Validation of In-House Imaging System via Code Verification on Petunia Images Collected at Increasing Fertilizer Rates and pHs.

In a production environment, delayed stress recognition can impact yield. Imaging can rapidly and effectively quantify stress symptoms using indexes such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Commercial systems are effective but cannot be easily customized for specific applications, particularly post-processing.

Development of an Automated Low-Cost Multispectral Imaging System to Quantify Canopy Size and Pigmentation.

Canopy imaging offers a non-destructive, efficient way to objectively measure canopy size, detect stress symptoms, and assess pigment concentrations. While it is faster and easier than traditional destructive methods, manual image analysis, including segmentation and evaluation, can be time-consuming. To make imaging more widely accessible, it's essential to reduce the cost of imaging systems and automate the analysis process.

Low-Cost Source Measure Unit (SMU) to Characterize Sensors Built on Graphene-Channel Field-Effect Transistors.

This study introduces a flexible and low-cost solution for a source measure unit (SMU), which is presented as an alternative to conventional source meter units and a blueprint for sensor FET drivers. An SMU collects current-voltage (I-V) curves with an additional variable voltage or current and is commonly used to characterize semiconductors. We present the hardware design, interfacing, and test results of our SMU.

Alternating-Current Microgrid Testbed Built with Low-Cost Modular Hardware.

With the growing popularity of microgrids for alternative energy management, there is demand for tools that allow us to study the effect of microgrids in distributed power systems. Popular methods involve software simulation and prototype validation with physical hardware. Simulations often do not capture the complex interactions, and combinations of software simulations with hardware testbeds promise to give a more accurate picture.

Calcium Oscillation Frequency Is a Potential Functional Complex Physiological Relevance Indicator for a Neuroblastoma-Based 3D Culture Model.

In vitro screening for drugs that affect neural function in vivo is still primitive. It primarily relies on single cellular responses from 2D monolayer cultures that have been shown to be exaggerations of the in vivo response. For the 3D model to be physiologically relevant, it should express characteristics that not only differentiate it from 2D but also closely emulate those seen in vivo.

Brain-on-a-Chip Device for Modeling Multiregional Networks.

Animal models are frequently used in drug discovery because they represent a mammalian in vivo model system, they are the closest approximation to the human brain, and experimentation in humans is not ethical. Working with postmortem human brain samples is challenging and developing human in vitro systems, which mimic the in vivo human brain, has been challenging. However, the use of animal models in drug discovery for human neurological diseases is currently under scrutiny because data from animal models has come with variations due to genetic differences.

Spheroid Trapping and Calcium Spike Estimation Techniques toward Automation of 3D Culture.

We present a spheroid trapping device, compatible with traditional tissue culture plates, to confine microtissues in a small area and allow suspension cultures to be treated like adherent cultures with minimal loss of spheroids due to aspiration. We also illustrate an automated morphology-independent procedure for cell recognition, segmentation, and a calcium spike detection technique for high-throughput analysis in 3D cultured tissue. Our cell recognition technique uses a maximum intensity projection of spatial-temporal data to create a binary mask, which delineates individual cell boundaries and extracts mean fluorescent data for each cell through a series of intensity thresholding and cluster labeling operations.

Ratiometric Nanoviscometers: Applications for Measuring Cellular Physical Properties in 3D Cultures.

New insights into the biomechanical properties of cells are revealing the importance of these properties and how they relate to underlying molecular, architectural, and behavioral changes associated with cell state and disease processes. However, the current understanding of how these in vitro biomechanical properties are associated with in vivo processes has been developed based on the traditional monolayer (two-dimensional [2D]) cell culture, which traditionally has not translated well to the three-dimensional (3D) cell culture and in vivo function. Many gold standard methods and tools used to observe the biomechanical properties of 2D cell cultures cannot be used with 3D cell cultures.

Far-red light enhances photochemical efficiency in a wavelength-dependent manner.

Linear electron transport depends on balanced excitation of photosystem I and II. Far-red light preferentially excites photosystem I (PSI) and can enhance the photosynthetic efficiency when combined with light that over-excites photosystem II (PSII). The efficiency of different wavelengths of far-red light exciting PSI was quantified by measuring the change in quantum yield of PSII (Φ ) of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) under red/blue light with narrowband far-red light added (from 678 to 752 nm, obtained using laser diodes).

Enhanced dynamic range x-ray imaging.

X-ray images can suffer from excess contrast. Often, image exposure is chosen to visually optimize the region of interest, but at the expense of over- and underexposed regions elsewhere in the image. When image values are interpreted quantitatively as projected absorption, both over- and underexposure leads to the loss of quantitative information.

Ratiometric mechanosensitive fluorescent dyes: Design and applications.

Fluorescent molecules, with their almost instantaneous response to external influences and relatively low-cost measurement instrumentation, have been attractive analytical tools and biosensors for centuries. More recently, advanced chemical synthesis and targeted design have accelerated the development of fluorescent probes. This article focuses on dyes with segmental mobility (known as fluorescent molecular rotors) that act as mechanosensors, which are known for their relationship of emission quantum yield with microviscosity.

Noninvasive assessment of intracranial pressure in dogs by use of biomechanical response behavior, diagnostic imaging, and finite element analysis.

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVE :To develop a novel method for use of diagnostic imaging, finite element analysis (FEA), and simulated biomechanical response behavior of brain tissue in noninvasive assessment and estimation of intracranial pressure (ICP) of dogs.

Sample: MRI data for 5 dogs.

Procedures: MRI data for 5 dogs (1 with a geometrically normal brain that had no detectable signs of injury or disease and 4 with various degrees of geometric abnormalities) were obtained from a digital imaging archiving and communication system database.

Apparent shear sensitivity of molecular rotors in various solvents.

Fluorescent environment-sensitive dyes often change their spectral properties concomitantly with multiple solvent properties, such as polarity, protonation, hydrogen bond formation, or viscosity. Careful consideration of the response is needed when a fluorescent dye is used to report a single property. Recently, we observed an increase of emission intensity of viscosity-sensitive molecular rotors in fluids subject to flow and speculated that either polar-polar interaction or hydrogen bond formation play a role in the apparent flow sensitivity.

Cyclopenta[b]naphthalene cyanoacrylate dyes: synthesis and evaluation as fluorescent molecular rotors.

We describe the design, synthesis and fluorescent profile of a family of environment-sensitive dyes in which a dimethylamino (donor) group is conjugated to a cyanoacrylate (acceptor) unit via a cyclopenta[b]naphthalene ring system. This assembly satisfies the typical D-π-A motif of a fluorescent molecular rotor and exhibits solvatochromic and viscosity-sensitive fluorescence emission. The central naphthalene ring system of these dyes was synthesized via a novel intramolecular dehydrogenative dehydro-Diels-Alder (IDDDA) reaction that permits incorporation of the donor and acceptor groups in variable positions around the aromatic core.

Building a 3D Computed Tomography Scanner From Surplus Parts.

Computed tomography (CT) scanners are expensive imaging devices, often out of reach for small research groups. Designing and building a CT scanner from modular components is possible, and this article demonstrates that realization of a CT scanner from components is surprisingly easy. However, the high costs of a modular X-ray source and detector limit the overall cost savings.

Blue and UV LED-induced fluorescence in cotton foreign matter.

Background: Cotton is an important domesticated fiber used to manufacture a variety of products and industrial goods. During harvesting with cotton strippers and cotton pickers, it is contaminated with foreign matter from botanical and non-botanical sources which adversely affect the quality and consistency of cotton, and therefore reduces its market value. To improve the current grading done by the High Volume Instrument (HVI) and human inspectors, it was explored whether fluorescence imaging can be used for cotton foreign matter detection.

LED-Induced fluorescence and image analysis to detect stink bug damage in cotton bolls.

Background: Stink bugs represent a major agricultural pest complex attacking more than 200 wild and cultivated plants, including cotton in the southeastern US. Stink bug feeding on developing cotton bolls will cause boll abortion or lint staining and thus reduced yield and lint value. Current methods for stink bug detection involve manual harvesting and cracking open of a sizable number of immature cotton bolls for visual inspection.

Self-calibrating viscosity probes: design and subcellular localization.

We describe the design, synthesis and fluorescence profiles of new self-calibrating viscosity dyes in which a coumarin (reference fluorophore) has been covalently linked with a molecular rotor (viscosity sensor). Characterization of their fluorescence properties was made with separate excitation of the units and through resonance energy transfer from the reference to the sensor dye. We have modified the linker and the substitution of the rotor in order to change the hydrophilicity of these probes thereby altering their subcellular localization.

Intrinsic and extrinsic temperature-dependency of viscosity-sensitive fluorescent molecular rotors.

Molecular rotors are a group of environment-sensitive fluorescent probes whose quantum yield depends on the ability to form twisted intramolecular charge-transfer (TICT) states. TICT formation is dominantly governed by the solvent's microviscosity, but polarity and the ability of the solvent to form hydrogen bonds play an additional role. The relationship between quantum yield ϕ(F) and viscosity η is widely accepted as a power-law, ϕ(F) = C · η(x).

Stink bug feeding induces fluorescence in developing cotton bolls.

Background: Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) comprise a critically important insect pest complex affecting 12 major crops worldwide including cotton. In the US, stink bug damage to developing cotton bolls causes boll abscission, lint staining, reduced fiber quality, and reduced yields with estimated losses ranging from 10 to 60 million dollars annually. Unfortunately, scouting for stink bug damage in the field is laborious and excessively time consuming.

Synthesis and evaluation of self-calibrating ratiometric viscosity sensors.

We describe the design, synthesis and fluorescent profile of a family of self-calibrating dyes that provide ratiometric measurements of fluid viscosity. The design is based on covalently linking a primary fluorophore (reference) that displays a viscosity-independent fluorescence emission with a secondary fluorophore (sensor) that exhibits a viscosity-sensitive fluorescence emission. Characterization of fluorescent properties was made with separate excitation of the units and through Resonance Energy Transfer from the reference to the sensor dye.

Detection of liposome membrane viscosity perturbations with ratiometric molecular rotors.

Molecular rotors are a form of fluorescent intramolecular charge-transfer complexes that can undergo intramolecular twisting motion upon photoexcitation. Twisted-state formation leads to non-radiative relaxation that competes with fluorescence emission. In bulk solutions, these molecules exhibit a viscosity-dependent quantum yield.

Environment-sensitive behavior of fluorescent molecular rotors.

Molecular rotors are a group of fluorescent molecules that form twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) states upon photoexcitation. When intramolecular twisting occurs, the molecular rotor returns to the ground state either by emission of a red-shifted emission band or by nonradiative relaxation. The emission properties are strongly solvent-dependent, and the solvent viscosity is the primary determinant of the fluorescent quantum yield from the planar (non-twisted) conformation.

Molecular rotors: Synthesis and evaluation as viscosity sensors.

It has been shown that compounds containing the p-N,N,-dialkylaminobenzylidene cyanoacetate motif can serve as fluorescent non-mechanical viscosity sensors. These compounds, referred to as molecular rotors, belong to a class of fluorescent probes that are known to form twisted intramolecular charge-transfer complexes in the excited state. In this study we present the synthesis and spectroscopic characterization of these compounds as viscosity sensors.

Imaging of flow patterns with fluorescent molecular rotors.

Molecular rotors are a group of fluorescent molecules that form twisted intramolecular charge transfer states (TICT) upon photoexcitation. Some classes of molecular rotors, among them those that are built on the benzylidene malononitrile motif, return to the ground state either by nonradiative intramolecular rotation or by fluorescence emission. In low-viscosity solvents, intramolecular rotation dominates, and the fluorescence quantum yield is low.