An adjustable form for installing across an opening at an edge of a concrete slab includes a form member having a first form portion and a second form portion slidably connected to reach an adjustable effective length of the form member. The adjustable form further includes an extension mechanism connected between the first and second form portions and is operable to vary the effective length of the form member to fit across the opening. Tension exerted between the first and second form portions at the effective length is sufficient to keep the adjustable form in place.

In modern construction, particularly construction of large commercial or industrial structures, a common practice is to precast large concrete elements and assemble them on site. For example, precast flooring slabs are brought to a site and suspended between precast columns, wall structures, or the like. The approach enables relatively quick and robust assembly, but often a different finished surface is required or desired. In such cases, an on-site pour might be made over all or part of the tops of precast slabs once in place for the sake of drainage grading, appearance, or other purposes. Depending on building geometry, on-site pours often require the erection of temporary formwork to stop poured concrete flowing over sides of the precast slabs.
The overflow problem is frequently met in parking garage construction. Referring to FIG. 6, in a common precast parking garage 46, precast slabs 40 are used to the form the driving/parking surfaces, including ramps 48 extending between levels. The slabs 40 are supported by precast vertical structures 50. To allow light to penetrate through the interior of the garage 46, the vertical structures 50 often feature internal openings 38. When doing an on-site pour over the precast slabs 40, temporary formwork must be installed across each opening 38, requiring time and labor. A further complication is that the angle at which the slabs 40 traverse the openings 38 might not be precisely the same each time, nor might the effective length of the opening to be blocked by formwork be precisely the same. Additionally, edges of slabs 40 might not be perfectly aligned adjacent to the openings 38.
Currently, carpenters are employed to build a separate wood form for each opening 38, with each separate form being custom cut and installed to fit. While the approach works, it might not be acceptable, because apart from the time and labor required the finished appearance of edges of the pour will often be quite inconsistent from opening to opening. It is therefore desirable to address this problem in a way that can save time and labor costs and achieve a more consistent result.

Adjustable form for concrete construction


A wave gear device, wherein, when a wave generator is in a low speed rotating state, a rolling bearing state is formed by a wave bearing and the wave generator and a flexible external gear are held in a relatively rotatable state and when the wave generator is in a high speed rotating state, partition pieces and split side plate pieces forming the retainer of the web bearing are displaced to the outside to stop the rotation of balls in their axes and the revolution thereof. Accordingly, a sliding bearing state is formed by lubricating oil film formed between the wave generator and the flexible external gear and the wave generator and the flexible external gear are held in a relatively rotatable state.

A typical wave gear device comprises an annular rigid internal gear, an annular flexible external gear coaxially disposed inside the rigid internal gear, and an elliptically contoured wave generator fitted inside the flexible external gear. The flexible external gear is elliptically flexed by the wave generator, and meshes with the rigid internal gear at the two ends of the elliptical shape in the direction of the major axis. The two gears have a tooth number difference of 2n teeth (where n is a positive integer). Therefore, when the wave generator is rotated by a motor or another rotational drive source, the meshing location of the two gears moves in the circumferential direction, and a relative rotation corresponding to the tooth number difference is generated in the two gears. The rigid internal gear is usually fixed in place, and considerably reduced rotations are output from the flexible external gear.
A wave generator comprises a rotating input shaft connected to a motor or another output shaft, an elliptically contoured rigid plug coaxially mounted on the rotating input shaft, and a wave bearing mounted on the external peripheral surface of the rigid plug. The wave bearing comprises a thin flexible outer ring and inner ring, the inner ring is mounted on the elliptical external peripheral surface of the rigid plug so as to rotate in an integral fashion, and the outer ring is pressed by the rigid plug to the internal peripheral surface of the flexible external gear.
The flexible external gear rotates in a state of being elliptically flexed by the wave generator. Therefore, the frictional resistance exerted on the wave bearing during rotation increases in comparison with the case of perfectly circular rotation. In view of the above, wave bearings are usually ball bearings whose rolling friction resistance in less than that of bearings provided with rolling elements having a roller shape or another shape.
Here, problems such as the following occur when a wave generator provided with ball bearings is rotated at high speed.
(1) The rolling fatigue life of the balls is reduced because of an increase in the number of rolls performed by the ball-bearing balls per unit of time.
(2) Agitation resistance produced by a lubricant on the ball bearings increases, and the heat output increases in association with the agitation. As a result, the sliding portion of the ball bearings is insufficiently lubricated, and the life of the ball bearings is reduced.
(3) The centrifugal force exerted on the balls increases because the orbital speed of the ball-bearing balls increases. The centrifugal force exerted on the balls is particularly increased in large-sized ball-bearing balls. As a result, the rolling fatigue life of the balls is reduced because a considerable load is applied to the outer ring in particular. For this reason, the maximum rotational speed is kept low in large wave gear devices in particular.
In this manner, the life of the wave bearing and other factors impose limits in a wave gear device, making the wave gear device unsuitable for use as a speed reduction device for a gas turbine or other high-speed rotational device. Also, the wave gear device can be used as a speed-increasing device, but the limit of the maximum rotational speed is low and application as a speed-increasing device is therefore limited.


A method for transmitting a plurality of notifications in a notification pool includes determining a first notification batch having the plurality of notifications, and assigning a priority weight to each of the plurality of notifications, at least two of the priority weights being different. The method further includes inserting the first notification batch into the notification pool, and transmitting the plurality of notifications in the notification pool sequentially, based on the priority weights of the plurality of notifications. A system for transmitting a plurality of notifications is also provided.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to transmission of notifications, and more particularly, to methods and systems for transmitting a plurality of notifications in a notification pool.
2. Background
Businesses and governmental entities, including municipalities and schools, are ever more reliant on communicating through the mass transmission of notifications to their staff, citizens and family members of students to keep these constituencies apprized of important events, and sometimes of emergencies. For example, a school principal might need to inform the parent of every child that the school will be closed the next day due to some unforeseen event such as flooding, fire, or freezing conditions. Such notifications might be sent to telephones, facsimiles, pagers, electronic mail (e-mail), and/or text messages. These notifications will typically vary in their degree of importance, in the number of recipients, or in the immediacy with which they must be sent. Regardless of these varying factors, as a practical matter, each notification being transmitted is typically placed in a linear queue by the processing system sending these notifications. The processing system may then send the notifications to a provider who specializes in transmitting them. Such provider may use, for example, a first-in-first-out (FIFO) rule or last-in-first-out (LIFO) to determine the sequence of transmission.
One of the shortcomings found to exist in the system described is that if 10,000 notifications are placed into a queue that is configured for FIFO and then a subsequent batch of 100 notifications is placed into the queue, the 10,000 notifications would all have to be processed from the queue prior to the 100 notifications being processed. But some of the 100 notifications in the later batch may be extremely urgent, whereas many of the 10,000 notifications may be non-urgent. The systems of the prior art may require that all 10,000 notifications issue before any of the 100 notifications, including the urgent notifications within the 100 notifications. This is a disadvantageous outcome.
It has further been found that current mass notification systems may exacerbate problems that the system is put into operation to solve. For example, in an area where telecommunications equipment has been degraded by a cause such as a hurricane or tornado, current transmission systems may overload and flood telecommunications networks and thereby actually prevent the distribution of pertinent information. Moreover, such overloading may have the potential to block necessary agencies (Red Cross, Police, Fire, etc.) from utilizing those telecommunications channels for communicating.

Method and system for transmitting a plurality of notifications in a notification pool


Apparatus for thermal sizing elongated, tubular channels of a square cross section includes a die having plural elongated die elements and an elongated mandrel having a frame mounting plural pairs of rollers distributed along its length on all four sides. The die is inserted in the channel with its die elements disposed adjacent the channel corners. The mandrel is then inserted with its roller pairs peripherally engaging the die elements, pressing them against the channel corners. The channel, die and mandrel are then heated to a hot-forming temperature, thermally expanding the mandrel frame into pressing engagement with the die elements in lieu of the rollers to plastically reform the channel to a stable shape free of geometric irregularities.

There are numerous components of industrial and utility equipment whose dimensional and geometric characteristics are of a critical nature and therefore must be manufactured to extremely strict specifications. A notable example of one such critical component is the flow channel of a nuclear fuel assembly or bundle, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,358. These channels are elongated tubular components of square cross section, which may measure approximately 6 inches on each side and on the order of 14 feet in length. Typically, the channels are created by seam welding two U-shaped channel sections together. The preferred material is a zirconium alloy, such as Zircaloy, on the order of 125 mils thick. It is imperative that these flow channels are manufactured to the proper dimensions and be free of geometric irregularities, such as face or side bulge, out-of-square cross section, non-parallelism of sides, longitudinal bow and twist, and the like. Unfortunately, the channel creating step leaves residual geometric irregularities. Thus as a final manufacturing step, the channels must undergo thermal sizing to eliminate these irregularities.
The thermal sizing step involves inserting an elongated, close-fitting mandrel into the channel and raising the temperature of the channel to about 1100.degree. F. in an inert atmosphere. The mandrel is expanded into engagement with the channel, causing the channel to yield plastically to the specified final form. Typically, the outwardly directed mandrel forces are exerted solely on the four corners of the channel throughout their lengths. When the channel is returned to room temperature, the mandrel is withdrawn, leaving the channel in a stable form substantially free of geometric irregularities. It has been found that mandrel insertion is sometimes quite difficult due to the fact that certain irregularities produce sliding friction between the channel and the mandrel as the latter progresses into the channel passage. A particularly serious problem, however, is scoring of the interior corner surfaces inflicted during mandrel insertion, mandrel withdrawal, and/or relative movements of the mandrel and channel surfaces during the heat-up/cool down cycle due to differential thermal expansion. Such surface blemishes have been found to be a source of future corrosion in the harsh environment of a nuclear reactor core, and therefore must be avoided.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide improved hot-forming apparatus for the thermal sizing of elongated tubular channels to remove geometric irregularities therefrom.
A further object is to provide hot-forming apparatus of the above-character, wherein the forces required to insert and withdraw a hot-forming mandrel from the channel passage are significantly reduced.
Another object is proved hot-forming apparatus of the above-character wherein scoring of the channel interior surface is largely avoided.
An additional object is to provide hot-forming apparatus of the above-character, which utilizes an improved mandrel for developing the channel forming forces.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.


A target system having a plurality of flat target boards mounted on posts which are rotatably journaled on an elongated base. Each post is rotatable ninety degrees. A drive crank arm is pivoted to the base for horizontal swinging movement and is pivotally connected to an elongated drive and synchronizing bar which in turn is pivotally connected to a plurality of lever arms connected to the respective posts to swing the target boards simultaneously between full view positions easily visible to a shooter, and edge view positions not visible to the shooter. A superior degree of reliability results from optionally selectible, multiple power drives applied to the single drive crank arm. Optional, ground-supported and overhead-supported embodiments are disclosed. In the embodiments shown, two drives with completely different power sources are shown, one being fluid pressure, the other being electricity. These are in a compact, over-and-under relation. Separate release mechanisms are provided for the two power drives to prevent either drive from restricting movement of the target boards when the other drive is activated. One release mechanism is adjustable to release the electrical power drive when the target boards are swung by the fluid pressure power drive, and another release mechanism is adjustable to release the fluid pressure power drive when the target boards are swung by the electrical power drive.

This invention relates to improvements in or relating target apparatus for use on a firing range.
One such apparatus which is used for target shooting has a plurality of posts mounted at intervals along an elongated base. Each post supports a target board and is rotatably journaled on the base for horizontal swinging movement through an arc of at least ninety degrees. All the target boards are swung simultaneously between a full view working position visible to a shooter, and a ninety-degree-rotated, edge-on working position concealed from the shooter. Each target-supporting post is provided with a lever arm, the lever arms being pivotally interconnected by a drive bar driven by double-acting hydraulic or pneumatic rams which hold the targets against buffers in the face-on and edge-on positions.
An important advantage of rotating the targets by means of hydraulic or pneumatic rams is they are whisper-quiet. A disadvantage however is that air pressure is not always available at target ranges, and hydraulic oil pressure generators are even less available, and hydraulic systems often leak oil. On the other hand, electricity to operate an electric motor is readily available everywhere, even in remote country locations from lightweight, portable gasoline-powered electric generators.
The above-described target system is often used in national and international shooting matches where reliability and continuous operation are critical for comparative scoring between competing shooters. Redundant power sources, preferably two completely different kinds of power would be a distinct advantage, if the switchover from one power system to the other could be accomplished easily.

Remotely controlled target system with optionally selectible power drives such as fluid pressure and electrical power drives


A switching power supply unit providing a DC output has a DC power supply; a transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding; a main-switching element for connecting in series to the primary winding; one or more sub-switching elements for performing ON/OFF operations in synchronism with or opposite to the ON/OFF operations of the main-switching element; a sub-switching-element drive winding disposed in the transformer for generating voltage turning the sub-switching element on; a turn-off switching element for turning the sub-switching element off; and a time-constant circuit for controlling the turn-off switching element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switching power supply unit having a main-switching element and one or more sub-switching elements, which perform ON/OFF operations in synchronism with the ON/OFF operations of the main-switching element or opposite to.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in electronic equipment such as electronic calculators and communication devices, a switching power supply unit has been widely used for supplying a stabilized DC voltage from a commercial AC power supply. Such a switching power supply unit may comprise in each circuit system such a forward converter or a flyback converter, in which a main-switching element, which is connected in series to a primary winding of a transformer, is repeatedly turned on/off, and then an input voltage is intermittently applied to the transformer so as to obtain a DC output through a rectifying/smoothing circuit connected to a secondary winding. In contrast with such switching power supply units, there are provided switching power supply units, in which improvement in circuit characteristics can be achieved by adding a circuit which includes a sub-switching element performing ON/OFF operations in synchronism with or opposite to the ON/OFF operations of a main-switching element.
A description will be given of a structure of a conventional switching power supply unit having such a sub-switching element, referring to the drawings.
First, a conventional unit disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-317647 will be illustrated, referring to FIG. 26.
In this figure, numeral 50 represents a switching power supply unit, which has a partial-resonance converter circuit 51 and a drive circuit 52. Of these components, the partial-resonance converter circuit 51 comprises capacitors C51, C52, C53 and C54, diodes D51, D52 and D53, a transformer T51, a main-switching element S51 and a sub-switching element S52.
In addition, the drive circuit 52 comprises an output control circuit 53, comparators 54 and 55, an inverter 56, an isolating circuit 57, a triangle-wave oscillator 58, a light-emitting-side photocoupler Pa, a light-receiving-side photocoupler Pb, a transistor Q51, and resistors R51, R52, and R53.
In the switching power supply unit having the above-described structure, the sub-switching element S52 performs ON/OFF operations in reverse to the ON/OFF operations of the main-switching element S51.
Next, another conventional circuit disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 8-37777 will be illustrated with reference to FIG. 27.
In this figure, numeral 60 represents a switching power supply unit, in which an FET disposed on the secondary side of a transformer is used for rectification. This is referred to as the so-called synchronous rectification system. The switching power supply unit 60 comprises a transformer T61, an input capacitor C61, an FET Q61 as a main-switching element, an FET Q62 as a sub-switching element, similarly, an FET Q63 as another sub-switching element, a choke coil L61, an output capacitor C62, a light-emitting-side photocoupler PA, a light-receiving-side photocoupler PB, comparators 61, 62 and 63, a triangle-wave oscillator 64, isolating circuits 65 and 66, an inverter 67, a control circuit 68, and a control-signal output circuit 69. Of these constituent parts, the control-signal output circuit 69 comprises transistors Q64 and Q65, and resistors R61 to R65.
In the switching power supply unit 60 having the above-described structure, the FET Q62 performs ON/OFF operations in synchronism with the ON/OFF operations of the FET Q61, whereas the FET Q63 performs ON/OFF operations in reverse to the ON/OFF operations of the FET Q61.
In each of the above-described switching power supply units, however, the circuit driving the sub-switching element is formed of an IC. Additionally, since a ground level is different between the main-switching element and the sub-switching element, the installation of an IC and an isolating circuit comprising a photocoupler is necessary. As a result, the use of an IC, a pulse transformer, or the like, leads to complications in the circuit structure and increase in production cost. Furthermore, such an increase in the number of parts can be a hindrance to miniaturization and weight reduction.

Switching power supply unit having sub-switching element and time constant circuit


A method for producing an iron pigment and hydrochloric acid with reduced or substantially eliminated waste streams includes: providing an iron chloride solution, wherein the iron chloride solution includes one or both of iron (II) chloride and iron (III) chloride; neutralizing the iron chloride solution with one or both of ammonia and ammonium hydroxide to form a slurry of an iron oxide solid component and an ammonium chloride solution; separating the iron oxide solid component from the ammonium chloride solution; drying the iron oxide solid component to form an iron pigment or pigment intermediate; reacting the ammonium chloride solution with an alkaline-earth metal solid to form an alkaline-earth metal chloride solution and to evolve ammonia as a vapor, wherein at least a portion of the evolved ammonia reacts with water to form ammonium hydroxide; recycling one or both of the evolved ammonia and the formed ammonium chloride for use in connection with the neutralization step; and pyrohydrolyzing the alkaline-earth metal chloride solution to form hydrochloric acid and to regenerate the alkaline-earth metal solid. Iron pigment or pigment intermediate produced in accordance with the method may have a yellow, red, or black color.

The invention generally relates to a method for the production of yellow, red, or black iron oxide pigment or pigment intermediate in addition to hydrochloric acid.
Iron oxides have been used as coloring agents and pigments for many years. While iron oxides form naturally, chemical processes have been developed to scale up iron oxide formation for industry use.
One current iron oxide pigment manufacturing process is the Laux process. In the Laux process, nitrobenzene is reacted with metallic iron to produce a suspension of black or yellow iron oxide and aniline. The suspension is subsequently washed, concentrated, and dried. Red pigments, which cannot be obtained directly by the Laux process are produced by subsequent calcining of the Laux process iron oxide product under oxidative conditions.
In a related iron oxide pigment manufacturing process, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,908 to Braun et al., an iron salt (such as iron chloride or iron sulfate) is neutralized with a base. Following optional oxidation, the solid component is precipitated, dried, and calcined to produce the desired iron pigment. Braun et al. also describe a process for the production of iron oxide red pigments by calcination of iron oxide yellow or black pigments.
Still other manufacturing processes utilize sulfuric acid-based distillation or direct pyrohydrolysis of metal chlorides. However, it has been demonstrated that direct pyrohydrolysis of iron (II and/or III) chloride is not likely to result in consistent pigment-grade iron oxides.
In accordance with known processes, management of waste streams from chemical processes presents challenges to overcome. In many instances, waste streams must be disposed of in a safe and environmentally-friendly manner. In this regard, processes that reduce or substantially eliminate potential waste streams would offer substantial value to processors.
In other instances, waste streams can be re-utilized as reagents for other industrial processes or operations. One reagent commonly producible as a byproduct in chemical processes is hydrochloric acid. And, although hydrochloric acid is highly corrosive and must be treated with care, it also has significance as a reagent across a wide range of other chemical processes—particularly those that involve acid treatments for cleaning purposes.
Current processes for the recovery and concentration of hydrochloric acid include the pressure-swing distillation process where low grade acid is distilled in a two-column circuit operating at a different pressure to break the hydrochloric acid-water azeotrope. Simple and efficient methods of producing reagent-grade hydrochloric acid would offer improvements over existing processes.
A need exists for improvement in the field of yellow, red, or black iron oxide pigment or pigment intermediate production where byproducts of the process are recyclable or usable for an alternate purpose. Furthermore, a need exists for a simple and efficient way to produce a concentrated hydrochloric acid. These, and other needs, are addressed by one or more aspects of the invention.

Method for the production of iron oxide pigment or pigment intermediate and hydrochloric acid


Systems and methods for incrementally building tests and test frameworks may enable cost reduction and/or code sharing between teams testing various products (or features thereof) in different domains or of different product types. Test frameworks may be layered into standalone sub-framework packages that build on each other and whose object classes inherit object classes of lower layers. Sub-framework packages may provide generic utilities, domain-specific testing operations, application-specific testing operations, or operations for specific application types (e.g., web services). Test clients may plug into test frameworks at any layer to exercise features of a product under test. Tests may be built from components at multiple levels of abstraction, and may include test operations, test steps that include multiple test operations, and tests that include multiple test steps. Implementation details of products to be tested may only be visible to, and/or exercised by, the lowest-level elements of the tests (e.g., test operations).

A test framework is a system that provides utilities that enable users to build test cases on top of the test framework in order to test a target product. Typically, the test framework provides general-purpose functionality, such as logging, error checking, data generation, etc. Some test frameworks also include wrappers around a target product's features. Many custom test frameworks built by many independent engineers provide similar functionality.
Test frameworks are usually monolithic packages that provide wrappers around the functions of a specific product. In a large company, test development teams often do not share test frameworks and instead re-implement common functionality in many individual, and largely custom, test frameworks. On the other end of the spectrum, teams are sometimes forced to leverage a large, complex framework that does considerably more than they need it to do, simply because it offers them 80% of the functionality they do need. In such cases, teams may need to force fit the remaining 20% of the functionality that they need into a test framework that was not designed to provide that functionality.
Often test frameworks are built using assumptions about implementation details of the product to be tested that affect the code high up in the test architecture hierarchy. Such test frameworks typically must undergo heavy refactoring when the features, API or UI of the target product change. For example, in such test frameworks, tasks such as migrating the tests from using one network protocol or client package to another are very difficult to do.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include", "including", and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.

Highly reusable test frameworks and tests for web services


A bib and bottle holder is described that secures and orients a nursing bottle at a tilted position for a bottle nursing baby to relieve a person from having to hold the bottle while baby nurses the bottle.

1. Field of the Invention
The combined baby bib and bottle holder relates to a multi-function bib for babies, and more particularly to a baby bib with a handfree secure bottle position structure that can be optionally implemented.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A person is usually required to hold a bottle for a baby while bottle nursing. This prevents the person bottle nursing the baby from freely using one of their hands to perform other tasks simultaneously. Typically, the person needs one hand to hold the baby and the other hand to secure the position of a bottle during nursing. This can be very inconvenient for the person nursing the baby who may need to carry out other tasks while the baby is bottle nursing such as using a phone, eating, drinking or other various personal needs. It is also very tiring for the arm holding the bottle and can cause strain and discomfort in the lower back. There are needs in the market for a product that a bottle nurser can use to hold and secure the bottle position while the baby nurses when situations arise. Conventional bibs only serve as garment protectors to keep the baby dry while bottle nursing by absorbing any spilt liquid from the bottle or baby's mouth.
The combined baby bib and bottle holder of this application is a combination of a bib and a handsfree bottle holder that provides a solution to this problem by holding and supporting the bottle while the baby nurses

Combined baby bib and supporting bottle holder


A photovoltaic device includes a substrate layer having a plurality of three-dimensional structures formed therein providing a textured profile. A first electrode is formed over the substrate layer and extends over the three-dimensional structures including non-planar surfaces. The first electrode has a thickness configured to maintain the textured profile, and the first electrode includes a transparent conductive material having a dopant metal activated within the transparent conductive material. A continuous photovoltaic stack is conformally formed over the first electrode, and a second electrode is formed on the photovoltaic stack.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to photovoltaic devices, and more particularly to devices and methods for fabricating photovoltaic devices with a textured electrode having improved properties.
Description of the Related Art
Solar panels employ photovoltaic cells to generate current flow. When a photon hits silicon, the photon may be transmitted through the silicon, reflected off the surface, or absorbed by the silicon if the photon energy is higher than the silicon band gap value. This generates an electron-hole pair and sometimes heat, depending on the band structure. The greater the absorption the greater the efficiency of the cell.
Textured substrate structures have been employed to increase the absorption efficiency. However, challenges arise at several points in the process. One such problem includes the formation of electrodes. An electrode deposition occurs by performing deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) the material followed by forming a thick layer of transparent electrode material to attempt to conform the electrode material to the shape of the underlying structure. DRIE is a highly anisotropic etch process making the formation of the textured surface template for subsequently deposited electrodes highly sensitive to thickness variations.
In addition, thinner material is preferred for electrodes conformally deposited on the textured substrate (with high aspect ratio) to maintain the textured profile. However, an electrode that is too thin results in sheet resistance problems (fill factor (FF) loss) and affects the efficiency of the solar cell. Further, laterally grown electrode materials can have different properties than planar grown materials. For example, laterally grown materials (on textured surfaces) have reduced transmittance as compared with planar grown materials.

Transparent conductive electrode for three dimensional photovoltaic device

International Business Machines Corporation


A dispersion compensation design system includes a segment dividing unit to divide an optical network into segments of a linear network or a ring network, a path classifying unit to classify one of paths of the optical network, as a specific type path, the one of the paths being incapable of transmitting an optical signal and contained in a longer path having a route longer than that of the one of the paths and capable of transmitting the optical signal, a segment reconfiguration unit to reconfigure the segments so as to maximize a number of the specific type paths, a dispersion compensation amount computing unit to compute a dispersion compensation amount in any of spans of the optical network so as to minimize the number of the specific type paths within the reconfigured segment, and an update unit to update the dispersion compensation amount with the computed dispersion compensation amount.

With a recent dramatic increase in network traffic, a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology has frequently been utilized for transmitting large amounts of information. In the WDM network technology field, a network structure having a complicated topology such as an interconnection network or a mesh network may be realized by an optical add-drop multiplexer (OADM) device or an optical hub (i.e., a wavelength cross-connect (WXC) device), which may serve as a function to add or drop one or more wavelength channel branches or switch the wavelength routes to pass through optical signals without converting the optical signals into electric signals.
Further, it has been desired to transmit the optical signals without converting them into electric signals in the middle of the optical signal transmission in order to reduce cost in the optical WDM network. However, in a typical optical fiber for use in optical signal transmission, light beams travel at different speeds corresponding to their optical wavelengths. Hence, even if a transmitting terminal simultaneously transmits the light beams having different optical wavelengths, a receiving terminal receives the transmitted light beams at different times based on the different optical wavelengths. This phenomenon is called "wavelength dispersion".
The optical signal is generally modulated before signal transmission. Specifically, the modulated optical signal has a certain bandwidth of a frequency; that is, the modulated optical signal is formed of light beams having different wavelengths within the certain bandwidth. Thus, the waveform of the received light beams may be deformed due to the wavelength dispersion. If the amount of deformation is too large, information carried by the light beams (i.e., the modulated optical signal) may not be received correctly. Accordingly, it is desirable to compensate the wavelength dispersion by allowing the light beams forming the deformed waveform to be passed through a dispersion compensation module (DCM) having a wavelength dispersion property opposite to that of an optical fiber residing in a signal transmission channel when the light is received by each of the nodes. With this technique, the light beams may be capable of being transmitted in a long distance without having deformation in the waveform of the light beams.
However, the amount of the wavelength dispersion appears to increase in proportion to the signal transmission distance of light beams. Further, different types of the optical fibers seem to have different properties. Accordingly, it may be necessary to prepare different dispersion compensators for various distances or different types of the optical fibers. Inexpensive dispersion compensators are generally formed of a passive component such as the optical fiber or the like. Thus, one type of the optical fiber may include a fixed property. Thus, it may be necessary to determine, in advance, where to appropriately arrange dispersion compensators having different properties. Therefore, dispersion compensation design is to determine where to appropriately arrange the dispersion compensators having different properties.
It is preferable that the compensation amount of the wavelength dispersion of the compensator match the amount of the wavelength dispersion necessary for the optical fiber subjected to compensation. However, in view of reduction in power consumption, a passive optical component such as a dispersion compensation optical fiber may frequently be utilized as a dispersion compensator. In such a case, it may be necessary to manufacture the dispersion compensator tailored for the optical fiber subject to compensation. However, the manufacturing of the dispersion compensator tailored for different types of the optical fibers may not be desirable in terms of cost. Thus, in general, a dispersion compensation menu includes discrete values of the compensation amount set at certain intervals so as to limit the selectability of the discrete values of the compensation amount. Accordingly, even if the value closest to the necessary compensation amount for the dispersion compensator is selected from the menu, the selected value includes an error of approximately half of the interval of the compensation amount. That is, a dispersion compensation result is likely to have both excessive and insufficient compensation parts.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the dispersion compensation result, and FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the compensation amount menu for the dispersion compensator, discrete values of which are set at 100 ps/nm intervals. In FIG. 1, N1 to N6 represent nodes, and lines connecting the adjacent nodes represent an optical fiber. Note that the lines between the adjacent nodes are hereinafter called spans. In FIG. 1, notations beneath the spans indicate a wavelength dispersion amount in the optical fiber (hereinafter called a "dispersion amount"), a compensating amount of the dispersion in the optical fiber (herein after called a "dispersion compensation amount"), and a (wavelength) dispersion amount in the optical fiber after the dispersion is compensated in the order from top to bottom. Further, in parentheses, "excessive compensation" is noted if the dispersion compensation amount is greater than the dispersion amount in the optical fiber, whereas "insufficient compensation" is noted if the dispersion amount in the optical fiber is greater than the dispersion compensation amount. For example, the dispersion amount in the optical fiber between the nodes N1 and N2 is 253 ps/nm, and the dispersion compensation amount closest to 253 ps/nm is 300 ps/nm in the dispersion compensation menu illustrated in FIG. 2. As a result, 47 ps/nm of the dispersion compensation amount indicates an excessive compensation amount.
Since the compensation amount menu is composed of the discrete values set at 100 ps/nm intervals, a compensation error of ±50 ps/nm is obtained. In,the recent typical network composed of optical fibers connected in a mesh configuration, the optical fibers having the insufficient dispersion compensation amounts and the optical fibers having the excessive compensation amounts may be randomly arranged.
Next, FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a network of nodes. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the network is composed of the nodes N1 to N7, and the notations beneath the spans connecting the adjacent nodes indicate the dispersion amount in the optical fiber (illustrated at the upper part) and the dispersion compensation amount (illustrated at the lower part).
FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an allowable range of accumulated dispersion. The allowable range may vary with the distance of the optical fiber, which is expressed by approximately equal spaced intervals and is therefore represented by the number of spans. FIG. 5 illustrates accumulated dispersion in the optical fiber at the endpoint of a path from an initial node to a terminal node. For example, if the initial node is the node N1 and the terminal node is the node N2, a value obtained by subtracting the dispersion compensation amount from the dispersion amount in the span of the optical fiber between the nodes N1 and N2, which is 5 ps/nm. In this case, since the number of spans between the nodes N1 and N2 is one, the allowable range of the accumulated dispersion corresponding to the number of spans being one is in a range of 70 ps/nm to −30 ps/nm as illustrated in FIG. 4. Accordingly, the 5 ps/nm obtained above falls within the allowable range, which indicates that the path from the node N1 to the node N2 may be capable of signal transmission or transmission capable. Likewise, if the initial node is the node N1 and the terminal node is the node N7, the number of spans between the adjacent nodes N1 and N2, N2 and N3, N3 and N4, N4 and N5, N5 and N6 and N6 and N7 constituting a path is six. Accordingly, the accumulated dispersion is 32 ps/nm, and the allowable range of the accumulated dispersion is in a range of 35 ps/nm to 5 ps/nm, which indicates that the path from the node N1 to the node N7 may be transmission capable.
However, if the initial node is the node N1 and the terminal node is the node N6, the accumulated dispersion is −3 ps/nm, and the allowable range of the accumulated dispersion is in a rage of 42 ps/nm to −2 ps/nm, which indicates that the accumulated dispersion of −3 ps/nm is not within the allowable range. As a result, the path from the node N1 to the node N6 may not be transmission capable.
This indicates that despite the fact that the path from the node N1 to the node N6 is incapable of signal transmission or transmission incapable, the path from the node N1 to the node N7, which is longer than the path from the node N1 to the node N6, is transmission capable.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a typical procedure for designing an arrangement of dispersion compensators. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the arrangement of dispersion compensators is generated in step S1, and whether all the optical paths are transmission capable is determined in step S2. If all the optical paths are transmission capable ("YES" in step S2), designing of the arrangement of the dispersion compensators is completed. However, if part of the optical paths are not transmission capable ("NO" in step S2), a regenerative repeater is added in the middle of the path that is transmission incapable (step S3).
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of another typical procedure for designing an arrangement of dispersion compensators. As illustrated in FIG. 7, an arrangement of dispersion compensators is generated in step S5, and whether all the optical paths are transmission capable is determined in step S6. If all the optical paths are transmission capable ("YES" in step S6), designing of the dispersion compensator arrangement is completed. However, if part of the optical paths are not transmission capable ("NO" in step S6), a process in step S5 is repeated after a constraint condition is added (step S7). Not that constraint condition is added for preventing the dispersion compensation amount of the transmission incapable optical path from being combined.
There is disclosed a wavelength dispersion compensation design technology for an arbitrary link including a plurality of spans extracted from the optical network and a plurality of nodes having the add/drop function (e.g., WO/2005/006604). In this technology, the wavelength dispersion compensation amount of the wavelength dispersion compensation device provided for each path is set so that all the residual dispersion range of the respective paths which have reached the respective nodes are within the allowable residual dispersion range set as the transmission enabled condition for all the paths of the link.
Further, there is disclosed an optical transmission network design technology to which a wavelength multiplexing transmission system is applied (e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-135788). In this technology, initial setup of the optical transmission network is inputted, and an arrangement pattern by which wavelength multiplexing variable dispersion compensators are arranged in the optical transmission network is obtained based on the setups. The sum of fixed dispersion values is obtained when a fixed dispersion compensator is replaced with the wavelength multiplexing variable dispersion compensator, and arrangement patterns are sorted in the order of priority based on an absolute value of the sum of the obtained fixed dispersion values.
Moreover, there is disclosed a network designing technology capable of obtaining the installation of a reproducing relay device optimal for a specific network while ensuring signal quality of a path inside a network (e.g., Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-42279). In this technology, a linear network is divided into a plurality of regenerating intervals each including nodes. In the regenerating intervals, regenerators are disposed in opposing ends, and devices such as an "n" optical amplifier, an OADM and the like are disposed for each of the nodes located in the regenerating intervals. In each of the regenerating intervals, a plurality of assumed paths obtained as a result of the arrangement are then extracted and the possibility of transmission is determined for each assumed path. The transmission possibility determination is displayed and reset by a user.
Patent Document 1: WO/2005/006604
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-135788
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-42279
Non-patent Document 1: "Optimization of Discrete Systems", published May, 2000, Morikita Shuppan, Co., Ltd.
When an arrangement of devices within a network is designed, the network is divided into a linear configuration or a ring configuration. The linear or ring configuration of the network is, called a segment. In general, the arrangement of the dispersion compensators is designed based on the procedures illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 while the segments are fixed.
According to the procedure illustrated in FIG. 6, if not all the paths are transmission capable, the regenerative repeater is simply added in the middle of the path that is transmission incapable regardless of the length of the path in question in step S3. Thus, in the examples illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 5, the path from the node N1 to the node N5 is transmission capable whereas the path from the node N1 to the node N6 is transmission incapable. Thus, even if the path from the node N1 to the node N7 is transmission capable, the regenerative repeater is automatically added to the node N5 to simply divide the path into a path from the node N1 to the node N5 and a path from the node N5 to the node N6. Therefore, the cost may be increased due to an increase in the number of regenerative repeaters.
Further, in the procedure of the example illustrated in FIG. 7, a constraint condition for preventing the dispersion compensation amount of the optical path that is transmission incapable in step S7 from being combined is added. However, at this time, the optical path that is transmission incapable is not classified based on the length of the optical path (i.e., based on whether the optical path is long or short). As a result, the restriction condition is added to the optical path from the node N1 to the node N6 despite the fact that the path from the node N1 to the node N7 is transmission capable. Thus, it may not be easy to modify the arrangement of the dispersion compensators in which a long optical path is transmission capable and a short optical path is transmission incapable.
In such a design of the dispersion compensator arrangement, even if the longer optical path is transmission capable, the shorter optical path may not always be transmission capable. Thus, in the operations of the network, the transmission of the optical path is tested regardless of the length of the optical path every time the optical path is used for signal transmission despite the fact that the longer optical path in the same network is capable of transmission. Accordingly, such a task is unnecessarily burdensome and liable to cause errors in the network operations.
In the procedures illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, segments are not taken into account. Thus, there is a possibility that the shorter optical path may not be transmission capable despite the fact that the longer optical path is transmission capable in bridging portions between the segments of the network. In this case, even if the longer optical path is transmission capable, the shorter optical path also needs to be tested whether it is transmission capable every time it is used in the bridging portions between the segments of the network in the network operations. Accordingly, such an unnecessarily burdensome task, which is also liable to cause errors, may need to be performed in the network operations.

Dispersion compensation design method and dispersion compensation design system


A device for allowing an electrical worker to use a non-contact voltage detector to check for the presence or absence of voltage inside a closed electrical panel is provided. The device includes an assembly having a front side and an opposite back side, a plurality of posts extending outwardly from the back side of and configured to hold wires in a fixed position within the closed electrical panel, and a plurality of indentations in the front side which form protrusions on the back side and are positioned to allow for positioning the non-contact voltage detector proximate the wires for testing with the non-contact voltage detector.

Non-contact voltage detectors (NCVD) typically in the form of a test pen are a well-known means for determining the absence or presence of voltage. In a NCVD instead of direct contact with a circuit, changes in an electric field associated with the presence of an AC voltage are detected capacitively.
Industrial and commercial facilities typically have electrical panels providing access to line voltages. The electrical panels remain closed except when access is needed by maintenance personnel. When maintenance personnel open the electrical panels there is the risk of electrical accidents causing injury or death. Various safety measures can be taken and protocols followed to reduce the risk of electrical accidents but these measures may not always be taken and protocols followed due to the reduction in productivity associated with doing so. When these measures are taken and protocols are followed there may be a reduction in productivity.
What is needed is a way to allow for non-contact voltage detection without opening an electrical enclosure.

Pass through device for non-contact voltage detectors


The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, and a device therefor. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing lithium hydroxide, comprising: a step of dissolving lithium phosphate in an acid; a step of preparing a monovalent ion selective-type electrodialysis device disposed in the order of a cathode cell containing a cathode separator, a monovalent anion selective-type dialysis membrane for selectively permeating a monovalent anion, a monovalent cation selective-type dialysis membrane for selectively permeating a monovalent cation, and an anode cell containing an anode separator, injecting the lithium phosphate dissolved in the acid between the anode separator of the anode cell and the monovalent cation selective-type dialysis membrane, and between the cathode separator of the cathode cell and the monovalent anion selective-type dialysis membrane, respectively, and injecting water between the monovalent cation selective-type dialysis membrane and the monovalent anion selective-type dialysis membrane; a step of obtaining an aqueous lithium chloride solution, and at the same time, obtaining a phosphoric acid aqueous solution formed as a byproduct, by applying an electric current to the monovalent ion selective-type electrodialysis device; and a step of converting the obtained aqueous lithium chloride solution into an aqueous lithium hydroxide solution.

In order to economically manufacture lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate having a purity of over the certain level concentration for a commercial view, a lithium concentration is required to be appropriately concentrated enough to be carbonated while removing impurities existed in a lithium-containing solution.
However, the costs for removing impurity and concentrating lithium cover most of the whole expenses causing a problem, so it has been researched to solve the problem.
First, a chemical precipitation is generally known as a method of removing impurities of ion moiety into less than or equal to the predetermined concentration. However, it causes a problem in that the chemical reagent costs for them are excessively demanded, and furthermore, the added chemical reagent becomes another impurity so to be purified again.
Meanwhile, a technique of evaporating natural brine using solar heat to remove impurities and to concentrate lithium has been suggested as a method of concentrating lithium. However, if depending upon a natural evaporation, it spends a long time for greater than or equal to 1 year, so a huge evaporation facility (ex., artificial pond for evaporation, etc.) is required to solve the time problem. In this case, a huge facility investment cost, an operation cost, a maintenance cost, and the like for this are additionally occurred.
Accordingly, in order to economically manufacture lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate having a purity in greater than or equal to the predetermined concentration, a technique substituting the chemical precipitation and the natural evaporation is demanded, but effective alternatives have not suggested yet.

Method for manufacturing lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, and device therefor

RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY


A coated article is described. The coated article includes a stainless steel substrate, a bonding layer formed on the substrate, and a hard layer formed on the bonding layer. The bonding layer is a nickel-chromium alloy layer. The hard layer is a nickel-chromium-boron-carbon-nitrogen layer. The mass percentages of carbon and nitrogen within the hard layer are gradually increased from the area near the bonding layer to the area away from the bonding layer. A method for making the coated article is also described.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a coated article and a method for making the coated article.
2. Description of Related Art
Transition metal compounds, such carbide, nitride or carbonitride can be coated on stainless steel articles, such as device housings and glasses frames to prolong the service life of the articles due to having many good properties such as high hardness, high abrasion resistance, and good chemical durability. However, coatings made of such compounds poorly bonded to stainless steel substrates because the stainless steel substrates have a high coefficient of thermal expansion compared to most transition metal compounds that may be used to form coatings on the stainless steel substrate.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


An antenna device and an antenna switch circuit are provided. The antenna device comprises a first antenna, an antenna detection circuit, a switch control circuit, and a controller. The first antenna is configured to transmit an RF signal. The antenna detection circuit comprises an inductor configured to detect a second antenna. The switch control circuit is coupled to the antenna detection circuit and configured to generate a first control signal indicative of the presence of the second antenna upon the detection thereof. The controller is coupled to the first antenna, the antenna detection circuit and the switch control circuit, and configured to receive the first control signal and connect to the second antenna when the first control signal indicates the presence of the second antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic circuits, and in particular relates to an antenna apparatus and an antenna switch circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
As wireless communication technology advances, more and more devices are now equipped with two sets of antennas. The microprocessor in the dual-antenna device switches to a particular set of antennas during device operation. Currently, the dual-antenna devices either employ a General Proposed Input Output (GPIO) on the microprocessor dedicated for antenna switching, or utilize a special electronic or mechanical switch connector for switching to an antenna to be used. The GPIO approach fails when no spare GPIO is available on the microprocessor, whereas the special electronic or mechanical switch connector method increases manufacturing cost.

Antenna apparatus and antenna switch circuit


Methods for fabricating semiconductor devices and devices therefrom are provided. A method includes providing a substrate having a semiconducting surface with first and second layers, where the semiconducting surface has a plurality of active regions comprising first and second active regions. In the first active region, the first layer is an undoped layer and the second layer is a highly doped screening layer. The method also includes removing a part of the first layer to reduce a thickness of the substantially undoped layer for at least a portion of the first active region without a corresponding thickness reduction of the first layer in the second active region. The method additionally includes forming semiconductor devices in the plurality of active regions. In the method, the part of the first layer removed is selected based on a threshold voltage adjustment required for the substrate in the portion of the first active region.

Widespread use of mobile or low power electronics has created a need for high performance integrated circuits capable of operation at subvolt (<1 volt) levels. Many attempts have been made to develop new transistor architectures with high performance, low operating voltage, and low leakage. For example, there has been significant research regarding the use of silicon on insulator (SOI) and three dimensional fin (multigate) transistors. However, such integrated circuit designs are typically incompatible with much of the existing fabrication and design infrastructure.
Further exacerbating the problems regarding the fabrication of subvolt transistor devices is that many integrated circuit designs now call for a variety of devices to be formed therein. For example, it is not uncommon for a circuit design to include subvolt transistor devices to be concurrently formed with other devices on a same integrated circuit die, such as high power transistors and analog devices. In addition to these different devices having different requirements for performance, these devices are also typically associated with different fabrication conditions to achieve this performance. In some instances, these different fabrication conditions can conflict with each other. Accordingly, in order to ensure sufficient yield of operable devices in such cases, a compromise between the fabrication and performance of the subvolt devices and the other devices is typically required. For example, in many designs, the performance requirements are relaxed in order to allow selection of conditions that allow for the fabrication of the subvolt devices and other devices on a same substrate, conditions that are often suboptimal. As a result, even though there may be a high yield of operable devices, the performance of the subvolt device, the other devices, or both, may be degraded in such integrated circuit die.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

CMOS structures and processes based on selective thinning


The present invention employs an object information acquiring apparatus that receives an acoustic wave generated from an object, on which light is irradiated, and generates property information. The apparatus includes a housing including an aperture into which, when the acoustic wave is received, the object, which is a part of an examinee, is inserted and, when performance evaluation for the apparatus is performed, a calibration device corresponding to a type of the performance evaluation is inserted, the housing being capable of holding the examinee; a holding unit configured to hold the object; a positioning unit configured to specify an attachment position of the calibration device correspondingly to a position specifying member of the calibration device; and a detecting unit configured to detect the type of the performance evaluation performed using the inserted calibration device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquiring apparatus and a calibration device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of imaging techniques for irradiating light on an object such as a living organism from a light source such as a laser, and converting information concerning the inside of the living organism obtained on the basis of incident light into an image, photoacoustic imaging technique has been proposed. The photoacoustic imaging is a technique for irradiating pulsed light generated from the light source on the living organism, receiving an acoustic wave generated from a biological tissue that has absorbed light propagating and diffusing in the living organism, and subjecting the received acoustic wave to analysis processing to visualize information concerning the inside of the living organism, which is the object.
As the object, a living organism, specifically, a target region of diagnosis such as a breast, a finger, or a limb of a human body or an animal is assumed. A light absorber on the inside of the object relatively has a high absorption coefficient in the object. For example, when a human body is a measurement target, oxygenated or reduced hemoglobin, a blood vessel including a large quantity of the hemoglobin, or a malignant tumor including a large number of newborn blood vessels corresponds to the light absorber. Consequently, it is possible to obtain an optical characteristic distribution in the living organism, in particular, a light absorption coefficient distribution and an oxygen saturation distribution. Researches for diagnosing the object using an image of the light absorption coefficient distribution or the like have been performed.
In a medical diagnostic apparatus such as an X-ray CT apparatus, an MRI apparatus, a nuclear medicine diagnostic apparatus, an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, or a PET-CT apparatus, a biological tissue model called human body tissue stimulant material (phantom) is used in order to perform performance evaluation and calibration in a scene such as inspection of the apparatus. As a material of the phantom, a material close to characteristics of the human body tissue and a material that can be stored for a long period without causing, for example, proliferation of unwanted bacteria are demanded. The phantom is set in the medical diagnostic apparatus and scanned to collect data. Then, performance evaluation is performed from the collected data and a calibration place and a calibration amount are searched.
The phantom is manually set in an image pickup setting region when the performance evaluation or calibration of the medical diagnostic apparatus is performed. Therefore, a position and a tilt for setting the phantom are different every time. Therefore, positional deviation or the like of a captured image occurs and accuracy of a measured image cannot be guaranteed. It is also attempted to affix a mark to an image pickup region with a tape or the like and place the phantom in a fixed position as much as possible. However, since a setting person only sets the phantom according to his or her senses while visually checking the mark, it is difficult to strictly manage the setting of the phantom. Therefore, as a method of accurately setting the phantom, there is proposed a positioning method for fixing a positioning frame size using a plurality of pins in a calibration device for the phantom (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-101193).
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-101193

Object information acquiring apparatus and calibration device


A storm water collection system including a below ground basin and a grate covering the basin. The system also includes a removable water impermeable receptacle disposed within the basin and an inner housing for directing ground water passing through the grate and to the bottom of the removable receptacle. The receptacle also includes one or more generally rectangular openings in an upper portion thereof so that water that flows through the inner housing and upwardly between the walls of the inner housing and the walls of the receptacle flow out of the openings and down to the bottom of the basin.

Catch basins for receiving and discharging surface water from streets into sewers are well known and have been widely used for many years. For example, a U.S. Pat. No. 809,201 of Lutz in 1906 discloses an early catch basin to catch the sediment in surface water and prevent it from being carried into a sewer and clogging up the sewers.
A more recent development in storm water filtration systems is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,619. of Murfae et al. As disclosed therein, a filter assembly for storm water sewer is provided in an alternative run-off path between the ground to be drained and the storm water sewer so that if the filter assembly is flooded, storm water can still drain to the sewer. The filter assembly preferably comprises a metal filter basket removably housed in a basin disposed up stream from a conventional storm water-receiving basin. The basket contains dischargeable filtration media and lifting channels, which enable the basket to be removed from and inserted into a basin by the tines of a conventional waste disposal vehicle.
Another development for refuse collecting in a sewer system is disclosed in a U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,580 of Shyh. As disclosed therein, a refuse collecting frame for a drainage sewer particularly a frame placed beneath a cover of a sewer drainage opening accumulates refuse and permits easy disposal of refuse accumulated therein in order to prevent blockage of the sewer. The refuse collecting frame includes a frame body and a refuse collecting basin. The frame body is preferably a rectangular or cubic frame structure having a dimension corresponding to the opening of a sewer drain. A filtering net or a porous board with a plurality of penetrating holes is incorporated at each lateral sides and bottom of a frame. A plurality of bright angled hangers are formed at spaced positions along the upper edges of an open upper side of the frame for firmly hanging the frame on a sewer opening by positioning the right-angled hangers on a stepped portion formed along edges of the sewer opening beneath a separate cover. A hole of appropriate size is formed at the middle of a filtering net or the porous board at the bottom of the frame body for placing of the collection basin with a peripheral edge of the basin being supported about the circumference of the hole.
Notwithstanding the above, it is presently believed that there may be a commercial market for a ground water collection system in accordance with the present invention. It is believed that there will be a demand because the systems in accordance with the present invention are particularly applicable to those systems in sandy soil areas where large amounts of sandy soil often accumulate in the system together with debris typically carried by ground water into ground water disposal systems.


A method, according to one embodiment, includes forming a lubricant film on a magnetic disk having at least a magnetic recording film above a substrate, and a protective film above the magnetic recording film, and wiping the lubricant film while rotating the substrate, e.g., at about 3.0 m/s to about 3.5 m/s by pressing a pad against a wiping cloth e.g., at a loading speed of about 12 mm/min to about 36 mm/min e.g., under a pressure of about 3 gf/mm2 to about 9 gf/mm2. The pad has a convexly curved surface in contact with the wiping cloth, and the wiping cloth is disposed so as to oppose the lubricant film. The method also includes pressing a cleaning tape which includes abrasive grains against the substrate on which the protective film and lubricant film are formed while rotating the substrate to remove protrusions. Apparatuses and forming the layers are also described.

With the development of the information industry, performance requirements for magnetic disk drives have become more sophisticated and more demanding at an accelerated pace. There is a mounting need in the magnetic disk field for a magnetic recording medium capable of reduced size, higher recording densities, and greater reliability.
Typically, a magnetic disk is manufactured using, for example, a glass substrate with fine concentric lines (hereinafter referred to as a "texture") made on a mirror-polished surface thereof. The glass substrate is then introduced to a vacuum system and an underlayer, a magnetic layer, and a protective layer are formed in sequence through sputtering or some other layer formation method. The surface is then coated with a lubricant and cleaned. In order to reduce spacing between a read/write magnetic head and a magnetic disk, which is indispensable for meeting the recent trend toward higher recording densities, reduction in the surface roughness of the glass substrate is becoming more important, e.g., down to about 2 nm in terms of protrusion height (hereinafter referred to as "Rp") and about 0.4 nm or less in terms of centerline average roughness (hereinafter referred to as "Ra"). There is another need, on the other hand, for an even greater reduction in the amount of dust and dirt that hampers flying of the magnetic head or an abnormal protrusion exceeding a flying height of the magnetic head. In addition, the permissible size of minor damage (hereinafter referred to as a "scratch") causing a read/write error is becoming extremely small.
To achieve a reduction in the flying height, a cleaning method is known, in which a tape film having abrasive grains fixed on an abrasive layer (hereinafter referred to as a "cleaning tape") is pressed against the magnetic disk surface through various techniques. For example, one technique for pressing uses a rubber roller as disclosed in Japanese Patent Office (JPO) Pub. Nos. JP-B-6-52568 and JP-A-2003-136389. Another technique for pressing uses foam as disclosed in JPO Pub. No. JP-A-200′-67655. Still another technique for pressing uses a wiping member that is applied to stroke a lubricant on the magnetic disk surface to thereby eliminate irregularities on a lubricant surface to form a flat surface, which is followed by a tape burnishing process to remove protrusions and dust and dirt as disclosed in JPO Pub. No. JP-A-2-83823. A further known technique uses a cleaning tape as disclosed in JPO Pub. No. JP-A-2000-348337. The cleaning tape has a surface configuration of deep chip pockets and small-diameter abrasive grains. These arrangements are known to help minimize scratches and efficiently remove abnormal protrusions. A still further technique incorporates, as disclosed in JPO Pub. No. JP-A-2002-319127, a pressure suspension system in which a sponge material that is narrower in width than a tape which presses the tape. This results in no load being applied to burr portions on tape ends and eliminates the chance of air directly scattering contaminants across the tape surface. This inhibits occurrence of contamination and reduces the number of minor errors and scratches.
It has been found recently that, in addition to the dust and dirt or the abnormal protrusions that hamper flying the head above the magnetic disk, the lubricant applied to the magnetic disk surface, if deposited on the magnetic head, can impede low flying stability of the magnetic head.
JPO Pub. No. JP-A-2007-58935 discloses a technique, in which a liquid lubricant is applied to a protective layer and, while a magnetic recording medium is being rotated, a processing tape containing solvent therein is simultaneously pressed against an end face and an outer peripheral portion of a data surface of the magnetic recording medium using a tape pressing tool, so that the liquid lubricant can be wiped off. Film thickness of a lubricant layer on the outer peripheral portion of the magnetic recording medium is thereby held to be uniform in thickness, so that the magnetic head can fly in a stable manner.

Apparatus for cleaning magnetic disks and methods for manufacturing magnetic disks


According to a first aspect, a method is provided. The method includes obtaining an M×N array of pixel values an image; determining a weight selection value for position x,y in the M×N array; and using the weight selection value to obtain a weight value for use in a filter for filtering the image. Determining the weight selection value for position x,y (omegax,y) includes: a) retrieving a previously determined weight selection value for position x,y−1 (omegax,y−1); b) retrieving a previously determined alpha value (a) for position x,y−1; c) calculating a delta value (d); and d) calculating omegax,y=omegax,y−1−a+d. Calculating d includes: i) retrieving a first previously determined value (omega_row); i) retrieving a second previously determined value (alpha_row); and ii) calculating d=omega_row−alpha_row+abs(Ax+1,y+1−Ax+1,y+2), wherein Ax+1,y+1 is the value stored in position x+1,y+1 of the array and Ax+1,y+2 is the value stored in position x+1,y+2 of the array.

As has previously been identified, bilateral filtering of image data directly after forming the reconstructed image block can be beneficial for video compression. As described by Wennersten et al., it is possible to reach a bit rate reduction of 0.5% with maintained visual quality for a complexity increase of 3% (encode) and 0% (decode) for random access. See P. Wennersten, J. Ström, Y. Wang, K. Andersson, R. Sjöberg, J. Enhorn, "Bilateral Filtering for Video Coding", IEEE Visual Communications and Image Processing (VCIP), December 2017, downloadable from: jacobstrom.com slash publications slash Wennersten_et_al_VCIP2017 dot pdf (hereinafter referred to as "[1]"). However, it was shown in subsequent work that it is possible to increase the performance of the filter by averaging the argument used to calculate the weight over a small area of 3×3 samples. See Y. Chen, et al., "Description of SDR, HDR and 360° video coding technology proposal by Qualcomm and Technicolor—low and high complexity versions" Document JVET-J0021 version 5 available at phenix.int-evry.fr/jvet/doc_end_user/documents/10_San%20Diego/wg11/JVET-J0021-v5.zip (hereinafter referred to as "[2]"). This way, more than 0.5% bit rate reduction can be achieved.

Bilateral alpha omega: calculating LUT argument with few arithmetic operations


A joint (40) for joining a first metal sheet (10) to a second metal sheet (30) comprises a plurality of deformable projections (14) on an edge (12) of the first metal sheet (10). Each deformable projection (14) has an aperture (16) therethrough to form two sides (18,20) and a deformable head (22). The sides (18,20) have dogs (24,26). A plurality of slots (32) are provided through the second metal sheet (30). The deformable projections (14) extend through the slots (32) in the second metal sheet (30). The deformable projections (14) are deformed such that the head (22) of the deformable projection (14) expands the dogs (18,20) of the deformable projections (14) beyond the sides (34,36) of the slots (32) to prevent withdrawal of the deformable projections (14) from the slots (32) in the second ductile sheet (30).

The present invention relates to joints for sheet material and to methods of joining sheet material, and in particular to joints for sheet metal and to methods of joining sheet metal.
It is known to join sheet metal components by welding an edge of one sheet metal component to the face of an adjacent sheet metal component, or by firstly bending the end of one sheet metal component and welding the face of the bent over end of the first metal component to the face of an adjacent sheet metal component. It is known that other types of bonding may be used for example brazing, soldering or adhesive.
It is also known to join sheet metal components by firstly bending over the end of one sheet metal component and riveting the face of the bent over end of the first sheet metal component to the face of an adjacent sheet metal component. The rivets are separate fixing devices of circular cross-section inserted through circular cross-section apertures in the metal sheets. It is also known that other types of mechanical attachment may be used for example nuts and bolts.
It is further known to join sheet metal components by firstly providing one or more projections from the edge of one of the sheet metal components, providing a corresponding number of slots through the adjacent sheet metal component and passing the projections on the first metal sheet through the slots in the adjacent sheet metal component. It is known that the projections are then either bent over to abut the opposite face of the adjacent sheet metal component or the projections are twisted to prevent the projection withdrawing from the slot.
A problem with the welded, brazed or soldered joint is that these are hot joining processes which may require subsequent costly heat treatment of the sheet metal components.
A problem with the fold over projection joint or the twist projection joint is that they are not used in joints which are required to transmit or resist external loads. The fold over projection joint, or the twist projection joint, is normally used to simply maintain the relative positions of an assembly of sheet metal components. The fold over projection and twist projection have a tendency to unfold, untwist or deform such that the joint becomes loose.
The present invention seeks to provide a novel rivet type joint for sheet material.
Accordingly the present invention provides a joint for joining a first ductile sheet to a second ductile sheet comprising at least one deformable projection on an edge of the first ductile sheet, the at least one deformable projection having an aperture therethrough to define two sides, a base and a head of the deformable projection, the base interconnecting the sides of the deformable projection, the head interconnecting the sides of the deformable projection, at least one aperture extending through the second ductile sheet, the at least one deformable projection on the first sheet extending through the at least one aperture in the second sheet, the head of the deformable projection being deformed such that the head expands at least a portion of each side of the deformable projection beyond the sides of the at least one aperture to prevent withdrawal of the deformable projection from the aperture in the second ductile sheet, the base of the deformable projection extends a predetermined distance into the at least one aperture in the second ductile sheet, the deformable projection and the aperture through the deformable projection are shaped and configured such that deformation of the head fills the aperture.
Preferably each side of the deformable projection has a dog extending away from the other dog such that deformation of the head expands the dog of each side of the deformable projection beyond the sides of the aperture to prevent withdrawal of the deformable projection from the aperture in the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the head expands the remainder of each side of the deformable projection into contact with the sides of the aperture.
Preferably the undeformed head tapers away from the edge of the first sheet.
Preferably the aperture is a slot. Preferably the deformable head and the slot are rectangular in cross-section.
Preferably the deformable head and the portion of each side of the deformable projection are arranged such that they are located at, or greater than, a predetermined distance from the edge of the first ductile sheet, the predetermined distance is the thickness of the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the first ductile sheet has a plurality of deformable projections and the second ductile sheet has a plurality of apertures.
The present invention also provides a method of joining a first ductile sheet to a second ductile sheet comprising forming at least one deformable projection on an edge of the first ductile sheet, forming an aperture through the at least one deformable projection to define two sides, a base and a head of the deformable projection, the base interconnecting the sides of the deformable projection, the head interconnecting the sides of the deformable projection, forming at least one aperture extending through the second ductile sheet, inserting the at least one deformable projection on the first sheet extending through the at least one aperture in the second sheet, deforming the head of the at least one deformable projection such that the head expands at least a portion of each side of the deformable projection beyond the sides of the at least one aperture to prevent withdrawal of the deformable projection from the aperture in the second ductile sheet, forming the base of the deformable projection such that it extends a predetermined distance into the at least one aperture in the second ductile sheet, forming the deformable projection and the aperture through the deformable projection such that they are shaped and configured so that deformation of the head fills the aperture.
Preferably the method comprises forming a dog on each side of the deformable projection, each dog extending away from the other dog such that deformation of the head expands the dog of each side of the deformable projection beyond the sides of the aperture to prevent withdrawal of the deformable projection from the aperture in the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the method comprises forming the undeformed head such that it tapers away from the edge of the first sheet.
Preferably the method comprises forming a slot in the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the method comprises forming the deformable head and the slot such that they are rectangular in cross-section.
Preferably the method comprises forming the deformable head and the portion of each side of the deformable projection such that they are located at, or greater than, a predetermined distance from the edge of the first ductile sheet, the predetermined distance is the thickness of the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the method comprises forming a plurality of deformable projections on the first ductile sheet and a plurality of apertures in the second ductile sheet.
Preferably the method comprises forming the at least one deformable projection on the first ductile sheet by laser cutting.
Preferably the method comprises forming the at least one aperture in the second sheet by laser cutting.

Joint for sheet material and a method of joining sheet material


A computing system includes a memory and a processor. The processor is to generate a color scheme for a web application. The processor determines color positions of colors in a target set of colors, with the target set of colors being replaceable with colors in a source set of colors. The processor determines color contrasts between the replaced colors for at least one color position, and selects one of the color positions for inclusion within the color scheme of the web application based on a match of color contrasts associated therewith and color contrasts in the source set of colors.

Most enterprises would like their web applications to be made available with customized color schemes. The customized color schemes may reflect custom logos, for example. Customized color schemes for web applications allow for better customer experiences.
Each web application includes a number of web pages, and each web page is to be customized by hand. A style sheet for each web page is modified to reflect a particular customized color scheme. Building, configuring and testing color schemes for web applications can be a time consuming process.

Color scheme generator for web applications


A computerized method for automatically generating display content includes receiving a uniform resource locator, wherein the uniform resource locator specifies a landing resource and extracting visual information from the landing resource, wherein the visual information defines one or more images, texts, and colors displayed on the landing resource. The method further includes selecting one or more images, one or more text snippets, and one or more colors based on the visual information extracted from the landing resource, generating a layout for a content item based on one or more of the selected images or selected text snippets, and assembling the content item by applying the selected images, the selected text snippets, and the selected colors to the generated layout.

In a computerized content delivery network, content providers typically design and provide content items for delivery to a user device via one or more content slots of an electronic resource. Content items typically include display content items and textual content items. Display content items often include images, video, graphics, text, or other visual imagery. Textual content items often include a headline and a short "creative" text. It can be challenging for content providers to create effective and attractive display content items. It can also be challenging for content providers to write the creative text portion of textual content items.
Various templates and stock elements have been used to partially automate the process of creating content items. However, content items created from rigid templates and stock elements are often stale, unattractive, and not well-suited to the particular business, product, or service featured in the content item.

Systems and methods for automatically generating content layout based on selected highest scored image and selected text snippet


A method for managing flow of packets comprises inputting a plurality of flow rules of various priorities to a router having a plurality of hardware resources, the plurality of hardware resources having varying levels of capability relative to each other. A first rule, for example a rule having a lowest priority, may be selected from among the plurality of flow rules, and it may be determined whether the first rule conflicts with any lower priority rules stored in the hardware resource with a highest capability. If the first rule conflicts with a lower priority rule in the hardware resource with the highest capability, the first rule may be stored in the resource with the highest capability. If the first rule does not conflict with a lower priority rule in the hardware resource with the highest capability, the first rule may be processed to identify the hardware resource with a lowest capability that can support the first rule, and the first rule may be stored in the identified resource.

Enterprise or data center networks are often large, and run a wide variety of applications and protocols. Forwarding behaviors of packets on a router in such networks are governed by policies, generated by routing protocols, such as BGP, ISIS, OSPF, or network manager. Each policy is described as a flow rule, which comprises a flow identifier, an action, and a priority.
The flow identifier defines the set of packets the policy is applied to, and consists of a set of tuples. Each tuple corresponds to a header field (e.g. source IP, destination IP, source port, destination port and etc), and has a value and mask to support wild-card matching. For instance, a policy generated by BGP has (destination_ip, mask) as the flow identifier.
The action specifies the forwarding behaviors (e.g. egress port, destination MAC, class of service, counter action) of packets to be implemented by the router if the packet matches the flow identifier. When a packet qualifies for multiple flow rules, its forwarding behavior is dictated by the rule with highest priority.
Routers often provide multiple hardware tables for implementing flow rules, such as a Media Access Control (MAC) table, LPM, an MPLS table, and an ACL table. The hardware tables may vary in size from one router to the next. The ACL table is often a more expensive hardware resource on the router, because it can classify traffic using much wider flow identifiers (200˜300 bits in the packet header) than MAC/LPM/MPLS tables (20˜48 bits in the packet header). Additionally, because of its capabilities, the ACL table is most often used to store flow rules for forwarding packets. Accordingly, a system and method for more efficiently managing the flow of packets on a router is desired.

System and method for managing flow of packets


A client-based method, a server-based method, and a client device enable streaming of multiple video streams utilizing standardized methods while ensuring the multiple video streams share bandwidth over a single, variable connection such as a wireless connection. These methods and device enable an equitably share of bandwidth across multiple video streams sharing a same physical medium. Further, these methods and device can enable selective prioritization of any of the multiple streams.

In wireless networks, available effective bandwidth can vary from time to time depending on the channel conditions. For video over wireless networks and for good user experience, video senders need to adapt transmission bit rate based on available bandwidth. The video senders can rely on feedback from receivers to "guess" the available bandwidth. The feedback can include a RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) receiver report in Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) for User Datagram Protocol (UDP) based systems or the effective throughput as seen by the sender in case of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) based systems. Note, this feedback is on a per-stream basis, e.g. for each RTP media stream, there is a corresponding RTCP feedback channel which carries feedback about that and only that media stream. In clients (receivers) which receive more than one video stream at a time, various problems exist in conventional systems and methods. For example, since RTCP receiver reports are independent and are specific to a stream, the actions taken in response to these reports are applied only to those streams. For example, bit rate upshifts and downshifts will happen independently for each stream. The feedback intervals usually will not be aligned (though equal in duration) as each stream is an independent session and could have been established at different times. Due to the non-alignment, a spurt in losses may or may not result in all streams downshifting at the same time and some may not downshift at all. Similarly, not having any losses over a period of time may or may not result in all streams upshifting and some may not upshift at all. This unsynchronized behavior will cause some streams downshift too much and some other streams upshift too much, resulting in asymmetric profiles. From a user perspective, this would result in seeing one stream with good quality and another stream with bad quality on a same wireless connection.
Accordingly, there is a need for fairly sharing bandwidth across multiple video streams in a wireless network. Similarly, in some situations there could be a need for the client to differentiate between multiple streams in terms of quality in lossy conditions, during the session. It might want to accord higher priority to some streams compared to others.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Systems and methods for sharing bandwidth across multiple video streams


An intake device includes an air filter that filters intake air for an internal combustion engine, a filter casing housing the air filter, and an air physical quantity sensor. The filter casing includes an intake passage to allow the intake air to pass from upstream to downstream of the air filter. The filter casing has a passage wall portion that is electrically conductive and exposed to the intake passage on a downstream side of the air filter. The air physical quantity sensor has: a sensor element that detects a specific physical quantity related to the intake air on a downstream side of the air filter; and a grounding structure electrically connected to the passage wall portion for grounding the sensor element.

A self-discharge static eliminator is installed on a wall surface of an intake passage downstream of an air filter, in an intake device. When the potential becomes high due to the charge accumulation in the self-discharge static eliminator, the charge amount on the wall surface of the intake passage is reduced by the self-discharge, thereby making it possible to improve the intake efficiency.