A Sonotrode for generating an ultrasonic field in industrial production processes such as chemical, food, petroleum, pharmaceutical, beverage or mining-related processes for reducing and eliminating foaming of liquid products has a compact one-piece form, wherein the sonotrode is provided with a main body part having a connector for connection with a high frequency generator and having a front face from which the ultrasonic field is directed to the desired spot or area of the product to be de-foamed, wherein the main body part has the shape of a compact block element and in that the front face is concave in shape in relation to a product surface such that the ultrasonic field is focused and directed to a specific area of a product foam to be treated in a concentrated form compared to a non-focused ultrasound.

The present invention relates to a sonotrode for generating an ultrasonic field in industrial production processes such as chemical processes or food-related processes, in which a liquid product is processed, which generates during the processing a foaming on the upper surface of the product. The invention relates also to a device comprising one or more such sonotrodes for de-foaming.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
In different fields of industry, the foam generation of a product to be processed is an inherent problem. In the field of beverage industry, for example, mainly with carbonated products such as cola and beer, but also with non-carbonated products such as fruit juices, etc., there exists during the production process, but also during the filling of the product into bottles or the like the problem that the product generates a large amount of foam. The generation of foam results often in an undesired loss of product, and also the contamination of the containers, into which the product is to be filled, is a big problem in these industries. During the filling process, the generation of too much foam leads to problems with regard to the sealing of the containers, and furthermore the filling line process is considerably slowed down due to the foam on top of the product. However, also in other industries, the foam generation of liquid products is a problematic issue. Examples of other industries are the chemical, petroleum, pharmaceutical and mining industries. Foam can form in tanks, open vessels or in containers or bottles, into which the product is filled. Due to the foam, there exists also a problem with regard to the vessel capacity/volume, the downstream processing equipment such as pumps, homogenizers, pasteurizers, filling lines and the filtration equipment.
In the prior art, conventional technologies used to reduce or to act against the generation of too much foam have for several years involved the use of anti-foam chemicals. However, in the food industry, the use of chemicals is not possible, and in other industries the use of such chemicals for reducing the generation of foam is rather cost-intensive. Also, the chemicals may change the characteristics of the liquid product, which is processed in the production line.
Furthermore, mechanical foam breakers have been suggested in the prior art in order to limit the generation of foam during the filling of beer or cola into bottles, for example. A further solution to this type of problem consists in anti-foam devices using ultrasound waves for the destruction of foam on top of the liquid product. In WO 2004/024317 A1, for example, an ultrasonic device is disclosed for eliminating the creation of foam in large containers. This known device uses round, plate-shaped resonators mounted on a rotating device and being provided with means for changing the angle of the treatment surface of the resonator plates of this device in the direction of the product. Through the change of the angle of the plate-shaped resonators and the rotation of the two devices, the ultrasonic field is focused on a specific spot on the surface of the product container. This system is rather big in its construction and difficult to be implemented in existing filling lines without substantial modifications. Furthermore, this known ultrasonic device needs complicated means for controlling the creation of the ultrasonic field and for permanent modifying the angle of radiation of the focused ultrasonic field.
In WO 2007/118285 A1, a further ultrasonic transducer system is disclosed, having a sonotrode with a main body part and a liquid treatment surface on its end. The foam treatment surface of this sonotrode is provided with a plurality of horn-shaped cavities. Due to the plurality of cavities, a more intensive ultrasonic field may be emitted. However, also this type of an ultrasonic treatment device has disadvantages in terms of the possibility to eliminate the generation of foam in certain applications, e.g. in filling lines for filling beverages into bottles or containers.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide a sonotrode and an ultrasonic device with at least one sonotrode, which are more efficient and more flexible with respect to the application in existing production lines and with respect to the foam elimination and foam reduction in different production processes.

Sonotrode and device for reducing and eliminating foaming of liquid products


The present invention is to produce an aluminum nitride powder which is turned into a sintered body at a temperature of not more than 1600° C., thereby obtaining a sintered aluminum nitride in which the density and thermal conductivity are high and which can be properly used as a substrate material.

In recent years, with high integration and high output of electronic materials, substrates with high heat radiation (high thermal conductivity) have been in high demand, which can be replacing alumina substrates that have been used thus far. In consideration of the foregoing situation, a sintered body obtained by adding a sintering auxiliary agent such as berylia and the like to silicon carbide, aluminum nitride and the like, and calcining the resulting mixture is said to be a suitable material satisfying the aforementioned demand. In particular, a sintered aluminum nitride has characteristics such as low toxicity, high insulating property and the like so that such a sintered body has been the most paid attention as a high conductive substrate material.
The sintered aluminum nitride is usually produced by calcining an aluminum nitride powder. The physical properties and chemical properties of the aluminum nitride powder as a raw material control very important properties (density, thermal conductivity and the like) in using the obtained sintered body as a high conductive substrate material. Accordingly, several methods for producing an aluminum nitride powder have been studied and proposed.
For example, a method comprising heating a metallic aluminum in a nitrogen atmosphere or an ammonia atmosphere can be cited. However, this method has a drawback in that since the aluminum nitride powder is obtained as a bulk product that is conspicuously consolidated, it cannot be used as a raw material for calcining.
Furthermore, a method comprising mixing an alumina powder with a carbon powder and heating the resulting mixture in a nitrogen atmosphere or an ammonia atmosphere can be cited. However, in this method, the diameter of alumina raw material, the amount of impurities therein and the like have influence on the properties of products so that highly pure alumina with a fine particle diameter is inevitably used, thus resulting in increasing the cost.
Furthermore, a method comprising applying a heat treatment to a reaction product of an organic aluminum compound and amines can be cited. However, in this method, carbon easily remains in the aluminum nitride powder to be obtained and such carbon has a bad influence on the properties of the finally obtained sintered body.
Furthermore, a method comprising reacting ammonia gas with aluminum chloride and/or aluminum bromide gas in a vapor phase can be cited. However, in this method, hydrogen halide gas as a by-product is generated; the generated gas corrodes the apparatus so that a treatment device for discharging the gas out to the reactive system is needed.
Meanwhile, a method comprising mixing organic aluminum compound gas with ammonia gas at not more than 200° C. and carrying out the vapor phase reaction at from 600 to 1300° C. to produce the aluminum nitride powder can be cited (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
However, the aluminum nitride powder obtained by the foregoing methods including the method described in Patent Document 1 has a hard sintering property as it is that is originally owned by a substance called aluminum nitride. So, there is a drawback in that a calcination temperature of about 2000° C. is needed so that a special calcining furnace is required, resulting in making the cost of the production facilities higher and increasing the amount of energy used for the production.
For this reason, in calcining aluminum nitride, a method comprising adding a sintering auxiliary agent is generally adopted. This method utilizes the fact that the melting point of a complex oxide of a component contained in the sintering auxiliary agent with aluminum is lower than the melting point (not less than 2000° C.) of the aluminum nitride. Namely, the complex oxide of the sintering auxiliary agent generated during calcination is melted to form a liquid phase and the substance movement (a sintering phenomenon) proceeds by way of the liquid phase. Accordingly, for example, when Y2O3 is used as a sintering auxiliary agent, 1780° C. that is the melting point of a complex oxide of yttrium with aluminum becomes the lower limit of the calcination temperature.
Furthermore, there has been reported that 1600° C. can be the calcination temperature of aluminum nitride by using LiO2—Y2O3—CaO as a sintering auxiliary agent (for example, refer to Non-patent Document 1). However, the foregoing sintering auxiliary agent is special so that its application might be limited by adding alkali metal species.
On the other hand, the person in the field can naturally conceive an idea of making the particle diameter small in order to enhance the sintering property of an inorganic particle. However, the smaller the particle diameter, the higher the sintering property is. On the other hand, however, the cohesive force is increased so that it is difficult to produce an aluminum nitride powder with a primary particle diameter of not more than sub-micron and having small cohesion at the same time.
Under these circumstances, there has been proposed a method for producing an aluminum nitride powder which can be turned into a sintered body at the calcination temperature of from 1600 to 1700° C. by finely crushing the coarse aluminum nitride powder having an average particle diameter of from 1 to 20 μm, the amount of oxygen of not more than 2 weight % and the amount of metal impurities excluding aluminum in a non-oxidative atmosphere (for example, refer to Patent Document 2). There has been surely described that an aluminum nitride powder which is sinterable at from 1600 to 1700° C. is obtained by the method described in the foregoing document, in Patent Document 2. However, the properties such as the density, thermal conductivity of the obtained sintered body and the like are not described in detail and it is not clear whether the sintered aluminum nitride which can be properly used actually as a substrate material is obtained.
Furthermore, there has been proposed a method for calcining an aluminum nitride ultrafine particle having an average diameter converted from the specific surface area of 0.06 μm with yttrium fluoride, i.e., a low melting point sintering auxiliary agent added thereto at 1500° C. (for example, refer to Patent Document 3). However, in this method, it is required to use a low melting point sintering auxiliary agent.
Furthermore, in the conventional technique, even though the minimum of 1600° C. is needed as the calcination temperature, when the calcination can be made in the temperature range of lower than 1600° C., a special calcining furnace is no longer needed and the sintered body can be produced with much cheaper cost. So, an aluminum nitride powder which enhances the sintering property and can be turned into a sintered body at a lower calcination temperature than in the past is in demand.                Patent Document 1: JP1988-60102A        Non-patent Document 1: Ceramics Japan (32) N. 6 (1997), published by The Ceramic Society of Japan        Patent Document 2: JP1994-015404B        Patent Document 3: JP1994-211577A

Aluminum nitride powder, method for producing the same and use thereof

Abstract: Using a vapor phase reaction apparatus shown in FIG. 1, ammonia gas was fed from a reactor 2 heated at from 300 to 500° C. and maintained at that temperature by a heating section 1 via a feeding tube 4 while being regulated by a flow regulator 3. At the same time, while being regulated by the flow regulator 5, nitrogen gas containing an organic aluminum compound is fed via a feeding tube 6 to obtain an aluminum nitride powder. The aluminum nitride powder is subjected to a heat treatment at from 1100 to 1500° C. in a reducing gas atmosphere and/or an inert gas atmosphere to obtain an aggregate aluminum nitride powder. The aggregate aluminum nitride powder is subjected to a mechanical treatment to obtain an aluminum nitride powder in which the specific surface area value is not less than 30 m2/g and a ratio of an average particle diameter to a particle diameter in terms of the specific surface area is not more than 10.

Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


Computerized methods, computer systems, and computer-readable media for governing how virtual processors are scheduled to particular logical processors are provided. A scheduler is employed to balance a load imposed by virtual machines, each having a plurality of virtual processors, across various logical processors (comprising a physical machine) that are running threads in parallel. The threads are issued by the virtual processors and often cause spin waits that inefficiently consume capacity of the logical processors that are executing the threads. Upon detecting a spin-wait state of the logical processor(s), the scheduler will opportunistically grant time-slice extensions to virtual processors that are running a critical section of code, thus, mitigating performance loss on the front end. Also, the scheduler will mitigate performance loss on the back end by opportunistically de-scheduling then rescheduling a virtual machine in a spin-wait state to render the logical processor(s) available for other work in the interim.

Large-scale networked systems are commonplace platforms employed in a variety of settings for running applications and maintaining data for business and operational functions. For instance, a data center (e.g., physical cloud computing infrastructure) may provide a variety of services (e.g., web applications, email services, search engine services, etc.) for a plurality of customers simultaneously. These large-scale networked systems typically include a large number of resources distributed throughout the data center, in which each resource resembles physical machines or virtual machines running as guests on a physical host.
When the data center hosts multiple guests (e.g., virtual machines), these resources are scheduled to logical processors within the physical machines of a data center for varying durations of time. Often, mechanisms are utilized by operating system kernels to carry out the scheduling, as well as to synchronize data structures (e.g., logical processors) within the physical machines. These mechanisms typically employ the technique of spin waiting, which allows a logical processor that is scheduled to a virtual machine to spend time waiting for an event to occur without being rescheduled to another virtual machine. Generally, spin waits are consistently used in multithreaded environments that consider the costs associated with rescheduling a virtual machine much greater than the inefficiencies of interrupting a spin wait.
The multithreaded environments also rely on these mechanisms to schedule threads issued by multiple virtual processors (comprising the virtual machines) to be executed on multiple logical processors simultaneously. However, spin waits that are presently occurring on one or more of the multiple logical processors block the threads from being scheduled by others of the multiple virtual processors. These blocked logical processors create inefficiencies within the multithreaded environment. Accordingly, the general policy of allowing spin waits to achieve completion results in under-utilization of physical machines within a data center and significant throughput reductions with respect to the logical machines.

Opportunistically scheduling and adjusting time slices


A system for pouring molten material from a ladle having a pouring nozzle and a cooperating stopper rod is shown having a pressure responsive piston and cylinder assembly effective for causing the initial opening of the stopper rod for providing a relatively high rate of flow of molten material through the nozzle; a linear transducer coupled with the piston and cylinder assembly assures that the piston has the opportunity to move a preselected distance within the cylinder to thereby in turn assuring that the stopper rod will also move to a preselected open position with respect to the nozzle.

In the art of relatively high production of casting molten metals, a ladle containing the molten metal is usually maintained stationary while a series of molds are sequentially brought into flowing registry with the nozzle of the ladle. A stopper rod is employed to open the nozzle for the pouring of the molten metal from the ladle and into the cooperating mold.
One of the factors in determining the rate of pouring (flow) of molten metal from the ladle to the receiving mold is the degree to which the ladle nozzle has been opened by the stopper rod. Generally, the best castings are obtained by having a relatively high rate of flow of molten metal as the initial flow from the ladle to the mold. However, such relatively high rate of flow is, nevertheless a preselected rate which will provide the best results in the item to be molded. This, in turn, requires that when, for example, a exactly the same position as did the replaced stopper rod when it was moved to its initial opened position.
Prior art methods and arrangements are not always capable of assuring that the replacing stopper rod will move to such same initial opened position. Consequently, pour rates are varied not only at the initial opening of the replacing stopper rod but also throughout the entire pouring cycle which is comprised of a series of differing rates of pour.
The invention as herein disclosed and described is primarily directed to solving the aforestated problems of the prior art as well as other related and attendant problems.


A flexible, arc-shaped cord minder clip for securing power cords or float cords to piping or a float tree of a water, sewage, grinder or sump pump, wherein the degree measure of the arc of the clip is from about 55 to about 270 degrees, wherein the width of the clip is from about 0.5 inch to about 3 inches; and wherein secured to or a molded component of an outer surface of the clip around its circumference are one or more flexible, open c-shaped cord holders. Alternatively, the c-shaped cord holder may be formed as a component of the clip and may be structured to hold the cord against a surface of the piping or float tree.

The present invention relates to fluid pumping equipment, particularly sump pumps. For purposes of this application, the term "pumps" or "sump pumps" include sump pumps, sewage pumps, grinder pumps and other similar water pumps. More particularly, the present invention relates to a useful device for securing cords, particularly float switch cords and power cords, in position on a device that is secured to or associated with a sump pump, such as discharge piping or a float tree.
Sump pumps are utilized for many applications, which may be of long or short-term duration. Modern sump pumps contain switching devices which automatically turn the sump pump on and off, as required.
Several types of automatic power switches have been provided to activate sump pumps. For example, floats are commonly utilized with sump pumps systems, such as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,038,871. When using these float switches, it is necessary that the float be connected to an electric cord which extends to the pump to carry a signal to activate and deactivate the sump pump. Unlike rigid ball float rod operated sump pumps, wherein the changing attitude of the connecting rod operates the switch, floats operate sump pumps based on the orientation of the switch float housing. The switch float housing attitude of orientation is dependent upon the cable length and fluid depth. Therefore, the level of liquid in the sump that is required to achieve a switch float attitude orientation sufficient to turn the float switch on and energize the sump pump is determined by the length of the cable which extends among the switch float, its attachment point and the sump pump.
Accordingly, sump pumps of this type with switch floats have lengthy cables which extend from the float to the sump pump, usually through a control panel. It is necessary that these cables be secured in location, generally to an element of the sump pump system so that they properly operate and do not interfere with the operation of the sump pump.
Currently, a fixed length of a multistrand cable is frequently utilized to releasably tether the cable to a component of the sump pump system at a desired height and location. For example, the cable can be secured on discharge piping or a float tree of the sump pump system. In prior art systems, these cables were secured to the float tree or the discharge piping of the sump pump system by conventional means of securing, such as a stainless steel hose clamp, or zip ties made of nylon material. An alternative embodiment, where the floats are fixed in place, is shown in the mounting system disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 8,038,871. See also the securing systems disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,175, WO 2017/021221 A1 and WO 2010/015977 A2.
Notwithstanding these systems for securing float switch cables to the sump pump system, the existing securing system, such as hose clamps and zip ties, are cumbersome to use and difficult to remove if modifications need to be made or if the sump pump and/or float switches need to be removed for repair. Further, steel hose clamps corrode in a wastewater environment and nylon zip ties can be adversely affected by sewage gasses and become brittle and break over time.
One object of the disclosure is a new and improved cord minder clip for securing cords to discharge piping or a float tree of a sump pump system, wherein the cord minder clip includes a flexible, arch-shaped clip which is securable to a component of the sump pump system, wherein there is located on the clip a series of c-shaped cord holders, preferably two of these c-shaped cord holders secured to or molded as an element of these clip to form two portion, c-shaped cord holders secured back-to-back, such that an opening of each c-shaped cord holder faces in opposite directions.
The cord minder clip is preferably made of PVC, ABS, polyethylene plastic or other such materials that are impervious to sewer gases and the impact of wastewater. Alternatively, the cord minder clip can be made of any material that is resistant to the toxic, corrosive and caustic liquids and gases contained within a sump, such as stainless steel or other metallic substances. Further, the material can be painted or coated with an epoxy coating that is resistant to these liquids or gases.
Another object of the disclosure is a new and improved cord minder clip for securing cords to discharge piping or the float tree of a sump pump system, wherein the cord minder clip comprises a metal or plastic strip which is securable or clippable to the discharge piping or the float tree and which is formed into an arc-shape of sufficient size to be clippable or securable to the discharge piping or float tree, wherein at least the ends of the arc-shaped strips are formed or bent to create a c-shaped, outward facing opening or openings of sufficient size and shape to receive and hold the cords of components of the sump pump system.
A further object of the disclosure is a new and improved cord minder clip which is securable or clippable to discharge piping or the float tree of a sump pump system comprising a metal or plastic strip formed into an arc-shape, wherein inner facing openings are provided in the strip to receive and hold cords from the float switch or sump pump against the discharge piping or float tree onto which the metal or plastic strips are clipped or secured.


Compounds of general formula (I)

WO 2005/037843 describes partially saturated quinazolines anellated with heteroaryls as kinase inhibitors.
The aim of the present invention is to indicate new compounds which can be used for the prevention and/or treatment of diseases characterised by excessive or abnormal cell proliferation. The compounds according to the invention are characterised by a powerful inhibitory effect on the phosphorylation activity of the IGF-1 receptor located in cell membranes and a potent efficacy against tumour cells, e.g. glioblastoma cells, which is mediated through the inhibition of phosphorylation of the receptor. In addition to the inhibitory effect and cell activity the compounds have good solubility and good PK properties.
The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and insulin signalling network is a highly conserved and essential pathway involved in biological processes including growth, metabolism and homeostasis. In addition, deregulated signalling via this network can enhance tumorigenesis and metastasis of certain cancers.
The ligands IGF-1, IGF-2 and insulin are highly homologous and activate specific hetero or homodimers of the IGF-1R and IR. Following ligand binding, the IGF-1R and IR undergo autophosphorylation mediated via the receptor tyrosine kinase domains. The phosphorylated receptors activate the canonical Ras-Raf-MEK-ERK1/2 and PI3K-PDK1-Akt intracellular signaling cascades, which leads to cell proliferation and survival. In addition, activation of the IR by insulin stimulates the uptake of glucose and storage of glycogen in metabolic tissues such as the liver, adipose and muscle.
Published research articles as well as medical and epidemiological investigations have identified a strong correlation between expression of the IGF-1R and IR and ligands for these receptors in tumor development and progression. Developing a small molecule competitive inhibitor of the ATP-binding pocket of the IGF-1R and IR as a means of blocking growth and survival signaling cascades in cancer is therefore desirable. The anticipated clinical benefit of blocking such an interaction would be to reduced tumor growth rate and potentially sensitize tumors to cytotoxic agents or targeted therapies.

Abstract: Compounds of general formula (I)

Abstract: wherein the groups R1 to R3 and X are defined as in claim 1, which are suitable for the treatment of diseases characterised by excessive or abnormal cell proliferation, pharmaceutical preparations which contain such compounds and their use as medicaments.


The present invention relates to a method and system for controlling charging of a battery supplying power to a hybrid electric vehicle according to a driving state. The method includes: detecting, by a sensor, a speed of the vehicle, generating, by a generator, power according to a driving state of the vehicle; controlling, by a controller, a charge to the battery using generated power of the power generator based on a signal of the vehicle speed detector; calculating, by the controller, an average vehicle speed for a set time; updating, by the controller, the average vehicle speed at an update period shorter than the set time; changing a state of charge (SOC) charging band, a charging reference of the battery, based on the average vehicle speed; and determining, by the controller whether to charge the battery according to a driving state based on the SOC charging band.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and a system for controlling charging of a battery, which controls charging of a battery supplying power for driving a hybrid electric vehicle according to a driving state and a driving condition.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As is well known, due to increases in oil prices and exhaust gas regulations, eco-friendly policies and fuel efficiency improvement have researched in the development of a vehicle. Accordingly, vehicle manufacturers have developed a technology for reducing fuel and decreasing exhaust gas to meet eco-friendly policies and improve fuel efficiency. Furthermore, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) using a motor driven by power of a high-voltage battery as a power resource has been developed.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary configuration of a conventional parallel hybrid electric vehicle.
Referring to FIG. 1, a hybrid electric vehicle may include: a transmission 22 for changing and determining a speed ratio of a driving shaft 12 and a wheel shaft 14; a motor 24 capable of transferring power to the driving shaft 12 by using electric energy and regenerating energy by using inertia of the vehicle; an engine 26 for generating power by using fuel; an engine-side clutch 28 for transferring power of the engine 26 to the driving shaft 12 or blocking the transfer of the power of the engine 26 to the driving shaft 12; and an engine starting/stopping motor 32 for starting and stopping the engine 26.
The hybrid electric vehicle may run by appropriately combining and using power of the engine 26 and/or the power of the motor 24. Furthermore, fuel efficiency of the hybrid electric vehicle may vary according to a start-up time of the engine 26, an operation point of the engine 26, and a strategy for controlling and managing a state of charge (SOC) of a high-voltage battery mounted in the hybrid electric vehicle.
Moreover, an average vehicle speed may be used to predict a driving condition of the hybrid electric vehicle. When the hybrid electric vehicle travels at an average vehicle speed, an update time of the average vehicle speed and a monitoring time of the average vehicle speed is important to predict a road condition and controlling the hybrid electric vehicle according to the prediction. The existing hybrid electric vehicle employs a method of calculating an average vehicle speed at every set reference time interval and updating the average vehicle speed.
For example, when the set reference time is five minutes, a road condition in which the hybrid electric vehicle will be in for future five minutes is determined by using an average vehicle speed for previous (e.g., past) five minutes.
Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 2, under an assumption that the vehicle (hereinafter, the vehicle is identically used to the hybrid electric vehicle) is currently driven on a highway at a high speed after being driven in a city area for previous five minutes, various control systems of the vehicle using the average vehicle speed may perform corresponding control using a value of the average vehicle speed during the travel in the city area. Accordingly, an SOC control strategy or engine operation control may be incorrectly set in the hybrid electric vehicle, thereby causing deterioration of fuel efficiency.
Further, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, since the existing hybrid electric vehicle performs driving control by classifying a vehicle speed mode only into two driving modes of a city driving mode and a highway driving mode, it may not be possible to efficiently perform the SOC control and management or fuel efficiency control according to a change in road traffic condition.
The above information disclosed in this section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method and system for controlling charging of battery for hybrid electric vehicle


Examples of cognitive procurement are described. In an example embodiment, procurement-specific data sources associated with at least one of a process, an organization, and an industry relevant for procurement operations are monitored. From the monitored procurement-specific data, an operation behavioral pattern is identified. Subsequently, a behavior model of an order is constructed using the operation behavioral pattern and a pre-existing behavior model library. A procurement interaction indicating a query for processing the order is received from a user. The order is tracked by the cognitive order concierge. Using the behavior model, a potential event relating to the order is predicted, the potential event being indicative of an issue affecting the order. Accordingly, the issue affecting the order is proactively remediated to automatically troubleshoot the order. In an example, the user is notified as per the remediation requirement.

Procurement's importance as a key process has increased significantly in recent times. Originally, procurement started as a way to integrate purchasing into supply chain management at a time when most large companies were struggling to manage their operational costs. Currently procurement process starts with a buyer making a procurement request or placing an order. In procurement operations, after the order has been placed, a number of steps are executed to validate the order and track the order. Once validated, the order can be routed to the penultimate step of order preparation, i.e., for assembly of the ordered product or for provisioning for the ordered service, as the case may be. Subsequently, the order is delivered to a client either by shipping, in case of the order being for a product, or by activation, in case of the order being for a service.
Existing source-to-pay or procure-to-pay process or sales operation for any organization often starts with the preparation of purchase requisition. The purchase requisition may lead to multiple vendors submitting quotes in response to RFQ (request for quote) or RFP (request for proposal). An evaluation may be carried out for examining each RFQ or RFP for their eligibility and ability to meet criterion laid out in the purchase requisition. The evaluation of each RFQ or RFP might lead to a sourcing decision being made and a vendor being selected. The vendor may be issued a purchase order. The vendor may now be required to either deal with manufacturing (if required) and logistics of the goods as per purchase requisition. An invoice would be issued by the vendor after the logistics of the good as per the purchase requisition has been accomplished. The organization would receive the goods as per purchase requisition and would proceed for verification that goods received may be harmonious with purchase requisition. When the information is found to be accurate and all parameters are in order, would the invoice be sent to a payment facility.
Accordingly, the sales operation process has multiple milestones and each milestone is vulnerable to an error or an issue that may affect the order. For instance, the steps in the sales operation, which may involve logistics and supply chain activities, may be particularly prone to errors and exceptions that may affect the order delivery. These errors and exceptions may include, for example, unavailability of the product or the occurrence of an event, which may cause delay or cancellation of the order or a problem with shipping of the order.
Accordingly, with present models for automated procurement the exceptions are usually detectable when the process reaches the milestone, which is affected by the exception, thereby leaving little room and time for managing the exception in an effective manner. Consequently, the order is either delayed or is unable to be fulfilled, and such order handling and management may adversely affect business. Accordingly, a technical problem with the currently available procurement processes is that they may be inefficient, inaccurate, and/or not scalable.
There is a requirement for systems and methods that may increase pro-activeness and agility in tracking orders for their potential lateness of delivery, especially focusing on value-critical ones. There is also a need for reducing risks of client costs incurred and delays caused by late supplier deliveries. Furthermore, there is a need for an optimized procurement concierge that is capable of continuous sourcing paradigm, which includes the constant sensing of emerging issues, exceptions, emerging risks and opportunities, the evaluation of recommendations, improve delivery assurance, increased agility in tracking orders for their potential lateness of delivery, and an increased productivity of communications with suppliers in such order tracking to negotiate the best possible outcomes.


A system for managing production information includes a defect information database, a defect information collection unit, and a manufacturing apparatus information managing unit. The defect information database stores defect information including a coordinate value of a defect portion and a defect feature amount which are detected by inspecting a specimen processed in a device manufacturing line by using an optical inspection apparatus having an ultraviolet light source. The defect information collection unit at least one of collates and retrieves defect information from the defect information database and judges a fatality of a defect. The manufacturing apparatus information managing unit which processes information stored in the defect information collection unit and stores information on transition of yield and maintenance condition of a manufacturing apparatus in the device manufacturing line.

The present invention is related to an optical system, a defect inspecting method and a defect inspecting apparatus with employment of this optical system, and a utilizing method for effectively utilizing inspection information, while the optical system is employed so as to inspect and observe defects and extraneous-material defects of patterns formed on substrates by way of thin-film manufacturing processes which are typically known in semiconductor manufacturing steps and manufacturing steps of flat panel displays.
To detect defects of very fine patterns formed on substrates by way of thin-film manufacturing processes, images having high image quality are necessarily required, the focuses and contrasts of which have been adjusted in high precision.
In the defect inspection field for instance, JP-A-2000-323542 discloses the image detecting method of objects as the conventional technique capable of acquiring such high grade images. This conventional technique is to detect images as follows. That is, while a broadband white light source is employed as a light source and focal points are defined at different places along a Z direction with respect to each of wavelength ranges of white light, two systems of image sensors are arranged in such a manner that the image sensors are focused onto both a surface layer and a rear plane of an object in the case that the object owns stepped portions. In two systems of these image sensors, focusing positions on the object planes are made different from each other along an optical axis direction in accordance with longitudinal chromatic aberration of an objective lens. As a consequence, images of different planes of the object are detected by the respective image sensors by utilizing the longitudinal chromatic aberration of the objective lens. It should be understood that as to a detecting optical path for two systems of the image sensors, band-pass filters are arranged in optical paths defined by that an optical path is branched and thereafter the branched optical paths are reached to the respective image sensors in such a manner that such light corresponding to the respective longitudinal chromatic aberration may penetrate through these band-bass filters.
The above-described conventional technique is directed to such a technical idea that images of different planes on a wafer are detected by employing two systems of the image sensors, and then images focused on the respective image sensors are employed. As a consequence, this conventional technique is not to produce a new image from the images detected by two systems of these image sensors, but is directed so as to select any one of the images detected from two systems of these image sensors so that this selected image is used in the defect inspection. However, in thin-film manufacturing processes typically known as semiconductors, flatting (planer) process operations are carried out as to wafer surfaces based upon the CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) process operation. Thus, the thin-film manufacturing processes need not detect images at different heights on a wafer by employing the above-explained two image sensors. Also, even when stepped portions are formed on wafers, since structures of semiconductor logic products are complex, the selective use of such images detected by two systems of these image sensors cannot be employed.
To detect defects of very fine patterns in high precision, wavelengths of illumination light must be made shorter. Generally speaking, laser light sources are necessarily required in order to secure sufficiently large amounts of illumination light of light sources having short wavelengths for inspection purposes. However, in the case that such laser light sources are employed as illumination, interference problems of laser light may occurs. In other words, there are problems as to temporal/spatial coherence, problems of interference noises which are produced by thin-films formed on surfaces of samples, problems of contract between very fine patterns and background patterns, problems of illuminance fluctuations of pulse illumination light, and the like.

Systems for managing production information


A four-wheel-drive vehicle includes a driving source, main driving wheels, auxiliary driving wheels, a power transmitting member, a first mesh clutch, and a second mesh clutch. Meshing teeth on the driving source side of the first mesh clutch each have, along an entire tooth width thereof, an inclined surface in which a length in a rotational axis direction increases in a direction in which the meshing teeth on the driving source side rotate when the four-wheel-drive vehicle is traveling forward. The meshing teeth on the power transmitting member side of the first mesh clutch each have, along an entire tooth width thereof, an inclined surface in which a length in a rotational axis direction decreases in a direction in which the meshing teeth on the driving source side rotate when the four-wheel-drive vehicle is traveling forward.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to technology in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, which increases switching the reliability and shortens the switching time of a mesh clutch provided in the four-wheel-drive vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A four-wheel-drive (4WD) vehicle with a disconnect function is known that is provided with a first mesh clutch as a connecting/disconnecting mechanism that selectively connects and disconnects a power transmitting path between a driving source and a power transmitting member, and a second mesh clutch as a connecting/disconnecting member that selectively connects and disconnects a power transmitting path between auxiliary driving wheels and the power transmitting member. This four-wheel-drive vehicle is able to be selectively placed in a two-wheel-drive (2WD) state in which driving force is transmitted from the driving source to left and right main driving wheels by disengagement of a first mesh clutch and a second mesh clutch, and a four-wheel-drive (4WD) state in which driving force is also transmitted from the driving source to left and right auxiliary driving wheels by engagement of the first mesh clutch and the second mesh clutch. The four-wheel-drive vehicle described in US 2011/0179906 A1, for example, is one such four-wheel-drive vehicle.
In the four-wheel-drive vehicle described in US 2011/0179906 A1, the mesh clutch is not provided with a synchronizing mechanism that synchronizes the rotation on the driving source side of the mesh clutch with the rotation on the power transmitting member side of the mesh clutch. Therefore, the kind of four-wheel-drive vehicle described in US 2011/0179906 A1 is only able to be placed in the four-wheel-drive state when the vehicle is stopped, which is inconvenient and thus problematic. One conceivable way to alleviate this kind of problem is to provide the mesh clutch with the synchronizing mechanism described above.


A system, apparatus, and method for managing TCP over TCP communications using multiple TCP network connections. A plurality of tunneled network connections may be established between network devices. The network devices may employ one of the tunneled network connections over which to establish a plurality of application sessions. If congestion is detected on the employed tunneled network connection that exceeds a threshold, then a reset flag may be sent to abort that tunneled network connection. At least some of the application sessions are also transferred to another one of plurality of tunneled network connections, without terminating the moved application sessions. In one embodiment, at least one more tunneled network connection may be established between the network devices.

This invention relates generally to network communications, and more particularly but not exclusively, to managing network communications for TCP over TCP traffic using multiple TCP connections between communicating network devices.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the protocols within the Internet protocol set of network communication protocols on which many of today's networks run. Applications on network devices may employ TCP to create connections with each other and exchange data using network packets. TCP protocol is known as a connection-oriented protocol that was designed to guarantee reliable, in-order delivery of data.
TCP devices package the data into streams of bytes called segments which may be sent as individual IP datagrams. TCP checks to make sure that no packets are lost by giving each segment a sequence number which numbers the bytes in the stream, and an acknowledgement number which tells a receiving network device the next expected sequence number, from which the last received sequence number may be intuited. Indirectly, the acknowledgement number tells the sending network device if a segment is lost, by noting whether an acknowledgement for a sent segment is received by the sending network device within a defined amount of time. This time period is typically referred to as a retransmission time out period (RTO). Thus, if a segment is determined to be lost, the sending device may retransmit that segment after the RTO expires, or sooner based on certain optional recovery mechanisms.
Over the Internet, however, parameters such as bandwidth, latency, jitter, and loss rate may vary vastly from one connection to another or even change over time for a single connection. Thus, a fixed timeout for determining whether a packet is lost may be inappropriate. In fact, selection of a fixed timeout might result in inappropriately sending more packets than necessary, thereby increasing congestion over a network, and leading to an effect sometimes known as "meltdown." Therefore, TCP uses an adaptive timeout for determining packet loss and whether to retransmit a packet. Several such congestion avoidance algorithms are described in Request for Comments (RFC) 2001, which is available through the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). A typical implementation might start with a conservative timeout estimate, and when a segment is not acknowledged within this timeout estimate, increases the timeout and reduces the estimate of available network capacity (via "the congestion window") for subsequent segments.


Systems and methods are disclosed for interfacing RESTful web applications with packet-switched networks for text messaging. One embodiment comprises a system that handles a Mobile Terminated (MT) text message from a web application to a packet-switched network. The system receives a RESTful send operation for sending the MT text message from the web application. The system converts the RESTful send operation for the MT text message to a send request that is based on a signaling protocol used by the packet switched network, such as SIP, SMPP, or MAP. The system then transmits the send request for the MT text message to the packet-switched network for delivery of the MT text message to a recipient.

Text messaging has become a popular mode of communication in many mobile (or wireless) networks. One example of text messaging is Short Message Service (SMS), which is a set of communication protocols allowing the exchange of short text messages (i.e., 160 characters or less) between devices. While the term "text message" traditionally referred to text-only messages sent using SMS, it has been extended to include multimedia messages, such as images, video, sound content, etc. The multimedia messages may be sent using Multimedia Message Service (MMS) protocol. Often times, mobile users more frequently use text messaging for communication than voice calls.
Although text messaging is traditionally thought of as two mobile devices exchanging text messages, there may be web-based applications that allow an end user to send or receive text messages. For example, an end user may access a 3rd party web site for sending/receiving text messages. Through the 3rd party web site, the end user may enter a message intended for a recipient and a telephone number for the recipient. The web-based application then generates a send request for the text message using an Application Programming Interface (API) defined for web-based services. In another example, some social networking services (e.g., Facebook) may provide text messaging capabilities through a web site. When a user logs into his/her social network account, one option available to the end user may be to send/receive text messages.
Organizations have defined standard APIs for web-based applications to use when sending/receiving text messages. One API that is used for web applications is a RESTful API, also referred to as a RESTful web API. The RESTful web API is a set of operations that use HTTP methods, such as POST, GET, PUT, and DELETE, while conforming to Representational State Transfer (REST) constraints.
Unfortunately, the RESTful APIs presently used for web services do not provide enough flexibility for today's evolving networks.

Interface between restful web services and packet-switched networks for text messaging


A crimped cap removal and return assist device comprising a body with a pocket for engaging a crimped cap, a protruding midrib, and a boss for application of hand pressure while turning the body by the midrib in crimped cap engagement.

Great numbers of beverages and other liquids are packaged in glass, plastic, or aluminum containers having narrowed necks which are closed with crimped-on cap closures. Traditionally, such caps have been removed with lever devices which opened the container but also destroyed the cap. Other opening assist devices have included open rings e.g. with directional grooves as in Rinehart U.S. Pat. No. 2,631,482 or other rib expedients as in Waterhouse U.S. Pat. No. 1,924,579 Brooks et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,865 U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 261,854 and 281,051 both to Nielsen, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 277,160 to Antone, and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 280,594 to Dow. A device with a closed ring configuration is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,741 to Heine, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,952,660 to Dryden. Dryden's device is an oversize cup which can be pressed into shape over the cap to be removed, Heine's remover is rigid and uses the end wall to assist in cap removal.
The common failing of these and like prior art devices is the lack of added mechanical advantage and an absence of structure complimentary to the hand to facilitate use and easy removal of caps.

Crimped cap removal and return assist device


Blade for a turbine, comprising a blade root and an airfoil (13) extending radially outwards from the blade root (12), the airfoil (13) comprising a first internal cooling circuit including an intrados cavity (33, 36) extending radially along the intrados wall (16) and a first inner wall (47, 45) arranged between the intrados wall (16) and the extrados wall (18), an extrados cavity (34, 37) extending radially along the extrados wall (18) and a second inner wall (47, 43) arranged between the intrados wall (16) and the extrados wall (18). The first cooling circuit includes one inner through cavity (35, 38) defined between two through walls (59, 57, 55, 53) each extending between the intrados wall (16) and the extrados wall (18). The intrados cavity (33, 36), the extrados cavity (34, 37) and the inner through cavity (35, 38) are fluidly connected in series.

An aircraft turbomachine usually comprises a combustion chamber whose combustion gases rotatably drive one or more turbines. To protect the turbine blades from the high temperatures to which they are thus subjected, particularly the movable blades, it is known to provide that the blades are hollow so as to make a coolant, for example relatively cold air taken upstream of the combustion chamber, circulate inside the blades.
The international application WO 2015/162389 A1 of the Applicant describes a blade for a turbomachine turbine comprising a cooling circuit with improved homogeneity. Particularly, this blade includes several cavities within the thickness of the airfoil.
However, the increased performance requirements lead to an increase of the efficiency of the turbomachine, and consequently to an increase of the temperature of the combustion gases passing through the turbines without increasing the flow rate of the coolant inside the blades. Thus, although the aforementioned blade has satisfactory results, there is a need for a blade that is even more resistant to high temperatures.

Blade comprising an improved cooling circuit


A virtual disk is comprised of segments of unused capacity of physical computer-readable storage media co-located with computing devices that are communicationally coupled to one another through network communications. The computing devices execute one or more of a client process, a storage process and a controller process. The controller processes manage the metadata of the virtual disk, including a virtual disk topology that defines the relationships between certain ones of the physical computer-readable storage media and a particular virtual disk. The client process provide data for storage to certain ones of the computing devices executing the storage processes, as defined by a virtual disk topology, and also read data from storage from those computing devices. The client process additionally expose the virtual disk in the same manner as any other computer-readable medium.

Despite increasing network communication capabilities, including the ability to transmit large quantities of computer-readable data very quickly, the vast majority of computing devices are still equipped with computer-readable media that can store vast quantities of computer-readable data. For computing devices that share substantial amounts of information over network communications, such as server computing devices, a significant amount of the information utilized by such computing devices may, in fact, be stored on a computer-readable storage medium that is not co-located with, or installed in, that server computing device, but rather is, instead, co-located with another server computing device and is accessed via network communications. Consequently, in many instances, the computer-readable media that are co-located with any given server may be underutilized and have capacity that remains unutilized. The amount of unutilized computer-readable data storage capacity at any one server computing device, however, may not be sufficient, or can simply be too unsafe, to be utilizable for the sort of computer-readable data for which it would be desirable to use such storage.

Virtual disks constructed from unused distributed storage


A single place where all of us can meet on an equal basis 24/7 from anywhere we can reach to, and communicate back from, in the universe is now being built. The present invention is an interface for universal information exchange over a public data network (e.g., Internet). Explicit agreements to Rules of Response are used to cause its users to identify all possible questions and disagreements expressed with symbols through the interface. The result is a universal information exchange that can be used by all as a common meeting point from anywhere to exchange and verify information, answer questions, resolve disagreements, and exchange any combination of goods and services.

Open to the public universal scientific information exchanges. Real scientists must want a place where we all can meet to disagree on an equal basis. This want is implied by the method required by the objective purpose of science; which is to discover and create a perfect logical picture of reality that we can verify by measures of cause and effect we all can see. These logical structures are called theory(s).
Therefore, logical and observations discrepancies are necessarily what must be used to improve theories. Since scientifically acquired knowledge is for all of us, this requires a place where all possible observers can disagree with each other on an equal basis. This is not how it works in science now.
The theoretical basis for this invention rises out of neoclassical economic theory. This theory's framework of analysis describes logically how any possible kind of 'affect' impacts the Quantity of Goods and Services exchanged. This theory is used to define what constraints and physical requirements are needed to build an optimal "Marketplace" for all possible kinds of exchanges over an Internet. Fundamentally these constraints imply that a single physical place can exist that is common to all exchanges.
Theoretical Premise: It can be shown that in a conserved system like an Internet with a finite number of nodes (users) at any time; then there can only be one place where all possible users can meet to disagree at anyone lime, about anything expressed with symbols, e.g. a central switching point in a phone system.
Since time immemorial mankind has unconsciously sought to create a common single meeting place open 24/7 to exchange information and ideas, resolve disagreements, and to exchange all other goods and services from anywhere any of us might be, instantly.
The concept of a common to all meeting place to resolve problems and exchange goods and services is as old as organized societies. In small tribal societies all could meet in the 'town square'. For larger societies these meetings started with annual or seasonal markets or fairs and over time evolved into markets open year round.
Political meeting places naturally evolved from the public councils of a tribe. The ancient Greek public square where all citizens could meet to discuss and vote on public problems is an example. The New England town meetings are another example.
These political meeting places all had major structural problems. In all of these examples, access was restricted to a small group of privileged people called citizens. They had to rely on essentially face to face contacts. Naturally, those best at small group discussions dominated.
The next problem was that there literally could be no real accurate permanent record of what was said. Instead people had to rely on their fallible memories. Even with writing, the best we could do was shorthand notes made by a secretary. As the Greeks learned, without an accurate record, large groups of people were easily swayed by demagogues and sophists who worked for special interests. With no accurate records, facts and memories could easily be twisted to the advantage of the powerful who had learned from experience to avoid open disagreements.
Suppressing disagreements about the terms of exchange in markets for physical Goods & Services meant such markets would not survive. So, over time, marketplaces necessarily began to reflect some of the logical characteristics of an ideal meeting place for exchange, i.e. a single place where all participants had equal access to the same information affecting these exchanges at the same time, e.g. prices. The problem here was that simultaneity meant that publishing had to be done in a limited physical space so all participants could see and hear one another at the same time.
Exchanging pre-defined goods and services is simple however, compared to exchanging scientific, political, social and other ideas and information. For example, for political discussions we have evolved inconvenient public meetings, conventions, elected representatives to legislatures, and open to the public proposal techniques for citizens to put referendum and initiatives to a vote.
However, putting a referendum or an initiative on the ballot is not easy. A single person, small group, or even relatively large group with a valid complaint or idea will find out that it is very costly in time and money to be heard. This cost, by inspection, eliminates a large number of proposals.
The reason insiders in political, business, and scientific arenas want to block objections to their behavior, policies, and ideas is simple. It is against their personal or group interests. They block disagreements by using three basic techniques:
First, members of establishments see, hear, and speak no evil about each other's mistakes and crimes; ignore disagreements with what they do and say; or when they must respond, they change the subject; or when pushed, they call you names.
Second, they establish expensive, time consuming, multi-step procedures to winnow out the vast majority of objections, e.g. public hearings held at times and places where only paid lobbyists can afford to attend.
Third, there are the pushy ones, who can use all forms of verbal and physical intimidation like getting you fired, physical threats, beatings, and up to murder.
The three reasons they get away with this in public forums are simple:
First, all sides of an issue want to win, so they do not want to explicitly and willingly identify what the other side is disagreeing with them about.
Second, there is no easy to use central public place to record disagreements with insiders or others. With no central public place to record objections on a permanent public record, insiders don't have to respond and so they don't. Its human self interest in action.
Third, no one points out these tactics as I just did above in public. It is necessary to explain what a not do is avoiding identifying disagreements, before you can show or point out to others what these tactics are when they are being used.
Minimizing open disagreements is basic human nature. We are social animals who like to be liked. This makes it especially easy for those who control the "forum" involved, to automatically ignore someone, talk over others, or change the subject.
The Internet when used to conduct public discussions fails to work. Its how public chat rooms and forums are controlled. They use many of the same techniques described above to avoid resolving disagreements. In them, the users are usually anonymous and there is, in my experience, no real verification of who anyone really is. While these "discussions" are usually moderated, no one ever has to reach an agreement to agree or disagree in them. Further, there are almost always exclusionary rules that can be arbitrarily applied by the owners or moderators of these forums to those who are "disagreeable". These forums have no Rules of Response.

Graphical user interface that identifies the reasons for public disagreements


An optical amplification control apparatus is formed from a semiconductor optical amplifier, a temperature adjustment unit adjusting the temperature of the semiconductor optical amplifier, and an optical gain control unit adjusting the temperature of the semiconductor optical amplifier by controlling the temperature adjustment unit, and varying an optical gain of the semiconductor optical amplifier. Thus, a pattern effect is suppressed even if the output light intensity (the intensity of amplified light) is increased.

Optical communication technology having features of large capacity and high speed has been widely used hitherto for the implementation of a backbone network.
In recent years, as communication demand remarkably increases, the optical communication technology comes to be used for the implementation of an access network in an urban area, that is, a metro access network.
Furthermore, it has been started to apply the optical communication technology to data transmission (so-called datacom) between information processing apparatuses (servers, for example) which are installed in an identical room.
In such the metro access network and the datacom, a large number of optical devices (semiconductor laser, light receiver, optical amplifier, etc.) are used to implement the networks. Therefore, to advance the metro access network and the datacom, it is important to reduce the size and cost of modules on which such the optical devices are mounted.
The optical amplifier is an essential optical device to implement the optical network. As the optical amplifier, an optical fiber amplifier has been put into practical use, and is used in the backbone network. However, an optical fiber amplifier module, having a unified structure of the optical fiber amplifier with a control apparatus therefor, has a complicated configuration, which makes it difficult to achieve miniaturization and cost reduction.
In contrast, in regard to a semiconductor optical amplifier module having a unified structure of a semiconductor optical amplifier (hereafter abbreviated as SOA) with a control apparatus therefor, it is easy to achieve miniaturization and cost reduction.
Accordingly, the implementation of a next-generation access network and a datacom using the semiconductor optical amplifier module is under study.
As a way of using the optical amplifier in optical communication, there are two ways, namely, constant output control (auto power control; APC) and constant gain control (auto gain control; AGC).
The constant output control is a control method of the optical amplifier to output amplified light continuously having constant intensity, irrespective of variation in input light intensity. As the variation factors of the input light intensity, there are light source output variation and wavelength switchover.
The constant gain control is a control method of the optical amplifier to amplify input light with a continuously constant gain, irrespective of variation in the polarization direction and the wavelength of the input light. As the variation factor of the polarization direction of the input light, there is a state change of an optical fiber transmission path. Also, as the variation factor of the input light wavelength, there is a wavelength switchover at the light source, or the like.
In any control mode, desired control (APC or AGC) is achieved by adjusting the gain of the semiconductor optical amplifier synchronously with the variation of the input light.
The gain of the semiconductor optical amplifier varies with the magnitude of a current (drive current) supplied to the semi conductor optical amplifier. The larger the drive current is, the lager the optical gain becomes, while the smaller the drive current is, the smaller the optical gain becomes. By use of the above character, the gain of the semiconductor optical amplifier is adjusted, and thus the control like APC is achieved.
Additionally, in order to operate a semiconductor optical device such as the semiconductor optical amplifier and the semiconductor laser, it is necessary to control device temperature. Such the temperature control is carried out by a thermoelectric cooling device (peltier device), having the semiconductor optical device mounted thereon, or a heater mounted on the semiconductor optical device.                Patent document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-244458.        Patent document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2000-232251.        Patent document 3: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-237784.        Patent document 4: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-23208.


An authenticated code module comprises a value that attests to the authenticity of the module. The value is encrypted with a key corresponding to a key of a computing device that is to execute the module.

Computing devices execute firmware and/or software code to perform various operations. The code may be in the form of user applications, BIOS routines, operating system routines, etc. Some operating systems provide limited protections for maintaining the integrity of the computing device against rogue code. For example, an administrator may limit users or groups of users to executing certain pre-approved code. Further, an administrator may configure a sandbox or an isolated environment in which untrusted code may be executed until the administrator deems the code trustworthy. While the above techniques provide some protection, they generally require an administrator to manually make a trust determination based upon the provider of the code, historic performance of the code, and/or review of the source code itself.
Other mechanisms have also been introduced to provide automated mechanisms for making a trust decision. For example, an entity (e.g. software manufacturer) may provide the code with a certificate such as a X.509 certificate that digitally signs the code and attests to the integrity of the code. An administrator may configure an operating system to automatically allow users to execute code that provides a certificate from a trusted entity without the administrator specifically analyzing the code in question. While the above technique may be sufficient for some environments, the above technique inherently trusts the operating system or other software executing under the control of the operating system to correctly process the certificate.
Certain operations, however, may not be able to trust the operating system to make such a determination. For example, the code to be executed may result in the computing device determining whether the operating system is to be trusted. Relying on the operating system to authenticate such code would thwart the purpose of the code. Further, the code to be executed may comprise system initialization code that is executed prior to the operating system of the computing device. Such code therefore cannot be authenticated by the operating system.


A multi-stage analog-to-digital converter includes a signal input terminal, a first stage analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter; a second stage analog-to-digital converter, and dither circuitry. The first stage analog-to-digital converter includes an input coupled to the signal input terminal. The digital-to-analog converter includes an input coupled to an output of the first stage analog-to-digital converter, and an input coupled to the signal input terminal. The second stage analog-to-digital converter includes a first input coupled to an output of the digital-to-analog converter. The dither circuitry is coupled to a second input of the second stage analog-to-digital converter, and is configured to provide a dither signal to the second stage analog-to-digital converter during selection of fewer than all bits of a digital value of a residue signal received from the digital-to-analog converter.

Various analog-to-digital data converters and conversion techniques are available for converting electrical signals from an analog domain to a digital domain. In general, the process of analog-to-digital conversion includes sampling an analog signal and comparing the sampled analog signal to a threshold value. A binary result is recorded depending upon the result of the comparison. The process of comparing the sample to a threshold may be repeated a number of times with each successive comparison using a different threshold and residue of the sample. The number of iterations typically affects the noise level of any result as well as the resolution of the ultimate digital signal.
The successive approximation register (SAR) converter is one example of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The SAR ADC performs a binary search for the digital value that best corresponds to the voltage of an analog signal. In a SAR ADC, a voltage input is compared with one half of a voltage reference. If the voltage input is greater than one half of the voltage reference, a logic '1' is stored in a register. Alternatively, if the voltage input is less than one half of the voltage reference, a logic '0' is stored in the register. Next, if the previous comparison indicated that voltage input is greater than one half of the voltage reference, the voltage input is compared with three-quarters of the voltage reference. Again, where the comparison indicates a greater than condition, then a logic '1' is stored in the register. In contrast, if the comparison indicates a less than condition, then a logic '0' is stored in the register. Alternatively, if the previous comparison indicated that voltage input is less than one half of the voltage reference, then voltage input is compared with one quarter of the voltage reference. Again, if the comparison indicates a greater than condition, then a logic '1' is stored in the register. In contrast, if the comparison indicates a less than condition, then a logic '0' is stored in the register. This process is continued for lower order multiples of the voltage reference. As will be appreciated, the aforementioned process is capable of providing an ADC result with high resolution in a relatively small amount of time. In particular, only a single iteration can be used to produce each bit of resolution. For example, for a ten-bit resolution only ten iterations are required, and for twenty bits of resolution only twenty iterations are required.

Dithering and calibration technique in multi-stage ADC


Systems, methods, and computer program products are provided for determining an optimum hernia repair procedure for a pre-operative patient. Responses to a health questionnaire administered to post-operative patients are scored to determine an overall score indicative of the post-operative patient's quality of life following a hernia repair procedure. Each overall score is associated with at least one patient characteristic and one procedure characteristic relating to the respective post-operative patient. Based on the overall scores and the associated characteristics, an optimum hernia repair procedure, including a type of operation and/or a type of prosthetic mesh, is determined. A terminal and/or user input device may be used to receive the responses, and the responses and associated characteristics may be stored in a memory accessible by a processor that can analyze the stored data to make the determination. Search criteria relating to the pre-operative patient may also be received to inform the analysis.

Prosthetic mesh products have radically changed the repair of all types of hernias. The benefits of mesh repairs have been clearly established in clinical practice, with recurrence rates significantly lower compared to repairs performed without mesh reinforcement. The search for an ideal mesh, however, is ongoing. The characteristics of an ideal prosthetic would include being chemically inert, resistant to mechanical stress, resistant to infections, pliable, and less likely to provoke inflammation and foreign material reactions. Although a wide variety of prosthetic meshes have been used in surgical procedures, no single prosthetic mesh has yet been able to achieve all of the above-identified characteristics.
The long-term implantation of prosthetic mesh is often associated with decreased abdominal wall compliance. Many prosthetics, although chemically inert, generate an intense inflammatory reaction. The result is a pronounced perifilamentous fibrosis and deposition of collagen fibers producing a rigid scar plate and prosthetic mesh "stiffness." In the long-term, such acquired stiffness of mesh products contributes to abdominal wall rigidity, leading to the changes in compliance of both the hernia site and the whole abdominal wall. Clinically, this decrease in compliance can lead to a sensation of firmness of the abdominal wall and result in physical discomfort and significant limitations in the activities of daily living in many patients. Additionally, areas of the abdominal wall that lack prosthetic mesh coverage may experience an increase in herniation as the abdominal pressures are no longer distributed evenly.
Although the clinical benefits of prosthetic mesh repairs have been well established, the effects of prosthetic meshes on patients' quality of life and physical comfort are not well known. Quality of life in hernia patients have traditionally been measured with generic quality of life surveys such as the Rand 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36® questionnaire, Medical Outcomes Trust, Inc, Boston, Mass.). Although this survey has been validated by numerous studies, it doesn't relate specifically to problems/concerns patients have after undergoing hernia repairs with prosthetic mesh. As a result, the ability to identify prosthetic meshes and techniques that most closely meet the desirable characteristics of an ideal hernia repair has been limited.
Thus, there still exists a need for a method of identifying a hernia repair procedure that will have a smaller impact on a particular patient's quality of life.

Systems, methods, and computer program products for determining an optimum hernia repair procedure

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority


A method of removing nuclear isobars from a mass spectrometric technique comprising directing ions, decelerating the ions, neutralizing a first portion of the ions, creating residual ions and a second portion of the ions, reionizing a selective portion of the ions, re-accelerating the selective reionized portion of ions, and directing the reionized portion of ions to a detector. An apparatus to remove nuclear isobars comprising a deceleration lens, an equipotential surface, an electron source to neutralize a portion of the ion beam, a deflector pair, a tunable resonance ionization laser for selective resonant reionization, and an acceleration lens.

This disclosure concerns a device and method to select an isotope/element of interest by removing nuclear isobars from mass spectrometric techniques—such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and coupled SIMS-accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)—through the addition of a resonance ionization filter (RIF).
The RIF allows for the discrimination of nuclear isobars (analytical interferences) in-situ, without requiring separation chemistry.
This new device and method allow for maintaining the petrologic context of samples during analysis. For small (micrometer-sized) samples, there are no alternatives to this technique, since chemistry is not feasible.
The RIF will perform ion beam neutralization followed by resonant reionization (using tunable lasers) prior to ion beam detection.
Mass spectrometers, such as dynamic SIMS instruments, generate ion beams from samples under high vacuum and filter the ions by mass-to-charge ratio prior to detection. SIMS employs a beam of energetic "primary" ions (0.5-20 keV) to bombard the sample and sputter atoms from the sample surface. A small fraction of these atoms are ionized during the sputtering process.
Mass spectrometry (MS) cannot resolve isotopes of 2+ elements with the same mass (nuclear isobars).
In addition to atomic ions, molecular ions may also be produced from the sample. Therefore, it is routine to have interferences at the same nominal mass-to-charge ratio of an isotope of interest, either from a molecular ion or from a nuclear isobar. The magnitude of the interferences often depends upon the composition of the sample, and in some cases may be corrected for or adequately filtered. It is often the case, however, that nuclear isobars (e.g., 87Rb and 87Sr) cannot be measured by increasing the mass resolving power (MRP, typically defined as the full width at 10% peak height) of the mass spectrometer because of the simultaneous loss of ion transmission (essentially making the signals undetectable or highly imprecise).
The generally accepted method for removing nuclear isobaric interferences in mass spectrometry is to perform separation chemistry on the sample prior to measurement (e.g., by inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-MS, thermal ionization MS (TIMS), or AMS), however this results in a loss petrologic context of the sample; furthermore, chemistry is not practical for individual microanalytical samples routinely measured by SIMS (e.g., micrometer-sized particles).
Resonance ionization MS (RIMS) uses 2-3 tunable lasers each to resonantly ionize individual elements from a neutral plume of atoms above a sample surface (generated by laser desorption or ion bombardment) prior to detection in a time-of-flight (ToF) MS. Since the spectroscopy is element-specific, nuclear isobars may be removed. Resonance ionization is many orders of magnitude more efficient than non-resonant ionization, so RIMS typically achieves high selectivity. However, RIMS is challenged by non-resonant ionization and molecules within the sample plume for many matrices (such as oxides), and the technical challenge of overlapping the ionization lasers with the expanding plume above the sample while achieving saturation of the atomic excited states.
The duty cycle of ToF-MS instrument is very low compared to dynamic SIMS, which can affect instrument stability and precision over long measurements.
Our invention mitigates the drawbacks of SIMS and RIMS by adding a RIF to a SIMS instrument, yielding atomically and elementally specific measurements from micrometer-sized volumes of material.

Resonance ionization filter for secondary ion and accelerator mass spectrometry

The Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A process is provided for measuring a gas concentration with at least one thermal measuring element. The thermal measuring element is operated by pulses. A measured value of the gas concentration in the environment of the measuring element is obtained from the evaluation of the response of the measuring element to at least one single pulse by determining transient states of the thermal measuring element. From this the measured value of the gas concentration in the environment of the measuring element can be derived, during the imposed pulse based on electric measured variables.

Processes for measuring the concentration of gases with thermal measuring elements are known per se. As a rule, the thermal behavior of the measuring element is observed by evaluating electric measured variables. The thermal behavior of the measuring element depends in different ways on the concentrations of different gases in the environment of the measuring element.
It is known that such processes can be carried out with so-called pellistors, which are partially catalytically active (U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,954, GB 2083630, U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,070). Two pellistors are usually used in case of the catalytic principle of measurement, one pellistor being prepared catalytically, while the second pellistor does not have this catalytic preparation.
The behavior of the catalytically prepared pellistor to change its resistance, which is characteristic of the gas to be detected, compared to the second, unprepared pellistor can be evaluated by means of a prior-art resistance bridge.
Various operating processes, such as constant-current, constant-voltage or constant-resistance processes, are known per se. The drawback of these processes in continuous operation is the high power consumption, which may be between 250 mW and 700 mW.
The following patent specifications U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,557, DE 4330603 and DE 3131710 describe processes with a pellistor bridge. The drawbacks of such processes are the complicated apparatus required for two measuring elements, the actuation thereof in a continuous mode of operation, and the high power requirement associated therewith.
A process with low power consumption is known, in which combustible gases are detected with only one measuring element (EP 0234251 A1). The gas concentration is determined in two stationary measurement phases according to this process.
The drawbacks of this process are that interfering environmental effects, e.g., temperature, pressure or moisture, are not compensated, and the power consumption is still very high for the operation in two measurement phases.
It is known that thermal measuring elements can be operated cyclically, in which case three different phases of operation alternate regularly (DE 69020343 T2). A heating phase is first carried out, during which the measuring element is heated to a preset resistance. This is followed by the measurement phase, during which the measuring element is maintained at a constant resistance value. This is followed by a rest phase, during which the measuring element is adjusted to a static resistance. A Pt air-core coil with a wire diameter of 80 μm is mentioned as the measuring element. The working temperature of the resistor element is therefore selected to be such that the temperature set point of the Pt coil is in the range of 570° C. to 1,100° C. By contrast, the use of pellistors was rejected, mainly because of the thermal inertia of the pellistor beads and the limited long-term stability. The drawback of this process is that the Pt air-core coils also have an excessively low long-term stability at such high operating temperatures and a relatively high power consumption is also associated with the high operating temperature.
Furthermore, it is known that the impression of an excitation function and evaluation of the response function can be used to determine the percentage of combustible gases in a gas mixture as well as to classify them according to gas classes (DE 4311605 C1). Depending on the selected function, the effort needed for control and evaluation may be high.

Process for measuring the concentration of gases


A ligand includes a molecular skeleton, a first coordinating group connected to the molecular skeleton, at least one initial group connected to the molecular skeleton, and a protecting group connected to an end of each initial group away from the molecular skeleton. Each initial group is capable of forming a second coordinating group after deprotection.

Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals with unique light-emitting properties, such as a wide excitation peak, a narrow emission peak, and an adjustable luminescent spectrum, which are widely used in the field of photoelectric technologies. A quantum dot light-emitting diode (QLED) has advantages of a large color gamut and a fast response speed due to that there are a plurality of quantum dots dispersed in a light-emitting layer in the QLED. The application of the QLED to a display apparatus may make the display apparatus also have the above advantages, thereby attracting much attention.
The quantum dots are easy to agglomerate together because of their small sizes and large specific surface areas. In addition, the quantum dots have many surface defects. Therefore, a ligand needs to be formed on a surface of the quantum dot in a process of manufacturing a structure (such as the light-emitting layer) containing the quantum dots. By using of the ligand, the dispersive capability and luminescence performance of the quantum dots may be increased, and the surface defects of the quantum dots may be passivated.

Ligand and method of manufacturing the same, quantum dot film and method of manufacturing the same, and display apparatus

BEIJING BOE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


A solar cell includes a support substrate; a back electrode layer on the a support substrate; a light absorbing layer on the back electrode layer; a buffer layer on the light absorbing layer; a front electrode layer on the buffer layer; and a fourth through hole formed through the back electrode layer, the light absorbing layer, the buffer layer and the front electrode layer, wherein at least a portion of the fourth through hole is inclined with respect to a top surface of the support substrate.

Recently, concerns about the environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources have been increased, so a solar cell is spotlighted as an alternative energy source having high energy efficiency without the problem of environmental pollution. The solar cell is classified into a silicon semiconductor solar cell, a compound semiconductor solar cell, and a stack-type solar cell depending on the composition of the solar cell. A solar cell including a CIGS light absorbing layer according to the embodiment may belong to the compound semiconductor solar cell.
The CIGS, which is a group I-III-VI compound semiconductor, has a direct transition energy bandgap of 1 eV or more as well as the highest light absorbing coefficient among the semiconductors. The CIGS has very stable electro-optic characteristics, so the CIGS is an ideal material for a light absorbing layer of the solar cell.
The solar cell is manufactured by sequentially depositing a substrate, a back electrode layer, a light absorbing layer, a buffer layer and a front electrode layer. In addition, the solar cell has a first through hole for shorting the back electrode layer, a second through hole for shorting the light absorbing layer and the buffer layer, a third through hole for shorting the front electrode layer and a fourth through hole for shorting an edge part.
The fourth through hole for shorting the edge part can be formed by a laser etching or by performing a mechanical etching using a needle after performing the laser etching.
However, in the case of the laser etching, the front electrode layer may be melted due to high energy of laser, so the front electrode layer may come into contact with the back electrode layer, thereby causing the short. In addition, the process step may be added in the two-step process, so the process efficiency may be lowered.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a solar cell having a novel structure, in which the fourth through hole can be more efficiently formed.