian integrals method. The development of Infang is still on-going and will be further improved and tested.

The transmission of haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is deeply influenced by the reservoir and hantavirus prevalence rate. In this study, a surveillance on human HFRS cases, relative rodent abundance, and hantavirus infection prevalence was conducted in Shaanxi province, China, during 1984–2012. A generalized linear model with Poisson-distributed residuals and a log link was used to quantify the relationship between reservoir, virus and HFRS cases. The result indicated that there was a significant association of HFRS incidence with relative rodent density and the prevalence rate. This research provides evidence that the changes of infection prevalence in the reservoir could lead directly to the emergence of a new epidemic. It was concluded that the measurement of a number of these variables could be used in disease surveillance to give useful advance warning of potential disease epidemics.

Changes of sucrose metabolism in the subtending leaf to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) boll at different fruiting branch nodes (FBN) were investigated. Two cotton cultivars, Kemian 1 and Sumian 15, were grown in the field at three planting dates in 2009 and 2011. Cotton planted on different dates but experiencing similar climatic factors flowered on the same date and had similar boll opening dates, but had different FBN. In the present study, boll weight and carbohydrate content were significantly affected by both flowering date (FD) and FBN. However, only cystolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (cy-FBPase) and sucrose-phosphate synthase (SPS) activities of the sucrose-metabolizing enzymes were influenced significantly by FBN, and the influence of FBN was lower with delayed FD. In general, effects of FBN on boll weight and sucrose metabolism in the subtending leaf were higher at the optimal FD (13 August) than those at later FD (9 September 2009 and 2 September 2011), and total fruiting branches were used to characterize cotton physiological age in the current study. Sucrose transport capacity (Tn) and SPS in the subtending leaf had significantly positive correlations with boll weight at 17–24 days post anthesis (DPA), a crucial period when boll weight was significantly affected. In addition, higher SPS activity was favourable for sucrose export and boll weight during boll development.

A suspected dengue fever outbreak occurred in 2010 at a solitary construction site in Shenzhen city, China. To investigate this epidemic, we used serological, molecular biological, and bioinformatics techniques. Of nine serum samples from suspected patients, we detected seven positive for dengue virus (DENV) antibodies, eight for DENV-1 RNA, and three containing live viruses. The isolated virus, SZ1029 strain, was sequenced and confirmed as DENV-1, showing the highest E-gene homology to D1/Malaysia/36000/05 and SG(EHI)DED142808 strains recently reported in Southeast Asia. Further phylogenetic tree analysis confirmed their close relationship. At the epidemic site, we also detected 14 asymptomatic co-workers (out of 291) positive for DENV antibody, and DENV-1-positive mosquitoes. Thus, we concluded that DENV-1 caused the first local dengue fever outbreak in Shenzhen. Because no imported case was identified, the molecular fingerprints of the SZ1029 strain suggest this outbreak may be due to vertical transmission imported from Southeast Asia.

Energetic divergent proton beams can be generated in the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with solid-density foil targets via target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA). In this paper, a scheme using a capillary to reduce the proton beam divergence is proposed. By two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, it is shown that strong transverse electric and magnetic fields rapidly grow at the inner surface of the capillary when the laser-driven hot electrons propagate through the target and into the capillary. The spontaneous magnetic field collimates the electron flow, and the ions dragged from the capillary wall by hot electrons neutralize the negative charge and thus restrain the transverse extension of the sheath field set up by electrons. The proton beam divergence, which is mainly determined by the accelerating sheath field, is therefore reduced by the transverse limitation of the sheath field in the capillary.

The 2009 novel H1N1 influenza pandemic had a significant impact on Shenzhen's population with 2063 laboratory-confirmed human H1N1 cases and five deaths being reported. We used parameters from two population-based surveys and the Shenzhen Influenza Surveillance System to estimate the total number of H1N1 influenza infections in Shenzhen in the 2009 pandemic. The attack rate of influenza-like illness (ILI) in family households was 11·2% (95% CI 9·4–13·0), with 80·2% (95% CI 77·8–82·5) seeking medical care. The ILI attack rate in workers was 38·1% (95% CI 34·3–41·7) with 72·5% (95% CI 66·9–78·0) seeking medical care. The average H1N1 positive rate in individuals reporting ILI and testing by polymerase chain reaction was 22·7%. A total of 611 000–768 000 people, or 4·7–5·9% of the Shenzhen population, are estimated to have experienced H1N1 influenza. The estimated total number of cases of H1N1 is likely to be 330 times greater than the number of laboratory-confirmed cases.

A mechanism is proposed to explain electromigration-enhanced precipitate coarsening in Al-Cu alloy interconnects. The interface between the α-phase matrix and a θ-phase Al2Cu precipitate is incoherent, along which both Al and Cu atoms diffuse under an applied electric field. Depending on the relative mobility of Al and Cu, the diffusion causes the precipitate to migrate towards either the positive or the negative electrode. The velocity of a spherical precipitate is proportional to the electric field and the mobilities and inversely proportional to its radius. A critical electric field or precipitate radius exists, above which the precipitate can penetrate a grain boundary. Consequently, the precipitates agglomerate by the synergism between the surface tension-induced ripening and the current-induced migration. The resulting particles are distantly separated, depleting Cu atoms from the rest of the interconnect. The mechanism appears to limit the lifetime of interconnects having bamboo-like grains, tested below 300°C, less than half of the melting temperature of Al.

The formation of suicides during the thermal reaction of Ti/polysilicon bilayers has been investigated using both in-stu four point sheet resistance measurements and ex-situ measurements including X-ray diffraction, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. For a series of samples annealed at a ramp rate of 10°C/min the following sequence of changes in the bilayers occurred. At temperatures exceeding 350°C and prior to the silicidation oxygen from the vacuum system diffuses into the Ti film forming a solid solution of Ti(O) with O levels up to 20 %. An amorphous TixSiy layer is the first major suicide reaction observed at temperatures near 440°C. The first major crystalline phase is observed at 500°C and identified as C49 TiSi2. This phase was found to coexist at these temperatures with the partially consumed Ti(O) and the amorphous TixSiy layers. Further annealing above 700 °C results in the final structural transformation from C49 TiSi2 to C54 TiSi2.

The objective of this work is to study the crystallization process of the amorphous ribbon of NiTi-Cu based shape memory alloys. An amorphous material with a composition of Ti50Ni25Cu25 was used to conduct this study. First, a study was conducted to understand the crystallization kinetics of this amorphous material at the isothermal model and continuous heating mode, respectively. The characteristic parameters associated with the crystallization process, such as the start and finish time for isothermal crystallization, the peak temperature for continuous heating crystallization, and activation energy, are obtained. Based on the study of experimental data of crystallization kinetics, a series of isothermal annealing experiments was conducted to study the crystallization process and microstructure of fully crystallized materials. The TEM micrograph shows the crystal phase growths in the amorphous matrix as a perfect geometric sphere. A system analysis was conducted to explain the crystallization micro-mechanism.

We get size-controlled nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si) from a-SiNx/a-Si:H/a-SiNx sandwich structures by thermal annealing. Transmission electron microscope analyses show that the mean size and the grain size distribution (GSD) of the nc-Si are controlled by the annealing conditions and the a-Si sublayer thickness. We build a theoretical model of constrained crystallization which can well interpret the phenomena of the growth halt of nc-Si and higher crystallization temperature for the thinner a-Si sublayer. The experimental results indicate that constrained crystallization method is promising to achieve uniform and high density nc-Si array either by thermal annealing or by laser annealing. Based on this investigation we employ the method of laser interference crystallization (LIC) to fabricate nanocrystal Si with the two-dimensional (2D) patterned distribution within 10 nm thick a-Si:H single layer. Si nano-crystallites are selectively located in the discal regions within the initial a-Si:H layer. The present method is promising to fabricate various patterned nc-Si arrays for device applications simply by changing the geometry of the mask.

EuroRotaNet, a laboratory network, was established in order to determine the diversity of co-circulating rotavirus strains in Europe over three or more rotavirus seasons from 2006/2007 and currently includes 16 countries. This report highlights the tremendous diversity of rotavirus strains co-circulating in the European population during three years of surveillance since 2006/2007 and points to the possible origins of these strains including genetic reassortment and interspecies transmission. Furthermore, the ability of the network to identify strains circulating with an incidence of ⩾1% allowed the identification of possible emerging strains such as G8 and G12 since the beginning of the study; analysis of recent data indicates their increased incidence. The introduction of universal rotavirus vaccination in at least two of the participating countries, and partial vaccine coverage in some others may provide data on diversity driven by vaccine introduction and possible strain replacement in Europe.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes can be used as electron sources in the process of field emission, and have great potential for practical application of the field emission display (FED) panels with large screen size. We fabricated a FED using the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as the cathode by the screen-printing process. Test showed that the SWNTs emitters exhibit excellent macroscopic emission properties. It has low turn-on voltage (2.7 V/μm) and high brightness, with a high current density of good uniformity and stability. It was observed that the field emission qualitatively follows the conventional Fowler–Nordheim (F–N) theory, and aging treatment played an important role in improving the image uniformity and stability. Compared to other complicated processes, the simple fabrication using screen-printing process seems to be advantageous for practical application.