Abstract: At least one Helmholtz damper is arranged at a combustion chamber for a gas turbine in order to damp thermoacoustic oscillations; the damping volume of this Helmholtz damper is in communication with the combustion chamber via a connecting passage. Optimum damping is achieved in a simple way by virtue of the Helmholtz damper being designed in such a manner that its damping frequency is adjustable.

Abstract: An orthopedic casting slipper kit (21) including a resilient fabric impression slipper (23) formed to extend on a patient's foot (27) from a plantar aspect or surface (29) to about one-third of the way from the base of the toes to the dorsum of the foot. A longitudinally resiliently extensible band (37) is provided on the slipper (23) proximate the open end (33), and an arch strap (39) dimensioned to span transversely over the dorsum (30) of the foot (27) is used to pull the impression slipper (23) up into contact with the arch (35) of the foot to prevent bridging of the arch. A method of using the arch strap (39) to aid in conformance also is disclosed.

Abstract: In a burner arrangement for the annular combustion chamber of a gas turbine, a plurality of burners are arranged above one another, in each case in pairs in the radial direction, on concentric rings. In a burner arrangement of this type, the mechanical integrity of the turbine casing is increased and operation of the combustion chamber is optimized by virtue of the two burners in a pair of burners being oriented out of the parallel position, in such a manner that their burner axes converge in the direction of flow.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for rendering a talking head on a client device are disclosed. The client device has a client cache capable of storing audio/visual data associated with rendering the talking head. The method comprises storing sentences in a client cache of a client device that relate to bridging delays in a dialog, storing sentence templates to be used in dialogs, generating a talking head response to a user inquiry from the client device, and determining whether sentences or stored templates stored in the client cache relate to the talking head response. If the stored sentences or stored templates relate to the talking head response, the method comprises instructing the client device to use the appropriate stored sentence or template from the client cache to render at least a part of the talking head response and transmitting a portion of the talking head response not stored in the client cache, if any, to the client device to render a complete talking head response.

Abstract: The invention relates to an annular combustor (13) for a gas turbine (10), into which combustor (13) burners (14, 15) open on an inlet side, and which combustor (13) extends in the axial direction from the inlet side to an outlet side (33) and is lined on the insides with cooled liner segments (16, 17) for protection from the hot gases.

Abstract: A method for generating animated sequences of talking heads in text-to-speech applications wherein a processor samples a plurality of frames comprising image samples. Representative parameters are extracted from the image samples and stored in an animation library. The processor also samples a plurality of multiphones comprising images together with their associated sounds. The processor extracts parameters from these images comprising data characterizing mouth shapes, maps, rules, or equations, and stores the resulting parameters and sound information in a coarticulation library. The animated sequence begins with the processor considering an input phoneme sequence, recalling from the coarticulation library parameters associated with that sequence, and selecting appropriate image samples from the animation library based on that sequence. The image samples are concatenated together, and the corresponding sound is output, to form the animated synthesis.

Abstract: Disclosed is a directional control valve comprising a front-side connector and at least one radial connector, wherein the front faces of a valve body (valve shift or seat body) of the directional control valve are pressurized approximately equally, so that the actuating forces for shifting the valve body are minimal. In accordance with the invention, the pressure for pressurizing a rearward front face of the valve body is tapped at an axial distance to the valve body.

Abstract: A method for generating animated sequences of talking heads in text-to-speech applications wherein a processor samples a plurality of frames comprising image samples. Representative parameters are extracted from the image samples and stored in an animation library. The processor also samples a plurality of multiphones comprising images together with their associated sounds. The processor extracts parameters from these images comprising data characterizing mouth shapes, maps, rules, or equations, and stores the resulting parameters and sound information in a coarticulation library. The animated sequence begins with the processor considering an input phoneme sequence, recalling from the coarticulation library parameters associated with that sequence, and selecting appropriate image samples from the animation library based on that sequence. The image samples are concatenated together, and the corresponding sound is output, to form the animated synthesis.

Abstract: A system and method for generating photo-realistic talking-head animation from a text input utilizes an audio-visual unit selection process. The lip-synchronization is obtained by optimally selecting and concatenating variable-length video units of the mouth area. The unit selection process utilizes the acoustic data to determine the target costs for the candidate images and utilizes the visual data to determine the concatenation costs. The image database is prepared in a hierarchical fashion, including high-level features (such as a full 3D modeling of the head, geometric size and position of elements) and pixel-based, low-level features (such as a PCA-based metric for labeling the various feature bitmaps).

Abstract: A method for modeling three-dimensional objects to create photo-realistic animations using a data-driven approach. The three-dimensional object is defined by a set of separate three-dimensional planes, each plane enclosing an area of the object that undergoes visual changes during animation. Recorded video is used to create bitmap data to populate a database for each three-dimensional plane. The video is analyzed in terms of both rigid movements (changes in pose) and plastic deformation (changes in expression) to create the bitmaps. The modeling is particularly well-suited for animations of a human face, where an audio track generated by a text-to-speech synthesizer can be added to the animation to create a photo-realistic “talking head”.

Abstract: An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protective structure is configured to protect an integrated circuit, which is connected between a first voltage bus with a first supply voltage and a second voltage bus with a second supply voltage. The ESD protective structure includes a plurality of laterally designed bipolar transistors, whose load lines are arranged parallel to one another and between the voltage buses, and whose control connections are connected to one of the voltage buses. A resistor track is disposed in the load line of each bipolar transistor and is co-integrated into the ESD protective structure on the collector side and/or the emitter side.

Abstract: An electrostatic discharge (ESD) protective structure is configured to protect an integrated circuit, which is connected between a first voltage bus with a first supply voltage and a second voltage bus with a second supply voltage. The ESD protective structure includes a plurality of laterally designed bipolar transistors, whose load lines are arranged parallel to one another and between the voltage buses, and whose control connections are connected to one of the voltage buses. A single track resistor is co-integrated into the semiconductor body and precedes every control connection of the bipolar transistors.

Abstract: In a method of manufacturing a plurality of steam turbines for use in various applications which differ in the respective thermodynamic parameters such as, for example, cooling-water temperature, ambient temperature, given boiler data, process-steam requirement, etc., the steam turbines in each case having at least one high-pressure part with first blading and a control-wheel stage for part-load operation, a simplification and cost saving is achieved owing to the fact that standard blading, which is identical for all the steam turbines, is used as first blading, and in that the adaption of the individual steam turbine to the thermodynamic parameters of the respective application is carried out by appropriate design or variation of the control-wheel stage.

Abstract: The invention relates to a steam turbine, in particular a high-pressure turbine, which is enclosed by an inner casing, split into a top part and a bottom part, and an outer casing. The steam turbine, for the purpose of bleeding, has a bleed slot, which leads form the blade duct of the steam turbine through the inner casing. According to the invention, the inner casing has a shrink ring, which on the one hand holds together the bottom part and the top part of the inner casing and on the other hand forms an annular space above the bleed slot for the purpose of collecting bleed steam and passing it into a pipe connection. The shrink ring has a cavity in its center and flat sides being adapted to the outer surface of the inner casing. The cavity of the shrink ring, together with the outer surface of the inner casing, forms the enclosed, tight annular space. the shrink ring is distinguished by the few components and a short production and assembly time.

Abstract: A method for tracking heads and faces is disclosed wherein a variety of different representation models can be used to define individual heads and facial features in a multi-channel capable tracking algorithm. The representation models generated by the channels during a sequence of frames are ultimately combined into a representation comprising a highly robust and accurate tracked output. In a preferred embodiment, the method conducts an initial overview procedure to establish the optimal tracking strategy to be used in light of the particular characteristics of the tracking application.

Abstract: A method for generating animated sequences of talking heads in text-to-speech applications wherein a processor samples a plurality of frames comprising image samples. Representative parameters are extracted from the image samples and stored in an animation library. The processor also samples a plurality of multiphones comprising images together with their associated sounds. The processor extracts parameters from these images comprising data characterizing mouth shapes, maps, rules, or equations, and stores the resulting parameters and sound information in a coarticulation library. The animated sequence begins with the processor considering an input phoneme sequence, recalling from the coarticulation library parameters associated with that sequence, and selecting appropriate image samples from the animation library based on that sequence. The image samples are concatenated together, and the corresponding sound is output, to form the animated synthesis.

Abstract: A face feature analysis which begins by generating multiple face feature candidates, e.g., eyes and nose positions, using an isolated frame face analysis. Then, a nostril tracking window is defined around a nose candidate and tests are applied to the pixels therein based on percentages of skin color area pixels and nostril area pixels to determine whether the nose candidate represents an actual nose. Once actual nostrils are identified, size, separation and contiguity of the actual nostrils is determined by projecting the nostril pixels within the nostril tracking window. A mouth window is defined around the mouth region and mouth detail analysis is then applied to the pixels within the mouth window to identify inner mouth and teeth pixels and therefrom generate an inner mouth contour. The nostril position and inner mouth contour are used to generate a synthetic model head.

Abstract: A method for generating photo-realistic characters wherein one or more pictures of an individual are decomposed into a plurality of parameterized facial parts. The facial parts are stored in memory. To create animated frames, the individual facial parts are recalled from memory in a defined manner and overlaid onto a base face to form a whole face, which, in turn, may be overlaid onto a background image to form an animated frame.

Abstract: The container consists of two shells which face each other and are mounted to each other at their port edges by means of wedge type fastener structures. To this end each shell includes a plurality of semi-wedges arranged distributed along the circumference. Two opposite semi-wedges of the two shells complete themselves to a complete wedge. A separately provided wedge clams is slid over every complete wedge, which wedge clamp grips around the complete wedge and presses the two semi-wedges of each complete wedge and accordingly the two port edges together.

Abstract: A multi-modal method for locating objects in images wherein a tracking analysis is first performed using a plurality of channels which may comprise a shape channel, a color channel, and a motion channel. After a predetermined number of frames, intermediate feature representations are obtained from each channel and evaluated for reliability. Based on the evaluation of each channel, one or more channels are selected for additional tracking. The results of all representations are ultimately integrated into a final tracked output. Additionally, any of the channels may be calibrated using initial results obtained from one or more channels.