A macrocyclic compound coated electrode may be used advantageously to detect and measure the concentration of sulfide in aqueous samples. The electrode is substantially unaffected by other interfering species which may be present in the aqueous sample. Use of the electrode provides for fast, accurate, on-line monitoring of sulfide concentration in aqueous effluents from, inter alia, pulp and paper plants, and oil and gas refineries.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
In one of its aspects, the present invention relates to a sulfur determination electrode. In another of its aspects, the present invention relates to the use of such an electrode in the electrolytic detection of sulfur in a sample containing oxidizable sulfur. In yet another of its aspects, the present invention relates to a process for manufacturing a sulfur detection electrode.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
As concern for our environment grows, the governmental agencies of many countries are imposing restrictions and regulations concerning the disposal of chemicals and contaminants into the environment. With the passage of time these restrictions and regulations are becoming much more rigid in terms of the quantity of chemicals and contaminants which may be released into the environment. In part, this is due to discoveries relating to the extent to which these chemicals and contaminants affect the environment. Accordingly, the ability to detect and monitor these chemicals and contaminants is becoming increasingly necessary in order to control release thereof in a manner which complies with the governmental restrictions and regulations.
Sulfur-containing compounds are one group of compounds which have been found to be particularly detrimental to the environment. Typically, such compounds comprise and/or release oxidizable sulfur such as sulfide ion (e.g. HS.sup.-, S.sup.2- and the like) and mercaptans (RSH). Thus, when these sulfur-containing compounds are released into the environment, sulfur is also released directly or indirectly. Sulfur-containing compounds are commonly found in the waste water effluent from pulp and paper plants, as well as from oil and gas refineries.
Heretofore, various methods have been employed to detect the presence and concentration of sulfur such as sulfide ion in aqueous samples.
One method involves the use of wet titration for measurement of the sulfide ion concentration. Once this concentration is determined, the concentration of the actual sulfur-containing compound may be determined. Unfortunately, the wet titration method is neither rapid nor efficient to serve the purposes of industry which require the ability to make multiple on-line measurements in a rapid fashion.
Another method for measurement of sulfide ion concentration involves utilizing ion chromatography coupled with electrochemical detection. See, for example, Anal. Chem., 54(3), 582-5 (Bond et al). The requirement of utilizing two analytical techniques renders this method cumbersome and, in some cases, lacking in precision and accuracy.
Yet another method for measurement of sulfide ion concentration involves utilizing a potentiometric method. See, for example, any one of Anal. Chem., 40(7), 1055 (1968) [Hseu et al], Anal. Chim. Acta, 51, 231 (1970) [Mascini et al] and Anal. Lttrs., 1(13), 825 (1968) [Light et al].
Yet another method for measurement of sulfide ion concentration utilizes a sulfide ion-selective membrane electrode obtained by incorporating silver sulfide into a silver silicon rubber matrix. See, for example, Anal. Chem., 39 (13) 28A (1967) [Pungor]. This method makes use of a sulfide-based ion-selective electrode (also known as an Orion electrode) to determine sulfide ion concentration in an aqueous solution. The detection of sulfide using this method is indirect for most applications insofar as the sulfide must be initially reacted with silver or lead to form silver or lead sulfide, each demonstrating low solubility. Thus, excess sulfide ion remaining in solution may then be detected and measured using the Orion electrode. In some cases, the Orion electrode may be used to make direct measurements of sulfide if the pH of the aqueous sample is buffered (or otherwise adjusted) to a value of 12. Thus, the method is relatively cumbersome and inefficient since in the indirect mode additional cost (for silver and lead chemicals), time and potential experimental error are incurred over and above the underlying electrochemical technique. Further, in the direct mode, additional cost (buffering agent) and time are incurred over and above the underlying electrochemical technique. Moreover, the Orion electrode is sensitive to a range of contaminants that may also be present in the aqueous sample and thus, it is important to know, at least qualitatively, the composition of the aqueous sample.
A Cu-O-loaded element for hydrogen sulfide (H.sub.2 S) detection has recently been reported in Chem. Lttrs., 575 (1991) [Maekawa et al]. However, there is no indication that this method is useful in the determination of the concentration (i.e. quantitative determination) of sulfide ion in an aqueous solution.
In light of the foregoing, there still exists a need for an electrode which allows for rapid, precise and accurate determination of sulfur from samples containing oxidizable sulfur, such as (i) aqueous samples comprising sulfide ion, and (ii) other sulphur containing compounds such as mercaptans.


A remote power sensing system for a hard disk bridge coupled to a drive bay uses a power sensor connecting a bridge to an energization control in the drive bay. The power sensor can be a cable or the like to provide a power detection signal to the bridge. The drive bay energization control selectively provides power to the drive bay (for example, by a key switch or the like). Energization of the drive bay may also energize a drive bay device such as a fan that also functions as an energization proxy. The power sensor connects the bridge to the energization proxy so that energization of the drive bay can be detected via the energization proxy and power sensor. When the sensor detects power provided to the drive bay, the bridging function of the bridge is enabled.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to information storage devices used with digital computers and, more particularly, to the use of storage interface bridges in conjunction with removable storage device assemblies.
2. Description of Related Art
Numerous computer applications require the storage and retrieval of large quantities of data, the bulk of which is stored on computer hard disks. Frequently, the amount of data to be stored exceeds the capacity of hard disks which are permanently attached to a computer; or the need for portability precludes the permanent attachment of hard disks to the primary or host computer.
In order to address the demand for portable hard disk storage, the computer industry has developed a number of schemes by which hard disks can be coupled to and removed from computers. On the one hand, certain computer interfaces, protocols, and associated software drivers have been developed which recognize and respond to the dynamic attachment and removal of devices including hard disks (that is, coupling and decoupling without the need for cycling through de-energizing and re-energizing/re-booting the device and/or host computer). IEEE 1394, also commonly known as FireWire, and SBP-2 are examples of one such interface and protocol, respectively. USB (Universal Serial Bus) and its related Mass Storage Class Protocol are each another example of such an interface and protocol, respectively. Hereinafter, interfaces, protocols and associated drivers which support the dynamic attachment and removal of devices including hard disks will be referred to collectively as "hot-swap interfaces."
On the other hand, manufacturers also have developed physical mounting assemblies which facilitate the attachment and removal of computer hard disks. A component of such assemblies, sometimes referred to as a "bay," is permanently mounted within a computer or disk storage enclosure. A second component of such assemblies, sometimes referred to as a "sled," slides in and out of the bay as needed. The sled serves as a protective mount for a hard disk, and the hard disk may be permanently or temporarily mounted in the sled. An energization switch and/or other energization control, such as a mechanical key switch or the like, is often incorporated in the bay or sled. When engaged, this energization control simultaneously prevents the physical removal of the sled from the bay and energizes the hard disk mounted within the sled. Conversely, disengaging the switch de-energizes the hard disk, disables operation of the device and allows physical removal of the sled. A bay and its corresponding sled can be referred to collectively as a "drive bay."
Drive bays typically present the same hard disk interface to the computer as is presented by the hard disk itself. Integrated/Intelligent Drive Electronics (IDE) and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) are two examples of such hard disk interfaces, which are well known to those skilled in the art. Although drive bays are intended to facilitate the attachment and removal of IDE and SATA hard disks, the IDE and SATA disk interfaces (and the software drivers which control them) are not generally designed to support dynamic attachment and removal (that is, hot-swapping). Thus, use of most physical drive bays is limited to scenarios in which the entire primary/host computer is power-cycled or rebooted in order to recognize the attachment or removal (that is, coupling or de-coupling) of the hard disks mounted within the drive bays. Clearly, this greatly limits the flexibility and utility of removable hard disk storage.
A class of products called "bridges" have been used to translate between one or more hot-swap interfaces of a host computer and one or more IDE or SATA hard disk interfaces of a drive bay or the like. These bridges are most typically implemented as printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies which, along with a hard disk, are permanently mounted within a portable enclosure. The enclosure presents a hot-swap interface to a host computer, internally translating requests from the host computer to the format required by the IDE or SATA hard disk attached to the bridge. This has generally been a very successful solution and IEEE 1394 and USB storage devices are widely deployed.
Certain manufacturers have gone so far as to integrate such bridge functionality directly into specially built drive bays, thus allowing the drive bay itself present a hot-swap interface to the host computer. Unfortunately, the bridge PCB assemblies required to make this feasible are highly specialized, being mechanically and electrically limited to accommodate a specific drive bay design. As such, there is little choice with such integrated bridge/drive bay designs, often leaving no options for specific features or characteristics as may be required by individual applications. Moreover, the design of such integrated bridge/drive bay designs often precludes the coexistence of more than one such bridge/drive bay on a given hot-swap interface.
Portable bridges also have been developed and are in wide use, such as those manufactured and sold by Tableau, LLC. These devices require a power and operational scheme that ensures that both the drive bay and bridge are energized and the bridging function of the bridge enabled, which typically requires separate device activation by a technician by engaging the switch on the drive bay and enabling the bridge function of the bridge. Where multiple drive bays are to be accessible to a bridge, the power switches must be managed by the technician/user to ensure proper operation of the configuration/array.
Systems, methods and techniques that provide a simple means for connecting and hot-swapping various devices of this type would represent a significant advancement in the art. Also, systems, methods and techniques that allow a hard disk bridge to sense energization of a drive bay without the need for separate activation by a technician or the like likewise would represent a significant advancement in the art.

Remote power sensing for hard disk bridge controller


A read and write data processing apparatus and method associated with computational memory cells formed as a memory/processing array provides the ability to inhibit writes in selective bit line sections on per-write operation basis to enhance the computational capability of the bl-sects. The read and write data processing apparatus and method also provides a mechanism to inhibit the read bit line pre-charge in selective bit line sections for an extended period of time to save power when pre-charge circuitry is implemented on the read bit line. The read and write data processing apparatus and method also provides a mechanism to inhibit writes to memory cells in selective bl-sects for an extended period of time, to save power.

Memory cells have traditionally been used to store bits of data. It is also possible to architect a memory cell so that the memory cell is able to perform some simple logical functions when multiple memory cells are connected to the same read bit line. For example, when memory cells A, B, and C are connected to a particular read bit line and are read simultaneously, and the memory cells and read bit line circuitry are designed to produce a logical AND result, then the result that appears on the read bit line is AND (a, b, c) (i.e. "a AND b AND c"), where a, b, and c represent the binary data values stored in memory cells A, B, and C respectively. More particularly, in these computational memory cells, the read bit line is pre-charged to a logic "1" before each read operation, and the activation of one or more read enable signals to one or more memory cells discharges the read bit line to a logic "0" if the data stored in any one or more of those memory cells="0"; otherwise, the read bit line remains a logic "1" (i.e. in its pre-charge state). In this way, the read bit line result is the logical AND of the data stored in those memory cells.
Some computational algorithms (e.g. searches) are performed such that, as the algorithm proceeds, various portions of the computational memory cell array are identified as containing data that is irrelevant to the final result. Since pre-charging the read bit line in a portion of the computational memory cell array consumes power, it is desirable to be able to temporarily inhibit the pre-charge in these "irrelevant" portions of the computational memory cell array, from the time they are identified as such until the algorithm completes, to save power during that time. It is also desirable to be able to inhibit writes to the memory cells in such "irrelevant" portions of the computational memory cell array, for the same reason.
Furthermore, it is also desirable to be able to inhibit writes to the memory cells in selective portions of the computational memory cell array on a per-write-operation basis, not to save power, but rather to enhance the computational capability of the computational memory cell array.

Read and write data processing circuits and methods associated with computational memory cells that provides write inhibits and read bit line pre-charge inhibits


A device for protecting an optical instrument of a satellite comprises a body on which the optical instrument is mounted, said protection device having a folded-down position and a deployed position, and further comprising a plurality of rigid panels in the deployed position, the device forming a tube, the section of which is a polygon, arranged so as to protect the optical instrument, the longitudinal axis of the tube being substantially parallel with the focal axis of the optical instrument, the faces of the tube of polygonal section being formed by panels, in the folded-down position, said panels being held against the body of the satellite.

The optical instruments of satellites that have at least one mirror have to be protected against the direct solar inputs on the surfaces of this mirror. The protection measures avoid optical disturbances and make it possible to regulate the temperature in proximity to the focal planes. This protection ensures the optical efficiency of the instruments.
These instruments are mounted on satellites that are placed in orbit by launch vehicles. Because of the small volume allotted under the nose cone of the launch vehicle, it is not possible to have a fixed protection device arranged in front of the optical instrument. It is therefore necessary to deploy this protection in flight, before the operational phase.
The technical problems encountered in the case of the deployment of large structures are primarily:
In the stored configuration: restricted volume for storing the structure, maintaining the integrity of this structure in the folded-down configuration, despite the mechanical and thermal stresses due to the launching of the space craft (notably the non-degradation of the very fragile thermal protection elements).
During deployment: the control of the deployment in terms of kinematics and the regulation of the speed in order to avoid shocks at the end of deployment.
In the deployed configuration: ensuring the stability and the rigidity in flight in order to guarantee the steerability of the craft, and ensuring a correct positioning of the structure in order to ensure that the solar input is limited and the field of view is not blocked.
FIG. 1 represents a device for protecting an optical instrument of a satellite according to the prior art. This device comprises a planar solar screen 101 positioned at a certain distance from the satellite 100. To use a planar screen it is necessary, in certain missions, to have a rotating element (the solar screen) of large size. This solution also poses problems: of reliability, of AOCS (Attitude Orbit Control System) disturbance, of disturbances in the optical measurements and of life span due to the mechanical elements implemented.
Furthermore, in order to avoid the solar inputs during certain periods, additional swivels of the solar screen are necessary, which further increases the complexity of this type of solution.
Thus, a close protection of the beam or beams is a solution that is more effective because it does not involve any movement throughout the operational phase.
To produce this type of jacketing protection, it is possible to use a number of technologies based on a deployable bearer structure for holding and positioning a flexible substrate.
The bearer structure may be inflatable and able to be made rigid in flight but controlling the deployment is complex because it is difficult to model by computation and complex to test. Furthermore, the rigidifying methods are irreversible and therefore do not allow for a model intended for flight to be tested on the ground.
Flexible protection devices are already known that are based on the use of a sheath of flexible cylindrical form, consisting of thermal protection sheets. This element is folded on itself during the stored phase then deployed and powered up. This solution presents a number of drawbacks. First of all, in storage, it is difficult to avoid the degradation of the membranes that form the thermal protection fabric. They are very fragile and are sensitive to mechanical stresses. The degraded membrane produces particles which, in deployment, are dispersed onto the instrument and degrade the optical efficiency thereof. Furthermore, to obtain compact storage, the flexible elements have to be folded and this folding is generally irreversible and has an embrittling effect on the membrane. Finally, the quantity of elements to be deployed, of moving parts and of frictions between components makes the deployment difficult to calculate and difficult to reproduce. The result of this is an overestimation of the energy needed when powering up the flexible element, in order to ensure a good final positioning for it, which can result in degradations on certain components and on the membrane.

Device for protecting an optical instrument of a satellite


Methods and systems for automatically detecting multi-object anomalies at a traffic intersection utilizing a joint sparse reconstruction model. A first input video sequence at a first traffic location can be received and at least one normal event involving P moving objects (where P is greater than or equal to 1) can be identified in an offline training phase. The normal event in the first input video sequence can be assigned to at least one normal event class and a training dictionary suitable for joint sparse reconstruction can be built in the offline training phase. A second input video sequence captured at a second traffic location similar to the first traffic location can be received and at least one event involving P moving objects can be identified in an online detection phase.

With the increased demand for security and safety, video-based surveillance systems are being utilized in a variety of rural and urban locations. A vast amount of video footage, for example, can be collected and analyzed for traffic violations, accidents, crime, terrorism, vandalism, and other suspicious activities. Because manual analysis of such large volumes of data is prohibitively costly, a pressing need exists for developing effective software tools that can aid in the automatic or semi-automatic interpretation and analysis of video data for surveillance, law enforcement, and traffic control and management.
Video-based anomaly detection refers to the problem of identifying patterns in data that do not conform to expected behavior and which may warrant special attention or action. The detection of anomalies in a transportation domain can include, for example, traffic violations, unsafe driver/pedestrian behavior, accidents, etc. FIGS. 1-2 illustrate pictorial views of exemplary transportation related anomalies captured from, for example, video monitoring cameras. In the scenario depicted in FIG. 1, unattended baggage 100 is shown and identified by a circle. In the scenario shown in FIG. 2, a vehicle is shown approaching a pedestrian 130. Both the vehicle and pedestrian 130 are shown marked by a circle.
Many common anomalies can arise from a single object. On the other hand, joint anomalies can also occur involving two or more objects. For example, in the area of transportation, accidents at traffic intersections are indeed based on joint and not just individual object behavior. Also, it is possible that the individual object behaviors are not anomalous when studied in isolation, but in combination produce an anomalous event. For example, a vehicle that comes to a stop at a pedestrian crossing before proceeding could be a result of the vehicle coming in very close proximity with a crossing pedestrian or another vehicle.
Several approaches have been proposed to detect traffic-related anomalies based on an object tracking technique. In one prior art approach, nominal vehicle paths can be derived and deviations thereof can be searched in a live traffic video data. The vehicle is tracked and its path is compared against nominal classes during a test or evaluation phase. A statistically significant deviation from all classes indicates an anomalous path. A problem associated with such an approach is that it is difficult to detect an abnormal pattern in realistic scenarios involving multiple object trajectories in the presence of occlusions, clutter, and other background noise.
Another prior art approach involves the use of a sparse reconstruction model for anomaly detection. For example, normal or usual events in a video footage can be extracted and categorized into a set of nominal event classes in a training step to form a training dictionary. The categorization is based on a set of n-dimensional feature vectors extracted from the video data and can be performed manually or automatically. Parametric representations of vehicle trajectories can be chosen as the feature vectors. The hypothesis underlying sparse reconstruction is that any test video sample representing a nominal event can be well explained by a sparse linear combination of samples within one of the nominal classes in the training dictionary. On the other hand, an anomalous event cannot be adequately reconstructed using a sparse linear combination of training dictionary samples. Thus, anomaly detection is accomplished by evaluating a sparsity measure, or equivalently, an outlier rejection measure of the reconstruction.
Specifically, let us take the case of single-object anomaly detection. The training samples from the i-th class can be arranged as columns of a matrix Aiεn×T wherein T is the number of training samples in a given class. A dictionary Aεn×KT with respect to the training samples from all K classes can then be formed as follows: A=[A1, A2, . . . , AK]. A test image yεn from the m-th class is conjectured to approximately lie in the linear span of those training samples belonging to the m-th trajectory class and may hence be represented by a sparse linear combination of the set of all training trajectory samples in that class, as shown below in equation (1):
                    y        =                              A                                                                          α                    =                                    [                                                A                  1                                ,                                  A                  2                                ,                …                                                                                ,                                  A                  K                                            ]                                                  [                                                                                α                      1                                                                                α                      2                                                                                ⋮                                                                                α                      K                                                                                ]                                                          (        1        )            wherein each α1εT. Typically for a given trajectory y, only one of the αi's is active (corresponding to the event class from which y is generated), thus the coefficient vector αεKT is modeled as being sparse and is recovered by solving the following optimization problem:
                              α          ^                =                                                                                arg                                                                                min                                                                                α                                                                                                α                                            1                                                                                subject                                                                          to                                                                                                                  y                  -                                      A                                                                                α                                                                              2                                <          ɛ                                    (        2        )            wherein the objective is to minimize the number of non-zero elements in α. It is well known from the compressed sensing literature that utilizing the l0 norm leads to an NP-hard (non-deterministic polynomial-time hard) problem. Thus, the l1 norm can be employed as an effective approximation. A residual error between the test trajectory and each class behavior pattern can be computed as shown in equation (3) to determine a class to which the test trajectory belongs:ri(y)=∥y−Ai{circumflex over (α)}i∥2 i=1,2, . . . ,K  (3)
The test trajectory is assigned to that class with minimum residual error. If anomalies have been predefined into their own class, then the classification task also accomplishes anomaly detection. Alternatively, if all training classes correspond to nominal events, then anomalies can be identified via outlier detection. To this end, an outlier rejection measure can be defined and utilized to measure the sparsity of the reconstructed α:
                              SCI                                (            α            )                          =                                            K              ·                                                max                  i                                                                  ||                                                            δ                      i                                                                                (                      α                      )                                                                                ||                    1                                                                          /                                    ||                  α                                                        ||                    1                                                                          -                    1                                                                                K              -              1                                ∈                      [                          0              ,              1                        ]                                              (        4        )            wherein δi(α): T→T is the characteristic function that selects the coefficients αi with respect to the i-th class. The nominal samples are likely to exhibit a high measure, and conversely, anomalous samples will likely produce a low measure. A threshold on SCI(α) determines whether or not the sample is anomalous. Such a sparsity based framework for classification and anomaly detection is robust against various distortions, notably occlusion and is robust with respect to the particular features chosen, provided the sparse representation is computed correctly.
One notable shortcoming of the aforementioned formulation is that it may not detect joint anomalies involving multiple objects since it does not capture the interactions required to detect these types of multi-object anomalies.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved system and method for automatically detecting multi-object anomalies at a traffic intersection, as will be described in greater detailed herein.

Method and system for automatically detecting multi-object anomalies utilizing joint sparse reconstruction model


A device includes an interposer and a radio-frequency (RF) device bonded to a first side of the interposer. The interposer includes a first side and a second side opposite to the first side. The interposer does not have through-interposer vias formed therein. First passive devices are formed on the first side of the interposer and electrically coupled to the RF device. Second passive devices are formed on the second side of the interposer. The first and the second passive devices are configured to transmit signals wirelessly between the first passive devices and the second passive devices.

Radio-frequency (RF) devices are widely used in communication systems. Various RF devices that operate at high frequencies, for example, in GHz frequency ranges, need to be integrated with other devices to form a system. Therefore, the RF devices need to be packaged in package structures.
There are several types of conventional package structures used for packaging the RF devices. In a first package structure, RF devices are formed in a device die that is stacked on a package substrate. The package substrate is further bonded to a printed circuit board (PCB) through flip-chip bonding. Bond wires are used to provide DC power to the device die, and to transmit RF signals between the device die and the package substrate. The RF signals are further transmitted to the PCB through through-package vias that are formed in the package substrate. In these package structures, the bond wires are typically very long compared to the wavelengths of the RF signals, and the RF loss on the bond wires is high. Furthermore, the formation of the bond wires may cause electro-static discharge (ESD) that damages the RF devices. The device die and the package substrate may also have a high mismatch in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and hence there may be high stresses generated in the device die.
In another one of conventional packages, RF devices are formed in a device die, wherein the device die is bonded to an interposer through a flip chip package. The interposer is stacked on a package substrate. The package substrate is further bonded to a PCB through flip-chip bonding. Bond wires are used to bond the interposer to the package substrate. The bond wires are used to provide DC power to the device die through the interposer, and to transmit RF signals between the device die and the package substrate. The RF signals are further transmitted to the PCB through through-package vias that are formed in the package substrate. Again, in these package structures, the bond wires are long compared to the wavelengths of the RF signals, and the RF loss on the bond wires is high. Furthermore, the formation of the bond wires may also cause the ESD, which damages the RF devices.

Radio-frequency packaging with reduced RF loss

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A method and system including a plurality of multifunction devices (MFDs), the method and system further including a storage station having geographically separated MFDs for permitting users to store information generated by the plurality of MFDs in operable communication with the locale aware DFS; wherein the information is stored on a plurality of storage stations based on a weighted undirected graph generated from a plurality of dynamically monitored user behaviors, required level of replications, and selection rules to pick the points of storage.

1. Field of the Related Art
The present disclosure relates to distributed file systems, and more particularly, to a method and system for manipulating user behaviors and user locales to store information in a distributed file system.
2. Background of the Related Art
In general, a multifunction device (MFD) operates as a plurality of different imaging devices, including, but not limited to, a printer, copier, fax machine, and/or scanner. In recent years the basic office copier has evolved into what can be referred to as a MFD. With digital technology, a machine with the basic outward appearance of a traditional copier can perform at least the additional functions of printing documents submitted in digital form over a network, sending and receiving messages via facsimile, recording hard-copy original images in digital form and sending the resulting data over a network, such as in electronic mail, temporarily storing files on their hard-disk, and/or recording hard-copy original images in digital form on a compact disc or equivalent medium.
In the area of digital printing and copying, there has been a growth in demand for MFDs. Such MFD devices may assume the form of an arrangement in which a single print engine (e.g., xerographic or thermal ink jet print engine) is coupled with a plurality of different image input devices (or "services"), with such devices being adapted to produce image related information for use by the printer or transmitted over a network. The image related information, in one example, could have its origin in video facsimile signals, microfilm, data processing information, light scanning platens for full size documents, aperture cards, and microfiche. MFDs provide a broader range of functionality than traditional single-function devices, such as dedicated printers, copiers, and scanners. As a result, because of their network transmission and storage capabilities combined with their functionality, it would be useful to monitor behavioral patterns and locations of users handling MFDs. It would also be helpful to use the concept of stigmergy to monitor behavioral patterns and locations of users handling MFDs.
"Stigmergy" is typically defined as communication through the environment, which allows the coordination of actions between several objects. For example, "Object A" can communicate with "Object B" using stigmergy when Object A marks the environment in a way that Object B can detect. Stated in different terms, stigmergy is based on sensing and sampling the environment and responding to it. The concept of stigmergy was introduced to describe the indirect communication taking place among individuals in social settings.
In chaos theory, stigmergy is an agent's use of the environment to communicate and interact. If there is more than one agent interacting with the environment (which may include other agents) then this may be considered a swarm. If there is additional behavior that occurs from the interaction of the agent with its environment that is not directly predictable from the activity of the individual agents then this is emergent behavior. The capability of self-organization is required if any emergent behavior, beneficial or not, is to arise from the swarm.
There are two types of self-organization. The first occurs as a consequence of the random activity of the agents while the second type only requires locally directed interaction. Both self-organization types eliminate the need for external control as all control activity originates from the agent interacting with its environment. Emergent behavior is the direct result of interaction between multiple individual agents and their environment. Each individual agent's environmental reactions, i.e., the behaviors of an agent are a function of the individual agents' internal state. The concept of stigmergy, however, has not been expanded to the field of MFDs where users interact as a swarm with MFDs.
As a result, in conventional systems, there is no storage mechanism that takes into account the social networking taking place between MFDs that could be defined on the basis of collected usage characteristics of those MFDs. In other words, conventional systems do not use the concept of stigmergy to store information. Instead, conventional distributed file systems have focused on storing multiple files in a replicated fashion on resources that have certain performance or availability characteristics. In such systems, structured overlays are architected to collect and maintain information so that a required number of replications of a file can be calculated to achieve a desired goal (e.g., such as average file hit-rate in the system or file availability). However, this is an inefficient and time-consuming process.
Thus, while some conventional systems allow document sharing, such document sharing mechanisms usually involve storing multiple files in a replicated fashion on resources that have certain performance or availability characteristics. Such systems do not manipulate user behavioral patterns and/or user locales or the concept of stigmergy.
Consequently, current systems lack the capability to effectively share documents based on dynamically changing variables, such as user behavioral patterns or users' physical locations. The present disclosure is intended to overcome the drawbacks of other methods by providing for storing information based on user behaviors and/or user locales based on stigmergy. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for manipulating user behaviors and user locales to store information.

Method and system for a distributed file system based on user behaviors and user locales


The present invention provides compositions of matter useful as deposition agents for making structures, including thin film structures and hard coatings, on substrates and features of substrates. In an embodiment, for example, the present invention provides metal complexes having one or more diboranamide or diboranaphosphide ligands that are useful as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and/or atomic layer deposition (ALD) precusors for making thin film structures and coatings. Metal complex CVD precursors are provided that possess volitilities sufficiently high so as to provide dense, smooth and homogenous thin films and coatings.

Metal diborides (MB2) possess outstanding properties for thin film applications in microelectronics and hard coatings: metal diborides such as TiB2, ZrB2 and HfB2 have melting points often exceeding 3000° C., electrical resistivities as low as 15 μΩ-cm, and hardnesses approaching 30 GPa. In addition, they are chemically robust. Some metal borides are attractive as potential replacements for TiN as electrically conductive diffusion barriers in integrated circuits, preventing the interdiffusion of copper and silicon in interconnects (See, S. Jayaraman et al. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 2005, 23, 1619-1625, J. W. Sung, J. Appl. Phys. 2002, 91, 3904-3911, U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,023 B1 and 6,872,639 B2). Moreover, magnesium diboride (MgB2), which becomes superconducting below ca. 40 K, is potentially useful for the fabrication of superconductor-based integrated circuits. (See, M. Naito et al. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 2004, 17, R1-R18, U.S. Pat. No. 6,797,341).
Physical vapor deposition (PVD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods are primarily employed in preparing thin films of metal diborides. In general, the PVD process deposits thin films of the desired composition by generating highly reactive particles from pure bulk targets by evaporation or sputtering followed by transporting them onto the substrate on which the films grow. In CVD, a molecular precursor that contains some or all of the elements in the desired thin film, is vaporized and delivered onto a hot substrate, sometimes in combination with other precursors. Subsequent chemical reactions afford thin films of the desired material on the substrate. CVD methods can produce uniform coatings on high aspect-ratio trenches and holes, which is difficult to accomplish by PVD methods, which tend to be "line of sight" owing to its use of highly reactive particles.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD), which is a variant of the CVD method, is based on self-limiting reactions. A substrate is exposed to a precursor, which reacts to coat the substrate with a monolayer (or less) of material. The excess precursor is then pumped away, and the substrate is exposed to a second precursor, which reacts with the thin layer generated by the first reactant. Then, the excess of this second reactant is removed. By repeating this cycle, or variants in which more than two precursors are employed, the desired thin film can be grown layer by layer. One feature of ALD is that it can provide highly conformal coatings in extremely narrow, deep holes.
The PVD processes that have been performed for the deposition of transition metal diboride thin films include sputtering, co-sputtering, reactive sputtering, pulsed-laser ablation and evaporation. Sputtering from MB2 targets is the most frequently employed method for MB2 deposition among PVD methods; thin films of TiB2, ZrB2, HfB2, VB2, TaB2, and CrB2 have been deposited from each MB2 target.1-5 TiB2 thin films have been prepared by a co-sputtering method that uses separate Ti and B targets (See, J. Pelleg et al. J. Appl. Phys. 2002, 91, 6099-6104; T. Shikama et al. Thin Solid Films 1988, 156, 287-293). Reactive sputtering method using B2H6 gas as a boron source has also been employed to deposit TiB2 thin films. (See, H. O. Blom et al. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 1989, 7, 162-165). In all these sputtering methods, the fluxes of metal and boron must be precisely controlled to produce stoichiometric MB2 deposits: different sputter yields, different angular emission profiles, and different gas scattering effects can cause there to be excess metal or excess boron in the films. (See C. Mitterer, J. Solid State Chem., 133, (1997) 279) Failure to produce stoichiometric MB2 films often results in films with less useful properties. Although sputtering itself can be performed at moderate substrate temperatures, high temperature annealing processes are often necessary to obtain films with desired properties. An alternative to sputtering, pulsed-laser ablation, has been employed to produce TiB2 films (See, V. Ferrando, et al. Thin Solid Films 2003, 444, 91-94). One disadvantage of this PVD technique is that a high deposition temperature of 720° C. was necessary. Thin films of TiB2 and ZrB2 have also been prepared by evaporation; the films were, however, nonstoichiometric and required high deposition temperatures of above 1000° C. (See, R. F. Bunshah, Thin Solid Films 1977, 40, 169-182). Although high-quality MB2 films have often been prepared by PVD methods, all these PVD approaches have limited abilities to deposit uniform coatings onto non-flat surfaces.
CVD methods for thin films of transition metal diborides can be divided into two processes in terms of precursor types: 1) processes using metal halide precursors and 2) processes using single sources of metal hydroborate complexes. In the former, metal halides are reduced in the presence of a boron source to metal borides and hydrohalic acids (HX). TiB2 and ZrB2, for example, have been prepared from the reaction of BCl3 and H2 with TiCl4 and ZrCl4, respectively.6,7 Diborane can be used in place of boron halides and H2: the reaction between B2H6 and TiCl4 and TaCl5 produced TiB2 and TaB2 thin films, respectively.8,9 However, CVD processes using halogen-based precursors require high deposition temperatures of 600-1200° C. and often leave behind traces of halogen contaminants both of these features are detrimental for many microelectronic applications. Another disadvantage of this method is that few metal halides are volatile below their decomposition temperatures.
Single source precursors to metal diborides have been described that have the general stoichiometry MBxHy; these bear tetrahydroborate (BH4−) or octahydrotriborate (B3H8−) groups. The precursors Zr(BH4)4, Hf(BH4)4, and Cr(B3H8)2 have afforded the corresponding MB2 thin films at temperatures as low as 150° C.10-12 The single source precursors are free of heteroatoms such as halogens that could contaminate the films, and the deposition temperatures are often lower than 400° C.
For many metal boride phases, it is not possible to use single source CVD precursors to grow films because no precursor of stoichiometry MBxHy exists. Volatile M(BH4)n complexes of d-block transition metals are rare because the BH4− ligand is sterically small and strongly reducing, and in fact only Ti(BH4)3, Zr(BH4)4, and Hf(BH4)4 are known. Because BH4− is sterically small, three or four BH4− ligands are required to saturate the coordination sphere of a transition metal center and form a volatile complex, which accordingly means a +3 or +4 oxidation state for the metal center. Many transition metals, however, are not stable in these oxidation states in the presence of strongly reducing BH4− groups. By employing the sterically more demanding hydroborate ligand, B3H8−, the highly volatile chromium(II) complex of Cr(B3H8)2 has been prepared and have demonstrated its excellence as single source precursor to very high quality CrB2 thin films.12,13 However, although the B3H8− group is sterically larger than the BH4− ligand, so far only chromium has been shown to form a highly volatile transition metal species suitable as a CVD precursor.
The lattice structure of MgB2 is identical with that of the transition metal diborides, but the deposition of MgB2 thin films is complicated by one major challenge: loss of Mg from the MgB2 phase at growth temperatures above ca. 400° C.14 If enough Mg is lost, the MgB2 films become non-superconducting. Several reports of the deposition of MgB2 by PVD methods have appeared. Kang and co-workers have produced MgB2 films by depositing amorphous boron followed by reaction with Mg vapor at 900° C. in sealed tantalum tube.15 Although this method has produced high-quality MgB2 films with a critical temperature Tc of 39 K, the ex-situ high temperature annealing process must be conducted in a sealed tube, which makes this method impractical for producing multilayer thin films on a large scale. Ueda et al. have produced MgB2 thin films with a Tc of ca. 38 K by co-evaporation at 240 to 270° C.16,17 Zeng et al. have grown MgB2 thin films by an in situ hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HP-CVD) method in which B2H6 reacts with Mg vapor generated from Mg chips placed near the substrate.18,19 The main obstacle to employing this latter approach in the fabrication of multilayer devices is the high deposition temperature of ca. 750° C., which will promote undesirable interfacial reactions.
A desirable method for incorporating MgB2 into multilayer devices should produce crystalline, conformal films below 400° C. via an in situ deposition process without the need for a subsequent annealing process at an elevated temperature. To date, only the co-evaporation method comes close to this requirement, but this method cannot afford conformal films on topologically complex substrates. Thus, a need exists for designing and synthesizing volatile magnesium-containing compounds for the CVD of MgB2.

Metal complex compositions and methods for making metal-containing films

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


Apparatus and method for direct data transfer in a wireless broadband system having an operating system, the apparatus including a central processing unit (CPU), at least one dedicated Direct Memory Access unit (DMA) local to the CPU, coupled directly to the CPU, and a commands FIFO (First In First Out) receiving commands from the CPU and automatically transferring the commands in sequence to the DMA for implementation by the DMA, in the absence of intervention by the operating system.

Software based communication systems deal with the transfer of massive quantities of data. A software implementation of the physical layer of wireless broadband communication systems, particularly 4G wireless systems, deals with very high rate data transfers due to the wider transmission spectrum and shorter frames of transmission. These systems deal with the transfer of large amounts of data that must be completed within tight timing constraints. Direct Memory Access (DMA) hardware units are used to fulfill data transfer tasks. FIG. 1 presents a typical conventional DMA implementation. DMA 10 includes a master interface 11 and a slave bus interface 12 (registers) and is coupled by an advanced high performance system bus 13 to a plurality of peripherals, such as USB's, printers, etc., of which only two are shown, a source peripheral A 14 and a destination peripheral B 15. Each source peripheral 14 is associated with a source FSM (Fast Sequencing Module) 9 and each destination peripheral 15 is associated with a destination FSM 19. A driver CPU 16 is coupled to bus 13 for programming the registers (master interface (I/F) for transferring data 11 and control interface (I/F) 12 for transferring control), i.e., from where to read, where to write and how much data to take each time, or the size of the data block. Driver CPU 16 is coupled to a plurality of CPU's in the system (not shown), which share the use of the same DMA 10. A plurality of peripheral buses are provided for delivering control information to DMA 10. Multiple DMA transactions may take place simultaneously through different channels. Channels are available for performing transactions in parallel, but they all use the same bus. An arbiter 18 is provided to select the order of memory transfer between various destination peripherals.
The characteristics of existing DMAs are:                Transfers—A DMA can transfer a block of data of known length from: 1) One memory location to another memory location. Usually it transfers data from slow memory, like DRAM, to a faster memory inside the CPU (Central Processing Unit); 2) A memory to an output device; 3) An input device to memory.        Shared resource—A DMA is a shared hardware device, handled by the Operating System driver. All CPUs in the system and all tasks use a single driver entity.        Programming—Programming of the DMA requires loading of a number of control words, like Source address, Destination address, stride, block length, bus control information, etc. The DMA programming is accomplished by writing control information via a control bus. Usually the control bus is slower than the CPU.        Addresses sequence—Addresses in memory are either contiguous or with pre-defined jumps, called stride. Copying from a contiguous memory block into a non-contiguous memory block with fixed stride is called "scatter", while transactions that copy from a non-contiguous block with fixed stride into a contiguous memory block are called "gather".        A DMA can either be programmed to perform a single block transfer or it may read the programming data for the next transaction automatically from a linked list in the memory.        Synchronization—Many DMA transactions in 4G implementations take place between a local memory of a hardware unit and a main system memory. The traditional approach is, once the hardware unit completes generating data into its local memory, it issues an interrupt signal to a processor (its driver in the operating system) indicating that the data is available. The processor stops its current operation and programs the DMA to transfer the data from the hardware unit local memory into the system memory. Once the DMA has finished the memory transfer, it also generates an interrupt signal to the CPU of the operating system. The CPU then programs the hardware unit to start processing the next task. This process requires two interrupts to the CPU (operating system) for each DMA transaction. The overhead is significant.
The main limitations of conventional DMA units in high speed communication systems are:                DMA programming is implemented by the operating system—As the DMA is a shared resource for all tasks and all CPUs in the system, programming each DMA transaction requires an Operating System (OS) request. This mechanism requires control transfer from the running process (or task) to the OS, which imposes a big overhead. In 4 G communication systems, a single unit may require 100,000-1,000,000 different transactions in one second. Programming so many transactions in one second through the operating system is not feasible.        DMA control is implemented through a control bus. Control buses are slow and require many CPU clocks to program one parameter. FIG. 1 shows that the CPU to DMA interface is implemented by system and control buses. Programming a typical DMA transaction requires writing about 5 words, which causes the programming of a typical DMA transaction to take 15-20 CPU cycles. This is a major obstacle when DMA transactions are short (e.g., up to 100 words).        The DMA transaction addresses sequence is limited to linear or scatter/gather, only. In 4G systems, many data blocks are received with different timing and, thus, are stored in different locations in memory. When arbitrary patterns of data access are required, conventional DMA cannot be used, but the CPU calculates each address separately and uses load store instruction. The efficiency of data fetching determines the efficiency of the processing. Thus, non-efficient DMA transfers translate into non-efficient CPU usage.        Synchronization—As described in the previous section, the synchronization of DMA operation with the application software requires two operating system interrupts. With the high number of DMA transactions, a mechanism that requires 2 interrupts to the CPU for each DMA transaction is not feasible.
It is an object of the present invention to solve many of the limitations of existing DMA units in high end wireless communication products.

Method and apparatus for wireless broadband systems direct data transfer


A tunable receiver system uses programmable notch filters to identify available channel pairs for transmitting and receiving data via a femtocell base station. In addition, one of the programmable notch filters may be used to suppress infiltration of the transmit path signal into the receiver path of the receiver device. The other programmable notch filter may be used to suppress a blocker signal identified by the receiver device.

A femtocell is a small cellular base station that is connected to a service provider's network by a broadband network. As an example, a femtocell may connect to a mobile network operator's mobile network, and provides extra coverage in a range of typically 30 to 50 meters for residential femtocells. The power output of a typical femtocell is usually on the order of 20 mW.
The femtocell permits service providers to provide service coverage in small localized areas such as a residence or a small business. A femtocell typically supports 2 to 4 active mobile phones in a residential setting, and 8 to 16 active mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable.
In contrast, a macro-cell is a cell within a mobile phone network and provides radio coverage served by a power cellular base station tower over a relatively large geographic area. The antennas for macro-cells are mounted on ground-based masts, rooftops and other existing structures, at a height that provides a clear view over the surrounding buildings and terrain. Macro-cell base stations have power outputs of typically tens of watts. The possible drawback to femtocells is that there can be interference with other nearby femtocells and macro-cells.
Accordingly, there is a need for a femtocell system that can suppress blocking signals and other interference signals from impacting the reception of transmitted data between a femtocell base station and a receiver device.

Femtocell tunable receiver filtering system


A crystal unit and a thermistor with negative resistance-temperature characteristics are housed in a thermostatic oven heated by a heater. A transistor driving the heater is controlled by an output of a differential amplifier, the thermistor is placed between a power supply voltage and an inverting input of the amplifier, and a first resistor used to adjust the temperature of a zero temperature coefficient point of the crystal unit is installed between the inverting input and a ground point. A second resistor is installed between the power supply voltage and a non-inverting input of the amplifier and a third resistor is installed between the non-inverting input and ground point. One of the second and third resistors is a resistor assembly made up of a plurality of resistance elements and one of these resistance elements is provided with positive resistance-temperature characteristics and adapted to detect ambient temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oven-controlled crystal oscillator (OCXO), the oven-controlled crystal oscillator being equipped with: a crystal unit or crystal element; a thermostatic oven which contains the crystal unit and keeps temperature of the crystal unit constant, and an oscillator circuit which uses the crystal unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A crystal oscillator which incorporates, as an integral component, a quartz crystal unit and an oscillator circuit using the crystal unit outputs an oscillating signal of an accurate predetermined frequency simply when mounted on a circuit board or the like and supplied externally with a power supply voltage. The crystal oscillator is thus used widely as a frequency or time reference source in various electronic devices.
A vibration frequency of the crystal unit has high stability, but changes slightly with temperature due to frequency-temperature characteristics inherent to quartz. To deal with this, an oven-controlled crystal oscillator is available as a crystal oscillator which outputs a particularly accurate oscillation frequency, where the oven-controlled crystal oscillator includes a crystal unit or crystal element contained in a thermostatic oven or a constant temperature bath adapted to keep temperature of the crystal unit constant. Generally, the thermostatic oven is configured to be heated by an electric heater. Temperature in the thermostatic oven is detected by a temperature sensor installed in the thermostatic oven and detection results are fed back to a drive circuit of the heater to keep the temperature in the thermostatic oven constant. If the temperature of the thermostatic oven is set such as to minimize frequency changes due to temperature changes based on the frequency-temperature characteristics of the crystal unit, even if the temperature of the thermostatic oven varies minutely under the influence of ambient temperature, the oscillation frequency of the oven-controlled crystal oscillator is kept most stable. The vibration frequency of the crystal unit changes, for example, as a quadratic function or cubic function of temperature although this depends on the orientation in which a crystal blank (i.e., a vibrating piece) of the crystal unit is cut from a crystal of quartz. Consequently, the vibration frequency does not change with minute temperature changes around the temperature at a vertex of the function curve. This results in a zero temperature coefficient. Thus, this temperature is referred to as a zero temperature coefficient (ZTC) point. With the oven-controlled crystal oscillator, the temperature of the thermostatic oven is generally set at the ZTC point of the crystal unit.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of an oven-controlled crystal oscillator according to a related art.
Thermostatic oven 10 houses crystal unit X and thermistor Th adapted to detect the temperature in thermostatic oven 10. Thermostatic oven 10 is designed to be heated by electric heater H, which is connected at one end to power supply terminal 11 and connected at the other end to a collector of power transistor 15 for driving. An emitter of transistor 15 is grounded. With the illustrated crystal oscillator, heater H is installed in thermostatic oven 10. Crystal unit X is electrically connected to oscillator circuit 13 which uses crystal unit X, and an oscillating signal is outputted from oscillator circuit 13 to output terminal 14. Here, oscillator circuit 13 is installed outside thermostatic oven 10, but may be installed in thermostatic oven 10. Power supply voltage Vcc1 is supplied externally to power supply terminal 11, but stabilized power supply circuit 12 is installed to generate more stable power supply voltage Vcc2 from power supply voltage Vcc1. Oscillator circuit 13 is supplied with power supply voltage Vcc2.
As thermistor Th, one with non-linear negative resistance-temperature characteristics is used. The negative resistance-temperature characteristics are resistance-temperature characteristics which have a negative resistance temperature coefficient. To drive heater H by feeding back detection results produced by thermistor Th, resistors R1 to R3 and differential amplifier 16 are installed and an output from the differential amplifier is connected to a base of power transistor 15. Thermistor Th is connected at one end to power supply voltage Vcc2, and at the other end to an inverting input terminal (−) of differential amplifier 16. Resistor R1 is installed between the inverting input terminal (−) and a ground point. Resistor R2 is installed between a non-inverting input terminal (+) of differential amplifier 16 and power supply voltage Vcc2 while resistor R3 is installed between the non-inverting input terminal (+) and ground point. Thus, thermistor Th, resistors R1 to R3, differential amplifier 16, and power transistor 15 make up a temperature control circuit of thermostatic oven 10. Except for thermistor Th, the elements making up the temperature control circuit are installed outside thermostatic oven 10 and affected by ambient temperature.
With this configuration, if resistors R1 to R3 are set such that a ratio between resistance value of thermistor Th at the ZTC point of crystal unit X and resistor R1 will coincide with a ratio between resistor R2 and resistor R3, differential amplifier 16 controls transistor 15 so as to reduce collector current of transistor 15 when the temperature in thermostatic oven 10 rises and consequently the resistance value of thermistor Th decreases, and conversely to increase collector current when the temperature in thermostatic oven 10 falls and consequently the resistance value of thermistor Th increases. Since the collector current of transistor 15 flows through heater H, heater current is controlled, after all, such that the temperature in thermostatic oven 10 will be kept at the ZTC point.
Actually, with the circuit shown in FIG. 1, whereas the heater current is zero when the temperature in thermostatic oven 10 is exactly at the ZTC point, the temperature in thermostatic oven 10 does not precisely reach the ZTC point and has some deviation from the ZTC point because there is some heat dissipation from thermostatic oven 10. To compensate for this deviation, it is conceivable to set resistors R1 to R3 such that a temperature slightly higher than the ZTC point will be a control target, but since an amount of heat dissipating from thermostatic oven 10 depends on the ambient temperature, the temperature of thermostatic oven 10 ends up being affected by the ambient temperature. Thus, to keep the temperature in the thermostatic oven at the ZTC point, JP2005-165630A proposes an oven-controlled crystal oscillator with a configuration in which a resistor corresponding to resistor R2 in the circuit shown in FIG. 1 is provided with linear positive resistance-temperature characteristics and arranged to change in resistance according to the ambient temperature such that the current flowing through heater H will increase with decreases in the ambient temperature.
JP2011-4382A discloses a technique for maintaining a predetermined temperature in the thermostatic oven by using a thermistor adapted to detect the ambient temperature as well as a thermistor adapted to detect the temperature in the thermostatic oven and performing open-loop control based on the ambient temperature as well as closed-loop control based on the temperature in the thermostatic oven.
The ZTC point of the crystal unit varies slightly from product to product even if crystal blanks cut in the same orientation are used and the vibration frequency is identical. Therefore, in order to produce an oven-controlled crystal oscillator with higher frequency accuracy, it is necessary observe the oscillation frequency and detect the ZTC point, with the crystal unit contained in the thermostatic oven while changing the temperature of the thermostatic oven by driving a heater adapted to heat the thermostatic oven, determine the target values of the resistors in the temperature control circuit according to the detected ZTC point, and adjust the resistors to the target values. For example, with the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 1, at least one of resistors R1 to R3 is adjusted. Actually, resistor R1 is adjusted in many cases. However, even if such adjustments are made, depending on the structure of the thermostatic oven and arrangement of the thermistor in the thermostatic oven, the thermistor temperature will not accurately match the temperature of the crystal unit. Also, since the amount of heat radiated to the surroundings from the thermostatic oven depends on the ambient temperature, the ZTC point determined based on the temperature detected by the thermistor, i.e., an apparent ZTC point itself, will vary with the ambient temperature. Since control is performed based on the temperature detected by the thermistor in the thermostatic oven, if the apparent ZTC point varies, the control cannot be performed properly. Even if the resistance values in the temperature control circuit are adjusted according to the ZTC point of the crystal unit, since the resistors themselves have resistance temperature coefficients and change their resistance values with the ambient temperature, it is also necessary to think about compensating for these changes.
After all, to construct a high-accuracy oven-controlled crystal oscillator, it is not enough to merely install a temperature sensor adapted to detect the ambient temperature in addition to a thermistor adapted to detect the temperature in the thermostatic oven, and it is necessary to give sufficient consideration to the configuration and adjustment method of the temperature control circuit.
When temperature control is performed using a thermistor, relationship between the ambient temperature and actual temperature in the thermostatic oven is, for example, roughly such that the temperature in the thermostatic oven rises with rises in the ambient temperature as indicated by a thick line in FIG. 2A because reduction in the amount of heat produced by the heater is insufficient compared with rises in the ambient temperature, or such that the temperature in the thermostatic oven falls with rises in the ambient temperature as indicated by a thick line in FIG. 2B because reduction in the amount of heat produced by the heater is excessive compared with rises in the ambient temperature. Which of the temperature characteristics shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B actually come into play depends on various factors including the structure and thermal environment of the thermostatic oven itself and its surroundings and the arrangement of the thermistor in the thermostatic oven. In either case, the temperature control circuit needs to be configured and adjusted so as to make compensation such that the temperature in the thermostatic oven will remain constant and coincide with a true ZTC point regardless of the ambient temperature as illustrated by broken lines in the FIGS. 2A and 2B.


A tool and kit for cleaning and/or cleaning validation which includes a handle, a tip, and an ejection mechanism connected to the handle that is capable of ejecting a cleaning element (such as a swab, brush, or applicator) from the handle without the need for a user to handle the cleaning element. The cleaning element is seated on the tip and can be ejected from the handle either with or without the tip on which it is seated.

Swabs are typically used to determine the effectiveness of cleaning protocols used for cleaning manufacturing equipment such as the manufacturing equipment used in making pharmaceuticals and other products where it is important to eliminate contaminants during manufacture. Analysis of total organic carbons, or organic contaminants, is an example of one method used to validate cleaning protocols and processes. High performance liquid chromotagraphy (HPLC) and ultraviolet (UV)/visible spectroscopy are other examples of analytic methods used to validate cleaning protocols and procedures. Traditionally, polyester swabs are used for surface sampling and cleaning validation work.
A prior art swab and handle are shown in FIG. 1. Prior art polyester swabs 10 are positioned on a swab handle 12 that comprises a head paddle 14 (for supporting a swab) at the end of a long rigid handle 16. The swab handle 16 includes notches 18 so that the head 14 containing the swab 10 can be easily snapped off or cut off for convenient sample handling. Prior art swabs and handles may be used for cleaning certain areas as well as for determining the effectiveness of cleaning protocols and procedures.
Traditional prior art swabs and handles where the heads are cut or snapped off by the operator to analyze the swab for contaminants introduce the potential for contamination of the samples and the potential for giving a false positive test result. The operators and cutting devices of traditional prior art swabs and handles can carry contaminants and also cause retesting problems when they are in contact with the swab head or the handle close to the swab.
Accordingly, there is a need for a tool that reduces the potential for introducing contaminants when testing samples obtained with swabs.

Pen style tool and kit for cleaning validation


Aspects provide for automatic verification of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data by making a JSON call via an Extensible Markup Language (XML) Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) HTTP object against a data warehouse data item stored in a back end server. JSON response data returned from the back end server in response to the JSON call is converted into actual XML result data that includes a first plurality of XML statements. A Structured Query Language (SQL) query is executed against the data warehouse data item, and expected XML result data generated in response thereto that include a different (second) plurality of XML statements. The JSON response data returned from the back end server is thereby verified in response to matching the actual XML result data to the expected XML result data.

A data warehouse is a relational database that is designed for query and analysis rather than for transaction processing. It usually contains historical data derived from transaction data, but it can include data from other sources. It may separate analysis workload from transaction workload and enable an organization to consolidate data from several sources. In addition to a relational database, a data warehouse environment generally includes back end extraction, transportation, transformation, and loading (ETL) solutions, online analytical processing (OLAP) engines, client analysis tools, and other applications that manage the process of gathering data and delivering it to business users.
Front-end and back-end are terms which refer to the separation of concerns between a presentation layer and a data access layer, respectively, and wherein the data warehouse resides in the back end. The front end is an interface between the user and the back end. The front end is an abstraction layer that simplifies an underlying component by providing a user-friendly interface. Back end code typically resides on a data warehouse server, wherein a back-end application or program serves indirectly in support of the front-end services, to provide access to the data warehouse.
Front end abstraction layers may utilize a variety of different programming language and environment approaches in engaging the back end, and examples include Extensible Markup Language (XML), JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) and Structured Query Language (SQL) environments. XML is a markup language that defines a set of rules for encoding documents presented in the front end in a format which is both human-readable and machine-readable. XML is a textual data format with strong support via unicode for different human languages. Although the design of XML focuses on documents, it is widely used for the representation of arbitrary data structures such as those used in web services. Several schema systems exist to aid in the definition of XML-based languages, while many application programming interfaces (APIs) have been developed to aid the processing of XML data.
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is a language-independent data format that uses human-readable text to transmit data objects consisting of attribute-value pairs. It is often used to transmit data between a server and a web application, including as an alternative to XML.
Structured Query Language (SQL) is a special-purpose programming language generally designed for managing data held in a relational database management system (RDBMS), or for stream processing in a relational data stream management system (RDSMS), and consists of a data definition language and a data manipulation language.