Abstract: A surface shape determination system includes a surface shape sensor in the form of a flexible and stretchable elastomeric substrate with strain/displacement sensing elements embedded in it. The sensor may be a single-core optical fiber with a series of fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) located at predetermined positions along its length. A light source provides an incident light spectrum at one end of the fiber. Each grating of the fiber has index modulation which causes particular wavelengths of the light spectrum that do not satisfy the Bragg condition to be reflected back in the fiber. The refractive index of each grating changes with strain on the substrate due to deflection of it. An interrogator captures the reflected wavelengths and retrieves signal information therefrom. A processor receives the output of the interrogator and performs non-linear regression analysis on the information using a neural network to reconstruct the surface morphology in real-time.

Abstract: Apparatuses, methods, and program products are disclosed for operating a camera sense mode. One apparatus includes a processor, a camera, and a memory that stores code executable by the processor. The code is executable by the processor to determine, by use of the processor, whether the camera is set to a camera sense mode. The camera sense mode is a mode of the camera configured to use the camera as a sensor. The code is executable by the processor to, in response to the camera being set to the camera sense mode: analyze images captured by the camera, using a sensing application, to determine information related to the images; and inhibit applications separate from the sensing application from accessing images captured by the camera.

Abstract: The present invention relates to excision of explant material comprising meristematic tissue from seeds, and storage of such material prior to subsequent use in plant tissue culture and genetic transformation. Methods for tissue preparation, storage, and transformation are disclosed, as is transformable meristem tissue produced by such methods, and apparati for tissue preparation.

Abstract: A method of monitoring an ice protection system of a rotorcraft or an aircraft includes applying heat to rotating blades of the rotorcraft or the aircraft according to a heater duty cycle and determining an anticipated ice shed time for ice to shed from the rotating blades. Torque of the rotating blades is sensed, and an actual ice shed time for ice to shed from the rotating blades is determined based on the sensed torque. A status of the ice protection system is determined based on the anticipated ice shed time and the actual ice shed time, and the status of the ice protection system is output for consumption by a consuming system.

Abstract: A semi-rigid stator is provided for a helical gear device. The stator includes a stack of rigid rings, a deformable layer, and a rigid housing. Each of the rigid rings has a central opening and an exterior surface. The rigid rings are aligned along a common centerline and rotated slightly relative to each other such that the stack of rigid rings forms a helically convoluted chamber. Each of the rigid rings is secured within the rigid stator housing by the deformable layer disposed between the exterior surface of each of the rigid rings and the rigid housing. The deformable layer bonds the rigid rings together as the ring stack and permits movement of the rigid rings relative to each other.

Abstract: An apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over which waves pass, causing a nominally vertical axis of the apparatus to tilt away from an axis normal to the resting surface of the body of water. Tilting allows a fluid to flow through a channel that in an un-tilted apparatus would require the gravitational potential energy of the fluid to increase (i.e., to flow uphill), but, because of the tilt allows the fluid to flow through the channel in a downhill direction. Successive wave-driven tilts of the apparatus incrementally raise water to a head from which a portion of its gravitational potential energy can be converted to electrical power by causing the water to return to a lower level by flowing through a water turbine, or through some other apparatus that performs a useful function when supplied with a flow of high-pressure water.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over that waves pass. Passing waves, and/or the motions they impart to the apparatus as they pass, result in a net and/or effective propulsion of the apparatus in at least a first direction relative to the geometry and/or structure of the apparatus, and typically, at least in part, toward a direction from that waves approach the apparatus.

Abstract: A slipper clutch transmission brake includes a clutch housing, a pin, a slipper clutch outer race rotationally fixed in the clutch housing, a slipper clutch inner race, a plurality of first cylindrical rollers, and a clutch inner ring. The clutch housing has a radial aperture and the pin is disposed in the radial aperture. The outer race has inner bidirectional ramps arranged on an inner circumference. The inner race has outer bidirectional ramps arranged on an outer circumference, a notch for receiving the pin, and a split extending axially through its width. The plurality of first cylindrical rollers are arranged in respective gaps formed between the inner and outer bidirectional ramps. The inner ring is arranged to rotate relative to the slipper clutch inner race when the pin is engaged with the notch, and frictionally engage with the slipper clutch inner race when the pin is disengaged from the notch.

Abstract: A slipper clutch transmission brake includes a clutch housing, a pin, a slipper clutch outer race rotationally fixed in the clutch housing, a slipper clutch inner race, a plurality of first cylindrical rollers, and a clutch inner ring. The clutch housing has a radial aperture and the pin is disposed in the radial aperture. The outer race has inner bidirectional ramps arranged on an inner circumference. The inner race has outer bidirectional ramps arranged on an outer circumference, a notch for receiving the pin, and a split extending axially through its width. The plurality of first cylindrical rollers are arranged in respective gaps formed between the inner and outer bidirectional ramps. The inner ring is arranged to rotate relative to the slipper clutch inner race when the pin is engaged with the notch, and frictionally engage with the slipper clutch inner race when the pin is disengaged from the notch.

Abstract: A method by which an environmental energy (e.g., wave energy) is harvested, converted into electrical power, and thereafter used to electrolyze seawater into hydrogen and chlorine gases. Those gases are recombined into hydrogen chloride from which is formed hydrochloric acid solution which is diluted and deposited at a depth sufficient to ensure its neutralization and sequestration for a significant period of time (e.g., for over a millennium). By removing chloride ions from a portion of the sea adjacent to its upper surface and depositing them into a portion of the sea more adjacent to its bottom, acidity is shifted from the surface to base of the sea, and the surface ocean is given a greater ability to absorb and buffer atmospheric carbon dioxide without a corresponding increase in acidity.

Abstract: A process of modifying a passage in a component is provided. The process includes inserting a first material into the passage; blocking at least one end of the passage; inserting an elongated member into the passage through the first material; heat treating the passage, the first material, and the elongated member to form a solid interior in component; and machining through the solid interior to form a modified passage in the component.

Abstract: A novel architecture for a data sharing system (DSS) is disclosed and seeks to ensure the privacy and security of users' personal information. In this type of network, a user's personally identifiable information is stored and transmitted in an encrypted form, with few exceptions. The only key with which that encrypted data can be decrypted, and thus viewed, remains in the sole possession of the user and the user's friends/contacts within the system. This arrangement ensures that a user's personally identifiable information cannot be examined by anyone other than the user or his friends/contacts. This arrangement also makes it more difficult for the web site or service hosting the DSS to exploit its users' personally identifiable information. Such a system facilitates the encryption, storage, exchange and decryption of personal, confidential and/or proprietary data.

Abstract: A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. The pump incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. The tube partially encloses a substantial volume of water with which the tube's constriction interacts, creating and/or amplifying oscillations therein in response to wave action. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water, or pressurized by compressed air or gas, or both. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or else the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, or cloud seeding.

Abstract: A thermoplastic composite welding microwire temperature measurement system broadly comprises a plurality of moveable antennae configured to transmit interrogation signals, a rail system including a motorized linear stage configured to move the antennae along a weld line, and a reader or processor configured to determine a position of the microwire temperature sensor and determine a welding temperature based on response signals of the sensor. The interrogation signal corresponds to two different maximum ramp current amplitudes to create two re-magnetization pulses non-overlapping in the time domain.

Abstract: A razor that facilitates a user's removal of shaving lubricant, cut hairs, and other shaving-related debris, from around, and between, the razor's blade(s). A scoop at the upper portion of the razor's blade assembly funnels water to the blade channel in which the blades are affixed, and at least a portion of that water flows around and/or over the blade(s). The scoop captures, and directs through the razor's blades, a greater volume of water per unit time than can be achieved with an unmodified blade assembly. The cross-sectional area of the scoop's inflow mouth is greater than that of the blade channel's outflow mouth, thereby promoting a Venturi effect which increases the speed of the water's flow over the blades.

Abstract: A valve assembly is adjustable in three independent ways allowing it to provide a variable input volume. The valve assembly has a base and an entrance plate. An outer guide, an inner guide and a shaft, each with a passage, are held together and the shaft is rotatable between the guides. The valve is open when the passages of the inner guide plate and shaft are aligned and closed when the passages are not aligned. The shaft RPM determines how many times per minute the valve opens. The open/closed ratio of the valve assembly determines how long the valve is open during each half revolution. The location of the shaft up or down in relationship to the inner guide determines what percentage of possible flow passes through the valve during each half revolution. The valve assembly can be used with either a gas or liquid medium.

Abstract: A rotor shaft disconnect clutch assembly includes a housing, a rotor supported for rotation with respect to the housing and a shaft supported for rotation with respect to the housing. An outer ring may be fixed to the rotor and have a radially inner surface. A slipper ring may be disposed radially between the outer ring and the shaft. A plurality of rollers may be disposed between the radially inner surface of the outer ring and the radially outer surface of the slipper ring that is configured to radially compress the slipper ring in response to rotational displacement of the slipper ring relative to the outer ring. An armature may be rotationally fixed to the rotor and configured to slide axially with respect to the rotor. The armature may have a feature configured to selectively engage a feature of the slipper ring to rotationally position the slipper ring with respect to the outer ring. A solenoid may be fixed to the housing and configured to selectively exert an axial force on the armature.

Abstract: A nonwoven sheet, having a first outwardly facing surface and a second outwardly facing surface. Wax is disposed in a wax pattern on the first surface; and oil is disposed in an oil pattern on the second surface. The oil pattern is not coincident the wax pattern so that wax blocks the oil from permeating through to the first surface. The first surface may be textured with peaks and valleys, having wax disposed on the peaks. This arrangement keeps the oil from contacting the target surface and leaving residue, while allowing the oil to collect and retain debris. The sheet may be executed as a dry sheet for cleaning surfaces such as floors or as a duster.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to compounds of formula I which are useful as kinase modulators including RIPK 1 modulation. The disclosure also provides methods of making and using the compounds for example in treatments related to necrosis or inflammation as well as other indications.