Abstract: In various implementations, berberine metabolites, such as dihydroberberine and/or tetrahydroberberine, may be administered to manage blood glucose levels, increase ketone levels (e.g., blood concentration of ketones), and/or for therapeutic purposes in humans. The administration of a pharmaceutically effective amount of berberine metabolites, such as dihydroberberine, may reduce fasting blood glucose levels, improve glucose tolerance, and/or improve blood ketone response. In some implementations, berberine metabolites may be administered with one or more other compounds.

Abstract: In various implementations, beta-hydroxybutyrate, related compounds, and/or one or more other compounds may be administered to an individual to cause weight loss, weight maintenance, elevate blood ketone levels, maintain blood ketone levels, reduce blood glucose levels, maintain blood glucose levels, improve energy, focus, mood, cognitive function, or aide with neurological or inflammatory disorders and/or combinations thereof. Other compounds may include short chain fatty acids, short chain triglycerides, medium chain fatty acids, medium chain triglycerides, long chain fatty acids, long chain triglycerides, berberine, metabolites of berberine (e.g., dihydroberberine), and/or combinations thereof.

Abstract: An organically complexed nanocatalyst composition is applied to or mixed with coal prior to or upon introducing the coal into a coal burner in order to catalyze the removal of coal nitrogen from the coal and its conversion into nitrogen gas prior to combustion of the coal. This leads to reduced NOx production during coal combustion. The nanocatalyst compositions include a nanoparticle catalyst that is made using a dispersing agent. The dispersing agent includes at least one functional group such as a hydroxyl, a carboxyl, a carbonyl, an amine, an amide, a nitrile, a nitrogen having a free lone pair of electrons, an amino acid, a thiol, a sulfonic acid, a sulfonyl halide, and an. acyl halide. The dispersing agent forms stable, dispersed, nano-sized catalyst particles. The catalyst composition can be formed as a stable suspension to facilitate storage, transportation and application of the catalyst nanoparticles to a coal material.

Abstract: A method of reducing the time needed for installing a combination of software programs onto a hard disk drive by creating modules for each software program and associating a file with each software program that records all changes made to files and directories by the installation process of that software program. When downloading combinations of these modules onto a hard disk drive, a software installation program is run which implements the changes to files and directories necessitated by each of the modules thereby resulting in a disk operating system that is properly configured for the operation of the combination of software programs.

Abstract: A method for reducing the time needed for setting up a computer system in a user selected language version of a disk operating system by pre-installing a plurality of modules for different language versions of disk operating systems. Upon initial power on by an end user, a minimal disk operating system runs a software setup program which installs the end user selected language version of the disk operating system and merges certain factory loaded files into the user selected language operating system. A software installation program is then run which implements the changes necessitated by each of the modules for proper operation thereby resulting in a disk operating system that is properly configured for the operation of the combination of software programs. The computer system is then re-booted to implement the changes to the configuration of the disk operating system.

Abstract: A cache management system for dynamically switching between record caching and track caching. Statistics are collected within the cache management system to determine the type and amount of locality associated with a specific data set currently within the cache. Using these statistics, metrics of the actual hit ratio, whole-track hit ratio, and other-record-hit ratio are generated. The metrics are periodically reviewed for a given band, and the band is placed into one of three cache modes accordingly. The mode assignment determines what type of staging will be performed for data within the band in the event of a miss. The possible modes are: track mode for track-based staging, record mode for staging of a single record only, or uncached mode if no data is to be staged. If a band has been assigned to either record or track mode, the assignment is re-evaluated after for a predetermined number of I/O's (128).

Abstract: A data storage and retrieval system is described having one or more key-lock storage areas which can be modified under the control of commands received from an attached computer. Each key-lock is stored in nonvolatile data storage. A key-lock contains a key field and a lock field. The contents of the key-lock are read and modified based on commands received from the computer. The command to write a new key-lock value specifies a first key and a proffered key-lock. The subsystem reads the current key-lock from nonvolatile storage, then compares the first and current keys. When the first and current keys are equal, the proffered key-lock is stored in the key-lock storage area of nonvolatile data storage, thereby replacing the original key-lock. When the keys are not equal, the key-lock is left unmodified and status data is transmitted to the computer indicating that the update request has failed. The subsystem will send the original key-lock value to the computer upon demand.

Abstract: A data storage system is described which provides for fault tolerance during execution of a media maintenance program on a selected track of nonvolatile data storage. Checkpoint data for the media maintenance program is stored in nonvolatile storage prior to writing control information on the selected track during the execution of the media maintenance program. The checkpoint data includes an address in the media maintenance program for resuming execution in the event that the media maintenance process is aborted. The checkpoint data is read from the nonvolatile storage area after media maintenance has been aborted by a fault, typically after power has been reapplied to the system. The execution environment for the media maintenance program is restored by storing data in the RAM of the controller which duplicates the control data needed by the particular segment of the media maintenance program which will be restarted.