Charge Injection through Nanocomposite Electrode in Microfluidic Channel for Electrical Lysis of Biological Cells

Several concepts have been developed in the recent years for nanomaterial based integrated MEMS platform in order to accelerate the process of biological sample preparation followed by selective screening and identification of target molecules. In this context, there exist several challenges which need to be addressed in the process of electrical lysis of biological cells. These are due to (i) low resource settings while achieving maximal lysis (ii) high throughput of target molecules to be detected (iii) automated extraction and purification of relevant molecules such as DNA and protein from extremely small volume of sample (iv) requirement of fast, accurate and yet scalable methods (v) multifunctionality toward process monitoring and (vi) downward compatibility with already existing diagnostic protocols. This paper reports on the optimization of electrical lysis process based on various different nanocomposite coated electrodes placed in a microfluidic channel. The nanocomposites are synthesized using different nanomaterials like Zinc nanorod dispersion in polymer. The efficiency of electrical lysis with various different electrode coatings has been experimentally verified in terms of DNA concentration, amplification and protein yield. The influence of the coating thickness on the injection current densities has been analyzed. We further correlate experimentally the current density vs. voltage relationship with the extent of bacterial cell lysis. A coupled multiphysics based simulation model is used to predict the cell trajectories and lysis efficiencies under various electrode boundary conditions as estimated from experimental results. Detailed in-situ fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy studies are performed to validate various hypotheses.

Sufficient conditions for formation of a network topology by self-interested agents

Networks such as organizational network of a global company play an important role in a variety of knowledge management and information diffusion tasks. The nodes in these networks correspond to individuals who are self-interested. The topology of these networks often plays a crucial role in deciding the ease and speed with which certain tasks can be accomplished using these networks. Consequently, growing a stable network having a certain topology is of interest. Motivated by this, we study the following important problem: given a certain desired network topology, under what conditions would best response (link addition/deletion) strategies played by self-interested agents lead to formation of a pairwise stable network with only that topology. We study this interesting reverse engineering problem by proposing a natural model of recursive network formation. In this model, nodes enter the network sequentially and the utility of a node captures principal determinants of network formation, namely (1) benefits from immediate neighbors, (2) costs of maintaining links with immediate neighbors, (3) benefits from indirect neighbors, (4) bridging benefits, and (5) network entry fee. Based on this model, we analyze relevant network topologies such as star graph, complete graph, bipartite Turan graph, and multiple stars with interconnected centers, and derive a set of sufficient conditions under which these topologies emerge as pairwise stable networks. We also study the social welfare properties of the above topologies.

Engineered spin-valve type magnetoresistance in Fe3O4-CoFe2O4 core-shell nanoparticles

Naturally occurring spin-valve-type magnetoresistance (SVMR), recently observed in Sr2FeMoO6 samples, suggests the possibility of decoupling the maximal resistance from the coercivity of the sample. Here we present the evidence that SVMR can be engineered in specifically designed and fabricated core-shell nanoparticle systems, realized here in terms of soft magnetic Fe3O4 as the core and hard magnetic insulator CoFe2O4 as the shell materials. We show that this provides a magnetically switchable tunnel barrier that controls the magnetoresistance of the system, instead of the magnetic properties of the magnetic grain material, Fe3O4, and thus establishing the feasibility of engineered SVMR structures. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

A Reduced Device-Count Hybrid Multilevel Inverter Topology with single DC Source and Improved Fault Tolerance

A new hybrid multilevel power converter topology is presented in this paper. The proposed power converter topology uses only one DC source and floating capacitors charged to asymmetrical voltage levels, are used for generating different voltage levels. The SVPWM based control strategy used in this converter maintains the capacitor voltages at the required levels in the entire modulation range including the over-modulation region. For the voltage levels: nine and above, the number of components required in the proposed topology is significantly lower, compared to the conventional multilevel inverter topologies. The number of capacitors required in this topology reduces drastically compared to the conventional flying capacitor topology, when the number of levels in the inverter output increases. This topology has better fault tolerance, as it is capable of operating with reduced number of levels, in the entire modulation range, in the event of any failure in the H-bridges. The transient as well as the steady state performance of the nine-level version of the proposed topology is experimentally verified in the entire modulation range including the over-modulation region.

Stable atmospheric methane in the 2000s: key-role of emissions from natural wetlands

Two atmospheric inversions (one fine-resolved and one process-discriminating) and a process-based model for land surface exchanges are brought together to analyse the variations of methane emissions from 1990 to 2009. A focus is put on the role of natural wetlands and on the years 2000-2006, a period of stable atmospheric concentrations. From 1990 to 2000, the top-down and bottom-up visions agree on the time-phasing of global total and wetland emission anomalies. The process-discriminating inversion indicates that wetlands dominate the time-variability of methane emissions (90% of the total variability). The contribution of tropical wetlands to the anomalies is found to be large, especially during the post-Pinatubo years (global negative anomalies with minima between -41 and -19 Tg yr(-1) in 1992) and during the alternate 1997-1998 El-Nino/1998-1999 La-Nina (maximal anomalies in tropical regions between +16 and +22 Tg yr(-1) for the inversions and anomalies due to tropical wetlands between +12 and +17 Tg yr(-1) for the process-based model). Between 2000 and 2006, during the stagnation of methane concentrations in the atmosphere, the top-down and bottom-up approaches agree on the fact that South America is the main region contributing to anomalies in natural wetland emissions, but they disagree on the sign and magnitude of the flux trend in the Amazon basin. A negative trend (-3.9 +/- 1.3 Tg yr(-1)) is inferred by the process-discriminating inversion whereas a positive trend (+1.3 +/- 0.3 Tg yr(-1)) is found by the process model. Although processed-based models have their own caveats and may not take into account all processes, the positive trend found by the B-U approach is considered more likely because it is a robust feature of the process-based model, consistent with analysed precipitations and the satellite-derived extent of inundated areas. On the contrary, the surface-data based inversions lack constraints for South America. This result suggests the need for a re-interpretation of the large increase found in anthropogenic methane inventories after 2000.

BILATERAL EDGE DETECTORS

We propose to employ bilateral filters to solve the problem of edge detection. The proposed methodology presents an efficient and noise robust method for detecting edges. Classical bilateral filters smooth images without distorting edges. In this paper, we modify the bilateral filter to perform edge detection, which is the opposite of bilateral smoothing. The Gaussian domain kernel of the bilateral filter is replaced with an edge detection mask, and Gaussian range kernel is replaced with an inverted Gaussian kernel. The modified range kernel serves to emphasize dissimilar regions. The resulting approach effectively adapts the detection mask according as the pixel intensity differences. The results of the proposed algorithm are compared with those of standard edge detection masks. Comparisons of the bilateral edge detector with Canny edge detection algorithm, both after non-maximal suppression, are also provided. The results of our technique are observed to be better and noise-robust than those offered by methods employing masks alone, and are also comparable to the results from Canny edge detector, outperforming it in certain cases.

Contribution of forest fire ash and plant litter decay on stream dissolved composition in a sub-humid tropical watershed (Mule Hole, Southern India)

The current understanding of wildfire effects on water chemistry is limited by the quantification of the elemental dissolution rates from ash and element release rate from the plant litter, as well as quantification of the specific ash contribution to stream water chemistry. The main objective of the study was to provide such knowledge through combination of experimental modelling, field data and end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) of wildfire impact on a watershed scale. The study concerns watershed effects of fire in the Indian subcontinent, a region that is typically not well represented in the fire science literature. In plant litter ash, major elements are either hosted in readily-soluble phases (K, Mg) such as salts, carbonates and oxides or in less-soluble carrier-phases (Si, Ca) such as amorphous silica, quartz and calcite. Accordingly, elemental release rates, inferred from ash leaching experiments in batch reactor, indicated that the element release into solution followed the order K > Mg > Na > Si > Ca. Experiments on plant litter leaching in mixed-flow reactor indicated two dissolution regimes: rapid, over the week and slower over the month. The mean dissolution rates at steady-state (R-ss) indicated that the release of major elements from plant litter followed the order Ca > Si > Cl > Mg > K > Na. R-ss for Si and Ca for tree leaves and herbaceous species are similar to those reported for boreal and European tree species and are higher than that from the dissolution of soil clay minerals. This identifies tropical plant litters as important source of Si and Ca for tropical surface waters. In the wildfire-impacted year 2004, the EMMA indicated that the streamflow composition (Ca, K, Mg, Na, Si, Cl) was controlled by four main sources: rainwater, throughfall, ash leaching and soil solution. The influence of the ash end-member was maximal early in the rainy season (the two first storm events) and decreased later in the rainy season, when the stream was dominated by the throughfall end-member. The contribution of plant litter decay to the streamwater composition for a year not impacted by wildfire is significant with estimated solute fluxes originating from this decay greatly exceed, for most major elements, the annual elemental dissolved fluxes at the Mule Hole watershed outlet. This highlighted the importance of solute retention and vegetation back uptake processes within the soil profile. Overall, the fire increased the mobility and export of major elements from the soils to the stream. It also shifted the vegetation-related contribution to the elemental fluxes at the watershed outlet from long-term (seasonal) to short-term (daily to monthly). (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Identification of heat shock factor binding protein in Plasmodium falciparum

Background: Heat shock factor binding protein (HSBP) was originally discovered in a yeast two-hybrid screen as an interacting partner of heat shock factor (HSF). It appears to be conserved in all eukaryotes studied so far, with yeast being the only exception. Cell biological analysis of HSBP in mammals suggests its role as a negative regulator of heat shock response as it appears to interact with HSF only during the recovery phase following exposure to heat stress. While the identification of HSF in the malaria parasite is still eluding biologists, this study for the first time, reports the presence of a homologue of HSBP in Plasmodium falciparum. Methods: PfHSBP was cloned and purified as his-tag fusion protein. CD (Circular dichroism) spectroscopy was performed to predict the secondary structure. Immunoblots and immunofluorescence approaches were used to study expression and localization of HSBP in P. falciparum. Cellular fractionation was performed to examine subcellular distribution of PfHSBP. Immunoprecipitation was carried out to identify HSBP interacting partner in P. falciparum. Results: PfHSBP is a conserved protein with a high helical content and has a propensity to form homo-oligomers. PfHSBP was cloned, expressed and purified. The in vivo protein expression profile shows maximal expression in trophozoites. The protein was found to exist in oligomeric form as trimer and hexamer. PfHSBP is predominantly localized in the parasite cytosol, however, upon heat shock, it translocates to the nucleus. This study also reports the interaction of PfHSBP with PfHSP70-1 in the cytoplasm of the parasite. Conclusions: This study emphasizes the structural and biochemical conservation of PfHSBP with its mammalian counterpart and highlights its potential role in regulation of heat shock response in the malaria parasite. Analysis of HSBP may be an important step towards identification of the transcription factor regulating the heat shock response in P. falciparum.

A framework for post-silicon realization of arbitrary instruction extensions on reconfigurable data-paths

In this paper we present a framework for realizing arbitrary instruction set extensions (IE) that are identified post-silicon. The proposed framework has two components viz., an IE synthesis methodology and the architecture of a reconfigurable data-path for realization of the such IEs. The IE synthesis methodology ensures maximal utilization of resources on the reconfigurable data-path. In this context we present the techniques used to realize IEs for applications that demand high throughput or those that must process data streams. The reconfigurable hardware called HyperCell comprises a reconfigurable execution fabric. The fabric is a collection of interconnected compute units. A typical use case of HyperCell is where it acts as a co-processor with a host and accelerates execution of IEs that are defined post-silicon. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by evaluating the performance of some well-known integer kernels that are realized as IEs on HyperCell. Our methodology for realizing IEs through HyperCells permits overlapping of potentially all memory transactions with computations. We show significant improvement in performance for streaming applications over general purpose processor based solutions, by fully pipelining the data-path. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parameterized Algorithms for MAX COLORABLE INDUCED SUBGRAPH Problem on Perfect Graphs

We address the parameterized complexity ofMaxColorable Induced Subgraph on perfect graphs. The problem asks for a maximum sized q-colorable induced subgraph of an input graph G. Yannakakis and Gavril IPL 1987] showed that this problem is NP-complete even on split graphs if q is part of input, but gave a n(O(q)) algorithm on chordal graphs. We first observe that the problem is W2]-hard parameterized by q, even on split graphs. However, when parameterized by l, the number of vertices in the solution, we give two fixed-parameter tractable algorithms. The first algorithm runs in time 5.44(l) (n+#alpha(G))(O(1)) where #alpha(G) is the number of maximal independent sets of the input graph. The second algorithm runs in time q(l+o()l())n(O(1))T(alpha) where T-alpha is the time required to find a maximum independent set in any induced subgraph of G. The first algorithm is efficient when the input graph contains only polynomially many maximal independent sets; for example split graphs and co-chordal graphs. The running time of the second algorithm is FPT in l alone (whenever T-alpha is a polynomial in n), since q <= l for all non-trivial situations. Finally, we show that (under standard complexitytheoretic assumptions) the problem does not admit a polynomial kernel on split and perfect graphs in the following sense: (a) On split graphs, we do not expect a polynomial kernel if q is a part of the input. (b) On perfect graphs, we do not expect a polynomial kernel even for fixed values of q >= 2.

Formulation of nanotized curcumin and demonstration of its antimalarial efficacy

Aim: The present study was conducted to overcome the disadvantages associated with the poor water solubility and low bioavailability of curcumin by synthesizing nanotized curcumin and demonstrating its efficacy in treating malaria. Materials and methods: Nanotized curcumin was prepared by a modified emulsion-diffusion-evaporation method and was characterized by means of transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Zetasizer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and differential thermal analysis. The novelty of the prepared nanoformulation lies in the fact that it was devoid of any polymeric matrices used in conventional carriers. The antimalarial efficacy of the prepared nanotized curcumin was then checked both in vitro and in vivo. Results: The nanopreparation was found to be non-toxic and had a particle size distribution of 20-50 nm along with improved aqueous dispersibility and an entrapment efficiency of 45%. Nanotized curcumin (half maximal inhibitory concentration IC50]: 0.5 mu M) was also found to be ten-fold more effective for growth inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro as compared to its native counterpart (IC50: 5 mu M). Oral bioavailability of nanotized curcumin was found to be superior to that of its native counterpart. Moreover, when Plasmodium berghei-infected mice were orally treated with nanotized curcumin, it prolonged their survival by more than 2 months with complete clearance of parasites in comparison to the untreated animals, which survived for 8 days only. Conclusion: Nanotized curcumin holds a considerable promise in therapeutics as demonstrated here for treating malaria as a test system.

An Advanced Gate Driver for Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors to Eliminate Dead-time Induced Distortions in Inverter Output

Dead-time is introduced between the gating signals to the top and bottom switches in a voltage source inverter (VSI) leg, to prevent shoot through fault due to the finite turn-off times of IGBTs. The dead-time results in a delay when the incoming device is an IGBT, resulting in error voltage pulses in the inverter output voltage. This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of an advanced gate driver, which eliminates dead-time and consequent output distortion. Here, the gating pulses are generated such that the incoming IGBT transition is not delayed and shoot-through is also prevented. The various logic units of the driver card and fault tolerance of the driver are verified through extensive tests on different topologies such as chopper, half-bridge and full-bridge inverter, and also at different conditions of load. Experimental results demonstrate the improvement in the load current waveform quality with the proposed circuit, on account of elimination of dead-time.

Structure, stability and elasticity of DNA nanotubes

DNA nanotubes are tubular structures composed of DNA crossover molecules. We present a bottom up approach for the construction and characterization of these structures. Various possible topologies of nanotubes are constructed such as 6-helix, 8-helix and tri-tubes with different sequences and lengths. We have used fully atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to study the structure, stability and elasticity of these structures. Several nanosecond long MD simulations give the microscopic details about DNA nanotubes. Based on the structural analysis of simulation data, we show that 6-helix nanotubes are stable and maintain their tubular structure; while 8-helix nanotubes are flattened to stabilize themselves. We also comment on the sequence dependence and the effect of overhangs. These structures are approximately four times more rigid having a stretch modulus of similar to 4000 pN compared to the stretch modulus of 1000 pN of a DNA double helix molecule of the same length and sequence. The stretch moduli of these nanotubes are also three times larger than those of PX/JX crossover DNA molecules which have stretch moduli in the range of 1500-2000 pN. The calculated persistence length is in the range of a few microns which is close to the reported experimental results on certain classes of DNA nanotubes.

Assignment of the C-13 NMR spectrum by correlation to dipolar coupled proton-pairs and estimation of order parameters of a thiophene based liquid crystal

Materials with widely varying molecular topologies and exhibiting liquid crystalline properties have attracted considerable attention in recent years. C-13 NMR spectroscopy is a convenient method for studying such novel systems. In this approach the assignment of the spectrum is the first step which is a non-trivial problem. Towards this end, we propose here a method that enables the carbon skeleton of the different sub-units of the molecule to be traced unambiguously. The proposed method uses a heteronuclear correlation experiment to detect pairs of nearby carbons with attached protons in the liquid crystalline core through correlation of the carbon chemical shifts to the double-quantum coherences of protons generated through the dipolar coupling between them. Supplemented by experiments that identify non-protonated carbons, the method leads to a complete assignment of the spectrum. We initially apply this method for assigning the C-13 spectrum of the liquid crystal 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl oriented in the magnetic field. We then utilize the method to assign the aromatic carbon signals of a thiophene based liquid crystal thereby enabling the local order-parameters of the molecule to be estimated and the mutual orientation of the different sub-units to be obtained.

Medium-Voltage Drive for Induction Machine With Multilevel Dodecagonal Voltage Space Vectors With Symmetric Triangles

Multilevel inverters with dodecagonal (12-sided polygon) voltage space vector structure have advantages, such as complete elimination of fifth and seventh harmonics, reduction in electromagnetic interference, reduction in device voltage ratings, reduction of switching frequency, extension of linear modulation range, etc., making it a viable option for high-power medium-voltage drives. This paper proposes two power circuit topologies capable of generating multilevel dodecagonal voltage space vector structure with symmetric triangles (for the first time) with minimum number of dc-link power supplies and floating capacitor H-bridges. The first power topology is composed of two hybrid cascaded five-level inverters connected to either side of an open-end winding induction machine. Each inverter consists of a three-level neutral-point-clamped inverter, which is cascaded with an isolated H-bridge making it a five-level inverter. The second topology is for a normal induction motor. Both of these circuit topologies have inherent capacitor balancing for floating H-bridges for all modulation indexes, including transient operations. The proposed topologies do not require any precharging circuitry for startup. A simple pulsewidth modulation timing calculation method for space vector modulation is also presented in this paper. Due to the symmetric arrangement of congruent triangles within the voltage space vector structure, the timing computation requires only the sampled reference values and does not require any offline computation, lookup tables, or angle computation. Experimental results for steady-state operation and transient operation are also presented to validate the proposed concept.