Abstract: Integrated energy systems, such as for use in enhanced oil recovery operations, and associated devices and methods are described herein. A representative integrated energy system can include a power plant system having multiple modular nuclear reactors. The nuclear reactors can generate steam for direct industrial use or for use in an electrical power conversion system to generate electricity. Individual ones of the nuclear reactors can be configured to generate steam or electricity based on the requirements of different stages of the oil recovery operation. For example, during a first stage, a subset of the nuclear reactors can be configured to generate steam for the oil recovery operation for injection into an oil reservoir. During a second stage, some or all of the nuclear reactors in the subset can be reconfigured to generate electricity that can be routed to an industrial process different than the oil recovery operation.

Abstract: A method may include placing a bottom facer on a conveyor, placing a core layer on the bottom facer placing a top facer on the core layer, and pressing the bottom facer, the core layer, and the top facer in a hot press to form a panel, wherein the hot press causes the bottom facer to shrink relative to the top facer, introducing a warp into the panel such that, when installed, the warp compensates for an installation warp and the panel is flat upon installation.

Abstract: A method and a device for locking an equipment with a rack are presented. The device may include a trigger and an equipment locking mechanism, wherein upon the trigger automatically activates the equipment locking mechanism upon contacting a portion of the rack. The automatic locking initiates when the equipment reaches a desired position within the rack.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein are directed to tracking objects using a cognitive heterogeneous ad hoc mesh network. A first participant receives a notification signal from a second participant. The first participant determines first positioning information from the notification signal and second positioning information from characteristics of the received signal. If the difference between the first and second positioning information is below a first threshold, then the second participant is within line-of-sight of the first participant. If the difference is above the first threshold and below a second threshold, then the second participant may have a malfunctioning sensor. But if the difference is above the second threshold, then the second participant is not within line-of-sight of the first participant and the received signal was reflected off another object. The positioning information can then be refined or transmitted to other participants.

Abstract: An attraction system of an amusement park includes a viewing area, a virtual area, and a beam splitter. The beam splitter is positioned to enable visibility of a portion of the viewing area through the beam splitter and visibility of a portion of the virtual area via reflection off the beam splitter. The attraction system also includes a controller configured to perform operations. The operations include generating image data that is distorted in correlation to a distortive parameter associated with a first element disposed in the viewing area. The distortive parameter is indicative of a distortion applied by the first element to light interacting with the first element. The operations also include transmitting the image data to cause display of a second element in the virtual area.

Abstract: A vehicle control system and a method of operating thereof may include determining a first ratio at which to operate a vehicle system at a first location along a route along which the vehicle system moves. The first ratio may be based on an amount of a first fuel of a first fuel source relative to an amount of a second fuel of a second fuel source. The vehicle system may be powered by one or more of the first or the second fuel sources. First operational settings at which to control the vehicle system may be determined based on the first ratio between the first and second fuel sources at the first location along the route. Operation of the vehicle system may be controlled according to the first operational settings to move the vehicle system according to the first ratio at the first location along the route.

Abstract: A biased connector assembly is disclosed that includes a receptacle configured to mount to a substrate and form an electrical connection therewith, and a plug connector. The receptacle includes a cage that defines a port having a connector positioned therein. The connector may include a slot that is aligned with the port. The port includes one or more biasing members positioned therein. The plug connector includes a pluggable transceiver module to be inserted into the port and a card with at least one contact pad configured to engage with a terminal of the connector. The one or more biasing members may bias the plug module away from the connector such that a stub length of the contact pad is within a predetermined range.

Abstract: Systems and methods improve performance of a classifier, which comprises a neural network and is trained through machine learning. First and second scores are computed, by the classifier, for each a multiple data examples from a generator. The first score is indicative of whether the data example belongs to a first data cluster and the second score is indicative of whether the data example belongs to a second data cluster. The generator is trained with an objective such that, for each data example generated by the generator, the first and second scores computed by the classifier are equal. Partial derivatives from the classifier are back-propagated for multiple data examples generated by the generator, to obtain a vector, for each data example, that is orthogonal to a decision surface for the classifier. A problem with the classifier is detected based on changes in directions of the vectors.

Abstract: A method includes receiving audio features and generating a latent speech representation based on the audio features. The method also includes generating a target quantized vector token and a target token index for a corresponding latent speech representation. The method also includes generating a contrastive context vector for a corresponding unmasked or masked latent speech representation and deriving a contrastive self-supervised loss based on the corresponding contrastive context vector and the corresponding target quantized vector token. The method also include generating a high-level context vector based on the contrastive context vector and, for each high-level context vector, learning to predict the target token index at the corresponding time step using a cross-entropy loss based on the target token index.

Abstract: Systems and methods for sharing content between devices are disclosed. To request a shared piece of media content, a playback device generates and sends a request to content server. The playback device includes information in the request that indicates the playback capabilities of the device. The content server receives the request and determines the playback capabilities of the playback device from the information in the request. The content server then determines the assets that may be used by the playback device to obtain the media content and generates a top level index file for the playback device that includes information about the determined assets. The top level index file is then sent to the playback device that may then use the top level index file to obtain the media content using the indicated assets.

Abstract: A light-emitting, antimicrobial tuber, instrument or catheter includes a thin, flexible tube having an optically transparent wall; and a light transmitter configured and arranged to emit light through the tube, which may be ultraviolet C (UVC) irradiation, photodynamic therapy (PDT), violet-blue light therapy, and other light-based therapies. In one embodiment, violet-blue light from 400-500 nm in wavelength, such as 405 nm, for instance, is used. The device is used on a patient and a therapeutic amount of light is administered to the patient, thereby reducing the risk of infections being transmitted from the instrument, tube or catheter to the patient, generally. The device may be configured for use in the urinary tract or as intravascular, and may be indwelling or temporary. Light may be administered for the duration of use or another time period effective to halt, inhibit, or reduce microbial or fungal growth.

Abstract: A ball screw having a threaded stem including a ball groove formed in an outer surface thereof, a ball nut including a central bore formed by an inner surface thereof, the inner surface defining a ball groove, a first recess extending inwardly from an end face of the ball nut and into the ball groove of the inner surface, and a stop pin disposed in the first recess so that a first end of the stop pin extends inwardly into the ball groove of the inner surface of the ball nut, wherein the stop pin is formed by a coiled strip of metal.

Abstract: Systems and methods for performing trick play functionality using trick play streams during adaptive bitrate streaming in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment includes requesting a video container index from a video container file containing a video stream from a plurality of alternative streams of video; requesting at least one portion of the video stream using at least one entry from the video container index; decoding the at least one portion of the video stream; receiving at least one user instruction to perform a visual search of the media; requesting a trick play container index from a trick play container file containing a trick play stream; requesting at least one frame of video from the at least one trick play stream; and decoding and displaying the at least one frame of video from the trick play stream.

Abstract: A medicament is provided including, for example, a dried particulate mixture of decellularized amniotic material and a powdered, lyophilized mixture of cervical mucus plug. The medicament may be useful in treating infectious disease, for example, viral diseases, in promoting repair of tissue and halting disease progression.

Abstract: Disclosed are systems, apparatuses, and methods to deploy and stow a deployable equipment to and from a hoist, to control a load on a suspension without transfer of torque to the suspension cable, for the deployable equipment to obtain data and electrical services from a dock of a carrier, and for the deployable equipment to control the hoist, such as a reel of a hoist, to control a z-axis of a terminal end of the suspension cable. Control of the z-axis may be, for example, to control an elevation of a load, such as relative to carrier, ground, or an objective or target, to control a tension on or of suspension cable. Control of the z-axis may be, for example, to control a rate of ascent or descent of a terminal end of suspension cable.

Abstract: In a method of group creation for a pair of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and an unmanned aerial vehicle-controller (UAV-C) in a service enabler architecture layer (SEAL) architecture, the pair of UAV and UAV-C is determined by an unmanned aerial system application enabler (UAE) server in the SEAL architecture. A group creation request for the pair of UAV and UAV-C is transmitted by the UAE server to a SEAL group management (GM) server of the SEAL architecture. A first response message is received by the UAE server from the SEAL GM server for the group creation request. A group including the pair of the UAV and the UAV-C is created for quality-of-service (QoS) management. The group creation request includes an identity of an UAE client corresponding to the pair of UAV and UAV-C, an identity of the UAV, and an identity of the UAV-C.

Abstract: In some embodiments, a product management system includes at least one receiving location configured to receive a product associated with at least one smart device encoded with a unique identifier. The product management system further includes a reader system configured to receive a first signal transmitted from the at least one smart device, determine a time measurement, determine a state of the product based at least in part on a time measurement, and transmit a second signal based on the state of the product. The product management system further includes at least one display associated with the product and configured to receive the second signal from the reader system, and generate a visual indication of the state of the product based at least in part on the second signal.

Abstract: Bullet loading tips for muzzleloading firearms. The bullet loading tips include a stem, a platform, and a cushion. The platform is coupled to the stem. The cushion is coupled to the platform. The stem, the platform, and the cushion are complementarily configured with a barrel of the muzzleloading firearm to insert into the barrel with the cushion abutting a bullet disposed in the barrel. The bullet loading tip is configured to press the bullet down the barrel to a seated position at the end of the barrel when the bullet loading tip is urged down the barrel. The bullet loading tip is configured to apply pressure to the bullet in the seated position without deforming the bullet.

Abstract: Semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing the same are provided. The semiconductor devices may have a memory array having two transistor (2T) memory cells, each including a non-volatile memory (NVM) transistor and a high voltage (HV) field-effect transistor (FET) as a select transistor disposed within at least one recess(es). The devices further include a logic area in which HV FETs, input/output (I/) FETs, and low voltage (LV)/core FETs are formed thereon. Other embodiments are also described.

Abstract: A soybean cultivar designated 12040851 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 12040851, to the plants of soybean cultivar 12040851, to the plant parts of soybean cultivar 12040851, and to methods for producing progeny of soybean cultivar 12040851. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. The invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 12040851. The invention also relates to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines, or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 12040851, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar 12040851 with another soybean cultivar.