Methods and systems for producing a synthetic fuel are disclosed. In some embodiments, the methods and systems include the following: thermally reforming methane and carbon dioxide to generate a syngas including a first quantity of carbon monoxide and a first quantity of hydrogen; oxidizing the quantity of first carbon monoxide with a metal to produce metal oxide and carbon thereby separating oxygen from the carbon monoxide; gasifying the carbon using steam to produce a second quantity of carbon monoxide and a second quantity of hydrogen; reacting the metal oxide with methane to produce metal oxide, carbon dioxide, and a third quantity of hydrogen; and synthesizing the first quantity of carbon monoxide, the first quantity of hydrogen, the second quantity of hydrogen, and the third quantity of hydrogen to form the synthetic fuel.

The invention discloses an improved multistage fischer tropsch process scheme for the production of hydrocarbon fuels comprising feeding gaseous phase syngas and liquid stream hydrocarbons in a counter current manner such as herein described into the reaction vessel at a number of stages containing reaction catalysts; wherein fresh syngas enters into the stage where the product liquid stream leaves and the fresh liquid stream enters into the stage where the unreacted syngas leaves; wherein further the temperature of each stage can be controlled independently. More particularly the invention relates to improving the heat release in different reactors, product selectivity and reactor productivity of FT reactors.

Systems and methods for subsurface secondary and/or tertiary oil recovery optimization based on either a short term, medium term or long term optimization analysis of selected zones, wells, patterns/clusters and/or fields.

A system for intelligent monitoring and management of an electrical system is disclosed. The system includes a data acquisition component, a power analytics server and a client terminal. The data acquisition component acquires real-time data output from the electrical system. The power analytics server is comprised of a real-time energy pricing engine, virtual system modeling engine, an analytics engine, a machine learning engine and a schematic user interface creator engine. The real-time energy pricing engine generates real-time utility power pricing data. The virtual system modeling engine generates predicted data output for the electrical system. The analytics engine monitors real-time data output and predicted data output of the electrical system. The machine learning engine stores acid processes patterns observed from the real-time data output and the predicted data output to forecast an aspect of the electrical system.

A design system for generating a power equipment proposal for a particular location, comprises an insolation database, a load database, and a processing system. The insolation database comprises insolation values associated with a plurality of geographic data points. The load database associates appropriate power equipment with load requirements. The processing system generates at least one power equipment proposal based on load requirements generated from the insolation database based on the insolation values associated with a geographic data point closest to the particular location and solar power equipment appropriately selected from the load database based on the load requirements generated from the insolation database.

In a method for simulating temperature and electrical characteristics within an circuit, a temperature of at least one volume within the circuit as a function of a resistance within the at least one volume is repeatedly calculated and the resistance as a function of the temperature is repeatedly calculated until the temperature is within a predetermined tolerance of a previous temperature result and until the resistance is within a predetermined tolerance of a previous resistance result. Once the temperature is within a predetermined tolerance of the previous temperature result and the resistance is within a predetermined tolerance of the previous resistance, then an output indicative of the temperature is generated.

The systems and methods of the present disclosure calibrate impedance loss model parameters associated with an electrosurgical system having no external cabling or having external cabling with a fixed or known reactance, and obtain accurate electrical measurements of a tissue site by compensating for impedance losses associated with the transmission line of an electrosurgical device using the calibrated impedance loss model parameters. A computer system stores voltage and current sensor data for a range of different test loads and calculates sensed impedance values for each test load. The computer system then predicts a phase value for each load using each respective load impedance value. The computer system back calculates impedance loss model parameters including a source impedance parameter and a leakage impedance parameter based upon the voltage and current sensor data, the predicted phase values, and the impedance values of the test loads.

Embodiments include methods of identifying a personalized cardiovascular device based on patient-specific geometrical information, the method comprising acquiring an anatomical model of at least part of the patient's vascular system; performing, using a processor, one or more of geometrical analysis, computational fluid dynamics analysis, and structural mechanics analysis on the anatomical model; and identifying, using the processor, a personalized cardiovascular device for the patient, based on results of one or more of the geometrical analysis, computational fluid dynamics analysis, and structural mechanics analysis of anatomical model.

Embodiments include methods of identifying a personalized cardiovascular device based on patient-specific geometrical information, the method comprising: generating a patient specific model of at least a portion of a patient's vasculature from image data of the patient's vasculature and one or more measured or estimated physiological or phenotypic parameters of the patient; determining pathology characteristics from cardiovascular geometry of the patient specific model; defining an objective function for a device based on design considerations and one or more estimates of hemodynamic and mechanical characteristics; optimizing the objective function, by simulating at least one change in devices and evaluating the objective function using fluid dynamic or structural mechanic analysis; and using the optimized objective function to either (i) select a device from a set of available devices or (ii) manufacture a desired device.

Systems and methods are provided for evaluating performance of forecasting models. A plurality of forecasting models may be generated using a set of in-sample data. Two or more forecasting models from the plurality of forecasting models may be selected for use in generating a combined forecast. An ex-ante combined forecast may be generated for an out-of-sample period using the selected two or more forecasting models. The ex-ante combined forecast may then be compared with a set of actual out-of-sample data to evaluate performance of the combined forecast.

According to one aspect, an apparatus for computing a solution to a power flow problem for an electrical power system comprising a plurality of buses. The apparatus includes (a) at least one processor comprising a plurality of cores; and (b) memory coupled to the at least one processor for storing an admittance matrix for the power system, real power and reactive power for each bus, and an initial complex voltage for each bus; (c) wherein the at least one processor is configured to: (i) perform a Jacobi power flow calculation for each bus to determine the complex voltage for each bus, the Jacobi power flow calculation using the admittance matrix, the real power and reactive power for each bus, and the initial complex voltage for each bus as inputs, wherein at least two Jacobi power flow calculations are performed concurrently on the plurality of cores; (ii) calculate a power mismatch at each bus based on the complex voltages; and (iii) determine whether the Jacobi power flow calculations have converged based on the power mismatch and repeat (i) to (iii) if the Jacobi power flow calculations have not converged.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for simulating realistic movement of user equipment in an LTE network are disclosed. According to one method, a logical topology of a long term evolution (LTE) access network is defined that includes defining connections between one or more eNodeBs (eNBs). A physical topology of the LTE access network is defined that includes defining locations of the eNBs and sectors, where the physical network topology is mapped to the logical network topology. One or more problem areas are defined within the physical network topology, where the one or more problem areas include locations where signal quality is degraded. One or more paths are defined through the physical network topology. A traffic profile for a user equipment (UE) device is defined. A plurality of messages is generated for simulating the movement of a UE device along a path through the physical network topology.

Systems and methods for controlling the damping of magnetic media for heat assisted magnetic recording are provided. One such system includes a heat sink layer, a growth layer on the heat sink layer, a magnetic recording layer on the growth layer, where the growth layer is configured to facilitate a growth of a preselected crystalline structure of the magnetic recording layer, and a capping magnetic recording layer on the magnetic recording layer, the capping recording layer including a first material configured to increase a damping constant of the capping recording layer to a first preselected level.

A method for preparing a metal sulfide thin film using ALD and structures incorporating the metal sulfide thin film. The method includes providing an ALD reactor, a substrate, a first precursor comprising a metal and a second precursor comprising a sulfur compound. The first and the second precursors are reacted in the ALD precursor to form a metal sulfide thin film on the substrate. In a particular embodiment, the metal compound comprises Bis(N,N'-di-sec-butylacetamidinato)dicopper(I) and the sulfur compound comprises hydrogen sulfide (H2S) to prepare a Cu2S film. The resulting metal sulfide thin film may be used in among other devices, photovoltaic devices, including interdigitated photovoltaic devices that may use relatively abundant materials for electrical energy production.

A method of manufacturing a silver miniwire film is provided, wherein the film exhibits a reduced sheet resistance.

Vacuum deposited thin films of material are described to create an interface that non-preferentially interacts with different domains of an underlying block copolymer film. The non-preferential interface prevents formation of a wetting layer and influences the orientation of domains in the block copolymer. The purpose of the deposited polymer is to produce nanostructured features in a block copolymer film that can serve as lithographic patterns.

The various embodiments disclosed herein relate to combination heart assist systems, methods, and devices that include both an electrical therapy device and a mechanical heart assist device. Various operational modes can be implemented using these embodiments, including a synchronized pacing mode, an internal CPR mode, and an internal workout mode.

Cardiac pacing methods for an implantable single chamber pacing system, establish an offset rate for pacing at a predetermined decrement from either a baseline rate (i.e. dictated by a rate response sensor), or an intrinsic rate. Pacing maintains the offset rate until x of y successive events are paced events, at which time the offset rate is switched to the baseline rate for pacing over a predetermined period of time. Following the period, if an intrinsic event is not immediately detected, within the interval of the offset rate, the rate is switched back to baseline for pacing over an increased period of time. Some methods establish a preference rate, between the offset and baseline rates, wherein an additional criterion, for switching from the offset rate to the baseline rate, is established with respect to the preference rate.

Implantable devices and related systems utilize power management features in conjunction with a recharge circuit that includes a coil and capacitance. The reactance such as the capacitance and/or inductance may be variable such that in the event of an overcharge condition, the reactance may be varied to change the resonant frequency of the circuit of the coil from the recharge frequency to another frequency to reduce the power being received. Other power management features may additionally or alternatively be employed. For instance, the device may send an uplink telemetry signal to an external device to request that recharge power be decreased. The device may switch additional resistance into the circuit of the coil to reduce the Q of the circuit. As another example, the device may clamp the circuit of the coil to ground.

A lead for providing electrical stimulation of patient tissue includes a distal lead element, at least two proximal lead elements, and a junction coupling the distal lead element to each of the at least two proximal lead elements. The distal lead element includes a plurality of electrodes and a plurality of conductive wires coupled to the plurality of electrodes and extending along a longitudinal axis of the distal lead element. Each of the at least two proximal lead elements includes a plurality of terminals and a plurality of conductive wires coupled to the plurality of terminals and extending along a longitudinal axis of the proximal lead element. The junction includes a circuit arrangement electrically coupling each of the conductive wires of the distal lead element to at least one of the conductive wires of at least one of the at least two proximal lead elements.

An ultrasound medical treatment system includes an end effector insertable into a patient. The end effector includes a tissue-retaining device. The tissue-retaining device includes a first tissue-retaining member having an ultrasound medical-treatment transducer and includes a second tissue-retaining member. The first and second tissue-retaining members are operatively connected together to retain patient tissue between the first and second tissue-retaining members and to release patient tissue so retained. In one example, the second tissue-retaining member has an ultrasound reflector. In the same or a different example, the ultrasound medical-treatment transducer is an ultrasound imaging and medical-treatment transducer.

Some embodiments provide a method of providing ultrasound energy having a stable power output. The method can comprise providing ultrasound energy from a ultrasound transducer; determining a power level threshold of the ultrasound energy; monitoring a power level of the ultrasound energy over time of the ultrasound energy; communicating a power level to a controller; adjusting the frequency of the ultrasound energy upon a change in the power level; and maintaining the power level threshold of the ultrasound energy.

A lower limb orthotic device includes a thigh link connected to a hip link through a hip joint, a hip torque generator including a hip actuator and a first mechanical transmission mechanism interposed between the thigh link and the hip link, a shank link connected to the thigh link through a knee joint, a knee torque generator including a knee actuator and a second mechanical transmission mechanism interposed between the thigh link and the shank link, and a controller, such as for a common motor and pump connected to the hip and knee torque generators, for regulating relative positions of the various components in order to power a user through a natural walking motion, with the first and second mechanical transmission mechanisms aiding in evening out torque over the ranges of motion, while also increasing the range of motion where the torque generators can produce a non-zero torque.

Systems, devices, and methods for generating energized water molecules and administering same to a human or other biological subject. The system includes a humidifying apparatus, and excitation apparatus, and a control system. The system may further include a fluid management system to assist in the delivery of energized water molecules.

An oral care system that provides a beneficial effect to an oral cavity of a mammal by using a liquid effective for providing the beneficial effect, where the system includes means for directing the liquid onto a plurality of surfaces of the oral cavity, means for providing the liquid to the means for directing the liquid onto the surfaces of the oral cavity, means for providing reciprocation of the liquid over the plurality of surfaces under conditions effective to provide the beneficial effect; and a reservoir for containing the liquid.

A method and system uniquely capable of generating thermal bubbles for improved ultrasound imaging and therapy. Several embodiments of the method and system contemplates the use of unfocused, focused, or defocused acoustic energy at variable spatial and/or temporal energy settings, in the range of about 1 kHz-100 MHz, and at variable tissue depths. The unique ability to customize acoustic energy output and target a particular region of interest makes possible highly accurate and precise thermal bubble formation. In an embodiment, the energy is acoustic energy. In other embodiments, the energy is photon based energy (e.g., IPL, LED, laser, white light, etc.), or other energy forms, such radio frequency electric currents (including monopolar and bipolar radio-frequency current). In an embodiment, the energy is various combinations of acoustic energy, electromagnetic energy and other energy forms or energy absorbers such as cooling.

A liquefier assembly for use in an extrusion-based additive manufacturing system, the liquefier assembly comprising a downstream portion having a first average inner cross-sectional area, and an upstream having a second average inner cross-sectional area that is less than the first inner cross-sectional area, the upstream portion defining a shoulder configured to restrict movement of a melt meniscus of a consumable material.

An apparatus and method for the shaping of plastics material pre-forms into plastics material containers with at least one blow moulding station which is arranged on a conveying device rotatable about a pre-set axis of rotation (D). The blow moulding station has a blow mould and this blow mould forms a cavity in the interior of which the plastics material pre-forms are capable of being expanded by being acted upon with a gaseous medium to form the plastics material containers, with a stressing device, which acts upon the plastics material pre-forms with the gaseous medium in order to expand them, and with a clean room, which surrounds the blow moulding station at least in part. The clean room is bounded off from an environment by at least two walls which are movable relative to one another.

Systems for spacing and transferring objects between operative stations are provided. Such systems can be used with ovens for preforms for plastic material, in blowing or stretch-blowing machines and for other applications in the packaging field. Such systems provide spacing and transferring of objects advancing in procession on transport elements, from a minimum pitch to a preset pitch larger than said minimum pitch, and for transferring said spaced objects to handling elements.

A method is provided for the automated setup of a metered combustion control system for controlling operation of a boiler combustion system. The automated setup process includes both commissioning and controller tuning, rather than tuning the carbon monoxide and/or oxygen trim controller after the commissioning process has been completed. The oxygen trim controller or the carbon monoxide trim controller is used to identify the air/fuel ratio.

In a gas turbine engine that includes a compressor and a combustor, wherein the combustor includes a primary fuel injector within a fuel nozzle and a secondary fuel injector that is upstream of the fuel nozzle and configured to inject fuel into a flow annulus of the combustor, a method for detecting a flame holding condition about a fuel injector. The method may include the steps of: detecting an upstream pressure upstream of the secondary fuel injector; detecting a downstream pressure downstream of the secondary fuel injector; determining a measured pressure difference between the upstream pressure and the downstream pressure; and comparing the measured pressure difference to an expected pressure difference.

A method and system for improving high excess air combustion system efficiency, including induration furnaces, using a re-routing of flue gas within the system by gas recirculation. Flue gas is drawn from hot system zones including zones near the stack, for re-introduction into the process whereby the heat recovery partially replaces fuel input. At least one pre-combustion drying zone, at least one combustion zone, and at least a first cooling zone exist in these furnaces. At least one exhaust gas outlet is provided to each pre-combustion drying and combustion zone. At least part of the gaseous flow from each system zone exhaust outlet is selectively delivered to an overall system exhaust, the remaining flow being selectively delivered via recirculation to cooling zones. Recirculation flow is adjusted to meet required system temperatures and pressures. The method and system provide efficiency improvements, reducing fuel requirements and greenhouse gas emissions.

Methods and systems for conveying or transmitting to any given user in an OFDMA-MU-MIMO system scheduling information of other co-scheduled users to permit the user to perform error-correction on received data and/or interference reduction on its received signals. The scheduling information can include resource block assignment, modulation constellations employed, coding rates employed, power levels utilized and precoder matrix indices used. Further, the scheduling information can be conveyed in part through dedicated reference symbol layers or pilot streams. Moreover, a base station may transmit a preliminary estimate of the total number of users the base station expects to schedule, or an upper-bound on the total number of users, to the MU-MIMO users to permit the MU-MIMO users to determine preferred precoder matrix indices and indications of channel quality indices.

Systems and methods provide a parameterized scheduling system that incorporates end-user application awareness and can be used with scheduling groups that contain data streams from heterogeneous applications. Individual data queues within a scheduling group can be created based on application class, specific application, individual data streams or some combination thereof. Application information and Application Factors (AF) are used to modify scheduler parameters such as weights and credits to differentiate between data streams assigned to a scheduling group. Dynamic AF settings may adjust relative importance of user applications to maximize user Quality of Experience (QoE) in response to recurring network patterns, one-time events, application characteristics, protocol characteristics, device characteristics, service level agreements, or combinations thereof. Scheduling parameters may be dynamic and incorporate the notions of “duration neglect” and “recency effect” in an end-user's perception of video quality in order to optimally manage video traffic during periods of congestion.

A multi-participant conference system and method is described. The multi-participant system includes a PSTN client, at least one remote client and a first participant client. The PSTN client communicates audio data and the remote clients communicate audio-video data. The first participant client includes a voice over IP (VoIP) encoder, a VoIP decoder, a first audio mixer, and a second audio mixer. The VoIP encoder compresses audio data transported to the PSTN client. The VoIP decoder then decodes audio data from the PSTN client. The first audio mixer mixes the decoded audio data from the PSTN client with the audio-video data from the first participant into a first mixed audio-video data stream transmitted to the remote client. The second audio mixer mixes the audio-video data stream from the first participant with the audio-video data stream from each remote client into a second mixed audio transmitted to the PSTN client.

A method of synthesizing a crystalline molecular sieve having an MSE framework type comprises crystallizing a reaction mixture comprising a source of water, a source of an oxide of a tetravalent element, Y, selected from at least one of silicon, tin, titanium, vanadium, and germanium, optionally a source of a trivalent element, X, a source of an alkali or alkaline earth metal, M, and a source of organic dications, Q, such as 3-hydroxy-1-(4-(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium-1-yl)butyl)quinuclidin-1-ium, 3-hydroxy-1-(5-(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium-1-yl)pentyl)quinuclidin-1-ium, 1,1'-(butane-1,4-diyl)bis(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium), 1,1'-(pentane-1,5-diyl)bis(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium), 1,1'-(hexane-1,6-diyl)bis(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium), and 1,1'-((3as,6as)-octahydropentalene-2,5-diyl)bis(1-methylpiperidin-1-ium).

This invention relates to compounds of general formula (I) in which R1, R2, U, V, L, M, R5, m, X, Y and Z are as defined herein, and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof, to pharmaceutical compositions comprising such compounds and salts, and to methods of using such compounds, salts and compositions for the treatment of abnormal cell growth, including cancer.

Disclosed are solid forms of 8-chloro-N-[(2-chloro-5-methoxyphenyl)sulfonyl]-6-(trifluoromethyl)-imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine-2-carboxamide (Compound 1). Methods for the preparation of solid forms of Compound 1 and for the conversion of one solid form of Compound 1 into another are disclosed. Disclosed are nematocidal compositions comprising a nematocidally effective amount of a solid form of Compound 1 and at least one additional component selected from the group consisting of surfactants, solid diluents and liquid carriers. Compositions comprising a mixture of a solid form of Compound 1 and at least one other nematicide, insecticide and/or fungicide are also disclosed.Also disclosed are methods for protecting a plant from nematodes comprising applying to the plant, or portion, or seed thereof, or to the growing medium of the plant, a nematocidally effective amount of Compound 1 comprising the polymorph Form A.

Corrosion by ammonia/amine salts in hydrocarbon streams such as distillation overhead streams that contain a mineral acid and water can be prevented, avoided or minimized by adding certain strong amines to the streams. The amines have a pKa between about 10.5 to about 12 and include, but are not necessarily limited to, dimethylamine, diethylamine, dipropylamine, diisopropyl-amine, di-n-butylamine, diisobutylamine, di-sec-butylamine, di-tert-butylamine, pyrrolidine, piperidine, and combinations thereof. If the hydrocarbon stream further includes a nitrogen-containing compound such as ammonia, a tramp and/or a residual amine which can form a corrosive salt with the mineral acid, then the added amine is a stronger base than the tramp or residual amine, if present. The amount of added amine is greater than total amount of nitrogen-containing compound, so that any corrosive salts formed are less corrosive than the salts that would otherwise form from the ammonia and/or tramp amine.

A device and method for adjusting the magnetic strength of a magnetic end effector for lift systems is described. The magnetic end effector is capable of lifting discriminate payloads by selectively varying the strength of the magnetic forces output by the magnetic end effector. An actuator can be operatively coupled to the variable strength magnet end effector, wherein the actuator is selectively actuatable to control the adjustment of the variable strength magnet. The actuator may also be configured to maintain the variable strength magnet at a desired magnetic force output strength once achieved for any given amount of time.

A head tool changer for use with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the head tool changer comprising a tooling unit configured to retain a deposition head, a grip unit configured to engage with tooling unit and to relay electrical power to the tooling unit, and a master unit operably mounted to a gantry and configured to engage with the tooling unit and to relay electrical power to the tooling unit.

A method for adjusting an optical signal includes determining a polarization dependent loss (PDL) value associated with the optical signal, determining an angle between the optical signal and one or more axes of PDL, determining an amount of nonlinear phase noise due to PDL and nonlinear effects upon the optical signal based upon the PDL value and the angle, determining a phase rotation based upon the amount of nonlinear phase noise, and applying the phase rotation to the optical signal.

Optical fiber-based distributed communications systems that provide and support both RF communication services and digital data services are disclosed herein. The RF communication services and digital data services can be distributed over optical fiber to client devices, such as remote antenna units for example. In certain embodiments, digital data services can be distributed over optical fiber separate from optical fiber distributing RF communication services. In other embodiments, digital data services can be distributed over common optical fiber with RF communication services. For example, digital data services can be distributed over common optical fiber with RF communication services at different wavelengths through wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and/or at different frequencies through frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). Power distributed in the optical fiber-based distributed communications system to provide power to remote antenna units can also be accessed to provide power to digital data service components.

Intrapersonal communication systems and methods that provide an optical digital signal link between two or more local devices are disclosed. In some embodiments, the system includes a first signal converter disposed at a first end of the optical digital signal link and configured to convert between electrical digital signals from a first local device and optical digital signals from the optical digital signal link. The system can include an optical connector having a non-contact portion configured to couple optical digital signals between the first signal converter and the optical digital signal link across a gap. The system can include a second signal converter disposed at a second end of the optical digital signal link and configured to convert between electrical digital signals from the second local device and optical digital signals from the optical digital signal link.

A MEMS sensor includes at least one closed nodal anchor along a predetermined closed nodal path on at least one surface of a resonant mass. The resonant mass may be configured to resonate substantially in an in-plane contour mode. Drive and/or sense electrodes may be disposed within a cavity formed at least in part by the resonant mass, the closed nodal anchor, and a substrate.

A biosensor is provided. The biosensor is used to sense a biological sample and has a code representing features of the biosensor. The biosensor includes a substrate and a conductive layer. The conductive layer is disposed on a first side of the substrate and includes a first conductive loop and a second conductive loop. The first conductive loop is formed between a first node and a second node and has a first impedance. The second conductive loop is formed between the second node and a third node and has a second impedance. The code is determined according to a comparison result between the second impedance and the first impedance.

The present invention pertains to systems and methods for the capture of information regarding scenes using single or multiple three-dimensional LADAR systems. Where multiple systems are included, those systems can be placed in different positions about the imaged scene such that each LADAR system provides different viewing perspectives and/or angles. In accordance with further embodiments, the single or multiple LADAR systems can include two-dimensional focal plane arrays, in addition to three-dimensional focal plane arrays, and associated light sources for obtaining three-dimensional information about a scene, including information regarding the contours of the objects within the scene. Processing of captured image information can be performed in real time, and processed scene information can include data frames that comprise three-dimensional and two-dimensional image data.

Spectroscopy apparatuses oriented to the critical angle of the sample are described that detecting the spectral characteristics of a sample wherein the apparatus consists of an electromagnetic radiation source adapted to excite a sample with electromagnetic radiation introduced to the sample at a location at an angle of incidence at or near a critical angle of the sample; a transmitting crystal in communication with the electromagnetic radiation source and the sample, the transmitting crystal having a high refractive index adapted to reflect the electromagnetic radiation internally; a reflector adapted to introduce the electromagnetic radiation to the sample at or near an angle of incidence near the critical angle between the transmitting crystal and sample; and a detector for detecting the electromagnetic radiation from the sample. Also, provided herein are methods, systems, and kits incorporating the peri-critical reflection spectroscopy apparatus.

A surface wave assisted system having an aperture layer with a surface and an aperture, and a plurality of grooves around the aperture. The plurality of grooves is configured to generate an optical transfer function at the aperture by inducing a surface wave for interfering with transmission of light of a range of spatial frequency.

System and method for regulating a power converter. A system for regulating a power converter includes a controller, a first switch, and a second switch. The controller is configured to generate a first switching signal and a second switching signal. The first switch is configured to receive the first switching signal, the first switch being coupled to an auxiliary winding of the power converter further including a primary winding and a secondary winding. The second switch is configured to receive the second switching signal and coupled to the primary winding of the power converter. The controller is further configured to, change, at a first time, the second switching signal to open the second switch, maintain, from the first time to a second time, the first switching signal to keep the first switch open, and change, at the second time, the first switching signal to close the first switch.