A first laser beam is radiated to a first radiation position of a welding object while intersecting a wire, and a second laser beam is radiated to a second radiation position that is spaced a predetermined distance from a target position of the wire. Arc welding is performed between the wire and the welding object while radiating the first laser beam and the second laser beam such that the first radiation position, the second radiation position, and the target position are disposed on a welding line of the welding object. In this way, it is possible to prevent the generation of spatter and perform welding at a high rate, without increasing the size of a molten pool.

Laser welding has high energy density and can be performed in a narrow heat-affected zone at a high speed. However, when there is a gap on a welding object, there is a concern that a laser beam will leak from the gap, which makes it difficult to perform welding. In order to solve this problem, many hybrid welding methods using consumable-electrode-type arc welding have been proposed.
For example, FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating the structure of a hybrid welding apparatus according to the related art. Laser generating unit 1 includes laser oscillator 2, laser transmitting unit 3, and focusing optical system 4. Focusing optical system 4 radiates laser beam 5 to the welding position of welding object 6. For example, an optical fiber or a combination of lenses is used as laser transmitting unit 3. Focusing optical system 4 includes one lens or a plurality of lenses. Wire 7 is fed to the welding position of welding object 6 through torch 9 by wire feeding unit 8. Arc generating unit 10 controls wire feeding unit 8. Arc generating unit 10 controls the wire feeding unit to feed wire 7 to the welding position of welding object 6 through torch 9 such that welding arc 11 is generated or stops between wire 7 and welding object 6. Control unit 12 controls laser generating unit 1 and arc generating unit 10. Although not shown in the drawings, laser oscillator 2 outputs a predetermined output value. In addition, laser oscillator 2 receives a signal of the output value set by control unit 12 and outputs a laser beam corresponding to the signal. Similar to laser generating unit 1, the output of arc generating unit 10 is controlled by control unit 12.
The operation of the hybrid welding apparatus having the above-mentioned structure according to the related art will be described below. When welding starts, although not shown in the drawings, control unit 12 receiving a welding start command transmits a laser welding start signal to laser generating unit 1 to start the radiation of laser beam 5. In addition, control unit 12 transmits an arc welding start signal to arc generating unit 10 to start arc discharge. In this way, welding starts. When welding ends, control unit 12 receiving a welding end command transmits a laser welding end signal to laser generating unit 1 to end the radiation of laser beam 5. In addition, control unit 12 transmits an arc welding end signal to arc generating unit 10 to end arc discharge. In this way, welding ends.
Various improvements of the above-mentioned hybrid welding method have been proposed. For example, PTL 1 discloses a technique in which the gap between laser radiation and arc discharge is set to a predetermined value at which arc does not interfere with laser, thereby improving the melting rate of a welding object. In the above-mentioned case, the laser beam does not directly irradiate to the wire and a welding current is almost used for arc welding. NPL 1 discloses a technique in which the size of a molten pool is substantially determined by the size of the molten pool formed by arc welding.
PTL 2 discloses a technique that radiates the laser beam to the wire to reduce the arc current and the size of the molten pool formed by arc welding. PTL 3 discloses a technique in which pulsed arc welding is used as arc welding and the pulse frequency of pulsed arc welding is controlled according to a laser-wire distance at the radiation point of the welding object, thereby improving the gap tolerance.
However, the related art does not disclose a hybrid welding method and a hybrid welding apparatus having all of the above-mentioned advantages. That is, in the related art, it is difficult to reduce arc energy or arc current required to melt the wire and reduce the size of the molten pool formed by welding arc. In addition, it is difficult to prevent the generation of spatter involving the rapid evaporation of a molten droplet formed at the end of the wire. It is also difficult to supply a high laser output to the welding position to obtain a high welding rate.
[PTL 1] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2002-346777
[PTL 2] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2008-93718
[PTL 3] Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2008-229631
[NPL 1] Seiji Katayama, Satoru Uchiumi, Masami Mizutani, Jing-Bo Wang, Koji Fujii, Penetration Characteristics and Porosity Prevention Mechanism in YAG Laser-MIG Hybrid Welding of Aluminum Alloy, Light Metal Welding, 44, 3 (2006)

Hybrid welding method and hybrid welding apparatus


A method is provided for transforming data elements within a classification system based in part on input from a human annotator or expert. A first concept evolution model as a training set is composed from a first set of selectively determinable annotations and the first concept evolution model. A trained model is generated after training a learning algorithm with the training set and the concept evolution model. A confidence factor is computed that a predicted annotation is accurately identified. A selected element instance and a corresponding suggested annotation are identified to have a low confidence factor. The classifying of the applied annotation is adjusted where a second concept evolution model is composed for more accurate classifying of the data item.

The subject development relates to active learning methods and classifying systems for data items such as structured document systems and especially to such systems for adjusting a classifier for document systems wherein the documents or portions thereof can be characterized and classified for improved automated information retrieval. The development relates to a system and method for annotating document elements or adjusting classes of the classifier for the document data elements so the document and its contents can be more accurately categorized and stored, and thereafter better accessed upon selective demand.
In legacy document systems comprising substantial databases, such as where an entity endeavors to maintain an organized library of semi-structured documents for operational, research or historical purposes, the document files often have been created over a substantial period of time and storage is primarily for the purposes of representation in a visual manner to facilitate its rendering to a human reader. There are often no corresponding annotations to the document to facilitate its automated retrieval by some characterization or classification system sensitive to a recognition of the different logical and semantic constituent elements.
Accordingly, these foregoing deficiencies evidence a substantial need for somehow acquiring an improved system for logical recognition of content and semantic elements in semi-structured documents for better reactive presentations of the documents and response to retrieval, search and filtering tasks.
Concept models for annotating such systems usually start with a training set of annotations that can identify element instances in the document or data item being classified, for example, element instances such as author, title or abstract. Such annotations correspond to identification of distinctive features that can be determined to collectively define a class of the element instance which in turn can be interpreted to suggest the appropriate annotation. The training set originates from an annotator/expert involved in the classifying of the data items.
As the complexity and voluminous extent of documents or data collections increase, the difficulties in accurately and quickly classifying the data items in the collections as well as elements in the documents also increase. Better models for the annotating process need to be developed, which if were obtained through only manual efforts of the annotator/expert, would result in highly undesirable inefficiencies in evolving the annotating model. Accordingly, there is a need for a better machine implemented active learning method for evolving a classifier.
The subject development thus also relates to machine training of a classifying system. A wide number of machine learning techniques have also been applied to document classification. An example of these classifiers are neural networks, support vector machines [Joachims, Thorsten, "Text categorization with support vector machines: Learning with many relevant features", Machine Learning: ECML-98. 10th European Conference on Machine Learning, p. 137-42 Proceedings, 1998], genetic programming, Kohonen type self-organizing maps [Merkl, D., "Text classification with self-organizing maps: Some lessons learned", Neurocomputing Vol. 21 (1-3), p. 61-77, 1998], hierarchical Bayesian clustering, Bayesian network [Lam, Wai and Low, Kon-Fan, "Automatic document classification based on probabilistic reasoning: Model and performance analysis", Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Vol. 3, p. 2719-2723, 1997], and Naïve Bayes classifier [Li, Y. H. and Jain, A. K., "Classification of text documents", Computer Journal, 41(8), p. 537-46, 1998]. The Naïve Bayes method has proven its efficiency, in particular, when using a small set of labeled documents and in the semi-supervised learning, when the class information is learned from the labeled and unlabeled data [Nigam, Kamal; Maccallum, Andrew Kachites; Thrun, Sebastian and Mitchell, Tom, "Text Classification from labeled and unlabeled documents using EM", Machine Learning Journal, 2000].
Active learning refers to a framework where the learning algorithm selects the instances to be labeled and then included in the training set. It often allows a significant reduction in the amount of training data needed to train a supervised learning method. Instead of annotating random instances to produce the training set, the active learning suggests to annotate those instances that are expected to maximally benefit the supervised learning method.
The conventional principle of active learning assumes a predefined and fixed concept definition, where the concept refers to the set of classes and their interpretation. The most traditional situation is one of evaluation testbeds, where the concept is predefined and given by a set of classes and a fully annotated collection of examples. Such testbeds are used in different domains in order to test, compare, and eventually improve existing machine learning techniques.
The concept evolution for the annotating model is a change in the class set or a shift in their interpretation. Current systems disallow any concept evolution since any change makes inconsistent the previous concept, along with the associated learning model and training sets. It often requires to restart the training process or, in the best case, to revise a part of the training set concerned with the change.
On the other hand, a possibility to evolve a concept appears as very important in real applications. It often originates from the complexity of input collections and a certain flexibility or even fuzziness in the task definition. For example, in the domain of meta-data extraction from digital and scanned documents and the semantic annotation of Web pages, the design of a learning model starts with some initial "idea" and often goes through a sequence of different corrections and adjustments. Such evolution of the concept may be critical in pursuing the following goals:
1. Refining the problem in a way that better corresponds to given collections, including a discovery of a hidden knowledge (new elements, finer interpretation of existing ones, relations between elements, etc.) that can beneficial for the final application, for faster learning, etc.
2. Better matching quality constraints, imposed by the pricing and contracting causes. It is often preferable to recognize instances of a sub-class AA with 98% accuracy, than instances of a super-class A with accuracy 70%.
3. If the modeling task is shared between different partners that follow (slightly) different concept definitions, the unification of their efforts and models might impose something similar to a concept change.
4. If the deployment of extracted data is changed due to some external reasons, like the domain ontology update.
Unfortunately, any concept change makes a part of the annotations inconsistent. If the investment in annotated samples has been important, retraining a model from scratch represents a substantial cost. To avoid the restart of the process or the re-annotation of "become-inconsistent" training examples, an active learning principle can assist a designer in pivoting the system toward the new concept definition and tuning up the associated learning model.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and systems for retraining a maximum entrophy classifier when incremental changes are made to the definitions of the classes it must detect. The retraining should occur in an active learning framework and the system may choose new instances to be annotated in order to increase classification accuracy with less effort from human annotators.

Method for transforming data elements within a classification system based in part on input from a human annotator or expert


The present invention generally relates to methods for removing an organic deposit or for inhibiting deposition of deposit-forming comprising contacting a cleaning composition or an anti-coking composition with a surface. The surface can have an organic deposit or be susceptible to forming an organic deposit and the surface can be in contact with a liquid containing organics. The liquid can be produced from a thermal recovery system, and the surface can be an internal surface of a piece of steam-generating or vapor-generating equipment.

Unwanted deposits can occur in many industrial systems. For example, organic and silica/silicate deposits are a problem in some boilers and evaporators used in thermal recovery systems. The presence of deposits can significantly reduce system thermal efficiency and productivity, increase operating/maintenance costs, and in some cases lead to equipment failure. Steam generators and evaporators are especially prone to deposits due to operation at elevated temperatures, pH and increased cycles of concentration (COC).
In particular, deposits are prevalent in produced water (steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), steam flood, etc.) plant unit operations. For example, SAGD operations inject steam into geological formations to stimulate the production of bitumen or heavy hydrocarbon. Oil Sands deposits in Alberta, Canada represent an area where this process is extensively used. Pairs of horizontal wells are bored into the oil-containing formation. The upper well injects steam and the lower well which is positioned below the steam injection line, continuously extracts a complex emulsion. That emulsion contains bitumen and water. The emulsion is broken; the bitumen is sent for refining, while the produced water (separated from the emulsion) is treated and reused as feedwater for the steam generators.
This SAGD process for producing bitumen results in large volumes of organic-laden and silica-laden water. There are two options typically used for treating the returned produced water and supplemental makeup water for use as feedwater for steam generation. The first option is warm lime softening (WLS) and is the more traditional method for treating produced water. The treated water quality is poor relative to ABMA/ASME boiler feedwater standard guidelines. However, the use of once-through steam generators (OTSG) mitigates the need for high purity water. In a preferred operation mode of the OTSG, the feedwater can have less than 8000 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) and near zero total hardness and the silica (SiO2) specification is typically less than 50 mg/L. The WLS/Ion exchange process can achieve these requirements.
Evaporation technology (in particular mechanical vapor compression (MVC)) is the second and newer option of water treatment. The main reason for using evaporators to treat produced water is to achieve a very high quality of water so a conventional drum boiler can be used instead of OTSG. However, in some cases, evaporators are used to clean extremely dirty produced water along with other waste streams and other water sources for use as feedwater in OTSG. As the industry looks to more and more recycled water, evaporators will play an important role in treating waste water for reuse. This can be accomplished because the evaporation technology is very robust and can be used on the more difficult to treat waste waters.
With evaporators, a high percentage of produced water is recovered as high quality boiler feedwater. High quality feedwater produced from evaporation enhances reliability of the steam generation equipment. The evaporator footprint is also significantly smaller than conventional WLS treatment.
Because of the nature of the water being treated, evaporators are likewise subject to deposition. Chemical treatment programs are used to minimize deposits, but evaporators can become fouled over time and cleaning is in order. Options for cleaning these systems are chemical in-situ programs or mechanical cleaning.
As a result of significant deposit formation that can occur in unit operations such as evaporators, opportunities exist to improve system operations by using an effective chemical cleaning program. One option to deal with declining performance of Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) evaporators or evaporators in general due to deposits is to implement a chemical wash. Chemical washes may not always be completely effective for dissolving deposits. Some types of cleaning chemistries can be hazardous to both equipment and personnel. If a chemical wash does not effectively dissolve tenacious deposits, then mechanical cleaning may need to be performed. Mechanical cleaning is very time consuming, expensive (e.g., for waste removal/labor costs), and can result in significant lost production. Thus, there is a continuing need for a new chemistry to remove and/or limit deposit formation.

Metal silicate and organic deposit inhibitor/dispersant for thermal recovery operations of hydrocarbon fuels


A method, a non-transitory computer readable medium, and a system are disclosed for creating a mapping library for converting a job ticket. The method includes obtaining a print job ticket schema that comprises a plurality of user items and user values; obtaining at least one sample print ticket each of which comprises a part of the plurality of user items and user values; obtaining a print job history that indicates whether a print job was successfully executed using the job ticket that has been previously created; and displaying a graphical user interface (GUI), which allows a user to associate the user values with target values to be used to execute a print job, wherein at least one of the user values and/or at least one of the target values that was used for the successful print job is shown in a different appearance from other user values and/or target values.

In the print shop, print orders are made using job tickets, but in general, the specifications of job tickets sent to print shops are often different among customers. For example, the data format (JSON, XML, JDF, CSV) of the job ticket differs depending on what kind of job ticket generation program is used by the customer.
On the other hand, since each of the printers installed in the print shop can basically support only a single specification, the print management software has to convert data format of the job ticket, by analyzing the received job ticket, so that a printer that executes the job can accept the converted job ticket.
Furthermore, since the customer can arbitrarily change (customize) the item name and value name used in the job ticket. Even if the data format used by a customer and the data format used by a print shop is the same (For example, both is JSON), the print management software often has to convert the item name and setting value.
Conventionally, for the conversion of a job ticket, programming codes of print management software are described such that the corresponding function is incorporated in the print management software beforehand. However, as the number of types of data formats increases or customers often add new item names or setting values, in such a case, it is necessary to rewrite the code itself of the print management software, and this can be time consuming and expensive.
For using the mapping library creator, a user need to have a lot of knowledge, specifically the user have to know what kinds of items and values are included in job tickets send from user. Therefore, a function that supports the user to make a mapping library is desired.

Printing system for converting a job ticket into print format using sample print tickets and print job history mapping user and tafget values to generate native print job ticket


An apparatus and method for driving an image display device are disclosed. The disclosed driving apparatus and method achieve synchronous driving of driving integrated circuits for driving an image display panel, through internal generation of drive control signals, thereby preventing a degradation in picture quality caused by erroneous driving timing while achieving an enhancement in product reliability. The driving apparatus includes a display panel, which includes a plurality of pixel regions, to display an image, a plurality of data integrated circuits, which share at least one of synchronizing signals internally generated therefrom, generate gate and data control signals in accordance with the shared synchronizing signal, and drive data lines of the display panel, using the internally-generated data control signals, and a gate driver for driving gate lines of the display panel in accordance with the gate control signal generated from one of the plural data integrated circuits.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an image display device, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for driving an image display device, which are capable of achieving synchronous driving of driving integrated circuits for driving an image display panel, through internal generation of drive control signals, thereby preventing a degradation in picture quality caused by erroneous driving timing and achieving an enhancement in product reliability.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, image display devices of various types have been proposed as a means for displaying digital content. Of the proposed image display devices, flat display devices are most generally used. Flat display devices include, for example, a liquid crystal display device, an organic light emitting display device, a field emission display device, a plasma display panel.
In a general image display device, in which a plurality of pixels is arranged on a display panel, an image is displayed through adjustment of light transmittance or light emission amount of each pixel. To this end, the pixels are arranged in a matrix array in the display panel, and driving circuits are provided in the image display device, to drive the display panel.
In such an image display device, for example, data integrated circuits, which are included in the driving circuits of the image display device, to constitute a data driver, may be attached to at least one source printed circuit board, printed circuit film or the like or may be directly mounted on the display panel. Also, gate integrated circuits may be separately attached to one side of the display panel or may be directly formed on the display panel. Meanwhile, in the case of a timing controller to control the above-mentioned driving integrated circuits or a graphic system, the timing controller is separately provided at a separate control printed circuit board, system board or the like, to supply driving control signals required in the gate and data integrated circuits.
Recently, a proposal to integrate a timing controller and a data driving integrated circuit in the form of a single chip has been made, for application of a one-chip-integrated driving integrated circuit. However, for application of plural one-chip-integrated driving integrated circuits, there is a problem in that the plural driving integrated circuits should be synchronously driven, even though they internally generate driving control signals for driving thereof. In other words, synchronous driving of the driving integrated circuits is possible when the same synchronizing signals are externally supplied to the plural driving integrated circuits, which, in turn, generate driving control signals for driving thereof, respectively. When the driving integrated circuits internally generate driving control signals without external synchronizing signals, it is difficult to achieve synchronization of the driving integrated circuits. For this reason, in conventional cases, there may be a degradation in picture quality caused by erroneous driving timing and a degradation in product reliability caused by a degradation in picture quality.

Apparatus and method for driving liquid crystal display device


A memory controller and a method of calibrating the memory controller are provided. Input circuitry in the memory controller receives a differential pair of data strobe signals from a memory and generates a logical data strobe signal in dependence on a voltage difference between the differential pair of data strobe signals. Hysteresis circuitry, when active, increases by a predetermined offset a threshold voltage difference at which the input circuitry changes a logical state of the logical data strobe signal. Gate signal generation circuitry generates a data strobe gating signal, wherein the memory controller interprets the logical data strobe signal as valid when the data strobe gating signal is asserted. The memory controller performs a training process to determine a timing offset for the data strobe gating signal with respect to said logical data strobe signal, wherein the training process provides a first phase in which the hysteresis circuitry is active and a second phase in which the hysteresis circuitry is inactive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory controller. More particularly, this invention relates to the calibration of a memory controller which is configured to receive a data strobe signal from a memory.
2. Background
It is known to provide a memory controller which is configured to control memory accesses to a memory device, wherein the memory controller and memory device can exchange a data strobe signal which accompanies a data signal transmitted as part of those memory accesses and indicates the points at which those data signals should be sampled in order to be correctly interpreted. When non active the data strobe signal line (or rather lines since this is typically differential pair of data strobe signals) is/are kept in a high impedance state which allows the data strobe signal line to be driven either by a memory controller or by the memory device as required. During a read memory access, the data strobe signal line is driven by a memory device, preceded by a short preamble before any data is transmitted to allow the opening of a gating signal in the memory controller. This gating signal is generated by the memory controller and the received data strobe signal is only interpreted as valid by the memory controller when the gating signal is asserted. This avoids any stray noise causing the data signal receiver to interpret spurious signals as a valid input.
Accordingly, the timing with which the gating signal is generated with respect to the data strobe signal is vital for the correct reception of data during a memory read access. If the gating signal begins too early then noise on the data strobe signal line could result in incorrect data being interpreted at the receiver. Conversely if the gating signal begins too late then genuine transmitted data will be missed.
As contemporary memory systems progress to higher operating frequencies the inherent system jitter and uncertainties can mean that the setting of the timing of the gating signal is a significant challenge which may require laborious user intervention. For example, in a DDR3 memory system operating at 2133 Mbps, the opening preamble of a data transmission is only 840 ps long, whilst typical DRAM uncertainty is +/−100 ps, with a further removal of 80 ps (in the worst case scenario) leaving only a limited time window in which the opening of the gating signal must be placed.
Accordingly it would be desirable to provide an improved technique for determining the relative timing of the gating signal with respect to the data strobe signal.

Memory controller using a data strobe signal and method of calibrating data strobe signal in a memory controller


The invention relates to methods of generating hepatic cells by overexpressing combinations of transcription factors, in particular for use in cellular reprogramming methods.

Hepatocytes are the main functional cells of the liver. They provide a wide array of essential functions, including regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, detoxification of various metabolites and drugs, protein synthesis, and bile synthesis.
In drug screens it is essential to determine if a potential drug candidate may cause hepatotoxicity. Currently, screens for hepatotoxicity and drug dose typically use a range of immortalised hepatic cell lines and human primary hepatocytes. However, immortalized cells do not possess key hepatic drug metabolizing functions. Primary hepatocytes are limited in supply, subject to isolation and cryopreservation stress and show batch-to-batch variation, and therefore are not ideal for high throughput screens. Moreover, the drug metabolizing functions of human primary hepatocytes can vary significantly according to genetic background. The availability of a consistent and scalable supply of functional human hepatocytes would greatly facilitate both drug development and clinical application to liver failure therapies. Generation of hepatic cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has previously been investigated, however current state-of-the-art methods do not provide the level of functionality, consistency and scalability required for high throughput drug screens. Moreover, iPSC-derived hepatic cells made with current methods remain metabolically deficient and therefore are not suitable as a predictive physiological model (Williams, 2018).
iPSC-derived hepatic cells can advance drug discovery and cell therapy in many ways. Mature hepatocytes can be used in drug discovery as surrogates for primary hepatocytes to test the effects of drugs on the liver (Williams, 2018). An added benefit of iPSC-derived hepatocytes is their ability to model liver disease. Thus, they provide unique tools to test efficacy of drugs on patient-derived cells. Transplantation of immature or mature hepatocytes, or hepatic progenitors can be an alternative to whole liver transplantation for patients suffering from acute liver failure, or liver-borne metabolic diseases when combined with gene therapy (lansante et al., 2018).
There is therefore a need in the art to provide methods for generating hepatic cells suitable for use as research tools and as potential therapeutic agents.


An analytics platform or another system is provided to store multiple sets of credentials and other connection information in each user profile and to map the stored credentials to different resources within the platform. Each set of credentials can be associated with a credential mapping key, and each resource in the platform can be mapped to the credentials using a connection associating the resource with the credential mapping key. By mapping multiple sets of credentials and other connection information to the resources within the platform, the user profile can be transparently authenticated when accessing resources in the platform, different credentials can be used to authenticate the user profile with accessing different resources, and administrators can benefit by having greater control over permissions with the platform.

Analytics platforms often publish documents with data linked from one or more data sources, such as different database files. Users can log into the analytics platform to access the published documents via a user profile. To access or refresh the document to update data from the data source(s), the user profile will be authenticated by the platform to determine if the user has permission to refresh the database information. A single user credential (e.g., a username and password) is stored in the user profile for the authentication. However, the same user credential must be used in authenticating the user profile in all databases of the analytics platform, in a one-to-one credential mapping, or the user must manually enter a different credential during authentication.
There thus remains a need for an analytics platform with a one-to-many credential mapping allowing for different credentials to be attached to a user profile for authenticating the user for different data sources.

Credential mapping for analytics platform


A convulsive seizure detection and notification device includes an acceleration module to measure acceleration of a body part of a user and generate acceleration measurement values, a storage to store a first threshold value and a second threshold value, and a data processor to compare acceleration measurement data with the first and second threshold values and generate a signal if a predetermined relationship between the acceleration measurement data and the first and second threshold values is satisfied.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition that is characterized by seizures. A seizure occurs when a group of neurons within the brain malfunction and fire simultaneously producing an excessive amount of neurological activity. There are many types of seizures, such as tonic, clonic, and tonic-clonic seizures. Tonic seizures are characterized by general muscle rigidity. Clonic seizures are characterized by repetitive involuntary muscle contractions that may appear as severe jerking motions. Tonic-clonic seizures begin with a tonic phase. Often patients at this time fall and their muscles may enter a stage of extreme hyperextension. After the tonic phase, the patient enters a generalized clonic phase, causing most muscle groups to spasm and contract, giving the appearance of convulsions.
Convulsive seizures can cause serious physical injury. In many cases, a quick response to an epileptic attack can prevent fatality and injury. Many convulsive seizures result in apnea which, when prolonged, can cause brain damage and even death. Patients who are standing during the onset of a seizure may sustain injuries from a fall. The convulsive characteristics attributed to seizures often result in general bodily trauma in the form of broken bones, head trauma, and tongue-bite. In some cases, the extreme-hypertension that occurs during the tonic phase of a seizure can cause skeletal damage, such as spinal fracturing, and can result in paralysis. Recent animal models suggest that seizures of both convulsive and non-convulsive nature can cause permanent damage to the brain. The post-ictal (post seizure) phase of a seizure can also be dangerous for a seizure patient. After having epileptic attacks, patients can suffer from amnesia and general confusion. Patients who sustained injuries from their seizures are often unable to assist themselves due to their mental and/or physical states. Patients are capable of further injuring themselves by reckless behavior.

Convulsive seizure detection and notification system


A printing apparatus 1 compares a distance γ from a printing finish position of received printing data to a card rear end with a distance β set corresponding to a peeling distance α in which an ink ribbon R peels off from a card C, and thereby determines whether or not the printing finish position is within the distance β from the card rear end. As a result, when it is determined that the printing finish position is within the distance β from the card rear end, it is controlled that reeling of the ink ribbon R is performed by at least a distance obtained by adding the distance γ to the distance α after printing on the card C is finished, and that the thermal head is then retreated to a retreat position. By this means, when the printing finish position is in the vicinity of the card rear end, the sag of the ink ribbon pulled out by a drop of the thermal head is resolved, and the ink ribbon does not wind itself around the platen roller.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for printing an image on a card supported on its one side by a platen roller by bringing a thermal head into press-contact with the card via an ink ribbon.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, apparatuses have been known which print an image on a printing sheet supported on its one side by a platen roller by bringing a thermal head into press-contact with the sheet via an ink ribbon. In the aforementioned apparatuses, when press-contact of the thermal head is released after finishing printing, the ink ribbon sags, and is in contact with the platen roller. When a printing sheet is fed in this state, such a case arises that the sagging ink ribbon winds itself around the platen roller by the effect of static electricity.
Then, to solve this problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-113228 discloses a configuration, in a printing apparatus using an ink ribbon with a plurality of colors arranged panel-sequentially, where the ink ribbon is reeled to resolve the sag of the ink ribbon, and further, subsequent positioning of the next color of the ink ribbon is performed.
Further, in the aforementioned printing apparatus, generally, a peeling plate 60 is provided near the thermal head to peel off the ink ribbon from a printing sheet (card) (see FIG. 10). In addition, it is defined that a point in which an ink ribbon R peels off from a card C is a peeling point, and that a distance from a thermal head 51 to the peeling point is α. In such a printing apparatus, after printing on the card C is finished, the thermal head 51 is not raised immediately, the ink ribbon R is reeled while transporting the card for the distance α, and then, the printing operation is finished (see FIG. 11). According to this configuration, when all-surface printing on the card C is performed, after the card is passed through between the thermal head and platen roller, the thermal head 51 drops onto the platen roller 44. Then, the ink ribbon R is pulled out of a supply spool 54 by force of a drop of the thermal head 51, and as a result, the ink ribbon R sags (see FIG. 12).
However, as described above, since transport of the card and reeling of the ink ribbon is performed from the printing finish position (card rear end) to the position of the peeling point, the sag of the ink ribbon is resolved during this period. Thereafter, the thermal head is raised and the ink ribbon is reeled.
However, when the printing finish position is within α from the card rear end, during the time the ink ribbon R is reeled while transporting the card C for the distance α after printing is finished, the card rear end is passed through between the thermal head 51 and the platen roller 44, and the thermal head 51 drops. Accordingly, when the printing operation is finished immediately after the thermal head 51 drops (the state in FIG. 14), the thermal head 51 is raised while the sag of the ink ribbon R remains. When the platen roller 44 is rotated thereafter, the ink ribbon R winds itself around the platen roller 44, and an error occurs (see FIG. 16).
In view of the aforementioned matter, it is an object of the invention to provide a printing apparatus and printing method for resolving sag of an ink ribbon pulled out by a drop of a thermal head when a printing finish position is in the vicinity of the card rear end, and eliminating winding of the ink ribbon around the platen roller.


A fabricating method of wafer protection layers and a wafer structure are provided. The fabricating method includes providing a wafer first. The wafer includes pluralities of chips and has an active surface, a corresponding reverse surface and a plurality of pre-cut trenches on the active surface. On the active surface, pluralities of bumps are disposed. Next, a first curing-type protection layer and a pellicle are disposed over the active surface. Afterwards, the first curing-type protection layer is asked to contact the active surface. Besides, a second curing-type protection layer is disposed on the reverse surface. Afterward, the first and the second curing-type protection layer are cured. Finally, the wafer is cut through the pre-cut trenches to separate the chips from the wafer.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a fabricating method of wafer protection layers, and particularly to a fabricating method of wafer protection layers capable of enhancing chip production yield.
2. Description of the Related Art
The modern world is undergoing a fundamental society transformation with exploding information, wherein electronic products are everywhere and penetrating into our daily life. No matter what daily fields we are talking about, in all fields, such as food, apparel, housing, transportation, education and entertainment, we can find the immense applications of the products with IC (integrated circuit) components. Along with nonstop advance of electronic technology, the new generation products with more complex and more impersonated functions are kicked off. In terms of electronic product outlooks, it follows a stream of light-slim-short-compact. The modern semiconductor processes of chips are accordingly geared-up towards the main stream.
Normally, after completing a plurality of chips on a wafer, it needs to cut off the wafer for separating the chips, followed by packaging. During dicing a wafer and packaging chips however, the wafer and chips are likely to be polluted by the environmental moisture, dust and other impurities, even worse, the wafer surface is scratched. All these, such as oxidation caused by moisture, short-circuits contributed by dusts or open-circuits resulted by surface scratching would produce various defects with the delicate chips used in different kinds of circuits and lead the high-valued chips to be garbage. Besides, lots of debris generated during dicing a wafer is adhesive on the surface not only to pollute chips, but also to scratch the chip surface. The more chips discard, the more expensive is the production cost of chips. A possible detention delivering resulted by poor production outcome and re-scheduling the chip production even suffers the reputation of a manufacture. All of these negative results are certainly unwished-for by manufactures.
From the above described, how to overcome the defects in the chip process caused by dusting, polluting and scratching for enhancing the production yield of packaged chips is an extremely urgent project.

Fabricating method of wafer protection layers

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc.


An amplifying device includes a first pre-distorter unit outputting a modulated signal obtained by adding a phase compensation amount and an amplitude adjustment amount to an input signal, a power amplifier inputting the modulated signal and outputting an output signal obtained by amplifying the modulated signal, a power supply voltage modulation unit modulating a power supply voltage, a second pre-distorter unit controlling the power supply voltage modulation unit on the basis of amplitude information on the input signal; and a control unit controlling an operation of the first pre-distorter unit and the second pre-distorter unit, wherein the control unit includes a phase control unit controlling the phase compensation amount by using a phase coefficient, a first amplitude control unit controlling the amplitude adjustment amount by using a first amplitude coefficient, and a second amplitude control unit controlling the operation of the second pre-distorter unit by using a second amplitude coefficient.

In a transmitter used in a base station of a radio communications system, an amplifying device having high power efficiency is required in order to miniaturize the transmitter and reduce its power consumption. As technologies to realize high efficiency of the amplifying device, technologies are known in which the power consumption can be reduced by controlling a power supply voltage depending on an input signal. A particularly effective system of them is an Envelope Tracking system.
The Envelope Tracking system is a system in which a power supply voltage of an amplifier such as a power amplifier and the like is changed depending on the amplitude of an input signal. Since the electric power supplied from a power supply decreases by this system in comparison with driving it by a constant power supply voltage, it becomes possible to amplify signals high efficiently. Here, if an output signal voltage exceeds the power supply voltage of the power amplifier, the linearity between the input signal and the output signal is lost due to the output saturation arising. Therefore, in general, the power supply voltage is designed so that the power supply voltage supplied to the power amplifier may always become higher than the output signal voltage.
Meanwhile, since low distortion characteristics are generally required for the amplifying device used in the transmitter, a distortion compensation system such as Digital Pre-distortion (DPD) system and the like is adopted. The digital pre-distortion system is a system in which the distortion caused by the power amplifier is cancelled by means of preliminarily distorting signals input into the power amplifier composing the amplifying device using a pre-distorter and consequently the low distortion characteristics of the amplifying device are realized. In the digital pre-distortion (DPD) system, a distortion model of the power amplifier is constructed by comparing an input signal and an output signal of the power amplifier, and inverse characteristics of the distortion model are set for the pre-distorter.
Configuration examples of the digital pre-distortion (DPD) system include a system using a look up table (LUT). A correction value corresponding to each of the amplitudes of the input signals has been preliminarily recorded in the look up table (LUT), and the correction value is updated sequentially so that the distortion of the power amplifier may be cancelled. There are two kinds of distortion which are compensated by using the look up table (LUT). One is a distortion due to non-linear characteristics in output amplitude characteristics to input amplitudes of the signal (hereinafter, referred to as "AM-AM characteristics") and another is a distortion due to non-linear characteristics in output phase characteristics to input amplitudes (hereinafter, referred to as "AM-PM characteristics"). By correcting two kinds of distortion mentioned above, signal characteristics between the input signal and the output signal of the amplifying device become a linear relationship and consequently the distortion is suppressed. Here, the look up table (LUT) is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration which separately includes one for correcting the AM-AM characteristics and another for correcting the AM-PM characteristics. A system is also known which configures a look up table (LUT) including complex values by using input-output data stream of complex signals.
Configuration examples of the digital pre-distortion (DPD) system include another system approximating a correction amount of distortion for the power amplifier by using a polynomial. In this case, the non-linear characteristics of the power amplifier are cancelled by calculating coefficient values of the polynomial using the output signal and the input signal of the power amplifier, and by updating the coefficient values sequentially. Another system is also known in which the pre-distorter has filter characteristics, and a memory effect of the power amplifier is suppressed taking the past information into consideration by selecting the number of taps of the filter.
Although each amplifying device individually adopting either the Envelope Tracking system or the digital pre-distortion (DPD) system has been described above, it is also possible to configure an amplifying device which adopts both systems. An example of the above-mentioned amplifying device is disclosed in patent literature 1.
As shown in FIG. 12, a related amplifying device 500 described in patent literature 1 includes a power amplifier 510, a power supply modulation unit 520, a distortion compensation unit 530, a first estimation unit 540, and a second estimation unit 550. The power supply modulation unit 520 supplies the power amplifier 510 with a power supply modulation voltage depending on an input signal, and the distortion compensation unit 530 compensates the distortion in the power amplifier 510. The first estimation unit 540 estimates a first amplifier model which indicates the characteristics of the power amplifier 510 between input and output signals on the basis of the input signal and the output signal of the power amplifier 510. The second estimation unit 550 estimates a second amplifier model which indicates the characteristics of the power amplifier 510 between the power supply modulation voltage and the output signal on the basis of the power supply modulation voltage and the output signal. The distortion compensation unit 530 compensates the distortion of the power amplifier 510 on the basis of the first amplifier model, and the power supply modulation unit 520 controls the power supply modulation voltage on the basis of the second amplifier model.
As mentioned above, in the related amplifying device 500, the distortion compensation unit 530 and the power supply modulation unit 520 control independently the distortion compensation and the power supply modulation voltage on the basis of the first amplifier model and the second amplifier model, each of which is obtained by the estimation unit independently of each other. Therefore, it is said that it becomes possible to control suitably both of power supply modulation characteristics and distortion compensation characteristics depending on the characteristics of the power amplifier 510, and that it is possible to simplify the calculation for carrying out these controls.    Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-045508 (paragraphs [0014] and [0015], and FIG. 3)

Amplifying device and method for controlling the same


The dial unit includes a dial including a shaft and being rotatable around the shaft, a detector to detect a rotation amount of the dial, a rotator engaged with the dial and rotatable together with the dial. The dial unit includes a rotation transmission member to keep the dial and the rotator separated from each other before the rotation angle of the dial reaches a first angle and to transmit rotation of the dial to the rotator when the rotation angle exceeds the first angle. The dial unit includes an elastic member which is shaped as a coil-shaped portion and contains the rotator inside the coil-shaped portion. The elastic member applies to the rotator a torque in an opposite direction to a rotational direction of the rotator when the rotator rotates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an introduction apparatus to be inserted into a cavity, and to a dial unit provided for the introduction apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an introduction apparatus to be inserted into a cavity, such as an endoscope, comprises: a flexible insertion section which is to be inserted into an examinee for observation and treatment of an affected portion of the examinee; and an operation section which is operated to bend the insertion section in a UD direction and an RL direction. The operation section includes a UD angle knob for performing an operation in the UD direction and an RL angle knob for performing an operation in the RL direction. When an affected portion is observed or treated, the insertion section can be curved in both the UD direction and the RL direction by operating the UD angle knob and the RL angle knob.
Some endoscopes employ a motor to drive a bending portion in the UD direction and RL direction. For example, in the endoscope described in International Publication No. 2013-129494, an insertion section is manually curved in the up and down (UD) direction, and is automatically curved by a motor in the right and left (RL) direction. The operation section is provided with a knob for an operation in the up and down (UD) direction and a dial for an operation in the right and left (RL) direction.


Provided are a method of preparing a graft copolymer, a graft copolymer, and a thermoplastic resin molded article. The method of preparing a graft copolymer includes 1) adding a conjugated diene-based monomer and performing polymerization to prepare a conjugated diene-based polymer; and 2) adding the conjugated diene-based polymer, an aromatic vinyl monomer, and a vinyl cyan monomer and performing polymerization to prepare a graft copolymer, wherein an emulsifier having an APHA color value of 50 or less and a critical micelle concentration of 1 to 50 g/l is added, so that excellent polymerization stability, colorability, light resistance, and surface clarity are exhibited.

An acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) graft copolymer has been widely used in parts for an automobile, an electrical/electronic product, office equipment, etc. due to rigidity and chemical resistance of acrylonitrile and processability, mechanical strength, and refined appearance of a butadiene polymer and styrene. The surface glossiness and clarity of the ABS graft copolymer are the important factors that determine the quality of a molded article. Also, since the ABS graft copolymer is subjected to a continuous process at a high temperature (200 to 250° C.), it may be discolored during the process, and as articles produced by using the ABS graft copolymer are exposed to light several times, it may also be discolored. Therefore, a big issue is to resolve these problems in order to produce high-quality articles.
The surface glossiness and clarity of a thermoplastic resin molded article produced by using the ABS graft copolymer are affected not only by the average particle diameter and particle size distribution of a conjugated diene-based polymer but also the decomposition and degeneration of gas generated from an emulsifier in extruding and injecting processes.
Accordingly, there is ongoing research on preventing the properties of a thermoplastic resin molded article from being degraded by an emulsifier.

Method of preparing graft copolymer, graft copolymer, and thermoplastic resin molded article


An engagement convex portion is formed in a grommet of a two-piece clip, and a head portion-side engagement concave portion is formed in a pin of the two-piece clip. When the pin is pushed into the grommet to a maximum push-in position, an inner end of the engagement convex portion of the grommet abuts against a middle of a tip-side concave portion wall surface of the head portion-side engagement concave portion. Thus, in the maximum push-in position, when a tip portion of the pin is pushed back in an extracting direction, the tip-side concave portion wall surface of the head portion-side engagement concave portion of the pin slides against the inner end of the engagement convex portion of the grommet.

Conventionally, as for the two-piece clip, for example, there is Patent Document 1. In the conventional technology, after a body portion of a female part is inserted and passed through the attachment holes communicated with each other, an axis portion of a male part is pushed into the body portion up to a standard position. In the standard position, by engaging with a body portion side, the body portion of the female part is elastically deformed outward, and the two members provided with the attachment holes are mutually fastened together. Also, the body portion of the female part splits into two or more body-portion configuration pieces by slits ranging from a tip thereof to a base. Also, in at least one of the body-portion configuration pieces, a tip side thereof is an extension operating portion. Consequently, by operating the extension operating portion, without using an industrial tool and the like, the two-piece clip can be easily returned to a reusable position.


The present invention relates to compounds of formula (I) useful in the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion-related pathologies.

Ischemia-reperfusion is a pathological condition characterised by an initial restriction of blood flow to an organ followed by a subsequent restoration of perfusion and concomitant re-oxygenation. Perhaps surprisingly, restoration of the blood flow and re-oxygenation is frequently associated with an increase in tissue damage and a profound inflammatory response ("reperfusion injury"). Ischemia-reperfusion injury exists in a wide range of pathological conditions (Table 1).
TABLE 1Affected organExample of clinical manifestationIschemia-reperfusion of individual organsHeartAcute coronary syndromeKidneyAcute hypoxic renal injuryIntestineIntestinal ischemia-reperfusion; MODSBrainStrokeIschemia/reperfusion of multiple organsTrauma and resuscitationMODS; acute hypoxic renal injury;hypoxic intestinal injury; CTECirculatory arrestHypoxic cerebral injury; MODS; kidneydamageSickle cell anaemiaAcute thoracic syndrome; pulmonaryhypertension; acute hypoxic renal injurySleep apnoeaHypertension; diabetesIschemia-reperfusion in the course of surgeryCardiac surgeryAcute heart failure followingcardiopulmonary bypassThoracic surgeryAcute hypoxic pulmonary injuryPeripheral vascular surgeryCSEVascular surgeryAcute hypoxic renal injuryAcute transplant rejection; earlytransplant rejectionMODS (Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome): Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome;CSE (Compartment Syndrome of the Extremity): Compartment syndrome of the extremitiesCTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy): chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by trauma from repeated blows (e.g., boxers, rugby players etc.)
The above-described ischemia-reperfusion-related pathological conditions derive from a set of biochemical events at cellular and tissue level. Once the blood flow has stopped in a given district, at a branch of the coronary artery for example, a series of biochemical processes takes place within the cells of the non-perfused tissues. While in the face of complete anoxia some of them undergo necrosis, the majority undergo a profound metabolic imbalance that is essentially characterised by a rapid increase of the intracellular content of reactive oxygen species (ROS, which include superoxide anion, O22−, hydrogen peroxide and the hydroxyl radical), by the low levels produced by the electron transport chain at amounts harmful to the cell. If the blood flow is restored (i.e. reperfusion), as occurs after angioplasty surgery, the amount of free radicals further increases, giving rise to extensive cell damage, which configures the "ischemia-reperfusion" condition. This situation, which is essentially a massive redox shock, is not only directly harmful to various macromolecules within the cell (proteins, nucleic acids, lipids), but is capable of triggering the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis.
Indeed, in myocardial infarction, up to 80% of the extension of the final lesion is linked to apoptotic death, which completes in hours to days following the onset of the ischemia-reperfusion condition.
From a biochemical viewpoint, the intense metabolic shock activates a large number of molecules that act as redox sensors, such as ASK-1 kinase. This kinase is maintained in an inactive state by the bond with reduced thioredoxin and glutaredoxin; the oxidation thereof determines their detachment from ASK-1 and the consequent functional activation of the kinase.
Other pathways involved from the outset of the process include AMP kinase and Rho GTPase. Operating in synergy, these systems can reciprocally influence each other, thus significantly amplifying the apoptotic process. A functionally coherent family of kinases located downstream of the above-described metabolic pathways, consists of the JNK and p38 MAPK (MAP-kinase) proteins, which represent a common node of the chain of signal transmission chain. These molecules have cytosolic and nuclear substrates, that are in part shared, which participate in various ways to the processes of cell death by autophagy or apoptosis. To cite a few examples, JNK and p38 MAPK bind and phosphorylate Bcl-xL and Bcl-2, inactivating the anti-apoptotic potential thereof, an event followed by the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondrion, the combination thereof with molecule Apaf-1 and the consequent activation of caspase-9. Other critical targets of the two MAP-kinases are Beclin-1 and p53, both closely related to the onset of autophagic and apoptotic cell death, respectively.
On the basis of the above-reported considerations, it can be stated that the MAP-kinase are critical for the generation of the cell damage that takes place in a number of clinical contexts, in particular in conditions of ischemia-reperfusion. It is also interesting to note that p38 MAPK and JNK share a common biochemical modulator, MKP-1, a phosphatase specifically capable of inactivating the MAP-kinase enzyme family.
A number of studies have directly demonstrated this statement; for example, knock-out mice for p38 MAPK, following the closure of branches of the coronary artery, have greatly reduced myocardial lesions with respect to the normal controls, a finding that emphasises the role of these kinases in the generation of tissue damage.
It is thus in the state of the art that for the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion-related pathologies or for the use in medical procedures involving ischemia-reperfusion, a useful pharmacological approach can be achieved through the use of compounds that are capable of modifying the activity of the MAP kinases family. Patent WO2004000324 sets out that 3-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan derivatives are active as agonists of human neurotrophins and are therefore useful for the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment of diseases in which the neurotrophin functions, particularly NGF functions, are implicated by default:
neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease, neuropathies, neural damage caused by hypoxia, ischemia, or trauma, inducing apoptosis of the nerve cells;acquired immunodeficiency diseases linked to reduced bioavailability of NGF, such as age-related immunodeficiency;diseases in which neoangiogenesis stimulation proves advantageous, such as myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral vascular diseases;certain diseases of the eye, such as keratitis of diverse aetiology, glaucoma, degenerative or inflammatory conditions of the retina.has been described as intermediate for the synthesis of a spiro-beta-lactam in A. Trabocchi, et al. Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 4594-4599.
The (1R,5S,7R)-3-(p-methoxybenzyl)-2-oxo-6,8-dioxa-3-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-carboxylic Acid compound has been described as peptidomimetic in Antonio Guarna, et al J. Org. Chem. 1999, 64, 7347-7364.
The (1R,5S,7R)-3-Benzyl-2-oxo-6,8-dioxa-3-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-carboxylic Acid compound and the (1R,5S,7R)-3-(p-phenyl)-benzyl-2-oxo-6,8-dioxa-3-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-carboxylic Acid compound were described as inhibitors of metalloproteases in C. Mannino et al. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry 14 (2006) 7392-7403.
The synthesis of the (1S,5R,7S)-3-ethyl-2-oxo-6,8-dioxa-3-azabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-7-carboxylic acid compound is described in Reymond, J-L.; et al. Tetrahedron Asymmetry 1990, 1(10), 729-736.
The object of the present invention is to provide compounds for the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion-related pathologies or for use in medical procedures involving ischemia-reperfusion, and in particular, but not exclusively, those characterised by an inappropriate variation in the activities of the MAP kinases family.

Compounds for the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion-related diseases


A pivotable wall assembly for retaining material on a conveyor belt allows for the wall to be pivoted down for easy access to the inside surface of the wall. Numerous wall assemblies may be attached end to end in individually pivoted back. The easy access makes it quicker and safer to inspect the inside walls to make adjustments, and to remove or replace the liners, the walls and the conveyor idlers. The easy access reduces the man-hours of labor for inspections, adjustments and liner replacements reducing the cost of conveyor maintenance. The modular construction of the pivotable walls allows easy assembly and disassembly. The pivotable walls can be used with hoppers, or other material handling structures. The top and bottom walls have angled portions for engagement with each other to reduce noise, vibrations and dust resulting in less corrosion and wear on the system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to materials handling equipment and more particularly to a pivotable side skirt support assembly for belt conveyors that allows ready access to the skirts, wear plates and conveyor rollers for ease of inspection, maintenance and repair.
2. Description of the Related Art
In Swinderman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,669 issued Sep. 17, 1991, the frame must be removed to access the liner. The conveyor must be shut down during this long procedure. Further, adjusting the liner height requires shims which are difficult to install.
Skirts of elastomeric material in use for retaining materials on conveyor belts wear out over time, particularly when abrasive materials are being transported on the conveyor. The skirts have to be readjusted and replaced periodically. Conveyor systems for abrasive materials may also utilize ceramic wear plates on the skirts. If ceramic tiles are used they are subject to replacement over time. Hardened steel wear plates used on the walls also wear out and need replacing or adjustments over time.
The supports for the skirts in prior designs were positioned on either side of the conveyor and difficult to replace or adjust vertically as the skirts wore down. The Ostman U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,156, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, describes an improved skirt assembly that allows ready adjustment of the elastomeric member as it wears due to frictional contact with a conveyor belt and the material being transported thereon. Replacement of a worn-out liner on a skirt member may require a worker to climb onto the conveyor belt to effect removal. Also a maintenance worker would have to remove the supports for the skirts over the conveyor to access the skirt for inspections, adjustments or replacements.
Further, the conveyor idler wheels used to support the conveyor along its length are generally inaccessible when the supports for the skirts are located directly over the conveyor frame. Therefore adjustments and replacements of the idler wheels often require the removal of the skirt supports.
Depending on their length the skirt support members may be too heavy and may require two men to lift. Removing frame members for inspection, adjustment and maintenance of the conveyor idlers and the skirts is a slow, costly and potentially dangerous process and the conveyor must be shut down while the repairs are being made. The cost for running a conveyor with a skirt is thus unnecessarily high and this is especially true where the support structure for the skirts are welded in a fixed position or if they must be removed to maintain or replace liners, idlers, skirts or other parts.
It is difficult to properly align the frame members when assembling the conveyor structure so that the wear plates and skirts have proper clearances.
A pivotable frame for supporting skirts, inner liners and wear plates adjacent the opposing sides of conveyor belts allows the frame to be pivoted on the supports while still attached to the conveyor frame and allows a single worker to tilt the frame and access the conveyor idlers and the skirt and/or wear plates for inspection, adjustments, and maintenance or replacement of parts.
The frame when tilted for access forms a table for setting the liners, tools, parts and supplies thereon.
Since no disassembly and reassembly of the frame is required the costs of operating the system are reduced and the down time is likewise reduced. Further, since one man can tilt the frame down the number of laborers is reduced, and since no heavy parts need to be handled or removed injuries are avoided.
The skirts or liners are easily adjusted vertically by moving the skirt relative to its supporting bracket or by vertically moving the bracket itself.
Since the top and bottom walls of the conveyor assembly are modular and easy to assemble and disassemble it is easier to construct and remove the conveyor assembly.
Bushings on the pivotable walls ensure proper alignment of the pivotable walls so that the liners and skirts are in the proper position and there is less wear on the apertures of the pivotable walls.
It is an object of the invention to reduce the costs of maintaining and replacing side skirts, liners and ceramic tiles used with conveyor belts for transporting abrasive bulk materials.
It is an object of the invention to increase the safely of maintaining a conveyor belt skirt system of the type described.
It is an object of the invention to provide ready access to the inner wear liners and the rubber skirt member for inspection, adjustments, maintenance and replacement of parts.
It is an object of the invention to provide a conveyor side skirt assembly that allows ready access to the conveyor idler rollers for inspection, maintenance adjustments and replacement of parts.
It is an object of the invention to eliminate the need to remove the frame holding the skirts on the conveyor to gain access the inner wear liner, ceramic plates, skirt and conveyor idler wheels.
It is an object of the invention to provide a construction that allows adjustment of the vertical position of the liner and skirt on the skirt support bracket more easily.
It is an object of the invention to adjust the vertical position of the lower wall easily.
It is an object of the invention to provide a conveyor belt side skirt assembly that dampens noise and dust.
It is an object of the invention to improve safety.
It is an object of the invention to make it easier to assemble and disassemble a conveyor system.
It is an object of the invention to reduce dust and corrosion to increase the life of the conveyor system.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Hydrocarbon soluble polyamidoamines prepared from tallowtriamine and/or tallowtetramine--(methyl)acrylate reactants are effective corrosion inhibitors for metal surfaces in contact with corrosive hydrocarbon mediums even under alkaline conditions.

Corrosion has always and is presently a significant problem in the refining and petrochemical industries by reason of equipment replacement costs and system downtime associated therewith.
For example, in refinely operation, the crude oil itself commonly contains corrosive impurities such as salts, sulfur compounds, naphthenic and other organic acids such as acetic and propionic, nitrogen compounds and inorganic acids such as hydrochloric acid. Corrosion by crude oil impurities is accelerated by the high temperatures (e.g., 100.degree. F.-1000.degree. F.) commonly encountered when oils or petrochemicals are processed. In many cases, crudes are processed at temperatures within the range of 600-1000.degree. F.
Furthermore, upon heating or subjecting the crude oil to various catalytic processes, the impurities are converted more completely to volatile and water-soluble compounds. Examples of these are: HCl; CO; CO.sub.2;, formic, acetic and other volatile carboxylic acids; H.sub.2 S; SO.sub.2 ; SO.sub.3 and NH.sub.3. Besides NH.sub.3, other basic compounds, especially monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, etc. can be present because of the rerouting of various refinery "slop" streams for reprocessing. In catalytic units, more NH.sub.3 and H.sub.2 S are formed relative to the stronger inorganic and organic acids than in simple distillation equipment. Thus the composition and pH of the corrosive aqueous phase can vary substantially and be dependent upon crude oil contaminants and processing. Furthermore, the pH within a given system will change as water condensation proceeds due to the different distribution function of the volatile species among hydrocarbon, aqueous and vapor phases.
In FCC units and certain crude units, aqueous condensates can be alkaline in nature Data for many conventional corrosion inhibitors show that significantly high treatment levels are required for corrosion protection of ferrous and non-ferrous containers in high pH, sulfidic environments The use of such high treatment levels is economically unattractive.
This is especially true for admiralty brass and would be expected to be true for other copper alloys (e.g., cupronickels). This phenomenon is a result of the stability of copper/ammonia (or amine) complexes. At high pH (above 7.0), the amines convert from cationic to neutral forms with a corresponding increased propensity to complex copper ions in solution This accelerates corrosion by removal of the metal atoms and corrosion products
The present invention has particular utility in overhead condensing systems of various refinery and petrochemical processing units. Usually the units themselves and their associated piping are of sufficient thickness to provide many years of service under general corrosive attack. In these units, however, tower trays and heat exchanger tubes are relatively thin due to weight constraints or to allow high rates of heat transfer. Thus, these components are subject to shorter service life, especially if localized corrosion, such as underdeposit corrosion, occurs. This is more likely to occur in alkaline systems where various ammonia or amine salts can form deposits leading to localized attack. The tubes are usually made of mild steel due to the low cost of this metal, but admiralty brass and cupronickel are frequently used. In extremely aggressive systems titanium heat exchanger bundles have been used.
Besides corrosion inhibition, another desirable property of any inhibitor is substantial solubility in the hydrocarbon fluids being treated. Lack of sufficient solubility can lead to deposition or plugging problems. The inhibitors are usually fed as concentrated solutions (percent levels) into a stream which is primarily vapor and of high temperature. The inhibitor must stay soluble under these conditions in order to contact and film the metal parts and to prevent agglomeration and deposition. This is particularly important in catalytic units which produce light hydrocarbon products. As discussed above, the formation of deposits on thin parts such as exchanger tubes can lead to frequent leaks and downtime due to underdeposit corrosion or physical blockage A further effect of such deposits is to impede heat transfer. Since most corrosion inhibitors contain amine functionality, they can be aggressive to copper alloys. Also, because these inhibitors partition to the oil phase in preference to water, they are returned to the tower via reflux streams. As the reflux vaporizes, insufficient solubility of the filmer will result in deposition on tower trays. Accumulation of such deposits will interfere with establishment of vapor-liquid equilibria within the tower and cause excessive pressure drops within the tower.
The present invention combines both excellent corrosion inhibition and increased hydrocarbon solubility properties.

Method of inhibiting corrosion of metal surfaces in contact with a corrosive hydrocarbon containing medium


A master control file enables application software to be ported between disparate operating systems of a computer without being updated by interfacing to portability enabling software, which interfaces with the disparate operating systems. Moreover, the application software includes medical software ported to a pocket device using the portability enabling software and the master control file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to interoperability between computer systems, and, more particularly, to providing interoperability between computer systems and organizations by using a middleware master control file. Moreover, the present invention relates generally to medical Pocket Devices and, in particular, to methods which support a wide variety of measurement, collection, communication, and analysis functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer-based medical information systems are known in the art. These computer-based medical information systems include medical information tools categorized as: (1) data collection devices, or (2) hospital information systems. The hospital information systems include input, storage, and retrieval of patient records and Picture Archive and Communication Systems (or PACS).
An example of application software corresponding to medical information software 10 is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the medical information software 10 creates and maintains a folder with patient demographics and image files, in the format of a medical record 12. The medical record 12 is created using input data from a variety of sources, including a hospital information system 16, a photographer 18, a database 20, PACS image acquisition 22 through a DICOM/Push, and an MPG file 24. Images from the PACS image acquisition are displayed on a physician workstation 26, through a DICOM/Pull using TCP/IP.
FIG. 2 shows a local area network (LAN) configuration 30 of the medical information system 10 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, data including the patient database files 32 and the volume—images objects that have been filed and captured 34 are stored on server 36. This data is transmitted to the server 36 over a local area network 38 after acquisition from a variety of instruments 40, including dermascopes, endoscopes, otoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, stethoscopes, microscopes, echocardiograms, ultrasound, and MRI/CT. Moreover, this data may include patient demographic information entered using computer 42. This data, once stored on the server 36, can be displayed on a physician workstation 22 or printed on a printer 44.
A typical environment for the local area network configuration 30 would include the computer 42 executing the WINDOWS 98 operating system, the local area network 38 including TCP/IP, share name, LMHOSTS, and HOSTS, and a startup using the MEDVIZER Phone and VITEL NET video conferencing.
That is, VITEL NET application software 10 being executed by a local area network configuration 30, through telephone lines (POTS), through ISDN lines, through T-1 lines, and over satellite is known in the art.
Although experts in the two fields of data collection devices and hospital information systems have been working to form standards within their respective fields, deficiencies remain. Also, personnel in the medical information systems industry have been much less successful in developing a common set of commands and protocols to allow concurrent operation within the various categories of medical information tools.
Despite a tidal wave of new technologies, a consistent trend towards proprietary communications languages, protocols, and stand-alone medical systems sustains an unacceptable requirement for redundant systems, training, and excessive capital equipment costs. This cost is born disproportionately by the customer where operational requirements span a great diversity of needs, including special operations in remote medical care.
Moreover, confusion arises in attempting to make computer systems with disparate proprietary communications languages, protocols, and stand-alone medical systems communicate with each other. The current confusion in medical communications supports the manufacturers of large and expensive systems, but interferes with efficient and cost-effective healthcare delivery.
There is a need for a common set of medical information communications protocols, or common standards. The use of a common set of medical information communications protocols would improve healthcare delivery within the private sector while markedly reducing the costs associated with healthcare delivery. Moreover, the development of common standards could be one of the most important breakthroughs in health care in the coming years.
One way of providing a common set of medical information communications protocols, or common standards, is by an architecture which includes the use of a master control file. A master control file (or MCF) is middleware software storing information which, when read by a computer program referred to as an engine, provides an interface between an application program and the WINDOWS operating system. The master control file (or MCF) provides an open, interoperable, platform and language independent distributed (MCF) architecture. This approach has been enormously successful and has been adopted by numerous large firms around the world as the basic architecture for their complex Patient Record Information systems. This infrastructure provides a great deal of power, scalability, and interoperability.
An example of an architecture 110 using a master control file is shown in FIG. 3. As shown in the architecture 110 of FIG. 3, an application program 112 (such as a VITEL NET Application) interfaces to a master control file (MCF) 114, as well as to an MNU 116, and a database 118. The MCF 114, the MNU 116, and the database 118 are then read by an engine 120 (such as a VITEL NET engine), which interfaces to the WINDOWS operating system 128 through the WN32 API 122, OCX files 124, and DLL files 126. The operating system 128 includes functions such as a virtual memory manager 130, a file system manager 132, and a configuration manager 134, as well as the kernel 136. The operating system 128 then interfaces to device drivers 138, which interface to hardware 140.
The functionality and interfacing provided in the engine 120 corresponds to the operating system 128 to which the engine 120 is interfacing. The use of a VITEL NET engine 120 corresponding to the WINDOWS operating system 128 and the WINDOWS NT operating system 128 is known in the art. A typical programming language in which the engine 120 is written is VISUAL BASIC.
With the use of engine 120, the master control file 114 and the application programs 112 are not required to change when ported between the WINDOWS operating system 128 and the WINDOWS NT operating system 128.
MEDVIZER Technology Overview
An overview of a medical information system 10 is now presented.
VITEL NET's core technology revolves around FDA-cleared development software called the Dvision Toolbox (or master control file (MCF)), and the MEDVIZER (Medicine Visualizer) Engine. The Dvision Toolbox utilizes a set of tools and programs that allow VITEL NET to create, modify, and manage multi-media databases and applications in a programmer-less environment. The MEDVIZER Engine is a set of programs that provides the specific functionalities for the applications created with the Dvision Toolbox. The VITEL NET Division Toolbox is known in the art and has proven to be a foundational technology on which to build and launch customizable products and enterprise-wide solutions. The Dvision Toolbox is the workbench on which solutions are designed and constructed for customers in a programmer-less environment.
Specific clinical products in areas such as General Telemedicine, Teleradiology, Teleultrasound, Telecardiology, Post Acute Care and Home Care, offered as turnkey solutions are known in the art, and each clinical is customized as a value-added service to address the health care requirements and needed specifications of users.
Open-architecture, and scalable telemedicine products and services are known in the art, as are enterprise-wide solutions for users, including ensuring security of data, infrastructure scalability, integration with legacy systems and the ability to capture and present information without dependence upon time or place.
Moreover, the complexities of today's health care marketplace are burgeoning. An increasingly mobile society, coupled with changes in care delivery protocols, legal regulations (such as HIPPA), and the all too fluid business landscape, present significant challenges to most health care providers and the vendors who serve them.
Also known in the are the following functions and features of the VITEL NET Dvision Toolbox and MEDVIZER Engine, which allow rapid tailoring of products to meet specific users' precise requirements. VITEL NET's core technology enables workflow that allows each patient record to be tracked from start to finish. Customized operator interfaces that are targeted specifically for the individual phases in the workflow are created in a programmer-less environment and yield a complete solution.
Moreover, VITEL NET's products are integrated with existing legacy hospital, radiology or clinical information systems, enabling users to leverage existing investments and the delivery of effective image distribution and management solutions.
In addition, the medical information system 10 enables consultations with remote facilities using store-and-forward and/or real-time modes, all of which are compatible with any conventional telecommunication system, including POTS, ISDN, T-1, Satellite, and wireless Internet/LAN.
Further, the medical information system 10 offers key enterprise technologies like the versatile MedVizer Postmaster. The MedVizer Postmaster Server receives patient data, updates the central database, routes the information to the intended clinician, and can send alerts indicating that clinical data are waiting for review.
Moreover, the medical information system 10 provides information security. VITEL NET's Security Services module meets or exceeds today's demanding the HIPPA security and information tracking requirements.
Also, the medical information system 10 provides the technical and clinical expertise to assure that the solution delivered is designed to meet specific user requirements and operates reliably with the user's existing systems.
Also known in the art are VITEL NET's Enterprise Solution Components, including:                MedVizer Postmaster        MedVizer Desktop Manager        MedVizer PACS Gateway/DICOM Manager        MedVizer-Enabled Web-Browser        Telephony Manager        Collaboration Manager (Camera/Device Control & Annotation)        Chat Manager        Data Manager Services        Workflow Services        Folder Management        Report Generator        Image Manipulation Services        Enterprise Security Manager        Volume Management Services        Bar Code Services        Device Capture Manager        Videoconferencing        Interface Manager (HL7, DICOM 3.0)        Store and Forward Exchange Services        Multi-form Management Services        C.O.L.D. (computer output to laser disk)
What is needed is a master control file and an engine which enable an application program to be ported to a hand-held device or used over the Internet, without requiring change to the application program, and which enable interoperability of the application program between disparate operating systems.
Moreover, there exists a need for comprehensive physiological monitoring in portable and remote settings. Current systems are generally large, costly, and inflexible. Pocket Devices can digitized, encapsulated, and routed through a complex digital network under programmed control there by offering a truly universal data exchange functions.
At the same time, in the computer industry there has been a movement toward system interoperability through open systems protocols. This movement is being driven by TCP/IP, followed by Windows CE and now applications level protocols SMTP and MAPI. These protocols standards have allowed interoperability between computers using different operating systems, hardware platforms, and applications suites. Within the Government and industry these data transfer protocols, mostly oriented towards transmission and/or sharing of images and documents have substantially improved the usefulness of office and home Computers' with respect to medical PD, however, such support for multiple platforms or distributed, object-oriented collection and analysis architectures for multiple data types do not yet exist.

Method, apparatus, and medium using a master control file for computer software interoperability between disparate operating systems


This invention provides a magnetic sensor element that can detect a detection target substance with high accuracy. The magnetic sensor element includes a multi-magnetic domain structure in which a plurality of magnetic domains extend in a row in one direction and in which the magnetic domains that are adjoining have easy magnetization axes in opposite directions to each other. The multi-magnetic domain structure has a surface region. Within the surface region, when counting from one end of the multi-magnetic domain structure, affinities for a magnetic particle or a substance that can be immobilized on the magnetic particle are mutually different at a first surface portion located at a boundary between a (2n−1)th (n is a natural number) magnetic domain and a (2n)th magnetic domain and a second surface portion located at a boundary between the (2n)th magnetic domain and a (2n+1)th magnetic domain.

A radioimmunoassay method (radioimmunoassay (RIA) or immunoradiometric assay (IRMA)) has long been known as a quantitative immunoassay method. In this method, a competitive antigen or antibody is labeled with a radionuclide, and the antigen is quantitatively measured based on the measurement result of specific activity. That is, a target substance such as an antigen is labeled, and the target substance is indirectly measured. Because the radioimmunoassay method has high sensitivity, the method has greatly contributed to clinical diagnosis. However, because there are problems involved in handling radionuclides, a dedicated facility and apparatus are required when using the radioimmunoassay method.
Therefore, as a more workable method, for example, a method using labels such as fluorescent substances, enzymes, electrochemiluminescent molecules, or magnetic particles has been proposed. When using a fluorescent label, an enzyme label, an electrochemiluminescent label or the like as a label, detection of the target substance is performed by measuring the rate of absorption or transmittance of light or by measuring the light emission amount using an optical measurement method. Enzyme immunoassay (EIA) that uses enzymes as labels is a method in which, after carrying out an antigen-antibody reaction, enzyme-labeled antibody is caused to react, and a substrate for the enzyme is then added to cause color development, after which colorimetric determination is performed based on the absorbance.
Further, several research institutions have reported biosensors that use a magnetic sensor element to indirectly detect a biomolecular using a magnetic substance as a label. Various types of magnetic sensor elements can be used for this type of detection. Non-Patent Document 1 (H. A. Ferreira, et al, J. Appl. Phys., 93 7281 (2003)) describes a detection method using a magnetoresistance effect element. Non-Patent Document 2 (Pierre-A. Besse, et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 4199 (2002)) describes a detection method using a Hall element. Non-Patent Document 3 (Seung Kyun Lee, et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 81 3094 (2002)) describes a detection method using a Josephson element. Non-Patent Document 4 (Richard Luxton, et al, Anal. Chem. 16 1127 (2001)) describes a detection method using a coil. Non-Patent Document 5 (Horia Chiriac, et al, J. Magn. Magn. Mat. 293 671 (2005)) describes a detection method using an MI element (magneto-impedance element) in which the magnetoimpedance varies.
The detection methods for a biological substance using such elements have different characteristics. In particular, the MI element advantageously has a simple structure.

Magnetic sensor element having multi-magnetic domain structure, and detection apparatus equipped with same


Online group advisor selection is described. According to a computer-implemented method, users are formed into an online group. Online group membership is based at least in part on a shared interest in a particular topic. Based on online interactions between members of the group and the online activity of group members, a group advisor is identified from among the members of the online group. Administrative rights over online activity for the group is assigned to the group advisor.

The present invention relates to the management of online groups, and more specifically to the dynamic selection of a group advisor for the online group. Such a selection is based on interactions between members of the group and on the individual online activity of each member of the group. Through an online group, likeminded individuals may converse, learn, share ideas, and otherwise interact with each other and with subject matter relevant to a shared interest. For example, users in an automotive social collaboration site may share ideas relating to car repair, discuss classic automobiles, and post articles and other online subject matter related to automobiles.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


This application provides a magnetic integrated device, a power conversion circuit, a charger, and an electric vehicle, and pertains to the field of power electronics technologies. The magnetic integrated device includes a magnetic core, a first transformer winding, and a second transformer winding, where the first transformer winding and the second transformer winding are separated and wound, and a first air gap is formed at separation. A magnetic line may pass through the first air gap to form leakage inductance, and the leakage inductance may be equivalent to resonant inductance in the power conversion circuit. Therefore, there is no need to separately dispose an inductor winding in the magnetic integrated device. This effectively reduces a volume and a weight of the magnetic integrated device. In addition, the power conversion circuit that uses the magnetic integrated device also has a relatively small volume and relatively high-power density.

A magnetic integrated device is a device integrating a plurality of discrete devices (such as an inductor and a transformer) in a power conversion circuit.
The magnetic integrated device includes a magnetic core, an inductor winding wound around the magnetic core, and a transformer winding wound around the magnetic core. The transformer winding generally includes three windings: a direct current bus side winding, a high-voltage winding, and a low-voltage winding.
Because the magnetic integrated device has a relatively large quantity of windings and occupies relatively large space, a volume of the magnetic integrated device is relatively large.

Magnetic integrated device, power conversion circuit, charger, and electric vehicle

Huawei Digital Power Technologies Co., Ltd.