Abstract: A drilling fluid inhibition evaluation device includes a main test member, a temperature control pressurization system, a gas source, a circulation heating system, a confining pressure pump, a central control system, a computer, an ultrasonic detector and a safety valve electrically connected through pipelines, respectively, the main test member and the temperature control pressurization system sequentially connected with the gas source; the present disclosure can pre-pressurize experimental fluid and then inject the fluid into a dilatometer, so as to prevent the fluid from generating obvious changes of phase states, eliminate pressure setting errors caused by a saturated vapor pressure of the fluid, improve accuracy of evaluation results, inspect a real expansion state of the sample and simultaneously monitor structural change characteristics of a rock sample in real time through reflection conditions of sound waves.

Abstract: The present application relates to the use of CYP4V2 and RdCVF in the manufacture of a medicament for treating, alleviating, and/or preventing a disease or disorder associated with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) atrophy. The present application also relates to an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprising a polynucleotide encoding CYP4V2 and a polynucleotide encoding RdCVF. The present application also relates to an amino acid sequence encoded by the isolated nucleic acid molecule, a vector comprising the isolated nucleic acid molecule, and a cell comprising the nucleic acid or the vector as well as use thereof in the manufacture of a medicament for treating, alleviating, and/or preventing a disease or disorder associated with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) atrophy.

Abstract: The disclosure provides modified biotin-binding proteins which can be expressed in soluble form in high yield in bacteria. Also provided are fusion proteins comprising the modified biotin-binding protein and an antigen. The disclosure further provides non-hemolytic variants of alpha-hemolysin from S. aureus and fusion protein comprising non-hemolytic variant of alpha-hemolysin and a biotin-binding domains. Immunogenic compositions comprising the proteins are also disclosed and use of such immunogenic compositions for inducing an immune response or for vaccinating a subject are also disclosed.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the technical field of application of bioengineering technology in microbial oil recovery, and discloses a Brevibacillus agri strain and preparation thereof and a method for preparing surfactant, and use thereof. The Brevibacillus agri strain is deposited in the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center under the accession number CGMCC No. 9983. The Brevibacillus agri and its preparation may effectively enhance the crude oil recovery; the method for preparing the surfactant allow the lipopeptide biosurfactant to have good physical properties, effectively reduce the surface tension, and have good emulsifying performance for petroleum, various hydrocarbons and lipids.

Abstract: Decoding method and memory system that decodes data and estimates a weighted checksum on the decoded data to determine whether the decoding is successful. The weighted checksum is calculated based on a first group and a second group, the first group is associated with weights for high degree nodes of an irregular parity check matrix, and the second group is associated with weights for low degree nodes of the irregular parity check matrix.

Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for performance of an iterative decoder in a non-volatile memory are described. An example method includes receiving a noisy codeword that is based on a transmitted codeword generated from a low-density parity-check (LDPC) code, partitioning a maximum number of iterations of the iterative decoder into a plurality of stages, initializing a set of log likelihood ratios (LLRs) with symmetric LLRs, for each stage of the plurality of stages: performing a message passing algorithm, determining, at a last iteration of the current stage, a hard decision corresponding to a candidate version of the transmitted codeword, determining, based on the hard decision, a set of asymmetric LLRs, and assigning the set of asymmetric LLRs to the set of LLRs, and determining the candidate version of the transmitted codeword using the set of LLRs.

Abstract: A vector includes a polynucleotide encoding CYP4V2 and a promoter operably linked to the polynucleotide encoding CYP4V2. The vector has a good expression effect, high expression speed, and more stable expression intensity. Cells, pharmaceutical compositions, and kits can include the vector. Methods for treating, alleviating, and/or preventing a disease or disorder associated with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) atrophy can include administering the vector to a subject.

Abstract: Embodiments provided herein relate to methods and compositions for preparing an immobilized library of barcoded DNA fragments of a target nucleic acid, identifying genomic variants, determining the contiguity information, phasing information, and methylation status of the target nucleic acid.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a pet house structure that includes a bottom plate, side plates, a top cover and a plurality of profiles, wherein the side plates and the plurality of profiles are alternately connected to define and form a frame of a polygonal structure, wherein at least one of the side plate of the frame is provided with a passage, wherein the bottom plate and the top cover are connected to the plurality of profiles of the frame through fastening devices, wherein each of the profiles has a mounting cavity extending along its length direction, the mounting cavity is equipped with an inner plug, and wherein the bottom plate and the top cover are connected with the inner plug through the fastening device.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to an iron-nitride material having a polycrystalline microstructure including a plurality of elongated crystallographic grains with grain boundaries, the iron-nitride material including at least one of an ??-Fe16N2 phase and a body-center-tetragonal (bct) phase comprising Fe and N. The disclosure is also directed a method producing an iron-nitride material.

Abstract: A primary battery includes a cathode having a non-stoichiometric metal oxide including transition metals Ni, Mn, Co, or a combination of metal atoms, an alkali metal, and hydrogen; an anode; a separator between the cathode and the anode; and an alkaline electrolyte.

Abstract: Techniques related to calibrating fisheye cameras using a single image are discussed. Such techniques include applying a first pretrained convolutional neural network to an input fisheye image to generate camera model parameters excluding a principle point and applying a second pretrained convolutional neural network to the fisheye image and a difference of the fisheye image and a projection of the fisheye image using the camera model parameters to generate the principle point.

Abstract: This disclosure describes methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and systems that can generate a structural variation graph genome with alternate contiguous sequences representing structural variant haplotypes. For instance, the disclosed systems can identify candidate structural variants that satisfy an occurrence threshold within a genomic sample database. From among the candidate structural variants, the systems select structural variant haplotypes based on one or both of the structural variant haplotypes satisfying a relative haplotype frequency and finding flanking variants adjacent to particular structural variant haplotypes. The systems can likewise select reference haplotypes corresponding to the selected structural variant haplotypes from a reference genome.

Abstract: Chemical compositions of a tire cord steel with high strength and low wire breakage rate may include Nb, V and N, and ([Nb]+[V])/[N] is 3-4.5, [Nb] representing the mass fraction of niobium element, [V] representing the mass fraction of vanadium element, and [N] representing the mass fraction of nitrogen element. The method includes: obtaining a steel billet of the tire cord steel; and sequentially performing a heating-before-rolling, a hot-rolling and a cooling-after-rolling on the steel billet to obtain a wire rod of the tire cord steel. The application of the tire cord steel is to apply the tire cord steel in tire skeleton materials. The strength and toughness of the tire cord steel can be improved by adding Nb, V and N, and then controlling the relationship between Nb, V and N.

Abstract: A scheme for non-parametric optimal read threshold estimation of a memory system. The memory system includes a memory device including pages and a controller including a neural network. The controller performs read operations on a selected page using a read threshold set; obtain the read threshold set, a checksum value and an asymmetric ratio of ones count and zeros count which are associated with decoding of the selected page according to each of the read operations; provide the obtained read threshold set, the checksum value and the asymmetric ratio as input information to the neural network; and estimate, by the neural network, an optimal read threshold voltage based on the input information and weights including a combination of multiple matrices and bias vectors.

Abstract: A controller determines, for each read operation, a mathematical model by using a) a set function of a read threshold voltage set among the plurality of read threshold voltages and b) a set checksum value; determines a polynomial regression model based on the mathematical model; determines a parameter set by using multiple computations between input and output matrices based on the polynomial regression model; and estimates a next read threshold voltage for a next read operation based on the parameter set. The controller computes mathematical operation algorithms to replace a normal multiplication operation, a normal division operation and a normal multiplication followed by division operation.

Abstract: Example aspects of the present disclosure are directed to computing systems and methods for hand tracking using a machine-learned system for palm detection and key-point localization of hand landmarks. In particular, example aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a multi-model hand tracking system that performs both palm detection and hand landmark detection. Given a sequence of image frames, for example, the hand tracking system can detect one or more palms depicted in each image frame. For each palm detected within an image frame, the machine-learned system can determine a plurality of hand landmark positions of a hand associated with the palm. The system can perform key-point localization to determine precise three-dimensional coordinates for the hand landmark positions. In this manner, the machine-learned system can accurately track a hand depicted in the sequence of images using the precise three-dimensional coordinates for the hand landmark positions.

Abstract: A method performed by an electronic device comprises acquiring information to be translated. The method includes determining, based on the information to be translated, a target domain adapter from a plurality of candidate domain adapters, the target domain adapter corresponding to the information to be translated, each candidate domain adapter from the plurality of candidate domain adapters corresponding to at least one domain. The method includes obtaining, based on the target domain adapter corresponding to the information to be translated, a translation result corresponding to the information to be translated.

Abstract: A distributed load balancer in which a router receives packets from at least one client and routes packet flows to multiple load balancer (LB) nodes according to a per-flow hashed multipath routing technique. For a given packet flow, the LB nodes randomly select a server node as a target for the packet flow from among multiple server nodes and send a connection request to the server node. A load balancer module on the server node makes the decision on whether to accept or reject the connection based on one or more metrics indicating a respective server's current load. If the module accepts the connection request, a connection is established between the server and the client. Otherwise, the load balancer nodes may select another server node and try again. The connections established between clients and servers pass through the load balancer nodes, but are not terminated at the load balancer nodes.

Abstract: Technologies for the prevention and/or treatment of pneumococcal infections.