Abstract: Methods and system for solid phase peptide synthesis are provided. Solid phase peptide synthesis is a known process in which amino acid residues are added to peptides that have been immobilized on a solid support. New amino acid residues are added via a coupling reaction between an activated amino acid and an amino acid residue of the immobilized peptide. Amino acids may be activated using, e.g., a base and an activating agent. Certain inventive concepts, described herein, relate to methods and systems for the activation of amino acids. These systems and methods may allow for fewer side reactions and a higher yield compared to conventional activation techniques as well as the customization of the coupling reaction on a residue-by-residue basis without the need for costly and/or complex processes.

Abstract: Liquid metals or plastic are deposited into a reservoir of powder that supports the liquid metal or plastic as it cools.

Abstract: A deep neural network may be trained on the data of one or more entities, also know as Alices. An outside computing entity, also known as a Bob, may assist in these computations, without receiving access to Alices' data. Data privacy may be preserved by employing a “split” neural network. The network may comprise an Alice part and a Bob part. The Alice part may comprise at least three neural layers, and the Bob part may comprise at least two neural layers. When training on data of an Alice, that Alice may input her data into the Alice part, perform forward propagation though the Alice part, and then pass output activations for the final layer of the Alice part to Bob. Bob may then forward propagate through the Bob part. Similarly, backpropagation may proceed backwards through the Bob part, and then through the Alice part of the network.

Abstract: The invention comprises a novel modular, generalizable meso-micro-nano-fluidic platform apparatus, design and methodology which in exemplary embodiments may be applied in conjunction with a novel external triggering and automation/feedback loop control mechanism deployed via computer to explore the phase space of single or double emulsification for applications including the encapsulation of hydrophilic active pharmacological ingredients (APIs). End use applications include the mass production of particulate encapsulation of hydrophobic or hydrophilic APIs with automatic or user-supervised feedback methodology to control and discover mass production or per-drug customized settings of interest for the manufacture of novel or extant therapeutics.

Abstract: Disclosed is an electrochemical method for continuous regeneration of a PtIV oxidant to furnish overall electrochemical methane oxidation. Cl-adsorbed Pt electrodes catalyze facile oxidation of PtII to PtIV without concomitant methanol oxidation. Exploiting this electrochemistry, the PtII/IV ratio in solution is maintained via in situ monitoring of the solution potential coupled with dynamic modulation of the electric current. Remarkably, this method leads to sustained methane oxidation catalysis with ˜70% selectivity for methanol.

Abstract: A computer-implemented method of imaging an object, and an optical coherent tomography (OCT) imaging system implementing same.

Abstract: A compliant prosthetic foot is designed and fabricated by combining a compliant mechanism optimization technique with a calculation of low leg trajectory error under a reference loading condition. The compliant mechanism optimization technique includes a set of determinants for the compliant prosthetic foot. An optimized set of determinants of the compliant prosthetic foot is formed that minimizes the lower leg trajectory error relative to a target kinematic data set. The compliant prosthetic foot is then fabricated in conformance with the optimized set of determinants.

Abstract: Fluidic systems and methods in which oscillatory flow is employed are generally described. In some instances, one or more solenoids are used to drive the oscillation of a magnetically-susceptible body which creates oscillatory flow of a fluid in a fluidic channel in fluid communication with a channel containing the magnetically-susceptible body.

Abstract: Magnets and magnet systems include stacked magnet baseplates. Each of the plates includes grooves that contain windings of a conductor (e.g. a high temperature superconductor) that generates a magnetic field when current is passed through. This field generates Lorentz forces in the stack that press the conductors in different directions and with different magnitudes. Thus, the plates are oppositely oriented (mirrored) so that these forces always press the conductors into the grooves, rather than pulling them out of the grooves. The conductors may be further reinforced in their grooves with solder or epoxy potting. Some stacks may have more plates in one orientation than in the mirrored orientation, because the Lorentz forces need not be symmetrical with respect to a midpoint of the stack, e.g. when the system experiences externally-applied magnetic fields. Additional, mirrored side plates may be added in some configurations.

Abstract: Among other things, the present disclosure provides compositions and methods for an elastomeric cross-linked polyester material. Such an elastomeric cross-linked polyester material, in some embodiments, comprises a plurality of polymeric units of the general formula (-A-B-)p, wherein p is an integer greater than 1; and a plurality of urethane cross-links each of which covalently links two polymeric units to one another, which two linked polymeric unit each had at least one free hydroxyl or amino group prior to formation of the crosslink.

Abstract: A buffered negative electrode-electrolyte assembly includes: a porous negative electrode comprising a metal, a transition metal nitride, or a combination thereof; a solid-state electrolyte; and a buffer layer between the porous negative electrode and the solid-state electrolyte. The buffer layer comprising a buffer composition according to Formula (1) MmNnZzHhXx. The buffer composition has an electronic conductivity that is less than or equal to 1×10?2 times an electronic conductivity of the solid-state electrolyte, and the buffer composition has an ionic conductivity less than or equal to 1×10?6 times an ionic conductivity of the solid-state electrolyte.

Abstract: A power generator includes a plurality of amplifier blocks and a combiner. Each of the amplifier blocks include one or more amplifiers, and the combiner combines modulated power signals output from the amplifier blocks to generate an RF power signal of a load. The amplifier blocks are controlled to outphase the modulated power signals based on a phase angle. Ones of the amplifier blocks may perform discrete modulation to generate a respective one of the modulated power signals. The discrete modulation includes selecting different combinations of the amplifiers in one or more of the amplifier blocks to change the RF power signal in discrete steps. In embodiments, the amplifiers may be radio frequency power amplifiers.

Abstract: A wide-area motion imaging system provides 360° persistent surveillance with a camera array that is small, light-weight, and operates at low power. The camera array is mounted on a tethered drone, which can hover at heights of up to 400?, and includes small imagers fitted with lenses of different fixed focal lengths. The tether provides power, communication, and a data link from the camera array to a ground processing server that receives, processes and stores the imagery. The server also collects absolute and relative position data from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) carried by the drone. The server uses this position data to correct the rolling shutter effect and to stabilize and georectify the final images, which can be stitched together and shown to a user live or in playback via a separate user interface.

Abstract: Provided herein are bifunctional compounds that bind cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) and/or promote targeted ubiquitination for the degradation of CDK9. In particular, provided are compounds that can bind CDK9, a protein whose dysregulation is implicated in a variety of cancers, and can promote CDK9?s degradation by recruiting an E3 ubiquitin ligase (e.g., Cereblon, VHL). The E3 ubiquitin ligase can ubiquitinate CDK9, marking it for proteasomal degradation. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions comprising the bifunctional compounds. Also provided are methods of treating cancer, and methods of promoting the degradation of CDK9 protein by E3 ubiquitin ligase activity in a subject or biological sample by administering a compound or composition described herein.

Abstract: The present disclosure, at least in part, relates to an engineered incoherent feed forward loop (iFFL) comprising a first transcription unit encoding an endoribonuclease and a second transcription unit encoding an output molecule and an endoribonuclease target site located in the 5? UTR of the output molecule coding sequence. The engineered iFFL, at least in part, can be used for sustained expression of an output molecule despite of transcription resource disturbance in a given environment.

Abstract: An outer skin of a metamaterial is provided that includes a tessellation of folded structures. This outer skin integrates the mechanical needs of movable structures with one process, which better replicates nature's engineering strategies. The tessellation of folded structures may be discretely assembled and may include an offset arrangement of corrugations. In certain embodiments, the metamaterial may be a portion of a continuum robotic structure.

Abstract: A polarization-separated, phase-shifted interferometer can generate interferograms without moving parts. It uses a phase shifter, such as an electro-optic phase modulator, to modulate the relative phase between sample and reference beams. These beams are transformed into orthogonal polarization states (e.g., horizontally and vertically polarized states) and coupled via a common path (e.g., polarization-maintaining fiber) to a polarizing beam splitter (PBS), which sends them into separate sample and reference arms. Quarter-wave plates in the sample and reference arms rotate the polarization states of the sample and reference beams so they are coupled out of the PBS to a detector via a 45° linear polarizer. The polarizer projects the aligned polarization components of the sample and reference beams onto the detector, where they interfere with known relative phase to produce an output that can be used to map surface topography of the test object.

Abstract: An integrated biomass conversion system and a method of starting and shutting down the system are disclosed. The integrated biomass conversion system comprises a syngas generator, such as a gasifier, a cleanup engine and a syngas utilization system, which could be a power producing engine or a chemical reactor for chemical or fuel synthesis. The cleanup engine operates rich and at high temperatures so that the tars exhausted by the syngas generators are destroyed and not allowed to foul other components. An orderly sequence to start and shut down the integrated biomass conversion system is disclosed.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein may be useful for optofluidic devices. For example, optofluidic devices using dynamic fluid lens materials represent an ideal platform to create versatile, reconfigurable, refractive optical components. For example, the articles described herein may be useful as fluidic tunable compound micro-lenses. Such compound micro-lenses may be composed of two or more components (e.g., two or more inner phases) that form stable bi-phase emulsion droplets in outer phases (e.g., aqueous media). In some embodiments, the articles described herein may be useful as light emitting droplets. Advantageously, the plurality of droplets may be configured such that light rays may modified (e.g., via stimulation of the droplets, exposure to an analyte such as a pathogen) to have a detectable emission intensity and/or angle of maximum emission intensity under a particular set of conditions.

Abstract: A major challenge in the development of anion exchange membranes for fuel cells is the design and synthesis of highly stable (chemically and mechanically) and conducting membranes. Membranes that can endure highly alkaline environments while rapidly transporting hydroxides are desired. A design for using cross-linked polymer membranes is disclosed to produce ionic highways along charge delocalized pyrazolium and homoconjugated triptycenes. The ionic highway membranes show improved performance in key parameters. Specifically, a conductivity of 111.6 mS cm?1 at 80° C. was obtained with a low 7.9% water uptake and 0.91 mmol g?1 ion exchange capacity. In contrast to existing materials, these systems have higher conductivities at reduced hydration and ionic exchange capacities, emphasizing the role of the highway. The membranes retain more than 75% of initial conductivity after 30 days of alkaline stability test.