The covariance environment defines cellular niches for spatial inference.

A key challenge of analyzing data from high-resolution spatial profiling technologies is to suitably represent the features of cellular neighborhoods or niches. Here we introduce the covariance environment (COVET), a representation that leverages the gene-gene covariate structure across cells in the niche to capture the multivariate nature of cellular interactions within it. We define a principled optimal transport-based distance metric between COVET niches that scales to millions of cells.

Bio-packaging based on cellulose acetate from banana pseudostem and containing Butia catarinensis extracts.

Banana (Musa acuminata) pseudostem cellulose was extracted and acetylated (CA) to prepare membranes with potential use as bio-packages. The CA membrane was embedded by Butia seed (CA-BS) or Butia pulp (CA-BP) extracts obtained from Butia catarinenses (Butia). The produced CA, CA-BS, and CA-BP membranes were evaluated for their physical-chemical, mechanical, thermal, and antibacterial properties.

Deterministic control of thin film thickness in physical vapor deposition systems using a multi-aperture mask.

A technique for controlling the thickness profile of a thin film in physical vapor deposition systems is reported. The technique uses a novel mask design with apertures of varying dimension to selectively deposit the required film thickness at predetermined locations across the aperture of the substrate. The technique has been used to correct the thickness uniformity of a 55 mm diameter, 280 microm thick, lithium niobate wafer to less than 0.