Abstract: The present invention is concerned with a method of direct synthesis of co-products of at a first co-product and a second co-product. The first co-product is superhydrophilic carbon nitride thin film and the second co-product is superhydrophilic carbon nitride powder. The method has a step of using a guanidine carbonate salt as a precursor material. The present invention is also concerned with carbon nitride co-products. The carbon nitride co-products has a first co-product of superhydrophilic carbon nitride thin film and a second co-product of superhydrophilic carbon nitride powder. The superhydrophilic carbon nitride thin film has chemical formula of CNx, wherein x is 0.86-1.04, and the superhydrophilic carbon nitride powder has a chemical formula of g-C3N4.

Abstract: A method for performing a crop yield estimation using a semi-supervised deep convolution neural network is provided. The method includes receiving monitoring data from a drone, wherein the monitoring data comprises a video of the crops captured by the drone; sampling the video by a predefined frame rate to obtain one or more images; inputting the images to a crop yield estimation model to obtain one or more result data, wherein the crop yield estimation model comprises a generator and a discriminator each comprising one or more DCNNs, and wherein the crop yield estimation model is trained by a semi-supervised learning method; and performing a quantity estimation and a quality estimation corresponding to the crops as shown in the images according to the one or more result data, so as to determine a total number and maturities of the crops respectively.

Abstract: A radiative cooling apparatus including a layer of a material. The layer defines an exterior face. The material has a composition such that the layer is configured to reflect, at the exterior face, at least partly of the incoming electromagnetic radiation of at least some wavelengths in the solar spectrum. The layer is further configured to emit thermally-generated electromagnetic emission of at least some mid-infrared wavelengths out from the exterior face. Ceramics provided by embodiments of the invention could produce extra cooling effect without any electricity consumption, creating a prominent benefit to the energy saving of air conditioning systems of buildings.

Abstract: Provided is a method for synthesizing 2H/1T? transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterophase junctions. Synthesis of vertical 2H/1T? MoS2 heterophase junction is achieved by growing 2H MoS2 monolayers on a mica substrate under pure Ar carrier gas, and then growing 1T? MoS2 nanoribbons on top of the 2H MoS2 monolayers by changing the carrier gas from pure Ar to a mixture of Ar and H2 gases. The integrated devices based on 2H/1T? MoS2 heterophase structures display typical rectifying behavior with a current rectifying ratio of over 102 and achieve a responsivity of 1.07 A/W at 532 nm with an ultra-low dark current of lower than 10-11 A. These superior features make 2H/1T? MoS2 heterophase structure a promising candidate for future rectifiers as well as photodetectors. More importantly, the provided synthesis method can pave the way toward tailoring the phase in MoS2 to promote the performance of electronic devices.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for scalable fabrication of ultra-flat polycrystalline diamond membranes, the method comprising: (1) performing chemical vapor deposition on a growth substrate having diamond seeds thereon to grow a polycrystalline diamond membrane, wherein an exposed surface of the polycrystalline diamond membrane is a grown surface having a first roughness; and a surface bonded to the growth substrate is a buried surface; (2) bonding the grown surface to a transfer substrate using an adhesive; and (3) removing the growth substrate to expose the buried surface of the polycrystalline diamond membrane, wherein the buried surface has a second roughness after exposure, and the second roughness is less than the first roughness.

Abstract: The present invention is concerned with a method of generating a lubrication interface. The method has the steps of a) providing a target substrate and a growth substrate adjacent the target substrate with a confinement space defined therebetween, b) allowing a predetermined amount of water onto a surface of the target substrate in the confinement space thus forming a water layer, c) adding a predetermined amount of a sample of a molybdenum disulfides (MoS2) layer on the water layer thus allowing the water in the water layer to bind with the surface of the molybdenum disulfides (MoS2) layer, d) cooling down the target substrate to cryogenic temperature so as to freeze the water layer thus forming a molybdenum disulfides (MoS2) ice layer on the target substrate, and e) detaching the growth substrate from the molybdenum disulfides (MoS2) ice layer thus leaving the molybdenum disulfides (MoS2) ice layer.

Abstract: A system and method for animating an avatar in a virtual world comprising an image processor arranged to process a stream of images capturing an active user to obtain an activity data set arranged to track the activity of the user; an avatar spatial processor arranged to process the activity data set to determine a plurality of motion tracking points arranged to track the user's activity over a three-dimensional space; a facial expression detection engine arranged to process the activity data set to detect one or more facial expressions of the user; and, an avatar animation engine arranged to animate the avatar in the virtual world with the plurality of motion tracking points and the detected one or more facial expressions so as to mirror the actions and facial expressions of the active user.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a compound for use in detecting “reader” and “eraser” proteins of lysine lipoylation. The present invention provides an affinity-based probe, referred to herein as “KPlip”, capable of interrogating the lipoylated peptide/protein interactions under native cellular environments. The chemical probe allows for the identification of potential regulators of lysine lipoylation, thus uncovering new biology related to lipoylation. There is also provided a method of using the compound to identifying proteins that interact with lipoylated proteins.

Abstract: A method for performing data recovering operation is provided. The method includes: identifying a plurality of first values and a plurality of first indexes of a plurality of first entries of an incomplete matrix in a received object data, and one or more second values and one or more second indexes of one or more second entries of the incomplete matrix; inputting the first values, the first indexes, a preset first parameter, a preset second parameter and a preset third parameter into an analysis model using Adaptive Rank-One Matrix Completion (AROMC) algorithm; and obtaining a recovered complete matrix corresponding to the incomplete matrix from the analysis model, so as to obtain optimized one or more second values of the second entries, wherein the optimized one or more second values are determined as original values of the second entries, such that the incomplete matrix is recovered to the recovered complete matrix.

Abstract: An antenna includes a radiator arrangement and a feed mechanism operably coupled with the radiator arrangement for affecting operation of the radiator arrangement. The feed mechanism is configured to selectively operate in at least three different states. When the feed mechanism operates in a first state, the antenna operates in a first mode to provide a broadside radiation pattern. When the feed mechanism operates in a second state, the antenna operates in a second mode to provide an omnidirectional radiation pattern. When the feed mechanism operates in a third state, the antenna operates in a third mode to provide a unilateral radiation pattern.

Abstract: The present invention provides a virtual taste generator comprising: a virtual taste interface including: a housing having taste generation channels orthogonally extending through the housing from a top surface to a bottom surface; conductive tastable gels accommodated in the plurality taste generation channels respectively; each having a top end exposed on the top surface of the housing and a bottom end exposed on the bottom surface of the housing; a control system including: switches respectively connected to conductive tastable gels and configured for conducting or blocking electrical currents flowing through the conductive tastable gels respectively; and a controller connected to the switches and configured to generate electrical signals for turning on or off the switches respectively; and wherein each conductive tastable gel is embedded with one or more tastable ion electrophoresis tastable chemical agent and controllably to produce a specific taste through ion electrophoresis.

Abstract: Methods and systems described herein involve using long cell-free DNA fragments to analyze a biological sample from a pregnant subject. The status of methylated CpG sites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is often used to analyze DNA fragments of a biological sample. A CpG site and a SNP are typically separated from the nearest CpG site or SNP by hundreds or thousands of base pairs. Finding two or more consecutive CpG sites or SNPs on most cell-free DNA fragments is improbable or impossible. Cell-free DNA fragments longer than 600 bp may include multiple CpG sites and/or SNPs. The presence of multiple CpG sites and/or SNPs on long cell-free DNA fragments may allow for analysis than with short cell-free DNA fragments alone. The long cell-free DNA fragments can be used to identify a tissue of origin and/or to provide information on a fetus in a pregnant female.

Abstract: An electrical circuit for reducing electromagnetic noise or interference in a power converter. The circuit includes at least one shunt capacitor arranged to connect with a grounded component of the power converter, wherein the at least one shunt capacitor is further arranged to be driven by an active control signal so as to sink a noise current originating from a noise source to the grounded component of the power converter, wherein the noise source is connected to the grounded component via a capacitive path formed by at least one stray capacitors.

Abstract: A suspension system with vibration isolation is described. The system can incorporate a kinematic structure comprising pairs of X-shaped supporting structures connected in parallel. The kinematic structure limits motion in the vertical direction to a single degree of freedom. Tensioning/damping of the kinematic structure orthogonally to the vertical motion limits horizontal motion of the kinematic structure with a corresponding constraint of motion of in the vertical direction. The tensioning/damping imparts passive nonlinear stiffness and nonlinear damping of the vibrational energies across the suspension system. A tuning mechanism can be incorporated enabling tension/damping adjustment to accommodate different heights and payloads. The system can provide vibration isolation at low frequencies and over a wide range of operational frequencies. The suspension system has tunable ultra-low resonant frequencies with anti-resonance characteristics.

Abstract: An event-guided auto-exposure (EG-AE) device leverages the high dynamic range and low latency properties of a dynamic vision sensor to guide the exposure setting of an active pixel sensor. The method utilizes physical connections of images and events to estimate the irradiance variations, which are fed into the EG-AE device for calculating the exposure setting. The method shows outstanding performance in tackling highly challenging lighting conditions and benefits multiple downstream applications, including visual tag detection and feature matching.

Abstract: Described herein are transition metal complexes containing nickel(II), as the central metal atom, and tridentate and tetradentate ligands. The transition metal complexes also include an ancillary ligand with strong ?-donating properties. The ancillary ligand enhances the luminescence by increasing the chances of populating the emissive state. The transition metal complexes are emissive at room temperature and/or low temperature in various media, rendering them useful as light-emitting materials for OLEDs.

Abstract: Image reconstruction methods for multi-slice and multi-contrast magnetic resonance imaging with complementary sampling schemes are provided, comprising: data acquisition using complementary sampling schemes between slices or/and contrasts) in spiral imaging or Cartesian acquisition; joint calibrationless reconstruction of multi-slice and multi-contrast data via block-wise Hankel tensor completion.

Abstract: A lead trapping layer includes an acidic cation-exchange resin comprising a formula selected from the group consisting of Formulae (I) to (V) below, in which each M+is independently selected from the group consisting of Sr2+, Ca2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Ba2+, K+, NH4+, Na+, H+, and Li+; and each R is independently selected from the group consisting of SO3H, CH2SO3H, PO3H2, and COOH; and an encapsulation resin selected from the group consisting of epoxy resin, silicone resin, arcrylate resin, and a combination thereof. A solar cell device includes at least one lead trapping layer and a method may prepare the lead trapping layer.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a ceramic structure, a method of manufacturing a ceramic structure with multiple layers of ceramic material, and a method of manufacturing a piezoelectric ceramic structure. The method of manufacturing a ceramic structure includes the steps of: placing a sheet of ceramic material on a supporting platform, wherein the supporting platform is arranged to elevate the sheet of ceramic material from a base of the supporting platform by supporting only a first portion of the sheet of ceramic material; sintering the sheet of ceramic material; and during the step of sintering of the sheet of ceramic material, facilitating forming a curvature on the sheet of ceramic material at a second portion of the sheet of ceramic material which is not supported by the supporting platform.

Abstract: The present application provides methods, devices and computer readable media for intrinsic popularity evaluation and content compression based thereon. In an embodiment, there is provided a method of intrinsic popularity evaluation. The method comprises: receiving an image from a social network; and determining an intrinsic popularity score for the image using a deep neural network (DNN) based intrinsic popularity assessment model.