Abstract: A rockwork system includes a support structure comprising a plurality of modular construction blocks. The plurality of modular construction blocks includes at least one terminal modular construction block forming an exterior face of the support structure, and the at least one terminal modular construction block includes a first coupler in a first coupler active configuration. The support structure also includes at least one additional modular construction block coupled to the at least one terminal modular construction block, and the at least one additional modular construction block includes a second coupler in a second coupler inactive configuration. The rockwork system also includes at least one exterior shaped piece comprising a mesh support, and the at least one exterior shaped piece is disposed at least partially around the support structure and is coupled to the first coupler of the at least one terminal modular construction block via a complementary coupler.

Abstract: A high-speed data communications network in or on a building includes a plurality of trunk line segments serially coupled to each other by a plurality of passive circuits configured to deliver signals to, and to receive signals from, one or more devices on, in, or outside the building, wherein the signals comprise data having a greater than 1 Gpbs transmission rate.

Abstract: A coating, preferably a color coating, method for keratin fibers is described which includes three steps: activation, pretreatment and binding. The activation step includes one or both of a Praeparatur procedure and a Fundamenta procedure to produce modified fibers. The pretreatment step applies a pretreatment composition of at least a PTH alkoxysilane with PTH as a thiol, a protected thiol or a group complementarily reactive with thiol to the modified fibers to form pretreated fibers. The binding step applies a film forming composition to the pretreated fibers to form the color coating.

Abstract: A parallel position manipulator includes a top plate, a baseplate and a plurality of prismatic joint actuators. Each actuator includes an actuator joint having five Degrees of Freedom (DOF) at either the base plate or the top plate. When one or more of the actuators extends or contracts, the pivot points, or five DOF actuator joint, of the remaining actuators are allowed to shift in any axis other than that actuator's primary axis of motion.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for automatically inferring software-defined network policies from the observed workload in a computing environment. The disclosed techniques include monitoring network traffic flow originating from network interfaces corresponding to containers that execute components of an application, recording details of a new network connection or a change in the existing network connection, obtaining information concerning the components of the application, identifying metadata for a component involved in the new network connection or the change in an existing network connection based on a comparison of the details of the new network connection or a change in the existing network connection and the information concerning the components of the application, generating a network policy for the component using at least the metadata for the component, and integrating the network policy for the component into a deployment package for the application.

Abstract: A luminaire includes a housing defining an interior volume. The luminaire also includes a lamp within the interior volume and configured to emit light. Additionally, the luminaire includes a wireless antenna positioned within the interior volume, configured to transmit or receive a wireless signal along a first direction, and configured to be operatively coupled to an access point. The wireless antenna can be entirely within the interior volume. The luminaire can include a first reflective surface within the interior volume and configured to redirect the wireless signal. The lamp can be configured to be electrically coupled to a power inserter that powers the access point.

Abstract: Provided is a composition comprising: (a)a principal phase that is provided by a layered mixed metal oxide having a rocksalt structure belonging to the R-3m space group; the layered mixed metal oxide comprising the following component elements: 45 to 55 atomic % lithium; 20 to 55 atomic % of one or more transition metals selected from the group consisting of chromium, manganese, iron, nickel, cobalt, and combinations thereof; and 0 to 25 atomic % of one or more additional dopant elements selected from the group consisting of: magnesium, calcium, strontium, titanium, zirconium, vanadium, copper, ruthenium, zinc, molybdenum, boron, aluminium, gallium, tin, lead, bismuth, lanthanum, cerium, gadolinium and europium; wherein said atomic % is expressed as a % of total atoms of said layered oxide, excluding oxygen; (b)a minor phase that is provided by a metal oxide that does not have the crystal structure of the layered mixed metal oxide, the minor phase comprising one or more of the transition metals contained in t

Abstract: In a first aspect, provided herein is a beta/MPZ family-subunit-eliminated (beta/MPZ?) engineered-cell comprising a cell with functionally inactivated SCN1B, SCN2B, SCN3B, SCN4B, MPZL1, MPZL2, MPZL3, MPZ and JAML genes. In certain aspects, the beta/MPZ? cell further comprising a defined engineered voltage-gated sodium channel, wherein the engineered voltage-gated sodium channel comprises a sodium channel alpha subunit, at least one sodium channel beta subunit.

Abstract: A method and a system for polishing a wafer is disclosed. In one aspect, the method includes generating atmospheric plasma. The method further includes treating a component of a wafer processing system with the atmospheric plasma. The method further includes delivering a slurry containing abrasive and corrosive particles to a surface of the wafer processing system which includes atmospheric plasma-treated component. The method further includes polishing a wafer with the abrasive and corrosive particles.

Abstract: In certain embodiments, a method for designing a semiconductor device includes generating a 2D design for fabricating chiplets on a substrate. The chiplets are component levels for a multi-chip integrated circuit. The 2D design includes a first layout for alignment features and semiconductor structures to be formed on a first surface of a first chiplet and a second layout for alignment features and semiconductor structures to be formed on a first surface of a second chiplet. The first and second chiplets are adjacent on the substrate. The second layout is a mirror image of the first layout across a reference line shared by the first and second chiplets. The first surfaces of the first and second chiplets are both either top or bottom surfaces. The method further includes generating one or more photomasks according to the design.

Abstract: A semiconductor device including at least one barrier-protected metal feature and related methods of fabrication are described. A method of making a semiconductor device includes forming a barrier layer by steps including providing a metal precursor layer and converting the metal precursor layer into one or more two-dimensional monolayers including at least one chalcogenide. The method also includes causing the barrier layer to be in contact with at least one metal feature in a manner effective to provide the at least one barrier-protected metal feature.

Abstract: Embodiments of a wet etch process and methods are disclosed herein to provide uniform wet etching of material formed within features (e.g., trenches, holes, slits, etc.), and on more planar areas of a patterned substrate, when a critical dimension (CD) of the features is relatively small compared to the more planar areas of the patterned substrate. In the present disclosure, uniform wet etching is provided by ensuring that wall surfaces adjacent to the material being etched exhibit a neutral surface charge when exposed to the etch solution used to etch the material.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for automatically inferring software-defined network policies from the observed workload in a computing environment. The disclosed techniques include monitoring network traffic flow originating from network interfaces corresponding to containers that execute components of an application, recording details of a new network connection or a change in the existing network connection, obtaining information concerning the components of the application, identifying metadata for a component involved in the new network connection or the change in an existing network connection based on a comparison of the details of the new network connection or a change in the existing network connection and the information concerning the components of the application, generating a network policy for the component using at least the metadata for the component, and integrating the network policy for the component into a deployment package for the application.

Abstract: A presence detection system includes a presence detection field of an amusement park attraction, multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and a controller. The multiple transmitters send multiple light beams of multiple wavelengths and the multiple receivers receive the multiple light beams of the multiple wavelengths. The controller receives input from the multiple transmitters and receivers and determines presence of an object in the presence detection field based on an interruption of the multiple light beams as indicated by the input. The controller also determines reflected light beams of the multiple wavelengths, absorbed light beams of the multiple wavelengths, or both, based on the input. The controller determines the object as a known object or an unknown object based at least in part on the reflected light beams, the absorbed light beams, or both.

Abstract: A method (400) for representing an intended prosody in synthesized speech includes receiving a text utterance (310) having at least one word (240), and selecting an utterance embedding (204) for the text utterance. Each word in the text utterance has at least one syllable (230) and each syllable has at least one phoneme (220). The utterance embedding represents an intended prosody. For each syllable, using the selected utterance embedding, the method also includes: predicting a duration (238) of the syllable by decoding a prosodic syllable embedding (232, 234) for the syllable based on attention by an attention mechanism (340) to linguistic features (222) of each phoneme of the syllable and generating a plurality of fixed-length predicted frames (260) based on the predicted duration for the syllable.

Abstract: A lifting device is provided that includes side members, top support members, a front shield member, hoist assemblies, and a load member. The side members may be movable between a collapsed position and an extended position. Each top support member may be carried by one of the side members. The front shield member may be extended between and pivotally attached to each of the side members. The front shield member may be movable between a collapsed position and an extended position. Each hoist assembly may be carried by one of the side members. The hoist assemblies may be movable between a collapsed position and an extended position. The load member may be connected to each top support member. The load member may be moved between a retracted position and a released position when the hoist assemblies move between the collapsed position and the extended position.

Abstract: A method for generating frame values using a key frame network includes receiving a text utterance having at least one phoneme, and for each respective phoneme of the at least one phoneme, predicting, using a predictive model, a fixed quantity of key frames. Each respective key frame of the fixed quantity of key frames includes a representation of a component of the respective phoneme. The method also includes generating, using the fixed quantity of key frames, a plurality of frame values. Here, each respective frame value of the plurality of frame values is representative of a fixed-duration of audio.

Abstract: Provided herein is a method of and system for processing an optical fiber. The method includes the steps of drawing an optical fiber in a drawing direction along a process pathway through a coating chamber comprising an inlet and an outlet, and a coating liquid volume to coat the optical fiber; supplying the coating liquid through the inlet, the coating liquid exiting the coating chamber through the outlet; and recirculating to coating liquid exiting the coating chamber to the inlet.

Abstract: A special effect system may include fog generation equipment configured to generate fog, a show element comprising one or more compartments, and a controller communicatively coupled to the fog generation equipment. The fog generation equipment may include one or more positive pressure sources and one or more negative pressure sources. The controller may perform operations comprising applying negative pressure from the one or more negative pressure sources to the one or more compartments for a period of time, permitting the fog to enter the one or more compartments after the period of negative pressure, and applying a positive pressure from the one or more positive pressure sources to cause the fog to exit the one or more compartments to trigger a combustion effect.

Abstract: Embodiments of methods are provided for thermal dry etching of a ruthenium (Ru) metal layer. In the disclosed embodiments, a substrate containing a Ru metal layer formed thereon is exposed to a gas pulse sequence, while the substrate is held at a relatively high substrate temperature (e.g., a temperature greater than or equal to about 160° C.), to provide thermal etching of the Ru metal layer. As described further herein, the gas pulse sequence may generally include a plurality of gas pulses, which are supplied to the substrate sequentially with substantially no overlap between gas pulses. The gas pulses supplied to the substrate form: (i) volatile reaction products that are vaporized from the Ru surface, and (ii) non-volatile oxide surface layers that are removed from the Ru surface by the next gas pulse, resulting in atomic layer etching (ALE) of the Ru metal layer.