Abstract Multilayered Ni coatings were successfully deposited on martensitic stainless-steel substrates by electrodeposition method with intermittent ultrasound. It is a novel kind of multilayered microstructure of stacked-up sandwiches, whose compositions of each monolayer are the same to those of its adjacent layers. The grains of ordinary Ni layers are columnar, vertically to the substrate surface, but the grains of ultrasonic Ni layers grow parallel along the substrate surface. By multilayered structure, the pinholes running through the coating were obviously inhibited, because the multilayered Ni coating can cover the whole surface of the substrate without the direct pinhole passages down to the substrate. Therefore, its corrosion mechanism is the uniform corrosion. For the ordinary Ni coating, the direct corrosion on the substrate can occur through the pinholes, which are the convenient passages for corrosive media to reach the substrate easily. This behavior can lead to the Fe/Ni galvanic corrosion, coating adhesion reduction, and quick formation of coating cracks in the ordinary Ni coating.

Abstract Background: Abscisic acid-, stress-, and ripening-induced (ASR) genes are a class of plant specific transcription factors (TFs), which play important roles in plant development, growth and abiotic stress responses. The wheat ASRs have not been described in genome-wide yet. Methods: We predicted the transmembrane regions and subcellular localization using the TMHMM server, and Plant-mPLoc server and CELLO v2.5, respectively. Then the phylogeny tree was built by MEGA7. The exon–intron structures, conserved motifs and TFs binding sites were analyzed by GSDS, MEME program and PlantRegMap, respectively. Results: In wheat, 33ASR genes were identified through a genome-wide survey and classified into six groups. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the TaASR proteins in the same group tightly clustered together, compared with those from other species. Duplication analysis indicated that the TaASR gene family has expanded mainly through tandem and segmental duplication events. Similar gene structures and conserved protein motifs of TaASRs in wheat were identified in the same groups. ASR genes contained various TF binding cites associated with the stress responses in the promoter region. Gene expression was generally associated with the expected group-specific expression pattern in five tissues, including grain, leaf, root, spike and stem, indicating the broad conservation of ASR genes function during wheat evolution. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that several ASRs were up-regulated in response to NaCl and PEG stress. Conclusion: We identified ASR genes in wheat and found that gene duplication events are the main driving force for ASR gene evolution in wheat. The expression of wheat ASR genes was modulated in responses to multiple abiotic stresses, including drought/osmotic and salt stress. The results provided important information for further identifications of the functions of wheat ASR genes and candidate genes for high abiotic stress tolerant wheat breeding.