Shade Promotes Phototropism through Phytochrome B-Controlled Auxin Production.

Phototropism is an asymmetric growth response enabling plants to optimally position their organs. In flowering plants, the phototropin (phot) blue light receptors are essential to detect light gradients. In etiolated seedlings, the phototropic response is enhanced by the red/far-red (R/FR)-sensing phytochromes (phy) with a predominant function of phyA. In this study, we analyzed the influence of the phytochromes on phototropism in green (de-etiolated) Arabidopsis seedlings. Our experiments in the laboratory and outdoors revealed that, in open environments (high R/FR ratio), phyB inhibits phototropism. In contrast, under foliar shade, where access to direct sunlight becomes important, the phototropic response was strong. phyB modulates phototropism, depending on the R/FR ratio, by controlling the activity of three basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors of the PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTORs (PIFs) family. Promotion of phototropism depends on PIF-mediated induction of several members of the YUCCA gene family, leading to auxin production in the cotyledons. Our study identifies PIFs and YUCCAs as novel molecular players promoting phototropism in photoautotrophic, but not etiolated, seedlings. Moreover, our findings reveal fundamental differences in the phytochrome-phototropism crosstalk in etiolated versus green seedlings. We propose that in natural conditions where the light environment is not homogeneous, the uncovered phytochrome-phototropin co-action is important for plants to adapt their growth strategy to optimize photosynthetic light capture

Oxygen tri-clusters make glass highly crack-resistant

Identifying key structural factors that surmount their intrinsic brittleness and poor crack initiation resistance (CR) is crucial for designing glass efficiently and predictably. In this study, we present three significant discoveries that contribute to the design of glasses with superior mechanical performances. Firstly, the CR of the aluminosilicate glasses exhibited a drastic increase when the alumina content surpasses a critical threshold. Secondly, the fraction of three-coordinated oxygens (i.e., oxygen tri-cluster fraction [(3)O]) was successfully quantified using our new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance technique. Thirdly, a correlation between the evolution trend of the [(3)O] and the alumina content was established, which aligns closely with the CR trend. These findings suggest that oxygen tri-clusters play a crucial role in significantly enhancing CR in aluminosilicate glasses.</p

Combining nano-silicon with oxide glass in anodes for Li-ion batteries

Vanadium-tellurite glasses (VT) have emerged as promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Despite this, the Li-ion storage capacity of the VT glass anode is still insufficient to meet the demands for the next generation of advanced LIBs. Silicon (Si) anode has ultrahigh theoretical capacity but suffers from significant volume expansion during lithiation and delithiation. In this work, we combined Si nanoparticles with VT glass to prepare Si@VT composite anode for LIBs. The composite was produced through heat-treatment at different temperatures, some of which were hot-pressed under the isostatic pressure of 100 MPa. The Si@VT composite exhibited a synergistic effect that integrated the strengths of both VT glass and Si, resulting in a substantial enhancement of its electrochemical performance. The systematic characterizations of the composite-based anodes revealed the optimal conditions for fabricating the high-performance Si@VT composite: a silicon fraction of 10 wt% and a hot-pressing temperature of 620 K. This composite stood out as the optimal choice, exhibiting a capacity of 353 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1 after 1000 cycles. This capacity surpasses that of VT glass anode by over threefold and that of pure Si anode by twelvefold.</p

Thermal properties of coal during low temperature oxidation using a grey correlation method

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The low temperature oxidation of coal is a contradictory and unified dynamic process of coexisting mass and heat transfer. The thermophysical properties are crucial during coal spontaneous combustion. In the current paper, the variations of moisture, ash, volatiles, fixed carbon and thermophysical properties (thermal diffusivity, specific heat and thermal conductivity) of three coal samples from 30 °C to 300 °C were studied, and their grey correlation was analyzed. The results indicated that with the increase of temperature, the free moisture of Coals A and B decreased first but then increased, while the free moisture of Coal C kept decreasing without a later increase. The variation of surface moisture was consistent with that of free moisture. The trend of volatiles and fixed carbon was completely the opposite, showing a significant negative correlation. Ash was less affected by temperature. Along with the rise of temperature, the thermal diffusivity of three coal samples decreased first but later increased, and the specific heat was always in a state of increasing. The change in thermal conductivity was mainly affected by specific heat. By calculating the gray correlation degree, the major factors affecting the thermophysical properties were obtained

The SDSS spectroscopic catalogue of white dwarf-main-sequence binaries: new identifications from DR 9–12

We present an updated version of the spectroscopic catalogue of white dwarf-main-sequence (WDMS) binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We identify 938 WDMS binaries within the data releases (DR) 9–12 of SDSS plus 40 objects from DR 1–8 that we missed in our previous works, 646 of which are new. The total number of spectroscopic SDSS WDMS binaries increases to 3294. This is by far the largest and most homogeneous sample of compact binaries currently available. We use a decomposition/fitting routine to derive the stellar parameters of all systems identified here (white dwarf effective temperatures, surface gravities and masses, and secondary star spectral types). The analysis of the corresponding stellar parameter distributions shows that the SDSS WDMS binary population is seriously affected by selection effects. We also measure the Na I λλ 8183.27, 8194.81 absorption doublet and H α emission radial velocities (RV) from all SDSS WDMS binary spectra identified in this work. 98 objects are found to display RV variations, 62 of which are new. The RV data are sufficient enough to estimate the orbital periods of three close binaries

Magnetic-interference patterns in Josephson junctions with d+is symmetry

The magnetic interference pattern and the spontaneous flux in unconventional Josephson junctions of superconductors with d+is symmetry are calculated for different reduced junction lengths and the relative factor of the d and s wave components. This is a time reversal broken symmetry state. We study the stability of the fractional vortex and antivortex which are spontaneously formed and examine their evolution as we change the length and the relative factor of d and s wave components. The asymmetry in the field modulated diffraction pattern exists for lengths as long as L=10\lambda_J.Comment: 8 pages, 6 eps files, submitted to PR