Abstract: A method for preparing a three-dimensional chitosan/silver composite scaffold includes mixing an acidic aqueous chitosan solution including protonated chitosan and a deposition accelerating agent being a soluble silver salt, spacedly disposing a cathode and an anode in the resultant suspension, and applying an electric field to the cathode and the anode so that the suspension undergoes electrodeposition. The suspension has a protonated chitosan concentration ranging from 0.7 to 2.8 w/v %, and a molarity of silver ions ranging from 4 to 60 mM. The composite scaffold prepared has columnar through-holes extending in a same extension direction and each having opposite first and second openings with the latter not less in width.

Abstract: In one example, a processing system including at least one processor may obtain a predicted viewport of a mobile computing device for an immersive visual stream, identify a first plurality of blocks of a frame of the immersive visual stream that are associated with the predicted viewport, encode the first plurality of blocks at a first encoding quality level, and encode a second plurality of blocks of the frame at a second encoding quality level, where the second encoding quality level is associated with a lesser visual quality as compared to the first encoding quality level and where the second plurality of blocks are outside of the predicted viewport. The processing system may then transmit the frame having the first plurality of blocks encoded at the first encoding quality level and the second plurality of blocks encoded at the second encoding quality level to the mobile computing device.

Abstract: The technical solutions of this application provide a video playing method and a device, so that in a multi-view mode, during video playback, audio corresponding to an image in a plurality of views may be selected and played based on an operation performed on a play control. In response to a user input, a video playing interface is displayed on the electronic device. The video playing interface includes a first video, a second video, a first play control, and a second play control. In response to an operation performed on the second play control, the first video and the second video are played. Audio of a video corresponding to a location of the first play control is played. The video corresponding to the location of the first play control is the first video.

Abstract: Provided is a diagnostic system for identifying target microorganisms and/or resistance genes in a sample, including a cell lysis unit, a target nucleic acid enriching unit, a sequencing unit, and a sequence analyzing unit, wherein the cell lysis unit is configured to lyse non-target cells in the sample, the target nucleic acid enriching unit equipped with an immobilized adsorption device is configured to deplete nucleic acids of the non-target cells and to enrich nucleic acids of the target microorganisms, and the sequencing unit and the sequence analyzing unit are configured to produce identification results of the microbial species and/or resistance genes from the sequences of the enriched nucleic acids. Also provided is a method for enriching target nucleic acids in a sample and a method for identifying target microorganisms and/or resistance genes by sequencing the enriched nucleic acids of the target microorganisms.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device, that includes a processing system including a processor and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations including receiving a manifest for a point cloud, wherein the point cloud is partitioned into a plurality of cells; determining an occlusion level for a cell of the plurality of cells with respect to a predicted viewport; reducing a point density for the cell provided in the manifest based on the occlusion level, thereby determining a reduced point density; and requesting delivery of points in the cell, based on the reduced point density. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, embodiments for selecting a first camera from one or more cameras communicatively coupled to a computing device. Further embodiments include adjusting a first hardware controller on the first camera in response to detecting a network condition of a communication network resulting in an adjusted first camera. Additional embodiments include capturing first video content with the adjusted first camera. Also, embodiments include transmitting the first video content to a video content server over the communication network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: The described technology is generally directed towards a transport protocol for latency sensitive applications. The disclosed transport protocol is “semi-reliable” in that it allows for specification of an importance of data being transmitted, thereby allowing important data to be sent reliably, while other data can be dropped if necessary, e.g., under bad network conditions. A deadline can be specified for such other data, and if the other data cannot be sent prior to the deadline, it can be dropped. Furthermore, the disclosed transport protocol can allow for early discovery of network jitter. A client device can send regular acknowledgments which identify most recently received data packets as well as a number of “heartbeat transmissions” received at the client device. A server device can use the acknowledgments to discover and respond to jitter.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a device that has a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, including downsampling a full point cloud to obtain a downsampled point cloud, wherein the downsampling reduces a data size of the full point cloud; and using a machine-learning model to assign labels for segmentation and object identification to points in the downsampled point cloud, wherein the machine-learning model is trained on the full point cloud. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A backlight module including a circuit substrate, a plurality of light-emitting devices, a first cholesteric liquid-crystal layer, and a second cholesteric liquid-crystal layer is provided. The light-emitting devices are disposed on the circuit substrate and electrically connected to the circuit substrate. The first cholesteric liquid-crystal layer is disposed on the light-emitting devices and overlapped with a light-emitting surface of each of the light-emitting devices. The second cholesteric liquid-crystal layer is disposed on the first cholesteric liquid-crystal layer and overlapped with the first cholesteric liquid-crystal layer. The first cholesteric liquid-crystal layer and the second cholesteric liquid-crystal layer respectively have a first chiral direction and a second chiral direction. A display apparatus adopting the backlight module is also provided.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, embodiments include obtaining video content, the video content comprises a plurality of frames, monitoring, by an image sensor, a facial feature of a user to determine a visual focus of the user in relation to the video content, and detecting from a group of frames of the plurality of frames at least a reduction in movements of objects in the group of frames. Further embodiments include determining, according to the monitoring and the detecting, a measure of attention of the user within a region of the group of frames, determining that the measure of attention of the user within the region of the group of frames satisfies a threshold, and embedding in at least a portion of subsequent frames of the plurality of frames a visual advertisement in the region via a communication device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, embodiments for obtaining video content from a video content server, determining a quality parameter for each of the plurality of adjusted video content, and adjusting the video content to generate the plurality of adjusted video content. Each of the plurality of adjusted video content comprises a different point cloud density according to the quality parameter. Further embodiments can include receiving a request for the video content from a video content application on a communication device, and determining a distance from a viewpoint to a point-cloud object on the video content application of the communication device. Additional embodiments can include selecting an adjusted video content based on the distance from the viewpoint to the point-cloud object and the quality parameter of the adjusted video content, and providing the adjusted video content to the communication device for presentation. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method including providing a video presentation to user devices. A latency related to the video presentation is determined for each device; a high-latency user device is identified having greater latency than other, low-latency devices. Field of view information is analyzed for each of the low-latency devices; based on the analyzing, a field of view of the high-latency user device is predicted. In accordance with the predicting, a predicted viewing map for the high-latency user device is generated. The video presentation for the high-latency user device is adjusted based on the predicted viewing map. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: The invention provides a sensor, which includes a sensing surface; a housing including a recess, the sensing surface is located at the bottom of the recess, and the recess includes at least one side wall and an opening circumferentially surrounding the sensing surface. A compressed fluid nozzle is provided in the at least one side wall to nozzle compressed fluid from the compressed fluid nozzle to force the substance on the sensing surface to leave from the opening. This design makes it possible to refresh in situ with good efficiency without involving additional mechanical parts, thus reducing the risk of sensing surface damage, such as scratch wear, in the presence of wear particles.

Abstract: Provided are a testing apparatus for a pile end settlement of a rock-socketed driven PHC tube pile and an installation method thereof. The testing apparatus comprises a PHC tube pile, two measuring tubes, a cross pile tip, a pile tip steel plate, a fixer fixed in the PHC tube pile, a perforated steel plate located at a pile top of the PHC tube pile and a jack pressed on the perforated steel plate. The two measuring tubes are symmetrically arranged, the fixer is provided with two first measuring tube outlet holes, and the two measuring tubes respectively pass through the first measuring tube outlet holes of the fixer; and the perforated steel plate is also provided with two second measuring tube outlet holes, and the two measuring tubes respectively pass through the second measuring tube outlet holes of the perforated steel plate. (FIG.

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to a network-assisted Raft consensus protocol, referred to herein as “NetRaft.” According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a system can include a plurality of servers operating in a server cluster, and a plurality of P4 switches corresponding to the plurality of servers. Each server of the plurality of servers can include a back-end that executes a complete Raft algorithm to perform leader election, log replication, and log commitment of a Raft consensus algorithm. Each P4 switch of the plurality of P4 switches can include a front-end that executes a partial Raft algorithm to perform the log replication and the log commitment of the Raft consensus algorithm. The back-end can maintain a complete state for responding to requests that cannot be fulfilled by the front-end. The requests can include read requests and/or write requests.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining one or more signals, the one or more signals being based upon brain activity of a viewer while the viewer is viewing media content; predicting, based upon the one or more signals, a first predicted desired viewport of the viewer; obtaining head movement data associated with the media content; predicting, based upon the head movement data, a second predicted desired viewport of the viewer; comparing the first predicted desired viewport to the second predicted desired viewport, resulting in a comparison; and determining, based upon the comparison, to use the first predicted desired viewport to facilitate obtaining a first subsequent portion of the media content or to use the second predicted desired viewport to facilitate obtaining a second subsequent portion of the media content. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining live video content from equipment of a media content provider, determining priority content within the live video content; segmenting the live video content into a plurality of tiles according to the priority content, and transcoding the live video content according to a type of client device. Further embodiments include determining an encoding schedule for the plurality of tiles according to the priority content, encoding the plurality of tiles according to the encoding schedule, and providing the plurality of tiles to the client device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Embodiments of this application provide an audio processing method and a device. In a multi-channel video recording mode, a plurality of channels of video images and a plurality of channels of audio can be recorded simultaneously, and different audio can be played during video playback. A specific solution is as follows: After detecting an operation of opening a camera by a user, an electronic device displays a shooting preview interface, and then enters a multi-channel video recording mode. After detecting a shooting operation of the user, the electronic device displays a shooting interface, where the shooting interface includes a plurality of channels of video images. Then, the electronic device records the plurality of channels of video images, and records audio corresponding to each of the plurality of channels of video images based on a shooting angle of view corresponding to each channel of video image.

Abstract: Integrating an image capturing mechanism into an ecommerce application is described. Images of items offered for sale via ecommerce channels associated with an ecommerce service provider and performance metrics associated with the images and/or content items with which the images are presented via the ecommerce channels can be analyzed. Based partly on the analyzing, a characteristic associated with the images that are associated with a performance metric that satisfies a threshold or that are presented by the content items that are associated with the performance metric that satisfies the threshold can be determined. A new image of an item to be offered for sale by a merchant via an ecommerce channel can be received and, based at least partly on the characteristic, it can be determined whether to integrate the new image into a content item for the merchant, wherein the content item to be presented via the ecommerce channel.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving content that includes a 360-degree video, determining that guidance is enabled with respect to the content, obtaining an input responsive to determining that the guidance is enabled, and obtaining the guidance with respect to a playback of the content, where the obtained guidance is based on the input. Other embodiments are disclosed.