Design of a Thin Film Infrared Barcode on a Flexible Substrate

We report the design, fabrication and characterization of an infrared barcode. This barcode is composed of a bilayer of titanium and amorphous silicon on a flexible Kapton substrate. Information encoded in the barcode shows high contrast when viewed with an infrared imaging system in the 8 to 12 m spectral region. The barcode information is concealed under visible viewing conditions, i.e., the barcode appears as an untreated, uniform metal sheet to a detector of visible radiation (400 to 700nm).     

颜色失真二维彩色条形码的自适应阈值机读法

采用紫外辐照加速老化方法研究纸基彩色条形码的褪色规律。基于CIELAB模型分析紫外辐照累计时间与二维条形码色差的关系，对4色打印标签的检测结果表明：品红色褪变速率较大，青色、黄色和黑色的褪变速率逐次减小。基于RGB三基色直方图和概率统计原理，提出能有效校正颜色失真、正确机读二维条形码的“自适应阈值法”。实验表明：对于紫外25h加速老化后的褪色条形码，“自适应阈值法”的机读误码率≤0.05%。该研究结果为褪色彩色条形码标签进入实用阶段提供了实验依据。     

Radon变换在二维条码图像识别中的应用

分忻了DataMatrix（简称DM）二维条码的符号结构特点，根据Radon变换的基本思想方法，提出一种对识别无间断的连续线段很有效的算法和一种对识别“铁路线”很有效的算法，运用这两途中算法，在二维条码图像最小模块仅为2.7像素的情况下，在图像轻微弯曲的情况下，可以对二维条码图像中的黑边和铁路线快速准确地定位，该算法可以应用于QR Code、DataMatrix、Code93和龙贝码等二维条码的图像识别。     

Essential Oil Chemotypes and Genetic Variability of Cinnamomum verum Leaf Samples Commercialized and Cultivated in the Amazon

Cinnamomum verum (Lauraceae), also known as “true cinnamon” or “Ceylon cinnamon” has been widely used in traditional folk medicine and cuisine for a long time. The systematics of C. verum presents some difficulties due to genetic variation and morphological similarity between other Cinnamomum species. The present work aimed to find chemical and molecular markers of C. verum samples from the Amazon region of Brazil. The leaf EOs and the genetic material (DNA) were extracted from samples cultivated and commercial samples. The chemical composition of the essential oils from samples of C. verum cultivated (Cve1-Cve5) and commercial (Cve6-c-Cv9-c) was grouped by multivariate statistical analysis of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The major compounds were rich in benzenoids and phenylpropanoids, such as eugenol (0.7–91.0%), benzyl benzoate (0.28–76.51%), (E)-cinnamyl acetate (0.36–32.1%), and (E)-cinnamaldehyde (1.0–19.73%). DNA barcodes were developed for phylogenetic analysis using the chloroplastic regions of the matK and rbcL genes, and psbA-trnH intergenic spacer. The psbA-trnH sequences provided greater diversity of nucleotides, and matK confirmed the identity of C. verum. The combination of DNA barcode and volatile profile was found to be an important tool for the discrimination of C. verum varieties and to examine the authenticity of industrial sources.     

一种印刷机滚筒表面位置偏差的高精度光电测量系统

为了提高印刷机的印刷品质,构建了一个测量高速旋转物体表面位置偏差的高精度系统.介绍了该系统的设计原理、结构,各个模块的功能以及软件设计的思路,重点讨论了条形码设计的思路以及利用锁相法测量旋转物体表面位置偏差的方法,并通过实验结果分析,评估了该系统的质量.实验证明该系统可以测量10 μm的位置偏差,测量误差低于3 μm,测量误差稳定可靠,检测速度快,为印刷机滚筒表面位置偏差的测量提供了一种全新的技术手段.     

Identification of effective DNA barcodes for Triticum plants through chloroplast genome-wide analysis

The Egyptian flora is rich with a large number of Triticum plants, which are very difficult to discriminate between in the early developmental stages. This study assesses the significance of using two DNA Barcoding loci (matK and rbcL) in distinguishing between 18 different Triticum accessions in Egypt. We isolated and sequenced 15 rbcL and six matK fragments, but our analysis of the resultant sequences demonstrated a limited ability of matK and rbcL in distinguishing between Triticum accessions. Therefore, we pursued a bioinformatics approach to determine the most useful loci which may be used as DNA barcodes for the Triticum spp. We obtained the 10 available chloroplast genomes of the 10 Triticum species and sub-species from NCBI, and performed chloroplast genome-wide analysis to find the potential barcode loci. A total of 134 chloroplast genes, gene combinations, intergenic regions and intergenic region combinations were tested using a Tree-based method. We were unable to discriminate between Triticum species by using chloroplast genes, gene combinations and intergenic regions. However, a combination of the intergenic region (trnfM-trnT) with either (trnD-psbM), (petN-trnC), (matK-rps16) or (rbcL-psaI) demonstrated a very high discrimination capacity, suggesting their utilization as DNA barcodes for the Triticum plants. Furthermore, our novel DNA barcodes demonstrated high discrimination capacity for other Poaceae members.     

Simultaneous Quantification of Multiple Cancer Biomarkers in Blood Samples through DNA‐Assisted Nanopore Sensing

Protein biomarkers in blood have been widely used in the early diagnosis of disease. However, simultaneous detection of many biomarkers in a single sample remains challenging. Herein, we show that the combination of a sandwich assay and DNA‐assisted nanopore sensing could unambiguously identify and quantify several antigens in a mixture. We use five barcode DNAs to label different gold nanoparticles that can selectively bind specific antigens. After the completion of the sandwich assay, barcode DNAs are released and subject to nanopore translocation tests. The distinct current signatures generated by each barcode DNA allow simultaneous quantification of biomarkers at picomolar level in clinical samples. This approach would be very useful for accurate and multiplexed quantification of cancer‐associated biomarkers within a very small sample volume, which is critical for non‐invasive early diagnosis of cancer.     

Application and analysis of structure-switching aptamers for small molecule quantification

Modern tools for the analysis of cellular function aim for the quantitative measurement of all members of a given class of biological molecules. Of the analyte classes, nucleic acid measurements are typically the most tractable, both on an individual analyte basis and in parallel. Thus, tools are being sought to enable measurement of other cellular molecules using nucleic acid biosensors. Of the variety of potential nucleic acid biosensor strategies, structure-switching aptamers (SSAs) present a unique opportunity to couple sensing and readout of the target molecule. However, little has been characterized about the parameters that determine the fidelity of the signal from SSA biosensors. In this study, a small molecule biosensor based on a SSA was engineered to detect the model small molecule, theophylline, in solution. Quantitative theophylline detection over nearly three orders-of-magnitude was achieved by scintillation counting and quantitative PCR. Further analysis showed that the biosensor fidelity is primarily controlled by the relative stability of the two conformations of the SSA.