General medication disposal systems are provided. Aspects of the systems include devices having a sealable container dimensioned to accommodate a pharmaceutical composition; and an amount of an inactivating substance, e.g., granulated or pelletized activated carbon, present inside of the sealable container. Aspects of the invention further include methods of making and using the systems, as well as kits comprising the devices of the system.

An exemplary system for treatment and disposal of pharmaceutical waste comprises a sealable pail, a stirring device, a sealable bag, a container, an acidic substance, and a denaturant. The sealable pail receives the pharmaceutical waste and the acidic substance. The acidic substance dissolves the pharmaceutical waste, and the stirring device stirs the acidic substance to ensure that the pharmaceutical waste is completely dissolved. The denaturant is added to the dissolved pharmaceutical waste and renders the dissolved pharmaceutical waste safe for transport. The treated pharmaceutical waste is sealed within the sealable pail, and the sealable bag receives the sealed pail and is sealed. The sealed bag is then placed in the container for transport to a disposal facility.

Methods for converting toxic waste, including nuclear waste, to quasi-natural or artificial feldspar minerals are disclosed. The disclosed methods may include converting, chemically binding, sequestering and incorporating the toxic waste into quasi-natural or artificial Feldspar minerals. The quasi-natural or artificial feldspar minerals may be configured to match naturally occurring materials at a selected disposal site. Methods for the immediate, long term, quasi-permanent disposal or storage of quasi natural or artificial feldspar materials are also disclosed.

Apparatus and a method for decomposing a body of a deceased person, as an alternative to traditional cremation. The apparatus includes a primary vessel where the body is treated with a highly basic solvent to render the body into skeletal remains and liquid remains. A clamp is applied to the skull during processing for solvent access to the skull. A secondary vessel is used to receive the liquid remains from the primary vessel and further treat them. During this further treatment, the skeletal remains left in the primary vessel after the liquefied portion has been transferred to the secondary vessel, can be treated to be decolorized and deodorized, and then returned to the decedent's next of kin as ash-like material.

Containers and methods for disposing unused pharmaceutical product are disclosed. Each container (100, 200, 300) may include a container body (104, 204, 304) with an internal chamber (116, 216, 316) for storing pharmaceutical product, along with a cover (124, 224, 324) for selectively limiting access to the chamber (116, 216, 316). An encapsulation component (128, 228, 328) may be selectively disposable within the chamber (116, 216, 316), and may be operable to encapsulate the pharmaceutical product within the container (100, 200, 300). For instance, the encapsulation component (128, 228, 328) may melt and/or flow into contact with the pharmaceutical product and thereafter solidify to encapsulate the pharmaceutical product. The encapsulation component (128, 228, 328) may melt and thereafter solidify between the cover (124, 224, 324) and shell (104, 204, 304) to limit removal of the cover (124, 224, 324) from the shell (104, 204, 304).

Method and apparatus for disposal of used home medication which comprises an outer container being sealable and disposable containing an inner water-soluble packet/bag of gelling agent and coloring agent for stabilizing the used medication wherein the outer container comprises a foil-type container having a double sealing mechanism including a first zip lock sealing portion and a second self-sticking sealing portion to insure that the contents are safely sealed prior to disposal in a conventional home solid waste disposal unit.

Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods for data processing. As an example, a data processing circuit is disclosed that includes a data detector circuit. The data detector circuit includes an anti-causal noise predictive filter circuit and a data detection circuit. In some cases, the anti-causal noise predictive filter circuit is operable to apply noise predictive filtering to a detector input to yield a filtered output, and the data detection circuit is operable to apply a data detection algorithm to the filtered output derived from the anti-causal noise predictive filter circuit.

A Montgomery inverse calculation device includes a plurality of registers each storing a value of a variable, a modulus register storing a modulus, a multiplier performing multiplication on the modulus. A comparator compares the value of the variable stored in each of the registers with an output value of the multiplier and generates a plurality of control signals. A plurality of shifters shifts bits of a value of a variable stored in a corresponding register among the registers in response to at least one first control signal, and a quotient generation block calculates a quotient of mod 2m with respect to values output from some of the shifters in response to a second control signal. A calculation block calculates an updated value of an output value of each of the shifters using the quotient in response to at least one third control signal.

Disclosed is a resin precursor composition including a bifunctional (meth)acrylate containing a fluorine atom, a bifunctional (meth)acrylate having a fluorene structure, and a photopolymerization initiator, the resin precursor composition in which the formation of precipitates during its storage is suppressed; and a resin obtained from the same. Specifically disclosed is a resin precursor composition that contains a bifunctional fluorine-containing (meth)acrylate (component A); a (meth)acrylate having a fluorene structure (component B); and a photopolymerization initiator (component C), wherein the component B includes a bifunctional (meth)acrylate having a fluorene structure (b-1) and a monofunctional (meth)acrylate having a fluorene structure (b-2) at a molar ratio (b-1):(b-2) of 90:10 to 70:30.

The invention pertains to an oligomer or polymer substituted by one or more bisacylphosphine oxide moieties, characterized in that said bisacylphosphine oxide moiety is linked via the phosphorous atom, optionally via a spacer group, to the oligomer or polymer backbone; as well as to specifically functionalized bisacylphosphine oxides, suitable to prepare said polymers or oligomers.

A photocurable material for sealing including (A) an oligomer having a weight average molecular weight of 10,000 to 30,000 and having (meth)acryloyl group(s), (B) a (meth)acrylate monomer, (C) a polythiol compound, and optionally (D) a carbodiimide compound enables the provision of a sealing material that has high compression recovery performance, high tensile strength and excellent flexibility, can have low hardness if required, and therefore has excellent sealing properties including air-tightness performance and water-proof performance and undergoes the formation of little surface tacks and the like.

The invention relates to an acrylate-based UV-curable ink, in particular ink jet ink, having a content of pigments, radical photoinitiators, dispersing agent(s)and optionally additional additives, characterized in that said ink contains at least two radical photoinitiators of the Norrish type I and at least one radically curable monomer in the form of a polyfunctional alkoxylated and/or polyalkoxylated acrylate monomer, which comprises one or more diacrylates and/or triacrylates, wherein the mol ratio of all acrylates to all initiators is approximately 5:1 to 19:1. The invention further relates to a method for producing a UV-curable ink, in particular an ink jet ink of the aforementioned type, wherein 1) a ground product or an ink base is produced by grinding one or more radically curable monomers in the form of a polyfunctional alkoxylated and/or polyalkoxylated acryl monomer, which comprise one or more diacrylate(s) and/or triacrylate(s), with one or more pigments and dispersing agents, in particular optionally additionally with synergists, stabilizers and further additives, in a high-performance mill, in particular in a pearl mill, until a constant viscosity and/or constant particle size develops, and 2) the resulting ground product is mixed with further acrylate monomers and the radical photoinitiators in the form of the Norrish type I, and optionally other additives. Said ground product exhibits advantageous physical properties at elevated temperatures and in long-term storage.

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.

A bridge includes a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express interface supporting at least two lanes, an Extensible Host Controller Interface, and a Universal Serial Bus 3.0 root hub. The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express interface is used for coupling to a host. Each lane of the at least two lanes provides a highest data transmission speed. The Extensible Host Controller Interface is coupled to the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express interface for storing data transmitted by the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express interface. The Universal Serial Bus 3.0 root hub includes a first controller and a second controller. The first controller and the second controller are used for controlling data transmission of four ports, and a highest data transmission speed provided by each port of the four ports is not more than the highest data transmission speed provided by the lane.

Various embodiments include apparatuses, stacked devices and methods of forming dice stacks on an interface die. In one such apparatus, a dice stack includes at least a first die and a second die, and conductive paths coupling the first die and the second die to the common control die. In some embodiments, the conductive paths may be arranged to connect with circuitry on alternating dice of the stack. In other embodiments, a plurality of dice stacks may be arranged on a single interface die, and some or all of the dice may have interleaving conductive paths.

In mainframe computer system, workload tasks are accomplished using a logically partitioned data processing system, where the partitioned data processing system is divided into multiple logical partitions. In a system and method managing such a computer system, each running workload tasks that can be classified based on time criticality, and groups of logical partitions can be freely defined. Processing capacity limits for the logical partitions in a group of logical partitions based upon defined processing capacity thresholds and upon an iterative determination of how much capacity is needed for time critical workload tasks. Workload can be balanced between logical partitions within a group, to prevent surplus processing capacity being used to run not time critical workload on one logical partition when another logical partition running only time critical workload tasks faces processing deficit.

The systems and methods described herein may be used to implement a shared dynamic-sized data structure using hardware transactional memory to simplify and/or improve memory management of the data structure. An application (or thread thereof) may indicate (or register) the intended use of an element of the data structure and may initialize the value of the data structure element. Thereafter, another thread or application may use hardware transactions to access the data structure element while confirming that the data structure element is still part of the dynamic data structure and/or that memory allocated to the data structure element has not been freed. Various indicators may be used determine whether memory allocated to the element can be freed.

Methods and systems for managing a removal of a passthrough device from a guest managed by a hypervisor in virtualized computing environment. A hypervisor receives a request from the guest for access to a passthrough device. The hypervisor sets, in a memory, a last accessed state associated with a virtual machine executing the guest. The hypervisor forwards the request to the passthrough device and configures the host CPU to send a subsequent access request directly to the passthrough device. In response to a virtual machine reset, the hypervisor clears the last accessed state and instructs the host CPU to send a post-reset access request to the hypervisor.

A usage allocation of a hardware resource to each of a number of workloads over time is determined using a demand model. The usage allocation of the resource includes a current and past actual usage allocation of the resource, a future projected usage allocation of the resource, and current and past actual usage of the resource. A capacity allocation of the resource is determined using a capacity model. The capacity allocation of the resource includes a current and past capacity and a future projected capacity of the resource. Whether a gap exists between the usage allocation and the capacity allocation is determined using a mapping model. Where the gap exists between the usage allocation of the resource and the capacity allocation of the resource, a user is presented with options determined using the mapping model and selectable by the user to implement a remediation strategy to close the gap.

An optically active bisbenzyl compound or a racemic bisbenzyl compound represented by formula (2) that has axial chirality: where: R1 represents a halogen, or an optionally substituted: linear, branched, or cyclic C1-8 alkyl, C2-8 alkenyl, C2-8 alkynyl, C6-14 aryl, C3-8 heteroaryl, linear, branched, or cyclic C1-8 alkoxy, or C7-16 aralkyl;R21 each independently represents hydrogen, halogen, nitro, or an optionally substituted: linear, branched, or cyclic C1-8 alkyl, C2-8 alkenyl, C2-8 alkynyl, C6-14 aryl, linear, branched, or cyclic C1-8 alkoxy, or a C7-16 aralkyl;R3 represents hydrogen, or an optionally substituted: C6-14 aryl, a C3-8 heteroaryl, or a C7-16 aralkyl; andY2 represents a halogen, or an optionally substituted: C1-8 alkylsulfonyloxy, C6-14 arylsulfonyloxy, or C7-16 aralkylsulfonyloxy.

Disclosed are: a diaryliodonium salt mixture which is a precursor of a BF4 salt or the like of a diaryliodonium compound, can be produced in the form of crystals at ambient temperature, can be purified in a simple manner, can be produced with high efficiency, and can be induced into a BF4 salt or the like salt that has excellent solubility in a monomer or the like; and a process for producing the diaryliodonium salt mixture. Also disclosed is a production process which can achieve good yield and can produce reduced amounts of byproducts, and is therefore applicable to the industrial mass production of a diaryliodonium compound. The diaryliodonium salt mixture is characterized by containing at least two specific diaryliodonium salts.

The invention relates to polymers that can be obtained by polymerizing the monomers (A), (B), and (D), and optionally (C), where (A) is a monomer of formula (I), wherein A stands for C2 to C4 alkylene, B stands for a C2 to C4 alkylene different from A, R stands for hydrogen or methyl, m stands for a number from 1 to 500, n stands for a number from 1 to 500, (B) is an ethylenically unsaturated monomer that contains at least one carboxylic acid function, (C) is optionally a further ethylenically unsaturated monomer different from (A) and (B), (D) is a monomer of formula (II), wherein D stands for C2 to C4 alkylene, E stands for a C2 to C4 alkylene group different from D, F stands for a C2 to C4 alkylene group different from E, R stands for hydrogen or methyl, o stands for a number from 1 to 500, p stands for a number from 1 to 500, q stands for a number from 1 to 500, and wherein the weight fraction of the monomers is 35 to 99% for the macromonomer (A), 0.5 to 45% for the monomer (B), 0 to 20% for the monomer (C), and 1 to 20% for the monomer (D), and to the use of said polymers as defoamers for inorganic solid suspensions.

The disclosure relates to methods of making polymer particles, said methods including the steps of: making an aqueous gel reaction mixture; forming an emulsion having dispersed aqueous phase micelles of gel reaction mixture in a continuous phase; adding an initiator oil comprising at least one polymerization initiator to the continuous phase; and performing a polymerization reaction in the micelles. Further, the initiator oil is present in a volume % relative to a volume of the aqueous gel reaction mixture of between about 1 vol % to about 20 vol %. The disclosure also relates to methods of making nucleic acid polymer particles having the same method steps and wherein the aqueous gel reaction mixture includes a nucleic acid fragment, such as a primer.

According to the present invention, a metal nanoparticle dispersion suitable to multiple layered coating by jetting in the form of fine droplets is prepared by dispersing metal nanoparticles having an average particle size of 1 to 100 nm in a dispersion solvent having a boiling point of 80° C. or higher in such a manner that the volume percentage of the dispersion solvent is selected in the range of 55 to 80% by volume and the fluid viscosity (20° C.) of the dispersion is chosen in the range of 2 mPa·s to 30 mPa·s, and then when the dispersion is discharged in the form of fine droplets by inkjet method or the like, the dispersion is concentrated by evaporation of the dispersion solvent in the droplets in the course of flight, coming to be a viscous dispersion which can be applicable to multi-layered coating.

A hypervisor and one or more guest operating systems resident in a data processing system and hosted by the hypervisor are configured to selectively enable or disable branch prediction logic through separate hypervisor-mode and guest-mode instructions. By doing so, different branch prediction strategies may be employed for different operating systems and user applications hosted thereby to provide finer grained optimization of the branch prediction logic for different operating scenarios.

A data accessing method, and a storage system and a controller using the same are provided. The data accessing method is suitable for a flash memory storage system having a data perturbation module. The data accessing method includes receiving a read command from a host and obtaining a logical block to be read and a page to be read from the read command. The data accessing method also includes determining whether a physical block in a data area corresponding to the logical block to be read is a new block and transmitting a predetermined data to the host when the physical block corresponding to the logical block to be read is a new block. Thereby, the host is prevented from reading garbled code from the flash memory storage system having the data perturbation module.

An array of a plurality of processing elements (PEs) are in a data packet-switched network interconnecting the PEs and memory to enable any of the PEs to access the memory. The network connects the PEs and their local memories to a common controller. The common controller may include a shared load/store (SLS) unit and an array control unit. A shared read may be addressed to an external device via the common controller. The SLS unit can continue activity as if a normal shared read operation has taken place, except that the transactions that have been sent externally may take more cycles to complete than the local shared reads. Hence, a number of transaction-enabled flags may not have been deactivated even though there is no more bus activity. The SLS unit can use this state to indicate to the array control unit that a thread switch may now take place.

A multiprocessor system includes a first microprocessor and a second microprocessor. A first signaling pathway is configured to send message transmission coordination signals from the first microprocessor to the second microprocessor. The first signaling pathway may be coupled to at least two flag registers associated with the second microprocessor. A second signaling pathway is configured to send message transmission coordination signals from the second microprocessor to the first microprocessor. The second signaling pathway may be coupled to at least two flag registers associated with the first microprocessor. The first signaling pathway is independent of the second signaling pathway.

A microprocessor capable of running both x86 instruction set architecture (ISA) machine language programs and Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) ISA machine language programs. The microprocessor includes a mode indicator that indicates whether the microprocessor is currently fetching instructions of an x86 ISA or ARM ISA machine language program. The microprocessor also includes a plurality of model-specific registers (MSRs) that control aspects of the operation of the microprocessor. When the mode indicator indicates the microprocessor is currently fetching x86 ISA machine language program instructions, each of the plurality of MSRs is accessible via an x86 ISA RDMSR/WRMSR instruction that specifies an address of the MSR. When the mode indicator indicates the microprocessor is currently fetching ARM ISA machine language program instructions, each of the plurality of MSRs is accessible via an ARM ISA MRRC/MCRR instruction that specifies the address of the MSR.

In an example embodiment, there is described herein an apparatus comprising an interface for communicating with a plurality of digital signal processors and logic operable to send and receive data via the interface. The logic is configured to determine a first set of digital signal processors to be maintained in a ready state, a second set of digital signal processors to be maintained in a first energy saving state, and a third set of digital signal processors to be maintained in a second energy saving state.

A framework for implementing multitenant architecture is provided. The framework comprises a framework services module which is configured to provide framework services that facilitate abstraction of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) services and crosscutting services for a Greenfield application and a non SaaS based web application. Further the abstraction results in a SaaS based multitenant web application. The framework further comprises a runtime module configured to automatically integrate and consume the framework services and APIs to facilitate monitoring and controlling of features associated with the SaaS based multitenant web application. The framework further comprises a metadata services module configured to provide a plurality of metadata services to facilitate abstraction of storage structure of metadata associated with the framework and act as APIs for managing the metadata. The framework further comprises a role based administration module that facilitates management of the metadata through a tenant administrator and a product administrator.

An individual alkamide and/or a mixture having two or more different alkamides, is disclosed for changing, masking or reducing the unpleasant flavor impression of an unpleasant-tasting substance or mixture of substances. The alkamide can be trans-pellitorine; cis-pellitorine; 2Z,4Z- or 2Z,4E-decadienoic acid-N-isobutylamide; 2E,4E-decadienoic acid-N-([2S]-2-methylbutyl)amide; 2E,4E-decadienoic acid-N-([2R]-2-methylbutylamide); 2E,4Z-decadienoic acid-N-(2-methylbutyl)amide; achilleamide; sarmentine; 2E- or 3E-decenoic acid-N-isobutylamide; 3E-nonenoic acid-N-isobutylamide; spilanthol; homospilanthol; 2E,6Z,8E-decatrienoic acid-N-([2R]-2-methylbutyl)amide; 2E- or 2Z-decen-4-oic acid-N-isobutylamide; α-sanshool; α-hydroxysanshool; γ-hydroxysanshool; γ-hydroxysanshool; γ-hydroxyisosanshool; γ-dehydrosanshool; γ-sanshool; bungeanool; isobungeanool; dihydrobungeanool; or tetrahydrobungeanool, or combinations thereof.

Apparatus and method for assessing odors, comprises an electronic nose, to be applied to an odor and to output a structure identifying the odor; a neural network which maps an extracted structure to a first location on a pre-learned axis of odor pleasantness; and an output for outputting an assessment of an applied odor based on said first location. The assessment may be a prediction of how pleasant a user will consider the odor.

The present invention concerns a compound of formula (I), in the form of any one of its stereoisomers or a mixture thereof, and wherein the dotted line represents a carbon-carbon single or double bond; as well as its use as perfuming ingredient.

A process for making particles comprising a hydrophobic dopant for subsequent release therefrom is disclosed. The process comprises providing an emulsion comprising a hydrophilic phase and a hydrophobic phase dispersed in the hydrophilic phase, and reacting the precursor material to form the particles comprising the dopant therein. The hydrophobic phase comprises a precursor material and the dopant.

A process for obtaining an industrially useful 2-chloromethylbenzaldehyde-containing liquid composition at a high yield is provided. More specifically, a process for producing 2-chloromethylbenzaldehyde comprising step (A) of mixing 1-dichloromethyl-2-chloromethylbenzene and sulfuric acid having a concentration of 84.5% by weight or more; and step (B) of mixing a mixture obtained in step (A) and water is provided.

A method for cultivating Monarda fistulosaincludes planting seeds at rates between about 2.5 and about 5 pounds per acre, preferably about 4 pounds per acre. Fuel costs are reduced because seeding, mowing the first season, and harvesting in seasons thereafter are all that is required. Reduction in herbicide use results from the heavy rate of planting, improved germination attributed to rolling, and the plant's natural herbicides which are more highly effective when seeded at the higher rate. The method includes seeding, mowing during a first growing season, and harvesting each season thereafter. This method results in oil without weed contamination and carvacrol levels are high.

A method for producing a phenylphosphonic acid metal salt composition, including reacting a phenylphosphonic acid compound (a) with a metal salt, metal oxide or metal hydroxide (b) that is present in an amount beyond the equivalent, the phenylphosphonic acid metal salt composition containing phenylphosphonic acid metal salt, and a surplus amount of the metal salt, the metal oxide or the surplus metal hydroxide (b). A crystal nucleating agent comprises the phenylphosphonic acid metal salt composition produced by the method.

A new general purpose foaming agent having application as drilling fluid foaming agents or as any foaming agent needed an a wide variety of applications is disclosed, where the agent includes at least one anionic surfactant, at least one cationic surfactant, and mixtures thereof and one or more zwitterionic compounds. A method for using the foaming agent in capillary coiled tubing application is also disclosed. The foaming agents can also include additive to augment the properties of the foaming agent for a given application.

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 process for preparing a particle defoamer. The particle defoamer of 55%-75% of a carrier, 15%-35% of a silicone emulsion, 3%-10% of a texturing agent and 2%-10% of a solvent, based on the total weight of the particle defoamer; the process for preparing the particle defoamer is: (1)first adding a carrier A1 into a mixer, and then adding thereto a silicone emulsion B1, and stirring uniformly; (2)adding a carrier component A2 to the mixture obtained in (1), and stirring uniformly; (3)adding a silicone emulsion B2 to the mixture obtained in (2), and, after uniformly stirring, adding the solvent thereto and stirring uniformly; and (4)pelleting and drying by baking the mixture obtained in(3), so as to produce the product.

The present invention is directed to provide a semiconductor surface treating agent; composition which is capable of stripping an anti-reflection coating layer, a resist layer, and a cured resist layer in the production process of a semiconductor device and the like easily and in a short time, as well as a method for treating a semiconductor surface, comprising that the composition is used. The present invention relates to a semiconductor surface treating agent; composition, comprising [I] a compound generating a fluorine ion in water, [II] a carbon radical generating agent; , [III] water, [IV] an organic solvent, and [V] at least one kind of compound selected from a group consisting of hydroxylamine and a hydroxylamine derivative represented by the general formula [1], as well as a method for treating the semiconductor surface, comprising that the composition is used: (wherein R1 represents a linear, branched or cyclic C1-6 alkyl group, or a linear or branched C1-4 substituted alkyl group having 1 to 3 hydroxyl groups; R2 represents a hydrogen atom, a linear, branched or cyclic C1-6 alkyl group, or a linear or branched C1-4 substituted alkyl group having 1 to 3 hydroxyl groups).

A ceramic substrate includes a substrate body formed of ceramic and having a pair of surfaces each assuming a rectangular shape as viewed in plane, and a metallization layer formed on the surface of the substrate body and adapted to braze a metal frame thereon. A composite material layer is disposed between the surface of the substrate body and the metallization layer and is formed such that a ceramic portion, a metal portion 10m formed of a metal similar to a metal component of the metallization layer or a metal which, together with a metal component of the metallization layer, forms an all proportional solid solution, and a glass portion exist together. The thickness of the composite material layer is thinner than that of the metallization layer. A plating layer is deposited on the surface of the metallization layer.

A cryocooler system and a superconducting magnet apparatus having the cryocooler system include a cryocooler having a cool stage that cools a heat shielding unit and a thermal inertia that thermally contacts the cool stage of the cryocooler and has a high heat capacity. The cryocooler system reduces a temperature-increasing rate in a current lead by using the thermal inertia member when the temperature in the current lead is increased due to heat generated when an electrical current applied to a superconducting coil is ramped-up or ramped-down.

A superconducting thin film material exhibiting excellent superconducting properties and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A superconducting thin film material includes a substrate, and a superconducting film formed on the substrate. The superconducting film includes an MOD layer formed by an MOD process, and a gas-phase-formed layer formed on the MOD layer by a gas-phase process. Since the MOD layer is formed first and then the gas-phase-formed layer is formed in this manner, degradation of the properties of the gas-phase-formed layer due to heat treatment in the step of forming the MOD layer (heat treatment in the MOD process) can be prevented.

Current human-to-machine interfaces enable users to interact with a company's database and enter into a series of transactions (e.g., purchasing products/services and paying bills). Each transaction may require several operations or stages requiring user input or interaction. Some systems enable a user to enter a voice input parameter providing multiple operations of instruction (e.g., single natural language command). However, users of such a system do not know what types of commands the system is capable of accepting. Embodiments of the present invention facilitate communications for user transactions by determining a user's goal transaction and presenting a visual representation of a voice input parameter for the goal transaction. The use of visual representations notifies the user of the system's capability of accepting single natural language commands and the types of commands the system is capable of accepting, thereby enabling a user to complete a transaction in a shorter period of time.

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.

An error concealment method and apparatus for an audio signal and a decoding method and apparatus for an audio signal using the error concealment method and apparatus. The error concealment method includes selecting one of an error concealment in a frequency domain and an error concealment in a time domain as an error concealment scheme for a current frame based on a predetermined criteria when an error occurs in the current frame, selecting one of a repetition scheme and an interpolation scheme in the frequency domain as the error concealment scheme for the current frame based on a predetermined criteria when the error concealment in the frequency domain is selected, and concealing the error of the current frame using the selected scheme.

An electronic device and a method for providing a menu are disclosed. The electronic device displays a plurality of words on the screen, detects a first action specifying selection of at least one of the displayed words, searches an option item related to the word selected by the first action, generates at least one menu item based on the selected word and the searched option item, and displays the generated menu item in a first area of the screen.

Techniques are disclosed for supplying users in an online environment with a safe and effective chat facility. The chat facility is “safe” in the sense that the ability of users to compose inappropriate messages is greatly restricted, while “effective” in the sense that users are still allowed a broad range of expressivity in composing and exchanging chat messages.