Co-registration of speech production datasets from electromagnetic articulography and real-time magnetic resonance imaging

This paper describes a spatio-temporal registration approach for speech articulation data obtained from electromagnetic articulography (EMA) and real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rtMRI). This is motivated by the potential for combining the complementary advantages of both types of data. The registration method is validated on EMA and rtMRI datasets obtained at different times, but using the same stimuli. The aligned corpus offers the advantages of high temporal resolution (from EMA) and a complete mid-sagittal view (from rtMRI). The co-registration also yields optimum placement of EMA sensors as articulatory landmarks on the magnetic resonance images, thus providing richer spatio-temporal information about articulatory dynamics. (C) 2014 Acoustical Society of America

High Speed Imaging of Generation and Collapse of Multielectron Bubbles in Liquid Helium

We present experimental results on the generation and collapse of multielectron bubbles in liquid helium. By applying voltage pulses to a tungsten tip above the surface of the liquid, millimetre sized deformations were formed. Using high speed photography, we have imaged the disintegration of these deformations into bubbles of sizes ranging from ten to few hundred microns. At temperatures less than 2 K, the bubbles split into smaller bubbles and then disappeared in a time scale of few milliseconds. Smaller bubbles were formed at temperatures around 3 K, but were visible for more than hundreds of milliseconds. Although we have not been able to measure their charge directly, some of these bubbles responded to electric fields, implying these were indeed multielectron bubbles. With the existing theoretical picture, it is not possible to understand the strong dependence of the lifetime of multielectron bubbles on temperature.

Tectonic inheritance of the Indian Shield: New insights from its elastic thickness structure

A new evaluation of the elastic thickness (Te) structure of the Indian Shield, derived from isotropic fan wavelet methodology, documents spatial variations of lithospheric deformation in different tectonic provinces correlated with episodic tectono-thermal events. The Te variations corroborated by shear velocity, crustal thickness, and seismogenic thickness reveal the heterogeneous rheology of the Indian lithosphere. The thinned, attenuated lithosphere beneath Peninsular India is considered to be the reason for its mechanically weak strength (<30 km), where a decoupled crust-mantle rheology under different surface/subsurface loading structures may explain the prominent low Te patterns. The arcuate Te structure of the Western Dharwar province and a NNE-trending band of low Te anomaly in the Southern Granulite Terrane are intriguing patterns. The average Te values (40-50 km) of the Central Indian Tectonic Zone, the Bastar Craton, and the northern Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt are suggestive of old, stable, Indian lithosphere, which was not affected by any major tectono-thermal events after cratonic stabilization. We propose that the anomalously high Te (60-85 km) and high S-wave velocity zone to the north of the Narmada-Son Lineament, mainly in NW Himalaya, and the northern Aravalli and Bundelkhand Cratons, suggest that Archean lithosphere characterized by a high velocity mantle keel supports the orogenic topographic loads in/near the Himalaya. The Te map clearly segments the volcanic provinces of the Indian Shield, where the signatures of the Reunion, Marion, and Kerguelen hotspots are indicated by significantly low Te patterns that correlate with plume- and rift-related thermal and mechanical rejuvenation, magmatic underplating, and crustal necking. The correlations between Te variations and the occurrence of seismicity over seismically active zones reveal different causal relationships, which led to the current seismogenic zonation of the Indian Shield. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Model-Resolution-Based Basis Pursuit Deconvolution Improves Diffuse Optical Tomographic Imaging

The image reconstruction problem encountered in diffuse optical tomographic imaging is ill-posed in nature, necessitating the usage of regularization to result in stable solutions. This regularization also results in loss of resolution in the reconstructed images. A frame work, that is attributed by model-resolution, to improve the reconstructed image characteristics using the basis pursuit deconvolution method is proposed here. The proposed method performs this deconvolution as an additional step in the image reconstruction scheme. It is shown, both in numerical and experimental gelatin phantom cases, that the proposed method yields better recovery of the target shapes compared to traditional method, without the loss of quantitativeness of the results.

Iron(III) benzhydroxamates of dipicolylamines for photocytotoxicity in red light and cellular imaging

Benzhydroxamate (BHA) iron(III) complexes Fe(BHA)(L)ClICI (I, 2)], where L is (phenyl)dipicolylamine (phdpa in I) and (pyrenyl)dipicolylamine (pydpa in 2), were prepared and their photocytotoxicity in visible (400-700 nm) and red (600-720 nm) light was studied. Complex 1 was structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The complexes have high-spin iron(III) centers. Complex 2, with a pyrenyl fluorophore, was used for cellular imaging, showing both mitochondrial and nuclear localization in the fluorescence microscopic study. The complex exhibited photocytotoxicity in red light in HeLa cancer cells, giving IC50 value of 24.4(+/- 0.4) pM, but remained essentially non-toxic in the dark. The involvement of reactive oxygen species and an apoptotic nature of cell death were observed from the cellular studies. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

FeatureMatch: A General ANNF Estimation Technique and its Applications

In this paper, we propose FeatureMatch, a generalised approximate nearest-neighbour field (ANNF) computation framework, between a source and target image. The proposed algorithm can estimate ANNF maps between any image pairs, not necessarily related. This generalisation is achieved through appropriate spatial-range transforms. To compute ANNF maps, global colour adaptation is applied as a range transform on the source image. Image patches from the pair of images are approximated using low-dimensional features, which are used along with KD-tree to estimate the ANNF map. This ANNF map is further improved based on image coherency and spatial transforms. The proposed generalisation, enables us to handle a wider range of vision applications, which have not been tackled using the ANNF framework. We illustrate two such applications namely: 1) optic disk detection and 2) super resolution. The first application deals with medical imaging, where we locate optic disks in retinal images using a healthy optic disk image as common target image. The second application deals with super resolution of synthetic images using a common source image as dictionary. We make use of ANNF mappings in both these applications and show experimentally that our proposed approaches are faster and accurate, compared with the state-of-the-art techniques.

Three Dimensional Fluorescence Imaging Using Multiple Light-Sheet Microscopy

We developed a multiple light-sheet microscopy (MLSM) system capable of 3D fluorescence imaging. Employing spatial filter in the excitation arm of a SPIM system, we successfully generated multiple light-sheets. This improves upon the existing SPIM system and is capable of 3D volume imaging by simultaneously illuminating multiple planes in the sample. Theta detection geometry is employed for data acquisition from multiple specimen layers. This detection scheme inherits many advantages including, background reduction, cross-talk free fluorescence detection and high-resolution at long working distance. Using this technique, we generated 5 equi-intense light-sheets of thickness approximately 7: 5 mm with an inter-sheet separation of 15 mm. Moreover, the light-sheets generated by MLSM is found to be 2 times thinner than the state-of-art SPIM system. Imaging of fluorescently coated yeast cells of size 4 +/- 1 mm (encaged in Agarose gel-matrix) is achieved. Proposed imaging technique may accelerate the field of fluorescence microscopy, cell biology and biophotonics.

NON-GLYCINE RESIDUES IN THE DISALLOWED REGIONS OF THE RAMACHANDRAN MAP AND THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD PREFERENCES

The allowed and the ``disallowed'' regions in the celebrated Ramachandran map (phi-psi] map) was elegantly deduced by Ramachandran, Ramakrishnan and Sasisekharan even before the protein crystal structures became available. This powerful map was derived based on rigid geometry of the peptide group and later several investigations on protein crystal structures reported the occurrence of a small fraction of the phi-psi] torsion angles in the disallowed region. The question is what factors make these residues adopt disallowed conformations? Is it driven by the necessity to maintain the overall topology or is it associated with function or is it just that the disallowed conformations are extreme limits of the allowed conformations? Today, with the availability of a large number of high resolution crystal structures, we have revisited this problem. Apart from validating some of the earlier findings such as residue propensities, preferred location in the secondary structure, we have explored their spatial neighborhood preferences using the protein structure network PSN] approach developed in our lab. Finally, the structural and functional implications of the disallowed conformations are examined.

PROPENSITIES OF AMINO ACID RESIDUES IN PROTEINS FOR DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE RAMACHANDRAN MAP

Using a dataset of 1164 crystal structures of largely non-homologous proteins defined at a resolution of 1.5 angstrom or better, we have investigated the (phi,psi) preferences of 20 residue types by considering the residues which occur in loops. Propensities of residue types to occur in the loops with (phi,psi) values in the aa region of the Ramachandran map has a poor correlation coefficient of 0.48 to the Chou-Fasman propensities of the residue types to occur in the a-helical segments. However the correlation coefficient between propensities of residues in loops to adopt beta conformations and those in beta-sheet is much higher (0.95). These observations suggest that a-helix formation is well influenced by the local amino acid sequence while intrinsic preference of residue types for beta-sheet plays a major role in the formation of beta-sheet. The main chain polar groups of residues in loops, that can affect the (phi,psi) values, can be involved in intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. Therefore we investigated further by considering subset of residues in loops with low (0 to 2) number of intra-molecular hydrogen bonds per residue involving main chain polar atoms. For this subset, the correlation coefficients between propensities for alpha-helix and alpha(R) region and between beta-sheet and beta-region are 0.26 and 0.64 respectively. This reiterates higher intrinsic tendency of beta-region favouring residues to adopt beta-sheet than alpha(R) region favouring residues to adopt alpha-helical structure.

Differentially Selective Chemosensor with Fluorescence Off-On Responses on Cu2+ and Zn2+ Ions in Aqueous Media and Applications in Pyrophosphate Sensing, Live Cell Imaging, and Cytotoxicity

A new benzoyl hydrazone based chemosensor R is synthesized by Schiff base condensation of 2,6-diformyl-4-methylphenol and phenyl carbohydrazide and acts as a highly selective fluorescence sensor for Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in aqueous media. The reaction of R with CuCl2 or ZnCl2 forms the corresponding dimeric dicopper(II) Cu-2(R)(CH3O)-(NO3)](2)(CH3O)(2) (R-Cu2+) and dizinc(1) Zn-2(R)(2)](NO3)(2) (R-Zn2+) complexes, which are characterized, as R, by conventional techniques including single-crystal X-ray analysis. Electronic absorption and fluorescence titration studies of R with different metal cations in a CH3CN/0.02 M HEPES buffer medium (pH = 7.3) show a highly selective binding affinity only toward Cu(2+)and Zn2+ ions even in the presence of other commonly coexisting ions such as Ne+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Mn2+, Fe2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, and Hg2+. Quantification of the fluorescence titration analysis shows that the chemosensor R can indicate the presence of Cu2+ and Zn2+ even at very low concentrations of 17.3 and 16.5 ppb, respectively. R-Zn2+ acts as a selective metal-based fluorescent sensor for inorganic pyrophosphate ion (PPi) even in the presence of other common anions such as F-, Cl-, Br-, I-, CH3COO-, CO32-, HCO3-, N-3(-), SO42-, PPi, AMP, ADP, and ATP in an aqueous medium. The propensity of R as a bioimaging fluorescent probe to detect Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions in human cervical HeLa cancer cell lines and their cytotoxicity against human cervical (HeLa), breast cancer (MCF7), and noncancer breast epithelial (MCF10a) cells have also been investigated. R-Cu2+ shows better cytotoxicity and sensitivity toward cancer cells over noncancer cells than R and R-Zn2+ under identical conditions, with the appearance of apoptotic bodies.

Intense Acoustic Burst Ultrasound Modulated Optical Tomography for Elasticity Mapping of Soft Biological Tissue Mimicking Phantom: A Laser Speckle Contrast Analysis Study

This report addresses the assessment of variation in elastic property of soft biological tissues non-invasively using laser speckle contrast measurement. The experimental as well as the numerical (Monte-Carlo simulation) studies are carried out. In this an intense acoustic burst of ultrasound (an acoustic pulse with high power within standard safety limits), instead of continuous wave, is employed to induce large modulation of the tissue materials in the ultrasound insonified region of interest (ROI) and it results to enhance the strength of the ultrasound modulated optical signal in ultrasound modulated optical tomography (UMOT) system. The intensity fluctuation of speckle patterns formed by interference of light scattered (while traversing through tissue medium) is characterized by the motion of scattering sites. The displacement of scattering particles is inversely related to the elastic property of the tissue. We study the feasibility of laser speckle contrast analysis (LSCA) technique to reconstruct a map of the elastic property of a soft tissue-mimicking phantom. We employ source synchronized parallel speckle detection scheme to (experimentally) measure the speckle contrast from the light traversing through ultrasound (US) insonified tissue-mimicking phantom. The measured relative image contrast (the ratio of the difference of the maximum and the minimum values to the maximum value) for intense acoustic burst is 86.44 % in comparison to 67.28 % for continuous wave excitation of ultrasound. We also present 1-D and 2-D image of speckle contrast which is the representative of elastic property distribution.

A Probe for the Selective and Parts-per-Billion-Level Detection of Copper(II) and Mercury(II) using a Micellar Medium and Its Utility in Cell Imaging

A novel colorimetric probe 1 based on the picolyl moiety has been designed and synthesized. Probe 1 is composed of a pyrene and a bispicolyl amine (BPA) unit, in which the BPA moiety acts as a binding unit and the binding phenomenon is sensed from the changes in the signaling subunit. The probe detects Cu2+ specifically in water and both Cu2+ and Hg2+ efficiently in neutral Brij-58 micellar media. The probe shows a color change visible to the naked eye upon addition of metal ions. Notably, in a micellar medium, probe 1 can detect both the Cu2+ and Hg2+ ions even at parts-per-billion levels. Furthermore, the probe shows ratiometric detection of both the metal ions making the sensing quantitative. The two metal ions could be discriminated both visibly under a UV lamp and with the use of fluorescence spectroscopy. The probe could be also used in biological cell lines for the detection of both Hg2+ and Cu2+ ions.

Hot deformation behavior of Ni-Fe-Ga-based ferromagnetic shape memory alloy - A study using processing map

Ni-Fe-Ga-based alloys form a new class of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs) that show considerable formability because of the presence of a disordered fcc gamma-phase. The current study explores the deformation processing of this alloy using an off-stoichiometric Ni55Fe59Ga26 alloy that contains the ductile gamma-phase. The hot deformation behavior of this alloy has been characterized on the basis of its flow stress variation obtained by isothermal constant true strain rate compression tests in the 1123-1323 K temperature range and strain rate range of 10(-3)-10 s(-1) and using a combination of constitutive modeling and processing map. The dynamic recrystallization (DRX) regime for thermomechanical processing has been identified for this Heusler alloy on the basis of the processing maps and the deformed microstructures. This alloy also shows evidence of dynamic strain-aging (DSA) effect which has not been reported so far for any Heusler FSMAs. Similar effect is also noticed in a Ni-Mn-Ga-based Heusler alloy which is devoid of any gamma-phase. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes of curcumin for cellular imaging and mitochondria targeted photocytotoxicity

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes VO(R-tpy)(cur)](ClO4) (1, 2) of curcumin (Hcur) and terpyridine ligands (R-tpy) where R is phenyl (phtpy in 1) or p-triphenylphosphonium methylphenyl bromide (C6H4CH2PPh3Br) (TPP-phtpy in 2) were prepared and characterized and their DNA photocleavage activity, photocytotoxicity and cellular localization in cancer cells (HeLa and MCF-7) were studied. Acetylacetonate (acac) complexes VO(R-tpy)(acac)](ClO4) of phtpy (3) and TPP-phtpy (4) were prepared and used as the control species. These complexes showed efficient cleavage of pUC19 DNA in visible light of 454 nm and near-IR light of 705 rim. Complexes 1 and 2 showed significant photocytotoxicity in visible light of 400-700 nm. FACS analysis showed sub-G1/G0 phase cell-cycle arrest in cancer cells when treated with 1 and 2 in visible light in comparison with the dark controls. Fluorescence microscopic studies revealed specific localization of the p-triphenylphosphonium complex 2 in the mitochondria of MCF-7 cancer cells whereas no such specificity was observed for complex 1.