Abstract: An electrical discharge plasma reactor system for treating a liquid, the reactor system including: a reactor chamber configured to hold the liquid and a gas; a discharge electrode disposed within the reactor chamber, wherein the discharge electrode is disposed within the gas; an opposing electrode disposed within the gas within the reactor chamber; one or more gas diffusers disposed within the liquid, wherein the one or more gas diffusers is configured to induce the generation of a layer of foam on a surface of the liquid in a plasma-contact region; and a power supply connected to the discharge electrode and/or the opposing electrode, the power supply configured to induce the discharge electrode and the opposing electrode to generate plasma in the plasma-contact region.

Abstract: Ex situ remediation technology has been the primary method for treating groundwater contaminated with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances. These pump and treat systems are expensive and energy intensive. To address the need for effective in situ remediation technology, a reactor to be used within a subsurface well has been developed. The reactor allows for contaminant destruction methods such as ultrasound to be used in situ. This invention eliminates the need for pumps and aboveground treatment. In addition it produces no waste products that must be treated further.

Abstract: A system and method for building a data structure for determining if multiple routing or forwarding tables yield the same or different forwarding behaviors. VeriTable uses a single tree/trie traversal to quickly check if multiple forwarding tables are forwarding equivalent, yield routing loops, or black holes. VeriTable also uses the Longest Prefix Matching rule for lookups, e.g., checking if route updates in control plane are consistent with the ones in forwarding plane. VeriTable can be applied to network-wide abnormality diagnosis of network problems, such as scalable and efficient forwarding loop detection and avoidance in the data plane of a network. In addition, VeriTable can be extended to handle incremental updates applied to the forwarding tables in a network.

Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems for monitoring a health parameter of a user. A portable monitoring device comprises a housing adapted to couple to a user proximate to the user's respiratory tract; a first audio sensor, disposed in the housing, is adapted to detect a breath sound of the user and create breath sound data; and a processor coupled to the first audio sensor transduces the breath sound data into a modified breath sound signal which is representative of a parameter of the user's breathing, and the processor is adapted to compare the parameter of the user's breathing to a predetermined parameter threshold.

Abstract: A method for determining location of a target within an indoor environment, including the steps of: classifying a set of anchors having known locations within the indoor environment and a set of targets having unknown locations within the indoor environment, wherein each of the anchors and targets comprise hardware having sensors and wireless communication capabilities; creating a set of ordinal pair data sets comprising relative distances between each target and all anchors; ranking and aggregating the ordinal pair data sets to produce a set of dissimilarities that approximate distances; transforming the dissimilarities into estimated distances between each anchor and target using the known distances between the anchors as calibration; and inferring location of targets by formulating and solving a multidimensional unfolding optimization.

Abstract: An electrode of an energy storage device and methods of fabrication are provided which include: pyrolyzing a carbon-containing precursor to form a stabilized-carbonized material; and annealing the stabilized-carbonized material to form a structurally-modified activated carbon material. The structurally-modified activated carbon material includes a tunable pore size distribution and an electrochemically-active surface area. The electrochemically-active surface area of the structurally-modified activated carbon material is greater than a surface area of graphene having at least one layer, the surface area of the graphene having at least one layer being about 2630 m2 g?1.

Abstract: The present invention provides compositions and a process for the preparation of porous bipolar plates with pore volume density and pore size that can result in high water uptake by the plates while providing the desired resistance against gas permeation. The combination of porogens (pore-forming agents) with specific types of graphite particles and polymer binders provides the desired characteristics. The porous bipolar plates have high electrical conductivity and flexural strength.

Abstract: A wind energy extraction apparatus utilizing a separate surface enclosing the turbine rotor is disclosed. An embodiment of the present invention includes a slotted and un-slotted duct of specified geometry enclosing a wind turbine rotor in such a manner as to provide acceleration of the ambient air though the rotor at a velocity above that which an open rotor exposed to the freestream would experience, thereby resulting in an increased amount of energy extraction relative to a comparable open rotor. In one aspect, the wind turbine rotor is positioned in the duct at a location downstream of the smallest cross-sectional area of the duct as this will provide the maximum power output. According to another aspect, the rotor geometry is such as to incorporate the effect of the duct on the incoming wind velocity profile.

Abstract: This invention describes the self-assembly of meso(nano)porous silica particles from inorganic an inexpensive silica precursor, sodium silicate. The particles have a well defined shape, high surface area, and high uniformity of the pore size, the properties that are typically found for high quality mesoporous material synthesized from organic silica precursors. The disclosure illustrates a synthesis of hard spheres, discoids, and a mixture comprising discoids, gyroids and fibers, termed as origami.

Abstract: A traction enhancement device and system for the rear wheel(s) of a wheelchair is provided. The traction enhancement system generally includes a tooth bar assembly that includes a plurality of spikes/teeth and an actuation assembly that includes a lever and swashplate. In use the lever can be moved into ground engaging position and the swashplate will contact and provide a force the tooth bar assembly causing the spikes to extend beyond the diameter of the wheelchair wheel and into engagement with the surface on which the chair is riding. The lever can be pulled out of ground engaging position and the swashplate will not cause the spikes to push outwardly beyond the diameter of the wheel.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a methods and systems for monitoring and/or characterizing multi-component tablets and for monitoring punch and die surfaces and, more particularly, to methods and systems for in-die and out-of-die monitoring and/or characterizing multi-component tablets based on acoustic and vibrational spectroscopy and for detecting and monitoring stiction and tooling material modifications on punch and die surfaces during compaction based on acoustic/ultrasonic waves.

Abstract: A system and method for FIB aggregation. FIB Aggregation with Quick Selections (FAQS) is a FIB aggregation algorithm that leverages compact data structures and three unique optimization techniques to quickly and incrementally select next hops when handling route updates. As a result, FAQS can run up to 2.53 and 1.75 times faster for IPv4 and IPv6, respectively, than the optimal FIB aggregation algorithm while achieving a near-optimal aggregation ratio. Meanwhile, it consumes much less memory and generates much smaller number of FIB changes when carrying out frequent updates. The performance enhancement of the new algorithm addresses many concerns from ISPs regarding performance issues, and enhances the probability to push FIB aggregation techniques further to the level of production adoption by the industry.

Abstract: A system and method for building a data structure for determining if multiple routing or forwarding tables yield the same or different forwarding behaviors. VeriTable uses a single tree/trie traversal to quickly check if multiple forwarding tables are forwarding equivalent, yield routing loops, or black holes. VeriTable also uses the Longest Prefix Matching rule for lookups, e.g., checking if route updates in control plane are consistent with the ones in forwarding plane. VeriTable can be applied to network-wide abnormality diagnosis of network problems, such as scalable and efficient forwarding loop detection and avoidance in the data plane of a network. In addition, VeriTable can be extended to handle incremental updates applied to the forwarding tables in a network.

Abstract: A method for measuring fracture characteristics of adhesive polymeric material comprises: (i) bonding a sample to a rigid substrate; (ii) cooling the sample from a first temperature to a second temperature such that thermally-induced stresses are generated within the sample, wherein the thermally-induced stresses generate an inward-growing three-dimensional spiral crack within the sample; (iii) detecting, by three or more AE piezoelectric sensors, mechanical transient waves generated during development of the inward-growing three-dimensional spiral crack within the sample and determining the accurate 3D geometry of the spiral using source location technique; (iv) visualizing the two-dimensional spiral cracking pattern deposited on a surface of the rigid substrate and measuring the precise width of the crack; (v) determining, using the detected mechanical waves and the visualized deposited sample, AE-based fracture characteristics of the sample; and (vi) reporting the determined one or more fracture characteri

Abstract: Ex situ remediation technology has been the primary method for treating groundwater contaminated with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances. These pump and treat systems are expensive and energy intensive. To address the need for effective in situ remediation technology, a reactor to be used within a subsurface well has been developed. The reactor allows for contaminant destruction methods such as ultrasound to be used in situ. This invention eliminates the need for pumps and aboveground treatment. In addition it produces no waste products that must be treated further.

Abstract: An electrical discharge plasma reactor system for treating a liquid, a gas, and/or a suspension. The reactor system includes a reactor chamber configured to hold the liquid and a gas, a discharge electrode disposed within the gas of the reactor chamber, a non-discharge electrode disposed within the liquid, a gas diffuser disposed within the liquid and configured to induce the generation of a layer of foam on the surface of the liquid in a plasma-contact region, and a power supply connected to the discharge electrode and configured to induce the discharge electrode to generate plasma in the plasma-contact region.

Abstract: A composite magnetic matrix comprising a porous metal-organic framework (MOF) and a plurality of molecular magnets, where a plurality of pores of the MOF each comprise one of the plurality of molecular magnets, and where the each of the plurality of molecular magnets retains its magnetic properties in the matrix. The molecular magnet may be, for example, a single-molecule magnet or a single-chain magnet. For example, the composite magnetic matrix Mn12Ac@MOF comprises Mn12O12(O2CCH3)16(OH2)4 (Mn12Ac) as the single-molecule magnet and [Al(OH)(SDC)]n (H2SDC=4,4?-stilbenedicarboxylic acid) (CYCU-3) as the porous metal-organic framework.

Abstract: Solid, or highly viscous, organic electrolytes consisting of alkylimidazolium cation with alkyl, PEGylated and fluorinated side chains of different molecular weights were synthesized and characterized (cf. chemical structures in Schemes 1 and 2). The PEGylated/fluorinated imidazolium iodide is a solid organic electrolyte that has a conductivity of about 2×10?5 S/cm at 30° C. The ionic conductivity could be significantly increased (1.11×10?4 S/cm at 30° C. and S/cm at 2.88×10?3 at 90° C.) by blending the PEGylated/fluorinated imidazolium iodide with another solid electrolyte, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide (EtMImI). The PEGylated imidazolium iodides synthesized in the present work have conductivities in the range 1.6×10?4 S/cm to 2×10?4 S/cm at 30° C. and viscosities in the range 620 cP to 720 cP at 30° C. The iodide counter ion in the present electrolytes supplies the anion for the I?/I3? redox mediators for DSSCs.

Abstract: The present the invention is directed to a process and the new materials that are biodegradable for medical use, particularly for drug delivery, therapeutic devices and gene therapy/delivery. The invention illustrates a method of producing a degradable material using polymers made from thiol compounds and alkene/alkyene compounds, wherein one of these compounds contains one or more anhydride groups; and using a thiol-ene step-growth polymerization process, initiated by a free radical initiator. The polymerization process is initiated through photochemical, redox or thermal means, or any combination thereof.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for performing uncertainty calculations. For example, a numeric value and an error range associated with the numeric value are converted by a processor into a trans-imaginary input dual which is a hybrid of numeric and geometric information having real and complex numbers. A dual calculation is performed using the trans-imaginary input dual to produce a trans-imaginary output dual, and the processor then converts the trans-imaginary output dual to a real number output numeric value that includes both a real number and real number error range or uncertainty associated with that real number.