This guidebook describes The Island Research Natural Area, an 84-ha (208-ac) tract established to represent examples of the western juniper/big sagebrush/bluebunch wheatgrass (Juniperus occidentalis/Artemisia tridentata/Pseudoroegneria spicata), and the western juniper/big sagebrush-antelope bitterbrush/bluebunch wheatgrass (Juniperus occidentalis/Artemisia tridentata-Purshia tridentata/Pseudoroegneria spicata) plant associations.

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Many of America's national forests and grasslands—collectively called the National Forest System—face increased risks and alterations from escalating housing development on private rural lands along their boundaries. National forests and grasslands provide critical social, ecological, and economic benefits to the American public. This study projects future housing density increases on private rural lands at three distances—2, 3, and 10 miles—from the external boundaries of all national forests and grasslands across the conterminous United States. Some 21.7 million acres of rural private lands (about 8 percent of all private lands) located within 10 miles of the National Forest System boundaries are projected to undergo increases in housing density by 2030. Nine national forests are projected to experience increased housing density on at least 25 percent of adjacent private lands at one or more of the distances considered. Thirteen national forests and grasslands are each projected to have more than a half-million acres of adjacent private rural lands experience increased housing density. Such development and accompanying landscape fragmentation pose substantial challenges for the management and conservation of the ecosystem services and amenity resources of National Forest System lands, including access by the public. Research such as this can help planners, managers, and communities consider the impacts of local land use decisions.

Many of America's national forests and grasslands--collectively called the National Forest System--face increased risks and alterations from escalating housing development on private rural lands along their boundaries. National forests and grasslands provide critical social, ecological, and economic benefits to the American public. This study projects future housing density increases on private rural lands at three distances--2, 3, and 10 miles--from the external boundaries of all national forests and grasslands across the conterminous United States. Some 21.7 million acres of rural private lands (about 8 percent of all private lands) located within 10 miles of the National Forest System boundaries are projected to undergo increases in housing density by 2030. Nine national forests are projected to experience increased housing density on at least 25 percent of adjacent private lands at one or more of the distances considered. Thirteen national forests and grasslands are each projected to have more than a half-million acres of adjacent private rural lands experience increased housing density. Such development and accompanying landscape fragmentation pose substantial challenges for the management and conservation of the ecosystem services and amenity resources of National Forest System lands, including access by the public. Research such as this can help planners, managers, and communities consider the impacts of local land use decisions.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 37 field plots on the islands of Rota, Tinian, and Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program collected, analyzed, and summarized field data on 44 forested field plots for the 10 largest atoll groups in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI): Ailinglaplap, Arno, Jaluit, Kwajalein, Likiep, Majuro, Maloelap, Mili, Rongelap, and Wotje.

Interactions between forests, climatic change and the Earths carbon cycle are complex and represent a challenge for forest managers - they are integral to the sustainable management of forests. In this volume, a number of papers are presented that describe some of the complex relationships between climate, the global carbon cycle and forests.

Gogglebox star Mary Killen has been slammed by some viewers over her impression of the North Korean accent

Another AM station is proposing to run testing of all-digital broadcasting, with BRIAN R. WALSH filing an STA request to operate Oldies WIOE-A/FORT WAYNE in full-time HD RADIO MA3 mode with … more

Research Highlights: Upward income mobility is associated with a trade-off between well-being and cardiometabolic health. Reaching a higher income status is not always beneficial for cardiometabolic health, even if it improves economic standing and...

Editor’s note: The Gazette sports staff has compiled lists of its top 15 favorite sports movies. Each day, a different staffer will share some insight into one of their favorites. Some of them...

IOWA CITY — Investigators on Wednesday arrested a long-haul trucker from Iowa who they say is linked by DNA evidence to the killings of three women whose bodies were dumped in Wyoming and...

I’m running for Iowa’s 2nd district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Early last fall, I found that Mariannette Miller-Meeks is running again, after three losses, and that former Illinois Congressman Bobby Schilling is an Illinoisan turned Iowan. The second district seat should be held by a true Iowa citizen legislator.

The House of Representatives was meant to be the people’s house. One where people temporarily left their home and family to serve in Washington, then returned home to resume their life. Being elected to office was never intended to be a lifetime job. If elected I will serve three terms, then return to Iowa and the private sector.

I believe our government should be small, efficient and responsive to its citizens. I would insist that all government programs are reviewed and eliminated if they are not currently serving the public’s interests. I would also push for a budget that does not grow at a higher rate than incoming revenues.

I believe that all law-abiding citizens have the right to own a gun to hunt or to protect themselves from danger. I will not support any additional restrictions placed on law-abiding citizens.

I believe all life is sacred, from conception to natural death, regardless of ability. It is not my intention to tell any woman what to do with her body. I would prefer that each women take full control of her body and the choices she makes before pregnancy occurs.

In the beginning, our country was land rich and people poor. Anyone who could make it to our country was welcome and opportunities abounded. Today, we are crowded and too many struggle to find substantial work. Immigrants are welcome, but I support only legal immigration, to mitigate how many enter the United States, while our county exercises its right to defend its borders by reasonable means, including strengthening barriers to illegal entry.

I grew up in Washington, Iowa and moved to Iowa City in my late 20s. I currently work in retail and my wife works at a food distribution plant. We have two children, ages 11 and 9, who attend public school in Iowa City. On any given day you could see me at the grocery store, the mall, at the children’s school or at their soccer game. I will be a true citizen-legislator and I would like your support.

Tim Borchardt is a candidate in the Republican primary for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.

IOWA CITY — Investigators on Wednesday arrested a long-haul trucker from Iowa who they say is linked by DNA evidence to the killings of three women whose bodies were dumped in Wyoming and Tennessee in the early 1990s.

Police arrested Clark Perry Baldwin, 58, at his home in Waterloo, Iowa, on murder charges filed in Wyoming and Tennessee in the deaths of the women, including two who were pregnant. Investigators said they were looking into whether Baldwin could be responsible for other unsolved slayings.

Baldwin was arrested after investigators used semen and other material recovered from the victims to develop DNA profiles of their perpetrators, according to court documents in Wyoming. Last year, they learned that the same profile matched all three cases.

Investigators zeroed in on Baldwin after finding DNA in commercial genealogy databases of someone related to the suspect’s profile, court documents say. Last month in Waterloo, the FBI secretly collected DNA from Baldwin’s trash and a shopping cart he used at Walmart and it matched the profile.

In Wyoming, Baldwin is charged in the deaths of two unidentified women whose bodies were found in 1992 roughly 400 miles apart.

A female trucker discovered the nude body of the first victim in March 1992 near the Bitter Creek Truck turnout on Interstate 80 in southwestern Wyoming. An autopsy determined the woman suffered head trauma consistent with strangulation and her body had likely been in the snow for weeks.

A month later, Wyoming Department of Transportation workers found the partially mummified body of a pregnant woman in a ditch off of Interstate 90, near Sheridan in northern Wyoming.

An autopsy didn’t determine the cause of death but found the victim had an injury potentially consistent with suffering a blow to the head.

Investigators never identified the women and referred to them as “Bitter Creek Betty” and “I-90 Jane Doe.” Both were believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Cmdr. Matt Waldock said.

In Tennessee, Baldwin is charged with two counts of murder in the 1991 killing of a 32-year-old pregnant woman from Virginia, Pamela McCall, and her fetus.

McCall was found in woods off Interstate 65 in Spring Hill, Tenn., in March 1991. An autopsy determined McCall had neck injuries and died of strangulation. Sperm was recovered from pantyhose worn by McCall, who was last seen at a Tennessee truck stop days earlier.

Court documents say that Baldwin allegedly raped a female hitchhiker in Wheeler County, Texas, at gunpoint in his truck in 1991. The 21-year-old woman told police that Baldwin struck her on the head, bound her hands and mouth and tried to choke her to death. He allegedly admitted to the assault but was released pending grand jury proceedings. Court documents do not indicate whether he was charged or prosecuted.

Baldwin, who has previously lived in Nashua, Iowa, and Springfield, Mo., was a cross-country truck driver for Marten Transport at the time.

Baldwin’s name also surfaced during a 1992 homicide investigation in Iowa. His ex-wife told police then that Baldwin once bragged about “killing a girl out west by strangulation and throwing her out of his truck,” court documents say.

Waldock said investigators were “hopeful” to solve other cases with Baldwin’s arrest.

One case of interest is the 1992 death of Tammy Jo Zywicki, 21, an Iowa college student who was last seen after her car broke down on an Illinois highway. A white man who was driving a semi-trailer was seen near her vehicle. Zywicki’s body was found in rural Missouri, stabbed to death.

Another is the 1992 killing of Rhonda Knutson, 22, a truck stop convenience store clerk in northern Iowa who was bludgeoned to death during an overnight shift. Investigators have released sketches of two men who were in the store, including one trucker. Baldwin lived in nearby Nashua then.

In 1997, Secret Service agents raided Baldwin’s apartment in Springfield, Mo., after learning he was making counterfeit U.S. currency on a personal computer. He and two female associates were indicted on counterfeiting charges. Baldwin was sentenced to 18 months in prison and released in 1999.

In 2008, a fire destroyed a Nashua building where Baldwin operated a candle business and damaged two adjacent buildings, including one that housed the town’s newspaper. The cause of the fire was never determined.

Baldwin is being held at the Black Hawk County jail pending extradition to Tennessee.

The charges stunned Jazz Baldwin, 32, of New Hampton, Iowa, who said she learned two years ago that Baldwin was her father after he purchased a DNA test kit. The two had been in contact over Facebook since then, she said.

“I heard rumors about his ‘possible crimes’ but always thought they were bogus,” she wrote in a Facebook message. “Murder was NOT on the list of things we thought he had done and gotten away with.”

Many efforts of research are devoted to semantic role labeling (SRL) which is crucial for natural language understanding. Supervised approaches have achieved impressing performances when large-scale corpora are available for resource-rich languages such as English. While for the low-resource languages with no annotated SRL dataset, it is still challenging to obtain competitive performances. Cross-lingual SRL is one promising way to address the problem, which has achieved great advances with the help of model transferring and annotation projection. In this paper, we propose a novel alternative based on corpus translation, constructing high-quality training datasets for the target languages from the source gold-standard SRL annotations. Experimental results on Universal Proposition Bank show that the translation-based method is highly effective, and the automatic pseudo datasets can improve the target-language SRL performances significantly.

The standard training algorithm in neural machine translation (NMT) suffers from exposure bias, and alternative algorithms have been proposed to mitigate this. However, the practical impact of exposure bias is under debate. In this paper, we link exposure bias to another well-known problem in NMT, namely the tendency to generate hallucinations under domain shift. In experiments on three datasets with multiple test domains, we show that exposure bias is partially to blame for hallucinations, and that training with Minimum Risk Training, which avoids exposure bias, can mitigate this. Our analysis explains why exposure bias is more problematic under domain shift, and also links exposure bias to the beam search problem, i.e. performance deterioration with increasing beam size. Our results provide a new justification for methods that reduce exposure bias: even if they do not increase performance on in-domain test sets, they can increase model robustness to domain shift.

Sentence level quality estimation (QE) for machine translation (MT) attempts to predict the translation edit rate (TER) cost of post-editing work required to correct MT output. We describe our view on sentence-level QE as dictated by several practical setups encountered in the industry. We find consumers of MT output---whether human or algorithmic ones---to be primarily interested in a binary quality metric: is the translated sentence adequate as-is or does it need post-editing? Motivated by this we propose a quality classification (QC) view on sentence-level QE whereby we focus on maximizing recall at precision above a given threshold. We demonstrate that, while classical QE regression models fare poorly on this task, they can be re-purposed by replacing the output regression layer with a binary classification one, achieving 50-60\% recall at 90\% precision. For a high-quality MT system producing 75-80\% correct translations, this promises a significant reduction in post-editing work indeed.

In encoder-decoder neural models, multiple encoders are in general used to represent the contextual information in addition to the individual sentence. In this paper, we investigate multi-encoder approaches in documentlevel neural machine translation (NMT). Surprisingly, we find that the context encoder does not only encode the surrounding sentences but also behaves as a noise generator. This makes us rethink the real benefits of multi-encoder in context-aware translation - some of the improvements come from robust training. We compare several methods that introduce noise and/or well-tuned dropout setup into the training of these encoders. Experimental results show that noisy training plays an important role in multi-encoder-based NMT, especially when the training data is small. Also, we establish a new state-of-the-art on IWSLT Fr-En task by careful use of noise generation and dropout methods.

Neural machine translation (NMT) needs large parallel corpora for state-of-the-art translation quality. Low-resource NMT is typically addressed by transfer learning which leverages large monolingual or parallel corpora for pre-training. Monolingual pre-training approaches such as MASS (MAsked Sequence to Sequence) are extremely effective in boosting NMT quality for languages with small parallel corpora. However, they do not account for linguistic information obtained using syntactic analyzers which is known to be invaluable for several Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. To this end, we propose JASS, Japanese-specific Sequence to Sequence, as a novel pre-training alternative to MASS for NMT involving Japanese as the source or target language. JASS is joint BMASS (Bunsetsu MASS) and BRSS (Bunsetsu Reordering Sequence to Sequence) pre-training which focuses on Japanese linguistic units called bunsetsus. In our experiments on ASPEC Japanese--English and News Commentary Japanese--Russian translation we show that JASS can give results that are competitive with if not better than those given by MASS. Furthermore, we show for the first time that joint MASS and JASS pre-training gives results that significantly surpass the individual methods indicating their complementary nature. We will release our code, pre-trained models and bunsetsu annotated data as resources for researchers to use in their own NLP tasks.

Unsupervised machine translation (MT) has recently achieved impressive results with monolingual corpora only. However, it is still challenging to associate source-target sentences in the latent space. As people speak different languages biologically share similar visual systems, the potential of achieving better alignment through visual content is promising yet under-explored in unsupervised multimodal MT (MMT). In this paper, we investigate how to utilize visual content for disambiguation and promoting latent space alignment in unsupervised MMT. Our model employs multimodal back-translation and features pseudo visual pivoting in which we learn a shared multilingual visual-semantic embedding space and incorporate visually-pivoted captioning as additional weak supervision. The experimental results on the widely used Multi30K dataset show that the proposed model significantly improves over the state-of-the-art methods and generalizes well when the images are not available at the testing time.

Methods and systems for optimizing generation of natively executable code from non-native binary code are disclosed. One method includes receiving a source file including binary code configured for execution according to a non-native instruction set architecture. The method also includes translating one or more code blocks included in the executable binary code to source code, and applying an optimizing algorithm to instructions in the one or more code blocks. The optimizing algorithm is selected to reduce a number of memory address translations performed when translating the source code to native executable binary code, thereby resulting in one or more optimized code blocks. The method further includes compiling the source code to generate an output file comprising natively executable binary code including the one or more optimized code blocks.

A method is provided for providing consistent logical code across specific programming languages. The method incorporates preprocessor macros in a source computer program code to generate a program control flow. The preprocessor macros can be used to describe program control flow in the source programming language for execution in the source computer program code. The preprocessor macros can also be used to generate control flow objects representing the control flow, which converts the source computer program code into a general language representation. The general language representation when executed is used to output computer programming code in specific programming languages representing the same logical code as that of the source computer program code.

In one embodiment of the invention, a method is disclosed for modifying a pre-existing application program for multi-processing and/or distributed parallel processing. The method includes searching an application program for a computational loop; analyzing the computational loop to determine independence of the computational transactions of the computational loop; and replacing the computational loop with master code and slave code to provide master-slave execution of the computational loop in response to analyzing the computational loop to determine independence of the computational transactions of the computational loop. Multiple instances of the modified application program are executed to provide multi-processing and/or distributed parallel processing.

A messaging response system is disclosed wherein a service providing system provides services to users via messaging communications. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, multiple respondents servicing users through messaging communications may appear to simultaneously use a common “screen name” identifier.

A system for translating user motion into multiple object responses of an on-screen object based on user interaction of an application executing on a computing device is provided. User motion data is received from a capture device from one or more users. The user motion data corresponds to user interaction with an on-screen object presented in the application. The on-screen object corresponds to an object other than an on-screen representation of a user that is displayed by the computing device. The user motion data is automatically translated into multiple object responses of the on-screen object. The multiple object responses of the on-screen object are simultaneously displayed to the users.

The invention relates to a furnace slag door, comprising at least one panel which is moveable, in a mounted state of the slag door, from an opened position, in which the panel is remote from a corresponding slag discharge opening within the furnace wall to a closed position, in which the panel covers at least part of said slag discharge opening. The invention further comprises a corresponding furnace equipped with such slag door. The furnace is, in particular, an electric arc furnace (EAF) but may be as well of another type.

Method and apparatus are provided for mechanically processing an organ or organs taken out from slaughtered poultry in a processing device or processing line, which organ or organs form part of an organ package and wherein the organ or organs are separated from the organ package. The organ package is spatially oriented by the processing device without notably breaking tissue connections in the package, and in a preselected order so as to cause the harvesting of organs from the package to occur in a preselected sequence that depends on the location of the organ package in the processing device or processing line.

Method and apparatus are provided for mechanically processing an organ or organs taken out from slaughtered poultry in a processing device or processing line, which organ or organs form part of an organ package and wherein said organ or organs are separated from the organ package. The organ package is spatially oriented by the processing device without notably breaking tissue connections in the package, and in a preselected order so as to cause harvesting of organs from the package to occur in a preselected sequence that depends on the location of the organ package in the processing device or processing line.

A slaughtered pig leg parts conveyor device is provided for conveying individual pig leg parts, wherein an individual pig leg part includes at least a portion of a pig leg and the pig foot. The conveyor device includes a track and one or more pig leg part carriers movable along said track, each carrier being adapted to carry an individual pig leg part. Each carrier has one pig foot retaining assembly adapted to engage on a single pig foot so as to retain the pig leg part in a position suspended from the carrier. The retaining assembly includes a pig foot aperture adapted to receive the pig foot.

A method of constructing a pump island protector to alleviate continuous maintenance required for a deteriorating existing steel pump island base, and a pump island protector constructed by the method. Using an adjustable form system and the combination of stainless steel members and new concrete, the existing pump island is re-wrapped with the stainless steel member and the new concrete.

A method of constructing a pump island protector to alleviate continuous maintenance required for a deteriorating existing steel pump island base, and a pump island protector constructed by the method. Using an adjustable form system and the combination of stainless steel members and new concrete, the existing pump island is re-wrapped with the stainless steel member and the new concrete.

An auxiliary member for pavement construction, including: a cylinder, a base plate and a leveling bolt; the cylinder includes a first cylinder part and a second cylinder part which are connected and communicated with each other, the first cylinder part is provided with a sling installing member and a slurry inlet, bottom of the second cylinder part is connected with the base plate, the base plate is provided with a bolt extending hole and multiple slurry discharging holes which are communicated with the inner cavity of the second cylinder part, the leveling bolt includes a bolt head and a screw, the screw extends through the bolt extending hole, the bolt head is arranged in the second cylinder part and the bolt head is smaller than the inner diameter of the second cylinder part. The present invention further provides a concrete slab and a method for pavement construction.

An apparatus and method to install contraction joints in concrete slabs. The method uses a device, which inserts a strip of plastic or paper tape into freshly laced concrete, as the device is driven across a concrete slab. The tape is folded immediately prior to being inserted into freshly placed concrete, and functions to weaken the slab at the contraction joint location for the purpose of causing a crack to form in the slab. Plastic tape can be used, which functions as a moisture vapor retarder, and thereby, protects floor coverings from moisture damage, such as mold and mildew, at contraction joint locations.

A heat exchange and ventilation system integrated with a hollow core concrete floor having an air passage therethrough with an inlet and outlet for receiving air and permitting relative heat exchange therebetween; a raised floor supported by said hollow core concrete floor, defining a floor plenum between said hollow core concrete floor and said raised floor, said floor plenum communicating with said outlet so as to receive air from said air passage through said hollow core concrete floor; and adjustable terminal means carried by said raised floor for delivering a portion of said air from said floor plenum into a space above said floor. A method of conditioning air through a hollow core medium supporting a raised floor is also disclosed.

An EUV light generation system includes a driver laser comprising a master oscillator such as a semiconductor laser, a spatial filter, gas slab amplification devices, relay optical systems, and high-speed axial-flow amplifiers. The slab amplification devices include beam adjusting optical units disposed, respectively, at input and output sides of the slab amplifiers SA to convert the beam profile and/or polarization direction and/or an elongated direction of the beam profile with the slab amplifiers is parallel to a free space axis AF of the slab waveguides, i.e. parallel to the discharge electrodes.

A client-server computing system includes a server that has a virtual display driver that classifies and, if necessary, translates graphics application programming interface (API) functions to a cross-platform format. Classification involves determining whether the graphics command(s) are platform-specific and/or client-supported functions. After classification and translation, the graphics command(s) are marshaled and transmitted to a client via a network. The client includes a client display driver that executes the functions using a client 3D library and renders the resulting image data to a display.

A gasifier comprises an internal chamber, a slag collection region, a slag passageway, a slag breaker, and an actuator. The internal chamber comprises a main combustion region that is configured and adapted to gasify fuel. The slag collection region is located beneath the main combustion region. The slag passageway operatively connects the main combustion region to the slag collection region. The slag breaker comprises a face that is movable relative to the internal chamber. The face is configured and adapted to move within the slag passageway in a manner such that the face contacts and mechanically breaks solidified slag into chunks of solidified slag that then fall into the slag collection region. The actuator is connected to the slag breaker and is configured and adapted to move the face of the slag breaker.

A slag remover for discharging combustion residues of an incineration plant comprises a trough, which has a trough housing having two side walls, which define the trough width, and having a trough bottom, and which is intended to collect the combustion residues evacuated from a combustion chamber of the incineration plant. The trough further comprises at least two push rams for pushing the combustion residues out of the trough, and a shaft rotatably mounted in two shaft bearings and on which at least one drive lever cooperating with a cylinder-piston unit and at least two output levers connected to respectively one of the push rams are disposed in a rotationally secure manner. The cylinder-piston unit is here designed such that the push rams move back and forth between a retracted position and an extended position. The drive lever is disposed between two output levers.

A leading end located in a two-stage entrained-flow bed coal gasifier has a double-walled structure including an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder, and cooling water for cooling the leading end is supplied through an interior of the inner cylinder to cool the leading end and is then returned to a base end through a space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder. The space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder has a smaller channel area than the interior of the inner cylinder, and a swirling flow along a guide formed on an outer circumferential surface of the inner cylinder and a substantially linear flow in a longitudinal direction of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder are applied to the cooling water returned to the base end through the space formed between the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder.

Methods and apparatus for translating duty cycle information in duty-cycle-modulated signals to higher frequencies or higher data rates. An exemplary duty cycle translator includes a duty cycle evaluator, a high-speed digital counter, and a comparator. The duty cycle evaluator generates a first digital number representing a duty cycle of a low-frequency input duty-cycle-modulated (DCM) signal. The comparator compares the first digital number to a second digital number generated by the high-speed digital counter, and generates, based on the comparison, an output DCM signal having a higher frequency or data rate than the frequency or data rate of the low-frequency input DCM signal but a duty cycle that is substantially the same as the duty cycle of the low-frequency input DCM signal.

A method and system is used to process slag material to yield by-products including a finished iron rich product and a finished low iron fines product. The by-products may include a finished high iron product and a finished medium iron product. The method and system include size classifying the material into a plurality of sized groups prior to using magnetic separation to separate at least one of the sized groups into two portions having differing magnetic susceptibilities. The method and system may include more than one phase of size classifying the material into a plurality of sized groups and using magnetic separation to separate at least one of the sized groups into portions, where the average size of the material remaining after one phase is reduced prior to the subsequent phase.

In one aspect, the invention is directed to an overhead crane with one or more bridge rails, that incorporates a reinforcement truss into its one or more bridge rails so as to reduce the overall mass of the one or more bridge rails. This facilitates movement of a load carried by the bridge by an operator to a destination point, particularly in embodiments wherein the one or more bridge rails do not have any bridge drive motors thereon. Reducing the mass of the bridge can increase the amount of lifted load that can comfortably be maneuvered by an operator, particularly when the bridge is manually moved along the runway. Additionally, reducing the mass of the bridge reduces the momentum associated with the bridge, which can increase the amount of control that the operator has when it is desired to stop the bridge when the load has been maneuvered to its desired destination point. The second reinforcement members may have first and second ends that are inserted into receiving apertures in the first reinforcement member and in a bracket that mounts to the bridge rail respectively. In embodiments wherein the bridge includes two rails and is capable of supporting a load in such a way as to generate a downward force that is offset from the bridge axis, the second reinforcement members may be connected to the first reinforcement member and to brackets in such a way as to prevent the withdrawal of the second reinforcement members from the receiving apertures.

A method for determining a slack condition of a vehicle system includes determining when each of first and second vehicles reaches a designated location along a route. The method also includes communicating a response message from the second vehicle to the first vehicle responsive to the second vehicle reaching the designated location, calculating a separation distance between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based on a time delay between a first time when the first vehicle reached the designated location and a second time when the second vehicle reached the designated location, and determining a slack condition of the vehicle system based on the separation distance. The slack condition is representative of an amount of slack in the vehicle system between the first and second vehicles.

A slab formwork system (100), consisting of a plurality of vertical supports supporting a plurality of panels is provided characterized in that the slab formwork system (100) includes a plurality of vertical main members (101,102,103) whose height is adjustable by an operator such that each top of the vertical main member (101,102,103) is at the same level when referenced from an imaginary lower horizontal line, at least one primary bearer (301), wherein the primary bearer (301) is supported by the plurality of vertical main members (101,102,103) wherein each vertical main member (101,102,103) is perpendicular to each primary bearer (301), a pair of adjustable struts (246) in each vertical main member (101,102,103), wherein each adjustable strut (246) is diagonally connectable to the vertical main member (101,102,103) and the primary bearer (301), a plurality of height adjustable props (502) connectable perpendicularly to at least one filler panel (410), a plurality of secondary bearers (303) wherein the secondary bearers (303) are disposed perpendicular on top of the primary bearers (301), a longitudinally extendable element (315) connectable to terminal end of the primary bearer (301) supported by a plurality of vertical main members (103) and a plurality of panels (407) assembled on top of the secondary bearers (303) to receive concrete wherein each filler panel (410) is disposed between at least two panels (407).

An early-stripping formwork system for concreting of constructions comprising beams, slab and columns comprises several rectangular standard formworks (1), props with multiple early-stripping support mechanisms (2), several filler beams (3) and filler panels. The standard formwork (1) consists of a panel (11) and a formwork frame (12), and the formwork frame (12) is provided with L-shaped corners (121) at its four corners. Each of the early-stripping prop (2) consists of an upper support inner tube (21) and a lower support tube (22) which form a telescopic connection, a rectangular head plate (23) is disposed at the top end of the upper support inner tube (21), one corner of the head plate (23) fits an internal corner of any one of the L-shaped corners (121) on the formwork frame (12). A load-releasing mechanism (24) is connected between the upper support inner tube (21) and the lower support outer tube (22). An early stripping mechanism (25) for early stripping of the standard formwork (1) is disposed on the upper support inner tube (21), short posts (251) for supporting the formwork frame (12) are disposed at four corners of the early stripping mechanism (25), and a structure for preventing the formwork frame (12) from slipping outwards is formed between the short post (251) and the L-shaped corner (121). The formwork frame (12), the filler panel, the filler beam (3), and a bridge beam (4) may be all in a detachable combined structure. In the formwork system, transport and storage of the formwork are convenient, and manufacturing cost is reduced.

A transmission system includes: a master device; and a plurality of slave devices including a first slave device and a second slave device, each of the plurality of slave devices having its own identifier. The master device includes a processor configured to: transmit a control signal of a clock length that the first slave device does not respond to, to the plurality of slave devices at a first timing; and transmit an identifier that identifies the second slave device to the plurality of slave devices at a second timing after the first timing. The second slave device transmits data to the master device when the second slave device receives the control signal and the identifier that identifies the second slave device.

The present invention provides a process for recovering valuable metals from precious metal smelting slag, comprising: smelting the precious metal smelting slag and a flux in a top-blown rotary furnace to produce a lead-bismuth alloy, wherein the precious metal smelting slag comprises Au, Ag, Bi and Pb; electrolyzing the lead-bismuth alloy at a current density ranging from 60 to 110 A/m2 to obtain lead cathode and lead anode slime; refining the lead anode slime to produce bismuth and silver-zinc crust, and extracting gold and silver separately from the silver-zinc crust. Through utilizing a top-blown rotary furnace as the smelting apparatus and adjusting the ratio of the flux, the present invention enriches the valuable metals gold, silver, bismuth, lead or the like to lead-bismuth alloy, ensures lower contents of gold, silver, bismuth and lead in the reducing slag and thereby increases the comprehensive recovery rates of gold, silver, bismuth and lead from the precious metal smelting slag.

Process and apparatus is disclosed for providing a chemical reaction between calcium oxide containing grit particles to produce calcium hydroxide and heat, capturing the heat of hydration and using it to preheat water initially at ambient temperature, to rise to an elevated temperature to increase the amount of lime present in the water to a supersaturated lime suspension level, with the chemical reaction running to completion, followed by cooling. Heat from a water jacket may be used to raise the temperature in the lime slaker. A process and apparatus is also provided for dissolving scale on internal surfaces of a lime slaker, a lime aging tank, grit separation device and piping and dosing sub-systems, by adding acid into the system with rinse water. A pressurized delivery system that is substantially closed to atmosphere delivers treating dosing under sufficient pressure conditions to maintain a relatively constant back pressure, by means of valving.