Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods are provided for recognizing, diagnosing, mapping, sensing, monitoring and/or treating selected areas within a patient's body. The systems, devices and methods may be used to map, detect and/or quantify images and/or physiological parameters collected from the patient. One such system comprises an optical imaging device, such as an endoscope, and a processor coupled to the imaging device. The processor includes a software application configured to recognize the images captured by the optical imaging device and determine if the tissue contains a medical condition and may include an artificial neural network configured to develop at least one set of computer-executable rules useable to recognize the medical condition in the captured tissue images. The systems, devices and methods provided herein allow for a more objective and comprehensive inspection of the targeted areas within a patient so as to improve the diagnosis and ultimate treatment of patients.

Abstract: A tank vehicle for concealing drainage and emitting light for travel. The tank vehicle includes a main body that has a front bulkhead, a rear bulkhead opposite to the front bulkhead, an exterior wall operably engaged with the front bulkhead and the rear bulkhead, and at least one interior chamber defined collectively by the front bulkhead, the rear bulkhead, and the exterior wall and adapted to carry a load. The tank vehicle also includes a false bulkhead that is removably engaged with the main body and is located a distance away from one of the front bulkhead and the rear bulkhead. The tank vehicle also includes a rear lighting assembly that operably engages with one of the rear bulkhead and the false bulkhead. The main body is also capable of concealing drainage of precipitation exterior to the at least one interior chamber between the rear bulkhead and the false bulkhead.

Abstract: A lever system using a linkage assembly creates linear movement from a rotational movement of a lever. The lever system may be arranged as a grip assembly to activate a braking system of a vehicle. The linkage assembly may include a slide linkage, a bearing linkage, and a pivot linkage such that the lever may cause an end of the bearing linkage and an end of the pivot linkage to move toward the slide linkage, which causes the slide linkage to move in a linear direction. The grip assembly may have a lever that is pivotally connected with a housing of the grip assembly at a predetermined distance and with a contact region to prevent rotational movement in one direction while allowing rotational movement in the opposite direction. Further, the grip assembly may include a bearing linkage that is pivotally connected to the lever.

Abstract: An industrial development hub (IDH) supports industrial development and testing capabilities that are offered as a cloud-based service. The IDH comprises an enhanced storage platform and associated design tools that serve as a repository on which customers can store control project code, device configurations, and other digital aspects of an industrial automation project. The IDH system can facilitate discovery and management of digital content associated with control systems, and can be used for system backup and restore, code conversion, and version management.

Abstract: Endoscopic instruments, such as endoscopes, and devices and methods for cleaning endoscopic instruments are provided. A cleaning device for use with an endoscopic instrument comprises an elongate member configured for advancement through an internal lumen within the endoscopic instrument and a cleaning member removably coupled to a portion of the elongate member. The cleaning element comprises a variable pressure region shaped and configured to increase the hydrodynamic fluid friction force and fluid pressure force of a cleaner or detergent against the wall of the internal lumen of the endoscope to more effectively clean all internal surfaces of an endoscopic instrument, including crevasses, scratches or other irregularities, without further damaging these surfaces.

Abstract: Systems and methods are providing for endoscopically visualizing tissue within a patient. In one aspect, an endoscope comprises an elongate shaft having a distal end and a proximal end and a visualization section at the distal end of the shaft. The visualization section includes a proximal surface and an outer surface spaced apart from the proximal surface. At least one of the proximal surface or the outer surface of the visualization section has an average surface roughness less than about 50 nanometers RMS. The endoscope allows improved remote visualization while not interfering with the autofocus feature of a video capture system and not causing increased light reflectance and glare due to improved surface finish.

Abstract: A cleaning tray is provided for docking an extraction cleaner, including upright or robot extraction cleaners, for self-cleaning. The cleaning tray may include one or more sprayers for spraying a cleaning fluid toward a suction nozzle, brush chamber, and/or agitator of the extraction cleaner. Systems for self-cleaning extraction cleaners are also provided.

Abstract: An invertible tapping block having first and second opposed sides each configured to be struck with an impacting member, and a web between the sides, the web having upper and lower support surfaces to which a handle is selectively attached, and the web including opposed projections, different from each other, and configured to engage different configurations of flooring planks.

Abstract: An axial flow fan for use with a vehicle cooling system includes a hub defining an axis of rotation, and at least five blades supported on the hub. Each blade includes a leading edge, a trailing edge opposite the leading edge, a pressure side extending between the leading edge and the trailing edge, a suction side opposite the pressure side, a tip, and a root opposite the tip along a blade length. A solidity of the axial flow fan, measured as a percentage of an annular flow area between an outer diameter of the hub and an outer diameter of the tips of the blades projected onto a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation that is occupied by the blades, is less than 40%.

Abstract: An industrial information hub (IIH) and an industrial development hub (IDH) serve as an industrial ecosystem platform where multiple participants can deliver repeatable and standardized services relevant to their core competencies. The IIH system is centered around the development of an ecosystem that creates and delivers value to users - including industrial enterprises, OEMs, system integrators, vendors, etc. – through the aggregation of digital content and domain expertise. The IIH system serves as a trusted information broker between the ecosystem and the OT environments of plant facilities, and provides a platform for connecting assets, contextualizing asset data and providing secure access to the ecosystem. As part of this ecosystem, the IIH system uses a secure remote access architecture to allow users to remotely access data on their plant floor assets via a virtual private network connection.

Abstract: An industrial information hub (IDH) serves as a single industrial ecosystem platform where multiple participants can deliver repeatable and standardized services relevant to their core competencies. The IIH system is centered around the development of an ecosystem that creates and delivers value to users—including industrial enterprises, OEMs, system integrators, vendors, etc.—through the aggregation of digital content and domain expertise. The IIH system serves as a trusted information broker between the ecosystem and the OT environments of plant facilities, and provides a platform for connecting assets, contextualizing asset data and providing secure access to the ecosystem. Additionally, the IIH system provides tools and support to OEMs and other subject matter experts, allowing those experts to enable their digital assets for use in the ecosystem. The IIH system reduces the cost and risks for digital modeling of industrial assets.

Abstract: An industrial information hub (IIH) and an industrial development hub (IDH) serve as an industrial ecosystem platform where multiple participants can deliver repeatable and standardized services relevant to their core competencies. The IIH system is centered around the development of an ecosystem that creates and delivers value to users - including industrial enterprises, OEMs, system integrators, vendors, etc. - through the aggregation of digital content and domain expertise. The IIH system serves as a trusted information broker between the ecosystem and the OT environments of plant facilities, and provides a platform for connecting assets, contextualizing asset data and providing secure access to the ecosystem. As part of this ecosystem, the IIH system uses a secure remote access architecture to allow users to remotely access data on their plant floor assets via a virtual private network connection.

Abstract: A cloud-based industrial data services (IDS) architecture leverage smart tags, asset models, and data service applications to facilitate secure transaction and exchange of contextualized factory data between different parties as part of a combined technology and commerce platform, or to perform provide asset owners with insights into operation of their industrial assets. The IDS platform supports a set of services that connect providers of smart industrial devices to plant floor and systems owned by the end users of these devices. The cloud-based platform allows asset providers to publish data service applications for purchase and use by end users of their assets, and allows equipment owners to control remote access to selected sets of their industrial data via the cloud platform.

Abstract: A device having an optical element with a conductive coating. The device may include an optical element, a conductive material and at least one connector. The conductive material is disposed on at least a portion of the optical element. The optical element, for example, may be an object lens of an endoscope or an optical coupler. The connectors (acting as terminal(s)) are capable of providing energy (such as electrical energy) to the conductive material. In one aspect, the conductive material is an optically transparent material. Advantageously, the device may allow visualization of an object—such as body tissue or other matter—concurrent with the application of energy to the object via the conductive coating. This allows the user to observe the alteration of tissue and other matter in real time as the energy is delivered.

Abstract: An acousto-optic imaging system may include at least one transducer that transmits an ultrasound signal having a fundamental frequency ƒ. The acousto-optic imaging system includes at least one optical sensor that may produce one or more optical responses upon receiving harmonic-related ultrasound echoes corresponding to the transmitted ultrasound signal. For example, the one or more optical sensors may have a bandwidth ranging from at least ƒ/M to Nƒ, where M and N are integers greater than 1.

Abstract: According to an aspect, a computer-implemented method for performing distributed communication operations includes receiving a request, by a first computing system, to perform a distributed communication operation and obtaining, by the first computing system, a tree structure for performing the distributed communication operation, wherein the first computing system is a root node of the tree structure. The method also includes creating, by the first computing system, a message having header information and a payload for the distributed communication operation and transmitting, by the first computing system, a portion of the message to each child node of the first computing system, wherein the portion transmitted to each child node is unique.

Abstract: An industrial development hub (IDH) supports industrial development and testing capabilities that are offered as a cloud-based service. The IDH comprises an enhanced storage platform and associated design tools that serve as a repository on which customers can store control project code, device configurations, and other digital aspects of an industrial automation project. The IDH system can facilitate discovery and management of digital content associated with control systems, and can be used for system backup and restore, code conversion, and version management.

Abstract: A camera captures an image of a portion of a cart and accesses stored maps that map visual features of carts to a set of settings that are applied to an automatic fill control system. A map that matches visual features of the cart, in the captured image, is identified and the settings in that map are applied to the automatic fill control system.

Abstract: A foam stabilizing composition is disclosed. The composition comprises (A) a siloxane cationic surfactant comprising a cationic moiety having the formula Z1-D1-N(Y)a(R)2?a, wherein Z1 is a siloxane moiety, D1 is a divalent linking group, R is H or an unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms, subscript a is 1 or 2, and each Y has formula -D-NR13+, where D is a divalent linking group and each R1 is independently an unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms. The composition also comprises (B) an organic cationic surfactant comprising a cationic moiety having the formula Z2-D2-N(Y)b(R)2?b, wherein Z2 is an unsubstituted hydrocarbyl group, D2 is a covalent bond or a divalent linking group, subscript b is 1 or 2, and R, Y, and subscript a, are defined above. An aqueous film-forming foam comprising the composition and method of using the same are also disclosed.

Abstract: An endoscope companion or coupler device comprises a proximal end configured for attachment to a working end of an endoscope and a visualization section for allowing viewing of tissue. The coupler device includes an instrument channel, such as a working channel extension or an open passageway, having an open distal end and a proximal end that is configured for alignment with a working channel of the endoscope. The coupler device is configured to constrain and/or secure an instrument that has passed through the instrument channel to ensure that the instrument remains in place at the target site and/or to facilitate instrument exchange. The coupler device also provides a protective cover to reduce the ingress of debris, fluid, bacteria, or other unwanted matter from the working end of the endoscope which could lead to infection and decreased performance of the scope.