Abstract: A gas diffusion layer having a first major surface and a second major surface which is positioned opposite to said first major surface and an interior between said first and second major surfaces is formed. The gas diffusion layer comprises a porous carbon substrate which is directly fluorinated in the interior and is substantially free of fluorination on at least one of the first major surfaces or the second major surfaces, and preferably both surfaces. The gas diffusion layer may be formed using protective sandwich process during direct fluorination or by physically or chemically removing the C—F atomic layer at the major surfaces, for example by physical plasma etching or chemical reactive ion etching.

Abstract: A transducer is provided for emitting and receiving acoustic waves, a method for operating and a method for producing the same. The transducer comprises a casing that forms a cavity. The casing comprises an excitation surface and an emitting surface, which is arranged opposite to the excitation surface. A transducer element is provided at the excitation surface, and an acoustic diffuser is provided at the emitting surface of the casing, wherein a diffusing structure of the acoustic diffuser faces the cavity.

Abstract: Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for using a plurality of sub-buffers and a free segment list to allocate segments to a plurality of threads to use for writing data. Groups of threads are assigned to sub-buffers. At least one segment of data is indicated in each of the sub-buffers. The threads assigned to one of the sub-buffers write to the at least one segment indicated in the sub-buffer to which the threads are assigned. A free segment list indicates segments which are not indicated in one of the sub-buffers. In response to one of the segments in a containing sub-buffer comprising one of the sub-buffers becoming a full segment having less than a threshold amount of free space, the indication of the full segment in the containing sub-buffer is replaced with one of the segments indicated in the free segment list.

Abstract: Building structures can be fabricated at an offsite, and then assembled at the construction site. The building structures can include beams and wall panels having metal attachments. The beams and wall panels can be assembled by coupling the metal attachments, for example, by welding.

Abstract: A method, system and apparatus of controlling at least one application on an electronic device. Interfacing occurs between a context object and the at least one application. Context data is retrieved from the context object. At least one of the following further occurs: the context object is updated with new context data derived from interactions with the at least one application; the behaviour of the at least one application is modulated based on the context data; and at least one data field in the application is populated with the context data.

Abstract: An electromechanical power switch device and methods thereof. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are devices including a semiconductor substrate, at least one integrated circuit device on a front surface of the semiconductor substrate, an insulating layer on the at least one integrated circuit device, and an electromechanical power switch on the insulating layer. By way of example, the electromechanical power switch may include a source and a drain, a body region disposed between the source and the drain, and a gate including a switching metal layer. In some embodiments, the body region includes a first body portion and a second body portion spaced a distance from the first body portion and defining a body discontinuity therebetween. Additionally, in various examples, the switching metal layer may be disposed over the body discontinuity.

Abstract: A method for determining timing constraints in dataflow models is disclosed. The method includes receiving node information specifying a plurality of dataflow nodes, as well as coupling between various ones of the dataflow nodes. The method further comprising receiving timing information specifying timing constraints for at least some of the dataflow nodes. Based on the node information, the couplings between the nodes, and the timing information, a timeline dependency graph (TDG). The timeline dependency graph illustrates a timeline, mappings between nodes with side effects to firing times of those nodes on the timeline, and dependencies between nodes.

Abstract: A method for automatically mapping program functions to distributed heterogeneous platforms based on hardware attributes and specified constraints is disclosed. The method includes receiving a plurality of program functions and determining constraint information for each. The method further includes determining attributes of a plurality of hardware processing elements, wherein ones of the plurality of hardware processing elements have different attributes with respect to other ones of the hardware processing elements. The plurality of program functions may be automatically mapped for execution on at least a subset of the hardware processing elements, wherein the mapping is based on constraint information and the attributes.

Abstract: Methods and systems for slurry hydrocracking with reduced feed bypass and methods for modulating an amount of toluene insoluble material present in a slurry hydrocracking reactor are provided. An exemplary slurry hydrocracking method comprises the steps of: combining a hydrocarbon feed and a slurry hydrocracking catalyst or catalyst precursor to generate a slurry hydrocracking feed; introducing the slurry hydrocracking feed to a slurry hydrocracking reactor under hydrocracking conditions suitable to generate a first product stream; drawing a drag stream from the slurry hydrocracking reactor, the drag stream comprising a hydrocarbon, mesophase material, and solid catalyst particles; separating the drag stream into a first separated stream and a recycle stream, with the first separated stream comprising mesophase material and solid catalyst particles, and the recycle stream comprising the hydrocarbon; and directing the recycle stream into the slurry hydrocracking reactor.

Abstract: Processes for separating conjunct polymer from an organic phase are described. A mixture comprising an ionic liquid phase and the organic phase into the ionic phase and an organic phase comprising the conjunct polymer and at least one silyl or boryl compound. The organic phase is separated in a fractionation column into an overhead fraction comprising unreacted silane or borane compound and a bottoms fraction comprising the conjunct polymer and the silyl or boryl compound. The bottoms fraction is passed through an adsorption zone, and the silyl or boryl compound is recovered. Alternatively, the organic phase is passed through an adsorption zone first to remove the conjunct polymer and then a fractionation zone to separate the unreacted silane or borane compound from the silyl or boryl compound.

Abstract: It is possible to reduce the overhead associated with downlink channel estimation in massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) networks by processing training sequences according to a transformation matrix. The transformation matrix maps a generic dictionary to a non-generic dictionary associated with an antenna geometry of a MIMO antenna array. The transformation matrix can be computed based on the two dictionaries. In one embodiment, the training reference signal is precoded to obtain a precoded training reference signal, which is then transmitted over a MIMO antenna array. The training precoder used to precode the training reference signal is designed according to the transformation matrix to mitigate a dependence that the training reference signal transmission has on the antenna geometry.

Abstract: A rack-power control module (RPC) module is used for allowing a local storage partition, located on a local server, for controlling a destination storage partition, located on a destination server, by piggybacking commands on power alerts issued by the RPC module in a clustered storage system. The commands are sent from the local storage partition to the RPC module, where the commands are RPC commands and include a destination server identification (ID) and payload data that includes a hypervisor command containing a command type, a subtype, and a destination ID. The RPC module then parses the commands received from the local storage partition.

Abstract: A determination is made of a plurality of components whose states are to be determined to generate a statesave. At least one central processing unit that determines a state of a first component of the plurality of components faster than other central processing units is assigned to determine the state of the first component to include in the statesave, where more processing operations have to be performed to determine the state of the first component in comparison to any other component of the plurality of component. One or more of the other central processing units are assigned to other components of the plurality of components to determine states of the other components to include in the statesave.

Abstract: A motor-operated drive system for a window covering system including a headrail, a mechanism associated with the headrail to spread and retract the window covering, and a continuous cord loop extending below the headrail for actuating the mechanism to spread and retract the window covering. The drive system includes a motor, a driven wheel that engages and advances the continuous cord loop, and a coupling mechanism for coupling the driven wheel to a rotating output shaft of the motor for rotation of the driven wheel. The drive system includes a channel system for redirecting the continuous cord loop engaged by the driven wheel, or other mechanism for configuring the drive system so that continuous cord loop extends in a substantially vertical orientation. The coupling mechanism includes an engaged configuration in which rotation of the output shaft of the motor causes rotation of the driven wheel, and a disengaged configuration.

Abstract: A pressure sensor and a pressure sensing method are provided. The pressure sensor includes a substrate; a sensor thin film transistor (TFT) disposed on the substrate and including a gate insulating layer, wherein the gate insulating layer includes an organic matrix in which piezoelectric inorganic nano-particles are dispersed; a power unit configured to apply an alternating current (AC) signal to a gate of the sensor TFT; and a pressure sensing unit configured to obtain a remnant polarization value based on a drain current which is generated in response to the AC signal and detected by the sensor TFT, and to sense a pressure based on the remnant polarization value.

Abstract: In one embodiment of multi-mode task dispatching for extreme temperature avoidance, a performance-based dispatching mode includes a heating sub-mode in which heat generating non-system workload tasks are dispatched to idle processor cores of a set of available processor cores to raise the temperature of processing cores receiving a heat generating task. The heating sub-mode is entered if a multi-processor core temperature such as the ambient temperature of a CPU complex, for example, is below a sub-mode temperature threshold value. In this manner, the ambient temperature of the CPU complex may be prevented from reaching or maintaining a level which causes the CPU complex to fully or partially shut down due to low temperatures. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application.

Abstract: Techniques for predictively selecting a content presentation in a client-server computing environment are described. In an example, a content management system detects an interaction of a client with a server and accesses client features. Reponses of the client to potential content presentations are predicted based on a multi-task neural network. The client features are mapped to input nodes and the potential content presentations are associated with tasks mapped to output nodes of the multi-task neural network. The tasks specify usages of the potential content presentations in response to the interaction with the server. In an example, the content management system selects the content presentation from the potential content presentations based on the predicted responses. For instance, the content presentation is selected based on having the highest likelihood. The content management system provides the content presentation to the client based on the task corresponding to the content presentation.

Abstract: In one embodiment, performance-based multi-mode task dispatching for high temperature avoidance in accordance with the present description, includes selecting processor cores as available to receive a dispatched task. Tasks are dispatched to a set of available processor cores for processing in a performance-based dispatching mode. If monitored temperature rises above a threshold temperature value, task dispatching logic switches to a thermal-based dispatching mode. If a monitored temperature falls below another threshold temperature value, dispatching logic switches back to the performance-based dispatching mode. If a monitored temperature of an individual processor core rises above a threshold temperature value, the processor core is redesignated as unavailable to receive a dispatched task. If the temperature of an individual processor core falls below another threshold temperature value, the processor core is redesignated as available to receive a dispatched task.

Abstract: Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for managing a lock to a resource shared among a plurality of processors. Slots in a memory implement the lock on the shared resource. The slots correspond to counter values that are consecutively numbered and indicate one of busy and free. A requesting processor fetches a counter value comprising a fetched counter value. A determination is made as to whether the slot corresponding to the fetched counter value indicates free. A processor identifier of the requesting processor is inserted into the slot corresponding to the fetched counter value in response to determining that the slot corresponding to the fetched counter value indicates not free. The requesting processor accesses the shared resource in response to determining that the slot corresponding to the fetched counter value indicates free.