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A novel, simple but efficient diamine (TriPEDA) containing rigid nonplanar conjugated triphenylethylene moieties was designed and synthesized through Wittig–Horner and Suzuki coupling reactions. Four kinds of high-performance functional polyimides were thus prepared by the dipolymerization of TriPEDA and four dianhydrides, respectively. Because of the introduction of the aromatic rigid nonplanar triphenylethylene structure, the polyimides exhibited special fluorescent and resistive switching (ON-OFF) characteristics, as the maximum fluorescence emission of the four polyimides was observed at 472–505 nm in NMP solution and at 473–541 nm in film state. Also these organo-soluble polyimides showed outstanding properties, such as low dielectric constant (even without fluorinated substituents), light color, high glass transition temperatures (359–409 °C), thermal stability, and excellent mechanical properties. The memory devices with the configuration of indium tin oxide/polyimides/aluminum (ITO/PI/Al) exhibited distinct volatile memory characteristics of static random access memory (SRAM), with an ON/OFF current ratio of 1 × 105 to 1 × 106. These functional polyimides showed attractive potential applications in the field of high-performance flexible polymer photoconducting devices or polymer memory devices.

The authors present an analysis of a plasmonic surface-wave splitter, simulated using a two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain technique. A single subwavelength slit is employed as a high-intensity nanoscale excitation source for plasmonic surface waves, resulting in a miniaturized light-surface plasmon coupler. With different surface structures located on the two sides of the slit, the device is able to confine and guide light waves of different wavelengths in opposite directions. Within the 15μm simulation region, it is found that the intensity of the guided light at the interface is roughly two to eight times the peak intensity of the incident light, and the propagation length can reach approximately 42 and 16μm and at the wavelengths of 0.63 and 1.33μm, respectively.

We theoretically demonstrate a polarization-independent nanopatterned ultra-thin metallic structure supporting short-range surface plasmon polariton (SRSPP) modes to improve the performance of organic solar cells. The physical mechanism and the mode distribution of the SRSPP excited in the cell device were analyzed, and reveal that the SRSPP-assisted broadband absorption enhancement peak could be tuned by tailoring the parameters of the nanopatterned metallic structure. Three-dimensional finite-difference time domain calculations show that this plasmonic structure can enhance the optical absorption of polymer-based photovoltaics by 39% to 112%, depending on the nature of the active layer (corresponding to an enhancement in short-circuit current density by 47% to 130%). These results are promising for the design of organic photovoltaics with enhanced performance.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic element, and rice is known to be a leading source of dietary Cd for people who consume rice as their main caloric resource. Hybrid rice has dominated rice production in southern China and has been adopted worldwide. The characteristics of high yield heterosis of rice hybrids makes the public think intuitively that the hybrid rice accumulates more Cd in grain than do inbred cultivars. A detailed understanding of the genetic basis of grain Cd accumulation in hybrids and developing Cd-safe rice are one of the top priorities for hybrid rice breeders at present. In this study, we investigated genetic diversity and grain Cd levels in 617 elite rice hybrids collected from the middle and lower Yangtze River Valley in China and 68 inbred cultivars from around the world. We found that there are large variations in grain Cd accumulation in both the hybrids and their inbred counterparts. However, we found grain Cd levels in the rice hybrids to be similar to the levels in indica rice inbreds, suggesting that the hybrids do not accumulate more Cd than do the inbred rice cultivars. Further analysis revealed that the high heritability of Cd accumulation in the grain and the single indica population structure increases the risk of Cd over-accumulation in hybrid rice. The genetic effects of Cd-related QTLs, which have been identified in related Cd-QTL mapping studies, were also determined in the hybrid rice population. Four QTLs were identified as being associated with the variation in grain Cd levels; three of these loci exhibited obvious indica-japonica differentiations. Our study will provide a better understanding of grain Cd accumulations in hybrid rice, and pave the way toward effective breeding for high-yielding, low grain-Cd hybrids in the future.

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We fabricated a phosphor-conversion white light using an InGaN laser diode that emits 405nm near-ultraviolet (n-UV) light and phosphors that emit in the blue and yellow regions when excited by the n-UV and blue light, respectively.The relationship of the luminous flux and the luminous efficacy of the white light with injection current was discussed. The luminous flux increased linearly with increasing current above the threshold of the laser diode, and at 80mA injection current, the luminous flux and luminous efficacy were estimated to be 5.7lm and 13lm∕w, respectively. The shift of the Commission International de I’Eclairage coordinates, color temperature, and color rendering index with current are very slight and negligible, which indicates that the blue and the yellow phosphors have an excellent stability and a highly stable white light can be obtained by this way.

BackgroundThe aim of the study was to determine whether polymorphisms in toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) confer susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) in a central south Chinese Han population.MethodsGenotyping for six well studied polymorphisms (rs4986790, rs4986791, rs10759932, rs41426344, rs11536889 and rs7873784) in TLR4 gene were conducted in 1074 unrelated patients with RA and 1692 healthy control subjects, as well as in 217 unrelated patients with JIA and 378 healthy control subjects using direct sequencing technique. Comparisons between cases and controls in alleles, genotypes and haplotypes were carried out using Fisher’s exact test.ResultsSignificant genetic associations were detected between the 3’UTR rs41426344C and RA (p < 0.001, p adj < 0.001, OR = 2.24) and JIA (p < 0.001, p adj < 0.001, OR = 2.05). In addition, rs4986790G was found to be significantly associated with the susceptibility for RA (p = 0.005, p adj = 0.03, OR = 3.43), but not for JIA (p = 0.06, p adj = 0.36, OR = 2.65). Furthermore, significant increasing in the distributions of haplotypes H4 and H10 in RA (H4: p = 0.001, OR = 1.13; H10: p = 0.001, OR = 1.15) and JIA (H4: p = 0.04, OR = 2.06; H10: p = 0.02, OR = 2.47) were also found. Moreover, the frequency of rs41426344C significantly increased in RF-positive and anti-CCP positive subjects both in RA (RF+: p <0.0001, OR = 2.33; anti-CCP+: p =0.008, OR = 2.79) and JIA (RF+: p =0.02, OR = 2.91; anti-CCP+: p = 0.02, OR = 2.78).ConclusionsOur study suggested that rs41426344 and rs4986790 of TLR4 might contribute to RA, and rs41426344 might contribute to JIA pathogenesis in central south Chinese Han population.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12969-017-0137-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.