A focus/detector system of an X-ray apparatus is disclosed for generating projective or tomographic phase contrast recordings. In at least one embodiment, the system includes a beam source, including a focus and a focus-side source grating, arranged in the beam path to generate a field of ray-wise coherent X-rays; and a grating/detector arrangement having a phase grating with grating lines arranged parallel to the source grating for generating an interference pattern and a detector having a multiplicity of detector elements arranged flat for measuring the radiation intensity behind the phase grating. Further, the detector elements are formed by a multiplicity of elongate detection strips, which are aligned parallel to the grating lines of the phase grating. Furthermore, at least one embodiment also relates to the use of this focus/detector system in an X-ray system for generating projective recordings or in C-arc equipment or a CT system, and/or to a method for generating projective and tomographic X-ray recordings of a subject.

In computer tomography, tomographic recordings of a subject, in particular a patient, are generally made with the aid of absorption measurements of X-rays which pass through the subject, a radiation source generally being moved circularly or spirally around the subject and a detector on the opposite side from the radiation source, usually a multiline detector with a multiplicity of detector elements, measuring the absorption of the radiation when it passes through the subject. For tomographic image compilation, tomographic section images or volume data are reconstructed from the measured absorption data of all measured geometrical rays. Absorption differences in objects can be represented very well by these computer tomographic recordings, but regions with similar chemical composition, which naturally also have a similar absorptivity, can be represented only with insufficient detail.
It is furthermore known that the effect of the phase shift when a ray passes through a subject is substantially stronger than the absorption effect of the matter through which the radiation has passed. Such phase shifts are measured in a known way by using two interferometric gratings. With respect to these interferometric measurement methods, reference is made for example to "X-ray phase imaging with a grating interferometer, T. Weitkamp et al., 8th Aug. 2005/Vol. 12, No. 16/OPTICS EXPRESS".
In this method, coherent X-radiation passes through a subject, the X-radiation having passed through is guided through a grating pair and the radiation intensity is measured immediately after the second grating. The first grating generates an interference pattern, which forms an image of a moire pattern with the aid of the second grating on the detector lying behind. If the second grating is displaced slightly, then this likewise causes a displacement of the moire pattern i.e. a change of the local intensity in the detector lying behind, which can be determined relative to the displacement of the second grating.
If the intensity change is plotted for each detector element of this grating, i.e. for each ray, as a function of the displacement distance of the second grating, then the phase shift of the respective ray can be determined. A problem, making it unsuitable for carrying out computer tomography of sizeable objects, is that this method requires a very small radiation source since coherent radiation is needed for forming the interference pattern.
The method presented in the document cited above requires either a radiation source with an extremely small focus, so that there is a sufficient degree of spatial coherence in the radiation used. When using such a small focus, however, then a sufficient dose power for examining a sizeable object is in turn not available. It is nevertheless also possible to use monochromatically coherent radiation, for example synchrotron radiation as the radiation source, but this makes the CT system very expensive to construct so that widespread application is not possible.
This problem can be circumvented by arranging a first absorption grating inside the focus/detector combination in the beam path, immediately after the focus. The alignment of the grating lines is in this case parallel to the grating lines of the interference grating which follows after the subject.
The slits of the first grating generate a field of individually coherent rays with a particular energy, which is sufficient for generating the interference pattern known per se with the aid of the phase grating arranged behind the object in the beam direction.
In this way, it is possible to use radiation sources which have extents that correspond to normal X-ray tubes in CT systems or transmitted-light X-ray systems so that, for example, even well-differentiated soft tissue tomographs can now be made in the field of general medical diagnosis.
A problem with this type of focus/detector combination is that a plurality of measurements need to be carried out respectively with a slightly displaced analysis grating for each ray, so that it is possible to determine the phase shift of the X-radiation on the respective ray path through the subject.

Focus/detector system of an X-ray apparatus for generating phase contrast recordings


A wheelchair comprises a frame and first and second rear wheels that are each independently mounted to the frame via a respective mounting hub. Each rear wheel is detachably mounted to its respective mounting hub at two or more distinct hub mounting points. Either or both of the hub mounting points can be movable with respect to a remainder of the hub, for example via a pivoting arrangement. A disk can be positioned at the rear wheel and a stop element located at the mounting hub can be selectively operated to interfere with the disk to prevent rotation of that rear wheel. The frame can comprise first and second spaced apart and unitary tubes which each extending in an unbroken manner from a wheelchair seat to a wheelchair forward region.

Wheelchairs comprise a rear axle for the rear wheels which can limit the applications in which the chairs are employed, and also force certain constructional restrictions on the wheelchair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,893 discloses a wheelchair frame assembly comprising a number of frame components which, whilst eliminating the wheelchair rear axle, is relatively complex to form and can result in a heavier frame weight.
A reference herein to a prior art document is not an admission that the document forms a part of the common general knowledge of a person of ordinary skill in the art in Australia or elsewhere.


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a predictor to predict contention of an operation to be executed in a program. The operation may be processed based on a result of the prediction, which may be based on multiple independent predictions. In one embodiment, the operation may be optimized if no contention is predicted. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

The present invention relates to computer systems, and more particularly to such systems executing multiple threads.
Computer systems including multiprocessor (MP) and single processor systems may include a plurality of "threads," each of which executes program instructions independently from other threads. Use of multiple processors or threads allows various tasks or functions and even multiple applications to be handled more efficiently and with greater speed. Utilizing multiple threads or processors means that two or more processors or threads can share and simultaneously access the same data stored within the system. However, care must be taken to maintain memory ordering when sharing data.
For data consistency purposes, if multiple threads or processors desire to read, modify, and write to a single memory location, the multiple agents should not be allowed to perform operations on the data simultaneously. Further complicating the use of multiple processors is that data is often stored in a cache associated with a processor to speed access to the data by that processor. Because such caches are typically localized to a specific processor, the most recent update to the data could be located in any one of the caches in the system. Any agent accessing this data should receive a valid or updated data value from the cache with the most recent update, and data being written from the cache back into memory or transferred to other caches must be the current data so that cache coherency is maintained.
Multithreaded (MT) software uses different mechanisms to interact and coordinate between different threads. One common form of MT synchronization is a semaphore spin-lock. A semaphore spin-lock mechanism is a lock operation used to guarantee mutual exclusion (i.e., prevent simultaneous access) across multiple threads while accessing a shared memory variable or structure (i.e., a shared element). In order to provide a unique and consistent view of the shared element, it is guarded by a lock variable. Every thread needing access to the shared element must acquire the guarding lock via an atomic semaphore operation. To acquire the lock, a thread essentially reads the value of the lock variable, compares the value to a predetermined 'free' value, and then writes a 'lock' value. This read-modify-write operation must appear to happen in one step so that multiple threads do not read a 'free' value and simultaneously write the 'lock' value, thus allowing both threads to believe they have acquired the lock.
After a given thread acquires a lock on a lock variable, other threads desiring to access the lock variable typically must wait until the original thread completes its lock operation. Typically, other threads seeking access will initiate a snoop on the address of the lock variable to check the state (i.e., 'free' or 'locked'). A thread that finds the 'locked' value will often wait a short time and snoop again, thus spinning in a small snoop-wait loop. Contention occurs when one or more threads desire access to a lock variable already owned (i.e., locked) by another thread or access to a lock variable being accessed by another thread. A lock operation is uncontended when, during runtime, only one agent seeks to execute a lock operation on the lock variable at a time. A thread will write the 'free' value back into the lock variable when it is finished modifying the shared variable or structure.
Because synchronization occurs frequently in MT applications, a processor should efficiently implement lock operations so that the MT applications may perform as desired. If a lock operation is uncontended at runtime, it can be heavily optimized. Such optimizations can include speculative prefetching of an associated cache line, lock elision, and the like. However, these optimization techniques incur a significant penalty if the lock operation is contended.
A need therefore exists to predict contended lock operations, thereby enabling a processor to efficiently implement lock operations.


Method and apparatus for controlling delivery of an item. An electronic order specifying the item is received. An item profile for the first item is retrieved. A first instance of positional data for the user and a pattern of delivery preferences of the user are determined. Embodiments determine a first location for delivering the package to the user, based on the item profile, the first instance of positional data for the user and the pattern of delivery preferences of the first user. Shipment of the first item towards the first location is initiated, and based on subsequent network communications with an electronic device associated with the user, a second instance of positional data is determined. Delivery of the first item is facilitated to one of the first location corresponding to the first instance of positional data and a second location corresponding to the instance of positional data.

The present invention relates to automated computer systems, and more specifically, to automated systems for dynamically controlling shipping information for an electronically purchased item.
Today there are many package carriers and billions of people shipping packages on a regular basis. Similarly, these transactions are shipped to a substantial number of different recipients and different delivery locations. This has resulted in an incalculable combination of delivery locations and preferences for shipping packages to a given user, particularly due to people and businesses today being more mobile than ever before. As a result, more customers are unable to receive deliveries when and where they want than ever before.
Moreover, in other situations, users will have to expend more effort to ensure that their items can be delivered to them when and where the users need the items. That is, it can be difficult for users to have the foresight to know where they will be when something is ready to be delivered, and is sometimes it is not possible for users to make such predictions, as the user's plans may change. This is especially true for customers and businesses that travel frequently, as packages shipped through conventional sources may arrive after the user has left his default location due to travel plans. In some cases, this can delay the user from receiving the item, and in order cases can cause an inconvenience to both the user and the shipping provider, as select items can only be delivered when the recipient is present. These difficulties are compounded by not every carrier and merchant allowing the delivery of packages to be changed while the package is in transit, and some carriers and merchants may require the user to expend substantial effort to effect such a change and may assess fees against the user based on such a change.

Just-in-time package routing and delivery


An incoming call received in a private branch exchange (PBX) or other communication system switch at an external port of the switch is processed by the switch so as to appear to a destination terminal as if it were originated by an internal extension associated with the switch. The incoming call may be from a mobile telephone or other originator terminal that is utilizable external to a premises serviced by the switch and does not have an extension associated with any internal endpoint serviced by the switch. The switch attempts to map an identifier associated with the incoming call to a corresponding entry in a stored list of external endpoints registered with the switch. If the identifier has a corresponding entry on the list, the switch processes the incoming call such that it appears to the destination terminal as being originated by an assigned internal extension. For example, an internal alerting indicator and associated station display may be provided at the destination terminal. A user at an originator terminal may also be permitted to access one or more features of the switch after an identifier associated with an incoming call from the originator terminal to a designated remote access extension has been mapped to a corresponding entry in the stored list of external endpoints.

The invention relates generally to call processing in communication systems, and more particularly to systems in which calls or other communications are directed by a switch to or from wired or wireless telephones or other types of user terminals.
Conventional communication system switches, such as private branch exchanges (PBXs) and other premises-based telephone switches, generally support a wide variety of useful features, such as bridged call appearances, hunt groups, call forwarding, navigable directories, multi-call conferencing, etc. However, these and other switch-based features are typically provided only to those user terminals that represent internal extensions within the premises serviced by the switch. As a result, a user terminal associated with an external network is generally unable to avail itself of the full set of features supported by the switch.
By way of example, an incoming call originating from a mobile telephone or other mobile device and directed to an internal extension serviced by the switch typically appears to the called party terminal simply as an externally-originated call. The caller and called party therefore typically do not have available to them the full range of switch services for use in processing the call. Conventional switches are unable to extend the switch-based features to such a call in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
It is known in the art to process call initiation requests generated by computer-telephony integration (CTI) applications external to a PBX or other communication system switch. Such techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,302 issued Mar. 14, 2000 in the name of inventors Didina Burok, Brian Hillis and Steven Michael Silverstein and entitled xe2x80x9cMethods and Apparatus for Processing Phantom Calls Placed Via Computer-Telephony Integration (CTI),xe2x80x9d which is incorporated by reference herein. In these techniques, the originator is a xe2x80x9cphantomxe2x80x9d extension that does not correspond to a physical communication device of the system. However, these and other known techniques do not adequately address the above-noted problems associated with calls originating from mobile telephones or other external user terminals and directed to particular internal extensions serviced by the switch.
A need therefore exists for call processing techniques that allow external user terminals to access premises-based communication switch features in a manner similar to an internal extension serviced by the switch.
The present invention provides methods and apparatus for processing an incoming call received in a switch from an external network, in a manner that allows the corresponding originator terminal or other external endpoint to be treated as if it were an internal extension serviced by the switch.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an incoming call received in a private branch exchange (PBX) or other communication system switch from a mobile telephone or other originator terminal of the system is processed to determine an associated identifier. The originator terminal is utilizable external to a premises serviced by the switch, and does not have an extension associated with any internal endpoint serviced by the switch. The switch attempts to map the identifier associated with the incoming call to a corresponding entry in a stored list of external endpoints registered with the switch. If the identifier has a corresponding entry on the list, the switch processes the incoming call such that it appears to a destination terminal as being originated by an internal extension. For example, the incoming call may be processed as if it originated from a particular internal extension assigned to the corresponding originator terminal. More particularly, an internal alerting indicator and associated station display identifying an extension assigned to the originator terminal may be provided at the destination terminal.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a user at an originator terminal may be permitted to access one or more features of the switch after an identifier of an incoming call from that originator terminal to a remote access extension has been associated with a corresponding entry in the stored list of external endpoints. More particularly, after the incoming call to the remote access extension is connected, and the identifier of the incoming call is associated with an entry in the stored list, the user may access the one or more features of the switch by entering a designated security code followed by appropriate feature access codes.
Advantageously, the invention allows a mobile telephone or other external endpoint to be treated as if it were an actual internal extension serviced by the switch. This in turn allows a given external endpoint to access at least a subset of the desirable call processing features provided by the switch, and thereby overcomes one or more of the above-described problems associated with conventional techniques.

Method and apparatus for treating externally-originated calls as coming from internal switch extensions


The present invention provides a focus position adjustment method for adjusting a focus position by which an optical storage device reads an optical storage medium. The optical storage medium comprises a header and a recording area. The optical storage device generates a focus error signal as reading the medium and utilizes the focus error signal to control the focus of the optical pickup head. After the optical storage device finishes tracking closed loop, the method is performed according to the deviation value between the levels of focus error signals of the header and the recording area to adjust the focus position to make the deviation value fall in a predetermined range. The system comprises a deviation value detection module for determining the deviation value and a focus control module for adjusting the focus position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a focus position adjustment method and system thereof, and more particularly to a focus position adjustment method and system thereof for an optical storage device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional optical disc drive apparatus comprises an optical pickup head for generating a laser beam to converge to an optical disc and receiving a laser beam reflected from the optical disc. The optical disc drive apparatus performs focus servo and tracking servo in order to accurately read or write data on the optical disc. The focus servo refers to control the laser beam from the optical disc drive apparatus to the optical disc so that the laser beam can converge to a specific focus position. In the prior art, the focus servo is performed according to a focus error signal of a laser beam reflected from the optical disc. The focus error signal represents the shift from the focus position of the laser beam on the optical disc. When focus positions are different, different jitters are obtained. Generally, the smaller the jitter is, the more accurate focus position is obtained.
However, the focus servo of the prior art has many problems. First, in a conventional optical disc drive apparatus, the focus servo adjusts focus position by searching the maximum value of the reproduction signal or the minimum value of the jitter. However, both perform differently in different addresses or data areas so that errors usually occur. Besides, because the calculation process for the focus error signal, the jitter and the focus position is complicated, it is very time-consuming and energy-consuming to get the smallest jitter. Second, the focus servo control method of the prior art is used for single spiral land groove format (SS-L/GFMT) optical disc without distinguishing a land track and a groove track. Therefore, it is not able to provide accurate focus servo for the high-density optical disc. Third, in a conventional optical disc drive apparatus, it is not considered that the zero level of the focus error signal is not always the best focus position. Therefore, errors usually occur when reading data from the optical disc. About the problems of the prior art, please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,055, focus position adjustment device and optical disc drive apparatus.
The technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,055 is used for solving the above problems. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,055 still utilizes the smallest jitter to look for the best focus position; the process for the focus servo cannot be effectively speeded up.
Furthermore, the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,055 needs an error rate counter, an RF detector, and a complicated algorithm to calculate the best focus position. A lot of computing resource and time are needed. Moreover, if the optical disc is blank, there will be no reproduction signal for estimating the jitter. Therefore, the disclosed technology must record a test signal in a drive test area on the optical disc, then perform the above mentioned procedure.
The technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,968, optical information recording/reproducing apparatus having focus error signal compensation, detects a variation value and compensates the focus error signal based on the variation value to obtain the optimal focus position. The disclosed technology solves the time-consuming problem in conventional focus servo control.
Conventionally, when the optical disc drive apparatus reads an optical disc that is recorded with data, it goes through seeking track, tracking closed loop, and ON state of focus servo for reading each of the tracks on the optical disc.
The technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,968 detects the variation value under the ON state of focus servo. The time for adjusting the focus position is increased. Besides, the variation value responses to a tracking error signal, and the tracking error signal and focus error signal are necessary for obtaining the variation value. Therefore, the technology disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,407,968 is still time-consuming.
Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a focus position adjustment method and system thereof to solve the problems in the prior art.

Method of focus position adjustment by controlling a deviation value and system thereof


A method of applying molten solder onto a desired point of a small workpiece, such as a printed circuit board, under well-controlled condition. A solter tip is temporarily held above a solder melting pot and then allowed to fall into a solder melting pot in which the solder tip is melted and held for a pre-set time duration. In this manner, the scattering in velosity of the falling solder and the dislocation of the fallen tip are minimized to control the temperature of the molten solder precisely. A soldering apparatus used for the practice of the method of this invention is also provided. In a preferred embodiment, the soldering apparatus is provided with means for removing the debris sticking to the inner face of the solder melting pot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improvement in soldering, and more particularly to a method of and apparatus for applying molten solder onto a desired point of a workpiece under well-controlled condition.
2. Prior Art Statement
Japanese patent publication No. 34209/1971 discloses a soldering apparatus for applying molten solder onto a desired point or area of a workpiece, such as a printed circuit board, wherein a conical pot is used for melting a solid solder. A rod-shaped solder is cut and fed to the conical pot to be melted therein and the molten solder is allowed to drop through a hole provided at the bottom of the pot. However, this type soldering apparatus has a problem that some portion of the solid solder drops through the hole in the unmelted state while the other portion of the solder is dropped in the overheated condition, since it is impossible to retain the whole solid solder for a constant time, resulting in uneven and unreliable soldering.
Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 77427/1975 discloses a soldering apparatus having a conical melting pot provided with a needle valve at the bottom of the pot. In this known apparatus, a molten mass of solder is contained in the conical melting pot, and a constant volume of the molten solder is allowed to drop through the needle valve. However, due to surface tention of the molten solder, it becomes impossible to control the volume of dropping molten solder precisely particularly when the volume of molten solder to be applied onto the workpiece is relatively small as is the case where the workpiece is a printed circuit board.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems of the known apparatuses, the inventor of this invention has previously proposed an improvement in soldering in my co-pending Japanese Patent Application No. 110505/1986. According to my previous proposal, a solder melting pot is formed by plural trowel members which engage with each other to hold a solid solder tip for a pre-set time to melt the same and then they are separated to allow the molten solder to drop onto a desired point or area of a workpiece. However, the velosity of the solid solder tip supplied to the solder melting pot cannot be controlled so that it becomes hard to control the temperature of the molten solder in the solder melting pot precisely.
Another probelm of the system according to my previous proposal is the residing flux or other impurities sticking on the end portions, particularly on the engaging end faces, of the trowel members, which lower the heat transfer from the trowel members to the solder significantly to cause change in temperature of the molten solder. Such a change in molten solder contained in the solder melting pot leads to incomplete or unstable soldering.

Soldering method and soldering apparatus


An assembly for transferring fluids between a vessel and a turret structure mounted in said vessel for a rotation around a substantially vertical turret axis is provided. Said turret structure comprises a swivel having at least one fluid path which is connected with one end of a fluid piping of which the second end is connected to the vessel. A swivel tower mounts around the swivel and engages the remainder of the turret structure by a swivel tower bearing. A torsion lock mechanism substantially locks the swivel tower to the vessel for a rotation therewith. A first fluid piping segment extends freely between the vessel and the swivel tower and a second fluid piping segment extends between the swivel tower and the fluid path of the swivel. The segments are joined at an interconnection where the fluid piping is substantially fixed to the swivel tower by fixing device.

The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Aspects of the invention relate to an assembly for transferring fluids between a vessel and a turret structure mounted in said vessel for a rotation around a substantially vertical turret axis, wherein said turret structure comprises a swivel having at least one fluid path and wherein the fluid path is connected with one end of a fluid piping of which the second end is connected to the vessel.
It is noted that the indication "vessel" also may refer to parts or a structure fixed to the vessel.
It is known in the offshore industry (and especially the production of fluids such as oil or gas) to use vessels comprising a turret structure mounted in a moon pool for a rotation around a substantially vertical turret axis. The turret structure (or a disconnectable buoy connected to a lower part thereof) may be moored to the seabed by mooring lines and connects risers through which the fluid is delivered to a fluid inlet in the geostationary part of the swivel, which typically is mounted on top of the turret structure or on top of a so-called turntable which is based on and forms part of the turret structure. The fluid is transferred from the rotating part of the swivel to appropriate equipment on board of the vessel through fluid piping connecting the swivel fluid outlet with the vessel (for example a so-called turret access structure, TAS, carrying a tower structure surrounding the swivel). It is noted that the fluids can be transferred in two directions, both from the risers to the vessel and vice versa. For clarity only the direction towards the vessel is mentioned here, but it should be realised that the indications "inlet" and "outlet" are interchangeable.
The turret structure, including its turntable, the swivel as well as the vessel (for example the TAS) often are subject to considerable loads tending to deform said components. The loads can originate from, among others, gravity, motions, accelerations, vessel deformations, temperature differences, pressure, mooring forces, riser forces, waves, current and wind. Because these components generally have a different stiffness and will be subjected to different loads, their deformations will be different causing relative displacements between these components.
The relative deformations between the rotating part of the swivel and the vessel (or TAS) deform the fluid piping between them, which causes stresses on the swivel and its outlets. These stresses can be low when the piping is flexible and it thus easily conforms to the relative deformations, but can also be very high when the piping is substantially rigid, for example for high pressure piping with a large diameter. These stresses can interfere with the operation of the swivel, for example by damaging it or causing its seals to leak.
Known practice for reducing the mentioned stresses is to increase the flexibility of the fluid piping (for example by allowing multiple bends in the fluid piping with long piping sections between successive bends), together with anchor points for the fluid piping sufficiently far away from the swivel. However, adding such fluid piping lengths is expensive and increases the overall weight acting on top of the vessel or TAS, further increasing the detrimental deformation thereof with resulting increase of the relative deformation between the vessel (or TAS) and the swivel.
Another known practice for reducing these stresses is to increase the stiffness of the components (such as the turret structure and the TAS) in order to reduce their (relative) deformations. This, however, involves the use of extra material (such as steel) with an associated increase of cost and weight.
The effectiveness of the above known stress reduction methods decreases when the structures (TAS, vessel, turret, swivel etc) increase in size. Larger structures will undergo larger relative deformations, while more steel is required to stiffen them and/or more piping bends and lengths are needed to accommodate the relative deformations. This becomes prohibitive in terms of the required amount of constructive material (steel, piping), mass and cost.
In view of the above it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved assembly of the type referred to above.

Assembly for transferring fluids between a vessel and a turret structure mounted in said vessel


A deuterated compound having structural formula I or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof: Values and example values of the variable in formula (I) are disclosed herein. Also disclosed are the use of compounds of formula (I) in the methods of treating a disease selected from cancer, an autoimmune disease, and an infectious disease, and methods of enhancing an immune response to an antigen.

Resiquimod (R-848) is a drug that acts as an immune response modifier, and has antiviral and antitumour activity. It is used as a topical gel in the treatment of skin lesions such as those caused by the herpes simplex virus and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and as an adjuvant to increase the effectiveness of vaccines.
As many current medicines, Resiquimod suffers from poor metabolism properties that limit its wider use. One such problem is rapid metabolism that causes it to be cleared too rapidly from the body. While higher dosing may attain a higher plasma level of the drug, it often also causes poor patient compliance, undesirable side effects, and increased cost of treatment. A rapidly metabolized drug may also expose patients to undesirable toxic or reactive metabolites. Despite the beneficial activities of Resiquimod, there is a continuing need for new compounds to treat the diseases and conditions for which Resiquimod is found effective.


In some embodiments, a method for monitoring tropical storm conditions includes determining a target sea-surface path relative to a tropical storm center where in situ measurements are desired. A buoy is configured to include one or more sensors for one or more in situ measurements and to move relative to a local wind in the tropical storm so as to approximately follow the target sea surface path. The buoy is deployed in the tropical storm at a location substantively on the target sea surface path. In some embodiments, a buoy includes means for automatically maintaining position near a sea surface, moving at a particular direction and a particular speed relative to a local wind, measuring one or more environmental conditions in a vicinity of the buoy, and sending, to a remote facility, observation data based on output from the means for measuring one or more conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to monitoring storm conditions, especially for tropical storms, such as hurricanes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Tropical storms that develop into hurricanes are well-known to cause significant damage, injuries, and loss of life. Such tropical storms are also known as cyclones and typhoons. As used herein the terms "storm" and "tropical storm" each include any storm known as a tropical storm, hurricane, cyclone or typhoon.
Monetary costs can be large (on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year) and there can be major economic disruptions. Measuring oceanographic and meteorological conditions within and near these storms is important to determine their intensities, and enables more accurate predictions of strengths and locations at landfall where most damage occurs.
Present methods of data collection involve deploying meteorological sensors (e.g., dropsondes) from aircraft (e.g., hurricane hunters) and installing data collection buoys at fixed locations. Deployment of sensors from aircraft has been important but suffers from the deficiencies of: extensive personnel; multiple expensive missions; dangerous missions over long ranges; and discontinuous data collection. Measurement of oceanographic and meteorological data from fixed buoys, such as the buoys deployed by the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), a component of the National Weather Service (NWS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), have also been helpful. However fixed buoys also have deficiencies, including a major deficiency in that a storm may not pass near the fixed buoy. Other deficiencies are that fixed data collection buoys need to be large for mooring in deep water, and they are expensive.
There have been several efforts to develop autonomous buoys, or station-keeping buoys (e.g., for acoustic ocean surveillance for Department of Defense, DoD, applications). Several of these buoys use mechanical propulsion with power provided by batteries, solar cells, or engines. Some of these buoys use sails. These buoys have been designed for maintaining an approximate fixed geographical position.
Various free-drifting buoys have been developed. These buoys drift with prevailing currents and they are designed generally to minimize wind effects. For example, sub-surface drogues (i.e., drag devices) are used to increase drift with currents and decrease drift with winds.
Buoys have been deployed ahead of hurricanes. For example, NOAA and the Navy have deployed, by aircraft, an array of drifting buoys in the tropical Atlantic before hurricane seasons to help hurricane forecasting. These small buoys float partially submerged and have submerged drogues to further reduce effects of the wind in moving them.
To Applicant's knowledge, no buoys have been designed or deployed that attempt to position themselves along a target path relative to a center of the tropical storm as the storm propagates across the sea surface.

Techniques for monitoring storm conditions


A discarded medical material container comprises a body of sheet material having laminated layers of compact fibrous material and material that is effectively impervious to the passage of fluid. The sheet material is formed into foldable panels that are joined together to define a bottom, sidewalls and a top of the body. The top has a closeable opening for the insertion of discarded material into the container and a closure tab. The top is formed of a first, interior panel of the sheet material having a region that is sectioned to define a plurality of flaps extending inwardly from the contour of the region, so as to define an opening in the first panel of sheet material, and a second, outer panel of sheet material, disposed atop the first panel. The second panel has a cut to define an aperture in the shape of a generally flexible tab overlying the region in the first panel and sized to close the aperture. A slit-score causes each flap to assume a generally downwardly bent condition. The slit-score is adjacent to and set back beneath an edge of the cut through the second panel, so that a portion of the second panel extends over the slit-score, thereby effectively preventing each flap from being bent outwardly through the aperture in the second panel.

In my above-referenced copending patent application, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein, there is described a new and improved medical appliance disposal container which is designed to meet or exceed requirements set forth in advisories issued by public health service organizations, such as the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., governing the disposal of medical waste (including sharp instruments, such as scalpels and syringes). These advisories state that such containers must be rigid, leakproof and puncture resistant.
As pointed out in that application, many of the medical waste material containers that are currently employed by the medical community are typically multi-piece plastic structures, usually of 'snap together' construction, which not only are susceptible to leaks at their joints, but often readily come apart, spilling their contents, when subjected to 'trash removal' type of handling by hospital custodial personnel. Moreover, because hospital regulations often require destruction by incineration, burning containers made substantially entirely of plastic can cause the emission of considerable quantities of toxic pollutants, such as HCl and dioxins.
To successfully solve these problems the medical appliance disposal container described in my above-referenced application has a unitary body structure formed of a substantially flat sheet of laminated layers of compact, non-toxic, fibrous material, such as high bond strength (on the order of 500 Mullen) fiberboard, which is effectively impermeable to needle punctures. This laminated sheet structure is also provided, preferably at least within its interior, with one or more thin (on the order of one to several mils) pliable layers of an absorption resistant material, such as polyethylene, that forms a liquid barrier and thereby prevents the passage of fluid through the entirety of the fibrous material and thus serves to maintain the integrity and strength of the wall structure of the container.
In the course of manufacture of the container, the sheet material is divided into a plurality of foldable panels that are scored, wrapped at corners and adhesively joined together to define a bottom, sidewalls and a top of the body structure. The panels are scored along lines spaced apart from folded edges, so as to form beads in the sheet material that are separated from the corners of folds, whereby edges of the panels abut against corners of the folds and ensure a snug, leakproof fit of the panels.
In accordance with one of the embodiments of the container (which may be substantially cube or square-shaped), an outer top panel of the container is provided with a generally circular aperture, from which a narrow, generally triangular or 'V'-shaped cut-out region extends. An interior top panel, directly beneath the outer top panel, has a region that is sectioned into wedge-shaped flaps, that are bent downwardly into the container. A smaller, central circular aperture in the interior to panel beneath the outer top panel defines the interior edge of the wedge-shaped flaps. The wedge-shaped flaps are bent inwardly from a slit score line, which follows the generally circular shape of the aperture in the outer top panel of the container. The slit score line is slightly behind the lip of the outer top panel and causes the wedge shape tabs to remain in their generally downwardly bent condition and a pair of adjacent, downwardly bent flaps beneath the 'V'-shaped cut-out region form a narrow slot which extends from the central aperture to the vertex of the 'V'-shaped region to provide a converging 'crimping' region whereat needles may be bent when discarding a syringe.
The outer top panel also has a closure tab the perimeter of which is coincident with the circular/'V'-shaped opening in the outer top panel and extends from a slit score along a line at a fold location of the closure tab. The slit score causes the closure tab to be retained in a generally upwardly or outwardly extending condition. The score line in the outer top panel is relatively short, so that the closure tab, when urged down into its original position, will not tend to resist remaining in the horizontal position and can be readily sealed by an overlying plastic label.


A method for removing some or all metadata from files during copying or moving. Metadata management software may register with an operating system and be called to remove metadata crossing a trust boundary, such as going from a local hard drive to a file share.

As computer usage increases, so does the amount of data that users may seek to share between computers. Not only has the number of files being shared or accessed increased, but also the size of the files being transferred.
For example, users may transfer documents, spreadsheets, pictures and other types of files or documents. As the document size and complexity has grown, ways of summarizing a document or file content have been developed. For example it may be desirable to examine a summary of the content of a file or other ancillary information about the file or document before opening or downloading or otherwise processing it. One way to provide this information is through metadata.
Data files on computers often have descriptions or metadata which can tell extra information about the file. Examples of metadata include the file name, creation time, and size. Other metadata may include the author's name, e-mail lists of reviewers, keywords to help organize files, and so on. Some of this information may be personal or of a confidential nature that a user may not wish to distribute.


A method (100) for managing the provision of a service between origin and destination endpoints over a communication network is disclosed. The communication network comprises at least two Autonomous Systems (ASs) and an Abstraction and Control of Traffic Engineered Networks Virtual Network (VN) between the origin and destination endpoints. The method comprises defining, at each of the origin and destination endpoints, a service segregation loopback interface corresponding to a subset of traffic belonging to the service (110). The method further comprises binding the subset of traffic to the VN by exposing the service segregation loopback interface defined at the destination endpoint as routing next hop only to traffic belonging to the subset (120).

Software Defined Networking (SDN) of transport networks is increasing in popularity, with operators beginning to deploy SDN based solutions for single domain management in transport networks. Abstraction of network resources is a technique that can be applied to a single network domain or across multiple domains to create a single virtualized network that is under the control of a network operator or the customer of the operator. Abstraction and Control of Traffic Engineered Networks (ACTN) is an initiative standardised in various IETF drafts with the aim of facilitating resource abstraction in multi technology and multi-vendor transport networks. In ACTN terminology, an SDN based solution for single domain management in transport networks is referred to as a Physical Network Controller (PNC) controlled domain. The driver for the introduction of SDN in transport networks is to provide network operators with Traffic Engineering (TE) capabilities in terms of constraints to be applied to the routing of traffic in the network. Such capabilities may include for example computing paths with minimum delay, minimum cost etc.
Service providers offer to their customers services built on top of, and transported via, the tunnels defined in transport networks. The tunnels themselves do not form part of the customer offering, but rather the services built on top of the tunnels. There is therefore a need to bind the overlay services provided to customers to particular tunnels that will transport the service traffic in accordance with constraints to be applied to the service. Such overlay services may include for example Layer 3 and Layer 2 Virtual private Networks (L3VPNs and L2VPNs). This requirement is very common for L3VPN services, according to which Virtual Routing Functions (VRFs) are defined on Provider Edge (PE) nodes and it is required to bind a VPN to a given VRF and to bind a VRF to a given tunnel. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 1, according to which a request is received for VPN A1 2 between PE X1 4 and PE Y1 6 with minimal delay. The transport network between PE X1 4 and PE Y1 6 includes transport nodes 8. Supposing that the path with minimal delay is the path going through nodes PE X1-P1-P2-P3-P4-PE Y1, a mechanism is required to bind VPN A1 2 to that particular tunnel. Such a mechanism exists and different vendors implement it in different ways, but most commercial nodes allow for binding between a VRF and a given tunnel.
Existing solutions function effectively in a single network domain; that is in situations in which the Customer Edge (CE) nodes of the VPN are connected to PE nodes belonging to the same Autonomous System (AS). This is the situation illustrated in FIG. 1, but this situation is in fact just a small subset of actual deployment situations in customer networks, according which it is usual for multiple ASs to be crossed by the traffic belonging to a single VPN, meaning that the CE nodes of the VPN are connected to PE nodes belonging to different ASs. In multi domain scenarios, there is therefore no single end to end tunnel, that is there is no single entity connecting the origin and destination PE nodes for a VPN, only tunnels within each domain and mechanisms to forward the traffic from one domain to another. In order to provide end to end constraints against a VPN, it is necessary to guarantee that the traffic for this service is bound to a specific path in each domain. Using existing techniques it is possible force the VPN traffic to use a particular tunnel in the first AS by binding the VPN to a VRF at the first PE node and binding the VRF to the desired tunnel. However, once the traffic is delivered from the Autonomous System Border Router (ASBR) of the first AS to an ASBR of a neighbouring AS, there is no way to tell the ASBR of the neighbouring AS which tunnel to use in order to reach the destination PE node.
A further challenge in the provision of services over a transport network is that in many cases, it is desirable to be able to treat different traffic for a single service in a different way. An example of such a situation is illustrated in FIG. 2, which shows a transport network comprising three ASs 10, 12, 14. A VPN (VPN 1 in FIG. 2) may be leased to a customer which requires different types of traffic within the VPN to be treated differently. In the illustrated example some traffic, illustrated as VPN 1A 16, is required to be routed along the shortest path, other traffic, such as voice traffic illustrated as VPN 1B 18, is required to be routed along the path within minimal delay, while still other traffic, video traffic illustrated as VPN 1C 20, is required to be routed over a path with high bandwidth availability.
A further example situation in which traffic for a single service may be required to be treated differently is illustrated in FIG. 3. In the example of FIG. 3, traffic for the service VPN 1 is required to be mapped to different tunnels within the three ASs 10, 12, 14 on a type of subscriber basis. In the illustrated example, subscribers using a public IP address 22 are required to be routed to the internet, while subscribers using a private IP address 24 are required to be routed through various functions 26, including for example Network Address Translation (NAT), Service Aware Support Node (SASN), Managed Service Provider (MSP) etc.
The situations illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 could be managed for example by using a dedicated VPN for each type of traffic or by aggregating traffic on the Customer Edge nodes. However, both of these approaches would involve significant waste of resources. Dedicated VPNs would also cause significant scalability issues as the number of VPN instances in the network would increase significantly, and commercial nodes are only able to handle some thousands of VPNs. The scalability issues for aggregation on CE nodes would be greater still, as there would be a need to provide a dedicated physical port per VPN on the Provider Edge nodes.

Method and apparatus for service provision in a communication network


Provided is a process for limiting or preventing the formation and/or agglomeration of gas hydrates, comprising combining (1) a production fluid comprising an aqueous phase and one or more gasses and (2) at least one compound represented by formula (I) or a salt thereof as defined herein.

Petroleum and/or gas and/or condensates are produced in various environments, and especially in offshore sites and/or in sites that are subject to cold meteorological periods, which leads to substantial cooling of the fluids produced on contact with the cold walls of the transportation pipes.
The term "fluids produced" means fluids comprising petroleum, gases, condensates, water and mixtures thereof.
For the purposes of the present invention, the term "petroleum" means crude oil, i.e. unrefined oil, originating from an oilfield.
For the purposes of the present invention, the term "gas" means crude natural gases, i.e. untreated gases, extracted directly from a gasfield, for instance hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, propane or butane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and other compounds that are gaseous under the exploitation conditions, and also mixtures thereof. The composition of the natural gas extracted varies considerably depending on the well. Thus, the gas may comprise gaseous hydrocarbons, water and other gases.
For the purposes of the present invention, the term "condensates" means hydrocarbons of intermediate density. The condensates generally comprise mixtures of hydrocarbons, which are liquid under the exploitation conditions.
It is known that these production fluids, or fluids produced, usually comprise an aqueous phase. The origin of this aqueous phase may be endogenous and/or exogenous to the underground reservoir containing the hydrocarbons, the exogenous aqueous phase generally originating from injection of water (injection water).
The depletion of the old sites discovered is nowadays leading the petroleum and gas industry to perform production, especially on new sites, often with increasingly great depths for the offshore sites and with ever more extreme meteorological conditions.
On offshore sites, the pipes for transporting the fluids produced, especially on the seabed, are increasingly deep, reaching depths where the seawater is at temperatures below 15° C., below 10° C., or even close or equal to 4° C.
Similarly, on sites located in certain geographical zones, the air or the surface water may be cold, typically below 15° C., or below 10° C. Now, at such temperatures, the fluids produced undergo substantial cooling during their transportation. This cooling may be further amplified in the case of stoppage or a slowdown in production, in which cases the contact time between the fluids produced and the cold walls of the pipe increases.
When the temperature of the fluids produced drops, the industry concerned with extracting these fluids is commonly confronted with the formation of clathrates, also known as hydrate crystals, gas hydrates or quite simply hydrates. The risk for the industry concerned with extracting these fluids and especially concerned with petroleum, gas and condensate extraction is proportionately greater the lower the temperature of the production fluids and the higher the pressure of these fluids.
These problems of formation and/or agglomeration of hydrates may also be encountered in drilling muds or in completion fluids, during a drilling operation or a completion operation.
These clathrates are solid crystals (similar to ice crystals) formed by water molecules, also referred to as the "receiver", around one or more gas molecules, also referred to as the "guests", such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide.
The formation and growth of hydrate crystals, induced by a lowering of the temperature of the production fluids, which emerge hot from the geological reservoir which contains them and which enter a cold zone, may cause clogging or blocking of the production pipes, the hydrocarbon (petroleum, condensate or gas) transportation pipes, or gate valves, flap valves and other elements liable to become totally or at least partially blocked. These cloggings/blockages may lead to losses of production of petroleum, condensates and/or gas, entailing appreciable or even very substantial economic losses. The reason for this is that the consequence of these cloggings and/or blockages will be a decrease in the production flow rate, or even stoppage of the production unit. In the event of a blockage, the consequence of searching for the zone of the blockage and removal of said blockage will be a loss of time and of profit for this unit. These cloggings and/or blockages may also lead to malfunction in safety elements (for example safety gate valves).
To reduce, delay or inhibit the formation and/or agglomeration of hydrates, various solutions have already been proposed or envisaged. Among these, mention may be made especially of a first solution which consists in dehydrating the crude oil or the gas upstream of the zone of the pipe where the temperature promotes the formation of these hydrates. This solution is, however, difficult or even impossible to implement under satisfactory economic conditions.
A second approach, which is also very expensive, consists in maintaining the temperature of the pipe at a temperature above the temperature of formation and/or agglomeration of hydrates, at a given pressure.
A third approach, which is frequently used, consists in adding a thermodynamic anti-hydrate, for example methanol or glycol, to the fluids produced containing the water/guest gas mixture to shift the equilibrium temperature for the formation of hydrates. In order to obtain acceptable efficacy, about 30% by weight of alcohol, relative to the amount of water, is generally introduced. However, the toxicity of methanol and the large amount of alcohol used are increasingly leading industrialists to adopt a fourth approach.
This fourth solution consists in adding an additive in low dosage, known as a low dosage hydrate inhibitor (LDHI) into the fluids produced comprising the water/guest gas mixture. This additive is also known as an anti-hydrate and is introduced at a low dosage, generally between 1% and 4% by weight, relative to the weight of water, it being understood that larger or smaller amounts are, of course, possible. Two types of anti-hydrate additives are currently known: anti-agglomerants and kinetic anti-hydrates.
The formation of hydrates depends mainly on the temperature and the pressure, and also on the composition of the guest gas(es). To be able to compare the performance of additives, the notion of subcooling value is used. The subcooling (SC) value is thus defined as the difference between the temperature of the fluids produced (or exploitation temperature T) and the thermodynamic equilibrium temperature of formation of the hydrate crystals (Teq) for a given pressure and a given composition of the hydrate-forming gases and of the aqueous phase, according to the following equation: SC=T−Teq.
When the subcooling value is less than or equal to 0° C., there is a risk of formation of gas hydrate.
Kinetic anti-hydrates act on the seeding and growth of the hydrate crystals. They retard the formation of hydrates by several hours, or even several days.
However, this type of hydrate inhibitor acts with difficulty at subcooling (SC) values below −10° C. for a given pressure. In other words, the time for appearance of crystals under these conditions is short enough for them to appear and to increase the pressure loss in the petroleum and gas production fluid transportation pipes.
Conversely, anti-agglomerants do not inhibit the formation of hydrate crystals, but disperse them in the form of fine particles, known as a slurry, which consequently prevents their agglomeration. The hydrates thus dispersed give rise to less or even no clogging or blocking, as mentioned previously, thus limiting the loss of hydrocarbon production.
In contrast with kinetic anti-hydrates, anti-agglomerants make it possible to avoid the problems of blocking and/or clogging as mentioned previously at subcooling (SC) values of the order of −15° C. to −20° C. for a given pressure, but are less efficient or even lose their efficiency at even lower subcooling values.
For example, US 2012/0161070 proposes anti-agglomerant chemical compositions. However, the tests performed are limited to a subcooling value of −17° C. Furthermore, the synthesis of these surfactants requires four reaction steps, if the steps for obtaining the fatty amine from renewable starting materials consisting of fatty acid are also counted. Limiting the number of synthetic steps is important for limiting the cost, the losses of yield, the waste and the quality problems.
US 2012/0157351 also proposes anti-agglomerant chemical compositions. However, the tests performed are limited to a subcooling value of −17° C. and the other chemical compositions proposed are not efficient for dispersing hydrates with a subcooling value of −20° C.
Given the exploitation medium (oceans, seas), it is increasingly common for anti-agglomerants also to have to have low ecotoxicity, satisfactory biodegradability and low bioaccumulation. According to the recommendations of the CEFAS (Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science) in accordance with the OSPAR (Oslo-Paris Commission), in order for an additive to be green, i.e. environmentally compatible, it needs to meet two of the following three conditions:
1) have an ecotoxicity (LC50 (lethal effects) and EC50 (toxic effects)) of greater than 10 mg·L−1;
2) have a biodegradability (OCDE 306) in marine medium of greater than 60%; and
3) have a bioaccumulation (Log Pow) (OCDE 117) of less than or equal to 3 or its molar mass greater than 700 g·mol−1.
Other countries also impose two of these three conditions for additives used in petroleum and gas production, for instance corrosion inhibitors, kinetic anti-hydrates, anti-agglomerants, mineral deposit inhibitors, de-emulsifiers, deoilers, antifoam additives, paraffin inhibitors and dispersants, asphaltene inhibitors and dispersants, and hydrogen sulfide scavengers.
A real need consequently remains to develop an anti-agglomerant which is easy to manufacture in a low number of synthetic steps and readily industrializable, while at the same time complying with the recommendations of CEFAS or, at the very least, at least one (1), preferably at least two (2), more preferably three (3) of the environmental conditions mentioned above, and which is efficient for a subcooling value of less than or equal to −20° C., i.e. for a temperature difference between the extraction temperature, or exploitation temperature, and the thermodynamic equilibrium temperature at which hydrate crystals form, of less than or equal to −20° C.

Use of a particular carboxylic amino acid in order to limit the formation and/or agglomeration of gas hydrates


In an internal combustion engine having a catalytic converter incorporated in an exhaust passage thereof, there is provided a secondary air control system. The control system comprises an electric air pump by which secondary air is fed to the exhaust passage. An intake air amount detecting device is provided for detecting the amount of air fed to the engine through an intake passage of the engine. A control unit is provided for controlling the voltage applied to the air pump in accordance with the amount of air detected by the intake air amount detecting device. The control is so made that the amount of secondary air fed to the exhaust passage by the air pump is substantially proportional to the amount of air detected by the intake air amount detecting device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to control systems for internal combustion engines, and more particularly to control systems of a type which controls a secondary air fed to the exhaust system of the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In automotive internal combustion engines, there is a type in which a secondary air is fed to an exhaust system to burn and thus reduce harmful CO and HC in an exhaust gas from the engine. Usually, the secondary air is fed to the exhaust passage upstream of a catalytic converter, so that the exhaust gas fed to the converter can have a sufficiently high temperature due to burning of CO and HC. With this arrangement, remaining CO and HC in the exhaust gas is effectively burnt in the converter, and thus, the harmful CO and HC in the exhaust gas can be greatly reduced.
However, feeding the catalytic converter with the secondary air sometimes induces an excessive heating of catalyst of the converter, which tends to lower the catalytic activity and shorten the life of the catalyst. In view of this, as is described in Japanese Patent Second Provisional Publication 53-9663, usually, the secondary air feeding is made only at the time when, like at engine idling, CO and HC tend to increase. In fact, in order to obtain a stable running of the engine, a somewhat richer air/fuel mixture is fed to the engine during idling, which however in turn causes an increase of CO and HC in the exhaust gas.
However, even when feeding of the secondary air to the exhaust system is made only at the above-mentioned limited time, excessive air feeding to the system sometimes induces a certain temperature drop in the catalytic converter, which lowers the activity of the catalyst. In fact, the concentration (viz., lightoff performance) of fresh air in the exhaust gas, which allows sufficient exhaust gas oxidation at the lowermost allowable temperature, has been determined. For keeping the dilution of the exhaust gas with the secondary air at a given level, it is preferable to control the amount of the secondary air in proportion to that of the exhaust gas from the engine.
However, in the conventional system disclosed by the above-mentioned publication, the secondary air feeding fails to satisfy the above-mentioned proportional supply. That is, in the system, the secondary air feeding is powered by an air pump which is directly driven by the engine. That is, the amount of the secondary air is controlled so as to be proportional to the rotation speed of the engine, not to the amount of the exhaust gas from the engine.
In view of the above, electrically controlled air pumps have been proposed for controlling the secondary air fed to the exhaust system of the engine. Most of them are of a type in which an electric control valve disposed in a secondary air feeding pipe is controlled to vary its opening. However, in this type, the air pump is subjected to a wasteful operation due to marked pressure drop of the secondary air produced when the air passes through the control valve. Furthermore, since the pressure ratio between the pressure appearing upstream of the control valve (viz., the discharge pressure of the pump) and the pressure appearing downstream of the control valve varies, satisfactory proportional air control is not obtained.

Secondary air control system for internal combustion engine


The invention relates to an injection molding method for the production of a complex, high optical quality light-diffusing molded item. The molding material used comprises a matrix made of polymethyl(meth)acrylate and spherical plastic particles whose particle size ranges from 1-24 μm and the concentration thereof ranges from 0.05-30 wt.-% in relation to the weight of the polymethyl(meth)acrylate. The spherical particles exhibit a refractive index differential in relation to the polymethyl(meth)acrylate matrix of 0.01 0.2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing protective coverings for lamps, polymethyl (meth)acrylate being given light-scattering or diffusing properties. This is achieved via admixture of scattering particles to the plastics matrix, the refractive index of the scattering particles differing from that of the polymethyl(meth)acrylate.
2. Discussion of the Background
Mixtures of this type composed of polymethyl (meth)acrylate and scattering particles are especially suitable for the lighting sector. For example, EP-A 0 656 548 describes uniformly illuminated optical conductor plates composed of a methyl methacrylate matrix and of scattering particles embedded therein, composed of a crosslinked polymer which may contain acrylic esters, methacrylic esters and styrene. The order of size of the scattering particles is from 2 to 20 μm, and they are incompatible with the plastic of the matrix.
There are also known lampshades which comprise plastics particles as scattering media. For example, the document JP11179856 describes multilayer sheets with at least one layer which encompasses a polymethyl methacrylate matrix and also encompasses crosslinked polymethyl methacrylate beads as a scattering/matting agent, the content of the beads being in the range from 0.5 to 25% by weight. The size of the beads is in the range from 3 to 30 μm, and the examples here describe only sheets of thickness 2 mm, which comprise about 3% by weight of scattering beads whose size is about 6 μm.
The Japanese specification JP-A 418346 describes light-scattering multilayer sheets with a layer composed of methyl methacrylate, this layer comprising from 1 to 20% by weight of crosslinked styrene particles whose average size is from 1 to 30 μm.
The moulding compositions described are usually further processed via extrusion to give screens or optical conductor plates. For the production of complex moulded parts, e.g. specialized headlamp covers, and parts with cavities or perforations, the extruded products have to be further processed via forming processes. The high costs which arise via the additional operation are a disadvantage of this procedure.

Method for the production of light-diffusing moulded items with excellent optical characteristics


In insulated-gate, field effect transistor (IGFET) devices fabricated in integrated circuits, the scaling down of the dimensions of the devices has resulted in structures with dimensions are so small that reproducibility of parameters can become problematic. Specifically, the gate dielectric, typically silicon nitride, silicon oxide or silicon nitride, of a gate structure is nearing the point where the required thickness of the gate dielectric to provide the selected electric field in the channel region is implemented with a few to several atomic layers. In order to improve parameter reproducibility, a dielectric material, such TaO.sub.5 or a ferroelectric material, is used as a gate dielectric. TaO.sub.5 and the ferroelectric materials have a dielectric constant an order of magnitude higher than the material typically used in the past. Using these materials, the gate dielectric can be proportionately thicker, thereby improving the parameter reproducibility.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the fabrication of integrated circuits and, more particularly, to the fabrication of insulated gate, field effect transistor (IGFET) devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
An insulated-gate, field effect transistor (IGFET) device 5, such as a metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), is shown in FIG. 1. A substrate 10 has a doped well region 12, a p-doped well will be used for purposes of illustration. The substrate 10 has a p-doped channel region 14 that provides a conducting path between the n-doped source/drain region 16A, 16B and the n-doped source/drain region 18A, 18B. In addition, a p-doped punch-through region 20 is provided below the channel region 14. Also formed in the substrate 10 are the isolation structures 22 and 24. The gate structure of the IGFET device 5 includes a gate dielectric region 26, directly over the channel region 14, and a gate electrode 28 over the gate dielectric 26. The gate structure 26, 28 can include spacers 30, 32 formed against the walls of the gate structure 26, 28. An insulating layer 34 covers the substrate 10 and the gate structure 26, 28. The insulating layer 34 has vias formed therein, and the vias are filled with a conducting material. The conducting material 36 provides conducting paths 36 to source/drain (electrode) regions 16A, 16B and 18A and 18B and to the gate electrode 28. An insulating layer 38, formed over insulating layer 34, is patterned, and portions of the photoresist layer removed as a result of patterning are filled with conducting material to provide conducting paths 40. The conducting paths 40 and the remaining insulating material 38 constitute the interconnect layer 38, 40, constitute the electrical coupling between the IGFET device 5 and the remainder of the integrated circuit.
The operation of the IGFET device 5 can be understood as follows. A voltage applied to the gate electrode 28 causes a transverse field in the channel region 14. The transverse field controls (e.g., modulates) the current flow between source/drain region 16A, 16B and source/drain region 18A, 18B. The punch-through region 20 is formed to prevent parasitic effects that can occur when this region is not formed in the device 5. The spacers 30, 32 and the dual-structured, doped source/drain regions 16A, 16B and 18A, 18B address a problem generally referred to as the "hot-carrier" effect. When only one source/drain region 16A and 18A is present and is formed by doping technique aligned with the electrode structure 26, 28, charge carriers from these regions can migrate into the channel region 14 and be trapped by the gate dielectric 26. These trapped charge carriers adversely affect the transverse electric field normally formed in the channel region 14 by a voltage applied to the gate electrode 28. The problem is alleviated by lightly-doping source/drain regions 16A and 18A by a technique which aligns this doping procedure with the gate structure 26, 28. Spacers 30 and 32 are next formed on the walls of the gate structure 26, 28. Source/drain regions 16B and 18B are formed by a doping procedure, resulting in source/drain doping concentrations at normal levels, that aligns the source/drain regions 16B and 18B with the spacers 30 and 32, respectively. (While this two level doping procedure effectively eliminates the "hot-carrier" problem, the resistance between the two source/drain dual regions 16A, 16B and 18A, 18B is increased.) The isolation structures 22, 24 provide electrical insulation between the device 5 and other areas of the integrated circuit.
As the dimensions of integrated circuit devices have been reduced, problems have arisen in the fabrication because of the miniaturization. By way of specific example, as the gate structures in IGFET devices have been reduced, the thickness of the gate dielectric layer has correspondingly been reduced. This layer, fabricated using present techniques, is approaching a thickness of less than 10 .ANG.. At such a thickness, small (and frequently unavoidable) variations in the fabrication of the gate structure can result in a wide variation of parameter values. Specifically, the thickness of the gate dielectric layer determines the capacitance of the gate dielectric layer, and consequently the electric field in the channel region. Because of the requirements for standardization of integrated circuits and their components, these variations can compromise the production of the integrated circuits.

Ferroelectric-enhanced tantalum pentoxide for dielectric material applications in CMOS devices


A method, system and computer program product for performing testing and verification is disclosed. The method includes converting a bias data specification to a driver specification. The driver specification is then parsed into a base constraint and bias file, wherein the base constraint and bias file is suitable for conversion into one of a set comprising a netlist representation and a random simulation representation. A verification framework is selected from among a set comprising a random verification framework using the random simulation representation and a synthesized verification framework using the netlist representation. In response to selecting the random verification framework using the random simulation representation, the random simulation representation is compiled into a parameter database. In response to selecting the synthesized verification framework using the netlist representation, the netlist representation is compiled into a synthesized model. A property of at least one of a set of the synthesized model and the parameter database is tested and verified.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to testing and verification, and in particular to verification of digital designs. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product for verification of digital designs through reconfiguration of random biases in a synthesized design without recompilation.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasing penetration of processor-based systems into every facet of human activity, demands have increased on the processor and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) development and production community to produce systems that are free from design flaws. Circuit products, including microprocessors, digital signal and other special-purpose processors, and ASICs, have become involved in the performance of a vast array of critical functions, and the involvement of microprocessors in the important tasks of daily life has heightened the expectation of error-free and flaw-free design. Whether the impact of errors in design would be measured in human lives or in mere dollars and cents, consumers of circuit products have lost tolerance for results polluted by design errors. Consumers will not tolerate, by way of example, miscalculations on the floor of the stock exchange, in the medical devices that support human life, or in the computers that control their automobiles. All of these activities represent areas where the need for reliable circuit results has risen to a mission-critical concern.
In response to the increasing need for reliable, error-free designs, the processor and ASIC design and development community has developed rigorous, if incredibly expensive, methods for testing and verification for demonstrating the correctness of a design. The task of hardware verification has become one of the most important and time-consuming aspects of the design process. In order to maximize the verification coverage attainable with the resources available to a hardware design, numerous verification methods have been developed, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. These methods include random simulation, hardware emulation, formal verification, and semi-formal verification.
The benefit of random simulation is that it may readily be deployed to attempt to find bugs in large designs, and may be run on any computer from a laptop to a workstation. A drawback of random simulation lies in the limited coverage attainable with such an "explicit search" paradigm, and that it becomes slower as the design size increases. Typically, the stimulus provided to the design in such an environment is through a high-level language which accepts some specification indicating how to generate random stimulus. The high-level specification code interprets the specification to determine how to inject values to drive the simulation process. Example high-level languages include C/C++, or SystemVerilog.
Hardware emulation environments are similar to random simulation environments in the sense that they explicitly search only one path of the design at a time (and hence have limited coverage), though they are often orders of magnitude faster in their evaluation of the design, particularly for very large designs. To enable increased speed, C/C++ interfaces are often discarded in favor of synthesized versions of the random stimulus specification.
Formal and semi-formal verification environments leverage symbolic evaluation of the design to consider astronomically large number of search paths in parallel. In some cases, formal and semi-formal verification environments are able to even complete proofs of correctness of the design, and may yield much greater coverage than random simulation or emulation environments. However, symbolic evaluation through formal and semi-formal verification environments is computationally expensive and may prove inapplicable to larger designs. To enable the symbolic search, C/C++ interfaces are discarded in favor of synthesized versions of the random stimulus specification (as with emulation environments).
These distinct verification methodologies all require that the verification engineer develop a specification for the manner in which random stimulus may be applied to the design under test. Note that there are two aspects to such a specification. First, the "constraining" aspect, which disallows "illegal" stimulus from being applied to the design and causes "false failures" must be considered in all platforms. Second, the "bias" aspect, which indicates the probability with which certain random values will be applied to the design under verification, is most important to simulation, emulation, and semi-formal frameworks. Simulation, emulation, and semi-formal frameworks are dependent upon random explicit search to expose interesting regions of behavior of the design under test. Purely formal algorithms will ignore such biases since they are (by construction) exhaustive and explore all possible stimulus.
Hitherto, the languages used to specify the "constraint" and "bias" aspects of random stimulus to be applied in the verification process (hereafter referred to as the "driver" and the "bias data", respectively) are different in random simulation versus emulation/formal/semi-formal environments, because the former often use C/C++ interpreters whereas the latter require synthesis of this data into a netlist type of representation. The need for multiple file types creates problems by increasing the amount of manual effort needed in the overall verification process (since equivalent specifications may need to be created in two different languages), and adds risk of omissions, errors, etc. Under the prior art, a single shared specification cannot directly be used in both platforms. What is needed is method and computer program product for verification of digital designs through reconfiguration of random biases in a synthesized design without recompilation.

Method for reconfiguration of random biases in a synthesized design without recompilation

International Business Machines Corporation


Interactive notifications, from merchants or others soliciting a user response, are provided to the users' mobile devices for facilitating user engagement and receiving customer feedback. The interactive notifications include multiple single- or limited-action user-response options, such as buttons for purchasing the product or indicating that the user is not interested, enabling a user to immediately respond to the notification. The notification may be pushed to the mobile devices and presented on the locked screen of the mobile device or may interrupt other applications, thereby further minimizing the level of user interaction or attention necessary for responding. Analytical data may be collected from the interactive notification and may be used to tailor future notifications.

Mobile devices tend to be used intermittently with varied user-session durations. A user may begin a session on their mobile device while waiting in line, riding the elevator, or commuting, for example, and become interrupted or otherwise put away their device when something else requires the user's attention. Merchants or other parties seeking to communicate with mobile-device users must compete for the users' attention during these windows of user engagement.
Email, text message, and other traditional forms of communication that solicit a user response (e.g., offers to purchase a product, promotions, customer surveys, or similar messages) are easily ignored or forgotten by users because they require a commitment of time and effort to respond, such as composing a reply message, launching an application, navigating to a website, etc. For example, in the case of an email from a merchant that offers a discount, a particular user might decide to respond later and accept the discount, but forget; may be uninterested; may find the offer irrelevant; or may think that responding will take too much time, or more time than the user has available at that moment, such as where the user is about to get off an elevator. This not only leaves the merchant without a response, but without valuable information about why a particular user did not respond to their communication.

Interactive notifications for mobile commerce applications


A pressure wash resistant label comprising:                (A) A topcoat with a first facial surface having a surface roughness in a range of 10 micro-inches (μ-in) (0.254 microns (μm) and 70 μ-in (1.778 μm);        (B) A facesheet in contact with the topcoat and comprising a polymer with a Tg of at least 65° C.;        (C) An optional detectable layer, if present, in contact with the facesheet and comprising metal particles;        (D) An adhesive having a shear adhesion failure temperature (SAFT) of at least 120° C. and in contact with the optional detectable layer if present and if not present, then in contact with the facesheet; and        (E) An optional release liner, if present, in contact with the adhesive.

Many industries require signs and labels to efficiently and effectively identify equipment, product flow through processes, and warn of potential hazards to workers. Signs and labels used in this manner must maintain utility—both legibility and permanence—throughout a reasonable lifespan. Replacement of this type of identification on a daily or even weekly basis is simply unreasonable and impractical. The food and beverage processing industry spans a wide range of industrial operations, and many of these can include significant hazards to workers. In addition, positive identification of processes is required to maintain product quality. Common to almost all of these operations is the requirement of sanitation.
Typically food and beverage processes are run for two shifts out of three in a day, with the third shift reserved for cleaning and sanitation of the equipment. The cleaning is particularly harsh and includes exposures to high-pressure spray, scrubbing, caustic and acidic cleaning chemicals, and sanitizing chemicals. Usually this cleaning is done at elevated temperatures (e.g., 50° C. to 80° C. or even higher). This effort is needed to inhibit the growth of toxic bacteria which could otherwise compromise the efficacy of the end product.
Great efforts are made to be certain that cleanliness and hygiene is maintained. Equipment that is designed to sustain this exposure is required, and typically it comprises stainless steel as it can withstand the cleaning and presents a pore-free surface to minimize the ability of bacterial harborage. The cleaning process, designed to eliminate contaminants on the surface of equipment, makes it especially difficult for identification labels to remain in place. While mechanical attachment can withstand the washing forces and chemical exposures, it can also be compromised by the presence of crevices at attachment points that become a locus for bacterial harborage. Thus the use of a continuous adhesive is desirable for the attachment of signs and labels.
Signs and labels for industrial equipment that are commonplace in other industries are known to fail rapidly when exposed to the harsh conditions of the food and beverage processing operations. If the labels fail by falling off of the equipment to which it is attached, then the additional problem of product contamination can result. While it is common in this industry to use metal detectors to find potential contaminants from the process, these will not find plastic label materials.
What is clearly needed in this industry is the ability to label various process equipment with durable signage that can withstand the cleaning operations while maintaining legibility, and if attachment failure occurs, be readily detectable by process metal detection equipment.


A system and method to provide navigation screens during remote control of devices. A matrix is used to relate button depression and navigation screen to a particular activity. Generic buttons on the remote control can be dynamically defined according to the content of the navigation screens and the configuration of the devices under the control of the remote control.

Remote control devices having possible choices represented by individual buttons are being replaced by simpler devices, sometimes known as remouses, having a smaller set of generic buttons. Due to the simplicity of the remouse, comprehensive information about the interaction between the user and the user interface can be required. The user interface, usually primarily represented by screens presented to the user, can require a complicated navigation system supported by a substantial amount of computer code. What is needed is a way to reduce navigation overhead.

Navigation screen system and method for remote control


Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for measuring distances between nodes. According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, N or more nodes among a plurality of nodes located in a network are randomly selected, n-dimensions (where N>n and n≧1) are formed by using the randomly selected N or more nodes, coordinates of other nodes are determined in the formed n-dimensional spaces by using distances between the randomly selected N or more nodes and other nodes, and distances between the plurality of nodes located in the network are calculated by using the determined coordinates. According to the present invention, the distance between nodes located in a network may be more effectively measured.

A network is a path through which several apparatuses can transmit and receive information therebetween.
Apparatuses constituting the network may be called various names, such as servers, clients, routers, and switches, depending on functions and positions, but the apparatuses constituting a network are commonly called nodes.
Further, in a network, an apparatus to transmit information, that is, data, may be called a source, and an apparatus to finally receive data may be called a destination.
In the meantime, a configuration of the network becomes more complex with development of electrical/electronic devices and networks. Accordingly, in order to transmit data from a source to a destination, there may be a case in which data is directly transmitted from a source to a destination, but data is mostly transmitted through various paths, that is, many apparatuses existing in a network.
Accordingly, in order to transmit data from a source to a destination, that is, to perform communication, it is very significant to recognize the shortest path or an optimum path.
In general, the shortest path may be discriminated from the optimum path, that is, the shortest path refers to a path having relatively the shortest distance for transmitting data from a source to a destination, and the optimum path refers to a relatively more efficient path considering other factors, such as data transmission expenses, as well as a distance, for transmitting data from a source to a destination, but the present specification will collectively use a term the optimum path without the aforementioned discrimination.
In the meantime, such an optimum path is set by measuring a distance between nodes and determining nodes between a source and a destination based on the measured distance.
A distance between nodes in a network is not a physical and geographical distance between nodes in which nodes are actually located, but is a relative concept according to a rate of data transmission between nodes.
For example, when it is assumed that node 1 is an apparatus located in Seoul, node 2 is an apparatus located in New York, and node 3 is an apparatus located in Tokyo, node 1 is physically and geographically close to node 3, but an actual time for communication between node 1 and node 2 may be shorter than that for communication between node 1 and node 3 according to a state of a network, for example, a type of communication line and performance or a type of corresponding apparatus, and in this case, it may be expressed that a distance between node 1 and node 2 is shorter than that between node 1 and node.
In the meantime, various methods for measuring a distance between nodes capable of reflecting a characteristic of a network in a network having a configuration which becomes increasingly complex have been suggested, but a distance between nodes has failed to be effectively measured because a configuration of a network becomes increasingly complex.
Accordingly, a method and an apparatus capable of more effectively measuring a distance between nodes have been demanded.

Method and apparatus for measuring the distance between nodes


A substrate transport apparatus including a first shaftless rotary motor including a first stator and a first rotor, the first stator being linearly distributed and the first rotor being coupled to a first arm, a second shaftless rotary motor including a second stator and second rotor, the second stator being linearly distributed and the second rotor being coupled to a second arm, the second arm being connected to the first arm and a first substrate support being coupled to at least one of the first and second arms, wherein the first stator and second stator are configured so that the first and second arms and the first substrate support are inside the stators and a motor output at a connection between the first and second shaftless rotary motors and a respective one of the first and second arms is a resultant force disposed peripheral to the first and second arms.

1. Field
The exemplary embodiments relate to a substrate transport apparatus and, more particularly, to a robot transport arm of a substrate transport apparatus.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Various types of substrate transport apparatus are known in the art. Examples of substrate transport apparatus are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,404,894, 5,431,529 and 5,765,983. U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,601 discloses a substrate processing apparatus with multiple processing chambers and a substrate transport apparatus.
In many substrate processing applications, a substrate transport apparatus includes a substrate transport robot which is mounted in a central transfer chamber. Typically, the transport robot has a controller that controls a drive that powers an arm assembly. The arm assembly typically operates in the transfer chamber to transfer a substrate to and from various processing chambers on a substrate support or an end effector.
Generally, the transport and processing chambers are maintained substantially at a vacuum to prevent contamination of substrates while being transported and processed. Other atmospheres may also be maintained in the transport and processing chambers if required. Some processing techniques may require the use of atmospheres that are corrosive, have an elevated temperature, or that generally present a hostile environment to the transport robot electronics and drive. In these cases, it would be advantageous to locate the controller and drive outside the hostile environment of the transfer chamber. It would also be advantageous to simplify the mechanical coupling between the drive and the end effector. It would be still further advantageous to couple the drive to the end effector in a manner that does not require a mechanical connection through the wall of the transfer chamber.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.