Untangling dendrites with quantitative models

Our understanding of the function of dendrites has been greatly enriched by an inspiring dialogue between theory and experiments. Rather than functionally ignoring dendrites, representing neurons as single summing points, we have realized that dendrites are electrically and chemically distributed nonlinear units and that this has important consequences for interpreting experimental data and for the role of neurons in information processing. Here, we examine the route to unraveling some of the enigmas of dendrites and highlight the main insights that have been gained. Future directions are discussed that will enable theory and models to keep shedding light on dendrites, where the most fundamental input-output adaptive processes take place.     

Reconfigurable knots and links in chiral nematic colloids

Tying knots and linking microscopic loops of polymers, macromolecules, or defect lines in complex materials is a challenging task for material scientists. We demonstrate the knotting of microscopic topological defect lines in chiral nematic liquid-crystal colloids into knots and links of arbitrary complexity by using laser tweezers as a micromanipulation tool. All knots and links with up to six crossings, including the Hopf link, the Star of David, and the Borromean rings, are demonstrated, stabilizing colloidal particles into an unusual soft matter. The knots in chiral nematic colloids are classified by the quantized self-linking number, a direct measure of the geometric, or Berry's, phase. Forming arbitrary microscopic knots and links in chiral nematic colloids is a demonstration of how relevant the topology can be for the material engineering of soft matter.     

落叶松人工林节子内部特征变化规律研究

以落叶松人工林为研究对象,采用枝解析和节子剖析技术,获取了95株解析木和2 165个节子数据,以树木和节子自身因子为自变量建立了节子内部特征模型,包括节子直径和角度模型、节子中健全节和疏松节长度模型。模型很好地描述了节子内部特征因子的变化规律,揭示了节子内部特征因子随林木和自身变量变化的机制。结果表明:节子直径、节子角度和健全节长度都随着其所在位置高度的增加而增大,随着树木胸径的增大而增大;疏松节长度随着胸径的增大呈现增大趋势,但节子自身直径大小对其影响也较大。应用独立检验样本对所建模型进行检验,精度达到了95%以上,这些模型可以应用到林木生长模拟系统中,增加模拟效果。节子内部特征变化规律的研究也有助于揭示枝条的生长与死亡机制,对开展整枝抚育从而提高木材质量有重要意义。      

Untangling genomes from metagenomes: revealing an uncultured class of marine Euryarchaeota

Ecosystems are shaped by complex communities of mostly unculturable microbes. Metagenomes provide a fragmented view of such communities, but the ecosystem functions of major groups of organisms remain mysterious. To better characterize members of these communities, we developed methods to reconstruct genomes directly from mate-paired short-read metagenomes. We closed a genome representing the as-yet uncultured marine group II Euryarchaeota, assembled de novo from 1.7% of a metagenome sequenced from surface seawater. The genome describes a motile, photo-heterotrophic cell focused on degradation of protein and lipids and clarifies the origin of proteorhodopsin. It also demonstrates that high-coverage mate-paired sequence can overcome assembly difficulties caused by interstrain variation in complex microbial communities, enabling inference of ecosystem functions for uncultured members.     

基于局部二值拟合模型的板材表面节子与虫眼的图像分割

为了更好地对板材表面的节子和虫眼进行快速有效的分割,对局部二值拟合（local binary fitting,LBF）模型进行了深入研究,从而提出一个改进的 LBF模型,即在LBF模型的基础上,添加一个新的水平集线性正则化项,与此同时引入一个以高斯函数为核函数的局部二值拟合能量。改进算法能够克服LBF模型的分割缺点,使得分割过程对初始轮廓的大小和位置不敏感,同时增强算法的抗噪性,能够分割出灰度不均匀的图像。经实验验证,该算法可以比较完整地提取出单一目标和多目标的板材节子和虫眼的图像,以及对应得出与缺陷图像相对应的水平集演化图像。图21表1参15     

Steering attosecond electron wave packets with light

Photoelectrons excited by extreme ultraviolet or x-ray photons in the presence of a strong laser field generally suffer a spread of their energies due to the absorption and emission of laser photons. We demonstrate that if the emitted electron wave packet is temporally confined to a small fraction of the oscillation period of the interacting light wave, its energy spectrum can be up- or downshifted by many times the laser photon energy without substantial broadening. The light wave can accelerate or decelerate the electron's drift velocity, i.e., steer the electron wave packet like a classical particle. This capability strictly relies on a sub-femtosecond duration of the ionizing x-ray pulse and on its timing to the phase of the light wave with a similar accuracy, offering a simple and potentially single-shot diagnostic tool for attosecond pump-probe spectroscopy.     

Spectroscopy of biological compounds with inelastic electron tunneling

Metal-insulator-metal electron tunnel junctions can be doped with a solution of an organic compound by placing a drop of the solution on the insulator and spinning of the excess. Electrical measurement of the second derivative of voltage with respect to current, as a function of applied voltage, then gives a spectrum of vibrational modes equivalent to an infrared or Raman spectrum, but with the use of only micrograms of sample.     

Crustacean eye fine structure seen with scanning electron microscopy

The internal fine structure of crustacean compound eyes has been reexamined with scanning electron microscopy. Several different preparative techniques were used in a comparative study of crab, crayfish, shrimp, and stomatopod eyes. The three-dimensional pattern of photoreceptive, dioptric, and screening components of these eyes has been directly demonstrated, and new insight has been gained into their functional organization. Particularly interesting in apposition eyes is the elaborate array of boundary membranes and protoplasmic strands linking the photoreceptive microvilli to their parent cell cytoplasm across the large intracellular vacuoles surrounding the axial rhabdom. Quantitative application of scanning electron microscopy to this system promises to advance our understanding of its proven high rate of receptor membrane turnover.     

Optical coherence tomography

A technique called optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been developed for noninvasive cross-sectional imaging in biological systems. OCT uses low-coherence interferometry to produce a two-dimensional image of optical scattering from internal tissue microstructures in a way that is analogous to ultrasonic pulse-echo imaging. OCT has longitudinal and lateral spatial resolutions of a few micrometers and can detect reflected signals as small as approximately 10(-10) of the incident optical power. Tomographic imaging is demonstrated in vitro in the peripapillary area of the retina and in the coronary artery, two clinically relevant examples that are representative of transparent and turbid media, respectively.     

米老排人工林节子时空分布特征及变色规律

【目的】探明米老排Mytilaria laosensis人工林节子的时空分布特征及变色规律,为培育米老排无节材提供理论参考。【方法】以位于广西凭祥市的中国林业科学研究院热带林业实验中心11年生米老排人工林为研究对象,选取20株米老排样木,利用节子解析的方法,对获得的1 101个完整节子进行研究。【结果】从节子发育年龄上,米老排的枝条主要从第1～2年开始生长,第2～4年是其死亡高峰期(91.9%),这些枝条(87.2%)死亡后在第5～8年内完全愈合并形成节子,其中大部分节子(76.7%)的愈合时间为3～6 a;在第2～4年米老排枝条死亡数量较多,该时段是控制节子形成的关键时期。在节子垂直分布上,节子的数量呈现随树高的增加先上升后急剧下降的趋势,且主要集中在高度为0～8.0 m的树干上。节子变色长度与节子的直径和愈合时间呈显著正相关(P<0.05),但与分枝角度呈显著负相关(P<0.05)。通过逐步回归,得出节子直径、死节长度、节子出现年龄以及愈合时间是影响米老排节子变色长度的关键因子,相关性达极显著水平(P<0.01)。【结论】在米老排种植后的2～4 a,对树干8.0 ...     

Measurement of fast electron spin relaxation times with atomic resolution

Single spins in solid-state systems are often considered prime candidates for the storage of quantum information, and their interaction with the environment the main limiting factor for the realization of such schemes. The lifetime of an excited spin state is a sensitive measure of this interaction, but extending the spatial resolution of spin relaxation measurements to the atomic scale has been a challenge. We show how a scanning tunneling microscope can measure electron spin relaxation times of individual atoms adsorbed on a surface using an all-electronic pump-probe measurement scheme. The spin relaxation times of individual Fe-Cu dimers were found to vary between 50 and 250 nanoseconds. Our method can in principle be generalized to monitor the temporal evolution of other dynamical systems.