Abstract: The present disclosure provides compositions and methods that permit detection of nucleic acids in samples (e.g., biological and/or environmental samples). The present disclosure describes “split reporter” sensor system technologies.

Abstract: A separator for a lithium battery having (a) a porous polymeric layer, such as a polyethylene layer; and (b) a nanoporous inorganic particle/polymer layer on both sides of the polymeric layer, the nanoporous layer having an inorganic oxide and one or more polymers; the volume fraction of the polymers in the nanoporous layer is about 15% to about 50%, and the crystallite size of the inorganic oxide is 5 nm to 90 nm.

Abstract: Mechanisms are provided for presenting a media location browsing interface to facilitate a media search and/or seek. A client device receives a media stream from a streaming server. This client device provides a media location browsing interface after receiving the media stream. This media location browsing interface includes a plurality of key frames representing locations along the media stream that are selectable at the client device. A seek request to play the media stream from a seek location corresponding to one of the plurality of key frames is captured. The client device begins playback of the media stream at the seek location.

Abstract: A damper assembly is configured for placement within a duct of a ductwork system that supplies conditioned air through a register boot to a register vent. The damper assembly includes a damper that is configured to articulate from a deployment configuration, which facilitates advancement of the damper through the register boot and into the duct, to an operational configuration, in which the damper is positioned within the duct and able to selectively control how much conditioned air being supplied through the duct is permitted to pass by the damper and exit the register vent. The damper assembly includes an elongated deployment member that extends from the damper and is configured to facilitate advancement of the damper through the register boot and into the duct.

Abstract: Provided is a lithium battery, wherein the battery comprises an anode, a cathode, wherein the cathode comprises one or more transition metals, an electrolyte, and a porous separator interposed between the cathode and anode, wherein the separator comprises an anionic compound. Also provided are methods of manufacturing such batteries.

Abstract: In an example method, a system accesses sensor data representing a temperature of one or more computer chips of a computer system configured to perform a cryptographic operation, and determines that the temperature has exceeded a threshold temperature. In response, the system dynamically adjusts a target computing performance of the one or more computer chips. Dynamically adjusting the target computing performance includes decreasing the target computing performance of the one or more computer chips by a first level; subsequent to decreasing the target computing performance of the one or more computer chips by the first level, determining that the temperature is less than the threshold temperature; and responsive to determining that the temperature is less than the threshold temperature, incrementally increasing the target computing performance of the one or more computer chips by a second level, where the first level is greater than the second level.

Abstract: A header for a heat exchanger and method for cleaning a heat exchanger in a loop without disconnecting loop components is provided. The header is in flow communication with the heat exchanger for distributing fluid through a plurality of adjacent channels. The header is connected between a main heat exchanger inlet nozzle and a channel flow distributor. A filter element is disposed within the header between the nozzle and channel flow distributor. Under normal operation, the filter element removes particulates and fouling material from the main flow stream before it enters the heat exchanger channels. During the cleaning process, fluid is injected on or through the filter element to remove particulates and fouling material through at least one outlet port. The header arrangement allows the filter element to be ‘cleaned in place’ without draining the system and disconnecting the heat exchanger or other components from the flow loop.

Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to compounds that may selectively inhibit Death Associated Protein Kinases (DAPKs) as well as PIM kinases. The compounds can be used in methods of treating various disorders, including cancers.

Abstract: A circuit and corresponding method enable mining for digital currency in a blockchain network. The circuit comprises a controller and at least one partial hash engine that (i) implements a hash function, partially, to compute a partial hash digest of a final hash digest for a block header of a block candidate and (ii) generates a notification based on determining that the partial hash digest satisfies a criterion. The controller includes a complete hash engine that implements the hash function, completely. In response to the notification generated, the controller activates the complete hash engine to compute, in its entirety, the final hash digest for the block header, effectuating a decision for submission of the block candidate with the block header to the blockchain network for mining the digital currency. Power savings and reduction in area are achieved relative to multiple hash engines that compute the entire final hash digest.

Abstract: A heat exchanger includes an inlet for receiving bulk solids, a plurality of heat transfer plate assemblies, a plurality of spacers disposed between adjacent heat transfer plate assemblies, and supports for supporting the heat transfer plate assemblies. The heat transfer plate assemblies include a first plate having a first pair of holes extending therethrough, the first plate having channels extending along a surface thereof, for the flow of fluid through the channels, and a second plate bonded to the first plate to enclose the channels, the second plate including a second pair of holes generally aligned with the first pair of holes to form through holes to facilitate flow of the fluid through the through holes and the channels.

Abstract: Systems and methods of selecting a collection of compatible issue-ready instructions for parallel execution by functional units in a superscalar processor in a single clock cycle. All possible instructions (opcodes) to be executed by the functional units are pre-arranged into several scenarios based on potential resource conflicts among the instructions. Each scenario includes multiple groups of predefined instructions. During operation, concurrently for all the groups, an issue-ready instruction is identified with reference to each group based on group-specific selection policies. Further, based on the identified instructions, predefined policies are applied to select one or more scenarios and select among the picks of the selected scenarios. As a result, the output instructions of the selected scenarios are issued for parallel execution by the functional units.

Abstract: A memory request, including an address, is accessed. The memory request also specifies a type of an operation (e.g., a read or write) associated with an instance (e.g., a block) of data. A group of caches is selected using a bit or bits in the address. A first hash of the address is performed to select a cache in the group. A second hash of the address is performed to select a set of cache lines in the cache. Unless the operation results in a cache miss, the memory request is processed at the selected cache. When there is a cache miss, a third hash of the address is performed to select a memory controller, and a fourth hash of the address is performed to select a bank group and a bank in memory.

Abstract: A photonic device includes a substrate and a tantala ring resonator on the substrate. The tantala ring resonator has at least one of (i) a quality factor exceeding three million and (ii) a threshold power less than one hundred milliwatts. A frequency-comb generation method includes sweeping the output frequency of a laser coupled to a tantala ring resonator that has at least one of (i) a quality factor exceeding three million and (ii) a threshold power less than one hundred milliwatts.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for controlling an internal combustion engine arrangement (100). The internal combustion engine arrangement (100) comprises a combustion cylinder (102) and an inlet valve (106) arranged to be positioned in a closed position at a distance before a piston (104) reaches a bottom dead center during normal operation. The inlet valve is further controllable to be arranged in the open position until the piston reaches the bottom dead center if a required volumetric efficiency of the combustion cylinder is higher than a volumetric efficiency during normal operation.

Abstract: A header for a heat exchanger and method for cleaning a heat exchanger in a loop without disconnecting loop components is provided. The header is in flow communication with the heat exchanger for distributing fluid through a plurality of adjacent channels. The header is connected between a main heat exchanger inlet nozzle and a channel flow distributor. A filter element is disposed within the header between the nozzle and channel flow distributor. Under normal operation, the filter element removes particulates and fouling material from the main flow stream before it enters the heat exchanger channels. During the cleaning process, fluid is injected on or through the filter element to remove particulates and fouling material through at least one outlet port. The header arrangement allows the filter element to be ‘cleaned in place’ without draining the system and disconnecting the heat exchanger or other components from the flow loop.

Abstract: An ALU is capable of generating a multiply accumulation by compressing like-magnitude partial products. Given N pairs of multiplier and multiplicand, Booth encoding is used to encode the multipliers into M digits, and M partial products are produced for each pair of with each partial product in a smaller precision than a final product. The partial products resulting from the same encoded multiplier digit position, are summed across all the multiplies to produce a summed partial product. In this manner, the partial product summation operations can be advantageously performed in the smaller precision. The M summed partial products are then summed together with an aggregated fixup vector for sign extension. If the N multipliers equal to a constant, a preliminary fixup vector can be generated based on a predetermined value with adjustment on particular bits, where the predetermined value is determined by the signs of the encoded multiplier digits.

Abstract: A mobile processing system is disclosed for the removal of radioactive contaminants from nuclear process waste water. The system is fully scalable, modular, and portable allowing the system to be fully customizable according the site-specific remediation requirements. It is designed to be both transported and operated from standard sized intermodal containers or custom designed enclosures for increased mobility between sites and on-site, further increasing the speed and ease with which the system may be deployed. Additionally, the system is completely modular wherein the various different modules perform different forms or stages of waste water remediation and may be connected in parallel and/or in series. Depending on the needs of the particular site, one or more different processes may be used. In some embodiments, one or more of the same modules may be used in the same operation.

Abstract: A circuit and corresponding method enable bitcoin mining in a blockchain network. The circuit comprises a nonce generator that generates a nonce value, on a cycle-by-cycle basis, and changes only one binary digit of the nonce value per cycle. The circuit further comprises a hash engine that inserts, on the cycle-by-cycle basis, the nonce value into a block header of a block candidate and generates a digest by applying a hash function to the block header. The block header includes a representation of a target value. The circuit further comprises a validator that compares, on the cycle-by-cycle basis, the digest to the target value. In an event the digest satisfies the target value, the validator submits the block candidate to the blockchain network, causing newly minted bitcoin to be mined from the blockchain network. Changing only one binary digit of the nonce value, per cycle, reduces power consumption of the circuit.

Abstract: A system and corresponding method enforce strong load ordering in a processor. The system comprises an ordering ring that stores entries corresponding to in-flight memory instructions associated with a program order, scanning logic, and recovery logic. The scanning logic scans the ordering ring in response to execution or completion of a given load instruction of the in-flight memory instructions and detects an ordering violation in an event at least one entry of the entries indicates that a younger load instruction has completed and is associated with an invalidated cache line. In response to the ordering violation, the recovery logic allows the given load instruction to complete, flushes the younger load instruction, and restarts execution of the processor after the given load instruction in the program order, causing data returned by the given and younger load instructions to be returned consistent with execution according to the program order to satisfy strong load ordering.

Abstract: Hybrid additive featured plates used to form an overall microchannel heat exchanger and corresponding method of manufacture are disclosed. Various additive manufacturing (AM) techniques may be used to form walls defining microchannel features on a plate substrate. The manufacturing method is a hybrid process in that leverages both additive and conventional manufacturing techniques to minimize both cost and fabrication time.