118results about How to "Minimize negative impact" patented technology

A method of manufacturing a biopolymer optical waveguide includes providing a biopolymer, unwinding the biopolymer progressively to extract individual biopolymer fibers, and putting the unwound fibers under tension. The tensioned fibers are then cast in a different polymer to form a biopolymer optical waveguide that guides light due to the difference in indices of refraction between the biopolymer and the different polymer. The optical fibers may be used in biomedical applications and can be inserted in the body as transmissive media. Printing techniques may be used to manufacture the biopolymer optical waveguides.

A method of manufacturing a nanopatterned biopolymer optical device includes providing a biopolymer, processing the biopolymer to yield a biopolymer matrix solution, providing a substrate with a nanopatterned surface, casting the biopolymer matrix solution on the nanopatterned surface of the substrate, and drying the biopolymer matrix solution to form a solidified biopolymer film on the substrate, where the solidified biopolymer film is formed with a surface having a nanopattern thereon. In another embodiment, the method also includes annealing the solidified biopolymer film. A nanopatterned biopolymer optical device includes a solidified biopolymer film with a surface having a nanopattern is also provided.

A method of manufacturing a biopolymer optical device includes providing a polymer, providing a substrate, casting the polymer on the substrate, and enzymatically polymerizing an organic compound to generate a conducting polymer between the provided polymer and the substrate. The polymer may be a biopolymer such as silk and may be modified using organic compounds such as tyrosines to provide a molecular-level interface between the provided bulk biopolymer of the biopolymer optical device and a substrate or other conducting layer via a tyrosine-enzyme polymerization. The enzymatically polymerizing may include catalyzing the organic compound with peroxidase enzyme reactions. The result is a carbon-carbon conjugated backbone that provides polymeric “wires” for use in polymer and biopolymer optical devices. An all organic biopolymer electroactive material is thereby provided that provides optical functions and features.

A computer-based apparatus and method for automated data screening and selection in model identification and model adaptation in multivariable process control is disclosed. Data sample status information, PID control loop associations and internally built MISO (Multi-input, Single-output) predictive models are employed to automatically screen individual time-series of data, and based on various criteria bad data is automatically identified and marked for removal. The resulting plant step test / operational data is also repaired by interpolated replacement values substituted for certain removed bad data that satisfy some conditions. Computer implemented data point interconnection and adjustment techniques are provided to guarantee smooth / continuous replacement values.

An insulated container may include a rigid container surrounding an insulation layer formed from a post-industrial, pre-consumer card waste. The insulation layer may be characterized by a lack of any wrapping material. The insulation layer may be manufactured using a variety of converting processes including, carding, airlay, and needle punch to form a non-woven material for providing consistent density throughout the insulation layer. The insulation layer may include a natural fiber lamination layer on an outer surface of the insulation layer. The insulation layer may be biodegradable in an anaerobic environment.

A computer-based apparatus and method for automated data screening and selection in model identification and model adaptation in multivariable process control is disclosed. Data sample status information, PID control loop associations and internally built MISO (Multi-input, Single-output) predictive models are employed to automatically screen individual time-series of data, and based on various criteria bad data is automatically identified and marked for removal. The resulting plant step test / operational data is also repaired by interpolated replacement values substituted for certain removed bad data that satisfy some conditions. Computer implemented data point interconnection and adjustment techniques are provided to guarantee smooth / continuous replacement values.

A method for assessing the contraction synchronization of a heart of a patient using a set of tridimensional images of the heart, the heart having a contraction cycle, the set of tridimensional images including tridimensional images of the heart acquired at successive phases in the contraction cycle, the heart defining a cardiac chamber, the cardiac chamber defining a chamber surface, the method comprising: segmenting the sequence of tridimensional images to extract a model of an evolution over time of the configuration of the chamber surface; computing a synchronization index for the cardiac chamber using the model of the evolution over time of the configuration of the chamber surface, the synchronization index being indicative of the contraction synchronization of the movements of the chamber surface during the contraction cycle; and assessing the contraction synchronization of the heart based on the contraction index.

An iontophoretic drug delivery device storage apparatus and a method of using that device is disclosed. The device comprises a fluid reservoir, an electrode assembly and a tray apparatus. The fluid reservoir is capable of retaining a medicament and has a sealed fluid chamber defined by at least one seal. The seal includes a weaker region and a pinch-like configuration associated with that region such that application of pressure to the fluid reservoir breaks the weaker region of the seal, releasing the retained medicament. The electrode assembly comprises an active electrode, at least two passive electrodes a medicament carrying region, and a moat region around the medicament carrying region so that once fluid is delivered from the fluid reservoir to the electrode assembly the fluid is substantially retained in the medicament carrying means.

The present invention provides a polymer alloy including from about 40% to about 75% by weight of at least one polyamide, from about 10% to about 50% by weight polypropylene, from about 0.01% to about 1.0% by weight of at least one block copolymer including a vinyl aromatic monomer and a conjugated diene, and also includes an unsaturated dicarboxylic reagent, from about 0.1% to about 5.0% by weight of at least one block copolymer or terpolymer, wherein the terpolymer may have an unsaturated dicarboxylic reagent grafted thereto, from about 0.01% to about 7.5% of a compatibilizing agent, and from about 5% to about 50% by weight of a filler. The alloy of the present invention exhibits improved knitline strength and improved drop impact results compared with prior art fiberglass-reinforced nylon blends.

The negative impacts on a user equipment (UE) caused by the UE's support in network self-configuration and optimization is limited to an acceptable level by controlling user equipment measurements in a network to configure neighbor lists; requesting one or more measurements; the user equipment performing measurements in one or more adjacent cells in response to one or more measurement requests; reporting the measurements; and identifying cells in the network to be included in the neighbor list such that the user equipment measurements support network self-configuration and optimization

Apparatuses and methods for model quality estimation and model adaptation in multivariable process control are disclosed. A method for updating a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) dynamical model of a process includes perturbing the process, auditing the controller model, identifying poor performing submodels and re-testing the relevant process variables, re-identifying submodels and adapting the model online while the process continues to operate within normal operating parameters. An apparatus comprises an online multivariable controller, a tester, a database to store data corresponding to manipulated variables and controlled variables, and a performance diagnosis module configured to identify problematic submodels and adapt a model used by the controller.

An integrated multivariable predictive controller (MPC) and tester is disclosed. The invention system provides optimal control and step testing of a multivariable dynamic process using a small amplitude step for model identification purposes, without moving too far from optimal control targets. A tunable parameter specifies the trade-off between optimal process operation and minimum movement of process variables, establishing a middle ground between running a MPC on the Minimum Cost setting and the Minimum Move setting. Exploiting this middle ground, embodiments carry out low amplitude step testing near the optimal steady state solution, such that the data is suitable for modeling purposes. The new system decides when the MPC should run in optimization mode and when it can run in constrained step testing mode. The invention system determines when and how big the superimposed step testing signals can be, such that the temporary optimization give-away is constrained to an acceptable range.

An integrated circuit (IC) includes one or more inductors that have magnetic flux lines substantially parallel to a generally horizontal plane of the IC. The inductor is formed in a plurality of conductor layers separated by insulating layers of the IC. Regions of highest magnetic flux density of the inductor may preferably be located near the edge of the IC. Additionally, the inductor may preferably be segmented. The over-all inductance may preferably be controlled by turning on and off selected inductors or inductor segments.

The present invention relates to a method for scheduling a data transmission to a user equipment in a communication system comprising at least one radio network controller (RNC) governing a number of base stations, wherein the communication system supports data transmission from a base station to an user equipment on a high speed packet access (HSPA) bearer or a dedicated channel (DHC) or on similar bearers in a CDMA2000 system. The method comprises the steps of: identifying at least one predetermined scheduling condition for data transmissions for the user equipment; determining at least one current scheduling conditions of the user equipment; comparing the predetermined scheduling conditions of the user equipment with the current conditions of the user equipment; selecting a bearer for the data transmissions during a session from a base station based on the comparison; and using the selected data bearer during the data transmission session or until a new data bearer has been selected. Furthermore, the invention relates to a user equipment, a radio network controller, a computer readable medium and mobile communication system for data transmissions such as VoIP service transmissions in wireless communications systems

A sprocket is provided with a plurality of teeth spaced about its periphery, the sprocket including roots located between pairs of adjacent teeth. The roots have root radii defined as the distance between the center of sprocket and the point along the root closest to the sprocket center in the radial direction. Roots have three distinct radii. a cushioning material for receiving the impact while engaging a chain has a geometry means substantially following the contours of the sprocket teeth geometry.

The car power source apparatus is provided with a driving battery 1 having a plurality of battery modules 2 connected in series, contactors (electric vehicle battery relay contacts) 6 connected to the output side of the driving battery 1, a control circuit 7 to control the contactors 6 on and off, and a voltage detection circuit 3 to detect voltage of the battery modules 2 of the driving battery 1. Both the control circuit 7 and voltage detection circuit 3 are provided with output voltage detection circuits 7a, 3a to detect contactor 6 output voltage. If the output voltage detection circuit 7a in the control circuit 7 cannot detect contactor 6 output voltage, the output voltage detection; circuit 3a in the voltage detection circuit 3 detects contactor 6 output voltage to determine if a contactor 6 is fused closed.

A medical probe for collecting signals from a body cavity having a profile which is a combination of an outside frustum shape and the multiple surface cavities or indentations situated on the probe outer surface. The probe outer surface when enveloped by a thin probe cover material forms air pockets, thus reducing thermal conductivity across the probe walls and minimizing negative effects of the lateral heat transfer.

A system for reducing distortion at the aerodynamic interface plane of a boundary-layer-ingesting inlet using a combination of active and passive flow control devices is disclosed. Active flow control jets and vortex generating vanes are used in combination to reduce distortion across a range of inlet operating conditions. Together, the vortex generating vanes can reduce most of the inlet distortion and the active flow control jets can be used at a significantly reduced control jet mass flow rate to make sure the inlet distortion stays low as the inlet mass flow rate varies. Overall inlet distortion, measured and described as average SAE circumferential distortion descriptor, was maintained at a value of 0.02 or less. Advantageous arrangements and orientations of the active flow control jets and the vortex generating vanes were developed using computational fluid dynamics simulations and wind tunnel experimentations.

A spectrum analyzer for the simultaneous analysis of electromagnetic radiation delivered to it from either multiple sources or from a linear segment along a source surface, and arranged as either continuous or discrete set of points along a short piece of a straight line referred to herein as a slit. In one embodiment of the invention, the optical design of the dispersing part of the analyzer provides essentially stigmatic spots for any spectral band up to one octave wide in the spectral range of about 400 nm to about 2500 nm.

A service provider includes a broker. The broker receives a request from a business organization requestor for one or more potential collaborators in a determined subject matter area; accesses one or more personal profiles maintained by one or more social network services; selects a subset of individuals described in the accessed profiles as being of potential interest to the requestor; and provides to the requestor information describing the members of the subset of individuals.

A hearing application suite includes enhancement and training for listening and hearing of prerecorded speech, extemporaneous voice communication, and non-speech sound. Enhancement includes modification of audio according to audiometric data representing subjective hearing abilities of the user, display of textual captions contemporaneously with the display of the audiovisual content, user-initiated repeating of a most recently played portion of the audiovisual content, user-controlled adjustment of the rate of playback of the audiovisual content, user-controlled dynamic range compression / expansion, and user controlled noise reduction. Training includes testing the user's ability to discern speech and / or various other qualities of audio with varying degrees of quality.

A communication device (100) includes a first communication means (140) for operating in a first operating mode; a second communication means (110, 130) for operating in a second operating mode; and an operation control manager (150) coupled between the first communication means (140) and the second communication means (110, 130). The operation control manager (150) is adapted to detect a performance impact in the second communication means (110, 130); and modify the first communication means (140) to reduce the performance impact.

An apparatus, method and computer program product for minimizing the negative effects that occur when simple locks are highly contended among processors which may or may not have identical latencies to the memory that represents a given lock, are provided. The apparatus, method and computer program product minimize these effects by converting simple locks such that they act as standard simple locks when there is no contention and act as krlocks when there is contention for a lock. In this way, the number of processors spinning on a lock is limited to a single processor, thereby reducing the number of processors that are in a wait state and not performing any useful work.

Vehicle apparatus includes a speed control for adjusting a vehicle powertrain of the vehicle in response to a speed setpoint. A grade estimator determines a road grade of a roadway where the vehicle is traveling. A traffic density estimator determines a density of traffic traveling on the roadway in the vicinity of the vehicle. An optimizer executes a selected control policy to periodically generate speed adjustments for applying to the speed setpoint to operate the vehicle powertrain at increased efficiency. The control policy is based on a value function providing an optimized solution for a cost model responsive to the determined road grade to generate an initial speed offset. The optimizer reduces the initial speed offset in proportion to the determined traffic density to generate the speed adjustments. The system minimizes negative impacts to overall traffic flow as well as any negative contribution to reduced fuel efficiency of surrounding traffic.

A spectrum analyzer for the simultaneous analysis of electromagnetic radiation delivered to it from either multiple sources or from a linear segment along a source surface, and arranged as either continuous or discrete set of points along a short piece of a straight line referred to herein as a slit. In one embodiment of the invention, the optical design of the dispersing part of the analyzer provides essentially stigmatic spots for any spectral band up to one octave wide in the spectral range of about 400 nm to about 2500 nm.

An article of clothing with an on-demand power supply for electrical devices is provided. The power supply includes stiff planar fuel cell devices that are distributed in a plane. The number of fuel cells is dependent on the power requirements for the electrical devices. The planar stiff fuel cells are flexibly interconnected in the plane by a flexible interconnecting means, which allows the fuel cells to move with respect to each other out of the plane. This further allows the power supply to be nicely integrated in an article of clothing and minimizes negative impact to a body region or to the article of clothing. The electrical and fuel connections between the fuel cells are integrated with the flexible interconnecting means. To further integrate and increase ease of operation a control system is included to control the on-demand power supply or control power levels for the electrical device.

A sprocket includes a plurality of teeth spaced about its periphery, roots located between pairs of adjacent teeth, and a cushion ring contacted by a chain engaging the sprocket teeth. The roots have root radii defined as the distance between the center of sprocket and the point along the root closest to the sprocket center in the radial direction. In some embodiments, the roots have three distinct radii. The cushioning material of the cushion ring receives the impact while engaging the chain. In some embodiments, the cushion ring has a contour substantially following the contours of the sprocket teeth geometry. In some embodiments, the cushion ring has a randomized contour to provide predetermined cushioning that varies from tooth to tooth around the sprocket.

Methods and apparatus for generating and performing digital communications using a randomized generatable interleaver. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a pseudo random interleaver of size n*m with excellent randomness and spread properties may be generated from a set of seed values. The interleaver of size N=n*m is defined by dividing the N possible address in the interleaver (0-N−1) into n subsets. The subsets are preferably generatable from a single value within the subset either using an algorithm or a memory based lookup table. The set of n seeds comprises one value selected from each subset. An improved communication system incorporating the aforementioned interleaver and using turbo codes or other concatenated coding systems is also disclosed.