The condensin complex is required for proper spindle assembly and chromosome segregation in Xenopus egg extracts.

Chromosome condensation is required for the physical resolution and segregation of sister chromatids during cell division, but the precise role of higher order chromatin structure in mitotic chromosome functions is unclear. Here, we address the role of the major condensation machinery, the condensin complex, in spindle assembly and function in Xenopus laevis egg extracts. Immunodepletion of condensin inhibited microtubule growth and organization around chromosomes, reducing the percentage of sperm nuclei capable of forming spindles, and causing dramatic defects in anaphase chromosome segregation. Although the motor CENP-E was recruited to kinetochores pulled poleward during anaphase, the disorganized chromosome mass was not resolved. Inhibition of condensin function during anaphase also inhibited chromosome segregation, indicating its continuous requirement. Spindle assembly around DNA-coated beads in the absence of kinetochores was also impaired upon condensin inhibition. These results support an important role for condensin in establishing chromosomal architecture necessary for proper spindle assembly and chromosome segregation

SciTech News Volume 71, No. 1 (2017)

Columns and Reports From the Editor 3 Division News Science-Technology Division 5 Chemistry Division 8 Engineering Division Aerospace Section of the Engineering Division 9 Architecture, Building Engineering, Construction and Design Section of the Engineering Division 11 Reviews Sci-Tech Book News Reviews 12 Advertisements IEEE

A STUDY OF THREE-PHASE FRACTURING IN GRANULAR MEDIA USING HIGH-SPEED IMAGING

Using high-speed imaging and digital image correlation, we studied the granular motion and deformation caused by pneumatic fracturing of a wet granular packing in a Hele–Shaw cell subject to a constant injection of air. These pneumatic fractures form patterns of conductive pathways whose form is determined by a complex interplay between pressure, capillary, frictional, and viscous forces. Saturated granular media is pneumatically fractured in this fashion in multiple natural, geo-engineering, and industrial processes. We outline the characteristics of these fracture networks and then examine individual fracture growth events and the local motion of grains with a time resolution of milliseconds. We observe intermittent frictional behavior during these rapid fracturing events, describe an average velocity profile for the motion of grains during fracturing, and illustrate an average compaction profile as a result of these deformations

Wavelet Based Image Coding Schemes : A Recent Survey

A variety of new and powerful algorithms have been developed for image compression over the years. Among them the wavelet-based image compression schemes have gained much popularity due to their overlapping nature which reduces the blocking artifacts that are common phenomena in JPEG compression and multiresolution character which leads to superior energy compaction with high quality reconstructed images. This paper provides a detailed survey on some of the popular wavelet coding techniques such as the Embedded Zerotree Wavelet (EZW) coding, Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Tree (SPIHT) coding, the Set Partitioned Embedded Block (SPECK) Coder, and the Embedded Block Coding with Optimized Truncation (EBCOT) algorithm. Other wavelet-based coding techniques like the Wavelet Difference Reduction (WDR) and the Adaptive Scanned Wavelet Difference Reduction (ASWDR) algorithms, the Space Frequency Quantization (SFQ) algorithm, the Embedded Predictive Wavelet Image Coder (EPWIC), Compression with Reversible Embedded Wavelet (CREW), the Stack-Run (SR) coding and the recent Geometric Wavelet (GW) coding are also discussed. Based on the review, recommendations and discussions are presented for algorithm development and implementation.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, journa

A Robotic System for In-Situ Measurement of Soil Total Carbon and Nitrogen

Surges in the cost of fertilizer in recent times coupled with the environmental effects of their over-application have driven the need for farmers to optimize the amount of fertilizer they apply on the farm. One of the key steps in determining the right amount of fertilizer to apply in a given field is measuring the amount of nutrients present in the soil. To ascertain nutrient deficiencies, most farmers perform wet chemistry analysis of soil samples which requires a lot of time and is expensive. In this research project, a robotic system was designed and developed that could autonomously move to predetermined GPS waypoints and estimate total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) content in the soil in-situ using visible and near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy - a faster and cheaper method to determine soil nutrients in real-time. For the locomotion of the robotic system, a Husky robotic platform by Clearpath Robotics was used. A Gen2 robotic arm by Kinova Robotics was used for the precise positioning of the probe in taking soil spectral measurement. The probe was custom designed and built to be used in conjunction with the robotic arm as an end-effector. Two lightweight and inexpensive spectrometers by OceanInsight, namely, Flame VisNIR and Flame NIR+, were used to capture the spectral signatures of soil. The prediction was done with a spectroscopic calibration model and External Parameter Orthogonalization (EPO) was applied to remove the moisture effect from the soil spectra. The robotic system was tested at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) NU-Spidercam phenotyping facility. Two sets of spectra were obtained from the field campaign: in-situ and dry-ground spectra. The dry-ground spectra were used as library scans and Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR) was used for the modeling. The in-situ spectra were randomly divided into EPO calibration and validation sets. Satisfactory results were obtained from the initial prediction on dry-ground validation set, with R2 (coefficient of determination) of 0.77 and RMSE (Root Mean Squared Error) of 0.15% for TC and R2 of 0.64 and RMSE of 171 ppm for TN. There was a reduction in R2 and an increase in RMSE values for both TC and TN when prediction was done directly on the in-situ validation set. For TC, the R2 dropped and RMSE increased to 0.25 and 0.29% respectively, and for TN, the R2 dropped and RMSE increased to 0.19 and 259 ppm respectively. This was primarily due to the presence of moisture in the field samples. The R2 increased to 0.62 and RMSE decreased to 0.2% for TC, and the R2 increased to 0.51 and RMSE decreased to 200 ppm for TN, when EPO was applied on both the in-situ validation and dry-ground sets. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for moisture effects in the prediction of soil properties using the robotic system and demonstrate the potential of the system in enabling soil monitoring and analysis in-situ. Advisor: Yufeng G

Proceedings of the First PhD Symposium on Sustainable Ultrascale Computing Systems (NESUS PhD 2016)

Proceedings of the First PhD Symposium on Sustainable Ultrascale Computing Systems (NESUS PhD 2016) Timisoara, Romania. February 8-11, 2016.The PhD Symposium was a very good opportunity for the young researchers to share information and knowledge, to present their current research, and to discuss topics with other students in order to look for synergies and common research topics. The idea was very successful and the assessment made by the PhD Student was very good. It also helped to achieve one of the major goals of the NESUS Action: to establish an open European research network targeting sustainable solutions for ultrascale computing aiming at cross fertilization among HPC, large scale distributed systems, and big data management, training, contributing to glue disparate researchers working across different areas and provide a meeting ground for researchers in these separate areas to exchange ideas, to identify synergies, and to pursue common activities in research topics such as sustainable software solutions (applications and system software stack), data management, energy efficiency, and resilience.European Cooperation in Science and Technology. COS

Characterization of coarse aggregate angularity using digital image processing

This thesis involves a comparative analysis between well-established physically performed measurements for coarse aggregate and an image-based system. A thorough literature review was conducted, focusing on the importance of aggregate shape and how it is measured. In addition, state of the art in image-based aggregate measurement was reviewed along with the impacts and difficulties of an image-based methodology. Physical testing, consisting of Uncompacted Void Content, Index of Particle Shape and Texture (Compacted Voids), and Percent of Fractured Particles (fractured face or crush counts), was performed on aggregate control samples prior to testing on bulk aggregate samples. All aggregate samples were then tested with the WipShape imaging system to obtain Minimum Average Curve Radius measurement data. Finally, the results of physical testing and Minimum Average Curve Radius measurements were analyzed to determine if correlations exist between the different methods --Introduction, page 2-3

Scene Determination based on Video and Audio Features

Determination of scenes from a video is a challenging task. When asking humans for it, results will be inconsistent since the term scene is not precisely defined. It leaves it up to each human to set shared attributes which integrate shots to scenes. However, consistent results can be found for certain basic attributes like dialogs, same settings and continuing sounds. We have therefore developed a scene determination scheme which clusters shots based on detected dialogs, same settings and similar audio. Our experimental results show that automatic deter mination of these types of scenes can be performed reliably