SSD1, which encodes a plant-specific novel protein,controls plant elongation by regulating cell division in rice

Plant height is one of the most important traits in crop improvement. Therefore revealing the mechanism of plant elongation and controlling plant height in accordance with breeding object is important. In this study we analyzed a novel dwarf mutant, ssd1, of which phenotype is different from typical GA- or BR-related dwarf phenotype. ssd1 exhibits pleiotropic defects in elongation of various organs such as stems, roots, leaves, and flowers. ssd1 also shows abnormal cell files and shapes, which suggests defects of normal cell division in the mutant. Map-based cloning and complementation test demonstrated that the dwarf phenotype in ssd1 mutant was caused by insertion of retrotransposon in a gene, which encodes plant-specific protein with unknown biochemical function. A BLAST search revealed that SSD1-like genes exist in diverse plant species, including monocots and dicots, but not fern and moss. Our results demonstrate that SSD1 controls plant elongation by controlling cell division in higher plants.     

Advances in stable and flexible perovskite solar cells

Roll-to-roll (R2R) production is an innovative approach and is fast becoming a very popular industrial method for high throughput and mass production of solar cells. Replacement of costly indium tin oxide (ITO), which conventionally has served as the transparent electrode would be a great approach for roll to roll production of flexible cost effective solar cells. Indium tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) are brittle and ultimately limit the device flexibility. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been the centre of photovoltaic research community during the recent years owing to its exceptional performance and economical prices. The best reported PSCs fabricated by employing mesoporous TiO₂ layers require elevated temperatures in the range of 400–500 °C which limits its applications to solely glass substrates. In such a scenario developing flexible PSCs technology can be considered a suitable and exciting arena from the application point of view, them being flexible, lightweight, portable, and easy to integrate over both small, large and curved surfaces.     

溶剂效应对聚苯撑乙烯掺杂二酰亚胺太阳电池性能的影响

研究了不同溶剂对2-甲氧基-5-(2-乙基己氧基)-1,4-对苯撑乙烯(MEH-PPV):N,N′-二(1-乙基丙基)-3,4,9,10-四羧酸二亚酰胺(EP-PTC)复合膜的形貌及其对以MEH-PPV:EP-PTC复合膜为活性层的太阳电池性能的影响.结果表明:非芳香性溶剂不利于MEH-PPV与EP-PTC的相容,MEH-PPV与EP-PTC两相间形成微米尺寸(0.5—5μm)的相分离,因而以MEH-PPV:EP-PTC复合膜为活性层的太阳电池中的电荷分离效率较低,进而电池的能量转换效率较低.而芳香性溶剂有利于MEH-PPV与EP-PTC的相容,MEH-PPV与EP-PTC两相间能形成纳米尺度的相分离,因此MEH-PPV与EP-PTC两相间的界面面积明显增加,界面处的电荷分离概率明显提高.与非芳香性溶剂相比,基于芳香性溶剂的复合膜太阳电池的能量转换效率提高了20倍.     

A Method for Measuring the Three-Dimensional Refractive-Index Distribution of Single Cells Using Proximal Two-Beam Optical Tweezers and a Phase-Shifting Mach—Zehnder Interferometer

This paper describes a method for measuring the three-dimensional (3D) refractive-index distribution in a single cell. The method can be used to observe the distribution of cell components without fluorescence staining. The two-dimensional optical path length distributions from multiple directions are obtained by non-contact rotation of the cell. These optical path lengths are converted into the line integrals of the refractive index, and the 3D refractive-index distribution is reconstructed by means of computed tomography. The refractive-index distribution in a breast cancer cell can be measured using a phase-shifting Mach—Zehnder interferometer in conjunction with proximal two-beam optical tweezers.     

Novel Rat-race Hybrid Coupler for RF Front-end Module

In this paper, a novel compact rat-race hybrid coupler incorporating an improved beeline compact microstrip resonant cell(IB-CMRC) is presented firstly. The size of the coupler is reduced by 46.5% than conventional one due to IB-CMRC’s excellent slow-wave effect. The novel coupler possesses strong ability of high-order harmonic suppression (above 30 dB) in addition. The measured insertion loss is comparable to that of a conventional microstrip hybrid coupler. Great potential applications of this IB-CMRC can be explored in MICs and MMICs to reduce the circuits size, suppress harmonics and improve the overall performance of the RF front-end module.     

Effect of cation doping on ionic and electronic properties for lanthanum silicate-based solid electrolytes

Electronic as well as ionic conducting properties for oxyapatite-type solid electrolytes based on lanthanum silicate, La_9.333 + xSi₆O_26 + 1.5x (LSO) were investigated in the oxygen-excess region (x > ca. 0.3). We have found that the oxygen excess-type LSO (OE-LSO), namely La₁₀Si₆O₂₇ on weighted basis, exhibited high conductivity, and substitution of the Si-site of LSO with some dopants (Mⁿ⁺) had a positive effect toward the conducting property. Furthermore, it was also found that addition of a very small amount of iron ions into the M-doped OE-LSO, La₁₀(Si_6-yMⁿ⁺_y)O_27-(2-0.5n)y, improved its conductivity. On the other hand, replacement of the La-site with various ions for La₁₀(Si_6-yMⁿ⁺_y)O_27-(2-0.5n)y did little to improve conductivity. The electronic transport numbers for Al-doped OE-LSO with Fe-addition, (1-α){La₁₀(Si_5.8Al_0.2)O_26.9}-α(FeO_γ), evaluated with the Hebb-Wagner polarization method were very low: i.e., 1.1 × 10^− 3 and 2.9 × 10^− 3 under P(O₂) = 1.1 × 10⁴ Pa at 1073 K for α = 0.00 and 0.005, respectively. Conductivity for each sample was unchanged under humidified atmosphere at 1073 K sustained for over 50 h, revealing that both compositions were chemically stable. It was concluded that 0.995{La₁₀(Si_5.8Al_0.2)O_26.9}-0.005(FeO_γ) is suitable for the fuel cell electrolytes because of its high and almost pure ionic conductivity, and its good chemical stability under humidified as well as reducing conditions.     

Light scattering by Gaussian random ellipsoid particles: First results with discrete-dipole approximation

We introduce the stochastic geometry of a Gaussian random ellipsoid (GE) and, with the discrete-dipole approximation, carry out preliminary computations for light scattering by wavelength-scale GE particles. In the GE geometry, we describe the base ellipsoid by the three semiaxes a?b?c. The axial ratios b:a and c:a appear as two shape parameters additional to those of the Gaussian random sphere geometry (GS). We compare the scattering characteristics of GE particles to those of ellipsoids. Introducing irregularities on ellipsoids smoothens the angular scattering characteristics, in a way analogous to the smoothening of spherical particle characteristics in the case of GS particles.     

Laser induced electronic acceleration process in nano dot

A physical model of the laser induced electron transport in dielectric with small size is discussed. The model assumes that free electrons are originally existent or produced by impact detrapping. The free electrons transporting in low dimensional dielectrics interact with phonons and surface. When the laser electric field strength is high enough, the inelastic electron scattering such as impact ionization and cascade processes will play important roles. A small size effect has been found in electron absorbing laser energy under the conditions that the laser wavelength is in near infrared zone and the material has size in nanometer level. This is a very significative effect to enlighten us on preparing ultrahigh threshold laser films with new nano-structure.     

Study of Inx(O,OH,S)y buffer layer effect on CIGSe thin film solar cells

In_x(O,OH,S)_y buffer layer has been applied to Cu(In,Ga)Se₂(CIGSe) solar cell by chemical bath deposition (CBD). The cell efficiency was observed to be dependant on film growth mode of In_x(O,OH,S)_y buffer layer, which was affected by the CBD conditions such as sulfur chemical concentration and deposition time. The fabricated solar cell showing higher conversion efficiency was observed to have non-porous and uniform texture of buffer, whereas the lower conversion efficiency cells were found to have fibrous texture or detached texture of buffer. The fibrous texture and the detached texture induced high series resistance and lower shunt resistance, respectively, which all resulted in lower cell efficiency with reduced fill factor. External quantum efficiency and temperature dependence of open circuit voltage measurements revealed that the lower efficiency cells suffered from higher interface recombination loss due to the related defects.     

基于DNA损伤的蛋白调控网络研究

细胞生长的每个阶段都离不开蛋白质相互作用.研究细胞周期的功能、调控机理及参与调控的蛋白质之间的关系对生物工程等领域有重大的应用价值.本文通过研究电离辐射下生物体细胞的DNA损伤后,细胞内以p53为核心的扩展蛋白调控网络的功能、原理及其自修复机理,在现有蛋白网络基础上引入更多蛋白网络调控因子来建立蛋白调控网络,仿真模拟更为全面的细胞周期进程;并且从复杂网络图论和细胞周期调控两个方面分析扩展PMP调控网络的抗扰能力及自修复机理,结果表明:1)蛋白网络在对抗环境中出现的小扰动时具有较强的稳定性.但在面对蓄意攻击时网络的稳定性较差.2)受损的DNA能否被修复取决于p53蛋白的动力学行为,即低损伤与中损伤情况下,p53可诱导细胞周期进程阻滞来完成细胞的自修复;而当高损伤或过损伤时,p53蛋白浓度表现为周期振荡行为并诱导细胞凋亡.