Magnetic properties and microstructure study of high coercivity Au/FePt/Au trilayer thin films

High-coercivity Au(60 nm)/FePt(δ nm)/Au(60 nm) trilayer samples were prepared by sputtering at room temperature, followed by post annealing at different temperatures. For the sample with δ=60 nm, L1₀ ordering transformation occurs at 500 °C. Coercivity (H_c) is increased with the annealing temperature in the studied range 400–800 °C. The H_c value of the trilayer films is also varied with thickness of FePt intermediate layer (δ), from 27 kOe for δ=60 nm to a maximum value of 33.5 kOe for δ=20 nm. X-ray diffraction data indicate that the diffusion of Au atoms into the FePt L1₀ lattice is negligible even after a high-temperature (800 °C) annealing process. Furthermore, ordering parameter is almost unchanged as δ is reduced from 60 to 15 nm. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) photos indicate that small FePt Ll₀ particles are dispersed amid the large-grained Au. We believe that the high coercivity of the trilayer sample is attributed to the small and uniform grain sizes of the highly ordered FePt particles which have perfect phase separation with Au matrix.     

Chemical Constituents of Two Liverworts Metacalypogeia Alternifolia and Chandonanthus Hirtellus

A novel linear dihydrodichromene derivative, metacalypogin, was identified from the Taiwanese liverwort Metacalypogeia alternifolia. Together with data from M. cordifolia, the chemical marker of the genus Metacalypogeia is obvious chroman derivatives, which is far different from that of Calypogeia, the other genus in the same family. In addition, two isomeric diterpenoids of cembrane‐type were identified from the Chinese liverwort Chandonanthus hirtellus. The relative stereostructures of the latter two isomers were proved by X‐ray crystallography. Both compounds were unstable in chloroform solution and further oxidized to the corresponding peroxy hemiacetal derivatives.     

Low Noise-figure Miniature Erbium-doped Fibre Amplifier using Uncooled Pump Laser

A miniature-size erbium doped fibre amplifier (MS-EDFA) is constructed with a saturation power of 17.0 dBm and low noise figure of 5.2 dB using an uncooled pump laser. The MS-EDFA has achieved low polarization dependent gain, large signal gain and small signal gain of 0.05 dB, 15 dB (at Pin = +2 dBm) and 42 dB (at Pin = −30 dBm), respectively, with negligible temperature dependent gain. The dimension of MS-EDFA is only twice than a typical credit card.     

Anti-Inflammatory,Antiallergic, and COVID-19 Main Protease (Mpro) Inhibitory Activities of Butenolides from a Marine-Derived Fungus Aspergillus terreus

In December 2020, the U.K. authorities reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) that a new COVID-19 variant, considered to be a variant under investigation from December 2020 (VUI-202012/01), was identified through viral genomic sequencing. Although several other mutants were previously reported, VUI-202012/01 proved to be about 70% more transmissible. Hence, the usefulness and effectiveness of the newly U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved COVID-19 vaccines against these new variants are doubtfully questioned. As a result of these unexpected mutants from COVID-19 and due to lack of time, much research interest is directed toward assessing secondary metabolites as potential candidates for developing lead pharmaceuticals. In this study, a marine-derived fungus Aspergillus terreus was investigated, affording two butenolide derivatives, butyrolactones I (1) and III (2), a meroterpenoid, terretonin (3), and 4-hydroxy-3-(3-methylbut-2-enyl)benzaldehyde (4). Chemical structures were unambiguously determined based on mass spectrometry and extensive 1D/2D NMR analyses experiments. Compounds (1–4) were assessed for their in vitro anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, and in silico COVID-19 main protease (M^pro) and elastase inhibitory activities. Among the tested compounds, only 1 revealed significant activities comparable to or even more potent than respective standard drugs, which makes butyrolactone I (1) a potential lead entity for developing a new remedy to treat and/or control the currently devastating and deadly effects of COVID-19 pandemic and elastase-related inflammatory complications.     

Energy‐Level Alignment for Single‐Molecule Conductance of Extended Metal‐Atom Chains

The use of single‐molecule junctions for various functions constitutes a central goal of molecular electronics. The functional features and the efficiency of electron transport are dictated by the degree of energy‐level alignment (ELA), that is, the offset potential between the electrode Fermi level and the frontier molecular orbitals. Examples manifesting ELA are rare owing to experimental challenges and the large energy barriers of typical model compounds. In this work, single‐molecule junctions of organometallic compounds with five metal centers joined in a collinear fashion were analyzed. The single‐molecule i–V scans could be conducted in a reliable manner, and the E_FMO levels were electrochemically accessible. When the electrode Fermi level (E_F) is close to the frontier orbitals (E_FMO) of the bridging molecule, larger conductance was observed. The smaller |E_F?E_FMO| gap was also derived quantitatively, unambiguously confirming the ELA. The mechanism is described in terms of a two‐level model involving co‐tunneling and sequential tunneling processes.     

Phase behavior of a water/2‐propanol/poly(methyl methacrylate) cosolvent system

A phase diagram of poly(methyl methacrylate) in mixtures of water and 2‐propanol, individually nonsolvents for the polymer, was studied at 25 °C. For this system, there were two liquid–liquid demixing regions separated by a miscible region. This cosolvent phenomenon was thought to be a joint effect of the nonsolvents. The phase behavior was modeled according to modified Flory–Huggins chemical‐potential equations, which accounted for the possible contribution from a ternary interaction in terms of a lumped parameter, χ₁₂₃. The calculated phase‐equilibrium curves (binodals) agreed well with the measured results. By contrast, if only binary interaction parameters were considered, computations yielded binodals whose compositions departed significantly from the measured data. Using the wet phase inversion method with casting dopes selected on the basis of the phase diagram, we prepared membranes with microporous structures in various coagulation baths. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 747–754, 2000     

Sustainable Recovery of Valuable Nanoporous Materials from High-Chlorine MSWI Fly Ash by Ultrasound with Organic Acids

The new technology development for municipal solid waste incineration fly ash treatment and reuse is urgent due to landfill shortage and environmental effect of leached hazardous substances. Chlorine (Cl) is worth considering due to its high levels in fly ash. In this study, a treatment process of ultrasound combined with organic acid was used to eliminate Cl from fly ash to enhance its properties for reuse. Taguchi methodology was implemented to design the experiments by controlling four impact factors and the contribution of each factor was evaluated by the ANOVA analysis of variance. Following two treatment steps within 5 min with a solid/liquid ratio of 1:10 at 165 kHz, 98.8% of Cl was eliminated. Solid/liquid ratio was the most prominent factor that contributed to the Cl removal with more than 90%, according to the ANOVA analysis of variance. Tert-butyl alcohol (tBuOH), an ^•OH radical scavenger, was utilized to examine different effects of ultrasonic cavitation on Cl removal efficiency. A 20 kHz ultrasound was used to explore the influence of multi-frequency ultrasound with different mechanical and sonochemical effects on the fly ash dechlorination. This ultrasonic-assisted organic acid treatment was found to be a time and cost-effective pathway for fly ash Cl removal.     

The Preparation and Structural Study of Nickel (II) Complexes of N,N′-(8-Quinolyl)Trimethylenediamines

A number of Ni(II) complexes of N,N′-bis(8-quinolyl)trimethylenediamines are synthesized both as perchlorate salts and neutral amino complexes. Substitutions on the 2 and 6 positions of the quinolyl ligands are introduced for various reasons concerning the structural studies. The structural informations are obtained by studies of the magnetic properties, electronic spectra and NMR spectra. Structural changes effected by acid/base property of the medium are followed by NMR spectroscopy.     

The anomalous RHEED patterns observed from (111)Ag-(111)Cu bilayers

RHEED patterns obtained from thin expitaxial bilayers consisting of Ag grown on smooth (111)Cu surfaces have been shown by Gradmann and Krause to contain anomalous reflections. Previously, these reflections were interpreted as due to a regular arrangement of interfacial dislocations or to multiple diffraction effects. In the present work a thin film technique was used to form smooth, easily detachable (111)Ag/Cu bilayers from which RHEED patterns containing these extra reflections were obtained. These films were grown, annealed, and examined in situ by UHV-RHEED techniques. They were then removed from the vacuum system, detached from their substrates and examined by TEM and TED. Thus, contrary to previous work, the present observations consisted of a series of experiments using RHEED, TED, and TEM carried out on the same specimen. No evidence was obtained to indicate that the anomalous reflections were due to interfacial dislocations. Rather, all the observed phenomena could be explained entirely by multiple diffraction effects.     

Detecting characteristics of information masked by a laser-triggered microwave system via Hilbert-Huang transform

A two-wave-mixing microwave system under a delayed feedback control is proposed for chaotic communications in this study. Under the consideration of simple chaotic masking, Hilbert-Huang transform is proved to be an efficient way to detect characteristics of information signals via the spectrum of intrinsic mode functions. Based upon detrended fluctuation as well as multiscale entropy analyses on masking efficiency in the present system, we may suggest that Hilbert-Huang transform would be an alternative method to analyze complex dressed signals from nonlinear optoelectronic systems.