Abstract: A self-deploying float assembly to support mechanical equipment such as aerators and mixers for use in water, wastewater and process water stream treatment basins and a method of installing same.

Abstract: A self-deploying float assembly to support mechanical equipment such as aerators and mixers for use in water, wastewater and process water stream treatment basins and a method of installing same.

Abstract: A self-deploying float assembly to support mechanical equipment such as aerators and mixers for use in water, wastewater and process water stream treatment basins and a method of installing same.

Abstract: An isolator system for preventing the conduction of thermal energy between the metal components of a wall assembly comprising isolator plates adapted to be placed between the metal components of a wall assembly and made of an insulating material. The isolator plates include at least one opening for receiving a fastener, said opening has an annular shoulder adapted to extend into an opening for receiving said fastener in a metal component of a wall assembly. Also disclosed herein is a thermal isolation washer and a girt for use with polymer panel construction.

Abstract: Waste heat is extracted from the exhaust (20) of a biomass dryer (14) in a grain alcohol plant (10). A boiler circuit (74) provides high pressure steam to a balance of the plant (64). A recovered energy circuit (76) extracts heat from the exhaust via a dryer exhaust condensing economizer (24) and provides a steam mixture (60) to satisfy an intermediate pressure steam demand of the balance of the plant, thereby bypassing a portion of the boiler circuit. Working fluids in the boiler and recovered energy circuits are intermixed in a boiler feed vessel (72). Dryer exhaust condensate (30) may be used in an exhaust gas scrubber (22) upstream of the dryer exhaust condensing economizer to remove pollutants and to saturate (26) the exhaust gas for improved heat transfer. Heat transfer may be further improved by operating the dryer exhaust condensing economizer at an elevated pressure.

Abstract: A markerless tracking device comprising a source configured to direct a beam on a plurality of beam paths, where each beam path illuminates a distinct region of an object; a sensor configured to receive beam reflected from each region in order to generate an image of each region; and a processor configured to generate a metric which indicates suitability of a beam trajectory, wherein the metric is generated by comparing images of selected regions, and wherein the beam trajectory is a path over which the beam is to be directed by the source during markerless tracking of the object.

Abstract: An isolator system for preventing the conduction of thermal energy between the metal components of a wall assembly comprising isolator plates adapted to be placed between the metal components of a wall assembly and made of an insulating material. The isolator plates include at least one opening for receiving a fastener, said opening has an annular shoulder adapted to extend into an opening for receiving said fastener in a metal component of a wall assembly. Also disclosed herein is a thermal isolation washer and a girt for use with polymer panel construction.

Abstract: A tissue dispenser includes: (a) a housing and cover that attach together and form an interior region for holding multiple tissue rolls and a dispenser opening for dispensing tissue from the dispenser interior; (b) a first roll holder located within the interior region, the first roll holder comprising a first back panel and a first mandrel extending from the first back panel, the first back panel is constructed to rotate, relative to the housing, between a locked position and an unlocked position, and the first mandrel is constructed to receive a first tissue roll; (c) a second roll holder located within the interior region, the second roll holder comprising a second back panel and second mandrel extending from the second back panel, the second back panel is constructed to rotate relative to the housing, between a locked position and an unlocked position, and the second mandrel is constructed to receive a second tissue roll; and (d) a door constructed to move within the dispenser opening between a first posi

Abstract: RAW images and/or light field images may be compressed through the use of specialized techniques. The color depth of a light field image may be reduced through the use of a bit reduction algorithm such as a K-means algorithm. The image may then be retiled to group pixels of similar intensities and/or colors. The retiled image may be padded with extra pixel rows and/or pixel columns as needed, and compressed through the use of an image compression algorithm. The compressed image may be assembled with metadata pertinent to the manner in which compression was done to form a compressed image file. The compressed image file may be decompressed by following the compression method in reverse.

Abstract: RAW images and/or light field images may be compressed through the use of specialized techniques. The color depth of a light field image may be reduced through the use of a bit reduction algorithm such as a K-means algorithm. The image may then be retiled to group pixels of similar intensities and/or colors. The retiled image may be padded with extra pixel rows and/or pixel columns as needed, and compressed through the use of an image compression algorithm. The compressed image may be assembled with metadata pertinent to the manner in which compression was done to form a compressed image file. The compressed image file may be decompressed by following the compression method in reverse.

Abstract: According to various embodiments, the system and method of the present invention process light-field image data so as to reduce color artifacts, reduce projection artifacts, and/or increase dynamic range. These techniques operate, for example, on image data affected by sensor saturation and/or microlens modulation. Flat-field images are captured and converted to modulation images, and then applied on a per-pixel basis, according to techniques described herein.

Abstract: A network-based service may be provided for facilitating queries for a number of items, such as travel services. A user may submit a query including criteria for determining relevant items. The network-based service may be configured to generate opaque search results in response to queries, revealing sufficient detail to allow the user to confirm the relevance of the travel item, but insufficient detail to disclose the identity of the supplier. Based on the submitted query or other information, the network-based service may associate a persona with the user, such as the persona of a business or leisure traveler. The network-based service may use the persona to determine a travel item or items best suited to the user, by identifying the travel item attributes that correlate positively with preferences of the persona. The network-based service may then generate an opaque search result that reveals travel item attributes desired by the persona.

Abstract: RAW images and/or light field images may be compressed through the use of specialized techniques. The color depth of a light field image may be reduced through the use of a bit reduction algorithm such as a K-means algorithm. The image may then be retiled to group pixels of similar intensities and/or colors. The retiled image may be padded with extra pixel rows and/or pixel columns as needed, and compressed through the use of an image compression algorithm. The compressed image may be assembled with metadata pertinent to the manner in which compression was done to form a compressed image file. The compressed image file may be decompressed by following the compression method in reverse.

Abstract: Light-field image data is processed in a manner that reduces projection artifacts in the presence of variation in microlens position by calibrating microlens positions. Approximate centers of disks in a light-field image are identified, and gridded calibration is performed, by fitting lines to disk centers along orthogonal directions, and then fitting a rigid grid to the light-field image. For each grid region, a corresponding disk center is computed, and a displacement vector is generated. For each grid region, the final disk center is computed as the vector sum of the grid region's geometric center and displacement vector. Calibration data, including displacement vectors, is then used in calibrating disk centers for more accurate projection of light-field images. In at least one embodiment, the imaging geometry is arranged so that disks are separated by a gap, so as to limit or eliminate ghosting.

Abstract: An isolator system for preventing the conduction of thermal energy between the metal components of a wall assembly comprising isolator plates adapted to be placed between the metal components of a wall assembly and made of an insulating material. The isolator plates include at least one opening for receiving a fastener, said opening has an annular shoulder adapted to extend into an opening for receiving said fastener in a metal component of a wall assembly. Also disclosed herein is a thermal isolation washer and a girt for use with polymer panel construction.

Abstract: A modular system for continuously insulating exterior walls of a structure and cladding the structure walls provides thermally isolated MFI-brackets secured to a structural wall supporting thermally isolated vertical or horizontal rails supporting exterior cladding. Thermal insulation is positionally retained against the structure wall interior of the exterior cladding by the MFI-brackets and a pressure equalized moisture controlling rain screen is maintained between the interior surface of the exterior cladding and an exterior facing surface of the insulation.

Abstract: According to various embodiments, the system and method of the present invention process light-field image data so as to reduce color artifacts, reduce projection artifacts, and/or increase dynamic range. These techniques operate, for example, on image data affected by sensor saturation and/or microlens modulation. Flat-field images are captured and converted to modulation images, and then applied on a per-pixel basis, according to techniques described herein.

Abstract: In various embodiments, the present invention relates to methods, systems, architectures, algorithms, designs, and user interfaces for capturing, processing, analyzing, displaying, annotating, modifying, and/or interacting with light-field data on a light-field capture device. In at least one embodiment, the light-field capture device communicates to the user information about the scene during live-view to aid him or her in capturing light-field images that provide increased refocusing ability, increased parallax and perspective shifting ability, increased stereo disparity, and/or more dramatic post-capture effects. Additional embodiments present a standard 2D camera interface to software running on the light-field capture device to enable such software to function normally even though the device is actually capturing light-field data.

Abstract: A tissue dispenser includes: (a) a housing and cover that attach together and form an interior region for holding multiple tissue rolls and a dispenser opening for dispensing tissue from the dispenser interior; (b) a first roll holder located within the interior region, the first roll holder comprising a first back panel and a first mandrel extending from the first back panel, the first back panel is constructed to rotate, relative to the housing, between a locked position and an unlocked position, and the first mandrel is constructed to receive a first tissue roll; (c) a second roll holder located within the interior region, the second roll holder comprising a second back panel and second mandrel extending from the second back panel, the second back panel is constructed to rotate relative to the housing, between a locked position and an unlocked position, and the second mandrel is constructed to receive a second tissue roll; and (d) a door constructed to move within the dispenser opening between a first posi

Abstract: According to various embodiments, a dolly zoom effect is generated using light field image data. The dolly zoom effect simulates an in-camera technique wherein a camera moves toward or away from the subject in such a way that the subject is kept at the same size throughout the effect. The effect causes the relative size of foreground background elements to change while foreground elements such as the subject remain the same size. By varying a parameter while projecting the light field image, the size of each object in the projection image scales depending on its relative depth as compared with the depth of the target subject, thus simulating the dolly zoom effect without any need to physically move the camera.