Abstract: An absorber for an absorption refrigeration system for a vertically mounted plate absorber has fins positioned over the plate to promote distribution of a fluid under flow as a nearly continuous thin film. The absorber has rows of fins that are evenly spaced with the fins occupying a portion of the active width of the plate with adjacent rows offset by the width of the plate. A combined evaporator-absorber module is constructed with the absorbing face of the absorber parallel with an evaporating surface of an evaporator where absorber solution and refrigerant fall as parallel falling sheets of liquid. The absorber is covered with a porous hydrophobic membrane to isolate the falling absorber solution from the falling liquid refrigerant.

Abstract: A hybrid Cascaded H-Bridge (CHB) converter includes a selective harmonic current mitigation pulse width modulation (SHCM-PWM) unit coupled to an input current and providing an output signal SWSHCM, a phase shift pulse width modulation (PSPWM) unit coupled to the input current and providing an output signal SWPS, a modulation selector coupled to the output signal SWSHCM of the SHCM-PWM unit and the output signal SWPS of the PSPWM unit and providing an output signal SW, and a CHB converter coupled to the output signal SW of the modulation selector. The modulation selector can select one of the output signals (SWSHCM and SWPS) as the output signal SW based on the input current. The hybrid technique is for cascaded multilevel converters which utilizes asymmetric SHCM to mitigate the harmonics generated from PS-PWM to meet harmonic limits with a smaller number of switching transitions and smaller inductance than the conventional PS-PWM technique.

Abstract: The present invention provides a process of producing a trifluoromethoxylated aryl or trifluoromethoxylated heteroaryl having the structure: wherein A is an aryl or heteroaryl, each with or without substitution; and R1 is —H, -(alkyl), -(alkenyl), -(alkynyl), -(aryl), -(heteroaryl), -(alkylaryl), -(alkylheteroaryl), —NH-(alkyl), —N(alkyl)2, —NH-(alkenyl), —NH-(alkynyl) —NH-(aryl), —NH-(heteroaryl), —O-(alkyl), —O-(alkenyl), —O-(alkynyl), —O-(aryl), —O-(heteroaryl); —S-(alkyl), —S-(alkenyl), —S-(alkynyl), —S-(aryl), or —S-(heteroaryl), comprising: (a) reacting a compound having the structure: with a trifluoromethylating agent in the presence of a base in a first suitable solvent under conditions to produce a compound having the structure: and (b) maintaining the compound produced in step (a) in a second suitable solvent under conditions sufficient to produce the trifluoromethoxylated aryl or trifluormethoxylated heteroaryl having the structure:

Abstract: A new solvent-based method is presented for making low-cost composite graphite electrodes containing a thermoplastic binder. The electrodes, termed thermoplastic electrodes (TPEs), are easy to fabricate and pattern, give excellent electrochemical performance, and have high conductivity (1500 S m?1). The thermoplastic binder enables the electrodes to be hot embossed, molded, templated, and/or cut with a CO2 laser into a variety of intricate patterns. These electrodes show a marked improvement in peak current, peak separation, and resistance to charge transfer over traditional carbon electrodes. The impact of electrode composition, surface treatment (sanding, polishing, plasma treatment), and graphite source were found to impact fabrication, patterning, conductivity, and electrochemical performance. Under optimized conditions, electrodes generated responses similar to more expensive and difficult to fabricate graphene and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrodes.

Abstract: A method of treating cancer in vivo includes introducing in vitro into human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) at least one type of inhibitory oligonucleotide, and contacting a tumor tissue of syncytial cancer cells with the hMSCs in vivo under conditions permitting a hMSC to form a gap junction channel with a first syncytial cancer cell of the tumor tissue. As a result, the at least one type of inhibitory oligonucleotide is delivered into the first syncytial cancer cell by traversing the gap junction channel and the at least one type of inhibitory oligonucleotide is delivered into a second syncytial cancer cell of the tumor tissue by traversing a gap junction channel between the first syncytial cancer cell and the second syncytial cancer cell.

Abstract: Vascular prosthetic assemblies (e.g., heart valves), such as those, for example, configured to be deployed percutaneously.

Abstract: Structures operable to detect radiation are described. The structure may two screens with a phosphor layer, respective. The structure may further include a photosensor array disposed between the first screen and the second screen such that the photosensor array directly contacts the first screen or is directly attached to the first screen using an optical adhesive and directly contacts the second screen or is directly attached to the second screen using an optical adhesive.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of inhibiting the growth of a fungus comprising contacting the fungus with an effective amount of an inhibitor so as to thereby inhibit the growth of the fungus, wherein the inhibitor inhibits ceramide synthase 1 (Cer1) in the fungal cells of the fungus. The present invention also provides method of treating a subject afflicted with a fungal infection comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of an inhibitor so as to treat the subject afflicted with the fungal infection, wherein the inhibitor inhibits ceramide synthase 1 (Cer1) in the fungal cells of the fungus.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a system and method for efficiently mining multi-threshold measurements acquired using photon counting pixel-array detectors for spectral imaging and diffraction analyses. Images of X-ray intensity as a function of X-ray energy were recorded on a 6 megapixel X-ray photon counting array detector through linear fitting of the measured counts recorded as a function of counting threshold. An analytical model is disclosed for describing the probability density of detected voltage, utilizing fractional photon counting to account for edge/corner effects from voltage plumes that spread across multiple pixels. Three-parameter fits to the model were independently performed for each pixel in the array for X-ray scattering images acquired for 13.5 keV and 15.0 keV X-ray energies. From the established pixel responses, multi-threshold composite images produced from the sum of 13.5 keV and 15.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method comprising sending context information from a mobile wireless device through a control channel to a network server; receiving a policy at the mobile wireless device from the network server, wherein the policy assigns a video streaming bit rate to the mobile wireless device based on the context information; and implementing the policy to control a video streaming session between the mobile wireless device and a media server over a data channel. The context information may include information about the mobile wireless device and/or a user of the mobile wireless device. The policy may be different for each mobile wireless device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided to reconstruct a computed tomography image using iterative reconstruction (IR) that is accelerated using various combinations of ordered subsets, conjugate gradient, preconditioning, resetting/restarting, and/or gradient approximation techniques. For example, when restarting criteria are satisfied the IR algorithm can be reset by setting conjugate-gradient parameters to initial values and/or by changing the number of ordered subsets. The IR algorithm can be accelerated by approximately calculating the gradients, by using a diagonal or Fourier preconditioner, and by selectively updating the preconditioner based on the regularization function. The update direction and step size can be calculated using the preconditioner and a surrogate function, which is not necessarily separable.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to novel boron carbide (B4C) composite material and the method of making and using the novel boron carbide (B4C) composite.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a system and methods for detecting power bugs. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method for analyzing a computer code includes generating a control flow graph for at least a portion of the computer code at a processor. The method further includes identifying power bugs by traversing the control flow graph if the control flow graph exits without performing a function call to deactivate power to any component of a device configured to execute computer executable instructions based on the computer code after performing a function call to activate power.

Abstract: The disclosure provides an electricity generating insert for a piece of footwear, the insert can be removably placed in the heel portion, e.g. under the insole. The insert comprises a multilayer piezoelectric stack that alternatively flexes under the compression-decompression that occurs during locomotion, which flexing causes friction in the stack to generate electricity capable of charging electronic devices and the like, e.g. via a port on the footwear.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to novel antibacterial cell-penetrating peptides and derivatives, and methods to make and use the novel antibacterial cell-penetrating peptides and derivatives. The novel antibacterial cell-penetrating peptides of the present invention with shorter linker between a pyrrolidine ring and a guanidine group provide unexpectedly higher potency against a broader scope of bacterial.

Abstract: A compound of Formula 1 Li1+(4?a)?Hf2??Ma?(PO4??)3??(1) wherein M is at least one cationic element with valence of a, wherein 0<???, 1?a?4, and 0???0.1. Also an electrolyte composition, a separator, a protected positive electrode, a protected negative electrode, and a lithium battery, each including the compound of Formula 1.

Abstract: Video processing methods and the associated system architecture for measuring transformation in objects, including pupils, entail the following steps: 1. Motion correction; 2. Object (eye) detection; 3. Image correction; and 4. Fourier-based analysis for item (in some embodiments the item is a pupil) motion estimation.

Abstract: A system and computation method is disclosed that identifies radiation-induced lung injury after radiation therapy using 4D computed tomography (CT) scans. After deformable image registration, the method segments lung fields, extracts functional and textural features, and classifies lung tissues. The deformable registration locally aligns consecutive phases of the respiratory cycle using gradient descent minimization of the conventional dissimilarity metric. Then an adaptive shape prior, a first-order intensity model, and a second-order lung tissues homogeneity descriptor are integrated to segment the lung fields. In addition to common lung functionality features, such as ventilation and elasticity, specific regional textural features are estimated by modeling the segmented images as samples of a novel 7th-order contrast-offset-invariant Markov-Gibbs random field (MGRF). Finally, a tissue classifier is applied to distinguish between the injured and normal lung tissues.

Abstract: The present invention relates to methods of treatment of a disease or pathology of the central nervous system, an eating disorder, or substance use disorder, drug dependence/abuse and withdrawal therefrom comprising administering at least one N-phenylalkyl amphetamine derivative and pharmaceutical compositions comprising at least one N-phenylalkyl amphetamine derivative to an individual in need thereof.

Abstract: A method for detecting head crashing in a linear compressor includes sampling a rolling average of a peak applied voltage and a desired peak current each time that a current controller adjusts the desired peak current. The method also includes calculating a linear regression for a predicted peak applied voltage as a function of the desired peak current, calculating the predicted peak voltage for the motor of the linear compressor with the linear regression and a current value for the desired peak current from the current controller, and establishing that a piston of the linear compressor is soft crashing when the predicted peak voltage is different than the current value for the rolling average of the peak applied voltage by more than a threshold value.