Tillering is a core constituent of plant architecture, and influences light interception to affect plant and crop performance. Near-isogenic lines (NILs) varying for a tiller inhibition (tin) gene and representing two genetic backgrounds were investigated for tillering dynamics, organ size distribution, leaf area, light interception, red: far-red ratio, and chlorophyll content. Tillering ceased...

The thermal stability of an a-Ti film in contact with a d-TiN film in the structure of a TiN/Ti/TiN film stack on SiO2 substrates was studied by in situ sheet resistance (Rs) measurement, Auger electron spectroscopy, glancing angle x-ray diffractometry, cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. It was found that nitrogen dissolv...

The reported structure of the dimer of a compound of bicovalent tin indicates that the tin-tin bond is of a new type. It can be described as involving resonance between two structures in which there is transfer of an electron pair from one tin atom to the other. The tin atoms are connected by a single covalent bond (each also forms two covalent bonds with carbon atoms), and an unshared electron...

As the result of the global movement to lead-free electronics, companies which assemble semiconductor devices are switching from finishes incorporating lead to pure tin or high tin lead-free alloys. This transition has resulted in a reliability issue, concerning the formation of conductive tin whiskers which can grow across leads of a package and cause current leakage or short circuits. This pa...

The association of arsenical poisoning with the development of skin cancer is well-known. In Malaysia, arsenic has been shown to coexist with tin in tin-mining land. Our preliminary investigation has shown that the level of arsenic in well water from a tin-mining area is high. We report 3 patients with cutaneous lesions typical of chronic arsenical poisoning such as hyperpigmentation, keratoses...

Lead isotopic ratios of cassiterite, the dominant tin ore, evolve after crystallization through decay of uranium and thorium to lead. We show that the lead isotopic ratios of smelted tin at Rooiberg, South Africa, form an isochron that matches the known geological age of the Rooiberg cassiterite deposits. Since the lead isotopic ratios of several prehistoric tin and bronze artifacts throughout ...

Broadband antireflection and field emission characteristics of silicon nanopillars (Si-NPs) fabricated by self-masking dry etching in hydrogen-containing plasma were systematically investigated. In particular, the effects of ultrathin (5-20 nm) titanium nitride (TiN) films deposited on Si-NPs by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on the optoelectronic properties were explored. The results showed tha...

Thin films consisting of TiN nanocrystallites encapsulated in a fully percolated SiNy tissue phase are archetypes for hard and superhard nanocomposites. Here, we investigate metastable SiNy solid solubility in TiN and probe the effects of surface segregation during growth of TiSiN films onto substrates that are either flat TiN(001)/MgO(001) epitaxial buffer layers or TiN(001) facets of length 1...

Progress in non-covalent/self-assembled immobilization methods on (photo)electrode materials for molecular catalysts could broaden the scope of attainable systems. While covalent linkage (though considered more stable) necessitates functional groups introduced by means often cumbersome synthetic procedures, non-covalent assemblies require sufficient propensity unit surface adsorption, thus set ...

Nanocrystalline TiN/NiTi thin films have been grown on silicon substrate by dc magnetron sputtering to improve the corrosion and mechanical properties of NiTi based shape memory alloys without sacrificing the phase transformation effect. Interestingly, the preferential orientation of the TiN films was observed to change from (1 1 1) to (2 0 0) with change in nature of sputtering gas from 70% Ar...