Abstract: A coated substrate comprising a coating extending over at least a part of the substrate. The coating is obtainable from a coating composition comprising (a) a polymeric binder; and (b) a feathering reducing agent comprising a carboxylic acid reactive functional group. The coated portion of the substrate comprises a pretreatment layer. The pretreatment layer is obtainable from a pretreatment composition that comprises a trivalent chromium compound. The invention extends to a method of coating a pre-treated substrate and a coated package, such as a metal can.

Abstract: Systems and methods for providing a separate interest rate for an individual transaction are disclosed. A system may provide a service associated with a account having an account balance and an associated first interest rate. The system may include a service device having one or more memory devices storing instructions and one or more processors configured to execute the instructions to perform a separate interest rate service process. The process may include providing a separate interest rate service offer to a client device and receiving a separate interest rate selection from the client device. The process may also include determining a selected portion of the account balance corresponding to an amount to which a second interest rate, different from the first interest rate, is to be applied based on the separate interest rate selection.

Abstract: A coating composition comprising (a) a polyester binder material; and (b) a feathering reducing agent. The feathering reducing agent is selected from (i) an acrylic feathering reducing agent comprising a functional group selected from hydroxyl, epoxide, phosphatized epoxide and/or acid-functional; (ii) a hydroxy-functional polyester feathering reducing agent; (iii) a feathering reducing agent comprising a functional group selected from amine, amide, imine and/or nitrile; (iv) a phosphatized epoxy feathering reducing agent; (v) a phenolic resin feathering reducing agent; and/or (vi) a feathering reducing agent comprising an oxazolyl functional group. The invention extends to a substrate coated with the coating composition and use of the coating composition to reduce feathering.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are joining methods (e.g., methods of forming a joined material) and devices comprising materials joined by said methods. For example, the disclosed subject matter related to methods of joining one or more metallized polymer current collectors together and/or to a tab. For example, the methods can comprise: placing one or more metallized polymer current collector proximate a tab, such that at least a portion of the metallized polymer current collector(s) overlaps with at least a portion of the tab in an overlap region; placing a conductive material proximate the overlap region; inducing flow of the conductive material such that the conductive material flows at least between the portion of the metallized polymer current collector(s) and the portion of the tab; and subsequently solidifying the conductive material, thereby forming a joint that joins the metallized polymer current collector(s) to the tab.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for generating three-dimensional reconstructions of environments. A system, for example, may include a housing having an image sensor directed in a first direction and a distance sensor directed in a second direction and a control unit including a processor and a memory storing instructions. The processor may be configured to execute the instructions to: generate a first 3D model of an environment; generate a plurality of revolved 3D models by revolving the first 3D model relative to the image sensor to a plurality of positions within a predetermined angular range; match a set of distance values to one of the revolved 3D models; determine an angular position of the second direction relative to the first direction; and generate a 3D reconstruction of the environment.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: A lead-free primer energetic composition including Cyanuric Triazide (60%), Tetracene (5%), Barium Nitrate (20%) and Antimony Trisulfide (15%) is produced. The lead-free primer energetic composition is used to construct a primary detonator including a transfer charge of Cyanuric Triazide, which produces a further initiation train that may subsequently detonate a secondary explosive, i.e., HDX, RDX, or a pyrotechnic device.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed. The techniques can be realized in many ways, such as in a replicator module that can be instantiated at each site in a distributed system. The techniques support a variety of data storage technologies such as traditional durable transactional databases as well as in-memory data storage systems, and a variety of data types such as relational, flat file, XML, and object-oriented data. Guaranteed levels of distributed transactional data consistency for both reads and writes are enabled for database applications. The techniques also support the ability of applications distributed across a network to perform updates concurrently, and the ability to replicate many standard database systems without needing to modify their intrinsic behavior or needing them to be aware of the replicator, and the ability to tolerate network and process failures without any change to the data consistency guarantees provided to the applications.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.

Abstract: A detonator for a hand grenade fuze comprises a detonator case; a slider that is transversely reciprocable in the detonator case from an unarmed position to an armed position, the slider including a longitudinal through-hole filled with a primary explosive; a spring that biases the slider to the unarmed position; an arming mechanism attached to the slider, the arming mechanism comprising a shape memory alloy; an explosive lead disposed below the slider; and a booster charge disposed below the explosive lead.

Abstract: A system and method (700) of indicating remaining life of a Non Volatile Memory (NVM) Array can be implemented in an integrated circuit. The method includes estimating (703) the remaining life of an NVM array by characterizing one or more cells to provide an estimate; comparing (709) the estimate to a threshold to provide a comparison; and when the estimate satisfies the threshold, providing (711) an indication corresponding to the comparison. The system comprises an NVM array (201); a controller (202) configured to control the NVM array, to estimate remaining life of the NVM array by characterizing one or more cells, and to provide an output signal corresponding to life expectancy of the NVM array; and a register (215) to store a flag corresponding to the output signal, where the flag may be used to provide information corresponding to predicted life expectancy to a user.

Abstract: Distributed transaction and lock management techniques are disclosed that manage and regulate access to distributed data. A lock manager module is provided for regulating access to resources by applications in a system having a number of nodes each communicatively coupled to a network. The module can be configured to be fault tolerant. In one embodiment, the module uses a totally ordered transport that imposes total ordering protocols on messaging between nodes. The module can exploit the multicast ability of the network (e.g., Ethernet or other network features that enable multicast). The module includes a queue for each resource, the queue identifying the node that owns distributed lock for that resource. Each queue can be replicated across the nodes in a distributed configuration.

Abstract: A Controller Area Network (CAN) node consists of a high-powered microcontroller, a low standby power regulator, a CAN bus transceiver, and a minimal CAN message buffer for storing received messages. Low power standby operation allows for the controller to power off, while the transceiver and regulator are operated in standby. The transceiver/regulator will enter run mode after the first symbol of a received CAN message is validated off the bus. As the original CAN message is received, it is buffered in the message buffer and, after stored, a status register is set to indicate the full message has been received. Once the controller has stabilized out of a wake-up mode, it retrieves the stored message and acts accordingly. The CAN message buffer is coupled to the controller by an system packet interface (SPI) interface for transmission of a controller wake-up command and retrieval of a buffered message.

Abstract: Distributed transaction and lock management techniques are disclosed that manage and regulate access to distributed data. A lock manager module is provided for regulating access to resources by applications in a system having a number of nodes each communicatively coupled to a network. The module can be configured to be fault tolerant. In one embodiment, the module uses a totally ordered transport that imposes total ordering protocols on messaging between nodes. The module can exploit the multicast ability of the network (e.g., Ethernet or other network features that enable multicast). The module includes a queue for each resource, the queue identifying the node that owns distributed lock for that resource. Each queue can be replicated across the nodes in a distributed configuration.

Abstract: A system and method (700) of indicating remaining life of a Non Volatile Memory (NVM) Array can be implemented in an integrated circuit. The method includes estimating (703) the remaining life of an NVM array by characterizing one or more cells to provide an estimate; comparing (709) the estimate to a threshold to provide a comparison; and when the estimate satisfies the threshold, providing (711) an indication corresponding to the comparison. The system comprises an NVM array (201); a controller (202) configured to control the NVM array, to estimate remaining life of the NVM array by characterizing one or more cells, and to provide an output signal corresponding to life expectancy of the NVM array; and a register (215) to store a flag corresponding to the output signal, where the flag may be used to provide information corresponding to predicted life expectancy to a user.

Abstract: Transactional database replication techniques are disclosed that do not require altering of the database management system implementation. A replicator module includes a dynamic membership manager, which is configured to manage the persistent membership of a coordination group. The persistent membership can be, for example, a durable set of sites that can replicate changes amongst themselves. Changes from sites not in the persistent membership are discarded. The set of recovered members is a subset of the persistent membership. The persistent membership changes incrementally by either removing or adding members. Failed members may still be part of the persistent membership. The dynamic membership manager module manages the modification of the persistent membership, initialization of replicas, and propagation of membership information.