A rocket engine nozzle manufacturable and applicable to tactical missile designs includes an aerospike having a plurality of airfoil fins distributed around a central longitudinal axis of a rocket engine combustion chamber. The aerospike is integrated on an exit plane at an exit end of the combustion chamber. The airfoil fins and an inner perimeter of the combustion chamber define a plurality of apertures which choke an airflow exiting the combustion chamber and cause the airflow to expand supersonically along the airfoil fins. The aerospike rocket engine nozzle requires less machine precision and achieves packing benefits over conventional bell and aerospike nozzle geometries. The configuration of the aerospike rocket engine nozzle also removes the producibility and heating constraints typically encountered with conventional aerospike nozzles in tactical missile applications while improving thrust performance of the rocket engine across a wide range of altitudes.

In rocket propulsion systems having a traditional bell rocket nozzle, optimized thrust performance can be achieved only at an altitude where the pressure of the airflow exiting the nozzle equals the ambient pressure. If the ambient pressure is greater than the pressure of the airflow exiting the nozzle, the exhaust plume of the rocket will be under-expanded. Alternatively, if the ambient pressure is less than the pressure of the airflow exiting the nozzle, the exhaust plume of the rocket will be over-expanded. In either of these described instances where the ambient pressure is not equal to the pressure of the airflow exiting the nozzle, thrust efficiency and rocket propulsion performance is lost. Instead, for a rocket having a traditional bell rocket nozzle that flies across various altitudes, thrust performance will only be optimized at one specific altitude.
Rocket propulsion systems having an aerospike rocket nozzle are capable of achieving optimal expansion of an exhaust plume of a rocket under a wide range of altitudes, improving thrust efficiency and rocket propulsion performance across an entire flight of the rocket. Specifically, instead of initially being encompassed by a bell rocket nozzle, the airflow exiting the rocket engine blast tube or combustion chamber flows across the aerospike and creates an exhaust plume that is contained by the ambient atmospheric pressure. However, conventional aerospike nozzles have an annular or linear geometry, neither of which are practical for use in tactical missile designs due to packing, producibility and heating constraints. For example, for an aerospike nozzle having an annular geometry, struts are required to hold the aerospike in a center of the exit opening of the combustion chamber. These struts pose a structural liability as they have the potential to cause blockage to the airflow exiting the combustion chamber, overheat and cause various other problems with the rocket propulsion system.

Distributed airfoil aerospike rocket nozzle


A wireless network environment includes multiple wireless stations (such as fixed wireless access points or customer premises equipment), a wireless network of one or more wireless base stations, and a communication management resource. A first wireless station establishes a first wireless link with the wireless network. A second wireless station establishes a second wireless link with the wireless network. Additionally, the first wireless station establishes second wireless connectivity providing a direct connection (wireless communication link) between the first wireless station and the second wireless station. Via the second wireless connectivity, the first wireless station receives data from the second wireless station. The first wireless station communicates the received data over the first wireless connectivity from the first wireless station to a communication management resource. The received data includes any suitable data such as performance metrics associated with the second wireless station and/or the second wireless link.

Conventional wireless systems support different types of wireless connectivity. For example, conventional wireless systems support so-called fixed wireless access (FWA) connectivity between a wireless base station and so-called customer premises equipment. Fixed wireless access is a cost effective option to provide broadband wireless services in rural areas requiring minimal equipment and effort to install compared to alternative implementations including hardwired networks (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, etc.).

Efficient collection and communication of wireless data


A frame wall (20) incorporating occlusion brackets (26) is provided. The frame wall (20) incorporates a pair of adjacent and substantially parallel framing members (22). Each framing member (22) has a substantially U-shaped cross section and encompasses an interior space (34). A firestop (44) is positioned between the adjacent framing members (22). A first occlusion bracket (26) is used to affixed the firestop (44) to a first one of the framing members (22) and is configured to substantially occlude the interior space (34) of that framing member (22). A second occlusion bracket (26) is used to affix the firestop (44) to a second one of the framing members (22).

Fire safety is a concern in the construction of frame wall buildings. When such a building is intended for human occupancy, fire safety increases in importance, as the occupants may often be asleep, hence especially vulnerable, in the event of a fire. Construction techniques that inhibit the rapid spread of fire are therefore common in the construction industry.
One such frame-wall construction technique is the affixment of firestops between adjacent studs. It is the function of a firestop to "stop" (i.e., block or close up) the cavity between the studs. By so doing, the ability of the cavity to act as a chimney for smoke, combustion gasses, etc., is inhibited, and the ability of the fire to spread up the wall to an upper story or roof is inhibited.
One modern frame-wall construction technique utilizes metal channeling, typically formed of sheet steel, as studs and other framing members. Structures utilizing such metal-frame construction provide an alternative to traditional wood-frame structures, offering reduced construction time, improved strength, decreased weight, and a significant reduction in overall flammability.
Inasmuch as such metal framing members are channels having a substantially U-shaped cross section, hence an open interior space, a problem arises in the fitting of firestops. Unless interior space would provide an opening around a firestop sufficient to produce a chimney effect in the event of a fire. This poses a significant safety hazard.
Conventional metal-frame construction requires that a firestop be conformingly trimmed so as to occlude the interior space of the stud(s) to which it is affixed. This is a labor-intensive process, involving the use of snips or other hand-operated cutters. Such a process is time-consuming, hence costly. What is needed, therefore, is a way to affix a firestop between studs in a metal-frame structure that occludes the stud interior space wherein the only cutting of the firestop is to length, i.e., without requiring the firestop to be trimmed or cut to shape. This methodology often inadequately occludes the interior space of at least one of the adjacent framing members, requiring the insertion of rock wool, fiberglass, or other occludent material.
Additionally, conformingly trimming a firestop by hand poses a potential danger to the worker. The cut edges of sheet-steel channels tend to be sharp. In the course of trimming and otherwise manipulating the firestop, a significant risk of laceration or other injury is present. What is needed, therefore, is a reduction of conformingly trimming and/or handling of the firestop so as to reduce the potential for injury.
Also, because such metal framing members have U-shaped cross sections, the use of metal studs in closely studded areas, such as wall corners and junctions, creates a vertical cavity. This is in marked contrast to the use traditional wood studs which, being solid, do not produce such a cavity. Such vertical cavities act as chimneys in the event of fire. Provisions should be made in metal-frame structures to occlude such chimneys. Again, these provisions conventionally require the insertion of a short, conformingly trimmed firestop. What is needed in this case is a way of occluding the resultant vertical cavities without interfering with the spacing and distribution of such close-proximity studs.

Firestop cavity occlusion for metallic stud framing


Apparatus and methods for creating deposits of uniformly spaced or uniformly overlapping droplets of selected chemicals where each droplet has an a priori known amount of the selected chemical or chemicals is taught (including biological and microbial materials). In some embodiments the deposits may be used as samples of different but known concentrations that may be used to calibrate spectroscopic inspection instruments to enable such instruments to not only provide identification in situ of unknown materials but also to provide calibrated and traceable surface concentrations of such materials. In some embodiments, such calibrated instruments may be used in enhanced processes for validating the cleanliness of manufacturing surfaces such as surfaces of equipment used in the preparation of pharmaceuticals, food, or semiconductor devices. Such instruments may be used to ensure adequate purity, or non-contamination, of surfaces of products themselves or packaging materials or of locations where such products will be used. Such calibrated instruments may also be useful in detecting cleanliness of non-manufacturing surfaces where contamination may be of concern, whether they be public or private spaces such as laboratories, restaurants, airports, satellites or other spacecraft. In some embodiments, such instruments may range from deep UV instruments to far infrared instruments or beyond.

Various spectroscopic methods and instruments have existed for years that can be used to perform chemical analysis and identification of materials. Such chemical analysis methods and instruments utilize, for example. Raman spectroscopy, and/or fluorescence spectroscopy phosphorescence spectroscopy. These methods and instruments have been used in a wide range of biological and chemical research, as well as clinical, industrial, and governmental applications. These methods and instruments are being increasingly used in commercial and governmental applications such as for product inspection during the manufacture of pharmaceutical and medical products, manufactured food and chemical products, environmental testing, hazardous material detection, and other applications.
When a sample is exposed to radiation (e.g. infrared (IR) radiation, visible light, or ultraviolet (UV) radiation) at a given frequency, some of the radiation may be transmitted through the sample. Some of the radiation may be elastically scattered and retains the same frequency as the incident radiation. Some of the radiation may be absorbed in the sample. The absorbed radiation is either re-emitted after interaction with the sample or converted to thermal energy in the sample. The re-emitted radiation is sometimes referred to as inelastically scattered radiation. The inelastically scattered radiation is re-emitted as fluorescence or phosphorescence at wavelengths longer than, or frequencies lower than, the irradiation or excitation frequency, and a small fraction may be re-emitted as Raman scattered radiation. Fluorescence or phosphorescence emissions are red shifted from the excitation frequency and have a spectral distribution that is relatively independent of the excitation frequency. Raman emissions are dependent on excitation frequency and are measured as a sum or difference frequency from the excitation frequency. Absorption of radiation requires that the energy of the exciting photon be of higher energy than that of an excited state of the molecule that is being targeted. Raman emissions can be either blue (anti-Stokes) or red (Stokes) shifted from the excitation frequency by an amount determined by the rotational and vibrational bonds within the molecules being irradiated. Raman scattering efficiency is typically very low compared to fluorescence. However, when the energy of the excitation radiation corresponds to strong absorption bands of an analyte, a resonance effect can amplify the Raman signal by many orders of magnitude. Another detection method in common use uses infrared radiation and is known as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy.
Detection and identification of materials may be one objective but when identifying trace amounts of a material on a surface another useful or even more important parameter may be the quantification of such trace material at different locations on the surface (e.g. as a surface density of the material at a given location, for example in units of nanograms (ng) or micrograms (ug) per square centimeter (cm2)). Quantification may be the sole parameter of interest in situations where identify of the trace material is already known.
Traditional methods for identifying and quantifying trace chemical or biological contamination on surfaces employs:                (1) swabbing a defined surface area,        (2) removing the chemical or biological material from the swab using sonication in a liquid or similar process, and        (3) examining the liquid with, for example, high performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, or other methods which may or may not be electromagnetic spectrographic methods.This process and variants have been employed for many decades as the standard by which chemical or biological contamination on surfaces has been determined. This process is regulated by the U.S Food and Drug Administration, and other government agencies as the gold standard for identifying and quantifying such trace materials. This process is long and tedious, takes significant manpower and equipment, and has significant short comings resulting from inherent process limitations and implementation limitations. Such flaws include inaccuracies due to losses of sample during extraction, losses during sonication, transfer to an analytical method, and the like, which causes the ultimate concentration determination to be flawed. This process is used in cleaning validation in the pharmaceutical, food, chemical, biological manufacturing businesses as well as other places where contamination of surfaces is of importance and is regulated by government or internal standards.
FIG. 1 illustrates a more detailed process flow according to an example of prior art cleaning validation processes. The process 100 starts with block 101 where it is assumed that cleaning has occurred, and that validation is to be undertaken. The process then flows to block 102 which calls for preparation of a validation cart that will be used in block 103 to move all of the materials and any necessary apparatus to the room or equipment that is to be validated. From block 103 the process moves to block 105 which calls for the use of a plurality of swabs to collect samples from defined areas to be examined. From block 105 the process moves to block 106 which calls for taking the swabs to a laboratory while 107 calls for setting up the laboratory. From block 107 the process moves to block 108 which calls for extracting the samples from the plurality of swabs while carefully controlling the handling of the swabs, or at least samples from swabs, such that associated sampling locations and samples remain correlated. Once appropriate samples have been extracted, the samples are run through HPLC analysis according to block 109 which is followed by data evaluation in block 110 and disposal of the consumed sample material in block 111. Finally, in block 112 the report on cleanliness validation is ready which may be 24, 48, or even 72 hours, or more, after the samples were originally taken. In block 113, a determination is made as to whether cleanliness requirements were met for each location, and if they have been, the process ends at block 116, but if they have not, the process moves to block 114 wherein a global or local decision on recleaning is made and implemented for at least some locations after which the process loops back into block 102 for another loop through the cleaning validation process. Of course, in the prior art, variation of this process is possible but the main take away is that the standard process in use today is manpower intensive, takes a long time, and has a slow feedback loop that limits how quickly cleaning is validated, recleaning can be performed, and the equipment or room put back into use for product production.
Significant efforts have been taken recently to update technology used in detecting concentrations on surfaces in many different application areas including cleaning validation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, control processes where cleaning is essential, trace chemical identification for antiterrorism and drug detection, and many more. Processes of most interest eliminate contact with contaminants though that may not be required in all embodiments, operate and produce results rapidly, involve little manpower, and are hopefully traceable to standards of chemical identity and concentration. These new methods are focused on optical detection methods from the deep ultraviolet to the infrared.
A problem with any method of contamination concentration detection or determination is certification of accuracy. Whether the method is swabbing, optical detection, or another method, samples of different, known concentrations need to be generated and tested to certify the accuracy of whatever method is used. Ideally, measuring of samples of known concentration for calibration purposes would be in similar form to that of the unknown samples but this is not always the case. Sometimes, surface concentration values are inferred from readings of unknown volume concentrations of samples dissolved in solvents. Furthermore, concentrations of the known samples that have been applied to surfaces and dried have had their concentrations determined by a two-step destructive process. In such processes, a sample is first deposited onto a surface, then the sample is swabbed off the surface over a known area and analyzed via a quantifying methodology such as HPLC, where the areal concentration is determined to be the mass of the material found divided by the known area of sampling. This means that no precise calibration of a spectral analysis tool can be obtained until after measurements of the samples are made with the spectral analysis tool and the samples destroyed to provide precise quantification whereby further use of the sample to confirm continued calibration is not possible as the sample no longer exists. A more satisfactory, efficient, and timely method to achieve spectral instrument calibration is needed.
Accurate, traceable, calibration has remained elusive as uniformly deposited patterns with an a priori quantity of targeted chemicals has remained elusive. Either known quantities were obtainable without adequate uniformity or adequate uniformity could be obtained without precise knowledge of the quantity of material present. The simultaneous lack of both parameters has resulted in a failure to provide calibration samples of known surface concentration which can be used to provide direct accurate conversions between spectral signal measurements to concentration levels of materials of interest. Use of micropipettors have yielded depositions having well known sample quantities that have lacked needed uniformity. Use of spin coating has yielded uniform depositions but without adequate quantification of sample amount. Use of vapor deposition has yielded acceptable uniformity but without adequate quantification. Use of inkjet and piezo printing has also led to uniformity without adequate quantification. Inkjet printing can yield excellent XY printing resolution and accuracy when printed on absorbent surfaces with adequate uniformity of droplet placement. Yet, this technique and piezo printers have droplet sizes that are affected by many physical parameters and thus droplet volumes are not well defined and thus quantity of material deposited is not well defined. For example, surface tension and size of the droplet shot out by the printhead are inversely proportional. Surface tension of the solution is governed by nearly all of the parameters within the solution, solvent type, solute, solute concentration, temperature, and trace contaminants. Because these droplet sizes vary while an area that the printer prints on remains constant, the concentration per unit area changes. Additionally, there are other parameters that change the droplet size, for example the headspace of the sample in the printer cartridge effects the sizes of the deposits. Usually in the beginning when the cartridge is full, the system makes larger deposits, and when the system is less full, the deposits are smaller. Even if a user finds the solvent and solute ratio and verifies the settings on one day, then prints on another day, temperature and humidity changes may cause the system to introduce excess variation into the deposited volume and thus the deposited amount.
A need exists for methods and instruments for providing a plurality of calibration articles of adequate size and known concentration via either completely uniform distribution of material or of sufficiently uniform distributions of material, for example by depositing a plurality of spaced or overlapping droplets of known size having known volume concentrations of sample material such that the reading of articles provides calibration data at a number of different surfaces concentrations so that calibration curves can be created and used to provide quantitative determination of surface concentrations of materials of interest for a given spectral instrument when investigating regions of unknown surface concentration.

Methods and apparatus for spectroscopic identification and/or calibrated quantification of surface concentration of materials


In one embodiment, a system comprises a first element viewable on a web page on or near an advertisement and soliciting user reactions concerning the advertisement; and a second element displayed in response to selection of the first element, soliciting one or more user reactions concerning the advertisement, and displaying the advertisement or a substantial duplicate thereof. In one embodiment, a method comprises collecting user reactions concerning an advertisement on a web page and presenting a report of the reactions comprising a bar graph with each bar representing a characteristic of the advertisement. In one embodiment, a method comprises collecting user reactions concerning advertisements included on web pages and presenting a report of the reactions comprising a graph including multiple icons, each representing an advertisement; an axis corresponding to a quantity of reactions; and an axis corresponding to ratings associated with the reactions for characteristics of the advertisements.

Many website owners desire information concerning usage of their websites. For example, an Internet website owner might use a third party service to track the number of users that visit its website, the number of "clicks" these users collectively perform (using their mouse pointers) while visiting the website, and how long these users stay at the website. Using this objective information, the website owner may determine that its website is not attracting a sufficient number of users or has been ineffective at keeping the interest of users once they arrive. The website owner may respond accordingly to improve its websites and, possibly, the success of its associated business operations.
Many website owners sell advertisement space on their websites. One approach to selling advertisement space is for a website owner to contract to display one or more advertisements on its website for a certain period of time. Using this approach, the website owner may change the advertisement based on the time of day, based on the other content of the website, or based upon the activities of one or more users. For example, a search website may change the advertisement presented based upon the nature of a user's search query. Some website owners solicit user reactions to the advertisements presented on their web pages. These user reactions can be reviewed and analyzed to determine the effectiveness of the advertisements and the effect that the advertisements have on user reactions to the website or to particular web pages. Because the website owner controls the content of the advertisement, the website owner can correlate the content of the advertisement with any collected user reaction data. However, using existing techniques, these correlations and analyses are slow and relatively ineffective in assisting website owners, advertisers, and media buyers in making decisions regarding these advertisements.
An alternative approach to selling advertisement space is for a website owner to contract to allow an advertiser or a third party to utilize a portion of a web page to display one or more advertisements for a period of time. However, because the website owner does not control the content of the advertisements, absent user comments that indicate the content of the advertisements, current techniques do not allow website owners to correlate user reactions to the website or to particular web pages with the advertising content.

System and method for measuring and reporting user reactions to advertisements on a web page


The apparatus for sensing a distance from an object includes an emitter, a first receiver, and a second receiver. The emitter emits a light along an emitting direction toward the object. The first receiver is disposed on a side of the emitter and has a first light incident surface, wherein the first receiver receives the light reflected from the object to generate a first signal. The second receiver is disposed between the emitter and the first receiver and has a second light incident surface, wherein the second receiver receives the light reflected from the object to generate a second signal. The first receiver has a first signal-to-distance curve with a first peak, the second receiver has a second signal-to-distance curve with a second peak, and a distance corresponding to the first peak is larger than a distance corresponding to the second peak.

1. Technology Field
The disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and a method for sensing a distance, particularly, the disclosure relates to a distance sensing apparatus and a method for sensing a short distance.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology rapidly advances, electronic apparatuses having function of sensing distance have more and more varieties. It is noted that, electronic rangefinding methods include electromagnetic distance measurement (EDM) and electro-optical distance measurement (EODM). The rangefinders for EODM include infrared rangefinders, laser rangefinders, and ultrasonic sensors etc. The ultrasonic sensors and the laser rangefinders have good measuring accuracy but are expensive. The infrared rangefinders are cheaper, but the measuring accuracy of the infrared rangefinders is not as good as the ultrasonic sensors and the laser rangefinders.
In general, a conventional infrared rangefinder includes an emitter and a receiver. The emitter generates an infrared light and transmits the infrared light to an object, while the receiver receives a light reflected from the object to generate an electrical signal. Because the conventional infrared rangefinder has only one receiver and compares the electrical signal with a constant reference voltage to determine a distance between the infrared rangefinder and the object according to the compared result. In addition, the material of the object directly influences the intensity of the reflected light. If the material of the object mostly absorbs light, the intensity of the reflected light is weak, causing the infrared rangefinder to generate a weak electrical signal and further influencing the measuring accuracy. In other examples, the infrared rangefinder cannot determine the distance due to the poor comparison result of the electrical signal and the reference voltage.

Apparatus and method for sensing distance


User interface technologies for viewing the state of threads of a target parallel application, such as a massively parallel application intended to run on a GPGPU system, during debugging of the target parallel application are disclosed. The target parallel application includes a kernel, and the kernel includes a set of threads. Coalesced thread information of the threads is presented with the user interface technologies based on user-controllable criteria.

A current focus for improving processor power is to provide multiple processor cores on a die to increase processor throughput. Central processing units, in higher-performing computing devices, such as workstations and servers, often include several processor cores included on a single die. Many of these devices also include one or more graphics processing units that each can include hundreds of processor cores on a single die. Graphics processor units, in addition to providing computations for computer graphics, are often configured to provide computations in applications previously provided by the central processing with a technique referred to as general purpose computing on graphics processing units, or GPGPU. In one example, GPGPU computing uses central processing units and graphics processor units together in a heterogeneous co-processing computing model. The sequential or relatively light-parallel parts of the application runs on the cores in the central processing units, and the computationally-intensive, often massively-parallel parts of the application are accelerated by the many cores in the graphics processing units. Parallel computer applications having many concurrent threads executed in GPGPU computing can realize a performance boost ten to one hundred times that over the applications executed on multiple core central processing units. Additionally, GPGPU systems typically are less expensive and use less power per core than multiple core central processing units.
Parallel computer applications having concurrent threads and executed on multiple processors present great promise for increased performance but also present great challenges to developers. The process of developing parallel applications is challenging in that many common tools, techniques, programming languages, frameworks, and even the developers themselves, are adapted to create sequential programs.

Debugger presentation of parallel application threads


An interventional medical device for use with a motion-sensitive ultrasonic imaging system comprising a flexible elongated member for insertion into soft tissue, a two-axis, flexing mechanism coupled to the flexible elongated member and a mechanism for controlled electrical excitation of the flexible elongated member. Each of the axial flexing mechanisms, when acted upon by electrical excitation, forcibly bends the elongated member along a section of it length causing its tip to move in the plane of the applied bending force. As a direct result of direct energy coupling by bending rather than vibration, the relative phases of the two axes can be controlled to accomplish specific movement of the tip of the flexible elongated member.

Ultrasound imaging is currently widely used by the medical profession to view internal soft human tissue. It is used to examine internal organs and to locate and examine abnormal and diseased tissue such as malignant tumors. With the advent of so-called "Doppler" (color) ultrasound equipment, vascular imaging became possible, as this equipment is able to sense the slight frequency shifts in reflected ultrasonic emissions caused by the movement of blood and it solid constituents. This and other improvements in ultrasound technology have enhanced it usefulness in recent years.
The use of ultrasound imaging as the primary or preferred monitoring system during, for example, minimally invasive surgical procedures such as fine needle biopsies, has become more prevalent as the use of ultrasound have become more widespread. The health advantages to the patient over, for example X-ray imaging techniques, however, have been somewhat offset by the shortcoming that needles and other small instruments are virtually invisible to ultrasound imaging systems. The medical professional has a critical need to be able to accurately see and locate the position of surgical instruments or treatment options such as those utilized in brachytherapy relative to target tissue. Several patents that recognized these needs have been issued.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,539 to Vilkomerson et al. describes a system which includes an omnidirectional ultrasonic transducer located at a needle tip. The transducer can be used either as a receiver of signals from the imaging transducer or as both receiver and transmitter. This system achieves the objective of visibility but has the disadvantage that the ultrasound equipment electronics must be designed to interact with the transducer and that the transducer must be inserted into the body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,910 to Powers describes a system that includes and inner solid element that reciprocates longitudinally at audio frequencies within a hollow member. The use of this motion to achieve visibility, inspired by an effect first noticed by ultrasound practitioners, is described. The invention requires that the member, which may be a hollow needle for aspiration, contain the reciprocating member to remain visible. The system, by design, displays the tip rather than the whole needle, thus denying the operator the ability to observe neither the angle of entry nor the proximity of the needle to vital tissue such as nerve tissue or arteries.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,927 to Gardineer et al. describes a color ultrasonic imaging system for visualizing the tip of an interventional medical device such as a biopsy needle in the body of a patient. The patent describes an apparatus and method for generating a periodic or oscillating mechanical motion in the form of flexural waves in the X, Y and Z axes in the needle. This results in the generation of a significant Doppler shift effect that enables the needle to be detected by a color ultrasonic imaging system. The needle is made to oscillate by a mechanical motion mechanism or VIBER coupled thereto. The needle is coupled and secured to the mechanism using a flexible clip-like element formed from any suitable metal or plastic material. The flexible clip-like element is designed to accommodate and secure needles of different gauges to the mechanical motion inducing mechanism. Problems, however, having to do with assured fixation or attachment of the needle to the mechanical motion mechanism arise due to the fixed diameter of the flexible clip-like element which works well only with a narrow range of needle gauges. Moreover, the mechanical motion mechanism is generally very expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,991 to Gardineer et al. describes a disposable, single-element piezoelectric vibrating device. The driving method taught by this patent includes a vibrating piezoelectric element that couples its energy into an elongated member by means of a coupling bracket. The frequency of the piezoelectric element excitation is then varied to match the natural resonance frequency of the biopsy needle so as to induce a maximum vibration at it tip. As the resonant frequency of the needle can vary according to the density and elasticity of it environment (surrounding tissue) this method can require frequent operator adjustment. The single element produces vibrations primarily in one plane, requiring the operator to rotate the needle at times to maintain its visibility. As a practical matter, the problem of tailoring the natural resonance frequencies of all biopsy needles of various lengths and gauges is difficult in mass production.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,053,871 to Cockburn et al. describes the generation and transmission of an oscillating motion of an air column to the tip of a needle so that the location of the tip is visible by a color Doppler U.S. scanner. The oscillating system is made of a loud speaker, an amplifier, a separate signal generator and tubing connecting the amplifier to the needle hub. The system suffers from such limitations as the relative inefficiency of the loud speaker with regard to the generating sufficient motion into various tissues, the need for a design that prevents tissue from entering the needle while allowing the signal to exit, and the presence of connecting tubes that may limit manipulation of the needle.
Thus, there remains a need for a practical and more versatile medical device with it own built-in high quality, low cost vibrating assembly to accomplish the objectives envisioned by Gardineer et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,991.

Ultrasound detectable interventional medical device


A container holds at least one surgical implement, has a lock mechanism, and has a signature label that impedes access to the surgical implement until the correct surgical site is confirmed. A method of using the container includes the steps of confirming the correct surgical site, signing the label and removing it from the container, placing the label in the medical record, unlocking the container, removing the implement, and beginning the surgery, wherein the surgical team is forced to pause to confirm the correct surgical site before starting the surgery. Preferably, the container top may be removed and placed between the surgeon and surgical technician to define a no-hands “neutral zone” to avoid being stuck by the sharps. Also, the container preferably includes compartments for storing used sharps and/or a local anesthetic-loaded syringe, and the top may be replaced and secured for safely disposing of the sharps after the surgery.

A great deal of attention has recently been given to the unacceptable rate of avoidable patient injuries, or so-called medical mistakes, in the United States. Estimates of the number of medical mistakes per year in the United States is difficult to ascertain, but a recent publication, To Err is Human, by Dr. Lucian Leape, suggests that the avoidable death rate for medical mistakes at between 48,000 and 96,000 patients per year.
As defined by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), wrong-site surgery includes wrong side or site of the body, wrong procedure, and wrong-patient surgeries.
Prevalence of Wrong-Site Surgery
From January 1995 to March 2001, JCAHO reviewed voluntary reports of 1152 "sentinel events." Wrong-site surgery accounted for 114 cases (9.9%) and included procedures in neurosurgery, urology, orthopedics, and vascular surgery. Despite the high profile of JCAHO's Sentinel Event Policy, under-reporting by healthcare organizations likely affects these statistics. Only 66% of the 1152 total events were "self-reported" by the institutions involved, the balance coming from patient complaints or media stories1. Using a mandatory reporting system, the New York State Department of Health received 46 reports of wrong-site surgery from Apr. 1, 1998 through Mar. 31, 2000, compared with 114 cases JCAHO received nationally over a period 3 times longer. This suggests that voluntary incident reporting may grossly underestimate the true incidence of wrong-site surgery by a factor of 20 or more.
The Physician's Insurance Association of America (PIAA) reviewed the claims data from 22 malpractice carriers representing 110,000 physicians from 1985 to 1995. There were 331 cases of wrong-site surgery. The complete PIAA database documents almost 1000 closed malpractice claims involving wrong-site surgery. However, this figure also likely underestimates the prevalence of wrong-site surgery. Since most wrong-site surgeries involve relatively minor procedures (arthroscopy, rather than limb amputations or major neurosurgical procedures), sequelae are minimal and may not result in a claim. Consequently, estimates of the incidence of wrong-site surgery derived from litigation data likely underestimate the true prevalence of this problem, as do estimates based on incident reports.
Factors Identified as Contributing to Wrong-Site Surgery
Several factors have been identified that may contribute to an increased risk of wrong-site surgery. These risk factors include:                More than one surgeon involved in the case, either because multiple procedures were contemplated or because the care of the patient was transferred to another surgeon;        Multiple procedures were conducted on the same patient during a single trip to the operating room, especially when the procedures were on different sides of the patient;        Unusual time pressures, related to an unusual start time or pressure to speed up the preoperative procedures; and        Unusual patient characteristics such as physical deformity or massive obesity that might alter the usual process for equipment set-up or positioning of the patient.
The root causes identified by hospitals were most often related to communication, preoperative assessment of the patient, and the procedures used to verify the operative site. Communication issues fall into two major categories:                Failure to engage the patient (or family, when appropriate) in the process of identifying the correct surgical site, either during the informed consent process or by the physical act of marking the intended surgical site; and        Incomplete or inaccurate communication among members of the surgical team, often through exclusion of certain members of the team (e.g., surgical technicians) from participation in the site verification process, or through reliance solely on the surgeon for determining the correct operative site.
The completeness of the preoperative assessment of the patient was a frequent contributing factor, often through failure to review the medical record or imaging studies in the immediate preoperative period. The procedures for verifying the correct operative site were found to be flawed in many cases due to:                No formal procedure;        No final check in the operating room;        The absence of any oral communication in the verification procedure;        All relevant information sources not available in the operating room;        No checklist to ensure all relevant information sources were checked;        Some members of the surgical team were excluded from the verification process and felt they were not permitted to point out a possible error; and        Total reliance on the surgeon for verifying the surgical site.JCAHO Strategies for Reducing Wrong-Site Surgery
The Joint Commission offers the following possible strategies for reducing the risk of wrong-site surgery:                Clearly mark the operative site and involve the patient in the marking process to enhance the reliability of the process;        Require an oral verification of the correct site in the operating room by each member of the surgical team;        Develop a verification checklist that includes all documents referencing the intended operative procedure and site, including the medical record, X-rays and other imaging studies and their direct observation of the marked operative site on the patient;        Personal involvement of the surgeon in obtaining informed consent;        Ensure through ongoing monitoring that verification procedures are followed for high-risk procedures; and        "Time out" immediately before starting the procedure.(Source: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Sentinel Event Alert, issue six, Aug. 28, 1998.)
Despite the implementation of strategies to prevent wrong patient, wrong site, wrong side surgery, regrettably this seemingly most preventable of complications still occurs. (The aforementioned statistics do not address the number of times in which implants or instrumentation is going to be placed as a part of the procedure, and are not available when the surgeon is ready for them. In these instances, the surgeon must either change plans, or wait while the surgical team attempts to locate the appropriate implants or instrumentation, sometimes located at another hospital.) The fraudulent assumption of a medical professional's infallibility, coupled with organized medicine's focus on the individual's medical mistakes rather than a systems approach, have contributed to this problem. In an attempt to improve patient safety, "[e]ffective Jul. 1, 2004, compliance with the Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Person Surgery will be required of all Joint Commission accredited organizations." As a part of the universal protocol, a "pause" or "time out" is required. This serves as a final verification of: (1) the correct patient; (2) the correct procedure, site and side (3); and as applicable, (4) the availability of implants or instrumentation, prior to making incision. This is a time when all members of the surgical team are supposed to pause to review the case, and agree that the correct procedure is being done in the correct patient, at the correct site, and on the correct side. In theory, this would ensure that any errors that had been made could be detected prior to incision. In reality, the "time out" seldom occurs, and when it does, not in any uniform or regular manner. The universal protocol does not specify a particular time for the pause to occur, and it does not specify a protocol as to what should happen during the pause, that is to say, what information should be communicated by whom, and to whom.
Accordingly, it can be seen that a need exists for improvements to surgical procedures and devices to prevent or at least reduce wrong-site surgeries. It is to the provision of meeting these and other needs that the present invention is primarily directed.

System and method for preventing wrong-site surgeries


The present invention discloses a method and system for types of ad placement opportunities in a digital video stream. The described embodiments of the invention increases ad placement opportunities to a targeted audience by using real-time ad placement during mode changes in a dynamic digital medium such as a digital video recorder. Various embodiments also allow various types of temporal overlapping and composite display techniques for viewing ads and video content.

Placing an advertisement ("ad") in a medium that reaches the largest target audience has long been the goal of advertisers. One way of achieving this goal is to target people through media contexts, such as video media, that attract an audience of likely customers. For instance, advertisers place movie trailer ads for upcoming movies before a main feature movie to target an audience of moviegoers. Also, advertisers place ads for upcoming or adjacent programming after a broadcast program to an audience that is already watching television on that particular channel.
The advent of VCR's (video cassette recorders) and similar technologies have changed the way that people receive video media. Through the use of time shifting, which allows video content to be viewed at a different time, viewers are able to view programs at home whenever desired. Viewers are also able to pre-select broadcast programs to be automatically recorded on a videotape medium and viewed later. Advertisers often place ads for upcoming videos on the videotape medium before a main feature to reach an audience of home movie viewers. Similarly, a recorded broadcast program captures the ads for upcoming and adjacent programs while recording the selected program to the videotape medium. In accordance with the nature of time shifting, viewers may watch a video days or even years after its original capture, and consequentially, ads on videotape are likely to be less effective in reaching a target audience. In the case of ads for adjacent television programming, the ads may become totally moot because the adjacent program has already aired by the time the ad is viewed.
The more recent advent of digital video technologies, such as the digital video recorder, has introduced random access capabilities to video viewing. Due to the serial nature of analog videotape, programs must be viewed in a sequential order. Even if a viewer chooses to fast forward beyond one program to watch a second-recorded program first, fast-forwarding necessarily continues the serial scroll through a videotape, albeit at a faster rate. Randomly accessed digital recording, on the other hand, is a medium that allows the viewer to scroll through an index of captured programs, and then choose to view them as preferred, or to not view them at all. Therefore, an ad could still become moot, or moreover, never even be viewed.
In addition, some randomly accessed mediums, such as DVD's and laser disks, have content that is fixed at the time of recording. Thus, an ad is frozen in time, making it susceptible to the same shortcomings as analog video.
The Internet represents a medium that is ever changing, and in which advertisers have used different techniques to deliver ads to target audiences. To view a web page on the Internet, a user enters the URL of the web page or clicks on a link to a web page. The web page itself is fetched from the appropriate web server, and an ad is fetched from the ad service. The ad service attempts to determine which ad to send to the viewer based on which web page the user has requested, among other factors. Because the ad service is located on the server side, the ad service generally relies on one-size-fits-all rules to determine which ads to display for a particular page request. Because the ad selection process is centrally located, performance requirements often necessitate a simplification of the logic used to select an ad.
In addition, an Internet ad service is "coupled" to the user request. An Internet ad server typically bases the ad it serves, at least partly, on the URL of the requested web page. It is also important to note that an Internet ad server needs to send an ad to the user as quickly as possible, because the user is expecting to receive the requested web page (along with any other third party content, such as ads) as soon as possible. The fact that the typical Internet ad server is time-constrained makes it more difficult for the ad server to perform elaborate methods to determine which ads to send. Overcoming this problem typically requires the use of very high-end computers to serve the ads.
Ultimately, Internet ad serving solutions are request-based. That is, an ad is served from the central server in response to a request. Because many requests are fulfilled in parallel, ads for competing products may be served for each of the separate requests. While in theory the server could track ads being served to each client and eliminate the serving of two competing ads to the same client, the centralized ad serving environment, with millions of users and with ad serving distributed over many actual servers, makes this extremely difficult.
Moreover, an Internet ad server needs to be in substantially constant communication with the Internet, since ad requests are received constantly. Such a system was not designed to work in situations where the ad-receiving client is only intermittently connected to the Internet.
Lastly, it is always desirable to advertisers to locate additional locations for ad placement.

Advertisements in a television recordation system


A semiconductor device having a multilayer structure and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device are disclosed. The semiconductor device according to the present invention has a semiconductor element including pad electrodes formed on the electrode area thereof, a first insulation layer formed on the circuit formation area of the semiconductor element, and a first circuit pattern formed on said first insulation layer. The first circuit pattern electrically connected to the pad electrodes. The semiconductor device of the present invention further has a second insulation layer formed on the first circuit pattern including a first through hole for exposing the first circuit pattern, and a second circuit pattern formed on the second insulation layer. The second circuit pattern is electrically connected to the pad electrodes and has a second through hole for exposing the first circuit pattern. The semiconductor device of the present invention further has first external electrodes electrically connected to said second circuit pattern and second external electrodes electrically connected to the first circuit pattern through the first and second through holes.

The present invention relates to a structure of a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the semiconductor device.
A background technology of the present invention is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 9-223759.
According to the disclosure in the above patent, a solder bump can be formed just on an electrode in a good condition by melting a solder ball directly put on the electrode. However, the disclosed semiconductor device can not Further, the disclosed semiconductor device can not get a sufficient heat radiation efficiency because heat only radiates from the back side of the semiconductor device.


A package for an oral care implement. The package may have an exposed outer surface, a package portion forming a first portion of the exposed outer surface, and a reusable cap forming a second portion of the exposed outer surface. The package portion may define a first cavity and the reusable cap may define a second cavity. The package portion may be formed by a backer panel and a cover panel that are coupled together to define the first cavity. The reusable cap may have a flange that is sandwiched between the backer panel and the cover panel to secure the reusable cap to the package portion. A personal care implement may be disposed within the package so that a first portion of personal care implement is located within the first cavity and a second portion of the personal care implement is located within the second cavity.

One common type of display packaging for an oral care implement, such as a toothbrush, comprises blister packaging that includes a rigid, transparent front cover made of a clear plastic film that permits visual inspection of the oral care implement. The quality and functional characteristics of oral care implements can vary greatly. Providing consumers with all of the information needed to make optimal purchasing decisions at the point of sale can be challenging due to the relatively small size of the packages and the need to keep the oral care implement enclosed in the package. Furthermore, when traveling people either need to bring a toothbrush with them or purchase a new toothbrush at their destination. Often people don't have an adequate cover for the bristles to keep the toothbrush sanitized during travel. There is a need for improved display packaging to help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions and to ensure that consumers have an adequate mechanism for maintaining sanitization of the toothbrush during travel.


A pattern information registration device for selecting and registering pattern information data as an object for determination of registration for use in pattern collation includes unit which forms arbitrary pattern information data having a feature point of the same number as pattern information data of an object for determination, unit which calculates an identification accuracy value indicative of the degree of coincidence between the pattern information data as an object for determination and the arbitrary pattern information data and determines whether the pattern information data as an object for determination is adequate or not based on the identification accuracy value.

Recognition of pattern information including a fingerprint is widely used as a means for personal identification, crime prevention and the like. When pattern information is used aiming at biometric identification, it is a common practice to register a pattern first to hereafter execute collation based thereon.
With a conventional pattern information registration method, it is difficult to decide a basis for determining whether pattern information data is adequate or not. There is accordingly a problem that pattern information data failing to satisfy accuracy required of a collation device is registered to result in making identification among data difficult when there is a large volume of data. Thus, with a conventional pattern information registration method, it is impossible to determine whether pattern information data is adequate or not.
Examples of methods which solve such a problem are recited in, for example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-263658 and for example, Japanese Patent Laying Open No. 2000-339461.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-263658, which relates to a fingerprint registration method, a normal feature point and a pseudo feature point of a fingerprint are detected to calculate the number of pseudo feature points approximately centered around the normal feature point within a registration window. Then, pseudo feature points within all the registration windows are summed up and divided by the number of registration windows to obtain an average number of pseudo feature points in the registration window. Since pseudo feature points are feature points generated by cracks, crinkling or the like, the smaller the average number of pseudo feature points is, the more adequate an image quality of a fingerprint image is indicated to be. Accordingly, when the average number of pseudo feature points is not more than a threshold value, determination is made that an image quality of an image of a photographed fingerprint is adequate to execute registration processing.
On the other hand, in the method of Japanese Patent Laying Open No. 2000-339461, which relates to a pattern dictionary generation method, an additional dictionary is generated for reinforcing weak points of a pattern dictionary. When generating an additional dictionary, a feature vector of a learning object pattern and a recognition result are input to obtain a nearby region centered around each feature vector. Here, a nearby region is a set of respective feature vectors satisfying a fixed inclusive condition. As an inclusive condition, it is possible, for example, to set feature vectors within a nearby region to be all erroneously read data. Maximum one of thus obtained nearby regions is obtained and written into the additional dictionary.
Other than the above-described methods, the following methods are disclosed.
The feature extraction device recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-218575 considers information necessary for authentication being obtained when the number of feature points obtained by processing a fingerprint image is not less than a predetermined value and executes registration processing.
The fingerprint collation device recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 63-4381 considers, when the number of feature points obtained by processing a fingerprint image is not more than a predetermined value, that it is an adequate fingerprint with a small number of pseudo feature points and executes registration processing.
In the fingerprint identification determination method recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-131978, feature points of a plurality of fingerprints taken are collated with each other to register one including numbers of common feature points.
The image collation device recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-154230 collates an image with a template already registered and when high coincidence is obtained, registers the image as a new template.
In addition, one example of a pattern collation device is recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-288667 which executes collation by using a probability of accidental coincidence when comparing with an arbitrary pattern.
The pattern collation device recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-288667 collates a graphic form to be examined and a model graphic form by using a probability that feature points are more likely to coincide with each other when an arbitrary graphic form and a model graphic form are compared than when the graphic form to be examined and the model graphic form are compared.
The above-described conventional techniques all have the problems set forth below.
The method of Japanese Patent Laying-Open 8-263658 is a method of determining whether pattern information data is adequate or not based on pseudo feature points. Pseudo feature point is different from a feature point (normal feature point) as data of pattern information itself. Determination whether pattern information data is adequate by the method of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-263658 is not based on feature points of the pattern information data.
Accordingly, since in the method of Japanese Patent Laying-Open 8-263658, determination of adequacy/inadequacy is made based on a pseudo feature point as information not a feature point, it is impossible to determine adequacy/inadequacy of pattern information data with a feature point as information.
On the other hand, the method of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-339461 is a method of reinforcing a weak point of a pattern dictionary and not aimed at determining whether pattern information data is adequate.
In addition, the pattern information registration methods recited in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-218575, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 63-4381 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-131978 are not for determining whether pattern information data is adequate or not as will be described in the following.
In other words, the methods of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-218575, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 63-4381 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-131978 take the size of a fingerprint into no consideration and take only the number of feature points into consideration. When the number of feature points is not less than a fixed number, these methods determine that it is adequate. These methods, however, are not for determining adequacy/inadequacy of pattern information data because no size of a fingerprint is taken into consideration.
The methods of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-154230 and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-288667 are a template registration method and a method of calculating the degree of similarity between a graphic form to be examined and a model graphic form, respectively, and not for determining whether pattern information data is adequate as well.

Pattern information registration device, pattern information registration method, pattern information registration program and pattern collation system


A device for processing electronic transactions is disclosed. The device includes a processor configured to receive, from a client processing device, a request for information to complete an electronic transaction by a user at an access device affiliated with an educational institution. The processor is further configured to transmit, to the client processing device, a response to the request, the response configured to be transmitted by the client processing device to the access device. The request for information is triggered at the access device by an identification carrier. The response to the request includes at least one of a permission or denial whether to provide, to the user, access to an educational space or item, access to electronic educational information, or determining at least one of the price and availability of an educational item to the user. A client-side device is also disclosed. Methods and machine-readable mediums are also disclosed.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for the processing of electronic transactions, and specifically, to the processing of electronic transactions over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Educational institutions and private corporations often provide many types of services on their campuses to students, employees, and others ("users"), using a central service point system to process electronic transactions. The electronic transactions, which include requests for access to physical spaces or items (e.g., accessing a room), access to electronic information (e.g., viewing a transcript online), and determining at least one of the price and availability of an item (e.g., how much a book costs and if a student can purchase it), are often initiated by the users at a point of service device ("device"). The devices generate the electronic transactions (e.g., a request by a user to access a room, view a transcript online, or purchase a book) that are transmitted to the central service point so that the central service point can provide a response to the request to the devices (e.g., permission or denial whether to provide access to the room, to view the transcript online, or purchase a book at a certain price). As discussed herein, an educational space or item includes, without limitation, a space or item that is associated with an educational environment or purpose (e.g., lecture room, file room, educational building, sports field, bookstore, exercise facility, recreational facility). As discussed herein, electronic educational information includes, without limitation, information that is associated with a user's account at an educational institution (e.g., transcripts, exams, homework, progress report, course materials, class roster, financial transactions, etc.). As discussed herein, an educational item includes, without limitation, an item associated with an educational institution (e.g., text book, syllabus, retail product at the educational facility's store).
The central service point is usually in a remote location to the campus so that the central service point can be hosted and maintained by another entity (the "host"). Consequently, requests for information from the devices are transmitted from the campus to the host's remote location, and responses to the requests are transmitted back to the campus from the host's remote location. As a result, a large volume of network traffic is generated between the campus and the remote location, which may burden the network connection between the campus and the remote location and increase the time required for providing a response. Some of this network traffic may reflect duplicate requests for information.
Additionally, if the network connection between the campus and the host's remote location is slow or unavailable, the requests may not be received at the remote location, and the responses may not be received at the campus. Furthermore, if a firewall is put in place, such as by the central service point at the host's remote location, requests from the devices may not be properly received by the central service point if the network traffic comprising the requests cannot be identified when transmitted from the campus or when received by the central service point.

Distributed service point transaction system


Disclosed herein are robotic devices which traverse a pre-defined coverage area in order to capture and eradicate ticks in the area. A vacuum mechanism provides a suction force for pulling ticks into the device through a frontal opening, after which the ticks are captured in a receptacle and crushed by at least one rotating arm. In certain embodiments, the devices include heat strips near the frontal opening of the device that mimic the human body temperature. Additionally, the device can include carbon dioxide emitters that pass carbon dioxide to the receptacle or through the frontal opening to increase attraction of ticks.

Many small creatures live in grassy areas of the world that are imperceptible or difficult for human eyes to see, such as bugs, insects or arachnids. Some of these creatures pose danger to humans and animals living in the area. In particular, ticks infest the skin of animals and humans, and transmit dangerous and, often, deadly diseases. Tick populations are of particular danger in warm and humid climates.
Current methods of controlling tick populations involve chemicals, such as sprays, to kill ticks, which can be toxic for children and pets. Further, chemical sprays on landscapes drain into the aquafers and affect well water. As such, there exists a need in the art for an effective way to control tick populations that is safe for humans. In particular, there is a need to safely attract, capture, and dispose of ticks without human interaction or handling.
It is in regard to these issues that the present application is provided.

Outdoor robotic device for eradication of ticks


A shield is disclosed which attaches to a high chair tray for the purpose of preventing the high chair occupant from displacing food over the front and sides of the high chair tray. The shield has a wall which partially encompasses the eating surface of the high chair tray, around the edges of the tray. The wall serves to block disposal of food over the front and sides of the tray. The shield also has fasteners which allow the wall to be removably coupled to the high chair tray and which prevents the shield from being easily dislodged from the tray.

High chairs are commonly used to seat infants and young children during meals. High chairs have a seat for the infant or young child, and have a tray upon which the child's meal is placed. The tray is securely coupled to the frame of the chair.
Young children often tend to be messy eaters. In addition to getting food all over themselves, their bibs and cloths, they throw and knock food off the high chair tray. The food that is displaced from the high chair tray lands on the floor and other nearby objects such as furniture, rugs, etc. The floor and other nearby objects must then be cleaned up, which creates extra work for the child's parents. Baby foods in thin paste form in particular seem to be susceptible of being displaced from the tray and onto surrounding objects. These same pasty foods are difficult to clean up. Occasionally, the displaced food permanently stains the floor or nearby objects, damaging the looks and value of the floor or objects.


A trailer body for use with a commercial motor vehicle is provided, including a top wall, a floor, and a pair of side walls cooperating to define a cargo space, and a plurality of supports each extending substantially across the trailer body between the side walls. The top wall includes an interior surface and an exterior surface, and the supports are connected to the exterior surface of the top wall such that at least a substantial portion of the interior surface of the top wall is generally smooth. The trailer body may also include a protective assembly adjacent to a rear door of the trailer body to protect the trailer body during loading and unloading of cargo into and from the cargo space.

Commercial trucking provides a substantial proportion of commercial transportation of goods throughout the world. One common type of commercial truck is a tractor trailer, which includes a semi-trailer coupled with a road tractor. The term "semi-trailer" typically refers to a trailer having one or more rear axles and no front axles. During operation, a large proportion of the weight of the semi-trailer is supported either by the road tractor or by a detachable front axle assembly known as a dolly. Semi-trailers are also normally equipped with legs that can be lowered to support the semi-trailer when it is uncoupled from the dolly or the road tractor.
As used herein, the term, "commercial motor vehicle" refers to any self-propelled or towed motor vehicle for use on a highway in interstate commerce to transport passengers or property and having a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 kilograms (approximately 10,000 pounds) or more. As used herein, the term, "gross vehicle weight rating" is the maximum allowable weight of a fully equipped tow vehicle including passengers and cargo. As used herein, the term, "Class A commercial motor vehicle" refers to any commercial vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating ("GVWR") of at least 11,793 kilograms (approximately 26,000 pounds).
Currently, in the United States, semi-truck trailers are on the order of 40 to 53 feet long and have a rear swing door providing an opening of about 110 inches high and 100 inches wide. Trucking operators seek to maximize the utilization of interior space within the trailer. Forklift trucks are typically used to load cargo into trailers. Specifically, cargo is supported by a pallet, which is lifted vertically by the forklift truck and deposited in the trailer. It is common for the forklift truck or other loading machine to push cargo from the rear open door of the trailer toward the front.
The typical trailer construction utilizes a roof of sheet metal or other opaque sheet material supported by a number of transversely extending reinforcing ribs or bows. These bows are exposed to the inside of the trailer and form irregularities on the inside surface of the trailer roof. During the loading process, it is unfortunately common for cargo to come in contact with one of the bows, potentially causing damage to the roof structure. Due to fear of damaging trailers in this manner, operators are often not able to fully utilize the interior capacity of the trailer. Damage to internally exposed roof bows during the cargo loading and unloading process imposes a significant operating cost burden on motor carrier operators and can cause shipping delays.
During the loading or unloading processes, it is also unfortunately common for cargo to come into contact with the rear frame of the trailer. For example, cargo may contact the upper portion of the rear door frame, thereby potentially causing structural damage to the trailer and/or the cargo. Specifically, the upper portion of the rear door frame of the trailer generally extends perpendicularly from the roof panel such that cargo contacting the upper portion causes a relatively abrupt collision between the respective structures, especially during the unloading process when the cargo is being transported relatively close to the roof inner surface.
Additionally, the bows are currently secured to the inside of the trailer by a plurality of fasteners. However, during installation, the bows may be displaced or misaligned before being secured to the trailer by the fasteners. Misalignment of the bows may cause irregularities in the roof structure or a weakened connection between the bows and the trailer.
Furthermore, the opaque nature of currently-known trailer roofs causes the cargo space within the trailer to be generally void of natural light. Therefore, artificial light typically must be provided during loading and unloading of the cargo space.


Contemplated hybrid riser towers are configured such that individual riser lines can be added or removed via submarine ROV. Most preferably, riser lines are made from a housing and syntactic foam that encloses a riser pipe to so provide insulation and buoyancy. In further preferred aspects, hybrid riser towers are coupled to each other via a truss to allow expansion via SCR and/or to provide a riser porch.

Numerous marine riser towers are known in the art, and exemplary hybrid towers and configurations are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,082,391, 6,461,083, 6,837,311, 7,100,694, U.S. Pat. App. No. 2010/0172699, WO 2010/035248 and WO 2010/041229. These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
While most of the known hybrid towers can be manufactured and operated without significant challenges in offshore reservoirs at relatively shallow depth, thermal insulation, structural integrity, and weight control for hybrid towers for use at significant depth present substantial challenges. Additionally, as more reservoirs are found that produce corrosive product, solutions are needed to address the significant corrosion issues that occur within the flowlines and risers. Therefore, maintenance, repair and/or expansion of the flowlines and risers in the deepwater field developments has become increasingly important to extend the production life of the fields.
For example, to assist in the delivery of deepwater oil and gas to an offshore floating production and storage vessel (FPSO), flowline risers connect the floating vessel at the sea surface with the pipelines on the sea bed. However, such connection is not trivial, particularly where the offshore field is at a significant depth below sea level. Among other difficulties, most of the currently known structures negatively impact operational flexibility. For example, addition and/or removal, or maintenance of the flowline risers often interrupts continuous product flow. Similarly, where expansion of production capacity is desired, simple addition of new risers to existing structures is generally not possible in a cost-effective manner.
Thus, even though numerous methods and systems are known to convey gas and/or oil from a deep sea location to an offshore floating production and storage vessel or other receiving structure, various problems nevertheless remain. Consequently, there is still a need to provide configurations and methods for towers and risers.

Hybrid buoyed and stayed towers and risers for deepwater


Logically and thermodynamically reversible charge transfer (RCT) devices and logic are provided for conditionally transferring individually identifiable charge packets from one or more sources to one or more destinations under the control of one or more additional charge packets that indicate by their presence or absence whether the condition or conditions have been satisfied or not. The individual identities of all of these charge packets are substantially preserved while logic operations are being performed by this logic.

A. Energy Dissipation as a Limiting Factor in Logic Design
There is a body of literature on reversible computation [11] which shows that the energy dissipation per device operation (e.g., per gate operation in a computational context) cannot be reduced below In(2) kT (where k is Boltzman's constant and T is the temperature, such that kT is an approximation of the thermal energy of a single atom) if the device is not reversible.
For the last few decades the energy dissipation per gate operation has been declining with remarkable regularity [6]. Extrapolation of this trend indicates the energy dissipation per device operation might reach kT in the next couple of decades or so (assuming T is 300 Kelvins). To provide some perspective on the challenge involved in attaining that result, it may be helpful to note that an "AND" gate which has a power supply of one volt and which allows a single electron to go from that one volt supply to ground during the course of a switching operation will dissipate one electron volt. Although one electron volt is about forty times kT (and well above the theoretical limit), it clearly will be difficult for simple improvements in irreversible logic to reach an energy dissipation level as low as even one electron volt.
Furthermore, even if the energy dissipation per gate operation could be reduced to In(2) kT, a computer operating at room temperature at a frequency of 1 GHz with 10.sup.18 logic gates packed into a cubic centimeter would dissipate roughly three megawatts. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that the desire for ever greater computational power with ever more densely packed logic elements will eventually require that a single logic operation dissipate at least several orders of magnitude energy less than kT.
Heretofore, refrigeration has been employed in some computers for removing the heat they generate during operation. Refrigeration reduces the energy dissipation per gate operation, but it does not reduce the overall energy dissipation. At best, the lower energy required per gate operation is almost exactly balanced by the increased energy needed for the refrigeration.
Of course, factors other than net energy savings can make low temperature operation worthwhile in certain situations. For example, some potentially attractive devices require a refrigerated environment for proper operation. Thus, in large computers operating in stable environments (the traditional computer center, for example) refrigeration might be attractive, particularly if it permits the use of devices, such as Josephson junction devices, that provide much better performance but which require low temperature for their operation. However, even if net energy savings need not be considered, refrigeration per se is not an attractive, general purpose technique for reducing the energy dissipation per gate operation because lap top and portable computers [59], embedded systems, various "smart" appliances and other applications commonly operate in non-refrigerated environments.

Reversible charge transfer and logic utilizing them


A new and useful package and method capable of and for applying the package to an electronic device having a base and a display member pivotally connected to the base. The package includes a first panel overlying the working surface of the electronic device which encases at least a portion of the base of the electronic device, and an opposed second panel underlying the said electronic device which also encases at least a portion of the base of the electronic device. Moreover, a first aperture is disposed on the first panel near the display and dimensioned to allow the display to pivot relative to the base. A second aperture is also formed or cut on the first panel near the on and off buttons and dimensioned to allow the electronic device to be turned on and off without opening the package. The display may be manipulated without opening the package and while the electronic device remains secured within the packaging. Therefore, this invention eliminates the need for sellers of electronic devices with pivotal displays to provide unpackaged electronic devices as floor samples while still allowing prospective customers to manipulate and test the pivotal display of the electronic device within the package.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to clam-shell or blister packaging (generally referred to as "packaging") for holding and displaying electronic devices with displays. More particularly, this invention relates to packaging for holding and displaying calculators or similar devices with movable displays or features and which allows prospective purchasers to move said display without removing the calculator from said packaging.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Clam-shell packaging is customarily used to mount small items of hardware or other products by utilizing two mating surfaces or shells that are shaped in the form of the product which is to be held. It is generally known in the art to hold these two moveable surfaces or shells together by mechanical or adhesive means. Additionally, the two shells may be manufactured for engagement using a variety of methods such as integral snap-over edges, snap-together elements or by using a clasp means.
Blister packaging can also be used to package and display small items of hardware or other products. Blister packaging functions by mounting the product on a display card. The product and the display card are then encapsulated by transparent, semi-flexible material such as polyvinyl chloride ("PVC") and the transparent, semi-flexible material is attached to the display card by heat and pressure-adhesive techniques. Blister packages which allow users to access moving parts have been described in several patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,029 entitled "Blister Packages for Scissors, Pliers and Other Hand Tools," issued to Fethke et al. on Aug. 28, 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,805 entitled "Functional Blister Package for Snipper-Type Scissors," issued to Fethke et al. on Dec. 18, 1979, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,417 entitled "Package for Hand Tools," issued to Seaton on Jan. 18, 1994.
The '029 patent, the '805 patent and the '417 patent each show packaging which mounts and displays hand tools with two handles. Further, the packages are designed to allow the customer to operate the tool to some extent while it remains in the package. Although these patents disclose using blister packaging to mount products which have movable parts in a manner which allows the customer to operate the movable aspect of the product, none of these patents discloses a configuration capable of mounting and displaying an electronic device with a movable display where the display can be moved for viewing as if in use. Rather, each of the above patents include limitations for securing products having two pivotally connected arms, such as, scissors.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a package which overcomes the problems associated with the prior art as applied to the display of small electronic devices.

Display package for electronic devices with displays