The invention relates to a circularly polarized array antenna for receiving and transmitting a circularly polarized signal. The circularly polarized array antenna comprises: a plurality of circularly polarized antennas with phase shift mechanism for receiving circularly polarized signals and transmitting the circularly polarized signals; a plurality of power lines which differ from each other in length and are coupled to the circularly polarized antennas respectively; and a power divider coupled to the power lines for receiving the circularly polarized signals. Wherein each of the circularly polarized antennas comprises a plurality of antenna elements and each comprises a microstrip antenna and a slot coupling apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circularly polarized array antenna and, more particularly, to the circularly polarized array antenna that comprises a plurality of circularly polarized antennas.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of high-frequency communication (e.g., artificial satellite communication), due to the effect of signals passing through the ionosphere, the circularly polarized array antenna is generally used as a medium to receive circularly polarized signals. Moreover, due to the possibility for existence of two orthogonal polarization signals, every single polarized signal can be used to carry data so that orthogonal polarized signals (such as right hand or left hand signals) can be used in a neighboring area.
As shown in FIG. 1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,579 entitled "Circular Polarization Antenna" discloses a traditional circular polarization antenna array antenna, comprising an input/output terminal 5 and traditional antenna elements 1-1 to 1-7. The traditional antenna elements 1-1 to 1-7 further couple to input/output terminal 5 via feeding lines 3-1 to 3-7 respectively. The traditional antenna elements 1-1 to 1-7 can form a set with two antenna elements respectively to receive circular polarization signals, further output the circular polarization signals to input/output terminal 5, and then via input/output terminal 5, output the polarization signals to an amplifier and demodulator (not shown in figure). Therefore, traditional circular polarization array antenna can function as the medium for transmitting/receiving circular polarization signals. However, there is still room for improvement to the traditional circular polarized array antenna. Moreover, the production process for traditional circular polarization antenna elements 1-1 to 1-7 is rather complex. With the spirit for researching and innovating, the inventors of the present invention aimed to improve the traditional circular polarization array antenna and finally invented the circular polarization array antenna according to the invention.


In an electrostatic micromotor, a mobile substrate faces a fixed substrate, and electrostatic-interaction elements are provided to allow a relative movement of the mobile substrate with respect to the fixed substrate in a direction of movement. The electrostatic-interaction elements include electrodes arranged on a facing surface of the fixed substrate (2) facing the mobile substrate. The mobile substrate has indentations, which extend within the mobile substrate starting from a respective facing surface that faces the fixed substrate and define between them projections staggered with respect to the electrodes in the direction of movement. Side walls of the indentations have a first distance of separation at the respective facing surface, and a second distance of separation, greater than the first distance of separation, at an internal region of the indentations.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a silicon electrostatic micromotor with indentations, in particular for atomic-level storage systems (generally known as "probe-storage systems"), to which the ensuing treatment will make reference, without this implying any loss of generality.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, storage systems that exploit a technology based on magnetism, such as for example hard disks, suffer from important limitations as regards the increase in the data-storage capacity and the read/write speed, and the decrease in their dimensions. In particular, a physical limit exists, the so-called "superparamagnetic limit", which hinders the reduction in the dimensions of the magnetic-storage domains below a critical threshold, if the risk of losing the stored information is to be avoided.
In the last few years, alternative storage systems have consequently been proposed, amongst which the so-called probe-storage systems have assumed particular importance. These systems enable high data-storage capacities to be achieved in reduced dimensions and with low production costs.
In brief, probe-storage systems envisage the use of an array of transducers (or probes) fixed to a common substrate and each provided with a respective read/write head. The array is positioned in use above a storage medium (e.g., made of polymeric material, ferro-electric material, phase-change material, etc.), and is mobile with respect thereto. Each probe is thus able to interact locally with a portion of the storage medium, for writing, reading or erasing individual information bits. In particular, the relative movement between the storage medium and the array of transducers is generated by a micromotor coupled to the storage medium.
In this connection, electrostatic micromotors are known for generating a linear movement, that are made using technologies of micromachining of semiconductor materials (the so-called MEMS technologies). These electrostatic micromotors base their operation on a capacitive interaction between a fixed substrate (known as "stator") and a mobile substrate that is able to move with respect to the fixed substrate (known as "rotor", without this term, however, implying the presence of a rotary movement).
The rotor substrate is generally suspended over the stator substrate via elastic elements. Electrostatic-interaction elements carried by the rotor substrate and stator substrate, for example, rotor and stator electrodes arranged on respective facing surfaces, determine, when appropriately biased, a translation relative movement of the rotor substrate with respect to the stator substrate in a sliding direction.
In particular, the stator electrodes and rotor electrodes form capacitors with plane parallel faces that are misaligned. When a suitable biasing voltage is applied between these misaligned faces, an electrostatic interaction force is generated, which tends to bring them back into a position of alignment, determining the resulting movement of the rotor substrate with respect to the stator substrate. In greater detail, the capacitance of the capacitors formed by the stator electrodes and rotor electrodes varies according to their relative position and in particular is maximum when the electrodes are aligned and minimum in the case of complete misalignment.
A possible trend of this capacitance is shown in FIG. 1a. This trend is periodic, and has a succession of stretches increasing in a substantially linear way from a minimum capacitance Cmin to a maximum capacitance Cmax, the value of which depends substantially on the geometry of the electrodes and their distance apart, and stretches decreasing, also in a substantially linear way and having the same slope as the increasing stretches, from the maximum capacitance Cmax to the minimum capacitance Cmin.
In a known way, the energy stored in the capacitor is given by the expression:
  E  =            1      2                          C                          (          x          )                    ·              V        2            where C(x) is the capacitance that varies in the sliding direction x, and V is the biasing voltage applied between the stator electrodes and rotor electrodes, having, for example, a pulse-train pattern with rectangular pulses (FIG. 1b).
The component of the electrostatic interaction force along the sliding direction x is given by the expression:
      F    x    =                    ⅆ        E                    ⅆ        x              =                  ⅆ                  (                                    1              2                                                                  C                                                  (                  x                  )                                            ·                              V                2                                              )                            ⅆ        x            and thus it is a function of the variation of the capacitance C, and in particular of the slope of its increasing/decreasing trend.
According to the direction of the linear displacement that it is desired to generate in the sliding direction x, the biasing pulses are applied alternatively in the increasing stretch (as is shown in FIG. 1b for a single stator electrode) or in the decreasing stretch of the pattern of the capacitance C. It is thus possible to control, via the biasing voltage V, the direction and speed of movement of the electrostatic micromotor.
In addition to the useful component oriented in the sliding direction, which determines the relative movement between the rotor substrate and the stator substrate, the electrostatic interaction force thus generated has a disturbance component oriented in a direction orthogonal to the sliding direction, which tends, for example, to approach the rotor substrate and stator substrate.
This movement is appropriately countered by the elastic elements coupled to the rotor substrate, which for this purpose have a stiffness sufficient for preventing the movement of the rotor substrate in the orthogonal direction.
In a known way, one of the main targets in the development of electrostatic micromotors is to maximize the useful component and minimize the disturbance component of the electrostatic interaction force or, equivalently, to maximize the ratio between useful component and disturbance component.
Furthermore, it is beneficial to guarantee a minimum target of stability of the rotor substrate as regards deformations in the orthogonal direction (e.g., the deformations should stay within a range of +/−200 nm, considering a thickness for the rotor substrate of approximately 400 μm).

Silicon electrostatic micromotor with indentations, in particular for probe-storage systems


An electrochemical deposition apparatus and methods of using the same are provided herein.

Electroplating systems are commonly used to electroplate or electrochemically deposit various materials onto conductive substrates. Although many types of electroplating systems are known, a variety of problems exist in the field, as briefly enumerated below, which are currently in need of solutions.
Certain problems present in the field include an inability to make effective electrical contact with substrates while, at the same time, insulating points of electrical contact from a deposition or plating solution and maintaining a liquid seal in the deposition tank, such that there is no leakage. This may be a problem when using substrates with lower conductivity.
Moreover, problems may emanate from the resistance increase (or conductivity drop) from the point of electrical contact to the interior of the substrate, especially acute for substrates with lower conductivity. Due to this, the voltage applied at the point of electrical contact may not be the same as that seen at the interior of the substrate, leading to non-uniform deposits, with, in many cases, a greater thickness of the deposit nearer the point of electric contact than that in the interior of the substrate.
The field also includes systems that lack an adequate means of holding electrodes and substrates firmly and maintaining precise and, preferably, minimal distance between the working electrode (the substrate upon which a material of interest may be deposited), the counter electrode, and the reference electrode (if used), for effective, diffusion-limited control as well as high efficiency of the electrochemical deposition.
Issues in the field also include the maintenance of a larger area for the counter electrode as compared to the working electrode, so that the limiting electrode processes for the deposition do not occur at the counter electrode.
Additional limitations in the field include: (1) use of pumps and elaborate circulation systems which limit efficiency; (2) a lack of a hermetic seal of the deposition apparatus or plating tank such that there is minimal solvent loss, which is especially pertinent when volatile solvents are used; (3) a lack of accurate control of the applied potential at the working electrode; (4) a lack of accurate control of the total charge passed during electrochemical deposition, so that thickness, morphology, and other features of the deposit may be well controlled; and (5) a lack of amenability to automated or semi-automated electrochemical deposition.
The present invention answers these and other needs in the field and provides an electroplating device and methods of using the same.

Electrochemical deposition apparatus and methods of using the same


A new tracking technique is essentially “sourceless” in that it can be used anywhere with no set-up, yet it enables a much wider range of virtual environment-style navigation and interaction techniques than does a simple head-orientation tracker. A sourceless head orientation tracker is combined with a head-worn tracking device that tracks a hand-mounted 3D beacon relative to the head. The system encourages use of intuitive interaction techniques which exploit proprioception.

This invention relates to self-referenced tracking.
Virtual reality (VR) systems require tracking of the orientation and position of a user's head and hands with respect to a world coordinate frame in order to control view parameters for head mounted devices (HMDs) and allow manual interactions with the virtual world. In laboratory VR setups, this tracking has been achieved with a variety of mechanical, acoustic, magnetic, and optical systems. These systems require propagation of a signal between a fixed "source" and the tracked "sensor" and therefore limit the range of operation. They also require a degree of care in setting up the source or preparing the site that reduces their utility for field use.
The emerging fields of wearable computing and augmented reality (AR) require tracking systems to be wearable and capable of operating essentially immediately in arbitrary environments. "Sourceless" orientation trackers have been developed based on geomagnetic and/or inertial sensors. They allow enough control to look around the virtual environment and fly through it, but they don't enable the "reach-out-and-grab" interactions that make virtual environments so intuitive and which are needed to facilitate computer interaction.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An apparatus and method are provided for transmitting data and control information in a wireless communication system. The method include determining if the control information is to be transmitted via a data channel; and if the control information is to be transmitted in the data channel, determining a number of symbols for coded control information in consideration of the data, generating the coded control information based on the number of symbols for the coded control information, generating coded data based on an MCS for the data, multiplexing the coded data and the coded control information, modulating the multiplexed coded control information and coded data by a modulation scheme, performing FT on the modulated coded control information and coded data, performing IFT on the FTed coded control information and coded data based on sub-carrier mapping, and transmitting the IFTed coded control information and coded data via the data channel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, and more particularly to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a data channel and a control channel in the same transmission time interval.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, transmission schemes employed in a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) system, which is an example of a wireless communication system, includes a Distributed FDMA (DFDMA) scheme and a Localized FDMA (LFDMA) scheme.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a transmitter in a typical LFDMA system. It is possible to implement another type of transmitter as well as the transmitter shown in FIG. 1, which includes a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) precoder 101 and an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) unit 102. Implementation of the DFT precoder 101 and the IFFT unit 102 as shown in FIG. 1 facilitates changes of the LFDMA system parameters without a high hardware complexity.
A difference between the OFDM and the SC-FDMA is discussed in view of the transmitter structure. Further to the IFFT unit 102, which is used for multi-carrier transmission in a typical OFDM transmitter, the LFDMA transmitter additionally includes the DFT precoder 101 connected to the input side of the IFFT unit 102. M number of sub-carriers output from the DFT precoder 101 are mapped to the input points N−M to N−1 of the IFFT unit 102, so that they occupy and are transmitted by a band configured by adjacent sub-carriers. In general, the input/output size N of the IFFT unit 102 has a value greater than the input/output size M of the DFT precoder 101. The output signal of the IFFT unit 102 is transmitted after passing through the Parallel-to-Serial (P/A) converter 104 and the Cyclic Prefix (CP) adder 106.
In an uplink transmission, control information that should be transmitted through a control channel by a User Equipment (UE) includes Acknowledge/Non-Acknowledge (ACK/NACK) or Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) that is necessary mainly for the transmission of downlink packet data.
FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate transmission of control information in a typical SC-FDMA system.
Referring to FIG. 2A, a separate frequency resource 201 different from that of the data channel is allocated to a control channel in order to transmit control information in an SC-FDMA system. In the case of transmitting control information through the allocated frequency resource 201, a UE cannot transmit packet data. This is because simultaneous transmission of packet data and control information in the same transmission interval cannot satisfy the single carrier characteristic, which results in an increase in the Peak to Average Ratio (PAPR).
Therefore, when it is necessary to transmit control information in a transmission interval for packet data transmission by a UE, the control information is transmitted together with data through the frequency resource 203 of the data channel as shown in FIG. 2B. In other words, packet data, control information, and a reference signal are time-multiplexed and transmitted in the same frequency resource 203.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a structure of a transmitter for multiplexing and transmitting packet data and control information before input of them to a DFT precoder in a typical SC-FDMA system. As shown, data 301 including P number of symbols and control information 302 including S number of symbols are multiplexed into M symbols by a multiplexer 303, which are then input to a DFT precoder 304 having a size of M. As described above, outputs of the DFT precoder 304 are mapped to inputs of an IFFT 305 having a size of N.
When the packet data and the control information are multiplexed before the DFT precoder as shown in FIG. 3, it is necessary to allocate the scheduled M input symbols based on the information quantity of each of the data channel and the control channel. According to one typical scheme, such as the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) scheme, input symbols are allocated in accordance with the set transport format of each of the control channel and the data channel. In other words, when the number of symbols is set according to a fixed transport format of the control channel, the other input symbols except for the symbols of the control channel are used for data transmission. This is because it is usual that a data rate of a data channel is variable according to the scheduling while the transport format of the control channel is fixedly set by higher layer signaling.
However, when the transport format of the control channel is fixed as described above, as many symbols as the symbols occupied by the control channel are reduced from the symbols transmissible through the packet data channel, so as to reduce the data rate. At this time, the data rate is reduced by the amount corresponding to [the number of symbols used for the control channel×a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) level]. Therefore, when a UE has obtained a high MCS level scheduled for high speed data transmission, the number of data bits that are not transmitted may increase due to the transmission of the control information.

Method and apparatus for transmitting/receiving data and control information through an uplink in a wireless communication system


A liquid crystal display that includes a substrate; a plurality of gate lines formed on the substrate; a plurality of common electrodes formed on the substrate and made of a transparent material; a plurality of data lines intersecting the gate lines; a plurality of thin film transistors connected to the data lines and the gate lines; and a plurality of pixel electrodes connected to the thin film transistors and overlapping the common electrodes. The pixel electrodes include a first sub-pixel electrode separated by a distance from a second sub-pixel electrode.

(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a thin film transistor array panel.
(b) Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) is one of the most widely used flat panel displays. An LCD includes two panels and a liquid crystal (LC) layer interposed between the two panels. The panels contain field generating electrodes such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode. One such LCD, provides a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix at one panel and a common electrode covering an entire surface of the other panel. The LCD displays images by applying voltages to the field-generating electrodes to generate an electrical field in the LC layer. The electrical field effects the orientation of LC molecules in the LC layer, thereby adjusting the polarization of incident light.
In a vertical alignment (VA) mode LCD, the long axes of the LC molecules are perpendicular to the panels in the absence of an electric field. This type of display has a high contrast ratio.
A PVA (patterned vertically aligned) mode LCD, which is really a modified VA mode LCD with cutouts added to the field generating electrodes, an IPS (in-plane switching) mode LCD, and a PLS (plane to line switching) mode LCD have been developed to obtain wider viewing angles.
However, PLS mode and IPS mode LCDs suffer from an off-pixel defect. Since the common electrode and the pixel electrodes are formed on the same substrate, they are frequently shorted with each other, causing a pixel to erroneously display black.


A gravel pack system and method for zonal isolation includes a swellable element used in conjunction with a primary isolation device, such as a cup packer. The zones may be isolated by both the isolation device and the swellable element. Shunt tubes may be used to convey a gravel slurry to each zone. At least one upper shunt tube extends through the isolation device to provide the slurry to the zone therebelow. Once the gravel packing is completed, the swellable member may be activated to provide and supplement a hydraulic seal between adjacent zones.

Hydrocarbon fluids, such as oil and natural gas, are commonly obtained from subterranean geologic formations by drilling a well that penetrates a hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Once a wellbore has been drilled, the well must be completed before the fluids can be produced from the well. A typical completion involves the design, selection, and installation of equipment and materials in or around the wellbore for conveying, pumping, or controlling the production or injection of fluids therein. After the well has been completed, production of the hydrocarbon fluids can begin.
When the hydrocarbon fluid is eventually produced from the subterranean formation, the fluid typically contains particulates, such as sand. Problems caused by sand production can significantly increase operational and maintenance expenses and can potentially lead to a total loss of the well. To control sand production, one technique commonly employed involves the installation of a gravel packing system in the wellbore where the well fluid is routed through a downhole filter formed from gravel that surrounds a sand screen.
More specifically, the sand screen is a cylindrical mesh apparatus that is disposed around the production tubular and arranged generally concentric with the borehole where well fluid is produced. Gravel is packed between the annulus formed between the formation and the sand screen. The well fluid produced from the hydrocarbon formation passes through the gravel, enters the sand screen and is eventually communicated uphole via the production tubular. The gravel surrounding the sand screen is typically introduced into the well in the form of a slurry comprising a mixture of a carrier fluid and gravel. The gravel packing system directs the slurry around the sand screen so that when the fluid in the slurry disperses, the gravel remains seated around the sand screen.
In some applications, such as when relatively long formations are being gravel-packed, zonal isolation is undertaken to define and isolate multiple zones along the length of the wellbore. Conventionally, zonal isolation is accomplished using manmade isolation devices, such as cup packers, which can be bypassed for gravel packing using shunt tubes. However, the combination of shunt tubes and cup-type isolation packers often fails to provide sufficient isolation between adjacent zones.
There is a need, therefore, for improved tools and methods for providing an adequate bather and isolating multiple hydrocarbon zones.

Method of gravel packing multiple zones with isolation


A method of operating a mechanical switching device is disclosed. The switching device includes a housing, an assembly disposed in the housing, and a body. The assembly is thermally deformable and comprises a beam held in two different places by two arms secured to edges of the housing. The beam is remote from the body in a first configuration and in contact with and immobilized by the body in a second configuration. The assembly has the first configuration at a first temperature and the second configuration when one of the arms has a second temperature different from the first temperature. The method includes exposing an arm of the assembly to the second temperature, and releasing the beam using a release mechanism. The release mechanism includes a pointed element comprising a pointed region directed towards the body. The pointed element limits an open crater in a concave part of a projection.

The tip effect is used in certain devices, especially to increase the field effect.
Thus, it is known, in charge-storage nonvolatile memories, to create tips on the polysilicon floating gate, so as to facilitate the injection of carriers into the upper gate.
It is possible in this regard to cite U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,783,473, 6,410,957 and 6,635,922 as well as the following articles:
"An Analytical Model for Optimization of Programming Efficiency and Uniformity of Split Gate Source-Side Injection Superflash Memory", Huinan Guan, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, vol. 50, No. 3, March 2003,
"A Novel 3 Volts-Only, Small Sector Erase, High Density Flash E2PROM", Sohrab Kianian et al., 1994 Symposium on VLSI Technology Digest of Technical Papers, 1994 IEEE,
"Tunneling Phenomenon in Superflash® Cell", A. Kotov et al., 2002 IEEE Nonvolatile Memory Technology Symposium, p. 110-115.
The formation of the tips of the floating gate comprises an oxidation of the polysilicon of this floating gate.

Method for producing an integrated circuit pointed element comprising etching first and second etchable materials with a particular etchant to form an open crater in a project


The present invention provides an electronic device and a method for controlling the electronic device. According to the present invention, in case a mirroring connection request is received from a first external device, a second external device paired with the first external device is also made to be mirrored so that a mirroring screen of the first external device and a mirroring screen of the second external device can be displayed together.

Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to an electronic device displaying a screen of an external device by mirroring and a method for controlling the electronic device.
Background of the Disclosure
A screen mirroring technology is a technique for transmitting an image displayed on a current screen in one device (a source device) to other device (sink device) without any change between two devices having an image display function. For example, by transmitting the image to be displayed on the source device such as a mobile phone or a tablet to the sink device such as a TV or a PC, the screen mirroring technology may refer to a technique for displaying them in the sink device such as the TV.
This screen mirroring technology is conventionally used to output the application (for example, games and web page images) being executed in the terminal having a relatively small screen, such as a mobile terminal on a larger screen and can extend the usability of a mobile terminal.
Therefore, a mobile terminal with the screen mirroring technology such as "Wi-Fi Display" or "Mirroring Airplay" is recently increasing.

Display device for multi-screen mirroring of a first external device and a second external device paired with the first external device


The invention provides compounds, compositions, and methods for studying the Rohmer pathway and for treating bacterial infections or parasitic infections. The parasitic infection can be a protozoan infection, such as malaria. The compounds and compositions can also be used as antibiotics, for example, to kill bacteria or parasites, or to inhibit bacterial or parasite growth. The invention further provides inhibitors of isoprenoid biosynthesis enzymes, and methods of inhibiting the activity of isoprenoid biosynthesis enzymes. The compounds can be, for example, alkynes or allenes that bind to a unique Fe of an Fe4S4 cluster of an isoprenoid biosynthesis enzyme.

Enzymes that catalyze the formation of isoprenoids are of interest as drug targets. The Rohmer pathway, also known as the methyl erythritol phosphate or non-mevalonate pathway, is responsible for isoprenoid biosynthesis in most pathogenic bacteria and in malaria parasites, such as Plasmodium faciparum (Rohmer et al., Lipids 2008, 43(12), 1095; Wiesner and Jomaa, Current Drug Targets 2007, 8(1), 3). Enzymes found in the pathway are potentially important as anti-infective drug targets because isoprenoids are essential for survival of these microorganisms and because the non-mevalonate pathway is absent in humans (Williams and McCammon, Chem. Biol. Drug Des. 2009, 73(1), 26; de Ruyck and Wouters, Curr. Protein Pept. Sci. 2008, 9(2), 117).
The structures and mechanisms of action of six of the eight enzymes present in the pathway are now known. Fosmidomycin, which inhibits the second enzyme in the pathway, has shown promising results for treating malaria (Jomaa et al., Science 1999, 285, (5433), 1573; Borrmann et al., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2006, 50(8), 2713). An inhibitor of one of the six known enzymes, deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase, has been used clinically to treat both malaria and Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections (Wiesner et al., Curr. Pharm. Des. 2008, 14, 855; Cheng et al., Biochem. Pharmacol. 1973, 22, 3099).
Less is known, however, about the structures and mechanism of action of the last two enzymes in the pathway: IspG and IspH. IspG is E-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP) synthase, EC 188.8.131.52, also known as GcpE. IspH is E-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl diphosphate (HMBPP) reductase, EC 126.96.36.199, also known as LytB. The penultimate enzyme is IspG, which catalyzes the 2H+/2e− reduction of methylerythritol-cyclo-diphosphate (MEcPP, 1) to HMBPP (2), while the terminal enzyme, IspH, catalyzes the 2H+/2e− reduction of HMBPP (2) to isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP, 3) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP, 4) in a ˜5:1 ratio.

The structure of IspG has not yet been reported, while two structures have been published for IspH, one from Aquifex aeolicus (Rekittke et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 17206), and the other from E. coli (Grawert et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 2009, 48(31), 5756). According to these reports, both structures contain Fe3S4 clusters. However, these observations are in contrast to the conclusions drawn from both Mössbauer spectroscopy (Xiao et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131(29), 9931) and EPR spectroscopy (Wolff et al., FEBS Lett. 2003, 541(1-3), 115). Both spectroscopic methods lead to the conclusion that Fe4S4 clusters are responsible for catalysis. The same conclusion was arrived at from the results of microchemical analyses. It therefore seems possible that the Fe4S4 cluster, while catalytically active, may be relatively labile, as found, for example, in aconitase and in pyruvate-formation lyase activating factor. To date, there has been only one report of an IspH inhibitor (Van Hoof, J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 1365), which provided an IC50 value of ˜1-2 mM.
Accordingly, newly identified inhibitors of isoprenoid biosynthesis enzymes are needed to further study the Rohmer pathway. New compounds are also needed to develop effective therapeutic methods, including methods to inhibit the activity of isoprenoid biosynthesis enzymes, and methods for treating diseases such as malaria and other infections, due to increased resistance to currently known antibiotics.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


An exposure apparatus has a field stop, disposed in a position conjugate to a reticle, for regulating an illumination area on the reticle. The field stop is constructed of two aperture members including light shielding portions, rectangular first and second apertures and light reducing portions formed at sides of these apertures. The exposure apparatus also has a drive system for shifting positions of light reducing portions and relatively moving the two aperture members during the projection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an exposure apparatus employed for manufacturing a semiconductor device and a liquid crystal display substrate or the like and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus for performing, a so-called picture synthesization in which a pattern having a large area is formed by overlapping some portions of unit-area patterns with each other on a photosensitive substrate.
2. Related Background Art
This type of exposure apparatus has hitherto involved the use of a picture synthesizing method of eventually synthesizing a desired pattern by partitioning an exposure area into a plurality of unit areas on a photosensitive substrate and repeating an exposure in accordance with each unit area in order to cope with a scale-up (increase in area size of the exposure area) of the photosensitive substrate as an object for exposure. When effecting this picture synthesization, a positional deviation of the pattern is caused by a pattern depicting error of a reticle for a pattern projection, an aberration in a projection optical system and a positioning error of a stage for positioning the photosensitive substrate. For this reason, it follows that pattern breaks appear in positions of boundaries between the respective exposure areas, which should be connected without any gap. For preventing this, very slight quantities of boundaries between the respective exposure areas are overlapped with each other. When the exposure areas are overlapped, however, an exposure quantity of this portion is doubled, resulting in variation in terms of line width of the pattern at the connected portion between the respective exposure areas depending on a characteristic of a photosensitive agent. Further, when the picture synthesization takes place, a stepped portion is produced at the pattern joint lines due to a positional deviation (deviation in the direction orthogonal to the direction in which the pattern extends) between the exposure areas adjacent to each other. It may happen that the characteristic of the device is spoiled. Further, if a different exposure apparatus is burdened per layer (per process) with a process of overlapping the picture-synthesized single-layered patterns with each other in multi layers, an overlap error of the exposure area of each layer discontinuously changes at the pattern joint lines, depending on the aberration of the lens and a difference in terms of a positioning accuracy of each exposure apparatus. As a result, especially in an active matrix liquid crystal device, contrast discontinuously varies at the pattern joint lines, resulting in a decline of a device quality.
A method of obviating the problems inherent in the picture synthesization described above entails a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-49218. According to this technique, light reducing or light attenuating portions for reducing a quantity of the transmitted light are provided in positions, corresponding to the pattern joint lines, of a reticle or a filter superposed on the reticle. Then, pattern images passing through the light reducing portions are overlapped with each other on the photosensitive substrate, and, thus, the exposure is effected so that an exposure quantity of the pattern overlapped portion is substantially coincident with the exposure quantity of other portions.
The following problems, however, arise, in the technique stated in the above Publication.
First, when the reticle itself is provided with a light reducing or light attenuating characteristic, the number of steps of manufacturing the reticle increases, and a burden on the reticle manufacturing steps augments, increasing the possibility in which a pattern defect is produced during the manufacturing process. On the other hand, when using the filter to be overlapped with the reticle, there increases such a possibility that the reticle is damaged and contaminated by attaching and detaching the filter. Thus, problem is produced in terms of a maintenance and management of the reticle. Further, a dedicated filter is required to be prepared per reticle, and labors needed for manufacturing, maintaining and managing the filter are not ignorable.

Exposure apparatus and field stop thereof


Provided is a heat dissipation sheet capable of effectively enhancing adhesiveness and long-term insulation reliability. The heat dissipation sheet according to the present invention contains first inorganic particles having an aspect ratio of 2 or less, second inorganic particles having an aspect ratio of more than 2, and a binder resin. In this heat dissipation sheet, a content of the second inorganic particles is larger than a content of the first inorganic particles in 100% by volume of a region having a thickness of 15% on a first surface side in a thickness direction, and the content of the first inorganic particles in 100% by volume of the region having a thickness of 15% is larger than the content of the first inorganic particles in 100% by volume of a central region having a thickness of 70%.

Electronic and electrical apparatuses have recently been downsized and allowed to have higher performance, and thus electronic components have been mounted with a higher package density. Thus, how to dissipate heat generated from the electronic component in a narrow space is a problem. Since the heat generated from the electronic component is directly linked to reliability of electronic and electrical apparatuses, efficient dissipation of the generated heat is an urgent issue.
As one means for solving the above problems, there is a means using a ceramic substrate having high thermal conduction as a heat dissipation substrate on which a power semiconductor device or the like is mounted. Examples of such a ceramic substrate include an alumina substrate and an aluminum nitride substrate.
However, the means using a ceramic substrate has problems that it is difficult to form a multilayer, processability is poor, and the cost s very high. In addition, since a difference in linear expansion coefficient between the ceramic substrate and a copper circuit is large, there is also a problem that the copper circuit tends to peel off during a cooling and heating cycle.
Thus, a resin composition using boron nitride having a low linear expansion coefficient, in particular, hexagonal boron nitride has attracted attention as a heat dissipation material. A crystal structure of hexagonal boron nitride is a layered structure of a hexagonal network similar to graphite, and a particle shape of hexagonal boron nitride is scaly. Thus, it is known that hexagonal boron nitride has a property that the thermal conductivity in the plane direction is higher than the thermal conductivity in the thickness direction, and the thermal conductivity is anisotropic. The resin composition described above may be used as a thermally conductive sheet or a prepreg.
An example of a thermally conductive sheet containing boron nitride is disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. Patent Document 1 discloses a thermally conductive sheet in which some or all of boron nitride particles are dispersed in a thermosetting resin in the form of agglomerated particles. The thermally conductive sheet further contains metal oxide particles. In the thermally conductive sheet, the total content of the metal oxide particles and the boron nitride particles is 40% by volume to 70% by volume. In the thermally conductive sheet, a volume ratio of the metal oxide particles and the boron nitride particles is 10:90 to 50:50. In the thermally conductive sheet, a median diameter of the metal oxide particles is 0.5 μm to 30 μm.
Patent Document 2 below discloses a thermal conductive insulating sheet containing a thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride), boron nitride, and a binder resin. The thermal conductive insulating sheet satisfies the following conditions (1) to (7). Condition (1): The thermal conductive insulating sheet has a porosity of 0.2 or less. Condition (2): The thermal conductive insulating sheet includes a layer (A) that contains a thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride) and optionally contains boron nitride and a layer (B) that contains boron nitride and optionally contains a thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride). Condition (3): The layer (A) and the layer (B) are alternately laminated such that the layer (B) is not positioned on an outermost layer, Condition (4): A mass of the thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride) that is optionally contained in the outermost layer (Aout) is relatively larger than a mass of the thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride) that is optionally contained in the layer (B). Condition (5): The total content of the thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride) and the boron nitride in the layer (Aout) is more than 50% by volume relative to 100% by volume of sum of the thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride), the boron nitride, and a binder resin in the layer (Aout). Condition (6): The boron nitride is scaly primary particles or granules obtained by granulating scaly primary particles. Condition (7): The layer (B) includes 30% by mass to 90% by mass of boron nitride with respect to a total of 100% by mass of the thermal conductive spherical filler (excluding boron nitride), boron nitride, and the binder resin.
An example of a prepreg containing boron nitride is disclosed in Patent Document 3 below. Patent Document 3 discloses a prepreg for heat and pressure molding, in which a thermosetting resin composition containing an inorganic filler containing two or more components is in a sheet-like and semi-cured state. The inorganic filler includes a filler (1) which is an aggregate of primary particles having an average particle diameter d1 of 10 μm or more and 70 μm or less. The inorganic filler is in the form of particles and includes a filler (2) in which an average particle diameter d2 of the particles is 0.1 μm or more and 30 μm or less. In the thermosetting resin composition, the content of the filler (1) is 5% by volume to 40% by volume relative to 100% by volume of sum of thermosetting resin solids and the inorganic filler. In the thermosetting resin composition, the content of the filler (2) is 10% by volume to 50% by volume relative to 100% by volume of sum of thermosetting resin solids and the inorganic filler. The total content of the inorganic filler is 20% by volume to 80% by volume in 100% by volume of the thermosetting resin composition.

Heat dissipation sheet, method for producing heat dissipation sheet, and laminate


The degree of dryness in a fuel cell can be judged more accurately. A system has: an impedance calculation part that calculates an impedance of a fuel cell, extracts from the calculated impedance a high-frequency impedance which is an impedance in a high frequency range and a low-frequency impedance which is an impedance in a low frequency range, and subtracts the high-frequency impedance from the low-frequency impedance to calculate a differential impedance; a water content calculation part that calculates the water content of an electrolyte membrane using the high-frequency impedance and calculates the water content of a catalyst layer using the differential impedance; and a water content control part that performs water content recovery processing to increase the water content of the catalyst layer if the water content of the catalyst layer is smaller than a predetermined water content.

It is known that internal resistance of a fuel cell is affected by the degree of dryness of an electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell. More specifically, if the water content in the fuel cell becomes insufficient and the electrolyte membrane dries (which is a state known as "dry-up"), the fuel cell internal resistance increases and the output voltage of the fuel cell decreases. In order to operate the fuel cell efficiently, the water content in the fuel cell should be controlled in an optimum state. The water content in the fuel cell has a correlation with an impedance of the fuel cell. Thus, the water content in the fuel cell can be found indirectly, for example, by measuring an impedance of the fuel cell through an AC impedance method. Patent Document 1 indicated below discloses a technique in which an impedance of a fuel cell is measured by superimposing a high frequency signal and a low frequency signal onto an output signal of the fuel cell, and after that, whether dry-up occurs or not is determined using an impedance in a high frequency range and an impedance in a low frequency range, which impedances are extracted from the above-measured impedance.


A network monitoring device monitors at least one tap point corresponding to a network interface between User Equipment (UE) and one or more additional nodes in the communication network, detects one or more transactions at the at least one tap point corresponding to the network interface with each transaction including request data and response data. The network monitoring device further determines a time associated with the request data and a time associated with the response data for each transaction, determines a delay time for each transaction for the at least one tap point by a difference between the time associated with the request data and the time associated with the response data, assigns the delay time for each transaction to one or more a predefined time ranges, and increments a count corresponding to the one or more predefined time ranges when the delay time is assigned.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to network monitoring, and more particularly, to efficiently determining network delay.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, mobile communication networks such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network employed circuit switching architectures and technologies whereby hardware circuits establish connections between a calling and a called party throughout the network. This circuit switching architecture was improved upon by a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network architecture, which incorporated packet-switching technologies to transport data as packets without the establishment of dedicated circuits. A 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) organization improved upon the GPRS architecture and provided guidelines for implementing new system topologies for a 3GPP mobile communication network. The GPP community particularly modeled its network on IP (Internet Protocol) based routing techniques and is generally referred to as Evolved 3GPP Packet Switched Domain—also known as the Evolved Packet System (EPS).
When designing, maintaining, and/or operating any communication network—e.g., GSM networks, GPRS networks, EPS networks, and the like—data flows are monitored and analyzed to provide important insight into potential network problems as well as provide insight into a current state of the network (e.g., Quality of Service parameters, etc.). Such network monitoring is used to address existing network problems as well as to improve overall network design.
However, with an increasingly large consumer adoption of mobile devices, the amount of network data to be monitored quickly becomes unwieldy and proves expensive both in terms of hardware support and also in terms of resource usage. For example, some conventional network monitoring techniques require, in part, end-to-end data correlation of incoming data packets with outgoing data packets for a node or network interface and typically requires a large amount of network resources (e.g., dedicated network monitoring resources or otherwise). Further, the conventional monitoring techniques indicate network delay at a very high level and fails to provide meaningful insight into specific target locations where delay occurs. Such high level delay is further complicated by Diameter Routing Agents (DRAs), which were introduced to ensure that messages are routed among the correct nodes for the increasingly complex LTE networks. DRAs potentially introduce delay at specific network locations, which prove hard to detect using conventional monitoring techniques. Accordingly, despite such conventional efforts, a need remains to provide efficient network monitoring techniques that identify delay on a granular scale.

Methods and devices to efficiently determine node delay in a communication network


A fastener includes a threaded pin and an internally threaded collar. The threads can freely be run without impediment during tightening. After the fastener is tightened, a tool engages a shoulder on the collar and presses a deflector against the collar on the pin to deflect it so as to form a lock against loosening.

A pervasive problem in threaded fasteners is to prevent a threaded collar that has been tightened onto a threaded pin from coming loose in use. Locknuts, lock washers, adhesives, and out-of-round collar sections are well-known means for resisting the tendency of a collar to work loose.
While each of the known lock means meets the locking requirement at least to some extent, they generally present limitations and introduce problems of their own.
It is an object of this invention to add to the collar-locking resources a fastener structure, tool, and method which does not require additional structural pieces such as lock washers, critical dimensions in the production article to produce a locking action, or foreign substances such as adhesives. A simple localized distortion of a structurally unimportant portion of the pin or collar, after tightening down the collar, is all that is needed.
This invention employs an externally threaded pin and an internally threaded collar. Their threads are so shaped and proportioned that the collar can be run freely onto the pin and tightened down without impediment. Known thread lock arrangements often include lock means which react while the collar is being run down. As a consequence, the torque actually applied between the threads, and the resulting axial preload in the resulting joint, are rendered uncertain. An example of such prior arrangements is prevailing lock arrangements where the collar is initially pressed out of round, and the forces generated by its restoration to round out the collar are the prevailing forces. Another example is where a lip on the collar is swaged into a groove on the pin by an adjacent face of a washer while the collar is being tightened down. These are useful and effective devices, but they do suffer from the coincidence of the torquing and locking functions.
It is an object of this invention to provide a threaded system that can be freely tightened, and then, after the desired torque is attained, the system can be locked without disturbing the applied torque level, or the axial pre-load.

Deflection type thread lock for a threaded fastener


The protective circuit for analog sensors has transistors respectively located in a power supply voltage line and in a ground line. The control electrode of said circuit is located between the supply voltage and the ground via a voltage divider. The sensor output line is connected to the ground potential of the control device via a pull-down resistor. During normal operation, both transistors are connected. Both transistors switch off when the ground line is disconnected. This prevents a current from flowing to the sensor output line via the power supply voltage line, the voltage divider or via the sensor. The sensor output line is, in fact, pulled to the ground potential by the pull-down resistor. This prevents the appearance of a defective signal that could emulate a wanted signal.

The invention relates to a protective circuit for analog sensors, which have a power supply connection, a chassis ground connection and a sensor output connection. Such sensors are generally known and are used, for example, as pressure sensors in motor vehicles.
Specifically, in the case of motor vehicles, one of the electrical lines to the sensor may be interrupted by shocks or similar disturbing influences, either as a result of a line break, the detaching of a plug-type connection, or similar occurrences. An interruption of the ground line is particularly critical because supply voltage continues to be present on the supply voltage line and, as a result, a faulty signal can occur at the sensor output, which faulty signal cannot be differentiated from valid measured values. This can, for example, have the result that, when the ground line is interrupted, a normal operating condition (for example, a sufficient operating pressure of the braking system in the case of commercial vehicles) is indicated in the control unit, although it does not exist. This represents a considerable safety risk.
Thus, in the event of an interruption of the ground line to the sensor, the currently known analog sensors supply a measuring signal to the control unit which differs from zero. In the event of a fault, the signal voltage detected in the control unit depends considerably on the load resistance. It is therefore an object of the invention to create a protective circuit for analog sensors of the above-mentioned type which, in the event of a line interruption, particularly in the event of an interruption of the ground line, supplies a signal which can be clearly distinguished from a wanted signal.
This object is achieved by providing a protective circuit for analog sensors which are connected with a supply voltage line, a ground line and a sensor output line. One transistor, respectively, is interposed in the supply voltage line and the ground line, whose control connection is connected to one voltage divider respectively situated between the supply voltage line and the ground line. The two transistors are connected in the normal operation and are switched off at least when the ground line is interrupted. The sensor output line is connected by way of a pull-down resistor with a ground potential, which is independent of the ground line. Advantageous developments and further developments of the invention are described and claimed herein.
The basic principle of the invention consists of interposing one transistor, respectively, in the sensor in the ground line and the supply voltage line, whose control connection is coupled to voltage dividers, which are situated between the supply line and the ground line. The two transistors are switched through (on) in the normal operation and are switched off at least when the ground line is interrupted. The sensor output line is loaded/terminated by way of a pull-down resistor in the control unit and pulls the signal in the event of a fault into a secure condition (GND potential).
As a result, it is achieved that, in the event of the interruption of one of the connection lines of the analog sensor, it is ensured that the signal voltage measured, for example, in a control unit (thus the voltage at the sensor output line) becomes exactly zero, which easily demonstrates a malfunctioning of the sensor.
In the following, the invention will be explained in greater detail by means of an embodiment in connection with the drawing.

Knorr-Bremse Systeme fuer Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH


Techniques for implementing an improved user interface for efficiently browsing through and comparing digital content items are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method comprises: receiving a request for one or more additional graphical widgets indicating at least one of a plurality of graphical widgets selected by a user for concurrent display with the additional graphical widget(s), the request also indicating at least one attribute value for each one of the at least one of the plurality of graphical widgets, with at least one attribute value having been selected by the user for use in determining the additional graphical widget(s). The additional graphical widget(s) may be determined from amongst a plurality of additional graphical widgets based on the attribute value(s) indicated by the request, and then displayed concurrently on the computing device along with the graphical widget(s) selected by the user for concurrent display with the additional graphical widget(s).

Current user interfaces of online services are inefficient with respect to their ability to enable users to browse through and compare digital content items. For example, when browsing through and comparing products, or other items, via an online service, users often have to navigate back and forth between online pages to determine which products to compare with one another and to view the different pages of the different products. Even in scenarios where a user selects a filter criterion to be used in searching for products, the user cannot conveniently or efficiently replace one of the resulting products with another product for comparison. This inefficient design results in excessive consumption of electronic resources of the underlying computer systems due to factors such as the additional processor workload and consumption of network bandwidth associated with the additional navigation between online pages. This inefficient design also makes the online service difficult and inconvenient to use. The present disclosure addresses these and other technical problems that plague the computer functionality of online services.

Method, medium, and system for a user interface for comparing digital content items


A task definition is received. The task definition indicates at least a location from which one or more software image can be obtained and information usable to determine an amount of resources to allocate to one or more software containers for the one or more software image. A set of virtual machine instances in which to launch the one or more software containers is determined, the one or more software image is obtained from the location included in the task definition and is launched as the one or more of software containers within the set of virtual machine instances.

Companies and individuals seeking to reduce the expense and overhead associated with maintaining their own computing resources have turned instead to purchasing remote computing services, such as remote program execution over multiple virtual machine instances and remote data storage, offered by computing resource service providers to customers. Such remote computing services are often configurable and scalable to meet various computing needs of the customers of the computing resource service provider. However, it can be difficult for a customer to manage various applications running on multiple virtual machine instances and such applications may not be portable to other computing systems or scalable to meet an increased need for resources.

System for managing and scheduling containers


A method for executing authentication in a network environment is provided that includes retrieving a group profile from an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server in response to receiving a request from a first end user and locally caching the group profile. A service may be provided to the first end user based on information included within the group profile and associated with the first end user. A request may be received from a second end user. It is then determined if the second end user is included within the group profile such that in cases where the second end user is included in the group profile the group profile can be locally cached in order to provide a service to the second end user without having to communicate with the AAA server.

Networking architectures have grown increasingly complex in communications environments. In addition, the augmentation of clients or end users wishing to communicate in a network environment has caused many networking configurations and systems to respond by adding elements to accommodate the increase in networking traffic. Communication tunnels or links may be used in order to establish or to authenticate an entity via a network, whereby an end user or an object may initiate a tunneling protocol by invoking a selected location or a designated network node. The network node or selected location may then provide a platform that the end user may use to conduct a communication session.
As the subscriber base of end users increases, proper routing, effective authentication, and efficient management of communication sessions and data flows becomes even more critical. In certain cases, scalability and centralized control may be achieved for a corresponding network, but only at the expense of time and performance. In other scenarios, performance may be acceptable, but only at the expense of restricted scalability and the lack of management control. Accordingly, the ability to provide an effective mechanism to optimally authenticate an end user/mobile terminal, while offering acceptable scalability and management features, provides a significant challenge to network operators, component manufacturers, and system designers.

System and method for optimizing authentication in a network environment


Temperature, pressure and liquid level parameters are sensed by the variable ratio fiber optic coupler sensor wherein the optical coupling ratio varies in accordance with stress applied to the coupler encapsulant resulting from application of the parameter being sensed. Such use of the coupler sensor is particularly advantageous in fuel tanks, which are subject to spark hazard. Vertical arrays of such sensors are utilized to determine levels of liquids in such fuel tanks. Various sensor configurations are disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sensing temperature, pressure and levels of liquids with particular application to fuel tanks. The invention further involves remote sensing of such physical phenomena if required.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are environments wherein it is desirable to sense various physical parameters such as pressure, temperature, or liquid level where electrically based sensors or sensors containing metal may present a hazard from sparks. For example, it is often desirable to sense such parameters in fuel or other tanks where volatile fluids or gases are present. Sensors for use in such tanks should be non-electrical, non-static, non-spark producing and non-conducting. Such sensors should also accurately measure the desired parameter, be of rugged construction and be relatively inexpensive. Specifically, it is desirable to measure such parameters in marine vessel fuel tanks. Fires in large oil tankers have been caused by malfunctioning or damaged electrical temperature and pressure sensors in the fuel tanks thereof.
Measurement of pressure provides data from which the fuel level in the tank can be derived. One pressure sensor can measure liquid height in a tank if the liquid density is known. Two sensors are required for liquid level measurement if the density is unknown. The levels of two immiscible fluids in a tank can be measured by a string of pressure sensors. This condition arises on marine vessels which replace pumped fuel oil, such as JP-5, with sea water to provide ballast. Such a liquid level sensor system may be implemented by multiplexing several pressure sensors into a vertical array. It is appreciated that modern aircraft carriers include over 500 fuel tanks so that arrays of expensive pressure sensors would be prohibitively costly and, because conventional sensors would involve electricity, prohibitively dangerous.
Fiber optic sensors need not be electrical or metallic. The prior art, however, does not teach or suggest the use of an entirely satisfactory fiber optic sensor for the described purposes. Generally, three types of fiber optic sensors are known for measuring such parameters; viz, micro-bending sensors, interferometric sensors and polarization type sensors.
Fiber optic micro-bending sensors are designed to sense pressure by excluding light from the fiber in proportion to changes in pressure. The phenomenon is denoted as micro-bending loss. The output light intensity levels from such sensors diminish with increase in measured pressure as pressure is transduced into light loss. Since the accuracy of the measurement diminishes because of the lower light levels, the dynamic range of such sensors is severely limited. With the micro-bending sensor, changes in pressure are sensed by changes in output light levels. Such light level changes may also be caused by bending of the input or return cables and variations in source intensity caused by aging, power supply fluctations or drift and the like. Such changes in output light levels are inseparable from changes in the measured parameter. These disadvantages also maintain when micro-bending sensors are utilized to sense temperature. The micro-bending sensor tends to be a delicate readily damaged sensor.
Interferometeric fiber optic sensors measure changes in pressure by applying pressure to an optical fiber changing the index of refraction thereof. This phenomenon results in a phase delay which is measured by utilizing a Mach-Zehnder or Michaelson interferometer configuration. Although interferometric sensors are extremely sensitive, they are also extremely expensive costing many thousands of dollars for each sensor. Thus, in applications requiring thousands of sensors, the interferometeric sensor approach would be prohibitively expensive. Such sensors are extremely complicated and difficult to utilize outside of a laboratory environment. Interferometric sensors utilized to measure temperature would also suffer from the same shortcomings. Interferometric sensors require sophisticated modulation techniques which render the sensors unsuitable for the described applications.
Polarization varying fiber optic sensors alter the polarization state of a polarized optical signal in accordance with a change in temperature or pressure. Such polarized light sensors require special optical fiber and expensive polarizing beamsplitters. Additionally, perturbations in input or output leads or in the source cannot be readily separated from true changes in temperature or pressure.
Additionally, fiber optic temperature sensors based on the temperature dependent emission spectra of rare earth phosphors are known in the art. Such sensors are excessively expensive and require very complicated electro-optical signal processing. Distributed temperature sensors are also known which measure the temperature dependent anti-Stokes Raman backscattering via optical time domain reflectometry. Such sensor configurations are extremely expensive and are only practical when a large number of distributed temperature measurements are required. Such a sensor approach is inappropriate where single point temperature measurements are required.
A variable ratio fiber optic coupler sensor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,858, issued Jan. 6, 1987 entitled "Variable Coupler Fiber Optic Sensor" by Gerdt et al and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Said U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,858 is incorporated herein by reference. Although the sensor of said U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,858 provides numerous advantages over the sensors hereinabove described, the variable ratio fiber optic coupler sensor has not heretofore been utilized or configured to resolve the problems of the above-described applications.

Methods for sensing temperature, pressure and liquid level and variable ratio fiber optic coupler sensors therefor


A mobile communication system supporting an MBMS service includes a Node B having a plurality of transport channels and at least one UE communicating with the Node B. The Node B selects a transport channel for MBMS control information among a plurality of transport channels mapped to a secondary common control physical channel; transmits a system information block indicating the selected transport channel to a cell area where UEs are located, using a primary common control physical channel; and transmits the MBMS control information to the cell area using the selected transport channel. The UE receives a system information block indicating a transport channel selected to transmit MBMS control information among a plurality of transport channels mapped to a secondary common control physical channel, over a primary common control physical channel; receives the MBMS control information over the selected transport channel among the plurality of the transport channels, using the system information block; and receives the MBMS service using the MBMS control information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile communication system supporting a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), and in particular, to an apparatus and method for transmitting and receiving control information for supporting an MBMS service.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, due to the development of communication technology, services provided in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) mobile communication system are developing into Multicasting/Multimedia Communication for transmitting not only the existing voice service data but also mass data such as packet data and circuit data.
In a Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service (UMTS) system, which is a 3rd generation (3G) mobile communication system employing Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology based on Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Broadcast/Multicast Service in which the same data stream is provided from one data source to a plurality of user equipments (UEs) is supported in order to support the Multicasting/Multimedia Communication. The Broadcast/Multicast Service can be classified into Cell Broadcast Service (CBS), which is a message-oriented service, and Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (hereinafter referred to as "MBMS service") for supporting multimedia data including real-time image and voice, still image, and text.
FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a network configuration for providing an MBMS service in a mobile communication system. A broadcast/multicast-service center (BM-SC) 110 is a source that provides an MBMS stream, and the BM-SC 110 schedules an MBMS service stream and sends the scheduled MBMS service stream to a transit network (NW) 120. The transit network 120 is a network that exists between the BM-SC 110 and a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) 130, and sends the MBMS service stream provided from the BM-SC 110 to the SGSN 130. The transit network 120 is comprised of a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN) and an external network.
The SGSN 130 receiving an MBMS service stream via the transit network 120 controls an MBMS service for the subscribers, i.e., UEs 161, 162, 163, 171 and 172, desiring to receive the MBMS service. For example, the SGSN 130 manages MBMS service accounting data for each of the subscribers, and selectively transmits MBMS service data to an associated radio network controller (RNC) 140. In addition, the SGSN 130 generates and manages a service context for the MBMS service and sends a stream for the MBMS service to the RNC 140.
The RNC 140 transmits the MBMS service stream to Node Bs 160 and 170 controlling the cells where the UEs 161, 162, 163, 171 and 172 requesting an MBMS service are located, among the Node Bs managed by the RNC 140 itself. The RNC 140 and the Node Bs 160 and 170 constitute a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).
A cell#1 belonging to Node B1 160 desiring to receive a particular MBMS service includes UE1 161, UE2 162 and UE3 163, and a cell#2 belonging to Node B2 170 includes UE4 171 and UE5 172. Herein, the term "cell" has a meaning similar to that of the term "Node B." In this case, the RNC 140 controls radio channels set up between Node Bs 160 and 170 and UEs 161, 162, 163, 171 and 172 in order to provide the MBMS service. As illustrated in FIG. 1, one radio channel is established between one Node B, e.g., Node B1 160, and UEs 161 to 163 belonging to the Node B1 160 in order to provide an MBMS service.
In order to receive an MBMS service, UEs 161, 162, 163, 171 and 172 first acquire control information for an MBMS transport channel (MTCH), for transporting an MBMS service data stream. The control information includes code information for a code channel to which the transport channel is mapped and information on a service identity (ID) for the MBMS service, and is transmitted over an MBMS control channel (MCCH), a separate logical channel distinguished from the transport channel.
The control information for the MBMS service as well as the MBMS service data must be transmitted on a multicast basis. In particular, radio bearer (RB) information for an MBMS service is available for all UEs desiring to receive the MBMS service. However, if an MCCH, like other logical channels, is mapped to all transport channels before being transmitted, the UEs must decode all logical channels in order to receive the MCCH, causing an increase in its load. Thus, there is a demand for technology for enabling UEs to rapidly and simply receive control information for an MBMS service in order to rapidly receive the MBMS service in a cell.

Apparatus and method for transmitting/receiving control information for supporting multimedia broadcast/multicast service


A passenger car includes a body having two opposite wheel wells and a electric energy source which is arranged between two the wheel wheels for supply of electric energy. A protection made of steel sheet is arranged above the electric energy source and has depressions which extend in a direction from one of the wheel wells to another one of the wheel wells.

The present invention relates to a passenger car.
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.
Hybrid technology gains increasingly more importance in the automobile industry. In generally, the term "hybrid" as used in drive technology relates to a combination of different types or processes for driving a system. When drive technology for automobiles is involved, vehicles are referred to which have at least two energy converters and two energy storage systems for propulsion. Examples of energy converters include conventional combustion engines or increasingly popular electric motors. Energy stores normally involve fuel tanks and additional accumulators.
Hybrid electric vehicles thus include for example passenger cars with an electric motor and a combustion engine as energy converters and an accumulator and a fuel tank as energy store. The accumulators are normally lithium-ions-accumulators or nickel-metal hybrid accumulators. The typical accumulator has a box-shaped configuration. The weight proportion of accumulators in passenger cars ranges between 10% and about 40%, amounting to possibly several hundreds kilograms. As a consequence of their substantial weight, accumulators are installed in a lower vehicle area so that the center of gravity of the vehicle is low. A possible position involves for example a placement on the trunk floor behind the rear bench between the wheel wells.
Accumulators which are mounted between the wheel wells can be deformed, when in the event of a crash from the side the spacing between the wheel wells excessively decreases. A mechanically damaged accumulator poses a significant risk potential. In case of damage, internal shorting may be encountered that may cause the housing of the accumulator to melt. The high voltage poses also an acute fire hazard. Damaged accumulators may also cause smoldering fires that may lead to a fire after a certain time interval by way of smoke ignition.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to provide an improved passenger car to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide protection of an electric energy source such as an accumulator, against mechanical damage in the event of an accident or also from the load in the trunk for safety reasons.


A power supply device and a booster circuit for a power supply device. The booster circuit includes an access terminal configured to access a direct current voltage from a battery pack, a transformer group electrically connected to the access terminal so that the accessed direct current voltage is boosted to a predetermined voltage by the transformer group, and a rectifier bridge electrically connected to the transformer group to convert the predetermined voltage into a high-voltage direct current after pulse rectification. The transformer group includes a first transformer including a first primary side and a first secondary side and a second transformer including a second primary side and a second secondary side. The power supply device disclosed is compact in structure and convenient to carry and can output an alternating current.

With the development of battery technologies, power tools are gradually replacing engine tools. In order to achieve the working effect and battery life similar to those of the engine, the rated power and capacity of the battery pack are also increasing.
An alternating current power supply is usually needed to power some electric tools or facilities during working and traveling outdoors; traditional portable power supplies are often powered by battery cell groups inside the portable power supplies, and the alternating current cannot be continuously provided once the battery cell groups of the power supply run out of electrical energy.


A modular electronic architecture according to which electrical components are distributed across substantially identical, interconnected circuit elements or assemblies is provided. Scaling of the electronic device can be achieved by selecting different numbers of circuit elements. Embodiments of the present invention may also provide for a compact assembly, formed from interconnection of separate circuit boards in a stack. Particular applications include the provision of beam forming networks in connection with phased array antennas in which the beam forming networks are formed on circuit boards having an area that is about the same size as the area of a circuit board on which the antenna elements are formed.

Electronic circuits typically include a number of components. These components can be discrete devices, or provided as part of integrated circuits. Whether provided as discrete devices or integrated circuits, multiple electronic components are often interconnected to one another by placing those components on a common printed circuit board. In addition to providing a structural member to which components can be attached, a printed circuit board typically provides traces on one or more layers to conduct power and signals to and between attached components. When used in connection with implementing complex circuits, the design of the individual circuit boards can also become quite complex. In addition, where a large number of components are to be interconnected to a printed circuit board, the area of the board can become quite large, and a relatively large number of layers may be required to provide the necessary connective traces. In addition to providing conductive traces, certain electronic components can be integrated directly into a printed circuit board.
One consideration in the design of electronic circuits is the size of those circuits. In particular, by making devices smaller, certain performance parameters can be improved, and the device can be easier to package and transport. Also, it can be desirable to maintain electronic circuitry within size limits that are defined by certain components of a device implemented using the electronic circuitry or a component of that circuitry.
One example of electronic circuitry that can be quite complex, but that is desirably deployed within a relatively small area, is a phased array antenna. In a phased array antenna, multiple antenna elements or radiators are deployed across a surface. The size of each antenna element is generally determined by the intended operating frequency or frequencies of the antenna. Furthermore, as more antenna elements are provided, the antenna beam can be more narrowly focused and directed by applying selected phase delays to the signal comprising the beam that is delivered to (or received from) each of the antenna elements. That is, by varying the delay of a signal, the corresponding beam can be scanned along one dimension for a one dimensional array of antenna elements and along two dimensions for a two dimensional array of elements. In addition, the maximum scanning angle that can be provided by an antenna will increase as the space between antenna elements is decreased. Accordingly, the radiator or antenna elements of a phased array antenna generally occupy an area that is defined by the size of the individual antenna elements, the number of antenna elements, and the spacing between antenna elements.
Within the area defined by the antenna elements of a phased array antenna, on a side of a circuit board opposite the side on which the antenna elements are formed, circuits have been developed that allow the phase delay of two separate beams to be controlled. However, where a phased array antenna is intended for simultaneous communications with or tracking of a larger number of targets, it is desirable to increase the number of beams that can be individually controlled. This has been difficult or impossible to achieve using conventional techniques in connection with the circuit board on which the antenna elements are formed. In addition, because higher frequencies generally require a smaller antenna element, it has been especially difficult to provide supporting circuitry for systems designed to operate at high frequencies.
In order to provide the area necessary for complex beam forming networks, additional circuit boards containing components of the beam forming network can be placed behind the board on which the antenna elements are formed, for example on circuit boards arranged perpendicular to the antenna element boards. That is, the space available for circuitry can be expanded into three dimensions. Although such systems provide a place for the circuitry required to provide a number of steered beams, they do not address issues of design difficulty and ease of expansion. In particular, each board or other unit of circuitry typically includes elements that are unique to that board.


A 360.degree. pattern field of view optical system for passive infrared detection device is disclosed. The optical system uses a combination of a fresnel lens and a fresnel prism to gather infrared radiation, focus the radiation, and refract radiation onto a focal point. Each of the combination of fresnel lens and prism is positioned substantially circumferentially about a central location to gather the infrared radiation from a 360.degree. field of view and for focusing radiation gathered onto the central location. At the central location, a sensor is located. The sensor converts the focused infrared radiation into an electrical signal.

Optical systems for the gathering of infrared radiation for passive infrared intrusion detection devices are well known in the art. In particular, infrared intrusion detection devices which are mounted on ceilings and can detect intruders within a 360.degree. degree field of view are well known in the art.
However, heretofore, a 360.degree. field of view optical system for passive infrared intrusion detection has used either a combination of two mirrors and a fresnel lens or two mirrors to receive the infrared radiation. The use of mirrors requires that the mirrors have superior surface finish and excellent reflection coating properties. Such mirrors with excellent coated qualities necessarily mean that they are expensive.
Another prior art ceiling mounted device for the collection of infrared radiation from a 360.degree. field of view uses a plurality of fresnel lenses. In such a device, the plurality of fresnel lenses collect infrared radiation and focus them at a focal point where a single sensor is located. The problem with the use of fresnel lenses alone is that there is no long range detection capability. In addition, this prior art device has a "dead" zone wherein the device is unable to detect intruders in that zone or is able to detect intruders only when they are very close to the detector. This has limited the use of such a device.

360 degree field of view optical sensing device


A method for producing a triglyceride including fatty acids with vicinal diesters: (a) providing a triglyceride including fatty acids with epoxide groups; (b) reacting the epoxide groups with carboxylic acid salts under basic conditions to produce a triglyceride including fatty acids with vicinal ester/alkoxides; (c) protonating the vicinal ester/alkoxides to produce a triglyceride including fatty acids with vicinal ester/alcohols; and (d) reacting the vicinal ester/alcohols with carboxylic acids under acidic conditions to produce a triglyceride including fatty acids with vicinal diesters.

This application is a U.S. National Phase under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/US16/35016, filed May 31, 2016, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/185,168, filed Jun. 26, 2015, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/168,731, filed May 30, 2015.
This invention relates in general to methods and fatty acid compositions for preparing triglycerides, and in particular for preparing triglycerides containing fatty acid diester functionality.
A number of different products are prepared from oils, including lubricants and other industrial fluids. Many of these products have traditionally been prepared from mineral based oils derived from petroleum. However, in recent years, there has been great interest in using oils derived from renewable feedstocks, including vegetable oils, algal oils and animal oils. The use of oils from renewable feedstocks is desirable to help reduce the world dependence on petroleum and other fossil-derived hydrocarbons. Moreover, these oils are typically biodegradable, which helps reduce the introduction of waste into the environment. Products produced from these oils may also have improved properties.
Triglycerides, also known as triacylglycerols or triacylglycerides, are the major component of oils derived from plants, algae and animals. A triglyceride is a compound consisting of three fatty acids esterified to a glycerol. The fatty acids may differ in length and may be saturated (no carbon-carbon double bonds), mono-unsaturated (one carbon-carbon double bond), di-unsaturated (two carbon-carbon double bonds) or tri-unsaturated (three carbon-carbon double bonds). Individual oils contain characteristic quantities of individual fatty acids that are randomly distributed among the triglyceride structures. For example, a typical soybean oil contains about 11% palmitic acid, 4% stearic acid (both saturated), 54% linoleic acid (di-unsaturated), 23% oleic acid (mono-unsaturated) and 8% linolenic acid (tri-unsaturated).
Whereas oils from renewable resources often have properties making them useful for preparing a variety of products, they also are very susceptible to air oxidation due to the oxidation of methylene groups adjacent to double bonds in their unsaturated fatty acids. These "allylic" methylene groups that are flanked by two double bonds (termed doubly allylic methylene groups) as found in linoleic and linolenic acids are especially prone to oxidation. Previous work (U.S. Pat. No. 8,357,643 and US patent application 2012/0129746) demonstrated that attachment of two ester groups to the original doubly bonded carbon atom in these fatty acid esters significantly reduces the oxidative susceptibility of their allylic methylene groups. This functionality in modified fatty acids is referred to as vicinal diester functionality or simply vicinal diesters.
An efficient method to prepare vicinal diesters in fatty acid esters is to first epoxidize all fatty acid double bonds and then react these epoxide groups with carboxylic acid anhydrides under basic conditions. However, the cost of carboxylic acid anhydrides can significantly contribute to the cost of products. The typical method to generate vicinal diesters from epoxides using less expensive carboxylic acids involves acidic catalysis. However, the reaction of carboxylic acids with linoleic and linolenic acid epoxides under acidic conditions gives rise to the production of non-desired tetrahydrofuranic (THF) diesters. The acid-catalyzed reaction of linoleic acid ester diepoxides with carboxylic acids to produce THF diesters is shown below:

THF diesters are non-desired since they are prone to oxidation at both methine sites adjacent to the THF ring oxygen atom.
It would be desirable to provide improved methods and improved fatty acid compositions for preparing triglycerides containing fatty acid vicinal diester functionality. It would further be desirable to provide triglycerides that are useful for preparing a variety of products, such as lubricants and other industrial oils, and that are resistant to air oxidation.

Methods and compositions for preparing triglycerides containing fatty acid vicinal diester functionality


An indwelling needle assembly has a hollow outer needle, an outer-needle hub fixed to the base end of the outer needle, an inner needle inserted into the outer needle, an inner-needle hub fixed to the base end of the inner needle, a tube connected to the base end (or a side section) of the outer-needle hub so that the inner cavity of the tube is communicated with the inner cavity of the outer needle, and a protector that, when the inner needle is removed from the outer needle, covers at least the point of the inner needle and disconnectably connected to the outer-needle hub. A finger hold is formed in a projecting manner on a protector cover of the protector, and the finger hold is pressed by a finger to move the outer needle in the direction of its tip relative to the inner needle. The finger hold is formed in a shape that, when the outer needle is moved in the direction of its tip relative to the inner needle, causes force applied in the direction in which the finger hold projects relative to the center axis of the outer needle to act on the finger hold.

At the time of carrying out an infusion on a patient, or in other similar situations, an indwelling needle connected to an infusion line is made to puncture a blood vessel and indwell there, thereby performing the infusion operation.
Such an indwelling needle is composed of a hollow outer needle, an outer-needle hub firmly attached to a proximal end (base end) of the outer needle, an inner needle inserted into the outer needle and having a sharp point at a distal end (tip) thereof, and an inner-needle hub firmly attached to a proximal end (base end) of the inner needle (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
When the indwelling needle is made to puncture a patient's blood vessel, a puncturing operation is performed in an assembled condition, where the inner needle is inserted into the outer needle and the point of the inner needle protrudes from the distal end of the outer needle. In such an assembled condition, generally, a connector of an infusion line is connected with the outer-needle hub.
Then, when the point of the inner needle has reached the inside of the blood vessel, blood having flowed in through the opening at the point passes through the inner cavity (lumen) of the inner needle, and flows into the inside of the transparent inner-needle hub (flashback). This makes it possible to confirm (visually recognize) that the inner needle has securely punctured the blood vessel.
Upon confirmation of flashback, the outer needle is advanced, with the inner needle as a guide, so as to become inserted into (puncture) the blood vessel.
Next, while gripping the outer needle by hand, the inner needle is pulled out of the outer needle. Then, an infusion agent is administered through the connected infusion line and the outer needle.
Meanwhile, the outer-needle hub is formed with a finger hold (tab), which is pressed by a finger (index finger) in order to move the outer needle in the distal direction. The finger hold is formed perpendicular to the axis of the outer needle, and a surface thereof on the proximal side is pressed by the finger.
In the aforementioned existing indwelling needle assembly, however, the finger hold is oriented vertically to the axis of the outer needle, and hence, the following problem has occurred. When the outer needle is moved in the distal direction, an attempt to press the finger hold straight along the axis of the outer needle, namely, in a direction parallel to the axis may result in a force, which acts in a downward direction relative to the axis (in a direction opposite to the direction of projection of the finger hold), thus causing an inconvenience such as bending of the outer needle, and making it difficult to move (advance) the outer needle smoothly. In short, the indwelling needle assembly has been poor in operability at the time of performing a puncturing operation.
Further, in the existing indwelling needle assembly, an attempt to move the outer needle in parallel with the axis thereof when the outer needle is moved in the distal direction may result in a force being exerted in a downward direction relative to the axis, thus causing an inconvenience in that a distal-side portion of the axis of the outer needle becomes inclined downwardly (downward deviation), or the outer needle becomes bent. Thus, it has sometimes been difficult to move (advance) the outer needle smoothly. In short, in this case as well, the indwelling needle assembly has been poor in operability at the time of performing a puncturing operation.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-179734


A device for cleaning submergible surfaces includes a mandrel having a handle at a proximal end and a connector at a distal end. The handle can be removably mounted to an air tool. A cleaning tip holder has an opening at a distal end leading into an interior space. The cleaning tip holder can be connected with the mandrel connector and can be removably retained therewith. A cleaning tip includes a generally rectangular element having beveled front and side edges and can be removably retained partially within the cleaning tip holder interior space. In use, a cleaning tip is mounted in the cleaning tip holder interior space, and that combination is mounted to the mandrel connector. The mandrel handle is affixed to an air tool having an outlet hose, which, when activated, produces a reciprocating action in the device, creating a scrubbing action with the cleaning tip.

Structures having surfaces that are at least intermittently submerged in a body of water are susceptible to fouling by marine growth, which can include barnacles. These organisms secrete a substance that, when hardened, becomes extremely difficult to remove without damage to the surface itself, and ultimately can cause damage to paint, vehicle efficiency, and fuel usage.
The use of manual cleaning methods is very labor-intensive, and typically is performed by exposing the surface desired to be cleaned, such as by removing a boat from the water body, which can be difficult and expensive, depending upon location. Cleaning the surface in situ also presents difficulties, in that it can be problematic to obtain leverage while in the water, and such an effort can be dangerous and unpleasant, again depending upon location.
While many attempts have been made to address this problem, there still remains a need for an effective, efficient, and easy-to-use surface-cleaning device and method for use on at least intermittently submerged surfaces.

Watercraft surface cleaning device and associated methods