Abstract: A method for the efficient placement of electric vehicle chargers in a target area couples vehicle dynamics and battery dynamics modeling with environmental factors to accurately incorporate the impact that the environment has on the range of the battery into the placement of the chargers by simulating trips of fleets of electric vehicles. The vehicles can be of various types, for example, motorcycles, cars, trucks or aircraft, and will each have their battery state of charge monitored as they traverse a simulated trip through the target area.

Abstract: Described herein are recognition modules that bind specifically to a template nucleic acid and which ligate together in a reducing environment to produce a gamma peptide nucleic acid (?PNA) oligomer. Also provided are methods of synthesizing a ?PNA oligomer on a template using the recognition modules.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a material handling system for manipulating items. The material handling system includes a repositioning system comprising a robotic tool which includes a robotic arm portion and an end effector. The robotic tool is configured to manipulate an item in a first orientation and reorient the item to a second orientation. The material handling system further includes a vision system having one or more sensors positioned within the material handling system. The vision system is configured to generate inputs corresponding to the characteristics of the items. The material handling system may further include a controller executing instructions to cause the material handling system to identify the item in the first orientation, based on the one or more characteristics of the item, initiate, by the repositioning system, picking of the item in the first orientation, and re-orient the item in the second orientation.

Abstract: A system that exploits collaboration between a plurality of spatially distributed RFID readers to enhance the range of commercial passive RFID tags, without alteration to the tags. The system uses distributed MIMO to coherently combine signals across geographically separated RFID readers. It is capable of inferring the optimal beamforming parameters to beam energy to a tag without any initial knowledge of the location or orientation of the tags.

Abstract: Medical device or instrument for diagnosing pressure ulcers using optical reflectance spectroscopy. The device may comprise a tip and a controller. The tip is pressed against the skin of the patient and collects the optical reflectance data. The controller processes the data to determine whether there exists a pressure ulcer and, if there is one, its depth. The tip may also include a pressure sensor for sensing the pressure at which the tip is applied to the patient's skin.

Abstract: A vision-based state estimation framework to estimate the state of an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) used for inspection of an underwater structure, for example, a nuclear reactor pressure vessel. The framework employs an external overhead, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera as the primary sensing modality and incorporates prior knowledge of the geometry of the structure.

Abstract: An ultra low density film and an ultra low density solid material are produced by the steps of providing a vessel, introducing two immiscible fluids into the vessel, adding nanocrystals to at least one of the two immiscible fluids, applying a shear force to the two immiscible fluids and the nanocrystals in a manner that causes the nanocrystals to self-assemble and form colloidosomes. The colloidosomes amass and evaporation of the two fluids produces dried colloidosomes. The ultra low density self-assembled colloidosomes are hollow self-assembled colloidosomes, which are formed into the ultra-low density film and the ultra-low density solid.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product is provided for transporting an unmanned vehicle to a destination location. The method includes determining a ground vehicle from a plurality of ground vehicles based on a location of the ground vehicle, the destination location, and a location of the unmanned vehicle, controlling the unmanned vehicle to the location of the ground vehicle, controlling at least one attachment mechanism to attach the unmanned vehicle to the ground vehicle, in response to the ground vehicle traveling to a second location, controlling the at least one attachment mechanism to detach the unmanned vehicle from the ground vehicle, and controlling the unmanned vehicle to the destination location.

Abstract: A extracorporeal system for lung assist includes a housing, a blood flow inlet in fluid connection with the housing; a blood flow outlet in fluid connection with the housing; a plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers adapted to permit diffusion of gas between blood and an interior of the hollow gas permeable fibers, the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers being positioned between the blood flow inlet and the blood flow outlet such that blood flows around the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers when flowing from the blood flow inlet to the blood flow outlet; a gas inlet in fluid connection with the housing and in fluid connection with inlets of the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers; a gas outlet in fluid connection with the housing and in fluid connection with outlets of the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers; and at least one moving element to create velocity fields in blood flow contacting the plurality of hollow gas permeable fibers.

Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein describe a method of fabricating soft, flexible fibers using a 3D printer having an extrusion head. Embodiments of the method further include termination techniques to allow a series of fibers to be fabricated on the same object. Aspects of the certain embodiments offer a range of design parameters for controlling the properties of single strands and also of bundles of fibers. The method extends the capabilities of 3D printing without requiring any new hardware.

Abstract: Provided herein are therapeutic acrylate compounds useful as medical adhesives, comprising a therapeutic agent covalently linked to a methacrylate or cyanoacrylate moiety. Adhesive compositions and kits, such as liquid sutures and bone cement also are provided along with uses for the compositions.

Abstract: Methods of providing a search-ecosystem user interface that assist a user with searching information stored within a computer system and with managing results of the searching. In some embodiments, the methods include providing search-results items in an interactive workspace in which a user can manipulate the search-result items to make review more efficient. In some embodiments, the interactive workspace tracks user interactions with search-result items and visualizes such interaction to the user. In some embodiments, the methods include organizing search results using one or more task cards. In some embodiments, a user can add one or more additional sets of search results to a task card. In some embodiments, a user can share one or more task cards, interactive workspaces, and/or search-results items with one or more other users and allow such other user(s) to interact therewith. Other methods are disclosed, as is software for implementing the methods.

Abstract: A polymer composite having shape-morphing capabilities where the composite comprises a liquid crystal elastomer and liquid metal inclusions to improve thermal and/or electrical conductivity. The liquid metal inclusions are metals such as Gallium, alloys of Gallium, eutectic alloys, and other metals that have low melting points. The composite is soft and stretchable, while still retaining the shape-morphing characteristics of the liquid crystal elastomer. The composite is an electrical insulator, yet conductivity can be induced through mechanical pressure.

Abstract: Described herein is a framework for efficient task-agnostic, user-independent adaptive teleoperation of mobile robots and remotely operated vehicles (ROV), including ground vehicles (including legged systems), aircraft, watercraft and spacecraft. The efficiency of a human operator is improved by minimizing the entropy of the control inputs, thereby minimizing operator energy and achieving higher performance in the form of smoother trajectories by concurrently estimating the user intent online and adaptively updating the action set available to the human operator.

Abstract: The present invention relates to ?-PNA monomers according to Formula I where substituent groups R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, B and P are defined as set forth in the specification. The invention also provides methodology for synthesizing compounds according to Formula I and methodology for synthesizing PNA oligomers that incorporate one or more Formula I monomers.

Abstract: A perfusion bioreactor system has an inner chamber and scaffold with matching porosities to equalize fluid flow through a bioreactor. The scaffold can be fabricated using additive manufacturing or other fabrication techniques to match the geometrical shape of a defect, such as a facial bone anomaly. The inner chamber is fabricated in a similar manner and has an inner cavity matching the shape of the scaffold to create a unified structure when assembled together with the scaffold. By matching the shapes of the scaffold and inner chamber, free space is eliminated within the interior volume of the bioreactor. Stem cells can be flowed through the bioreactor and attached to the scaffold, which are then cultured to grow a tissue graft.

Abstract: A method may include obtaining a dataset including a target Action Unit (AU) combination and labeled images of the target AU combination with at least a first category of intensity for each AU of the target AU combination and a second category of intensity for each AU of the target AU combination. The method may also include determining that the first category of intensity for a first AU has a higher number of labeled images than the second category of intensity for the first AU, and based on the determination, identifying a number of new images to be synthesized in the second category of intensity for the first AU. The method may additionally include synthesizing the number of new images with the second category of intensity for the first AU, and adding the new images to the dataset.

Abstract: A reconfigurable, multi-band hybrid beamforming architecture is introduced. The present invention is related to a Cartesian-Combining architecture to efficiently implement RF beamforming for a single downconversion chain employing direct downconversion in which the Cartesian-Combining architecture is extended to hybrid beamforming and to heterodyne downconversion.

Abstract: Disclosed herein is a novel multi-way merge network, referred to herein as a Hybrid Comparison Look Ahead Merge (HCLAM), which incurs significantly less resource consumption as scaled to handle larger problems. In addition, a parallelization scheme is disclosed, referred to herein as Parallelization by Radix Pre-sorter (PRaP), which enables an increase in streaming throughput of the merge network. Furthermore, high performance reduction scheme is disclosed to achieve full throughput.

Abstract: A method may include obtaining a base facial image, and obtaining a first set of base facial features within the base facial image, the first set of base facial features associated with a first facial AU to be detected in an analysis facial image. The method may also include obtaining a second set of base facial features within the base facial image, the second set of facial features associated with a second facial AU to be detected. The method may include obtaining the analysis facial image, and applying a first image normalization to the analysis facial image using the first set of base facial features to facilitate prediction of a probability of the first facial AU. The method may include applying a second image normalization to the analysis facial image using the second set of base facial features to facilitate prediction of a probability of the second facial AU.