The paver moving tool (10) includes a suction head (12), a shaft (24) secured to the suction head (12), a lift-handle (30) secured to a top end (28) of the shaft (24), and one of a first and a second rechargeable vacuum power pack (34, 50) operably coupled in fluid communication with the suction head (12) for selectively applying a vacuum force through the suction head (12) to an adjacent paver (20). The rechargeable vacuum power packs (34, 50) are supported on either the shaft (24), the lift handle (30) or on a backpack (53) on an operator of the self-powered paver moving tool (10) while the operator is using the tool (10).

It is well known that landscape pavers are increasingly popular for use in producing attractive patios, walkways, driveways, etc. Typically such landscape pavers are made from stone, concrete, brick, aggregate compounds, etc., and may be produced in varying colors. thicknesses and sizes depending upon particular requirements of a landscape site. Increasing use of such pavers and similar, hard materials in landscaping has given rise to the new term "hardscaping". Such pavers, however, are invariably quite heavy, ranging from 20 to 200 pounds, and require substantial manipulation to be processed from a palletized, transport condition, to storage at a landscape site, and then to final installation on a prepared surface at the site. Typically, such manipulation is done by hand by skilled masons and their assistants. This leads to great manual effort and substantial risk of injury to fingers, toes and backs of the workers. Additionally, such tedious manual moving of heavy pavers takes up substantial time, thereby raising costs of use of pavers compared to crushed rock, poured asphalt, etc.
Many efforts have been undertaken to enhance the safety and efficiency of moving pavers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,049 to Thompson discloses use of one or more vacuum types of cups connected to a vacuum source and one or more shafts to lift, move and drop pavers or concrete blocks. Thompson, however, shows usage of a vacuum source and controls therefor that are remote from a handle connected to the shaft. Therefore, a vacuum must be applied to the vacuum cup for long durations prior to attachment to the concrete block, during moving thereof, and after detachment of the block, unless a control valve for the vacuum is actuated by a second worker. U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,335 to King et al. similarly shows a "suction lifting device", wherein a remote vacuum source is connected to "vacuum pucks" and the vacuum is controlled by actuators remote from the pavers or any handles of the device.
Use of a remote vacuum source and remote vacuum actuator controls for lifting pavers requires that a vacuum be applied to the suction well prior to application of the suction head to a paver, during the movement of the paver, and typically thereafter. This also requires either remote actuation of a vacuum valve, or some complicated mechanism at the vacuum cup to release the vacuum to thereby detach the vacuum cup from the paver. It is known that most such concrete block movers simply have a vacuum pump that is not actuated for each move, but that operates continuously and is therefore energy inefficient. Some known vacuum concrete block movers require peeling of the pliable vacuum cup off of the block to detach the vacuum cup from the block, thereby causing substantial wear and tear to the cup.
It is also known that hand-held paver moving systems have been operated through use of a standard air-compressor and tank, such as air compressors used to power pneumatic tools like nail guns, etc. A long hose passes between the compressor and the hand-held paver moving tool to apply a vacuum to a suction head of the tool. Such known paver moving systems involve a substantial risk of the hose becoming tangled in stacks of pavers, or an operator's feet, causing risk of injury to the operator. Additionally, a heavy paver may be accidentally dropped on the hose causing further damage. Also, this known system requires the substantial power and cost of utilizing an expensive air compressor and related filters and hoses, etc.
Consequently, there is a need for a paver moving tool that maximizes worker safety and that minimizes labor and energy costs.

Hand-held, self-powered paver moving tool with an operator-supported rechargeable vacuum power pack


An approach for enabling a security function of a mobile device to be activated based on a change in proximity of another device is described. A notification service determines whether a proximity threshold between a first device and a second device is satisfied based on pairing information corresponding to a wireless link between the first device and the second device. The notification service also generates a control signal to activate a security function to restrict access on either the first device or the second device based on the determination.

Mobile devices have enabled a variety of sophisticated services and applications. However, because of their portability, these devices can easily be misplaced or stolen, thereby potentially compromising any sensitive data or applications stored on or reachable by the devices. Hence, security can be problematic for such devices. Traditionally, mobile devices are equipped with a password mechanism to prevent access to the device's operational functions. Unfortunately, if the password challenge process is not invoked or triggered at the proper time, the device is vulnerable to security breaches.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a more effective security function for use in mobile devices to prevent unauthorized access.

Method and system for invoking a security function of a device based on proximity to another device


In a method, computer system, and computer program product include for re-configuring a network, program code identifies relationships between nodes on a network, where each relationship of the relationships includes a first node running a routing protocol and a second node running the routing protocol, where the first node and the second node are physically connected, and where the nodes include at least one controller and a plurality of routers. The program code performs, starting at the at least one controller a reverse breadth search of the relationships to determine for each router, a number of relationships comprising a path from the controller to the router. The program code, for example, program code that is executed on the at least one controller, reconfigures the routers in descending order of magnitude of the number of relationships comprising the path from each router of the plurality of routers to the controller.

Current methods of reconfiguring data networks often include sending the configuration updates over an out-of-band network. However, an out-of-band network increases both capital expenditures (CAPEX) such as expenditures incurred when a business spends money either to buy fixed assets or to add to the value of an existing fixed asset with a useful life extending beyond the taxable year, and operating expenditure (OPEX), the cost of developing or providing non-consumable parts for the product or system. Reconfiguration without an out-of-band network may be particularly desirable in a distributed network model, for example, in a Distributed Assured and Dynamic Configuration (DADC) model.

Systems and methods of in-band network configuration


The present invention relates to a fabric disc filter having a structure for preventing damage to a filter panel. In this regard, an object of the present invention is to provide a fabric disc filter having a structure for preventing damage to filter panel, being capable of preventing the filter panel attached to the filter panel from being torn or being disconnected from the filter frame in the washing process of suctioning and removing foreign matter. To accomplish this object, the present invention provides a fabric disc filter having a structure for preventing damage to filter panel, the fabric disc filter including: a rotary drum; and a plurality of filter segments arranged on an outer circumferential surface of the rotary drum, wherein each of the filter segments includes: a segment frame that is partially open so as to enable inlet of a fluid therethrough, and being configured to discharge the inlet fluid to the rotary drum; a filter frame assembled to the segment frame so as to be positioned on the fluid inlet side of the segment frame; a filter panel provided in the filter frame so as to filter foreign matter in the fluid flowing therethrough; and a rod-shaped stopper provided in the filter panel so as to distribute a load applied to the filter panel in a washing process of the filter panel and couple the filter panel to the filter frame or the segment frame.

Recently, discharge water quality standards of the water treatment plants have been enhanced. According to this, filter installations such as fabric disc filters that are used as a tertiary treatment installation are also required to enhance treatment efficiency thereof. In this regard, as the final discharge water quality depends upon performance of the fabric disc filter, improvement in the washing equipment used in washing the fabric disc filter is also required.
FIG. 1 is a front elevation view of a fabric disc filter according to the related art, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a filter unit used in the fabric disc filter according to the related art, and FIG. 3 illustrates a suctioning and washing process of the fabric disc filter according to the related art.
A fabric disc filter includes a rotary drum 10 in a cylindrical shape, being rotational in a horizontal position, and a plurality of filter segments 20 arranged axially on an outer circumferential surface of the rotary drum 10 along an outer circumference of the rotary drum 10.
The fabric disc filter configured as described above is arranged so as to cause a part or the whole part thereof to sink in a waterway or a water tank, and raw water of the waterway or the water tank flows into the rotary drum 10 through the filter segments 20 and is discharged outside through the rotary drum 10.
In a process that raw water flows in through the filter segments 20, foreign matter included in the raw water is filtered out by a filter panel 21 constituting the filter segments 20. The raw water from which foreign matter is removed, that is, the treated water, flows into the rotary drum 10. After being filtered by the plurality of the filter segments 20, the treated water having passed through the rotary drum 10 is discharged to a water collection device.
In the filter treatment process of the raw water as described above, foreign matter may remain on the surface of the filter panel 21. If neglected, the foreign matter would block pores of the filter panel 21, thereby degrading the filtering efficiency. Particularly, use of a flocculation-filtration method to flocculate and filter foreign matter in the raw water by means of a chemical (flocculant) could cause the flocculated foreign matter to easily block the pores of the filter panel, thereby further degrading the filtering efficiency.
In this regard, a washing device 30 to wash foreign matter attached to the surface of the filter panel is together provided in configuring a fabric disc filter.
The washing device mainly employs a water injection method to inject water at high pressure and a suction method to suction and remove foreign matter attached to the surface of the filter panel. FIG. 3 illustrates a process of removing foreign matter by means of a suction type washing device 30.
During a process by the suction type washing device 30 to remove foreign matter, the rotary drum 10 and the filter segments 20 arranged thereon are maintained in the rotational state thereof whereas a suction holder 31 which suctions and removes the foreign matter comes close with the filter panel 21 maintained in a suspension state.
In a process by the suction holder 31 to suction the foreign matter attached to the filter panel 21, a part of the filter panel 21 comes close contact with the suction holder 31 because of the suction force formed in the suction holder 31. In this state, if the filter segments are moved by rotation of the rotary drum, the suction holder functions to strongly pull the filter panel in an opposite direction to the rotational direction of the rotary drum. This may result in tearing the filter panel, thereby causing damage to the filter panel, and disintegrating coupling of the filter panel and the filter frame, thereby causing the filter panel to be partially separated from the filter frame.

Fiber disc filter having structure for preventing damage to fabric filter


The present invention relates generally to an electrical interconnection package and a method thereof. More particularly, the invention encompasses an invention that increases the fatigue life of a Ball Grid Array (BGA) electrical interconnection. This invention structurally couples at least one module to an organic interposer using a high modulus underfill material. The organic interposer is then joined to a organic board using standard joining processes. The inventive module can then be removed from the organic board at any time by moving the organic interposer using standard rework techniques.

Ball Grid Arrays (BGA) are widely used to electrically and mechanically connect substrates (typically ceramic) carrying semiconductor chips to a card. The BGA commonly consists of an array of metal balls which are soldered to connecting pads on both the card and the substrate.
Typically, the card (which usually consists of an FR4 body material with internal copper wiring) will have a much greater coefficient of thermal expansion than will the ceramic substrate that it is attached to. Consequently, during operation, as the entire assembly becomes heated, there is a strain imposed upon the BGA connections due to these differential expansions of the card and substrate. With repeated on-off operating cycles, the BGA connections eventually fatigue and fail by creating an open circuit or a circuit of high resistance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,526 (White), assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, New York, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches a chip connected to an organic chip carrier substrate via solder, and wherein the organic chip carrier substrate is connected to a circuit board via connect balls.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,041 (Frankeny), assigned to International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, N.Y., the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, teaches a chip connected to a printed circuit board via an interposer.
Therefore, there is a need in the art to have an interconnect package where a substrate secured to at least one chip, has at least one organic interposer secured to the substrate with at least one first interconnect material or a set of first interconnect materials and at least one organic board secured to an organic interposer using at least one second interconnect material or a set of second interconnect materials, wherein the first interconnect material or the set of first interconnect materials has an onset of melting that is substantially above the onset of melting of the second interconnect material or second set of materials. This is of course neither taught nor disclosed by the prior art.

Electrical interconnection package and method thereof


A method is provided for scaling voltage in an integrated circuit. A calibration operation is performed on a functional module on the integrated circuit periodically at a rate T1. At least one parameter on the integrated circuit in monitored to determine when a performance threshold is reached. A change is initiated to an operating voltage for a portion of the integrated circuit in response to reaching the threshold. The rate of performing calibration operation is increased to a higher rate T2 for a window of time W in response to initiating the change in operating voltage, after which the rate of performing calibration is returned to the rate T1.

System on Chip (SoC) is a concept that strives to integrate more and more functionality into a given device. This integration can take the form of either hardware or solution software. Performance gains are traditionally achieved by increased clock rates and more advanced processor nodes. Many SoC designs pair a digital signal processor (DSP) with a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor to target specific applications. A more recent approach to increasing performance has been to create multi-core devices. In these scenarios, management of power dissipation on the chip may be done to conserve power.
Other features of the present embodiments will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.

Synchronized voltage scaling and device calibration


A light source unit is provided which makes an excellent contrast between the black display portions and the white display portions if mounted on a display, while having a high frontal luminance. The light source unit includes: a light source; a color conversion material that converts incident light from the light source into light having a longer wavelength than the incident light; and a reflective film that exists between the light source and the color conversion material and that transmits light from the light source incident perpendicularly on the film surface and reflects light from the color conversion material incident perpendicularly on the film surface; wherein the P-Polarized light of the light incident from the light source on the reflective film surface at an angle of 20°, 40°, and 60° is reflected at a reflectance of R20(%), R40(%), and R60(%) respectively, which satisfy R20<R40<R60.

Application of a multicoloring technique by a color conversion method to liquid crystal displays, organic EL displays, lighting apparatuses, and the like is being energetically studied. Color conversion means converting light emitted from a light-emitting body into light having a longer wavelength and means converting blue light emission into green or red light emission, for example.
A composition having this color conversion function is formed into a sheet and combined with, for example, a blue light source, whereby the three primary colors of blue, green, and red can be extracted, that is, white light can be extracted from the blue light source. A white light source obtained by combining the blue light source and the sheet having the color conversion function forms a backlight unit, and this backlight unit, a liquid crystal drive part, and color filters are combined, whereby a full-color display can be produced. Without the liquid crystal drive part, the unit can be used as a white light source as it is, which can be used as the white light source such as LED lighting.
Improvement in color reproducibility is a problem in liquid crystal displays using the color conversion method. Narrowing the half width of the respective emission spectra of blue, green, and red of the backlight unit to increase the color purity of each of blue, green, and red is effective in improving color reproducibility. To solve this problem, developed is a technique that uses quantum dots formed of inorganic semiconductor fine particles as a component of the color conversion material (refer to Patent Literature 1, for example). Although the technique using the quantum dots is indeed narrow in the half width of green and red emission spectra to improve color reproducibility, the quantum dots are vulnerable to heat, and moisture and oxygen in the air and are thus deficient in durability on the other hand.
Also developed is a technique that uses an organic or inorganic luminous material as a component of the color conversion material in place of the quantum dots. Disclosed as examples of the technique that uses an organic luminous material as the component of the color conversion material are one that uses a coumarin derivative (refer to Patent Literature 2, for example), one that uses a rhodamine derivative (refer to Patent Literature 3, for example), and one that uses a pyrromethene derivative (refer to Patent Literature 4, for example).
There is also another problem in that, although using the quantum dots technology and a color conversion material composed of an organic or inorganic luminous material improves color reproducibility, the color characteristics and the light emission characteristics of the color conversion material cause the luminance to decrease. For example, one solution to this problem is disclosed, wherein a light-wavelength-selective reflective film that reflects light emitted from a color conversion material is used (refer to Patent Literature 5, for example).


The horseshoe includes a traction surface having a toe portion defining a pair of parallel calks and a pair of side portions defining a plurality of inner and outer calks. The calks have a truncated wedge shape designed to increase traction and minimize the build-up of dirt and mud. The horseshoe is also provided with an outer coating of non-stick material which prevents mud and dirt from adhering to the horseshoe to maintain a "clean" traction surface.

This invention relates, generally, to horseshoes and, more particularly, to a horseshoe having a traction surface coated with a non-stick substance for preventing the adhesion of foreign matter thereto.
Horseshoes providing adequate traction are essential for racehorses where any loss of traction can adversely affect the horse's performance. As a result, horseshoes having a variety of surface configurations designed to improve a racehorse's traction have been developed. The conventional shoe relies on the configuration of the calks to provide sufficient traction. One problem with the known designs is that once the horse has run a short distance over a dirt, grass or mud track, the areas between the calks become imbedded with dirt, grass and mud or combinations thereof. The build-up of mud and dirt between the calks creates a situation where the gripping ability of the horseshoe declines such that traction is lost. Moreover, the extra weight of the horseshoe, due to the build-up of the dirt, grass and mud, can adversely affect the horse's gait thereby impeding performance and increasing the risk of injury.


A system and method for prioritizing a fetch order of web pages. The method comprises extracting by a web crawler a set of candidate web pages to be crawled. Each web page in the set of candidate web pages is associated with a website in a computer network. A determination is made to determine if a first website score for the website is in a website score database. The first website score is associated with web pages in the set of candidate web pages if the first website score exists in the website score database. The set of candidate web pages is prioritized with respect to an associated website score for each web page in the candidate set of web pages. Content is retrieved from the set of candidate web. Hyperlinks are extracted from the content. The hyperlinks are stored in a memory unit.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and associated method for prioritizing websites and web pages during a web crawling process.
2. Related Art
Due to a plurality of factors, users of a network may find it necessary to streamline a search process to locate information on the network. Therefore there exists a need for an efficient method for streamlining a search process to locate and gather information on a network.

System and method for prioritizing websites during a webcrawling process

International Business Machines Corporation


The temperature of one or several sensors which are electrically heated or cooled to a temperature substantially different from a stagnant or running fluid surrounding the said sensor or sensors by applying an electric current to the said sensor or sensors, and the temperature of the said fluid are measured simultaneously to calculate the temperature difference between the said sensor or sensors and the said fluid at an equilibrium state of heat transfer at the surface of the said sensor or sensors, thereby measuring a change in state of the said fluid collectively on an in-line processing basis without disturbing the said fluid; a change in this state results in a change in heat transfer coefficient at the surface of the said sensor or sensors, the coefficient being collectively correlated with the viscosity, density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, coefficient of volumetric expansion, flow speed or flow direction of the said fluid at a given temperature.

This invention relates to a method for measuring the state of a fluid and, more particularly, to a fluid state measuring method capable of collectively measuring a change in state of a stagnant or running fluid on an in-line processing basis.
The term "fluid" as used in the present specification means all kinds of fluid, i.e., a gaseous substance, a liquid substance or a solid substance such as powder, or of two or more of these substances, as well as a fluid of the type whose phase changes with time, and wherein a "change in state" of the fluid is represented by a change in the viscosity, density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, coefficient of volumetric expansion, flow speed or flow direction of the fluid.
Direct measurement of the viscosity, density and other parameters is very important for process control in a variety of industrial fields that handle fluids, and is especially indispensable for process automation. For determining fluid viscosity, which is one of the most important indices representative of the state of the fluid, a rotational viscometer is most widely used. With the rotational method, the force or torque required for a cylinder to rotate at a constant rate in the fluid is measured in a conventional manner. Another method is based on measurement of the pressure difference between an inlet port and outlet port of a narrow pipe when a predetermined amount of fluid which is practically free of any solids matter such as dust passes through this pipe. However, these mechanical methods have been practised in only limited industrial, medical or academical fields, and their widespread applications to general in-line process control or measurement for fluids has not been realized. This is firstly because the structure of semi-solid fluids such as food gels is destroyed when these mechanical measurements are performed, and secondly that highly viscous fluids display a rate-dependent behavior such that the mechanical methods may only be applied to clean, low viscosity fluids.
In practical processes or measurements, however, such a clean, low viscosity fluid is exceptional and there are a variety of fluids, including liquid systems, which contain highly viscous slurries, printing inks or food gels, whose apparent viscosity is decreased by stirring. When a system contains bubbles whose diameter changes with time, or when a gaseous system contains water droplets in suspension, or when a liquid system contains a colloid such as oil droplets and/or small matter like colloidal metal particles, the conventional methods are not usable. Therefore, the direct measurement of fluid viscosity, or of a collective and characteristic fluidity value representative of viscosity, for the purpose of automatic process control in a practical industrial process has been difficult to achieve.
New methods for measuring fluid viscosity have recently been proposed which are different in principle from the conventional mechanical methods. One method appearing in Japanese patent application Laid-open No. 59-217162 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,928) can examine the curd state of milk during a milk-curdling process by inserting a thin metal wire into the milk and measuring the temperature of this thin metal wire in relation to time while applying an electric current intermittently or continuously to the thin metal wire. This method is based on the principle of detecting milk curdling as a function of the change in viscosity of the milk on the basis of a temperature rise in the electrically heated metal wire. In another method proposed in Japanese patent application Laid-open No. 60-152943 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,988), a change in the property of a liquid or semi-solid substance is measured by inserting a thin metal wire into the said substance and applying an electric current intermittently or continuously to the thin metal wire. The difference in temperature between the hot metal wire and the fluid surrounding the wire is kept constant with time. The value of the electric current to maintain that constant temperature difference is measured, and a coefficient of heat-transfer at the surface of the wire is calculated on the basis of the measured electric current, the electrical resistance of the wire, the surface area of the wire and the temperature difference kept at a constant known value. Thus, this method for calculating a characteristic value of the fluid is based on the amount of electric current applied to the wire.
These proposals are, however, directed to measuring the viscosity of a specific fluid such as stagnant or substantially stagnant liquid, whose composition and phase do not change, and their widespread applications to general process control and academic measurements for various kinds of fluid cannot be realized without difficulties. Furthermore, in many applications of actual process control, the in-line measurement of quantities which collectively reflect the state of a fluid may depend on all the parameters of viscosity, density, specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, coefficient of volumetric expansion, flow speed or flow direction of the fluid, etc. These quantities may be of more significance for accurate measurement than a specified characteristic value indicative of viscosity only. Therefore, the conventional mechanical methods are totally unsuited for such collective measurements.

Method for measuring the state of a fluid


A method for measuring modulated radio frequency (RF) signals from a device under test (DUT) includes inputting a test RF signal to the DUT, where the test RF signal is modulated with a repetitive complex waveform and a pulsed waveform, the repetitive complex waveform including multiple RF tones with an RF tone spacing and an RF repetition period, where a pulse width of the pulsed waveform is less than the RF repetition period; acquiring an output RF signal from the DUT responsive to the input test RF signal; down converting the output RF signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) signal; sampling the IF signal using an analog to digital converter (ADC) having an ADC clock frequency; measuring ADC samples of the IF signal; and reconstructing the test RF signal modulated with the repetitive complex waveform using the measured ADC samples.

A device under test (DUT), such as various components of a wireless communications device, may be characterized by stimulating it with a repetitive complex modulated radio frequency (RF) signal, which is also pulse modulated, and measuring a resulting output RF signal. The measurements of the output RF signal may be used to determine various parameters of the DUT, such as gain, delay and distortion, for example. The measurements are made using a test instrument, such as a vector network analyzers (VNA) or spectrum analyzers (SA), which incorporates a superheterodyne receiver. Generally, the superheterodyne receiver acquires the output RF signal, down converts the output RF signal to a lower frequency intermediate frequency (IF) signal, and digitizes the IF signal before measuring the DUT parameters. The IF signal may be digitized using an analog to digital converter (ADC), which samples the IF signal at a lower rate than the modulation.
Conventionally, in order to perform measurements, a pulse width of the pulse modulation must be greater than a repetition period of the repetitive complex modulated RF signal. This is because, when the pulse width is less than the repetition period, the RF signal is chopped up, making it difficult to reconstruct and measure the complex modulation.

System and method for measuring repetitive complex and pulse modulated RF signals


An aqueous urea dosing system has a first tube through which the urea solution is conveyed to a small mixing chamber. Compressed air is continuously conveyed through an annular space between the outer surface of the first tube and the inner surface of a second tube which has a distal end that extends beyond a distal end of the first tube. The mixing chamber is positioned between the respective distal ends of the first and second tubes. The urea solution is discharged into the small mixing chamber, and subsequently immediately into an exhaust gas, in a series of discreet pulses, the width and period of which are controlled by a pulse-width-modulated flow control valve spaced from the exhaust gas.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a system and method for dispensing aqueous solutions into an elevated temperature environment, and more particularly, to such a system and method for injecting an aqueous urea solution into an exhaust gas stream.
2. Background Art
The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NOx using ammonia or urea has been used for many years in industrial processes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,218 granted Jan. 15, 1991 to Vincent A. DeVita for a SYSTEM FOR INJECTING A TREATMENT FLUID, SUCH AS A UREA AND WATER SOLUTION, INTO THE EXHAUST DUCT OF A STATIONARY INDUSTRIAL BOILER.
The U.S. Protection Agency (EPA) has set very stringent standards directed toward reducing NOx and other undesirable emissions from vehicular as well as stationary engines, and urea injection upstream of an SCR catalyst has been proposed as one way to reduce NOx emissions from vehicular engines. For example, U.S. Publication No. 205/0013756 A1, published Jan. 20, 2005 for an ENGINE EXHAUST GAS TREATMENT SYSTEM AND EXHAUST GAS TREATMENT PROCESS by Kiyoshi Amou, et al. describes an exhaust gas after treatment system for a diesel engine using urea injection upstream of an SCR selective reduction type NOx catalyst.
However, there are several problems associated with current urea injection systems. For example, in the above-referenced Amou, et al. arrangement, the urea injection valve is directly mounted on a surface that conducts the exhaust gas and is therefore prone to overheating and potential plugging of the valve. Other problems also are inherent in current systems used to inject urea-water mixtures into an elevated temperature exhaust gas. More specifically, the spray of the urea-water mixture does not flow uniformly from multiple holes in the tip of an atomizer positioned in an exhaust pipe, especially at low dosing rates. Furthermore, urea solution supply systems positioned in the exhaust system tend to plug due to partial evaporation of the water in the supply tube between the dosing valve and the atomizer tip. Slugs of urea-water mixture migrate through the supply tube and tend to preferentially spray out of only one or two of the several holes provided in the atomizer tip, a condition particularly troublesome at low liquid flow rates.
The present invention is directed at overcoming the above-described problems associated with urea-water injection. It is desirable to have a urea-water injection system, and a method of carrying out the injection, that avoids the premature mixing of air and the urea solution prior to injection into the exhaust gas stream. It is also desirable to have such a system and method whereby the urea-water solution flow control valve is remotely spaced from the elevated temperature environment of the exhaust system. It is also desirable to have such a system and method for injecting a urea-water solution into an elevated temperature exhaust gas stream that provides a thermally protective continuous flow of air around the urea-water supply tube until the solution is delivered into a small mixing chamber prior to immediate injection into the exhaust gas stream.

System and method for dispensing an aqueous urea solution into an exhaust gas stream


The invention relates to a method and device for determining the redox state of an anode (11), which is coated with a catalyst material or consisting thereof, associated with a high temperature fuel cell (10) or a reaction surface (16) of a reformer (13). According to the invention, at least one first resonator (3) of a piezoelectric sensor device (1) is arranged in the anode gas flow (5) of the high temperature fuel cell or in the gas flow of the reformer (13). The first resonator (3) is provided with a coating (4) which is oxidizable or reducible in the gas flow. The device also comprises a device (8) for measuring at least one modification of the resonance behaviour of the first resonator (3). The detected measuring value acts as an indicator of the redox state of the anode (11) of the high temperature fuel cell (10) or reaction surface (16) of the reformer (13).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and device for determining the redox state of the anode of a high-temperature fuel cell, which is coated with or made from catalyst material, or of the reaction surface of a reformer, and further to a piezoelectric sensor device for determining the redox state of an oxidizable/reducible coating.
2. The Prior Art
High-temperature fuel cells, such as e.g. the solid oxide fuel cell or the molten carbonate fuel cell, must be supplied with gases at the electrodes during operation, i.e. combustion gas (H2, CO or CH4) at the anode and oxidizing gas (O2 or air) at the cathode. The gas spaces must be sealed against each other. Insufficient sealing results in a reduction of the cell voltage and usually leads to degradation and failure of the fuel cell.
In addition, if oxygen enters an H2-enriched anode space at temperatures below 600° C., a highly explosive mixture will result.
Nickel (Ni) or nickel-cermet may be used as catalyst material at the anode, but this will form nickel oxide (NiO) in contact with an atmosphere containing oxygen, and its catalytic activity will deteriorate. For this reason starting the operation of a high-temperature fuel cell with Ni or Ni-cermet as anode material requires a so-called reduction phase during which the anode space is initially flushed with nitrogen and is then subjected to the combustion gas (e.g. hydrogen), which acts as reducing agent and whose concentration is increased in a stepwise manner. During this reduction phase NiO is reduced to metallic Ni. Conversely, oxidation of the anode material cannot be avoided on certain occasions, e.g. during maintenance activities. Reduction and oxidation of the anode is referred to as the "redox cycle".
It is known practice to determine such redox cycles, or the redox state, of Ni/YsZ-cermet anodes (YsZ=yttrium doped zirkonium) via their polarisation state, for instance by impedance spectroscopy. This method is used primarily in the development of fuel cells, but reliable inferences regarding the catalytic activity of the anode are only possible in single cell experiments. The method is not suitable for continuous monitoring of high-temperature fuel cells during operation.
From "Kinetics of Oxidation and Reduction of Ni/YsZ Cermets", 5th European Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Forum, Vol. 1 (2002), pp. 467-474, authored by Daniel Fouquet, Axel C. Müller, André Weber, and Ellen Ivers-Tiffée, there have become known findings concerning the kinetics of the reduction and oxidation of NiO/Ni powder and NiO/Ni-YsZ cermets, obtained with the use of TGA measurements (Thermo Gravimetric Analysis). Measurements of this kind cannot be used for the continuous monitoring of high-temperature fuel cells, however.
Reformers, e.g. vapour reformers for the generation of hydrogen-rich combustion gas for fuel cells, have reaction surfaces coated with catalyst materials, at which a combustion gas containing H2 and CO is obtained, for instance from the primary media natural gas and water vapour. Reformers working with methanol as a primary medium are also used to generate a hydrogen-rich combustion gas according to the equationCH3OH+H2O+heat→3H2+CO2 Different redox layers, e.g. Ni/NiO or nickel-cermet, are used as catalyst materials. Efficiency and operational safety of the reformer depend on the state of the reaction surface.
From U.S. Pat. No. 6,455,181 B1 a fuel cell assembly is known which has a sensor with a membrane electrode, whose one side is connected with the gas feed of the fuel cell and whose other side is connected with the exhaust of the fuel cell, the two sides having different coatings. The different composition of the gas on the two sides of the membrane, for instance a difference in hydrogen ion concentration, is converted into an electric signal, which can be used to control the gas flow of the fuel cell. Thus differences in the gas concentration at the inlet and the outlet of the fuel cell are measured, but the device cannot be used for determination of the redox state of the anode of a high-temperature fuel cell or the redox state of the reaction surface of a reformer.
It is the object of the present invention to propose a method and device as well as a sensor arrangement for the monitoring of the redox state of the anode of a high-temperature fuel cell or of the catalytic reaction surface of a reformer, which may be used during normal operation and which should furthermore ensure optimised and safe operation of the fuel cell or fuel cell assembly including the reformer, by controlling or adjusting at least one operational parameter.

Method and device for determining the redox state of a reaction surface coated with a catalyst material


An apron rack system includes a support frame, and at least two paired support arms attached to the support frame. The apron rack system includes at least one set of paired rungs projecting toward each other, attached to the at least two paired support arms, and providing an open space between the paired rungs through which a garment is hung from each of the paired rungs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garment hanging and storage. More particularly, it relates to an x-ray lead apron rack system for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons.
2. Background of Related Art
Exposure to radiation is an occupational hazard in the healthcare industry. Continuous exposure to radiation can result in serious illness. Each exposure accumulates within the human body, making it imperative that personnel working in a radiation environment be protected from the harmful radiation, such as x-rays. It is also important that this protective equipment be properly stored and maintained so that its protective properties are not compromised.
An x-ray lead apron is a bib-like garment worn by personnel to prevent exposure to radiation from x-ray machines. The lead "layer" of an x-ray apron is typically 0.3 to 0.5 millimeters thick and is laminated within the apron fabric. The x-ray lead apron is usually sleeveless and hangs from the wearer's shoulders extending to just above the knees. An adjustable belt or Velcro strap holds the x-ray lead apron close to the body. Another version of an x-ray lead apron consists of a wraparound "skirt" and accompanying vest. The average weight of the x-ray lead apron is approximately 3.7 kilos (8 pounds). These x-ray lead aprons can include an optional thyroid shield, which is a collar designed to hang along the front of the neck to protect the thyroid gland. Sometimes the manufacturer will tether the thyroid shield to the x-ray lead apron to help prevent loss of the thyroid shield. However, the thyroid shields are sometimes removed from the tether and eventually lost or tossed into a drawer out of sight.
Due to the fragile nature of the thin lead layer within the fabric of the x-ray lead apron, it becomes crucial that the x-ray lead apron be stored in a manner that prevents wrinkling and/or folding when not in use. Wrinkling and/or folding will eventually create cracks in the lead component, and subsequently allow the passage of radiation through the apron, defeating the purpose of wearing the protection.
In a medical/surgical setting where radiation is used, the x-ray lead apron and thyroid shield may be worn for several hours at a time by staff members and patients receiving care. As a result of the continuous contact of the x-ray lead apron to the staff member, the x-ray lead apron often becomes damp from the wearer's perspiration. Thus, best practices imply that the x-ray lead apron be disinfected and stored in a fashion to facilitate either active or passive air flow for drying the apron. However, at the end of sometimes hours wearing an x-ray lead apron, wearers typically remove their x-ray lead apron and drape it over a chair or table, thus introducing bends and potential cracks as well as preventing airflow around the x-ray lead apron.
Products exist that address these issues, but achieving these results requires patience and strength from the end user. Moreover, conventional systems for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons commonly share the characteristic that they hang x-ray lead aprons on pegs, support frame or other support system. With a limited width based on storage considerations, x-ray lead aprons are forced together by design, resulting in bunching and its accompanying shortcomings, as described herein.
For example, a conventional wall mounted system (not shown) for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons includes a wall support frame onto which a plurality of pegs are attached perpendicular thereto. The width of this conventional wall mounted system for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons is relatively small relative to the number of x-ray lead aprons that can be stored thereon. By design, this small width produces the deficiencies associated with conventional wall mounted systems for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons discussed above. Medical personnel with a desire to remove a single x-ray lead apron from a plurality of hanging x-ray lead aprons are usually faced with a tangled mess. De-tangling of heavy x-ray lead aprons is a major undertaking, adding unneeded stress to personnel already working in a stressful environment.
The plurality of pegs of the conventional wall mounted system are spaced to promote medical personnel to place an x-ray lead apron "sleeve" on each peg. Each peg is only long enough to hold one sleeve, or one half of an x-ray lead apron. Placement of a plurality of x-ray lead aprons on the conventional wall mounted system for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons results in the plurality of x-ray lead aprons being bunched together. Bunching together, as discussed above, prevents the plurality of x-ray lead aprons from drying in a timely manner, encouraging molding and/or odoriferous odors. Likewise, bunching, as discussed above, can introduce cracks in the lead component, and subsequently allow the passage of radiation through the apron, defeating the purpose of wearing the protection.
Other conventional systems for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons (not shown) rely on clothes hanger type hangers pivotally mounted on a plate system similar to the wall support frame discussed above. The clothes hanger type hangers protrude outward from the wall toward a user in a manner similar to the pegs discussed above.
Another popular storage rack design is similar to the mobile garment or wardrobe racks used in the retail clothing industry. These racks require the user to hang an eight (8) pound x-ray lead apron on a heavy gauge wire coat hanger that is attached to the rack. The hangers can easily tangle with one another, and require two hands to untangle them. With an x-ray lead apron already in hand, the inconvenience and time investment in returning the x-ray lead apron to its hanger can result in personnel avoiding the racks and subsequently folding an apron over the back of a chair, hanging it from a door knob, dropping it on the floor in a corner, etc. Furthermore, conventional mobile apron storage racks stand on wheels that are usually broken or too small in diameter, discouraging the end user from transporting the rack to a needed location.
Accordingly, there is a need for an x-ray apron hanging and storage system which allows for easy hanging of x-ray lead aprons and that prevents the aforementioned improper use of a storage system which results in tangling, bunching, and/or discourages improper airflow that promotes drying.

System for hanging and storing x-ray lead aprons


A scalable video decoder and a controlling method thereof are provided. A method of controlling a scalable video decoder includes: determining whether a macro block mode of an upper layer is an interlayer prediction mode when decoding a scalable video; when the macro block mode of the upper layer is determined as the interlayer prediction mode, determining an up-sampling operation is required to thereby either perform texture up-sampling using corresponding macro block information of a lower layer and neighboring pixel information, or perform residual up-sampling using the corresponding macro block information of the lower layer; and decoding the upper layer using the texture up-sampling or the residual up-sampling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scalable video decoder and a controlling method thereof, and more particularly, to a scalable video decoder that can reduce the usage amount of a memory when up-sampling a video block in scalable decoding of an image signal, and a controlling method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A scalable video codec (SVC) scheme denotes a scheme that encodes an image signal to the best quality. Also, although a partial sequence of resultantly generated picture sequence, that is, a sequence of a frame that is partially selected from all sequences, is decoded and used, the SVC scheme enables low quality video expression.
A hierarchical B picture (H-B picture) scheme is an encoding scheme that is proposed to be used for the above SVC.
The picture sequence, encoded using the H-B picture corresponding to the SVC scheme, receives and processes only the partial sequence to thereby enable the low quality video expression. However, when a bitrate is decreased, the quality may be even more degraded. In order to solve this problem, it is possible to hierarchically provide separate auxiliary picture sequences with a low transmission bitrate, for example, picture sequences with a low frame rate per second.
Also, up-sampling or down-sampling of an image may be required in order to simultaneously transmit a large image and a small image. Specifically, it is possible to encode a single image signal source into each of a four common intermediate format (CIF) picture sequence, a CIF picture sequence, and a quarter common intermediate format (QCIF) picture sequence, and transmit the encoded picture sequences to a decoding apparatus.
Since both an upper layer and a lower layer encode the same image signal source, redundancy exists in the encoded signal of both the upper layer and the lower layer.
Therefore, in order to increase a coding rate of a particular layer that is encoded according to a scheme of transmitting various types of screen sizes, an image frame of a current layer at the same point in time as an image frame of a lower layer is created as a predicted image, that is, residual data based on the image frame of the lower layer. For example, when encoding a current macro bloc of a high resolution image into an intra BL mode, a corresponding macro block of the lower layer, that is, a block including a region that corresponds to the same time as the current macro block and also corresponds to the same location in a frame is up-sampled and then a difference value between pixel values of the up-sampled block or an error value is encoded in the current macro block.
The up-sampled block is not transmitted to a decoder. Thus, so that the decoder may decode the encoded macro block, the decoder must up-sample a corresponding macro block of the lower layer and use the up-sampled macro block. The corresponding macro block of the lower block needs to be up-sampled not only for encoding the macro block of the intra BL mode, but also for performing a residual data prediction operation between layers.
As described above, when providing a plurality of layers with a different picture size or resolution from encoding streams, there is a need for up-sampling an image block during an encoding and decoding process.

Scalable video decoder and controlling method for the same

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A vehicle includes an engine, a slip ratio calculating unit, a target torque calculating unit, a fuel cut pattern determining unit, and a fuel cut control unit. The vehicle also includes a traction control system which includes an average output torque predicting unit and a fuel cut pattern correcting unit configured to correct the remaining fuel cut pattern during a unit section by judging the overage and shortage of generation of an output torque of the engine by comparison of the average output torque and the target torque.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a traction control system for a vehicle which reduces the driving force depending on the slip ratio of the front and rear wheels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H6-146944) describes that the output of an engine is generated in such a way as to determine an output reduction request signal depending on the size of the slip condition of driving wheels and to perform a fuel cut based on a fuel cut pattern depending on the output reduction request signal. The number of cylinders in which the fuel supply is cut is different by fuel cut pattern, and the requested number of fuel cut cylinders for the injection calculation, which is executed in each injection process of each of the cylinders, is updated.
However, when the fuel cut pattern is updated, the initial fuel cut pattern is forced to end in the middle of a unit section, and the fuel cut pattern which has the unit section of the same length newly starts. Therefore, the unit section of the fuel cut pattern is divided into small sections, which thereby deteriorates the convergence of the driving slip.


A chassis of a server comprises a backplane. The backplane is disposed in the chassis of the server, and the backplane includes a first sub-board, a second sub-board, and at least one air baffle. The first sub-board is isolated from the second sub-board. Each air baffle forms an included angle with the first sub-board and forms an included angle with the second sub-board. Space enclosed by the first sub-board, the second sub-board, and a side wall, an upper wall, and a lower wall of the chassis is divided into a first air cavity and at least one second air cavity by using the at least one air baffle. The first air cavity is used for at least one first module to dissipate heat, and the second air cavity is used for at least one second module to dissipate heat.

A server is a device for providing a computing service. To provide a highly reliable service, there are relatively high requirements on a processing capability, stability, reliability, security, scalability, manageability, and the like of the server.
To meet the requirements, a module (for example, a processor) in the server needs to maintain stable operating performance. To achieve stable operating performance of the module, chassis of the server needs to meet heat dissipation requirements of modules.
Currently, more modules are configured in the server. When an architecture of the chassis of the server is designed, a power supply air cavity is disposed in a system air cavity, so that the power supply air cavity shares heat dissipation space with the system air cavity of another component. However, in this design, the power supply air cavity is coupled to the system air cavity. Heat of a high-power supply module (for example, the processor) needs to be dissipated first by using airflow, and then heat of another module (for example, a power supply) is dissipated by using the airflow. This affects a heat dissipation capability and a power supply evolution capability of the power supply, and affects heat dissipation performance of the entire server.
Therefore, how to improve heat dissipation performance of the chassis of the server becomes a problem to be urgently resolved.


A set of dependence relationships in a set of program instructions is detected by a processor. The set of dependence relationships comprises a first load instruction to load a first data object and a second load instruction to load a second data object from a second address that is provided by address data within the first data object. The processor identifies a number of dependence instances in the set of dependence relationships and determines that the number is over a pattern threshold. The processor sends an enhanced load request to a memory controller. The enhanced load request comprises instructions to load the first data object from a first address on a physical page, locate address data in the first data object based on a memory offset, load the second data object from a second address in the address data, and transmit the first and second data objects to the processor.

The present disclosure relates to memory management, and more specifically, to prefetching data.
Data prefetching involves predicting which data will be needed by a processor and preemptively sending the predicted data to the processor before the processor needs the data. By utilizing data prefetching, processes performed by the processor may be made to run more efficiently because the data may be available for the computer component when it is required. This sometimes allows the negative effects of memory latency (i.e., the time associated with requesting data from memory and transmitting that data from memory to the computer component) to be mitigated or eliminated.
Data is typically stored in memory at a memory address. The program instructions followed by a processor may contain information that either states that memory address, or from which that memory address can be derived. This information is typically referred to as a "pointer." Once the memory address of predicted data is determined (e.g., through a pointer), the data may be prefetched.

Prefetching workloads with dependent pointers


A missile includes a missile body having a nose, a tail, and a center of gravity therebetween. A plurality of blades are arranged symmetrically around the missile body at a location between the nose and the center of gravity. The blades are deployable from a stowed position folded flat against the body of the missile to a deployed position extending outwardly from the body of the missile, and are mounted so as to be biased toward the deployed position. A retaining wire extends circumferentially around the body of the missile and captures the blades thereunder. The retaining wire may be controllably severed by a pyrotechnic device to release the blades to extend to the deployed position. The extended blades cause the missile to tumble from a first stable orientation to a second stable orientation, permitting it to be quickly pointed in the opposite direction without expenditure of fuel.

This invention relates to the control of missiles in flight, and, more particularly, to a device that quickly reverses the direction of flight of a missile without expenditure of propellant.
Air-to-air missiles are a primary weapon system for many military fighter and bomber aircraft. On fighter aircraft the missiles may play offensive or defensive roles, and on bomber aircraft usually play a defensive role. The missiles are often carried on external pylon supports so that they may be launched quickly, but sometimes are carried internally.
The missiles are normally carried in a forward-facing orientation. That is, the missile is aerodynamically shaped to move through the air with low drag. The missile is mounted on the aircraft so that the aerodynamic shape faces forwardly. With the missile facing forwardly, its addition to the drag of the aircraft prior to launch is smaller than if the missile were carried facing rearwardly. Moreover, when the missile is launched its forward-facing orientation aids in assuring a stable launch from the aircraft. If the missile were carried facing rearwardly, upon launch it might veer out of control and actually strike the launching aircraft before the missile engine is fired and the missile guidance system becomes operable.
Attacks on a defended aircraft by an opposing aircraft often occur with the opposing aircraft behind the defended aircraft. The defended aircraft can use its air-to-air missiles to defend itself, if the missiles can be brought to bear on the opposing aircraft. For a forwardly facing and launched missile, the missile must fly in a curved arc through 180 degrees to bear on the opposing aircraft. The turn requires both expenditure of fuel and time. In many situations it is not possible to bring the forwardly launched missile to bear on the opposing aircraft in time to be effective.
On the other hand, the missile may be carried in a rearwardly facing orientation, but, as noted, the aerodynamics of the carrying aircraft will be degraded prior to launch, and it may be very difficult to launch a missile in a stable manner. Moreover, fighter aircraft may carry only 2 or 4 air-to-air missiles. If one or more of these missiles is mounted in a rearwardly facing, defensive position, it essentially becomes unavailable for use in the aircraft's primary role of attacking (rather than defending against) opposing aircraft.
Various types of rearward defense of aircraft have been used. In the past, rearwardly facing guns have been employed, but such guns are not practical for fighter aircraft or for most high-speed bomber aircraft. Various masking devices can also be used, but are not effective for active defense against close-in attacks.
Thus, there is a need for an improved approach to defending against attacks by opposing aircraft from behind a defended aircraft using its air-to-air missiles, without reducing the effectiveness of the defended aircraft. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.


A semiconductor device includes a doped Si base substrate, one or more device epitaxial layers formed over a main surface of the doped Si base substrate, a diffusion barrier structure, and a gate formed above the diffusion barrier structure. The diffusion barrier structure includes alternating layers of Si and oxygen-doped Si formed in an upper part of the doped Si base substrate adjacent the main surface of the doped Si base substrate, in a lower part of the one or more device epitaxial layers adjacent the main surface of the doped Si base substrate, or in one or more additional epitaxial layers disposed between the main surface of the doped Si base substrate and the one or more device epitaxial layers.

Power semiconductor devices typically include highly doped Si substrates. Dopants out-diffuse from highly doped Si substrates due to high temperature, especially during epitaxial layer growth and high temperature oxidations/anneals. Si substrates highly doped with arsenic, phosphorous or boron, which are widely used in many types of low-voltage semiconductor transistor devices, are particularly susceptible to an out-diffusion tail which contributes significantly to RonA/FOMg (on-state resistance/Figure or Merit) loss of the device.
Hence, improved structures and manufacturing methods are needed to better limit dopant out-diffusion from highly doped Si substrates of power semiconductor devices.

Oxygen inserted Si-layers for reduced substrate dopant outdiffusion in power devices


A system and method for reducing the likelihood of concurrency errors by identifying vulnerable segments of computer code and stalling other virtual machine threads of execution. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the vulnerable segment is identified at runtime, for example in a dynamic translator. According to another embodiment of the present invention, the vulnerable segment is identified ahead of time, for example in a static translator. According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the vulnerable segment is identified in the binary translator of a virtual machine monitor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer virtualization and, in particular, to a method and system for avoiding synchronization bugs through virtualization.
2. Description of Related Art
The advantages of virtual machine technology have become widely recognized. Among these advantages is the ability to run multiple virtual machines on a single host platform. This makes better use of the capacity of the hardware, while still ensuring that each user enjoys the features of a "complete" computer. Depending on how it is implemented, virtualization also provides greater stability, since the virtualization can isolate potentially unstable or unsafe software so that it cannot adversely affect the hardware state or system files required for running the physical (as opposed to virtual) hardware.
As is well known in the field of computer science, a virtual machine (VM) is a software abstraction—a "virtualization"—of an actual physical computer system. FIG. 1(a) shows one possible arrangement of a computer system 101 that implements virtualization. A virtual machine (VM) 102, which in this system is a "guest," is installed on a "host platform," or simply "host," which will include a system hardware 100, that is, a hardware platform, and one or more layers or co-resident components comprising system-level software, such as an operating system (OS) or similar kernel, a virtual machine monitor or hypervisor (see below), or some combination of these.
As software, the code defining the VM will ultimately execute on the actual system hardware 100. As in almost all computers, this hardware will include one or more CPUs 120, some form of memory 130 (volatile or non-volatile), one or more storage devices such as one or more disks 140, and one or more devices 170, which may be integral or separate and removable.
In many existing virtualized systems, the CPU(s) 120 are the same as in a non-virtualized computer with the same platform, for example, the Intel x86 platform. Because of the advantages of virtualization, however, some hardware vendors have proposed, and are presumably developing, hardware processors that include specific hardware support for virtualization.
Each VM 102 will typically mimic the general structure of a physical computer and as such will usually have both virtual system hardware 104 and guest system software 106. The virtual system hardware typically includes at least one virtual CPU 108, virtual memory 112, at least one virtual disk 116, and one or more virtual devices 110. Note that a storage disk—virtual 116 or physical 140—is also a "device," but is usually considered separately because of the important role it plays. A virtual CPU may also sometimes be referred to as a virtual processor. The term 'virtual processor' is synonymous with the term 'virtual CPU' or 'VCPU' for the purposes of reference throughout this text. All of the virtual hardware components of the VM may be implemented in software to emulate corresponding physical components. The guest system software includes a guest operating system (OS) 122 and drivers 124 as needed, for example, for the various virtual devices 110.
To permit computer systems to scale to larger numbers of concurrent threads, systems with multiple CPUs have been developed. Many conventional hardware platforms therefore include more than one hardware processor 120. In many such platforms, each processor is a separate "chip" and may share system resources such as main memory and/or at least one I/O device. "Multi-cored" architectures have also been developed (for example, IBM POWER4 and POWER5 architectures, as well as the Sun UltraSparc IV), in which more than one physical CPU is fabricated on a single chip, with its own set of functional units (such as a floating-point unit and an arithmetic/logic unit ALU), and can execute threads independently. Multi-cored processors typically share only very limited resource, such as at least some cache.
Still another modern technique that provides for simultaneous execution of multiple threads is referred to as "simultaneous multi-threading," in which more than one logical CPU (hardware thread) operates simultaneously on a single chip, but in which the logical CPUs flexibly share not only one or more caches, but also some functional unit(s) and sometimes also the translation lookaside buffer (TLB). One example of a multi-threaded architecture is Intel Corporation's "Hyper-Threading Technology," used to improve the performance of its Pentium IV and Xeon processor lines. It is also possible to have an architecture that is both multi-cored and multi-threaded.
Similarly, a single VM may also have (that is, be exposed to) more than one virtualized processor. Symmetric multi-processor (SMP) systems are commonly available, and may be implemented in both virtualized and non-virtualized systems. Essentially, an SMP system is a hardware platform that connects multiple processors to a shared main memory and shared I/O devices. Virtual machines may also be configured as SMP VMs. FIG. 1(a), for example, illustrates multiple virtual processors 108 within the VM 102. Each virtualized processor in a VM may also be multi-cored, or multi-threaded, or both, depending on the virtualization.
Applications 126 running on the VM will typically function as they would if run on a "real" computer, even though the applications are running at least partially indirectly, that is via the guest OS 122 and virtual processor(s). Executable files will be accessed by the guest OS from the virtual disk 116 or virtual memory 112, which will be portions of the actual physical disk 140 or memory 130 allocated to that VM. Once an application is installed within the VM, the guest OS retrieves files from the virtual disk just as if the files had been pre-stored as the result of a conventional installation of the application. The design and operation of virtual machines in general are known in the field of computer science.
Some interface is usually required between a VM 102 and the underlying host platform (in particular, the hardware CPU(s) 120 and any intermediate system-level software layers), which is (are) responsible for actually submitting and executing VM-issued instructions and for handling I/O operations, including transferring data to and from the hardware memory 130 and storage devices 140. A common term for this interface or virtualization layer is a "virtual machine monitor" (VMM), shown as component 128. A VMM is usually a software component that virtualizes at least some of the resources of the physical host machine, or at least some hardware resource, so as to export a hardware interface to the VM corresponding to the hardware the VM "thinks" it is running on. As FIG. 1(a) illustrates, a virtualized computer system may (and usually will) have more than one VM, each of which may be running on its own VMM.
The various virtualized hardware components in the VM, such as the virtual CPU(s) 108, the virtual memory 112, the virtual disk 116, and the virtual device(s) 110, are shown as being part of the VM 102 for the sake of conceptual simplicity. In actuality, these "components" are often implemented as software emulations included in the VMM.
In contrast to a fully virtualized system, the guest OS 122 in a so-called "para-virtualized" system is modified to support virtualization, such that it not only has an explicit interface to the VMM, but is sometimes also allowed to access at least one host hardware resource directly. In some para-virtualized systems, one of a plurality of VMs plays a "superior" role in that it mediates some requests for hardware resources made by the guest OSs of other VMs. In short, virtualization transparency is sacrificed to gain speed or to make it easier to implement the VMM that supports the para-virtualized machine. In such para-virtualized systems, the VMM is sometimes referred to as a "hypervisor."
In addition to the distinction between full and partial (para-) virtualization, two arrangements of intermediate system-level software layer(s) are in general use—a "hosted" configuration (illustrated in FIG. 1(b)) and a non-hosted configuration (illustrated in FIG. 1(a)). In a hosted virtualized computer system, an existing, general-purpose operating system forms a "host" OS that is used to perform certain input/output (I/O) operations, alongside and sometimes at the request and direction of the VMM 128. The host OS 132, which usually includes drivers 134 and supports applications 136 of its own, and the VMM are both able to directly access at least some of the same hardware resources, with conflicts being avoided by having the VMM transparently save and restore host state when switching between the host and the VMM. The Workstation product of VMware, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif., is an example of a hosted, virtualized computer system, which is also explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,847 (Bugnion, et al., "System and Method for Virtualizing Computer Systems," 17 Dec. 2002), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
In addition to device emulators 138, FIG. 1(b) also illustrates some of the other components that are also often included in the VMM 128 of a hosted virtualization system; many of these components are found in the VMM 128 of a non-hosted system as well. For example, exception handlers 142 may be included to help execute the virtual machine instruction stream, and a direct execution engine 144 and a binary translator 146 with associated translation cache 148 may be included to provide execution speed while still preventing the VM from directly executing certain privileged instructions. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a translation cache 148 may be included for every virtual CPU 108. The binary translator 146 may be implemented as computer code stored on a computer readable medium.
In many cases, it may be beneficial to deploy VMMs on top of a software layer—a kernel 152—constructed specifically to provide efficient support for the VMs. This configuration is frequently referred to as being "non-hosted." Compared with a system in which VMMs run directly on the hardware platform (such as shown in FIG. 1(b)), use of a kernel 152 offers greater modularity and facilitates provision of services (for example, resource management) that extend across multiple virtual machines. Compared with a hosted deployment, a kernel may offer greater performance because it can be co-developed with the VMM 128 and be optimized for the characteristics of a workload consisting primarily of VMs/VMMs. The kernel 152 also handles any other applications running on it that can be separately scheduled, as well as any temporary "console" operating system 132 that, in some systems, is included to boot the system as a whole and for enabling certain user interactions with the kernel. The console OS 132 in FIG. 1(a) may be of the same type as the host OS in FIG. 1(b), which is why they are identically numbered—the main difference is the role they play (or are allowed to play, if any) once the virtualized computer system is loaded and running.
In practice, the applications 126 and the guest operating system 122 sometimes contain glitches that can result in undesirable consequences. While effort is usually made to produce error-free software, the size and scope of these systems and applications makes the occasional appearances of errors, or 'bugs', inevitable. Typically, users must work with these errors, or if a problem is severe enough, the manufacturer of the system or application will release a patch.
Sometimes virtualization exposes errors in the applications 126 or guest operating system 122 that are not apparent in the non-virtualized use of the system or application. For example, synchronization bugs may go undetected when they depend on a statistically unlikely series of events. However, changes to the speed of execution in a multithreaded or multiprocessor environment, such as a virtualized device responding slower or faster than its physical analogue, sometimes increase the likelihood that a synchronization bug may result in a concurrency error. A concurrency error, generally, is an error that occurs when two threads of execution attempt to access the same data simultaneously, or when an improper interaction between threads of execution results in the corruption of data.
As these bugs may only be significantly exposed in certain conditions, such as when the operating system or application is run by a virtual machine, it is possible that the manufacturer of the operating system or application may have ended-of-lifed the product. In some cases, the error may make the operating system or application unusable entirely.
What is needed is a system and method for reducing the likelihood of concurrency errors in applications and operating systems.

System and method for avoiding synchronization bugs through virtualization


A method for managing content is provided. The method may include, by a content management apparatus, receiving a content request, searching for content information associated with the request, and causing writing of missing content information to an alert file. The method may provide default content information when content information is not otherwise located. A content request may comprise an application and context name. A response from a content management apparatus may comprise a location and map identifier used by a calling apparatus to locate and cause display of content. The method may provide synchronization capabilities in which content referenced by an application is searched for in order to track missing content in an alerts file, and to track the synchronization history or status of an application in a synchronization log. Corresponding systems, apparatuses, and computer program products are also provided.

The widespread use of modern computing technology has led to an increasing demand for information to be made available via computer-based applications. As institutions and other organizations in various industries continue to expand their systems, the size and complexities of their workforces developing and maintaining the systems may also increase. In this regard, different entities within an organization may be responsible for developing and maintaining various applications. A team tasked with developing a portion of a system, such as, for example, a web page, may complete development of the web page. A separate division may provide the content, including documents, text, images, or the like, for displaying on the page.
Several inefficiencies are introduced by the increasing complexity and size of systems, organizations implementing the systems, and information made available by the systems. In many cases, the same content may be accessed from various parts of an application or system. Duplication of such content may result in wasted memory, wasted manpower in maintaining the content in the event changes are needed and future inconsistencies across duplicate items due to failure to recognize the need for changes in more than one location. Additionally, some applications may require a full build and application-wide testing in order to make a change to content as simple as correcting a typo.

Method, apparatus, and computer program product for content management


Beverage preparation machine comprising: a fluid circuit comprising a water reservoir, a water pump, a heating means, a beverage producing module, which are fluidically connected for circulating water from the reservoir to the beverage producing module, wherein an inline descaling system is provided in the fluid circuit comprising a dedicated compartment intended for receiving a predetermined dose of a water soluble/dispersible descaling agent. The invention also relates to a method for automatically descaling and rinsing the fluid circuit.

It is a well known problem with any beverage producing device having an integrated heater, e.g., a thermoblock or heating cartridges, that limestone scale is prone to deposit on the heating/heated contact surfaces with the circulated water or steam. The water scale comes essentially from water insoluble solid, i.e., calcium carbonate that formed from calcium ions and carbonate ions which react together and precipitate. The deposition increases in hot water because calcium carbonate is less soluble in hot water than in cold water. Therefore, the degree of deposition of calcium carbonate solid can be dependent on the content of these ions in water, also called "water hardness" but also on the water temperature, the frequency of use of the machine, and other factors.
To descale the beverage preparation machine, it is known to periodically have a decalcifying agent be passed through the water contact surfaces of the fluid circuit of the machine, e.g., heaters, tubings, water/steam injecting nozzle or needles, etc. The descaling agent (e.g., a chemical composition comprising acetic acid, phosphoric acid and/or a phosphonic acid) dissolves the scale that forms on the surfaces of the machine. After having passed the descaling agent, it is necessary to have a certain volume of clear water be circulated in the fluid circuit of the machine to eliminate taste perceptible trace of descaling agent that may affect the taste of subsequently produced beverages.
Therefore, a typical procedure for descaling a beverage producing device, e.g., a coffee machine, consists in mixing an effective dose of descaling agent with water in the water reservoir of the machine to form a descaling aqueous mixture, circulating the descaling aqueous mixture in the fluid circuit of the machine, rinsing the fluid circuit with clear water filled into the reservoir when the effective descaling agent has been fully circulated. This procedure requires several manual operations and a periodic surveillance from the user who achieves these different operations. In particular, the user must fill the reservoir with water twice, collect and also discard the liquid waste twice at the collecting side of the machine, i.e., at the beverage discharge outlet. This also requires several switches-on/switches-off on the board for controlling by the pump the circulation of water. Therefore, it is fastidious for the user to stay in front of the machine until the descaling procedure is completed. Another problem comes from a difficulty to control the effective quantities of the descaling agent and of the rinsing liquid. Therefore, the effectiveness of the method highly depends on the respect of these quantities by the user himself.
W02006/090183 relates to a beverage dispenser comprising a clean-in-place system wherein the cleaning fluid is pumped from a storage area to the beverage line. The cleaning operation is carried out automatically in response to a predetermined event. However, the cleaning agent is not directly placed in the beverage line and it so requires to be pumped in the beverage line by pumping means.
Therefore there is an advantage to propose a solution that eases the descaling procedure, in particular, makes it simpler to use, requires less attention from the user and is also better controlled for an improved descaling efficiency.
For this, the invention relates to a beverage preparation device comprising:
a fluid circuit comprising a water reservoir, a water pump, an in-line heating means designed for heating circulating water, a beverage producing module, which are fluidically connected for circulating water from the reservoir to the beverage producing module, wherein an in-line descaling system is provided in the fluid circuit downstream of the reservoir, comprising a dedicated compartment arranged for receiving a predetermined dose of a water soluble/dispersible descaling agent and a water inlet and water outlet for water to circulate through the compartment.
Therefore, a dedicated descaling agent reserve is arranged in the fluid circuit, downstream of the water reservoir, so that a predetermined quantity of water of the water reservoir can be utilized both for descaling purpose and for rinsing purpose. This arrangement is such that there is no need to refill the water tank with clear water since the water thank is not directly contaminated with the descaling agent.
In a mode, the compartment is fluidically placed between the water reservoir and the pump. In particular, a one-way valve is interposed between the water reservoir and the compartment; wherein the valve is allowed by design or actively controlled to open only when water is drawn from the water reservoir to the compartment, e.g., by suction effect of the pump which opens the valve.
Therefore, a back-flow of the descaling agent in the reservoir containing clear water can be prevented when the pump is stopped, for instance, during pause(s) in the descaling procedure. Therefore, the continuous descaling-rinsing procedure can be carried out successfully without intervention from the user for rinsing or refilling the water tank. The one-way valve can be a passive valve such as a rubber-elastic slit valve or such as a ball spring-biased valve. The one-way valve can also be an electromagnetic valve controllable in opening/closing by the control unit of the device. The valve can be placed in a wall that separates the water reservoir from the descaling compartment. The wall can advantageously be the bottom wall of the water reservoir and/or an entry wall of the compartment.
In a particular mode, for reducing the complexity of the device, the reservoir and the compartment can be placed adjacent one another. For example, the compartment and the reservoir have complementary stacking means for enabling the reservoir to be stacked on the compartment. Water sealing means can further be provided between the stacking means. Sealing means can be an O-ring of rubber elastic material.
In a possible alternative solution, the compartment is placed between two portions of hose and fluidically distant from the water reservoir.
In a possible embodiment, the compartment for the descaling agent is fluidically placed between the pump and the in-line heating means. In this case, the compartment and its connections to the fluid circuit must resist to the fluid pressure exerted in this pressurized portion of the fluid circuit to the repeated beverage brewing and descaling cycles.

Beverage preparation device with in-line scale removal system and descaling method using such system


A motor for a plate of a labelling machine comprises a housing with a connecting portion for connecting the motor to a carousel of the labelling machine, a motor shaft pivotally supported within the housing, a coupling flange having a first end connected to the motor shaft and a second end that can be connected to the plate. The motor shaft and coupling flange are joined as one piece such as to form a one-body shaft-flange unit.

Electric motors have been proposed for driving the plates, such as direct current, alternate current or three-phase motors. These motors can be of the synchronous, asynchronous or stepping types. These electric motors are integrally connected to the plate by means of a so-called coupling flange, which, by being connected both to the end of the motor shaft and to the plate, or to a plate support to which the actual plate is then connected, provides a (rotatably integral) serial connection between the motor shaft and the plate.
It has been observed that the coupling flange, as it must act as the transitional element between the very small diameter of the motor shaft and the relatively large diameter of the plate, has a certain radial and axial bulk, which is further increased by the connecting members by means of which the coupling flange is connected to the motor shaft. This moves the plate away from the motor, and results in an undesired bulk for the whole motor-plate unit.
In order to resolve the problem of this bulk, it has been suggested, for example in EP 1 596 488 A2, to arrange at least a part of the connecting elements between the motor shaft and the plate within the motor housing and, particularly, to provide the connection between the motor shaft and the coupling flange within the motor housing.
This known solution reduces the distance between motor and plate, but at the same time, the axial and transversal bulk of the motor is increased, thus resulting in an overall bulk of the motor-plate unit which is still considerable.
Furthermore, both the shaft and coupling flange require a precision mechanical processing in the motor bearing areas and in the connecting areas therebetween and each maintenance activity on the connection within the motor requires the motor to be disassembled and this necessarily also involves the motor bearings.
In addition to said disadvantages, all known solutions have a drawback in that the kinematic chain of motor shaft-coupling flange-plate support-plate is undesirably long and thus yielding, because of the clearances occurring in the at least three coupling points.
The object of the present invention is thus to improve the plate motors, such as to reduce the total bulk of the motor-plate unit and increase the rigidity of the transmission of the torsion from the motor to the plate.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a motor for a plate, which does not require any maintenance activity to be carried out on the connection between the motor shaft and the coupling flange.

Motor for driving a container-holder plate in a labelling machine


A cleaning brush for a power-driven robotic pool cleaner is formed from a plurality of cylindrical sections of water-expandable compressed cellulose sponge material that are preferably die-cut from a sheet or web, each section having a central opening corresponding in both size and shape to the cross section of the rotatable shaft on which the cylindrical sections are mounted in spaced relation. When wet with water, the compressed cellulose sponge material expands many times its original compressed thickness to provide a cleaning brush having continuous coverage over the entire length of the shaft.

Automated power driven pool cleaners typically include rotating brushes mounted on tubes or shafts extending across the body at the front and rear of the machine. The shaft on which the cleaning brush is mounted is rotatable and can be driven by one or more endless belts that engage grooved pulleys at either or both ends of the rotatable shaft.
The cleaning brushes can be made of foam, in which case they are subject to wear and tear due to their continuous rotating contact with the bottom and side wall surfaces of the pool. As a result, foam cleaning brushes must be periodically removed and replaced. Various types of brushes have been used with pool cleaning machines of the prior art. Brushes in the form of elongated cylinders produce from molded polyvinyl acetate (PVA) having a relatively fine pore size are designed to cover the entire length of the rotatable shaft in a single piece. The molded PVA is relatively rigid when dry, but becomes softer and more elastic when wet with water which facilitates fitting it to the shaft.
Other types of brushes are formed as generally rectangular elements having a flat surface on the back which can be tightly fitted to the rotatable shaft. Interlocking tabs and openings at the mating ends of the mat permit its secure assembly to the shaft. Elements of various configurations projecting from the exterior surface of the mat contact the pool surface with a scrubbing action to loosen debris and allow it to be drawn into the pool cleaner's filter system. The flat brushes can be produced as an integrally molded element using a synthetic rubber compound. The flat brushes can also be fabricated by drawing elongated rectangular pieces of cellular foamed plastic through openings in an open-weave backing material.
While each type of cleaning brush possesses certain advantages, and is intended for use under specific conditions, each requires a substantial capital investment in order to provide special molds and other equipment required to manufacture the brushes. In addition, the materials and manufacturing processes required for each of the types of brushes described add further to the cost of the finished article.
A further drawback associated with the use of these prior art brushes is the effort associated with removing a worn brush and installing a replacement cleaning brush. In the case of the cylindrical PVA foam brush, the old element can most easily be removed by cutting it away from the shaft. However, considerable effort is required to pull and properly fit the replacement brush to the shaft. The dismounting of the flat brush is likewise facilitated by cutting the neck portion of the tabs where the mating ends overlap. Installing the new brush requires some strength, since the tabs and slots of the overlying ends must be brought into mating alignment and the interlocking elements have limited resiliency to insure that they do not disengage once assembled in the correct interlocking position. Installation of the brushes can prove difficult for residential pool owners.
In view of the above observations, it would be desirable to provide a cleaning brush for pool cleaners as original equipment or as a replacement for worn or damaged cleaning brushes, that is both economical to manufacture and that is easy to install and remove.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a cleaning brush that can be produced from inexpensive and readily available materials.
It is another object of the invention to provide a means for fabricating cleaning brushes that are relatively inexpensive and use standard production equipment and methods.
It is also an important object of the invention to provide cleaning brushes that are easy to install and that can be easily removed at such time as replacement is required.

Segmented brush assembly for power driven pool cleaner