A system includes a filter and a tuner formed on an integrated circuit. The filter receives an input signal comprising a first number of channels and communicates an intermediate output signal comprising a second number of channels less than the first number of channels. The tuner is coupled to the filter and receives the intermediate output signal and communicates an output signal comprising a third number of channels less than the second number of channels.

Control method and apparatus for a manual spray gun may include a second manually actuated trigger disposed on the spray gun handle, with the second trigger being operational to select or change one or more coating operation parameters.

A stopper structure includes a wall defining an opening. A rotary electronic component has a rotational shaft extending through the opening. A channel stopper has a tubular body and an engagement projection. The tubular body is detachably mounted onto the rotational shaft and is inhibited from rotating relative thereto. The engagement projection extends from an end of the tubular body in an axial direction and a radial direction with respect to the rotational shaft. A rotary operation member is detachably mounted onto the rotational shaft and the tubular body and is inhibited from rotating relative thereto. The rotary operation member has an axial hole in which at least portions of the rotational shaft and the tubular body fit. A limiting portion provided on the wall is engageable with the engagement projection for limiting a range of rotation of the rotational shaft.

A method enables changes in the operation of a web printing system in response to web dimensional changes being detected. The method includes identifying a cross-process dimensional change in a web moving through a printing system, comparing the identified cross-process dimensional change to a predetermined threshold, and changing operation of a component in the web printing system in response to the cross-process dimensional change exceeding the predetermined threshold.

An apparatus and method that operates a flattener in an ink-based printing apparatus. The printing apparatus can include a media path configured to transport media sheets. The printing apparatus can include a marking module configured to jet ink drops to generate images on the media sheets. The printing apparatus can include a flattener configured to flatten the ink jet drops of the images on the media sheets in a flattener nip. The printing apparatus can include a release agent distributer configured to distribute release agent on a first rotational flattener member. The printing apparatus can include a controller configured to control the printing apparatus to reduce an inter-copy gap distance between a first media sheet and a second media sheet to prevent a first rotational flattener member from contacting a second rotational flattener member between the first media sheet and the second media sheet.

A printing system that has a printhead assembly for printing media fed along a media path and a plurality of service modules for the printhead assembly. Each of the service modules is configured to operate in a plurality of different modes and each of the service modules are independently operable.

The inside of a housing of a printer device is cooled by the air from a ventilation port and, consequently, the temperature of solder SP on a mask surface supported by a mask holding frame inside the housing can be kept low. Moreover, provided is a mask cover for blocking the air flow from the ventilation port toward the mask, and the drying of the solder SP caused by the wind from the ventilation port is thereby inhibited as a result of the wind from the ventilation port not coming into contact with the solder SP on the mask surface. In this way, the solder SP is cooled while inhibiting the drying of the solder SP and, consequently, it is possible to appropriately inhibit the change in viscosity of the solder SP, and favorable printing can be realized.

Provided is a welding metal in which the chemical component composition thereof is appropriately controlled; an A value that is specified by a predetermined relational expression satisfies the requirement of being 3.8% to 9.0%; an X value that is specified by a predetermined relational expression satisfies the requirement of being 0.5% or greater; the area percentage of carbide particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of 0.20 μm or greater in the welding metal is 4.0% or less; and the number of carbide particles having a circle-equivalent diameter of 1.0 μm or greater is 1000 particles/mm2 or less. This welding metal, which can exhibit not only high strength but also good low-temperature toughness and good drop-weight characteristics, is useful as a material for a pressure vessel in a nuclear power plant.

A gamma prime nickel-base superalloy and components formed therefrom that exhibit improved high-temperature dwell capabilities, including creep and hold time fatigue crack growth behavior. A particular example of a component is a powder metallurgy turbine disk of a gas turbine engine. The gamma-prime nickel-base superalloy contains, by weight, 16.0 to 30.0% cobalt, 11.5 to 15.0% chromium, 4.0 to 6.0% tantalum, 2.0 to 4.0% aluminum, 1.5 to 6.0% titanium, up to 5.0% tungsten, 1.0 to 7.0% molybdenum, up to 3.5% niobium, up to 1.0% hafnium, 0.02 to 0.20% carbon, 0.01 to 0.05% boron, 0.02 to 0.10% zirconium, the balance essentially nickel and impurities, wherein the titanium:aluminum weight ratio is 0.5 to 2.0.

A gamma prime nickel-base superalloy and components formed therefrom that exhibit improved high-temperature dwell capabilities, including creep and hold time fatigue crack growth behavior. A particular example of a component is a powder metallurgy turbine disk of a gas turbine engine. The gamma-prime nickel-base superalloy contains, by weight, 18.0 to 30.0% cobalt, 11.4 to 16.0% chromium, up to 6.0% tantalum, 2.5 to 3.5% aluminum, 2.5 to 4.0% titanium, 5.5 to 7.5% molybdenum, up to 2.0% niobium, up to 2.0% hafnium, 0.04 to 0.20% carbon, 0.01 to 0.05% boron, 0.03 to 0.09% zirconium, the balance essentially nickel and impurities, wherein the titanium:aluminum weight ratio is 0.71 to 1.60.

A device includes a chemical hydride fuel pellet having a plurality of holes extending from a first end to a second end. A plurality of tubes formed of water vapor permeable and hydrogen impermeable material extend from the first end to the second end through the tubes. A container has an inlet for water vapor containing gas coupled to the first end of the tubes and an outlet coupled to the second end of the tubes. A hydrogen outlet is coupled to the fuel pellet.

A nickel-base superalloy is characterized by the following chemical composition (details in % by weight): 7.7-8.3 Cr, 5.0-5.25 Co, 2.0-2.1 Mo, 7.8-8.3 W, 5.8-6.1 Ta, 4.9-5.1 Al, 1.0-1.5 Ti, 1.0-2.0 Re, 0.11-0.15 Si, 0.1-0.7 Hf, 0-0.5 Nb, 0.02-0.17 C, 50-400 ppm B, remainder Ni and production-related impurities. The alloy is distinguished by a very high resistance to oxidation, resistance to corrosion and good creep properties at high temperatures.

An object of the present invention is to provide a Ni-based superalloy, especially for a conventional casting, having a good balance among high temperature strength, corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance, as compared to a conventional material. The Ni-based superalloy comprises Cr, Co, Al, Ti, Ta, W, Mo, Nb, C, B, and inevitable impurities, the balance being Ni, the Ni-based superalloy having a superalloy composition comprising, by mass, 13.1 to 16.0% Cr, 11.1 to 20.0% Co, 2.30 to 3.30% Al, 4.55 to 6.00% Ti, 2.50 to 3.50% Ta, 4.00 to 5.50% W, 0.10 to 1.20% Mo, 0.10 to 0.90% Nb, 0.05 to 0.20% C, and 0.005 to 0.02% B.

Systems and methods for operating an accelerator driven sub-critical core. In one embodiment, a fission power generator includes a sub-critical core and a plurality of proton beam generators. Each of the proton beam generators is configured to concurrently provide a proton beam into a different area of the sub-critical core. Each proton beam scatters neutrons within the sub-critical core. The plurality of proton beam generators provides aggregate power to the sub-critical core, via the proton beams, to scatter neutrons sufficient to initiate fission in the sub-critical core.

An aneutronic magnetron energy generator that generates microwave energy from a fusion-fission reaction that produces alpha particles in response to a proton colliding with an 11B nucleus. The magnetron energy generator includes a magnetron having an anode resonator including a central chamber and a plurality of radially disposed cavities. A cathode assembly is provided at the center of the chamber and includes a cathode electrode that generates a proton plasma. A series of electrically isolated acceleration rings extend from the cathode electrode and operate to accelerate protons from the proton plasma towards an outer target ring composed of boron eleven (11B). The accelerated protons fuse with the 11B nuclei to generate the alpha particles that then interact with crossed electric and magnetic fields between the target ring and the cavities. The alpha particles resonate with the cavities and generate a current within the resonator that is collected.

A neutron generator includes an ion source disposed in a pressurized environment containing an ionizable gas. The ion source includes a substrate with a bundle of carbon nanotubes extending therefrom. The ends of the nanotubes are spaced from a grid. Ion source voltage supply circuitry supplies a positive voltage potential between the substrate and the grid of the ion source to cause ionization of the ionizable gas and emission of ions through the grid. An ion accelerator section is disposed between the ion source and a target. The ion accelerator section accelerates ions that pass through the grid towards the target such that collisions of the ions with the target cause the target to generate and emit neutrons therefrom. The ion source, accelerator section and target are housed in a sealed tube and preferably the carbon nanotubes of the bundle are highly ordered with at least 106 carbon nanotubes per cm2 that extend in a direction substantially parallel to the central axis of the tube. The neutron generator provides gas ionization at much higher atomic to molecular ratio that the prior art, which allows for small compact size designs suitable for logging tools that are used in space-constrained downhole environments.

Aspects of the invention relate to several methods to deposit and regenerate target materials in neutron generators and similar nuclear reaction devices. In situ deposition and regeneration of a target material reduces tube degradation of the nuclear reaction device and covers impurities on the surface of the target material at the target location. Further aspects of the invention include a method of designing a target to generate neutrons at a high efficiency rate and at a selected neutron energy from a neutron energy spectrum.

In an illustrative embodiment, a pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWR) includes a pressure vessel (12, 14, 16), a nuclear reactor core (10) disposed in the pressure vessel, and a vertically oriented hollow central riser (36) disposed above the nuclear reactor core inside the pressure vessel. A once-through steam generator (OTSG) (30) disposed in the pressure vessel includes vertical tubes (32) arranged in an annular volume defined by the central riser and the pressure vessel. The OTSG further includes a fluid flow volume surrounding the vertical tubes and having a feedwater inlet (50) and a steam outlet (52). The PWR has an operating state in which feedwater injected into the fluid flow volume at the feedwater inlet is converted to steam by heat emanating from primary coolant flowing inside the tubes of the OTSG, and the steam is discharged from the fluid flow volume at the steam outlet.

A method, system and an interactive device for interaction with the electric field of touch-sensitive electronic display of a computing device is provided. The interactive device includes a housing for positioning on the top of the touch-sensitive electronic display, a first electrode determines the touch position, an energy harvester for receiving the electrical energy and transforming the received electrical energy into a DC voltage, a controller generates a serial identification number for identifying the housing through the touch-sensitive electronic display of the computer, an electronic switch transmitting the serial identification number, a second electrode forms a close electrical circuit from the electric field generated by the touch-sensitive electronic display to operate the energy harvester, the controller and the electronic switch; and a third electrode for receiving the serial identification number and the processor of the computer determines the distance and angle in between the first electrode and the third electrode.

An embodiment of an apparatus for determining the attitude angles of a weapon includes a number of accelerometers for measuring the components of the acceleration of the weapon along the axes of a first reference system integral with weapon; a number of gyroscopes configured in such a way to measure the components of the angular speed of the weapon along the axes of the reference body; and a processing unit configured to compute a number of actual attitude angles of the weapon under dynamic conditions based on the components of the angular speed; determine a number of static attitude angles of the weapon under static conditions of the weapon based on the components of the acceleration; and correct the components of angular speed according to static attitude angles and to the actual attitude angles.

An electronic device comprises a socket having a plurality of connection terminals that accommodates a card-type external device having a corner cut-out portion, a plurality of contact pads exposed on a surface of the card-type external device that are correspondingly connected to the connection terminals in response to insertion of the card-type external device into the socket. A detection unit detects erroneous insertion of the card-type external device into the socket in response to incorrect location of the cut-out portion during the erroneous insertion. A processor outputs a control signal in response to the detected erroneous insertion of the card-type external device.

An imaging reader reads targets by image capture in both handheld and hands-free modes of operation. Upon detection of the mode of operation, a controller sets the resolution and frame rate of a solid-state imaging sensor to different values in each mode to optimize target reading performance in each mode.

A reference voltage generating circuit has more than two first wells each having a first impurity concentration and more than two second wells each having a second impurity concentration different from the first impurity concentration. A first group of MOS transistors has more than two MOS transistors formed in respective ones of the first wells. A second group of MOS transistors has More than two MOS transistors formed in respective ones of the second wells.

A method for operating a brushless electric motor, the windings being energized by an inverter with the aid of six switches. A detection unit for detecting defective switches, a unit for measuring voltage at the outputs of the inverter, and a microcontroller for controlling the switch and for generating a pulse width modulated voltage supply for the windings are provided. A short-circuited switch causes a torque in the electric motor opposite the actuating direction of the electric motor. The method proposes that after detecting a short-circuited switch, the windings (U. V. W) are energized to generate a motor torque that is, on the whole, positive. An actuating period of the electric motor is divided into a plurality of sectors, wherein, in accordance with the defective switch, individual sectors are deactivated for the actuation of the windings (U, V, W), while other sectors are used to actuate the windings (V, W).

A digital phase locked loop (DPLL), a method of operating the same, and a device including the same are provided. The DPLL includes a digitally-controlled oscillator configured to change a frequency and a phase of an output oscillation signal in response to a digital control code; a main divider configured to divide the frequency of the output oscillation signal and generate a first feedback signal based on the divided frequency; and a phase-to-digital converter configured to subdivide the phase of the output oscillation signal and to generate a quantized code by converting a phase difference between a reference signal and the first feedback signal using a phase-subdivided signal resulting from the subdivision. The digital control code is generated based on the quantized code.

Two gate drivers each comprising a shift register and a demultiplexer including single conductivity type transistors are provided on left and right sides of a pixel portion. Gate lines are alternately connected to the left-side and right-side gate drivers in every M rows. The shift register includes k first unit circuits connected in cascade. The demultiplexer includes k second unit circuits to each of which a signal is input from the first unit circuit and to each of which M gate lines are connected. The second unit circuit selects one or more wirings which output an input signal from the first unit circuit among M gate lines, and outputs the signal from the first unit circuit to the selected wiring(s). Since gate signals can be output from an output of a one-stage shift register to the M gate lines, the width of the shift register can be narrowed.

Conditioning device (24) and method for drying and/or controlling the temperature of a ballast bed (12) of a railway track system (10), wherein the railway track system (10) has sleepers (14) resting on the ballast bed (12) and rails (16) resting on the sleepers, wherein the conditioning device has a bogie (30) for moving the conditioning device (24). An outlet nozzle (36) for blowing temperature-controlled air into the ballast bed (12) via at least one blowing-in region (26) positioned between two adjacent sleepers (14) is connected to the bogie (30), as is at least one cover plate (42) for essentially air-tight coverage of an upper side, pointing essentially in the direction counter to the direction of gravity, of a side strip (20), provided next to the sleepers (14) in the direction of travel, of the ballast bed (12). In a method for drying and controlling the temperature of a ballast bed (12) of a railway track system (10), an upper side of the ballast bed (12) and/or at least one sleeper (14) and at least one rail (16) are sealed in an essentially air-tight fashion outside a blowing-in region (26) before temperature-controlled air is blown into the ballast bed (12) via the blowing-in region (26).

Process for obtaining lithium carbonate directly from the mineral containing silicium, aluminum, lithium and other metal oxides without the need to dissolve previously all oxides in sulphuric acid or alkaline hydroxides at high temperatures and pressures, by using carbon dioxide and water at supercritical or near supercritical conditions acting directly on the fine powder of the mineral.

The present invention provides a catalyst for generating hydrogen containing at least one composite metal selected from the group consisting of a composite metal of platinum and nickel and a composite metal of iridium and nickel, the catalyst being used in a decomposition reaction of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of hydrazine and a hydrate thereof; and a method for generating hydrogen, including contacting the catalyst for generating hydrogen with at least one compound selected from the group consisting of hydrazine and a hydrate thereof. According to the invention, hydrogen can be efficiently generated with improved selectivity in the method for generating hydrogen that utilizes the decomposition reaction of hydrazine.

A bottom mount refrigerator is provided with refrigerator components housed in a space adjacent the top of the fresh food compartment between a false ceiling and the top wall of the compartment. The top wall includes a stepped portion formed in the liner forming the compartment. The stepped portion is positioned near the top and front of the compartment, and it includes a section that is lower than the remainder of the top wall. The stepped portion includes a rear facing face in the interior of the compartment, and the false ceiling is positioned between the rear facing face and the back wall. The ceiling extends horizontal from the rear wall before angling upward to abut the face of the stepped portion. The false ceiling may also contain apertures to provide access to the components housed between the ceiling and the top wall.

A refrigerator is provided with rotatable shelves for easy food/item access and cleaning. In one embodiment a stationary or fixed shelf includes a rotatable disk mounted on a bearing retainer having bearings therein for manual, three hundred sixty degree (360°) rotation as desired. In another embodiment a quarter-round pivotable shelf is attached to a stanchion to enable the shelf to be manually pivoted ninety degrees (90°) for withdrawing and returning the shelf to the refrigerator food storage compartment as needed.

A shelf assembly is provided for a refrigerator with a food compartment that includes a rear wall and a pair of opposed side walls. The shelf assembly includes a first and second shelf portion with first and second support surfaces. The second shelf portion is slidably moveable relative to the first shelf portion between an extended position and a retracted position. In the extended position, the second shelf portion is arranged such that the second support surface is substantially coplanar with the first support surface and the second support surface is located generally between a first support surface and a side wall of the food compartment. In the retracted position, the second planar support surface is arranged subjacent to the first planar support surface.

A highly reliable vacuum heat insulating material having excellent processability, usability and heat insulating performance and a heat insulating box using the vacuum heat insulating material are provided. A vacuum heat insulating material related to the present invention includes: a core material structured by a laminated structure of an organic fiber assembly formed by forming an organic fiber into a sheet shape and cutting an end face with a predetermined length, and having a core material opening portion formed by a through hole or a notch with cutting; a gas-barrier outer cover material containing the core material inside, having a sealing portion for sealing surrounding of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly and surrounding of the core material opening portion, and hermetically sealing an inside with almost vacuum status by sealing the sealing portion; and an outer cover material opening portion provided at the outer cover material under a status in which the sealing portion provided at the surrounding of the sheet-shaped organic fiber assembly and the surrounding of the core material opening portion is sealed, being a through hole or a notch which is smaller than the core material opening portion with a sealed amount, and a long fiber being equal to or longer than a length of the sheet is used for the organic fiber.

Disclosed is a guide plate for the lateral guidance of a rail and to a rail fastening system with such a guide plate. The guide plate has a contact area, on which the guide plate stands in the completely assembled state, and a support portion, which is associated with the counter bearing, with a support face, with which the guide plate 1 is supported, in the completely assembled state, on a counter bearing.

Automated banking machines operate to cause financial transfers responsive to data read from data bearing records. Each of the automated banking machines includes a card reader that is operative to read data from user cards corresponding to financial accounts. Transactions are authorized responsive at least in part to correspondence between card data and stored data corresponding to authorized users. Entities responsible for operating the automated banking machines may receive messages that include information or update code items for software or firmware usable in the banking machines for which they have operational responsibility.

In the case of a package (1) for single-dose films (2) containing active substances, comprising an upper packaging material element (3) and a lower packaging material element (4) which are connected together by a peripheral seal area or respectively sealing seam (5) such that a cavity (6) for holding the film (2) is formed, said cavity being enclosed on all sides, wherein the upper packaging material element (3) and the lower packaging material element (4) each have at least one cut (7, 8) in the region of the seal area or respectively, the sealing seam (5), said cuts being congruent, andat least one cut (7, 8) is crossed by a folding or bending line (10), the folding or bending line (10) is formed in a weakened manner.

A first panel includes an engaging section configured to engage with an engaged section so as to allow displacement of the engaged section according to swinging of a hood between a closed position and an open position and restrict the swinging of the hood in a state where an opening section is opened. The engaging section engages with the engaged section such that the engaged section is detachable by being displaced in a predetermined first direction. The machine main body further includes an auxiliary supporting section provided in a machine room and configured to restrict, by detachably supporting the engaged section detached from the engaging section, the swinging of the hood in a state where the opening section is opened.

A push/pull operating device includes first and second operational devices mounted to two sides of a door. The first operating device includes a first bracket having a plurality of non-circular mounting holes. Two engaging rods extend through two of the mounting holes of the first bracket, the door, and a latch device mounted in the door. Each engaging rod has a limiting portion fixedly received in one of the mounting holes. A head of each engaging rod presses against the first bracket. The second operational device includes a second bracket having a plurality of non-circular mounting holes. A bolt is extended through one of the mounting holes of the second bracket and the door and engaged with one of the engaging rods. A head of each bolt presses against the second bracket. Thus, the first and second brackets are securely fixed to the sides of the door.

A method, network device and system for remote direct memory access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) packet sequence acceleration are disclosed. The network device comprises one or more functionality components for communicating with a host system. The host system is configured for implementing a first set of functionalities of a network communication protocol, such as RoCE. The one or more functionality components are also operable to implement a second set of functionalities of the network communication protocol.

A method is provided for operating a wind turbine having an elongated stand apparatus, a generator rotatably mounted on the stand apparatus, and a rotor coupled to the generator via a rotor hub and the wind turbine also having an elongated rotor blade. A position of a radar system is determined with respect to the wind turbine and at least one area is determined for the rotational axis of the rotor as a function of the determined position which is not intended to be permanently assumed for alignment of the rotational axis of the rotor about the longitudinal axis of the stand apparatus. The wind turbine is operated with the at least one determined area not being permanently assumed for the alignment of the rotational axis of the rotor about the longitudinal axis of the stand apparatus.

A blade for use in water, the blade comprising an outer shell of fiber reinforced plastic defining a cavity. A substantial portion of the cavity is filled with a resin which adheres to the inner wall of the shell.

Provided is a small-sized propeller windmill which can efficiently generate power even when a wing speed is low, has no possibility that the windmill is broken even when a strong wind blows, can stably ensure a weathercock direction of a base blade, and can suppress an environmental burden, in such a propeller windmill, the blade having a corrugated wing shape is supported in a cantilever manner by way of an elastic body, and the blade and the elastic body are made of paper or plastic. Further, to stably ensure the weathercock. direction of the base blade, a weathercock stabilizing mechanism is arranged behind the base blade.

A wind turbine for generating electrical energy may include a wind turbine blade including a plurality of vortex generators integrally formed in the outer surface of the blade. The vortex generator includes a first component that defines a portion of the outer surface of the blade and a second component defining the shape of the vortex generator and at least partially surrounded by the first component. A method of manufacturing the wind turbine blade includes disposing a first plurality of layers of structural material over a mold main body and a removable insert member with a shaped cavity. A shaped plug is then pressed into the shaped cavity, and a second plurality of layers of structural material is disposed over the plug and the mold main body to complete manufacture of a wind turbine blade with a vortex generator.

A radio tomographic image generation device includes a reconstruction unit for generating a plurality of reconstructed images of different iteration numbers by a successive approximation process; a region segmentation unit for obtaining information about structure based on radiographic image signals, and segmenting, based on the information about structure, a region, of which the tomographic image is generated, into a plurality of segmented regions having different information about structure; and an image combining unit for generating partial tomographic images by using the reconstructed images of different iteration numbers for the individual segmented regions based on the information about structure of the individual segmented regions, and generating a tomographic image of a subject by using the generated partial tomographic images for the individual segmented regions.

In a construction having a radiation tube in an envelope filled with an insulating liquid, a radiation generating apparatus which realizes a miniaturization of the apparatus, an improvement of a withstanding voltage between the envelope and the radiation tube, and a decrease in attenuation amount of the radiation and a radiation imaging apparatus using the radiation generating apparatus are provided. The radiation generating apparatus has an envelope 12 having a first window 27 for transmitting the radiation, a radiation tube 14 enclosed in the envelope 12 and having a second window 19 for transmitting the radiation at a position in opposition to the first window 27, and an insulating liquid 13 filled between the envelope 12 and the radiation tube 14. A solid-state insulating member 28 is placed between the first window 27 and its periphery and the second window 19 and its periphery.

A method for asynchronous operation of a rotary anode of an x-ray emitter, where a torque is exerted onto the rotary anode by an electromagnetic alternating field of a stator with a first frequency is provided. The method includes increasing the first frequency to a second frequency. The second frequency is a whole number multiple of an x-ray trigger frequency. The method also includes simultaneously changing an output of the alternating field such that a rotational frequency of the rotary anode remains unchanged.

The invention relates to an X-ray device comprising an x-ray sensitive camera for creating tomograms, especially panoramic tomograms. Means for creating 3D shots of a partial volume of the mandibular arch are also provided, said 3D shots being created especially by a second image receiver for creating a 2D shot and means for taking a plurality of 2D shots from different directions and creating a 3D shot therefrom, preferably according to conebeam technology with the associated reconstruction algorithms. The x-ray sensitive camera comprises a first x-ray sensitive image receiver for creating a tomogram, and a second x-ray sensitive image receiver for creating plane shots.

A method of treating an object with radiation that includes generating volumetric image data of an area of interest of an object and emitting a therapeutic radiation beam towards the area of interest of the object in accordance with a reference plan. The method further includes evaluating the volumetric image data and at least one parameter of the therapeutic radiation beam to provide a real-time, on-line or off-line evaluation and on-line or off-line modification of the reference plan.

The subject disclosure is directed towards automated processes for generating sentence completion questions based at least in part on a language model. Using the language model, a sentence is located, and alternates for a focus word (or words) in the sentence are automatically provided. Also described is automated filtering candidate sentences to locate the sentence, filtering the alternates based upon elimination criteria, scoring sentences with the correct word and as modified the alternates, and ranking the alternates. Manual selection may be used along with the automated processes.

A computer-implemented method for enabling a child to learn to read, including maintaining a data store with information that characterizes the reading capabilities of children, receiving a stream of sensor data from one or more input devices, the sensor data representing the speech of a person speaking, the person being either an adult or a child, or a sequence of scenes, identifying a meaningful utterance or a meaningful scene from the stream of sensor data, representing the meaningful utterance or meaningful scene in written text using words and grammar appropriate to the reading level of the child, based on information stored in the data store, providing the output text to a display device for presentation to the child, and receiving user feedback.