Abstract: Examples are disclosed for facilitating recovery from failures associated with a storage array having a plurality of storage devices.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display (LCD) system is provided. The LCD system includes a light-passable plate, an LCD panel and a controller. The light-passable plate is configured to allow natural light to pass through the light-passable plate; and the LCD panel is coupled to the light-passable plate and is configured to receive the natural light passing through the light-passable plate. Further, the controller is coupled to the LCD panel to control the LCD panel such that the natural light passing through the light-passable plate is used as backlight for operation of the LCD panel. The light-passable plate structurally supports the LCD panel in addition to providing the natural light to the LCD panel.

Abstract: A method for making a carbon nanotube-metal particle composite is provided. Carbon nanotubes, polymer monomers, a first solution containing metal ions, and a second solution containing carboxylic acid radical ions are provided. The carbon nanotubes and the polymer monomers are mixed in a solvent to form a first mixture. The polymer monomers are adsorbed on the carbon nanotubes. A second mixture is formed by mixing the first mixture, the first solution, and the second solution. The polymer monomers, the first solution, and the second solution react with each other to form a coordination complex mixture containing the metal ions. The coordination complex mixture is adsorbed on the surface of the carbon nanotubes. A reducing agent is added into the second mixture to reduce the metal ions of the coordination complex mixture to metal particles, simultaneously, the polymer monomers are polymerize to in situ form the carbon nanotube-metal particle composite.

Abstract: A membrane electrode includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a proton exchange membrane sandwiched between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode includes a first gas diffusion layer and a first catalyst layer. The second electrode includes a second gas diffusion layer and a second catalyst layer. The first catalyst layer or the second catalyst layer includes a carbon nanotube-metal particle composite including carbon nanotubes, polymer layer, and metal particles. The polymer layer is coated on a surface of the carbon nanotubes and defines a plurality of pores uniformly distributed; the metal particles are located in the pores. A fuel cell including the membrane electrode is also disclosed.

Abstract: A carbon nanotube-metal particle composite includes: carbon nanotubes, polymer layer, and metal particles. The polymer layer is coated on a surface of the carbon nanotubes and defines a number of uniformly distributed pores. the metal particles are located in the pores. A catalyst including the carbon nanotube-metal particle composite is also disclosed.

Abstract: A cable assembly includes two connectors and a cable module. Each connector is configured for connecting to a corresponding connector of an electronic device. The cable module include a first grounding wire, a power wire, a data receiving wire, and a data sending wire. A first grounding wire end forks to form two third grounding wires. A power wire end forks to form two second power wires. A data receiving wire end forks to form two second data receiving wires. A data sending wire end forks to form two second data wires. The third grounding wires, the second power wires, the second data receiving wires, and the second data sending wires compose a group of connecting cables. The groups of connecting cables are respectively connected to the connectors.

Abstract: A mold includes a mold core, a first cover, and a second cover. The mold core includes a cavity and a pair of elastic pieces. The pair of elastic pieces is in the cavity and divides the cavity into a first room and a second room. The first cover covers the first room of the cavity. The first cover defines a plurality of first plug holes. A first I/O can be formed in the first room by injecting a first liquid plastic material in the first room via the plurality of first plug holes. The second cover covers the first room and second room of the cavity. The second cover defines a plurality of second plug holes. A second I/O port assembly can be formed by injecting a second liquid plastic material in the first room and the second room via the plurality of second plug holes.

Abstract: An iris recognition system incorporating two-level iris image quality assessment method is presented. Images with very low image quality may be assigned quality zero and not be further processed. Images with sufficient quality may be qualitatively assessed and each quality metric score may be calibrated. The calibrated quality scores may be fused to generate one quality score.

Abstract: A liquid crystal display panel and a display driving method are disclosed. The liquid crystal display panel includes data lines, scan lines, common electrode lines, pixel units, voltage buffer circuits and common electrode controller units. The pixel units are coupled to corresponding data lines and scan lines. Each pixel unit includes a storage capacitor. The pixel units on the same row are coupled to the same common electrode line. The common electrode controller units drive the common electrode lines to re-charge each pixel unit via the storage capacitor. The voltage buffer circuits are coupled between the common electrode controller units and the common electrode lines. The voltage buffer circuits are used for maintaining the voltage levels on each of the common electrode lines when each of the pixel units is not in their data writing period.

Abstract: A water desalination system includes an evaporator for evaporating saline water to produce water vapor and an adsorption means in selective vapor communication with the evaporator for reversibly adsorbing the water vapor from the evaporator. The adsorption means is in selective vapor communication with a condenser, and desorbing means for desorbing the adsorbed water vapor from the adsorption means for collection by the condenser. The condenser is adapted to condense the water vapor to desalinated water.

Abstract: It is provided a method for distinguishing between cold boot and warm boot of a device, wherein the device comprises a volatile memory containing a flag used for indicating boot type, the method comprises the step of determining boot type by reading the flag; wherein, the method further comprises upon detection of a message indicating occurrence of power outage, setting data of the volatile memory in such a way that make the device fail to determine the boot type as warm boot.

Abstract: Examples are disclosed for facilitating recovery from failures associated with a storage array having a plurality of storage devices.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, described herein is an apparatus for mitigating on-board diagnostic (OBD) faults generated by an OBD system of an internal combustion engine (ICE) system having a selective catalytic reduction system with a diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) decomposition tube. The apparatus includes a fault mitigation module that is configured to monitor at least one OBD signal of the OBD system and issue a request for regenerating the DEF decomposition tube when a value of the at least one OBD signal reaches a predetermined regeneration threshold corresponding with the at least one OBD signal. The regeneration threshold is reachable prior to an OBD fault threshold corresponding with the at least one OBD signal. The apparatus also includes a regeneration module that is configured to regenerate the DEF decomposition tube according to the issued request.

Abstract: A system is provided for detecting a blind spot for a driver of a vehicle. The system includes a side mirror. The side mirror is arranged on a body of the vehicle and includes a side mirror body, a mirror, and a supporting structure. The system also includes a detection system. The detection system is physically coupled with the side mirror to detect an object in a detection zone of the detection system. The detection zone covers the blind spot, and the detection system includes a detection module, an alert indicator, and a control module. The detection module includes at least one of a transmitter and a receiver, and the alert indicator is configured to send an alert light to the driver at a predetermined angle such that the alert light does not interfere with drivers of other vehicles close to the vehicle.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer readable media are disclosed for simulating a circuit. The method may comprise a step of providing a network model of the circuit having a plurality of ports, the plurality of ports being associated with one or more net pairs. The method may also comprise combining the plurality of ports into one or more groups based on the net pairs, each group corresponding to a net pair. In addition, the method may comprise calculating, for each group, one or more expansion elements, wherein the one or more expansion elements are associated with a shared property among all ports of the group. Moreover, the method may comprise simulating the circuit using a combination of the expansion elements calculated for each group.

Abstract: A method for encoding a digital signal into a scalable bitstream comprising quantizing the digital signal, and encoding the quantized signal to form a core-layer bitstream, performing an error mapping based on the digital signal and the core-layer bitstream to remove information that has been encoded into the core-layer bitstream, resulting in an error signal, bit-plane coding the error signal based on perceptual information of the digital signal, resulting in an enhancement-layer bitstream, wherein the perceptual information of the digital signal is determined using a perceptual model, and multiplexing the core-layer bitstream and the enhancement-layer bitstream, thereby generating the scalable bitstream.

Abstract: A power supply for a negative voltage load has a switch-mode power unit, a monitoring unit, a first auxiliary power unit and a second auxiliary power unit. The switch-mode power unit has a rectifying circuit, a power factor correction circuit, a DC to DC power circuit. The first auxiliary power unit is connected to output terminals of the power factor correction circuit and converts DC power to a first DC power for driving the monitoring unit. The second auxiliary power unit is connected to the negative voltage load in parallel and converts negative power from the negative voltage load to a second DC power for driving the monitoring unit when AC power is interrupted. Since the first and the second auxiliary power unit do not work at the same time, the power supply can effectively enhances the conversion efficiency of the power supply.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a grouted tubular energy-dissipation unit comprising an inner tube and an outer tube. The inner tube is coaxially inserted into the outer tube defining a gap within a lapping portion of the tubes for receiving expansive cement grout. After solidified, the expansive cement grout forms an expansive ring. A prestress produced by the expansive cement grout increases the friction between the expansive ring and the tubes. In service, the present invention can transfer the axial force via the friction between the tubes and the expansive cement grout. In case of earthquake, the sliding friction between the tubes and the expansive cement grout can absorb energy. The present invention does not require high precise in manufacturing and constructing, saves steel and has low cost. It is only need to replace the grouted tubular energy-dissipation unit when the present invention is damaged in earthquake, which is very convenient.

Abstract: An apparatus for determining a deterioration of a NOx sensor response rate in an internal combustion engine system includes an engine control module configured to stop fueling to an internal combustion engine during motoring of the internal combustion engine. The apparatus also includes a signal monitoring module configured to monitor a NOx sensor signal after the engine control module stops fueling to the internal combustion engine during motoring of the engine and store NOx sensor signal data corresponding to the monitored NOx sensor signal. Additionally, the apparatus includes a time constant module that is configured to determine a time constant of the NOx sensor response after the engine control module stops fueling. The apparatus further includes a response rate deterioration module configured to determine a response rate deterioration value of the NOx sensor based at least partially on the determined time constant.

Abstract: A three-dimensional (3D) display system is provided. The 3D display system includes at least one 3D display element containing a series of element bases, and each element base includes a plurality of light-emitting elements in a predetermined arrangement. The 3D display system also includes a moving mechanism coupled to the 3D display element for causing the 3D display element to move along a predetermined direction. Further, the 3D display system includes a controller configured to control respective light-emitting conditions of the plurality of light-emitting elements contained in each element base, when each element base is moving in the predetermined direction, to create dynamic pixels based on persistence of vision so as to form a layer of 2D display. The layers of 2D display corresponding to the series of element bases overlap together to form a 3D display.