Taxonomic history, comparative morphology, and variation in Astrophytum myriostigma and its subspecies tulense (Cactaceae)

Astrophytum myriostigma subsp. myriostigma and subsp. tulense are distinguished by both vegetative and reproductive characters. The stem of the nominotypical subspecies is broad and depressed becoming broadly cylindrical in age, reaching a known maximum height of ca. 52 cm. In subsp. tulense, the stem is relatively slen-der and columnar and can reach a maximum height of ca. 90 cm. Both taxa show variation in the angle and profile of the ribs. In the nominotypical subspecies, the ribs are usually obtuse with a rounded or angular profile, or moderately acute with an angular profile. In subsp. tulense, the ribs are typically moderately to very acute with an angular profile. There are exceptions to these generalities. Both taxa have a modal number of five ribs, and both have the tendency to insert additional ribs with age, although the tendency seems more pronounced in subsp. tulense. The flower of the nominotypical subspecies differs from that of subsp. tulense in having a significantly larger mean perianth diameter (P <= 0.01), a significantly higher mean number of stigma lobes (P <= 0.05), and more tepal rows (3–5 vs. 1–3). The color of the tepals is pale yellow to whitish yellow in subsp. tulense, but brighter yellow or golden yellow in the nominotypical subspecies. The seeds of the nominotypical subspecies are significantly larger (P <= 0.01) than the seeds of subsp. tulense. Morphological variation was studied in nine populations of the subsp. myriostigma and six populations of the subsp. tulense. The nominotypical subspecies displays rib angle and rib profile differences among individual plants within a population. Plants with a depressed stem and obtuse, rounded ribs are predominant at some localities. At other localities, plants with more moderately acute, angular ribs are predominant, or at least common. Populations of subsp. tulense show individual variation in stem morphology. The stem varies from attenuated (tapered) to non-attenuated and from relatively slender (diameter ca. 20% of height) to relatively broad (diameter ca. 77% of height). The plants from near Mama León and adjacent localities in Tamaulipas, have very robust stems and are the least typical of the columnar subspecies. The rela-tionships of this population to other columnar populations warrant further study. The population near Las Tablas, San Luis Potosí, shows considerable variation in the stem and rib morphology. Some plants resemble the nominotypical subspecies whereas others are similar morphologically to subsp. tulense. The perianth diameter is intermediate between those of the two subspecies. The evidence suggests that this is an area of past or ongoing hybridization between the two taxa; the question of hybridization warrants further investigation. Attenuated and non-attenuated stems are the result of differential rates of vertical and lateral growth due to cellular activity in the apical and lateral meristems, respectively. The attenuated (tapered) stem is produced by a gradually increasing lateral growth rate which remains slower than the vertical rate. A non-attenuated stem is produced by the lateral growth rate exceeding the vertical rate early in development, then stabilizing at some point and not surpassing the vertical rate.

Modeling of abnormal grain growth in (111) oriented and nanotwinned copper

Uni-modal, not bi-modal, of abnormal grain growth has been observed in (111) oriented and nano-twinned Cu films. Because of the highly anisotropic microstructure, our kinetic analysis and calculation showed that it is the mobility which dominates the uni-modal growth, in which the lateral growth rate can be two orders of magnitude higher than the vertical growth rate. As a consequence, the abnormal grain growth has been converted from bi-modal to uni-modal.

Ultrafast growth of large single crystals of monolayer WS2 and WSe2

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted considerable attention as atomically thin semiconductors for the ultimate transistor scaling. For practical applications in integrated electronics, large monolayer single crystals are essential for ensuring consistent electronic properties and high device yield. The TMDs available today are generally obtained by mechanical exfoliation or chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, but are often of mixed layer thickness, limited single crystal domain size or have very slow growth rate. Scalable and rapid growth of large single crystals of monolayer TMDs requires maximization of lateral growth rate while completely suppressing the vertical growth, which represents a fundamental synthetic challenge and has motivated considerable efforts. Herein we report a modified CVD approach with controllable reverse flow for rapid growth of large domain single crystals of monolayer TMDs. With the use of reverse flow to precisely control the chemical vapor supply in the thermal CVD process, we can effectively prevent undesired nucleation before reaching optimum growth temperature and enable rapid nucleation and growth of monolayer TMD single crystals at a high temperature that is difficult to attain with use of a typical thermal CVD process. We show that monolayer single crystals of 450 μm lateral size can be prepared in 10 s, with the highest lateral growth rate up to 45 μm/s. Electronic characterization shows that the resulting monolayer WSe2 material exhibits excellent electronic properties with carrier mobility up to 90 cm2 V−1 s−1, comparable to that of the best exfoliated monolayers. Our study provides a robust pathway for rapid growth of high-quality TMD single crystals.

Vis–NIR spectroscopy for the on-site prediction of wood properties

We investigated the feasibility of visible–near-infrared (Vis–NIR) spectroscopy for estimation of wood qualities of fast-growing Eucalyptus grandis. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) models are applied to predict the diameter at the breast height (DBH), lateral growth rate (LGR) and propagation velocity of stress waves (PVSW). It was possible to estimate LGR and PVSW with appropriate accuracy. This suggested that perhaps information in terms of maturation is included in Vis–NIR spectra. The key factors in the validation of PVSW and LGR were the water and cellulose condition in wood.

In Situ Observations of Lateral Growth Rate of δ- Phase during Solidification of Fe-0.2%C-0.6%Mn Steel

The δ-phase growth process of Fe-0.2%C-0.6%Mn steel during solidification was in-situ observed using Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope (CSLM). The effects of shape of solid/liquid interface on the growth rate were investigated. The results indicate the growth rate of concave-shaped solid/liquid interface is faster than that of convex-shaped solid/liquid interface at the beginning of δ-phase growth. The two kinds of growth rates decreased both and approached to the same gradually as the solidification continues. The intrinsic reasons were discussed in detail.

Facet-control in selective area growth (SAG) of a-plane GaN by MOVPE

Selective area growth (SAG) of a-plane GaN grown on r-plane sapphire with a stripe orientation along <1-100> was investigated. The key technology of facet-control is optimizing the growth temperature and the reactor pressure. Our experiments reveal that the growth temperature determined facet form: in samples grown at 1000 °C, the structure consists of {11-22}and (000-1); with increasing growth temperature to 1050 °C, the area of {11-22} facet gradually decreases, and two new planes, (0001) and {11-20} facets form; eventually, in samples grown at 1000 oC, the {11-22} facet completely disappears, (0001) and {11-20} facet continue to increase to form a rectangle cross-section. The reactor pressure determines the ratio of the lateral growth rate and the vertical growth rate: with reactor pressure decreasing from 500 torr to 100 torr, the rectangle structure gradually decreases the height and increases the width, and the volume nearly keeps constant.