Abstract:
A method for creating an ad-hoc network that assembles a MANET inductively with no need for any node to request any information, needing only to hear information from an ad-hoc group of at least one node, to select its uplink relay node from the group. The resulting tree-structure network efficiently communicates information upstream to a root node and to all intermediate relay nodes. Downstream communication is enabled by having nodes remember node addresses of information packets arriving from respective downstream nodes.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus for configuring process, environmental, industrial and other control systems generate and/or utilize models representing configurations of control systems and/or the systems controlled by them. Records of changes to the models or the configurations represented by them are maintained, thereby, for example, providing bases for determining current states, prior states and histories of changes. Objects in the model have characteristics, such as an object type characteristic and an area characteristic. Users can have corresponding permissions. A security mechanism apparatus controls access by users to the objects. Composite objects are defined by definition objects and are displayed in encapsulated or expanded formats. Objects can include an edit control type identifier that determines how they are presented for editing. Functionality responds to user commands by transferring characteristics of a first object depicted by the graphical user interface to a second object. Configuration-time formulas contained objects are evaluated to constants prior to downloading to the control system.
Abstract:
The present invention relates to enzymes and processes. In particular, there is described a host cell transformed or transfected with a nucleic acid encoding a plant-derived CCD enzyme.
Abstract:
Considerable progress has been made in recent years in reducing toxic exhaust emissions from diesel engines. Diesel oxidation catalysts for example are finding increasing use in reducing carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and the soluble organic fraction of particulate matter in such emissions. Recent innovations in surfactant stabilizing additives now enable ethanol to be blended with diesel fuel in clear, stable solutions. On combustion, ethanol/diesel fuels generate less toxic emissions than the base diesel, but surprisingly when used in conjunction with diesel oxidation catalysts, particulate matter especially is dramatically reduced. The effectiveness of a diesel oxidation catalyst attached to a diesel engine exhaust is unexpectedly enhanced by the presence of ethanol in the diesel fuel.
Abstract:
Methods and apparatus for configuring process, environmental, industrial and other control systems generate and/or utilize models representing configurations of control systems and/or the systems controlled by them. Records of changes to the models or the configurations represented by them are maintained, thereby, for example, providing bases for determining current states, prior states and histories of changes. Objects in the model have characteristics, such as an object type characteristic and an area characteristic. Users can have corresponding permissions. A security mechanism apparatus controls access by users to the objects. Composite objects are defined by definition objects and are displayed in encapsulated or expanded formats. Objects can include an edit control type identifier that determines how they are presented for editing. Functionality responds to user commands by transferring characteristics of a first object depicted by the graphical user interface to a second object. Configuration-time formulas contained objects are evaluated to constants prior to downloading to the control system.
Abstract:
Connection objects or other such data structures facilitate establishing and configuring connections between objects that model components in a process control system. A first set of data structures (e.g., the object connection type structures) identify valid types for component-to-component pairings and the respective roles of each component in the pairing (e.g., parent or child, source or sink). A second set of data structures (e.g., the parameter connection type structures) supply similar information for parameter-to-parameter connections. Together, these data structures can be used, for example, to validate component-to-component connections suggested by the user and to automatically configure parameter-to-parameter connections. Actual connections, both at the component or parameter level, are reflected using parameter overrides within the parameterized object model with which the connection objects are constructed.
Abstract:
A process control system is configured via manipulation of objects that model system components, e.g., sensors, blocks, control processors, historians, workstations, etc. Individual objects include parameters that characterize the underlying components and/or the behavior of the objects themselves. These parameters are derived from the “parents,” from which the objects are created. Derived characteristics need not be defined explicitly but, rather, are defined implicitly or by reference. These derived characteristics may be overridden for an individual object and, thereby, its progeny. Although objects have class-like characteristics (i.e., insofar as they are definitional in nature), they can be created at configuration time, without the need for recompilation.
Abstract:
Systems and methods for brewing beverages in accordance with the present invention can adjust a degree of infusion in a brewed beverage. One such assembly comprises a brewing chamber adapted to hold a filter having an intake duct for receiving fluid for brewing. The intake duct includes one or more vent holes located above a fill line. The brewing chamber is positioned above a carafe containing the fluid. As the carafe is heated, pressure builds, forcing the fluid up the standpipe through the intake duct and into the filter. Steam is subsequently forced through the intake duct, agitating fluid in the filter. A portion of the steam exhausts through the one or more vents to selectively reduce agitation. Once substantially all of the fluid has been urged into the brew chamber, the heat is removed, creating a partial vacuum that pulls the brewed beverage back into the carafe through an output duct.
Abstract:
A mechanism for reducing horizontal force in load measurement is presented. The mechanism includes a structure having surfaces of nonuniform radii of curvature (e.g., oblate spheroid surfaces) at both ends. The ends of the structure contact a force-sensor coupling element and a base-coupling element, forming two interfaces. Each interface includes a contact area between a convex surface and a concave surface. When a horizontal force is applied, the contact area at each interface shifts, allowing the structure to tip from the vertically aligned position that it is in when no horizontal force is applied. Compared to conventional mechanisms, the structure of the invention has a lower effective height because interfaces between oblate spheroid surfaces allow a larger angle of deflection than flat interfaces. The oblate spheroid interfaces also allow deflection to occur with less wear and tear at the interfaces compared to the flat-interfaced structures.
Abstract:
The present invention provides a portable stage riser comprising a plurality of individual stage sections at different heights. The stage sections are telescopically interconnected with one another by a track system for sliding from a collapsed to an extended position. The stage when collapsed is tipable on to its back surface which is reinforced with a dolly receiving guide for upright storage of the stage.