Abstract: A process for producing a halogenated isoolefin copolymer involves contacting an unsaturated isoolefin copolymer cement, the cement comprising an unsaturated isoolefin copolymer dissolved in an organic solvent, under halogenation conditions with a halogenating agent and an aqueous solution of a potassium salt-based oxidant to form a two-phase reaction medium comprising an organic phase and an aqueous phase, the oxidant capable of converting hydrogen halide to free halogen. The process provides improved halogen recovery, is less sensitive to the presence of water, and makes use of more stable and less environmentally damaging oxidants.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for a natural language processing system comprising a chatbot adapted for dialog generation. In one example, the system may include a combination of a variational autoencoder (VAE) and a generative adversarial network (GAN) for generating natural responses to input queries. The VAE may convert queries into vector embeddings that may then be used by the GAN to continuously update and improve responses provided by the chatbot.

Abstract: A box modeling method and apparatus, a robot picking system, an electronic device and a medium, the method comprising: acquiring first 3D point cloud information of a box (S302); determining a first point of the box according to box parameters and the first 3D point cloud information (S304); performing a calculation to the first point and the first 3D point cloud information by using a ray method so as to generate a first minimum bounding rectangle (S306); and modeling the box according to the first minimum bounding rectangle and the box parameters (S308).

Abstract: At least one example embodiment discloses a section of an electronic-vaping device including a pressure sensor configured to measure a current ambient pressure, the pressure sensor further configured to output the current ambient pressure measurement in accordance with a read request frequency, and a controller configured to determine a mode of operation of the electronic-vaping device, control the read request frequency based on the determined mode of operation, and detect a threshold pressure change based on the current ambient pressure and a baseline pressure.

Abstract: A battery section of an electronic vaping device may include a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, the housing having a first end and a second end, a power supply in the housing, a control circuit in the housing, and a conductive contact assembly at the second end of the housing, the contact assembly electrically connecting the power supply and the control circuit. The contact assembly is configured to receive external power and at least one command.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a heat pipe, a first fin, and a second fin. The heat pipe includes a first end and a second end. The heat pipe defines a chamber through which a fluid flows. The first fin is coupled to the heat pipe at the first end. The first fin is arranged to absorb heat from the fluid at the first end such that the fluid at the first end flows back towards the second end. The second fin is coupled to the heat pipe between the first fin and the second end. The second fin is arranged to absorb heat from the fluid as the fluid flows from the second end towards the first end.

Abstract: A cartomizer of an electronic vaping device includes a heater circuit which is located adjacent an air passage thereof. The heater circuit includes an electrically resistive heater in electrical communication with a secondary coil. A wick extends across the air passage. The wick is configured to draw pre-vapor formulation from a reservoir toward the heater. The heater is configured to heat the pre-vapor formulation to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the pre-vapor formulation and form a vapor. The cartomizer is connectable to a power supply component which includes a power source in electrical communication with a primary coil. The power supply component is configured to induce sufficient voltage in the secondary coil of the heater circuit such that the secondary coil is configured to heat the heater and vaporize the pre-vapor formulation when the primary coil is powered by the power source.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method of manufacturing a semiconductor structure and a semiconductor structure. The method of manufacturing the semiconductor structure includes: providing an initial structure, where the initial structure includes a laminated structure and a plurality of capacitor holes formed in the laminated structure, and a bottom electrode is formed in each of the capacitor holes; forming a hard mask layer, where the hard mask layer covers a top surface of the initial structure; and partially etching the hard mask layer through an etching gas, to form a plurality of first opening, where the etching gas includes a first gas, and the first gas includes a nitrogen atomic-containing and/or hydrogen atomic-containing gas, to avoid a combination reaction between the first gas and a material of the bottom electrode.

Abstract: An auto-focusing system is disclosed. The system includes an illumination source. The system includes an aperture. The system includes a projection mask. The system includes a detector assembly. The system includes a relay system, the relay system being configured to optically couple illumination transmitted through the projection mask to an imaging system. The relay system also being configured to project one or more patterns from the projection mask onto a specimen and transmit an image of the projection mask from the specimen to the detector assembly. The system includes a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions. The program instructions being configured to cause the one or more processors to: receive one or more images of the projection mask from the detector assembly and determine quality of the one or more images of the projection mask.

Abstract: A N-heterocyclic five-membered ring-containing capsid protein assembly inhibitor, and a pharmaceutical composition and use thereof, specifically relating to a compound as represented by formula I, a stereoisomer, a tautomer, a geometrical isomer, a solvate, an active metabolite, a hydrate, a prodrug or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a pharmaceutical composition thereof, and a medical use thereof. The medical use comprises the use in treating diseases benefiting from the capsid protein assembly inhibitor, and in particular, diseases caused by hepatitis B virus infection.

Abstract: A battery module comprises a fixing component including a plurality of insertion posts, the insertion posts being sandwiched between a plurality of the cells. Further, the cell is provided with a fillet structure on the edges and the insertion post is connected to the fillet structure. According to the battery module, a plurality of removable reinforcement points are provided by a plurality of insertion posts, which do not affect the stacking density of the cells in the battery pack, and increasing the mechanical connection strength of the battery module. The removable design of the battery module and insertion posts solves the maintenance problem of the integrated battery pack and improves the safety of the battery module, featuring high structural strength, integrity and stability. A battery pack can include the battery module and an electric vehicle can include the battery pack.

Abstract: A building block includes a block body of an integrated structure. The block body includes a main body, first splicing portions, second splicing portions, a first raised portion, and two second raised portions. The main body is elongated and horizontally extends from left to right. The first splicing portions horizontally extend outwards from one end of the main body. The second splicing portions obliquely extend forward or backward from a middle position of an upper surface of the main body. An outer side surface of the first raised portion recesses to form first splicing grooves tightly docked with and fixed with first splicing portions or second splicing portions of another building block. Two ends of an upper surface of the main body extend upwards to form the two second raised portions. An upper surface of each of the second raised portions recesses to form second splicing grooves.

Abstract: A battery section of an electronic vaping device may include a housing extending in a longitudinal direction, the housing having a first end and a second end, a power supply in the housing, a control circuit in the housing, and a conductive contact assembly at the second end of the housing, the contact assembly electrically connecting the power supply and the control circuit. The contact assembly is configured to receive external power and at least one command.

Abstract: A system may perform speech enhancement of audio data in real-time by suppressing noise components that are present in the audio data while preserving speech components. The system may include an in-ear module and a separate signal processing module that is wirelessly communicatively coupled to the in-ear module. The system may include non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) dictionaries capable of identifying frequency band components associated with speech and frequency band components associated with noise. The NMF dictionaries may be trained using voice samples and noise samples. The NMF dictionaries may be applied to noisy speech data to produce an NMF representation of the speech data which may then be applied using a dynamic mask to the noisy speech data in order to suppress the noise components of the noisy speech data and produce speech enhanced data.

Abstract: A cartomizer of an electronic vaping device includes a heater circuit which is located adjacent an air passage thereof. The heater circuit includes an electrically resistive heater in electrical communication with a secondary coil. A wick extends across the air passage. The wick is configured to draw pre-vapor formulation from a reservoir toward the heater. The heater is configured to heat the pre-vapor formulation to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the pre-vapor formulation and form a vapor. The cartomizer is connectable to a power supply component which includes a power source in electrical communication with a primary coil. The power supply component is configured to induce sufficient voltage in the secondary coil of the heater circuit such that the secondary coil is configured to heat the heater and vaporize the pre-vapor formulation when the primary coil is powered by the power source.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for a natural language processing system comprising a chatbot adapted for dialog generation. In one example, the system may include a combination of a variational autoencoder (VAE) and a generative adversarial network (GAN) for generating natural responses to input queries. The VAE may convert queries into vector embeddings that may then be used by the GAN to continuously update and improve responses provided by the chatbot.

Abstract: A N-heterocyclic five-membered ring-containing capsid protein assembly inhibitor, and a pharmaceutical composition and use thereof, specifically relating to a compound as represented by formula I, a stereoisomer, a tautomer, a geometrical isomer, a solvate, an active metabolite, a hydrate, a prodrug or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a pharmaceutical composition thereof, and a medical use thereof. The medical use comprises the use in treating diseases benefiting from the capsid protein assembly inhibitor, and in particular, diseases caused by hepatitis B virus infection.

Abstract: An auto-focusing system is disclosed. The system includes an illumination source. The system includes an aperture. The system includes a projection mask. The system includes a detector assembly. The system includes a relay system, the relay system being configured to optically couple illumination transmitted through the projection mask to an imaging system. The relay system also being configured to project one or more patterns from the projection mask onto a specimen and transmit an image of the projection mask from the specimen to the detector assembly. The system includes a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions. The program instructions being configured to cause the one or more processors to: receive one or more images of the projection mask from the detector assembly and determine quality of the one or more images of the projection mask.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device and a forming method thereof. The forming method includes: providing a substrate; forming node contacts inside the substrate; forming landing pads on an upper surface of the substrate, where the landing pad is in contact with the node contact; forming a barrier layer on exposed surfaces of the landing pads and the node contacts; and after performing an electrical test on the semiconductor device on which the barrier layer is formed, removing the barrier layer on an upper surface of the landing pads.

Abstract: A III-nitride-based semiconductor packaged structure includes a lead frame, an adhesive layer, a III-nitride-based die, an encapsulant, and at least one bonding wire. The lead frame includes a die paddle and a lead. The die paddle has first and second recesses arranged in a top surface of the die paddle. The first recesses are located adjacent to a relatively central region of the top surface. The second recesses are located adjacent to a relatively peripheral region of the top surface. The first recess has a shape different from the second recess from a top-view perspective. The adhesive layer is disposed on the die paddle to fill into the first recesses. The III-nitride-based die is disposed on the adhesive layer. The encapsulant encapsulates the lead frame and the III-nitride-based die. The second recesses are filled with the encapsulant. The bonding wire is encapsulated by the encapsulant.