Abstract: The present invention provides a high-stability deep-sea buoy platform including a mast tube housing an attitude sensor used to monitor the tilt angle of the deep-sea buoy platform; a plurality of buoyancy tubes symmetrically and equally spaced around the mast tube; the buoyancy tube includes an elastic float and a water tank; the cross-section of the elastic float is ring-shaped; the elastic float being fitted around the outer side of the upper part of the water tank; the water tank is cylindrical and the interior of the water tank is divided into an upper layer and a lower layer, and the lower layer containing ballast water; each water tank is connected to the other water tanks via pipelines, each of the pipelines equipped with a flow valve; and a damping plate is horizontally connected between the bottoms of adjacent water tanks.

Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for shock absorption are provided herein. Collapsible shock absorption devices have an inner wall having at least one orifice, an outer wall, and a fluid sealed within the outer wall can mitigate sharp increases in force during loading and can better distribute loading forces. In some cases, collapsible shock absorption devices disclosed herein are used for prevention of injury to a biological tissue of a subject or damage to an inanimate object.

Abstract: A search system is described herein. The search system is configured to search over several different catalogs, where each catalog includes entries that represent goods and/or services offered for acquisition by companies. The search system receives a query and outputs search results from a catalog based upon the query. The search system includes a general-purpose ranker that is configured to receive the search results and rank the search results, thereby generating a ranked list of search results. The general-purpose ranker is used to rank the search results regardless of the catalog from which the search results were retrieved. The search system further includes a re-ranker that is customized for the catalog, wherein the re-ranker receives the ranked list of search results and re-ranks such search results, thereby generating a second ranked list of search results.

Abstract: In at least one illustrative embodiment, a method for contaminant detection includes distributing multiple magnetostrictive sensors on a nonmagnetic index plate. The index plate includes multiple wells formed in a top surface that are each sized to receive a magnetostrictive sensor. The method further includes placing a magnetic backing plate below the index plate, inverting the index plate and the magnetic backing plate, and then placing the inverted index plate on a sample surface. The sample surface may be two-dimensional food such as fresh vegetable leaves. The method may further include placing the index plate and the magnetic backing plate on a nonmagnetic cover plate that is positioned above a sensor coil. The method further includes removing the magnetic backing plate, removing the index plate, and applying a varying magnetic field with the sensor coil to a magnetostrictive sensor positioned on the cover plate. Other embodiments are described and claimed.