Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: An emergency lighting power supply includes a rechargeable battery; ballast circuitry configured to supply power to an external light, battery charging circuitry configured to charge the battery, and a controller. The controller determines an amount of time the rechargeable battery has discharged to supply power, via the ballast circuitry, to the external light. If the amount of time is less than a threshold, the controller causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a first current to charge the battery for a first charging period that is proportional to the amount of time, and causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a second current to charge the battery subsequent to the end of the first charging period.

Abstract: SSC energy buffer circuit includes a switching network and a plurality of energy storage capacitors. The switching network may operate at a relatively low switching frequency and can take advantage of soft charging of the energy storage capacitors to reduce loss. Efficiency of the SSC energy buffer circuit can be extremely high compared with the efficiency of other energy buffer circuits. The SSC energy buffer architecture exhibits losses that scale with the amount of energy buffered, such that a relatively high efficiency can be achieved across a desired operating range. Improvements in SSC energy buffer circuits include, in various implementations, the use of ground reference gate drive, the elimination of a separate precharge circuit through control of at least a portion of the switches of the SSC energy buffer circuit, and/or optimized ratio of capacitance values of two or more capacitors in an SSC energy buffer circuit.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: An emergency lighting power supply includes a rechargeable battery; ballast circuitry configured to supply power to an external light, battery charging circuitry configured to charge the battery, and a controller. The controller determines an amount of time the rechargeable battery has discharged to supply power, via the ballast circuitry, to the external light. If the amount of time is less than a threshold, the controller causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a first current to charge the battery for a first charging period that is proportional to the amount of time, and causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a second current to charge the battery subsequent to the end of the first charging period.

Abstract: An emergency lighting power supply includes a rechargeable battery; ballast circuitry configured to supply power to an external light, battery charging circuitry configured to charge the battery, and a controller. The controller determines an amount of time the rechargeable battery has discharged to supply power, via the ballast circuitry, to the external light. If the amount of time is less than a threshold, the controller causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a first current to charge the battery for a first charging period that is proportional to the amount of time, and causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a second current to charge the battery subsequent to the end of the first charging period.

Abstract: High power output may be obtained from a photovoltaic (PV) system by controlling each photovoltaic cell of a solar array individually to operate at its maximum power point. Each cell may have associated power electronics and control circuitry that may be integrated together on a chip which may be advantageously implemented in CMOS, enabling reductions in cost and size. A perturb and observe algorithm may be used to find the maximum power point by measuring the power produced at different operating points, and modifying the operating point in the direction of increased power production. In one aspect, performance of a perturb and observe algorithm may be improved in the presence of noise.

Abstract: Wearable devices configured to detect the presence, concentration, number, or other properties of magnetic nanoparticles disposed in subsurface vasculature of a person are provided. The wearable devices are configured to detect, using one or more magnetometers, magnetic fields produced by the magnetic nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the magnetometer(s) are atomic magnetometers. In some embodiments, the wearable devices include magnets or other means to magnetize the magnetic nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the wearable devices produce a time-varying magnetic field, and the magnetometer(s) are configured to detect a time-varying magnetic field responsively produced by the magnetic nanoparticles. In some embodiments, the magnetic nanoparticles are configured to bind to an analyte of interest and detected properties of the magnetic nanoparticles can be used to determine the presence, concentration, or other properties of the analyte.

Abstract: An emergency lighting power supply includes a rechargeable battery; ballast circuitry configured to supply power to an external light, battery charging circuitry configured to charge the battery, and a controller. The controller determines an amount of time the rechargeable battery has discharged to supply power, via the ballast circuitry, to the external light. If the amount of time is less than a threshold, the controller causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a first current to charge the battery for a first charging period that is proportional to the amount of time, and causes the battery charging circuitry to supply a second current to charge the battery subsequent to the end of the first charging period.

Abstract: A hockey skate includes a fiber-reinforced, composite frame, or an injected plastic frame, including a boot form and integral pedestals that serve as a blade-holder. The pedestals are integral with the bottom of the boot sole and are optionally spaced relatively far apart to provide a long span between them. An optional bridge assembly may be used to connect the blade to the pedestals. The bridge assembly may provide increased stiffness and vibration damping, as well as customized fit options.

Abstract: SSC energy buffer circuit includes a switching network and a plurality of energy storage capacitors. The switching network may operate at a relatively low switching frequency and can take advantage of soft charging of the energy storage capacitors to reduce loss. Efficiency of the SSC energy buffer circuit can be extremely high compared with the efficiency of other energy buffer circuits. The SSC energy buffer architecture exhibits losses that scale with the amount of energy buffered, such that a relatively high efficiency can be achieved across a desired operating range. Improvements in SSC energy buffer circuits include, in various implementations, the use of ground reference gate drive, the elimination of a separate precharge circuit through control of at least a portion of the switches of the SSC energy buffer circuit, and/or optimized ratio of capacitance values of two or more capacitors in an SSC energy buffer circuit.

Abstract: A reversible chest protector includes internal padding configured to absorb impacts against both the front and rear-facing surfaces of the chest protector. The chest protector includes inner and outer layers of fabric that are molded to an internal foam core. The foam core may include outer layers of closed-cell foam molded to the fabric layers, and an internal layer of open-cell foam molded to the closed-cell foam layers, such that the padding layup is symmetrical. Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter.

Abstract: High power output may be obtained from a photovoltaic (PV) system by controlling each photovoltaic cell of a solar array individually to operate at its maximum power point. Each cell may have associated power electronics and control circuitry that may be integrated together on a chip which may be advantageously implemented in CMOS, enabling reductions in cost and size. A perturb and observe algorithm may be used to find the maximum power point by measuring the power produced at different operating points, and modifying the operating point in the direction of increased power production. In one aspect, performance of a perturb and observe algorithm may be improved in the presence of noise.

Abstract: A reversible chest protector includes internal padding configured to absorb impacts against both the front and rear-facing surfaces of the chest protector. The chest protector includes inner and outer layers of fabric that are molded to an internal foam core. The foam core may include outer layers of closed-cell foam molded to the fabric layers, and an internal layer of open-cell foam molded to the closed-cell foam layers, such that the padding layup is symmetrical. Other features and advantages will appear hereinafter.