Glare Removal From Visual Codes Using Multi-Frame Voting

A system and method for overcoming glare in the scanning of visual codes treats each bit of a two-dimensional array defining a pattern of the visual code as discrete. As the visual code is scanned and image frames are sequentially captured, this allows the image frames to be combined to form a composite image of the visual code, and the eventual completion and resolution of the visual code

Use of Augmented Reality to Enable Comparisons between Physical and Virtual Objects

Augmented reality (AR) shopping is typically thought of as the filling up of an empty space with virtual objects to assess the fit of that object to that space. This formulation ignores the portion of shopping that involves the replacement of an item. While a user can take a photo of an item, without an AR model of the item, the user cannot determine the fit or suitability of the item to their spaces. Current AR tools cannot identify and describe the key differences between what a user has and what the user wants to purchase. This disclosure describes techniques that enable the recognition of an object in an image and the automatic downloading and casting of AR models of that and related objects. A user can use the AR models to test the fit of the object in various spaces and virtually compare the object with its variants in various spaces

Withholding Content and Recommendation Delivery to Avoid Spoilers

Online news portals, personalized feeds, etc. can include content spoilers that can ruin a user’s online experience by revealing details of the plot of content such as television shows, movies, etc. This disclosure describes techniques to avoid spoilers by delaying the presentation of material pertaining to various types of content until a user has consumed the content. With user permission, a user’s content consumption history is accessed and utilized to identify news articles and other media that can be a content spoiler. Analysis of articles and other media can be performed using machine learning models or other suitable techniques to determine whether a particular article is a content spoiler for content that the user is interested in

Augmented Reality Projection for Remote and Collaborative AR Experiences

Augmented reality (AR) is used for shopping purposes, e.g., to display an augmented view of a user’s home where the augmentation includes products inserted as they would appear in a user’s home. However, a user may be at a different location, e.g., in the store, and want to use AR to preview products in the store as they would appear in their home. This disclosure describes techniques to record or otherwise share a media stream of a space (e.g., user’s home) that includes depth data. The recorded media stream can be combined with other streams, e.g., live view in a store, to obtain an augmented view of the space. The use of a media stream in this manner eliminates the constraint for users to be at a particular location to obtain an augmented view of that location. By sharing recorded or live media streams with remote users, the user can collaborate to obtain AR views independent of their current location. Further, a user can use the stored media stream to collaborate with themselves at a later time when they are at a different location. Further, with user permission, augmented streams can be saved for later viewing and/or editing

User Authentication to Provide a Secure Cloud Clipboard

Cloud clipboards that allow seamless copy-pasting of content across devices associated with the same user account are available. However, at present, such clipboards provide content on all devices that are logged in to the user account, which can cause inadvertent leakage of information of the clipboard to another person that may be using a user device at the time the information is placed on the cloud clipboard. Alternatively, the user may be offered an option to select a particular device to which the content is provided, which can fail if the user doesn’t recognize the target device by name. This disclosure describes techniques to securely transfer text from a real world object to a user device. Per the techniques, prior to providing clipboard content on a target device, confirmation is obtained that the user is actively using the target device. Such confirmation can be obtained by authenticating the user, e.g., via facial recognition, or other suitable user-permitted techniques

Quality of High-protein Diet Bar Plus Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) Grain Evaluated Sensorially by Untrained Tasters

The objective of this study was to develop, analyze composition and evaluate the microbiological and sensory characteristics of high-protein diet bars (PB) with the addition of chia grain (Salvia hispanica L.), partially replacing isolated soy protein and concentrated whey protein, in proportions of 0, 10, 15 and 20%. The proximate composition was analyzed of PB, for microbiological quality of Bacillus cereus, Filamentous fungi and yeast count, total fecal coliforms, and Salmonella ssp. search. Sensory analysis was performed utilizing acceptance testing of characteristics on a nine-point hedonic scale for various attributes, including purchasing intention of the tested PB. Bars showed 20% moisture, 2.3% ash, 20-23% protein and 19% lipids. The effect of increasing of chia was to increase crude fiber content and decrease total carbohydrate and total energy value. All samples were within the microbiological food standards established by current legislation. All PB formulations obtained a good overall impression index and all characteristics were above mean grades, with the exception of taste (63%) in the PB containing 0% chia. Chia grain has a positive influence on sensory aspects and appears to be an alternative way to increase the nutritional quality of high-protein diet bars

Characterization of solid polymer electrolytes based on poly(trimethylenecarbonate) and lithium tetrafluoroborate

The results of an investigation of a polymer electrolyte system based on the poly(trimethylene carbonate) host matrix, designated as p(TMC), with lithium tetrafluoroborate guest salt are described in this presentation. Electrolytes with lithium salt compositions with n between 3 and 80 (where n represents the number of (O=COCH2CH2CH2O) units per lithium ion) were prepared by co-dissolution of salt and polymer in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran. The homogeneous solutions obtained by this procedure were evaporated, within a preparative glovebox and under a dry argon atmosphere, to form thin films of electrolyte. The solvent-free electrolyte films produced were obtained as very flexible, transparent, completely amorphous films and were characterized by measurements of total ionic conductivity, cyclic voltammetry, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry.Shell Chemicals Limited. Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia. Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Preparation and characterization of a lithium ion conducting electrolyte based on poly(trimethylene carbonate)

In this paper, the results of preliminary studies of two new solvent-free polymer electrolytes based on poly(trimethylene carbonate), p(TMC), with lithium trifluoromethanesulphonate, (triflate), and lithium perchlorate are described. Thin films of these electrolytes were obtained by evaporation of solvent from homogeneous mixtures of known masses of host polymer and salt. Electrolytes with compositions of n between 1.5 and 85, where n represents the molar ratio of (OCOCH2CH2CH2O) units per lithium ion, have been prepared. These solvent-free electrolytes were characterized by measurements of total ionic conductivity, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TGA). As expected from previous studies with these salts in poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, the triflate-based system showed superior thermal stability but with a lower total ionic conductivity than that of the perchlorate-containing electrolyte. The highest conductivity (approximately 3×10−4 Ω−1 cm−1) was found at 95°C with the electrolyte composition of (TMC)2LiClO4.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)Shell Chemicals Lt

Study of novel lithium salt-based, plasticized polymer electrolytes

The results of a preliminary investigation of a series of polymer electrolytes based on a novel polymer host, poly(trimethylene carbonate) or p(TMC), with lithium triflate or lithium perchlorate and various plasticizing additives, are described in this presentation. Electrolytes with lithium salt compositions of about n = 10 (where n represents the molar ratio of (O=COCH2CH2CH2O) units per lithium ion) and additive compositions between 5 and 15 wt% (with respect to p(TMC)), were prepared by co-dissolution of salt and polymer in anhydrous solvent with a controlled amount of additive. The homogeneous solutions obtained were evaporated within a preparative glovebox and under a dry argon atmosphere to form thin films of electrolyte. The solvent-free electrolyte films produced were characterized by measurements of total ionic conductivity, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry. In general the triflate-based electrolytes were found to show moderate ionic conductivity and good thermal stability while perchlorate-based electrolytes showed higher levels of conductivity but lower thermal stability. Electrolytes based on this host polymer, with both lithium salts, were obtained as very flexible, transparent, completely amorphous films.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT),Shell Chemicals Lt

Data-driven modeling of stagnation-line flow with heat and mass transfer in hypersonic reentry

The entry phase constitutes a design driver for aerospace systems that include such a critical step. This phase is characterized by hypersonic flows encompassing multiscale phenomena that require advanced modeling capabilities. However, since high fidelity simulations are often computationally prohibitive, simplified models are needed in multidisciplinary analyses requiring fast predictions. This work proposes data-driven surrogate models to predict the flow, and mixture properties along the stagnation streamline of hypersonic flows past spherical objects. Surrogate models are designed to predict velocity, pressure, temperature, density and air composition as a function of the object's radius, velocity, reentry altitude and surface temperature. These models are trained with data produced by numerical simulation of the quasi-one-dimensional Navier-Stokes formulation and a selected Earth atmospheric model. Physics-constrained parametric functions are constructed for each flow variable of interest, and artificial neural networks are used to map the model parameters to the model's inputs. Surrogate models were also developed to predict surface quantities of interest for the case of nonreacting or ablative carbon-based surfaces, providing alternatives to semiempirical correlations. A validation study is presented for all the developed models, and their predictive capabilities are showcased along selected reentry trajectories of space debris from low-Earth orbits