Abstract: A natural gas storage material is provided that comprises a porous metal-organic framework (MOF) material having one or more sites for reversibly storing natural gas that contains methane. In certain variations, the MOF has a usable methane storage capacity of greater than or equal to about 208 cm3(STP)/cm3 under pressure swing conditions of 80 bar adsorption to 5 bar desorption at 298 K. In other variations, suitable MOFs having one or more sites for reversibly storing methane with advantageous natural gas storage capabilities are selected from the group consisting of: UMCM-152, DUT-23-Cu, VEBHUG_SL, FUYCIN, ja074366osi20070816_031204, XIYYEL, cg500192d_si_003, VUSKAW, VUSKEA, PEVQOY, EDUSIF, and combinations thereof. Natural gas storage systems and methods of reversibly storing natural gas in such MOFs are also provided.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for manufacturing an electrochemical cell wherein the cell undergoes degradation that results in loss of active material and cation inventory during charging phase(s) of cell cycles. The method comprises: selecting at least one cell component from electrolytes, cathode active materials, and anode active materials; sequentially calculating a cell capacity at an end of each of a plurality of cell cycles based on total cyclable cations, accessible storage sites in each electrode, and the cell component(s) using a degradation model based on porous-electrode theory and having degradation pathway(s), wherein the cell cycles are initialized based on a rate of degradation over previous cycles and wherein a time at which to simulate the next cycle is chosen based on the rate of degradation over the previous cycles; and predicting end of life of the cell based on one of the calculated cell capacities being less than a percentage of nominal capacity.

Abstract: A power conversion device may perform power processing for multiple power nodes coupled in parallel. The power conversion device includes interconnects that couple power nodes to power converters. The power converters include a dense tier of power converters sized to correct, using multiple corrective components, from varied power flow levels to interim power flows for parallel coupling of the multiple power nodes. The power converters also include a sparse tier. The sparse tier performs power processing to convert from the interim power flows generated by the dense tier to a uniform target flow.

Abstract: Compositions suitable for reversibly storing heat in thermal energy systems (TES) include a salt hydrate represented by the formula: MXq.nH2O. M is a cation selected from Groups 1 to 14 of the IUPAC Periodic Table, X is a halide of Group 17, q ranges from 1 to 4, and n ranges from 1 to 12. The cation (M) may have an electronegativity of ? about 1.8 and a molar mass ? about 28 g/mol. The anion (X) may have an electronegativity of ? about 2.9 to ? about 3.2. A distance between a cation (M) and coordinating water molecules (H2O) is ? about 2.1 ?. Thermal energy systems (TES) incorporating such compositions are also provided that are configured to reversibly store heat in the thermal energy system (TES) via an endothermic dehydration reaction and to release heat in in the thermal energy system (TES) via an exothermic hydration reaction.

Abstract: A power conversion device may perform model-referenced power processing for multiple heterogenous power nodes. The power conversion device includes interconnects that couple power nodes to power converters. The power converters may include a sparse set in which the number of power converters is dependent on the model of the power source heterogeneity. The sparse set performs power processing on the power from the power node to facilitate provision of a target power at a port of the power conversion device.

Abstract: A system for electronic transmission of electronic medical records includes an object model derived from a messaging protocol, the object model configured to generate metadata for electronic medical records provided through a user-specified form. The system also includes a database configured according to the object model, the database physically stores the metadata generated by the object model. A data bridge/data set pair transforms the metadata from a first format utilized by the database to a second format utilized by a recipient institution and a messaging module transmits the electronic medical records in the second format to the recipient institution.

Abstract: A system for electronic transmission of electronic medical records includes an object model derived from a messaging protocol, the object model configured to generate metadata for electronic medical records provided through a user-specified form. The system also includes a database configured according to the object model, the database physically stores the metadata generated by the object model. A data bridge/data set pair transforms the metadata from a first format utilized by the database to a second format utilized by a recipient institution and a messaging module transmits the electronic medical records in the second format to the recipient institution.

Abstract: An exemplary embodiment providing for one or more improvements includes a database translation architecture that has an object model for defining a variety of health-related classes and a plurality of data bridge/data set pairs wherein each data bridge is coupled to the object model. A plurality of external components are coupled to all but one of the data bridge/data set pairs of the plurality of data bridge/data set pairs wherein the plurality of external components are operative to send and receive data in formats unique to each external component such that each format is translated to and from the object model by each corresponding data bridge/data set pair.

Abstract: The present invention comprises a sales process control system (“SPCS”). The SPCS of the present invention is preferably embodied as a software application which may run in various environments and according to various architectures. The SPCS of the present invention offers many different features all of which are designed to automate and implement the most effective sales campaign possible. This is accomplished in various ways including through a control process which allows salesperson-users to design and implement an email communication protocol that automates the generation of emails that are sent to customer leads on a scheduled basis. This process allows control at the salesperson level as well as at the sales manager level and the user interface may be customized by both the sales manager and the salesperson to control access to information, appearance and functionality.