An updatable holographic three-dimensional display

Holographic three-dimensional (3D) displays provide realistic images without the need for special eyewear, making them valuable tools for applications that require situational awareness, such as medical, industrial and military imaging. Currently commercially available holographic 3D displays use photopolymers that lack image-updating capability, resulting in restricted use and high cost. Photorefractive polymers are dynamic holographic recording materials that allow updating of images and have a wide range of applications, including optical correlation, imaging through scattering media and optical communication. To be suitable for 3D displays, photorefractive polymers need to have nearly 100% diffraction efficiency, fast writing time, hours of image persistence, rapid erasure, and large area-a combination of properties that has not been shown before. Here, we report an updatable holographic 3D display based on photorefractive polymers with such properties, capable of recording and displaying new images every few minutes. This is the largest photorefractive 3D display to date (4 x 4 inches in size); it can be recorded within a few minutes, viewed for several hours without the need for refreshing, and can be completely erased and updated with new images when desired.     

A modular switch for spatial Ca2+ selectivity in the calmodulin regulation of CaV channels

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent regulation of voltage-gated CaV1-2 Ca2+ channels shows extraordinary modes of spatial Ca2+ decoding and channel modulation, vital for many biological functions. A single calmodulin (CaM) molecule associates constitutively with the channel's carboxy-terminal tail, and Ca2+ binding to the C-terminal and N-terminal lobes of CaM can each induce distinct channel regulations. As expected from close channel proximity, the C-lobe responds to the roughly 100-microM Ca2+ pulses driven by the associated channel, a behaviour defined as 'local Ca2+ selectivity'. Conversely, all previous observations have indicated that the N-lobe somehow senses the far weaker signals from distant Ca2+ sources. This 'global Ca2+ selectivity' satisfies a general signalling requirement, enabling a resident molecule to remotely sense cellular Ca2+ activity, which would otherwise be overshadowed by Ca2+ entry through the host channel. Here we show that the spatial Ca2+ selectivity of N-lobe CaM regulation is not invariably global but can be switched by a novel Ca2+/CaM-binding site within the amino terminus of channels (NSCaTE, for N-terminal spatial Ca2+ transforming element). Native CaV2.2 channels lack this element and show N-lobe regulation with a global selectivity. On the introduction of NSCaTE into these channels, spatial Ca2+ selectivity transforms from a global to local profile. Given this effect, we examined CaV1.2/CaV1.3 channels, which naturally contain NSCaTE, and found that their N-lobe selectivity is indeed local. Disruption of this element produces a global selectivity, confirming the native function of NSCaTE. Thus, differences in spatial selectivity between advanced CaV1 and CaV2 channel isoforms are explained by the presence or absence of NSCaTE. Beyond functional effects, the position of NSCaTE on the channel's amino terminus indicates that CaM can bridge the amino terminus and carboxy terminus of channels. Finally, the modularity of NSCaTE offers practical means for understanding the basis of global Ca2+ selectivity.     

The South African One Thousand Schools Project and Stephens' Quality Wheel

This paper describes the development of a qualitative educational initiative in South Africa: the One Thousand Schools Project. This multiagency initiative is headed by the Independent Development Trust (IDT), a nongovernmental organization. The project soon experienced issues of complexity, however, due to, first, the number of partners involved and, second, the scope of the project: qualitative educational improvement within 1000 schools that were discriminated against under the historical segregated educational system. Seeking an approach to guide the project the IDT opted for Stephens' Quality Wheel, an educational model whose objective is to achieve systemic improvement via coordinating three key educational elements: the agents; conditions for improvement; and a guiding set of educational goals and principles. This paper considers the project's use of Stephens' model, highlighting the insights gained by the project, but also the limited nature of its systemicity. Finally, an inherent tension which was experienced in the project and thereby identified in the model is debated.     

硒对平菇菌丝体CAT,POD及PPO活性的影响

配制含梯度浓度硒溶液的培养基,培养平菇菌丝体,分别测定2个平菇品种菌丝体内CAT,POD及PPO活性,结果表明:硒浓度为30,60mg·L~(-1)时明显提高菌丝体内CAT,PPO活性,超过90mg·L~(-1)时,CAT,PPO活性下降;硒浓度低于30mg·L~(-1)时,POD活性较强,超过60mg·L~(-1),POD活性则明显受到抑制。