Network Morphology Research Articles

Influence of accelerators and curing system composition on the cure characteristics, crosslinks structure and properties of acrylonitrile‐butadiene elastomer

AbstractThe goal of this work is to study the influence of the type of vulcanization accelerator and the quantitative composition of the curing system on the cure characteristics, morphology of elastomer network, crosslink density and physico‐chemical properties of acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber (NBR) composites. Sulfur curing systems are investigated, which consist of various types of accelerators, that is, sulfenamide, guanidine and thiuram, applied in various proportions to sulfur. The type of accelerator and the sulfur/accelerator ratio significantly affect both the cure rate and the structure and number of crosslinks resulting from the vulcanization. The highest cure rate and the lowest content of polysulfidic crosslinks are exhibited by rubber composites with efficient (EV) curing systems due to the highest content of accelerators compared to semi‐efficient (SEV) and conventional (CV) systems. The structure of crosslinks strongly affect tensile properties and hardness of the vulcanizates as well as their solvent resistance, thermal stability and resistance to thermo‐oxidative aging.

Automatic vessel crossing and bifurcation detection based on multi-attention network vessel segmentation and directed graph search

Analysis of the vascular tree is the basic premise to automatically diagnose retinal biomarkers associated with ophthalmic and systemic diseases, among which accurate identification of intersection and bifurcation points is quite challenging but important for disentangling complex vascular network and tracking vessel morphology. In this paper, we present a novel directed graph search-based multi-attentive neural network approach to automatically segment the vascular network and separate intersections and bifurcations from color fundus images. Our approach uses multi-dimensional attention to adaptively integrate local features and their global dependencies while learning to focus on target structures at different scales to generate binary vascular maps. A directed graphical representation of the vascular network is constructed to represent the topology and spatial connectivity of the vascular structures. Using local geometric information including color difference, diameter, and angle, the complex vascular tree is decomposed into multiple sub-trees to finally classify and label vascular feature points. The proposed method has been tested on the DRIVE dataset and the IOSTAR dataset containing 40 images and 30 images, respectively, with 0.863 and 0.764 F1-score of detection points and average accuracy of 0.914 and 0.854 for classification points. These results demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method outperforming state-of-the-art methods in feature point detection and classification.

Quantifying organellar ultrastructure in cryo-electron tomography using a surface morphometrics pipeline.

Cellular cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables three-dimensional reconstructions of organelles in their native cellular environment at subnanometer resolution. However, quantifying ultrastructural features of pleomorphic organelles in three dimensions is challenging, as is defining the significance of observed changes induced by specific cellular perturbations. To address this challenge, we established a semiautomated workflow to segment organellar membranes and reconstruct their underlying surface geometry in cryo-ET. To complement this workflow, we developed an open-source suite of ultrastructural quantifications, integrated into a single pipeline called the surface morphometrics pipeline. This pipeline enables rapid modeling of complex membrane structures and allows detailed mapping of inter- and intramembrane spacing, curvedness, and orientation onto reconstructed membrane meshes, highlighting subtle organellar features that are challenging to detect in three dimensions and allowing for statistical comparison across many organelles. To demonstrate the advantages of this approach, we combine cryo-ET with cryo-fluorescence microscopy to correlate bulk mitochondrial network morphology (i.e., elongated versus fragmented) with membrane ultrastructure of individual mitochondria in the presence and absence of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Using our pipeline, we demonstrate ER stress promotes adaptive remodeling of ultrastructural features of mitochondria including spacing between the inner and outer membranes, local curvedness of the inner membrane, and spacing between mitochondrial cristae. We show that differences in membrane ultrastructure correlate to mitochondrial network morphologies, suggesting that these two remodeling events are coupled. Our pipeline offers opportunities for quantifying changes in membrane ultrastructure on a single-cell level using cryo-ET, opening new opportunities to define changes in ultrastructural features induced by diverse types of cellular perturbations.

Photocrosslinkable Polymeric Bicontinuous Microemulsions.

We present an approach to photocrosslink bicontinuous microemulsions derived from ternary blends of poly(methoxyethyl acrylate) (PM, Mn = 4200 g/mol), poly(hexyl methacrylate-co-coumarin methacrylate) (PHC, Mn = 6800 g/mol), and PM-b-PHC diblock polymer (Mn = 19,400 g/mol) in a phase-selective manner, enabling structural characterization at an unprecedented level of detail. This strategy utilizes the [2 + 2] photodimerization reaction of coumarin derivatives to covalently crosslink blends without the use of harsh reagents or disruptive thermal treatment, thus preserving the intricate network structure throughout curing. The resulting crosslinked bicontinuous microemulsions exhibited rubbery behavior at elevated temperatures, achieving an elastic shear modulus of nearly 1 MPa at 70 °C, owing to the presence of the three-dimensional co-continuous network morphology. The dimensional stabilization afforded by crosslinking further allowed the microstructure to be directly imaged by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Contrary to recent theoretical findings, the BμE appears in a wide temperature and compositional window, suggesting that it is a robust feature of these blends. As a proof of concept demonstrating both the utility of bicontinuous microemulsion-derived materials and versatility of this strategy toward broader applications in energy storage and transport, the uncrosslinked portion of a cured blend was extracted by washing and replaced with an ionic liquid; the resultant heterogeneous solid electrolyte exhibited a room-temperature conductivity of 2 mS/cm, approximately one-quarter that of the pure ionic liquid.

Experimental Study of the Fracture Network Expansion Mechanism and Three-Dimensional Reconstruction Characteristic of High-Rank Coal in Guizhou Province, China.

To better understand the fracture propagation characteristics and spatial distribution pattern of a high-rank coal reservoir during hydraulic fracturing, a true triaxial physical simulation device was used to conduct a hydraulic fracturing experiment on large-sized raw coal from Zhijin, Guizhou Province, China. Computed tomography technology was used to scan the three-dimensional morphology of the fracture network before and after fracturing, then AVIZO software was used to reconstruct the internal fractures of the coal sample, and fractal theory was used to quantify the fractures. The results show that (1) the sudden increase of the pump pressure curve and acoustic emission signal is an important identification feature of hydraulic fractures, and the in situ stress difference coefficient plays a leading role in the complexity of coal and rock fractures. (2) When a hydraulic fracture encounters a primary fracture in the process of expansion, the opening of the primary fracture, the penetration, bifurcation, and turning of the hydraulic fracture are the main reasons for the formation of complex fractures, and the existence of a large number of primary fractures is the basis for the formation of complex fractures. (3) The fracture shape of coal hydraulic fracturing can be divided into three categories: complex fracture, plane fracture + cross fracture, and inverted T-shaped fracture. The fracture shape is closely related to the original fracture shape. The research results of this paper provide strong theoretical and technical support for coalbed methane mining design such as Zhijin high-rank coal reservoirs.

Evaluating the Role of Canalicular Morphology and Perilacunar Region Properties on Local Mechanical Environment of Lacunar-Canalicular Network Using Finite Element Modeling.

Physiological and pathological processes such as aging, diseases, treatments, and lactation can alter lacunar-canalicular network (LCN) morphology and perilacunar region properties. These modifications can impact the mechanical environment of osteocytes which in turn can influence osteocyte mechanosensitivity and the remodeling process. In this study, we aim to evaluate how the modifications in the canalicular morphology, lacunar density, and the perilacunar region properties influence the local mechanical environment of LCN and the apparent bone properties using three-dimensional finite element (FE) modeling. The simulation results showed that a 50% reduction in perilacunar elastic modulus led to about 7% decrease in apparent elastic modulus of the bone. The increase in canalicular density, length, and diameter did not influence the strain amplification in the models but they increased the amount of highly strained bone around LCN. Change in lacunar density did not influence the strain amplification and the amount of highly strained regions on LCN surfaces. Reduction in perilacunar elastic modulus increased both the strain amplification and the volume of highly strained tissue around and on the surface of LCN. The FE models of LCN in this study can be utilized to quantify the influence of modifications in canalicular morphology, lacunar density, and perilacunar region properties on the apparent bone properties and the local mechanical environment of LCN. Although this is a numerical study with idealized models, it provides important information on how mechanical environment of osteocytes is influenced by the modifications in LCN morphology and perilacunar region properties due to physiological and pathological processes.

Automatic ROI recognition and parameters selection for digital image correlation in measuring structures with complex shapes

For the digital image correlation (DIC) method, the measurement of specimens with complex shapes may encounter difficulties due to the time-consuming recognition of region of interest (ROI), and the indeterminate parameter selection caused by the non-uniform deformation. This paper proposes an automatic DIC for the measurement of structures with complex shapes. An automatic ROI segmentation is developed by combining a convolutional neural network and image morphology, so the boundary of the specimen can be acquired accurately and efficiently. In dealing with the non-uniform deformation, a strain-related automatic selection of DIC parameters is developed, in which the sampling intervals and the subset sizes at different areas can be automatically determined. Both results of the simulated experiment and real experiment show that, by combing the two approaches with segmentation-aided DIC, the proposed automatic DIC can characterize the complex deformation including the boundary of the structures effectively.

Towards development of sustainable metallic superhydrophobic materials

In the present study, an environment friendly, scalable, and cost-effective approach is proposed, combining thermo-mechanical and microwave-assisted hydrothermal processing techniques, resulting in the augmentation of nanoscale structures on metallic surfaces. The thermo-mechanical processing of the aluminium alloy performed at different strain rates resulted in significant grain refinement (∼ 1 µm for processed and ∼ 30 µm for unprocessed samples). After hydrothermal treatment, highly dense and networked nanostructured morphology was evoked by refined grains. Post silanization, samples exhibited high contact angle (θs > 155°) with a low tilt angle (θt < 10°) and CAH (< 5°). The low adhesion with water (∼ 16 µN) for the processed sample (∼ 50 μN for unprocessed) with utmost refined grains is attributed to the high interfacial energy of Cassie state (EC−B>1.0J) due to effective entrapment of air. The processed samples were highly de-wetting and mechanically resilient owing to the strong negative capillary pressure (PC > 1100 kPa) generated by highly dense networked nanostructures. As a result of thermo-mechanical processing, samples displayed higher resilience to abrasion, simulated rain, and long-term immersion tests with low tilt angles (θt < 10°) and CAH (< 5 °). This paper provides a practical approach to achieve anti-wetting surfaces in various industrial settings.

Statistical and topological summaries aid disease detection for segmented retinal vascular images.

Disease complications can alter vascular network morphology and disrupt tissue functioning. Microvascular diseases of the retina are assessed by visual inspection of retinal images, but this can be challenging when diseases exhibit silent symptoms or patients cannot attend in-person meetings. We examine the performance of machine learning algorithms in detecting microvascular disease when trained on statistical and topological summaries of segmented retinal vascular images. We compute 13 separate descriptor vectors (5 statistical, 8 topological) to summarize the morphology of retinal vessel segmentation images and train support vector machines to predict each image's disease classification from the summary vectors. We assess the performance of each descriptor vector, using five-fold cross validation to estimate their accuracy. We apply these methods to four datasets that were assembled from four existing data repositories; three datasets contain segmented retinal vascular images from one of the repositories, whereas the fourth "All" dataset combines images from four repositories. Among the 13 total descriptor vectors considered, either a statistical Box-counting descriptor vector or a topological Flooding descriptor vector achieves the highest accuracy levels. On the combined "All" dataset, the Box-counting vector outperforms all other descriptors, including the topological Flooding vector which is sensitive to differences in the annotation styles between the different datasets. Our work represents a first step to establishing which computational methods are most suitable for identifying microvascular disease and assessing their current limitations. These methods could be incorporated into automated disease assessment tools.

Wandering the intracellular maze.

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the largest organelle in eukaryotic cells and consists of a dynamic network of stacked sheets and lipid membrane tubules stretching from the nucleus to the cell periphery. The ER serves an essential role in the distribution of lipids, ions and proteins throughout the cell, but the impact of network morphology on transport remains poorly understood. To that end, analytic mean first passage times for particles diffusing on extracted ER network structures are used as a measure of accessibility for different regions of the ER, which exhibit a wide heterogeneity due to varying tubule density and connectivity patterns. Moving beyond average search times, we combine agent-based simulations of particles diffusing on tubular networks with in vivo data on the spreading of photoactivated membrane proteins in COS-7 cells, in order to quantify how local ER structure determines protein spreading. We demonstrate that static local connectivity serves to explain some but not all of the observed behavior of proteins in the ER. Network dynamics, such as tubule growth and rearrangement are also implicated. In order to quantify these effects, we develop a dynamic model of the peripheral ER that aims to capture its unique, constantly evolving structure. This minimal network model reproduces key features that are observed experimentally in the ER of COS-7 cells such as length and area distributions. Intriguingly, the effective node diffusivity predicted from the model is similar to the observed diffusivity of ER exit site structures. Pairing analytic calculations and theoretical modeling with live-cell imaging, we highlight the role the heterogeneous ER network morphology plays in the non-uniform transport of proteins and gain fresh insights into the dynamic nature of the network itself.

3D reconstruction shows mouse skeletal muscle may decline in function across aging due to the MICOS complex

Mitochondria are active organelles, undergoing harmonized cycles of fission and fusion, driven by ‘mitochondrial dynamics,’ to retain their morphology, distribution, and size. Mitochondrial dynamics has emerged as a critical process in maintaining cellular homeostasis. Interestingly, it has been long respected that a decrease in mitochondrial function escorts aging in specific tissues. For example, skeletal muscle gradually loses mass, strength, endurance, and oxidative capacity during aging. This decrease might, in turn, contribute to the observed age-dependent decline in organ function by mutations or alterations in mitochondrial fusion and fission proteins associated with several diseases. However, new players in regulating mitochondrial shape and cristae shape have been recently studied, such as the mitochondrial contact site and cristae organizing system (MICOS) complex. The MICOS complex is a multi-protein interaction hub that helps define cristate and mitochondria architecture. However, the MICOS complex has not been implicated in regulating organelle structure changes during aging. Thus, we hypothesized that loss of the MICOS complex during aging may increase mitochondrial fragmentation, decrease nanotunnels, and alter cristae morphology. To do this, we examined the three-dimensional morphology of mitochondria networks in young (3-month) and aged (2-year) murine gastrocnemius muscle via serial block face-scanning electron microscopy and the Amira program for segmentation, analysis, and quantification. We found differences in mitochondrial network configuration, nanotunneling, size, shape, number, contact sites, MICOS dynamics, and gene expression in skeletal muscle during aging. We also found an association between OPA-1 and the MICOS complex in the gastrocnemius with mitochondrial aging. Furthermore, the loss of the MICOS complex was linked with decreased oxidative capacity and altered mitochondrial metabolism. Potentially, this suggests a novel relationship between the MICOS complex and aging in skeletal muscle.

4D mitochondrial biophysical parameters predict cell type in human organoid tissue.

Mitochondria assume the form of a three-dimensional temporal network in the cell. There is a spectrum of mitochondrial network morphologies and dynamics that ranges from static, organized single mitochondria to branched, motile networks of connected mitochondria. This spectrum is sensitive to cell state, cell type, and organ system. Our hypothesis is that there are shared but also unique biophysical parameters that govern the mitochondrial temporal network dynamics in cells and tissues. We investigate two model systems, intestinal organoids and branching lung organoids, to extract and understand these biophysical parameters. We used adaptive optics-lattice light sheet microscopy (AO-LLSM) to capture 4D (x, y, z, time) mitochondria data in tissues with low photo-toxicity and high spatio-temporal resolution. Automated image processing and computational temporal network tracking was performed using the MitoTNT software package to quantify fission/fusion rates, morphological parameters, motility, and graph temporal network properties. We found unique temporal network signatures that correlate with cell and tissue type, supporting our hypothesis. Next steps include extending our findings to additional cell and tissue types.

Effects of sinusoidal vibration of casting-roller on interface microstructure of Ti/Al laminated composites by twin-roll casting

A new vibration cast-rolling technology of “electromagnetic stirring + dendrite breaking + asynchronous rolling” was proposed with the adoption of sinusoidal vibration of the casting-roller to prepare Ti/Al laminated composites, and the effects of sinusoidal vibration of casting-roller on the interfacial microstructure were investigated in detail. In the interface of traditional cast-rolling materials, the ridge-shaped aluminum materials extend in a straight line or grow transversely into some tiny ridge-shaped branches which look like a quasi-cleavage fracture. With the enhancement of the casting-roller vibration, a large area of hilly aluminum materials in the interface is bonded or present equiaxed dimples gathering to form honeycomb network morphology, which presents ductile fracture characteristics. The vein patterns and morphology differentiation in the interface show that the density and uniformity of composite intensity distribution can be enhanced by increasing the vibration frequency, but the level of enhancement is not that much obvious. The hilly morphology and equiaxed dimples in the interface show that the unit composite strength can be enhanced by increasing the vibration amplitude, while the density of strength distribution is sparse. Under the combined effect of “amplitude + frequency,” the toughness and composite quality of the interface are enhanced by the uniform superposition of the discrete strengths. The area ratio of aluminum bonded to titanium side interface (81%) is 3 times higher than that of traditional cast-rolling material (22%) on the condition of ductile fracture of cast-rolling material with strong vibration (amplitude 0.87 mm, vibration frequency 25 Hz) of casting-roller, and the bonding strength (27.0 N/mm) is twice as high as that of traditional cast-rolling materials (14.9 N/mm), which indicates that the ductile connection between the interface layers can be greatly enhanced by vibration roll-casting.

Shells, rings, and networks-Determinants of actin configuration confined within VASP droplets.

Actin is one of the most abundant proteins in the cell and is essential for various cellular functions such as growth, migration, and endocytosis. Growing experimental evidence suggests that several essential proteins including actin-binding proteins phase separate to form condensates. This results in spontaneous demixing, which aids in the spatial and dynamic control of cellular responses. However, the role of actin-binding protein condensates in controlling actin organization is poorly understood. Here, we use computational modeling to study how liquid droplets of vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) affect actin organization. Actin selectively partitions inside the VASP droplets to form actin filaments organized into morphologies such as shells, rings, and disks (https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.09.491236). Describing the energy of the VASP-actin droplet in two dimensions, we show that above a threshold number of actin filaments, the bending energy of actin competes with the droplet surface energy to drive droplet deformation from a circle to an ellipse. These findings are consistent with experimental observations. To understand how various actin network morphologies emerge, we model filament growth and VASP-driven crosslinking in three dimensions using CytoSim. We show that the shell-shaped actin organization is favored under a wide range of VASP association rates. In contrast, rings are favored under a narrow subset of association rates through a kinetic trapping mechanism. We believe that the identified mechanism can also be relevant to liquid droplets of other actin crosslinking proteins.

Tight-junction strand networks and tightness of the epithelial barrier.

Tight junctions (TJs) are cell-cell junction structures critical for controlling paracellular permeability. On freeze-fracture replica electron microscopy, they appear as a continuous network of fibrils (TJ strands). TJ strands function as zippers that create a physical barrier against paracellular diffusion of molecules. The morphology of the TJ strand network varies greatly between tissues, and in recent years, studies have highlighted the mechanisms regulating the morphology of TJ strand networks and on their relevance to barrier function. In this review, we discuss evidence regarding the components of the TJ strand and the mechanisms for creating the TJ strand network. Furthermore, we discuss and hypothesize how its morphology contributes to the establishment of the epithelial barrier.

Redox-Guided Synthesis of Au–V2O5–MnO2 Nanoflower Composites with Enhanced Electrical Conductance for Supercapacitor Applications

This paper details an approach for the synthesis of stable electroactive Au–V2O5–MnO2 nanoflower composites using a simple redox-mediated methodology under modified hydrothermal (MHT) conditions. The nanocomposite was characterized by various techniques like X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmisson electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. MnO2 and Au formed a profitable hierarchical network morphology in the interstitial sites of V2O5, and this kind of synergetic architecture exhibits an elevated specific capacitance (388 F g–1 at 1 A g–1) compared to commercial V2O5 (85 F g–1 at 1 A g–1) in a neutral electrolyte. The as-synthesized nanocomposite contributed more to energy storage with superior energy density (49 Wh kg–1 at 1 A g–1 current density) and power density (4 kW kg–1 at 10 A g–1 current density) and demonstrated improved stability compared to commercial V2O5 of up to 2000 continuous charge/discharge cycles in a two-electrode system. Temperature- and field-dependent [both direct-current (dc) and alternating-current (ac)] studies exhibited enhanced conductance due to the incorporation of Au and MnO2 and non-Ohmic electrical conduction, characterized by the onset voltage V0 (dc) and onset frequency f0 (ac). These two onset parameters followed power-law behavior with Ohmic conductance with two onset exponents (xV and xf). Such electrical transport properties were explained using intrachain hopping conduction of charge carriers within the layers of pristine V2O5 and hopping of charge carriers between the layers of V2O5 in the Au–V2O5–MnO2 nanocomposite and supported the interstitial incorporation of the compounds.

Fractal Organization of Chilean Cities: Observations from a Developing Country

Urban forms are human-made systems that display a close connection with fractal objects, following organisation patterns that are not as random as believed. In this context, fractal theory can be seriously considered as a powerful tool for characterizing land-use planning. By applying the box-counting method and image-processing methods, the morphology and fractal metrics of urban networks of Chilean cities were measured. This dimension shows a close correlation with area, population and gross domestic product of each entity, revealing significant asymmetries regarding their distribution throughout the country. Such asymmetries have influenced the current shape of cities, issues concerning economic and social inequalities of urban development that still remain in the territory and explained by social segregation process and the historical evolution of cities. Additionally, some interesting allometric scaling laws obtained from these urban forms are also reported. Our results suggest that the use of fractal metrics can be a meaningful and cheap tool for characterizing the complexity of urban networks, providing useful and quick information about the organisation and efficiency of urban planning in developing countries.

Polyamide membrane with nanoscale stripes and internal voids for high-performance nanofiltration

Stripe patterned nanofiltration (NF) membranes were established via sulfonated polyether sulfone nanoparticles (SPES NPs) regulated interfacial polymerization. The nanoparticle was prepared by nonsolvent-induced phase separation to serve as a regulator, confining piperazine (PIP) diffusion towards organic phase through chemical affinity and steric effect. Consequently, intensive stripes in nanoscale have emerged and were uniformly distributed throughout the membrane. The internal characteristics of the structure were observed and revealed distinguishable ordered voids at the bottom of the polyamide (PA) layer. The generation and evolution, from the conventional nodular structures to stripe patterns, were investigated by optimizing the thickness of pristine NF membranes and incorporating different concentrations of SPES NPs. The resultant SPES-1.0@NFM-II with a distinctive morphology of interconnected labyrinthine networks on top and bottom surfaces of PA active layer, exhibited significant enhancement in water permeance (23.04 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, versus 12.15 L m−2 h−1 bar−1 of conventional NFM-II) while maintaining excellent divalent salt rejection (99.42% for Na2SO4).

Different Morphology of Branching Neovascular Network in Polypoidal Choroidal Vasculopathy: A Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Study.

Purpose: To evaluate the classification system of branching neovascular network (BNN) morphology in polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) patients based on swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) and swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (SS-OCTA), and analyze the morphological features in each group as potential prognostic features. Methods: A total of 32 PCV eyes were included in this retrospective study. SS-OCT and SS-OCTA images of 6 mm × 6 mm centered on the foveal of each eye were analyzed. PCV cases were classified into three types ("trunk", "glomeruli", and "stick" type) based on the morphological features of BNN. OCT and OCTA features were compared among the three groups. The correlation of OCT/OCTA features with visual acuity at 12 months after anti-VEGF treatment was also analyzed. Results: Type 1 group had the largest BNN area and the largest numbers of polypoidal lesions. Type 2 group has the largest pigment epithelial detachment (PED) area, PED volume, subretinal fluid (SRF) area, and SRF volume. Type 3 group had better baseline BCVA, the smallest BNN area, the smallest PED size, and the smallest SRF size. Type 1 was also featured by a clear break on Bruch's membrane which corresponded to the origin of neovascular tissue. BCVA at 12 months was not significantly different among groups. Baseline BCVA and baseline central macular thickness were correlated with the final BCVA. Conclusions: The current classification system based on BNN morphology on SS-OCTA was highly applicable and revealed distinct characteristics in each group. The BNN type was not correlated with BCVA at 12 months after treatment.

Automatic detection of river capture based on planform pattern and χ-plot of the stream network

River capture is a surficial process that can lead to drainage reorganization and have significant impacts on sediment dispersal and biotic evolution. Discovery and study of river capture events are helpful in revealing the history of drainage basins, however, the present-day identification of river capture mainly depends on field and map observations by geomorphologists, who lack an automatic method. In the case of a large-scale drainage system with a complicated stream network, a field investigation is too time-consuming and costly. This study aims to develop a novel method for automatic river capture detection based on planform morphology and χ-plots of the stream network. The whole method can be described as a workflow including three steps: (1) searching candidate regions where river capture may have occurred; (2) iterating over each candidate region and roughly detecting the captor, captured, reversal, and beheaded rivers using the planform pattern of the stream network; (3) verifying the river capture with a χ-elevation plot in the candidate region found by rough detection. The description of the method is followed by two case studies from China and Spain, demonstrating the ability of the method to identify the location where the river capture might occur. We also discuss the parameters that must be optimized before extracting the river capture efficiently from the stream network.