We introduce VR-Doh, an open-source, hands-on 3D modeling system that enables intuitive creation and manipulation of elastoplastic objects in Virtual Reality (VR). By customizing the Material Point Method (MPM) for real-time simulation of hand-induced large deformations and enhancing 3D Gaussian Splatting for seamless rendering, VR-Doh provides an interactive and immersive 3D modeling experience. Users can naturally sculpt, deform, and edit objects through both contact- and gesture-based hand-object interactions. To achieve real-time performance, our system incorporates localized simulation techniques, particle-level collision handling, and the decoupling of physical and appearance representations, ensuring smooth and responsive interactions. VR-Doh supports both object creation and editing, enabling diverse modeling tasks such as designing food items, characters, and interlocking structures, all resulting in simulation-ready assets. User studies with both novice and experienced participants highlight the system's intuitive design, immersive feedback, and creative potential. Compared to existing geometric modeling tools, VR-Doh offers enhanced accessibility and natural interaction, making it a powerful tool for creative exploration in VR.

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acid ligands, featuring high affinity and specificity to target molecules. Traditionally they are identified from large DNA/RNA libraries using $in vitro$ methods, like Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX). However, these libraries capture only a small fraction of theoretical sequence space, and various aptamer candidates are constrained by actual sequencing capabilities from the experiment. Addressing this, we proposed AptaDiff, the first in silico aptamer design and optimization method based on the diffusion model. Our Aptadiff can generate aptamers beyond the constraints of high-throughput sequencing data, leveraging motif-dependent latent embeddings from variational autoencoder, and can optimize aptamers by affinity-guided aptamer generation according to Bayesian optimization. Comparative evaluations revealed AptaDiff's superiority over existing aptamer generation methods in terms of quality and fidelity across four high-throughput screening data targeting distinct proteins. Moreover, surface plasmon resonance experiments were conducted to validate the binding affinity of aptamers generated through Bayesian optimization for two target proteins. The results unveiled a significant boost of $87.9\%$ and $60.2\%$ in RU values, along with a 3.6-fold and 2.4-fold decrease in KD values for the respective target proteins. Notably, the optimized aptamers demonstrated superior binding affinity compared to top experimental candidates selected through SELEX, underscoring the promising outcomes of our AptaDiff in accelerating the discovery of superior aptamers.

With the widespread adoption of mobile networks, the demand for onboard aircraft network connectivity is growing at a significant pace. However, existing solutions for this air-to-ground (ATG) communication scenario, such as satellite communication or 4G/5G ATG communication, fall short in meeting the increasing throughput demands. To address this challenge, leveraging free-space optical (FSO) technology presents a promising opportunity. FSO links have the capability to provide ultra-high throughput up to Tbps[1], offering a significant advantage over RF solutions. However, to ensure the robustness of an ATG FSO link, two key challenges need to be addressed: (i) guaranteeing high-probability link establishment, and (ii) minimizing link loss to ensure reliable communication. In this demonstration, we propose a novel FSO architecture specifically optimized for the ATG scenario. Our design incorporates a retroreflector-based pure-optical feedback mechanism and a self-adaptive tracking and pointing mechanism to tackle these two challenges respectively. To validate the feasibility of our hardware design, we have developed a prototype system and conducted a series of preliminary experiments.