Abstract: A system and method for assigning a single use real-time privilege are disclosed. A processor validates credentials of a user based on comparing credentials data of the user with pre-stored reference data in response to receiving a request to access a target computer to execute a single process; creates a single use blockchain private key for the single process and generates the passcode in response to a successful validation of the credentials. The processor also writes request data corresponding to the private key and the passcode onto a blockchain. In response to receiving user login data and the passcode to access the target computer, the processor validates passcode by confirming that the passcode matches the request data wrote in the blockchain; and assigns a single use real-time privilege to the user for executing the single process in response to successful validation of both the passcode and the received request.

Abstract: A bat includes a handle having a proximate end and a distal end, a barrel having a hollow portion that accommodates the distal end, and a first damping section at least partially sandwiched between the handle and the barrel in the interior of the hollow portion. The first damping section includes a first portion in contact with each of the handle and the barrel in the interior of the hollow portion, and a second portion disposed closer to the proximate end than the first portion, the second portion being in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the barrel and not being in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the handle. In a cross section along a center axis of the barrel, the barrel has a depression depressed relative to the inner peripheral surface in the cross section, the second portion has a protrusion fitted in the depression.

Abstract: Pipeline isolation tool for sealing extrusion gaps of up to about 20% or greater includes a pair of fenced barriers (60, 160) having overlapping segments (68/70, 168/170) for restraining a seal (40). The segments expand to a pipe wall before the seal to prevent transition of seal medium over the segments and form a support wall for the seal. The support wall may include a protection ring (200). Springs (80, 180) surround each fenced barrier for returning the support system to a relaxed position. Inner rings (90. 190) are provided on sealing element facing surfaces (64, 164) of the fenced barrier for supporting the segments. The inner rings define a smooth inner guiding surface (92, 192) for the seal. The guiding surface is tilted inwardly towards the seal for resisting the sealing element during expansion and for preventing an inside diameter of the seal from expanding outwardly when compressed.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a memory and processor. The memory stores OCR and NLP algorithms. The processor receives an image of a physical document page and executes the OCR algorithm to convert the image into text. The processor identifies errors in the text, which are associated with noise in the image. The processor generates a feature vector that includes features obtained by executing the NLP algorithm on the text, and features associated with the identified errors in the text. The processor uses the feature vector to assign the image to a document category. Documents assigned to the document category share one or more characteristics, and the feature vector is associated with a probability greater than a threshold that the physical document associated with the image includes those characteristics. The processor then stores the image in a database as a page of an electronic document belonging to the assigned document category.

Abstract: A casing system, includes a landing ring and a slip hanger. The landing ring defines an opening extending between a first end portion and a second end portion. The first end portion is configured to couple to a conductor pipe. The landing ring includes a landing ring shoulder extending radially inward from an inner surface of the opening. The slip hanger is configured to engage with casing The slip hanger includes at least one slip segment configured to engage with an outer diameter of the casing and an outer slip ring. The outer slip ring is disposed around and coupled to the at least one slip segment. The outer slip ring is configured to engage with the landing ring shoulder.

Abstract: Described is a method of hosting a teleconference among a plurality of client devices arranged in two or more acoustic spaces, each client device having an audio capturing capability and/or an audio rendering capability, the method comprising: grouping the plurality of client devices into two or more groups based on their belonging to respective acoustic spaces, receiving first audio streams from the plurality of client devices, generating second audio streams from the first audio streams for rendering by respective client devices among the plurality of client devices, based on the grouping of the plurality of client devices into the two or more groups, and outputting the generated second audio streams to respective client devices. Further described are corresponding computation devise, computer programs, and computer-readable storage media.

Abstract: A system and method is provided for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems, and more particularly, to design or configure an optimal side-band cooling operation for trapped ions. A method is described that involves applying a first cooling operation on the trapped ion chain and subsequently applying a second cooling operation on the trapped ion chain that includes applying to each cooling ion in the trapped ion chain, as part of a side-band cooling pulse sequence, at least one analysis pulse followed by a corresponding batch with one or more side-band cooling pulses, wherein each analysis pulse is configured to determine a detuning and pulse duration of the one or more side-band cooling pulses of the corresponding batch. A quantum computer or QIP system is also described that enables the operation of the method described above.

Abstract: A two-piece valve shell (body and bolted-on top bonnet) structure reduces possible leakage paths while also providing a top-side ball/stem installation/removal path (when the bonnet piece is not present) to facilitate initial valve assembly as well as subsequent inspection/removal of the ball/stem and other valve internals for conducting valve maintenance without requiring the valve body to be removed from its process connections. Internal wetted valve surfaces are coated with tantalum to provide a tantalum ball valve suitable for use as a sulfuric acid feed valve in severe high-temperature high-pressure industrial processes such as HPAL processes. Sealing cavities created by spaced-apart body-to-bonnet and/or stem-to-bonnet sealing structures can be inertly pressurized to hermetically isolate the sealing structures from ingress/leakage of corrosive process materials.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods for treating hair with lactones. The lactones form a covalent thio-ester bond with free thiols groups on chemically treated hair, and thereby impart a “repairing” or “conditioning” effect to the hair, for example, by making the hair more hydrophobic. Typically, after hair has been treated with a composition comprising one or more reducing agents that reduce disulfide bonds of hair to free thiols, a composition comprising one or more lactones is applied to the hair and the one or more lactones react with the free thiols to form a covalent thio-ester bond. Treatment with the lactones prevents reversion of the repaired bonds to their free thiol state after a single application.

Abstract: A method is provided for securely accessing code in an external memory. In the method, plaintext code may be stored in internal memory as sets of multiple blocks, each of the multiple blocks having N-bits. The code is encrypted and stored in the external memory. A block cipher having an authenticated encryption mode is used to convert the plaintext code to ciphertext code plus an authentication tag corresponding to each set of the multiple blocks. The external memory is formatted to store the ciphertext and the authentication tag. A translated address for the ciphertext is created from a plaintext address. During a read operation, the generated authentication tag is checked with an expected authentication tag. If the check is successful, the ciphertext code is decrypted and provided to a CPU for execution as plaintext code. In one embodiment, the CPU executes the plaintext code “in place” in the external memory.

Abstract: Systems and methods can remove material of interest, including blood clots, from a body region, including but not limited to the circulatory system for the treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), cerebrovascular embolism, and other vascular occlusions.

Abstract: Systems and methods for maintaining immutable data access logs with privacy are disclosed. In one embodiment, in a cloud provider comprising at least one computer processor, the cloud provider having a plurality of clients, a method for maintaining immutable data access logs with privacy may include: (1) receiving data from a data owner, wherein the data owner is one of the clients; (2) storing the data in cloud storage; (3) executing an action or condition that impacts the data stored in cloud storage; (4) generating a log entry associated with the action or condition; (5) encrypting at least a portion of the log entry with a public key for the data owner; and (6) committing the log entry including the encrypted portion to a distributed ledger so that the committed log entry is immutable and cryptographically verifiable.

Abstract: Computational methods and systems for training Artificial Intelligence (AI) models with improved translatability or generalisability (robustness) comprises training a plurality of Artificial Intelligence (AI) models using a common validation dataset over a plurality of epochs. During training of each model, at least one confidence metric is calculated at one or more epochs, and, for each model, the best confidence metric value over the plurality of epochs, and the associated epoch number at the best confidence metric is stored. An AI model is then generated by selecting at least one of the plurality of trained AI models based on the stored best confidence metric and calculating a confidence metric for the selected at least one trained AI model applied to a blind test set. The resultant AI model is saved and deployed if the best confidence metric exceeds an acceptance threshold.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to hair care systems comprising: (1) a booster composition containing at least one ionic polymer functionalized with at least one carboxylic acid moiety; optionally, at least one compound selected from an alkoxysilane, a nonionic latex polymer, or mixtures thereof; a thickening agent; and a cosmetically acceptable carrier; and (2) a hair treatment composition containing at least one surfactant selected from an anionic surfactant, an amphoteric surfactant, a cationic surfactant, a nonionic surfactant, or mixtures thereof. The hair care systems of the present disclosure can be used to clean and/or condition hair, as well impart frizz control and manageability benefits to hair.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to systems and methods for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems, and more particularly, to techniques for removing or correcting for translation errors between a programmed strength and an applied strength of quantum gates. A method is described that includes determining, for each quantum gate in a quantum operation, a non-linearity between an applied strength of a laser beam used for the respective quantum gate and a programmed strength intended to be applied by the laser beam for the respective quantum gate. The method further includes linearizing the non-linearity for each quantum gate and storing linearization information in memory. Moreover, the method includes applying the linearization information to correct for the non-linearity when implementing each quantum gate as part of the quantum operation. A system is also described that is configured to implement the method described above.

Abstract: Systems and methods for use in the implementation and/or operation of quantum information processing (QIP) systems or quantum computers, and more particularly, to benchmark-driven automation for tuning quantum computers are described. A method includes identifying a set of quantum gates and a number of experimental shots to perform a benchmark algorithm for active stabilization of one or more observables of the set of quantum gates and executing the benchmarking algorithm based on the set of quantum gates and the number of experimental shots. Moreover, in response to the benchmarking algorithm being successful, executing an algorithm on the quantum computer, and in response to the benchmarking algorithm being unsuccessful, iterating the benchmarking algorithm by adjusting the set of quantum gates until the benchmarking algorithm is successful or a preset number of iterations is reached.

Abstract: A method is provided for securely accessing code in an external memory. In the method, plaintext code may be stored in internal memory as sets of multiple blocks, each of the multiple blocks having N-bits. The code is encrypted and stored in the external memory. A block cipher having an authenticated encryption mode is used to convert the plaintext code to ciphertext code plus an authentication tag corresponding to each set of the multiple blocks. The external memory is formatted to store the ciphertext and the authentication tag. A translated address for the ciphertext is created from a plaintext address. During a read operation, the generated authentication tag is checked with an expected authentication tag. If the check is successful, the ciphertext code is decrypted and provided to a CPU for execution as plaintext code. In one embodiment, the CPU executes the plaintext code “in place” in the external memory.

Abstract: A bat, which has a hollow barrel and an internal assembly configured to resist deformation of the hollow barrel, is disclosed. The internal assembly includes a rod disposed longitudinally in the hollow barrel, a ring attached to the rod, a deformable sleeve disposed around the ring and extending longitudinally in the hollow barrel. The sleeve can include an outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the hollow barrel. The bat can include an end cap attached to an end of the hollow barrel and having a recess configured to receive an end of the rod. The rod can be configured to maintain the deformable sleeve in a predetermined suspended position within the hollow barrel such that, when the bat is at rest, the sleeve is disposed a predetermined gap distance from an inner surface of the hollow barrel.

Abstract: Systems and methods can remove material of interest, including blood clots, from a body region, including but not limited to the circulatory system for the treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), cerebrovascular embolism, and other vascular occlusions.

Abstract: The disclosure provides for systems and methods for communicating messages from one vehicle to another vehicle. An input device, such as a cell phone, can be configured to generate and transmit a signal that corresponds with a message to an output device for display of messages. The messages can be displayed in a rearward direction, allowing drivers to communicate with vehicles located behind them on a roadway.