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.

Device fingerprints like sensor pattern noise (SPN) are widely used for provenance analysis and image authentication. Over the past few years, the rapid advancement in digital photography has greatly reshaped the pipeline of image capturing process on consumer-level mobile devices. The flexibility of camera parameter settings and the emergence of multi-frame photography algorithms, especially high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, bring new challenges to device fingerprinting. The subsequent study on these topics requires a new purposefully built image dataset. In this paper, we present the Warwick Image Forensics Dataset, an image dataset of more than 58,600 images captured using 14 digital cameras with various exposure settings. Special attention to the exposure settings allows the images to be adopted by different multi-frame computational photography algorithms and for subsequent device fingerprinting. The dataset is released as an open-source, free for use for the digital forensic community.

We present a simple introduction to the decision tree algorithm using some examples from nuclear physics. We show how to improve the accuracy of the classical liquid drop nuclear mass model by performing Feature Engineering with a decision tree. Finally, we apply the method to the Duflo-Zuker model showing that, despite their simplicity, decision trees are capable of improving the description of nuclear masses using a limited number of free parameters.

We live and cooperate in networks. However, links in networks only allow for pairwise interactions, thus making the framework suitable for dyadic games, but not for games that are played in groups of more than two players. To remedy this, we introduce higher-order interactions, where a link can connect more than two individuals, and study their evolutionary dynamics. We first consider a public goods game on a uniform hypergraph, showing that it corresponds to the replicator dynamics in the well-mixed limit, and providing an exact theoretical foundation to study cooperation in networked groups. We also extend the analysis to heterogeneous hypergraphs that describe interactions of groups of different sizes and characterize the evolution of cooperation in such cases. Finally, we apply our new formulation to study the nature of group dynamics in real systems, showing how to extract the actual dependence of the synergy factor on the size of a group from real-world collaboration data in science and technology. Our work is a first step towards the implementation of new actions to boost cooperation in social groups.

Interaction languages such as MSC are often associated with formal semantics by means of translations into distinct behavioral formalisms such as automatas or Petri nets. In contrast to translational approaches we propose an operational approach. Its principle is to identify which elementary communication actions can be immediately executed, and then to compute, for every such action, a new interaction representing the possible continuations to its execution. We also define an algorithm for checking the validity of execution traces (i.e. whether or not they belong to an interaction's semantics). Algorithms for semantic computation and trace validity are analyzed by means of experiments.

Consider the following prediction problem. Assume that there is a block box that produces bits according to some unknown computable distribution on the binary tree. We know first $n$ bits $x_1 x_2 ldots x_n$. We want to know the probability of the event that that the next bit is equal to $1$. Solomonoff suggested to use universal semimeasure $m$ for solving this task. He proved that for every computable distribution $P$ and for every $b in {0,1}$ the following holds: $$sum_{n=1}^{infty}sum_{x: l(x)=n} P(x) (P(b | x) - m(b | x))^2 < infty .$$ However, Solomonoff's method has a negative aspect: Hutter and Muchnik proved that there are an universal semimeasure $m$, computable distribution $P$ and a random (in Martin-L{"o}f sense) sequence $x_1 x_2ldots$ such that $lim_{n o infty} P(x_{n+1} | x_1ldots x_n) - m(x_{n+1} | x_1ldots x_n) rightarrow 0$. We suggest a new way for prediction. For every finite string $x$ we predict the new bit according to the best (in some sence) distribution for $x$. We prove the similar result as Solomonoff theorem for our way of prediction. Also we show that our method of prediction has no that negative aspect as Solomonoff's method.

Data analytics in the cloud has become an integral part of enterprise businesses. Big data analytics systems, however, still lack the ability to take user performance goals and budgetary constraints for a task, collectively referred to as task objectives, and automatically configure an analytic job to achieve these objectives. This paper presents a data analytics optimizer that can automatically determine a cluster configuration with a suitable number of cores as well as other system parameters that best meet the task objectives. At a core of our work is a principled multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach that computes a Pareto optimal set of job configurations to reveal tradeoffs between different user objectives, recommends a new job configuration that best explores such tradeoffs, and employs novel optimizations to enable such recommendations within a few seconds. We present efficient incremental algorithms based on the notion of a Progressive Frontier for realizing our MOO approach and implement them into a Spark-based prototype. Detailed experiments using benchmark workloads show that our MOO techniques provide a 2-50x speedup over existing MOO methods, while offering good coverage of the Pareto frontier. When compared to Ottertune, a state-of-the-art performance tuning system, our approach recommends configurations that yield 26\%-49\% reduction of running time of the TPCx-BB benchmark while adapting to different application preferences on multiple objectives.

Visualization-oriented natural language interfaces (V-NLIs) have been explored and developed in recent years. One challenge faced by V-NLIs is in the formation of effective design decisions that usually requires a deep understanding of user queries. Learning-based approaches have shown potential in V-NLIs and reached state-of-the-art performance in various NLP tasks. However, because of the lack of sufficient training samples that cater to visual data analytics, cutting-edge techniques have rarely been employed to facilitate the development of V-NLIs. We present a new dataset, called Quda, to help V-NLIs understand free-form natural language. Our dataset contains 14;035 diverse user queries annotated with 10 low-level analytic tasks that assist in the deployment of state-of-the-art techniques for parsing complex human language. We achieve this goal by first gathering seed queries with data analysts who are target users of V-NLIs. Then we employ extensive crowd force for paraphrase generation and validation. We demonstrate the usefulness of Quda in building V-NLIs by creating a prototype that makes effective design decisions for free-form user queries. We also show that Quda can be beneficial for a wide range of applications in the visualization community by analyzing the design tasks described in academic publications.

Selecting an appropriate model to forecast product demand is critical to the manufacturing industry. However, due to the data complexity, market uncertainty and users' demanding requirements for the model, it is challenging for demand analysts to select a proper model. Although existing model selection methods can reduce the manual burden to some extent, they often fail to present model performance details on individual products and reveal the potential risk of the selected model. This paper presents DFSeer, an interactive visualization system to conduct reliable model selection for demand forecasting based on the products with similar historical demand. It supports model comparison and selection with different levels of details. Besides, it shows the difference in model performance on similar products to reveal the risk of model selection and increase users' confidence in choosing a forecasting model. Two case studies and interviews with domain experts demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of DFSeer.

Several nonlinear model reduction techniques are compared for the three cases of the non-parallel version of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation, the transient regime of flow past a cylinder at $Re=100$ and fully developed flow past a cylinder at the same Reynolds number. The linear terms of the governing equations are reduced by Galerkin projection onto a POD basis of the flow state, while the reduced nonlinear convection terms are obtained either by a Galerkin projection onto the same state basis, by a Galerkin projection onto a POD basis representing the nonlinearities or by applying the Discrete Empirical Interpolation Method (DEIM) to a POD basis of the nonlinearities. The quality of the reduced order models is assessed as to their stability, accuracy and robustness, and appropriate quantitative measures are introduced and compared. In particular, the properties of the reduced linear terms are compared to those of the full-scale terms, and the structure of the nonlinear quadratic terms is analyzed as to the conservation of kinetic energy. It is shown that all three reduction techniques provide excellent and similar results for the cases of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation and the limit-cycle cylinder flow. For the case of the transient regime of flow past a cylinder, only the pure Galerkin techniques are successful, while the DEIM technique produces reduced-order models that diverge in finite time.

Neural networks have opened up many new opportunities to utilize remotely sensed images in meteorology. Common applications include image classification, e.g., to determine whether an image contains a tropical cyclone, and image translation, e.g., to emulate radar imagery for satellites that only have passive channels. However, there are yet many open questions regarding the use of neural networks in meteorology, such as best practices for evaluation, tuning and interpretation. This article highlights several strategies and practical considerations for neural network development that have not yet received much attention in the meteorological community, such as the concept of effective receptive fields, underutilized meteorological performance measures, and methods for NN interpretation, such as synthetic experiments and layer-wise relevance propagation. We also consider the process of neural network interpretation as a whole, recognizing it as an iterative scientist-driven discovery process, and breaking it down into individual steps that researchers can take. Finally, while most work on neural network interpretation in meteorology has so far focused on networks for image classification tasks, we expand the focus to also include networks for image translation.

We develop a categorical compositional distributional semantics for Lambek Calculus with a Relevant Modality !L*, which has a limited edition of the contraction and permutation rules. The categorical part of the semantics is a monoidal biclosed category with a coalgebra modality, very similar to the structure of a Differential Category. We instantiate this category to finite dimensional vector spaces and linear maps via "quantisation" functors and work with three concrete interpretations of the coalgebra modality. We apply the model to construct categorical and concrete semantic interpretations for the motivating example of !L*: the derivation of a phrase with a parasitic gap. The effectiveness of the concrete interpretations are evaluated via a disambiguation task, on an extension of a sentence disambiguation dataset to parasitic gap phrase one, using BERT, Word2Vec, and FastText vectors and Relational tensors.

Are you looking to start 2020 with a fresh web design for your business? If so, you must know what you need to do in 2020 to have a website that drives success for your business. With website statistics for 2020, you can see what to do and what to avoid, which will help you […]

The post Website Statistics for 2020: 10 Critical Stats to Know for Web Design appeared first on WebFX Blog.

What Is Real-Time Conversation Analytics?

In contrast to post-call conversation analytics, which provides insights after the fact, real-time call conversation analytics can point them out at present times.

In this blog, I will walk through the essential steps to build a web app that can analyze call conversations in real-time to assist an agent. Once we’re finished, we’ll have an app which will:

Summer Camps 2020 Adventure Gymnastics Camp This popular camp is now in its 17th year, offering themed days of challenges and adventures in gymnastics, like scavenger hunts and obstacle courses, costumes and more.…

You don't have to wander around the internet long before bumping into a rave review of Fiona Apple's new record Fetch the Bolt Cutters: It has inspired breathless acclaim, has already been labeled a masterwork and is notably the first new album in nearly a decade that Pitchfork has assigned a perfect 10/10 rating.…

The Inlander is a community newspaper covering news, politics, events, happy hour, everything that's happening today, things to do on the weekend, in Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, the greater Inland Northwest and beyond.

The present invention relates to a composition for cosmetics including a polyglycerol fatty acid ester, which is an ester of polyglycerol having an average degree of polymerization of 4 to 100 with a fatty acid having 2 to 18 carbon atoms, has a hydroxyl value equal to or less than 15 mgKOH/g, and has a specific gravity at 20° C. of 0.96 to 1.15; a cosmetic which includes the composition for cosmetics; a method for producing an oil-in-water emulsion cosmetic which includes mixing the composition for cosmetics; and a two-separate-layer-type cosmetic, which comprises the composition for cosmetics. The present invention relates to the composition for cosmetics which can be appropriately used in producing a cosmetic giving a highly excellent feel in using and having a very good texture, a cosmetic showing a very high stability over time as an emulsion, and a two-separate-layer-type cosmetic.

The present invention relates to a composition for cosmetics including a polyglycerol fatty acid ester, which is an ester of polyglycerol having an average degree of polymerization of 4 to 100 with a fatty acid having 2 to 18 carbon atoms, has a hydroxyl value equal to or less than 15 mgKOH/g, and has a specific gravity at 20° C. of 0.96 to 1.15; a cosmetic which includes the composition for cosmetics; a method for producing an oil-in-water emulsion cosmetic which includes mixing the composition for cosmetics; and a two-separate-layer-type cosmetic, which comprises the composition for cosmetics. The present invention relates to the composition for cosmetics which can be appropriately used in producing a cosmetic giving a highly excellent feel in using and having a very good texture, a cosmetic showing a very high stability over time as an emulsion, and a two-separate-layer-type cosmetic.

Alpha-helix mimetic structures and compounds represented by the formula (I) wherein the general formula and the definition of each symbol are as defined in the specification, a chemical library relating thereto, and methods relating thereto, are disclosed. Applications of these compounds in the treatment of medical conditions, e.g., cancer diseases, fibrotic diseases, and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the mimetics are further disclosed.

A process for reforming hydrocarbons is presented. The process involves applying process controls over the reaction temperatures to preferentially convert a portion of the hydrocarbon stream to generate an intermediate stream, which will further react with reduced endothermicity. The intermediate stream is then processed at a higher temperature, where a second reforming reactor is operated under substantially isothermal conditions.

A method of making light olefins in a combined XTO (organics to olefins) and OCP (olefins cracking) process, from an oxygen-containing, halogenide-containing, or sulphur-containing organic feedstock contacted with a catalyst in a first reactor to convert the feedstock into a reactor effluent comprising light olefins and a heavy hydrocarbon fraction; separating the light olefins from the heavy hydrocarbon fraction, then contacting the heavy hydrocarbon fraction in a second reactor with a catalyst to convert a portion of the heavy hydrocarbons into light olefins; wherein the catalyst is a zeolite selected among a H+ or NH4+—form of MFI, MEL, FER, MOR, or clinoptilolite; modifying the zeolite by adding from 0.05 to 7 wt % of phosphorous to the zeolite, and an optional washing and/or drying in either order, then calcination. In an embodiment, the initial zeolite Si:Al atomic ratio of at least one catalyst is 100 or less.

Disclosed herein are acrylic and methacrylic acid ester-based polymeric materials containing as flexibilizing and brittleness reducing agents 1-60% of C4-C8 polyalkylene or polyalkyldiene compounds, preferably having a molecular weight of 300-2100, and the use of such materials in dentistry and medicine.

The invention provides a method for preventing discoloration of pyrithione-containing materials, in particular plastic materials or other material such as paints, coatings, adhesives or textiles which are exposed to an outdoor environment. The method is likewise suited for preventing discoloration of other pyrithione-containing materials such as personal care compositions like shampoos. A discoloration inhibitor that includes dehydroacetic acid or a salt thereof is added to the pyrithione-containing material. The discoloration is prevented without the addition of a cyclic organic phosphoric acid ester or an organic phosphite. Use of the discoloration inhibitor does not interfere with the antimicrobial effect of the pyrithione.

Methods and apparatus for output of high-bandwidth debug data/traces in electronic devices using embedded high-speed debug port(s). Debug data is received from multiple blocks and buffered in a buffer. The buffer's output is operatively coupled to one or more high-speed serial I/O interfaces via muxing logic during debug test operations. The buffered data is encoded as serialized data and sent over the one or more high-speed serial I/O interfaces to a logic device that receives serialized data and de-serializes it to generate parallel debug data that is provided to a debugger. The buffer may be configured as a bandwidth-adapting buffer that facilitates transfer of debug data that is received at a variable combined data rate outbound via the one or more high-speed serial I/O interfaces at a data rate corresponding to the bandwidth of the serial I/O interfaces.

In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one functional block and banking logic. The banking logic may be to determine an average reliability metric associated with the at least one functional block. The banking logic may also be to, if the average reliability metric exceeds a required level, implement a reduced reliability mode in the at least one functional block, where the reduced reliability mode is associated with a reduction in the average reliability metric. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

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.

The present invention relates to a process comprising the steps of reacting a reactive mixture comprising at least one silicone-containing component, at least one hydrophilic component, and at least one diluent to form an ophthalmic device having an advancing contact angle of less than about 80°; and contacting the ophthalmic device with an aqueous extraction solution at an elevated extraction temperature, wherein said at least one diluent has a boiling point at least about 10° higher than said extraction temperature.

Fluorinated aromatic materials, their synthesis and their use in optoelectronics. In some cases, the fluorinated aromatic materials are perfluoroalkylated aromatic materials that may include perfluoropolyether substituents.

This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for simulating physical active semiconductor components using in silico active semiconductor components. To simulate charge degradation effect(s) in a circuit simulation, a simulated defect signal level is produced. More specifically, the simulated defect signal level simulates at least one charge degradation effect in the in silico active semiconductor component as a function of simulation time and a simulated input signal level of a simulated input signal. As such, the charge degradation effect(s) are simulated externally with respect to the in silico active semiconductor component. In this manner, the in silico active semiconductor component does not need to be reprogrammed in order to simulate charge degradation effects.

Methods and apparatus to automatically link process control graphics to process control algorithm information are described. An example method involves displaying a first process control image including process control algorithm information and displaying adjacent to the first process control image a second process control image to include process control graphics. The method automatically links at least some of the process control algorithm information to a graphic in the second process control image in response to user inputs associated with the first and second process control images.

A polymer composition for solar cell and flexible electronics devices, where the polymer is a p-type conducting polymer. The p-type polymer comprises a benzothiadiazole acceptor and indeno-fluorene donor. Further, a solar cell and flexible electronic device article may be made from the polymer.

Compositions and methods, including novel homogeneous microparticulate suspensions, are described for treating natural surfaces that contain bacterial biofilm, including unexpected synergy or enhancing effects between bismuth-thiol (BT) compounds and certain antibiotics, to provide formulations including antiseptic formulations. Previously unpredicted antibacterial properties and anti-biofilm properties of disclosed BT compounds and BT compound-plus-antibiotic combinations are also described, including preferential efficacies of certain such compositions for treating certain gram-positive bacterial infections, and distinct preferential efficacies of certain such compositions for treating certain gram-negative bacterial infections.

This invention describes the use of S-abscisic acid (S-ABA) and ethylene producing-agents such as ethephon to synergistically improve red color in grapes and to alter the sensory characteristics of wine.

Meter electronics (20) for quantifying a fluid being transferred is provided. The meter electronics (20) includes an interface (201) configured to communicate with a flowmeter assembly of a vibratory flowmeter and receive a vibrational response and a processing system (203) coupled to the interface (201). The processing system (203) is configured to measure a volume flow and a density for a predetermined time portion of the fluid transfer, determine if the fluid transfer is non-aerated during the predetermined time portion, if the predetermined time portion is non-aerated then add a volume-density product to an accumulated volume-density product and add the volume flow to an accumulated volume flow, and determine a non-aerated volume-weighted density for the fluid transfer by dividing the accumulated volume-density product by the accumulated volume flow.

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a signal indicative of one or more types of individual measurable device characteristic/s that are unique to a given electronic device by providing a signal indicative of the measurable and unique device characteristic/s in a passive manner from the electronic device. The signal indicative of one or more types of individual measurable device characteristic/s may be so provided without requiring operational power to be applied to any active electronic circuitry of the device, and without requiring any power to be generated by the device.

Dynamics simulations are described. Dynamics simulations can include identifying a number of ink related components and a number of printing interactions. Dynamics simulations can also include generating a granular representation of the number of ink related components and calculating a number of Hamaker constants based on the granular representation of the number of ink related components. Dynamics simulations can include performing a dynamics simulation based on the number of Hamaker constants, the granular representation of the number of ink related components, and the number of printing interactions.

An injection molding machine includes an ejector unit configured to eject a molding product from a mold. The ejector unit includes a support provided on a platen to which the mold is attached, a slidable base configured to slide relative to the support, a transmission mechanism supported by the support and configured to convert an input into an output corresponding to the distance between the support and the slidable base and transmit the output to the slidable base, a drive source configured to cause the transmission mechanism to operate, an ejection member configured to move together with the slidable base, and an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust the position of the slidable base relative to the ejection member.

An apparatus and method for the shaping of plastics material pre-forms into plastics material containers with at least one blow moulding station which is arranged on a conveying device rotatable about a pre-set axis of rotation (D). The blow moulding station has a blow mould and this blow mould forms a cavity in the interior of which the plastics material pre-forms are capable of being expanded by being acted upon with a gaseous medium to form the plastics material containers, with a stressing device, which acts upon the plastics material pre-forms with the gaseous medium in order to expand them, and with a clean room, which surrounds the blow moulding station at least in part. The clean room is bounded off from an environment by at least two walls which are movable relative to one another.

The disclosure discloses an apparatus and method for rerouting multiple traffics. The apparatus includes a path computation unit and a traffic path incorporation unit, the path computation unit forwards a received uniform route computation notification message including multiple pieces of failed traffic connection information to the traffic path incorporation unit, and also forwards a route inquiry request transmitted from the head node of the fault traffic to the traffic path incorporation unit; the traffic path incorporation unit analyzes and detects the failed traffic connection information according to traffic incorporating and route inquiry statistic algorithm, and uniformly obtains and records the recovery route information from the path computation unit; when receiving the route inquiry request forwarded by the path computation unit, the traffic path incorporation unit is further configured to search the record according to the route inquiry request, and return the found corresponding recovery route information to the head node which requests the recovery through the path computation unit. The disclosure uses a incorporating and uniform route inquiry method, the resource loss of the path computation unit is reduced, and the efficiency of link restoration is improved.

An adaptive optics scanning system using a beam projection module with four or more axes of motion that can project and control the position and angle of a beam of light to or from an adaptive optics element. The adaptive optics scanning system is compact in size, overcoming the challenges of a traditional lens and mirror based pupil relay design. The adaptive optics scanning system has little to no dispersion, chromatic aberration, and off-axis aberration for improved optical performance. The system and methods for calibrating and optimizing the system are described. A modular adaptive optics unit that scans and interfaces an adaptive optics element is described.

This disclosure relates to a catalyst system adapted for transalkylation a C9+ aromatic feedstock with a C6-C7 aromatic feedstock, comprising: (a) a first catalyst comprising a first molecular sieve having a Constraint Index in the range of 3-12 and 0.01 to 5 wt. % of at least one source of a first metal element of Groups 6-10; and (b) a second catalyst comprising a second molecular sieve having a Constraint Index less than 3 and 0 to 5 wt. % of at least one source of a second metal element of Groups 6-10, wherein the weight ratio of the first catalyst over the second catalyst is in the range of 5:95 to 75:25 and wherein the first catalyst is located in front of the second catalyst when they are brought into contacting with the C9+ aromatic feedstock and the C6-C7 aromatic feedstock in the present of hydrogen.

The present invention relates to novel compositions of therapeutic cyclodextrin containing polymeric compounds designed as a carrier for small molecule therapeutics delivery and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. These cyclodextrin-containing polymers improve drug stability and solubility, and reduce toxicity of the small molecule therapeutic when used in vivo. Furthermore, by selecting from a variety of linker groups and targeting ligands the polymers present methods for controlled delivery of the therapeutic agents. The invention also relates to methods of treating subjects with the therapeutic compositions described herein. The invention further relates to methods for conducting pharmaceutical business comprising manufacturing, licensing, or distributing kits containing or relating to the polymeric compounds described herein.

The present invention relates to novel compositions of therapeutic cyclodextrin containing polymeric compounds designed as a carrier for small molecule therapeutics delivery and pharmaceutical compositions thereof. These cyclodextrin-containing polymers improve drug stability and solubility, and reduce toxicity of the small molecule therapeutic when used in vivo. Furthermore, by selecting from a variety of linker groups and targeting ligands the polymers present methods for controlled delivery of the therapeutic agents. The invention also relates to methods of treating subjects with the therapeutic compositions described herein. The invention further relates to methods for conducting pharmaceutical business comprising manufacturing, licensing, or distributing kits containing or relating to the polymeric compounds described herein.

Oil compositions having a high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids are described for use in various applications including use as drying oils, in ink compositions and coating compositions. Oil compositions wherein the double bonds of the fatty acids are substantially epoxidized are described and used as plasticizers and thermal stabilizers for various halogenated polymer compositions.

A system and method is provided for energizing and managing digitally-controlled devices at different levels of granularity, to achieve desired power use characteristics. At the lowest level, a digitally-controlled device is energized using a variable load-sensing adaptive control (VLSAC). Operation of the device is controlled using digital signals input to the device, so that limits on parameters, such as power consumption are met. A plurality of VLSACs can be coupled to a power distribution unit (PDU), which is controlled to achieve desired levels for selected parameters, set for the PDU. Multiple PDUs can be coupled to a power conversion and regulation unit (PCRU), which can be controlled by a master control to achieve a desired power profile for an entire facility, enabling the facility to meet requirements of a utility supplying the power and thus, reducing operational costs. The VLSACs and PCRU include high efficiency power sources having low distortion.

An audio setting application of a smart phone acquires tuning data from a tuning data setting server, which meets a search condition specified by a user. The audio setting application performs filtering of tuning parameters included in the tuning data. The tuning parameters are parameters of a plurality of acoustic characteristic items of an audio apparatus, and such parameters are excluded if the parameter cannot be expected to achieve an appropriate effect when the parameter is applied to the audio apparatus.

Provided is a zinc-plated steel sheet for hot pressing having outstanding surface characteristics, comprising: a steel foundation plate comprising a metal surface diffusion layer of which the Gibbs free energy reduction per mole of oxygen during oxidation is less than that of Cr; an aluminum-rich layer containing at least 30 wt. % of aluminum formed on the surface diffusion layer, and a zinc plating layer formed on the aluminum-rich layer. In this way, a metal having a low affinity for oxygen is coated to an effective thickness prior to annealing and thus the creation of annealing oxides at the surface of the steel sheet is suppressed and a uniform zinc plating layer is formed, and alloying of the zinc plating layer is promoted during press-processing heat treatment. Cracking in the steel foundation plate during hot press molding is prevented.

Plant viral vectors have great potential in rapid production of proteins, but no simple. Here a geminivirus-based system for high-yield and rapid production of oligomeric protein complexes, including virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is described. In particular, a single vector that contains two non-competing replicons for transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves is described. The correct assembly of these subunit proteins into functional oligomeric structures (VLPs or full-size mAb) is also described. This system advances plant transient expression technology by eliminating the need for non-competing viruses, and thus, enhances the realistic commercial application of this technology for producing multiple-subunit protein complexes.

Disclosed are sets of ink components, and ink compositions, useful for printing markings, on security documents, that are relatively resistant to counterfeiting. Also disclosed are the security documents formed, a method of printing and a method of authenticating the printed material. The markings, formed of the ink compositions have a spectral response that deviates from a predicted spectral response when linearly additively combining spectral responses of components of the ink composition, so that it becomes difficult to reverse-engineer the ink composition from the markings. Use of plural different markings, with each marking being a microdot, increases difficulty in counterfeiting. By forming a template of spectral responses of the original pattern, spectral responses of a pattern on an unknown document can be compared to the spectral responses on the template for determining whether the unknown document is authentic. Formation of the markings is facilitated using an inkjet printer.