Abstract: A controlled oxidizing method is provided for preparing a high-performance nickel-rich lithium ion battery cathode material having a composition of LiNixM1-xO2, where 0.6<x<0.9, and M is one or more metals selected from the group consisting of Co, Mn, Fe, Ti, Zr, V, and Cr. The method comprises combining a water-soluble salt precursor of nickel and a water-soluble salt precursor of the one or more M metals with one or more oxidizing agents to form an aqueous solution. The aqueous solution is alkalized to a selected pH value to produce precipitated precursors. The precipitated precursors are mixed with a lithium precursor to form a lithiated precursor. The lithiated precursor is calcined to form the nickel-rich lithium ion battery cathode material.

Abstract: A triboelectric generator includes a first triboelectric material providing a first surface, a first electrode attached to the first triboelectric material, a second triboelectric material providing a second surface for contacting the first surface, and a second electrode attached to the second triboelectric material. The second triboelectric material is different from the first triboelectric material. The first electrode and the second electrode are arranged to be electrically connected via an electrical connection. The first triboelectric material comprises a polymer material and an organic semiconductor material arranged in the polymer material.

Abstract: An antenna includes, from top to bottom and bonded together, an upper substrate, a bonding film, a ground plane and a lower substrate. A parasitic patch arrangement and two pairs of radiator arms associated therewith are arranged on an upper surface of the upper substrate. One radiator arm pair are responsive to a differential signal received through respective vias, which extend through the upper substrate, and respective feed lines, which are arranged on a lower surface of the upper substrate, to emit a first radio frequency signal. The other radiator arm pair are responsive to another differential signal received through respective vias, which extend through the substrates, and respective feed lines, which are arranged on a lower surface of the lower substrate, to emit a second radio frequency signal orthogonal to the first radio frequency signal. A gap between one radiator arm pair intersects that between the other pair.

Abstract: The syntheses of two phosphoramidite building blocks based on BNSF and BNSMB structures are disclosed. Furthermore, some common molecular intermediates have been designed and linked to the central biphenyl core of the two molecules, resulting in a versatile and cost-effective design. These compounds can be effectively introduced to DNA oligonucleotides via the well-established standard cyanoethylphosphoramidite chemistry on the nucleic acid synthesizer. Fragmentation of these BNSF- and BNSMB-functionalized DNA strands is achieved by both one-photon and two-photon photolysis of photoliable bonds of [2-(2-nitrophenyl)propoxy]carbonyl groups on BNSF and BNSMB molecules respectively, resulting in two short pieces of single-stranded DNAs.

Abstract: A woven, water-vapor permeable, water-responsive, shape-memory wool fabric that possesses switchable pore size and shape responsive to varying water content absorbed thereby is demonstrated, more particularly, the wool fabric exerts corresponding thermal and water vapor regulations between the wearer and the surroundings with respect to the temperature and humidity changes.

Abstract: A dual-band HP omnidirectional antenna includes an electrically small (ES) first omnidirectional loop antenna for a first band, and a second omnidirectional loop antenna for a second band. The first omnidirectional loop antenna and the second omnidirectional loop antenna are capable of operating independently in the first band and the second band. A loading effect of the second omnidirectional loop antenna adapted to suppress a higher-order mode of the first omnidirectional loop antenna.

Abstract: Systems and methods for improving magnetic resonance imaging relate to reconstructing multi-slice images based on sharing the strong structural similarities between adjacent image slices. In addition, a joint denoising method exploits these structural similarities. In part the reconstruction is based on use of a residual neural networks and denoising is achieved with a deep learning based strategy. The system and method have proved useful in both simulation and in vivo brain experiments, demonstrating significant noise reduction in all images and revealing more microstructural details in quantitative diffusion maps.

Abstract: A method of preventing or treating a subject suffering from a flavivirus infection by administering an effective amount of berbamine or its analogue to the subject, berbamine has a structure of Formula (I), wherein the flavivirus infection is caused by Japanese encephalitis virus, Zika virus or Dengue virus. A method of inhibiting the entry of a flavivirus, an enterovirus and/or a lentivirus into host cells includes contacting the host cells with an effective amount of berbamine of its analogue, berbamine has a structure of Formula (I), wherein the flavivirus is Japanese encephalitis virus, Zika virus or Dengue virus.

Abstract: A method of providing an image to image translation using a style based generator architecture for generative adversarial networks. The method includes the step of applying a feature alignment loss function defined by: LossFA=?i=mnwi·L1(?(GSM)i,?(GTM)i) wherein GSM and GTM are respective generators of a source model and a target model, ?(·)i is the extraction of the ith layer of features and wi represents the weight of L1 loss at the ith layer, the L1 loss weight wi being reduced as layers decrease such that L1 loss at higher layers has a higher weight than the L1 loss at lower layers.

Abstract: The quality of cell-free DNA for analysis is improved by techniques described herein. Cell-free DNA may include DNA with defects that do not allow for analysis of those DNA with techniques such as sequencing and targeted capture enrichment. These defects may be defects within the strands of the DNA and not present at the ends of the DNA. These intrastrand defects in cell-free DNA can be repaired. The repair of the defects in cell-free DNA may then allow for these repaired cell-free DNA to be analyzed by techniques, including sequencing and targeted capture enrichment.

Abstract: A substrate-integrated dielectric resonator contains a substrate layer with a first dielectric constant, a plurality of dielectric vias, and a plurality of second vias. Each dielectric via includes a first via-hole extending through the substrate layer, and a dielectric material with a second dielectric constant contained within the first via-hole. Each second via has a second via-hole extending through the substrate layer and filled with gas. A dielectric resonator antenna containing a substrate-integrated dielectric resonator and a method of fabricating the same is also disclosed. By skillfully arranging second vias inside the DRA, the resonant frequencies of different modes can be controlled, and a wide impedance band-width with stable radiation performance can be achieved.

Abstract: A self-cleaning fabric having a photocatalyst responsive to UV, visible and IR irradiations for inactivating harmful microorganisms via photocatalysis.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatus for detecting microamplifications or microdeletions in the genome of a fetus. In some embodiments, the method comprises receiving sequence tags for each of a plurality of DNA fragments in a biological sample; determining genomic positions for the sequence tags; determining whether the density of DNA in each of a plurality of genomic regions is aberrantly high or low; identifying as a microamplification a set of consecutive genomic regions having aberrantly high density; and identifying as a microdeletion a set of consecutive genomic regions having aberrantly low density. The biological sample may be a blood sample obtained noninvasively from a female subject pregnant with the fetus.

Abstract: Disclosed is a device for moving a liquid in a substantially loss-free operation, the device made of at least a photothermal film; a pyroelectric crystal over the photothermal film; and a superomniphobic surface over the pyroelectric crystal, wherein the device is configured to move the liquid in the substantially loss-free operation with a beam of light.

Abstract: A method includes acquiring multiple pieces of first received signal quality information at a receiver, where the multiple pieces of first received signal quality information represent qualities of signals received at the receiver, generating first conditional sample statistical values based on the multiple pieces of first received signal quality information and phase shift arrays corresponding to the signals, determining the first phase shift array that meets a communication requirement according to the first conditional sample statistical values, where the first phase shift array includes the phase shift value for at least one reflective element of an IRS, and configuring the IRS based on the first phase shift array.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for planning a shortest possible three-dimensional path for autonomous flying robots to traverse from one location to the other in a geographical region, including translating a three-dimensional (3D) environment, discretizing the 3D environment into a graph of many grid cells or nodes, employing a modified any-angle path planning algorithm to calculate non-uniform traversal cost of each grid cell and by averaging the total traversal costs along the path to shorten the corresponding computation time, whilst incorporating operational costs other than the traversal cost specific to the autonomous flying robots to be traversed. The shortest possible path found by the present method does not only consider the path length, but also takes different costs of traversing and operating the flying robots into account, which increases its feasibility and flexibility to be applied in a wide variety of situations and technological areas.

Abstract: Provided herein is a method of preparing a ceramic material, the method including: providing a ceramic gel including a plurality of metal salts and compressing the ceramic gel thereby inducing stress-induced mineralization of the ceramic gel and formation of the ceramic material, wherein the ceramic gel exists in isolated form.

Abstract: A cryo formulation-based microneedle device for transdermal delivery of bioactive therapeutic agents. The microneedle device includes: one or more microneedle patches each including an array of miniaturized needles, wherein each miniaturized needle defining a base end and a tip; and a substrate to which the base end of the array of miniaturized needles is attached or integrated thereto; wherein the microneedle patch is in a cryo status; wherein each of the one or more microneedle patch is adapted to be applied on a skin surface, in which the miniaturized needles penetrates into skin; wherein the miniaturized needles is further arranged to melt so as to release one or more bioactive therapeutic agents into the skin to achieve a targeted therapeutic effect; and wherein the bioactive therapeutic agents includes protein and/or antigens.

Abstract: The present invention provides novel methods and systems, including cell lines, recombinant polynucleotide constructs, compositions, and kits, for targeted yet universal genomic manipulation.

Abstract: The subject invention pertains to a method of halogenating phenols, yielding a range of halogenated phenols with enantiomeric ratio of up to 99.5:0.5. In certain embodiments, the subject invention pertains to a method of asymmetric halogenation of bisphenol, yielding a range of chiral bisphenol ligands. The novel chiral bisphenols are potent privileged catalyst cores that can be applied to the preparation of ligands for various catalytic asymmetric reactions. The catalyst library can easily be accessed because late-stage modification of the scaffold can readily be executed through cross-coupling of the halogen handles on the bisphenols.