DALLAS, April 3, 2020 — With the COVID-19 pandemic, more patients are having difficulty breathing and requiring ventilators to help them breathe. As hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) volumes increase with COVID-19 patients, health care ...

DES MOINES — More than 20 days after Iowa signed a $26 million contract with a Utah company to expand testing in the state, the machines the firm supplied to run the samples still have not...

In response to the coronavirus, Americans were told by their federal and state governments to shut down their businesses, stop going to church, work, school or out to eat, travel only when necessary and hunker down at home. Originally, Americans were led to believe this was for a two- or three-week period, in order to flatten the curve and not overwhelm our health care system.

At seven weeks and counting, with staggering economic loss that will leave families and thousands of small businesses and farmers with profound devastation, the question must be asked, are we trying to flatten the curve or flatten our country?

The initial models that pointed to staggering loss of life from the coronavirus have proved wildly inaccurate. As of May 2, the CDC placed the number of deaths in the U.S. from the virus at 66,746. While all loss of life is deeply regrettable, these numbers cannot be considered in a vacuum. For perspective, deaths from pneumonia in the U.S. during the same period were 64,382, with average yearly deaths from influenza in the same range.

The original goal of closing much of the U.S. economy and staying at home was to flatten the curve of new coronavirus cases so that our hospital systems would not be overwhelmed. Hospitals built by the Army Corps of Engineers to handle the increased volume have mostly been taken down. Except for a few spots in the U.S. the health care system was not overwhelmed. As the medical models of casualties from the coronavirus continue to be adjusted down, it is clear the curve has been flattened, so why do we continue to stay closed and worsen the economic devastation that tunnel vision has thus far kept many of our leaders from acknowledging?

Many health experts say 80 percent of Americans will get the coronavirus and experience only mild symptoms. The curve has been flattened. Our health care system is not overwhelmed. Why is our economy, for the most part, still closed?

A University of Washington study recently revised the projected number of deaths from the coronavirus in Iowa from 1,367 to a much lower estimate of 365. While all loss of life is horrific, we must also consider the devastation being done to our economy, our families and our way of life by actions taken to combat the coronavirus.

It must be noted that 578 Iowans died from the flu and pneumonia in 2017, a greater number than are likely to pass away from the coronavirus. We also know that many who die from the virus are elderly with underlying health conditions, increasing the likelihood that any serious illness could result in their death. Are draconian government restrictions in response to the coronavirus still needed and economically sustainable? The data shows that the answers to both questions is no. We are no longer flattening the curve; we are flattening our state and nation.

We have seen the medical data. What has been less visible in news conferences and in the overall reporting of the coronavirus and our response to it, are the economic and human costs of what we are doing:

• 30 million Americans are out of work and the number grows daily.

• Dairy farmers are pouring out milk they have no market for.

• Pork producers are euthanizing hogs they have no market for.

• According to a study by Iowa State University, the losses to Iowa Agriculture are at a staggering $6.7 billion and growing, with the largest losses in pork production and ethanol.

• In Iowa, the economic loss for corn is estimated to be $788 million, $213 million for soybean and $34 million for cattle.

• The Iowa Restaurant Association estimates that between 10 & 25% of Iowa’s restaurants will not reopen.

• Iowa’s public universities are predicting a $187 million loss.

• Iowa is spending $200 million or more per month on unemployment claims, with over 171,000 Iowans unemployed.

• 29 percent of the U.S. economy is frozen as a result of government action, with U.S. economic output down 29 percent.

• U.S. unemployment could soon hit 47 million.

• Losses to U.S. tourism are predicted to top $910 billion.

• Retirement plans for millions of Americans are being decimated, with recent reports projecting the average 401(k) loss at 19 percent.

• Drug and alcohol addiction and relapse are increasing.

• Testing for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease are being delayed, which could lead to increasing health problems and life-threatening illnesses in the future.

• Economic damage to rural hospitals could lead to hospital closures and less access to health care in some areas.

• Warnings of a possible meat shortage in the U.S. have been issued by executives of Farmland and Tyson, with reports that the food supply chain is under stress. Several grocery store chains are now limiting meat purchases and some national restaurant chains are no longer offering certain meat products on their menus. Higher meat prices are almost certain in the months to come.

• Huge U.S. debt increases unlike anything seen since World War II, to the tune of over $3 trillion and counting, are adding to the already monstrous $22 trillion in U.S. debt. This does not bode well for our children or future economic stability.

The list of consequences goes on and on, and behind each of the statistics is a family struggling to survive, a father and mother fearful of how they will care for their children, a small-business owner seeing their dreams and hard work destroyed overnight by draconian government mandates, a restaurant owner deciding never to reopen, a dairy farmer throwing in the towel and a business owner postponing indefinitely plans for expanding.

Behind these numbers is an economy greatly impacted by the government response to the coronavirus, with implications for our economic well-being profound and long lasting. Expansion projects delayed, business closures, layoffs and contraction for many businesses will likely keep unemployment numbers high and depress economic expansion for an unknown amount of time.

Let us be clear, it grows worse every day we remain closed.

Steve Holt represents District 18 in the Iowa House.

DES MOINES — More than 20 days after Iowa signed a $26 million contract with a Utah company to expand testing in the state, the machines the firm supplied to run the samples still have not passed muster.

A time frame for completing the validation process for the Test Iowa lab machines is unknown, as the process can vary by machine, University of Iowa officials said Friday.

The validation process is undertaken to determine if the machines are processing tests accurately. To this point, the lab has processed the Test Iowa results using machines the State Hygienic Lab already had, officials told The Gazette.

Running side-by-side testing is part of the validation process. The lab then compares whether the machines yield the same results when the sample is run, officials said Friday. The side-by-side testing means the Test Iowa samples are being run at least twice to compare results.

The state does not break out how many of the 331,186 Iowans who by Friday have completed the coronavirus assessment at TestIowa.com have actually been tested. Test Iowa was initiated last month to ramp up testing of essential workers and Iowans showing COVID-19 symptoms. The state’s fourth drive-though location where people with appointments can be tested opened Thursday at the Kirkwood Continuing Education Training Center in Cedar Rapids.

On Friday, Iowa posted a fourth straight day of double-digit deaths from coronavirus, with the latest 12 deaths reported by the state Department of Public Health bringing the statewide toll to 243 since COVID-19 was first confirmed March 8 in Iowa.

State health officials reported another 398 Iowans tested positive for the respiratory ailment, bringing that count to 11,457 of the 70,261 residents who have been tested — a positive rate of more than 16 percent.

One in 44 Iowans has been tested for COVID-19, with 58,804 posting negative results, according to state data. A total of 4,685 people have recovered from the disease.

During a Thursday media briefing, Gov. Kim Reynolds told reporters a backlog of test results that occurred due to validation of Test Iowa equipment had been “caught up,” but some Iowans who participated in drive-through sites set up around the state indicated they still were awaiting results.

Reynolds spokesman Pat Garrett confirmed Thursday that “a very small percentage” of coronavirus test samples collected under the Test Iowa program could not be processed because they were “potentially damaged,” resulting in incomplete results.

There were 407 Iowans who were hospitalized (with 34 admitted in the past 24 hours) for coronavirus-related illnesses and symptoms with 164 being treated in intensive care units and 109 requiring ventilators to assist their breathing.

Health officials said the 12 deaths reported Friday were: three in Woodbury County, two in Linn County and one each in Black Hawk, Dallas, Dubuque, Jasper, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott counties. No other information about the COVID-19 victims was available from state data.

According to officials, 51 percent of the Iowans who have died from coronavirus have been male — the same percentage that tested positive.

Iowans over the age of 80 represent 46 percent of the COVID-19 victims, followed by 41 percent between 61 and 80.

Of those who have tested positive, state data indicates about 42 percent are age 18 to 40; 37 percent are 41 to 60; 14 percent are 61 to 80 and 5 percent are 81 or older.

Counties with the highest number of positive test results are Polk (2,150), Woodbury (1,532), Black Hawk (1,463) and Linn (813).

Earlier this week, state officials revamped the data available to the public at coronavirus.iowa.gov, with the new format no longer listing the age range of Iowans who died from coronavirus and providing information using a different timeline than before.

The governor did not hold a daily media briefing Friday due to scheduling conflicts created by Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to Iowa. Garrett said Reynolds would resume her COVID-19 briefings next week.

John McGlothlen and Zack Kucharski of The Gazette contributed to this report.

For many of us, git and GitHub play a huge role in our development workflows. Whenever we have a tool that we need to use often, the more fine-tuned we can make that tool, the faster we can get things done. The following are five git commands or helpers that can make your developer life […]

The post 5 Essential git Commands and Utilities appeared first on David Walsh Blog.

In 2020, there is no doubt that people and technology will be very close friends in the future. The modern inhabitant of our planet spends about 45% of his time connecting with technology. We are...

The time has come and our loyal reader know already our traditional Advents Calendar. For the people who don’t know, […]

Ryan Holiday is described by the New York Times as popularizing stoicism, a philosophy of personal ethics which has been practiced by Kings, presidents, artists, writers, and entrepreneurs. His career started at 19 when he dropped out of college at 19 to work with author Robert Greene. Today, he’s a NYT Bestselling author, with 9 books under his belt, including his latest book: Stillness Is the Key which hit #1 on its first week. In this episode: Stillness isn’t a monk-like existence only reserved for the enlightened. Stillness is the idea of being still in a chaotic world and where our best work will come from. Ryan’s personal habits and process during the creation process to find stillness and it doesn’t include meditation. How to say no and build a practice around managing your time. Enjoy! FOLLOW RYAN: instagram | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe   Watch the Episode  This podcast is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world’s largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker, money/life and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world’s top […]

The post Finding Stillness in a Fast Paced World with Ryan Holiday appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.

If you happened to come across a Youtube video I put out not too long ago featuring Owen Smith, you’ll know the backstory how we connected for this episode of the Chase Jarvis LIVE show. Of course, we hoped to meet in person, but for now we’re coming LIVE to you from our living rooms. Owen Smith is a comedian, actor, writer, and the creator of a new YouTube show: Notebooks. He has performed stand-up on Conan, Colbert and is a regular at the Comedy Store Hollywood and Comedy Cellar in New York. He’s written for shows such as ABC’s Black•ish, Survivor’s Remorse (Starz), The Arsenio Hall Show, The ESPY’s (on ESPN with Drake and ABC with Joel McHale), The Guy’s Choice Awards, Whitney(NBC), Deon Cole’s Black Box (TBS), Are We There Yet (TBS), and Everybody Hates Chris. In this episode, we explore Owen’s Notebook project (so good!) and go deep into growing and developing as an artist, putting work into the world, learning to trust your instincts, finding the right time/place for your ideas, and so much more. Definitely check out his new show Notebooks. So relatable and funny for any creator. Enjoy! FOLLOW OWEN: instagram | twitter | […]

The post Make It Til You Make It with Owen Smith appeared first on Chase Jarvis Photography.

For a smooth projective variety $X$, we study analogs of Quot functors in hearts of non-standard $t$-structures of $D^b(mathrm{Coh}(X))$. The technical framework is that of families of $t$-structures, as studied in arXiv:1902.08184. We provide several examples and suggest possible directions of further investigation, as we reinterpret moduli spaces of stable pairs, in the sense of Thaddeus (arXiv:alg-geom/9210007) and Huybrechts-Lehn (arXiv:alg-geom/9211001), as instances of Quot schemes.

The connection between visual input and tactile sensing is critical for object manipulation tasks such as grasping and pushing. In this work, we introduce the challenging task of estimating a set of tactile physical properties from visual information. We aim to build a model that learns the complex mapping between visual information and tactile physical properties. We construct a first of its kind image-tactile dataset with over 400 multiview image sequences and the corresponding tactile properties. A total of fifteen tactile physical properties across categories including friction, compliance, adhesion, texture, and thermal conductance are measured and then estimated by our models. We develop a cross-modal framework comprised of an adversarial objective and a novel visuo-tactile joint classification loss. Additionally, we develop a neural architecture search framework capable of selecting optimal combinations of viewing angles for estimating a given physical property.

Real-world application scenarios like modern Internet services consist of diversity of AI and non-AI modules with very long and complex execution paths. Using component or micro AI benchmarks alone can lead to error-prone conclusions. This paper proposes a scenario-distilling AI benchmarking methodology. Instead of using real-world applications, we propose the permutations of essential AI and non-AI tasks as a scenario-distilling benchmark. We consider scenario-distilling benchmarks, component and micro benchmarks as three indispensable parts of a benchmark suite. Together with seventeen industry partners, we identify nine important real-world application scenarios. We design and implement a highly extensible, configurable, and flexible benchmark framework. On the basis of the framework, we propose the guideline for building scenario-distilling benchmarks, and present two Internet service AI ones. The preliminary evaluation shows the advantage of scenario-distilling AI benchmarking against using component or micro AI benchmarks alone. The specifications, source code, testbed, and results are publicly available from the web site url{this http URL}.

By Timothy Schoechle Courtesy of Solar Today A Colorado community is developing a community-based clean energy economy. Boulder, Colorado, sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains a half-hour drive northwest of Denver. It is a city, but still small … Continue reading →

Drink Local In tumultuous times, one thing remains true: People still want their spirits.…

Tool's music is not only not for everyone, it's such a challenging polyglot of oft-derided musical styles that it risks not being for anyone. And yet, the quartet's blend of prog-rock, art-rock, metal and performance art has become a genre unto itself over the course of 30 years, and it's a genre that has proved remarkably commercial.…

A system and method that facilitates urban traffic state detection based on support vector machine (SVM) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) classifiers is provided. Moreover, the SVM and MLP classifiers are fused into a cascaded two-tier classifier that improves the accuracy of the traffic state classification. To further improve the accuracy, the cascaded two-tier classifier (e.g., MLP-SVM), a single SVM classifier and a single MLP classifier are fused to determine a final decision for a traffic state. In addition, fusion strategies are employed during training and implementation phases to compensate for data acquisition and classification errors caused by noise and/or outliers.

A method for producing a high viscosity, low volatiles blown stripped oil blend is provided. The method may include the steps of: (i) obtaining an oil blend of corn stillage oil and soybean oil having a weight ratio of corn stillage oil to soybean oil of from about 1:2 to 3:1; (ii) heating the oil blend to at least 90° C.; (iii) passing air through the heated oil blend to produce a blown oil having a viscosity of at least 50 cSt at 40° C.; and (iv) stripping the blown oil from step (iii) to reduce an acid value of the blown oil to less than 5.0 mg KOH/gram.

Disclosed is a process for reducing the amount of sterol in a sterol-containing microbial oil composition, including distilling, under short path distillation conditions, a sterol-containing microbial oil wherein said distillation produces a distillate fraction containing the sterol and a triacylglycerol-containing fraction having a reduced amount of the sterol when compared to the amount of sterol in the sterol-containing microbial oil composition that has not been subjected to short path distillation.

An aqueous dispersion includes particles at least partially encapsulated in a microgel where the microgel is prepared from a hyperbranched acrylic polymer. In addition, a method for making an aqueous dispersion includes: (1) mixing in an aqueous medium: (a) particles, (b) at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and (c) a water-dispersible hyperbranched acrylic polymer having ethylenic unsaturation; and (2) polymerizing the at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer and water-dispersible hyperbranched acrylic polymer having ethylenic unsaturation to at least partially encapsulate the particles in a microgel.

The present invention has an object to provide an ink for inkjet textile printing which has excellent fastnesses and causes less bleeding on a textile and to provide a low cost method for inkjet textile printing by using said ink; and relates to an ink for inkjet textile printing wherein the ink contains at least one kind disperse dye, a dispersing agent, water and at least one kind (referred to as A compound) of the compounds represented by the following formula (1): (wherein, n is an integer number of 1 to 12) and at least one kind compound (referred to as B' compound) selected from the group consisting of alkanediols having 3 to 5 carbon atoms and polypropylene glycols, as organic solvents, the total content of A compound and B' compound is 12 to 50% by weight based on the total amount of the ink, and the ratio by weight of A compound to B' compound is in the range of 5:1 to 0.7:1.

The present invention is directed at a binder for a battery electrode comprising an ethylene oxide-containing copolymer including a first monomer of ethylene oxide (EO) and at least one additional monomer selected from an alkylene-oxide that is different from the first monomer of EO, an alkyl glycidyl ether, or a combination thereof; wherein the ethylene oxide-containing copolymer has a weight average molecular weight less than about 200,000 g/mole (e.g., from about 10,000 to about 100,000), the molar fraction of the first monomer of EO (XEo) in the ethylene oxide-containing copolymer is greater than 0.80 (e.g., from about 0.80 to about 0.995), and the ethylene oxide-containing copolymer has a peak melting temperature (Tp), in ° C., for a selected XEO in the range of about 0.80 to about 0.995, which is below a maximum value of Tpmax, at the selected XEO, which is calculated using the equation Tpmax=(60−150 (1−XEO)).

Novel surfactants and drying, drycleaning and soil repellency compositions containing such surfactants which utilize such surfactants. The surfactants are fluorine containing quaternary ammonium salts, and the drying, drycleaning and soil repellency compositions contain at least one halocarbon component and at least one of the fluorine containing surfactants. These compositions have the ability to remove water or aqueous films from the surfaces of a broad range of substrates and impart soil repellency to fabrics.

A dielectric ceramic material comprises a primary component of barium titanate (BaTiO3) and at least one additive component. The additive component has a mole percentage from 1% to 50% and is selected from the group consisting of lithium tantalite (LiTaO3), barium cerate (BaCeO3), sodium metaniobate (NaNbO3) and the combinations thereof.

A memory device includes a semiconductor channel, a tunnel dielectric layer located over the semiconductor channel, a first charge trap including a plurality of electrically conductive nanodots located over the tunnel dielectric layer, dielectric separation layer located over the nanodots, a second charge trap including a continuous metal layer located over the separation layer, a blocking dielectric located over the second charge trap, and a control gate located over the blocking dielectric.

A method includes determining a read threshold voltage corresponding to a group of storage elements in a non-volatile memory that includes a three-dimensional (3D) memory of a data storage device. The method also includes determining an error metric corresponding to data read from the group of storage elements using the read threshold voltage. The method includes comparing the read threshold voltage and the error metric to one or more criteria corresponding to a corrupting event.

Example embodiments relate to a bad area managing method of a nonvolatile memory device. The nonvolatile memory device may include a plurality of memory blocks and each block may contain memory layers stacked on a substrate. According to example embodiments, a method includes accessing one of the memory blocks, judging whether the accessed memory block includes at least one memory layer containing a bad memory cell. If a bad memory cell is detected, the method may further include configuring the memory device to treat the at least one memory layer of the accessed memory block as a bad area.

An environmentally beneficial process for utilizing waste drill cuttings from oil and gas exploration. The waste drill cuttings (20) are used as a filler and combined with plastic to provide a plastic based product (26) in the plastics industry. In an embodiment the cuttings are thermally treated and formed into pellets. In a further embodiment the cuttings are treated and mixed with recycled plastic to be formed into pellets. The pellets are then used in the manufacture of rigid plastic products such as bollards, planters, benches and decking.

Systems and methods are provided for generating at least one high fidelity resource state. A classical code and punctured to provide a first set of generators and a second set of generators. The first set of generators is mapped to a set of stabilizer generators, and the second set of generators is mapped to a set of logical operators. A set of resource states are prepared in physical qubits. A decoding process is performed on the resource states according to a quantum code represented by the set of stabilizer generators and the set of logical operators, and qubits corresponding to the stabilizers are measured.

The various implementations described herein include systems, methods and/or devices used to enable multipass programming in buffers implemented in non-volatile data storage systems (e.g., using one or more flash memory devices). In one aspect, a portion of memory (e.g., a page in a block of a flash memory device) may be programmed many (e.g., 1000) times before an erase is required. Some embodiments include systems, methods and/or devices to integrate Bloom filter functionality in a non-volatile data storage system, where a portion of memory storing one or more bits of a Bloom filter array may be programmed many (e.g., 1000) times before the contents of the portion of memory need to be moved to an unused location in the memory.

Each PCIe device may include a media access control (MAC) interface and a physical (PHY) interface that support a plurality of different lane configurations. These interfaces may include hardware modules that support 1×32, 2×16, 4×8, 8×4, 16×2, and 32×1 communication. Instead of physically connecting each of the hardware modules in the MAC interface to respective hardware modules in the PHY interface using dedicated traces, the device may include two bus controllers that arbitrate which hardware modules are connected to a internal bus coupling the two interfaces. When a different lane configuration is desired, the bus controller couples the corresponding hardware module to the internal bus. In this manner, the different lane configurations share the same lanes (and wires) of the bus as the other lane configurations. Accordingly, the shared bus only needs to include enough lanes (and wires) necessary to accommodate the widest lane configuration.

Systems, methods and computer program products may provide managing utilization of one or more physical processors in a shared processor pool. A method of managing utilization of one or more physical processors in a shared processor pool may include determining a current amount of utilization of the one or more physical processors and generating an instruction message. The instruction message may be at least partially determined by the current amount of utilization. The method may further include sending the instruction message to a guest operating system, the guest operating system having a number of enabled virtual processors.

The present disclosure relates to a process for separating a fluoroolefin from a mixture comprising hydrogen fluoride and fluoroolefin, comprising azeotropic distillation both with and without an entrainer. In particular are disclosed processes for separating any of HFC-1225ye, HFC-1234ze, HFC-1234yf or HFC-1243zf from HF.

Augmented processor hardware contains a microcode interpreter. When encrypted microcode is included in a message from a service, the microcode may be passed to the microcode interpreter. Based on decryption and execution of the microcode taking place at the processor hardware, extended functionality may be realized.

Efficient data processing apparatus and methods include hardware components which are pre-programmed by software. Each hardware component triggers the other to complete its tasks. After the final pre-programmed hardware task is complete, the hardware component issues a software interrupt.

Embodiments provide various techniques for dynamic adjustment of a number of threads for execution in any domain based on domain utilizations. In a multiprocessor system, the utilization for each domain is monitored. If a utilization of any of these domains changes, then the number of threads for each of the domains determined for execution may also be adjusted to adapt to the change.

A method for isolating 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol (TMCD) solids from an isolated feed slurry formed in a TMCD process comprising TMCD, a liquid phase, and impurities by (a) treating the isolated feed slurry in a product isolation zone to produce an isolated TMCD product wet cake, a mother liquor, and impurities; wherein the product isolation zone can comprise at least one rotary pressure drum filter.

The present invention relates to a process for heat integration in the preparation of saturated C3-C20-alcohols, in which a hydrogenation feed comprising at least one C3-C20-aldehyde is hydrogenated in the presence of a hydrogen-comprising gas in a hydrogenation zone and a discharge is taken off from the hydrogenation zone and subjected to distillation in at least one distillation column to give a fraction enriched in saturated C3-C20-alcohols.

A method for softening laundry employs a softening composition, which includes at least one thickener containing a cationic polymer obtained by polymerization: of a cationic monomer;of a monomer with a hydrophobic nature, of formula (I): wherein R1=H or CH3 R2=alkyl chain having at least 16 carbon atomsX═O, m≧5, y=z=0, orX═NH, m≧z≧5, y=0, orX═NH, m≧y≧5, z=0, of a nonionic monomer.

A speech recognition method including the steps of receiving a speech input from a known speaker of a sequence of observations and determining the likelihood of a sequence of words arising from the sequence of observations using an acoustic model. The acoustic model has a plurality of model parameters describing probability distributions which relate a word or part thereof to an observation and has been trained using first training data and adapted using second training data to said speaker. The speech recognition method also determines the likelihood of a sequence of observations occurring in a given language using a language model and combines the likelihoods determined by the acoustic model and the language model and outputs a sequence of words identified from said speech input signal. The acoustic model is context based for the speaker, the context based information being contained in the model using a plurality of decision trees and the structure of the decision trees is based on second training data.

A multilingual electronic transfer dictionary provides for automatic topic disambiguation by including one or more topic codes in definitions contained the dictionary. Automatic topic disambiguation is accomplished by determining the frequencies of topic codes within a block of text. Dictionary entries having more frequently occurring topic codes are preferentially selected over those having less frequently occurring topic codes. When the topic codes are members of a hierarchical topical coding system, such as the International Patent Classification system, an iterative method can be used with starts with a coarser level of the coding system and is repeated at finer levels until an ambiguity is resolved. The dictionary is advantageously used for machine translation, e.g. between Japanese and English.

An automatic programmed ventilation control system for operating a fan includes a fan drive circuit; a duty, cycle control circuit including means for selecting a duty cycle and means for setting the selected duty cycle; a timing circuit including means for selecting the time of day and means for setting the selected time of day; a fan speed control circuit including means for selecting a fan speed and means for setting the selected fan speed; and a manual override switch circuit for overriding the set duty cycle and fan speed for operating the fan at a predetermined speed for a preselected period of time.

An equatorial sundial apparatus with an adjustable base assembly utilizing one or more concave cylindrical focusing mirrors. One of the benefits that is derived from this apparatus is the use of one or more concave cylindrical mirrors to project a focused beam of light onto a calibrated surface from which the time can be read. This sundial has the additional benefit of not suffering from blurring of the time indicator in a shadow or non-focused beam of light typical of other sundials. This sundial's focused light forms a sharply demarcated indicator from which time can be read to the minute. A further benefit of this apparatus is the ability to incorporate multiple concave cylindrical focusing mirrors to reduce the size of the visual field or screen where the time is read and to incorporate various shapes and designs for ornamental purposes without significant compromise of the sundials accuracy for telling time. An additional benefit of this apparatus is the ability to quickly, accurately and easily adjust the apparatus to the proper tilt upon setup according to the latitude where it will be located by means of an adjustable base assembly.

A network is described for providing estimates of the current time. The network includes multiple computer systems each configured to provide an estimate of the current time in response to a received request. The computer systems are logically arranged to form a hierarchical structure, wherein the hierarchical structure includes multiple levels ranked with respect to one another. Each of the computer systems is assigned one of multiple levels of trust, and occupies one of the levels of the hierarchical structure dependent upon the assigned level of trust. The level of trust assigned to a given computer system is dependent upon a timekeeping dependability of the given computer system. The assigned level of trust may also be dependent upon a timekeeping security of the given computer system, where the timekeeping security is dependent upon a tamper resistance of the time clock of the given computer system. Methods for delegating a level of trust to a new computer system (i.e., a computer system not part of the network) and for adding a new computer system to the network are also described.

A process is provided for recovering aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having from 4 to 11 carbon atoms from the distillation residue obtained in the oxidation of the corresponding aldehyde by means of oxygen or oxygen-containing gas mixtures in the presence of alkali metal carboxylates or alkaline earth metal carboxylates to form the corresponding monocarboxylic acid and subsequent distillation, characterized in that the distillation residue is reacted with an aqueous acid in a tube reactor and the two-phase mixture flowing out from the tube reactor is introduced into a settling vessel in which the organic phase which separates out has a pH of 4.5 or less.

An α-amylase from Bacillus subtilis (AmyE) produces significant amounts of glucose from various carbohydrate substrates, including vegetable starch, maltoheptaose, and maltotriose. Among other things, this advantageous property allows AmyE or variants thereof to be used in a saccharification reaction having a reduced or eliminated requirement for glucoamylase. The reduction or elimination of the glucoamylase requirement significantly improves the efficiency of the production of ethanol or high fructose corn syrup, for example.

The present invention relates to a method for working up distillation, residues from isocyanate production in which monomeric isocyanate present in distillation residues is recovered by means of a spray-dry method and the overall yield of monomeric isocyanate is thus significantly increased.

A catalytic process for dehydration of an aliphatic C2-C6 alcohol to its corresponding olefin is disclosed. The process continuously flows through a reaction zone a liquid phase containing an aliphatic C2-C6 alcohol to contact a non-volatile acid catalyst at a reaction temperature and pressure to at least partially convert the aliphatic C2-C6 alcohol in the liquid phase to its corresponding olefin. The reaction pressure is greater than atmospheric pressure and the reaction temperature is above the boiling point of the olefin at reaction pressure, but below the critical temperature of the alcohol, and the olefin product is substantially in the gaseous phase. After the contacting step, the olefin containing gaseous phase is separated from the liquid phase. The invention also relates to catalytic processes such as a hydrolysis of an olefin to an alcohol, an esterification, a transesterification, a polymerization, an aldol condensation or an ester hydrolysis.

Described herein is a system and method for detecting underutilized capacity within a storage system environment. The technique comprises collecting performance data of various storage objects within a storage system environment for various performance measures at designated time intervals. The collected performance data may be formatted and stored to a database. One or more parameters may be received specifying at least one performance measure, at least one threshold value, and/or at least one time period. The performance data for target storage objects may be analyzed according to the received parameters to determine any underutilized storage objects. A report may be generated according to the parameters listing the storage objects and address locations of any underutilized storage objects. The report may comprise various information corresponding to the underutilized storage object, such as the business units, tiers, data centers, and levels of service they are associated with.

There is provided a method for upgrading hydrocarbon compounds, in which hydrocarbon compounds synthesized in a Fisher-Tropsch synthesis reaction are fractionally distillated, and the fractionally distillated hydrocarbon compounds are hydrotreated to produce liquid fuel products. The method includes fractionally distilling heavy hydrocarbon compounds synthesized in the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis reaction as a liquid into a first middle distillate and a wax fraction, and fractionally distilling light hydrocarbon compounds synthesized in the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis reaction as a gas into a second middle distillate and a light gas fraction.

A multilayer printed wiring board including a first interlayer resin insulation layer, a first conductive circuit formed on the first interlayer resin insulation layer, a second interlayer resin insulation layer formed on the first interlayer resin insulation layer and the first conductive circuit and having an opening portion exposing a portion of the first conductive circuit, a second conductive circuit formed on the second interlayer resin insulation layer, a via conductor formed in the opening portion of the second interlayer resin insulation layer and connecting the first conductive circuit and the second conductive circuit, and a coating layer having a metal layer and a coating film and formed between the first conductive circuit and the second interlayer resin insulation layer. The metal layer is formed on the surface of the first conductive circuit and the coating film is formed on the metal layer.