It is possible to improve an image quality of an ultrasonographic device and improve visibility of a tissue structure and a lesion. According to a noise amount estimated for each of at least two resolution levels and reliability of the noise amount estimation, a corrected noise amount is calculated. An intensity conversion is performed on a decomposition coefficient obtained by a multi-resolution decomposition process using the corrected noise amount. Moreover, by performing intensity conversion of the respective decomposition coefficients according to a plurality of decomposition coefficients, it is possible to generate a high-quality image. Furthermore, by switching processing parameters in accordance with the imaging condition, the image type, and the imaging object, it is possible to simultaneously realize the processing time and the image quality appropriate for the purpose.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonographic device which obtains images by transmitting and receiving ultrasounds to and from a subject, and more particularly to an ultrasonographic device provided with a function to subject the obtained image to image improvement processing by image processing and a method for improving the image quality of the ultrasonographic device.
Ultrasonographic devices are used in examining various regions within the body including the abdomen and the heart. Ultrasonographic devices, having many advantages including the absence of harm to living bodies unlike X-ray examining devices, handling ease and capability of permitting moving image observation on a real time basis, are extensively utilized. An ultrasonographic device irradiates ultrasounds from an ultrasound probe toward a subject, receives reflected waves from tissues within the subject with the ultrasound probe, and displays the received information on a monitor. By scanning multiple parts with ultrasounds focused in a specific direction, a two-dimensional image can be obtained on a real time basis. The types of ultrasound images include B mode images obtained by converting the reflectance of a tissue of a living subject into the brightness of pixel values, Doppler images having information on the moving velocity of the living body tissue, tissue elastographs having hue information according to the distortion quantity or elasticity of the living body tissue, and synthetic images obtained by synthesizing information contained in these images.
However, a two-dimensional image obtained by the ultrasonographic device contains speckle noise generated by the interference of multiple reflected waves from fine structures within the living body. Further more, as received signals obtained with the ultrasound probe are bandwidth-limited signals, high frequency components which should otherwise be obtained on the tissue boundary may fail to be sufficiently obtained, and invite blurring of edges contained in the image. These phenomena including the occurrence of speckle noise and the blurring of edges give rise to quality deterioration of the image, which would adversely affect diagnosis. In order to accurately read and image important structures of morbid regions among others, it is required to display ultrasound images reduced in speckle noise and so processed as to sharpen edges.
Techniques for reducing speckle noise include frequency compounding and spatial compounding. Frequency compounding is a technique by which multiple images are generated by irradiating ultrasounds differing in frequency toward the same region and a single image by summing and averaging those images.
As the pattern of speckle noise substantially varies with the frequency of the ultrasounds used and, on the other hand the reflected waves from the tissue boundary or elsewhere are less subject to variations with the frequency, speckle noise can be reduced by the summing and averaging. However, since the frequency is used in a divided way in frequency compounding, there is a problem that the frequency band of the image is narrowed and edges are blurred. On the other hand, spatial compounding is a technique by which multiple images are generated by irradiating the same region with ultrasounds in different directions and a single image is obtained by summing and averaging those images. According to this technique, speckle noise is reduced by utilizing the variation of the pattern of speckle noise with the irradiating direction of ultrasounds. However, as obtaining a single image takes a long time by spatial compounding, there is a problem of a drop in image displaying velocity.
On the other hand, as a method different from those referred to above, there is a noise reducing technique using image processing. The advancement of performance enhancement and cost reduction of image processors in recent years has made it relatively ease to mount on hardware complex image processing, whose practical application previously was difficult in respect of processing speed. Long established noise reducing techniques, such as the one using a smoothing filter, are known to involve problems of edge blurring and loss of vital signals, and noise removing techniques using multiple resolution analysis, typically wavelet transform and Laplacian pyramid transform, and edge sharpening techniques (for instance Patent Documents 1 through 3).
More recently, as more sophisticated multiple resolution analyzing systems, Curvelet transform (Non-Patent Document 1), Contourlet transform (Non-Patent Document 2), complex Wavelet transform (Non-Patent Document 3) and steerable pyramid transform (Non-Patent Document 4) have been proposed.
Furthermore, the application of these sophisticated multi-level resolving systems to ultrasonographic devices is also proposed in Non-Patent Document 5.
In the conventional Wavelet transform, the edge direction is divided into three, and in the Laplacian pyramid transform, the edge direction is only one, the sophisticated multi-level resolving systems allow the edge direction to be divided into four or more. In the context, the edge direction is divided into K means resolution at each resolution level and in each position into K resolution coefficients vividly reacting to a pattern having brightness variations in K types of mutually different directions. Whereas an image is expressed in resolution coefficients in three edge directions including vertical (0°), transverse (90°) and oblique (45° and 135°) in the conventional Wavelet transform, in this transform an edge in the 45° direction and another in the 135° direction cannot be distinguished from each other. In order to accomplish higher performance in image quality improvement, it is essential to use a multi-level resolving system whose edge direction is divided into at least four.
According to the image quality improving technique based on a multi-level resolution, the intensities of resolution coefficients are converted on the basis of the estimated amount of noise usually contained in each resolution coefficient. Thus, by reconstructing the image, after conserving or emphasizing the intensities of resolution coefficients estimated to contain large amounts of signal components and, conversely, reducing the intensities of resolution coefficients estimated to contain large amounts of noise components, from the resolution coefficients, an image reduced in noise and having sharpened edges can be obtained. Therefore, the estimation if the noise amount and the intensity conversion of the resolution coefficients are processing steps of vital importance.
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,777
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-116307
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-296331
Non-Patent Document 1: J. L. Starck, E. J. Candes, et al.: IEEE Trans. Image Processing 11, 6, pp. 670-684 (2002)
Non-Patent Document 2: M. N. Do, M. Vetterli: IEEE Trans. Image Processing, 14, 12, PP. 2091-2106 (2005)
Non-Patent Document 3: N. G. Kingsbury: Proceedings of European Signal Processing Conference, pp. 319-322 (1998)
Non-Patent Document 4: E. P. Simoncelli, W. T. Freeman: Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 3, PP. 444-447 (1995)
Non-Patent Document 5: E. H. O. Ng: Applied science in electrical and computer engineering, University of Waterloo (Master thesis), pp. 1-112 (2005)

Ultrasonographic device and method for improving ultrasonographic device image quality


A lightweight molded golf putter holder for attachment to a golf bag is described. The holder has a generally U-shaped clip portion and a tubular body portion integral with the clip portion. The tubular body portion has a side opening which permits the insertion of a tapered putter shaft at the smaller diameter of the shaft but not at the larger diameter end of the shaft. In this way when the putter shaft is inserted into the holder, it cannot be removed until the putter is again lifted from the holder.

In playing the game of golf it is necessary that the player have all of his clubs at hand for convenient use. Conventionally this is accomplished by carrying the clubs, shaft down, in a golf bag which is carried by the golfer over his shoulder, on a cart which is hand-pulled, or on a mechanized cart. Regardless of how carried, the one club most frequently used and used on practically every hole, the putter, is the one most difficult to locate within the bag since it is the shortest club and, accordingly, the club which rests lowermost in the bag, nestled among the other clubs.
To improve the accessibility of clubs and to overcome the frustration of locating clubs within a golf bag, golf bags have been suggested having dividers or holders for the individual clubs. Note U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,597,870; 1,599,170; 2,128,546; 2,143,644; 2,521,573; 2,595,987; 3,503,518; 4,181,167, and 4,304,278. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,100,652 discloses an anchor clip for detachably mounting to the rim of a golf club bag for holding an individual club. In all instances the clubs individually held are positioned within the golf bag with the shaft downward. Accordingly, an individual club particularly the putter is still not as readily accessible as one would like. Although U.S. Pat. No. 2,621,799 discloses U-shaped collars for attachment to a golf bag for retaining golf clubs on the outside of the bag, this collar is relatively complex and can be effectively used only in combination with a bag carried on a hand-pulled golf cart in that the clubs when positioned in the holder extend beyond the bottom of the bag and, thus, would interfere with the use of other types of bags and carts.


The invention is a system and method for identifying, assessing, and responding to vulnerabilities on a mobile communication device. Information about the mobile communication device, such as its operating system, firmware version, or software configuration, is transmitted to a server for assessment. The server accesses a data storage storing information about vulnerabilities. Based on the received information, the server may identify those vulnerabilities affecting the mobile communication device, and may transmit a notification to remediate those vulnerabilities. The server may also transmit result information about the vulnerabilities affecting the mobile communication device. The server may also store the received information about the device, so that in the event the server learns of new vulnerabilities, it may continue to assess whether the device is affected, and may accordingly notify or remediate the device. The server may provide an interface for an administrator to manage the system and respond to security issues.

Mobile communication devices or mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, smartphones, wireless-enabled personal data assistants, and the like, are becoming more popular as cellular and wireless network providers are able to expand coverage and increase bandwidth. Mobile devices have evolved beyond providing simple telephone functionality and are now highly complex multifunctional devices with capabilities rivaling those of desktop or laptop computers. In addition to voice communications, many mobile devices are capable of text messaging, e-mail communications, internet access, and the ability to run full-featured application software. Mobile devices can use these capabilities to perform online transactions such as banking, stock trading, payments, and other financial activities. Furthermore, a mobile device used by an individual, a business, or a government agency can often store confidential or private information in forms such as electronic documents, text messages, access codes, passwords, account numbers, e-mail addresses, personal communications, phone numbers, and financial information.
In turn, it is more important to protect those devices against malware, malicious attacks and other exploits. Specifically, it would be helpful to be able to identify vulnerabilities for a mobile communication device, so that the user of the mobile communication device can be alerted if his or her device suffers from any exploitable weaknesses. It is also important for an organization that relies on mobile devices to understand the state of their security and be able to respond to vulnerabilities on mobile devices in an efficient and effective manner.
Presently, current solutions for assessing the vulnerabilities of a computer on a network focus on a conventional desktop, laptop, server, or other computing devices that often enjoy more processing power and memory than a mobile communication device and generally have less restricted application environments than a mobile communication device. As such, these computing devices can often include local monitoring services that can run in the background without overly taxing valuable computing resources. In addition, conventional computing devices are often consistently tethered to a particular local network, such that devices can be remotely scanned over the local network for security weaknesses. Mobile communication devices, on the other hand, are often connected to public networks and switch between networks and network types, making remote, network-based security scans undesirable.
What is therefore needed is a way to provide similar protective services for mobile communication devices in a manner that does not overly tax resources on the mobile communication device, and that extends protective services even when the mobile communication device is not connected to a particular network or is not connected to any network.
There are many differences between mobile communication devices (e.g. operating systems, hardware capabilities, software configurations) that make it difficult to have a single system for accurately assessing the vulnerability of multiple types of devices. Additionally, many mobile communication devices are able to accept installation of various third-party software applications or "apps" that have been developed to extend the capabilities of the device. The installation of apps can alter the vulnerability state of a device, since each app may alter how and with which networks the mobile device communicates. What is therefore needed is a way to assess vulnerabilities of a mobile communication device that accounts for differences such as the operating system, the make, model, configuration, or any installed software on the mobile device. Also needed is a way for a user or administrator to view the security status of, remediate, and otherwise assess and manage the security of multiple different mobile communication devices.

System and method for identifying and assessing vulnerabilities on a mobile communications device


This disclosure relates to reducing battery usage in handheld communication devices due to operation of variable managed features, such as a location determination feature and other features that consume variable amounts of time and power. The techniques of this disclosure include dynamically managing a power budget allocated to one or more variable managed features of the handheld communication device based on power consumption over time by the variable managed features. More specifically, the techniques include, for each variable managed feature, recalculating a frequency for performing power events based on an amount of remaining power after one or more power events. The techniques also include reallocating the power budget to the one or more variable managed features based on an amount of remaining power after one or more power events of the variable managed features, a pre-determined period of time, or reaching a threshold level of power consumption jitter.

Handheld communication devices, such as mobile telephones, mobile emergency communication devices, mobile global positioning system (GPS) devices, portable computers with wireless communication cards, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable media players, or other flash memory devices with wireless communication capabilities, are typically powered by limited battery resources. Improved battery life and battery life conservation are, therefore, of paramount concern when designing handheld communication devices. The concern for battery life is offset, however, by demands for increased features and applications on handheld communication devices. Typically, performance frequency and/or duration of features of the handheld communication device are related to power consumption. Limitations on power budgets allocated to the features of the device may have an effect on the accuracy and/or quality of performance of these features.


A design method of a logic circuit, capable of shortening the design period, is achieved by this invention. A semiconductor integrated circuit has a plurality of logic blocks each of which is constituted by a first logic circuit and a second logic circuit. Such semiconductor integrated circuit is designed in at least two steps: a first design step in which designing layout and timing verification are performed for a logic circuit including signal lines between the logic blocks and the first logic circuit; and a second design step in which layout and timing verification are performed for the second logic circuit in each logic block independently.

A conventional LSI design method is typically represented by a flowchart as shown in FIG. 2. That is, RTL modeling and logic verification are performed first, and next logic synthesis, layout, and timing verification are performed to generate mask data. Then, a prototype is made and evaluated to ship samples. Problems detected in the verification and evaluation are corrected while being returned to the respective required steps. At present, high performance logic simulators and logic synthesis tools allow logic errors to be eliminated almost completely. However, as for a malfunction caused by timing variations due to parasitic resistance and capacitance generated after the layout, it is much more difficult to be eliminated as compared with errors caused only by logic structures. In general, timing verification is performed after the layout in view of parasitic resistance and capacitance, though multiple modifications of the layout are required, leading to a longer design period of time. In addition, there are errors that cannot be eliminated in the design step because of low accuracy of adjustment.

Semiconductor integrated circuit and design method thereof

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


One example of this system provides the ability to setup a two-way alert notification within an IM system. All parties can negotiate on how they set up the alert and what to do when it sets off. One of the approaches presented in this invention is to modify the basic functionality of existing alert notifications, in such a way that it allows the targeted remote user to become aware that an alert has been set to report the change in his/her availability status, and enables this remote user to respond. A popup message on the targeted user's side notifies the user of this alert event.

Instant messaging (IM) applications are one of the fastest growing modern-age communication tools. Instant messaging, previously used for entertainment purposes, is steadily propagating onto everyday lives of people and is becoming a seriously efficient form of communication for businesses. The real-time nature of this tool, and its capability of maintaining the lists of all contacts along with their availability statuses organized in categories, have made it an attractive choice to be used for internal as well as external transactions and communications of corporations. The recording of all or some of the conversation by IM is easy, its archival requires not much of memory space, and it paves the way for mounting other accessibility features such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text applications. Making use of such applications also facilitates the conversion of IM conversations to oral communications and vice versa in a customer service environment.
As noted above, Instant Messaging systems provide many user alert features for example alerts for when a contact from the buddy list becomes "Available", "Unavailable", "Goes offline", etc. Being one of the most important features of IM messaging systems, this feature has some shortcomings. For example, all of the notifications for these alerts are sent to the person setting the alerts. The targeted users, whose availability statuses are being checked by the alerting system, are not aware that such alerts are being set on their behalf. Sometimes, it would be useful to alert the user for whom the alert is set, especially if the alert is being set for "Log off" or "Goes offline." Currently, the targeted user might forget about an important IM session before leaving the IM system. This problem is solved with a two-way alert notification within the IM system.

System and method for setting two-way alert notifications in an instant messaging system

International Business Machines Corporation


A lip gloss and brush assembly includes a container, a fixed member secured in the container, a rotation member rotatably mounted in the fixed member, a brush mounted in the rotation member, and a cover mounted on the container and secured to the rotation member. Thus, the rotation member is rotated by the cover to open or close flow of the lip gloss contained in the inside of the container, so that the lip gloss and brush assembly is operated easily and conveniently. In addition, the flow of the lip gloss is controlled by rotation of the cover, so that the lip gloss is allowed to flow smoothly and constantly without being choked, thereby enhancing the working condition of the lip gloss and brush assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lip gloss and brush assembly and, more particularly, to a lip gloss and brush assembly containing the lip gloss and lip brush.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional lip gloss and brush assembly in accordance with the prior art shown in FIGS. 6-8 comprises a container 10, a fixed sleeve 11, a movable sleeve 12, a brush 14, a retaining cap 15, and a cover 16. The container 10 is a soft compressible body and contains a lip gloss therein. The container 10 has an end portion formed with an outlet 101 having an outer thread. The. fixed sleeve 11 is secured in the outlet 101 of the container 10 and has an inside formed with a mounting recess 114 and a peripheral wall formed with an inlet 113 connected to the mounting recess 114 and an inside of the container 10. The fixed sleeve 11 has two ends each formed with a locking flange 111 locked on the outlet 101 of the container 10 to secure the fixed sleeve 11 to the outlet 101 of the container 10. The mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11 has a top formed with a limit flange 115. The movable sleeve 12 is movably mounted in the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11 and has an inside formed with a receiving recess 123 connected to the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11. The movable sleeve 12 has a mediate portion formed with a limit flange 121 that is movable to abut the limit flange 115 of the fixed sleeve 11 and has an upper end formed with a mounting portion 124 having an annular stop flange 122 protruded from the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11. A spring 13 is mounted on the movable sleeve 12 and biased between the limit flange 121 of the movable sleeve 12 and the bottom wall of the fixed sleeve 11 to push the movable sleeve 12 upward. The brush 14 is mounted in the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12. The retaining cap 15 is mounted on the mounting portion 124 of the movable sleeve 12 and rested on the stop flange 122 of the movable sleeve 12 to retain the brush 14 in the movable sleeve 12. The cover 16 is mounted on the outlet 101 of the container 10 to cover the brush 14 and has an inner wall formed with a press edge 161 rested on the stop flange 122 of the movable sleeve 12.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, after the cover 16 is removed from the outlet 101 of the container 10, the spring 13 pushes the movable sleeve 12 upward to connect the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12 to the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11. Thus, when the container 10 is compressed by a user, the lip gloss contained in the inside of the container 10 is compressed to flow through the inlet 113 and the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11 into the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12 to be absorbed by the brush 14 for use with the user.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, after the cover 16 is mounted on the outlet 101 of the container 10, the press edge 161 of the cover 16 is rested on the stop flange 122 of the movable sleeve 12 to compress the spring 13 and to press the movable sleeve 12 downward to interrupt the connection between the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12 and the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11 to prevent the lip gloss contained in the inside of the container 10 from entering the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12.
However, the spring 13 is immersed in the lip gloss, so that the spring 13 is easily worn out during a long-term utilization. Thus, the movable sleeve 12 cannot be pushed upward easily to connect the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12 to the mounting recess 114 of the fixed sleeve 11, so that the lip gloss cannot enter the receiving recess 123 of the movable sleeve 12 easily, thereby choking the lip gloss, and thereby failing the lip gloss and brush assembly.


An apparatus for automatically controlling an artificial respirator includes sensors for receiving the exhaust gas from a patient and providing data signals corresponding to the concentration of the carbon dioxide and oxygen in the gas. The data signals are provided to a microcomputer which, together with data representing at least the patient's lung elastance factor, air viscosity factor in the lungs and barometric pressure, and when the patient is in exercise, metabolic rate ratio, determines the total ventilation and frequency for the patient's next breath and provides data output signals corresponding thereto. The data output signals from the microcomputer are provided, in analog form, to a signal generator and timing control circuit. This circuit provides output pulses which control the respirator and control valves between the respirator and the sensors.

Patients who have undergone surgery or who have certain respiratory diseases or paralysis often have problems breathing properly and therefore must be provided with artificial respiration. The respirator used must be capable of being adjusted to provide the required amount of oxygen at an optimum frequency. The volume and frequency required not only varies with different patients, but can also vary within a single patient as the condition of the patient varies. In prior art respirators, changes must be made manually. This requires almost constant attention to the patient by a doctor or nurse, and the amount of change, when required, is effected by trial and error.
Attempts to provide automatic control of a respirator based on the condition of the patient have been described. One prior art system that has been described uses the concentration of carbon dioxide in the exhaust of the patient to control the operation of the respirator by switching the respirator on or off. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,190 to L. Caillot et al., issued Aug. 27, 1985, entitled "Process and Device for Controlling Artificial Respiration". See also, Y. Mitamura et al., "A dual control system for assisting respiration", MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. 13, No. 6, pages 846-854. Other systems which have been described use both the concentration of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the exhaust, but these are used to control outputs of gas mixers, not outputs of an artificial respirator. See, e.g., M. H. Giard et al., "An Algorithm for Automatic Control of O.sub.2 and CO.sub.2 in Artificial Ventilation", IEEE TRANSACTION ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING, Vol. BME-32, No. 9, September 1985, pages 658-667, and C. Yu et al., "Improvement in Arterial Oxygen Control Using Multiple-Model Adaptive Control Procedures", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING Vol. BME-34, No. 8, August 1987, pages 567-574. However, all of these systems have problems in that they either do not take into consideration all of the relevant physical conditions of the patient or the techniques employed are directed toward controlling the output of the breathing gas supply rather than the artificial respirator.

Method and apparatus for controlling an artificial respirator


A method and apparatus for modifying an article of clothing employs a button or disk and an oval shaped or elongated receiver or collar. A shirt, blouse, dress or other article of clothing can be modified at any selected location(s) by placing the disk or button behind a portion of the fabric of the article of clothing, encapsulating or twisting the button or disk so that it is covered with the fabric, then pushing the fabric covered button or disk through a second layer or section of the article of clothing. The disk or button with both sections of fabric are then passed through a central elongated opening of the collar or receiver. The collar or receiver then retains the button and the portions of the article of clothing in a position that produces a gathering of fabric, thus modifying the design or look of the garment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to articles of clothing. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for modifying a garment or an article of clothing wherein a shirt, blouse, dress or other article of clothing can be modified at any selected location of the garment or article of clothing by placing a disk or button behind the fabric of the article of clothing, encapsulating or twisting the button or disk, then pushing the button or disk with the layer of fabric through a second layer of clothing for the same article and then a central elongated opening of a collar or receiver. The collar or receiver then retains the button and the article of clothing in a position that produces a gathering of fabric to a viewer.
2. General Background of the Invention
Clasps, fasteners, clips have been used to engage, grip or attach to fabric. The following table lists examples of such patented constructions.
TABLEPat. No.TitleDate of Patent1,828,041GARTER CONSTRUCTIONOct. 20, 19312,302,341CLASPNov. 17, 19422,983,009COVERED BUTTONMay 9, 19613,879,808REMOVABLE GARMENT BUTTONApr. 29, 19753,908,236TUFTING BUTTONSep. 30, 19754,167,053FABRIC-COVERED BUTTON AND THE Sep. 11, 1979METHOD FOR FABRICATING SAME4,175,305CLIP FOR GRIPPING FABRIC ORNov. 27, 1979THE LIKE4,198,733FABRIC COVERED BUTTONApr. 22, 19804,308,647CLIP FOR GRIPPING FABRIC ORJan. 5, 1982THE LAKE4,387,488FABRIC-COVERED BUTTONJun. 14, 19834,654,934COVERED BUTTONApr. 7, 1987

Method and apparatus for modifying an article of clothing


A Sagnac interferometer can include a beamsplitter arranged to receive an input beam of light of a design wavelength, to split the input beam of light into first and second beams that counter propagate around an optical path, and to recombine the first and second beams into an output beam of light. The optical path can include at least one diffraction grating that is arranged to satisfy an effective Littrow geometry.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention generally relate to the field of spectrometers, and more specifically to Sagnac interferometer spectrometers.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a Sagnac interferometer, an input light is split into two beams that follow, for example, a ring trajectory in opposite directions. The input light can be split using, for example, a beamsplitter. The two beams, commonly called clockwise and counterclockwise beams or transmitted and reflected beams, can be made to have slight propagation variations. The transmitted and reflected beams can then be recombined by the beamsplitter, at which point such propagation variations can be manifested in effects such as interference patterns. Information about the propagation variations can be measured by, for example, analyzing the interference pattern created by the recombined beams.
In a Sagnac interference spectrometer, one or more diffraction gratings can be included in the optical path of the counter-propagating beams. Dispersion in the grating(s) alters the propagation direction of the two beams, shifting one with respect to the other. The shift in the beams is manifested by a variation in the resultant interference pattern. This interference pattern can be processed to determine the spectral characteristics of the counter-propagating beams. For example, a Fourier transform of the interference pattern yields the wavelength spectra of the beams.

Sagnac fourier transform spectrometer having improved resolution


Herein disclosed is a method for producing liquid hydrocarbon product, the method comprising disintegrating a hydrocarbon source; pretreating the disintegrated hydrocarbon source; solubilizing the disintegrated hydrocarbon source to form a slurry comprising a reactant molecule of the hydrocarbon source; admixing a biochemical liquor into the slurry, wherein the biochemical liquor comprises at least one conversion enzyme configured to facilitate bond selective photo-fragmentation of said reactant molecule of the hydrocarbon source, to form liquid hydrocarbons via enzyme assisted bond selective photo-fragmentation, wherein said conversion enzyme comprises reactive sites configured to restrict said reactant molecule such that photo-fragmentation favorably targets a preselected internal bond of said reactant molecule; separating the liquid hydrocarbons from the slurry, wherein contaminants remain in the slurry; and enriching the liquid hydrocarbons to form a liquid hydrocarbon product. Various aspects of such method/process are also discussed.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to producing liquid fuels, specifically to in-situ or ex-situ coal to liquid conversion.
Background of the Invention
Coals can also be converted into liquid fuels like gasoline or diesel by several different processes. In a developing commercial process, the coal converted into a gas first, and then into a liquid, by using the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process. In the FT process, an indirect route, coal is first gasified to make syngas, a purified mixture of CO and H2 gas. Next, FT catalysts are used to convert the syngas into light hydrocarbons, like ethane, which are further processed into refinable liquid fuels. In addition to creating the fuels, syngas can also be converted into methanol, which can be used as a fuel, or a fuel additive.
Alternatively, the coal may be converted directly to liquid fuels via hydrogenation processes. For example, the Bergius process, in which coal is liquefied by mixing it with hydrogen gas and heating the system. Several other direct liquefaction processes have been developed, such as the Solvent Refined Coal (SRC) processes, which has spawned several pilot plant facilities. Additionally, dried, pulverized coal mixed with roughly 1 wt % molybdenum catalysts may be hydrogenated by use of high temperature and pressure synthesis gas produced. However, the syngas must be produces in a separate gasifier.
However, these coal to liquid fuel processes involve the mining of the coal from the ground. As is well documented, coal mining is a hazardous process, and many mines are forced into closure prior to the removal of all useable products. Further, those mines that are operated safely leave behind large columns of coal to support the ceiling and coal residues in the mine walls. These sources of coal represent a significant amount of energy that is left abandoned by mining operations. Further, these untouched resources may be converted to liquid fuels for transportation purposes. As such, there is a need in the industry for the removal of abandoned, low quality, or residual coal from mining operations, for use in the coal to liquid production.


The present invention relates to an electronic device comprising a dielectric material, which dielectric material comprises a copolymer comprising styrene and maleimic acid and derivatives thereof as structural units, a process for the preparation of the electronic device and to the use of the copolymer as dielectric material, especially as dielectric layer in printed electronic devices such as capacitors and organic field-effect transistors.

Transistors, and in particular organic field effect transistors (OFETs), are used e.g. as components for printed electronic devices such as organic light emitting display, e-paper, liquid crystal display and radiofrequency identification tags. An OFET comprises a semiconducting layer comprising an organic semiconducting material, a dielectric layer comprising a dielectric material, a gate electrode and source/drain electrodes.
Especially desirable are OFETs wherein the dielectric material can be applied by solution processing techniques. Solution processing techniques are convenient from the point of processability, and can also be applied to plastic substrates. Thus, organic dielectric materials, which are compatible with solution processing techniques, such as spin coating, allow the production of low cost organic field effect transistors on flexible substrates.
EP 1 1 459 392 A discloses a process of manufacturing an organic field effect device comprising depositing an organic semiconductor layer from a solution, followed by depositing from a solution a layer of low permittivity insulating (i.e. dielectric) material forming at least a part of a gate insulator. The organic field effect device may further comprise a high permittivity insulating layer deposited on the other side of the low permittivity insulating layer. According to EP 1 1 459 392 A, the organic semiconductor layer may be a homopolymer or copolymer comprising the typical structural units arylamine, fluorene and thiophene. The semiconductor layer is coated on a substrate from an aromatic or chloroaromatic solvent such as toluene. The low permittivity insulating material of EP-A1 1 459 392 which may be based on polystyrene is preferably a fluoropolymer which is deposited on the organic semiconductor layer from a fluorosolvent which does not dissolve the semiconductors typically used in OFETs. The high permittivity insulating material may be also based on a fluoropolymer and is preferably deposited from a fluorosolvent.
WO 2012/059386 discloses a process for the preparation of a transistor on a substrate, the transistor comprising an insulating layer comprising a polyimide, wherein the polyimide is obtained by forming on the substrate a layer comprising a photocurable polyimide and further polymerizing the polyimide by irradiating with light of a wavelength of at most 360 nm. The photocurable polyimide is obtainable by reacting a dianhydride carrying at least one photosensitive group with a diamine carrying at least one crosslinkable group. The dianhydride carrying at least one photosensitive group may be a benzophenone derivative carrying two functionalities —C(O)—O—C(O)—. The diamine carrying at least one crosslinkable group may be an organic compound carrying two amino functionalities and at least one aromatic ring having attached thereto at least a CH2 or a CH3 group or at least on carbon-carbon double bond. For subsequent application to a substrate, a semiconductor layer is applied from an organic solvent such as toluene, and the insulating layer is applied from an organic solvent such as N-methyl-pyrrolidone, cyclopentanone, methyl ethyl ketone or ethyl acetate.

Soluble cyclic imides containing polymers as dielectrics in organic electronic applications


Seals for filter elements having filter packs with seals around the periphery thereof adjacent to one of the faces are produced by injection molding the seal onto the filter pack using a cell-less thermoplastic material. Preferably, the thermoplastic material is comprised of thermoplastic particles embedded in ethylene-propyleneterpolymer (EPDM). The resulting seal has a contact portion which bends rather than compresses upon a lid of a housing containing the filter element closing.

Filter elements include seals for isolating the clean and dirty sides of the filter element from one another so that a fluid such as a gas or liquid does not bypass filter media comprising the filter element. The current practice if to use a casting process to fix foamed urethane seals to the filter media. Generally, this is done by injecting a two part liquid such as a polyall and isocynate mixture into a mold, which mixture under heat foams create the urethane seals with filter media packs encased in the mold with the liquid seal. The foamed urethane seals are designed to withstand sustained temperatures of about 200° F. and will tolerate up to about 275° F. for brief periods. Sustained temperatures at the 275° F. level can cause the seals to become thermoplastic and degrade by reshaping themselves. This is because the cells of the foamed urethane tend to collapse resulting in the seal becoming a less compressible solid and thus loosing its flexibility. This collapse can reduce the volume of the urethane by 200-300% and thus reduce the effectiveness of initially foamed urethane as a seal. Moreover, urethane seals tend to bond with filter element housings made from NYLON® so that it can become difficult to remove filter elements having foam urethane seals from these housings during periodic maintenance.

Filter elements having injection molded thermoplastic seals and methods of making same


A finger ring made of two arcute segments hinged together at one end of the segments are adapted to be locked with a clasp at the other end. The clasp is hingedly mounted on one segment and adapted to hook onto a transversal rod fixed on the other segement. A circumferential leaf spring fixed on the one segment adjacent the clasp, resiliently maintains the clasp in a position projecting at the free end of the one segment. Another similar leaf spring is positioned at the hinged end of the segements for resiliently maintaining the latter in a substantially circular relationship and firms up the action to snap open and snap shut the segments.

Conventional rings having a unisegmental band are often difficult to slide on the finger of the wearer. This problem is aggravated when the user has large knuckles with the result that these type of rings are often worn loose. Loosely worn rings slip around on the finger and can be accidentally lost.
To circumvent this type of problem, various structures having segmentated bands have been proposed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,771,753 and 590,817 disclose rings having segmented bands linked by a latch.
However, many types of latches used are detremental to the esthetical appearance of the ring which is crucial in the fine jewelry business.
U.S. Pat. 2,971,354 is another example of a ring having segmented bands. The type of locking device disclosed in this patent is not however safe and could inadvertently open up.
U.S. Pat. 3,566,616 is an example of yet another ring having a separable connection in its band.
However, this locking component requires a special pointed tool for its operation.

Openable ring with safety snap lock element


A counterpulsation device that operates without the use of compressed air or pressurized gas includes at least one inflatable cuff that is adapted to be placed about a selected portion of the patient""s body. A conduit connects the inflatable cuff to an air transfer device so that noncompressed air can be transferred from the air transfer device to the cuff through the conduit to inflate the cuff. The conduit also connects the cuff to the air transfer device so that air can flow through the conduit to deflate the cuff. Another conduit is coupled to the first so that the air in the system can be selectively vented into the atmosphere. A series of valves are placed on the conduit to selectively control whether air is supplied to or withdrawn from the inflatable cuff. The air moving device preferably is a cylinder having a piston that moves through the cylinder to move the air from within the cylinder through the conduit and into or out of the cuff as desired. The piston moves through the cylinder through the use of a linear servo actuator that is controlled by an appropriately programmed electronic controller so that the inflation of the cuff is timed with portions of the patient""s EKG signal and peripheral plethysmographic wave.

This invention generally relates to a counterpulsation device and more particularly to a counterpulsation device that operates without the use of compressed air.
Various counterpulsation devices are known and used in the medical field. Counterpulsation devices typically include inflatable cuffs that are placed about selected portions of a patient""s body. The inflatable cuffs are typically placed about the calves, thighs and buttocks of a patient. The cuffs are inflated sequentially in a distal to proximal order during diastole. The inflation of the cuffs is timed to provide a second, pressurized pulse of blood flow to all organs above the buttocks cuff when the heart is normally resting between beats. The extra pulse of blood flow has been demonstrated to relieve angina pectoris, to raise cardiac output thereby improving the perfusion of organ beds and to enhance renal, cardiac and cerebral circulation.
In typical arrangements a compressed air source is used to inflate the cuffs and a vacuum pump is used to evacuate the cuffs as needed.
The currently available counterpulsation systems have several shortcomings and drawbacks, mainly because they require the use of compressed air. Compressed air is disadvantageous because it must be carefully managed or it introduces potential problems. Systems using compressed air can become overly pressurized because of a malfunction or blockage in the compressor or an associated accumulator. Overly high pressure conditions must be minimized to avoid subjecting the patient to excessive pressure when inflating the cuffs. Under extreme circumstances, excess pressure buildup introduces the possibility of having a portion of the system, such as a hose or the compressor housing, rupture unexpectedly.
Typical compressors also render conventional systems undesirably noisy, which makes them less than ideal for a hospital or clinic setting. The compressors and reservoirs are also relatively large and cumbersome, which decreases their ability to be readily relocated. The compressed air systems also require components such as vacuum pumps, which introduce additional cost, noise, complexity, and further maintenance issues.
Conventional systems require frequent maintenance because filters and other components must be replaced, especially in a counterpulsation application where the overall machine may be used continuously for many hours. Additionally, compressed air introduces the possibility of condensation build up within the system, which can interfere with proper valve, cuff, and other component operation to further exacerbate the maintenance issues.
All of the above drawbacks contribute to a major shortcoming of conventional systems, which is that they are not portable and useable in different clinical or hospital settings. Another drawback associated with some of the available systems is that they are not versatile enough to provide counterpulsation therapy for a wide enough variety of applications.
There is a need for a counterpulsation device that provides the capabilities of the pressure driven systems that are currently available while having the advantage of not including the use of pressurized or compressed gas. This invention overcomes the shortcomings and drawbacks discussed above and provides a system that is versatile in administering counterpulsation therapy without the use of pressurized or compressed air.
In general terms, this invention is a counterpulsation device that operates without the use of compressed air or pressurized gas to create tissue compression. The invention includes several basic parts. At least one inflatable cuff is provided that is adapted to be placed about a selected portion of the patient""s body. A conduit connects the inflatable cuff to an air moving device so that noncompressed air can be transferred from the air moving device to the cuff through the conduit to inflate the cuff. This conduit also performs a second function of allowing the air to leave the cuff, which deflates the cuff. A series of valves are associated with the conduit to selectively control whether air is supplied to or withdrawn from the inflatable cuff.
The air moving device preferably is a cylinder having a piston that moves through the cylinder to move air from within the cylinder through the conduit and into or out of the cuff as desired. The piston preferably moves through the cylinder through the use of a linear servo actuator that is controlled by an appropriately programmed electronic controller so that the inflation of the cuff is timed with portions of the patient""s EKG signal and peripheral plethysmographic wave.
In the preferred embodiment there are two cuffs that are placed about the lower portion or calves of the patient""s legs. There also preferably are two cuffs to be placed about the patient""s thighs and a cuff that is placed about the patient""s buttocks.
In an alternative application, the cylinder draws from a reservoir of specific gas or liquid with special characteristics that permit more thorough and rapid volume/pressure changes within the cuffs.
In still another embodiment, a multi-wave, non-distensible unit encases the entire lower hemi-corpus. In this example the unit is segmented into an ankle, calf, thigh, and buttocks section. Tissue compression is applied to each component sequentially without direct material tissue interaction and thus avoids cutaneous irritation which may otherwise occur with continuous cuff inflation and deflation
In an alternative embodiment, the apparatus producing the tissue compression to provide augmentation may be applied uniquely on every other heart beat, every second beat, or every third beat, depending on which sequence produces the most augmentation.
The various features and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the currently preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description can be briefly described as follows.

Counterpulsation device using noncompressed air


It is provided a method of detecting human drowning, comprising: attempting to detect humans in a sequence of underwater images taken by a single camera, for identifying humans-in-water candidates in the images, said detection using at least a machine learning algorithm, tracking humans-in-water candidates throughout this sequence, and detecting human drowning risk. It is also provided a system for detecting human drowning, comprising at least one underwater camera configured to take at least a sequence of underwater images, the system being configured to attempt to detect humans in the sequence of underwater images, for identifying humans-in-water candidates in the images, said detection using at least a machine learning algorithm, track humans-in-water candidates throughout this sequence, and detect human drowning risk.

In the US alone there is an annual average of 683 fatal drowning in residential swimming pools (source: CDC). 30% of death among ages 1-4 is caused by drowning, while at those ages 50.1% of fatal incidents and 64.6% of nonfatal incidents occur in swimming pools. Over 3300 are treated in emergency rooms, annually, as a results of drowning, or near-drowning events.
Safety means that aim to reduce such accidents include fences, pool covers, alarms based on floats, wearable devices, and video analytics based systems. Fences, pool covers, and float-based alarms prevent access to the water, while armed, but are not active once disarmed, and do not work while the pool is in use. Therefore, relying on those means alone means that during standard pool use, the only safety mean is adult supervision, which can be sometimes distracted. Moreover, float-based alarms are sensitive to any water movement and therefore cannot be activated while the pool cleaner robot is in use. Wearable devices include floaties for infants and young children, and wearable bracelets or necklaces for bigger kids. All those require the responsible adults to force and supervise wearing the items, and require to have enough units for all the kids at all times.
There are several video analytic based products/methods that aim to prevent drowning. Some use only above water cameras, and either aim to detect entrance to the pool or to detect early stress signs. These systems suffer from the difficulty to distinguish between stress signs and normal playing movements.
There are systems that use underwater cameras as well, and intend to detect near drowning events by recognizing lack of movement of a submerged person. However, they are based on a technology that requires that each point inside the pool be viewed by at least two cameras. Data from multiple cameras is used when detecting objects/people, tracking them, and for deciding whether they are in a drowning risk. These systems were designed for commercial pools, to be used as an assisting tool for lifeguards. These systems need to cover a very large body of water and therefore use several overhead and underwater cameras. These systems are very costly and require complicated installation.

Methods and systems for drowning detection


A surface modified electrode, included in an electronic device comprises an electrode layer, and a functional organic material. The functional organic material comprises an amine-substituted polymeric material which is on the surface of and in contact with the electrode layer. Such surface modified electrodes are useful for producing electronic devices.

The invention relates generally to surface modified electrodes using amine-substituted polymeric materials, and electronic devices produced from the modified electrodes.
Electro-active materials, such as electro-active organic materials are used for producing various types of electronic devices, such as organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), photodetectors, and photovoltaic devices. Generally, the electronic devices, such as OLEDs, require low work function metals, such as calcium, magnesium, and the like to facilitate charge injection into the electro-active materials. A problem with the use of low work function metals is their high reactivity toward ambient air and moisture, which often requires that fabrication and operation of these devices be conducted under hermetic conditions or the devices be rigorously encapsulated. To overcome or alleviate these difficulties, it is desirable to employ less reactive metals such as aluminum, gold, silver, and the like as electrodes. However, due to the considerable mismatch of their Fermi-level to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the state-of-the-art electro-active materials, the less reactive metals lead to less efficient electron injection. As a result, devices employing these less reactive metals as electrode materials generally operate at relatively higher voltages and exhibit poorer quantum and power efficiency. In order to circumvent this problem, various electrode activation methods have been employed. One such method for activating metal electrodes is to insert a layer of insulating materials, such as alkali metal fluorides in between the electro-active material and the less reactive metal electrode. However, the application of the activation layer in the most of state-of-the-art devices can be only achieved via thermal evaporation under high vacuum, and does not lend itself to large area, high throughput processing.
Therefore, there is a need to provide functional organic materials that lower the injection barrier, thereby allowing for efficient charge flow between the electrodes and an adjacent electro-active material and, at the same time, substantially preserving the long-term stability and performance of the device. Further, there is a need for methods for using such functional organic materials for producing modified electrodes, which in turn can be used for making electronic devices, for example.

Modified electrodes using functional organic materials and electronic devices therefrom


A cover structure of a container is provided. The cover structure has a bottom cover assembled on an opening of the container's body, a top cover openably and pivotally connected with the bottom cover to simultaneously cover the bottom cover and an outlet of a watering seat assembled on the opening of the container's body, and a latch mechanism disposed between the top cover and the bottom cover. The latch mechanism has a first latch seat assembled on the top cover, a second latch seat elastically, horizontally and movably assembled between a first position and a second position of the bottom cover, and a sliding latch bolt vertically and slidably assembled between a third position and a fourth position of the second latch seat.

Field of Invention
This invention is related to a cover structure of a container. More particularly, this invention is related to a single-hand operable cover structure.
Description of Related Art
The cover structure of the current common existing containers has a thread segment, and the opening of the container's body also has a corresponding thread segment. When the cover structure covers the container's body, the thread segments of the cover structure and the container body's opening can be rotated and latched to prevent the liquid in the container's body from leaking out. However, this way of latching or unlatching the corresponding thread segments needs both hands to operate at the same time. Therefore, it is unfavorable for a user has only one hand that can be used.
In the market, there is another cover structure including a ring seat, a top cover, and a fastener. The ring seat is disposed near the opening of the container's body. The top cover is pivotally connected to the ring seat. The fastener is disposed between the ring seat and the top cover. When the top cover is closed, the top cover can be opened by only pressing the fastener. This structure design can open and close the top cover by one hand, but the fastener does not have any latch mechanism. Hence, the top cover can be easily opened by inadvertently touch the fastener to let the drink in the container's body leak out and thus produce trouble for the user.
For solving the above problem that the top cover cannot be opened by one hand or that the fastener can be inadvertently touched to open the top cover and cause the drink leak out, this invention provides a cover structure that can be operated by one hand along an arc line and has a latch mechanism to facilitate a user using this cover structure and avoid inadvertently touch the fastener to open the top cover cause the drink leak out.


A container body is sealed by means of a lid made of a flexible sheet having an insulative property and an antenna made of an electrically conductive material which is laminated upon the lid. According to this construction, when the container body is exposed to microwaves within a microwave oven, microwave energy is concentrated at a position near the front end of the antenna and the microwave energy is converted into heat energy, whereby the lid is opened by means of the thus converted heat. The lid can thus be precisely partially melted so as to form an opening of a predeterminedly suitable size.

In the case where it is required to heat and cook food contained within a sealed container made of a plastic or paper material, it is convenient to heat the container with the food contained therein in a wrapped condition. Namely, in general, when the food is heated by means of an electronic oven, particularly a microwave oven, in a wrapped condition, the container is liable to be ruptured by means of the inner pressure which is increased by means of vapor generated during the heating process. In such a case, the food contained within the container is often scattered upon and throughout the interior surfaces of the oven. On the other hand, when the food within the container is heated with the lid of the container removed, the food may be denatured due to the diffusion of the vapors generated during the heating process In order to eliminate this problem, there has previously been provided means for automatically opening the lid of the container when the food sealed within the container is heated by means of the microwave oven. According to the technique disclosed within Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 61-69576, an adhesive layer comprising non-metallic type microwave absorbing particles is applied to the lid of the container. In addition, according to the technique disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,674, an electrically conductive material is applied to the lid of the container and the composition of the conductive material is designed so as to absorb the energy. According to these methods, the lid is heated and partially melted so as to be opened as a result of the provision of the microwave absorbing material.
In connection with the use of electronic or microwave ovens, a standing wave is generated within the oven casing and, hence, the strength of the microwaves is not uniformly distributed. With the methods of the conventional techniques described above in which the microwaves are absorbed and the lid is opened as a result of the heat generated by means of the heat generating material or element, in a case where the heat generating material is applied upon a portion of the bid at which the strength of the microwave is weak, there may result a case wherein the lid is not opened due to inadequate heating thereof. In the case where the heat generating material having a large size is utilized so as to open the container lid within the low strength region of the microwave, and if the heat generating material is positioned within the high strength region of the microwave, a widened opening may be formed within the lid of the container, through which a large amount of the vapor will be dispersed whereby the food will be denatured.

Sealed container for microwave oven cooking


A method of forming an imaging blanket for a printing apparatus comprises preparing a support structure (e.g., mold) for receipt of a polymer blanket compound, introducing the polymer blanket compound in liquid state over the support structure, curing the polymer blanket compound to produce an imaging blanket, releasing the imaging blanket from the support structure, and etching a surface of the imaging blanket to form a texture pattern therein, the surface forming an imaging surface of said imaging blanket. An imaging surface providing desirable dampening fluid retention is provided. Wet etch, dry etch or a combination of both may be used. The polymer may be a silicone compound, may include 3 percent by weight granular material.

The present disclosure is related to marking and printing systems, and more specifically to an element of such a system having a controlled surface roughness and oleophobicity.
Offset lithography is a common method of printing today. (For the purposes hereof, the terms "printing" and "marking" are interchangeable.) In a typical lithographic process an imaging plate, which may be a flat plate-like element, the surface of a cylinder, or belt, etc., is formed to have "image regions" formed of hydrophobic and oleophilic material, and "non-image regions" formed of a hydrophilic material. The image regions are regions corresponding to the areas on the final print (i.e., the target substrate) that are occupied by a printing or marking material such as ink, whereas the non-image regions are the regions corresponding to the areas on the final print that are not occupied by said marking material. The hydrophilic regions accept and are readily wetted by a water-based fluid, commonly referred to as a fountain or dampening fluid (typically consisting of water and a small amount of alcohol as well as other additives and/or surfactants to reduce surface tension). The hydrophobic regions repel dampening fluid and accept ink, whereas the dampening fluid formed over the hydrophilic regions forms a fluid "release layer" for rejecting ink. Therefore the hydrophilic regions of the imaging plate correspond to unprinted areas, or "non-image areas", of the final print.
The ink may be transferred directly to a substrate, such as paper, or may be applied to an intermediate surface, such as an offset (or blanket) cylinder in an offset printing system. In the latter case, the offset cylinder is covered with a conformable coating or sleeve with a surface that can conform to the texture of the substrate, which may have surface peak-to-valley depth somewhat greater than the surface peak-to-valley depth of the blanket. Sufficient pressure is used to transfer the image from the blanket or offset cylinder to the substrate.
The above-described lithographic and offset printing techniques utilize plates which are permanently patterned with the image to be printed (or its negative), and are therefore useful only when printing a large number of copies of the same image (long print runs), such as magazines, newspapers, and the like. These methods do not permit printing a different pattern from one page to the next (referred to herein as variable printing) without removing and replacing the print cylinder and/or the imaging plate (i.e., the technique cannot accommodate true high speed variable printing wherein the image changes from impression to impression, for example, as in the case of digital printing systems).
Lithography and the so-called waterless process provide very high quality printing, in part due to the quality and color gamut of the inks used. Furthermore, these inks, which typically have very high color pigment content, are very low cost compared to toners and many other types of marking materials. Thus, while there is a desire to use the lithographic and offset inks for printing in order to take advantage of the high quality and low cost, there is also a desire to print variable data from page to page.
One problem encountered is that offset inks have too high a viscosity (often well above 50,000 cps) to be useful in typical variable printing systems such as nozzle-based inkjet systems. In addition, because of their tacky nature, offset inks have very high surface adhesion forces relative to electrostatic forces and are therefore very difficult to manipulate onto or off of a surface using electrostatics. (This is in contrast to dry or liquid toner particles used in xerographic/electrographic systems, which have low surface adhesion forces due to their particle shape and the use of tailored surface chemistry and special surface additives.)
Efforts have been made to create lithographic and offset printing systems for variable data in the past. One example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,699, incorporated herein by reference, in which an intense energy source such as a laser is used to pattern-wise evaporate a dampening fluid.
In another example disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,705, incorporated herein by reference, a hydrophilic coating is applied to an imaging belt. A laser selectively heats and evaporates or decomposes regions of the hydrophilic coating. Next, a water-based dampening fluid is applied to these hydrophilic regions rendering them oleophobic. Ink is then applied and selectively transfers onto the plate only in the areas not covered by dampening fluid, creating an inked pattern that can be transferred to a substrate. Once transferred, the belt is cleaned, a new hydrophilic coating and dampening fluid are deposited, and the patterning, inking, and printing steps are repeated, for example for printing the next batch of images.
In yet another example, a rewritable surface is utilized that can switch from hydrophilic to hydrophobic states with the application of thermal, electrical, or optical energy. Examples of these surfaces include so called switchable polymers and metal oxides such as ZnO2 and TiO2. After changing the surface state, dampening fluid selectively wets the hydrophilic areas of the programmable surface and therefore rejects the application of ink to these areas.
In general, the dampening fluid is applied as a relatively thin layer over an image plate. A certain amount of surface roughness is required in order to retain the dampening fluid thereover. In some commercially available imaging systems, specific non-printing areas are defined by a surface with an adequate surface roughness targeted to retain the thin layer of dampening fluid. Providing surface roughness is in part a function of the material forming the imaging plate. Metal imaging plates are susceptible to a variety of texturing methods, such as etching, anodizing, and so on.
A family of variable data lithography devices has been developed that use a structure to perform both the functions of a traditional plate and of a traditional blanket to retain a patterned fountain solution for inking, and to delivering that ink pattern to a substrate. See U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/095,714, incorporated herein by reference. A blanket performing both of these functions is referred to herein as an imaging blanket. The blanket in such devices retains a dampening fluid, requiring that its surface have a selected texture. Texturing of such a structure has heretofore not been optimized.

Ultra-fine textured digital lithographic imaging plate and method of manufacture


An aramid fabric having excellent adhesion to a polyurethane matrix resin and excellent tensile strength is produced by the method including the steps of: (i) weaving a basket-structured aramid fabric by using aramid yarns as warp and weft yarns; and then (ii) dipping the woven aramid fabric in a sizing agent solution consisting of an aqueous polyurethane resin as a sizing agent and water, followed by squeezing and drying. In the present disclosure, the sizing agent is applied to the woven aramid fabric, thereby effectively preventing the deterioration in weaving efficiency. Further, the aramid fabric is woven in a basket weave, and thus the compactness of the aramid fabric is lowered and the wetting property of the aramid fabric with the polyurethane matrix resin is improved.

As electronic part materials or automotive part materials, a reinforcing fiber material/resin composite (hereinafter referred to as "composite") in which a polyurethane matrix resin is impregnated and cured in a reinforcing fiber material have been widely used.
Glass fiber has been used as the reinforcing fiber material, but the glass fiber has a high specific gravity, which makes it difficult to reduce weight, and there is a problem that it is harmful to the human body.
In another conventional technique, in order to solve such a problem, carbon fiber has been used instead of glass fiber as the reinforcing fiber material, but the carbon fiber has a problem that non-rigidity is large, and thus processability and impact resistance are reduced.
As yet another conventional technique, an aramid fabric woven with a plain weave has been mainly used as a reinforcing fiber material, but the aramid fabric woven with the plain weave has poor wetting properties with polyurethane matrix resins, and aramid yarns constituting the conventional aramid fabric have a problem that the compatibility with the polyurethane matrix resin is reduced, which results in a decrease in adhesion between the aramid fabric and the polyurethane matrix resin, and further, there was a problem that the cohesion between the yarns constituting the aramid fabric is insufficient and thus the tensile strength of the aramid fabric is reduced.

Aramid fabric having excellent adhesion to polyurethane matrix resin and excellent tensile strength, method for producing same, aramid fabric prepreg comprising same and aramid fabric/thermoplastic polyurethane matrix resin composite comprising same


There is provided a method for identifying potential associates of at least one target person, the method comprising: providing a plurality of videos; identifying appearances of the at least one target person in the plurality of videos; establishing a plurality of video scenes from the plurality of videos, wherein each one of the plurality of video scenes begins at a first predetermined duration before a first appearance of the at least one target person in the respective video scene and ends at a second predetermined duration after a last appearance of said at least one target person in the respective video scene; determining individuals who appear in more than a predetermined threshold number of the plurality of video scenes; and identifying the individuals as potential associates of the at least one target person.

An organized crime group can be defined as a group of people working together on a continuing basis for coordination and planning of criminal activities. Their group structures vary, often consisting of a durable core of key individuals, cluster of subordinates, specialists, and other more transient members, plus an extended network of associates. Many such groups are often loose networks of criminals that come together for a specific criminal activity, acting in different roles depending on their skills and expertise.
To discover an organized crime group network of associates, apart from digital/cyberspace monitoring, the physical world's video surveillance systems can be the extended eye of law enforcement agencies to monitor and discover the potential network of associates.

Method for identifying potential associates of at least one target person, and an identification device


A semiconductor device includes: a conductive plug formed through an insulating film; a conductive oxygen barrier film formed on the insulating film so as to be electrically connected to the conductive plug and to cover the conductive plug; a lower electrode formed on the oxygen barrier film and connected to the oxygen barrier film; a capacitive insulating film formed on the lower electrode, following the lower electrode; and an upper electrode formed on the capacitive insulating film, following the capacitive insulating film. The capacitive insulating film has a bent portion that extends along the direction in which the conductive plug penetrates through the insulating film.

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices including capacitors, especially capacitors in which ferroelectrics or high-κ materials are used for capacitive insulating films, and methods for fabricating the same.
Ferroelectrics or high-κ materials exhibit remanent polarization due to hysteresis properties or high relative dielectric constants. Thus, in the field of nonvolatile memories or DRAM devices, the ferroelectrics or the high-κ materials can substitute for silicon oxide or silicon nitride used for capacitive insulating films included in capacitors of semiconductor devices.
Hereinafter, a known method for fabricating a semiconductor device including a capacitor in which a ferroelectric or a high-κ material is used for a capacitive insulating film will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, as shown in FIG. 19A, a transistor region 103 is defined by an isolation film 102 selectively formed in a semiconductor substrate 101 of silicon. Thereafter, an MOS transistor 104 is formed in the transistor region 103.
Next, as shown in FIG. 19B, a first interlevel dielectric film 105 of silicon dioxide is deposited, and then the surface thereof is planarized. Thereafter, a lower-electrode formation film of platinum is deposited by a sputtering process on the planarized first interlevel dielectric film 105. Subsequently, a ferroelectric film containing strontium, bismuth, tantalum and the like is formed by a spin-on process on the lower-electrode formation film. After the ferroelectric film has been crystallized, an upper-electrode formation film of platinum is deposited by a sputtering process on the ferroelectric film. Thereafter, the upper-electrode formation film, the ferroelectric film and the lower-electrode formation film are dry-etched in this order, thereby forming a lower electrode 106, a capacitive insulating film 107 and an upper electrode 108 out of the lower-electrode formation film, the ferroelectric film and the upper-electrode formation film, respectively, on part of the interlevel dielectric film 105 located over the isolation film 102. In this manner, a capacitor 109 made of the lower electrode 106, the capacitive insulating film 107 and the upper electrode 108 is formed.
Then, as shown in FIG. 19C, a second interlevel dielectric film 110 of silicon dioxide is deposited over the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 101. Thereafter, a first contact hole 110a for exposing the upper electrode 108 therein and a second contact hole 110b for exposing a doped region of the MOS transistor 104 therein are formed in the second interlevel dielectric film 110.
Then, as shown in FIG. 19D, a metal film containing aluminum as a main component is deposited over the entire surface of the second interlevel dielectric film 110 including the contact holes 110a and 110b. The metal film is patterned, thereby forming a wiring 111 out of the metal film. Thereafter, another wiring layer and a passivation film, for example, are formed.
In the known method for fabricating a semiconductor device, however, the capacitor 109 is formed over the isolation film 102 adjacent to the transistor region 103.
In addition, since the capacitor 109 extends along the principal surface of the semiconductor substrate 101, i.e., has a so-called planar structure, the projected area of the capacitor 109 onto the substrate surface that is enough to ensure a required capacitance is large, resulting in the extremely small effect of reducing a wiring rule for the MOS transistor 104 and the wiring 111.
Therefore, especially the semiconductor device including the capacitor 109 in which a ferroelectric or a high-κ material is used for the capacitive insulating film 107 has a problem that the area of each capacitor, specifically the area of each cell in a semiconductor memory, cannot be reduced.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An electronic mail communication device is used in connection with a server for communicating an electronic mail. The electronic mail communication device is provided with an input device that inputs an electronic mail communication command, a storage that stores information indicating whether or not an electronic mail communication through the server is enabled, and a communication control device. The communication control device outputs a signal to the server to establish connection with the server in a case where the electronic mail communication command is input to the input device while the information indicating the communication enable state is stored in the storage. The communication control device inhibits from outputting the signal to the server in a case where the electronic mail communication command is input to the input device while the information indicating the communication disable state is stored in the storage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic mail (e-mail) communication device used in connection with a server for communicating (sending and/or receiving) an e-mail. The broadly interpreted "e-mail communication device" includes a personal computer, a server, a multi-function device, and an internet facsimile, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-330890 discloses an internet facsimile connected to a server for communicating e-mails. The internet facsimile is provided with a scanner. The internet facsimile is capable of sending the scanned data by utilizing e-mail. The internet facsimile is provided with a printer that prints the contents of the received e-mail. Generally, internet facsimiles are used in connection with a terminal device via a communication line such as LAN. A user generates an e-mail communication command (sending command and/or receiving command) by the use of the terminal device. The terminal device outputs the e-mail communication command to the internet facsimile.
In response to the input of the e-mail receiving command, the internet facsimile executes TCP connection to an e-mail receiving server, and then outputs data for user authentication (user ID and password) to the e-mail receiving server. In the case of success in the user authentication, the e-mail receiving server sends the e-mail to the internet facsimile. Thus, the internet facsimile receives the e-mail. In the case where the e-mail sending command is input, the internet facsimile executes the TCP connection to an e-mail sending server. Thereafter, the e-mail is sent via the e-mail sending server.


An apparatus, composition and method for recycling of a material, such as, for example, unhardened concrete. The apparatus includes a storage tank for storing a recycling composition to be applied to the material to be recycled and a control unit configured to control release of the recycling composition from the storage tank.

The reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or admission or any form of suggestion that the prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which this specification relates.
It is often desirable to recycle left over construction materials. With concrete for example, construction teams will generally prepare more fresh concrete than required to avoid being left without enough to complete a task. The residual unhardened concrete often remains in the agitator bowls of mixer trucks and other storage vessels. This residual concrete can be onerous and expensive to remove, recycle and dispose of.
Compositions/formulations have been developed which assist with wet/unhardened residual concrete processing and recycling. However, these formulations are often made up of component parts that need to be packaged separately. Typically, these component parts are stored in water soluble bags that are thrown into the concrete storage vessels. These methods have several disadvantages.
Firstly, the component parts are often packaged in a limited number of volume sizes. This places the onus on workmen to calculate the required number of bags of each component part to match the amount of residual concrete to be processed. This takes time, and often results in an excess amount of formulation being used. Alternatively, if the number of bags to be used is miscalculated, an ineffective amount of formulation may be applied leading to ineffective breakdown of the concrete.
Secondly, the water soluble bag type distribution method often results in inadequate/non uniform distribution of the component parts in the agitator bowl/storage vessel. Therefore, the method requires considerable mixing, and even so, pockets of unmixed formulation may be found.
In addition, existing concrete recycling methods often require further processing. Although the addition of compositions/formulation may assist with processing/recycling of the residual unhardened concrete, it is often the case that the processed concrete needs to be subsequently physically broken down. For example, often after any formulation is applied, the processed concrete is required to be further broken down with an excavator or the like.
The present invention seeks to address at least some of the above mentioned disadvantages by providing an apparatus, composition and method for recycling materials like, for example, unhardened concrete.

Apparatus, composition and method for recycling a material


An aircraft fuselage frame assembly includes a first lower frame element having a cross member and a curved fuselage tub frame. A second upper frame element of the assembly has a cross member and a curved upper frame segment. A third frame element of the assembly is made of a cross member section, floor strut section and frame section. The third frame element is formed as a single, integral triangle element having a hypotenuse that is curved to adopt a curvature of the aircraft fuselage and joining portions at angle areas of the triangle. A lower frame link is joined to the first upper frame and at a first angle area of the triangle element; an upper frame link is joined to the second upper frame and at a second angle area of the triangle element; and a floor cross member is joined at a third angle area of the triangle element.

On existing airplanes, the area located between the passenger floor, the airplane's skin and the floor struts is called "triangle".
On existing airplanes, floor cross members, frames and struts are simple parts, assembled one to the other either rigidly, in particular by embedding, or flexibly using joints.
The portion of the frame located under the cargo cross member, called "fuselage tub frame" comprises a curved frame element and a cross member that serves as a mount for the cargo floor.
The upper portion of the frame comprises an upper curved frame element and a cross member under which the luggage bins are fastened.
Joining these members together is realized by means of screws, rivets or other means of fastening.
Assembling these elements with each other requires much time because of the large number of fasteners that have to be installed, in particular between the floor cross member and the upper frame.
In particular the cross member/frame junction must be realized in an area where the forces to be transmitted are relatively large, i.e. for which the embedding torque is large. To achieve this, the heights of the frames and cross members are increased locally to make it possible to locate all the fasteners required for the junction.
To reduce the manufacturing cost of the member parts and simplify the definition of the parts that are in contact, the frames may be realized with extruded sections, machined members, folded members or members assembled together to form the frame elements such as frames.
It is not possible in general to keep a constant height at the junction with the cross members because of the large number of fasteners to be installed. Because of this, the cost of the simple part is increased.
Document FR 2 877 916 A1 describes a particular realization for which an upper frame comprises link arms to a floor cross member and to a lower frame.
However, for large aircrafts, such an upper frame is cumbersome and complex to realize.