Abstract: A container comprising: a base and freestanding sides extending from the base to define a mouth opposite the base, wherein the mouth has first and second spouts opposite each other and first and second interior sides opposite each other between the first and second spouts; a first zipper member extending from the first interior side of the mouth from the first spout to the second spout; a second zipper member extending from the second interior side of the mouth from the first spout to the second spout, wherein the mouth is deformable between open and closed configurations and the first and second zipper members are disengagable when the mouth is open and engagable when the mouth is closed, wherein the base, sides, and zipper members are a unitary whole container without assembled parts, wherein the container comprises silicone.

Abstract: An isomerization method consists of a deisobutanizer column receives feed comprising n-butane. The deisobutanizer column delivers its bottoms a portion to a reboiler and another portion along with hydrogen is routed to a isomerization reactor and the reactor effluent is returned to the column. A stabilizer which is integrated with the column, an overhead stream used as a reflux and bottoms containing an iso-butane-rich stream that is the iso-butane product stream. The column overhead effluent is routed to separator, which splits the hydrocarbons and effluent, where the hydrocarbons are routed to deisobutanizer column and effluent recycled to stabilizer, where the stabilizer separates the reactor effluent into product streams contains an iso-butane product stream, a n-butane product stream, and a lighter hydrocarbon product stream.

Abstract: An alloy for structural direct-writing additive manufacturing comprising a base element selected from the group consisting of aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni) and a combination thereof, and a rare earth element selected from the group consisting of cerium (Ce), lanthanide (La) and a combination thereof, and a eutectic intermetallic present in said alloy in an amount ranging from about 0.5 wt. % to 7.5 wt. %. The invention is also directed to a method of structural direct-write additive manufacturing using the above-described alloy, as well as 3D objects produced by the method. The invention is also directed to methods of producing the above-described alloy.

Abstract: One aspect of the invention provides a system including: a liquid filter configured for fluidic communication with a fluid repository; a flow sensor in fluidic communication with the liquid filter; a variable-speed pump in fluidic communication with the liquid filter and the flow sensor; and a processor in electronic communication with the flow sensor and the variable-speed pump. The processor is configured to: activate the flow pump at a specified flow rate; monitor a positioning of the flow sensor during the specified flow rate; and determine a performance status of the system from the flow sensor positioning.

Abstract: An electrical submersible well pump assembly (ESP) has a spring brake having helical turns mounted between the shaft and one of the housings. The spring brake allows free rotation of the shaft in a driving direction and stops the shaft from rotating in a reverse direction. The spring brake may have one end be affixed to the housing to rotate in unison in both directions. Alternately, the spring brake may have one end affixed to the shaft for rotation with the shaft. Further, the spring brake could be free of being connected to either the shaft or the housing. A shear member may be mounted between the shaft and the housing to prevent any rotation of the shaft during run-in.

Abstract: A ball head based lever clamping device.

Abstract: Mobile command control systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are described herein. In one aspect, a system for controlling an UAV can include a mobile vehicle including at least a vehicle chassis; a telescoping mast including a proximate end and a distal end, the proximate end coupled to a center portion of the mobile vehicle chassis; and a plurality of antenna arrays coupled to the distal end of the telescoping mast, each of the antenna arrays having either different radio access technologies (RATs), different operating frequencies, or a combination thereof.

Abstract: Techniques in electronic systems, such as in systems comprising a CPU die and one or more external mixed-mode (analog) chips, may provide improvements advantages in one or more of system design, performance, cost, efficiency and programmability. In one embodiment, the CPU die comprises at least one microcontroller CPU and circuitry enabling the at least one CPU to have a full and transparent connectivity to an analog chip as if they are designed as a single chip microcontroller, while the interface design between the two is extremely efficient and with limited in number of wires, yet may provide improved performance without impact to functionality or the software model.

Abstract: A control system for positioning a marker over a pre-existing roadway surface mark. The control system has one or more imagers having a field of view for imaging an area of roadway mark surface encompassing the roadway mark and a computer having a machine learning network to process the roadway mark image and position the marker over the pre-existing roadway mark.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for providing alerts to a user. The systems and methods may include a financial service provider including a memory device storing instructions. The financial service provider may also include at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a plurality of operations. The operations may include receiving data relating to an activity of a user. The operations may also include identifying a merchant based at least on the received data. The operations may also include accessing historical fraud or disputes data associated with at least one of the user and the merchant. The operations may also include determining whether the received data triggers an alert. The operations may further include sending an alert message to a user device associated with the user when the processor determines that the received data triggers the alert.

Abstract: A non-volatile storage apparatus is configured to perform erase verify during an erase process in order to account for differences in erase speed. In order to reduce the time used to perform the erase process (which includes the erase verify), the erase verify operation is skipped for certain memory cells based on a system parameter. For example, when erasing a block of memory cells, a series of erase voltage pulses are applied to the NAND strings in outer sub-blocks and inner sub-blocks of the block. Erase verify is performed between erase voltage pulses for NAND strings in the outer sub-blocks while skipping erase verify for NAND strings in the inner sub-blocks. Performing erase verify between erase voltage pulses for NAND strings in the inner sub-blocks is started at a predetermined number of erase voltage pulses after the NAND strings in the outer sub-blocks successfully erase verify.

Abstract: An embodiment of a method of forming a programming element using a III/V semiconductor material may include forming one or more recesses in a first portion of a gate material and forming a first conductor on the one or more recesses. In an embodiment, the method may include configuring a programming circuit to form a voltage across the one or more recesses that is greater than a breakdown voltage of the gate material underlying the one or more recesses.

Abstract: An electrical power connector for an electrical submersible well pump motor has a housing having a bore. A pair of rigid insulators are within the bore of the housing, each of the insulators having a cylindrical outward-facing side that is in contact with an inward-facing side wall of the housing. A resilient elastomer seal is sandwiched between the insulators in sealing engagement with the inward-facing side wall. Passages extend through each of the insulators and the elastomer seal for receiving insulated conductors of a power cable. A spring in abutment with one of the insulators exerts an axial compressive force on the elastomer seal.

Abstract: A broadband optical amplifier for operation in the 2 ?m visible wavelength band is based upon a single-clad Ho-doped fiber amplifier (HDFA). A compact pump source uses a combination of discrete laser diode with a fiber laser (which may be a dual-stage fiber laser) to create a pump output beam at a wavelength associated with creating gain in the presence of Ho ions (an exemplary pump wavelength being 1940 nm). The broadband optical amplifier may take the form of a single stage amplifier or a multi-stage amplifier, and may utilize a co-propagating pump and/or a counter-propagating pump arrangement.

Abstract: Adjusting slope compensation. At least one example embodiment is a method including: operating a switching power converter comprising a charge control switch, the charge control switch configured to control power flow through the switching power converter, and the operating by a circuit controller; measuring, by the circuit controller, an attribute of duty cycle of a first period of the charge control switch; measuring, by the circuit controller, an attribute of duty cycle of a second period of the charge control switch; measuring, by the circuit controller, an attribute of duty cycle of a third period of the charge control switch; determining, by the circuit controller, that the switching power converter is experiencing subharmonic oscillation based on the first, second, and third attributes of duty cycle; and changing, by the circuit controller, an attribute of slope compensation responsive to the determining that the switching power supply is experiencing subharmonic oscillation.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods, systems, and non-transitory computer-readable medium for testing and applying codes to electronic shopping carts. For instance, the method may include monitoring a shopping cart associated with an e-commerce website and with a user; in response to detecting a change to the shopping cart, testing codes with respect to a present content of the shopping cart to determine valid codes; selecting at least one of the valid codes; determining a status of the session; and performing an action based on the status and the at least one selected code. The testing the codes with respect to the present content of the shopping cart may include: cloning the shopping cart to form a cloned shopping cart in a shadow session; and/or obtaining the codes; and testing the codes on the cloned shopping cart in the shadow session to determine the valid codes.

Abstract: A system for tracking people moving through a predefined area using an electronic tracking device for real-time tracking of people as they move through a predefined area.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a method of making graphene and graphene devices.

Abstract: A method is provided of inspecting a nested multi-layer structure including a first and second electrically conductive layer and a third layer disposed behind the second conductive layer. The method includes deploying a sensor device including an electromagnetic acoustic transducer to a borehole location proximate to the structure, generating a drive signal including a plurality of frequencies, applying an electrical current signal to the sensor device based on the drive signal and inducing currents in the first conductive layer that induce currents generating acoustic signals having the plurality of frequencies, detecting a first set of resonant frequencies based on received electromagnetic signals, detecting a second set of resonant frequencies based on received acoustic signals, estimating a property of the first and/or the second conductive layer based on the first set of resonant frequencies, and estimating a property of the third layer based on the second set of resonant frequencies.

Abstract: An equipment inspection system receives data captured by a sensor of an autonomous vehicle (AV). The captured data describes a current state of equipment for servicing the AV. The equipment inspection system compares the captured data to a model describing an expected state of the equipment. The equipment inspection system determines, based on the comparison, that the equipment differs from the expected state. The equipment inspection system may transmit data describing the current state of the equipment to an equipment manager. The equipment manager may schedule maintenance for the equipment based on the current state of the equipment.