Abstract: Articles and systems configured for treating GI motility disorders are generally provided. In some embodiments, an article comprising one or more electrodes (with both sensing and stimulating capabilities) may be configured to stimulate one or more tissues in the GI tract, electrically and/or chemically, to modulate peristalsis and/or allow neuromodulation. In some embodiments, a system comprises a controller that allows for close-loop operation of the article, e.g., such that the article may stimulate (e.g., via a feedback loop) the one or more organs in the GI tract upon receiving sensed parameters in the GI tract. In some embodiments, an implantation tool comprising a sensor may allow for submucosal or intramuscular implantation of an article. The implantation tool and the article may be useful for, for example, as a general platform for delivery of treating GI motility disorders and/or neuromodulation of the GI tract.

Abstract: Structures and methods enable emergency or rapid shutdown of an energized no-insulation (NI) superconducting magnet, without damage due to thermal effects of a quench. A resistive bypass wire is coupled between electrical terminals of the magnet coil, and does not pass significant current during normal magnet operation. When rapid shutdown is required, the bypass wire is cooled below its critical temperature, adding a superconducting current path in parallel with the magnet coil. A portion of the coil is then heated above its critical temperature, interrupting current flow through the coil. Hot spots near the coil leads are mitigated through the use of a conductive structure, such as copper cladding, that carries away excess heat due to the quench. This heat may be deposited in a resistive matrix, such as a steel plate, over a duration of seconds and without compromising other magnet design parameters.

Abstract: A quantum circuit called a “qumon” is provided to cancel unwanted ZZ interaction in a superconducting qubit architecture. The qumon qubit has a high coherence, and a positive anharmonicity that may be tuned to cancel the negative anharmonicity in a coupled qubit, such as a transmon qubit. The qumon has three parallel branches, in which are a shunt capacitor; a Josephson junction having weighted energy level and capacitance; and several Josephson junctions in series. The weight is chosen to provide the desired anharmonicity, and the transverse flux noise and transverse charge noise each decrease in proportion to the number of the Josephson junctions in series. Because unwanted ZZ interactions are canceled, qumon qubits and transmon qubits may be capacitively coupled in an alternating pattern to provide a surface code in which these interactions are canceled in an extensible way.

Abstract: Described are concepts, systems, devices and techniques for real-time high-capacity ride-sharing that (i) scales to large numbers of passengers and trips and (ii) dynamically generates routes (e.g. optimal or near optimal routes) in response to online demand and vehicle locations.

Abstract: Some embodiments described herein relate to cells which have been genetically engineered to release a polypeptide when a population of the cells reaches a desired density. In some embodiments, the released polypeptide may be a therapeutic polypeptide. In some embodiments, the therapeutic polypeptide kills tumor cells or which inhibits the growth of tumor cells.

Abstract: System, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to improving the cycling of batteries by using data and a hierarchical Bayesian model (HBM) for predicting the cycle life of a cycling protocol. In one embodiment, a method includes classifying cycle life of a battery into a class using battery data from cycling with a protocol, wherein the class represents cycle life distributions of cycling protocols. The method also includes quantifying, using the class in a HBM, variability for the battery induced by the protocol. The method also includes predicting, using the HBM, an adjusted cycle life for the protocol according to the variability. The method also includes communicating the adjusted cycle life to operate the battery.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to materials, devices, and methods for resonant ambient thermal energy harvesting. Thermal energy can be harvested using thermoelectric resonators that capture and store ambient thermal fluctuations and convert the fluctuations to energy. The resonators can include non-linear heat transfer elements, such as thermal diodes, to enhance their performance. Incorporation of thermal diodes can allow for a dynamic rectification of temperature fluctuations into a single polarity temperature difference across a heat engine for power extraction, as compared to the dual polarity nature of the output voltage of linear thermal resonators, which typically necessitates electrical rectification to be routed to an entity for energy storage. In some embodiments, the thermal diode can be applied to transient energy harvesting to construct thermal diode bridges. Methods for constructing such devices, and using such devices, are also provided.

Abstract: An implantable medical device is provided for controlled drug delivery within the bladder, or other body vesicle. The device may include at least one drug reservoir component comprising a drug; and a vesicle retention frame which comprises an elastic wire having a first end, an opposing second end, and an intermediate region therebetween, wherein the drug reservoir component is attached to the intermediate region of the vesicle retention frame. The retention frame prevents accidental voiding of the device from the bladder, and it preferably has a spring constant selected for the device to effectively stay in the bladder during urination while minimizing the irritation of the bladder.

Abstract: Systems, devices, and methods for detecting contamination (e.g., bacteria) in fluid are provided. The systems, devices, and methods allow for filtering a fluid sample using a filter to capture and concentrate cells (e.g., bacteria) to detect electrochemical properties thereof. The cells can be exposed to a reagent that diffuses into the cells to produce a product of interest that can be used in analysis of the fluid sample. The product of interest can diffuse out of the filter into a fluid storage component for detection and analysis by an analysis component. After the sampling is completed, the filter can be detached and discarded. Other aspects of the present disclosure, including enhancements and various systems and methods for concentrating cells and analyzing the same, are also provided.

Abstract: A reflective spatial light modulator (SLM) made of an electro-optic material in a one-sided Fabry-Perot resonator can provide phase and/or amplitude modulation with fine spatial resolution at speeds over a Gigahertz. The light is confined laterally within the electro-optic material/resonator layer stack with microlenses, index perturbations, or by patterning the layer stack into a two-dimensional (2D) array of vertically oriented micropillars. Alternatively, a photonic crystal guided mode resonator can vertically and laterally confine the resonant mode. In phase-only modulation mode, each SLM pixel can produce a ? phase shift under a bias voltage below 10 V, while maintaining nearly constant reflection amplitude. This high-speed SLM can be used in a wide range of new applications, from fully tunable metasurfaces to optical computing accelerators, high-speed interconnects, true 2D phased array beam steering, beam forming, or quantum computing with cold atom arrays.

Abstract: Described herein are guided excision-transposition systems, methods of making, and uses thereof.

Abstract: A conventional flow tube for a metabolic cart is usually a straight length of pipe whose inner diameter is fixed by the respiratory burden imposed by the flow tube on the user, with a smaller diameter imposing a higher respiratory burden. The ratio of the straight flow tube's length to diameter is fixed by fluid dynamics, so increasing the flow tube's diameter causes the flow tube's length to increase. As the flow tube gets longer, it exerts more torque on the user's neck and jaw, creating discomfort. Reducing the flow tube's length causes an undesired increase in the respiratory burden but increasing the flow tube's diameter to reduce the respiratory burden makes the flow tube less comfortable, making the flow tube unconformable, hard to breathe through, or both. Bending the flow tube makes it possible to increase the flow tube's propagation length without increasing the flow tube's lever arm length.

Abstract: A system for canceling signal interference (SI) includes a transceiver configured to concurrently transmit signals and receive signals within a single frequency band, which causes signal interference between the transmitted and received signals. The SI canceller is configured to use a set of cancellation coefficients to generate a cancellation signal to mitigate the SI. The system is configured to iteratively change the cancellation coefficients by a step factor to produce tuned cancellation coefficients. The step factor is determined by a cancellation error gradient and one or more of: a tunable coefficient step aggressiveness factor; and a time-based forgetting factor; and cause the SI canceller to cancel the SI using the tuned cancellation coefficients.

Abstract: A passive prosthetic foot enables a below-knee amputee to walk with near able-body walking motions. The prosthetic foot includes a resilient heel that enables the heel to strike a walking surface more softly than in the prior art and more accurately transition the leg from swing phase to stance phase. The prosthetic foot is modeled generally as a wide Bézier curve, and the foot is characterized according to a set of at least 12 variables, including h, C1d, C2x, C2y, C2d, C3x, C3y, C3d, C4x, C4d, C5d and C6d, where C3y is heel size, C4x is heel geometry and C6d is curve intersection location. The variables are optimized to minimize a difference between a normal lower leg trajectory during gait and a modeled trajectory that includes the prosthetic foot.

Abstract: Self-righting articles, such as self-righting capsules for administration to a subject, are generally provided. In some embodiments, the self-righting article may be configured such that the article may orient itself relative to a surface. The self-righting articles described herein may comprise one or more tissue engaging surfaces configured to engage with a surface. In some embodiments, the self-righting article may have a particular shape and/or distribution of density (or mass) which, for example, enables the self-righting behavior of the article. In some embodiments, the self-righting article may comprise a tissue interfacing component and/or a pharmaceutical agent (e.g., for delivery of the active pharmaceutical agent to a location internal of the subject). In some cases, upon contact of the tissue with the tissue engaging surface of the article, the self-righting article may be configured to release one or more tissue interfacing components.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to improvements in the selection and formulation of PBAE polymers using a design of experiment approach, in which statistical methods are used to limit possible experimental conditions. The present disclosure relates to improved PBAE polymers and formulations.

Abstract: A light source may illuminate a scene that is obscured by fog. Light may reflect back to a time-resolved light sensor. For instance, the light sensor may comprise avalanche photodiodes that are not single-photon sensitive. The light sensor may perform a raster scan. The imaging system may determine reflectance and depth of the fog-obscured target. The imaging system may perform a probabilistic algorithm that exploits the fact that times of arrival of photons reflected from fog have a Gamma distribution that is different than the Gaussian distribution of times of arrival of photons reflected from the target. The imaging system may adjust frame rate locally depending on local density of fog, as indicated by a local Gamma distribution determined in a prior step. The imaging system may perform one or more of spatial regularization, temporal regularization, and deblurring.

Abstract: Compositions and methods comprising metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and related uses are generally provided. In some embodiments, a MOF comprises a plurality of metal ions, each coordinated with at least one ligand comprising at least two sets of ortho-diimine groups arranged about an organic core.

Abstract: Compositions, articles, and methods involving pressure-sensitive adhesives comprising polymer-grafted particles are generally described.

Abstract: A layer of amorphous Ge is formed on a substrate using electron-beam evaporation. The evaporation is performed at room temperature. The layer of amorphous Ge has a thickness of at least 50 nm and a purity of at least 90% Ge. The substrate is complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible and is transparent at Long-Wave Infrared (LWIR) wavelengths. The layer of amorphous Ge can be used as a waveguide in chemical sensing and data communication applications. The amorphous Ge waveguide has a transmission loss in the LWIR of 11 dB/cm or less at 8 ?m.