A distinct cultivar of Kalanchoe plant named xe2x80x982002-0516xe2x80x99, characterized by its upright plant habit; dark green-colored leaves; large red-colored flowers with more than 10 petals per flower; and excellent postproduction longevity.

Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana cultivar 2002-0516.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Kalanchoe plant, botanically known as Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x982002-0516xe2x80x99.
The new Kalanchoe is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Hinnerup, Denmark. The objective of the breeding program was to create new freely-flowering Kalanchoe cultivars with large flowers, numerous petals per flower, attractive flower coloration and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Kalanchoe originated from a cross-pollination made in Hinnerup, Denmark, of the Kalanchoe cultivar 2001-1855, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Kalanchoe cultivar Jaqueline, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,424, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Kalanchoe was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination grown in a controlled environment in Hinnerup, Denmark.
Asexual reproduction of the new Kalanchoe by terminal cuttings taken at Hinnerup, Denmark, by the Inventor, has shown that the unique features of this new Kalanchoe are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar 2002-0516 has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x982002-0516xe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x982002-0516xe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Dark green-colored leaves.
3. Large red-colored flowers with more than 10 petals per flower.
4. Excellent postproduction longevity.
Plants of the new Kalanchoe differ from plants of the parent cultivars in petal number and coloration.
Compared to plants of the Kalanchoe cultivar 2002-0504, disclosed in a U.S. Plant patent application filed concurrently, plants of the new Kalanchoe have fewer petals per flower and differ in flower coloration.


An illustrative method of making a load bearing member for use in an elevator system includes mechanically roughening at least one surface on an exterior of a jacket of the load bearing member to establish a friction characteristic that facilitates engagement between an elevator system sheave and the roughened surface.

This invention generally relates to load bearing members for use in elevator systems. More particularly, this invention relates to an elevator load bearing member having a specialized jacket surface.
Elevator systems typically include a cab and counterweight that move within a hoistway to transport passengers or cargo to different landings within a building, for example. A load bearing member, such as roping or a belt typically moves over a set of sheaves and supports the load of the cab and counterweight. There are a variety of types of load bearing members used in elevator systems.
One type of load bearing member is a coated steel belt. Typical arrangements include a plurality of steel cords extending along the length of the assembly. A jacket is applied over the cords and forms an exterior of the assembly. Some jacket application processes result in grooves being formed in the jacket surface on at least one side of the assembly. Some processes also tend to cause distortions or irregularities in the position of the steel cords relative to the exterior of the jacket along the length of the assembly.
In the case of some coated steel load bearing members, an extrusion process for applying a jacket over the cords requires selecting a urethane material having chemical properties that are beneficial for the process of applying the jacket. The resulting jacket, however, may present difficulties in having the desired level of traction when installed in an elevator system. With some urethane materials that are beneficial from a processing standpoint, the resulting coefficient of friction between the jacket and an elevator sheave surface may be higher or lower than desirable for meeting the traction requirements within the hoistway.
Typical processes result in a smooth or glossy exterior of the jacket on the sheave contacting surfaces. In some instances, this smoothness can introduce undesirable adhesion between the jacket and a traction sheave. In most cases, the resulting coefficient of friction between the smooth surface and a traction sheave is not consistent with desired traction performance.
An alternative arrangement is required to minimize or eliminate the undesirable friction characteristics of a urethane jacket. This invention addresses that need.

Elevator load bearing member having a jacket with at least one rough exterior surface


A method for manufacturing a composite assembly of an empennage and rear-fuselage having a continuous skin solution. The method obtains parts of the sub-structure. For each part, it is obtained a plurality of stringers performs and frames preforms by composite tooling. The frames are transferred to curing frames molds and a sub-structure skin is obtained. Furthermore, the method includes integrating the parts over an integration tool having cavities for locating the curing frames molds and the stringer performs. Furthermore, the method includes co-curing the integration tool in one shot on an autoclave, demolding the sub-structure skin sections and disassembling the curing frame molds to obtain the composite assembly of the rear section.

Conventionally, to build an aircraft fuselage, a series of frames in the shape of the fuselage cross sections are held in position on a rigid fixture. These frames are then joined with the fuselage skin panels that includes lightweight longitudinal elements called stringers that increase the buckling resistance of the skin. The stringers are attached to the skin by means of riveting, by cured resin or by bonding with special adhesives. The junction of the skin panels and the frames is performed by means of angular interface parts called shear ties that joint the frame web and the fuselage skin, to conform the complete fuselage. In some cases, these angular parts can be part of the frame as an integrated flange.
The vertical tail plane is conventionally formed by a structural primary torsion box, a leading, a trailing edge and a movable surface. The primary box is formed by a skin, two or more spars and internal ribs. When the number of spars is sufficient, total or part of the ribs could be removed.
In known aircrafts the junction between the vertical tail plane and the fuselage rear section is performed by means of interface fittings. These fittings are in charge of transferring the loads on the skins of the torsion box of the empennage, into punctual loads that are transferred to the frames of the fuselage. Frames then distribute the loads to the fuselage skin. Examples of interface fittings are longitudinal load fittings and transversal load fittings as shown in FIG. 1A, FIG. 1B and FIG. 2.
The loads at those interface fittings are very high because they concentrate on punctual areas of the structure, leading to significant reinforcement and penalty weight for the fitting and surrounding elements. Additionally, the fitting need to be covered by aerodynamic fairing that produces significant penalty of drag and on assembly lead time.
Optionally, in certain aircraft configurations with rear fuselage mounted engine, it is required to integrate a shield in the vertical tail plane to stop potential debris crossing between engines.

Method for manufacturing a rear section of an aircraft and aircraft rear section


An oil-field tool for use in combination with a MWD tool, for deployment and retrieval of a MWD tool through a drill string, and, for rigid continuously self-adjusting, centralization of the MWD tool during drilling, includes: housing having a tapering nose; slidable shaft having a flared portion; extendable fingers pivotably attached to the slidable shaft; means for releasable attachment to a workstring; and, means for attachment to a MWD tool.. Typically, the housing of the invention is attached to a MWD tool while at the surface and the combined apparatus is lowered through the drill string by wireline releasably attached to the slidable shaft. During lowering, the weight of the housing and MWD tool extends the slidable shaft, positioning the extendable fingers above the tapering nose of the housing, thereby retracting the fingers. When the MWD tool lodges downhole, the slidable shaft moves downward, causing the fingers to override the tapering nose of the housing and extend the fingers outward against the drill pipe. During drilling operations mud flowing through the drill pipe acts downwardly on flared portion of the slidable shaft inducing more forceable extension of the fingers against the drill pipe, maintaining rigid centralization of the MWD. Retrieval of the MWD is typically had by interrupting mud flow and lifting of the self-adjusting centralizer through the drill string by wireline.

1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to the field of earth-boring (drilling) technology. With more particularity the invention is designed to be used in combination with downhole signal generators which are used to acquire "real time" downhole data during drilling and transmit same to the surface for interpretation (herein called "MWD", including, but not limited to, tools which transmit data by means of mud pulses and tools which transmit data by electric line, sometimes referred to as steering tools). The invention relates to means to centrally stabilize MWD tools during drilling yet provide convenient means for deployment and removal of MWD tools downhole without the necessity of removing or reinserting the drill string from the hole.
2. General Background
In the art of earth-boring MWD represents an improvement over previous drilling process. MWD allows for the surface acquisition of downhole data during drilling, thereby reducing the need for costly and time consuming drill string tripping and logging/survey runs otherwise necessary to acquire downhole data. Further, the acquisition of "real time" data during drilling can be of substantially greater value than later acquired data. MWD can be used to monitor downhole temperature and pressure, monitor formation properties, monitor bit weight and torque, control direction of the well, detect abnormally pressured formations, evaluate potentially productive formations and monitor/evaluate other important downhole conditions.
MWD systems typically include the placement of a complex and expensive self-contained package of sensors, encoders, power supplies and transmitters immediately above, or very near, the drill bit. While this position is desirable for sensing the variables in question, it presents a harsh, hot, highly pressured, dirty and high shock load environment for the MWD tool. MWD tool failures are not uncommon, requiring retrieval and replacement of the tool downhole. In the event the drill pipe becomes stuck in the hole the MWD tool may be permanently lost.
Early MWD tools were typically made up as an integral part of the bottom hole assembly. However, this arrangement is not ideal. In the event of MWD tool failure the entire drill string had to be tripped out and back in the hole to replace the MWD tool. Further, in the event of loss of the bottom hole assembly due to twist off or sticking the expensive MWD tool was lost. Thus retrievable MWD systems were developed.
A retrievable MWD system utilizes a passive receptacle which is run into the wellbore as part of the bottom hole assembly. Contained within this receptacle is a removable MWD electronics package which can be retrieved through the drill string. In the event of a tool failure, downtime is minimal because the electronic components can be retrieved and replaced by wireline (or coiled tubing), eliminating the time consuming necessity, of tripping the entire drill string. If the drill string itself were to become permanently stuck, the expensive MWD electronics package may be retrievable prior to abandonment of the bottom hole assembly.
It is well documented that downhole vibration can be severe during the drilling process. One study, SPE/IADC 16109, found that bottom hole assemblies can be subjected to lateral shocks in excess of 200 g's, and axial vibrations of up to 3.5 g's during drilling operations. While these vibrations can have a harmful effect on almost any downhole equipment, the shocks are especially damaging to the sensitive electronics of MWD systems in general, and retrievable MWD systems in particular. As these downhole vibrations act on retrievable MWD tools, the removable components have a tendency to rattle or bang against the internal walls of the surrounding MWD receptacle thereby amplifying vibrations. Thus, to reduce the potential damage caused by these downhole shocks, it is desirable to centralize and secure the inner electronic components of retrievable MWD systems within their surrounding MWD receptacles.
Currently, one common method of improving the centralization of retrievable MWD tools involves the use of donut shaped rubber rings. These rubber rings are placed around the circumference of retrievable MWD tools to increase their outer diameter and at cushion some of the shock effects described above. However, this method is not ideal. Because the inner MWD components are designed to be retrieved through the drill string, the tool's largest outer diameter must always be smaller than the smallest drill string restriction; otherwise, a tool could not pass through the drill string restriction on its way to the surface. Accordingly, the rubber rings used to centralize retrievable MWD tools must also be sized to pass through the smallest drill pipe restriction which will be encountered. This sizing limitation results in a less than tight fit between the retrievable MWD tool and the surrounding MWD receptacle, which hinders the effectiveness of the centralizer rings. Although the rubber centralizer rings provide some benefit, the lack of a tight fit still permits some amplification of the downhole shocks on the retrievable MWD tool. Therefore, the need exists for a centralizer which can pass through relatively small drill string restrictions, but which can also rigidly centralize and secure a retrievable MWD tool from movement within a downhole MWD receptacle.


An optical spectrometer distinguishes ambiguity between different wavelength constituent components present in incident light. A spatial filter in the spectrometer spatially filters the incident light. A dispersion system receives the spatially filtered light and disperses images of the spatial filter in a wavelength dependent fashion such that two or more wavelength-specific images at least partially overlap at a detector system. The detector system comprises a detector array and processor that detects and processes the dispersed light to remove ambiguity between one or more of the overlapping images. The detector array may detect coded aperture images associated with a coded aperture spatial filter defined by a coded aperture function, and the processor may process the detector array output signals using an analysis function that complements the coded aperture function. The detector system may filter the spatial filter images and electronically process the resulting detector array output signals.

The present invention relates generally to optical spectrometers, and more particularly to compact optical spectrometers.
Optical spectrometers isolate individual wavelength components of light radiated from a source to measure wavelength-specific properties of the source. Scientists use optical spectrometers to analyze characteristics of various specimens, such as geological samples, biomedical samples, etc. Typically, a spectrometer includes a spatial filter, a grating, and a detector array. The spatial filter spatially filters the incident light radiated from the source, while the grating spatially shifts the direction of the spatially filtered light as a function of wavelength. In so doing, the grating directs different wavelength components of the spatially filtered light to different areas of the detector array. Detector elements in the detector array convert sensed light to an electrical output signal. Processing electronics process the output signals to generate the spectrum to quantify wavelength-specific properties of the source.
Conventional gratings accommodate a wide spectral range, and therefore, shift the various wavelength components of the spatially filtered light across a physically wide detector area. Because they use gratings that shift all of the wavelengths along a single direction, conventional spectrometers require physically wide detector arrays to accommodate the spatially wide range of dispersed light. This results in undesirably large spectrometers. Other designs, such as the spectrometer described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,597 to Battey et al., handle the wide range of dispersed light by folding different portions of the optical spectrum onto different non-overlapping rows of a detector array. While the Battey device reduces the width requirements for the detector array, the described solution is not ideal for all circumstances. Therefore, there remains a need for alternative spectrometers.

Optical spectroscopy with overlapping images


A system for transporting roving bobbins in a cyclic manner between roving frames (1), spinning frames (2) and a residual roving clear-off process, in which the roving bobbins are transported by a carrier (7) driven by a tractor (14) along a main rail (3) arranged to form an endless loop and working rails (4, 5, 6) branched from the main rail (3). Dogs (28, 29, 30) for representing the respective frame address or the respective working rail address are disposed on the main rail (3) and detected by a sensor (34, 35, 36) mounted on the tractor (14). A station (68, 69, 70) is disposed in the inlet area of the roving and spinning processes for transmitting a command issued from a central control unit (71) supervising the system to the tractor (14). The command is prepared in accordance with information regarding the conditions of the tractor (14) and of the respective frames (1, 2) and working rails (4, 5, 6) and includes information regarding the frame address and/or the working rail address requiring the transportation of a carrier (7).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for transporting roving bobbins between a roving process and a spinning process while suspended from a carrier pulled by a tractor along a main rail and working rails arranged between a roving process and a spinning process. In particular, it relates to a system for transporting roving bobbins and suitable for a spinning system comprising a plurality of roving frames and a plurality of spinning frames and spinning at least two types of yarn.
2. Description of the Related Arts
One known such system is disclosed in Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 55-36731. As shown by FIG. 23, three roving frames A, B, and C, each corresponding to three spinning frames a, a, a; b, b, b; and c, c, c, are arranged so that three groups are formed.

System for transporting roving bobbins between roving and spinning processes

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


The present disclosure relates to the field of Internet. Disclosed are resources dispensing device and resources dispensing methods. The system including: a sender client, a server cluster and at least one receiver client; the sender client is to generate n virtual packages through interacting with the server cluster, each virtual package is to distribute part of resources to be dispensed to the receiver client, wherein n is an integer larger than 1; the sender client is further to provide a pick-up message of the n virtual packages to the receiver client; the receiver client is to display at least two virtual packages of the n virtual packages in a user interface according to the pick-up message of the n virtual packages; the receiver client is further to pick up a target virtual package from the at least two virtual packages through interacting with the server cluster according to a pick-up operation received.

With the development of network technology, each user may give others some resources such as virtual packages using a mobile terminal. The resources may be cash, points, network game equipment or pets of some network games.
For example, a user may use virtual packages as carriers to give cash to others. In this case, for example, a user may package some cash in m virtual packages provided by a client of a social application, and then send the m virtual packages to other n social application clients of his/her friends. Usually, m may be smaller than or equal to n. The social client application of each friend may display an unopened virtual package. The virtual package may be picked up and displays a random amount of cash when the friend clicks on the virtual package. If all of the m virtual packages are picked up, any other one clicks on the virtual package, a message of "All the virtual packages have been picked up" would be displayed.
When the number of the friends n is greater than the number of the virtual packages m, in order to timely pick up the virtual package, users may click the virtual package displayed on the social application client many times in a short time after the virtual packages have just been dispensed. And each click may trigger a pick-up request being submitted to a server from the social application client. For the m virtual packages, the server may receive more than 10*m pick-up requests in a short time, which causes a lot of stress for the server to deal with the pick-up requests. Moreover, clicking the same location on the mobile terminal quickly and frequently may cause a falling of the mobile terminal.

Resources dispensing device and resources dispensing method

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


An apparatus for hot embossing lithography includes a press mold (20), a substrate (10), a first heating device (40), a second heating device (40′), and a vacuum chamber (32). The press mold has a main body (21) and a number of relief structures (22) extending therefrom. The substrate (10′) is configured for holding a polymer thin film (30) to be pressed. The first heating device (40) is adapted for heating the press mold, while the second heating device (40′) is adapted for heating the polymer thin film on the substrate. The vacuum chamber (32) has an opening (33) through which a vapor (34) can be introduced into the chamber, in order to lower a surface energy of the press mold. The press mold and the substrate are accommodated in the vacuum chamber, and the press mold is aligned with the polymer thin film on the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to lithography apparatus for fabrication integrated circuits and micro-devices and, more particularly, to nanoimprint lithography apparatus for forming, e.g., integrated circuits or ultra fine nanostructures on polymer thin films carried on a substrate.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Nanoimprint lithography methods are newly developed lithography methods for fabrication of nanostructures with high-resolution, high-throughput and low-cost. The methods are based on an excellent replication fidelity obtained with polymers and combines thermo-plastic molding with common pattern transfer methods. Once a solid stamp (press mold) with a nanorelief on a surface thereof is fabricated, the solid stamp can be used for replication of many identical surface patterns. Therefore, the nanoimprint lithography methods can eliminate many limitations imposed upon conventional optical lithography, such as wavelength limitation, backscattering of particles in the resist and/or the substrate, and interferences. The nanoimprint lithography methods have potential application in the fabrication of, for example, micro electronic/mechanical systems, compact disk storage and magnetic storage systems, opto-electrical and optical devices, biological chips and microfluidic devices.
Hot embossing lithography method, which was proposed by Stephen Y. Chou in 1995, is an important nanoimprint lithography method. The hot embossing lithography method is typically based on pressing a mold into a thin film carried on a substrate to form a relief and then removing the compressed area of the thin film to expose the underlying substrate that replicates an obverse of a protruding pattern of the mold.
Referring to FIGS. 1A to 1D, a typical conventional hot embossing lithography method is shown. First, a mold 200 and a polymer thin film 300 formed on a substrate 100′ are provided. The mold 200 includes a main body 201, a number of relief features 202 having a desired shape and a number of recesses (not labeled), each recess being defined between a neighboring pair of relief features 202. The polymer thin film 300 can be deposited or coated on the substrate 100′ by any appropriate method, for example spin coating. Generally, the polymer thin film 300 includes a thermoplastic polymer, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). PMMA has a glass transition temperature about 105 degrees Celsius. When PMMA is heated to a temperature above the glass transition temperature thereof, PMMA is softened, has a low viscosity, and can flow.
The mold 200 can be patterned with the relief features 202 and the recesses with a lateral feature size of less than 25 nanometers. Such relief features 202 and recesses can be created, for example, by electron beam lithography, reactive ion etching (RIE) and/or other appropriate methods. In general, the mold is selected to be hard relative to the softened polymer thin film. The mold can be made of, e.g., metals, dielectrics, semiconductors, ceramics, or combinations thereof Second, the mold 200 and the polymer thin film 300 carried on the substrate 100′ are placed in a vacuum chamber (not shown), and the mold 200 is aligning with the polymer thin film 300. Third, the mold 200 and the polymer thin film 300 are heated by a heater 400 to a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the polymer thin film 300. The mold 200 is pressed into the softened polymer thin film 300. As a result, the pattern of the relief features of the mold 200 are transferred to the polymer thin film 300, and a pattern conforming to the pattern of the mold 200 is formed on the polymer thin film 300. Fourth, the mold 200 and the polymer thin film 300 are cooled down, and the mold 200 is separated from the polymer thin film 300.
However, (1) the mold 200 is apt to be adhered to the polymer thin film 300 because of a strong adsorption force between the mold 200 and the polymer thin film 300. (2) Due to a difference in thermal conductivity of the materials, the mold 200 tends to cool down faster than the polymer thin film 300. Thus, the relief features 202 are liable to be jammed with the pattern formed on the polymer thin film 300. These phenomena will damage the pattern formed on the polymer thin film and, therefore, reduce a precision of the pattern on the polymer thin film or even destroy the pattern.
Solutions to solve the above problem have been proposed. For example, it is suggested to form a surface treated layer on a press surface of the mold 200 to reduce an adhesive force between the mold 200 and the polymer thin film 300. However, the sizes of the relief features on the press surface of the mold 200 are very small (less than 25 nanometers). Therefore, it is difficult to form an additional thin layer on the press surface, if even possible. Likewise, it is difficult to maintain a precise depth or width of the relief features on the press surface due to the additional thin layer. Furthermore, the surface treated layer is liable to release from the press surface during operation. Therefore, this solution is hard to practice, and the cost is expensive.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus for hot embossing lithography that is easy to operate, is relatively inexpensive, and has a high precision for pattern transformation.


Novel “loss rate” metrics are presented that can be used to indicate the quality of a video stream. These metrics may be determined using a simplified method or by a more sophisticated method, the latter method applying different “weights” (i.e., adjustments) to error computations based on the type of frame involved (i.e., I, P, B). Both methods may produce a video quality score within a given range (e.g., in the range of 0 to 1) where one end of the range indicates a video stream of high quality (i.e., no frames are affected), and the other end indicates a video stream of low quality (i.e., all frames are affected).

Though every MPEG-2 program stream typically includes many types of frames (e.g., I, P, and B) the frequency of occurrence of each frame type (and the number of bits needed to encode each frame type) within a given program stream may vary. Further, though each frame type is related to video quality, some frame types have more effect on the quality of a video stream than others. For example, the corruption of an I frame will have a greater effect on the quality of a video stream than the corruption of a P or B frame because I frames act as reference frames for the other frame types.
In the current state of the art, there are basically two types of methods to compute the quality of a transported video stream. The first method is based on techniques recommended by the Video Quality Experts Group of the ITU. This method involves using a "tool" (e.g., software) to produce a video quality score. The tool implements the ANSI standard for Video Quality Model (TI.801.032003). This type of methodology, however, does not work with live TV broadcasts. It also tends to be expensive.
The second method is to just look at packet loss information. The simplest way is to focus on packet loss rates. That is, a certain packet loss rate, for example 10−6, may be set as the tolerable packet loss rate. Thus, when the loss rate is less than this amount the video quality is deemed good, and when the loss rate is greater that this amount the loss rate is deemed poor. This second method, however, is too crude to capture the nuances of MPEG-2 transport steams. Yet other methods attempt to do deeper packet inspections and compute more significant details about packets that are lost. Unfortunately, these methods are typically too computationally expensive to do on the fly for large amounts of programs.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods (and related devices) that combine the simplicity of the first method with the more computationally deep packet inspections of the other methods, but at a cost that is more affordable.

Methods and systems for computing the quality of an MPEG-2 video stream


A D/A converter is provided which is capable of avoiding an increase in occupied areas of the D/A converter on a board and of obtaining an output characteristic being excellent in linearity, which enables achievement of the D/A converter having a small integral-linearity error (INL) and a small differential-linearity error (DNL). The reference current composite blocks are cascaded between current controlling device groups and an output switch. At least one out of reference current composite blocks divides composite reference current amounts based on a predetermined weight and outputs them.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital/analog converter being capable of outputting an analog amount of currents corresponding to a digital amount of an input signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital/analog converter (hereinafter referred simply to as a xe2x80x9cD/A converterxe2x80x9d) has many transistors adapted to output an amount of reference currents precisely set in advance. However, depending on a place where each transistor is located on a board, a minute departure from a reference current amount occurs in an amount of currents output from each transistor. This phenomenon is attributable to changes in conditions of biases to be fed to each transistor due to a voltage drop caused by a minute resistance possessed by a ground line itself, variations in processing conditions imposed during manufacturing, or a like. As a result, a difference occurs in an amount of output currents among transistors. This difference depends on relative positional relations among transistors. For example, if transistors are placed in proximity to one another, they are placed under similar conditions and therefore such the difference in an amount of output currents does not occur easily among the transistors. However, if transistors are placed apart from one another, such the difference readily occurs among the transistors. In order to achieve a D/A converter having an output characteristic being excellent in linearity by avoiding occurrence of such the phenomenon, various technological developments are proceeding (for example, refer to Patent Reference No. 1).
Outlines of the above Patent Reference No.1 are described by referring to attached drawings. FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram showing configurations of a conventional D/A converter. FIG. 5 is a graph showing an amount of changes in a current output caused by a difference in mounting locations of transistors.
As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional D/A converter includes an output terminal 101 to output an amount of currents corresponding to a digital amount of an input current, a switch controlling section 102 to exert switching control according to a predetermined number of bits (here in the example, 2 bits), a current converting section 103 to produce an amount of currents corresponding to a digital amount of an input current, an output switch 104 to be ON-OFF controlled by the switch controlling section 102, and a bias terminal 130 to which a bias voltage to be fed to each transistor is applied.
The current converting section 103 has four current controlling blocks P1 to P4 each being made up of four MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistors. Now let it be assumed that a predetermined output current amount being a reference current amount for each of the MOS transistors T11 to T44 is I0. Mounting locations of the current controlling blocks P1 to P4 in the graph shown in FIG. 5 correspond to a mounting location (left to right facing the drawing) of each block on a board. Also, let it be assumed that, as shown in FIG. 5, a difference between an output current amount and a reference current amount I0 for each of transistors in the current controlling block P1 is xe2x88x922xcex94 I0, a difference between an output current amount and a reference current amount I0 for each of transistors in the current controlling block P2 is xe2x88x92xcex94 I0, a difference between an output current amount and a reference current amount I0 for each of transistors in the current controlling block P3 is xcex94 I0, a difference between an output current amount and a reference current amount I0 for each of transistors in the current controlling block P4 is 2xcex94 I0.
In this case, a current amount Is1, flowing through a switch SW1 is a composite sum of a current amount flowing through the transistor T14 being I0xe2x88x922xcex94 I0, a current amount flowing through the transistor T21 being I0xe2x88x92xcex94 I0, a current amount flowing through the transistor T34 being I0+xcex94 I0 and a current amount flowing through the transistor T41 being I0+2xcex94 I0, that is, Is1=4I0.
Similarly, a current amount IS2 flowing through a switch SW2 is a composite sum of a current amount flowing through the transistor T13 being I0xe2x88x922xcex94 I0, a current amount flowing through the transistor T22 being I0xe2x88x92xcex94 I0, and a current amount flowing through the transistor T33 being I0+xcex94 I0, and a current amount flowing through the transistor T42 being I0+2xcex94 I0, that is, IS2=4I0. Likewise, a current amount flowing through a switch SW3 being IS3=4I0 and a current amount flowing through a switch SW4 being IS4=4I0
That is, each of the current amounts Is1, IS2, IS3, and IS4 flowing respectively through each of the switch SW1 to SW4, since a variation in an amount of currents relative to the reference current amount I0 is a sum total of current amounts of four transistors to be used for comparison, becomes equal to one another. This enables avoidance of variations in current amounts occurring due to a difference in mounting locations of each transistor among the current controlling blocks P1 to P4 on the board.
As a prior art technological reference related to the present invention, a following reference is available:
Patent Reference No.1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 4-262622 (Summary)
However, the conventional D/A converter disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 4-262622 has problems to be solved. That is, though the conventional D/A converter having 2-bit resolution is disclosed in the above Patent Application, if a D/A converter having, for example, 4-bit resolution has to be achieved based on the technology disclosed in the above Patent Application, it is made necessary for the D/A converter to be configured so that 15 pieces of current controlling blocks each having 15 pieces of transistors are controlled by 15 pieces of switches, which causes extremely increased occupied areas of the D/A converter on a board. To solve this problem, a method may be available in which resolution is enhanced by weighting low-order 2 bits, out of the 4 bits, for controlling, thereby inhibiting the increase in the occupied area of the block. In this case, in addition to block groups, which correspond to high-order 2 bits, configured in a manner similar to the above-mentioned conventional technology, 2 blocks through each of which an amount of currents being xc2xc and xc2xd times an amount of currents flowing the above block groups flows are independently provided on which weighting is exerted for controlling.
In this case, though a difference in current amounts which occurs due to a difference in mounting locations in block groups configured in a manner similar to the above conventional technology can be cancelled by configuring as above, since each of the blocks for weight controlling is independently provided, it is difficult to reduce variations in an amount of currents. Therefore, such the method described above has not yet become commercially practical.
In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a D/A converter which is capable of inhibiting an increase in occupied areas of the D/A converter on a board and of obtaining an output characteristic being excellent in linearity.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a D /A converter including:
first current controlling device groups, each group being partitioned by a predetermined number of current controlling devices and each outputting a current to define an amount of currents corresponding to a bit value of an input digital signal;
second current controlling device groups, each group being partitioned by a predetermined number of current controlling devices being cascaded a specified current controlling device in the first current controlling device groups and each producing a composite sum of currents output from the specified current controlling device corresponding to cascaded connection;
an output switch outputting a composite current summed by the second current controlling device group based on switch control corresponding to a bit value of an input digital signal; and
wherein a current to be fed to the output switch is divided at a specified ratio by at least one of the second current controlling groups.
In the foregoing, a preferable mode is one wherein each of current controlling devices included in the first current controlling device groups and the second current controlling device groups is located in a manner so as to unify bias conditions on each current controlling device included in each of the current controlling device groups.
Also, a preferable mode is one wherein a number of the second current controlling device groups is equal to that of the first current controlling device.
Also, a preferable mode is one wherein each of the first current controlling groups includes a bias controlling device to exert control on a bias voltage to be supplied to each of the current controlling devices in the first current controlling groups using a current having a specified value.
Also, a preferable mode is one wherein each of the bias controlling devices makes up a current mirror circuit together with other current controlling devices contained in each of the first current controlling device groups.
Furthermore, a preferable mode is one wherein each of the current controlling devices contained in the first current controlling device groups and the second current controlling device groups is a MOSFET (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor).


A broadband wireless access system including a relay station and a structure of a relay medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) are disclosed. A method in which a base station (ABS) transmits data for a plurality of mobile stations (AMSs) to a relay station (ARS) in a broadband wireless access system includes generating second transmission unit data using a plurality of first transmission unit data oriented toward the plurality of mobile stations and using mobile station identifier information for indicating mobile stations to which each of the plurality of first transmission data unit data is to be transmitted and transmitting the second transmission unit data to the relay station.

Generally, the prospect of a relay station (RS) in a next generation wireless communication system is very encouraging. The concept of the relay station (RS) is schematically explained as follows.
First of all, IEEE (institute of electrical and electronics engineers) 802.16 continues to progress with a standardization project of a new subject called a multi-hop relay after publishing IEEE 802.16-2004 as a standard specification targeting a fixed subscriber mobile station and IEEE.16e-2005 as a standard specification to provide mobility of a subscriber mobile station.
This project, which is taken care of by Task Group j (IEEE 802.16j) in IEEE 802.16, starts full discussions on usage models, relevant terminologies and technical requirements in the 2nd meeting in July 2006 since the 1st official meeting in May 2006. In the following description, IEEE 802.16 task group will be abbreviated 802.16j.
The concept of a relay station, which will be explained in the following description, may be used as the substantially identical concept for a relay station currently considered by 3GPP LTE-A system. And, a relay station capable of performing a same or similar function in one of various wireless access systems may be usable for the concept similar to that of a relay station according to the present invention.
PAR (project authorization request) of 802.16j is the standardization task to progress in the future and intends to achieve two kinds of objects including coverage extension of a service area and throughput enhancement.
Relay stations can be primarily categorized into two types. There are a relay station of a transparent type and a relay station of a non-transparent type. The transparent relay station has all operations and functions exist therein to manage a mobile station, while the non-transparent relay station plays a role in relaying all operations and function between a macro base station and a mobile station via the macro base station.
In aspect of a mobile station, a transparent relay station and a non-transparent relay station are treated as a single macro base station to have no change of operations but the mobile station may have a function of identifying a relay station and a macro base station from each other.
A network including a relay station may include a base station (BS), a relay station (RS) and a mobile station (MS). Despite being located outside a cell area of the base station, the mobile station is able to receive a radio signal via the relay station. And, it may be able to set up a path of high quality, which has a high-level adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) scheme, for the mobile station located within the cell area of the base station via the relay station. Hence, a user is able to obtain such an effect as increasing overall system capacity with the same radio resource.
The standard specification prepared by the 802.16j project has prescribed requirements. For instance, a mobile station, which is implemented on the bases of the previous 902.16-2004 and 802.16e-2005 specifications, should be able to communicate with a base station without any additional function. Hence, in a previous system, an application rage of a relay station may be limited in a manner of adding partial functions of controlling a relay station to the relay station itself and a previous base station. And, it is expected that specifications for a relay station become a core matter of the future standardization.
A relay station can be regarded as a sort of a subscriber mobile station that performs operations of a physical layer and a medium access control layer. Although the relay station is mainly controlled by a base station, it may have a prescribed control function of itself if necessary. As currently discussed utility models, relay stations of various types (e.g., a fixed relay station, a mobile relay station to provide a temporary service for a specific area, a relay station installable at a vehicle, a subway and the like, etc.) are currently taken into consideration.
The representative technical issues, which will be discussed, can be summarized as follows.
1. Procedure for a base station to identify relay stations existing within its area and to obtain and maintain information on a topology of connection with the identified relay stations
2. Definition of a physical transmission frame between a mobile station having backward compatibility with a previous IEEE 802.16 system and a relay station
3. Signal procedure to provide mobility between relay stations or between a relay station and a base station
4. Procedure for network entry of a relay station into a base station and entry procedure of a mobile station via a relay station
Meanwhile, a frame structure used by a relay station may include a downlink frame structure and an uplink frame structure. In particular, the downlink frame structure may include a downlink (DL) access zone and a downlink (DL) relay zone and the uplink frame structure may include an uplink (UL) access zone and an uplink (UL) relay zone.
In this case, if a single relay station exists between a base station and a mobile station (i.e., 1-hop structure), a DL access zone indicates an interval for a relay station (ARS) to transmit a data packet and the like to a mobile station (AMS) or another subordinate relay station and a UL access zone indicates an interval for a mobile station (AMS) or a subordinate relay station to transmit a data packet and the like to a corresponding relay station (ARS). In a DL relay zone, a relay station (ARS) is able to receive a data packet from a base station (ABS). In a UL relay zone, a relay station (ARS) is able to transmit a data packet to a base station (ABS).
A data packet may have a configuration of MAC PDU (medium access control protocol data unit). The MAC PDU is accompanied with a MAC header. Prior to the description of the MAC header, a protocol layer model defined in a general broadband wireless access system is described as follows.
FIG. 1 shows a protocol layer model defined in a wireless mobile communication system based on the generally used IEEE 802.16 system.
Referring to FIG. 1, a MAC layer belonging to a link layer may consist of 3 sublayers. First of all, a service-specific convergence sublayer (CS) is able to transform or map external network data received via a CS service access point (SAP) to MAC SDUs (service data units) of a MAC common part sublayer (CPS). In this layer, a function of discriminating SDUs of the external network and then linking a corresponding MAC service flow identifier (SFID) and a CID (connection identifier) to each other can be included.
The MAC CPS is the layer of providing such a core function of MAC as a system access, a bandwidth allocation, a connection establishment and management and the like and receives data classified by a specific MAC connection from various CSs via the MAC SAP. In doing so, QoS (quality of service) may be applied to data transmission via a physical layer and scheduling.
A security sublayer is able to provide an authentication function, a security key exchange function and an encryption function.
The MAC layer is a connection-oriented service and is implemented with a concept of transport connection. When a mobile station is registered to a system, a service flow can be provided by a negotiation between the mobile station and the system. If a service requirement is changed, a new connection can be established. In this case, the transport connection defines a mapping between peer convergence processes that use the MAC and the service flow and the service flow defines QoS parameters of MAC PDU exchanged in the corresponding connection.
The service flow on the transport connection plays a core role in managing a MAC protocol and provides mechanism for the QoS management of uplink and downlink. In particular, service flows can be combined with a bandwidth allocation process.
In a general IEEE 802.16 system, a mobile station can have a 48-bit universal MAC address at each radio interface. This address uniquely defines the radio interface of the mobile station and may be used to establish a connection of the mobile station in an initial ranging procedure. Since a base station verifies mobile stations with different identifiers (IDs) of the mobile stations, respectively, the universal MAC address may be used as a part of an authentication process.
Each connection can be identified by a connection identifier (CID) having a 16-bit length. While initialization of a mobile station is in progress, 2 pairs (e.g., UL & DL) of management connection are set between the mobile station and a base station and 3 pairs including the management connection can be optionally available. In a current IEEE 802.16m system, CID is replaced by a station identifier (STID) and a flow identifier (FID) for identifying a flow. In this case, the station identifier means a 12-bit identifier allocated to a mobile station performing a network entry (or network re-entry) by a base station and the flow identifier means a 4-bit identifier for identifying a connection (e.g., a management connection, a transport connection, etc.) for a specific mobile station. And, ARS STID can be assigned to an advanced relay station (ARS) of the IEEE 802.16m system.
In the above-described layer structure, a transmitting stage and a receiving stage may be able to exchange data or control messages via MAC PDU. In order to generate this MAC PDU, a base station or a mobile station may have a MAC header included in the MAC PDU.
In particular, the MA PDU may be able to include a MAC header, an extended header and a payload. The MAC header is always included in the MAC PDU, while the payload may be optionally included in the MAC PDU if necessary. Yet, the extended header is not included in the MAC PDU without the payload.
In the following description, a structure of a generic MAC header is explained with reference to FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows one example of a structure of a generic MAC header (GMH) or an advanced generic MAC header (AGMH) applied to IEEE 802.16m system.
Fields included in the MAC header shown in FIG. 2 are described as follows.
First of all, a flow identifier (Flow ID) field is ale to indicate a flow connection identifier of a generic MAC header. An extended header (EH) field indicates whether an extended header is accompanied behind the MAC header. A length field indicates a size of a payload accompanied behind MAC PDU or MAC header.
When data is transmitted using 2-byte GMH shown in FIG. 2, whether an extended header is accompanied can be indicated via the EH field and additional header information may be included via the extended header.
A relay station exchanges data with another relay station, a base station and/or a mobile station by a relay MAC PDU transmission and/or a MAC PDU transmission. In this case, in aspect of a relay station (ARS), the MAC PDU may mean a transmission unit including data transmitted to the relay station (ARS) and the relay MAC PDU may mean a transmission unit including data that the relay node should relay to another entity (e.g., data received from a base station and then relayed to a mobile station).
In doing so, the demands for a relay MAC PDU structure for a relay station, which relays data exchanged between a base station and a plurality of mobile stations, to perform more efficient data transmission on the base station and a data transmitting method using the same are rising.

Structure of an efficient relay medium access control protocol data unit in a broadband wireless access system, and data transmission method using same


A memory system and a refresh control method thereof are provided. The memory system includes a semiconductor memory device including a plurality of memory cells and a memory controller configured to generate a special command for searching for refresh information stored in the semiconductor memory device and to control a refresh operation of the semiconductor memory device. The semiconductor memory device is configured to output the refresh information to the memory controller in response to the special command generated by the memory controller.

1. Field
At least one example embodiment relates to a memory system and/or a refresh control method thereof, and more particularly, to a memory system with improved performance and/or refresh control method thereof.
2. Related Art
There has been large demand on large-capacity dynamic random access memory (DRAM) for mobile electronic products including smart phones. Generally, data stored in memory cells of semiconductor memory devices such as DRAM may be changed due to leakage current. Accordingly, a refresh is required to periodically recharge the data stored in the memory cells.
In addition, with the development of memory systems including semiconductor memory devices, the number of semiconductor memory devices included in a single module or memory system is increasing.
In refreshing a plurality of semiconductor memory devices included in a memory system, the same refresh operation is performed even if refresh characteristics of the semiconductor memory devices are different from each other. In other words, a refresh operation is performed on a plurality of semiconductor memory devices based on the refresh characteristic of the worst cell among a plurality of memory cells included in the semiconductor memory devices, and therefore, a refresh interval may be unnecessarily short for semiconductor memory devices having good refresh characteristics, which leads to an increase in power consumption.
Therefore, it is desired to perform refresh operations on a plurality of semiconductor memory devices based on different refresh characteristics, thereby increasing the performance of a memory system.

Memory system and refresh control method thereof


In some embodiments, among others, a searchable segment of a document is identified in accordance with an identification criterion. Thereafter, an image is generated from the searchable segment. The image is a substantially unsearchable representation of the searchable segment. A reference to the generated image is substituted for the searchable segment.

The Internet has become a common publication medium. The increased availability of various web-publishing tools has provided avenues for the publication of articles ranging from technical journals to personal web pages. These personal web pages often include hyperlinks, or simply links. In some instances, the links may represent other web pages, a particular application that is to be launched, or an email address. In fact, links to email addresses have become quite ubiquitous. In addition to appearing as links, email addresses also appear on published web pages as basic text.
The ubiquity of email addresses, and other personal information, on the Internet also has its disadvantages. For example, the personal information is often harvested from the Internet by various individuals that wish to send mass unsolicited email (also referred to as "spam"). These individuals (also referred to as "spammers") write programs (also referred to as "robots" or "bots") that trawl the Internet for published email addresses. Once the bots identify an email address, the bots store the email address in a database. The stored email address then becomes the target of spam. As one can predict, if the bots can properly identify email addresses of various individuals, then the vulnerability to spam increases for those individuals.
In order to prevent such bots from identifying email addresses, individuals have attempted to mask their email addresses using various approaches. In one such approach, an email address ("email@example.com") is re-written so that it does not appear as an email address ("name at domain dot com"). However, such approaches are not very elegant, and reduce the aesthetics of a published web page. In view of this deficiency, a need exists in the industry.

Converting the format of a portion of an electronic document


Aspects of the disclosure are directed to systems, methods, and devices that include an application processor. The application processor includes an interface logic to interface with a communication module using a bidirectional interconnect link compliant with a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) protocol. The interface logic to receive a data packet from across the link, the data packet comprises a header and data payload; determine a hint bit set in the header of the data packet; determine a steering tag value in the data packet header based on the hint bit set; and transmit the data payload to non-volatile memory based on the steering tag set in the header.

System memory can be implemented using volatile memory (e.g. DRAM) where it is expected that data is lost when power is removed. A key semantic for writing to nonvolatile memory is for the source of the write data to be able to know when the data is persistent, and protected from loss of power. For an IO device, communicating this information involves communicating across PCIe. There currently does not exist a standard model for how an IO device would communicate to a target subsystem to achieve the guarantee of write data being persistent.

Persistent memory write semantics on PCIe with existing TLP definition


The present invention relates to a microorganism which can act as a biomarker of alcoholic fatty liver disease, and relates to a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating alcoholic fatty liver disease, a food composition for preventing or improving alcoholic fatty liver disease, or a probiotics composition for preventing or improving alcoholic fatty liver disease, comprising the strain as an active ingredient.

A cause of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is alcohol, which is easily absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, and 2˜10% of which is removed by kidneys and lungs, and the remainder is mainly oxidized in liver. Chronic drinking is known to induce alcoholic fatty liver disease by causing fat metabolism imbalance of hepatocytes through various pathways.
Conventionally, the alcoholic liver damage mechanism has been known that about 70% of alcohol consumed is converted to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenases (ADH) and the remaining 30% is converted to acetaldehyde by cytochrome P450 2E1, but recent studies suggest that enterobacteria and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) which is one of endotoxins, which are significantly increased in alcoholic hepatitis patients, are important causes of alcoholic liver damage.
The composition proportion of gut microbiota is closely related to the immune status of the human body. When tight junctions between gut epithelial cells are inhibited and a leaky gut phenomenon occurs by chronic drinking, the LPS of gut gram-negative bacteria moves a lot through portal vein, and induces severe liver damage due to induction of the activity of Kupffer cells in liver and production of inflammatory cytokines.
Bacterial cluster analysis using a next-generation sequence analysis method has enabled analysis of microbiota including non-culture, and studies are underway to determine the association between microbial genome diversity and diseases.
Gut microbiota may be involved in disease symptoms of secondary organs such as liver, brain and kidneys in addition to intestinal systemic immunity, and it has been found that not only the composition proportion of gut microbiota but also acquisition of specific strains are very important for the immune system.
Therefore, it is necessary to identify intestinal microorganisms having an effect of improving alcoholic fatty liver disease symptoms, to develop a technology for diagnosing alcoholic fatty liver disease using the same.

Composition for diagnosis and treatment of alcoholic liver disease, using change in short-chain fatty acid producing gut bacterial community


The signal receiver circuit includes a selection signal generator generating first and second selection signals in response to at least one of an electrical open/short state of a fuse and test mode signals, an internal reference voltage generator amplifying an external reference voltage signal after reducing static electricity created by the external reference voltage signal to generate a plurality of internal voltage signals and generating an internal reference voltage signal using the plurality of internal voltage signals in response to the first and second selection signals, and a buffer buffering an internal signal in response to the internal reference voltage signal to generate a control signal for controlling an internal circuit.

In general, a signal receiver circuit in an integrated circuit (IC) such as a semiconductor device may receive a reference voltage signal and a plurality of input signals from an external device and amplify the input signals. The signal receiver circuit may compare the input signals with the reference voltage signal to generate a control signal for controlling an internal circuit included in the IC. The control signal may have a logic level which is determined according to a comparison result of the input signals and the reference voltage signal. For example, the control signal may be set to have a logic "high" level when a logic level of the input signal is higher than that of the reference voltage signal and the control signal may be set to have a logic "low" level when a logic level of the input signal is lower than that of the reference voltage signal. The reference voltage signal inputted to the signal receiver circuit should be set to have a median level between a predetermined maximum level (VILmax) and a predetermined minimum level (VILmin). However, the reference voltage signal may vary depending on the circumstance. For example, the reference voltage signal may have an abnormal level due to an environment condition, noises of power signals of a system, interconnection shapes of a printed circuit board (PCB) and/or interconnection shapes of a package device. If the reference voltage signal has an abnormal level, the signal receiver circuit may incorrectly recognize a level of the input signal to generate an erroneous control signal having an incorrect logic level and to cause a malfunction of the internal circuit. Thus, it may be necessary to accurately adjust or minimize a level fluctuation of the reference voltage signal in order to prevent a malfunction of the semiconductor IC.


The present disclosure relates to an anchor assembly. The anchor assembly includes an anchor defining a cavity and an opening to the cavity; and a headless insertion member configured for arrangement within the anchor cavity, the insertion member including a body having a threaded proximal portion, a non-threaded distal portion, and a cannulation extending a partial length of the insertion member. Other anchor assemblies, anchors, and delivery devices are also disclosed.

Field of Technology
The present disclosure relates to tissue repair devices, and more specifically, to anchors, anchor assemblies, and delivery devices for use in securing tissue to bone.
Related Art
Arthroscopic procedures often require soft tissue to be reattached to bone. To achieve this, anchors are placed in the bone and sutures attached to the anchor are passed through the tissue to securely retain the tissue in place. A procedure and components for use in such procedure, that securely attaches tissue to bone, is needed. Such procedure must be able to be done in a quick and efficient manner with a minimum of recovery time for the patient.


A method of preparing high linear paraffin or high end-chain monomethyl content products is accomplished by converting synthesis gas in a Fischer-Tropsch reaction to hydrocarbon products. These may be hydrotreated to provide an n-paraffin content of greater than 50% by weight, with substantially all branched paraffins being monomethyl end-chain branched paraffins. At least one non-linear paraffin isomer, which may be a monomethyl paraffin isomer, may be separated from the hydrocarbon products through distillation to provide an n-paraffin product having an n-paraffin content percentage by weight of the n-paraffin product that is greater than the initial n-paraffin content.

Naturally occurring petroleum may be made up of a variety of different hydrocarbon substances. These may include paraffinic, isoparaffinic, cycloparaffinic and aromatic hydrocarbons, and may range from light gases to kerosene to heavy asphalts.
Linear paraffins from petroleum are often used in forming detergents or surfactants. Linear paraffins, typically in the C10 to C24 range, may be alkylated with benzene directly or after undergoing dehydrogenation to form alkylbenzene, which is then sulfonated to form alkylbenzene sulfonate detergents. Because petroleum-derived paraffins may be highly branched, having one or more branches of different lengths that may be randomly positioned along the main carbon chain, it is difficult to isolate linear paraffins from the mixture to achieve high linear purity. Additionally, branched-chain alkylbenzene sulfonates, while providing good detergency or surfactancy, are not easily biodegraded. Because of increasing environmental concerns, there has been an emphasis on producing high purity linear alkylbenzene (LAB) feedstock for use in making linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), which is readily biodegraded.
In the manufacture of LAS, linear purities for the paraffin feedstock may be as much as 95% and even 98% or more by weight of the paraffin feedstock. Petroleum derived hydrotreated distillates containing the appropriate carbon number hydrocarbons or paraffins typically only have a linear content of from 40% or lower by weight. Thus, procedures for purifying linear paraffins are needed. Because conventional hydrotreated distillates usually include relatively large amounts of various cyclic or branched paraffin components, separating the linear paraffins from non-linear paraffins is impossible using distillation separation techniques. This is due to the large degree of overlap in the boiling points of the non-linear paraffin components with those of the linear paraffins. Therefore, separation of the linear paraffins is usually carried out using shape-selective molecular sieve separation. Molecular sieve separation is quite involved and requires the use of costly molecular sieve adsorbents and equipment. Separation of linear paraffins from non-linear paraffins using urea adduction techniques have also been employed, but are less efficient and are not widely practiced commercially.

Hydrocarbon products and methods of preparing hydrocarbon products


A semiconductor memory device is constructed of a lateral bipolar transistor as a load element. The base region of the lateral bipolar transistor has an impurity concentration which is increased from the upper surface of the base region in the depth direction of the base region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device having a plurality of random access memory (RAM) cells each including a lateral bipolar transistor as a load element.
2. Description of Related Art
Bipolar RAM devices have been widely used, for example, in computers of large capacity as the cash memories thereof. Recently, the high integration density and fast switching speed of the bipolar RAM devices have been required for increasing performance of computers. The bipolar RAM devices are mainly employed as 16 to 64 Kilo bit (Kb) memory devices, and the devices of high integration density are favorable in which a PNP bipolar transistor is employed as the load element of the memory cell in view of electric power consumption, rather than using an SBD.
The memory cell using a conventional lateral PNP bipolar transistor as the load element has a fast reading speed. However, its writing speed is slow. A writing speed of a memory cell using a lateral bipolar transistor as the load element depends mainly on its cut-off frequency f.sub.T and its characteristic of current amplification factor .beta. when its emitter is grounded. Concerning the cut-off frequency, an operation of about one tenth to several nano seconds can be obtained by a base width of about several microns which is determined by photolithography process steps, although the base width of the lateral PNP transistor is inferior by about two figures to that of a vertical PNP transistor having a width of one tenth of a micron. Therefore, the cut-off frequency can sufficiently respond to a necessary writing speed of several nano seconds. On the other hand, concerning the current amplification factor .beta. when its emitter is grounded, the value .beta. must be large, for example, more than 7, at a small amount of current range in the holding operation of the memory cell for obtaining a strong immunity against .alpha. radiations or noises. In contrast, the value .beta. must be small, for example, less than 0.2 at a large amount of current range in the writing operation of the memory cell for obtaining a fast reversing speed. However, in a prior art, the current amplification factor .beta. of a PNP lateral transistor formed as the load element is gradually decreased from its small current range to its large current range with a gentle slope. Therefore, the value .beta. cannot be sufficiently small in the writing operation. Consequently, a conventional memory cell has a defect in that the writing speed is inevitably slow.


A method and composition for altering the permeability of a high temperature subterranean formation are provided. The composition of the invention is comprised of water, at least one water dispersible acrylamide containing polymer, and a water dispersible crosslinker for bringing about the delayed crosslinking of the polymer comprised of the combination of an aldehyde and a salicylic acid derivative.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and compositions for altering the permeability of high temperature subterranean formations, and more particularly, to methods and compositions for delayedly forming in situ gels at high temperatures in producing formations subjected to enhanced production procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Undesirable water recovered from oil wells can result from the infiltration of naturally occurring subterranean water or, in the case of waterflooding or steam flooding operations, from the injected drive water or steam. In both cases, water or steam flows through zones of high permeability to the producing well bores whereby oil in less permeable zones is bypassed. In water or steam flooding operations, the more permeable zones of subterranean formations tend to take most of the injected flood water or steam. While this is acceptable initially when the oil contained in the high permeability zones is being swept therefrom, it subsequently becomes undesirable as the oil in such zones becomes depleted. From that point on, the water or steam flood provides little benefit in enhancing oil production.
Methods and compositions for accomplishing near well and in depth plugging of high permeability zones by forming gels therein have heretofore been developed and used. The formation of the gels causes high permeability zones to be plugged or at least lowered in permeability whereby subsequently injected flood water or steam is caused to enter previously bypassed zones. This in turn causes the flood water or steam to mobilize increased amounts of oil which are recovered from the subterranean formation.
A variety of methods and polymer compositions which gel in situ to reduce the permeability of high permeability zones in subterranean formations have been utilized successfully. U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,476 issued on Oct. 2, 1973 discloses a method of reducing recovered water from a subterranean formation wherein aqueous polymer solutions interspaced with aqueous solutions of crosslinking metallic ions are injected into the formation. A variety of polymers can be utilized in conjunction with various multivalent metal cations complexed with sequestering agents. The solution containing the crosslinking complex is injected after the first polymer solution injection, followed by injection of further polymer solution, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,393 issued on Feb. 11, 1986 discloses a water permeability correction process to improve the sweep efficiency of waterflooding which involves the sequential injection of a solution containing a sequestered polyvalent metal cation, such as aluminum citrate, and a polymer solution containing a gelable polymer, such as polyacrylamide, followed by the injection of carbon dioxide to decrease the pH of the polymer which activates the delayed in situ gelation thereof. The field applications of this method and the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,476 are restricted to fields having an available fresh water supply because the crosslinking metal ion complexes and/or the gelation activators are incompatible with hard brines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,949 issued on Aug. 4, 1987 describes a permeability correction process using a gel comprised of a polyacrylamide polymer and a chromium (III) acetate gelling agent capable of crosslinking the polymer in an aqueous solvent.
While the above-described methods and compositions as well as other methods and compositions have been utilized successfully for improving the sweep efficiency of water or steam flooding and/or reducing the production of naturally occurring formation waters, such methods and compositions have generally been unsuccessful in applications requiring the formation of gels deep in high permeability zones having high temperatures, i.e., temperatures above about 160.degree. F. At such temperatures, the heretofore used crosslinking metal cation complexes often very quickly break down and crosslink the polymers used prior to penetrating into the formation to the in-depth location required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,799,548 issued on Jan. 24, 1989 discloses two crosslinkers with differing temperature responsive crosslinking characteristics used to gel water soluble polymers for diverting steam in steam stimulation operations carried out in heavy crude oil wells. The high temperature crosslinking agents disclosed are comprised of combinations of phenolic compounds and aldehydes, and are generally suitable for altering the permeability of subterranean formations having temperatures of 175.degree. F. and above.
By the present invention improved methods and compositions for altering subterranean formation permeability which are effective at temperatures of 150.degree. F. and above are provided. The crosslinkers utilized in accordance with the methods and compositions provide longer delays in crosslinking whereby the compositions can be placed deeper in high temperature subterranean formations, and they generally have lower toxicity levels than prior art crosslinkers making them and the compositions in which they are used more compatible with the environment.

Altering high temperature subterranean formation permeability


A thermal imaging device, which may be incorporated in an industrial monitoring system, is contained and protected by an enclosure that includes a window assembly. The window assembly includes a removable window and a temperature sensor, wherein the window provides a passage for infrared radiation to the imaging device, within the enclosure, and the temperature sensor is positioned, within the enclosure, for measuring a temperature of the removable window, and is adapted to communicate with circuitry of the imaging device. The window assembly may further include a removable retaining ring and a mounting plate. The mounting plate may include a bezel and an outer shoulder formed in a first side thereof, wherein the bezel receives the removable window and the outer shoulder receives the retaining ring, so that the retaining ring may hold the window against the bezel.

Industrial monitoring systems often employ thermal, or infrared (IR), imaging devices, which are preferably mounted in a fixed location to capture IR images of a target, which may be a particular portion of a piece of manufacturing equipment and/or a product in the midst of a manufacturing process. These devices are typically adapted to communicate with a remote monitoring station and, in some instances, are integrated with process control packages.
In harsh or relatively hot industrial environments it is often necessary to contain these imaging devices within a protective enclosure that keeps the device cool and free of contamination such as dust particles. The enclosure necessarily includes a window through which the thermal imaging device can view the target in the environment over a period of time.

Protective enclosure for a thermal imaging device of an industrial monitoring system


A cross stack port aggregation method and system associates a destination index with a received packet when it is provided to devices in the stack. Each device utilizes the destination index to access a descriptor identifying ports in the device included in the port aggregation group. An index generated from packet address data is used to select a bit in a group mask unique to each port.

Link aggregation is the combination of multiple physical ports coupled to the same system or group of systems to form a group of ports which can be treated as one single higher bandwidth port. This Layer 2 feature is commonly referred to in products manufactured by the assignee of the present application as Etherchannel.
In Etherchannel, and other link aggregation protocols, various physical ports in a switch are aggregated and mapped to a virtual port. High level switch management software is only aware of the virtual port. When a packet is transmitted from an egress virtual port, a port distribution protocol decides which one of the aggregated physical ports mapped to the virtual port is to transmit the packet. In conventional implementations of the distribution protocol the number of ports to be aggregated must be a power of two because the port selector is a binary number.
Stacking is the ability to manage a group network devices, such as switches, as a single unit. Stackability gives multiple physical switches the appearance of one large physical switch. The stacked switches may be coupled using various technologies including a connection between network ports, a connection between dedicated stacking ports, or a connection utilizing a specialized stacking bus. Stacking is advantageous in creating a switch with a large number of ports which can be managed utilizing a single interface.
It is usual for link aggregation group members to be restricted to a single switch (e.g. in the Catalyst 2900 XL, 3500 XL, 4000, 5000, and 6000 routing platforms manufactured by the assignee of the present application). In these systems stacking is done at the hardware level by connecting normal high bandwidth network ports together and no proprietary information relating to link aggregation is passed in the layer 2 header across links connecting two switches in a stack. Thus, in existing systems it is not possible to mark packets which belong to a link-aggregation group when they pass across the stack.
Accordingly, conventional link-aggregation protocols and stacking architectures are not designed to allow fully configurable link-aggregation across the stack.

Defining link aggregation across a stack


A connector includes a housing adapted to be fixed to an attaching object, and contacts. The housing has an attaching base portion, a fitting portion disposed more on the front side than the attaching base portion, through-holes formed through a bottom portion of the fitting portion, and layout spaces each communicating with the through-hole and each open to the outside on the side surface side of the housing. Each contact integrally has a first portion and a second portion continuous with the first portion. The through-hole and the layout space have sizes that can allow the contact to be disposed at a predetermined position in the housing by inserting the contact into the housing through the layout space from the side surface of the housing.

Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 10, there is known a socket-side connector 110 which is fixed to a protective housing 150 and fitted to a plug-side connector 160 fixed to an object 170 which is housed in the protective housing 150 (see, e.g. Patent Document 1).
As shown in FIG. 11, this conventional socket-side connector 110 comprises a housing 120, socket-type electrical contacts 130 each held by the housing 120, and screw-type holding members 180 each fixed to the housing 120 to prevent coming off of the socket-type electrical contact 130.
As shown in FIG. 11, the socket-type electrical contact 130 is inserted into the housing 120 from the back side of the housing 120 opposite to its front side where a socket portion 133 of the socket-type electrical contact 130 is disposed, and is fixed to the housing 120 by engagement between a base portion 134 of the socket-type electrical contact 130 and a stepped portion 126 of the housing 120 and fixation of the holding member 180 to the housing 120.

Japan Aviation Electronics Industry, Limited


A therapeutic method for rehabilitating the temporomandibular joint by induction of translatory motion of the joint either post-operatively or as therapy for a variety of conditions, the invention also contemplates apparatus capable of practicing the present method by continuously and passively moving the joint in a translatory sense.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to therapy of the temporomandibular joint and particularly to a method and apparatus for providing therapeutic treatment of the joint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surgery is often required to correct internal derangements of the temporomandibular joint. Post-operative care has varied widely with little agreement among clinicians as to the most effective manner of managing such care. A common practice involves loose intermaxillary fixation for the first one or two days following surgery. However, this practice does little more than prevent damage to the joint especially if the patient becomes nauseated after surgery. After removal of fixation it has been fairly common practice to initiate limited motion typically in rotation. Such procedures have ranged from having the patient put his thumb between the upper and lower incisors to guide him in measuring jaw opening and also to allow him to judge the desired degree of limitation. Recently, an apparatus capable of providing continuous passive motion in rotation, that is, the opening and closing of the mouth, has been available from Vitech, Inc. of Houston, Tex. and has been marketed under the trademark "Trans-Jaw". A product similar to the "Trans-Jaw" has been distributed by the Therabite Corporation of Bryn Mawr, Pa. and is referred to by the trademark "Therabite". The "Therabite" product is intended to provide rotational motion for the purpose of improving mandibular range of motion. These and other therapeutic methods and apparatus have been employed but with limited success. Many other conditions involving disorders of the temporomandibular joint have also been treated to less than satisfactory conclusions due to deficiencies in state of the art treatment methodology. Such conditions include both rehabilitation situations following arthroscopy, fractures and/or trauma, osteoarthritis and even relatively routine rehabilitation of stiff, painful jaw joints. In these conditions and in other conditions including open joint surgery such as arthroplasty, meniscectomy and total joint replacement, as examples, methodology relating to rehabilitation has been limited in part by a lack of understanding of the complexity of the general subject of temporomandibular joint disorders as well as a lack of progress in this area directed to truly effective rehabilitative procedures and apparatus capable of assisting in time practice of such procedures.
The present invention provides an effective therapeutic method and an apparatus capable of practice of the method, the invention providing a substantial advance in the art of rehabilitative care post-operatively, post-trauma and also in rehabilitative treatment of chronic and acute disorders involving the temporomandibular joint.

Therapeutic method and apparatus for effecting translatory continuous passive motion of the temporomandibular joint


A method of manufacturing a color filter substrate, performed by: preparing a color mask including a cyan transparent layer, a fuchsine transparent layer and a yellow transparent layer; preparing a color sensitive material substrate including a red sensitive emulsion cyan layer, a green sensitive emulsion fuchsine layer and a blue sensitive emulsion yellow layer; exposing the color sensitive material substrate using the color mask; and performing processes of development, bleaching, fixation and stabilization on the color sensitive material substrate.

The invention relates to a color filter substrate and a manufacturing method thereof.
Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) have the advantages, such as small volume, low power consumption, no radiation, and relatively low product cost. LCDs have experienced a fast development in recent ten years, and there are great progresses either in the size of the screen and/or in the display quality. With the development of LCDs, the competition between the manufacturers is becoming fierce. As the manufacturers enhance the product performance continuously, they also try to decrease the product cost so as to enhance the competition power.
A color filter substrate is a main component and important for a LCD, and the quality and the cost of the color filter substrate directly exert an influence on the quality and the cost of a LCD. Therefore, enhancing quality of a color filter substrate and decreasing cost of a color filter substrate are the main development directions for the manufacturers. Decreasing product cost of a color filter substrate mainly includes decreasing the numbers of processes, decreasing the times for lithography, increasing the produce efficient, and the like.
Currently, in producing a color filter substrate, a four-step lithography process may be employed. In the four-step lithography process, four cycles of film making, lithography, and etching processes are performed, so as to prepare a black matrix, a red pixel region, a green pixel region, and a blue pixel region on a substrate. Finally, for example, indium tin oxide (ITO) is deposited on the substrate, and the color filter substrate is prepared. The specific processes are described as follows.
First, a layer of chromium oxide (CrOx) thin film or chromium (Cr) thin film as the material for the black matrix is deposited on a glass substrate, and then a layer of photoresist is applied on the thin film. Then, the pattern transferring from a mask to the photoresist is completed through a lithography process, and then the desired pattern is formed on the CrOx thin film or Cr thin film by the etching and lifting-off processes (the black matrix is formed in this step). Through three "deposition-lithography-etching" processes, red (RGB: 255, 0, 0), green (RGB: 0, 255, 0), and blue (RGB: 0, 0, 255) patterns are formed on the glass substrate, and finally with depositing an indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film as a common electrode, the traditional color filter substrate is prepared. The different methods for forming the color resin films can be classified as dying method, electrophoretic deposition method, dye dispersion method, printing method, and the like.
The conventional method of preparing a color filter substrate includes four cycles of film forming, lithography, and etching processes, which is of relatively low product efficiency and relatively high product cost. Meantime, since dye distribution uniformity is limited, the conventional method for forming the color resin films is difficult to obtain stability of color in mass production.

Color filter substrate and manufacturing method thereof

Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


Provided is an image-forming apparatus that prevents a drop in processing speed even when a preceding job is interrupted by a simple job (interrupt job). The image-forming apparatus includes a printer unit that prints on paper, a first transporting path that passes by the printer unit, a second transporting path that path branches off from the first transporting path and moves paper that has been turned over from front to back further upstream than the printer unit, a storage unit that stores a condition table indicates conditions for which a preceding job can be interrupted by an interrupt job, and a system-control unit that references the condition table, and when the preceding job can be interrupted, sets a printing order so that printing of the interrupt job is inserted into the printing order of the preceding job.

The present disclosure relates to an image-forming apparatus with an interrupt printing function.
In an image-forming apparatus that is an MFP such as a printer, multifunction printer, copier and the like, there are models in which it is possible to register printing jobs from user terminals via a network. Moreover, the image-forming apparatus generally executes a printing process for printing jobs that do not have a priority setting in the order of being input.
Incidentally, there are also printing jobs such as printing one page on one side (hereafter, referred to as a simple job). Even in the case of such a simple job, by performing printing processes in the order of input, a later printing job must wait for a previously registered printing job to finish, which is inconvenient.
In a typical image-forming apparatus, in order to eliminate such an inconvenience, there are switch back means for turning over the paper, standby means for causing paper to wait in a stopped state on the paper-refeed transporting path, and control means for performing control of each of these means. When mixing paper of different paper sizes, and continuously performing reverse output and double-sided copying, the control means sets the space between the preceding paper and the following paper to be equal to or longer than the length in the transporting direction of the preceding paper.

Image-forming apparatus with interrupt printing function


A connector device is provided for coupling to connectors associated with a laptop computer. The connector device includes a generally L-shaped housing having a pair of side walls, a rear wall, and a pair of front walls wherein one of the front walls is recessed from the other front wall. The recessed front wall includes a plurality of input connectors for coupling to the connectors provided by the laptop computer. Further, at least one of the side walls includes a plurality of output connectors for transmitting and receiving electrical signals with the laptop computer.

Currently, "docking stations" are used for connecting a notebook or portable computer to a variety of external peripherals. Typically, docking stations are electrical devices that run off AC or DC power and mate with an electrical connector specifically designed to interface with a particular series or model of notebook or portable computer. Docking stations were created to add functionality to the notebook computer by providing space and power for other electric or peripheral attachments which the notebook computer does not have, due to its size or power limitations.
An alternative to the docking station is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,646 to Pederson. Disclosed therein is a connector device for positioning a plurality of peripheral connectors in relative positions for registration with a plurality of corresponding computer ports. The connector device has a body having a plurality of peripheral connector holding means for securely holding and positioning a plurality of peripheral connectors, each peripheral connector holding means being located in the body so as to position a peripheral connector held therein in a registering position with respect to a predetermined port of the computer, whereby the computer ports register for direct attachment and detachment to a plurality of peripheral connectors.