随机信号在神经元网络中诱发的双空间相干共振

对确定性行为为静息的神经元网络施加随机信号进行控制,随着信号强度的增加,网络行为由无序到有序的空间行为一螺旋波再到无序,螺旋波的结构由复杂到简单再到复杂到简单的交替,由网络行为的空间结构函数计算出的信噪比会两次达到极大值,即发生了两次空间相干共振,结果不仅展示了该随机信号控制下的网络的动力学行为,还为通过施加控制因素诱导产生空间共振来提高神经系统的信息处理能力提供了可能的方法．     

心电信号去噪的数学形态学滤波器

为探索验证一种基于数学形态滤波器的去除心电基线漂移和工频干扰的高性能滤波器设计方法,借鉴数学形态学一维信号滤波原理,提出自适应阈值ECG去噪算法的思路,讨论了3σ统计准则在ECG自适应阈值滤波中的作用,利用改进的算法对心电图中常见的工频干扰和基线漂移进行校正。通过对MIT-BIH心率变异数据库中多组数据的仿真验证研究,验证了该算法能有效实现心电信号的噪声预处理;数学形态学理论在心电信号处理中具有良好性能,是实时处理一维生物医学信号有潜力的工具。     

Identification and Characterization of PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR (PRR) 1a and 1b Genes by CRISPR/Cas9-Targeted Mutagenesis in Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa L.)

The CRISPR/Cas9 site-directed gene-editing system offers great advantages for identifying gene function and crop improvement. The circadian clock measures and conveys day length information to control rhythmic hypocotyl growth in photoperiodic conditions, to achieve optimal fitness, but operates through largely unknown mechanisms. Here, we generated core circadian clock evening components, Brassica rapa PSEUDO-RESPONSE REGULATOR (BrPRR) 1a, 1b, and 1ab (both 1a and 1b double knockout) mutants, using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing in Chinese cabbage, where 9–16 genetic edited lines of each mutant were obtained. The targeted deep sequencing showed that each mutant had 2–4 different mutation types at the target sites in the BrPRR1a and BrPRR1b genes. To identify the functions of BrPRR1a and 1b genes, hypocotyl length, and mRNA and protein levels of core circadian clock morning components, BrCCA1 (CIRCADIAN CLOCK-ASSOCIATED 1) and BrLHY (LATE ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL) a and b were examined under light/dark cycles and continuous light conditions. The BrPRR1a and 1ab double mutants showed longer hypocotyls, lower core circadian clock morning component mRNA and protein levels, and a shorter circadian rhythm than wildtype (WT). On the other hand, the BrPRR1b mutant was not significantly different from WT. These results suggested that two paralogous genes may not be associated with the same regulatory function in Chinese cabbage. Taken together, our results demonstrated that CRISPR/Cas9 is an efficient tool for achieving targeted genome modifications and elucidating the biological functions of circadian clock genes in B. rapa, for both breeding and improvement.     

The Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase TaCDPK27 Positively Regulates Salt Tolerance in Wheat

As essential calcium ion (Ca²⁺) sensors in plants, calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) function in regulating the environmental adaptation of plants. However, the response mechanism of CDPKs to salt stress is not well understood. In the current study, the wheat salt-responsive gene TaCDPK27 was identified. The open reading frame (ORF) of TaCDPK27 was 1875 bp, coding 624 amino acids. The predicted molecular weight and isoelectric point were 68.905 kDa and 5.6, respectively. TaCDPK27 has the closest relationship with subgroup III members of the CDPK family of rice. Increased expression of TaCDPK27 in wheat seedling roots and leaves was triggered by 150 mM NaCl treatment. TaCDPK27 was mainly located in the cytoplasm. After NaCl treatment, some of this protein was transferred to the membrane. The inhibitory effect of TaCDPK27 silencing on the growth of wheat seedlings was slight. After exposure to 150 mM NaCl for 6 days, the NaCl stress tolerance of TaCDPK27-silenced wheat seedlings was reduced, with shorter lengths of both roots and leaves compared with those of the control seedlings. Moreover, silencing of TaCDPK27 further promoted the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS); reduced the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT); aggravated the injury to photosystem II (PS II); and increased programmed cell death (PCD) in wheat leaves under NaCl treatment, confirming that the TaCDPK27-silenced seedlings exhibited more NaCl injury than control seedlings. Taken together, the decrease in NaCl tolerance in TaCDPK27-silenced seedlings was due to excessive ROS accumulation and subsequent aggravation of the NaCl-induced PCD. TaCDPK27 may be essential for positively regulating salt tolerance in wheat seedlings.     

Genome-Wide Analysis of the Peptidase M24 Superfamily in Triticum aestivum Demonstrates That TaM24-9 Is Involved in Abiotic Stress Response

The peptidase M24 (Metallopeptidase 24, M24) superfamily is essential for plant growth, stress response, and pathogen defense. At present, there are few systematic reports on the identification and classification of members of the peptidase M24 proteins superfamily in wheat. In this work, we identified 53 putative candidate TaM24 genes. According to the protein sequences characteristics, these members can be roughly divided into three subfamilies: I, II, III. Most TaM24 genes are complex with multiple exons, and the motifs are relatively conserved in each sub-group. Through chromosome mapping analysis, we found that the 53 genes were unevenly distributed on 19 wheat chromosomes (except 3A and 3D), of which 68% were in triads. Analysis of gene duplication events showed that 62% of TaM24 genes in wheat came from fragment duplication events, and there were no tandem duplication events to amplify genes. Analysis of the promoter sequences of TaM24 genes revealed that cis-acting elements were rich in response elements to drought, osmotic stress, ABA, and MeJA. We also studied the expression of TaM24 in wheat tissues at developmental stages and abiotic stress. Then we selected TaM24-9 as the target for further analysis. The results showed that TaM24-9 genes strengthened the drought and salt tolerance of plants. Overall, our analysis showed that members of the peptidase M24 genes may participate in the abiotic stress response and provided potential gene resources for improving wheat resistance.     

On the multiple melting transitions of starch/monoglyceride systems

Thermal analysis of rice starch/1-monoglyceride mixtures at intermediate water content (50%) was carried out using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermo-Mechanical Analysis (TMA). The DSC thermal profiles revealed multiple melting characteristics for the amylose-monoglyceride complexes. A mechanism based on partial melting followed by recrystallization (exothermic effect) and remelting is invoked to explain such behavior. Crystallization of amylose-lipid complexes occurs during starch gelatinization with a rate that is determined by the molecular nucleation step. The latter is strongly dependent on the nature of the complexing ligand molecule. Monoglycerides of good amylose complexing ability rapidly induce metastable (small size and/or less perfected) crystallites in the melted polysaccharide matrix which are inclined to reorganization/annealing on subsequent heating in the DSC. The overall thermal behavior of these systems is best rationalized by considering the interactions between solvent and polymer, the morphology of the semicrystalline structure, as well as the kinetic effects inherent with the dynamic character of the thermoanalytical techniques employed. Due to the irreversible/non-equilibrium melting of amylose-lipid complexes, complications can arise in attempting to analyze melting data by the polymer-diluent method (Flory-Huggins equation). The general features of the TMA volume expansion curves suggested that lipids can retard granule swelling at low temperatures.     

Energy analysis applied to food processing

We use first-law and second-law efficiencies on 2 multi-process food processing plants. These efficiencies are 59.6 and 19.4% for a condensed milk plant and 43.0 and 15.5% for the bakery plant. Improvements in both first-law and second-law efficiencies for the bakery can be achieved by reducing the mass of dough moulds and recovery of energy in the bake-oven exhaust to heat the air in the proofing oven. Replacement of the flash-cooling process in the condensed-milk plant by a combination of boiling at 100 °C and cooling via a vapour-compression refrigerator would lead to significant improvements in plant efficiencies.     

Simulation of a reaction-diffusion system on large dimpled surfaces using a vector computer

This paper presents an effective numerical method of simulating the behaviour of a reaction-diffusion (RD) system on large dimpled skin surfaces. The simulation problem arises from models of initiation and development of hair follicles in sheep and other mammals. The numerical method has been selected to take advantage of the vector (pipelined) processing capability of a CDC Cyber 205 computer used for this work.The dimpled skin surface is mapped to a plane by a suitable coordinate transformation. A finite difference scheme is used to discretize the transformed RD system equations. Methods of solving the equations through time are discussed and a partly explicit and partly implicit Euler method is adopted. An iterative algorithm (successive overrelaxation with red-black ordering) is used to solve the implicit equations. The complete procedure is shown to be very computationally efficient on the Cyber 205.