Abstract: In some examples, a method of forming alane (AlH3), the method comprising reacting one of: 1) a MAlH4, wherein M is an alkali metal; 2) alkali-metal hydride, MH; or 3) alkali-metal with one or more aluminum halides (AlX3, where X is a halogen), via a mechanochemical process, to form the alane, wherein the reaction is substantially solvent free and carried out in an environment with a temperature between approximately 250 K and approximately 330 K.

Abstract: Undercooled liquid metallic core-shell particles, whose core is stable against solidification at ambient conditions, i.e. under near ambient temperature and pressure conditions, are used to join or repair metallic non-particulate components. The undercooled-shell particles in the form of nano-size or micro-size particles comprise an undercooled stable liquid metallic core encapsulated inside an outer shell, which can comprise an oxide or other stabilizer shell typically formed in-situ on the undercooled liquid metallic core. The shell is ruptured to release the liquid phase core material to join or repair a component(s).

Abstract: A mutant Bacillus subtilis, which does not express a functional KASIIIA and/or KASIIIB, and method of making; a mutant Rhodospirillum rubrum, which does not express a functional PhaC1, PhaC2, and/or PhaC3, and method of making; method of characterizing substrate specificity of KASIII; method of making mutant KASIII with altered substrate specificity and/or altered level of activity and nucleic acid, vector, host cell/organism, and mutant KASIII; an in vitro, high-throughput spectrophotometric method of assaying KASIII activity; and materials and methods for using KASIII for production of bi-functional fatty acids and the materials so produced.

Abstract: Methods of inhibiting plant parasitic nematodes, methods of obtaining transgenic plants useful for inhibiting such nematodes, and transgenic plants that are resistant to plant parasitic nematodes through inhibition of plant nematode CLAVATA3/ESR (CLE) peptide receptor genes are provided. Methods for expressing genes at plant parasitic nematode feeding sites with plant nematode CLE peptide receptor gene promoters are also provided, along with nematode CLE peptide receptor gene promoters that are useful for expressing genes in nematode feeding sites as well as transgenic plants and nematode resistant transgenic plants comprising the promoters.

Abstract: The invention relates to a bistable piezoelectric cantilever-based vibration energy harvester that increases the energy harvested over a broad frequency of vibrations by introducing bistability to the cantilever through use of two repelling magnets, one mounted on the cantilever and one at a location facing the first. This increases the amplitude and velocity of cantilever vibration, hence harvested power, while nonlinearity makes the system efficient over almost the entire range of frequencies, lower than the natural resonant frequency of the linear version without the magnets. Such improved performance is seen while the cantilever remains in the bistable mode.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are embodiments of methods for encoding, decoding, and matching patterns in collections of signals. These methods use weighting functions to scale the signals. This scaling enables the use of signals of arbitrary duration, wherein the signals may include discrete sequences and spike trains. In the most general case, the signals can be represented using functionals, which extends the expressive power of the methods. Further disclosed herein are embodiments of a system that performs these methods.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) linearization system including a DAC, a summing buffer structure, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a calculation system, an error look-up table, and an adder. A combination of the DAC, the summing buffer structure, and the ADC sequentially provide first and second ADC output signals, both of which include DAC integral nonlinearity (INL). The calculation system calculates the DAC INL based on the first and second ADC output signals, the error look-up table provides a correction signal mapping to the calculated DAC INL, and the adder provides a calibrated digital input signal to the DAC based on the correction signal. The calibrated digital input signal ensures the DAC to generate an updated output signal with less nonlinearity and improved purity.

Abstract: A technique for forming a material including nanotwinned silver crystals in solid solution with a solute that exhibits enhanced strength and desirable electrical conductivity, as compared to coarse-grained material. Synthesis of nanotwinned silver alloy material is achieved by cooling of a substrate and co-deposition of silver and the solute. Controlling the processing conditions of synthesis allows for tailoring of the nanostructure and mechanical properties of the nanotwinned silver alloy material. A material including nanotwinned silver crystals in solid solution with a solute also is described.

Abstract: The invention provides multivalent surface-crosslinked micelle (SCM) particles, crosslinked reverse micelle (CRM) particles, and methods of making and using them. The SCM particles can be used, for example, to inhibit a virus or bacteria from binding to a host cell. The inhibition can be used in therapy for the flu, cancer, or AIDS. The CRM particles can be used, for example, to prepare metal nanoparticles or metal alloy nanoparticles, or they can be used in catalytic reactions.

Abstract: One aspect of the present invention relates to a method of modifying thermoplastic properties of lignin rich biomass to reduce agglomeration during any subsequent pyrolysis. The method comprises providing a lignin rich biomass and treating the lignin rich biomass with an alkali metal hydroxide or an alkaline earth metal hydroxide under conditions effective to reduce agglomeration, during any subsequent pyrolysis, compared to when the lignin rich biomass is not subjected to said treating. Also disclosed is a method of fast pyrolysis using the product of this method of modifying the thermoplastic properties of lignin rich biomass.

Abstract: A method of producing bi-functional fatty acids comprising introducing into a host cell or organism, which comprises one or more ?- or ?-1 functionalized acyl-CoAs, and expressing therein a KASIII, which can use one or more of the ?- or ?-1 functionalized acyl-CoAs as a substrate; a method of producing a ?-1 hydroxy branched fatty acid, a ?-1 branched fatty acid, or a combination thereof by culturing a mutant E. coli, which does not express a functional KASIII from the endogenous fabH gene and expresses a phaA and a phaB and a functional exogenous KASIII; and a mutant E. coli, a method of making the mutant, a culture comprising the mutant, and a composition comprising ?-1 hydroxy branched fatty acids, a ?-1 branched fatty acids, or a combination thereof obtained from the culture.

Abstract: Methods and systems for bridge damage detection using, for example, one or more strain range methods are provided. One exemplary embodiment provides a computer-implemented methods and systems for determining bridge damage from strain sensor data, for example, by collecting a batch of strain data from one or more sensor pairs. From the batch of strain data one or more sets of strain data may be extracted comprising a quasi-static response of the bridge under ambient traffic loads. A relationship may be established between the one or more sets of strain data extracted from the one or more sensor pairs by orthogonal regression. Bridge damage may be detected by generally isolating a damage indicator between the one or more sensor pairs by monitoring changes in a statistical Fshm value over time.

Abstract: This document provides vaccine delivery devices and methods for vaccinating an animal (e.g., a mammal). For example, vaccine delivery devices that include a container having one or more openings, a vaccine depot located within the container, and a diffusion barrier located within the container in a manner such that material (e.g., an antigenic vaccine component) within the vaccine depot must pass through the diffusion barrier before reaching one of the openings are provided.

Abstract: A biologically-inspired model for sequence representation, method of construction and application of such models, and systems incorporating same are provided. The model captures the statistical nature of sequences and uses that for sequence encoding, recognition, and recall. The model can be trained in real time, has few tunable parameters, and is highly parallelizable, which ensures that it can scale up to very large problems. Applications of the model to word and speech recognition, machine leaning, robotics, computational bioinformatics, genetics datasets, and other sequence processing pipelines are provided.

Abstract: An algal growth system including a first flexible sheet material mounted in a first mounted geometry such that the height is greater than the width of the first mounted geometry, and a second flexible sheet material mounted in a second mounted geometry such that the height is greater than the width of the second mounted geometry, the first flexible sheet and the second flexible sheet material being noncontiguous, a motor, the motor being coupled with an actuator system, where the motor actuates the actuator system, and a reservoir.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a signal generator with self-calibration including a main digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a calibration DAC, a summing buffer structure, a two-path filter structure, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a control system. The main DAC provides a main DAC output signal with main DAC distortion. The main DAC output signal is calibrated by a calibration DAC output signal to correct at least a portion of the main DAC distortion. The calibration DAC output signal includes information about the main DAC distortion and is generated by a feedback loop including the summing buffer structure, the two-path filter structure, the filter buffer, the ADC, the control system, and the calibration DAC.

Abstract: A method is provided for forming a biphilic surface on a substrate comprising copper, such as a heat exchanger surface, wherein the method involves forming one or more hydrophilic areas on the surface by reacting those areas with at least one of hydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide to form copper oxide and forming hydrophobic areas on the surface by reacting those areas with ammonium hydroxide solution to form copper hydroxide or by chemical etching with a combination of hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and iron chloride. The functional surface can exhibit temporal biphilicity in response to one or more stimuli in high performance heat transfer applications.

Abstract: A harvester generates a round module and positions the round module on a handler. The handler includes a cylinder having a base end and a rod end. A differential pressure across the cylinder is detected. A round module weight is generated based on the detected differential pressure.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a thermoplastic block copolymer comprising at least one PA block and at least one PB block. The PA block represents a polymer block comprising one or more units of monomer A, and the PB block represents a polymer block comprising one or more units of monomer B. Monomer A is a vinyl, acrylic, diolefin, nitrile, dinitrile, acrylonitrile monomer, a monomer with reactive functionality, or a crosslinking monomer. Monomer B is a radically polymerizable triglyceride or mixtures thereof, typically in the form of a plant or animal oil. The present invention also relates to a method of preparing a thermoplastic block copolymer or novel thermoplastic statistical copolymers by polymerizing a radically polymerizable monomer with a radically polymerizable triglyceride or mixtures thereof via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization (RAFT), in the presence of an free radical initiator and a chain transfer agent.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of increasing resistance against plant pathogens, particularly Fusarium virguliforme and Phytophthora sojae in transgenic plants and/or plant cells, through the use of non host resistance nucleic acid molecules isolated from Arabidopsis. In these plants, at least one nonhost Arabidopsis resistance protein is introduced in comparison to the wild-type plants to confer resistance to plant pathogens. The invention relates to transgenic plants and/or plant cells having increased resistance to plant pathogens, particularly Fusarium virguliforme and Phytophthora sojae, to expression vectors, transformed plants and plant cells as well as the use of such plants in a plant breeding program.