Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Black-browed Barbet species complex (Megalaima oorti)

Although Southeast Asia is a global biodiversity hotspot, the tempo and mode of avian diversification there has not been well studied. We investigated the history of the diversification of an endemic Asian tropical bird, the Black-browed Barbet Megalaima

Statistical image modelling using interscale phase relationships of complex wavelet coefficients

A novel method for modelling the statistics of 2D photographic images useful in image restoration is defined. The new method is based on the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform (DT-CWT) but a phase rotation is applied to the coefficients to create complex coefficients whose phase is shift-invariant at multiscale edge and ridge features. This is in addition to the magnitude shift invariance achieved by the DT-CWT. The increased correlation between coefficients adjacent in space and scale provides an improved mechanism for signal estimation. © 2006 IEEE.

DT-MRI data visualisation using the dual tree Complex Wavelet transform

In this paper a novel visualisation method for diffusion tensor MRI datasets is introduced. This is based on the use of Complex Wavelets in order to produce "stripy" textures which depict the anisotropic component of the diffusion tensors. Grey-scale pixel intensity is used to show the isotropic component. This paper also discusses enhancements of the technique for 3D visualisation. © 2004 IEEE.

Digital watermarking with complex wavelets

In this paper, we propose a watermarking algorithm in the complex wavelet domain. We then model watermarking as a communication process and show that the complex wavelet domain has relatively high capacity and is a potentially good domain for watermarking. Finally, a technique for registering geometrically distorted images, which is based on motion estimation in the wavelet domain, is described. The registration process can assist watermark detection in a watermarked image attacked by Stirmark, for example.

Complex wavelets and shift invariance

Recently we have developed a new form of discrete wavelet transform, which generates complex coefficients by using a dual tree of wavelet filters to obtain their real and imaginary parts. This introduces limited redundancy (2 m:1 for m-dimensional signals) and allows the transform to provide approximate shift invariance and directionally selective filters (properties lacking in the traditional wavelet transform) while preserving the usual properties of perfect reconstruction and computational efficiency with good well-balanced frequency responses. In this paper we analyse why the new transform can be designed to be shift invariant, and describe how to estimate the accuracy of this approximation and design suitable filters to achieve this.

The internal structure of igniting turbulent sprays as revealed by complex chemistry DNS

A parametric study of spark ignition in a uniform monodisperse turbulent spray is performed with complex chemistry three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations in order to improve the understanding of the structure of the ignition kernel. The heat produced by the kernel increases with the amount of fuel evaporated inside the spark volume. Moreover, the heat sink by evaporation is initially higher than the heat release and can have a negative effect on ignition. With the sprays investigated, heat release occurs over a large range of mixture fractions, being high within the nominal flammability limits and finite but low below the lean flammability limit. The burning of very lean regions is attributed to the diffusion of heat and species from regions of high heat release, and from the spark, to lean regions. Two modes of spray ignition are reported. With a relatively dilute spray, nominally flammable material exists only near the droplets. Reaction zones are created locally near the droplets and have a non-premixed character. They spread from droplet to droplet through a very lean interdroplet spacing. With a dense spray, the hot spark region is rich due to substantial evaporation but the cold region remains lean. In between, a large surface of flammable material is generated by evaporation. Ignition occurs there and a large reaction zone propagates from the rich burned region to the cold lean region. This flame is wrinkled due to the stratified mixture fraction field and evaporative cooling. In the dilute spray, the reaction front curvature pdf contains high values associated with single droplet combustion, while in the dense spray, the curvature is lower and closer to the curvature associated with gaseous fuel ignition kernels. © 2011 The Combustion Institute.

Biologically-inspired object recognition system with features from complex wavelets

In this paper, a novel cortex-inspired feed-forward hierarchical object recognition system based on complex wavelets is proposed and tested. Complex wavelets contain three key properties for object representation: shift invariance, which enables the extraction of stable local features; good directional selectivity, which simplifies the determination of image orientations; and limited redundancy, which allows for efficient signal analysis using the multi-resolution decomposition offered by complex wavelets. In this paper, we propose a complete cortex-inspired object recognition system based on complex wavelets. We find that the implementation of the HMAX model for object recognition in [1, 2] is rather over-complete and includes too much redundant information and processing. We have optimized the structure of the model to make it more efficient. Specifically, we have used the Caltech 5 standard dataset to compare with Serre's model in [2] (which employs Gabor filter bands). Results demonstrate that the complex wavelet model achieves a speed improvement of about 4 times over the Serre model and gives comparable recognition performance. © 2011 IEEE.

Molecular modeling on human CCR5 receptors and complex with CD4 antigens and HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120

AIM: To investigate the interaction between human CCR5 receptors (CCR5) and HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 (HIV-1 gp120) and HIV-1 receptor CD4 antigens (CD4). METHODS: The structurally con served regions (SCR) of human CCR5 was built by the SYBYL/Biopolymer module using the corresponding transmembrane (TM) domain of bacteriorhodopsin (bR) as the template. The coordinates for amino-ter minal residue sequence, and carboxyl-terminal residue sequence, extracellular and cytoplasmic loops were generated using LOOP SEARCH algorithm. Subsequently the structural model was merged into the complex with HIV-1 gp120 and CD4. RESULTS: Human CCR5 interacted with both an HIV-1 gp120 and CD4. The N-terminal residues (especially Met1 and Gln4) of human CCR5, contacted with CD4 residues, mainly 7Nith one span (56 - 59) of CD4 in electrostatic interaction and hydrogen-bonds. The binding sites of human CCR5 were buried in a hydrophobic center surrounded by a highly basic periphery. On the other hand, direct interatomic contacts were made between ? CCR5 residues and 6 gp120 amino-acid residues, which included van der Waals contacts, hydrophobic interaction, and hydrogen bonds. CONCLUSION: The interaction model should be helpful for rational design of novel anti-HIV drugs.

Structural and functional characterization of the human CCR5 receptor in complex with HIV gp120 envelope glycoprotein and CD4 receptor by molecular modeling studies

The entry of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into cells depends on a sequential interaction of the gp120 envelope glycoprotein with the cellular receptors CD4 and members of the chemokine receptor family. The CC chemokine receptor CCR5 is such a receptor for several chemokines and a major coreceptor for the entry of R5 HIV type-1 (HIV-1) into cells. Although many studies focus on the interaction of CCR5 with HIV-1, the corresponding interaction sites in CCR5 and gp120 have not been matched. Here we used an approach combining protein structure modeling, docking and molecular dynamics simulation to build a series of structural models of the CCR5 in complexes with gp120 and CD4. Interactions such as hydrogen bonds, salt bridges and van der Waals contacts between CCR5 and gp120 were investigated. Three snapshots of CCR5-gp120-CD4 models revealed that the initial interactions of CCR5 with gp120 are involved in the negatively charged N-terminus (Nt) region of CCR5 and positively charged bridging sheet region of gp120. Further interactions occurred between extracellular loop2 (ECL2) of CCR5 and the base of V3 loop regions of gp120. These interactions may induce the conformational changes in gp120 and lead to the final entry of HIV into the cell. These results not only strongly support the two-step gp120-CCR5 binding mechanism, but also rationalize extensive biological data about the role of CCR5 in HIV-1 gp120 binding and entry, and may guide efforts to design novel inhibitors.