Abstract: The present invention relates to a direct alcohol fuel cell comprising a housing containing a proton exchange membrane (PEM) separating an anode section from a cathode section, which anode section and which cathode section are contained in the housing, the cathode section comprising a cathode collection element electrically connected to a cathode catalyst, which cathode catalyst is in diffusive communication with a gaseous oxidant, and the anode section comprising an anode collection element electrically connected to an anode catalyst, and a pervaporation membrane located at a spacing distance from the PEM, which pervaporation membrane provides diffusive communication between the anode catalyst and a fuel supply, wherein the housing comprises one or more venting holes providing fluid communication between the anode section and the ambient environment, which venting hole has or which venting holes have a largest dimension in the range of 25 ?m to 300 ?m, the venting hole being located within the spacing distan

Abstract: The present invention relates to a direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC) comprising an anode terminal electrically connected to an anode catalyst in fluid communication with a fuel supply; a cathode catalyst in fluid communication with a gaseous oxidant; an electrically conducting cathode plate having a collecting element with evaporation holes, a bendable segment and a terminal site, which collecting element is electrically connected to the cathode catalyst; and a housing containing the collecting element, and a proton exchange membrane (PEM) between the anode catalyst and the cathode catalyst.

Abstract: A technique for dynamic dispatch involves adapting a method at a dispatch point to reference a state cache. State of the state cache may be associated with an object type and a method signature. When a method is adapted at the dispatch point to reference a state cache, the reference is to a state cache associated with a state that matches the method signature and the object type of the object dispatched upon. The state cache may be shared among multiple methods with similar associated states to reduce memory requirements.

Abstract: A technique for dynamically relocating an object during garbage collection involves guaranteeing bounds on thread pause times. A process according to the technique may include pausing threads, bounding pause times by scanning only one of a plurality of threads, and resuming the threads. Another process according to the technique may include suspending a plurality of threads, relocating an object to a new memory location, updating references associated with an old memory location for only one of the threads such that the references are associated with the new memory location, and resuming the threads. In an embodiment, the process may include initially marking each of the threads “unscanned.” In another embodiment, the process may include reading the object from the first memory location and writing the object to the second memory location. An example system according to the technique may include a scheduler and a relocation engine.

Abstract: A technique for sharing code fragments involves detecting identical code fragments, then replacing code fragments with references to an identical code fragment. A process according to the technique may include detecting identical code fragments in one or more modules, presenting at runtime a single code fragment that is identical to the identical code fragments, and automatically sharing the single code fragment among the one or more modules. A system according to the technique may include a code fragments database that may includes code fragments and a code server configured to receive requests for a program and provide references to one or more of the code fragments in the code fragments database. Another system according to the technique may include a first object, a second object, and a method object, wherein a reference associated with a first method of the first object and the reference associated with a second method of the second object are pointers to the method object.

Abstract: A technique for dynamic dispatch involves adapting a method at a dispatch point to reference a state cache. State of the state cache may be associated with an object type and a method signature. When a method is adapted at the dispatch point to reference a state cache, the reference is to a state cache associated with a state that matches the method signature and the object type of the object dispatched upon. The state cache may be shared among multiple methods with similar associated states to reduce memory requirements.