Personal computer

About: Personal computer is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 58809 publications have been published within this topic receiving 800814 citations. The topic is also known as: PC.

Availability of nuclear decay data in electronic form, including beta spectra not previously published.

Abstract: The unabridged data used in preparing ICRP Publication 38 (1983) and a monograph of the Medical Internal Radiation Dose (MIRD) Committee (Weber et al. 1989) are now available in electronic form. The "ICRP38 collection" contains data on the energies and intensities of radiations emitted by 825 radionuclides (those in ICRP Publication 38 plus 13 from the MIRD monograph), and the "MIRD collection" contains data on 242 radionuclides. Each collection consists of a radiations data file and a beta spectra data file. The radiations data file contains the complete listing of the emitted radiations, their types, mean or unique energies, and absolute intensities for each radionuclide. The beta spectra file contains, for each beta-emitting radionuclide, the probability that a beta particle will be emitted with kinetic energies defined by a standard energy grid. Although summary information from the radiations data files has been published, neither the unabridged data nor the beta spectra have been published. These data files and a data extraction utility, which runs on a personal computer, are available from the Radiation Shielding Information Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Method and apparatus for downloading information from a controllable light source to a portable information device

Abstract: A system for transferring data from a CRT (cathode ray tube) video display monitor on a personal computer to a portable information device such as a multifunction electronic wristwatch. The CRT video display has a video signal generator providing raster scanning of the screen and a program for formatting the binary coded data into blocks of serial data bits, with start bit and stop bit. The blocks of data are supplied to the video signal generator in synchronism with raster scanning of the screen so as to provide an integral number of one or more blocks of data for each vertical frame, and modulated to vary the brightness of the screen and provide light pulses corresponding to presence or absence of binary coded transmitter pulses. The portable information device is manipulated within line of sight of the CRT screen and has a photosensor to detect light pulses when the photosensor is directed toward the screen. Signals from the photosensor are amplified and filtered to remove ambient light source flicker and extraneous spurious light signals and to convert the receiver pulses to binary coded data blocks varying between high and low logic levels at a preselected pulse repetition rate. The portable information device stores the received data for further use.

Disk drive and method of manufacturing same including a network address and server-contacting program

Abstract: A disk drive is manufactured with a stored server-contacting program and a network address. Preferably, a protected area is provided for retaining the server-contacting program and the network address in the disk drive while it travels through a distribution channel to be installed in a user's personal computer system. The disk drive has firmware installed during manufacturing to initiate execution of the server-contacting program at an appropriate time, preferably when a selected condition has been met.