Apparatuses and methods for inserting elongated fixation elements into screw implants include one or components for visualizing the insertion process from a unique vantage point. One apparatus features a steering apparatus for adjusting the position of a receiver element on a screw implant, so that an elongated fixation element, such as a rod, can be inserted through a transverse passage in the receiver element. The steering apparatus may include an extension tube and a steering control member coupled to the extension tube. The extension tube may be configured for coupling to the receiver element, and the steering control member may be configured for coupling to the extension tube. The steering control member may include an opening for receiving an endoscope. The endoscope may be used to visually monitor the elongated fixation element as it is inserted into the transverse passage of the receiver element.

A number of spinal stabilization systems are currently available for use in the lumbar spine to provide stabilization of the spine during spinal fusion. Many stabilization systems include some type of screw implant, which usually consists of a bone screw and a receiver body attached to the screw. The screw is designed to be inserted into a vertebral body or other bone structure to be stabilized. The receiver body is designed to receive an elongated fixation element, such as a rod. Typically, the receiver body has a transverse passage formed by slots or openings for receiving the rod. The rod is inserted into the transverse passages of two or more screw implants, forming a rigid bridge between the implants. The rod may be introduced using a "captured" technique or a freehand technique. In the captured technique, a guidance device with a defined range of motion controls the path of the rod as it is introduced into the implants. In the freehand technique, the rod is inserted and maneuvered into the implant by hand. Once the rod is inserted into the implants, set screws or other locking elements are used to lock down the rod in the receiver bodies. The rigid bridge construct is used to stabilize adjacent vertebrae and promote bone fusion.
In some procedures, the screw implants and fixation rod are implanted in an open surgical method, where the skin of the patent is incised from the cranial aspect of the area to the caudal aspect. Open incisions of this type occasionally result in significant incision length. Of greatest concern, when examining the open technique, is the trauma to the muscles, nerves, and other soft tissue of the back. This trauma results in biomechanical instability, greater possible necrosis, and an increased time for recovery. Trauma can be reduced by using minimally invasive surgery (MIS), which involves the use of smaller incisions, and muscle splitting rather than cutting. Percutaneous surgery is one form of MIS that utilizes very small stab incisions for the introduction of the screw into the patient. In percutaneous surgery, the screw implants and/or rods are inserted into the patient through small tubes sometimes referred to as downtubes or extension tubes. Extension tubes can be connected to the screw implants to serve as temporary extensions of the screw body. The extensions provide a conduit through the surface of the patient's skin, and provide access to the surgical site through a very small opening. Extension tubes are disconnected from the screw implants and removed from the patient once the surgery is complete.
MIS screw systems offer the advantage of reducing trauma to the patient by minimizing the size of incisions. Nevertheless, the small incisions create a major challenge. MIS screw implants are difficult to see after implantation because the implants are covered by skin and tissue above implants. This makes it difficult or impossible for the surgeon to see the transverse passage of the implant and the rod during rod insertion. The relative position of the rod can be monitored using fluoroscopy. But even where fluoroscopy is used, depth perception is very limited when watching the image. As such, it is difficult to determine whether the rod is passing through the transverse passage of the receiver body as intended. In some instances, the rod may appear to be passing through the receiver body, when in fact it is passing in front of or behind the receiver body. It is not uncommon to find that the rod has passed along the outside edge of the receiver body, necessitating the total removal and replacement of the rod.
Even when imaging techniques are available, there is still a need for better ways to visualize the introduction of the rod into the receiver body, so that the proper placement of the rod can be confirmed.

Apparatus and method for visualizing insertion of a fixation element into an implant


A monitoring system for a wire handling machine, comprising a measuring unit for measuring an amount of wire consumption by the wire handling machine, and a control unit including memory for storing an expected amount of wire consumption for each of steps carried out by the wire handling machine, and a CPU having the functions of comparing an actual amount of wire consumption as detected by the measuring unit with a corresponding value stored in the memory, and producing an output indicative of a fault in the wire handling machine when any deviation exceeding a certain limit is detected between the actual amount of wire consumption and the corresponding value stored in the memory. Thus, the operating condition of the wire handling machine such as a motor armature coil winding machine can be accurately evaluated by the amount of wire consumption which can be easily measured with a simple device for measurement, for instance by using a rotary encoder coupled with a pulley around which the wire is passed. Furthermore, since a failure in the wire winding machine can be detected as soon as it occurs, a costly system down and waste of coil wire can be minimized by equipping the control unit with an arrangement for stopping the operation of the wire handling machine upon detection of the output indicative of a failure in the wire handling machine.

In a conventional motor armature coil winding machine, a flier is turned around an armature core and coil wire is wound around different core teeth as the armature core is indexed as required. Between the steps of each coil winding operation for each coil as well as at the start and end of the coil winding operation for each armature core, it is necessary to hook the wire around tangs attached to the segments of a commutator. A typical example of such a motor armature coil winding machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,864.
In such a coil winding machine, should any failure or error occur to the coil winding operation, for instance a failure to hook the wire around a tang or a failure to pass the wire successfully into a slot between adjacent core teeth, it is desired to stop the operation of the coil winding machine in order to prevent production of a defective armature and to minimize loss of coil wire. When a defective armature is conveyed to a next motor fabrication station without being detected, it could lead to an even more serious failure of the motor fabrication system.
It is therefore desired to monitor the state of coil windings as they are being wound around armature core teeth. Conventionally, it has been monitored by human eyes, and it was not possible to totally eliminate the possibility of overlooking defective motor armatures.

Wire monitoring system for a wire handling machine

Mitsuba Electric Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

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A robotic manipulator for clamping a workpiece includes a power source, a first rotary member, and a clamping mechanism. The first rotary member is connected to and rotated by the power source. The clamping mechanism is non-rotatably connected to the first rotary member and includes a first clamping member and a second clamping member capable of coupling to and decoupling from the first clamping member. The first clamping member and the second clamping member are coupled to each other. A receptacle is defined between the first clamping member and the second clamping member to receive the workpiece. The receptacle has a shape and size substantially the same as the workpiece.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to robotics, and particularly, to a robotic manipulator used in manufacturing.
2. Description of Related Art
Robotic manipulators are used extensively in manufacturing. When a plurality of regions of a workpiece is required during machining, the workpiece is often held by a rotatable robotic manipulator. The different regions can be machined due to rotation of the robotic manipulator making the different regions facing a machining tool at different time.
A robotic manipulator often includes a power mechanism, a rotary head connected to the power mechanism, a rotary shaft, a rotary wheel fixed to the rotary shaft, and a clamp mounted on the rotary shaft. A workpiece is acquired by the clamp. The power mechanism drives the rotary head, the rotary shaft, and the rotary wheel to rotate, thus different regions of the workpiece can be machined. However, the robotic manipulator is not suited for workpieces that are easily deformed, such as frames or housings.
Therefore, a robotic manipulator is desired to overcome the described limitations.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A Data Storage Device (DSD) includes a non-volatile memory configured to store data, and control circuitry configured to receive a memory access command from a host to access data in the non-volatile memory. A location is identified in the non-volatile memory for performing the memory access command using an Address Translation Layer (ATL) that has a finer logical-to-physical granularity than a logical-to-physical granularity of a logical block-based file system executed by the host or a granularity based on a memory Input/Output (IO) transaction size of a processor of the host. The non-volatile memory is accessed at the identified location to perform the memory access command.

There is an increase in demand for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) or main memory in environments such as data centers for application performance. DRAM can be located directly in a server or shared in networked instances of in-memory database applications such as, for example, Memcached, Redis, and Mcperf.
A recently developed practice in the storage industry is to use a low latency Solid-State Drive (SSD), such as a Non-Volatile Memory express (NVMe) SSD, to extend and/or replace a portion of the main memory or DRAM of a host. For example, an entire storage capacity of an SSD (e.g., 750 GB) can be made visible as virtual memory to a host's Operating System (OS) and at least one application executed by the host (e.g., Memcached, Redis, Apache Spark). In some cases, an NVMe SSD can replace 80% of the DRAM that would otherwise be needed. This can provide a lower overall cost without a significant loss in performance for DRAM intensive operations. The host may then include a smaller DRAM.
A memory pool can include a DRAM with a capacity of 10% to 20% of the total capacity of the NVMe SSD for caching frequently accessed data (i.e., "hot data"). The DRAM and the memory of the NVMe SSD can be shared among multiple servers or hosts. Swapping software such as Intel-Memory Drive Technology (IMDT) can execute at the host, and can work with a Memory Management Unit (MMU) of the CPU to present the entire capacity of the NVMe SSD as virtual memory. The NVMe SSD then appears as a virtual memory block device to a host OS and to one or more applications executing at a host.
As an application accesses the virtual memory, some of the accesses will result in a DRAM hit, meaning that the data for the access has already been cached in the DRAM. Other accesses will result in a DRAM miss, meaning that the data has not already been cached in the DRAM. In the case of a DRAM miss, space is created in the DRAM by evicting or flushing a 4K page to the NVMe SSD and reading the requested data from the NVMe SSD and loading it into the DRAM of the memory pool. The virtual memory mapping is then changed by the swapping software. This process can be referred to as a virtual memory exception or page fault. When a page fault occurs, the application thread that encountered the page fault is suspended while another application thread continues processing. After the page fault has been handled through the loading of the new 4K page into the memory pool's DRAM, the suspended thread is resumed.
Although the latencies associated with such page faults are tolerated by multi-threaded applications, a symmetric or similar read and write performance in terms of read Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and write IOPS is needed in writing the evicted page to the NVMe SSD and reading the new page into the DRAM of the memory pool. Such performance can be obtained with relatively expensive Storage Class Memories (SCMs), as in the example of Intel's Optane storage device. However, flash memories, such as NAND memories, generally have much lower write performance (e.g., write IOPS) as compared to read performance (e.g., read IOPS), such as a three times lower performance (e.g., IOPS) for random writes than for random reads. The time to perform the page eviction or flush to the NVMe SSD discussed above becomes a limiting factor for handling page faults with such NAND memories. In addition, evicting 4K pages to a NAND memory in an SSD can create numerous write operations that deteriorate the endurance or usable life of the NAND memory.

Fine granularity translation layer for data storage devices


A method for storing XML data into a relational database, including the following steps: splitting an XML Schema into one or more mapping configuration files, each mapping configuration file corresponding to a relational database table; parsing an XML text, and according to the associative relationship in the mapping configuration files, inserting the data in the XML text into the multiple relational database tables; and accessing the database to read the data in the XML text. The method stores XML file data into a relational database, and accelerates data reading and access speed.

XML is a descriptive markup language, and, like HTML, is an application of SGML (Standard Generic Markup Language, ISO-8879 international standard). The application scope of XML has gone beyond the scope reached by HTML, owing to the outstanding advantages of XML in terms of extensibility, portability, and well-formedness, etc.
An XML document consists of tags and content. There are six kinds of tags in XML: elements, attributes, entity references, comments, processing instructions, and CDATA sections. The most remarkable difference between XML and HTML is that document Type Declarations (DTDs) have been introduced into XML documents. DTDs enable a document to exchange Meta information related with its content with a parser. The emergence of DTDs endows extensibility, well-formedness, and verifiability to an XML document, so that XML obtains some properties similar to databases, and information can be organized and managed in XML; in addition, XML documents can be presented conveniently in web browsers in a way similar to HTML webpages, and can be transmitted and exchanged efficiently over Internet.
At present, XML documents can be processed mainly in two ways: SAX and DOM. SAX (Simple API for XML) is a stream-based event handling interface. SAX 2.0 was released in May 2000, in which many functions were enhanced, including support for name space. DOM (Document Object Model) is to build up a complete tree structure in the memory after an XML document is analyzed, and then carry out various operations on that basis. In simple comparison, SAX has a lower demand for system resources and is quicker than DOM, but it manipulates documents in a Read Only mode; DOM has a stronger processing capability, but has a higher demand for system resources, especially when processing large documents. Later, Xpath and Xpointer emerged, mainly for XML search and conversion; XSL, XSLT, and SOAP were developed, mainly for XMLremote object access; with the emergence of XMLQuery Languages, XML query languages can be used for any XML document.
Following the development of networks and Internet, data portability has become an important requirement for new application systems. A benefit of XML is data portability; in addition, XML has the following advantages from a data application aspect: (1) XML files are plain text files, which are not limited by operating systems and software platforms; (2) XML has a Schema-based self-descriptive semantics function, with which the data semantics can be described easily, and such description can be interpreted and automatically processed by computers; (3) XML not only can describe structured data, but also can describe semi-structured or even unstructured data effectively.
An XML file is a collection of data, and it is self-descriptive and portable, and can describe data in tree structures or graphic structures. XML provides many tools available in databases: storage (XML document), schema (DTD, XML schema, REIAXNG, etc.), query language (XQuery, XPath, XQL, XML-QL, QUILT, etc.), and programming interface (SAX, DOM, JDOM), etc. However, XML can not substitute for database technology completely. XML lacks features that must be available in practical databases: efficient storage, indexing, and data modification mechanism; rigorous data security control; complete transaction and data consistency control; multi-user access mechanism; trigger and sophisticated concurrency control, etc. Therefore, XML has poor data reading performance, and this disadvantage will become more apparent when the same XML document is to be read several times. Though XML documents can be used as a database in the environments where the data volume is low, the number of users is small, and the requirement for performance is not high, XML documents are not suitable for working environments where the number of users is large, the data integration level is high, and the requirement for performance is high.

Method for storing XML data into relational database


The invention relates to a method for preparing cucurbiturils. The method comprises reacting an oligomer consisting of 2 to 11 linked glycolurils or glycoluril analogues with one or more compounds selected from glycoluril, glycoluril analogues and/or oligomers of glycoluril or glycoluril analogues, in the presence of an acid, to form a cucurbituril. The method can be used to prepare variably substituted cucurbiturils having specific substituted units at specific locations in the cucurbituril. The invention also provides cucurbiturils prepared by the method of the invention. The invention further provides novel cucurbiturils.

Cucurbiturils are a class of macrocyclic compounds based on oligomers of glycoluril or glycoluril analogues.
"Cucurbituril" is the name given to the cyclic oligomer formed by linking six (6) glycoluril molecules via methylene bridges. However, the term "cucurbituril" has also been used, and is used in this specification, to refer to a class of compounds. To avoid confusion, the compound cucurbituril is referred to in this specification as "unsubstituted cucurbit[6]uril".
Unsubstituted cucurbit[6]uril was first described in the literature in 1905 in a paper by R. Behrend, E. Meyer and F. Rusche (Leibigs Ann. Chem., 339, 1, 1905). The macrocyclic structure of unsubstituted cucurbit[6]uril was first described in 1981 by W. A. Freeman et. al. ("Cucurbituril", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 103 (1981), 7367-7368). Unsubstituted cucurbit[6]uril has a chemical formula of C36H36N24O12 and is a macrocyclic compound having a central cavity.
The substituted cucurbituril decamethylcucurbit[5]uril was first synthesised and identified in 1992 by Flinn et. al. (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., 1992, 31, 1475).
Various unsubstituted and substituted cucurbit[4 to 12]urils were synthesised by Day et. al. as described in the applicant's international patent application no. PCT/AU00/00412 (WO 00/68232), incorporated herein by reference.
WO 00/68232 describes the preparation of various cucurbit[4 to 12]urils from glycoluril, substituted glycolurils, or a mixture of glycoluril and substituted glycolurils. WO 00/68232 also describes the preparation of cucurbit[4 to 12]urils from a diether analogue of glycoluril, or a mixture of a diether analogue of glycoluril and glycoluril (Example 2 and Example 122). All the methods for preparing cucurbit[n]urils described in WO 00/68232 comprise reacting glycoluril and/or one or more glycoluril analogues to form the cucurbituril.
A class of cucurbit[4 to 20]urils and methods for preparing these cucurbit[4 to 20]urils are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,734. All the methods for preparing cucurbit[4 to 12]urils described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,734 comprise reacting glycoluril to form unsubstituted cucurbit[4 to 20]urils, or reacting substituted glycoluril to form substituted cucurbit[4 to 20]urils where all the units of the formula (B) as defined below making up the cucurbit[4 to 20]uril are identical.
Most of the cucurbiturils described in the prior art are unsubstituted or uniformly substituted cucurbiturils, that is, cucurbiturils where all the units of the formula (B) as defined below making up the cucurbituril are identical. The methods for preparing cucurbiturils described in WO 00/68232 can be used to prepare "variably substituted cucurbiturils" as defined below. If the methods for preparing cucurbit[n]urils described in WO 00/68232 are used to prepare "variably substituted cucurbiturils" as defined below, a large number of different variably substituted cucurbiturils are typically produced. For example, in Example 122(2) of WO 00/68232 cucurbit[s,u]urils were formed where s and u are 1,4; 2,3; 3,2; 4,1; 1,5; 2,4; 3,3; 4,2; 5,1; 1,6; 2,5; 3,4; 4,3; 5,2; 6,1.
Cucurbit[n]urils comprise a rigid central cavity with two portals to the central cavity. These portals are surrounded by polar groups and are narrower in diameter than the internal diameter of the cavity.
Cucurbit[4 to 12]urils selectively complex various molecules. For example, the central cavity selectively encapsulates gases and volatile molecules. Cucurbit[4 to 12]urils can also selectively form complexes with molecules at the polar ends of the central cavity. Cucurbit[4 to 12]urils can be used to form complexes with, and then later release, gases, volatiles, and other molecules. These properties give cucurbit[4 to 12]urils a wide variety of uses. These uses include for example:                entrapment and removal of pollutants,        use as odourisers, releasing fragrances slowly over time,        to trap unpleasant odours or toxic vapours, and        a chemical purification or separation techniques, for example, in chromatographic columns.
It would be advantageous to provide alternative methods for preparing cucurbit[4 to 12]urils.


A packaging assembly is provided for facilitating shipment and use of articles contained therein. The packaging assembly includes a pair of identical cartons, one positioned atop the other, and suitable connectors for maintaining the cartons in assembled relation. The connector elements may comprise staples, an adhesive strap, or connector elements disposed partially within each container for maintaining the cartons in assembled relation during shipment. When in use, the connector elements can be removed to separate the containers.

The invention disclosed herein is related to the packaging of articles to facilitate shipment and use of such articles. In the illustrated embodiment, the packaging assembly is described in connection with packaging for concrete test cylinder molds. A test cylinder mold is a hollow cylindrical container including a bottom wall which is used to test specimens of concrete at a construction site. Such molds are generally disposable. For illustration herein, such molds in one form are 12" long include a 6" inner diameter.
Initially, such molds were made of paperboard with metal bottoms and packaged twenty-four per carton. Such a carton was approximately 25" long, 19" wide and 25" high. Packaging was from the top and consisted of two layers of twelve molds. Such a carton size was selected as it corresponded to size of trucks and rail cars and also provided the package with multiples of four. In fact, usage of the cylinder molds is typically in units of four, thus packaging should retain this criteria.
Subsequently, paperboard molds were replaced by plastic molds similar in size and using the standard packaging arrangement discussed above.
Another consideration in the packaging of articles is the cost of shipment thereof. Often, it is desirable in shipping smaller quantities to ship by services such as United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS at one time maintained a requirement of maximum 108" of girth and height combined. Consequently, the old packaging was modified to a twenty pack which was end loaded and had outside dimensions of 123/4" wide, 251/2" long and 311/2" high. Such a carton satisfied the UPS requirements and also provided a package which could be carried in the trunk of a car, unlike the twenty-four pack discussed above. Further, such an arrangement allowed packaging in multiples of four.
More recently, UPS has changed its specifications to allow a maximum 130" of girth and height combined, while charging for a minimum of twenty-five pounds on any package over 84" girth and height combined In view of these requirements, it is desirable to have a packaging arrangement which is within the size requirements, while also being as close as possible to the weight requirements in order to save on shipping costs. However, such requirements should be balanced with the desire to provide a packaging arrangement which is easy to handle in the field, such as allowing a user to carry the packaging in one's trunk.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems set forth above.


The present invention is directed to a computer program, method, and system for presenting user-selectable content on another user's computing device. Embodiments of the present invention permit a first user to create relationships and networks between other users. Once relationships have been created, the first user can select multimedia content to be presented to a second user or group of users. The content is presented to the second user upon the first user initiating a telephone call to the second user and during a pre-answer stage comprising ringing of the second user's computing device; upon the second user answering the call, the presentation of the content is terminated. In addition, if the second user has selected content to be presented to the first user, such content will also be displayed at the time the first user makes the call to the second user.

The current state of software, hardware, and network technology has seen a dramatic increase in the number of social networking and file sharing applications. Such applications now provide the ability for people to share and exchange their thoughts and ideas as well as tangible information, such as images, videos, and music. The rise in popularity and use of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, has also markedly increased. Many of the social networking and file sharing applications have adapted their applications to function on mobile devices. However, to date, none of the applications have made full use of the original functional purpose of mobile devices.
Smartphones and tablets trace their origin to the first cellular phones that became popular in the late 20th century. The functional purpose of the first cellular phones was to place telephone calls, and in particular, to place calls from locations where no land lines were available. The first cellular phones lacked the memory or processing technology to perform many additional functions. The capabilities of the cellular phones dramatically changed during the initial decade of the 21st century, as technology related to memory, processing, and cellular networks began to grow. Technology levels have increased such that current cellular phones, or smartphones, can perform and function at nearly the level of desktop and laptop computers. Many application developers, such as developers of social networking and file sharing applications, have taken advantage of the technology and have made their applications available on mobile devices. However, to date, no application has combined the functionality of social networking and file sharing with the original purpose of cellular phones, namely making telephone calls.

Computer program, method, and system for presenting user-selected content via mobile devices


An oscillator device manufacturing method includes: placing an oscillator provided with electrodes on a convex pedestal provided on an assembly table; arranging, on the assembly table, a frame member including an opening surrounded by a frame thereof and provided with electrode pads on the frame such that the opening is positioned at the pedestal; connecting the electrode pads to the electrodes of the oscillator placed on the pedestal via wires, while the frame member is arranged on the assembly table; removing the frame member from the assembly table together with the oscillator after the connecting, and bonding the frame member connected to the oscillator to a substrate. By using the method, the oscillator device including the oscillator suspended in air above the substrate can be efficiently manufactured. In stead of using the frame member, a frame body in which frame members are arrayed can be employed.

There is conventionally used an oscillator device including an oscillator as a sensor for various electronic devices such as personal computers or cell phones. An oscillator device of this type typically employs a structure in which various oscillators such as an AT oscillator, a tuning fork oscillator or an H-type oscillator are supported on a base and are electrically connected via a conductive adhesive.
Since the conductive adhesive has high adhesion, a failure may occur that the oscillator is fixed on the base and a degree of freedom for oscillating thereof is restricted in each direction, which limits oscillation, and an output frequency of the oscillator is unstable and thus the oscillator does not oscillate.
To the contrary, there is known an oscillator device having an oscillator supported on a base. In the oscillator device, the oscillator is connected to wires extending from the base via wire bonding and thus is supported in air with respect to the base, one of connection terminals provided on the oscillator is connected to connection ends of the wires, and at least some of the wires work as electric wirings electrically connected to the oscillator (see Japanese Patent No. 3864952).
For the oscillator device, when an oscillator device is manufactured, an adhesive material is first applied to the center of a support substrate and the oscillator is adhered to the support substrate. Next, terminals of the support substrate and terminals of the oscillator are connected to each other via wire bonding by wires and then the adhesive material is melted and removed. Thus, it is possible to obtain the oscillator device having a structure in which the oscillator is suspended in air with respect to the support substrate.
However, since the oscillator in the oscillator device is finally provided in a closed space surrounded by the support substrate, side surfaces and a ceiling, in the method using the adhesive material, foreign substances of the adhesive material remain in the closed space, which may influence the operation of the oscillator. Further, the processing in which the adhesive material is applied to the substrate and then the applied adhesive material is melted is complicated and thus the oscillator device may not be efficiently manufactured.

Method for manufacturing an oscillator device


A layered test pattern for measuring registration and critical dimension (CD) for multi-layer semiconductor integrated circuits is disclosed. A first layer includes a first pattern having vertical and horizontal portions. A second layer is formed over the first layer and includes a second pattern having vertical and horizontal portions having nominal vertical and horizontal phase shifts with respect to the vertical and horizontal portions, respectively, of the first pattern. The vertical and horizontal portions include periodically repeating vertical lines and horizontal lines, respectively. The nominal phase shifts may be half of the period of the vertical and horizontal lines. A scatterometry tool measures the width of the lines and the phase shift of the first pattern relative to the second pattern. The width of the lines corresponds to CD, whereas the difference between the measured phase shift and the nominal phase shift indicates variation in registration.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to apparatus and method for evaluating semiconductors, and more particularly to apparatus and method for measuring the registration and critical dimension (CD) of deposited layers.
2. Description of the Related Art
The need for faster and faster semiconductor integrated circuits (IC) has resulted in a decrease in the size of electronic elements formed on semiconductors, such as transistors and conductive paths. As a result, process variations during manufacture of semiconductors must be more accurately measured and more tightly controlled.
A typical integrated circuit is formed on a substrate wafer made of silicon or another semiconductor, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP). The substrate then undergoes various processes such as layering, oxidation, etching, and doping in order to form transistors and conductive paths thereon. Layering typically includes depositing layers of silicon or metal on the semiconductor.
The processes of etching and doping typically include coating the surface of the semiconductor with a photoresist compound; exposing the photoresist compound to light passing through a mask to either harden or soften areas of the compound according on the nature of the photoresist compound; removing soft areas of the photoresist compound; etching or doping the areas of the semiconductor not covered by photoresist compound; and, finally, stripping the cured photo resist from the semiconductor. After doping, etching, or layering, the semiconductor may also undergo polishing, such as chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), wherein wafer surfaces are polished to maintain wafer flatness during processing
Each step in the process may have random variation, which in turn may cause variation in the performance of the finished semiconductor. Accordingly, at various stages in the manufacture of a semiconductor, the registration and critical dimension (CD or CD SEM) of the various elements forming the semiconductor may be measured. Registration, or overlay, is a measurement of the alignment of the mask used to create a pattern of lit and unlit portions on the photoresist compound. Misalignment of the mask may cause problems, such as short circuiting, interrupted conduction pathways, or malformed transistors. Another measurement is the CD—a measure of a linear dimension of an element forming part of an integrated circuit, such as a series of parallel lines. Variation in the CD may result in conductive paths that are too wide, bridging into neighboring conductive paths and causing a short circuit. If the conductive paths are too small, the increased resistance will degrade the processing speed of the completed IC.
Referring to FIG. 1, in prior systems, scanning electron microscopes (SEM) have been used to measure CD. However, an SEM is extremely expensive. Due to the expense of the SEM, a separate registration tools is often used to measure registration in order to maximize use of the SEM. A separate, less expensive registration tool is used to measure registration due to the reduced need for precision. Scatterometry tools have been used in recent years to measure CD in the optical disk fabrication industries. Scatterometry tools are capable of very fast and very accurate measurements and are less expensive than an SEM. In typical applications, a test mark 100 is formed on the disk comprising a grating of vertical lines 102 and a grating of horizontal lines 104. A scatterometry tool measures attributes reflected from the gratings in order to determine the width of the lines.
Referring to FIG. 2, in prior systems a separate registration mark 200 is formed on a semiconductor comprising outer marks 202 corresponding to one layer of deposited material and inner marks 204 corresponding to a second layer of material. By comparing the location of the marks 202, 204, the registration tool is capable of measuring errors in registration between the layers.
The foregoing measurement process requires two expensive tools: an SEM and a registration tool. In addition, the foregoing inspection process requires that a silicon wafer be mounted and dismounted in the two different tools. This introduces expense, delay, and risk of breakage into the manufacturing process.
Accordingly, it would be an advancement in the art to provide a test mark enabling accurate measurement of both CD SEM and registration with a single tool. It would be a further advancement if the test mark were measurable by a scatterometry tool.

Multi-layer registration and dimensional test mark for scatterometrical measurement


Provided herein is a system and method adapted for a vehicle to evacuate from a condition. The system comprises a detection system configured to detect a condition. The system further comprises a control system configured to determine whether to evacuate the vehicle in response to the detection system detecting the condition, select a mode of evacuation to evacuate the vehicle away from the condition, and evacuate the vehicle away from the condition according to the mode of evacuation.

Assisted-driving vehicles and AVs provide the potential advantages of decreasing traffic collision caused by human errors, such as those caused by delayed reaction time, tailgating, drinking and driving, speeding, distractions, and aggressive driving. Assisted-driving vehicles and AVs continue to advance with enhanced driving control systems and safety mechanisms to ensure the reliability and safety of such vehicles. Applications of assisted-driving vehicles and AVs include blind spot detection, lane change assisting, read end radar for collision warning or collision avoidance, park assisting, cross-traffic monitoring, brake assisting, emergency braking, and/or automatic distance controlling.
Additionally, assisted-driving vehicles and AVs may be especially useful in maneuvering away from a condition, e.g., on a road. Assisted-driving vehicles and AVs may detect a condition early on and safely and efficiently evacuate away from the condition to ensure the safety of a driver, passengers, and the vehicle itself.

System and method for evacuation of a vehicle in condition


The disclosed embodiments provide a system that activates an electronic device. The system includes an activation server that receives an activation request from the electronic device. Upon detecting, based on the activation request, that the electronic device requires a regulatory update, the activation server adds the regulatory update to an activation payload for the electronic device. Finally, the activation server transmits the activation payload to the electronic device.

1. Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to activation of electronic devices. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for providing regulatory updates to electronic devices during activation of the electronic devices.
2. Related Art
Recent improvements in computing power and wireless networking technology have significantly increased the capabilities of electronic devices. For example, laptop computers, tablet computers, portable media players, smartphones, digital media receivers, video game consoles, and/or other modern computing devices are typically equipped with WiFi and/or cellular capabilities that allow the computing devices to retrieve webpages, stream audio and/or video, share desktops and/or user interfaces (UIs), and/or transfer files wirelessly among one another.
These electronic devices may require regulatory approval from individual countries before the electronic devices can be operated in the countries. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States may assign an FCC Identification (ID) to radio frequency hardware in the electronic device to authorize use of the hardware in the United States. In turn, a regulatory mark for use of the electronic device in a particular country must appear on the electronic device before the electronic device can be used in the country. For example, regulatory marks for the electronic device may be found in a "settings" application within the electronic device to indicate the countries within which the electronic device is approved for operation.
However, regulatory approval may not be obtained from some countries until after manufacturing of the electronic device has already begun. As a result, versions of the electronic device that were produced before a country's regulatory approval was obtained may lack the required regulatory mark(s) from the country. To enable use of the previously produced versions in the country, each previously produced electronic device may be manually removed from packaging, updated with a new software build containing the complete set of regulatory marks, and repackaged for subsequent distribution and sale. Consequently, timing issues associated with regulatory approval of electronic devices by individual countries may negatively impact the manufacturing, sale, and use of the electronic devices in the countries.


This disclosure describes techniques for optimizing the allocation of physical resource blocks (PRBs) for user equipment (UE), such as a Narrow-Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) device, within a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) spectrum. More specifically, a resource allocation controller that is configured to select one of at least two resource allocation algorithms that allocate physical resources within an LTE spectrum, based on an identity of the UE and an analysis of real-time or near real-time physical resource utilization and control utilization within the LTE spectrum. In one example, the resource allocation controller may analyze the physical resource utilization and control utilization within a subframe of an LTE spectrum to determine whether to allocate an exact or near-exact number of PRBs for data communications of a UE (i.e. NB-IoT device), or whether to allocate a PRB group (at least four PRBs) for data communications of the UE.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices use cellular networks to support various applications of Internet of Things. Such communications involve a massive number of devices transmitting small amounts of data, often with different requirements for reliability and availability. For human-to-human communications, congestion within a radio spectrum is based on the number of users submitting communication requests. However, telecommunications services for IoT devices differ in scale and construct. IoT devices typically outnumber subscriber numbers (i.e. human-to-human communications), and IoT devices often transmit varying amounts of data with varying reliability and availability requirements.


Disclosed is a process for producing a dry, purified carboxylic acid product comprising furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Also disclosed is a method for treating an oxidation off-gas stream from such a process. The method features solvent as well as energy recovery from the off-gas stream.

Aromatic dicarboxylic acids, such as terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid, are used to produce a variety of polyester products, important examples of which are poly(ethylene terephthalate) and its copolymers. These aromatic dicarboxylic acids are synthesized by the catalytic oxidation of the corresponding dialkyl aromatic compounds, which are obtained from fossil fuels. There is a growing interest in using renewable resources as feed stocks in the chemical industry, mainly due to the progressive reduction of fossil fuel reserves and their related environmental impact.
FDCA is a versatile intermediate considered as a promising bio-based alternative to terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid. Like aromatic diacids, FDCA can be condensed with diols such as ethylene glycol to make polyester resins similar to polyethylene terephthalate (PET). FDCA has been prepared by oxidizing 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (5-HMF) with air using homogenous catalysts, but only a maximum yield of 44.8% was reported using a Co/Mn/Br catalyst system and a maximum yield of 60.9% was reported using a Co/Mn/Br/Zr catalyst system.
Recently, we reported a process for producing FDCA in high yields by liquid-phase oxidation of 5-HMF using a Co/Mn/Br catalyst system. The process minimizes solvent and starting material loss through carbon burn (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/228,803, filed on Sep. 9, 2011; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference).
Heterogeneous-catalyzed oxidation of 5-HMF using ZrO2 mixed with platinum (II) acetylacetonate in water has also been reported (U.S. Pat. No. 7,700,788 B2), but due to FDCA's very low solubility in water, this process has to be conducted under very dilute conditions to avoid the FDCA from precipitating on the catalyst's surface, which makes the process uneconomical. Another heterogeneous-catalyzed oxidation of 5-HMF has been reported using molecular O2 and a Pt/C catalyst (U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,283). High FDCA yield was achieved, but with the additional expense of feeding purified O2 and continually adjusting pH via sodium hydroxide addition. The reaction product was the disodium salt of FDCA, which leads to a wasteful salt by-product in the conversion to FDCA.
In view of the above, there is a need in the art for a high-yield process for producing a dry, purified FDCA product (e.g., ≧90% FDCA yield). There is also a need in the art for a process for making FDCA that includes solvent and energy recovery from the oxidation zone off-gas stream.
The present invention aims to address these needs as well as others, which will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

Process for producing dry purified furan-2,5-dicarboxylic acid with oxidation off-gas treatment


A method for the removal of retained common bile duct stones includes the steps of introducing a distal end of a flexible tubular member into the common bile duct and ejecting from the distal end of the tubular member a loop to which a flexible web is attached to form a capture pocket. The loop and the pocket are expanded from a collapsed configuration upon ejection of the loop from the distal end of the tubular member. The loop and the pocket are moved through the common bile duct to capture a retained stone in the pocket. Subsequently, the loop and the pocket are at least partially closed by drawing the loop and the pocket in a proximal direction into the distal end of the tubular member, thereby enclosing the captured stone in the pocket. The tubular member and the contracted loop and pocket are withdrawn from the common bile duct, thereby removing the captured stone from the common bile duct. The loop may be bent to form a right angle in an unstressed opened configuration, while the capture pocket may be formed with a trap door or flap for preventing the loss of stones once they are caught in the capture pocket.

This invention relates to a method for the surgical retrieval of retained common bile duct stones. This invention also relates to an instrument assembly utilizable in performing the method.
A common affliction, particularly among older people, is gall stones, i.e., small stones formed from natural biological processes from chemical substances in the bile. These stones sit in the gall bladder and are frequently removed during a cholecystectomy. In a cholecystectomy, the cystic duct is clamped and severed and the gall bladder is removed, thereby removing any stones in the bladder. However, some stones are frequently retained in the common bile duct.
Currently, the stones in the common bile duct are retrieved using a DORMIA type retrieval basket. That instrument includes a series of wires of spring biased construction which are connected to form an ovoidal or football shaped cage upon the release of the basket from the distal end of a tubular member.
The distal end of the tubular member is inserted through the Ampulla of Vater at one end of the common bile duct or, alternatively, through a bile duct over the liver. The DORMIA type retrieval basket may also be inserted through a tubular prosthesis or bridge extending from the abdominal wall to the wall of the common bile duct where the bridging member is inserted into the duct.
A DORMIA type retrieval basket is difficult to manipulate in order to capture retained common bile duct stones. Such operations can take hours for an essentially simple task. The task is made even more difficult and time consuming if several stones are to be retrieved from the duct.

Method for retrieval of retained common bile duct stones


This application provides a random access method and apparatus. The method includes: receiving, by a terminal, first indication information transmitted by a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a random access configuration index; determining, by the terminal, a random access resource based on the random access configuration index; determining, based on an association relationship between the random access resource and a downlink signal, a random access resource corresponding to the downlink signal; and transmitting a random access preamble to the network device based on the random access resource corresponding to the downlink signal.

In a multibeam network, before a base station communicates with a terminal, uplink synchronization and downlink synchronization need to be performed first. In a downlink synchronization process, the base station transmits a downlink synchronization signal by using a plurality of transmit beams. The terminal receives and detects the downlink synchronization signal by using one or more receive beams, and determines an optimum downlink transmit-receive beam pair, a downlink time, and system information. However, uplink synchronization is completed by using a random access process. The terminal first transmits a random access signal. The base station obtains an optimum uplink transmit-receive beam pair, an uplink time, and the like by detecting the random access signal, and implements uplink synchronization between the base station and the terminal.
In a current new radio (NR) technology, no appropriate manner is available for determining a random access resource. Therefore, there is a problem that the terminal blindly tries a random access resource when transmitting a random access signal, and a beam mismatch may occur when the base station receives the random access signal. Consequently, efficiency of the random access process is relatively low.


In an online service providing system, a user PC can receive services without paying attention to business hours and line identifier numbers of service points. Automatic distributor device exists between PC issuing a service request and a plurality of service points offering services and passes the service request of PC to pertinent service point. Access authorization level DB stores information regarding each user. Service point DB stores business time zones of respective service points. Automatic distributor device refers to access authorization level DB to determine an authorization level of the user. Moreover, automatic distributor device references service point DB to select service point currently in the business time zone and relays communication to PC.

The present invention relates to a method, a system, and a recording medium to provide services in an online manner, and in particular, to a method, a system, and a recording medium to provide online services including a distributor device disposed between terminal equipment of users requesting services and a plurality of service points providing services for distributing the service requests of the users to the service points.
There has been broadly used a system in which a user accepts an online service of a financial institution via an automatic teller machine (ATM). Moreover, there is appearing a system in which a user accesses, from a personal computer (PC) which is installed in a place of a family or which is carried about as a portable unit, a service point of a financial institution to accept online services therefrom.
However, at present, the service points offer services in a time zone which matches with a time zone of on-duty hours of workers. This restricts the use of the system in holidays and at night.
According to the prior art above, there exists limitation with respect to the time zone of online services offered by the financial institution. The time zone cannot be regarded as sufficient for the user when compared with a service time zone of a convenience store or the like. Although the service time zone of the financial institution is going to be extended, it is difficult because of necessity of machine maintenance or the like that a single service point offers services for a long period of time, for example, 24 hours without interruption. Therefore, the users show a trend of use in which each user selects a service point convenient for the user from a plurality of service points having mutually different service time zones. However, it is troublesome for each user to search out an appropriate service point in consideration of business hours of the service points and to retrieve a line identifier number of a service point as a communication partner to input the number to her or his terminal equipment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for providing an on-line service and computer readable storage medium


A welding element is operable for being connected to a workpiece using a welding method. The welding element comprises: a head and a shaft like anchor portion. The head includes a welding surface, a stop surface that is remote from the welding surface, and a plurality of pointed projections evenly and uniformly distributed over the entire welding surface. The shaft-like anchor portion extends along a longitudinal axis between a first end region and a second end region, with the first end region connected to the stop surface.

The present invention relates to a welding element, in particular a welding stud, which is suitable for being connected to a workpiece using a welding method and comprises a head having a welding surface and a stop surface (or abutment surface) that is remote from the welding surface, and a shaft-like anchor portion that extends along a longitudinal axis between a first end region and a second end region, the first end region being connected to the stop surface.
The invention also relates to a welding method for connecting a corresponding welding element to a workpiece.
It is known in particular in vehicle body construction to use welding elements in order to attach components. For this purpose, welding studs are primarily used, which are fastened to a structure in a known manner, for example by stud welding. Various welding techniques are available for attaching welding elements of this kind, such as arc stud welding. The arc stud welding method is one of the arc pressure welding methods and is used to permanently connect an element such as a welding stud, a pin, a bush, a hook or an eye to a corresponding, larger component such as a vehicle body sheet, a housing, a workpiece, or similar. The head of the welding element is arranged on a workpiece or component and is then welded.
When connecting the welding element or welding stud to the workpiece surface, it has to be ensured that the melting and thus also the welding is even.
DE2227384A1 discloses a fastening element comprising a head and a shaft-like anchor portion connected to the head. The fastening element has, on the surface thereof to be connected to the component, a plurality of raised portions that are arranged symmetrically around the centre of said surface and project outwardly therefrom in the manner of a star. JPH0523857, US2005111932, DE102013225048 and EP1060822 disclose an element having a flange and a plurality of projections provided on the flange. However, the projections disclosed in these documents are not evenly and uniformly distributed over a welding surface. Thus they are not able to provide an evenly and uniformly welding of the welding surface on a workpiece.
In many fields of technology, as a result of space-saving considerations, aluminium alloys and/or high-strength or maximum-strength vehicle body sheets having a tensile strength of up to 1500 MPa and various sheet thicknesses (thick and thin sheet thicknesses) have become prevalent as materials, for example in lightweight vehicle bodies for cars, but also in other fields of industry. The strength of the sheets and the various sheet thicknesses depend on the function of the vehicle body component. The varying strength is problematic, since it is not possible to use the same welding elements for each sheet thickness.
The problem addressed by the present invention is therefore that of overcoming, at least in part, the above-described disadvantages in a welding element. In particular, the problem addressed by the present invention is that of providing a welding element and a welding method by means of which it is possible to advantageously permanently connect a welding element to a workpiece in a simple and cost-effective manner, and which allows for improved flexibility and a low risk of through-welding of the sheet, the strength of the welded connection being largely consistent with that of known welding elements and welding methods, and preferably even being capable of being increased.

Welding element and welding method for connecting a weld element to a workpiece


A method of treating a medium for water fracturing is disclosed, the method comprises: introducing at least one biocide and at least one metabolic inhibitor in the medium, using the medium for water fracturing. In another aspect a method of controlling the post-fracture reservoir souring by the metabolic activities of sulfate reducing bacteria of a well is described: at least one biocide and at least one metabolic inhibitor are introduced in a medium made of water, the medium is used for fracturing the well, and the medium remains in the reservoir to kill and/or inhibit growth of sulfate reducing bacteria.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Today, many operators are using simple water frac treatments to stimulate production from tight sand and shale formations. Water is preferred because it is cheaper than polymer-based treatments. The volumes of water used in fracturing treatments range from tens of thousands gallons to more than 5 million gallons. Water used in fracturing process is obtained from variety of sources which include freshwater supply wells, chlorinated city water, rain water, pond water, lake water and occasionally frac flow-back water. Each of these water sources will have some level of bacterial contamination.
Since large volumes of water are pumped during fracturing treatments resulting in near wellbore cooling, this provides a favorable temperature for bacteria growth. Although the frac water is treated with biocide, post-fracture reservoir souring, the production of hydrogen sulfide by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) has recently been reported.
Biocides are very effective in controlling the SRB in surface facilities and flowlines, but 100% kill rate in reservoir is difficult to achieve. SRB bacteria can be planktonic (free floating) and sessile (attached to surfaces). Given the exponential growth of sessile SRB, only one bacterium needs to survive the biocide innoculation to establish large colonies in the reservoir. Once formed into colonies, sessile SRB protect themselves with a biofilm that will inhibit the ability of the biocide to act on the colony.
The presence of sulfides (e.g., H2S, HS−, and S2−) in fluids poses serious problems due to their toxicity and corrosive nature. It is well known that the presence of sulfides in many fluids is a consequence of the reduction of sulfates to sulfides by SRB. SRB are routinely found in water associated with oil production systems.
The requirements for SRB activity and growth include an anaerobic environment containing adequate nutrients, such as an electronic donor. A typical electron acceptor is sulfate, which produces hydrogen sulfide upon reduction. Typical electron donors include volatile fatty acid and hydrocarbon. The volatile fatty acids are naturally occurring compounds that include acetate, propionate and butyrate in formation waters. These fatty acids are the key to the growth of SRB in the reservoir. Previously the sulfate was considered the prime cause of sulfide generation. Certainly the presence of sulfide is necessary but the volatile fatty acids can provide essential and necessary carbon source for SRB activity and resultant sulfide generation. It should be noted that available carbon source (i.e., volatile fatty acids) in formation waters is limited. By providing nitrate as an alternate electron receptor to replace sulfate, a viable treatment strategy could be based on microbial nitrate reduction which provides approximately three times more energy than the reduction of sulfate. Sulfate reduction requires eight electrons per mole while nitrate reduction utilizes only two electrons per mole. This promotes nitrates to be the preferred electron acceptors when both sulfate and nitrate are present. Consequently, bacteria that utilize nitrate will dominate the bacteria population by competing directly for the limited carbon (volatile fatty acids) energy source in the formation waters. This leads to the exponential increase of nitrate reducing (NRB) bacteria population that out-competes the SRB population for the limited food sources content. Besides competition, the formation of nitrite, which is formed as an intermediate product of the NRB metabolic activities, affects the indigenous bacteria population. Nitrate is inhibitory to some SRB species and acts as a chemical scavenger which contributes to sulfide removal.
Some prior arts intended to use said teachings. Especially, U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,531 discloses the use of nitrite, nitrate and/or molybdate to control the production of hydrogen sulfide by sulfate reducing bacteria in aqueous systems. In the same way, U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0238729 promotes the use of glutaraldehyde and nitrite to synergistically inhibit sulfide production by sulfate reducing bacteria. In the same field, U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0032949 discloses the use of embedded biocide made of Tetrakis(Hydroxymethyl) Phosphonium Sulphate (THPS). The liquid-based THPS reacts or interfere with the performance of commonly use oxygen scavengers.
None of the prior arts directly refer to method of controlling the post-fracture reservoir souring. And further, it is apparent that efficacy of SRB mitigation controls needs to be improved if the post-fracturing reservoir souring is to be effectively controlled. There is thus a need in the art for a cost-effective, efficient and easy treatment of the post fracturing water.


A set/scan test capability is provided for a circuit that includes sensitive subcircuits, but that can be latched out to prevent reverse engineering the sensitive elements. A mechanism to inhibit set/scan test access to at least some of the sensitive subcircuits is selectively actuated by a control circuit to override a normal set/scan test and inhibit set/scan access to the sensitive subcircuits. Various implementations are possible, such as fusible-link PROMs for irreversibly inhibiting set/scan access to the sensitive subcircuits after an initial non-inhibited test period, the use of encryption codes to enable repeated set/scan access to the sensitive subcircuits, and an erasable/reprogrammable mechanism for inhibiting set/scan access to programmed sets of subcircuits.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the protection of integrated circuitry from reverse engineering, and more particularly to the protection of sensitive portions of integrated circuits (ICs) that have a set/scan test capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
As ICs have become more complex, locating and identifying circuit faults has become more difficult. One technique that is commonly used for this purpose, due to its simplicity and completeness, is referred to as set/scan testing. This technique is described, for example, in Maunder and Tulloss, "Testability on TAP", IEEE Spectrum, February 1992, pages 34-37 (the term "boundary-scan" as used in this article is synonymous with set/scan).
When the set/scan test mode is enabled each flip-flop circuit in the overall IC is connected in series, so that they essentially become a very large shift register. A known pattern is then applied to the circuit to set all of the flip-flops to a known state. In response to one or more clock signals, this pattern is modified by the logic between flip-flops and stored in the next flip-flop in the chain, allowing the resulting bit pattern to be read out of the device. ROM (read only memory) contents can similarly be read to verify their programming. Faulty logic is detected by comparing the output bit pattern to a known-good response, and analyzing the incorrect responses to determine the fault modes (such as fabrication problems, design errors, etc.) that might have caused the error.
The set/scan technique is commonly used in high-density LSI (large scale integration) devices because of its ability to exercise a very high percentage of the circuitry in a time-efficient manner. In addition to supporting manufacturing test, the set/scan functions can later be used by the end equipment to verify that the device is functioning correctly, or by the manufacturer to determine why the device failed in the field.
To achieve the level of observability required to satisfy these needs, every logic element must be exercised. Unfortunately, the level of fault coverage is inversely proportional to the resistance of the device to reverse-engineering attacks. In other words, manufacturers must consider that the more thorough the set/scan capability, the greater the chance that a copyist can discover design details by analyzing a number of corresponding input-output pairs. A tradeoff must therefore be made between faster and more thorough testing versus the amount of design exposure that is considered acceptable.
A thorough set/scan capability includes all of the flip-flops, RAM (random access memory) and ROM cells, and the logic used to connect them. Such circuitry may include sensitive subcircuits which the circuit designer would prefer to secure from reverse engineering. However, the designs of such subcircuits can be determined by considering each one as a "black box" and analyzing the corresponding input-output patterns made available by the set/scan feature. Such an analysis cannot be prevented by the common passive anti-reverse engineering technique of coating the circuit die with an opaque material, since this can only protect the circuit from analysis by visual examination.
Active anti-reverse engineering techniques have been developed, such as that disclosed in Ozdemir et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,516, issued Aug. 23, 1988 and assigned to Hughes Aircraft Company, the assignee of the present invention. In this patent additional circuit elements that do not contribute toward the IC's circuit function, but which inhibit the proper functioning of the IC in case of an attempted copying or unauthorized use, are inserted into the circuit. The identities of the additional circuit elements are disguised by forming them with the visible appearance of an apparent element but with a physical modification that is not readily visible but causes them to function in a different manner, by providing different ICs with unique control codes, or both. However, even techniques such as these cannot provide sufficient protection if a thorough set/scan capability has been implemented. Such protective measures can be circumvented by using the set/scan capability to obtain direct internal access to the IC, including its sensitive subcircuits; analytical techniques can then be used to recover the circuit design. This is the principal reason why set/scan techniques are often avoided when implementing sensitive algorithms, despite the desirability of set/scan as a test procedure.

Apparatus and method for sensitive circuit protection with set-scan testing


Computer-implemented methods and systems include proxying a request for a web page from a web server; generating a request for content from one of a plurality of downstream applications corresponding to the request; transmitting the request to the one of the plurality of downstream applications; receiving a response from the one of the plurality of downstream applications, the response including the content; decorating the content to generate a decorated web page; and transmitting the decorated web page to the web server.

Web pages typically have headers, footers and content. Headers and footers are often added to web pages as Server Side Includes ("SSIs") using, for example, Apache's "mod include" module. Such systems for adding headers and footers to web pages may be convenient for adding headers and footers to simple web pages whose content is hosted by a single computing device. However, large websites generally require their code to be split into multiple applications. To handle this, a system architecture may be implemented including multiple layers of plural computing devices with one or more computing device devoted to each application. Using SSIs to include decorations in such architectures requires components, such as headers and footers, to be maintained in separate files. This may greatly increase the time and resources required for code maintenance and may increase the resource use of a front end web server.
To return a webpage with headers and footers added via an SSI in such a tiered system architecture, a web layer (i.e., front end) of the system architecture generally passes a request for the content of the web page to an application layer, the application layer passes the page content back to the web layer, the web layer then retrieves one or more segments of Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML") (e.g., headers and/or footers) from a data store and inserts the HTML into the web page. Of course, a typical system architecture may include plural intermediate layers between a web layer and an application layer, such as caching layers and load balancing layers.
FIG. 1 illustrates a system for decorating web pages with headers and footers. As shown in FIG. 1, the web server 104 (e.g., a front end Apache server) receives requests for web pages 108. For example, in FIG. 1 the web server 104 accesses a cache 116 to access the content for first web page request (request 4505) associated with the first application 120. The web server 104 may also receive requests for a web page 108 associated with a second application 140. First application 120 and second application 140 may each return content for a web page to web server 104. Web server 104 may then insert decorations (e.g., headers and footers) into a webpage, for example for co-branding of web pages. Web server 104 may retrieve decorations according to SSIs which define pre-cached page segments configured to be directly inserted into the web pages from a data store docroot 112 Web server 104 may then insert the decorations into a web page and return the webpage in response to the request.
Decorating pages with SSIs may be resource intensive and modifications to decorations may be slow to deploy. Because page segments inserted via SSIs are pre-cached, for a user to make a change to a page segment, the user may be required to modify the page segment then run a script to deploy the modified page segment. Because changes may be slow to update through the deployment process, a website may be in an inconsistent state during implementation of changes (e.g., if decorators for each page on a website are modified, during the deployment process some pages may display old decorators while other pages display new decorators).
The system of FIG. 1 requires unwanted processing on web server 120 to insert the header and footer components. Because it is often desirable to provide different decorations for pages, for example for co-branding websites, the code for many different decorations may need to be maintained in many a data store accessible by web server 104. Thus, conventional methods of inserting custom headers and footers with custom declarations or SSIs make code maintenance difficult.
While systems and methods are described herein by way of examples and embodiments, those skilled in the art recognize that decorator proxies are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood that the drawings and description are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed. Rather, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Any headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used herein, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words "include", "including", and "includes" mean including, but not limited to.

Systems and methods for decorating web pages


Described is 2-ethoxy-4-formyl phenyl ester of propionic acid of our invention defined according to the structure: ##STR1## and uses thereof in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes.

The present invention relates to 2-ethoxy-4-formyl phenyl ester of propionic acid of our invention defined according to the structure: ##STR2## and uses thereof in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of perfume compositions, colognes and perfumed articles (including solid or liquid anionic, cationic, nonionic or zwitterionic detergents, fabric softener compositions and fabric softener articles, cosmetic powders, hair preparations and perfumed polymers).
There has been considerable work performed relating to substances which can be used to impart (augment or enhance) fragrances (to) or (in) various consumable materials. These substances are used to diminish the use of natural materials some of which may be in short supply and to provide more uniform properties in the finished product. In addition, there is a need to use in such consumable materials perfume materials which are non-discoloring.
Rich, natural vanilla bean and sweet aromas with dark chocolate topnotes are highly desirable for many uses in perfume compositions, perfumed articles and colognes particularly where a "sweet" note is needed to be added to musk formulations and citrusy formulations.
Esters of various vanilla derivatives are known in the prior art and furthermore are known to be useful in flavors and fragrances. Thus, vanillin acetate having the structure: ##STR3## is described by Nunomura, et al in Agric. Biol. Chem. 44 (2), 39-351 (at page 345) to be a flavor component in the acetic fraction of Shoyu (soy sauce). Furthermore, the vanillin acetate having the structure: ##STR4## and vanillin isobutyrate having the structure: ##STR5## as well as ethyl vanillin acetate having the structure: ##STR6## are disclosed in "Flavor And Fragrance Materials", 1993 published by the Allured Publishing Company. Vanillin acetate is given F.E.M.A. No. (Flavor Extract Manufacturers Association Number) 3108; vanillin isobutyrate is given F.E.M.A. No. 3754. Ethyl vanillin acetate however is only given C.A.S. No. 72207-94-4 at page 114 of "Flavor And Fragrance Materials", 1993, published by Allured Publishing Company.
Nothing in the prior art however discloses or infers the unobvious, unexpected organoleptic qualities of 2-ethoxy-4-formyl phenyl ester of propionic acid of our invention defined according to the structure: ##STR7## and 2-ethoxy-4-formyl phenyl ester of propionic acid of our invention defined according to the structure: ##STR8## is not disclosed in the literature and is a novel material.

2-ethoxy-4-formyl phenyl ester of propionic acid and use in augmenting or enhancing the aroma of perfume compositions, colognes and perfumed articles


A bottle with a hanging tool detachably provided. The hanging tool comprises a flat and long connection portion extending sideways from the neck portion and having a length shorter than an outer diameter of the bottom of the bottle, and a separately molded wide annular handle portion. The connection portion is provided at its intermediate portion with a narrow portion crossing the connection portion transversely to reduce a thickness thereof, thereby making the connection portion vertically bendable at the narrow portion, a free end of the connection portion and the handle portion are formed at their predetermined locations with joint portions comprising a pair of engagement means, and the handle portion is detachable attached to the connection portion. Thereby an injection mold for molding a preform can be simple in structure and is suppressed from being enlarged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stretch blow molded bottle having a hanging tool provided on the neck portion thereof.
2. Background Art
It is known to injection mold a preform having a handle which is integrally formed and extended longitudinally and downwardly from a side surface positioned below a threaded portion of a neck of the preform and to stretch blow mold the preform into a bottle which has a thin body wall from a distal end of the neck to a bottom so as to obtain a bottle integrally having a handle.
This longitudinally long handle is thick so as to secure a certain strength. If a resin used as a material for molding the bottle is polyethylene terephthalate, although it has a certain hardness as no further process is provided after the injection molding, it lacks an impact strength. This might cause a damage of the handle portion when the bottle filled with contents accidentally fell down on the ground from a shelf and the like.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, there has been provided a bottle which is integrally provided at its portion lower than its neck portion 2 of a bottle body 1 with a flat bendable hanging tool 3 which is long in its transverse direction.
The hanging tool 3 of the bottle 1 constructed in the above described manner is bendable at a narrow portion 30 of the hanging tool 3, and one can carry the bottle by hanging his or her finger into an annular finger engaging tab 3a. Further, since the hanging tool 3 is formed flat and thin, it requires less amount of resin material than a conventional handle, and even if the hanging tool is bent at the narrow portion, the hanging tool can restore. Therefore, it is unnecessary to secure a space for the hanging tool 3 when the bottle is packed in a box.
However, in the above described bottle having the bendable hanging tool also, the hanging tool 3 is integrally formed at the time of injection molding of the preform 10 as shown in FIG. 5, and it is required to widen the width of the finger hanging portion so that one can easily hold the bottle. Therefore, there is a problem that the injection mold for molding the preform 10 with the bendable hanging tool 3 becomes large.
That is, in the injection mold, a flat cavity for the hanging tool is formed between parting surfaces of a mold A for use in molding the neck portion and a mold B for use in molding the body and the bottom, molten resin is injected and charged from the neck portion, thereby injection molding the entire preform. However, in order to sufficiently widely mold the finger hanging portion of the hanging tool, it is necessarily required to design the injection mold such that the flat cavity for the hanging tool projects outward from the neck portion of the preform, and such a design complicates and enlarges the injection mold.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above described problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a bottle having a hanging tool which can be produced efficiently while suppressing the injection mold for a preform from being enlarged, by separately molding a bendable flat connection portion which is integrally formed with a neck portion of the preform and a handle portion which is detachably attached to the connection portion and is separately molded, thereby forming the hanging tool to be provided on the neck portion of the bottle.


A quadrifilar helix antenna is provided having a feedpoint for the antenna connecting to individual helical antenna elements. A capacitive network, distributed along the length of the antenna, constitutes a variable frequency shunting network. At each position a first capacitive structure, that may comprise a single capacitor or multiple capacitors in series, interconnects a first pair of opposite antenna elements; a second capacitive structure interconnects the second pair of opposite antenna elements. As an applied frequency increases, the capacitive structures progressively short the opposite antenna elements thereby electrically reducing the antenna length.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.
(1) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to antennas and more specifically to quadrifilar antennas.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Numerous communication networks utilize omnidirectional antenna systems to establish communications between various stations in the network. In some networks one or more stations may be mobile while others may be fixed land-based or satellite stations. Antenna systems that are omnidirectional in a horizontal plane are preferred in such applications because alternative highly directional antenna systems become difficult to apply, particularly at a mobile station that may communicate with both fixed land-based and satellite stations. In such applications it is desirable to provide a horizontally omnidirectional antenna system that is compact yet characterized by a wide bandwidth and a good front-to-back ratio in elevation with either horizontal or vertical polarization.
Some prior art omnidirectional antenna systems use an end fed quadrifilar helix antenna for satellite communication and a co-mounted dipole antenna for land based communications. However, each antenna has a limited bandwidth. Collectively their performance can be dependent upon antenna position relative to a ground plane. The dipole antenna has no front-to-back ratio and thus its performance can be severely degraded by heavy reflections when the antenna is mounted on a ship, particularly over low elevation angles. These co-mounted antennas also have spatial requirements that can limit their use in confined areas aboard ships or similar mobile stations.
The following patents disclose helical antennas that exhibit some, but not all, the previously described desirable characteristics:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,170 (1996) to McCarrick discloses a mobile satellite communications system (SMAT) mast antenna with reduced frequency scanning for mobile use in accessing stationary geosynchronous and/or geostable satellites. The antenna includes a multi-turn quadrifilar helix antenna that is fed in phase rotation at its base and is provided with a pitch and/or diameter adjustment for the helix elements, causing beam scanning in the elevation plane while remaining relatively omni-directional in azimuth. The antenna diameter and helical pitch are optimized to reduce the frequency scanning effect, and a technique is disclosed for aiming the antenna to compensate for any remaining frequency scanning effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,130 (1997) to Thill et al. discloses a self phased antenna element with a dielectric. The antenna element has two pairs of arms in a crossed relationship to transceive a signal at a resonant frequency. A dielectric is disposed adjacent an arm to obtain a self phased relationship in the arms at the resonant frequency. The arms can form crossed loops or twisted crossed loops such as a quadrifilar helix antenna element. A dielectric collar on arms of the same loop causes currents to be equally spaced from one another. The antenna size is reduced and a cross section of the antenna element appears circular without degradation of a gain pattern when the dielectric is used on a certain arm.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,557 (1998) Wheeler et al. disclose a nonsquinting end-fed quadrifilar helix antenna. Each conductor of the antenna is fed with a successively delayed phase representation of the input signal to optimize transmission characteristics. Each of the conductors is separated into a number, Z, of discrete conductor portions by Zxe2x88x921 capacitive discontinuities. The addition of the capacitive discontinuities results in the formation of an antenna array. The end result of the antenna array is a quadrifilar helix antenna which is nonsquinting, that is, the antenna radiates in a given direction independently of frequency.
There exists a family of quadrifilar helixes that are broadband impedance wise above a certain xe2x80x9ccut-inxe2x80x9d frequency, and thus are useful for wideband satellite communications including Demand Assigned Multiple Access (DAMA) UHF functions in the range of 240 to 320 MHz and for other satellite communications functions in the range of 320 to 410 MHz). Typically these antennas have (1) a pitch angle of the elements on the helix cylindrical surface from 50 down to roughly 20 degrees, (2) elements that are at least roughly xc2xe wavelengths long, and (3) a xe2x80x9ccut-inxe2x80x9d frequency roughly corresponding to a frequency at which a wavelength is twice the length of one turn of the antenna element. This dependence changes with pitch angle. Above the xe2x80x9ccut-inxe2x80x9d frequency, the helix has an approximately flat VSWR around 2:1 or less (about the Z0 value of the antenna). Thus the antenna is broadband impedance-wise above the cut-in frequency. The previous three dimensions translate into a helix diameter of 0.1 to 0.2 wavelengths at the cut-in frequency.
For pitch angles of approximately 30xc2x0 to 50xc2x0, such antennas provide good cardioid shaped patterns for satellite communications. Good circular polarization exists down to the horizon since the antenna is greater than 1.5 wavelengths long (2 elements constitute one array of the dual array, quadrifilar antenna) and is at least one turn. At the cut-in frequency, lower angled helixes have sharper patterns. As frequency increases, patterns start to flatten overhead and spread out near the horizon and small nulls start to form overhead. For a given satellite band to be covered, a tradeoff can be chosen on how sharp the pattern is allowed to be at the bottom of the band and how much it can be spread out by the time the top of the band is reached. This tradeoff is made by choosing where the band should start relative to the cut-in frequency and the pitch angle.
For optimum front-to-back ratio performance, the bottom of the band should start at the cut-in frequency. This is because, for a given element thickness, backside radiation increases with frequency (the front-to-back ratio decreases with frequency). This decrease of front-to-back ratio with frequency limits the antenna immunity to multipath nulling effects.
Other factors that influence the front-to-back ratio include the method of feeding the antenna, the physical size of antenna elements, the dielectric loading of the antenna elements and the termination of the antenna elements. Looking first at antenna feeding, the front-to-back ratio improves when an antenna is fed in a xe2x80x9cbackfire modexe2x80x9d such that the antenna feed point is at the top of a vertically oriented antenna, as opposed to a xe2x80x9cforward fire modexe2x80x9d when the feed point is at the bottom of the antenna.
Thinner elements increase the front-to-back ratio. However, as the elements become thinner, the input impedance to the antenna increases and introduces a requirement for impedance matching. Alternatively, lower impedances can be obtained by constructing an antenna with a partial overlap of the antenna elements to increase capacitance. However, a loss of impedance bandwidth starts to occur since the capacitance is a non-radiating capacitance; that is, no radiation can occur from the overlapped areas of the antenna.
Increasing the dielectric loading of the helix elements decreases the front-to-back ratio. Wide flat elements found in many helix antennas have a pronounced loading if one side of each antenna element touches a dielectric, as in the case where the dielectric is a support cylinder for the antenna. If the gap between adjacent elements is small, the field is strongly concentrated in the gap and any dielectric in the gap will load the antenna strongly. Quadrifilar helix antennas can terminate with open or shorted ends remote from the feed point. It has been found that antennas with open ends have a slightly higher front-to-back ratio than do antennas with shorted ends.
My above-identified pending U.S. patent Ser. No. 08/356,803 discloses an antenna having four constant-width antenna elements wrapped about the periphery of a cylindrical support. This construction provides a broadband antenna with a bandwidth of 240 to at least 400 MHz and with an input impedance in a normal range, e.g., 100 ohms. This antenna also exhibits a good front-to-back ratio in both open-ended and shorted configurations. In this antenna, each antenna element has a width corresponding to about 95% of the available width for that element. However, it was found that this antenna could require a tradeoff between the pattern shapes in the transmit and receive bands. It became necessary to allow patterns at lower receive frequencies to become sharper overhead than desired. At higher transmit frequencies, it became necessary to accept overhead patterns that were flatter overhead than desired. At even higher frequencies, nulls were observed in the patterns because the element lengths were becoming long enough electrically for multilobing to begin.
Therefore it is an object of this invention to provide a broadband unidirectional hemispherical coverage radio frequency antenna.
Another object of this invention is to provide a broadband unidirectional hemispherical coverage antenna with good front-to-back ratio over a range of frequencies.
Yet still another object of this invention is to provide a broadband unidirectional hemispherical coverage antenna that operates with a circular polarization and that exhibits a good front-to-back ratio.
Yet still another object of this invention is to provide a broadband unidirectional hemispherical coverage antenna that provides an essentially constant radiation pattern over a range of frequencies.
In accordance with this invention the above objects are achieved by an antenna that extends along an antenna axis between a feed end and an other end and that carries a plurality of pairs of diametrically opposed antenna elements wrapped helically about the support. Each antenna element has a length determined by a cut-in frequency. A capacitive network spans the antenna elements in each pair at corresponding predetermined positions from the other end for shorting the pairs of antenna elements at a characteristic frequency greater than the cut-in frequency.
In accordance with another aspect of this invention, a quadrifilar helix antenna operates over a frequency bandwidth defined by a minimum operating frequency and extends along an antenna axis between first and second ends of the antenna. Four equiangularly spaced helical antenna elements extend along the support between the first and second end, each antenna element has a length of at least xc2xe wavelength at the minimum antenna operating frequency and has a substantially constant thickness and width along its length. Each diametrically opposed set of elements constitutes an element pair whereby the antenna has first and second pairs of antenna elements. A plurality of sets of capacitive elements connect between the antenna elements in each pair, each set being connected at a different position along the antenna axis and each capacitive element in a set connected to said respective antenna element pair at the same position along the antenna axis.

Capacitatively shunted quadrifilar helix antenna

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


A method comprises receiving image data representative of an X-ray image of at least part of a subject comprising tissue, wherein a first part of the X-ray image is directly 5 exposed and a second part of the X-ray image is representative of tissue in a region of the subject; and determining a measure of attenuation in dependence on an energy measure obtained from the first part of the X-ray image and an energy measure obtained from the second part of the X-ray image.

Imaging systems which automate assessment are known. Medical image processing systems process images to derive certain diagnostic information, for example, from x-ray, magnetic resonance images (MRI) and tomosynthesis. In particular these are used to help in the diagnosis of cancers and measurement of object composition.
Often image processing systems receive a number of images, usually closely related, for example, images of the same subject with slight variation in aspect or timing. Such multiplicity and variety can infer more information than a single image. Further, selective information from multiple images can enhance reliability, for example, exposing a hitherto obstructed object. Thus availability of comparative images can help direct and verify image processing. However, particularly in the field of radiography, images or features of an image are often difficult to interpret due to errors or unknown values in the imaging physics data.
It is known to use mammography to image breast tissue. A mammogram is created by sending x-ray photons towards the breast and detecting how many x-ray photons pass through. The smaller the number of x-ray photons that pass through, the denser the breast tissue. To quantify the image based on an 'absolute' model of the physics along with assumed properties of the breast requires that all the imaging physics data be known and accurate (for example, photon flux, X-ray tube voltage, pixel area and time of exposure). Thus the need to use in-image reference values.
Research undertaken by Highnam and Brady (Highnam and Brady, "Mammographic Image Analysis, Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999) resulted in an understanding of how to automatically compute the density of breast tissue from a mammogram and thereby quantify interesting tissue. Interesting tissue may comprise, for example, fibrous tissue, glandular tissue, water, or cancerous tissue.
The method of Highnam and Brady uses a combination of image processing and x-ray physics and associated imaging physics data which generally relates to conversion of a pixel value P measured at coordinates (x,y), P(x,y), in the mammogram into a thickness of fat, hfat(x,y) cm, and a thickness of 'interesting tissue', hint(x,y) cm, where 'interesting tissue' could be fibrous tissue, glandular tissue, water, or cancerous tissue.
'Interesting tissue' may comprise and/or hide cancers. Thus, irrespective of the imaging technique used, accurate segmentation of the breast in mammograms is essential for effective location and diagnosis of cancers. Segmentation guides the search for abnormalities to the relevant region and enables comparable analysis for example temporal analysis or automated comparison of corresponding images.
PCT/GB2010/001472 provides means to automatically estimate breast composition by calculating hint and hfat values; summing up the hint and hfat values; and computing breast density. The method resolves erroneous indications and error in calculation and calculation bases by always finding a reliable reference spot in an image which then allows calculation of an explicit calibration error. The method is consequently robust to errors and unknown data in the imaging data, and has an associated calibration error factor which can be used to alert the user as necessary.
Further, accurate imaging physics data is unnecessary and in fact the milliampere-second (mAs) and much of the detector information can be ignored, other than assuming that the detector is linear with a known offset.
Such a method works well, but a key step is to define an inner breast edge in which to identify a reference spot—effectively an internal reference point for each image.
In digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) multiple low-dose x-ray projections of an object are taken and reconstructed to create a pseudo 3D view of the object. The central projection of the DBT is effectively a low dose mammogram and so PCT/GB2010/001472 applies.
Despite its diagnostic advantages, DBT presents challenges for clinical workflow as it involves increased time for reading and interpretation and thereby increased cost and potential for reader oversight, even with the aid of CAD.