Traditionally, neutron scattering is an essential method for the analysis of spin structures and spin excitations in bulk materials. Over the last 30 years, polarized neutron scattering in terms of reflectometry has also contributed largely to the analysis of magnetic thin films and magnetic multilayers. More recently it has been shown that polarized neutron reflectivity is, in addition, a suitable tool for the study of thin films laterally patterned with magnetic stripes or islands. We provide a brief overview of the fundamental properties of polarized neutron reflectivity, considering different domain states, domain fluctuations, and different domain sizes with respect to the neutron coherence volume. The discussion is exemplified by a set of simulated reflectivities assuming either complete polarization and polarization analysis, or a reduced form of polarized neutron reflectivity without polarization analysis. Furthermore, we emphasize the importance of the neutron coherence volume for the interpretation of specular and off-specular intensity maps, in particular when studying laterally non-homogeneous magnetic films. Finally, experimental results, fits, and simulations are shown for specular and off-specular scattering from a magnetic film that has been lithographically patterned into a periodic stripe array. These experiments demonstrate the different and mutually complementary information that can be gained when orienting the stripe array parallel or perpendicular to the scattering plane.

Most of the existing calibration methods for binocular stereo vision sensor (BSVS) depend on high-accuracy target with feature points that are difficult to manufacture and costly. In complex light conditions, optical filters are used for BSVS, but they affect imaging quality. Hence, the use of a high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points for calibration is not feasible under such complex conditions. To solve these problems, a calibration method based on unknown-sized elliptical stripe images is proposed. With known intrinsic parameters, the proposed method adopts the elliptical stripes located on the parallel planes as a medium to calibrate BSVS online. In comparison with the common calibration methods, the proposed method avoids utilizing high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points. Therefore, the proposed method is not only easy to implement but is a realistic method for the calibration of BSVS with optical filter. Changing the size of elliptical curves projected on the target solves the difficulty of applying the proposed method in different fields of view and distances. Simulative and physical experiments are conducted to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. When the field of view is approximately 400 mm × 300 mm, the proposed method can reach a calibration accuracy of 0.03 mm, which is comparable with that of Zhang’s method.

Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst), is a significant challenge to global wheat production. Common wheat landraces AUS27507 and AUS27894 displayed stripe rust resistance against several commercially prevailing Pst pathotypes. These genotypes were crossed with a stripe rust susceptible landrace AUS27229 to understand inheritance of resistance and to determine genomic location(s) of underlying gene(s). F3 generations of crosses AUS27507/AUS27229 and AUS27894/AUS27229 showed monogenic segregation for stripe rust resistance under greenhouse conditions. The absence of segregation for stripe rust response among the AUS27507/AUS27894-derived F3 population suggested that both genotypes carry the same gene. The stripe rust resistance gene carried by AUS27507 and AUS27894 was tentatively named YrAW4. Bulked segregant analysis placed YrAW4 in the long arm of chromosome 2B. The AUS27507/AUS27229 F3 population was enhanced to develop an F6 recombinant inbred line (RIL) population for detailed mapping of chromosome 2BL. DArT-based SSR, STS and KASP markers were employed to enrich the 2BL map. DArT-based STS markers sun481 and SNP marker IWB12294 flanked YrAW4 proximally (1.8 cM) and distally (1.2 cM), respectively. Deletion mapping placed sun481 in the deletion bin 2BL-5. All stripe rust resistance genes, previously located on chromosome 2BL, neither express infection type like YrAW4, nor are mapped in the deletion bin 2BL-5. Hence YrAW4 represented a new locus and was formally named Yr72. The robustness of IWB12294 marker in marker-assisted selection was demonstrated by amplification of and alternative allele to that linked Yr72 in 21 common wheat background.

The liquid-vapor phase change lattice Boltzmann method is used to investigate the pinning-depinning mechanism of the contact line during droplet evaporation on the stripe-patterned surfaces in 3D space. Considering the curvature of the contact line and the direction of the unbalanced Young’s force, the local force balance theory near the stripe boundary is proposed to explain the steady state of the droplets on the stripe-patterned surfaces. An equation is proposed to evaluate the characteristic contact angle of the stabilized droplets. During the evaporation of the droplet, the stick-slip-jump behavior and the CCR-Mixed-CCA mode can be well captured by the lattice Boltzmann simulation. When the contact line is pinned to the stripe boundary, the contact line in the direction perpendicular to the stripes is slowly moving while the curvature of the contact line is gradually increasing. The gradually increasing curvature of the contact line accelerates the movement of the contact line, and the final contact line is detached from the stripe boundary. The research results provide theoretical support and guidance for the design, improvement and application of patterned surfaces in the field of micro-fluidic and evaporation heat transfer.

To evaluate genetic variability and seedling plant response to a dominated Warrior (-) race of yellow rust in Northern and Central European germplasm, we used a population of 229 winter wheat cultivars and breeding lines for genome-wide association study (GWAS). A wide variation in yellow rust disease severity (based on infection types 1-9) was observed in this panel. Four breeding lines TS049 (from Austria), TS111, TS185, and TS229 (from Germany) and one cultivar TS158 (KWS Talent) from Germany were found to be resistant to Warrior (-) FS 53/20 and Warrior (-) G 23/19. GWAS identified five significant SNPs associated with yellow rust on chromosomes 1B, 2A, 5B, and 7A for Warrior (-) FS 53/20, while one SNP on chromosome 5B was associated with disease for Warrior (-) G 23/19. For Warrior (-) FS 53/20, we discovered a new QTL for yellow rust resistance associated with the marker Kukri_c5357_323 on chromosome 1B. The resistant allele G at the marker locus Kukri_c5357_323 on chromosome 1B and the susceptible allele T at the marker locus Excalibur_c17489_804 on chromosome 5B showed the largest effects (1.21 and 0.81, respectively) on the severity of yellow rust detected in Warrior (-) FS 53/20 and Warrior (-) G 23/19. Among 144 putative genes within the flanking sequence of the significant SNPs detected by GWAS, the function of the best candidate genes was determined as protein kinase activity and oxidoreductase activity. Our results provide the basis for knowledge-based resistance breeding in the face of the enormous impact of the Warrior (-) race on wheat production in Europe.