Abstract: Embodiments disclose surgical instruments for retrieving excised tissue from a patient and, more particularly, to endoscopic surgical instruments such as pouches or retrieval bags for the removal of tissue through a small incision.

Abstract: An emergency pilot assistance system may include an artificial neural network configured to calculate reward (Q) values based on state-action vectors associated with an aircraft. The state-action vectors may include state data associated with the aircraft and action data associated with the aircraft. The system may further include a user output device configured to provide an indication of an action to a user, wherein the action corresponds to an agent action that has a highest reward Q value as calculated by the artificial neural network.

Abstract: In some embodiments, described is a system (and method) for providing an efficient preview capability for emails backed up to a cloud-based object storage. The email preview may be provided as part of an interface allowing a user to select individual emails to restore from the object storage. The system may extract specialized preview information as part of a backup procedure. The preview information may include metadata and email content. For example, the preview information may include various email details such as sender, receiver, subject line, time sent/received, filenames of any attachments, etc. The preview information may also include email content such as particular sentences from the email body containing keywords. The system may also store extracted preview information in a specialized manner such that the preview information may be retrieved without having to access the actual backup data.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for managing specialized metadata that may be used to manage and search incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. The system may create and store such metadata as part of a specialized metadata database that includes a data catalog and a backup catalog. The system may leverage the metadata database to initiate operations to efficiently manage incremental backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the metadata may be relied upon to efficiently reconstruct (e.g. synthetically) the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup. In addition, the metadata may include properties of the backed-up data, which are maintained separately from the backup data stored as objects. Accordingly, these properties may be searched to identify and locate backup data without having to retrieve the stored objects.

Abstract: Described is a system for synchronizing expiration times for incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may provide a layer of intelligence when updating the expiration times associated with backup data to ensure that a full recovery of the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup may be performed. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain specialized metadata identifying expiration times for objects and a list of objects required to perform a full recovery to a point-in-time for each of the performed backups (e.g. full or incremental). The system may access this metadata to identify which objects stored by a previous backup are still referenced by a subsequent backup. Based on the identified objects, the system may synchronize object expiration times to ensure objects are not prematurely deleted from the object storage.

Abstract: Described is a system that leverages object storage provided access controls to secure backup data stored on a third-party cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may implement a mechanism that ensures that a backup system acts as a gateway for accessing the backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the system may prevent object storage administrative accounts that are authorized to access data directly on the storage from maliciously or inadvertently jeopardizing the integrity of the backup data. Moreover, the backup system may encrypt the backup data to prevent such administrative accounts from performing various backup related operations such as data recovery. Accordingly, to perform backup operations and decrypt the backup data, an account must be authorized by the backup system acting as an exclusive gateway to the backup data stored on a third-party storage.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for managing specialized metadata that may be used to manage and search incremental backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. The system may create and store such metadata as part of a specialized metadata database that includes a data catalog and a backup catalog. The system may leverage the metadata database to initiate operations to efficiently manage incremental backup data stored on the object storage. For example, the metadata may be relied upon to efficiently reconstruct (e.g. synthetically) the client data to a point-in-time of any incremental backup. In addition, the metadata may include properties of the backed-up data, which are maintained separately from the backup data stored as objects. Accordingly, these properties may be searched to identify and locate backup data without having to retrieve the stored objects.

Abstract: Described is a system for rule-based re-tiering of backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More specifically, the system may re-tier objects based on one or more storage rules such that the system retains the ability to efficiently perform a full restore of backup data even when incremental backups are performed to a cloud-based object storage. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain a specialized metadata database that stores information indicating the backup time for each backup, and a list of objects required to perform a full restore to each of the backup times. Accordingly, when initiating a re-tiering based on one or more storage rules, the system may intelligently select candidate objects for re-tiering by leveraging the metadata database to ensure that objects that may still need to be referenced are not unnecessarily moved to a lower storage tier.

Abstract: Described is a system for intelligent re-tiering of backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage. More specifically, the system may re-tier objects such that the system retains the ability to efficiently perform a full restore of backup data even when incremental backups are performed to a cloud-based object storage. To provide such a capability, the system may maintain a specialized metadata database that stores information indicating the backup time for each backup, and a list of objects required to perform a full restore to each of the backup times. Accordingly, when using a threshold time (e.g. expiry) to select object candidates for re-tiering, the system may leverage the metadata database to ensure that objects that may still need to be referenced are not unnecessarily moved to a lower storage tier.

Abstract: Described is a system for managing backup data stored on a cloud-based object storage irrespective of the storage provider. The system may include a server (or gateway) that provides a backup service, and acts as an intermediary between a client device and object storage. To provide such capabilities, the system may manage an application programming interface (API) that provides a uniform set of methods to a client device irrespective of the destination object storage provider. A function library may include provider-specific functions that invoke corresponding storage-layer operations provided by the destination object storage. The server may also manage an operation pool to schedule operations and saturate bandwidth to the object storage. The server may also implement a specialized metadata database to provide further storage efficiencies by storing certain backup data exclusively within the metadata database.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for specialized data management when performing incremental backups to a cloud-based object storage. When backing up client data, the server may utilize incremental backups to conserve the amount of storage space required on the object storage. However, the server may implement a configuration that enables full reconstruction of the client data at the time of recovery. To provide such capabilities, the server may leverage a specialized metadata database. The metadata database may be an embedded database maintained by the server. The server may leverage the metadata database to provide further storage efficiencies by storing certain incremental backup data exclusively within the metadata database. Accordingly, the server may implement a data management configuration as part of a backup service that conserves storage usage, and as a result, storage costs when using on a third-party cloud-based object storage.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides systems and methods for test pattern generation to detect a hardware Trojan. One such method includes determining, by a computing device, a set of initial test patterns to activate the hardware Trojan within an integrated circuit design; evaluating nodes of the integrated circuit design and assigning a rareness attribute value and a testability attribute value associated with respective nodes of the integrated circuit design; and generating a set of additional test patterns to activate the hardware Trojan within the integrated circuit design using a reinforcement learning model. The set of initial test patterns is applied as an input along with rareness attribute values and testability attribute values associated with the nodes of the integrated circuit, and the reinforcement learning model is trained with a stochastic learning scheme to identify optimal test patterns for triggering nodes of the integrated circuit design.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for efficient object storage management when backing up data to a cloud-based object storage. The system may be implemented as part of a server (or gateway) that provides a backup service to a client device by acting as an intermediary when backing up data from the client device to a third-party cloud-based object storage. The system may implement various specialized procedures to efficiently store backup data as objects within the object storage. The procedures may include packing client data into objects of a consistent size to improve storage performance. The system may also improve storage performance and conserve storage by analyzing the data stored within an object and reallocating the data as necessary. More particularly, the system may efficiently reallocate data to new objects when the amount of live data within an object falls below a predetermined threshold.

Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and an apparatus for processing a substrate. The apparatus has a ring assembly. The ring assembly has an edge ring and a shadow ring. The edge ring has a ring shaped body. The edge ring body has a top surface and a bottom surface. Pin holes extend through the edge ring body from the top surface to the bottom surface. The shadow ring has a ring shaped body. The shadow ring body has an upper surface and a lower surface. Sockets are formed on the lower surface, wherein the sockets in the shadow ring body align with the pin holes in the edge ring body.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes digital watermark detection systems and methods. In one such system, a plurality of intellectual property cores are integrated on a system-on-chip, such that the intellectual property cores comprise a first intellectual property core and a second intellectual property core. The system further includes a first network interface connected to the first intellectual property core that can encode a first digital watermark into a packet stream designated for the second intellectual property core. The system further includes a second network interface connected to the second intellectual property core that can receive the packet stream and decode the packet stream to generate a second digital watermark. The second network interface is further configured to perform a validation test on the packet stream and deliver the packet stream to the second intellectual property core when the first digital watermark is determined to match the second digital watermark.

Abstract: An exemplary strike box is configured for use with a lockset including a bolt operable to move in an extending direction and a retracting direction. The strike box includes a housing having an opening sized and configured to receive the bolt, and further includes a bolt-slowing mechanism mounted in the housing. The bolt-slowing mechanism is configured to engage the bolt as the bolt moves in the extending direction, and to exert a force urging the bolt in the retracting direction. The force exerted by the bolt-slowing mechanism slows the extension speed of the bolt, such that the strike box reduces noise generated during such extension.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes systems and methods for hardware-assisted malware detection. One such system comprises a memory; and a hardware processor of a computing device operatively coupled to the memory. The hardware processor is configured to execute a software application suspected of being malware; monitor behavior of the software application at run-time; and acquire an input time sequence of data records based on a trace analysis of the software application, wherein the input time sequence comprises a plurality of features of the software application. The hardware processor is further configured to classify the software application as being a malicious software application based on the plurality of features of the software application; and output a ranking of a subset plurality of features by their respective contributions towards the classification of the software application as being malicious software.

Abstract: A process of preparing precipitated silica is disclosed. Said process comprises of reacting an aqueous solution of a metal silicate with a mineral acid in the presence of a surfactant solution comprising gelatin and C8-C20 sulfosuccinate blend, at a reaction temperature in a range of about 70 to 100° C. with constant stirring such that a reaction mixture having a pH of about 10·0.3 is obtained; optionally, allowing the reaction mixture to age at a temperature in a range of about 70 to 100° C. for a time period in range of 10 to 100 minutes; adjusting the pH of the reaction mixture to about 4, followed by aging said mixture at a temperature in a range of about 70 to 100° C. for a time period in a range of 10 minutes to 2 hours; and recovering the precipitated silica from the reaction mixture.

Abstract: Described is a system (and method) for cross application granular restore of email attachments backed up to a cloud-based object storage. More particularly, the system may allow various non-email applications to directly restore an email attachment of a backed-up email without requiring restoration of the email itself. The attachment may be a file, item (e.g., contact, event, message, etc.), or another type of attachment such as a link to a file or an item. To provide such a capability, the system may decouple the attachment from an email when performing a backup to an object storage. The system may also store specialized metadata that may be leveraged when performing an efficient restore of the attachment.

Abstract: Light-absorbing masks and methods of dicing semiconductor wafers are described. In an example, a method of dicing a semiconductor wafer including a plurality of integrated circuits involves forming a mask above the semiconductor wafer. The mask includes a water-soluble matrix based on a solid component and water, and a light-absorber species throughout the water-soluble matrix. The mask and a portion of the semiconductor wafer are patterned with a laser scribing process to provide a patterned mask with gaps and corresponding trenches in the semiconductor wafer in regions between the integrated circuits. The semiconductor wafer is plasma etched through the gaps in the patterned mask to extend the trenches and to singulate the integrated circuits. The patterned mask protects the integrated circuits during the plasma etching.