Abstract: A system for providing heating ventilation and cooling (HVAC) services includes a central server having an HVAC services module. The central server is communicatively coupled to at least one database, a credit system, a payment processing system, and an installation and maintenance scheduling system. The central server includes instructions configured to cause the central server to receive a residence identifier from a user portal, determine an estimated HVAC load of a building corresponding to the residence identifier, provide a user with a cost estimate based on the estimated HVAC load, and process a payment received from the user wherein the payment is based on the cost estimate.

Abstract: An electron source emitter is made from transition metal carbide materials, including hafnium carbide (HfC), zirconium carbide (ZrC), titanium carbide (TiC), vanadium carbide (VC), niobium carbide (NbC), and tantalum carbide (TaC), which are of high refractory nature. Preferential evaporating and subsequent development of different crystallographic planes of the transition metal carbide emitter having initially at its apex a small radius (50 nm-300 nm) develop over time an on-axis, sharp end-form or tip that is uniformly accentuated circumferentially to an extreme angular form and persists over time. An emitter manufactured to the (110) crystallographic plane and operating at high electron beam current and high temperature for about 20 hours to 40 hours results in the (110) plane, while initially not a high emission crystallographic orientation, developing into a very high field emission orientation because of the geometrical change.

Abstract: An electron source is made from mixed-metal carbide materials of high refractory nature. Producing field-enhanced thermionic emission, i.e., thermal-field or extended Schottky emission, from these materials entails the use of a certain low work function crystallographic direction, such as, for example, (100), (210), and (310). These materials do not naturally facet because of their refractory nature. The disclosed electron source made from transition metal carbide material is especially useful when installed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) performing advanced imaging applications that require a high brightness, high beam current source.

Abstract: An electron source is made from mixed-metal carbide materials of high refractory nature. Producing field-enhanced thermionic emission, i.e., thermal-field or extended Schottky emission, from these materials entails the use of a certain low work function crystallographic direction, such as, for example, (100), (210), and (310). These materials do not naturally facet because of their refractory nature. The disclosed electron source made from transition metal carbide material is especially useful when installed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) performing advanced imaging applications that require a high brightness, high beam current source.

Abstract: A thermionic emission assembly includes a Wehnelt cap that has a cap beam aperture and a cavity within which a cathode is supported. Electrical energy applied to the cathode causes it to reach a sufficiently high temperature to emit a beam of electrons that propagate through the cap beam aperture. An anode having an anode beam aperture is positioned in spatial alignment with the cap beam aperture to receive the electrons. The anode accelerates the electrons and directs them through the anode beam aperture for incidence on a target specimen. A ceramic base forms a combined interface that electrically and thermally separates the Wehnelt cap and the anode. The thermal isolation of the Wehnelt cap from the anode allows the Wehnelt cap to increase in heat to rapidly reach a stable temperature as the cathode emits the beam of electrons.

Abstract: A thermionic emission assembly includes a Wehnelt cap that has a cap beam aperture and a cavity within which a cathode is supported. Electrical energy applied to the cathode causes it to reach a sufficiently high temperature to emit a beam of electrons that propagate through the cap beam aperture. An anode having an anode beam aperture is positioned in spatial alignment with the cap beam aperture to receive the electrons. The anode accelerates the electrons and directs them through the anode beam aperture for incidence on a target specimen. A ceramic base forms a combined interface that electrically and thermally separates the Wehnelt cap and the anode. The thermal isolation of the Wehnelt cap from the anode allows the Wehnelt cap to increase in heat to rapidly reach a stable temperature as the cathode emits the beam of electrons.

Abstract: A thermionic emission assembly includes a Wehnelt cap that has a cap beam aperture and a cavity within which a cathode is supported. Electrical energy applied to the cathode causes it to reach a sufficiently high temperature to emit a beam of electrons that propagate through the cap beam aperture. An anode having an anode beam aperture is positioned in spatial alignment with the cap beam aperture to receive the electrons. The anode accelerates the electrons and directs them through the anode beam aperture for incidence on a target specimen. A ceramic base forms a combined interface that electrically and thermally separates the Wehnelt cap and the anode. The interface thermally isolates the Wehnelt cap from the anode to allow the cathode to rapidly reach the sufficiently high temperature to emit the beam of electrons.

Abstract: A method for segmenting a compound word in an unrestricted natural-language input is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a natural-language input consisting of a plurality of characters. Next, a set of probabilistic breakpoints based on a probabilistic breakpoint analysis is constructed in the natural-language input. A plurality of linkable components is identified by traversal of substrings of the natural-language input delimited by the set of probabilistic breakpoints. Finally, a segmented string consisting of a plurality of linkable components spanning the natural-language input is returned. The segmented string can be interpreted as a compound word.

Abstract: A method for processing structured text is provided. Tokenized text is created from structured text in accordance with a predetermined set of tokenizer rules set forth in a token pattern knowledge base (13), in which each tokenizer rule defines a simplex constituent. Parsed text is created from tokenized text in accordance with a predetermined set of parser rules set forth in a parser rule knowledge base (15), in which each parser rule defines a complex constituent. Processed text is created from parsed text in accordance with a predetermined set of interpreter rules set forth in an interpretation knowledge base (17), in which each interpreter rule defines a message element corresponding to a simplex or complex constituent, whereby the processed text identifies and provides an interpretation of the message elements of the corresponding structured text for a useful purpose, such as text-to-speech synthesis.

Abstract: A method for segmenting a compound word in an unrestricted natural-language input is disclosed. The method comprises receiving a natural-language input consisting of a plurality of characters. Next, a set of probabilistic breakpoints based on a probabilistic breakpoint analysis is constructed in the natural-language input. A plurality of linkable components is identified by traversal of substrings of the natural-language input delimited by the set of probabilistic breakpoints. Finally, a segmented string consisting of a plurality of linkable components spanning the natural-language input is returned. The segmented string can be interpreted as a compound word.

Abstract: A method (300), device (408), and system (400) provide part-of-speech disambiguation for words based on hybrid neural-network and stochastic processing. The method disambiguates the part-of-speech tags of text tokens by obtaining a set of probabilistically annotated tags for each text token, determining a locally predicted tag for each text token based on the local context of the text token, determining an alternative tag for each text token based on the expanded context of the text token, and choosing between the locally predicted tag and the alternative tag when the locally predicted tag and the alternative tag are different.

Abstract: A method (700), device (1101), and system (1100) provide generalized bidirectional island-driven chart parsing based on congruency checking to prevent edge overgeneration for robust and efficient parsing of a word graph. The method prevents edge overgeneration by selecting, in accordance with a predetermined scheme, a candidate edge with a starting vertex, an ending vertex, a label, and a congruence key for entry in a chart from an agenda of edges, selecting an edge equivalence set in the chart that matches the starting vertex, the ending vertex, and the label of the candidate edge, and entering the candidate edge into the chart if the congruence key of the candidate edge fails to match the congruence key of any edge in the edge equivalence set.

Abstract: A method is provided for growing plants in an environment having air containing carbon dioxide which is lower in carbon 14 content than under normal ambient conditions. Such plants grown under these conditions have a lower concentration of carbon 14 and therefore their natural radioactivity will be reduced. The process involves controlling of the source of carbon dioxide used by the plants as one derived from carbon compounds of very low carbon 14 content. Such sources include but are not limited to limestone and fossil fuels. Such plant material can be used to make articles traceable to the process, or alternatively certain plants can be grown for human or animal consumption to reduce the overall radioactive body burden of carbon 14.

Abstract: A method (400, 900, 1000, 1100), device (1205, 1306) and system (1207, 1308) provide memory-efficient encoding of the random-access lexicon for a text-to-speech synthesis system. The method generates word pronunciations based on efficient retrieval of stored pronunciation information and disambiguation information for an input word, by dividing the input word into a stem and a maximal suffix having a maximal suffix code and then generating at least one word pronunciation based on the stem and the maximal suffix.