A family of unusually stable boron cages was identified and examined using first-principles local-density functional method. The structure of the fullerenes is similar to that of the B12 icosahedron and consists of six crossing double-rings. The energetically most stable fullerene is made up of 180 boron atoms. A connection between the fullerene family and its precursors, boron sheets, is made....

Based on an ab initio study, we present a structure model for a broad boron sheet, which is the precursor of boron nanotubes. Furthermore we could show that, in contrast to the armchair types, zigzag boron nanotubes have no surface tension (strain energy). As result, we predict that boron nanotubes will exhibit a chirality dependent stability, something that is unique among all nanotubular mate...

Boron strongly modifies electronic and diffusion properties of graphite. We report the first ab initio study of boron interaction with the point defects in graphite, which includes structures, thermodynamics, and diffusion. A number of possible diffusion mechanisms of boron in graphite are suggested. We conclude that boron diffuses in graphite by a kick-out mechanism. This mechanism explains th...

Three levels of boron (0, 30, 60 ppm) were supplemented in practical corn-soybean based starter and grower diets, containing either adequate or inadequate Ca or P. A total of 1,800, 1-day-old sexed broiler chicks were assigned to six dietary treatments and fed with the experimental diets for 42 days. Boron improved the overall feed conversion ratio, but increased body weight only at 21 days of ...

introduction: boron (b) is an essential plant micronutrient whose soil availability is influenced by many soil factors.understanding the processes controling activity of boron (b) in the soil solution is important for soil fertility management. the reaction of adsorption and desorption of boron in soil determines the amount of boron that is available to plants. adsorption–desorption processes p...

the atmospheric pressure chemical vapor synthesis (apcvs) route is a process that can be used for the synthesis of doped-nanocrystalline powders with very small crystallite sizes having a narrow particle size distribution and high purity. in this study, apcvs technique was used to prepare boron-doped titania nanopowders. the effects of temperature, borate flow rate and water flow rate on the am...

There is evidence that boron has a physiological role in animals and humans, but the search for boron binding biomolecules has been difficult because useful radioactive boron isotopes do not exist. To overcome this limitation we used capillary electrophoresis to identify and quantify boron binding to biomolecules by detecting the negative charge boron imparts to ligands. The effect of molecular...

An experiment was performed to determine whether boron deprivation would adversely affect vertebra (trabecular) bone microarchitecture, and whether any adverse effect would be modified by dietary fatty acid composition. Female rats were fed diets containing 0.1mg (9 micromol) boron/kg in a factorial arrangement with variables of supplemental boron at 0 (boron-deprived) or 3 (boron-adequate) mg ...

Boron, an essential micronutrient, is transported in roots of Arabidopsis thaliana mainly by two different types of transporters, BORs and NIPs (nodulin26-like intrinsic proteins). Both are plasma membrane localized, but have distinct transport properties and patterns of cell type-specific accumulation with different polar localizations, which are likely to affect boron distribution. Here, we u...

Little information is available on the molecular mechanisms of boron (B)-induced alleviation of aluminum (Al)-toxicity. 'Sour pummelo' (Citrus grandis) seedlings were irrigated for 18 weeks with nutrient solution containing different concentrations of B (2.5 or 20μM H3BO3) and Al (0 or 1.2mM AlCl3·6H2O). B alleviated Al-induced inhibition in plant growth accompanied by lower leaf Al. We used cD...