Abstract: A piezoelectric device includes a fiber mat comprising polymer fibers with ferroelectric particles embedded in the polymer fibers. The ferroelectric particles are oriented to generate a net polarization in the fiber mat. The ferroelectric particles may comprise barium titanate particles. The polymer fibers may comprise polylactic acid (PLA) fibers. The piezoelectric device may further include substrates sandwiching the fiber mat, and the fiber mat may be formed by electrospinning polymer fibers containing ferroelectric particles onto one of the substrates. The piezoelectric device may be a piezoelectric actuator configured to receive an input voltage applied across the fiber mat and to output a mechanical displacement in response to the voltage, or the piezoelectric device may be configured to output a voltage in response to a mechanical force applied to the fiber mat.

Abstract: A liquid crystal composition comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by the following structure (Structure 1): wherein: R1 and R2 are independently hydrogen, —(C?O)R9, —(C?O)R10, alkyl, aryl, alkaryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; R3 is hydrogen, halogen, cyano, alkoxy, NHCOR9, NHSO2R9, COOR9, OCOR9, aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted; R4 is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted; R5, R6, R7, and R8 are independently hydrogen, halogen, cyano, alkoxy, NHCOR9, NHSO2R9, COOR9, OCOR9, aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine with each other, or R5 can combine with R4 to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; R9 and R10 are independently alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, naphthyl, styryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alko

Abstract: The present invention provides an electro-optical device comprising a cell of polymer-stabilized blue phase (PSBP) liquid crystal under an electrical field and a method of controlling the reflection and transmission of an incident electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, by way of controlling the electrical field. The invention exhibits merits such as cost-effectiveness; simpler manufacturability due to the removal of requirements of polarizer and color filter; and fast switching, among others.

Abstract: An agent for imaging of a biological system or delivering drugs to a biological system including one or more nanoparticles formed of at least one gadolinium coordination polymer.

Abstract: A bistable switchable liquid crystal device is provided in which the device can be switched between a transparent and an opaque state by a predetermined voltage pulse. The device is based on polymer stabilized cholesteric materials. No additional amount of voltage has to be applied to the device in order to sustain the optical states. Therefore, the device is energy-saving.

Abstract: Novel microlens array architectures for enhanced light outcoupling from light emission are provided. Organic light emitting devices (OLEDs) that include an outcoupling layer including these novel microlens array architectures and method for fabricating such OLEDs are provided. These devices may be used to provide OLEDs with optimized light extraction.

Abstract: Electrically reconfigurable metamaterial with spatially varied refractive index is proposed for applications such as optical devices and lenses. The apparatus and method comprises a metamaterial in which the refractive indices are modified in space and time by applying one or more electric fields. The metamaterials are electrically controllable and reconfigurable, and consist of metal (gold, silver, etc.) particles of different shapes, such as rods, with dimension much smaller than the wavelength of light, dispersed in a dielectric medium. The metamaterial is controlled by applying a non-uniform electric field that causes two effects: (1) It aligns the metallic anisometric particles with respect to the direction of the applied electric field and (2) It redistributes particles in space, making their local concentration position dependent.

Abstract: The invention is directed to network management systems and methods that provide substantially real-time network management and control capabilities of multimedia streaming traffic in telecommunications networks. The invention provides pre-emptive and autonomous network management and control capabilities, and may include shared intelligence of embedded systems—Heterogeneous Sensor Entities (HSE) and the Sensor Service Management (SSM) system. HSEs are distributed real-time embedded systems provisioned in various network elements. HSEs performs fault, configuration, accounting, performance and security network management functions in real-time; and real-time network management control activations and removals. SSM facilitates automated decision making, rapid deployment of HSEs and real-time provisioning of network management and control services. The service communication framework amongst various HSEs and the SSM is provided by the Heterogeneous Service Creation system.

Abstract: A method of tilting liquid crystal molecules is presented. The method entails providing a substrate including a photoalignment layer on top of a layer of liquid crystal molecules. The photoalignment layer is exposed to patterned light that is incident on the substrate at a substantially normal angle. The patterned light is polarized in a polarization direction that is non-parallel to an incident surface of the substrate.

Abstract: Fluorophores derived from photoactivatable azide-pi-acceptor fluorogens or from a thermal reaction of an azide-pi-acceptor fluorogen with an alkene or alkyne are disclosed. Fluorophores derived from a thermal reaction of an alkyne-pi-acceptor fluorogen with an azide are also disclosed. The fluorophores can readily be activated by light and can be used to label a biomolecule and imaged on a single-molecule level in living cells.

Abstract: A stand-alone platform and a method for the multi-dimensional rendering, display, manipulation, and analysis of full high resolution volumetric data sets. The systems and methods provide the ability to volumetrically render images with extremely high resolution in applications such as medical imaging procedures, digital microscopy such as in use of a confocal microscope, and other areas where extremely large data sets are produced from the imaging process. Certain embodiments of the system and methods produce left and right eye images of the rendered data, for viewing in parallax via a synchronized headset, and the ability to manipulate the data and display of image data easily and in real time.

Abstract: Electro-optic lenses, including liquid crystals, wherein the power of the lenses can be modified by application of an electric field. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal-based lenses include ring electrodes having a resistive bridge located between adjacent electrodes, and in a preferred embodiment, input connections for several electrode rings are spaced on the lens. In a further embodiment, liquid crystal-based lenses are provided that can increase optical power through the use of phase resets, wherein in one embodiment, a lens includes ring electrodes on surfaces of the substrates on opposite sides of the liquid crystal cell such that a fixed phase term can be added to each set of electrodes that allows for phase change across each group of electrodes to be the same and also be matched with respect to a previous group.

Abstract: The present invention disposes a membrane between two electrical conductive walls having a height at least as great as the thickness of the membrane. The conductive walls are fabricated on an electrically insolative chip base. The chip base has one or more through hole between the electrically conducting walls. The chip is placed inside a container having a well below the through hole of the electrically insolative base. At least one passageway extends from the well to the periphery of the container. This invention probes changes of the membrane as an in-plane electric field is applied between the conductive walls. The well may include various compounds while-other compounds can be placed in contact with the top of the membrane. The passageways are used to introduce substances into and out of the well.

Abstract: Compounds of the hydroxytolan family kill tumor cells, inhibit tumor growth and development, and are thus useful in method for treating a tumor or cancer in subjects in need thereof. These compounds are also active in preventing or treating a variety of skin diseases and conditions. The most preferred hydroxytolan compounds are 4,4?-dihydroxytolan. (KST-201), 4 hydroxy 4? trifluoromethyltolan or 4? hydroxy 4 trifluoromethyltolan (KST-213), 3,4?,5-trihydroxytolan or 3?,4,5?-trihydroxytolan (KST-301) and 3,3?,5,5?-tetrahydroxytolan (KST-401). The compounds and methods of using them alone and in combination with ascorbate and certain cyclic compounds to inhibit the development, growth or metastasis of tumor/cancer or preneoplastic cells, or to prevent or treat skin disorders in a subject are disclosed.

Abstract: A liquid crystal composition comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by the following structure (Structure 1): wherein: R1 and R2 are independently hydrogen, —(C?O)R9, —(C?O)R10, alkyl, aryl, alkaryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; R3 is hydrogen, halogen, cyano, alkoxy, NHCOR9, NHSO2R9, COOR9, OCOR9, aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted; R4 is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted; R5, R6, R7, and R8 are independently hydrogen, halogen, cyano, alkoxy, NHCOR9, NHSO2R9, COOR9, OCOR9, aryl, alkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine with each other, or R5 can combine with R4 to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; R9 and R10 are independently alkyl, alkoxy, aryl, naphthyl, styryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alko

Abstract: A liquid crystal composition comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by the following structure (Structure 1): wherein: R1 and R2 are independently hydrogen, —(C?O)R9, —(C?O)R10, alkyl, aryl, alkaryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; and R3-R9 are as described in the disclosure. Also featured are liquid crystal compositions comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by any of Structure 2-4 as described in the disclosure.

Abstract: The invention provides a liquid crystal cell and method thereof. The cell comprises two opposed substrates and a surfactant-free lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLC) material disposed therebetween. By using an ammonium compound with LCLC or surface treatment on the substrates, the alignment of the LCLC material can be manipulated as a homeotropic bulk alignment; or a hybrid bulk alignment in which the LCLC alignment is changed from homeotropic bulk alignment in the vicinity of one substrate to planar alignment in the vicinity of another substrate. The cell can be used in biosensing, detection and amplification of ligands, optical devices, and photovoltaics etc.

Abstract: The combination of compounds of the hydroxytolan family with ascorbate plus naphthoquinone (Vitamin K3; VK3), or a quinone or semiquinone analogue of VK3, kill tumor cells, inhibit tumor growth and development, and treat cancer in subjects in need thereof.

Abstract: A liquid crystal composition comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by the following structure (Structure 1): wherein: R1 and R2 are independently hydrogen, —(C?O)R9, —(C?O)R10, alkyl, aryl, alkaryl, alkenyl, cycloalkyl, alkoxyaryl, or heterocyclic all either substituted or unsubstituted, or combine to form a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring; and R3-R9 are as described in the disclosure. Also featured are liquid crystal compositions comprising a chiral dopant compound represented by any of Structure 2-4 as described in the disclosure.