Implementation and performance of SIBYLS: a dual endstation small-angle X-ray scattering and macromolecular crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source.

The SIBYLS beamline (12.3.1) of the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, supported by the US Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, is optimized for both small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and macromolecular crystallography (MX), making it unique among the world's mostly SAXS or MX dedicated beamlines. Since SIBYLS was commissioned, assessments of the limitations and advantages of a combined SAXS and MX beamline have suggested new strategies for integration and optimal data collection methods and have led to additional hardware and software enhancements. Features described include a dual mode monochromator [containing both Si(111) crystals and Mo/B(4)C multilayer elements], rapid beamline optics conversion between SAXS and MX modes, active beam stabilization, sample-loading robotics, and mail-in and remote data collection. These features allow users to gain valuable insights from both dynamic solution scattering and high-resolution atomic diffraction experiments performed at a single synchrotron beamline. Key practical issues considered for data collection and analysis include radiation damage, structural ensembles, alternative conformers and flexibility. SIBYLS develops and applies efficient combined MX and SAXS methods that deliver high-impact results by providing robust cost-effective routes to connect structures to biology and by performing experiments that aid beamline designs for next generation light sources

Directed Placement for mVLSI Devices

Continuous-flow microfluidic devices based on integrated channel networks are becoming increasingly prevalent in research in the biological sciences. At present, these devices are physically laid out by hand by domain experts who understand both the underlying technology and the biological functions that will execute on fabricated devices. The lack of a design science that is specific to microfluidic technology creates a substantial barrier to entry. To address this concern, this article introduces Directed Placement, a physical design algorithm that leverages the natural "directedness" in most modern microfluidic designs: fluid enters at designated inputs, flows through a linear or tree-based network of channels and fluidic components, and exits the device at dedicated outputs. Directed placement creates physical layouts that share many principle similarities to those created by domain experts. Directed placement allows components to be placed closer to their neighbors compared to existing layout algorithms based on planar graph embedding or simulated annealing, leading to an average reduction in laid-out fluid channel length of 91% while improving area utilization by 8% on average. Directed placement is compatible with both passive and active microfluidic devices and is compatible with a variety of mainstream manufacturing technologies

Polar Fusion Technique Analysis for Evaluating the Performances of Image Fusion of Thermal and Visual Images for Human Face Recognition

This paper presents a comparative study of two different methods, which are based on fusion and polar transformation of visual and thermal images. Here, investigation is done to handle the challenges of face recognition, which include pose variations, changes in facial expression, partial occlusions, variations in illumination, rotation through different angles, change in scale etc. To overcome these obstacles we have implemented and thoroughly examined two different fusion techniques through rigorous experimentation. In the first method log-polar transformation is applied to the fused images obtained after fusion of visual and thermal images whereas in second method fusion is applied on log-polar transformed individual visual and thermal images. After this step, which is thus obtained in one form or another, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is applied to reduce dimension of the fused images. Log-polar transformed images are capable of handling complicacies introduced by scaling and rotation. The main objective of employing fusion is to produce a fused image that provides more detailed and reliable information, which is capable to overcome the drawbacks present in the individual visual and thermal face images. Finally, those reduced fused images are classified using a multilayer perceptron neural network. The database used for the experiments conducted here is Object Tracking and Classification Beyond Visible Spectrum (OTCBVS) database benchmark thermal and visual face images. The second method has shown better performance, which is 95.71% (maximum) and on an average 93.81% as correct recognition rate.Comment: Proceedings of IEEE Workshop on Computational Intelligence in Biometrics and Identity Management (IEEE CIBIM 2011), Paris, France, April 11 - 15, 201

Microfluidics for Advanced Drug Delivery Systems.

Considerable efforts have been devoted towards developing effective drug delivery methods. Microfluidic systems, with their capability for precise handling and transport of small liquid quantities, have emerged as a promising platform for designing advanced drug delivery systems. Thus, microfluidic systems have been increasingly used for fabrication of drug carriers or direct drug delivery to a targeted tissue. In this review, the recent advances in these areas are critically reviewed and the shortcomings and opportunities are discussed. In addition, we highlight the efforts towards developing smart drug delivery platforms with integrated sensing and drug delivery components

Optofluidic Distributed Feedback Dye Lasers

We review our recent work on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)-based optofluidic dye lasers using a guided wave distributed feedback (DFB) cavity. We show experimental results of single-mode operation, an integrated laser array, multiple color dye lasing, mechanical and fluidic tuning, and monolithic integration with microfluidic circuits. Potential applications and future directions are discussed

RNA–protein binding kinetics in an automated microfluidic reactor

Microfluidic chips can automate biochemical assays on the nanoliter scale, which is of considerable utility for RNA–protein binding reactions that would otherwise require large quantities of proteins. Unfortunately, complex reactions involving multiple reactants cannot be prepared in current microfluidic mixer designs, nor is investigation of long-time scale reactions possible. Here, a microfluidic ‘Riboreactor’ has been designed and constructed to facilitate the study of kinetics of RNA–protein complex formation over long time scales. With computer automation, the reactor can prepare binding reactions from any combination of eight reagents, and is optimized to monitor long reaction times. By integrating a two-photon microscope into the microfluidic platform, 5-nl reactions can be observed for longer than 1000 s with single-molecule sensitivity and negligible photobleaching. Using the Riboreactor, RNA–protein binding reactions with a fragment of the bacterial 30S ribosome were prepared in a fully automated fashion and binding rates were consistent with rates obtained from conventional assays. The microfluidic chip successfully combines automation, low sample consumption, ultra-sensitive fluorescence detection and a high degree of reproducibility. The chip should be able to probe complex reaction networks describing the assembly of large multicomponent RNPs such as the ribosome

Controller for microfluidic large-scale integration.

Microfluidic devices with integrated valves provide precise, programmable fluid handling platforms for high-throughput biological or chemical assays. However, setting up the infrastructure to control such platforms often requires specific engineering expertise or expensive commercial solutions. To address these obstacles, we present a Kit for Arduino-based Transistor Array Actuation (KATARA), an open-source and low-cost Arduino-based controller that can drive 70 solenoid valves to pneumatically actuate integrated microfluidic valves. We include a python package with a GUI to control the KATARA from a personal computer. No programming experience is required

Overpressured layer chromatography: from the pressurized ultramicro chamber to BioArena system

The pressurized ultramicro (UM) chamber as a closed adsorbent layer chamber enables the use of a special chromatoplate and a pump to increase and optimize the mobile phase flow velocity through an optional development distance in an adsorbent layer. This chamber is the basic instrument of overpressured-layer chromatography (OPLC), which is a separation technique that combines the advantages of conventional TLC/HPTLC with those of HPLC. The versions of OPLC instrument, the character and achievement of off-line and on-line OPLC systems in analytical and preparative use are described. The development of BioArena as a complex bioautographic system means an exploitation of the unique advantages of planar-layer system for detection, isolation and identification of new antimicrobials, antineoplastics, biopesticides and other biologically active substances as well as for studying fundamental biochemical reactions and mechanisms