It’s 2018, and traditional marketing concept has shifted. We often hear that content marketing is taking the top and is the future of marketing. While content marketing doesn’t only mean blogging, blog posts on a product, service or about your business, should be a big part of your content marketing strategy. There are vast amounts …

Five Aspects of a Successful Blog Post Read More »

We review some recent results on the phenomenon of surface superconductivity in the framework of Ginzburg-Landau theory for extreme type-II materials. In particular, we focus on the response of the superconductor to a strong longitudinal magnetic field in the regime where superconductivity survives only along the boundary of the wire. We derive the energy and density asymptotics for samples with smooth cross section, up to curvature-dependent terms. Furthermore, we discuss the corrections in presence of corners at the boundary of the sample.

We present a method for optimal path planning of human walking paths in mountainous terrain, using a control theoretic formulation and a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. Previous models for human navigation were entirely deterministic, assuming perfect knowledge of the ambient elevation data and human walking velocity as a function of local slope of the terrain. Our model includes a stochastic component which can account for uncertainty in the problem, and thus includes a Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation with viscosity. We discuss the model in the presence and absence of stochastic effects, and suggest numerical methods for simulating the model. We discuss two different notions of an optimal path when there is uncertainty in the problem. Finally, we compare the optimal paths suggested by the model at different levels of uncertainty, and observe that as the size of the uncertainty tends to zero (and thus the viscosity in the equation tends to zero), the optimal path tends toward the deterministic optimal path.

Let the group $G = AB$ be the product of subgroups $A$ and $B$, and let $p$ be a prime. We prove that $p$ does not divide the conjugacy class size (index) of each $p$-regular element of prime power order $xin Acup B$ if and only if $G$ is $p$-decomposable, i.e. $G=O_p(G) imes O_{p'}(G)$.

Predicting the spatial configuration of gas molecules in nanopores of shale formations is crucial for fluid flow forecasting and hydrocarbon reserves estimation. The key challenge in these tight formations is that the majority of the pore sizes are less than 50 nm. At this scale, the fluid properties are affected by nanoconfinement effects due to the increased fluid-solid interactions. For instance, gas adsorption to the pore walls could account for up to 85% of the total hydrocarbon volume in a tight reservoir. Although there are analytical solutions that describe this phenomenon for simple geometries, they are not suitable for describing realistic pores, where surface roughness and geometric anisotropy play important roles. To describe these, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are used since they consider fluid-solid and fluid-fluid interactions at the molecular level. However, MD simulations are computationally expensive, and are not able to simulate scales larger than a few connected nanopores. We present a method for building and training physics-based deep learning surrogate models to carry out fast and accurate predictions of molecular configurations of gas inside nanopores. Since training deep learning models requires extensive databases that are computationally expensive to create, we employ active learning (AL). AL reduces the overhead of creating comprehensive sets of high-fidelity data by determining where the model uncertainty is greatest, and running simulations on the fly to minimize it. The proposed workflow enables nanoconfinement effects to be rigorously considered at the mesoscale where complex connected sets of nanopores control key applications such as hydrocarbon recovery and CO2 sequestration.

This poster summarizes our contributions to Wikimedia's processing pipeline for mathematical formulae. We describe how we have supported the transition from rendering formulae as course-grained PNG images in 2001 to providing modern semantically enriched language-independent MathML formulae in 2020. Additionally, we describe our plans to improve the accessibility and discoverability of mathematical knowledge in Wikimedia projects further.

During VR demos we have performed over last few years, many participants (in the absence of any haptic feedback) have commented on their perceived ability to 'feel' differences between simulated molecular objects. The mechanisms for such 'feeling' are not entirely clear: observing from outside VR, one can see that there is nothing physical for participants to 'feel'. Here we outline exploratory user studies designed to evaluate the extent to which participants can distinguish quantitative differences in the flexibility of VR-simulated molecular objects. The results suggest that an individual's capacity to detect differences in molecular flexibility is enhanced when they can interact with and manipulate the molecules, as opposed to merely observing the same interaction. Building on these results, we intend to carry out further studies investigating humans' ability to sense quantitative properties of VR simulations without haptic technology.

We study the problem of pricing under a Multinomial Logit model where we incorporate network effects over the consumer's decisions. We analyse both cases, when sellers compete or collaborate. In particular, we pay special attention to the overall expected revenue and how the behaviour of the no purchase option is affected under variations of a network effect parameter. Where for example we prove that the market share for the no purchase option, is decreasing in terms of the value of the network effect, meaning that stronger communication among costumers increases the expected amount of sales. We also analyse how the customer's utility is altered when network effects are incorporated into the market, comparing the cases where both competitive and monopolistic prices are displayed. We use tools from stochastic approximation algorithms to prove that the probability of purchasing the available products converges to a unique stationary distribution. We model that the sellers can use this stationary distribution to establish their strategies. Finding that under those settings, a pure Nash Equilibrium represents the pricing strategies in the case of competition, and an optimal (that maximises the total revenue) fixed price characterise the case of collaboration.

This paper investigates the convergence of the randomized Kaczmarz algorithm for the problem of phase retrieval of complex-valued objects. While this algorithm has been studied for the real-valued case}, its generalization to the complex-valued case is nontrivial and has been left as a conjecture. This paper establishes the connection between the convergence of the algorithm and the convexity of an objective function. Based on the connection, it demonstrates that when the sensing vectors are sampled uniformly from a unit sphere and the number of sensing vectors $m$ satisfies $m>O(nlog n)$ as $n, m ightarrowinfty$, then this algorithm with a good initialization achieves linear convergence to the solution with high probability.

An important goal in reinforcement learning is to create agents that can quickly adapt to new goals while avoiding situations that might cause damage to themselves or their environments. One way agents learn is through exploration mechanisms, which are needed to discover new policies. However, in deep reinforcement learning, exploration is normally done by injecting noise in the action space. While performing well in many domains, this setup has the inherent risk that the noisy actions performed by the agent lead to unsafe states in the environment. Here we introduce a novel approach called Meta-Learned Instinctual Networks (MLIN) that allows agents to safely learn during their lifetime while avoiding potentially hazardous states. At the core of the approach is a plastic network trained through reinforcement learning and an evolved "instinctual" network, which does not change during the agent's lifetime but can modulate the noisy output of the plastic network. We test our idea on a simple 2D navigation task with no-go zones, in which the agent has to learn to approach new targets during deployment. MLIN outperforms standard meta-trained networks and allows agents to learn to navigate to new targets without colliding with any of the no-go zones. These results suggest that meta-learning augmented with an instinctual network is a promising new approach for safe AI, which may enable progress in this area on a variety of different domains.

The Cannabis Issue During normal times, I-90 Green House is like a destination resort for marijuana lovers.…

ON INLANDER.COM WORLD: Roughly two weeks after Canada's deadliest mass shooting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced an immediate ban on what he called “military-style assault weapons.”…

ON INLANDER.COM COVER: While Washington state forges alliances, Idaho battles coronavirus its own way.…

Last week, the New York Times dropped a terrifying story: Asian Giant Hornets, or "murder hornets" as more J. Jonah Jameson-esque researchers like to call them, have been identified in Western Washington. These insects can grow up to 2 inches long, can rip the heads off an entire hive of honeybees in a matter of hours, and have dagger-like stingers that pierce beekeeper suits to deliver a sting that sears like molten acid.…

Disclosed is a process for preparing an aryloxyalkylene amine compound via an aminoethylation reaction comprising: a) reacting an aromatic hydroxyl compound in the presence of a basic catalyst with a 2-oxazolidinone compound of the formula II to form an intermediate reaction product; wherein R3 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen or lower alkyl having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, R4 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, straight or branched chain alkyl having from one to six carbon atoms, phenyl, alkaryl, or arylalkyl; and b) reacting the intermediate product of step a) with a polyalkylene polyamine.

The current application is directed to monitoring subsystems, and monitoring methods incorporated within the monitoring subsystems, that monitor operation of devices and systems in order to identify normal states and to quickly determine when a device or system transitions from a normal state to an abnormal state. The methods and monitoring components to which the current application is directed employ self-organizing maps and moving-average self-organizing maps to both characterize normal system behavior and to identify transitions to abnormal system behaviors.

A method for performing relational analysis of parsed input is employed to create a visual map of knowledge information. A title, header or subject line for an input item of information is parsed into syntactical components of at least a subject component and any predicate component(s) relationally linked as topic and subtopics. A search of topics and subtopics is carried out for each parsed component. If a match is found, then the parsed component is taken as a chosen topic/subtopic label. If no match is found, then the parsed component is formatted as a new entry in the knowledge map. A translation function for translating topics and subtopics from an original language into one or more target languages is enabled by user request or indicated user preference for display on a generated visual map of knowledge information.

In one embodiment, a plurality of objects associated with a dataset and a specified number of nearest objects to be identified are received. The received objects are sorted in a structured format. Further, a key object and a number of adjacent objects corresponding to the key object are selected from the sorted plurality of objects, wherein the number of adjacent objects is selected based on the specified number of nearest objects to be identified. Furthermore, distances between the key object and the number of adjacent objects are determined to identify the specified number of nearest objects, wherein the distances are determined until the specified number of nearest objects is identified. Based on the determined distances, the specified number of nearest objects in the dataset is identified for data analysis.

A data warehouse is constructed using the relational mapping of a transactional database without reconstructing the data relationships of the transactional database. First, an application programmer analyzes an object model in order to describe facts and dimensions using the objects, attributes, and paths of the object model. Each of the dimensions has an identifier that correlates an item in the transactional database to a dimension record in the data warehouse. The fact and dimension descriptions are saved to a description file. Second, a Data Warehouse Engine (DWE) then access the description file and uses the object model, fact and dimension descriptions, and object-relational mapping to map transactional data to the data warehouse.

Processes for continuous preparation of bioproducts are described herein. The processes include contacting fatty acid glycerides with alcohols in the presence of an acidic heterogeneous catalyst and separating the fatty acid alkyl esters from the reaction products.

Bioassays for detecting the ability of one sample of a food substance, nutritional supplement, therapeutic agent and/or disease preventive agent relative to that of a second sample of such a substance, supplement and/or agent to inhibit, upregulate or otherwise modulate translation initiation, and thereby demonstrate a disease curative and/or preventive effect in a human and/or animal that consumes a such substance, supplement and/or agent or to whom a such substance, supplement and/or agent is administered are provided.

Methods and related systems efficiently and effectively recover a significant amount of valuable, useable oil from byproducts formed during a dry milling process used for producing ethanol. The method may include forming a concentrate from the byproduct and recovering oil from the concentrate. The step of forming the concentrate may comprise evaporating the byproduct using a multi-stage evaporator, as well as recovering the oil before the final stage of the evaporator. Further, the step of recovering oil from the concentrate may comprise using a centrifuge and, in particular, a disk stack centrifuge. Other aspects include related methods and subsystems for recovering oil.

Shape memory and pseudoelastic martensitic behavior is enabled by a structure in which there is provided a crystalline ceramic material that is capable of undergoing a reversible martensitic transformation and forming martensitic domains, during such martensitic transformation, that have an elongated domain length. The ceramic material is configured as a ceramic material structure including a structural feature that is smaller than the elongated domain length of the ceramic material.

A method of creating a semiconductor device is disclosed. An end of a carbon nanotube is unzipped to provide a substantially flat surface. A contact of the semiconductor device is formed. The substantially flat surface of the carbon nanotube is coupled to the contact to create the semiconductor device. An energy gap in the unzipped end of the carbon nanotube may be less than an energy gap in a region of the carbon nanotube outside of the unzipped end region.

Generally, compositions and methods of producing dimensionally stable three dimensional objects using an additive build up process. Specifically, materials combinable in an additive build up process using a materials printer for the production of stable three dimensional molds useful in the production of molded or formed parts.

A process for the conversion of biomass to hydrocarbon products such as transportation fuels, kerosene, diesel oil, fuel oil, chemical and refinery plant feeds. The instant process uses a hydrocarbon or synthesis gas co-feed and hot pressurized water to convert the biomass in a manner commonly referred to as hydrothermal liquefaction.

Techniques for disposing of one or more toxic materials, such as coal waste (e.g., fly ash, sludge, etc.), include incorporating the toxic materials into artificial feldspar or forming artificial feldspar from the toxic material(s). The artificial feldspar may be used to form an artificial aggregate, which may be used in a construction material, as road base, as a fill material or for any other suitable purpose. Artificial aggregates that are formed from toxic materials are also disclosed, as are construction materials that include such artificial aggregates.

A method and apparatus for the stabilization and safe removal of buried waste that is tested and classified as being transuranic or not transuranic waste and disposed accordingly. The buried waste (usually in vertical pipe units) is enclosed in a casing and ground and mixed with the surrounding soil. This process allows for chemical reactions to occur that stabilizes the mixture. The entire process is contained within the casing to avoid contamination. In situ or external testing is done for radio isotopes to classify the waste. If it is classified as transuranic the waste is removed in a controlled way into a retrieval enclosure and disposed off in drums. If the waste is not transuranic then grout is introduced into the mixture, allowed to set and the resulting monolith is removed and buried in trenches.

A method and apparatus for distributing objects. In one embodiment, the method comprises computing a modulus operand based on a number of objects to be distributed and a number of objects pertaining to a first category; computing a modulus operation based on a number of distributed objects and the modulus operand; and distributing a first object or a second object based on a result of computing the modulus operation.

Systems, Apparatus, methods, and computer program products are provided for converting an existing artifact to one or more new artifacts. For example, in one embodiment, a computing device can receive input identifying an existing artifact for conversion to one or more new artifacts. One or more items from the existing artifact and their respective types can be identified for conversion. Then, the one or more items of the existing artifact can be converted to one or more new artifacts.

A method for recommending at least one artifact to an artifact user is described. The method includes obtaining user characteristic information reflecting preferences, particular to the artifact user, as to a desired artifact. The method also includes obtaining first metadata about each of one or more candidate artifacts, and scoring, as one or more scored artifacts, each of the one or more candidate artifacts by evaluating one or more criteria, not particular to the artifact user, applied to the first metadata. The method further includes scaling, as one or more scaled artifacts, a score of each of the one or more scored artifacts, by evaluating the suitability of each of the one or more scored artifacts in view of the user characteristic information. The method lastly includes recommending to the artifact user at least one artifact from among the one or more scaled artifacts based on its scaled score.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for coproducting iso-type reaction product and alcohol from olefin, and a method for coproducting using the apparatus, in which the hydroformylation reactor provides a sufficient reaction area due to the broad contact surface area between the olefin and the synthesis gases that are the raw materials by a distributor plate installed in the reactor, and the raw materials can be sufficiently mixed with the reaction mixture due to the circulation of the reaction mixture so that the efficiency of the production of the aldehyde is excellent; and also the hydrogenation reactor suppresses the side reaction so that the efficiency for producing aldehyde and alcohol are all increased, and also iso-type reaction product and alcohol can be efficiently co-produced.

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus generates a plurality of interconnect patterns for a set of longitudinal channels that are occupied by horizontal interconnects. Each interconnect pattern may be different from the other interconnect patterns. Each interconnect pattern may define relative locations for the set of horizontal interconnects and gap channels. Highest crosstalk is determined for each of the interconnect patterns and the interconnect pattern with the minimum highest crosstalk is selected as a preferred pattern. The highest crosstalk may comprise far-end crosstalk or near-end crosstalk and may be calculated for a range of frequencies or for a plurality of frequencies. The crosstalk may be calculated by modeling the interconnects as transmission lines.

Disclosed are topical skin compositions and corresponding methods of their use that include an extract from Artabotrys hexapetalus, an extract from Sassafras tzumu, and an extract from Prunus salicina.

Methods employing detergent compositions effective for reducing soil redeposition and accumulation on hard surfaces are disclosed. The detergent compositions employ phosphinosuccinic acid adducts in combination with an alkalinity source and gluconic acid or salts thereof, copolymers of acrylic acid and maleic acids or salts thereof, sodium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate or combinations thereof.

MRI compatible localization and/or guidance systems for facilitating placement of an interventional therapy and/or device in vivo include: (a) a mount adapted for fixation to a patient; (b) a targeting cannula with a lumen configured to attach to the mount so as to be able to controllably translate in at least three dimensions; and (c) an elongate probe configured to snugly slidably advance and retract in the targeting cannula lumen, the elongate probe comprising at least one of a stimulation or recording electrode. In operation, the targeting cannula can be aligned with a first trajectory and positionally adjusted to provide a desired internal access path to a target location with a corresponding trajectory for the elongate probe. Automated systems for determining an MR scan plane associated with a trajectory and for determining mount adjustments are also described.

A device and method for accurately characterizing tissue impedance employs multiple electrodes at a plurality of separation distances to cancel the effects of front end loading leakage currents and electrode polarization to improve the accuracy of sensitive impedance measurements used to identify cancerous tissues. These measurements may be automated over a range of frequencies.

There is disclosed an indicator composition, the application thereof to substrates, and related products. The indicator composition comprises an organic solvent soluble polymer and a redox sensitive material which displays different visible properties in the oxidized and reduced forms. The organic solvent soluble polymer can be at least partially sulfonated polystyrene. The indicator composition can be dissolved in organic solvents such as acetone, ethanol and ethyl acetate to form inks which can be used in a variety of printing processes. The indicator composition can be used to detect oxidizing agents, oxygen, water, reducing agents, UV light, temperature and the passage of time.

Hybrid topcoat formulations comprising a water soluble polymer and a water dispersible polymer provide improved adhesion to underlying surfaces. Paper products coated with these formulations, such as thermal paper, achieve high stain resistance and improved adhesion of UV cured silicone release layers.

In a method for simulating temperature and electrical characteristics within an circuit, a temperature of at least one volume within the circuit as a function of a resistance within the at least one volume is repeatedly calculated and the resistance as a function of the temperature is repeatedly calculated until the temperature is within a predetermined tolerance of a previous temperature result and until the resistance is within a predetermined tolerance of a previous resistance result. Once the temperature is within a predetermined tolerance of the previous temperature result and the resistance is within a predetermined tolerance of the previous resistance, then an output indicative of the temperature is generated.

A device for the collection and processing of information relating to the exposure of one or more persons to one or more products of chemical or biological origin has: at least one coded sensor for automatic or semi-automatic identification of a person likely to be exposed to at least one product,at least one coded sensor for the collection of information relating to the handling of at least one product by the person likely to be exposed to the product,at least one sensor for validating the information collected by the identification and collection sensors,at least one module for reading at least one coded sensor, anda module for processing information collected by the sensors.

A method including depositing an alloying layer along a sidewall of an opening and in direct contact with a seed layer, the alloying layer includes a crystalline structure that cannot serve as a seed for plating a conductive material, exposing the opening to an electroplating solution including the conductive material, the conductive material is not present in the alloying layer, applying an electrical potential to a cathode causing the conductive material to deposit from the electroplating solution onto the cathode exposed at the bottom of the opening and causing the opening to fill with the conductive material, the cathode includes an exposed portion of the seed layer and excludes the alloying layer, and forming a first intermetallic compound along an intersection between the alloying layer and the conductive material, the first intermetallic compound is formed as a precipitate within a solid solution of the alloying layer and the conductive material.

One or more temporal stimulation parameters of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) are selected to substantially modulate one or more target physiological functions without substantially modulating one or more non-target physiological functions. In one embodiment, a stimulation duty cycle is selected such that VNS is delivered to the cervical vagus nerve trunk to modulate a cardiovascular function without causing laryngeal muscle contractions.

A method is disclosed for preparing a soft tissue site, and augmenting the soft tissue site, such as the breast(s), scar, depression, or other defect, of a subject through use of devices that exert a distractive force on the breast(s) and grafting of autologous fat tissue such as domes with sealing rims for surrounding each of the soft tissue site and a regulated pump. The method for preparing the soft tissue site, and enhancing fat graft results, entails application of the distracting force to the targeted soft tissue site at least intermittently for some period of time and preferably several weeks prior to the graft procedure. A related aspect of the invention includes following the preparation steps by transfer of fat from other areas of the subject to the subject's soft tissue site, and then reapplication of the distractive force to the soft tissue site that received the autologous fat graft. Alternatively, fat from genetically related sources may be used, and the fat may be further processed prior to injection. Substantial soft tissue augmentation, high rates of graft survival and negligible graft necrosis (data demonstrating 80% survival and only 20% necrosis is presented) or calcification result from the practice of these methods.

Systems for spacing and transferring objects between operative stations are provided. Such systems can be used with ovens for preforms for plastic material, in blowing or stretch-blowing machines and for other applications in the packaging field. Such systems provide spacing and transferring of objects advancing in procession on transport elements, from a minimum pitch to a preset pitch larger than said minimum pitch, and for transferring said spaced objects to handling elements.

An apparatus for mixing frozen desserts has a mixing chamber, and a spindle with driving portion for rotating the spindle. The mixing chamber has two main parts having a funnel and a top chamber forming a closed mixing chamber when brought together. The spindle is accommodated through the top chamber.

An approach for IR-based metrology for detecting stress and/or defects around TSVs of semiconductor devices is provided. Specifically, in a typical embodiment, a beam of IR light will be emitted from an IR light source through the material around the TSV. Once the beam of IR light has passed through the material around the TSV, the beam will be analyzed using one or more algorithms to determine information about TSV stress and/or defects such as imbedded cracking, etc. In one embodiment, the beam of IR light may be split into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion will be passed through the material around the TSV while the second portion is routed around the TSV. After the first portion has passed through the material around the TSV, the two portions may then be recombined, and the resulting beam may be analyzed as indicated above.

The present invention relates to a catalyst composition for conversion of vegetable oils to hydrocarbon products in the diesel boiling range, comprising a porous support; Group III A or VA element in the range of 1-10 wt %; Group VI B elements in the range of 1 to 20 wt %; Group VIII B elements in range of 0.01 to 10 wt %. The present invention further provides the process for preparing the catalyst composition for conversion of vegetable oils to hydrocarbon products in the diesel boiling range. The present invention also provides the process for conversion of vegetable oils to hydrocarbon products in the diesel boiling range using the catalyst composition or discarded refinery spent hydro-treating catalyst.

One-part binder compositions are described that may include a protein and a crosslinking combination. The crosslinking combination may include at least a first crosslinking compound and a second crosslinking compound. The first and second crosslinking compounds are individually crosslinkable with each other and with the protein. Examples of the protein include soy protein. Fiber products and methods of making the fiber products are also described. The fiber products may include organic fibers, inorganic fibers, or both, in a cured thermoset binder based on solutions of the one-part binder compositions.

A sizing composition for insulating products based on mineral wool, in particular on glass or on rock, includes at least one monosaccharide and/or at lest one polysaccharide, and at least one organic polycarboxylic acid having a molar mass of less than or equal to 1000. Another subject-matter of the present invention is the insulating products based on mineral fibres thus obtained and the process for the manufacture thereof.