Flexible neuromorphic electronics that emulate biological neuronal systems constitute a promising candidate for next‐generation wearable computing, soft robotics, and neuroprosthetics. For realization, with the achievement of simple synaptic behaviors in a single device, the construction of artificial synapses with various functions of sensing and responding and integrated systems to mimic complicated computing, sensing, and responding in biological systems is a prerequisite. Artificial synapses that have learning ability can perceive and react to events in the real world; these abilities expand the neuromorphic applications toward health monitoring and cybernetic devices in the future Internet of Things. To demonstrate the flexible neuromorphic systems successfully, it is essential to develop artificial synapses and nerves replicating the functionalities of the biological counterparts and satisfying the requirements for constructing the elements and the integrated systems such as flexibility, low power consumption, high‐density integration, and biocompatibility. Here, the progress of flexible neuromorphic electronics is addressed, from basic backgrounds including synaptic characteristics, device structures, and mechanisms of artificial synapses and nerves, to applications for computing, soft robotics, and neuroprosthetics. Finally, future research directions toward wearable artificial neuromorphic systems are suggested for this emerging area.

Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. var. SR1) plants that over-express the Escherichia coli trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) gene (otsA) synthesized small amounts of trehalose (<400 pg gl leaf) while non-transformants produced no detectable trehalose. Some transgenic plants expressing a high level of otsA exhibited stunted growth and morphologically altered leaves. We tested F2 homozygous plants devoid of phenotypic changes to determine their physiological responses to dehydration and salinity stresses. All transgenic plants maintained better leaf turgidity under a limited water supply or after treatment with polyethylene glycol (PEG). Furthermore, fresh weight was maintained at higher levels after either treatment. The initial leaf water potential was higher in transgenic plants than non-transformants, but, in both plant types, was decreased to a comparable degree following dehydration. When grown with 250 mM NaCI, transgenic plants exhibited a significant delay in leaf withering and chlorosis, as well as more efficient seed germination. Our results suggest that either trehalose or trehalose-6-phosphate can act as an osmoprotective molecule without maintaining water potential, in contrast to other osmolytes. Furthermore, both appear to protect young embryos under unfavorable water status to ensure subsequent germination.

We investigated the frequency of callus induction from mature-seed scutella of 39 varieties of Tongil rice (Oryza sat/va japonica x indica). These were divided into two groups according to condition of the callus at the time of induction. Members of the first group, which developed brown calli, were further classified into two types (B1 or B2), based on the extent of their color change and callus condition. Tissues in the second group developed yellow calli, with varieties being placed into one of three types (Y1, Y2, or Y3) according to solidity. Type-Y1 seeds generated suitably soft calli that were healthy and grew rapidly. These calli were transformed with binary vector pGA2722 via Agrobacteriummediated co-cultivation. The vector contained the hygromycin-resistance selectable marker and a gus reporter gene with an intron that is functional in plant cells but not in Agrobacterium. Most varieties that formed brown calli failed to generate transformants. Likewise, several varieties with suitably soft calli also failed. Among the 16 transformable varieties, the final regeneration frequencies ranged from 1.0 to 10.7%. The highest frequency was achieved by the variety Tongil, which also had the most rapidly growing calli. DNA gel-blot analysis revealed one to three copies of the introduced gus gene. Keywords: Agrobacterium, embryogenic callus, gus gene, Tongil rice, transformation Rice (Oryza satJva L.) is one of the most essential staple crops, especially in developing countries (Anonymous, 1995). Now that its genome sequence has been determined (Goff et al., 2002;Yu et al., 2002), this species has become a more important research subject in plant science. One of the major goals is to develop a superior variety for increased quality and quantity. To achieve this, researchers must identify useful genes and examine their manifested patterns and interactions with other genes. These endeavors will require the development of effective transformation procedures.Among the various methods reported (Raineri et al., 1990;Chan et al., 1992 Chan et al., , 1993 Aldemita and Hodges, 1996;Toki, 1997;Cho et al., 1998;Ryu et al., 2001 ), the one presented by Hiei et al. (1994) is the most widely used for successful transformation of rice with Agrobacterium. However, their technique has been limited primarily to japonica rice. For indica varieties, Agrobacterium-mediated transformations have been described by Chan et al. (1992), Li et al. (1992), and Rashid et al. (1996). In addition, Mohanty et al. (1999) *Corresponding author; fax +82-54-279-2199 e-mail genean@postech.ac.kr have been able to enhance transformation frequencies by varying the composition of the media. However, success with indica rice has been restricted to only certain varieties; most have been recalcitrant (Abe and

Organic synaptic transistors (OSTs) using intrinsic polymer semiconductors are demonstrated to be suitable for neuromorphic bioelectronics. However, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)‐based copolymers are not applicable to neuromorphic computing systems because the DPP polymer film has demonstrated only short‐term plasticity with short retention (<50 ms) in synaptic devices because of their intrinsic difficulty of electrochemical doping. To expand their applications toward neuromorphic computing that requires long‐term plasticity, artificial synapses with extended retention time should be developed. Herein, molecular tailoring approach to extend the retention time in the ion‐gel‐gated OSTs that use DPP is suggested. The molecular structure is controlled by changing alkyl spacer lengths of side chains. As a result, the doping process is more favorable in DPP with long alkyl spacer, which is confirmed by high doping concentration and slow dedoping rate. Therefore, dedoping of ions is more suppressed in DPP with long alkyl side chain that exhibits extended retention time (≈800 s) of the OSTs. These optimized DPP‐based OSTs obtain high pattern recognition accuracy of ≈96.0% in simulations of an artificial neural network. Molecular tailoring strategies provide a guideline to overcome the intrinsic problem of short synaptic retention time of the OSTs for use in neuromorphic computing.

Since the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, women in the United States have had a constitutional right to abortion that is unconditional during the first trimester of a pregnancy. 1 Although Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey 2 -decided almost two decades after Roe-granted state governments more leeway to encroach upon such rights, it nevertheless reaffirmed the constitutional protections in place for pregnant women seeking abortions. In the aftermath of Roe, some argued that sex-selection abortions (those performed solely for the purpose of eliminating fetuses of the undesired sex) would provide a common ground among anti-abortionists and some feminists who, despite their support of the rights established in Roe, opposed such procedures for their ultimate discriminatory effect on females. 3 These predictions were based on studies that showed that, given the choice, women would prefer sons as their first-borns or their only child. 4 Other feminists have held firmly to the view that since women are fully entitled to abortions within the Roe and Casey frameworks, any restriction on such rights is unconstitutional. Interestingly, the social harms forecasted by those who sought to restrict the performance of sex selection abortions are