Abstract: One or more embodiments of a respirator that includes a polymeric netting is disclosed. The respirator can include a mask body including a perimeter, a harness attached to the mask body, and a face seal disposed adjacent at least a portion of the perimeter of the mask body. In one or more embodiments, the face seal includes a polymeric netting including polymeric ribbons and polymeric strands, where each of the polymeric ribbons and strands having a length, width, and height, where the length is the longest dimension, the width is the shortest dimension, and the height is the dimension transverse to the length and the width. The polymeric ribbons have a height-to-width aspect ratio of at least 5 to 1, a major surface that is intermittently bonded to only one polymeric strand, and a height that is at least two times greater than a height of the one polymeric strand.

Abstract: A prosthetic heart valve includes a frame having an inflow end and an outflow end, and defining a longitudinal axis. The prosthetic heart valve further includes a leaflet structure situated at least partially within the frame, and a covering disposed around the frame. The covering includes a first woven portion extending circumferentially around the frame and including a plurality of texturized strands or yarns extending along the longitudinal axis of the frame. The covering further includes a second woven portion extending circumferentially around the frame and spaced apart from the first woven portion along the longitudinal axis of the frame. The texturized strands extend along the longitudinal axis of the frame from the first woven portion to the second woven portion and form a floating portion between the first woven portion and the second woven portion.

Abstract: A silicone block copolymer having an aminofunctional endblocking group is useful in personal care applications, particularly hair care. A process for making the silicone block copolymer is also described.

Abstract: A multicore optical fiber that includes a plurality of waveguiding cores disposed in a cladding. The plurality of waveguiding cores include one or more first waveguiding cores that have a first propagation constant and one or more second waveguiding cores that have a second propagation constant, where the first propagation constant differs from the second propagation constant. The one or more first waveguiding cores and the one or more second waveguiding cores are disposed in the cladding in a ring distribution and at least a portion of the ring distribution is arranged based on a quasi-periodic sequence having a plurality of sequence segments. Each sequence segment is determined based on a quasi-periodic function, has an order, and corresponds to an arrangement segment of a first waveguiding cores, a second waveguiding cores, or combinations thereof. The ring distribution includes at least one arrangement segment corresponding with a third-order sequence segment or higher of the quasi-periodic sequence.

Abstract: A multicore optical fiber that includes a plurality of waveguiding cores disposed in a cladding. The plurality of cores are situated adjacent to at least one other core with a core center to core center spacing being not larger than 10 times the radius of the average core, such that the greater than 10% of the light will couple from one core to the adjacent core over a propagating distance of 1 cm, along the fiber length so as to provide coupling between the adjacent cores and to enable quantum walk. The plurality waveguiding cores are disposed in the cladding in a ring distribution or at least a portion of the ring distribution.

Abstract: An article is described herein that includes: a translucent substrate comprising opposing major surfaces; and an optical film structure disposed on a first major surface of the substrate, the optical film structure comprising an outer surface and a plurality of periods such that each period comprises an alternating low refractive index layer and high refractive index layer. The article exhibits a hardness of 10 GPa or greater measured at an indentation depth of about 100 nm by a Berkovich Indenter Hardness Test. Further, the article exhibits a single side average photopic light reflectance of at least 50% of non-polarized light as measured at the outer surface from near-normal incidence to an incident angle of 60 degrees over a portion of at least 10 nm within the visible spectrum. In addition, each low refractive index layer comprises SiO2 or doped-SiO2 and each high refractive index layer comprises AlOxNy, SiOxNy, SiuAlvOxNy, SiNx or ZrO2.

Abstract: This invention provides a recombinant Pichia pastoris strain which has been genetically modified for highly expressing pediocin PA-1 and secreting it into the medium so that the pediocin PA-1 can be easily collected and purified from the culture medium. In this invention, we also demonstrated that the obtained pediocin PA-1 had specific antimicrobial activities against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 13932 and several other bacteria strains. Therefore, pediocin PA-1 produced from this recombinant Pichia pastoris strain has a great potential for the application in food preservation and pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract: A composition is provided that includes an elastomer and an additive. The additive stabilizes the elastomer, although it may be useful for an alternate or additional purpose. The elastomer can have a moiety according to the general formula: A-B-A or B-A-B. Each A independently comprises a polysiloxane moiety having at least two siloxy (Si—O) groups. Each B independently comprises a moiety, or a precursor thereof, having at least one carboxyl group. B is bonded to a silicon atom in A. The elastomer may comprise the reaction product of a reaction of: a first component having at least one reactive group; a second component having at least one reactive group; and a third component having at least two reactive groups reactive with the reactive groups of the first and second components. In addition, a cosmetic composition is provided that includes the elastomer, the additive, and at least one cosmetic component.

Abstract: The invention relates to the method of preparing catalyst based on platinum (Pt), with a low Pt content, dispersed on carrier containing graphene quantum dots (Pt/GQDs or Pt/GO-GQDs) used for fuel cell with excellent activity in the electrochemical oxidation reaction of alcohol (for example, methanol, ethanol), applied as an anode catalyst for direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC). At the same time, the invention also refers to the catalyst obtained by this method as an anode catalyst for DAFC.

Abstract: The present invention is directed towards an electrodepositable coating composition comprising a film-forming binder and electrically conductive particles, wherein the electrically conductive particles are present in an amount of at least 25% by weight, based on the total solids weight of the electrodepositable coating composition. The present invention is also directed towards methods of coating a substrate, coatings, and coated substrates.

Abstract: A vacuum cleaner protective guard is disclosed. My invention will save homeowners and business owners a lot of time and money because it eliminates the frequency of repainting, repairing, refinishing, retouching their baseboard, doors, and the bases of their furniture. A padded non-scuff material selected to be resistant to transfer to a finished surface of a structure through a frictional contact with the finished surface has a length corresponding to a front face and at least a portion of a side face of the suction head. Preferably the padded non-scuff material is felt.

Abstract: A composition is provided that includes an elastomer and an additive. The additive stabilizes the elastomer, although it may be useful for an alternate or additional purpose. The elastomer can have a moiety according to the general formula: A-B-A or B-A-B. Each A independently comprises a polysiloxane moiety having at least two siloxy (Si—O) groups. Each B independently comprises a moiety, or a precursor thereof, having at least one carboxyl group. B is bonded to a silicon atom in A. The elastomer may comprise the reaction product of a reaction of: a first component having at least one reactive group; a second component having at least one reactive group; and a third component having at least two reactive groups reactive with the reactive groups of the first and second components. In addition, a cosmetic composition is provided that includes the elastomer, the additive, and at least one cosmetic component.

Abstract: The present invention is an aquifer storage and recovery system using a natural coagulant, in which in purifying raw water through aquifer storage and recovery, assimilable organic carbon (AOC) included in the raw water is effectively removed using a natural coagulant produced in the aquifer storage and recovery process, thereby reducing the time required to purify raw water by aquifer storage and recovery.

Abstract: A silicone block copolymer having an aminofunctional endblocking group is useful in personal care applications, particularly hair care. A process for making the silicone block copolymer is also described.

Abstract: Systems and methods for preventing system crashes due to memory link failure in memory mirroring mode in an information handling system (IHS). The IHS may include a first memory device, a second memory device, and an integrated memory controller (IMC). The IMC may issue write transactions to both the first and second memory devices and issue read transactions to the first memory device when the IMC is in memory mirroring mode. The IMC may transmit a system management interrupt (SMI) with an IMC error to a basic input/output system (BIOS) when a persistent uncorrected IMC error is detected within the first memory device. The BIOS may perform a memory mirror failover process that may cause the IMC to issue the write transactions and the read transactions to the second memory device when the IMC error is a fatal memory link error.

Abstract: A coated article with a substrate having a major surface that comprises a first portion and a second portion that is curved or faceted; and an optical coating on the major surface that forms an anti-reflective surface. A first direction is normal to the first portion and is not equal to a plurality of second directions that are normal to the second portion, and the angle between the first direction and each of the second directions is from about 10 degrees to 60 degrees. Further, the coated article exhibits at the first and second portion a hardness of about 8 GPa or greater at an indentation depth of about 100 nm or greater. Further, the coated article exhibits a single side maximum reflectance of about 3% or less as the first and second portion, wherein the reflectance is measured in a range from about 425 nm to about 950 nm.

Abstract: An information handling system includes a processor, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM), and a memory controller coupled to the DIMM. The memory controller provides interrupts to the processor each time a read transaction from the DIMM results in a correctable read error. The processor instantiates a failure predictor to receive the interrupts, accumulate a count of the interrupts, and provide a first error indication when the count exceeds a first error threshold. The failure predictor increments the count each time the predictor receives a particular interrupt and decrements the count in accordance with an error leak rate. The error leak rate has a first value when the DIMM is newer than a first age threshold and has a second value when the DIMM is older than the first age threshold.

Abstract: In certain embodiments a light therapy system (e.g., phototherapy device), such as for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, depression, dementia, short-term memory, or for improved learning, improved athletic performance or improved cognitive performance, is provided where the light system comprises a blue light source that operates at a frequency in the range from 20 to 50 Hz (preferably around 40 Hz), whereby the system enables retinal ganglion cells of a human to be exposed in order to stimulate brain waves (gamma oscillations in the human's brain).

Abstract: Provided is an aquifer storage and recovery system, in which microbes extracted from an underground aquifer are involved in an assimilable organic carbon (AOC) removal mechanism and applied to an aerobic reactor, and a predetermined portion of assimilable organic carbon in raw water is removed through the aerobic reactor.

Abstract: A new and distinct dragon fruit plant is described. The variety resulted from selection among a population of seedlings derived from a controlled cross carried out in 2013 between RF (seed parent) (not patented) and ‘LD5’ (pollen parent) (not patented) located in Tien Qiang, Viet Nam. The variety was selected due to its external appearance, pink strip under the skin, eating quality and canker tolerance.