Methods include separating feed material containing magnetic particles and non-magnetic particles using a belt and magnetic roll separator that has an idler roll and a magnetic roll carrying magnets and the methods involve positioning a feed pan or slide for directing the feed onto the belt in contact with the magnetic roll at selectable positions on the belt and at selectable angles of impact onto the belt closely adjacent and contacting the magnetic roll to provide enhanced separation by the forces of feed impact, bounce and gravity and simultaneous magnetic attraction by the magnetic roll.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the use of belted roll magnetic material separation and particularly to an improved method of feeding materials onto such separator.
2. Relevant Art
Magnetic separation technology exploits the difference in magnetic properties between magnetic feed material and non-magnetic material mixed therewith. Magnetic particles are pulled toward a drum shell or belt surface by magnetic force from within the drum or roll. In dry separation processes non-magnetic material is thrown off the apparatus by centrifugal force. The process works reasonably well for relatively coarse particles (for example, >0.55 mm) because the centrifugal force is large enough to provide for adequate separation and when particles are not charged electrostatically to an extent or degree that would interfere with the separation process. What is needed is an improved method for introducing the feed material onto the separation apparatus to enhance separation of the material into magnetic and non-magnetic components, especially for small size or fine particles (for example, <0.55 mm) and for materials that tend to be electrostatically charged.

Methods of separating feed materials using a magnetic roll separator


Radio communication system includes radio transmitter including adding unit adding parity bit for error detection to data, spreading unit spreading, in time-and-frequency direction, data with parity bit, based on spreading pattern, transmission unit transmitting spread data, and reception unit receiving retransmission-request signal, wherein in response to retransmission-request signal, spreading unit spreads to-be-retransmitted data with parity bit, based on varied spreading pattern being varied according to spreading rate in time direction and spreading rate in frequency direction, and transmission unit transmits spread to-be-retransmitted data, and radio receiver including reception unit receiving transmitted spread data, de-spreading unit de-spreading received spread data, based on spreading pattern, error detection unit detecting error of de-spread data, based on parity bit, and transmission unit transmitting retransmission-request signal requesting retransmission of data if error is detected in de-spread data, wherein reception unit receives retransmitted data, and de-spreading unit de-spreads retransmitted data, based on varied spreading pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a radio communication system and a radio transmitter in multi-carrier code-division multiple access (CDMA) radio communication, and more particularly to such a radio communication system and a radio transmitter which correct errors caused by retransmissions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a retransmission control system in conventional multi-carrier communication, a mobile station and a base station execute the following processes (refer to, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-104574). The mobile station measures receiving channel qualities at every subcarrier or at every subcarrier group to transmit the channel qualities to the base station. The mobile station requests a retransmission to the base station if there is an error in received data received from the base station. The base station receives the request for the retransmission to transmit retransmission data to the mobile station. At this time, the base station uses a subcarrier other than a subcarrier or a subcarrier group which are determined not to be used, based on the receiving channel qualities to transmit the retransmission data.
However, there is the problem that the above-mentioned conventional technique requires a large overhead to feed back information about a channel response status and a subcarrier to be used to a transmission side. There is the problem that system throughput in communication should be improved and processing amount for retransmission control and channel response estimation should be reduced.

Radio communication system and radio transmitter


A communication system for transmitting encoded signals over a communication channel is disclosed. The system includes a transmitter, which has a source that outputs a message signal. The transmitter also includes an encoder that generates a code word in response to the message signal. The code word has a construction that defines a plurality of paths associated with an intersymbol interference (ISI) environment of the communication channel, wherein the code word achieves a diversity based upon the number of transmit antennas and the number of ISI paths. Further, the transmitter includes a modulator that modulates the code word for transmission over the communication channel, and multiple antennas that transmit the modulated code word over the communication channel. The system encompasses a receiver that receives the transmitted code word via a number of receive antennas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coding in a communication system, and is more particularly related to space-time codes that exploit multiple forms of diversity.
2. Discussion of the Background
Given the constant demand for higher system capacity of wireless systems, multiple antenna systems have emerged to increase system bandwidth vis-à-vis single antenna systems. In multiple antenna systems, data is parsed into multiple streams, which are simultaneously transmitted over a corresponding quantity of transmit antennas. At the receiving end, multiple receive antennas are used to reconstruct the original data stream. To combat the detrimental effects of the communication channel, communication engineers are tasked to develop channel codes that optimize system reliability and throughput in a multiple antenna system.
To minimize the effects of the communication channel, which typically is Rayleigh, space-time codes have been garnered significant attention. Rayleigh fading channels introduce noise and attenuation to such an extent that a receiver may not reliably reproduce the transmitted signal without some form of diversity; diversity provides a replica of the transmitted signal. Space-time codes are two dimensional channel codes that exploit spatial transmit diversity, whereby the receiver can reliably detect the transmitted signal. Conventional designs of space-time codes have focused on maximizing spatial diversity in quasi-static fading channels and fast fading channels. However, real communication systems exhibit channel characteristics that are somewhere between quasi-static and fast fading. Accordingly, such conventional space-time codes are not optimized.
Further, other approaches to space-time code design assume that channel state information (CSI) are available at both the transmitter and receiver. Thus, a drawback of such approaches is that the design requires the transmitter and receiver to have knowledge of the CSI, which increases implementation costs because of the need for additional hardware. Moreover, these approaches view the transmit diversity attending the use of space-time codes as a substitute for time diversity; consequently, such space-time codes are not designed to take advantage of other forms of diversity.
Notably, information theoretic studies have shown that spatial diversity provided by multiple transmit and/or receive antennas allows for a significant increase in the capacity of wireless communication systems operated in a flat Rayleigh fading environment [1] [2]. Following this observation, various approaches for exploiting this spatial diversity have been proposed. In one approach, channel coding is performed across the spatial dimension as well

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for utilizing space-time and space-frequency codes for multi-input multi-output frequency selective fading channels


A catheter may include an elongated tube enclosing at least one catheter lumen, and a centering device coupled to a distal end of the elongated tube, wherein the centering device includes a plurality of legs. Each leg of the plurality of legs may include a first end fixed to an outer surface of the elongated tube. Each leg of the plurality of legs may include an outward bias such that a central portion of each leg of the plurality of legs is spaced radially outward from the elongated tube when the centering device is in an expanded state.

Catheters medical devices that are often used to administer or collect fluids located within interior spaces of a patient body. For example, a catheter may be used in a vascular space for administering a medication and/or collecting blood, sometimes simultaneously. One particular application of a catheter is hemodialysis, where blood is removed from a vessel, cleaned with a dialyzer, and then re-administered through a separate port/opening. While such procedures have been used with success, vascular catheters utilizing suction often misbehave, as they tend to lean against vessel walls. The vessel walls may block or otherwise prevent access to the ports/openings leading to the catheter lumen. The embodiments described in this document address this issue.


Apparatus for vacuum pumping an enclosed chamber without the use of activated charcoal to remove hydrogen by cryosorption. As a result, the potential for contamination by a sorbent material is eliminated. The pumping structure includes an integral two-stage vacuum pump. The first-stage pump is a cryogenic pump having a pump chamber and cryoarrays mounted on an expander for cryocondensation of the principal gases present in the vacuum chamber. The second-stage pump operates at room temperatures and includes one or more getter pumps whose principal function is to remove hydrogen molecules that may be present in the vacuum chamber after the first-stage cryopump has removed most of the cryocondensable gases from the vacuum chamber. In one aspect of the invention, the first-stage pump is separated from the second-stage pump by a gate valve to protect the getter pumps during the regeneration flushing of nitrogen through the first-stage cryogenic pump chamber. In another aspect of the invention, a technique is disclosed to eliminate the need for a gate valve separating the two pumps. In another aspect of the invention, an ion pump is added to the two-stage vacuum pump to reduce the helium and neon molecules that may be present after the pumping of hydrogen and the other cryocondensable gases in the vacuum chamber.

The present invention relates generally to vacuum technology, and more particularly to novel methods and apparatus for cryogenic and other types of high vacuum pumping of unwanted gas molecules, including hydrogen, from an enclosed chamber.
Cryogenic vacuum pumps (also referred to as cryopumps) are widely used in high vacuum applications (10.sup.-6 to 10.sup.-11 Tort range), e,g., in semiconductor manufacturing Cryopumps are based on the principle of removing neutral gas molecules from a vacuum chamber by having the gas molecules lose enough of their incident kinetic energy by striking a cold surface so that the molecules remain bound to that surface by the dispersion forces of the cryogenic surface. Cryocondensation, cryosorption and cryotrapping are the basic mechanisms that can be involved in the operation of a cryopump. In cryocondensation gas molecules condense over previously condensed gas molecules thus forming a solid condensate. Thick layers of condensate form in pumping large quantities of gas necessitating the removal of the solid condensate during what is termed a regeneration or activation period. Basically regeneration is a process that releases and expels captured gases by warming and flushing the pump with dry and sometimes warmed inert gas.
Gases that are difficult to condense at normal cryopump operating temperatures can be pumped at higher temperatures by cryosorption. In this case, a sorbent material such as activated charcoal is bonded to the cryogenic surface. At cryogenic temperatures the binding energy between the gas molecules and the adsorbing particles is greater than the binding energy between the gas molecules themselves. This causes the gas molecules that cannot be condensed to adhere to the sorbent material and thus be removed from the vacuum system. When several monolayers of adsorbed gas have been built up, the effect of the adsorbing surface is lost and gas can no longer be pumped by this process until the absorbed gas molecules are removed. To remove the gas and reactivate the adsorbing surface, the sorbent material is heated to the point that the adsorbing particles lose their affinity for gas molecules. This releases the gas enabling it to be flushed from the pump chamber.
Cryotrapping can also be used to pump gases that are difficult to condense. In this case, the sorbent material that performs the cryotrapping is an easily condensable gas. The sorbent gas is admired into the pump, forming a condensate on the cold surfaces, The gases that are difficult to condense are also admitted to the pump at the same time as the sorbent gas and adsorbed on the newly formed surface of the easily condensable gas. A mixed condensate is thus formed. For example, if argon and hydrogen are present in a cryopump chamber, for every 1000 molecules of argon that condense, it is possible to trap one molecule of hydrogen in the argon.
Cryopumps are widely used for applications where contamination by non process gases such as hydrocarbons must be avoided. Cryopumps typically use a closed-loop refrigeration system with high-purity helium as the working medium. The refrigeration cycle involves the compression of gaseous helium by a compressor, removal of the heat of compression via a heat exchanger, filtering of the compressed helium, and subsequent two-stage expansion of the gas in a cryoexpander to produce the desired refrigeration. In one type of cryopump, metallic panels are mounted in an array on the first-stage expander within the pump. This cryoarray as it is called, when lowered to .apprxeq.50.degree. K. to 80.degree. K. by the refrigeration system, pumps water vapor molecules present within the pumping chamber and also functions as a radiation shield to the second stage array. A second stage cryoarray is usually mounted under the first stage and achieves a nominal temperature of 14.degree. K. to pump most other gas molecules. However, the lowest temperature achievable in a refrigerator cooled cryopump is only about 10.degree. K. so that not all gases normally present in a vacuum system can be pumped by cryocondensation. The gases which are difficult to condense in a vacuum system, such as hydrogen, helium and neon, must be pumped by other means, such as cryosorption. One commonly used technique to eliminate such gases uses a sorbent material, such as activated charcoal, permanently attached to the second stage cryoarray. Only relatively low amounts of gas can be pumped by cryosorption, as only a thin layer (up to about 5 monolayers) can be formed on the surfaces before the process ceases. To pump large amounts of gas, a large amount of sorbent material must be used in the pump. The underside of the cryoarray is usually coated with the sorbent material to cryoabsorb the non condensable gases. When the sorbent material becomes saturated, the system must be reactivated.
Unfortunately small particles of the activated charcoal can break off the surface of the cryoarray, migrate through the cryopump to the vacuum chamber and onto the surfaces of the work piece being processed thereby causing contamination. This problem is particularly acute in the manufacture of semiconductors where particles of almost any size are likely to produce defects in the end product. The use of ion pumps in conjunction with cryopumps to enhance cryopump performance is disclosed by Johann de Rijke in "Performance of a Cryopump-Ion Pump System," Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, Vol. 15, No. 2, March/April 1978, Pp. 756-767. A standard cryopump with sorbent charcoal on the second stage and a standard noble gas ion pump were used to increase total pumping speed and total capacity of gas that can be pumped before regeneration was needed. The disclosed configuration did not address the problem of vacuum system contamination by charcoal particles.
A turbomolecular vacuum pump having a heat exchanger located in its suction port is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,648 issued May 22, 1990 to Okumura et al. The heat exchanger is connected to a refrigerator through a refrigerant pipe. The refrigerant is cooled from about -100.degree. C. to about -190.degree. C. and is used to condense water vapor.
Getter pumps are a very specialized type of noncryogenic pump. Such a pump functions through the chemical sorption of reactive gases that contact the surface of the getter material, such as an alloy of zirconium-vanadium-iron. The sorption of gas molecules by the getter material will continue until the surface layers become saturated, at which point the material must be reactivated by raising under a vacuum, the temperature of the getter material to several hundred .degree. C. As is well known heating causes the sorbed gas molecules to diffuse into the bulk of the getter material or, as is the case with H.sub.2, be driven off as a gas. Many active gases when sorbed into a getter act as "poisons" in the sense that they are irreversibly combined with the getter material thus limiting the useful life of the pump. Getter pumps are typically used for ultra-high vacuum pumping where a vacuum is needed for long periods of times, e.g,, in high energy particle accelerators or in the purification of low pressure rare gases. In applications where the vacuum chamber pressures vary considerably or where work cycles are encountered with new gases being periodically introduced, such as in the manufacture of semiconductors, getter pumps quickly lose their capacity to efficiently pump chemically active gases normally present. After about 40 work cycles the getter material becomes substantially degraded through irreversible sorption of the gases requiring replacement of the entire getter material, For this reason getter pumps have been restricted to special applications where they will not be exposed to large active gases that are irreversibly sorbed by the getter.
In a cryopump structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,839, "Methods and Apparatus for Cryogenic Vacuum Pumping with Reduced Contamination" filed Nov. 27, 1991 by F. Engle and J. de Rijke, the charcoal sorbent material is eliminated to remove the potential contamination caused by charcoal flaking, In place of the charcoal an auxiliary pumping device, such as an ion pump, is employed to remove the difficult to condense gases, such as helium and neon. Cryocondensed argon assists in cryotrapping hydrogen molecules from the main vacuum chamber, A gate valve connecting the ion pump and the main cryogenic pump is closed during periods of high gas loading to prevent overloading of the ion pump. Although such a cryopump system is effective in removing helium and neon without the potential contaminate of charcoal, the system is primarily effective in removing hydrogen gas in applications where a large amount of condensible gas is also pumped, such as argon employed in sputtering applications. Unfortunately hydrogen also is a major contaminant in most semiconductor manufacturing processes.
It is a general object of the present invention to provide an improved structure for vacuum pumping an enclosed chamber and provide consistent vacuum pressures suitable for use in the manufacture of semiconductors.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a cleaner vacuum pumping environment wherein a potential contaminate of the vacuum chamber by a sorbent charcoal material is eliminated.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved pumping apparatus and method for pumping an enclosed chamber containing among other gases, hydrogen.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved pumping structure for pumping an enclosed chamber on a continuous basis independent of the application or vapor loading.

Hybrid cryogenic vacuum pump apparatus and method of operation


A brake corner assembly includes a steering knuckle fixed against rotation, a rotary member including a outer surface, and a shield secured to the steering knuckle and including a ring including a sealing surface located adjacent to the outer surface, the sealing surface having a first diameter that is substantially equal to a second diameter of a portion of the outer surface that is adjacent to the sealing surface.

This invention relates generally to a brake corner and halfshaft, and more particularly to protecting the wheel bearing and other components against entry of foreign material.
A wheel speed sensor produces a signal representing wheel speed, which is supplied as input to an electronic control unit. Such sensors, which are mounted at a wheel bearing assembly, are susceptible to debris impingement and damage due to the foreign matter from the road surface that accumulates on the magnetic encoder.
A seal or shield, particularly one made of steel or another metal, can produce noise between a rotating part of the brake corner assembly and a stationary steering knuckle. To avoid the noise, a metal shield would need a gap with the rotating part, which will reduce the effectiveness of the shield.
A need exists in the industry for a seal or shield that prevents or limits entry of foreign matter to the interior of a brake corner assembly where the bearings and speed sensor are located. Preferably the shield would be easily and quickly installed on the steering knuckle with a light force producing an interference fit. The shield should avoid or minimize frictional drag between the shield and a rotating halfshaft that transmits power to a wheel hub. The frictional drag will be reduced to effectively zero as the rubber lip is worn to a net fit with the rotating part. The shield should be produced and installed at low cost.


Identification of corrupted event data may be provided. Calendar events, such as appointments and meetings, may be created and copied to a plurality of attendee calendars. Changes to the event may be logged and, if the change results from a user interaction with a user interface, a user intent identifier may be associated with the log entry. Other changes that do not result from direct user interaction may not be associated with the user intent identifier. Event corruption detection may identify out-of-sync properties between two calendar events associated with the same meeting and, if the out-of-sync property is not associated with the user intent identifier, the properties may be updated to match each other.

Calendar repair is a process for updating meeting properties using a standardized message. In some situations, different copies of meeting events may be either inconsistent between organizers and attendees or contain corrupted data. Once bad meetings are identified, a mechanism is needed to repair the inconsistencies and/or corruptions. Conventional systems do not leverage existing calendar processing workflow and use direct-write access to each event. This causes problems because this can actually cause the sort of corruption of the event that the repair is meant to correct. Further, inconsistent or corrupted properties may be copied from one calendar to another.

Identifying corrupted data on calendars with client intent


Methods and devices for estimating at least one property of a volume of interest of an earth formation from a radiation based measurement. Methods include using an optimization procedure to determine an optimal mineralogical model in dependence upon a secondary dependence relation between tool measurements, the mineralogical model including a mineralogical composition of the volume. The secondary dependence relation may include a relation between a plurality of estimated elemental concentrations for the volume. The mineralogical composition may include a concentration of each mineral of a plurality of minerals of the volume. The relation may include a ratio of a first elemental concentration of the plurality of estimated elemental concentrations and a second elemental concentration of the plurality of estimated elemental concentrations. Methods may include using at least one cost function to determine the optimal mineralogical model, wherein the at least one cost function is determined using the relation.

Using electrical, acoustic, and nuclear techniques to investigate an earth formation is well known. For example, nuclear well logging systems have been utilized in hydrocarbon exploration for many years. In many these nuclear well logging systems, reliance is made upon the physical phenomenon that the energy of gamma rays given off by nuclei resulting from natural radioactive decay or induced nuclear radiation are indicative of the presence of certain elements within the formation. For example, naturally radioactive elements are commonly found in earth formations in various proportions. Radioactive isotopes of potassium, uranium, and thorium are typical regularly occurring naturally radioactive elements. Thus, radiation detected at an instrument in the borehole is indicative of various formation properties, including information about the elements contained within an earth formation and the minerals of the formation in which these elements are contained.
A rigid or non-rigid conveyance device is often used to convey one or more nuclear radiation detectors or other sensors into a borehole intersecting the earth formation, often as part of a tool or a set of tools. There, the sensors(s) may be used to estimate physical phenomena (e.g., radiation) associated with an earth formation by generating a response at the sensor, such as, for example, a response to the one or more types of nuclear radiation present in the near-borehole environment during measurement for a radiation detector. This response may then be used to estimate a parameter of interest of the formation. In nuclear logging, additional radioactive isotopes may be generated by providing radiation (e.g., neutron bombardment) to the formation.
Well logging systems have been utilized in hydrocarbon exploration for many years. Such systems provide data for use by geologists and petroleum engineers in making many determinations pertinent to hydrocarbon exploration. In particular, these systems provide data for defining the elements, minerals, or lithology of subsurface formations which may be used in identifying hydrocarbon-productive zones, subsurface structural mapping, and generating operational procedures to be executed for the formation.

Geological constraint using probability functions in stochastic mineralogy modeling


An oligosaccharide mixture derived from animal milk, food products comprising said oligosaccharide mixture and a process for producing said oligosaccharide mixture.

The human large intestine is colonised with a wide range of bacteria that have both positive and negative effects on gut physiology as well as having other systemic influences. Predominant groups of bacteria found in the colon include bacteroides, bifidobacteria, eubacteria, clostridia and lactobacilli. The bacteria present have fluctuating activities in response to substrate availability, redox potential, pH, O2 tension and distribution in the colon. In general intestinal bacteria can be divided into species that exert either potentially harmful or beneficial effects on the host. Pathogenic effects (which may be caused by clostridia or bacteroides, for example) include diarrhoea, infections, liver damage, carcinogenesis and intestinal putrefaction. Health-promoting effects may be caused by the inhibition of growth of harmful bacteria, stimulation of immune functions, improving digestion and absorption of essential nutrients and synthesis of vitamins. An increase in numbers and activities of bacterial groups (such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli) that may have health promoting properties is desirable.
As far as infants specifically are concerned, immediately before birth, the gastrointestinal tract of a baby is thought to be sterile. During the process of birth, it encounters bacteria from the digestive tract and skin of the mother and starts to become colonised. Large differences exist with respect to the composition of the gut microbiota in response to the infant's feeding. The decal flora of breast-fed infants includes appreciable populations of bifidobacteria with some Lactobacillus species, whereas formula-fed infants have more complex microbiota, with bifidobacteria, bacteroides, clostridia and streptococci all usually present. After weaning, a pattern of gut microbiota that resembles the adult pattern becomes established.
Mother's milk is recommended for all infants. However, in some cases breast feeding is inadequate or unsuccessful for medical reasons or the mother chooses not to breast feed. Infant formulas have been developed for these situations.
One approach to promote the numbers and/or activities of beneficial bacteria in the colon is the addition of prebiotics to foodstuffs. A prebiotic is a non-digestible food ingredient that beneficially affects the host by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacteria in the colon, and thus improves host health. Such ingredients are non-digestible in the sense that they are not broken down and absorbed in the stomach or small intestine and thus pass intact to the colon where they are selectively fermented by the beneficial bacteria. Examples of prebiotics include certain oligosaccharides, such as fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and galactooligosaccharides (GOS).
Human milk is known to contain a larger amount of indigestible oligosaccharides than most other animal milks. In fact, indigestible oligosaccharides represent the third largest solid component (after lactose and lipids) in breast milk, occurring at a concentration of 12-15 g/l in colostrum and 5-8 g/l in mature milk. Human milk oligosaccharides are very resistant to enrymatic hydrolysis, indicating that these oligosaccharides may display essential functions not directly related to their calorific value.
As the composition of human milk becomes better understood, it has also been proposed to add prebiotics to infant formula. Various infant formulas supplemented with prebiotics such as mixtures of fructooligosaccharides and galactooligosaccharides for example are commercially available. However, such mixtures approximate only roughly the mixture of oligosaccharides in human milk. Over 100 different oligosaccharide components have been detected in human milk some of which have not been so far detected in animal milks such as bovine milk at all or have been detected only in small quantities. Examples of classes of human milk oligosaccharide that are present in bovine milk and colostrum only in very small quantities or not at all are sialylated and fucosylated oligosaccharides.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2003/0129278 describes an oligosaccharide mixture based on oligosaccharides produced from one or several animal milks which is characterized in that it comprises at least two oligosaccharide fractions which are each composed of at least two different oligosaccharides, with free lactose not pertaining thereto. The total spectrum of the oligosaccharides present in the oligosaccharide mixture differs from those present in the animal milk or animal milks from which the oligosaccharide fractions were extracted. Further a) if said oligosaccharides are extracted from only one animal milk the proportion of neutral oligosaccharides to acidic (sialylated) oligosaccharides is 90-60: 10-40 weight %, or b) if said oligosaccharides are extracted from at least two animal milks, the oligosaccharides extracted from two different animal milks each make up 10 weight % of the total amount of oligosaccharides present in the oligosaccharide mixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,462 describes a process for recovering, from cheese whey or rennet whey, sialic acid-bound oligosaccharides, sialic acid-bound peptides and sialic acid-bound lipids at a high concentration, comprising the steps of adjusting cheese whey or rennet whey to a pH of 2-5; contacting the whey with a cation exchanger to produce an exchanger-passed solution; and concentrating and/or desalting said exchanger-passed solution. The resulting composition with a high content of sialic acids can be utilized as food materials or medical materials.
EP 0 458 358 relates to a process for producing skim milk powder containing 10-15% by weight of galacto-oligosaccharide, which comprises:
(i) concentrating skim milk to obtain concentrated milk with a solid content of 20-50% by weight,
(ii) adding β-galactosidase to the concentrated milk to give rise to an enzymatic reaction,
(iii) heating the resulting reaction mixture for 30 seconds to 15 minutes to a temperature of 70-85° C. in order to terminate the enzymatic reaction, and
(iv) spray-drying the reaction-terminated mixture.
An object of the invention is to provide an oligosaccharide mixture which is effective as a prebiotic, particularly in the human gut and which has an oligosaccharide profile closer to that of human milk than that provided by mixtures of fructo- and galacto-oligosaccharides.


A portable air purifier may include a case having an accommodation space, a front side and a rear side of which are open; a fan assembly accommodated in the accommodation space and including a blower fan; a fan cover disposed in front of and coupled to the fan assembly in the accommodation space; and a filter module disposed behind the fan assembly in the accommodation space. The case may include a first support surface that protrudes from an inner circumferential surface of the case and disposed behind the fan cover to face the fan cover, and a second support surface that protrudes from the inner circumferential surface of the case and disposed in front of at least a portion of the filter module to face the at least a portion of the filter module. The fan cover and the filter module may be coupled in a frontward-rearward direction with the first support surface and the second support surface interposed therebetween and may be fixed to the case.

Air purifiers are devices widely used in modern life and are devices for purifying air by filtering physical particles such as dust, fine particles, and ultrafine particles, chemical substances such as odor particles and harmful gases, and microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses.
The air purifiers are becoming essential devices even in general households under the influence of urbanization, industrialization, and internationalization. In addition, the demand for the air purifiers is rapidly increasing due to an increase in fine particles, an increase in allergic patients, and an improvement in living standards.
When the air purifier is intended for an environment in a general household which has an area exceeding 100 m2, the air purifier may have a large size. In the air purifier, filters corresponding to physical particles such as dust, filters corresponding to chemical substances such as gases, and filters corresponding to microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses may be used in combination. That is, a large size air purifier capable of accommodating various filters may be used in a wide space.
However, a large size air purifier is inefficient for being used in a narrow space such as a studio or a vehicle interior, a very wide space such as a public library, or an outdoor space in terms of space utilization, mobility, and energy consumption. In addition, rather than the large size air purifier, an air purifier, which is small and is portably usable by an individual, may be more suitable for users who move frequently. Under such circumstances, portable air purifiers which may be carried and used by individuals are being developed.
The portable air purifiers are provided in a small and light form so as to be easily portable. Such a portable air purifier has an advantage in that a user may easily carry and use the portable air purifier in a desired place. That is, the portable air purifier is a device suitable for a user who has a living pattern of frequently going out or moving to various places, rather than staying in the same place such as a home, a long time.
However, a discharge amount of purified air of the portable air purifier is inevitably smaller than that of a general air purifier installed and used in one place. In addition, a front discharge range of purified air discharged through the portable air purifier is inevitably relatively narrow. This is a problem inevitably caused due to an air purifier being miniaturized. As a portable air purifier is miniaturized, it is more difficult to increase a discharge amount and a front discharge range of purified air.
As described above, when the discharge amount and the front discharge range of the purified air of the portable air purifier are reduced, it is difficult for the purified air of the portable air purifier to reach a user, and in particular, a user's face. As described above, when it is difficult for the purified air of the portable air purifier to reach the user's face, it is difficult for the portable air purifier to provide proper air purification performance.


A new and distinct grapevine variety denominated ‘INIA-G3’. The new grapevine is characterized by producing muscat flavored berries, that are ovoid, red, with firm texture, small seed traces and midseason ripening. The clusters are abundant in the vine, large in size and naturally loose, with good keeping and shipping quality.

The present invention relates to the discovery and asexual propagation of a new variety of grapevine, Vitis vinifera L. denominated 'INIA-G3'. This new cultivar resulted from controlled hybridization between 'Moscatel Rosado' (♀, unpatented) and 'Emperatriz' (♂, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,833) performed at latitude 33°35°58′02″S 72°18′56″O, corroborated by molecular markers techniques. The maternal parent 'Moscatel Rosado' was emasculated and hand pollinated with pollen from 'Emperatriz'. Plants were produced from maternal parent 'Moscatel Rosado' seeds. Specifically, the seeds were germinated and planted in Cauquenes, Chile. The new variety 'INIA-G3' was selected and asexually propagated from dormant cuttings in Cauquenes, Chile. In 2006, 'INIA-G3' was introduced to latitude 33°34′18″S, 70°37′46″W for its agronomical characterization.

INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES AGROPECUARIAS


A terminal device includes a controller configured to: transmit, to a device management server, an account information item having been registered in the device management server; receive, from the device management server, a target identification information item being for identifying a target device having been provisionally registered in association with the account information item, being unique identification information and being different from an IP address of the target device, and being assigned to the target device in advance before the target device is connected to a LAN where the terminal device is connected; specify the target device identified by the target identification information item from one or more devices connected to the LAN; and execute a formal registration process for formally registering the specified target device associated with the account information item in the device management server.

There has been proposed a technology in which, in a case where a terminal device belongs to a LAN (abbreviation for Local Area Network) and a user inputs the IP addresses of a plurality of information devices connected to the LAN, the terminal device transmits the plurality of inputted IP addresses to a registration server on internet. The registration server notifies the number of received IP addresses to a management server on the internet, and receives a PIN (abbreviation for Personal Identification Number) code from the management server. Then, with respect to each of the plurality of IP addresses, the registration server generates a URL (abbreviation for Uniform Resource Locator) including the corresponding IP address and the PIN code. Subsequently, the registration server transmits the plurality of generated URLs to the terminal device. In the case where the user selects a URL from the plurality of URLs, the terminal device transmits a PIN code including the selected URL to an information device having the IP address included in the selected URL. If the information device receives the PIN code from the terminal device, it transmits a connection request including the PIN code to the management server. If the PIN code is authenticated in the management server, the information device receives a token from the management server. As a result, the information device can perform communication with the management server, using the token.

Terminal device and communication system for device registration


A process for separating iron +3 from uranium +6 is an organic solution of a neutral phosphine oxide and an acid organophosphorus compound. The uranium-containing organic solution is contacted with aqueous oxalic acid or an aqueous mixture of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid so that most of the uranium remains in the organic solution and most of the iron passes into the aqueous acid.

The subject of the invention is a process for the separation of iron from an organic solution containing uranium.
More generally, the invention relates to a process for the extraction of uranium present in phosphoric acid solutions, especially in phosphoric acid solutions obtained from phosphate ores containing iron.
It is known that phosphate ores generally contain quantities of uranium which may be recovered during the treatment of phosphate ores with sulfuric acid.
This recovery is worthwhile, considering the large tonnage of phosphate ores treated with sulfuric acid.
During the treatment of ores with sulfuric acid, uranium passes into solution in the phosphoric acid obtained and processes for recovering uranium from the phosphoric acid employ suitable organic solvents such as those described in French Patent No. 2,369,803, which consist of a synergetic mixture of extractants.
The process developed using these solvents enables uranium to be extracted and purified in a single cycle, and iron is removed from the decanters in the form of a precipitate, when uranium is reextracted using ammonium carbonate.
New solvents, described in French Patent No. 2,442,796, certificate of addition No. 2,459,205 and French Patent No. 2,494,258, have also been developed.
These new solvents consist of stronger synergetic pairs. These new solvents extract larger amounts of uranium, but they also extract more iron, which makes the alkaline reextraction of uranium difficult, because of the undesirable presence of iron hydroxides which precipitate in an alkaline medium.
The use of organic solvents such as trioctylphosphine oxide and di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid with dilute and substantially iron-free phosphoric acid has also been envisaged, but this process has the disadvantage either of bringing about a significant coextraction of uranium with the iron and therefore a loss of uranium which passes into the aqueous phase, or of having to operate in a dilute phosphoric acid medium which subsequently makes it necessary to reconcentrate the phosphoric acid or results in a loss of the latter (cf. French Patent No. 2,459,837).
The subject of the invention is a process for the extraction of uranium from an organic solution containing it and contaminated with iron.
One of the aspects of the invention is to provide a process for the separation of iron contamination an organic solution containing uranium, which process also enables uranium to be extracted at a high rate.
One of the other aspects of the invention is to provide a process which enables solvents capable of extracting uranium with a high yield to be used with ease, while eliminating the problems caused by the presence of iron.
One of the other aspects of the invention is to provide a process for the extraction of uranium which only comprises a single extraction-reextraction cycle, which avoids a second purification cycle and the dual operation of reduction-oxidation to reextract uranium, while overcoming the difficulties of carrying out the operation of direct alkaline reextraction of uranium.
One of the aspects of the invention is to provide a process for the separation of iron contaminating an organic solution containing uranium, which process does not require the valency of the uranium or that of the iron to be changed at any time.
One of the aspects of the invention is to provide a process for removing iron from or de-ironing phosphoric acid, which can be applied industrially and which can advantageously be integrated into a plant for the manufacture of phosphoric acid from rock phosphates, in which it is also desired to recover the uranium contained in the acid phosphates.

Process for the separation of iron from an organic solution containing uranium

Compagnie Generale des Matieres Nucleaires (Cogema)


A method and system for nip gap adjustment of a roller pair such as is used in a printing device with a fusing station for fusing a substance to a substrate and a sheet transfer path for transporting the substrate through the device. The roller pair may be located along the sheet transfer path after the fusing station and includes a first roll having a first axis of rotation and a second roll having a second axis of rotation, the second roll operatively positioned with respect to the first roll so as to transport a substrate with the first roll and the second roll. The device further includes a nip gap changing mechanism for changing the separation between the first axis of rotation and the second axis of rotation to establish a nip gap.

In electrostatographic processes, a light image of an original document is typically recorded in the form of a latent electrostatic image upon a photosensitive member. The latent image is subsequently developed on the photosensitive member by applying electroscopic marking particles, commonly referred to as toner. The visual toner image is then typically transferred from the photosensitive member to another substrate, such as a sheet of plain paper. The transferred image is then affixed to the substrate, typically by using heat and pressure applied to the substrate at a fusing station.
In order to affix or fuse electrostatic toner material onto a substrate by heat and pressure, the temperature of the toner material is elevated to a point at which the constituents of the toner material coalesce and become tacky while simultaneously applying pressure. This action causes the toner to flow to some extent into the fibers or pores of the substrate. Thereafter, as the toner material cools, it solidifies which causes the toner material to be bonded firmly to the substrate. In the electrostatographic recording arts, the use of thermal energy and pressure for fixing toner images onto a substrate is old and well known.
The substrate is moved, typically from a storage area, through the various stations that perform the above processes by a transport system. There are a variety of transport systems in use that transport and register various substrates, such as paper. In many transport systems, such as those often found in copiers, facsimiles, and printers including inkjet printers and electrostatographic printers, drive mechanisms often include at least one driven elastomer-covered roll backed by a hard idler roll to form a roll pair. The rolls in the roll pair are located on opposite sides of a sheet transport path and one roll may be spring loaded so as to be biased against the second roll. A substrate, such as copy paper, provided to the roll pair is gripped by the roll pair and then advanced by rotation of the roll pair. Thus, the linear movement of the substrate, such as paper, along the sheet transport path requires the roll pair to move apart to form a nip gap small enough allow the substrate through the roll pair while providing sufficient pressure to grip the substrate.
In most conventional transport systems used for printers, copiers and facsimile machines, the types of substrates being transported usually do not vary much. That is, many systems typically encounter only a limited number of different substrate types, such as basic draft sheet stock of a certain weight in basic sizes such as A4 paper or 8.5 inch by 11 inch paper. A typical transport system is designed to transport, for example, 20 lb. bond sheet stock (roughly 75 grams per square meter (GSM)). Occasionally, higher quality bond paper of a slightly higher weight, such as 24 lb. bond (roughly 90 GSM) or 28 lb. bond (roughly 105 GSM) sheet stock is used. These papers typically range from 0.003 inches to 0.004 inches in thickness.
While prior printers, copiers and facsimile machines typically encountered only a handful of different types of substrates, such as A4 or 8.5 inch by 11 inch papers in only a small range of paper weights or densities, today there is a trend toward using more and more diverse varieties of substrates in such systems. These more recent substrates include heavyweight coated papers and media which have a significantly greater thickness than the more traditionally used substrates. The thickness on the heavier substrates may range from 0.008 inches to 0.012 inches. In many instances, the newer and thicker substrates are used when high density images are being reproduced. Thus, the quality of the finished product is generally more closely scrutinized.
A problem arises, however, because the roller pairs along the sheet transport path are designed to provide the desired amount of pressure for substrates substantially narrower than the thickness of the of heavyweight coated substrates. That is, in conventional transport systems, all substrates are transported using the same transport system configuration. Thus, the same configuration of roll pairs is used for all substrates regardless of the type of substrate being used. Accordingly, all of the roll pairs along the sheet transport path are configured to provide the desired pressure for the narrowest thickness of substrate (generally, the lowest weight substrate). The pressure generated by the roll pairs, however, is significantly greater than the pressure needed to transport the heavyweight coated substrates. This results in more compression of the substrate than is required for the roll pair to properly grip the substrate so as to move the substrate along the sheet transport path. Moreover, it is possible for roll marks to be imprinted onto the substrate as a result of the excessive pressure exerted on the substrate.
The problem of over-compression is of particular concern for the roll pairs located after a fusing station. As discussed above with respect to the fusing station of an electrostatographic device, fusing stations subject the substrate to a high temperature and pressure. In an electrostatographic device, this is done in order to melt the toner or other media and force the toner or other media into the substrate. In an ink type printer, a fusing station may be similarly used to fuse an ink image onto a substrate such as by melting a solid ink image transferred to a substrate. Consequently, whenever a fusing process is used to fuse a substance to a substrate, the fusing process causes changes in the substrate that make the substrate more susceptible to blemishes. For example, the high temperature and pressure tends to drive out some of the natural moisture in the substrate causing the substrate to become more brittle. Additionally, a portion of the toner/ink is fused onto the surface of the substrate, making the substrate stiffer. Moreover, both the substrate and the added layer of toner/ink must be forced into roller pairs after the fusing station that are typically configured for thinner substrates.
The resulting over compression of the substrate may result in differential gloss or substrate corrugation leading to discernable and undesired process direction lines in the finished product. For example, particularly with respect to the first roll pair after the fusing station, the fused toner/ink is still relatively warm. Thus, the first roll pair encountered after the fusing station may cause differential cooling of the fused toner/ink leading to differential gloss as well as actually distorting the still warm toner/ink.

Method and system for roller pair adjustment


A medical use honeycomb structure having a plurality of through-holes extending in one direction, wherein an outer peripheral section of the medical use honeycomb structure has a through-hole groove formed by incomplete side walls of the through-hole, and a through-hole inlet adjacent to the through-hole groove.

In the clinical practice of medicine and dentistry, defective tissues may be regenerated or reconstructed with medical materials. At that time, it may be expected that medical materials bind to surrounding tissues. An important initial step such as the binding of medical materials to surrounding tissues is the adhesion of cells or the binding of tissues to material surfaces. The conduction of tissues or the migration of cells is unlikely to occur unless medical materials are fixed to surrounding tissues.
Among the medical materials, since cells or tissues can easily penetrate to the interior of porous materials, the porous materials often exhibit excellent functions. The porous materials are classified into closed-pore porous materials and interconnected porous materials. In case of expecting replacement of tissues with medical materials, interconnected porous materials in which cells can penetrate to the interior of the materials are highly useful. Hence, a method for producing an interconnected porous material by introducing and incinerating a pore forming material has been proposed as disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2.
Meanwhile, as reported in Non Patent Literature 1, tissues such as bones are variously oriented depending on sites, and such orientation of tissues has been found to improve functions. However, as pointed out in Non Patent Literatures 2 and 3, etc., regenerated bones are poorly orientational and poorly functional. Therefore, it has been pointed out that inducing orientation is necessary.
As for orientational interconnected porous materials, a production method applying the principle of ice columns has been proposed as disclosed in Patent Literatures 3 to 7. However, the orientational interconnected porous materials produced by applying the principle of ice columns are not always sufficiently orientational. Furthermore, strict temperature control is necessary for the growth of ice columns, resulting in poor productivity and a high production cost. Moreover, there are big problems such as the impossibility of producing orientational interconnected porous materials having exactly the same forms.
Meanwhile, honeycomb structures produced by extrusion molding or the like reported in Patent Literatures 8 and 9, etc. exhibit ideal orientational interconnected porous materials. However, the honeycomb structures produced heretofore do not always exhibit the sufficient ability to bind to tissues or to adhere to cells and are not medical materials satisfactory for tissue regeneration/reconstruction.
Hence, Patent Literature 10 discloses a technique of forming a plurality of grooves on the surface of a substrate section formed into a plate-shape by cutting a honeycomb structure at its plane parallel to a through-hole direction. The technique disclosed in Patent Literature 10, as compared with honeycomb structures that maintain an outer peripheral side wall, is excellent in the adhesiveness or binding of cells or tissues to a material surface, but is not sufficient in terms of functions such as binding to surrounding tissues because cells or tissues cannot penetrate to the interior of the honeycomb structure from the outer peripheral side wall.
Patent Literature 11 discloses a technique of making a hole that passes through an outer peripheral side wall of a honeycomb structure. This allows cells or tissues to penetrate to the interior of the honeycomb structure from the outer peripheral side wall. Hence, the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 11, as compared with honeycomb structures having no hole in an outer peripheral side wall, is excellent in the adhesiveness or binding of cells or tissues to a material surface, but requires a very high production cost. Furthermore, the ability of an outer peripheral surface to bind to surrounding tissues was not sufficient. Moreover, the orientation of surrounding tissues in the outer peripheral side wall was totally uncontrollable.

KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION


Composite materials containing sulfurized polymers and sulfur-containing particles can be used in lithium-sulfur energy storage devices as a positive electrode. The composite material exhibits relatively high capacity retention and high charge/discharge cycle stability. In one particular instance, the composite comprises a sulfurized polymer having chains that are cross-linked through sulfur bonds. The polymer provides a matrix in which sulfide and/or polysulfide intermediates formed during electrochemical charge-discharge processes of sulfur can be confined through chemical bonds and not mere physical confinement or sorption.

Elemental sulfur is an attractive cathode material for lithium batteries because of its high theoretical capacity (1672 mAh/g) and specific energy (2600 Wh/kg), assuming complete reaction of lithium with sulfur to form Li2S. It also has the advantage of relatively low cost and environmental impact as an electrode material. Practical realization of an acceptable Li—S battery is a challenge for at least two reasons. Elemental sulfur, and its discharge products, has a highly electrically insulating nature (5×10−30 S cm−1 at 25° C.), which can lower both electrochemical activity and the utilization ratio of sulfur. Another issue commonly associated with the Li—S system is poor cyclability caused by the high solubility of the intermediate lithium polysulfide, Li2Sx (2≤x≤8), formed during both charge and discharge processes. Dissolved polysulfides can diffuse to the lithium anode where they are then subsequently reduced to short chain polysulfides. Those soluble species can also transport back to the cathode and be reoxidized into long chain polysulfides. The above parasitic process creates an internal shuttle reaction, which results in low coulombic efficiency. Moreover, a fraction of the soluble polysulfides are strongly reduced into insoluble Li2S2 and/or Li2S, which are then deposited on the anode surface and gradually form a thick layer upon repeated cycling. The same phenomenon also occurs on the cathode surface during discharge. The deactivated insoluble agglomerates on both electrodes can lead to a progressive loss of active materials, inaccessibility of the active components in the interior sulfur electrode, a serious morphology change of the electrode, and increased cell impedance. These cumulative effects can then be reflected in a rapid capacity degradation of the Li—S battery upon charge/discharge cycling.
In order to address the aforementioned challenges, a matrix can be designed to not only support good conductivity and dispersion of sulfur, but also, to constrain sulfur and the polysulfides within a framework. However, simple physical confinement and/or sorption does not appear to be sufficiently effective in retarding polysulfide dissolution so as to improve cycle life. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved composite material exhibiting high capacity retention and high charge/discharge cycle stability when utilized as an electrode in Li—S energy storage devices.

Polymer-sulfur composite materials for electrodes in Li-S energy storage devices


A system and method for backing up files to a single-instance storage system are disclosed. The files may be split into segments, and the file data may be stored in the single-instance storage system as individual segments. The single-instance storage system uses the concept of a file region which covers multiple segments of the file. If a region of a file is unchanged from one backup to the next, the system may use a region object to refer to the unchanged region. This avoids the need to update the reference information for each of the segments within the region, thus increasing the efficiency of backing up the new version of the file.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data backup software for computer systems. More particularly, the invention relates to backup software which operates to efficiently backup files in a de-duplication storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large organizations often use backup storage systems which backup files used by a plurality of client computer systems. The backup storage system may utilize data de-duplication techniques to avoid the amount of data that has to be stored. For example, it is possible that a file changes little or not at all from one backup to the next. De-duplication techniques can be utilized so that portions of the file data which have already been backed up do not need to be backed up again. The file may be split into multiple segments, and the file segments may be individually stored in the backup storage system as segment objects. When a new version of the file is backed up, the backup software may check whether or not segment objects representing the current file segments are already stored in the backup storage system. Each segment object which is already stored may be referenced again without storing a new duplicate of the segment object.
If a particular version of a file is deleted from the backup storage system, the underlying segment objects referenced by the version also need to be deleted, but only if they are not referenced by other versions of the file (or referenced by other files). The backup software may store reference information for each segment object to decide when the segment object can be deleted. When each respective version of the file is added to the system, the reference information for each segment object used by the respective version may be updated to indicate that it is used by the respective version. Similarly, when each respective version of the file is deleted from the system, the reference information for each segment object used by the respective version may be updated to indicate that it is no longer used by the respective version. When the reference information for a given segment object indicates that it is no longer used by any versions of any files then the given segment object can be deleted.
Unfortunately, updating the reference information for each segment object can be inefficient. For example, consider a large database file several hundred gigabytes in size. It is likely that only a small percentage, e.g., 10%, of the segments of the file change from one backup to the next. Although the 90% of the segments which are unchanged can be re-used, the reference information for each one still needs to be updated, which adds significant performance overhead to the backup operation.
Some backup storage systems need to update the reference information for existing segment objects tens or hundreds of millions of times each day. In some systems, the time needed to update the reference information is a majority of the overall time needed to perform the backup operations. Thus, updating the reference information is a limiting factor in the scalability of some de-duplication storage systems.

De-duplication storage system with improved reference update efficiency


The general field of the invention is that of optical position/orientation devices for a helmet and more particularly those whose helmet comprises neither emitters, nor receivers but solely passive optical components, detection of which is ensured by fixed opto-electronic means outside the helmet. The optical component for the optical device for detecting position/orientation of a helmet according to the invention comprises a particular “optical cube corner”. It comprises a prism in the form of a trirectangular trihedron, each of the three plane surfaces of the trihedron comprising a blade with plane and mutually parallel faces, the first face being coincident with the plane surface on which it rests, the interface between this first face and said surface comprising a semi-reflecting treatment.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of optical devices for detecting the instantaneous position and instantaneous orientation of the helmet worn by an aircraft pilot. In a general manner, a particular position and orientation of the helmet will be called a posture hereinafter in the text. For certain aeronautical applications, pilots' helmets are furnished with viewing devices making it possible to generate, in the pilot's field of view, information relating to piloting, to navigation or to the weapons system. These helmet visual displays are generally coupled to helmet position and orientation detection systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There exist various systems making it possible to pinpoint the position of a helmet. Systems relying on the analysis of optical signals representative of the position of the helmet are used in particular. These systems necessarily comprise one or more sources of luminous emission and one or more sources of luminous reception. The emission sources may be luminous sights or point sources of light-emitting diode type, fixed to the helmet in a particular arrangement, such as a triangle. The position of the helmet in a determined zone is then obtained by analysis of the images of the diodes received by cameras from several viewpoints and by geometric calculation; the position of the head in space is deduced. Such devices have been produced by the company Karl Zeiss/Denel. It is possible, conversely, to arrange linear arrays of photo-sensors or photodiodes on the helmet and to illuminate them by projectors of particular images in such a way that the analysis, either spatial or temporal, of the signals received by the various photo-detectors makes it possible to retrieve the helmet posture information.
Whatever procedure is chosen, the detected signal is disturbed by solar illumination. Indeed, a part of the solar illumination is diffused by the helmet toward the reconnaissance cameras. It is known that the solar illumination can reach 70 000 lux in the case of a cockpit canopy having a transmission of 70%. The detected signal becomes hardly utilizable if the solar illumination received by the helmet is significant. When the emission sources are on the helmet, their signal is drowned in solar illumination. When the photo-detectors are on the helmet, the signal received from the source is drowned in solar illumination. The means conventionally used to improve detection consists in providing significant source power. It is also possible to emit and receive in a wavelength span situated outside of the visible solar radiation, that is to say situated either in the infrared, or in the near ultra-violet. However, the levels of solar illumination are still high in the infrared and ultraviolet bands and this type of solution requires specific emission and reception sources which necessarily increase the costs of the detection system.
Another solution is represented in FIG. 1. It consists in arranging on the helmet 1, sights 3 represented by triangles in this figure and comprising at least one first optical element 5 of "catadiopter" type having a very high retro-reflection coefficient and a very low diffusion coefficient in the visible region. The detection device comprises a set of fixed cameras 2 associated with an image processing system. Thus, the solar radiation RS is necessarily returned toward the sun as may be seen in FIG. 1 and may not reach the detection cameras 2. For night operation, the detection device comprises a set of fixed light sources 6 illuminating the helmet, the catadiopter 5 having a very high retro-reflection coefficient and a very low diffusion coefficient in the region of emission of the source. Opto-mechanical means 61 and 62 making it possible to produce an image of the light source 6 on the optical axis of the camera 2 complete the device. By using several sights 3 appropriately distributed over the helmet and several fixed cameras, it is possible to cover the entire volume of sweep 4 of the helmet.
Generally, any optical reflector or retro-reflector having the property of reflecting a pencil of light in the same direction as its incident direction is called a "catadiopter". There exist diverse optical means of achieving this function. The subsequent description is more particularly concerned with "optical cube corner" catadiopters. An "optical cube corner" 5 such as represented in FIG. 2 consists of three mutually orthogonal plane mirrors 51. Thus, a pencil of light emitted by the emitting part and illuminating the catadiopter 5 is re-emitted in the same direction toward the receiving part with excellent efficiency as seen in FIG. 3. This figure represents the propagation of light rays L issuing from a point source S in an optical cube corner 5. For the sake of clarity, in this figure, the propagation of the rays takes place in a plane parallel to one of the three mirrors constituting the cube. In this plane, the light rays undergo only two reflections on the mirrors 51. It is easily demonstrated that the image of the source S is a source S′ situated on an axis SC passing through the source S and the center C of the optical cube corner and at equal distance D from the latter. In the same manner, any light beam which does not issue from the source and which strikes the catadiopter produces, on principle, hardly any illumination directed toward the receiving part.
It is clear that the use of a single catadiopter is insufficient to achieve the helmet's instantaneous position and instantaneous orientation function. It may be shown that this reconnaissance is possible by using, inter alia, a tetrahedron whose four vertices are catadiopters. As an example, a method for recognizing the 2D projection of a tetrahedron is described in European patent EP 0 294 101 from the company EI-Op. In this patent, four sources distributed to the four vertices of a tetrahedron give four image points in the image plane of a camera. On the basis of the knowledge of the projected coordinates of the four points, the position of the tetrahedron in space is calculated, once the indeterminacies have been resolved by discrimination of the points and the elimination of aberrant configurations (four given points on a plane correspond to sixteen possible configurations of tetrahedrons of known geometry but whose orientation is to be determined).
Of course, the dependability of the relative position of the points has a direct impact on the accuracy of the position measurement. Indeed, it may be demonstrated that any defect in the geometry of the tetrahedron either from the outset or due to an alteration in the structure will not only degrade the measurement accuracy but also introduce new ambiguities in the discrimination of the points. As an example, an angular deviation of 0.5 mrad in the position of a point of the tetrahedron gives rise to an error of 1 mrad in the measurement. The rigidity of the support, which guarantees compliance with the relative dimensional coordinates of points, is therefore crucial. It is a definite handicap for systems which, being mounted on the user's head, must remain as lightweight as possible.

Optical reflector having semi-reflective blades for a position detection device for a helmet, and helmet comprising such a device


A technique for configuring, in real time, an equipment item receiving and processing primary signals which are transmitted to it by satellite link, the technique including transmitting secondary signals with frequencies spread over a band at least partially overlapping a frequency band occupied by the primary signals, the secondary signals including signalling parameters which are used, in real time, by the equipment item to configure processing applied to the primary signals. The technique is applicable to dynamic switching of beams in a multi-beam satellite and to dynamic switching of frames, for example in a time-division multiple access system.

In a satellite communication system, a station, usually on the ground, transmits a data stream to the payload of the satellite which transmits the data to one or more recipients on the ground using one or more beams. The data are structured in the form of frames, notably to obtain a sharing of the link, for example between a number of users. In this context, a frame is a block of data to be transmitted at a precise instant, on a determined carrier frequency and in a given beam. Also, when the data stream is not organized according to a distribution law that is known in advance and invariable, but contains frames for which the instant of transmission, the destination carrier frequency and/or the destination beam cannot be predicted, the satellite has to dynamically switch the frames. In other words, the satellite must, after having received the frames, determine in real time their transmission parameters and direct them to the appropriate beam.
A first known technique for dynamically switching frames in the satellite is to use a "remote control" type link. A control centre, sometimes referred to by the acronym MCC standing for "Mission Control Centre" transmits the uplink and downlink time/frequency mapping plans to the satellite, which enables the payload to know the frequencies of the carriers, the switching instants and the destination of the frames. However, this technique requires the transmission of a large volume of control data, which is now always in line with the bit rate constraints available on the satellite. This drawback is all the more critical when the switching parameter refresh period is small, or, in other words, when the "dynamism" of the switching is great.
According to a second possible technique, one or more carriers are dedicated to the signalling. In other words, in addition to the primary carrier or carriers which convey the primary signals, a ground station transmits a modulated carrier, on another frequency, dedicated to transporting signalling data. This dedicated carrier is synchronized with the first carrier, and is demodulated by the payload of the satellite to indicate the frequency of the carrier to which the switching must be performed, the switching instants and the destination of the frames. Furthermore, the dedicated carrier may be shared between a number of users according to a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) type multiplexing. However, this second technique requires the occupancy of a portion of the frequency spectrum for the signalling data. Furthermore, the number of carriers or the size of the frequency channel occupied by the signalling depends on the number of ground stations in the network.
According to a third technique which can be envisaged, headers are inserted into the frames of the first signals. The payload of the satellite detects these headers which enable the payload to know the switching instants and the destination of the frames. However, this third technique entails modifying an existing, and therefore potentially standardized, wave form by inserting a specific header or by modifying pre-existing header fields (for example, in the case of ATM-type addressing, ATM standing for "Asynchronous Transfer Mode"). Also, this third technique does not allow (or allows only with difficulty) for a transparent switching of the first signals.

Method for configuring an adaptive processing of primary signals by the transmission of secondary spread-frequency signaling signals


The total number of the scan electrodes is divided into a first scan electrode group and a second scan electrode group. The first scan electrode group drive section for driving the first scan electrode group produces a selection potential and a non-selection potential in the scan period, and supplies scan pulses based on the two potentials in the first half of the scan period. The complex switch section supplies the selection potential produced using the first scan electrode group drive section to the second scan electrode group drive section for driving the second scan electrode group in the latter half of the scan period. The second scan electrode group drive section supplies scan pulses based on the input selection potential.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to technology for the drive circuit of a plasma display device for use in a wall-hanging television set or a large monitor, more particularly, to a plasma display panel drive circuit and a plasma display device.
2. Description of Related Art
An alternating current surface discharge plasma display panel (hereafter referred to as "PDP") being typical as an AC-type comprises a front panel formed of a glass substrate on which scan electrodes and sustain electrodes for carrying out surface discharge are arranged and a rear panel formed of a glass substrate on which data electrodes are arranged. The scan electrodes and the sustain electrodes are disposed in parallel so as to be opposed to the data electrodes, and the scan electrodes, the sustain electrodes and the data electrodes are arranged so as to construct a matrix and to form a discharge space in the clearance. The outer circumferential portions of the panels are sealed with a sealing agent, such as glass frit. Furthermore, discharge cells partitioned by partition walls are provided between both the substrates of the front panel and the rear panel, and phosphor layers are formed in the cell spaces between the partition walls. In the PDP configured as described above, ultraviolet light is generated by gas discharge, and the ultraviolet light excites the red (R), green (G) and black (B) phosphors to emit light for color display.
In this kind of plasma display device, the charging characteristics inside the panel depend on the ambient temperature of the panel, and differences occur in the charged state among the cells depend on the display pattern. Hence, the conventional drive method has a first problem that addressing errors (no discharge in addressed cells) due to excessive or insufficient charge in the inter-electrode space AY between the data electrodes A and the scan electrodes Y are apt to occur.
FIG. 14 shows the writing period of a sub-field. In addition, FIGS. 15A and 15B schematically show the states of the wall charges inside a cell at lines L1 and L2 shown in FIG. 14, respectively. The distribution of the wall charges in the discharge cell at line L1 shown in FIG. 14 is as shown in FIG. 15A. Since the state obtained immediately after the end of the setup period is shown in FIG. 15A, negative wall charges are accumulated sufficiently on the scan electrode SCN, and positive wall charges are accumulated sufficiently on the sustain electrode SUS and the data electrode DATA. On the other hand, the distribution of the wall charges in the discharge cell at line L2 shown in FIG. 14 is as shown in FIG. 15B, and the wall charges distributed on the respective electrodes are reduced in comparison with the state shown in FIG. 15A.
Priming particles floating in a discharge cell space due to setup or sustain discharge and electrons, etc. emitted from MgO activated due to sustain discharge are accelerated by the electric field inside a discharge cell waiting for writing. Hence, the wall charges accumulated by setup are neutralized gradually, and the wall charges on the respective electrodes are reduced as shown in FIG. 15B. If the writing operation is carried out in the state shown in FIG. 15A, discharge delay is decreased because the wall charges and the priming particles are sufficient, whereby favorable writing discharge is made possible. However, if the writing operation is carried out in the state shown in FIG. 15B, discharge delay is increased because both the wall charges and the priming particles are insufficient, whereby writing errors occur frequently and favorable picture quality cannot be obtained. This is a second problem.
To prevent the deterioration of picture quality due to the two problems described above, a method of weakening the electric field inside a discharge cell waiting for writing and suppressing the neutralization of wall charges is taken by raising the scan pulse voltage Vscn. FIG. 16 is a view showing an example of the relationship of the scan pulse voltage Vscn with respect to write-waiting time (the relationship being different depending on the drive method and the panel). The write-waiting time is herein a value represented by multiplying the number n of the scan electrode by the time for one scan pulse. The scan pulse voltage Vscn is higher as the ambient temperature becomes higher and as the write-waiting time becomes longer. Since the upper limit of the scan pulse voltage Vscn is determined by the withstand voltage of the drive circuit for use in the scan electrode drive circuit, such a drivable range as shown in FIG. 16 is present. As the resolution becomes higher to conform to the full high-vision, super high-vision (2 k×4 k), etc. in recent years, the write-waiting time increases abruptly, and the driving in the drivable range becomes difficult.
Accordingly, address drive methods have been disclosed to attain addressing that hardly causes errors even when the ambient temperature is high and to stabilize display without increasing the withstand voltage of the scan electrode drive circuit (for example, refer to the specification of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0028225A1). The PDP drive device disclosed in the specification of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0028225A1 has a scan electrode drive circuit and a sustain electrode drive circuit. The scan electrode drive circuit is provided with sustain pulse generating circuits, setup waveform generating circuits and scan pulse generating circuits, the numbers of which correspond to the number of panel divisions.
In the configuration described in the specification of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 200110028225A1, multiple sustain pulse generating circuits and multiple setup waveform generating circuits are required. Hence, the number of components and the mounting areas of the components increase, and the cost required for the configuration increases. Furthermore, the configuration is applied to a case in which the panel is divided into two blocks and addressing is performed. If it is assumed that the panel is divided into n blocks, the results in that n pieces of sustain pulse generating circuits and n pieces of setup waveform generating circuits are required.

Plasma display panel drive circuit and plasma display device


A fin retention and deployment mechanism includes a detent in each of a plurality of fins, a mechanism that engages the detent, and at least one spring clip that maintains each of the fins in a non-deployed position. The mechanism also includes a gas generator, a manifold, coupled to the gas generator and having a plurality of cylinders in fluid communication with gas from the gas generator, and a plurality of pistons disposed in the cylinders. A bottom of each of the pistons is coupled to each of the fins to provide deployment thereof when a corresponding top of each of the pistons is acted upon by gas from the gas generator. In response to the gas generator expelling gas, the pistons may move the fins to a deployed position.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to the field of fin deployment and retention, and more particularly to the field of fin deployment and retention for projectiles that are guided by fins.
2. Description of Related Art
Projectiles that are guided by fins, such as bombs dropped from aircraft, missiles, etc., may need to be stored in a relatively compact manner prior to deployment. However, the fins on the projectiles may limit the number of projectiles that may be stored in a given space. In addition, storage and transport of projectiles having fins may result in damage to the fins due to movement that can be expected in the course of transportation.
One way to address these issues is to manually detach the fins prior to deployment and then reattach the fins just prior to use. However, this may be impractical for a number of reasons. Manual reattachment may not be possible in situations when projectiles are being stored and then deployed in an automated fashion. For example, it may be desirable to store the projectiles in an aircraft bomb compartment that is opened while the aircraft is in flight.
As an alternative to manual fin deployment, the fins may be folded close to the body of the projectile for storage and transport and then automatically deployed just prior to use. However, for such a system, it is important that all of the fins be reliably deployed for the projectile to operate properly. In addition, it is also useful to avoid premature deployment (e.g., from jostling the aircraft) since premature deployment may cause the fins to be damaged and/or adversely affect deployment of the projectiles altogether.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that addresses the needs set forth above.

Pyrotechnic fin deployment and retention mechanism


A totally enclosed fan cooled (TEFC) induction motor or other type of induction motor auxiliary cooling system has a buffet thermal shroud that is oriented in opposed spaced relationship over existing motor housing cooling fins. An airflow channel is defined between the motor cooling fins and the shroud, for direction and passage of a cooling airflow. Tabs are oriented in the airflow channel between opposed cooling fins where they are in thermal and fluid communication with the cooling air flow. In some embodiments the tabs are shroud fingers that project inwardly from the shroud. The tabs or shroud fingers create turbulence in the cooling air flow that increases convective heat transfer efficiency and contact time between the cooling air and motor cooling fins. Tabs or shroud fingers also absorb heat from the cooling air flow. Shroud fingers also transfer that absorbed heat conductively to the shroud.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to induction motor auxiliary external cooling systems, and more particularly to external auxiliary cooling systems for totally enclosed fan cooled (TEFC) induction motors that enhance external transfer away from the motor housing and cooling efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known TEFC motors are sealed from ambient air, and are often used in harsh environments—weather related or potentially volatile atmospheres that are not suitable for exposure to live electrical power sources. Generally TEFC motors dissipate internal heat by conductive heat transfer through the motor housing. Housing heat transfer is often enhanced by addition of rows of cooling fins projecting from the housing and an external fan/fan shroud that directs cooling air over the external cooling fins. External fan-induced airflow over the fins enhances convective heat transfer away from the motor cooling fins to ambient atmosphere. It is challenging to provide sufficient external cooling air flow over TEFC motor cooling fins—especially when the motor is subjected to a heavy external driven load operating condition. Often a TEFC motor housing or yoke is constructed of cast iron or cast steel, with integrally cast cooling fins. Those metals have lower thermal conductivity than other metals, such as copper or aluminum. Copper or aluminum may not have sufficient structural strength for higher power induction motor housings. It is not always economically feasible to construct TEFC motor housings from steel or cast iron, and then attach higher conductivity copper or aluminum cooling fins to the housing exterior. An additional heat transfer challenge for TEFC motors is their use of exterior paint and/or sound-deadening coatings that are relatively poor thermal conductors. Those coatings further degrade heat transfer capabilities of TEFC motor housings.
Under extreme motor load conditions the only practical recourse may be to substitute a more expensive totally enclosed water cooled motor for a TEFC motor. While the substitution may be acceptable for new motor installations, it may not be practical or cost effective to swap out a TEFC motor for new water cooled motor if the shop floor does not have an available cooling water source. Some operating environments are not suitable for water cooled motors. Retrofitting a water cooled motor for an otherwise adequately functional TEFC motor is disruptive to shop activities, requires capital purchase and installation costs for the replacement motor, and costs associated with discarding the old motor. It is more desirable to retrofit existing TEFC motors with enhanced cooling capabilities rather than swap them out with totally enclosed water cooled motors. New enhanced cooled TEFC motors give motor users more flexibility in choosing motor types suitable for their applications.

Induction motor auxiliary cooling system


A terminal and a method are described herein for offering termination-side services to a user. In one embodiment, the terminal (e.g., cellular terminal, enterprise or residential wireline device, mobile device) is configured to provide one or more termination-side services (e.g., color ring back tone, voice mail, call diversion, hold before answer) to the user. The terminal is further configured to enable the user to directly setup and manage the one or more termination-side services without interacting with the telecommunication network.

The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to within the following description of the prior art and the present invention.                API Application Programming Interface        CRBT Color (or Customized or Caller) Ring Back Tone        HLR Home Location Register        HSS Home Subscriber Server        HTTP HyperText Transport Protocol        HTTPS HTTP Secure        IMAP Internet Message Access Protocol        IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem        IN Intelligent Networking        IVR Interactive Voice Response        PRBT Personal(-ized) Ring Back Tone        RF Radio Frequency        SMS Short Message Service        VMS Voice (or Video) Mail System
Today's telecommunication networks—both wireline and wireless—offer a variety of different services known as termination-side services to a user (called party). For example, a user might subscribe for a termination-side service known as "color ring back tone" in which the telecommunication network plays a custom ring back tone (often a song clip) to a calling party while the user's phone rings. The user (called party) may have a call forward busy/no answer service in which the telecommunication network routes unanswered or undeliverable calls to a voice mail system. The telecommunication network may also provide an incoming call screening service which bars certain calls from reaching the user (called party) such as anonymous calls or calls from a "black list" of specific telephone numbers.
While the implementations of these termination-side services may differ across technologies and service providers, generally these termination-side services are offered from within the telecommunication network and require coordination across multiple network elements. For example, a termination-side service running in a wireless network—or an IN trigger associated with the service—might be configured on the HLR or HSS and then downloaded to a call server. The call server is configured to handle the call routing and interact with other network elements such as Voice Mail Systems, CRBT/PRBT servers, SCPs, intelligent peripherals, and the like to provide the particular termination-side service.
The existing solutions for termination-side services can be complex to deploy, especially in a multi-vendor environment. Nonetheless, various solutions for termination-side services already exist and their operation is well understood in the telecommunications field. However, the termination-side services which have solutions located within the telecommunication network are largely out of the reach of the end users. For instance, the termination-side services can be difficult to configure or control, by requiring the end user (subscriber) to dial in to an automated voice response system to configure the service, adjust settings, listen to recorded messages, etc. Some termination-side services offer web-based interfaces, but these can be just as cumbersome and they may not be easily accessible from a mobile device.
Another problem with the existing solutions is that the termination-side services are disjointed. For instance, each termination-side service has its own user interface and its own configuration options. So, the end user (subscriber) must learn to use each service separately and cannot coordinate their activities. For example, suppose the end user (subscriber) wants to configure a custom ring back tone and custom voice mail greeting for a given caller. Assuming the telecommunication network allows this level of customization, the end user (subscriber) must separately configure each of these termination-side services. Or suppose, the end user (subscriber) receives a harassing voice mail message and wants to block future calls from the calling party. Listening to the harassing voice mail message and setting up call barring are done in different locations in the telecommunication network.
As a result of being network-based and service operator-controlled, the termination-side services lack flexibility in terms of options and customization by the end user (subscriber). Furthermore, it is impractical for a service provider to offer multiple voice mail solutions from different vendors, for example, because of the cost involved in purchasing, deploying, and maintaining multiple systems that provide the voice mail solutions. Likewise, it is cost-prohibitive for a service operator to install new software upgrades or deploy new features to enhance the termination-side services they already offer to their end users (subscribers). These situations ultimately limit the options available to the end users (subscribers). Accordingly, there has been and is a need to address these problems and other problems to enhance how termination-side services can be provided to an end user (subscriber). These needs and other needs are satisfied by the present invention.

Terminal and method for offering termination-side services


An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which, after crystallizing by using an element that promotes crystallization, holes are prevented from being generated in a crystalline semiconductor film with a concentration of the element in the crystalline semiconductor film decreased by performing gettering. To solve the problem, as a feature of the structure of the invention, in the case of removing a silicon oxide film formed over the semiconductor film, an etchant made of a solution containing fluorine and a substance having surface activity is used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, more specifically, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which holes (cavities, pores or the like) are prevented from being generated in a crystalline semiconductor film.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a method for manufacturing a semiconductor film including amorphous silicon having preferable properties by using an element which promotes crystallization as a method for forming a crystalline semiconductor film including silicon at low temperature and in short time. (See Reference 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H8-213316)
In this method, an amorphous silicon film is formed over a glass substrate, then a film including nickel is formed over the amorphous silicon film, and the amorphous silicon film is crystallized by heating. Accordingly, a crystalline silicon film is obtained.
Then, an amorphous silicon film is further formed through an oxide film that serves as an etching stopper over the crystalline silicon film, and heat treatment is again carried out. Accordingly, the nickel element is diffused into the amorphous silicon film from the crystalline silicon film, thereby decreasing the concentration of nickel in the crystalline silicon film.
The amorphous silicon film into which the nickel element is diffused is removed; however, an oxide film is formed over the surface by being heated during the crystallization. Therefore, the amorphous silicon film is removed after the oxide film is removed using hydrofluoric acid, and further, the oxide film serving as an etching stopper is removed. Accordingly, a crystalline silicon film having preferable properties can be obtained.
According to this method, a crystalline silicon film can be rapidly obtained at low temperature. Furthermore, concentration of nickel in the crystalline silicon film can be reduced.
The crystalline silicon film thus manufactured can be preferably used for a thin film transistor and a capacitor.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.