Linking New Alleles at the Oscillator Loci to Flowering and Expansion of Asian Rice.

The central oscillator is believed to be the key mechanism by which plants adapt to new environments. However, impacts from hybridization, the natural environment, and human selection have rarely been assessed on the oscillator of a crop. Here, from clearly identified alleles at oscillator loci (OsCCA1/LHY, OsPRR95, OsPRR37, OsPRR59, and OsPRR1) in ten diverse genomes of Oryza sativa, additional accessions, and functional analysis, we show that rice's oscillator was rebuilt primarily by new alleles from recombining parental sequences and subsequent 5' or/and coding mutations. New alleles may exhibit altered transcript levels from that of a parental allele and are transcribed variably among genetic backgrounds and natural environments in RIL lines. Plants carrying more expressed OsCCA1_a and less transcribed OsPRR1_e flower early in the paddy field. 5' mutations are instrumental in varied transcription, as shown by EMSA tests on one deletion at the 5' region of highly transcribed OsPRR1_a. Compared to relatively balanced mutations at oscillator loci of Arabidopsis thaliana, 5' mutations of OsPRR37 (and OsCCA1 to a less degree) were under negative selection while those of OsPRR1 alleles were under strong positive selection. Together, range expansion of Asian rice can be elucidated by human selection on OsPRR1 alleles via local flowering time-yield relationships.

Research of Liquid-Crystal Materials for a High-Performance FFS-TFT Display.

A novel liquid-crystal compound of more than 99.95% purity with high performance (such as a high clearing point, large dielectric anisotropy, high optical anisotropy, low viscosity, and large elastic constants) was designed and synthesized according to the fringe-field switching thin-film-transistor-liquid-crystal display requirements (FFS-TFT). Then, a mixed liquid-crystal material suitable for an FFS-TFT display was developed by mixing this compound with other reported compounds, developing a product whose quality was that of the highest level of similar foreign products and which fully met the customer's use requirements (BOE), and thus able to completely replace similar imported materials.

Negative Dielectric Anisotropy Liquid Crystal with Improved Photo-Stability, Anti-Flicker, and Transmittance for 8K Display Applications.

Video systems such as 8K displays can provide a strong sense of presence and reality due to their extremely high resolution and wide field of view. However, high-resolution displays generally suffer from reduced transmittance, which requires the use of liquid crystals with high transmittance and high stability. In this study, negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal compositions with excellent photo-stability, anti-flicker capability, and high transmittance are developed, showing potential for 8K display applications. The stability of different types of negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal compounds is assessed under light, and the high photo-stability compounds are obtained. In addition, it is demonstrated that the flicker can be optimized from -17.6 to -47.0 by removing the compounds with a higher ion content and a larger deformation number and adding the compounds with a smaller deformation number in the negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal compositions. Combining with the evaluation of the factors affecting the response time, the negative dielectric anisotropy liquid crystal mixed H is designed with improved stability and flicker; thus, the response time was decreased to 9.5 ms, and the optical transmittance was 5.5% higher than that of MAT-09-1284 (for normal) and 3.1% higher than that of BY19-J01A (for 4K).