Abstract: Wood template-supported phase change material (PCM) composite having thermal energy storage applications. A wood template-supported PCM may include a wood template that has had at least a portion of its xylan and/or lignin removed and saturated with a PCM. The PCM may be stabilized with a cross linkable network for improved infiltration into the wood template. The wood template-supported PCM composite may be formed by extracting xylan and/or lignin from the wood to create a wood template, densifying at least a portion of the wood template, and inserting a PCM into the wood template.

Abstract: Various systems and methods that may relate to referral and/or delivery services are described. Some embodiments may include billing merchants for delivery services in a consolidated fashion, some embodiments may include interactions with point of sale systems.

Abstract: A capacitor assembly comprises a plurality of capacitor elements (e.g., four or more capacitor elements) each having a first end surface and a second end surface defining a first polarity terminal and a second polarity terminal, respectively. The plurality of capacitor elements are arranged in at least one stacked pair with a first polarity terminal of a first capacitor element in each stacked pair being opposed to a first polarity terminal of a second capacitor element in such stacked pair. The plurality of capacitor elements in this aspect are contained in a housing. A first polarity bus bar and a second polarity bus bar are electrically connected to the plurality of capacitor elements. The plurality of capacitor elements may be connected in parallel.

Abstract: A method and apparatus comprising computer code configured to cause a processor or processors to obtain an input mesh comprising volumetric data of at least one three-dimensional (3D) visual content, derive a plurality of submeshes of the input mesh from a frame of the volumetric data, set bitdepths to a first submesh and a second submesh from the submeshes, a first bitdepth being different than a second bitdepth, quantize the first submesh and the second submesh based on respective ones of the first bitdepth and the second bitdepth, and signal a result of quantizing the first submesh and the second submesh.

Abstract: Systems and method directed to assistive document generation are described. More specifically, similar documents share large portions of reusable text structures that can be used to generate an initial document thereby saving a user time. To generate the document, an indication to create the document may be received and based on the indication, a plurality of example documents and grounding content may be identified. Example documents may be existing documents that are similar to a target document of the writer. Grounding information may refer to content that is relevant, timely, and accurate when applied to the target document. The plurality of example documents and the grounding content may be received, and a document sketch based on the example documents and the grounding content may be generated and contains a plurality of predicted text sequences based on the example documents and the grounding content.

Abstract: Methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and peer devices are disclosed that facilitate network censorship circumvention. A censored peer sends to a rendezvous peer censored peer location information. A connection with a volunteer peer is then established using volunteer peer location information received from the rendezvous peer for a matched volunteer peer. First network traffic is then sent to the volunteer peer in accordance with a first network protocol using a second network protocol associated with the connection. The first network traffic is directed to a network host restricted with respect to the censored peer and the second network protocol is a peer-to-peer network protocol. Second network traffic responsive to the first network traffic is then extracted from network message(s) to thereby obtain access to the restricted network host via the volunteer peer. The first network messages are in accordance with the second network protocol and received via the connection.

Abstract: A system for conducting a beverage tasting event includes a plurality of beverage containers, a plurality of distinct identifiers, a plurality of distinct covers, and a set of instruction materials. The set of instruction materials instructs a first participant to privately assign a correspondence between each distinct beverage and a distinct identifier, and to privately transfer distinct beverages into beverage containers with the distinct identifiers visibly displayed in accordance with each assigned correspondence.

Abstract: An identity adapter permits the enabling, the receiving, adapting, and sending of identity credentials using the appropriate secure communication mechanisms where one of the devices in the communication utilizes an archaic, obsolete, or rare communication protocol and identity credential. The identity adapter provides for secure communication between a first network device and a second network device, the first network device using a first security protocol, the second network device using a second security protocol using a first protocol module, an identity associator, a second protocol module, and a data proxy.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide for controlling an autonomous vehicle to enter a driveway. As an example, an instruction to pickup or drop off a passenger at a location may be received. It may be determined that the vehicle is arriving in a lane on an opposite side of a street as the location, the lane having a traffic direction opposite to a traffic direction of a lane adjacent to the location. A difficulty score to maneuver the vehicle to the lane adjacent to the location may be determined, and the difficulty score may be compared to a predetermined difficulty score. Based on the comparison, it may be determined to an available driveway on the same side of the street as the location. The vehicle may be controlled to enter the available driveway.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide for a database container orchestrator system for deploying and managing containerized databases running on a computing platform. A system can include a database daemon for translating first commands, such as remote procedure calls, into second commands, such as queries built from SQL statements, which cause the database to retrieve data or perform other functions otherwise unavailable to an application incompatible with the database. The first commands received by the database daemon can be defined by an interface of a computing platform running containers for both the database and the database daemon. The interface can be an Application Programming Interface (API), which can include definitions of commands for starting, configuring, and running a containerized database, regardless of the different codebases represented by the containerized database and other applications.

Abstract: A potty training system includes a base, a platform, a basin and a topper. In a first configuration, the platform is installed on top of the base, the basin is supported by its support flange on the platform so as to occupy a central hole of the platform, and the topper is installed on top of the platform and basin. The platform, basin and topper are keyed to each other. An inner surface of a basin pour spout intentionally is spaced from an outer surface of a downwardly depending topper ring. Instead of keying to the inner surface of the basin pour spout, the topper has a downwardly extending blade that is received in a blade receptacle spaced from an inner margin of the platform. In a second configuration, the base is inverted and used as a step, the basin and platform are not used and the topper is placed to span an adult toilet seat.

Abstract: A PON system includes both a PON via which optical services are delivered and a wireless network overlaying the PON. The wireless network may be a self-organizing wireless mesh network, and may generally operate as a logical signaling pathway via which information regarding optical states/statuses of PON components and/or related information is delivered from the field to back-end servers of the PON system. Accordingly, the system may include multiple in-common nodes (e.g., OLTs, LMTUs, etc.) which are included in both the PON and the wireless network. Based on optical information received via the wireless network, the servers can localize the physical location of a PON fault to a particular geographical region of multiple regions serviced by the PON (in some cases narrowing the fault's physical location to a particular span, FDH, or optical terminal), and may dispatch a technician directly to the localized physical location to address the fault.

Abstract: A patch panel assembly that has a splicing tray integrated therein for fiber optic hardware connection is provided. In one example, the patch panel assembly include a ceiling, a bottom cover, and two opposing side panels defining an interior region therein. A splicing tray disposed in the interior region of the patch panel assembly. The splicing tray is slidable between a non-extended position and an extended position.

Abstract: A system and method for intrusion detection on automotive controller area networks. The system and method can detect various CAN attacks, such as attacks that cause unintended acceleration, deactivation of vehicle's brakes, or steering the vehicle. The system and method detects changes in nuanced correlations of CAN timeseries signals and how they cluster together. The system reverse engineers CAN signals and detect masquerade attacks by analyzing timeseries extracted from raw CAN frames. Specifically, anomalies in the CAN data can be detected by computing timeseries clustering similarity using hierarchical clustering on the vehicle's CAN signals and comparing the clustering similarity across CAN captures with and without attacks.

Abstract: An access point that provides a transition recommendation is described. This access point may provide a first WLAN having a first capability. During operation, the access point may associate with the electronic device. Moreover, the access point may determine that the electronic device has a second capability that is different from the first capability. For example, the first capability may include compatibility with a first IEEE 802.11 standard and the second capability may include compatibility with a second IEEE 802.11 standard. Next, the access point may provide the transition recommendation addressed to the electronic device based at least in part on the difference in the first capability and the second capability, where the transition recommendation recommends that the electronic device transition from the first WLAN to a second WLAN that has the second capability.

Abstract: An electrical receptacle including a body having a plurality of electrical connections, a device face connected to the body and movable with respect to the body, a plurality of electrical plug contacts positioned behind the device face, and wherein the electrical plug contacts retain an electrical plug prong at a first tension when the device face is in a first position and the electrical plug contacts retain the electrical plug prong at a second tension when the device face is in a second position.

Abstract: A multi-chamber balloon for a nuclear implant has an elastomeric membrane defining inner and outer chambers integral with a valve body. The valve body includes a core portion and sealing membrane for sealing the inner and outer chambers. An assembly for manufacturing the multi-chamber balloon includes a balloon mandrel which may be dip coated in a silicone dispersion to create an elastomeric membrane for the inner and outer chambers integral with the valve body. The elastomeric membrane formed on the mandrel is partially inverted to form a coaxial elastomeric structure with the smaller inner chamber disposed within the larger outer chamber. The valve is incorporated into the inner and outer chambers to form a unitary structure.

Abstract: Disclosed are computer systems and techniques for authenticating a passenger of an autonomous vehicle and operating doors of the autonomous vehicle. For passenger authentication, the computer system is configured to receive a ride request, generate a passcode, transmit the passcode to a user account and the autonomous vehicle, authenticate the user using the passcode, and enable departure of the autonomous vehicle. For door operation, the computer system is configured to detect environmental conditions surrounding an autonomous vehicle, determine based on a set of operational conditions whether one or more doors of the autonomous vehicle are desirable for use, and operate a door if the door is safe to operate and desirable for operation.

Abstract: Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques for creating and utilizing multidimensional embedding spaces for data objects, such as to condition the data for input to a neural network, for instance. Some embodiments are particularly directed to detecting data types for structured data based on learned metadata. In many embodiments, an embedding space for a set of data objects may be customized with a set of dimensions that correspond to various characteristics of the set of data objects. For example, a set of data objects may correspond to a table with each data object corresponding to a data entry in the table. In such examples, correlations between different columns and/or within a column of data may be identified and utilized as metadata to improve classifications by the neural network.

Abstract: Assets in a virtual environment are assigned to locations based on attributes of the locations, such as light level, temperature, etc. Attributes are determined based on simulating the virtual environment. The virtual environment can be simulated over a period of time, during which multiple attribute values can be recorded, resulting in an aggregated attribute value to better enable more immersive asset placement.