Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods for the depolymerization of polyethylene-based plastics. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed that comprises combining a polyethylene-based plastic with a solvent in a reactor to generate a plastic solvent mixture, heating the plastic solvent mixture in the reactor, and fractionating the plastic solvent mixture into a gas phase product, a solid phase product, and a liquid phase product. In another embodiment, a system is disclosed that comprises a solvent, and a reactor configured to receive the polyethylene-based plastic and the solvent and convert the polyethylene-based plastic into a gas phase product, a solid phase product, and a liquid phase product, the reactor being configured to operate at a temperature greater than 275° C. and at a pressure greater than 2 megapascals.

Abstract: An aggregated distribution system includes an HVAC controller, a battery controller, and an aggregated data management engine. The aggregated data management engine is configured to retrieve an HVAC energy usage profile and retrieve a battery energy usage profile. The aggregated distribution system also includes distribution engine configured to forward a first set of HVAC dual variables and forward a first set of battery dual variables to a first neighboring unit of the aggregated distribution system, receive one or more additional sets of HVAC dual variables and one or more additional sets of battery dual variables from one or more neighboring units of the aggregated distribution system, update the HVAC energy usage profile with the one or more additional sets of HVAC dual vehicles and update the battery energy usage profile with the one or more additional sets of battery dual vehicles.

Abstract: An exemplified methods and systems provides a Volterra filter network architecture that employs a cascaded implementation and a plurality of kernels, a set of which is configured to execute an nth order filter, wherein the plurality of kernels of the nth order filters are repeatedly configured in a plurality of cascading layers of interconnected kernels to form a cascading hierarchical structure that approximates a high-order filter.

Abstract: Provided herein are qPCR-based methods for quantitatively detecting and differentiating between live and dead pathogenic bacteria such as carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Also provided herein are simple, fast, and reliable genomic DNA extraction methods with improved efficiency.

Abstract: Provided herein are systems and related methods of performing solar field and receiver inspections based on polarimetric-enhanced imaging.

Abstract: Techniques of forming a foamed insulation material from gypsum waste are disclosed herein. One example technique includes mechanically comminuting the gypsum waste from an original size into particles of gypsum at a target size smaller than the original size and mixing the particles of the gypsum with a binder to form a mixture of particles and binder. The binder is configured to bind the particles of gypsum upon hydration. The example technique can further include performing air entrainment on the mixture until a foam is formed from the mixture having the particles of gypsum and binder. The foam has water that causes the binder to bind the particles of gypsum. The example technique can then include removing moisture from the mixture with the formed foam to form a foamed insulation material from the particles of gypsum.

Abstract: There is set forth herein an optoelectrical device, comprising: a substrate; an interposer dielectric stack formed on the substrate, the interposer dielectric stack including a base interposer dielectric stack, a photonics device dielectric stack, and a bond layer that integrally bonds the photonics device dielectric stack to the base interposer dielectric stack. There is set forth herein a method comprising building an interposer base structure on a first wafer having a first substrate, including fabricating a plurality of through vias in the first substrate and fabricating within an interposer base dielectric stack formed on the first substrate one or more metallization layers; and building a photonics structure on a second wafer having a second substrate, including fabricating one or more photonics devices within a photonics device dielectric stack formed on the second substrate.

Abstract: A power plant system is disclosed. The power plant system includes a combustor configured, a turbine configured to generate electricity, a heat exchanger and a steam turbine, a carbon capture system configured to remove at least a portion of carbon-based gasses from the flue gas downstream from the heat recovery steam generator, and a thermal storage system including a hot storage unit configured to store thermal energy at a hot temperature, the hot temperature greater than ambient temperature. The power plant is configured to operate in at least a first mode for storing thermal energy in the thermal storage system and a second mode for releasing the stored thermal energy from the thermal storage system and during the second mode, heat stored in the hot storage unit is transferred to the carbon capture system.

Abstract: This disclosure includes systems and methods for extracting water vapor from atmospheric air and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, systems and methods for optimizing liquid water production from air, in some instances, taking into account diurnal variations. The systems comprise an adsorption zone and a desorption zone, an actuator to move a desiccant between the adsorption zone and the desorption zone. The liquid water production is optimized based, at least in part, on measurements of one or more of: an ambient air temperature, ambient air relative humidity, and a level of solar insolation.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to enhancing alkalinity of brine, e.g. seawater, using bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BPMED) without removing divalent cations that otherwise cause scaling. In one embodiment, a BPMED is employed wherein the brine volumetric flow rate through a basification compartment is greater at a given current density than that through a brine compartment which increases the pH of the brine output while keeping it below the precipitation pH. In one embodiment, the spacer located in the basification compartment is thicker than spacers elsewhere in the BPMED so as resist membrane distortion due to the increased hydrostatic pressure in the basification compartment given the greater volumetric flow. The brine output having increased alkalinity can be returned to the ocean to mitigate acidification and enable capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Abstract: An induction machine with localized voltage unbalance compensation is disclosed. The use of an induction machine with a voltage unbalance correction compensator (VUC) may be used to maintain proper working conditions of the machine during intervals of voltage unbalance.

Abstract: A computer-implemented SynF (Synthetic Infrastructure) model is designed to estimate the location and characteristics of urban water and power distribution networks, estimate how those networks are interconnected and connect to buildings and transportation systems, and assess how failures propagate within and across the systems. The model was designed using Phoenix metro area cities but has been extended to other cities.

Abstract: A technology is described for spatially estimating thermal emissivity. A method can include obtaining spectral emissivity data and satellite imaging data for a geographic area. A weighted emissivity model of emissivity values may be generated for surfaces included in the geographic area from the spectral emissivity data and the satellite imaging data, wherein the spectral emissivity data is mapped to the satellite imaging data to generate the weighted emissivity model. Thermal imaging data for the geographic area may be received from an airborne thermal imaging sensor and a thermal emissivity map can be generated for the geographic area using the thermal imaging data and the weighted emissivity model. The emissivity values from the weighted emissivity model can be used to estimate thermal emissivity values.

Abstract: The present invention relates to organoids derived from a single cell, such as a kidney cancer cell, and methods and compositions relating to the production and use thereof, including cell culture medium for producing organoids and methods of personalized treatment for kidney cancer. The invention further provides a humanized mouse including a kidney organoid derived from a patient's kidney cell.

Abstract: A method of inducing HEXIM1 expression in cells of a subject includes administering to the cells a compound having the formula, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

Abstract: An augmented reality visualization system is disclosed for viewing non-destructive inspection (NDI) data of a component. The system comprises a component camera configured to capture a real time image of the component, a component display configured to display an AR image of the component, and an AR controller including an augmented reality processor and a non-transitory tangible storage medium. The storage medium includes processor-executable instructions for controlling the AR processor when the instructions are executed by the AR processor. The instructions access the NDI data of the component and implement a component AR engine to generate the AR image in real time by overlaying the NDI data on the real time image. The AR engine is configured to detect one or more three-dimensional (3D) features of the component in the real-time image and generate the AR image based on the detected one or more features.

Abstract: A processing unit and a method of operating a processing unit. In an embodiment, the processing unit comprises a SIMON block cipher for transforming plaintext data into encrypted data. A key expansion module generates and outputs one or more encryption keys; and the key expansion module includes a first series of adiabatic registers for holding key generation data values, and for using adiabatic switching to transmit the key generation data values through the first series of adiabatic registers. A round function module receives the plaintext data and the one or more encryption keys, encrypts the plaintext data to generate the encrypted data, and outputs the encrypted data; and the round function module includes a second series of adiabatic registers for holding encryption data, and for using adiabatic switching to transmit the encryption data through the second series of adiabatic registers.

Abstract: Various embodiments of a system and associated method for determining a volume of surgical freedom using a plurality of three-dimensional extrema points along a surgical corridor in relation to a structure of interest are disclosed herein.

Abstract: Systems and methods allow for incident data collection and management system based on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that is, drones to help accelerate the data collection and analytics, information dissemination, and decision support at incident sites. The system architecture may include onsite, server, and offline components including flight planning subsystem, flight execution and mission control subsystem, information dissemination subsystem to travelers and traveler information services, the interface with traffic management center, and the data analytic, visualization, and training subsystems. Other embodiments include the video-based 3D incident site reconstruction methods, site positioning and scaling methods with pre-collected static background infrastructure data, data management and user charging methods, and training methods with the generated 3D model.