Functional connectivity in the retina at the resolution of photoreceptors

To understand a neural circuit requires knowledge of its connectivity. Here we report measurements of functional connectivity between the input and ouput layers of the macaque retina at single-cell resolution and the implications of these for colour vision. Multi-electrode technology was used to record simultaneously from complete populations of the retinal ganglion cell types (midget, parasol and small bistratified) that transmit high-resolution visual signals to the brain. Fine-grained visual stimulation was used to identify the location, type and strength of the functional input of each cone photoreceptor to each ganglion cell. The populations of ON and OFF midget and parasol cells each sampled the complete population of long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive cones. However, only OFF midget cells frequently received strong input from short-wavelength-sensitive cones. ON and OFF midget cells showed a small non-random tendency to selectively sample from either long- or middle-wavelength-sensitive cones to a degree not explained by clumping in the cone mosaic. These measurements reveal computations in a neural circuit at the elementary resolution of individual neurons.     

构造、地貌和气候对汶川地震同震及震后地质灾害的控制作用 ——以龙门山北段通口河流域为例*

通过对汶川地震驱动的通口河流域同震崩塌、滑坡等地质灾害的野外实地考察和遥感影像分析,获得通口河流域同震及震后地质灾害的空间分布情况,结合对通口河流域构造、地貌和气候等因素的分析,获得以下认识：（1）构造因素（汶川地震）是导致通口河流域同震地质灾害的根本原因;（2）地貌因素为同震及震后地质灾害的发生提供了重要的环境条件;（3）以降雨为主的气候因素是导致震后通口河流域地质灾害发生的直接诱发因素。     

Towards uranium catalysts

The forefront of research into the complexes of uranium reveals chemical transformations that challenge and expand our view of this unique element. Certain ligands form multiple bonds to uranium, and small, inert molecules such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide become reactive when in complex with the metal. Such complexes provide clues to the catalytic future of uranium, in which the applications of the element extend far beyond the nuclear industry. Most excitingly, the ability of uranium to use its outermost f electrons for binding ligands might enable the element to catalyse reactions that are impossible with conventional, transition-metal catalysts.     

John Wheeler’s Desert Island: The conservatism of non-empirical physics

This paper argues that non-empirical physics, as paradigmatically embodied by string theory, is a conservative research program, in spite of appearances. John Wheeler's 1950s research program of "daring conservatism" is identified as another non-empirical research program that checks all the same boxes as string theory. This case study is used to further analyze the connection between conservatism and a non-empirical approach. It is concluded that the prime difficulty of non-empirical physics is not that it involves unbridled speculation, but that the lack of empirical input prevents it from achieving revolutionary progress.     

拉伐尔喷嘴中气粉流的计算及喷嘴扩张段设计

根据作者关于拉伐尔喷嘴中气粉流行为的数学模型,采用确定喷嘴临界截面的压强检验法,对不同的粉气比 λ=0.1 ～0.9和不同的粉粒直径d_p=1～50 μm,讨论了对喷嘴扩张段的设计。计算表明,临界锥角随λ的增大而增大,且随粉粒直径d_p的减小而增大。     

Chiral supramolecular gold-cysteine nanoparticles: Chiroptical and nonlinear optical properties

Cysteine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that easily coordinates to soft metal ions and grafts to noble metal surfaces. We report a simple synthetic approach for the production of chiral gold-cysteine polymeric nanoparticles soluble in water. Conjugation of cysteine with gold in a polymeric way, leading to ~50 nm diameter nanoparticles, resulted in the generation of new characteristic circular dichroism (CD) signals in the region of 250–400 nm, whereas no CD signal changes were found with cysteine alone. We also investigate their nonlinear optical properties after two-photon absorption. Two-photon emission spectra and first hyper-polarizabilities, as obtained by the hyper-Rayleigh scattering technique, of these particles are presented.