Abstract: A network system provides delivery of items using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones. The network system uses an infrastructure of nodes that include landing pads to dock drones, as well as interfaces to provide and receive items from docked drones. Nodes may be stationary (e.g., fixed at a building rooftop or public transit station) or mobile (e.g., mounted to a vehicle). The network system may determine a route for delivery of an item, where a drone transports the item for at least a portion of the route. For example, the route may include multiple waypoints associated with nodes between which drones travel. For other portions of the route, the network system may request a provider to transport the item using a ground-based vehicle.

Abstract: A vertical landing and take-off aircraft VTOL transitions from a vertical takeoff state to a cruise state where the vertical takeoff state uses propellers to generate lift and the cruise state uses wings to generate lift. The aircraft has an M-wing configuration with propellers located on the wingtip nacelles, wing booms, and tail boom. The wing boom and/or the tail boom can include boom control effectors. Hinged control surfaces on the wings, tail boom, and tail tilt during takeoff and landing to yaw the vehicle. The boom control effectors, cruise propellers, stacked propellers, and control surfaces can have different positions during different modes of operation in order to control aircraft movement and mitigate noise generated by the aircraft.

Abstract: A transport network management system identifies a service objective for a plurality of VTOL aircraft and retrieves VTOL data including locations of the plurality of VTOL aircraft. An estimate of demand for transport services to be provided at least in part by one of the VTOL aircraft is generated and routing data for the plurality of VTOL aircraft is determined based on the estimated demand and the service objective. Routing instructions based on the routing data are sent to at least a subset of the VTOL aircraft.

Abstract: A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft provides transportation to users of a network system. The network system may include multiple aircraft or other types of vehicles to provide multi-model transportation. An aircraft may include a fuselage, a truss coupled to the fuselage, and multiple distributed electric propellers coupled to the truss. The distributed electric propellers may be positioned on at least two different planes. The fuselage may include a cabin having one or more seats for the passengers arranged in a configuration that has a compact footprint, provides legroom, provides visibility to surroundings of the aircraft, or facilitates convenient ingress or egress of passengers. The aircraft may open a port cabin door and starboard cabin door for simultaneous ingress or egress of passengers.

Abstract: A method for directing network traffic includes, at a network device, receiving network traffic provided by one or more client computing devices. The network device directs the network traffic to a service entity over a first network path. A path quality indicator is received that indicates whether the network traffic directed over the first network path satisfies one or more experience criteria. Based at least on the path quality indicator indicating that the network traffic directed over the first network path does not satisfy the one or more experience criteria, the network device redirects some or all of the network traffic to the service entity over a second network path.

Abstract: A network system provides delivery of items using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones. The network system uses an infrastructure of nodes that include landing pads to dock drones, as well as interfaces to provide and receive items from docked drones. Nodes may be stationary (e.g., fixed at a building rooftop or public transit station) or mobile (e.g., mounted to a vehicle). The network system may determine a route for delivery of an item, where a drone transports the item for at least a portion of the route. For example, the route may include multiple waypoints associated with nodes between which drones travel. For other portions of the route, the network system may request a provider to transport the item using a ground-based vehicle.

Abstract: Compositions and methods for isolating new variants of known clustered regularly-interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) RNA-guided nuclease (RGN) genes and new CRISPR systems are provided. The methods find use in identifying CRISPR RGN gene variants in complex mixtures. Compositions comprise hybridization baits that hybridize to CRISPR RGN genes of interest in order to selectively enrich variant polynucleotides from complex mixtures. Bait sequences may be specific for a number of CRISPR RGN genes from distinct gene families of interest and may be designed to cover each CRISPR RGN gene of interest by at least 2-fold. Bait pools may also comprise baits for sequences flanking CRISPR RGN genes of interest to allow for the identification of tracrRNAs corresponding to novel CRISPR RGN variants and a complete CRISPR system comprising a CRISPR RGN and its associated guide RNA.

Abstract: In a device including a processor and a memory in communication with the processor, the memory includes executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to control the device to perform functions of connecting to a plurality of remote devices, using a network address and a port number that are usable for a plurality of remote devices to access the device; providing a plurality of tokens to a plurality of remote devices, respectively, each token being unique and associated with a different one of the plurality of remote devices; receiving from a first remote device, a first data packet including first media data and a first token associated with the first remote device; and identifying, based on the received first token, the first remote device as a source of the received first data packet.

Abstract: Various examples are directed to an aerial vehicle comprising a fuselage, a first wing member, and a second wing member. The fuselage may have a nose end and a tail end. The first wing member may extend from the fuselage and comprise a first drive motor coupled to the first rotor. The second wing member may also extend from the fuselage substantially opposite the first wing member and may comprise a second drive motor coupled to a second rotor. A first motor may be coupled to rotate the first wing member and the first rotor about a first axis substantially perpendicular to a fuselage axis extending from the nose end to the tail end. A second motor may be coupled to rotate the second wing member and the second rotor about a second axis substantially perpendicular to the fuselage axis. A controller circuit may be configured to differentially actuate the first motor and the second motor.

Abstract: A method for directing network traffic includes, at a network device, receiving network traffic provided by one or more client computing devices. The network device directs the network traffic to a service entity over a first network path. A path quality indicator is received that indicates whether the network traffic directed over the first network path satisfies one or more experience criteria. Based at least on the path quality indicator indicating that the network traffic directed over the first network path does not satisfy the one or more experience criteria, the network device redirects some or all of the network traffic to the service entity over a second network path.

Abstract: Techniques for endpoint configuration for a communication session are described. According to various implementations, a cloud-based connectivity service maintains network path information that identifies routing paths for routing communication sessions across different networks. The connectivity service is also able to determine configuration information for configuring endpoint devices to participate in a communication session. According to various implementations, configuration information is determined based on a packet quality of a routing path. Thus, an endpoint device can apply the configuration information to attempt to increase packet quality across a routing path, and thus increase media quality for a communication session at the endpoint device.

Abstract: A media session is established between a first device (e.g., endpoint) and a second device (e.g., endpoint) via a communication network based on connectivity checks performed by the devices. A set of candidate pairs, including network addresses available to the first device and the second device, is generated. Among the candidate pairs of the candidate pair set, a respective priority is initially assigned for connectivity checks. If a connectivity check modification condition is determined to be met for candidate pairs used for connectivity checks, the priority ordering of the candidate pairs is modified to produce a second priority ordering. This second priority ordering assigns a higher priority for a candidate pair which meets the connectivity check modification condition than a candidate pair that does not meet the condition. Based on the modified ordering, connectivity checks are performed, and the media session is configured and established using a candidate pair determined to be valid.

Abstract: A plant pot, blank for making a plant pot and a process for making a plant pot is provided. The blank and plant pot includes a support disposed a distance from the base wall of the plant pot to support a nesting container.

Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can provide opportunities to incorporate aerial transportation into transportation networks for cities and metropolitan areas. However, VTOL aircraft can be sensitive to uneven weight distributions, e.g., the payload of an aircraft is primarily loaded in the front, back, left, or right. When the aircraft is loaded unevenly, the center of mass of the aircraft may shift substantially enough to negatively impact performance of the aircraft. Thus, in turn, there is an opportunity that the VTOL may be loaded unevenly if seating, luggage placement, and/or positions of internal components are not coordinated. Among other advantages, dynamically assigning the payloads and adjusting components of the VTOL aircraft can increase VTOL safety by ensuring the VTOL aircraft is loaded evenly and meets all weight requirements; can increase transportation efficiency by increasing rider throughput; and can increase the availability of the VTOL services to all potential riders.

Abstract: A communication event is established between an initiating device and a responding device under the control of a remote communications controller. In a pre-session establishment phase: a compression dictionary or a dictionary link that identifies an addressable memory location, at which a compression dictionary is held, is received at the initiating device. The received compression dictionary or the received dictionary link is stored in electronic storage of the initiating device. In response to a communication event establishment instruction received at the initiating device after the dictionary or the dictionary link has been received and stored at the initiating device, a session is established between the initiating device and the communications controller by the initiating device transmitting an initial session establishment message—compressed using the dictionary—to the communications controller to establish the communication event.

Abstract: Techniques for a session identifier for a communication session are described. According to various implementations, a session identifier that is usable for initiating a communication session is allocated prior to the communication session being initiated. The session identifier can then be activated to enable the session identifier to be used for routing data packets of a communication session.

Abstract: Techniques for a session identifier for a communication session are described. According to various implementations, a session identifier that is usable for initiating a communication session is allocated prior to the communication session being initiated. The session identifier can then be activated to enable the session identifier to be used for routing data packets of a communication session.

Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can provide opportunities to incorporate aerial transportation into transportation networks for cities and metropolitan areas. However, VTOL aircraft can be sensitive to uneven weight distributions, e.g., the payload of an aircraft is primarily loaded in the front, back, left, or right. When the aircraft is loaded unevenly, the center of mass of the aircraft may shift substantially enough to negatively impact performance of the aircraft. Thus, in turn, there is an opportunity that the VTOL may be loaded unevenly if seating and/or luggage placement is not coordinated. Among other advantages, dynamically assigning the VTOL aircraft payloads can increase VTOL safety by ensuring the VTOL aircraft is loaded evenly and meets all weight requirements; can increase transportation efficiency by increasing rider throughput; and can increase the availability of the VTOL services to all potential riders.

Abstract: Methods, systems, apparatus, and computer program products related to a digital business management system for business transactions are provided. In an example embodiment, the digital business management system includes receiving a transaction data object generated as a part of a transaction event executed via an external commerce channel to be posted to a ledger, wherein the transaction data object comprises one or more metadata tags classifying the transaction event. The system further comprises generating an immutable ledger entry, parsing the transaction data object to identify the one or more metadata tags for storage in association with the transaction event, identifying a match between the one or more metadata tags received from the external commerce channel and one or more master metadata tags stored in the ledger and associated with a data object profile, and updating the data object profile by associating the immutable ledger entry with the data object profile.