Abstract: A method for controlling a glazing unit having electrically controllable optical properties, wherein the glazing unit includes a composite pane having an outer pane and an inner pane which are connected to one another via a thermoplastic intermediate layer, a functional element is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane and has an active layer having electrically controllable optical properties between a first planar electrode and a second planar electrode, the optical properties are controlled by a control unit, wherein the control unit is connected to at least two transparent planar electrodes of the functional element, an electrical voltage is applied between the planar electrodes by the control unit, and an inverse function is used to determine a magnitude of the electrical voltage.

Abstract: A method for electrical control of a functional element incorporated in a glazing unit and having electrically controllable optical properties. The glazing unit includes a composite pane having an outer pane and an inner pane which are connected to one another via a thermoplastic intermediate layer, a functional element is arranged between the outer pane and the inner pane and has an active layer having electrically controllable optical properties between a first planar electrode and a second planar electrode, the optical properties are controlled by a control unit connected to at least two transparent planar electrodes of the functional element, and an electrical voltage is applied between the planar electrodes by the control unit. An inverse function is used to determine a magnitude of the electrical voltage, and also as a temperature-dependent linearization function and a temperature of the functional element or composite pane is detected by a temperature sensor.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein are generally directed to use of a chatbot to identify a customer-specified product support issue and provide appropriate troubleshooting guidance. According to an example, free text input describing an issue associated with a product line of a vendor is received from a user via a chatbot. A vector representation of the issue is created by tokenizing and vectorizing the free text input using a word association model corresponding to the product line. It is determined whether the issue matches at least one category within multiple issue categories for the product line by performing similarity scoring between the vector representation and multiple vectors created based on top words per issue category of the multiple issue categories. Responsive to an affirmative determination, an automated, interactive, conversational troubleshooting dialog is initiated with the user via the chatbot and guided based on a decision tree for the at least one category.

Abstract: Embodiments described herein are generally directed to training of classification models and their use by a chatbot to identify a customer-specified product support issue and provide appropriate troubleshooting guidance. According to an example, text describing an issue associated with a product line of a vendor is received via the chatbot. A vector representation of the issue is created using a word association model corresponding to the product line and trained based on a set of historical support cases relating to multiple supported issue categories for the product line. It is determined whether the issue matches a category within the supported issue categories for the product line by applying a classification model to the vector representation. When the determination is affirmative, an automated, interactive, conversational troubleshooting dialog is initiated with the user via the chatbot and guided based on a decision tree for the category within the product line.

Abstract: An ophthalmic refractor is described that provides a non-linear relationship between spherical power and refractive error by positioning a reference plane for a sensor system of the refractor in front of the cornea. The refractor may have a working distance and dynamic range that enable it to be mounted on a surgical microscope. Also described are computational methods for analysing the output from the ophthalmic refractor, utilising error minimisation, linear regression and Fourier Transform analysis.

Abstract: A method and scanner configured to determine whether a person's feet are positioned at a predetermined location of a predetermined scanning area and configured to scan the feet to detect a presence of a metal, an explosive, or other type of target substance.

Abstract: A method of operating a passenger screening kiosk system to perform at least one verify a passenger's identity, detect the presence of an explosive material, and detect the presence of a metallic material includes initiating a prompt to be issued by the passenger screening kiosk system to prompt the passenger to enter the passenger screening kiosk system, prompting the passenger to enter the passenger screening kiosk system, and determining whether the passenger is within the passenger screening kiosk system.

Abstract: A method of operating a passenger screening kiosk system includes operating the passenger screening kiosk system to perform a screening process that includes at least one of verify a passenger's identity, detect the presence of an explosive material, and detect the presence of a metallic material, generating a screening result, and associating the screening result with the passenger.

Abstract: A method of operating a passenger screening kiosk system to perform at least one verify a passenger's identity, detect the presence of an explosive material, and detect the presence of a metallic material includes initiating a prompt to be issued by the passenger screening kiosk system to prompt the passenger to enter the passenger screening kiosk system, prompting the passenger to enter the passenger screening kiosk system, and determining whether the passenger is within the passenger screening kiosk system.

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to a fan and in some aspects to an impeller with increased performance or efficiency. The fan according to some embodiments of the present invention has a housing, an impeller, and a motor driving the impeller. The impeller can be manufactured and/or arranged within the housing to make the fan more efficient under certain operating conditions. In some embodiments, the impeller is equipped with blades having a non-constant radius of curvature. In other embodiments, the impeller is equipped with two sets of blades, which include primary blades and secondary blades. These blades can be offset from each other to increase performance. In yet other embodiments, the space between the secondary blades and the housing can be manipulated to increase performance. Additionally, other embodiments adjust the cross-sectional shape of the flow path through the impeller to increase performance.

Abstract: The axial fan assembly according to some embodiments of the present invention has a shroud, a motor coupled to the shroud, and a fan coupled to the motor. By employing selected vane-to-blade ratios, blade twist angles, blade pitch angles, blade-to-shroud axial gaps, shroud solidities, vane swept angles, and vane inlet and outlet angles of specified amounts or falling within specified ranges, desirable fan performance is achieved. Any one or more of these parameters can be utilized alone or in combination with other parameters as desired.

Abstract: The present invention employs improved fan blade shapes to improve fan blade performance in one or more manners (i.e., increased fan efficiency, lower fan noise, greater fluid moving capability, and the like). In some embodiments, the fan blade has a front side, a rear side, an inner attachment portion, an outer edge, a curved leading edge and a curved trailing edge. The outer edge can define an arc between a forward position and a rearward position of the fan blade. In some embodiments, the leading edge extends outward and intercepts the arc of the outer edge at the forward position, and the trailing edge extends outward to the rearward position. Various angles, lengths, and other dimensions of the blade can have selected values to produce superior fan performance.

Abstract: Composite media having simultaneous negative effective permittivity and permeability over a common band of frequencies. A composite media of the invention combines media, which are either themselves separately composite or continuous media, having a negative permittivity and a negative permeability over a common frequency band. Various forms of separate composite and continuous media may be relied upon in the invention. A preferred composite media includes a periodic array of conducting elements that can behave as an effective medium for electromagnetic scattering when the wavelength is much longer than both the element dimension and lattice spacing. The composite media has an effective permittivity &egr;eff(&ohgr;) and permeability &mgr;eff(&ohgr;) which are simultaneously negative over a common set of frequencies. Either one or both of the negative permeability and negative permittivity media used in the invention may be modulable via external or internal stimulus.

Abstract: Composite media having simultaneous negative effective permittivity and permeability over a common band of frequencies. A composite media of the invention combines media, which are either themselves separately composite or continuous media, having a negative permittivity and a negative permeability over a common frequency band. Various forms of separate composite and continuous media may be relied upon in the invention. A preferred composite media includes a periodic array of conducting elements that can behave as an effective medium for electromagnetic scattering when the wavelength is much longer than both the element dimension and lattice spacing The composite media has an effective permittivity &egr;eff(&ohgr;) and permeability &mgr;eff(&ohgr;) which are simultaneously negative over a common set of frequencies. Either one or both of the negative permeability and negative permittivity media used in the invention may be modulable via external or internal stimulus.