UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, BALTIMORE COUNTY

Zinc electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) batteries including a high performing flexible chitosan-based gel electrolyte with poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) additives were prepared. The Zn-EMD batteries were constructed using an optimized assembly technique employed to achieve good interfacial contact between the layers. Attaining energy densities between 150-250 Wh/kg (w.r.t cathode mass) is possible for these batteries, encouraging their use in wearable or flexible electronics. Using the chitosan-based gel electrolyte and limited voltage window testing, the prepared Zn-EMD alkaline batteries are among the best reported polymer-based alkaline electrolyte Zn rechargeable batteries.

Current minicircle production methods are slow, expensive, and difficult to perform under GMP conditions because, in most cases, the product is derived from bacteria. In contrast, HTLA-and CHTLA-based synthetic circular supercoiled DNA production can be done completely in a test tube, using chemically or enzymatically synthesized oligonucleotides, long single stranded DNA, and/or double stranded DNA.

The present invention relates to cell free protein manufacturing, and more particularly, for integrating machine learning into a portable cell-free bioprocessing system for producing proteins with increased and consistent purity, potency and quality wherein such proteins are prepared on-demand and for point-of-care delivery.

Disclosed is a self-expanding cannula, systems using such cannulae, and methods of their use. The cannulae may comprise single lumen cannula (“SLC”) configurations and double lumen cannula (“DLC”) configurations, and include at least a first cannula and a self-expanding wire frame attached to the first cannula. Self-expanding wire frame is automatically expandable from a compressed state (providing a reduced cannula diameter as it is moved through a patient's body to the site at which it is to be deployed) to an expanded state (which increases the diameter of the cannula to the diameter intended for its normal use). The expanded wire frame provides radial support to prevent a drainage canal (whether a patient's blood vessel or a portion of the system inserted into the patient's blood vessel) from collapsing as fluid is drained from the patient.

The present invention provides for a fully integrated microfluidic system capable of producing single-dose amounts of biotherapeutics at the point-of-care wherein protein production, purification and product harvest are all integrated as a single microfluidic device which is portable and capable of continuous-flow production of biotherapeutics at the microscale using a cell-free reaction system.

A microfluidic device and method of using same, wherein the microfluidic device can trap bacteria from a biofluid, e.g., urine, and a silver ion selective electrode sensor can detect the loss of Ag + in the microfluidic device because of the trapped bacteria. By knowing the loss of Ag + , the number of bacteria present in the biofluid can be accurately determined.

A novel blade pitch control technology for straight-bladed vertical-axis turbines for wind/wave/tidal energy harvesting is described. Flow physics was incorporated in the control mechanism to maximize turbine performance, including self-starting and energy harvesting efficiency.

A resonant clocking system for reducing wideband series resonant clock skew is provided. The resonant clocking system includes at least one Pulsed Series Resonance (PSR) driver, at least one clock gater, and at least one clock buffer. The PSR driver is connected with at least one on-chip inductor. The PSR driver receives a boosted-amplitude pulsed signal V SR that is generated using a matching pulse generator and at least one on-chip inductor connected with the at least one Pulsed Series Resonance (PSR) driver resonates with a capacitance of the resonant clocking system to generate a pulse signal R CLK . The at least one clock gater and the at least one clock buffer propagate the pulse signal R CLK to clock pins of resonant flip-flops. An inductance value of the at least one on-chip inductor is matched with a load capacitance of a corresponding branch capacitance using an inductor tuning technique to obtain equal frequency signals in all clock branches, thereby storing dissipated energy in a form of a magnetic field in the at least one on-chip inductor and reducing wideband series resonant clock skew.

Computing systems and methods for using a predictive model and health condition data to predict a healthcare outcome are disclosed. According to an aspect, a computing system include a healthcare data analyzer configured to receive a predictive model. The predictive model is adapted to use one or more inputs of a person's health data for predicting a healthcare outcome for the person. The healthcare data analyzer is configured to extract data of one or more risk factors from data indicative of the health condition of the person. The healthcare data analyzer is also configured to map the extracted data to the input(s) of the predictive model. Further, the healthcare data analyzer is configured to input the risk factor data into the predictive model to generate a prediction of the healthcare outcome for the person. The healthcare data analyzer presents the prediction of the healthcare outcome for the person.

A device and a method for screening for the presence of lumps in breast tissue as well as the characterization of any discovered lumps including, but not limited to, location, size, shape, hardness, and movability.