Surgical instrument systems comprising an articulatable end effector and means for adjusting the firing stroke of a firing member

A surgical instrument is disclosed. The surgical instrument can include an end effector, comprising an anvil and a staple cartridge. The surgical instrument can further include a shaft defining a longitudinal axis. The surgical instrument can also include an articulation joint, wherein the end effector is rotatably connected to the shaft about the articulation joint between an unarticulated position and at least one articulated position. The surgical instrument can include means for adjusting the length of a firing stroke as a function of the degree in which the end effector is articulated relative to the longitudinal axis. The surgical instrument can include a sensor configured to defect shifting of lateral portions of a flexible firing bar that extends through the articulation joint. Additionally or alternatively, the surgical instrument can include a relief feature configured to accommodate shifting of lateral portions of a flexible firing bar.

Drive arrangements for articulatable surgical instruments

A shaft assembly for a surgical instrument that includes a movable drive member. In at least one form, the surgical instrument includes a spine assembly that is couplable to the surgical instrument and has a surgical end effector coupled thereto by an articulation joint. The shaft assembly in one form includes a proximal firing member and an intermediate firing member that is coupled to a distal firing member. The distal firing member is configured for selective travel through the surgical end effector. At least one articulation driver is coupled to the surgical end effector to apply articulation motions thereto. A clutch assembly interfaces with the primary and intermediate firing members and the articulation driver such that when in an articulation orientation, movement of the drive member results in movement of the articulation driver and when in a firing orientation, movement of the drive member results in movement of the intermediate and distal firing members. A separate articulation motor may be employed to actuate the articulation driver.

Surgical instrument with lockout mechanism

Locking assemblies for surgical clamping and cutting instruments include a locking member and a switch. A drive member may be configured to releasably engage a knife and/or a shuttle of the surgical instrument for translating the knife and/or shuttle in a distal direction through a firing stroke. The locking member is movable from a first position permitting distal translation of the drive member through the firing stroke, and a second position inhibiting distal translation of the drive member through the firing stroke. A switch, when proximally positioned, releasably engages the locking member to maintain the locking member in the first position. The switch disengages from the locking member when the switch is moved to a distal position.

SELF-LIMITING GROWTH

Provided herein are methods and apparatuses for forming metal films such as tungsten (W) and molybdenum (Mo) films on semiconductor substrates. The methods involve forming a reducing agent layer, then exposing the reducing agent layer to a metal precursor to convert the reducing agent layer to a layer of the metal. In some embodiments, the reducing agent layer is a silicon- (Si-) and boron- (B-) containing layer. The methods may involve forming the reducing agent layer at a first substrate temperature, raising the substrate temperature to a second substrate temperature, and then exposing the reducing agent layer to the metal precursor at the second substrate temperature. The methods may be used to form fluorine-free tungsten or molybdenum films in certain embodiments. Apparatuses to perform the methods are also provided.

3D hand shape and pose estimation

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and a method for receiving a monocular image that includes a depiction of a hand and extracting features of the monocular image using a plurality of machine learning techniques. The program and method further include modeling, based on the extracted features, a pose of the hand depicted in the monocular image by adjusting skeletal joint positions of a three-dimensional (3D) hand mesh using a trained graph convolutional neural network (CNN); modeling, based on the extracted features, a shape of the hand in the monocular image by adjusting blend shape values of the 3D hand mesh representing surface features of the hand depicted in the monocular image using the trained graph CNN; and generating, for display, the 3D hand mesh adjusted to model the pose and shape of the hand depicted in the monocular image.

Electro-hydraulic hybrid drive sand-mixing equipment

The present invention discloses electro-hydraulic hybrid drive sand-mixing equipment, including a skid base, an electric motor, a hydraulic pump, a discharge centrifugal pump, a suction centrifugal pump, a mixing tank, a dry additive system, a liquid additive system, and a sand auger system. The electric motor, the hydraulic pump, the discharge centrifugal pump, the suction centrifugal pump, the mixing tank, the dry additive system, the liquid additive system, and the sand auger system are integrally skid mounted on the skid base. There are two electric motors, including a first electric motor and a second electric motor. The first electric motor drives the discharge centrifugal pump, and the second electric motor actuates the hydraulic pump, to drive the suction centrifugal pump, the mixing tank, the dry additive system, the liquid additive system, and the sand auger system. The electric motor is an integrated variable-frequency drive electric motor. Beneficial effects: Two integrated variable-frequency drive electric motors are applied. First, the setup of an independent variable-frequency drive cabinet is effectively omitted, that is, the overall size of the sand-mixing equipment is effectively reduced, so that it is more flexible and convenient to transport the equipment and arrange a well site. Next, a control system is simpler, thus optimizing the power matching of the sand-mixing equipment.

Frac system with hydraulic energy transfer system

A pumping system that includes a reciprocating isobaric pressure exchanger (reciprocating IPX) designed to exchange pressures between a first fluid and a second fluid. The first fluid includes a substantially particulate free fluid and the second fluid includes a particulate laden fluid. The reciprocating IPX includes a valve having a first and second piston. The value further includes a shaft coupling the first piston to the second piston and a drive coupled to the shaft.

Multifunctional blending equipment

The present invention discloses multifunctional blending equipment, including a clear water supply system, an injection system, more than two mixing systems, more than two powder storage and delivery systems, a mixing tank, a discharge system, and an electrical control system. One path of the clear water supply system is piped into the mixing tank, and another path of the clear water supply system is connected to the input end of the infection system. An output end of the injection system is connected in parallel with more than two mixing systems. The number of the powder storage and delivery systems is equal to that of the mixing systems. Each powder storage and delivery system is correspondingly connected to one mixing system. Output ends of the more than two mixing systems are all connected into the mixing tank. An output end of the mixing tank is connected to the discharge system. The clear water supply system, the injection system, the mixing systems, the powder storage and delivery systems, the mixing tank, and the discharge system are controlled by the electrical control system. Beneficial effects: The blending equipment can implement various blending processes at the same time, which is integrally skid mounted, and occupies small space.

Application digital content control using an embedded machine learning module

Application personalization techniques and systems are described that leverage an embedded machine learning module to preserve a user's privacy while still supporting rich personalization with improved accuracy and efficiency of use of computational resources over conventional techniques and systems. The machine learning module, for instance, may be embedded as part of an application to execute within a context of the application to learn user preferences to train a model using machine learning. This model is then used within the context of execution of the application to personalize the application, such as control access to digital content, make recommendations, control which items of digital marketing content are exposed to a user via the application, and so on.

Spatially Distinguished, Multiplex Nucleic Acid Analysis of Biological Specimens

A method for spatially tagging nucleic acids of a biological specimen, including steps of (a) providing a solid support comprising different nucleic acid probes that are randomly located on the solid support, wherein the different nucleic acid probes each includes a barcode sequence that differs from the barcode sequence of other randomly located probes on the solid support; (b) performing a nucleic acid detection reaction on the solid support to locate the barcode sequences on the solid support; (c) contacting a biological specimen with the solid support that has the randomly located probes; (d) hybridizing the randomly located probes to target nucleic acids from portions of the biological specimen; and (e) modifying the randomly located probes that are hybridized to the target nucleic acids, thereby producing modified probes that include the barcode sequences and a target specific modification, thereby spatially tagging the nucleic acids of the biological specimen.