Live-cell tracking using SIFT features in DIC microscopic videos.

In this paper, a novel motion-tracking scheme using scale-invariant features is proposed for automatic cell motility analysis in gray-scale microscopic videos, particularly for the live-cell tracking in low-contrast differential interference contrast (DIC) microscopy. In the proposed approach, scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) points around live cells in the microscopic image are detected, and a structure locality preservation (SLP) scheme using Laplacian Eigenmap is proposed to track the SIFT feature points along successive frames of low-contrast DIC videos. Experiments on low-contrast DIC microscopic videos of various live-cell lines shows that in comparison with principal component analysis (PCA) based SIFT tracking, the proposed Laplacian-SIFT can significantly reduce the error rate of SIFT feature tracking.

An alternative theory on relaxation rates in cuprate superconductors.

Transport properties of high transition temperature (high-T(c)) superconductors apparently demonstrate two distinct relaxation rates in the normal state. We propose that this superficial inconsistence can be resolved with an effective carrier (quasiparticle) density n almost linear in temperature T. Experimental evidence both for and against this explanation is analyzed and we conclude that this offers a clear yet promising scenario.