A composting toilet disposes of quantities of liquid wastes by providing ingress and egress means for air into and from a housing for the wastes. Within the housing is means for conducting the air into the path of liquid waste being sprayed, to entrain or evaporate such waste into the air and pass it from the housing.

The present invention relates in general to toilet facilities for receiving both liquid and solid wastes. More specifically, it relates to toilets which are self-composting, such as those particularly adapted for use by the public in outdoor areas where connections to a sewage line or other central disposal system for distributing wastes is unavailable or not cost effective.

Composting toilet with respray of liquid wastes


Doherty power amplifier having reduced size. In some embodiments, a power amplification system can include a supply system configured to provide a high-voltage supply signal, and a Doherty power amplifier configured to receive the high-voltage supply signal and amplify a radio-frequency (RF) signal. The power amplification system can further include an output path configured to receive and route the amplified RF signal to a filter. The output path can be substantially free of an impedance transformation circuit.

Field
The present disclosure relates to power amplifiers for radio-frequency (RF) applications.
Description of the Related Art
In many radio-frequency (RF) applications, an RF signal to be transmitted is typically amplified by a power amplifier. Such a power amplifier can be implemented in a number of ways, including, for example, a Doherty power amplifier.


This invention is a syringe having a tubular sleeve protector. The syringe has a barrel with an injection needle and a guide pin on an exterior surface of the barrel. The barrel and the injection needle are in an interior of a tubular sleeve has a spiral guide track on an interior wall. The guide pin fits in the spiral guide track and moves the barrel towards a bottom end of the tubular sleeve as the barrel is rotated, thereby extending the injection needle out of the tubular sleeve. A lateral guide track connects the spiral guide track to a vertical guide track. The guide pin moves from the bottom of the spiral guide track through the lateral guide track to the vertical guide track when the syringe barrel is further rotated. The injection needle is retracted into the interior of the tubular sleeve when the guide pin is moved into the vertical guide track and moved upwards in the vertical guide track towards a top end of the tubular sleeve.

Various forms of protective sleeves for hypodermic injection needles are known. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,170,993; 4,425,120; 4,693,708; 4,702,738; 4,723,943; and 4,966,592. All of these devices use linear tracks on an internal surface of a sheath or sleeve which fits slidably and rotatably around the barrel of a syringe and around an injection needle at the tip of the barrel. The barrel of the syringe is pushed or pulled linearly along the track relative to the sleeve or the sleeve is pushed or pulled linearly along the track relative to the barrel of the syringe to extend or withdraw the injection needle from the sleeve. The syringe barrel is rotatable relative to the sleeve so that the syringe barrel can be rotated to lock and unlock the syringe barrel at desired positions along the length of the sleeve. These devices have relatively complex structures and require relatively complex movements to extend the injection needle out of the sleeve and to withdraw the injection needle into the sleeve.

Single dose disposable syringe with needle protector


An amphibious aircraft has a tricycle landing gear that is movable between a retracted, or up, position and an extended, or down, position. Each member of the landing gear is protected in the forward direction by a hydrodynamic protector, or vane, or shoe, such as may tend to create lift when brought into engagement with water, as during landing. The landing gear protector vanes may be mounted to move with extension and retraction of the landing gear. The landing gear wheels may protrude to extend partially downwardly proud of the sole of the shoe. The landing gear actuator and transmission may operate all gear in concert. The shoes may include sacrificial wear members for ground engagement in the event of an inadvertent gear-up landing on terrain.

Amphibious aircraft are designed to land either on water or on land. Amphibious aircraft may typically be of two types, namely those with a pair of pontoons; and true flying boats with a water-tight hull. For fixed-wing aircraft, whether using skis or a hull, there will be a forward, or leading, direction, and a rearward or trailing direction.
In either instance it is possible to land, or to attempt to land, a fixed wing amphibious aircraft with the landing gear in an inappropriate configuration. That is, it is possible to make a landing on terrain with the wheeled landing gear retracted; and it is possible to make a landing on water with the wheeled landing gear extended. One cause of accidents in amphibious aircraft is landing in water with the wheels down. A water landing with wheeled gear extended may be catastrophic: as the gear descends into the water, it may tend to function as an oar or paddle that generates a substantial overturning moment on the aircraft, such as may tend to flip the aircraft over on its nose (if the gear plunges into the water symmetrically) or to spin and flip the aircraft, possibly in cartwheel fashion, if one wheel catches the water before the other. In either case the result may be very significant damage or personal injury, or both.
Alternatively, when the aircraft lands on terrain with the wheeled landing gear retracted, the effect may be that of a belly landing, with the possibility of doing significant damage to the aircraft hull (or pontoons). Damage may similarly occur if one or another wheel of the landing gear extends, while one or more other wheels remain retracted.
As amphibious aircraft may, by their nature, fly to destinations that may have non-optimal field conditions, retrieving a damaged aircraft after an unintentional gear-up landing may itself become an adventure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An absorbent product comprises a backsheet having a first lateral end edge, a second lateral end edge, a first longitudinal side edge, and a second longitudinal side edge. The absorbent product further comprises a first longitudinal line of weakness laterally inboard of the first longitudinal side edge, a second longitudinal line of weakness laterally inboard of the second longitudinal side edge, a first lateral line of weakness longitudinally inboard of the first lateral end edge, and a second lateral line of weakness longitudinally inboard of the second lateral end edge. The absorbent product also comprises a topsheet connected with the backsheet, an absorbent article, the absorbent article having an outer perimeter defined by the first and second longitudinal lines of weakness and the first and second lateral lines of weakness, and a removable trim region.

Absorbent articles, such as diapers, for example, can be sold individually. At times, these, absorbent articles are sold individually in lower income countries or in areas where consumers cannot afford to purchase an entire package of absorbent articles at a given time. In such an instance, a retailer may open the package of the absorbent articles and then sell individual absorbent articles to consumers at a lower cost than the entire package of the absorbent articles.

Absorbent articles and method for manufacturing the same


A novel and improved flexible and pivoting mounting system and an on/off tail switch for a spinning wing decoy is disclosed to thereby provide a spinning wing decoy capable of imitating the lifelike movement of a bird in takeoff, sustained flight and landing.

The avian spinning wing decoy has been on the market for over a decade and has been popular among bird hunters. It has proven to be effective in attracting birds into decoy arrangements by simulating the wing motion of a live bird, thus giving the illusion of the wing beat of a bird. In the present application, the avian spinning wing decoy has primarily been attached to a stationary pole stake that elevates it above the ground surface. This pole stake is rigid and holds the avian spinning wing decoy in a stationary position elevated above the ground.
The pivoting coupler mechanism of this present invention, be it an internal or external coupler, attached to an elongated flexible rod provides the natural movement in changing directions of a live bird in flight wherein the head of a bird always is the first part of the body to take the lead when changing directions. The pivoting coupler mechanism, elongated flexible rod and stake application improves on the current design by allowing the avian spinning wing decoy to be elevated and put into multi-directional motion either with the aid of the wind or an attached pull string. This adds a flight like motion to the existing spinning of the wings of the avian spinning wing decoy. The on/off switch located in the rearward tail portion of the decoy is activated by coming into contact with a hard surface.

Hinging and rotating coupler mechanism for avian spinning wing decoy


It is an object of the present invention to provide a commercially advantageous method for producing a cyclic disulfonic acid ester with high yield, the present invention discloses a method for producing a cyclic disulfonic acid ester represented by the general formula (3), which comprises reacting a silver alkanedisulfonate represented by the general formula (1) with a dihaloalkane represented by the general formula (2) in a nonpolar solvent.

Cyclic disulfonic acid esters are expecting compounds as effective materials for treatment such as melanotic cancer, ovary cancer, as well as leukemia (see, e.g. JP-A-61-501089). As a method for producing these cyclic disulfonic acids, the following methods have been known: <1> a method of synthesizing said cyclic disulfonic acid ester by adding a dihaloalkane to a solution prepared by reacting a silver salt such as silver carbonate with an alkanedisulfonyl chloride dissolved in a suitable polar solvent such as acetonitrile (see, e.g. JP-A-61-501089); <2> a method of synthesizing said cyclic disulfonic acid ester by adding a tertiary amine and an alkanedisulfonyl chloride dissolved in a suitable solvent such as tetrahydrofuran to a diol such as ethylene glycol dissolved in the same solvent described above (see, e.g. JP-A-61-501089); <3> a method of synthesizing said cyclic disulfonic acid ester by reacting at least one kind of compound selected from the group consisting of an alkanedisulfonic acid anhydride, an alkanedisulfonic acid and a halogenated sulfonylalkanesulfonic acid with a diacyloxyalkane or a dialkylsulfonyloxyalkane (see, e.g. JP-A-2005-336155); and the like.
However, the method of the above <1> is not necessarily advantageous for commercial production because yield of the desired cyclic disulfonic acid ester is low. In the method of the above <2>, there are such problems that yield of the desired cyclic disulfonic acid ester is also low, and further that a cyclic disulfonic acid ester derived from a diol having one carbon atom, among cyclic disulfonic acid esters, cannot be synthesized by this method, because only a diol having 2 or more carbon atoms call be used. In addition, also in the method of the above <3>, there are such problems that yield of the desired cyclic disulfonic acid ester is low similarly to the methods of the above <1> and <2>, and further that since alkanedisulfonic acid, anhydride thereof and halogenated sulfonylalkanesulfonic acid as a starting material further requires carrying out anhydration of hydrate or dehydration condensation after reacting their corresponding alkanedisulfonyl halide with water, preparation of the starting material takes extra effort. Under such circumstance, development of a method for producing a cyclic disulfonic acid ester which can be applied to various cyclic disulfonic acid esters and gives high yield suitable for commercial production has been required.

Method for producing cyclic disulfonic acid ester

Abstract: Wherein X1 and X2 are each independently a chlorine atom, a bromine atom or an iodine atom; and Y and Z are each independently a substituted or unsubstituted alkylene chain which may have a heteroatom in the chain.


An electric vehicle includes a vehicle body and a battery pack. The vehicle body has in a lower portion thereof a sign showing a specific position to be jacked up. The battery pack is mounted on the lower portion of the vehicle body and includes a bottom wall having a mark showing a position where a liquid draining hole communicating with an inside of the battery pack is to be bored. The mark is disposed at a position lower than the specific position within the vehicle body in a state where the vehicle body is inclined by jacking up the specific position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates an electric vehicle including a mechanism for completely discharging a battery pack incorporated therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an electric vehicle is submerged and a lot of water flows into a built-in battery pack, or when, due to vehicle collision, the battery pack is broken and its electrolyte leaks, a current may be leaked. In this case, when the water or electrolyte remains within the battery pack, there is a danger that an operator or the like for moving this electric vehicle can be electrically shocked. Therefore, the battery pack must be discharged completely.
When the battery pack is submerged, firstly, mud or cloudy water having invaded therein must be drained and, thereafter, the battery pack is filled with water again and must be left until the battery pack discharges electricity completely. And, also when the electrolyte is leaking, after the electrolyte is drained, water is filled into the battery pack to discharge electricity in the battery pack. In both cases, the water within the battery pack is drained after the electricity is discharged.
There is known a vehicle battery pack having a mechanism for draining invaded water. This battery pack includes a cooling device for cooling battery cells. The cooling device is disposed substantially centrally of the vehicle in its width direction and is used to circulate cool air within the battery pack. In this battery pack, the cooling device includes a drain for draining condensed water. In order to prevent the water against backflow from the drain, a check valve is provided on the outlet of the drain.
Also, in consideration of a case where a battery pack is taken apart for recycling, there is provided a battery pack which includes in its connecting portion a slit for guiding a tool. In this battery pack, multiple unit cells are covered with upper and lower case members. The tool is guided along the slit to cut a hook engaging the upper and lower case members with each other, whereby the unit cells can be taken out from the cases.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2011-173447
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2011-192592

Electric vehicle with built-in battery pack

Mitsubishi Jidosha Kogya Kabashiki Kaisha


A method for performing a handoff of an active communication connection for a mobile user station from a macrocell to one or more femtocells. In one aspect, the present invention provides an improved handoff for situations in which the mobile user station is moved into an indoor residential or enterprise environment within which the signal strength of the mobile user station with respect to the macrocell base transceiver station becomes relatively low. In one embodiment, the method efficiently performs a handoff of an active communication connection from a macrocell to one or more femtocells while minimizing the likelihood of dropping the active communication connection during the handoff.

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), as defined by 3GPP and 3GPP2, merges telephony and Internet technology by providing an all-IP based architecture for the telecommunications industry. The IMS is based on the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and makes heavy use of the protocols defined within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The system offers a network of servers and databases that assist a user agent with the task of establishing and managing sessions. IMS uses the term "sessions," because the connections between users are no longer limited to voice services (i.e., a telephone call). Sessions may be voice, video, text, or other services connecting two or more user agents together.
Referring now to FIG. 1, the IMS architecture 100 includes User Equipment (UE) 125, Call Session Control Functions (CSCF) 115, Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 120 and Application Servers 105 and 110.
The UE includes a device that contains the SIP User Agent that will initiate or terminate sessions.
The CSCFs 115 are responsible for managing the sessions, including security and interconnect. There are three types of CSCFs. First, a Proxy CSCF (P-CSCF) resides at the edge of the network and serves as an entry point for the UE into the IMS core. Second, an Interrogating CSCF (I-CSCF) serves as an entry point into the network for peering networks. The I-CSCF also acts as the lookup function for finding the appropriate serving node for a subscriber. Third, a Serving CSCF (S-CSCF) is responsible for authenticating the UE and managing ongoing sessions for the UE, including invocation of applications. The S-CSCF communicates with the HSS in order to retrieve the UE authentication information. After the user has been authenticated, the S-CSCF again communicates with the HSS 120 to retrieve the user profile which specifies the services to which a user has subscribed and which applications servers are to be invoked for those services.
The HSS 120 stores the relevant user data, including authentication information and service data. As part of the user profile, initial Filter Criteria (IFC) are defined to indicate which application servers are to be invoked, based on information in the signaling plane.
Applications Servers 105, 110 are invoked based on the iFC that are stored in the user profile. The S-CSCF will pass signaling onto an Application Server if the criteria defined in the IFC are met. Once invoked, the application server can take part in the session and provide additional capabilities.
Referring now to FIG. 2A, the architecture 200 of the converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system, as shown in FIG. 1 of section 5.1.1 of 3GPP2-X.S0059 Femtocell Overview, is illustrated.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system includes a CDMA Femtocell Access Point (FAP) 238, which is a CDMA 2000 1x access point that provides coverage in a small area, usually a private residence or a small office, and connects a mobile station (MS) 240 to an operator's network 228 via a broadband connection, such as, for example, DSL or cable. Typically, a residential FAP is a miniature base station that implements the CDMA base transceiver station function, the base station controller function, and the packet control function (PCF). A plain old telephone service (POTS) telephone can be connected to a FAP via an ATA port. A typical residential FAP has a range of approximately 15 feet.
Referring also to FIG. 2B, the converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes a cluster 238 of up to n FAPs in large enterprises, where n=a maximum number of base stations supported in a soft handoff scenario in IS-95 or IS-2000. One FAP in the cluster is the Controlling FAP (CFAP) 272, and other individual FAPs may be designated as FAP1 270 and FAPn 274. In a macrocell-to-femtocells active mode handoff scenario, an individual FAP other than the CFAP 272 sends voice packets to the CFAP 272, which selects the strongest voice frame to send towards the IMS 224 via an enterprise router 276. In the downlink direction, the CFAP 272 receives a voice frame from the IMS 224 via the enterprise router 276 and sends the same voice frame to all of the FAPs, i.e., FAP1 270 and FAPn 274 involved in the soft handoff. Typically, an enterprise FAP is a miniature base station that implements the CDMA base transceiver station function, the base station controller function, and the packet control function (PCF). Enterprise FAPs are grouped by clusters. Each cluster has a Controlling FAP. All enterprise FAPs within a cluster communicate with each other via a local enterprise IP backbone 278. Signaling protocols between the CFAP 272 and the individual enterprise FAPs 270, 274 have not yet been defined by 3GPP2. Voice paths between the CFAP 272 and the individual enterprise FAPs 270, 274 may be established by using the Real-Time Transport Protocol.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes a Femtocell Management System (FMS) 230 that provides femtocell operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P) functions.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes a Femtocell Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) module 232 that provides a FAP authorization function. The AAA 232 sends authorization policy information to the Security Gateway (SeGW) 234. The SeGW authenticates the FAPs and protects the IP core network 228 from security attacks (e.g., denial of service) initiated by FAPs.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes IMS 224, an IP Multimedia Network 226, and an IP backbone network 228.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes a Media Gateway Control Function/Media Gateway (MGCF/MGW) 222 that connects IMS 224 to the legacy CDMA core network.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes a Femtocell Convergence Server (FCS) 210. The FCS 210 is an IMS Application Server that provides internetworking between the FAP, the SIP environment of IMS, and the appropriate Mobile Access Protocol (MAP) 212 network elements.
The converged CDMA IMS Femtocell system also includes legacy CDMA core network elements, including: the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 218 and a public safety answering point (PSAP) 220; a mobile switching center (MSC) 216; a base station controller (BSC) and a base station transceiver system (BTS) 214, a home location register (HLR) and authentication center (AC) 202; a position determining entity (PDE) 204; a mobile positioning center (MPE) 206; and a message center (MC) 208.
The MSC 216 is connected to the PSTN switch 218 via a TDM trunk. The MSC 216 is connected to the MGCF/MGW 222 via a nailed-up TDM trunk. The MSC 216 interacts with the HLR 202 and the CS 210 using IS-41 signaling. The MSC 216 is connected to at least one BSC via a TI connection or an Ethernet connection. Each BSC controls at least one BTS 214 via a T1 connection or an Ethernet connection. An MSC 216 can be either a TDM mobile switching center or a "Soft Switch" MSC.
Referring now to FIG. 2C, the MSC 216 includes a radio access control function (RACF) subsystem 262, a call control function (CCF) subsystem 264, and a trunking subsystem 260. The RACF subsystem is responsible for paging, mobility management (e.g., location update), and handoff. The RACF subsystem 262 interfaces with the base station controllers 214 and 254, typically via either a T1 interface or an Ethernet interface. Base station controller 214 interfaces with base station transceivers 250 and 252 via T1 or Ethernet, and base station controller 254 interfaces with base station transceivers 256 and 258 via T1 or Ethernet. The mobile station 240 communicates with the base station transceiver having the highest signal strength at any given moment.
The RACF subsystem 262 performs handoffs in coordination with the base station controllers 214 and 254, the trunking subsystem 260, and the convergence server 210 via respective IS-41 interfaces.
The RACF subsystem 262 also interfaces with a home location register (HLR) 268 and a visitor location registry (VLR) 266. The HLR 268 contains subscriber information for the mobile stations of a plurality of subscribers. The VLR 266 contains information relating to all mobile stations which have registered with the MSC 216.
The CCF subsystem 264 is responsible for translating and routing calls. The trunking subsystem 260 is responsible for trunk connectivity with the PSTN 218, the MGCF/MGW 222, and other mobile switching centers.
Conventional systems include a capability to complete a handoff of an active communication connection from a femtocell to a macrocell, e.g., when a mobile user station moves from an indoor residential environment out into a generic macrocell environment. However, currently, the 3GPP2 femtocell standards and femtocell and convergence server vendors lack an efficient solution for handing off an active mobile user station (for example, a mobile user station that is on a call with another party) from a macrocell to a residential femtocell or to enterprise femtocells when the mobile user station moves into the femtocell coverage area. Consequently, a subscriber who is talking on a call via a macrocell base station and is moving to an indoor environment, such as a private residence, an enterprise, or a hotspot, will suffer from poor macrocell RF coverage in an indoor environment. Hence, there is a need for a method for efficiently performing a handoff from a macrocell to one or more femtocells that minimizes the likelihood of dropping the active communication connection during the handoff.

Methods for handoff of an active communication connection from a macrocell to a femtocell


A light-emitting module having a light-emitting efficiency. The light-emitting module that emits light includes a semiconductor light-emitting element that emits light; and a light transmission member that is provided to cover the semiconductor light-emitting element with materials for transmitting the light emitted from the semiconductor light-emitting element and forms a sub-wavelength grating for reducing reflection of the light on its outgoing face for sending the light incident from an interface facing said semiconductor light-emitting element to its outside in grid periods shorter than a wavelength of the light transmitted by the light transmission member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting module and a lamp.
2. Description of Related Art
A light-emitting module such as a light-emitting diode utilizes a semiconductor light-emitting element that emits light. Recently, the configuration capable of improving light-emitting efficiency by providing a plurality of convex portions on the surface of the semiconductor light-emitting element is known as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-86835 (pages 1-6, FIGS. 1-13). The plurality of convex portions is arranged in the shape of grid in shorter periods than light wavelength. In addition, the plurality of convex portions is formed by etching the surface of the semiconductor light-emitting element. For this etching, a resist pattern corresponding to the plurality of convex portions is used as an etching mask.
To form a resist pattern having shorter periods than light wavelength, it is necessary to write the pattern on a resist film, e.g., by an electron beam lithography method. However, in an exposure process performed by the electron beam lithography method, it is difficult to write a large quantity of patterns at a time in some cases. Therefore, a high cost was conventionally required in some cases when desiring to produce a semiconductor light-emitting element having high light-emitting efficiency.


A mobile phone terminal has a positional information acquisition unit acquiring present positional information indicating a present position, a destination information acquisition unit acquiring destination information specifying a destination (where to return, and where to go), a navigation unit navigating a route from a position specified by the present positional information acquired by the positional information acquisition unit to a destination specified by the destination information, upon activation, a distance acquisition unit acquiring a distance between a position specified by the present positional information acquired by the positional information acquisition unit and a destination specified by the destination information, and an activation control unit activating the navigation unit depending on a distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal device having a position acquisition function and a navigation (guiding) function, a system including the portable terminal device, and a recording medium storing a program which allows a computer to function as the foregoing portable terminal device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile phone device which has a GPS (Global Positioning System) function and a navigation function, and navigates a route to a destination based on a present position, is known. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-294429, for example, discloses such a mobile phone device which has a navigation function for navigating a route to a destination where a user should return, such as a home.
In general, navigation function is highly burdened, and consumes a large electrical power. On the other hand, mobile phones are generally operated by a battery in view of portability. Therefore, if the navigation function is continuously activated, a problem such as battery run-out may occur easily. Thus, the mobile phone disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2004-294429 activates the navigation function only when a user instructs to operate.
For example, in the case of a group bus tour, the location where people got off is often appointed as the position-to-return where the people get back after off-the-bus free sightseeing. In this case, it is difficult for people to determine timing to start returning to the position-to-return, and a navigation function is useful for guiding the route to the position-to-return. However, if the navigation function is activated before it is necessary, the battery may run out while returning.
Not only in the case of a bus tour but also a case of meeting a person, similarly to the case of off-the-bus sightseeing, the navigation function may be activated often before it is necessary, the battery may also run out on the way.
Also, an operation for setting the navigation function is troublesome and confusing, and there is a problem that children and old people cannot be friendly with operation and fully utilize the navigation function. Even if the child carries a mobile phone with the navigation function, there is a case that the child cannot use the mobile phone with the navigation function when he gets lost from his parents.


A method, user equipment, network device, and software product enable allocation of a number of resource blocks over a downlink to the user equipment. The resource blocks are grouped into a number of groups of the blocks, the number of groups being no greater than a maximum number. The resource blocks are arranged in an adjacent manner within each of the groups. The resource blocks are allocated by operating on the groups, and the allocation is signalled using a group allocation indication.

The telecommunications industry is in the process of developing a new generation of flexible and affordable communications that includes high-speed access while also supporting broadband services. Many features of the third generation mobile telecommunications system have already been established, but many other features have yet to be perfected.
One of the systems within the third generation of mobile communications is the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) which delivers voice, data, multimedia, and wideband information to stationary as well as mobile customers. UMTS is designed to accommodate increased system capacity and data capability. Efficient use of the electromagnetic spectrum is vital in UMTS. It is known that spectrum efficiency can be attained using frequency division duplex (FDD) or using time division duplex (TDD) schemes. Space division duplex (SDD) is a third duplex transmission method used for wireless telecommunications.
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the UMTS architecture consists of user equipment 102 (UE), the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network 104 (UTRAN), and the Core Network 126 (CN). The air interface between the UTRAN and the UE is called Uu, and the interface between the UTRAN and the Core Network is called Iu.
The UTRAN consists of a set of Radio Network Subsystems 128 (RNS), each of which has geographic coverage of a number of cells 110 (C), as can be seen in FIG. 1. The interface between the subsystems is called lur.
Each Radio Network Subsystem 128 (RNS) includes a Radio Network Controller 112 (RNC) and at least one Node B 114, each Node B having geographic coverage of at least one cell 110. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the interface between an RNC 112 and a Node B 114 is called Iub, and the Iub is hard-wired rather than being an air interface. For any Node B 114 there is only one RNC 112. A Node B 114 is responsible for radio transmission and reception to and from the UE 102 (Node B antennas can typically be seen atop towers or preferably at less visible locations). The RNC 112 has overall control of the logical resources of each Node B 114 within the RNS 128, and the RNC 112 is also responsible for handover decisions which entail switching a call from one cell to another or between radio channels in the same cell.
LTE, or Long Term Evolution (also known as 3.9G), refers to research and development involving the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) aimed at identifying technologies and capabilities that can improve systems such as the UMTS. LTE, or Long Term Evolution (also known as 3.9G), refers to research and development involving the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) aimed at identifying technologies and capabilities that can improve systems such as the UMTS. The present invention is related to LTE work that is taking place in 3GPP (see Appendix A).
Generally speaking, a prefix of the letter "E" in upper or lower case signifies LTE. The E-UTRAN consists of eNBs (E-UTRAN or enhanced Node Bs), providing the E-UTRA user plane (RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs interface to the access gateway (aGW) via the S1, and are inter-connected via the X2.
An example of the E-UTRAN architecture is illustrated in FIG. 1b. This example of E-UTRAN consists of eNBs, providing the E-UTRA user plane (RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by means of the S1 interface to the EPC (evolved packet core), e.g. to the MME (mobility management entity) and the UPE (user plane entity) which may form the access gateway (aGW). The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relation between MMEs/UPEs and eNBs. The S1 interface supports a functional split between the MME and the UPE.
In this example there exists an X2 interface between the eNBs that need to communicate with each other. For exceptional cases (e.g. inter-PLMN handover), LTE_ACTIVE inter-eNB mobility is supported by means of MME/UPE relocation via the S1 interface.
The eNB may host functions such as radio resource management (radio bearer control, radio admission control, connection mobility control, dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink), selection of a mobility management entity (MME) at UE attachment, routing of user plane data towards the user plane entity (UPE), scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME), scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M), and measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling. The MME/UPE may host functions such as the following: distribution of paging messages to the eNBs, security control, IP header compression and encryption of user data streams; termination of U-plane packets for paging reasons; switching of U-plane for support of UE mobility, idle state mobility control, SAE bearer control, and ciphering and integrity protection of NAS signaling.
A particular aspect of LTE is control channel structure for cellular systems. In such a system, there are multiple resources for which an individual channel quality indicator can be reported. A typical example would be the allocation of frequency domain resources LTE. Let us assume that there are multiple resources that can be allocated to a user, and that the user can provide channel quality indication (CQI) for these multiple resources. A scheduler then has the ability to assign the channels to the users based on this resource-specific CQI.
In LTE, the present working assumption is that a set of 12 subcarriers or 180 kilohertz (kHz) is the bandwidth of a Physical Resource Block (PRB), which is the minimum resource that can be allocated to a user when a localized allocation principle is used, "localized" meaning that full PRBs are allocated to users. In a 10 megahertz (MHz) bandwidth, there would be fifty (50) such PRBs.
It is important to understand that PRBs can be allocated via unrestricted allocation, or via adjacent allocation. The extremes of allocation freedom are as follows. For unrestricted allocation, a user can get any number of disjoint resource blocks; so, user 1 could get, for example, resource blocks 1, 2, 3, 6,10,11,15,16,18, and 22. For adjacent allocation, a user can get any number of adjacent resource blocks, but no disjoint sets. So, user 1 could get, for example, consecutive resource blocks 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and in this case his allocation could be extended with PRB 3 and/or PRB 11, but not, for example, with non-consecutive PRB 44. Unrestricted allocation is the working assumption in LTE downlink (DL), whereas adjacent allocation is the working assumption in LTE uplink (UL). In channels with a high degree of frequency selectivity, it is understood that an unrestricted allocation gives up to 50% higher throughput than an adjacent allocation principle.
In 3GPP radio access network discussions (RAN1), two options for coding of the physical layer (L1) and data link layer (L2) allocation-related control information have been discussed: separate coding and joint coding. According to separate coding, the allocation entries for individual users are separate packets, and the user is not assumed to need to know anything about another user's allocations in order to be able to process his own allocation. In contrast, according to joint coding, all (or at least some) users are coded together, so that the user needs some information about the other users, such as the number of other users jointly coded, and the other user's ordinal number in the set, in order to be able to identify his own allocation. In joint coding, the number of information bits is smaller than in separate coding. In separate coding, however, it is easier to adapt the power usage to the channel condition of the user.
It is preferable to have fixed-length signaling fields. For unrestricted allocation with separate coding, the simplest (and only) fixed-length signaling method is that a bit mask is transmitted for each user so that "0" indicates that the user does not get the resource, whereas "1" indicates that the user gets the resource. For instance, in the LTE 10 MHz option, 50 bits per user equipment (UE) would be needed in order to signal an unrestricted allocation with separate coding.
In joint coding, the simplest signaling method uses a UE index. First there is a (typically implicit) mapping, where each UE is assigned a number. Thus UE1 would have the index 0, UE2 the index 1, and so on. For each of the 50 resources, the index of the UE which gets the allocation is indicated. Various methods to indicate that a resource is not allocated at all have been devised. For example, the index 0 can be used to indicate "no allocation". Alternatively, a separate bit field per resource can be used to indicate that a resource is or is not allocated. To gain more from joint coding, the UE indexes may be reported in a non-binary alphabet. For example, if one out of three alternatives is chosen, then one may use a three-valued object to select the alternative for each PRB.
For further background information related to the invention, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety is the document TSG-RAN WG1 #44, R1-060573 (Feb. 13-17, 2006) titled "E-UTRA Downlink Control Signaling—Overhead Assessment", which discusses various aspects of joint versus separate coding. Also incorporated by reference herein in its entirety is the document 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 LTE Ad Hoc, R1-061907 (Jun. 27-30, 2006) titled "DL L1/L2 control signaling channel encoding structures", which discusses various joint coding structures.
The problem addressed by the present invention is to reduce the signaling overhead related to the unrestricted allocation principle, without losing the flexibility and gains as compared to the adjacent allocation principle. This problem is especially relevant in the case of separate coding, where a bit field of 50 bits per UE starts to be in the upper limit of tolerability.
In the past, there have been attempts to solve this problem. For background about those past attempts, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety is the document TSG-RAN WG1 LTE Ad Hoc Meeting, R1-060094 (Jan. 23-25, 2006) titled "Signaling of E-UTRA Scheduling Information", which discusses various aspects of joint versus separate coding. In that document, it was proposed for there to be a run length and index for each UE signaled. Run length Ru means that for UE u, only sets of R consecutive resources are allocated. There is no restriction that all such sets should be adjacent. Thus if Ru is one for all users, the method is the same as the "unrestricted method", with the added overhead of signaling Ru. For example, the run length for UE 1 is 4, and for UE 2 the run length is 3. The indexes for UE1 and UE2 would be 0 and 1, respectively. In the allocation table, there is a list of UE indexes: 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0. Each "0" means 4 consecutive resources allocated to UE1, and each "1" means 3 consecutive resources allocated to UE 2. Thus after expanding according to the run length, the resource allocation would be as follows:
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0. So, altogether, 24 resources are allocated to UE1, and 6 resources to UE2.
This type of prior art does not apply to separate coding at all. From a joint coding perspective, it is difficult to implement at the transmitter. If one wants to gain from the restrictions, one needs to solve a constrained optimization problem, where the run length of all users affects the resources available for all other users. A further difficulty with that proposed solution is that the run length of each user also needs to be signaled to all users in order for each UE to know how to decode the allocation table.
Background about a second attempt to solve this problem of reducing signaling overhead can be found in the document 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 LTE Ad Hoc, R1-061801 (Jun. 27-30, 2006) titled "Multiplexing of L1/L2 Control in E-UTRA DL" which is also incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. According to this second attempted solution, one is restricting the possible control signals to a high degree. By allowing only a set of distributed type of allocations, 9 bits are used to signal an allocation in 5 MHz (12 resource blocks). Those 9 bits include 3 bits allocated sub-band map, plus 2 bits starting RB ID in the first sub-band, plus 2 bits ending RB ID in the last sub-band, plus 2 bits spacing of allocated RBs ("spacing" indicates a code in the frequency domain). This second type of prior art allows only very limited gains over "adjacent" allocation. Essentially, this second type of prior art method selects an adjacent set of resources for the users, and then divides the resources in the code domain, so that the user does not take all the resources in his adjacent band. General background about technology related to the present invention can be found in the U.S. Application of Tsuyoshi Kashima and Sigit Jarot, titled "Control Signal Structure for Resource Allocation In E-UTRA" (Ser. No. 11/486,834), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Resource restricted allocation in long-term evolution


A sensor provides an analog sensor output signal that is first converted by a A/D converter, followed by a digital signal processor having a digital signal output that is converted to an analog signal by way of a D/A converter so as to provide an analog information output signal indicative of a parameter quantity intended to be sensed. An analog dither signal and/or a digital dither signal is provided for modulating the A/D converter input signal and/or D/A converter input signal, respectively, separately, or in combination, to enhance dynamic range accuracy of the resultant analog information output signal representative of the quantity of the parameter intended to be sensed.

Optical sensors are commonly employed in a wide variety of applications including among others, inertial navigation sensors systems where an optical sensor is responsive to rotation thereof, and optical current and voltage sensors where the optical sensor is responsive to electric and/or magnetic fields. Each of these optical sensors employs an optical beam or light wave that propagates along a specific optical path. Each of these optical sensors generally includes light detector circuitry and signal processing circuitry for sensing a specific parameter that affects the optical beam along the optical path. More specifically, the propagating light wave is affected by the intended parameter intended to be monitored or sensed, for example rotation of the optical path for inertial sensors, electric fields for voltage sensors, and magnetic or electric fields for current sensors, and the like. The characteristic behavior of the light wave or optical beam, for example velocity, phase, and/or polarization may be affected by the intended parameter to be sensed in accordance with well-known and established physical principles.
Commonly, optical sensor systems of the types described employ a photo-detector for obtaining an indication of the instantaneous intensity of one or more optical beams, either separately or in combination, impinging on the photo-detector. In turn the photo-detector output signal is signal processed by a signal processing circuit for deriving therefrom an indication of the parameter intended to be measured—the parameter affecting the optical beam, e.g., the magnitude of the of the change in velocity, phase, and/or polarization in accordance with well known and established principles. Further, the signal processing circuit may also include one or more outputs that may be utilized as a drive signal for affecting the optical path and thereby be incorporated into a closed-loop feedback signal processing sensor scheme for obtaining the indication of the parameter intended to be measured as is in accordance with well known and established principles.
A relatively new application of optical sensors is high voltage power line monitoring systems. These systems require highly accurate current and voltage sensors in which the sensors are physically immersed in the brutal electrical environment of high voltage power lines where the line voltage is in the order of hundreds of Kilo-volts and power line current may be in the range of 1.0 to 5000.0 amps. The latter wide dynamic current range needed to be measured by current sensors is a severe problem in the power line application.
The wide dynamic range requirement may be understood by considering that power plants coupled to an electrical power line grid may be operative in one scenario providing peak current output during heavy summertime use due to air conditioning equipment, i.e., 5000 amps. In another scenario, the power plant may be in an idling mode where the power plant acts as a small load receiving a small amount of current, or is putting out a small amount of current, say, in the order of 1.0 amp.
This wide dynamic range accuracy requirement has commonly necessitated the use of multiple sets of instrumentation to measure power line currents during the aforesaid scenarios. For example, transformers employed for obtaining current measurements may include multiple taps where each tap may be coupled to two or more metering instrumentation systems or meters.
Optical current sensors, and more particularly fiber optic current sensors, are now employed in power-line applications for measuring wide dynamic range current flowing through the power lines. Principles of these types of optical sensors are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,397, entitled, "Fiber Optic Interferometric Circuit And Magnetic Field Sensor," issued to James N. Blake. Disclosed therein are both Sagnac interferometric and in-line embodiments for constructing an optical current sensor. Various improvements thereof are also disclosed, among others, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,696,858, 5,987,195, 6,023,331, and 6,122,415, all issued to James N. Blake.
Briefly, fiber optic current sensors as disclosed in the aforementioned patents work on the principal that a magnetic field produced by a current to be sensed affects the polarization properties of a sensing fiber in the vicinity of the magnetic field through the Faraday effect. The change in the polarization properties of the sensing fiber can be probed in several different ways. Common ways include injecting linearly polarized light and later analyzing the rotation of its polarization state after exiting the sensing region, or measuring the relative velocities of right and left hand circularly polarized light waves that travel through the sensing region using a Sagnac or in-line interferometer technique. The sensor configuration includes an optical exit port for permitting an "affected" optical beam to exit the optical circuit and impinge upon a photo-detector positioned at the terminus of the optical circuit. In all cases, the current to be sensed causes light intensity fluctuations of the exiting optical beam, and in turn causes the photo-detector output signal to exhibit fluctuations related to the light intensity fluctuations thereby providing a signal which may be processed by a signal processing circuit to provide a signal indicative of the current intended to be sensed.
The fluctuations of the light intensity falling on the photo-detector may be processed by analog circuitry to produce an analog output representative of the current being sensed. However, it is often more desirable to digitally process the light intensity fluctuations. Digital processing is often more desirable because: (i) digital output is often more desirable for following subsystems; (ii) more accuracy may be obtained with digital signal processing because the higher processing power available in the digital domain allows for complex characterization, (iii) it is much cheaper to carry out complex signal processing in the digital domain rather than in the analog domain, and (iv) wide dynamic range signals may be more accurately handled in the digital domain.
Generally, the first step required for processing the photo-detector signal in the digital domain is to convert the signal using an A/D converter. After the signal has been processed, it may be converted back to the analog domain using a D/A converter. This conversion back to the analog domain is often required for current and voltage sensors as these sensors may be married to secondary or receiving devices (such as meters, relays, and recorders) which in the power industry often have analog system front-ends.
It should be noted that these secondary devices also have a wide-dynamic range requirement. For example, consider a power meter for measuring the product of sensed current and voltage where the current ranges, as before between 1.0 and 5000.0 amps. Commonly such power meters include analog-to-digital converters and digital signal processing for deriving the desired information, for example watt-hours. As indicated earlier, multiple sets of instrumentation, i.e., multiple meters, may be employed to obtain accurate information depending on the current.
The absolute accuracy of these types of optical sensors as well as the secondary devices, i.e., meters, may be compromised by the A/D and D/A converters employed therewith. This may happen because of the quantization and non-linearities present in the A/D and D/A converters. As an example, consider what happens in an optical current sensor that is made to measure currents as low as ±1 amp, and as high as ±5000 amps. Suppose a 12-bit A/D converter is used to convert the photodetector output signal to a digital signal. These 12 bits (4096 distinct levels) have to describe a 10,000 amp range, or on average, each bit represents about 2.5 amps. Thus the 1 amp signal falls within 1 least significant bit (LSB). Normally, some noise will exist in the detected photo-detector signal that serves to "dither" the detected signal around several LSB's. This noise may be used to overcome the quantization error associated with the signal being comparable to or less than an LSB. However, the overall system accuracy is often not good enough even when the signal with noise spans several LSB's. This is so since the bit spacing for these several LSB's may not be representative of the overall bit spacing for the A/D converter. If these bits are closer together than the overall average bit spacing, then the final output signal will read relatively higher than a large signal which uses many of the bits; and, if these bits are further apart than the average bit spacing, then the final output signal will read relatively lower than a large signal that uses many of the bits.
The same problem as just described for the A/D converter also applies to the D/A converter. Larger converters such as 16-bit or higher A/D or D/A may be used to reduce the magnitude of this problem, but to meet the demanding specifications of wide dynamic range optical sensors with present day (typically 16 bit or less) A/D and D/A converters, there is a need for a signal processing circuit that diminishes the effects of bit non-linearities in these types of optical sensors, including voltage and current sensors, requiring large dynamic range.

Wide dynamic range sensor signal processing method & circuitry for analog and digital information signals


A method of manufacturing thin film field effect transistors is described. The channel region of the transistors is formed by depositing an amorphous semiconductor film in a first sputtering apparatus followed by thermal treatment for converting the amorphous phase to a polycrystalline phase. The gate insulating film is formed by depositing an oxide film in a second sputtering apparatus connected to the first apparatus through a gate valve. The sputtering for the deposition of the amorphous semiconductor film is carried out in an atmosphere comprising hydrogen in order to introduce hydrogen into the amorphous semiconductor film. On the other hand the gate insulating oxide film is deposited by sputtering in an atmosphere comprising oxygen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices and, more particularly to a method of manufacturing thin film gate insulated field effect transistors consisting of polycrystalline semiconductor films.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes methods utilizing low pressure CVD by which polycrystalline semiconductor thin films are deposited at temperatures ranging from 550° C. to 900° C. Recently, along with development of liquid crystal panels having wide display area, there have been needs for the deposition technique to coat polycrystalline semiconductor films over with areas of substrates.
Polycrystalline films are formed by depositing amorphous semiconductor films by low pressure CVD and then recrystallizing the amorphous films since direct deposition of polycrystalline films on wide areas is difficult for the reason of reaction temperature. On the other hand, it is very difficult to deposit uniform semiconductor films by low pressure CVD. This is the problem also in the case of plasma CVD which, requires longer deposition times.
Sputtering on the other hand is excellent in this sense. Particularly, there are following advantages when films are deposited by magnetron sputtering.
1) The surfaces of substrates are less damaged by high energy electrons since the electrons are confined in the vicinity of the target.
2) Wide areas can be coated at lower temperatures.
3) No dangerous gas is used so that safety process and practicability are ensured.
The sputtering is carried out without hydrogen doping because the electric characteristics of hydrogenated amorphous semiconductors deposited by sputtering are not so good as to satisfy requirements of channel formation for transistors. The semiconductor films deposited by the sputtering, however, have a disadvantage that thermal crystallization thereof is very difficult.

Method of manufacturing gate insulated field effect transistors

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A detachable control handle of a surgical device for use in positioning an instrument for use in a surgical procedure. The detachable control handle comprises: a handle assembly configured for communicating with a mechanical positioning mechanism via a connector, wherein said mechanical positioning mechanism is configured to couple with said instrument outside of a patient's body and to move said instrument relative to said patient's body, said handle assembly comprising: a control handle; a detaching mechanism coupled with said control handle, said detaching mechanism configured for detachably coupling said control handle with said mechanical positioning mechanism, wherein said control handle and said mechanical positioning mechanism are sealingly coupled with a first and second portion of a drape interface mechanism of a sterile drape, respectively, wherein said sterile drape is configured for isolating a portion of said surgical device within a sterile environment.

Blade Endoscopic surgical procedures are performed using long slender surgical instruments inserted into the patient through small incisions. In order to visualize the surgical site an endoscope is also inserted into the patient through another incision. A camera is attached to the endoscope, and the image is projected onto a nearby video display, which the surgeon looks at to monitor his/her activities inside the patient.
In order to permit the surgeon to use both hands for the surgery the endoscope is held in the desired position by an assistant, a stationary adjustable arm, or a voice controlled robotic positioning device. All three have significant drawbacks. The assistant, besides being a costly paid employee, can be difficult to communicate with, can get tired, and can lose concentration and let the endoscope position drift. The stationary adjustable arms require that the surgeon reach over to adjust them with two hands, wasting valuable time and disrupting the procedure. The voice-controlled robotic positioning devices are expensive, require significant set-up effort, and often require too much time communication time.
During many procedures an assistant also positions and holds a retracting instrument in order to push tissue or organs out of the way of the surgeon's instrument. The same issues of communication, concentration, and fatigue are present in this task also.
The drawings referred to in this description should not be understood as being drawn to scale unless specifically noted.

Detachable handle mechanism for use in instrument positioning


An offshore wind turbine including a tower, a transition piece and a lifting apparatus for operating a lift inside the wind turbine is provided. The tower includes an inner platform at the bottom end of the tower. The transition piece includes a hang-off platform. The lifting apparatus includes a plurality of wires, a plurality of tensioners, one or more brackets attached to the inner platform and movable between at least a first operative configuration in which the plurality of tensioners are attached to the one or more brackets and the lift is movable from the first station at the inner platform towards the upper end of the tower, a second retracted configuration in which one or more brackets allows the lift to move between the first and the second station, the plurality of tensioners being attached to the hang-off platform.

The tower of an offshore wind turbine may be equipped with a wire guided and wire driven lift system. Under special circumstances there may be the further need to extend the lift system from the tower further down into the transition piece, i.e. the component of the offshore wind turbine connecting the tower to a foundation pile. The current extension procedures are not optimized in terms of material costs and installation time, which also determines a considerable amount of labour costs.
Typically, lift systems in offshore wind turbine are equipped with a plurality of heavy pulleys, around which the wires of the lift system are wrapped. Such pulleys are attached to a lower surface of the low voltage platform, which is present inside the tower at the bottom end thereof. From the pulleys, the wires extend up to the top face of the low voltage platform. In presently known extension procedures, such pulleys are moved below to a hang-off platform provided in the transition piece. When tensioners are present, these also have to be moved from the low voltage platform of the tower to the hang-off platform in the transition piece.
The not-optimized costs mentioned above are particularly due to the presence and handling, in particular the removal from the low voltage platform and the displacement to the hang-off platform in the transition piece.

Lifting apparatus for an offshore wind turbine


[Problems]

Polyamide resins are generally widely used as engineering plastics having excellent mechanical properties, chemical resistance, oil resistance, gas barrier properties and the like. A polyamide resin obtained by polymerizing m-xylylenediamine and adipic acid (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "MXD6 polyamide") is widely used because it has higher strength, higher elastic modulus, lower water absorption and better gas barrier properties as compared with polyamide 6 and polyamide 66 and the like so that it can be further coextruded or coinjection-molded with thermoplastic resins such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide 6, polyethylene and polypropylene.
However, MXD6 polyamide has high elastic modulus but poor elongation so that films or sheets or the like made from it are too hard to use for applications requiring elongation though they can be used for applications requiring rigidity. It also had the disadvantage that it opacifies/crystallizes and tends to lose transparency during storage in a high humidity atmosphere or upon contact with water or boiling water. No polyamide resin having high elastic modulus and flexibility has hitherto been found.
In patent document 1, the inventors proposed a composition comprising a mixture of MXD6 polyamide with another specific aliphatic polyamide resin having high crystallization speed (e.g., polyamide 6). Films or sheets obtained from this polyamide resin composition are advantageously characterized in that the polyamide resin composition keeps excellent transparency even in a high humidity atmosphere, but disadvantageously showed an increase in water absorption and lower gas barrier properties due to the combination with another polyamide resin as compared with MXD6 polyamide alone. Further, flexibility was insufficient for use in applications requiring softness.
On the other hand, a polyamide resin obtained by polycondensing m-xylylenediamine with sebacic acid (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "MXD10 polyamide") was proposed and expected for use in such fields as films because the polyamide resin has better elongation properties as compared with MXD6 polyamide. However, the resulting films showed a certain level of elongation but insufficient elongation and further improvements have been required for preparing films, sheets, tubes and the like.

Abstract: [Problems]

Abstract: Provided is a polyamide resin material having high elastic modulus, good gas barrier properties, low water absorption and excellent flexibility.

Abstract: [Means for solving the problems]

Abstract: This is a polyamide resin composition comprising a polyamide resin (A) composed of a diamine structural unit and a dicarboxylic acid structural unit wherein 70 mol % or more of the diamine structural unit is derived from xylylenediamine and 50 mol % or more of the dicarboxylic acid structural unit is derived from sebacic acid, and 1 to 40 parts by mass of at least one copolyamide (B) selected from the following group consisting of (B-1)-(B-3) per 100 parts by mass of the polyamide resin (A);

Abstract: (B-1): a copolyamide 6/66/12;

Abstract: (B-2): a copolyamide 6/66/11;

Abstract: (B-3): a polyether-polyamide copolymer composed of a polyamide 12 unit or a polyamide 11 unit and a polyether unit.


A sports training device is configured to be supported by one of the below-grade base anchors typically available at baseball and softball fields. The device comprises a frame made up of a net holding portion and a support portion configured to support the net holding portion. The support portion includes an insert post configured to fit into the base anchor. The net holding portion is configured to be rotatable relative to the support portion about a vertical axis. The net holding portion can also be configured to be moved—and secured in a position—transverse to the vertical axis. The training device can thus be placed in several configurations in order to provide a net target in a desired position so that a player can practice delivering a ball to the net.

The present disclosure relates to the field of sports training devices employing nets.
Sports training devices often include nets that provide a target and ball-holder for an athlete to direct several balls while practicing from a location on a practice field. While net-holding devices are available in various configurations, most such devices cannot be easily adjusted for a particular practice configuration. Further, many portable net-holding devices are susceptible to tipping and/or translational movement due to repeated ball contact with the device.

Baseball and softball training device and method


Methods, systems, and media for non-contact brake pad wear determination of one or more brake pads associated with a vehicle are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises: receiving, at a time point, a pressure measurement indicating a pressure of a brake caliper corresponding to a brake pad of a vehicle at the time point and a brake pedal travel distance of a brake pedal of the vehicle at the time point; receiving, at an additional time point, an additional pressure measurement indicating a pressure of the brake caliper corresponding to the brake pad of the vehicle at the additional time point and an additional brake pedal travel distance of the brake pedal of the vehicle at the additional time point; calculating, a gradient of a function relating the pressure measurement and the additional pressure measurement to the brake pedal travel distance and the additional brake pedal travel distance; determining, a wear amount of the brake pad based on the gradient; and causing, an indication of the wear amount of the brake pad to be presented in a user interface presented on a display associated with the vehicle.

Brake pads are a wearable part of a vehicle's brake system, and need to be replaced when they become worn out. Current approaches for determining brake pad wear, however, tend to merely indicate when brake pads are fully worn, for example, using a brake pad indicator that causes the brakes to squeal when the indicator contacts the brake disc or that causes an indication on a dashboard of the vehicle to be presented. It may be useful for a driver to know a current wear condition of the brake pads before the brake pads are fully worn, for example, to plan for vehicle maintenance. However, it can be difficult to determine a current wear of the brake pads.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide new methods, systems, and media for non-contact brake pad wear determination of one or more brake pads associated with a vehicle.


Disclosed is a device and method for monitoring an earphone wearing state. A device and method for monitoring an earphone wearing state according to the present invention comprises: an internal microphone for receiving an internal voice generated inside an ear and generating an internal voice signal; an external microphone for receiving an external sound selectively including external noise and an external voice transferred from a vocal cords to the outside of an oral cavity and generating an external sound signal; a control unit for determining the volume of external noise though a comparison between an internal voice signal and an external sound signal and determining whether to generate an alarm signal; and an alarm unit for performing alarming in response to an alarm signal.

Earphones may be largely divided into open-type earphones and canal-type earphones.
Since the open-type earphones have a structure leaking a large amount of low-pitched sounds, the canal-type earphones are used much recently. The canal-type earphones have a structure of being inserted into the ear canals, have an excellent sensation of wearing, and can minimize leaking of low-pitched sounds as they are tightly attached to the ear canals.
Therefore, the canal-type earphones tend to be manufactured considering the shape of ear canals.
However, since the size and shape of ear canals vary from person to person, there is a problem in that it is practically difficult for an individual user to choose canal-type earphones fitted the user perfectly.
Meanwhile, a user may experience that low-pitched sounds are enhanced when general earphones including the canal-type earphones are pressed into the ears (inner ears). That is, it is known that strength of reproducing the low-pitched sounds is changed according to a degree of tightly attaching the earphones to the ears.
Like this, when attachment of the earphones to the ear canals is not solid, it is difficult to expect reproduction of high-quality sounds. Moreover, there is a tendency of turning the volume up to compensate for the leaking sound. This may be harmful to the ears. That is, it may lead to noise deafness. In addition, since external noises may leak into when attachment of the earphones to the ear canals is not solid, there is a tendency of turning the volume up to properly hear the sounds outputted from the earphones. That is, a user may also turn the volume up when the external noises are loud.
In addition, the external noises act as an obstacle in reproducing high-quality sounds. Although a technique of measuring external noises has been proposed before, there is a problem in that it is difficult to distinguish external noises from the voices of a human being since a microphone which measures the external noises receives the voices of a human being together with the external noises. Like this, there is a limit in improving sound quality due to the difficulties in measuring the external noises.
Since it is difficult to treat or recover auditory cells once they are damaged, a measure for determining whether the earphones are properly worn on (tightly attached to) the ears is needed to reproduce high-quality sounds at a proper sound volume. In addition, there also needs a measure for improving sound quality through correct measurement of external noise when a user makes a phone call or listens to music.

Device and method for monitoring earphone wearing state


A read-out method for a diagnostic point-of-care assay device, the device including a read-out substrate having at least one response area capable of producing a colored indication of a response, the response area including a marker at least one marker whose color changes in response to binding of an analyte thereto and which is used for indication of response. The method includes registering an image of the response area; calculating a color saturation value S for the image using at least two distinct wavelengths; using the S-value for determining a result of the assay. A read-out system (10) for an allergy point-of-care assay device is described. The system includes an illumination device (12; 21, 22) capable of delivering at least two different wavelengths of light; a color image capturing device (14); a control unit (19) for calculating a color saturation value on images recorded by the color image capturing device.

For many diagnostic applications colour or colour change is used as an indication of presence or absence of an analyte in a biologic test sample, such as blood (serum, plasma, whole blood), saliva, tear fluid, urine, cerebrospinal fluid, sweat, etc.
For point-of-care applications where it is desirable to obtain a quick read-out of a test, it is essential that the read-out is clear and unambiguous. There are many applications commercially available which are based on simple test strips onto which a sample is applied, whereupon migration of the sample in the strip brings analytes in contact with a reagent, the response being a colour in case of a positive reaction, i.e. presence of the analyte in question.
It goes without saying that the more reliable, i.e. clear and unambiguous the response is the better it is. Sometimes a test is of a binary nature, such as for pregnancy tests, where there can be only a positive or a negative result. On the other hand, for tests such as allergy tests, there can be a range of levels of the response in dependence on how high the concentration of antibodies in the patient's serum is.
A common marker for use in e.g. allergy or autoimmune tests is a so called gold conjugate, comprising a colloidal gold particle in the nanometer size range, to which a protein (antibody or antigen) has been coupled ("conjugated"). The conjugate gives rise to some detectable signal when the desired analyte is coupled thereto in the assay.
For certain samples where a clear colour indication normally is obtained if there is a positive response, it can sometimes happen that there are other species (frequently the allergens themselves) present that will give rise to gray lines which can be difficult to distinguish from pink lines. This "blurs" the true signal. Thus, one can obtain false positive or false negative results, which of course can be of consequences if the test is to form the basis for a treatment regimen.


In a water-cooled exhaust pipe which is essentially assembled from cylindrical components, the sections of the interior pipe consist of cylindrically bent, rectangular sheet metal blanks which are elastically inserted into an intermediate wall. The construction minimizes the manufacturing costs of the exhaust pipe.

The present invention relates to an exhaust pipe for a supercharged multi-cylinder internal-combustion engine and, more particularly, to an interior pipe carrying hot exhaust gases and a housing which surrounds the interior pipe at a distance therefrom, is undivided in longitudinal and transverse directions and has a cooling water space constructed between an approximately cylindrical intermediate wall and a cylindrical shell which is sealingly supported on the intermediate wall, and the interior pipe being divided into individual sections in the longitudinal direction, each section of the interior pipe being configured approximately cylindrically from a rectangular sheet metal blank, and the intermediate wall having exhaust gas inlet openings. By way of an encapsulated exhaust pipe, it is achieved that the exhaust gas suffers an only minimal heat loss on its way from the cylinder to the supercharger aggregate, and thus a higher energy potential is available for the supercharging of the internal-combustion engine. In addition, the surface temperature of the exhaust pipe is in the range of the cooling water temperature of the internal-combustion engine, as required for some applications.
European Patent Document EP 0 469 171 A1 shows an exhaust pipe in which the sections of the interior pipe cause an almost complete encapsulation of the hot exhaust gases. The principal purpose of this arrangement is the protection of the intermediate wall from hot gas corrosion caused by exhaust gas. Although on one hand, the high-expenditure construction of the interior pipe permits the use of materials for the intermediate wall which have a low resistance against hot gas corrosion and minimizes the heat loss from the exhaust gas, it results, on the other hand, in excessive manufacturing expenditures for the interior pipe.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an exhaust gas pipe having a simplified construction of the sections of the interior pipe to achieve a reduction of the manufacturing costs.
This object has been achieved according to the present invention by providing the intermediate wall is provided with webs extending radially inwardly, each section of the interior pipe supported on an interior contour of assignee webs, one of the sections of the interior pipe respectively has a C-shaped cross-section and is arranged with an opening sector opposite a respective one of the exhaust gas inlet openings, the other of the sections of the interior pipe are adjacent to the respective one of the exhaust gas inlet opening have an approximately circular cross-section, and longitudinal edges of the C-shaped sections of the interior pipe are operatively arranged, with stop edges constructed on the intermediate wall in the longitudinal direction to protect against torsional influences.
Principal advantages achieved with the present invention are that the support of each section of the interior pipe on webs on the intermediate wall results in an improvement of the form stability of the exhaust pipe in the case of stress caused by shock and vibration, that the C-shaped sections increase the absorbing power of the interior pipe for the hot gas shock load which is caused by the exhaust gases which periodically flow out of the exhaust ducts of the cylinders, and that a lowering of the manufacturing costs is achieved because of the simplified manufacturing of the sections of the interior pipe.

Supercharged multi-cylinder internal-combustion engine interior exhaust pipe


A system for reusing program code from a first completed application in a second under-development application based on identified patterns matching between the types of data accessed by the first and second applications. The system has an information model database, a pattern database, an API and applications which query the information model through the API, resulting in stored raw access data. The raw access data is extracted and patterns are generated based on similarity of the abstracted patterns as between the first and second applications. Application programmers access the pattern database to create new programs and implement prior computer code in the new program based on a pattern match on data accessed by a prior-developed application.

Cloud applications and analytics for assets are developed in various sub-domains for activities such as monitoring, device management or predictive maintenance. However, as the development of these applications is done by geographically and functionally dispersed teams, the application code developed among the different applications teams often creates a heterogeneous landscape of solutions. Maintenance of the applications is performed on a case by case basis despite the fact that a variety of functionalities across the applications is similar.

Systems and methods for application re-use by type pattern matching


A horse shaped riding trainer and method of constructing a horse shaped riding trainer. The riding trainer includes a horse shaped riding structure, a convex shaped, rotating platform, and a post for mounting the horse shaped riding structure to the convex shaped, rotating platform.

For centuries throughout the world, horseback riding has captured the imagination of adventurous people. In the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the horse was a symbol of power. In medieval Europe and Japan, horses were essential for quick movement across large distances and were often used in warfare. In the American wild west, the horse was a cowboy's constant companion and a symbol of self-reliance and adventure. While few experiences may compare with the fun and excitement an experienced rider has galloping a real horse, many of us do not have sufficient training and experience and/or ready access to live horses.
It is generally known that the act of riding a horse must be practiced in order to learn balance, prevent falling, and to exercise the muscles of the back and leg to develop strength. At the present time, the general method for a person to learn to ride in a balanced position at the walk, trot and canter is to practice their technique by riding a horse. However, individuals interested in learning to ride may not have a horse available with which to practice, and individuals who own a horse may not be able to practice because of bad weather, ailments sustained by their horse or any other number of reasons. Furthermore, beginning riders need many hours of practice to perfect their balanced position at the walk, trot, and canter so that they can ride with a safe and secure seat. The disadvantage of having only real horses available for the beginner is that because of the beginner's lack of skill, he or she is at a greater risk of falling off the horse and possibly sustaining injuries while learning the basics of balance and coordination required between the horse and rider. There has never been an economical device for riding students to practice riding techniques and build strength and balance between their riding lessons until this invention.


A seat reclining apparatus for a vehicle includes a first plate including internal gear teeth, a second plate including external gear teeth, a third plate including internal gear teeth, a fourth plate including external gear teeth, a shaft rotatably supported by the first and third plates, first and second wedge members, a first cam pressing the wedge members to integrally rotate therewith, a support member arranged between the third and fourth plates and engaging with the third plate and the fourth plate when an amount of eccentricity between the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth reaches a predetermined level, and a second cam pressing the support member to integrally rotate therewith. The amount of eccentricity defined by the support member is smaller than that defined by the wedge members.

A known seat reclining apparatus for a vehicle intended for inclining a seatback relative to a seat cushion is disclosed in JP07-255553A. The seat reclining apparatus disclosed includes a lower plate attached to a seat cushion and having internal gear teeth, and an upper plate attached to a seatback and having external gear teeth. The external gear teeth engage with the internal gear teeth in a state where the total number of the external gear teeth is smaller than that of the internal gear teeth. An angle of inclination of the upper plate relative to the lower plate is sequentially adjustable by a circumferential movement of a position at which the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth engage with each other (i.e. engagement position). Then, a combination of a pair of wedge members provided between the lower plate and the upper plate, and a cam member is used as a mechanism for rotating or shifting the engagement position of the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth. The cam member is rotated by an operating handle, and then the wedge members are rotated to press the internal gear teeth of the lower plate and the external gear teeth of the upper plate in a predetermined direction so that both gear teeth engage with each other, thereby achieving a rotation or shifting of the engagement position.
However, according to JP07-255553A, in the cases where the seat reclining apparatus is applied to a belt integrated seat in which a seatbelt and its peripheral structure are integrated into a seat, an absolute strength of the seat is weak against a large load added to the seatback in the event of a vehicle collision and thus the seat may not endure the load at that time.
Meanwhile, a seat reclining apparatus for a vehicle intended for higher strength is disclosed in JP3018566B2. The seat reclining apparatus disclosed includes two reclining mechanisms attached to each other in a back-to-back manner so as to be arranged in a mirror image relationship. Gear shapes (i.e. internal gear teeth and external gear teeth) of the two reclining mechanisms are differently formed so that a backlash between the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of one of the reclining mechanisms is specified greater than that between the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of the other one of the reclining mechanisms. Accordingly, in the case of normal operation, the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of one of the reclining mechanisms engage with each other while the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of the other one of the reclining mechanisms are not in contact with each other, thereby preventing unnecessary increase of an operation force. In addition, in the event of the vehicle collision, the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of the other one of the reclining mechanisms make contact with each other upon deformation of the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of one of the reclining mechanisms, thereby causing both the reclining mechanisms to receive the load at that time.
According to the seat reclining apparatus disclosed in JP3018566B2, the shapes of the respective internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth of two reclining mechanisms are different and thus two types of parts are required for engagement of the gear teeth, which leads to an increase of the number of parts. In addition, even for the internal gear teeth and the external gear teeth engaging with each other or making contact with each other in the normal operation, a small backlash is required therebetween for the purposes of a smooth engagement operation or prevention of effect on the operation due to gear accuracy. Accordingly, looseness is generated in the seatback, which may cause a decrease of quality feeling.
Thus, a need exists for a seat reclining apparatus for a vehicle that can improve strength thereof without deterioration of quality feeling.


In accordance with an embodiment, a semiconductor device includes a substrate, a line-and-space structure, a first film and a second film. The line-and-space structure includes line patterns arranged on the substrate parallel to one another at a predetermined distance. The first film is formed on side surfaces and bottom surfaces of the line patterns by an insulating film material. The second film is formed on the line-and-space structure across a space between the line patterns by a material showing low wettability to the first film. Space between the line patterns includes an air gap in which at least a bottom surface of the first film is totally exposed.

For recent shrinkage of semiconductor devices, further reduction in resistance and capacitance is required to contribute to higher speed and lower power consumption. For example, when attention is focused on the capacitance reduction, there is a pressing need to develop an interlayer insulating film with a low dielectric constant. For example, a semiconductor device having an air gap in a space between wiring lines is known as a method of reducing the dielectric constant.
As a technique for forming the air gap, a method is known which uses CVD providing low coverage in forming a coating film. However, the space between the wiring lines is entirely or partly covered even when conditions that provide low step coverage are used.
Thus, it has heretofore been not easy to form an air gap which allows the space between the wiring lines to be hardly filled with an insulating film, that is, which shows high percentage of void.

Semiconductor device with air gap therein and manufacturing method thereof


A sock assembly for correcting a deformed toe of a foot of a person, including a sock wearable on an at least a part of the foot, a strap connected to the sock and wearable on an at least a part of the foot and wrappable on an at least a part of the deformed toe as the sock it worn on the foot, consequently applying a corrective force on the deformed toe.

Hammertoe is often defined as a deformity of the toe, where the proximal interphalangeal joint of the second, third, or fourth toe causes the toe to become permanently bent, resembling a hammer. Mallet toe is a similar condition affecting the distal interphalangeal joint. Claw toe is another similar condition, in which the toe is bent in a shape resembling a predator's claw.
These conditions, jointly referred to as deformities of the toe, frequently result from muscle imbalance aggravated by wearing poorly-fit shoes. Such shoes, having excessively high heels or being too short or narrow for the foot, may force the toe into a bent position. Having the toes bent for long periods of time can cause the muscles to shorten, resulting in one of the deformity types mentioned above. This condition is often found in conjunction with bunions, calluses or other foot problems. Toe deformities can also be caused by muscle, nerve, or joint damage, resulting from conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, stroke, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease or diabetes. In certain age groups, the claw toe is present in every other woman. It can also be found in Friedrich's ataxia and several other neuropathies.
The main problem characterizing these conditions is usually the insufficient length of soft tissues, which constricts the toe, bends the joint, and forms a deformity (commonly a Z-deformity) of the ray. As a result, there is often dorsal prominence of the PIPJ (Proximal Interphalangeal Joint) as well as plantar prominence of the MPJ (Metatarsophalangeal Joint), the proximal phalanx, the distal metatarsal bone and the middle or distal phalanx. Those result in callosities, pain and difficulty in wearing footwear. Hallux Rigidus (also referred to as Hallux Limitus) may develop in the big toe, bringing about pain during the push-off phase of walking, discomfort and increased pressure when wearing footwear.
There are a number of known methods for treating such toe deformities. One method is padding. Different types of shoe orthotics and socks may be used to pad and cover the prominent bones, thus relieving the pressure and reducing the pain, the discomfort and further damage. Another method is based on lengthening of the soft tissues, which is achieved by physiotherapy on early stages, or surgically on late and severe stages. A further method is based on surgical shortening of bones (osteotomy, joint excision, Du Vries procedure etc.).
Many orthotics, such as insoles, are built to function as cushions which relieve the pressure under the metatarsals (metatarsal pad or metatarsal bar). Insoles are usually made of a semi-rigid, non-washable material, while a much less common version is a rigid, washable insole. The rigid ones are said to be less comfortable, and are often made of materials ranging from aluminum to plastics. During walking, the foot moves relatively to the insole, and, therefore the insole has to be custom-made, for example by casting the foot in alabaster or low-temperature thermoplastic polymer. The elevated areas have to include a relatively large surface area to adapt to the foot's motion.
Additionally, some orthotics include separate toe compartments, thus acting like a toe splint, but not to the entire ray. These orthotics do not usually have therapeutic padding under the metatarsal heads, the ray length is not adjustable, and there is a hygiene problem due to sweating of the feet. In specific orthotics which have the upper part of the toe covered by a polymer part, there is risk of callus formation; in the uncovered version, there are no restraints limiting toe bending.
Hallux Rigidus is usually treated with rigid or semi-rigid insoles, that prevent flexion of MPJ ("Morton's extension"), as well as with high shoes containing an anterior rocker. However, this form of treatment limits the patient to one pair of shoes. Another currently accepted method of treating Hallux Rigidus is surgical procedures such as MP1 fusion, MP1 implants and/or Cheilectomy. These procedures are usually expensive, painful and require a post-operative rehabilitation period.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,902 to Dieterich discloses an orthopedic sandal for correction of hammer-toes and X-toe (Halux Valgus) being a dual lever arm arrangement pivotable on a horizontal axis transverse to the sole. A pressure element for pressing the toes downward is on one arm and the other arm is fastened to the rearward portion of the foot so that as the food is lifted, the pressure element is pressed downwardly on the hammer-toes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,163 to Chong discloses a unitary device for the correction of hallux valgus, which is made of an elastomeric fabric material that includes a large portion that encloses the forefoot circumferentially, and a smaller portion that encloses the great toe circumferentially. The fabric for constructing the device is cut in such a way that there is a bias towards varus of the great toe. Once the device is applied on the great toe and forefoot, the bias of the cut exerts a varus force on the great toe, thus correcting the valgus deformity.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/255490 to Raija discloses a therapeutic device and method for its use. The appliance and method are adapted to realign and straighten the toes of the foot in order to treat the effects of hammertoe, bunions, Morton's neuroma, and the like. Effectively, a harness is placed about the heel of the foot, the harness consisting of a foot strap and heel strap. Sleeves are placed about the particular toes of interest, being as few as one and as many as all of the toes on a foot. Elastic straps are interconnected between the toe sleeves and the foot strap in order to impart a force to the associated toe to straighten and/or realign the toe consistent with correcting a particular malady. The elastic strap may be connected and disconnected by means of hook and loop fasteners at the end of the strap and maintained upon the toe sleeves and foot strap. The positioning of the strap with respect to the toe sleeve and the foot strap effects the direction of the force applied to the toe in accordance with the malady to be treated. Using sleeves may limit usage during rest where no active force is exerted besides the elastic forces within the straps.
The foregoing examples of the related art are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive.

Sock assembly for correcting toe deformation