Abstract: A device (100) for quantifying a change in environmental conditions along the length of an optical fiber (130) includes a frequency-scanning optical pulse generator (110) to generate pulse sequences of optical pulses; an optical component (120) coupled with the pulse generator (110) to inject the optical pulses into an optical fiber (130) and to redirect the backscattered optical signal from the optical fiber (130); and a receiver module (150) coupled with the optical component (120). The receiver module (150) includes an interferometer (170) for determining phase information of the backscattered optical signal as a function of time and optical frequency.

Abstract: A content processing method including displaying a service interface of a first client, receiving a content input operation on the service interface, displaying an input method panel based on a query sign input by the content input operation, and displaying, in the input method panel, a first query result corresponding to content input by the content input operation.

Abstract: A computing system including one or more processing devices configured to execute a face encoder including a text encoder, a face extraction model, and a token fusion model. At the face encoder, the one or more processing devices receive a text prompt and receive an input image depicting a face. At the text encoder, the one or more processing devices compute a text token sequence based at least on the text prompt. At the face extraction model, the one or more processing devices compute a face patch token sequence that encodes the face. At the token fusion model, the one or more processing devices compute a multimodal token sequence based at least on the text token sequence and the face patch token sequence. At a pretrained diffusion model, the one or more processing devices compute and output an output image conditioned on the multimodal token sequence.

Abstract: A computing system including one or more processing devices configured to receive a text prompt and receive an input image depicting a face. At a face encoder that includes a face vision transformer and a text-conditioned image encoder, the one or more processing devices compute a first face embedding at the face vision transformer based at least on the input image. The one or more processing devices compute a face token sequence at the text-conditioned image encoder based at least on a face identification text prompt and the first face embedding. At one or more text encoders, the one or more processing devices compute a text token sequence based at least on the text prompt. At a first diffusion model, the one or more processing devices compute and output an output image based at least in part on the face token sequence and the text token sequence.

Abstract: A computing system is provided, including processing circuitry configured to receive an input image of an object and a text label corresponding to the input image. The processing circuitry is further configured to input the text label and input image to a vision-language model to generate a text description of features of the object and input the text description to a language model to generate a background prompt and target bounding box information. The processing circuitry is further configured to segment the input image to generate a target segmentation mask region in a shape of the object and generate a mask image including the target segmentation mask region and an infill region. The processing circuitry is further configured to inpaint the infill region based on the input image, the mask image, and the background prompt, to thereby generate the output image.

Abstract: An image processing system auto white balances an image using an object in the image and a reference color distribution. Given an input image, a target object in the input image is identified. A reference color distribution for the object type of the target object from the input image is accessed. One or more image processing settings are determined that, when applied to the input image, minimize a difference in values between pixels of the target object and the reference color distribution. A white balanced image is generated by applying the one or more image processing settings to the input image, and the white balanced image is provided for presentation.

Abstract: The present disclosure involves methods, apparatus, and systems for generating enhanced avatars. this can include receiving an input from a user requesting an enhanced avatar; providing the input to a first generative AI model that is configured to output a standardized prompt based on the input; receiving, from the first generative AI model, the standardized prompt; identifying a baseline avatar associated with the user; and providing the baseline avatar and the standardized prompt to an enhancement workflow to generate an enhanced avatar based on the standardized prompt and the baseline avatar.

Abstract: The disclosure relates generally to methods for sanitizing dishware without conventional chemical sanitizing agents. The methods effectively sanitize dishware at low temperatures with an aqueous composition comprising alkali metal hydroxide.

Abstract: A computing system receives an input prompt and input images, encodes the input prompt into text embeddings, and extracts facial embeddings representing facial features in the one or more input images. The system further refines the facial embeddings to learn facial similarity features, and inputs a control image and the facial similarity features into a control network to generate features. Then the features, latent noise, and the text embeddings are inputted into a diffusion transformer to generate the synthesized image, and an output is generated based on the synthesized image.

Abstract: A computing method is provided for training an untrained diffusion model to generate a synthesized image based on an input prompt and an input image, including collecting real single-person-single-view (SPSV) images to input into the untrained diffusion model, training it in a reverse process to predict a denoised version of the SPSV images by minimizing a loss between the reconstructed images and the SPSV images, and adjusting weights to generate a trained first stage model. Then synthetic single-person-multi-view (SPMV) images are generated using the trained first stage model. The computing method further includes inputting each SPSV image into the trained first stage model, training it in a reverse process to predict a denoised version of the SPSV image, using the synthetic SPMV images as a target image by minimizing a loss between the reconstructed image and the target image, and adjusting weights to generate a trained second stage model.

Abstract: A method for increasing hardened layer thickness of a rail head of a flash welded joint of a steel rail and a steel rail is provided. The method includes carrying out a flash welding on the steel rail, which includes sequentially carrying out an energization heating stage and a pressurizing and upsetting stage; wherein the energization heating stage has a voltage of 300~385V, an average current of 500~800 A, and a duration time of 80~100 s; and carrying out a heat treatment on the flash welded steel rail, which includes carrying out an accelerated cooling on a top surface of the rail head, a side surface of the rail head and a lower jaw of the rail head in a near welding seam area of the steel rail joint, the accelerated cooling has an initial temperature greater than 700° C., a final temperature of 430° C.~500° C., and an average cooling speed of 5~35° C./s.

Abstract: A computing system is provided for generating a synthesized image using subject-driven text-to-image generation. The computing system includes a processing circuitry and memory storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to receive one or more input images of a subject and a user prompt, generate a mosaic of two or more component images based on the one or more input images and the user prompt, generate a mask to mark a placeholder area in the mosaic to be inpainted, use a generative model to inpaint the placeholder area, extract the inpainted placeholder area to generate an extracted image of the subject, and output the extracted image of the subject as the synthesized image.

Abstract: The invention discloses a welding and heat treatment method for a steel rail with deep hardened layer and a steel rail. The method comprises: performing a flash welding on the steel rail, comprising sequentially performing an electrical heating stage and a pressure upsetting stage; wherein the electrical heating stage has a voltage of 300-385V, an average current of 500-800 A, and a duration of 80-100 s; and performing a heat treatment on the flash-welded steel rail, comprising sequentially performing a first cooling stage, a heating stage, a second cooling stage, and a third cooling stage, wherein the first cooling stage has a termination temperature of 25-100° C., the heating stage has a termination temperature of 800-1100° C., the second cooling stage has an initial temperature greater than 900° C. and a termination temperature of 600-700° C., and the third cooling stage has an initial temperature of 600-700° C. and a termination temperature of 430-500° C.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes techniques for automatically identifying a checkpoint of a machine learning model for deployment. A plurality of checkpoints are generated during training the machine learning model. The machine learning model is trained on a set of training images. A plurality of subject images is generated by each of the plurality of checkpoints. Subject similarity and global difference between images in each pair of images are computed. Each pair of images comprises one of the set of training images and one of the plurality of subject images generated by each of the plurality of checkpoints. Image generation qualities of the plurality of checkpoints are evaluated based on the subject similarity and the global difference. The checkpoint of the machine learning model for deployment is automatically identified based on the evaluated image generation qualities.

Abstract: A meat-containing puffed foodstuff and a preparation method therefor where the method includes providing a puffed pellet including grain and meat; providing dried meat; mixing the dried meat with the puffed pellets to form a mixture; feeding the mixture into a chamber of a pressure-molding apparatus; exposing the mixture to an increased pressure and temperature inside the chamber for a selected period of time; and rapidly expanding the volume of the chamber to cause a rapid expansion of the contained mixture to obtain the puffed chip, that is, the meat-containing puffed food, in which the meat-containing puffed food has a total meat addition amount of 5 wt. % or more based on a total weight of the meat-containing puffed food.

Abstract: The present application relates to a method for preparing a thermosetting midsole using foamed particles with graphene oxide on surface. The method comprises: fusing the foamed particles with graphene oxide on surface with each other in a midsole mold under steam heating conditions to form the thermosetting midsole, wherein the body of the foamed particles with graphene oxide on surface is formed by mixing 60 wt % to 95 wt % thermoplastic polyurethane and 5 wt % to 40 wt % thermosetting polymer and foaming under non curing conditions. Thermosetting midsoles have high mechanical strength, good thermal stability, good chemical resistance, and good breathability, making them suitable for outdoor and extreme environments. The graphene oxide on the surface of the foamed particles prevents the foamed particles from fusing with other foamed particles where graphene is present, thus naturally leaving breathable channels.

Abstract: An image processing system auto white balances an image using an object in the image and a reference color distribution. Given an input image, a target object in the input image is identified. A reference color distribution for the object type of the target object from the input image is accessed. One or more image processing settings are determined that, when applied to the input image, minimize a difference in values between pixels of the target object and the reference color distribution. A white balanced image is generated by applying the one or more image processing settings to the input image, and the white balanced image is provided for presentation.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided that can enable improved detection of a position within a body lumen at which a therapy is delivered and improved labelling of patient data sets. A system includes a first flexible elongate instrument comprising a plurality of imaging markers and a second flexible elongate instrument, comprising a therapeutic delivery device, configured for relative movement with respect to the first instrument. A treatment activation sensor is included to detect an activation energy associated with delivery of a therapy by the therapeutic delivery device. The system further includes a processor configured to establish a reference coordinate system based on the plurality of imaging markers, receive therapeutic delivery information at a plurality of locations in the body lumen from a location information sensor, and correlate the therapeutic delivery information with the detected activation energy to determine a position of the delivered therapy based on the reference coordinate system.

Abstract: A rhamnolipid ester is useful as a cosmetic additive. A method of its production involves providing at least one rhamnolipid, reacting the at least one rhamnolipid with at least one coupling reagent, reacting the at least one rhamnolipid with a polyhydric alcohol having 1 to 32 carbon atoms, and optionally purifying the at least one rhamnolipid ester.