Abstract: Subject matter disclosed herein may relate to power converters, and may more particularly relate to multi-stage hybrid power converters, for example.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods of forming an antimicrobial and/or antiviral metal coating on a substrate comprising surface groups that bond to a metal alkoxide to form a 3-dimensional metal oxide/alkoxide adhesion layer. The methods include A) soaking or spraying a substrate comprising a 3-dimensional metal oxide/alkoxide layer with a solution of a transition metal salt, and reduction of the transition metal salt to form a continuous network of transition metal within the 3-D layer, or B) soaking or spraying a substrate comprising a 3-dimensional metal oxide/alkoxide layer with a solution of a post-transition metal salt, sintering at high temperature to form a continuous post-transition metal network within the 3-D layer, and electrolyzing to replace post-transition metal with a transition metal.

Abstract: Compositions including dihydromyricetin (DHM) and methods for forming them through hot melt extrusion.

Abstract: According to various embodiments, a method for encrypting image data for a neural network are disclosed. The method includes mixing the image data with other datapoints to form mixed data; and applying a pixel-wise random mask to the mixed data to form encrypted data. According to various embodiments, a method for encrypting text data for a neural network for natural language processing is disclosed. The method includes encoding each text datapoint via a pretrained text encoder to form encoded datapoints; mixing the encoded datapoints with other encoded datapoints to form mixed data; applying a random mask to the mixed data to form encrypted data; and incorporating the encrypted data into training a classifier of the neural network and fine-tuning the text encoder.

Abstract: Compositions and methods are provided for DNA barcoding of designer mononucleosome and polynucleosome (chromatin array) libraries for use, for example, for the profiling of chromatin readers, writers, erasers, and modulators thereof.

Abstract: Provided herein is an isolated fusion protein comprising a light-responsive domain and a heterologous peptide component. Exposure of the fusion protein to light induces a conformational change in the fusion protein that alters an activity of the fusion protein and the activity is a binding activity selected from an in vitro binding activity, an in vivo extracellular binding activity and an in vivo intracellular binding activity. Also provided are methods of using and identifying the fusion proteins.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described, and one method includes illuminating a target-of-interest (TI) with an RF energy configured to effect, over a time duration extending from a first time to a second time, an increase in a temperature of the TI. At a first detection time within the time duration, a first temperature NQR signal spectrum of the TI is detected, and a corresponding first temperature NQR spectrum data set is generates. At a second detection time, subsequent to the first detection time, a second temperature NQR signal spectrum of the TI is detected and corresponding second temperature NQR spectrum data set is output. Based at least in part on the first temperature NQR spectral dataset and the second temperature NQR spectral dataset, the TI is classified between including the SI and not including the SI.

Abstract: Nanoparticles including a cellulosic polymer and a hydrophobic material and methods for forming them.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are solar cells with kesterite-based absorbers that hold promise as a low-cost and durable technology to renewably produce electricity using solar energy conversion. The current state-of-the-art (SOA) for such kesterite solar cells is Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 and novel materials are required to suppress the formation bandgap-fluctuation- and charge-carrier-recombination-inducing defects and eventually to achieve solar cell efficiencies higher than the SOA. Three important material properties that govern the efficiency of a solar cell are the concentrations of performance-degrading defects, band gap, and chemical stability. Disclosed here is a stable material, specifically Cu2CdGe(S,Se)4, as a new candidate that can exhibit higher defect formation energies than Cu2ZnSnS4 and a nearly optimal bandgap, which can eventually result in higher solar-cell efficiencies in solar energy conversion.

Abstract: Provided are astexin-1, astexin-2 and astexin-3 lasso peptides, which are based on sequences identified in Asticaccaulis excentricus, and methods of making and using same. Astexin-1 is highly polar, in contrast to many lasso peptides that are primarily hydrophobic, and has modest antimicrobial activity against Caulobacter crescentus, a bacterium related to Asticaccaulis excentricus. The solution structure of astexin-1 was determined, revealing a unique topology that is stabilized by hydrogen bonding between segments of the peptide. Astexins-2 and -3 are intracellular lasso peptides.

Abstract: A method for controlling the encapsulation efficiency and burst release of water soluble molecules from nanoparticle and microparticle formulations produced by the inverted Flash NanoPrecipitation (iFNP) process and subsequent processing steps is presented. The processing steps and materials used can be adjusted to tune the encapsulation efficiency and burst release of the encapsulated water-soluble material. The encapsulation efficiency of the soluble agent in the particles and the burst release of the soluble agent from the particles can be controlled by: (1) the copolymers used in the assembly or coating process, (2) the degree of crosslinking of the nanoparticle core, (3) the incorporation of small molecule or polymeric additives, and/or (4) the processing and release conditions employed.

Abstract: Various embodiments are directed to Reed-Muller decoding systems and methods based on recursive projections and aggregations of cosets decoding, exploiting the self-similarity of RM codes, and extended with list-decoding procedures and with outer-code concatenations. Various embodiments are configured for decoding RM codes (and variants thereof) over binary input memoryless channels, such as by, for each received word of RM encoded data, projecting the received word onto each of a plurality of cosets of different subspaces to form thereby a respective plurality of projected words; recursively decoding each of the respective plurality of projected words to form a respective plurality of decoded projected words; and aggregating each of the respective decoded projected words to obtain thereby a decoding of the corresponding received word of RM encoded data.

Abstract: This invention relates generally to the field of quasicrystalline structures.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems and techniques for increasing heat transfer from a substrate to a working fluid. The systems may include a substrate comprising a plurality of grooves or cavities on at least one external surface. The system may also include an infusing liquid filling at least a majority of the plurality of grooves. The system may also include a working fluid configured to flow parallel to the external surface.

Abstract: Disclosed are dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) devices and methods of use for sterilizing surfaces. The DBD devices generally include one or more first electrodes, one or more second electrodes or chemical reagent layers, and at least one dielectric layer between the one or more first electrodes and the one or more second electrodes or chemical reagent layers. In various configurations, the at least one dielectric layer is either (a) in contact with at least one of the first electrodes or (if present) at least one chemical reagent layer, or (b) is separated from the one or more first electrodes by a first gap and is also separated from the one or more second electrodes or chemical reagent layers by a second gap.

Abstract: Various embodiments comprise systems, methods, architectures, mechanisms or apparatus for providing programmable or pre-programmed in-memory computing operations.

Abstract: The present application provides a method of assaying pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) activity in a mammalian cell that expresses human sirtuin 4 (SIRT4) comprising measuring a level of a dihydrolipoyllysine acetyltransferase (DLAT) lipoamide peptide comprising the amino acid sequence TDK[lipoyl]AT in the cell. The present application also demonstrates that sirtuin 4 (SIRT4) acts as a cellular lipoamidase that negatively regulates pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) activity through hydrolysis of its lipoamide cofactors.

Abstract: When one looks at a face, one cannot help but ‘read’ it: in the blink of an eye, people form reliable impressions of both transient psychological states (e.g., happiness) and stable character traits (e.g., trustworthiness). Such impressions are irresistible, formed with high levels of consensus, and important for social decisions. Disclosed herein is a large-scale data-driven methodology that allows for the easy manipulation of social trait information in hyper-realistic face images. For example, a given face image could be made to look more or less trustworthy by moving a simple slider. Further, this method can not only generate faces, but can ‘read’ faces as well, providing confidence estimates of different social traits for any arbitrary image. The disclosed approach is both fast and accurate, and represents a paradigm shift in facial photo manipulation.

Abstract: A quantum information processing system comprises a light source, a detector, at least one spatial light modulator and at least one optical lens. The light source is configured to provide a beam of entangled photons. The at least one optical lens is configured to project the resultant beam onto the spatial light modulator, either by direct imaging or by performing a full or partial optical Fourier transform. Said spatial light modulator includes a plurality of discrete pixels and is configured to select one or more of the plurality of discrete pixels to generate a resultant beam from said beam of entangled photons. The resultant beam from said spatial light modulator is projected onto the detector. For optical computation, such as search algorithms, the configuration and projections are repeated to find the optimal solution.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to iron-containing compounds including a 2,6-diimino(heteroaryl) ligand useful for producing substituted-cyclo-alkanes, such as vinyl cyclobutanes. The present disclosure provides new and improved iron-containing catalysts with enhanced solubility in hydrophobic (nonpolar) solvents.