Background Photosynthetic efficiency might be a key factor determining plant resistance to abiotic stresses. Plants can sense when growing conditions are not favorable and trigger an internal response at an early stage before showing external symptoms. When a high amount of salt enters the plant cell, the membrane system and function of thylakoids in chloroplasts could be destroyed and affect photosynthetic performance if the salt concentration is not regulated to optimal values. Oryza species have salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive genotypes; however, very few studies have investigated the genetic architecture responsible for photosynthetic efficiency under salinity stress in cultivated rice. Results We used an imaging-based chlorophyll fluorometer to monitor eight rice varieties that showed different salt tolerance levels for four consecutive days under control and salt conditions. An analysis of the changes in chlorophyll fluorescence parameters clearly showed the maximum quantum efficiency of PSII in sensitive varieties was significantly reduced after NaCl treatment when compared to tolerant varieties. A panel of 232 diverse rice accessions was then analyzed for chlorophyll fluorescence under salt conditions, the results showed that chlorophyll fluorescence parameters such as F0 and NPQ were higher in Japonica subspecies, ΦPSII of Indica varieties was higher than that in other subgroups, which suggested that the variation in photosynthetic efficiency was extensively regulated under salt treatment in diverse cultivated rice. Two significant regions on chromosome 5 were identified to associate with the fraction of open PSII centers (qL) and the minimum chlorophyll fluorescence (F0). These regions harbored genes related to senescence, chloroplast biogenesis and response to salt stress are of interest for future functional characterization to determine their roles in regulating photosynthesis. Conclusions Rice plant is very sensitive to salinity stress, especially at young seedling stage. Our work identified the distribution pattern of chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in seedlings leaf and their correlations with salt tolerance level in a diverse gene pool. We also revealed the complexity of the genetic architecture regulating rice seedling photosynthetic performance under salinity stress, the germplasm analyzed in this study and the associated genetic information could be utilized in rice breeding program.

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In this study, the performances of red CsPbI3-based all-inorganic perovskite quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (IPQLEDs) employing polymeric crystalline Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), poly(9-vinycarbazole) (PVK), Poly(N,N′-bis-4-butylphenyl-N,N′-bisphenyl)benzidine (Poly-TPD) and 9,9-Bis[4-[(4-ethenylphenyl)methoxy]phenyl]-N2,N7-di-1-naphthalenyl-N2,N7-diphenyl-9H-fluorene-2,7-diamine (VB-FNPD) as the hole transporting layers (HTLs) have been demonstrated. The purpose of this work is an attempt to promote the development of device structures and hole transporting materials for the CsPbI3-based IPQLEDs via a comparative study of different HTLs. A full-coverage quantum dot (QD) film without the aggregation can be obtained by coating it with VB-FNPD, and thus, the best external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 7.28% was achieved in the VB-FNPD device. We also reported a standing method to further improve the degree of VB-FNPD polymerization, resulting in the improved device performance, with the EQE of 8.64%.

Mg0.95Ni0.05TiO3 ceramics were prepared by traditional solid-state route using sintering temperatures between 1300 and 1425 °C and holding time of 2–8 h. The sintered samples were characterized for their phase composition, micro-crystalline structure, unit–cell constant, and dielectric properties. A two-phase combination region was identified over the entire compositional range. The effect of sintering conditions was analyzed for various properties. Both permittivity (εr) and Q factor (Qf) were sensitive to sintering temperatures and holding times, and the optimum performance was found at 1350 °C withholding time of 4 h. The temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τf) in a range from −45.2 to −52 (ppm/°C) and unit–cell constant were not sensitive to both the sintering temperature and holding time. An optimized Q factor of 192,000 (GHz) related with a permittivity (εr) of 17.35 and a temperature coefficient (τf) of −47 (ppm/°C) was realized for the specimen sintered at 1350 °C withholding time of 4 h. For applications of 5G communication device (filter, antennas, etc.), Mg0.95Ni0.05TiO3 is considered to be a suitable candidate for substrate materials.

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This study investigated Co40Fe40W20 single-layer thin films according to their corresponding structure, grain size, contact angle, and surface energy characteristics. Co40Fe40W20 alloy thin films of different thicknesses, ranging from 10 to 50 nm, were sputtered on Si(100) substrates by DC magnetron sputtering. The thin films were annealed under three conditions: as-deposited, 250 °C, and 350 °C temperatures, respectively. The Scherrer equation was applied to calculate the grain size of Co40Fe40W20 thin films. The results show that the grain size of CoFe(110) increased simultaneously with the increase of post-annealing temperature, suggesting that the crystallinity of Co40Fe40W20 thin films increased with the post-annealing temperature. Moreover, the contact angles of all Co40Fe40W20 thin films were all less than 90°, suggesting that Co40Fe40W20 thin films show changes in the direction of higher hydrophilicity. However, we found that their contact angles decreased as the grain size of CoFe increased. Finally, the Young equation was applied to calculate the surface energy of Co40Fe40W20 thin films. After post-annealing, the surface energy of Co40Fe40W20 thin films increased with the rising post-annealing temperature. This is the highest value of surface energy observed for 350 °C. In addition, the surface energy increased as the contact angle of Co40Fe40W20 thin films decreased. The high surface energy means stronger adhesion, allowing the formation of multilayer thin films with magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs). The sheet resistance of the as-deposited and thinner CoFeW films is larger than annealed and thicker CoFeW films. When the thickness is from 10 nm to 50 nm, the hardness and Young’s modulus of the CoFeW film also show a saturation trend.

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design and also in fabrication, the resultant CP is not pure, corresponding a finite cross-polar level.The simulated and measured radiation patterns are shown in Figure 5. For the designed sample, the measured results of Ϫ26-dB cross-polar level, Ϫ13-dB side-lobe level, ϳ13.5°half-power beamwidth, and 17.3-dBi gain corresponding to ϳ40% aperture efficiency are obtained. The bandwidth for cross-polar level less than Ϫ15 dB excesses 8%. Hence, the precise polarized variability by adjusting and ␣ in a relatively broad band can be expected. CONCLUSIONIn this paper, a novel broadband reflectarray with variable polarization has been proposed, and the principle of polarized variability has been analyzed in detail and also verified by simulation and experiment. The mechanism of polarized variability is quite simpler than a traditional antenna with complex feed network; only the operation of mechanical rotation is needed. This reflectarray presents good features of broadband and higher gain (with a great number of elements), and has potential significance for engineering application.ABSTRACT: The miniaturization of hairpin lowpass filters by employing two high-permittivity ceramic substrates (with respective dielectric constants of 9.7 and 22.6) are investigated. Microwave dielectric ceramics with high permittivity are commonly applied in several microwave communication components. With the advantages of compact size, high-permittivity ceramics can be used as the substrate for low-pass filters. Moreover, the fundamental characteristics of newly developed compact stepped-impedance hairpin resonators with parallel coupled lines have also been described and applied to the design of lowpass filters. In this paper, the designed multiple cascaded stepped-impedance hairpin resonators structures are simulated using an IE3D simulator. The responses of the fabricated filters using Al 2 O 3 ( r ϭ 9.7, Q ϫ f ϭ 350,000 GHz) and 0.2 Ca 0.6 La 0.26 TiO 3 -0.8Mg 0.95 Co 0.05 TiO 3 ( r ϭ 22.6, Q ϫ f ϭ 57,000 GHz) ceramic substrates are designed at a cutoff frequency of 1.8 GHz. This compact, low-loss, sharp cutoff-frequency response, and broad-stopband lowpass filter should be useful in many wireless communication systems.ABSTRACT: In this paper, chirped fiber Bragg gratings (CFBGs) are proposed as signal-phase controllers for microwave-photonic wireless downstream fiber links. The effect of high-order modulation optical sidebands that disturbs the output mm-wave signal due to the chromatic dispersion induced by the gratings is studied theoretically and experimentally. The 1 st and 2 nd mm-wave harmonics of the output signal have been measured for conventional intensity modulation and for intensity modulation with optical carrier suppression. In the last case, data transmission at 2.5 Gb/s is demonstrated through a chirped grating of 280 ps/nm dispersion in a 40-GHz modulated link.