Abstract: An improved particle beam inspection apparatus, and more particularly, a particle beam inspection apparatus including an improved load lock unit is disclosed. An improved load lock system may comprise a plurality of supporting structures configured to support a wafer and a conditioning plate including a heat transfer element configured to adjust a temperature of the wafer. The load lock system may further comprise a gas vent configured to provide a gas between the conditioning plate and the wafer and a controller configured to assist with the control of the heat transfer element.

Abstract: Systems and methods include a cooking appliance comprising a heating element disposed within a cooking chamber and operable to selectively emit waves at any of a plurality of powers and/or peak wavelengths, a camera operable to capture an image of the cooking chamber, and a computing device operable to supply power to the heating element to vary the power and/or peak wavelength of the emitted waves and generate heat within the cooking chamber, and instruct the camera to capture the image when the heating element is emitting at a stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device is operable to generate an adjusted captured image by adjusting the captured image with respect to the stabilized power and/or peak wavelength. The computing device comprises feedback components operable to receive the adjusted captured image, extract features, and analyze the one or more features to determine an event, property, measurement and/or status.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and apparatus for detecting microamplifications or microdeletions in the genome of a fetus. In some embodiments, the method comprises receiving sequence tags for each of a plurality of DNA fragments in a biological sample; determining genomic positions for the sequence tags; determining whether the density of DNA in each of a plurality of genomic regions is aberrantly high or low; identifying as a microamplification a set of consecutive genomic regions having aberrantly high density; and identifying as a microdeletion a set of consecutive genomic regions having aberrantly low density. The biological sample may be a blood sample obtained noninvasively from a female subject pregnant with the fetus.

Abstract: One or more aspects of the present disclosure are directed to fixturing mechanisms for placement of battery cells inside an ultrasonic testing system. The disclosed fixturing mechanisms enable accurate and predictable loading, placement, and unloading of battery cells inside ultrasonic testing systems allowing all faces of battery cells of different types (e.g., pouch cells, prismatic cells, cylindrical cells, etc.) to have sufficient exposure to transmission and reception of acoustic signals. This fixturing mechanism furthers the goal of providing a robustly designed ultrasonic test system and producing accurate inspection results for batteries.

Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a suite of testing apparatuses and non-destructive, acoustic inspection methods for scanning and inspecting batteries to determine and characterize various physical phenomena in these batteries. In one aspect, a rastering system for non-invasive and acoustic inspection of battery cells includes a holder for placing a battery cell inside the system for the acoustic inspection, at least one transducer configured to perform acoustic measurements on the battery cell, and a controller configured with inspection parameters for performing the acoustic measurements, the inspection parameters being dynamic and interchangeable depending on at least one or more of a shape, a size, and a form factor of the battery cell.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for measuring process characteristics including electrolyte distribution in a battery cell. A non-destructive method for analyzing a battery cell includes determining acoustic features at two or more locations of the battery cell, the acoustic features based on one or more of acoustic signals travelling through at least one or more portions of the battery cell during one or more points in time or responses to the acoustic signals obtained during one or more points in time, wherein the one or more points in time correspond to one or more stages of electrolyte distribution in the battery cell. One or more characteristics of the battery cell are determined based on the acoustic features at the two or more locations of the battery cell.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for measuring process characteristics including electrolyte distribution in a battery cell. A non-destructive method for analyzing a battery cell includes determining acoustic features at two or more locations of the battery cell, the acoustic features based on one or more of acoustic signals travelling through at least one or more portions of the battery cell during one or more points in time or responses to the acoustic signals obtained during one or more points in time, wherein the one or more points in time correspond to one or more stages of electrolyte distribution in the battery cell. One or more characteristics of the battery cell are determined based on the acoustic features at the two or more locations of the battery cell.

Abstract: The disclosed computer-implemented method may include efficiently surfacing the availability of constrained transportation options such that the utilization of those options is at least partially maximized and directed to users for whom the options would be a positive user experience. During busy times, requests for transportation with a high estimated arrival time and/or to a low-demand area may not be the most efficient matches for constrained transportation options such as autonomous vehicles. Instead, waiting for a transportation request with a lower estimated arrival time and/or to a higher-demand area may be a better choice in terms of maximizing the percentage of time an autonomous vehicle spends transporting passengers and reducing the time passengers spend waiting for an autonomous vehicle. In some embodiments, dynamically altering the mode-availability radius of an autonomous vehicle may increase the utilization of the autonomous vehicle.

Abstract: Systems and techniques for measuring process characteristics including electrolyte distribution in a battery cell. A non-destructive method for analyzing a battery cell includes determining acoustic features at two or more locations of the battery cell, the acoustic features based on one or more of acoustic signals travelling through at least one or more portions of the battery cell during one or more points in time or responses to the acoustic signals obtained during one or more points in time, wherein the one or more points in time correspond to one or more stages of electrolyte distribution in the battery cell. One or more characteristics of the battery cell are determined based on the acoustic features at the two or more locations of the battery cell.

Abstract: An apparatus for performing non-invasive stimulation of an animal's body, the apparatus comprising: a connector body having a conductor and a pair of stimulators electrically coupled to said conductor, the pair of stimulators being disposed on the connector body to allow the cutaneous surface of the animals body to be engaged therebetween. In use, a power source is electrically coupled to said conductor to transmit an electric current to the pair of stimulators to perform non-invasive stimulation on the animals body as current passes therethrough.