†Background Plants require at least 14 mineral elements for their nutrition. These include the macronutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S) and the micronutrients chlorine (Cl), boron (B), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and molybdenum (Mo). These are generally obtained from the soil. Crop production is o...

The effect of foliar application of two levels of citric acid (CA; 0 and 7 mM) and two levels of salicylic acid (SA; 0 and 1 mM) combined with two levels of nutrient solution strength (full strength and half strength) on mineral acquisition by sweet basil were investigated. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design arrangement with three replications. SA alone reduced the plant ...

BACKGROUND Progressive multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune condition of unknown aetiology and few therapeutic options. Human exposure to aluminium has been linked with multiple sclerosis and affected individuals are known to excrete unusually high amounts of aluminium in their urine. Silicon-rich mineral waters facilitate the removal of aluminium from the body in urine and herein we have...

Recent observations of planar defects in boron carbide have been shown to deviate from perfect mirror symmetry and are referred to as "asymmetric twins." Here, we demonstrate that these asymmetric twins are really phase boundaries that form in stoichiometric B(4)C (i.e., B(12)C(3)) but not in B(13)C(2). TEM observations and ab initio simulations have been coupled to show that these planar defec...

Greisenization is typically linked with highly fractionated granites and often associated hydrothermal vein systems. Late to postmagmatic metasomatic processes involve the enrichment of volatile components such as boron halogens well several metallic elements. The purpose this study reveal main effects paragenetic sequences related mineralizations in Highiş granitoids, Romania. In a natural out...

Sintered NdFeB magnets are relatively complex multiphase systems containing Nd2Fe14B matrix and about 15% of other intermetallics such as Nd1+εFe4BB4, Nd-oxides (Nd-rich phase), etc. Boron rich Nd1+εFe4B4 B forms in irregularly distributed heavily faulted grains of roughly the same size as those of the Nd2Fe14B phase [1]. The Curie temperature of this phase is 13K and, therefore, it is not ferr...

Wafers with 1 μm LPCVD silicon-rich nitride layers have been successfully direct bonded to silicon-rich nitride and boron-doped silicon surfaces. A chemical–mechanical polishing treatment was necessary to reduce the surface roughness of the nitride before bonding. The measured surface energies of the room-temperature bond were comparable to values found for Si–Si hydrophilic bonding. A mechanis...

Employing particle swarm optimization (PSO) combined with first-principles calculations, we systemically studied high-pressure behaviors of hard CrB4. Our predictions reveal a distinct structural evolution under pressure for CrB4 despite having the same initial structure as FeB4. CrB4 is found to adopt a new P2/m structure above 196 GPa, another Pm structure at a pressure range of 261-294 GPa a...