Abstract: Peptides that specifically bind erythrocytes are described. These are provided as peptidic ligands having sequences that specifically bind, or as antibodies or fragments thereof that provide specific binding, to erythrocytes. The peptides may be prepared as molecular fusions with therapeutic agents, tolerizing antigens, or targeting peptides. Immunotolerance may be created by use of the fusions and choice of an antigen on a substance for which tolerance is desired. Fusions with targeting peptides direct the fusions to the target, for instance a tumor, where the erythrocyte-binding ligands reduce or entirely eliminate blood flow to the tumor by recruiting erythrocytes to the target.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for inducing ground consolidation. The method comprises providing a first chamber in a first hole in the ground, and a second chamber in a second hole in the ground, the first and second chambers being liquid-impermeable and electrically conductive; providing a first electrolytic fluid in the first chamber and a second electrolytic fluid in the second chamber; placing at least a first electrode in the first chamber, and at least a second electrode in the second chamber, the first and second electrodes being operatively connected to a power supply; feeding consolidation fluids into the ground for feeding reactants of a consolidation process, and catalysers for the reactants into the ground; and applying to the first and second electrodes an electric current.

Abstract: The present invention concerns a microfluidic device or chip including at least one inlet for introducing at least one object into the device; an oil inlet for introducing an oil that supports droplet formation into the device or a droplet forming substance inlet for introducing a droplet forming substance into the device; a co-encapsulation area or structure where the at least one object is encapsulated by the droplet; a microfluidic tubing or channel for transporting the at least one object to an entrance of the co-encapsulation area or structure; an oil supporting droplet formation microchannel or droplet forming substance microchannel connected to the microfluidic tubing or channel to place a liquid of the microfluidic tubing or channel in direct contact with the oil that supports droplet formation or the droplet forming substance; and a droplet microchannel or tubing for transporting the droplet.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a bicistronic expression vector for silencing a gene specifically in astrocytes and neurons, comprising two expression cassettes comprising a first and a second silencer sequence, respectively, wherein the expression of said first silencer sequence within astrocytes is regulated by an astrocyte-specific promoter and the expression of said second silencer sequence within neurons is regulated by a neuron-specific promoter. In a preferred embodiment, said first and second silencer sequences are SOD1 silencer sequences. Pharmaceutical composition comprising said bicistronic vector and the use of the same in the treatment of motoneuron diseases are further described.

Abstract: Photoresponsive materials for use with a volumetric additive manufacturing system are described herein. Some embodiments of photoresponsive materials described herein include at least one constituent selected from the group consisting of (i) a thiol-containing siloxane prepolymer, (ii) a vinyl-containing siloxane prepolymer, (iii) a reinforcing filler, (iv) a photoinitiator (v) a polymerization inhibitor. Various methods of using the same photoresponsive materials in additive manufacturing processes, such as volumetric additive manufacturing, are also described.

Abstract: The invention relates to a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensing device comprising—a pulsed light source, —at least one pixel to create photo-generated electrons, synchronized with said pulsed light source. It is mainly characterized in that each pixel comprises: —a pinned photodiode (PPD) having two electronic connection nodes, —a sense node (SN), to convert the photo-generated electrons into a voltage, and—a Transfer Gate (TGtransfer) transistor, having its source electronically connected to one electronic connection node of said pinned photodiode (PPD), and being configured to act as a transfer gate (TG) between said pinned photodiode (PPD) and said sense node (SN), allowing the photo-generated electrons to sink when the light is pulsed-off, the photo-generated electrons integration when the light is pulsed-on and the transfer of at least part of the integrated photo-generated electrons to said sense node for a read-out.

Abstract: Disclosed is the use of a composite for extracting one or more metal or contaminating chemical species from an aerial or aqueous medium by selective binding, the composite including at least one porous template functionalized by at least one polymer, the polymer including one of the following chemical functions: primary, secondary or tertiary amine, amide, nitrile, pyridine, pyrole, thiol, thiolether, thiophene, thiadiazole, alcohol/hydroxyl, phenol, catechol, pyragalol, carboxylic acid, aldehyde, ester, acyl, crown ether, phosphate, phosphoryl, epoxide, halogen, haloalkane.

Abstract: A spring (3, 3?) comprising a plurality of elements (30), each element (3) comprising a rigid portion (31) and a flexible beam (32), the extremities (320, 321) of the flexible beam being supported by the rigid portion (31), the flexible beam (32) having a single stable position, so that the flexible beam can be deformed when a pressure is exerted between said extremities in the direction of the rigid portion (31), and returns to said single stable position when the pressure is released, and wherein the rigid portion (31) of at least one element (30) is in contact with the flexible beam (32) of the next element between said extremities (320, 321) of the flexible beam (32), so that the spring has a negative stiffness over an operating range. The arrangement ensures a pure radial compression/expansion of the spring.

Abstract: Aerolysin polypeptides and/or mutant aerolysin monomers include modified amino acid sequences that could have improved substrate analyte, such as (poly)nucleotide and peptide, improved reading properties such as enhanced substrate analyte capture and improved substrate analyte recognition and/or discrimination. Also, aerolysin pores may be derived from the mutant monomers as well as apparatuses and devices may include modified aerolysin polypeptides. Further, methods of using modified aerolysin proteins and pores derive therefrom may be used in characterizing and/or sequencing a polymeric molecule or may be for use as molecular sensors.

Abstract: The present invention concerns an array processing image reconstruction method comprising: receiving a set of echo waveforms as measurements from the object of interest; defining a measurement model linking an unknown image of the object to the measurements; defining a data fidelity functional using the measurement model; defining a regularisation functional using a trained non-linear mapping, the regularisation functional comprising prior knowledge about the unknown image; defining an optimisation problem involving the data fidelity functional and the regularisation functional for obtaining a first image estimate of the unknown image; and solving the optimisation problem to obtain the first image estimate.

Abstract: Using a transformation based at least in part on a non-simple orthogonal or unitary matrix, data may be transmitted over a data bus in a manner that is resilient to one or more types of signal noise, that does not require a common reference at the transmission and acquisition points, and/or that has a pin-efficiency that is greater than 50% and may approach that of single-ended signaling. Such transformations may be implemented in hardware in an efficient manner. Hybrid transformers that apply such transformations to selected subsets of signals to be transmitted may be used to adapt to various signal set sizes and/or transmission environment properties including noise and physical space requirements of given transmission environments.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for reconstructing and simulating neocortical microcircuitry. In one aspect, a method includes providing a model of neural tissue, the model including different types of neural cells and dynamic synaptic interconnections between the neural cells, changing a parameter in the model; and identifying a change in a computational state of the model of the neural tissue responsive to the change in the parameter. The change in the parameter can, e.g., change behavior of neural cells of at least one type, change interconnectivity between neural cells, or target a location within a volume in the model that interacts with multiple types of neural cells.

Abstract: Several embodiments of the present disclosure relate to therapeutic compositions configured to target the liver of a subject and that are useful in the treatment or prevention of one or more of transplant rejection, autoimmune disease, food allergy, and immune response against a therapeutic agent. In several embodiments, the compositions are configured to target the liver and deliver antigens to which tolerance is desired. In several embodiments, the compositions are configured for clearance of a circulating protein or peptide or antibody associated with one or more of the above-mentioned maladies. Methods and uses of the compositions for induction of immune tolerance are also disclosed herein.

Abstract: Several embodiments of the present disclosure relate to glycotargeting therapeutics that are useful in the treatment of transplant rejection, autoimmune disease, food allergy, and immune response against a therapeutic agent. In several embodiments, the compositions are configured to target the liver and deliver antigens to which tolerance is desired. Methods and uses of the compositions for induction of immune tolerance are also disclosed herein.

Abstract: An active noise reduction system (2) comprising an electroacoustic plasma transducer (5) for mounting in an installation structure and an acoustic sensing system (11). The electroacoustic plasma transducer comprises a plasma electrode arrangement (6) including a collector electrode (8) and a corona electrode (9), and a control system (7) connected to the plasma electrode arrangement for supplying power to the plasma electrode arrangement. The control system comprises a controller (12), and a amplification circuit (13). The acoustic sensing system is connected to the control system providing a measurement signal of an environmental sound to control the output of the electroacoustic transducer for reducing noise. The control system comprises a filter implementing a control transfer function ?(?) based on a model of the electroacoustic plasma transducer.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided for treating diseases that produce elevated intraocular pressures, such as glaucoma, wherein the device includes a housing shell defining a cavity between a first end and a second end of the housing shell, and an elastic membrane disposed within the cavity to divide the cavity into a fluidic channel that permits a flow of fluid from the first end to the second end and a sealed cavity. The elastic membrane deforms to change the volume of the sealed cavity responsive to pressure fluctuations between the first and second ends, thereby varying the fluidic resistance of the flow of fluid through the fluidic channel.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a photo-electrochemical device for production of a gas, liquid or solid using concentrated electromagnetic irradiation. The device comprises a photovoltaic component configured to generate charge carriers from the concentrated electromagnetic irradiation; and an electrochemical component configured to carry out electrolysis of a reactant. The photovoltaic component contacts the electrochemical component at a solid interface to form an integrated photo-electrochemical device; and further includes at least one reactant channel or a plurality of reactant channels extending between the photovoltaic component and the electrochemical component to transfer heat and the reactant from the photovoltaic component to the electrochemical component. The integrated photo-electrochemical device and auxiliary devices (such as concentrator, flow controllers) build a system which can flexibly react to changes in operating condition and guarantee best performance.

Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring penile tumescence are provided that overcome the drawbacks of previously known systems by providing a wearable formed of a flexible and elastic tube having a plurality of sensors disposed on or embedded within it, the wearable configured to be applied to a penis of a subject, and a spaced-apart controller operatively coupled to retrieve data regarding circumferential and axial dimensional changes and penile rigidity from the plurality of sensors and transmit that data to an external computer or smartphone for analysis and display. The plurality of sensors may be coupled to the spaced-apart controller via a flexible lead or wirelessly using a passive RFID system.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a method, a system and a computer program for shape optimisation of a technical device adapted to be exposed to a fluid flowing around a contour of said device with respect to its fluid dynamic parameters. In order to provide an improved method for shape optimisation of a technical device with respect to its fluid dynamic parameters which is faster, a method is provided comprising discretizing the shape of the technical device into a plurality of points along the contour of the technical device or into a surface mesh, and inputting the plurality of points or the surface mesh into a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for computing a prediction of the at least one fluid dynamic parameter.

Abstract: System (2) for CO2 capture from a combustion engine (1) comprising an exhaust gas flow circuit (6) having an inlet end fluidly connected to an exhaust of the combustion engine, a heat exchanger circuit (12), a primary exhaust gas heat exchanger (H1) for transferring heat from exhaust gas to fluid in the heat exchanger circuit, at least one compressor (10) for compressing fluid in a section of the heat exchanger circuit, the compressor driven by thermal expansion of heat exchanger circuit fluid from the primary exhaust gas heat exchanger (H1), and a CO2 temperature swing adsorption (TSA) reactor (4) fluidly connected to an outlet end of the exhaust gas flow circuit. The TSA reactor includes at least an adsorption reactor unit (D4) and a desorption reactor unit (D2), the heat exchanger circuit comprising a heating section (12b) for heating the desorption unit (D2) and a cooling section (12a) for cooling the adsorption unit (D4).