Abstract: A metallic nanowire having an aspect ratio of at least 100 and a diameter less than 200 nanometers composed of at least one of bismuth, indium, tin, lead, zinc, antimony and alloys of the same and a method of making the same from a thin film composite.

Abstract: A metallic nanowire having an aspect ratio of at least 100 and a diameter less than 200 nanometers composed of at least one of bismuth, indium, tin, lead, zinc, antimony and alloys of the same and a method of making the same from a thin film composite.

Abstract: A self-healing tribological surface comprises a shape memory material. The self-healing tribological surface can be used for recovering a scratches and/or indentations in the surface. Processes for recovering scratches or indentations generally comprises forming a shape memory material onto the surface; scratching or indenting the surface; and heating an area about the scratch or indentation, wherein a depth of the scratch or the indentation decreases after heating as compared to the depth prior to heating.

Abstract: A material and method for adhering at least two materials that includes the step of interposing at least one intermediate layer between the two materials and associated adhesion material. The materials to be adhered exhibit at least one characteristic dissimilarity and the intermediate material interposed contains at least one shape memory alloy, the shape memory alloy capable of exhibiting superelasticity.

Abstract: A metallic nanowire having an aspect ratio of at least 100 and a diameter less than 200 nanometers composed of at least one of bismuth, indium, tin, lead, zinc, antimony and alloys of the same and a method of making the same from a thin film composite.

Abstract: A metallic nanowire having an aspect ratio of at least 100 and a diameter less than 200 nanometers composed of at least one of bismuth, indium, tin, lead, zinc, antimony and alloys of the same and a method of making the same from a thin film composite.

Abstract: A releasable fastener system comprises a loop portion and a hook portion. The loop portion includes a support and a loop material disposed on one side thereof. The hook portion includes a support and a plurality of closely spaced upstanding hook elements extending from one side thereof, wherein the plurality of hook elements comprises a fiber and a shape memory alloy coating deposited onto the fiber, and wherein the fiber and the shape memory alloy coating comprises a non-axisymmetric coating or deposition of the shape memory alloy about a portion of the fiber. When the hook portion and loop portion are pressed together they interlock to form a releasable engagement. The resulting joint created by the engagement is relatively resistant to shear and pull forces and weak in peel strength forces.

Abstract: A multi-channel feed network includes a common waveguide section (either square or circular) for connection to a satellite antenna for propagating two orthogonal polarizations. The feed network further includes a low pass section connected with the common waveguide, and a high pass section. The low pass section includes a band reject filter (BRF) formed from slots cut to reject higher frequency signals. The high pass section can be a rectangular waveguide functioning to filter low frequency signals. Orthogonal linear polarizations are provided for the high frequency bands by adding additional high pass sections connected by power dividers, and for the low frequency bands by adding a conventional OMT. By using two 90° degree hybrid couplers and two power dividers, a high pass network can be created to support dual circular or linear polarizations. The high pass network can be die cast as an integrated unit to simplify manufacturing.

Abstract: A releasable fastener system comprises a loop portion and a hook portion. The loop portion includes a support and a loop material disposed on one side thereof. The hook portion includes a support and a plurality of closely spaced upstanding hook elements extending from one side thereof, wherein the plurality of hook elements comprises a fiber and a shape memory alloy coating deposited onto the fiber, and wherein the fiber and the shape memory alloy coating comprises a non-axisymmetric coating or deposition of the shape memory alloy about a portion of the fiber. When the hook portion and loop portion are pressed together they interlock to form a releasable engagement. The resulting joint created by the engagement is relatively resistant to shear and pull forces and weak in peel strength forces.

Abstract: A planetary gearset includes a sun gear member having a sun gear body made of a steel material and an outer periphery with a plurality of teeth formed thereon. Each of the sun gear teeth has at least one mating surface for engaging mating surfaces on complementary teeth on at least one planet gear. A fatigue-resistant coating is applied to the mating surfaces of the sun gear teeth. The coating is harder and more abrasive than the mating surfaces of the planet gear teeth.

Abstract: A dual band antenna feed is made with an embedded waveguide structure to enable combining of Ka and Ku band signals without the need for an additional cavity-type filter. The antenna feed includes a Ka and Ku band interface section (22) with two Ka band vertical polarization waveguide sections (31) and (32), and a single Ku band waveguide section (34) which carries both vertical and horizontal polarization Ku band signals. The opposing walls (36-37) of the Ku band waveguide (34) carrying the vertical polarization Ku band signals are transitioned to step down from an input section (40) to successively smaller dimensioned sections (41-44), and then to step back up in successively larger dimensioned sections (45-47) to an output section (48). The two Ka band sections (31-32) are fed into openings in Ku band section.(46), on opposite sides of the opening for the Ku band transition section (45). The output section (48) then provides a combined Ka band vertical and Ku band horizontal and vertical signals.

Abstract: A card reader separable from a host machine is provided. The card reader includes a main body having a first card-placing slot for placing therein a first memory card, a connection port mounted on the main body for separably connecting with a plug, and a carrying rack mounted inside the host machine for mounting thereon the plug and separable carrying the main body so that the card reader can be separated from the host machine. The mobile card reader provided here is able to be used in both ways of being built-in the host machine and being connected from the outside.

Abstract: A card reader separable from a host machine is provided. The card reader includes a main body having a first card-placing slot for placing therein a first memory card, a connection port mounted on the main body for separably connecting with a plug, and a carrying rack mounted inside the host machine for mounting thereon the plug and separably carrying the main body so that the card reader can be separated from the host machine. The mobile card reader provided here is able to be used in both ways of being built-in the host machine and being connected from the outside.

Abstract: A device is proposed for transferring from a memory card interface to a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface. There are a universal I/O device able to simulate signals from a memory card interface; a micro controller able to control the universal I/O device to access the data in the memory card and to generate a USB data package; a USB serial interface engine able to transfer the USB data package from the micro controller to a serial data stream; and a USB transfer/receive device able to connect to a USB storage device and to transfer the serial data stream to a USB electrical signal.

Abstract: An electrically conductive fluid distribution element for a fuel cell which comprises an electrically conductive substrate, a flow field for distributing fluid along a surface of the substrate, and an electrically conductive coating on the surface which comprises a noble metal, desirably Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ir, Pt, Os, and preferably Au.

Abstract: A multi-channel feed network includes a main waveguide section (either square or circular) for connection to a satellite antenna for propagating two orthogonal polarizations. The feed network further includes a low pass section connected on axis with the main waveguide, the low pass section having the same cross section as the main waveguide, and a high pass section also connected perpendicular to the main waveguide. The low pass section includes a band reject filter (BRF) formed from slots cut to reject higher frequency signals. The high pass section can be a rectangular waveguide which functions to filter low frequency signals. The feed network can be configured to support a number of different polarizations. Orthogonal linear polarizations are provided for the high frequency bands by adding additional high pass sections connected by power dividers, and for the low frequency bands by adding a conventional OMT.

Abstract: A waveguide filter made a rectangular waveguide section 12 with cavities 14 forming resonators spaced along opposite walls of the waveguide is configured to reduce the harmonic passband amplitude noise due to higher order harmonics. The cavities 14 are modified from conventional cavities by having different lengths L1-L8 and widths A1-A8, as opposed to equal length and equal width values. Each cavity is designed to resonate at the desired principal frequency f1 according to the combination of the cavity width and length, but with cavities having different lengths and widths, synchronous resonances do not occur at higher order harmonic frequencies f2 and f3 normally occurring when the cavities all have equal widths and equal lengths.

Abstract: A multi-channel feed network includes a main waveguide section (either square or circular) for connection to a satellite antenna for propagating two orthogonal polarizations. The feed network further includes a low pass section connected on axis with the main waveguide, the low pass section having the same cross section as the main waveguide, and a high pass section also connected perpendicular to the main waveguide. The low pass section includes a band reject filter (BRF) formed from slots cut to reject higher frequency signals. The high pass section can be a rectangular waveguide which functions to filter low frequency signals. The feed network can be configured to support a number of different polarizations. Orthogonal linear polarizations are provided for the high frequency bands by adding additional high pass sections connected by power dividers, and for the low frequency bands by adding a conventional OMT.

Abstract: The invention relates to building spherical panoramas for image-based virtual reality systems. The image-based spherical panoramas can be navigated in any desired view direction (360-degrees) by suitable three-dimensional image browsers or viewers. The method and system also includes computing the number of photographs required to be taken and the azimuth angle of the center point of each photograph for building a spherical environment map representative of the spherical panorama. The method and system also includes an algorithm for computing the accurate azimuth angles of these taken photographs and seaming them together to build the spherical environment map.

Abstract: The invention relates to building spherical panoramas for image-based virtual reality systems. The image-based spherical panoramas can be navigated in any desired view direction (360-degrees) by suitable three-dimensional image browsers or viewers. The method and system also includes computing the number of photographs required to be taken and the azimuth angle of the center point of each photograph for building a spherical environment map representative of the spherical panorama. The method and system also includes an algorithm for computing the accurate azimuth angles of these taken photographs and seaming them together to build the spherical environment map.