CRISPR/Cas9 Technology and Its Utility for Crop Improvement

The rapid growth of the global population has resulted in a considerable increase in the demand for food crops. However, traditional crop breeding methods will not be able to satisfy the worldwide demand for food in the future. New gene-editing technologies, the most widely used of which is CRISPR/Cas9, may enable the rapid improvement of crop traits. Specifically, CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing technology involves the use of a guide RNA and a Cas9 protein that can cleave the genome at specific loci. Due to its simplicity and efficiency, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has rapidly become the most widely used tool for editing animal and plant genomes. It is ideal for modifying the traits of many plants, including food crops, and for creating new germplasm materials. In this review, the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, the underlying mechanism, and examples of its use for editing genes in important crops are discussed. Furthermore, certain limitations of the CRISPR/Cas9 system and potential solutions are described. This article will provide researchers with important information regarding the use of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology for crop improvement, plant breeding, and gene functional analyses.     

Highly Stretchable and Sensitive Flexible Strain Sensor Based on Fe NWs/Graphene/PEDOT:PSS with a Porous Structure

With the rapid development of wearable smart electronic products, high-performance wearable flexible strain sensors are urgently needed. In this paper, a flexible strain sensor device with Fe NWs/Graphene/PEDOT:PSS material added under a porous structure was designed and prepared. The effects of adding different sensing materials and a different number of dips with PEDOT:PSS on the device performance were investigated. The experiments show that the flexible strain sensor obtained by using Fe NWs, graphene, and PEDOT:PSS composite is dipped in polyurethane foam once and vacuum dried in turn with a local linearity of 98.8%, and the device was stable up to 3500 times at 80% strain. The high linearity and good stability are based on the three-dimensional network structure of polyurethane foam, combined with the excellent electrical conductivity of Fe NWs, the bridging and passivation effects of graphene, and the stabilization effect of PEDOT:PSS, which force the graphene-coated Fe NWs to adhere to the porous skeleton under the action of PEDOT:PSS to form a stable three-dimensional conductive network. Flexible strain sensor devices can be applied to smart robots and other fields and show broad application prospects in intelligent wearable devices.     

Experiences of Trauma and DNA Methylation Profiles among African American Mothers and Children

Potentially traumatic experiences have been associated with chronic diseases. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation (DNAm), have been proposed as an explanation for this association. We examined the association of experiences of trauma with epigenome-wide DNAm among African American mothers (n = 236) and their children aged 3–5 years (n = 232; N = 500), using the Life Events Checklist-5 (LEC) and Traumatic Events Screening Inventory—Parent Report Revised (TESI-PRR). We identified no DNAm sites significantly associated with potentially traumatic experience scores in mothers. One CpG site on the ENOX1 gene was methylome-wide-significant in children (FDR-corrected q-value = 0.05) from the TESI-PRR. This protein-coding gene is associated with mental illness, including unipolar depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia. Future research should further examine the associations between childhood trauma, DNAm, and health outcomes among this understudied and high-risk group. Findings from such longitudinal research may inform clinical and translational approaches to prevent adverse health outcomes associated with epigenetic changes.     

纳米等离子体激光器研究进展

半导体激光器在生物技术、信息存储、光子医学诊疗等方面得到了广泛应用。随着纳米技术和纳米光子学的发展,紧凑微型化激光器应用前景引人关注。当激光器谐振腔尺寸减小到发射波长时,电磁谐振腔中将产生更为有趣的物理效应。因此,在发展低维、低泵浦阈值的超快相干光源,以及纳米光电集成和等离激元光路时,减小半导体激光器的三维尺寸至关重要。在本综述中,首先介绍了纳米等离子体激光器中的谐振腔模式增益和限制因子的总体理论,并综述了金属-绝缘材料-半导体纳米(MIS)结构或其它相关金属覆盖半导体结构的纳米等离子体激光器各方面的总体研究进展。特别地,对基于MIS结构的等离子体谐振腔实现纳米等离子体激光器三维衍射极限的突破,进行了详细的介绍。本文也介绍并展望了纳米等离子体激光器的技术挑战和发展趋势,为纳米激光器进一步研究提供参考。

     

复合二维材料GO-MoS2锁模掺铒光纤激光器

为了提升MoS2可饱和吸收体在脉冲激光器中的稳定性和工作性能,本论文采用氧化石墨烯(GO)作为胶体表面活性剂,通过LPE的方法剥离出少层MoS2,并进一步开展了少层GO-MoS2用于掺铒光纤激光器(EDFL)锁模的实验研究。在实验中获得了中心波长为1558 nm,重复频率为7.86 MHz,脉宽为1.9 ps的稳定锁模脉冲激光。当泵浦功率为60.5 mW时,输出功率为0.48 mW,脉冲峰值功率为32.1 W。研究证明,采用这种方法制备的新型复合二维材料有利于保持少层MoS2的稳定性,并且能提高MoS2可饱和吸收体的损伤阈值,以获取更大脉冲能量的超快激光。     

分布式多参数光纤传感技术研究进展

分布式光纤传感系统利用光纤既能传感又能传输信号的特性实现对光纤沿线振动、应变、温度等物理量的长距离连续测量,在周界安防、电网管道监控、大型结构健康监测等领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。上述的实际应用中,事件或故障的发生通常表现为振动、应变以及温度等物理量的改变,振动的探测频响高低、应变探测的动态响应能力以及多参数的同时测量都会影响事件的定位或预警。因此,振动的宽频测量、应变的动态测量以及多参数测量,对事件定位和信息完整捕获起着至关重要的作用,能够推动分布式光纤传感的应用发展。本文介绍了近年来在分布式光纤传感系统中,基于瑞利散射的宽频振动测量、基于布里渊散射的应变动态测量以及基于多散射的多参数测量取得的研究进展。

     

光纤激光相干合成研究进展

近年来,以激光大气传输为应用背景的光束相干合成技术被广泛研究,而关于该项技术在空间光通信中的应用研究却不多。事实上,基于光束相干合成的多孔径接收天线结构可有效缓解大气湍流影响,提高空间激光通信系统的性能。本论文简要介绍了中国科学院自适应光学重点实验室面向激光大气传输应用的激光组束传输与湍流校正技术研究近况;重点介绍关于多孔径接收空间光通信系统中的光纤相干合成研究进展,主要包括基于3 dB光纤耦合器的相干合成和基于光纤偏振合束器的相干偏振合成两种方法,在空间光通信系统中具有极大的潜在应用。

     

大口径压电倾斜镜模型辨识与控制

本文提出了一种基于随机梯度优化算法的倾斜镜模型辨识方法,实现对大口径压电倾斜镜的复杂频率响应规律的辨识与控制带宽提高。文章介绍了压电倾斜镜原理和数学模型,描述了随机梯度优化算法在模型辨识的应用过程,并通过实验验证的方式检验了算法辨识模型的准确性以及在提高系统控制带宽方面的能力;最后,利用随机梯度下降算法本文还开展了对抖动输入频谱的辨识,结合倾斜镜模型的辨识结果,获得了对特定频谱区域更高抑制能力的控制效果。

     

红外材料低温热膨胀系数测量方案及其精度分析

为了实现低温真空环境下红外材料热膨胀系数的高精度测量,提出了一种固体材料低温热膨胀系数的测量方案。本方案基于自准直原理,设计了一种测微结构,建立起了结构变形与角度的关系,并推导出热膨胀系数测量公式。利用测量公式,从理论上分析了该方案的测量误差传递函数关系,并利用误差灵敏度函数对红外材料低温热膨胀系数测量装置的设计精度进行了分析,最后通过计算得到了该方案的测量相对误差。结果表明,测量的热膨胀系数相对误差仅为0.76%,满足纳米级测量要求。     

基于迭代线性约束最小方差的稳健自适应脉冲压缩方法

针对常规自适应脉冲压缩方法在目标散射点与采样中心失配时旁瓣抑制性能下降的问题,该文提出一种基于迭代线性约束最小方差(RLCMV)的自适应脉冲压缩方法。该方法首先将自适应波束形成器算法引入到自适应脉冲压缩滤波器设计中。其次对目标及干扰单元进行线性约束,并用对角加载技术避免矩阵出现病态。最后构造了迭代运算方法,依次抑制不同大小目标的距离旁瓣。仿真结果表明,该算法可以有效抑制散射点随机分布目标的距离旁瓣,对散射点与采样中心失配情况具有较好的稳健性,在多目标及距离扩展目标场景中达到较好的旁瓣抑制性能,并在一定程度上提高了多普勒容性。