An improved gas burner for cooking appliances, with an inner central portion (40) defining an inner chamber (52) provided with a central flame ring (72) and with an outer portion (42) concentric with said central portion (40) defining an outer chamber (47) provided with at least one outer flame ring (78), characterised by comprising a pair of first injectors (14) of substantially horizontal axis, symmetrically disposed about a diametrical vertical plane of said burner, said first injectors (14) being associated with respective adjacent venturi conduits (24) with substantially horizontal parallel axes, feeding said outer portion (42) with a gas/primary air mixture to generate said outer flame ring (78), said adjacent conduits (24) being spaced apart to define a space within which a second injector (16) of vertical axis is disposed facing a venturi conduit (50) of vertical axis feeding said inner central portion (40) with a gas/primary air mixture to generate said central flame ring (72).

Standard gas burners are known comprising a single flame ring of various dimensions and developable powers.
Special gas burners are also known comprising several concentric flame rings. They are commonly known as wok burners, from the name of the convex-based pans which are widespread in Asiatic countries, and require burners with several concentric rings.
Dual wok burners are also known, provided with special two-way valves for separately feeding the central flame ring and the annular ring or rings with gas, to hence generate either only the inner central flame ring or the central ring and the outer annular ring or rings, in order to vary the cooking intensity within wide limits, from just the inner flame ring fed at minimum level to all the flame rings fed at maximum level for high temperature cooking.
In order for a wok burner to completely cover market needs, it must simultaneously satisfy a large number of requirements, often of a contrasting nature. In particular:                it must be of small vertical height, to be positioned either on cookers or on built-in hobs,        it must be insensitive to the streaming effect, i.e. it must be able to remain always ignited, even under minimum flow conditions, in the case of a reduction in pressure accidentally caused by the effect of opening a door in the kitchen cabinet below the hob,        it must be able to develop high power,        its injectors must be accessible from above for easy replacement if the burner has to be adapted to gas types different from that for which the burner was factory set,        it must be able to operate both as a dual burner, i.e. fed via a two-exit valve, and as a three ring burner, i.e. fed via a normal single-exit valve.        it must comprise just a fed easily assembled parts of low cost,        all its parts must be easily accessible for simple cleaning.
Various burner types have been proposed to satisfy most of the aforelisted requirements, however they all represent compromise solutions aimed at enhancing certain requirements at the necessary sacrifice of others.
IT 1,232,887 describes a dual burner provided with three injectors associated with three venturis of radial type, i.e. comprising a first vertical frusto-conical section followed by a radial horizontal section. This is of small vertical size, is able to provide reasonable power and uses primary air and secondary air withdrawn from above the hob, hence being substantially insensitive to the streaming effect.
The drawback of this known burner is that the two radial venturis which feed mixture to the outer portion of the burner determine its shape: in this respect, to obtain a radial portion the two venturis are made to extend towards the burner interior, so giving the outer burner portion a shape which is not annular, as is normally required for a wok burner, but presenting a circular outer perimeter and an elliptical inner perimeter. This gives the burner a strange shape and also subtracts secondary air from the central inner part of the burner; consequently the flames at the second ring and at the central burner are very small, hence hardly satisfying the concept of a wok burner, which instead requires considerable flame at the pan centre.
Moreover the three venturis are of small radial extension, with consequent limitation on the maximum power which the burner is able to develop.
U.S. Pat No. 5,401,164 describes a burner of type substantially similar to the preceding and with its venturi too short to develop sufficient power. Moreover this burner withdraws primary air exclusively from below the hob and is hence sensitive to the streaming effect.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,849 describes a burner with a cup support closed at its base, on which the injectors associated with the vertical venturis are positioned. The burner withdraws primary air from above the hob, however as the burner is of reduced height in order to be able to be housed within the hobs, its venturis are too short and hence of low efficiency.
EP 1 120 603 describes a burner with a vertical venturi feeding an inner central burner and a diametrical venturi feeding an outer annular burner.
The power developed by this burner is fairly limited; moreover the burner is formed from a very large number of parts and finally, as the two gas inlets feeding the two separate nozzles cannot be connected together, the burner operates only as a dual burner and is unable to function as a single-command burner.
U.S. Pat No. 5,704,778 describes a burner with three horizontal venturis, which is able to develop moderate power, but withdraws the primary air from below the hob and is hence sensitive to the streaming effect.
EP 1 042 634 describes a burner with two injectors feeding a vertical venturi for an inner central flame ring and a horizontal venturi for an outer annular flame ring. The primary air for the vertical venturi is withdrawn from above the hob, whereas the primary air for the horizontal venturi is withdrawn from below the hob.
As the injector holder for the vertical venturi is positioned above the horizontal venturi, the axial length of the vertical venturi is too small and does not enable the burner to develop the required power.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to overcome all the limitations which are recognizable conjointly or separately in burners pertaining to the state of the art, by providing a burner which satisfies all the aforelisted requirements.


According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a signal processing system is provided, comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive at least one signal that comprises a plurality of multipath components; a verification unit configured to correlate at least one multipath component under test with a reference signal derived from one or more of said plurality of multipath components. According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a corresponding signal processing method is conceived. According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a corresponding computer program is provided.

A Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) system is a system that provides a user access to a protected area (e.g., a protected object such as a house, office building or car) without the need of actively using a key or key fob. The only requirement is that the user has the key fob with him or her and that he or she is in the proximity of the protected area. It may be desirable to improve the security of existing PKE systems.


The method for applying dry toppings to baked goods includes the steps of pre-treating a surface of the baked goods, after baking, with an adhesive substance such as a pregelatinized wheat starch suspended in a solution and thereafter applying the dry toppings to the treated surface. Such an application has been shown to decrease wastage of such items as sesame seed topping from as much as 50% to as little as 5%.

This invention relates generally to food processing and more particularly to a method and apparatus for applying dry toppings, such as sesame seeds, on bakery products.
Baked goods, such as hamburger buns, are typically produced in a multi-step process that includes making the dough, placing the dough into baking pans, applying seeds or the like to the top of the dough, baking the seeded dough, and then depanning the baked goods for packaging.
The conventional practice within the baked goods industry is to apply seeds or other dry toppings to the dough prior to baking. It is well known that it is easier to apply seeds or other dry toppings to the sticky surface of the dough than to the drier surface of the already baked goods. Still, it has been estimated that as much as 25%-50% of the sesame seeds applied to prebaked dough are wasted in later processing steps. That is, the seeds bounce off the dough into the pan or conveyor during the application process, the seeds fall off into the oven during baking, or the seeds are pulled from the goods during the depanning process. Additionally, many seeds baked with the goods will adhere to the pans in which the goods are baked, thus making cleaning and removal difficult. A pan used to make loaves with sesame seeds one day might be used the next to make loaves topped with caraway seeds. Any remaining sesame seeds on the pan from the first day can cross-contaminate with later products. This can pose a big problem as not only will wasted seeds increase the cost of the goods and reduce the cleanliness of the bakery, but cross-contamination and increased allergens can result.
Accordingly, the need remains for an improved method and apparatus for addressing these drawbacks of the prior art.
The method for applying dry toppings to baked goods includes the steps of pretreating a surface of the baked goods, after baking, with an adhesive substance such as a pregelatinized wheat starch suspended in a solution and thereafter applying the dry toppings to the treated surface. Such an application has been shown to decrease wastage of such items as sesame seed topping from as much as 50% to as little as 5%.
The apparatus for carrying out the method comprises a source of starch-based solution, a source of dry topping material, a spray station for pre-treating a surface of the baked good, and a topping station for applying the topping to the treated surface. The spray station includes a spray chamber and a spray station conveyor passing through the spray chamber. The spray chamber includes at least one nozzle coupled to the starch-based solution and arranged for spraying the solution toward the spray station conveyor. The spray station conveyor is arranged for receiving baked goods from the conveyor belt and moving the baked goods through the spray chamber. The topping station includes a dry topping dispenser and a dispenser conveyor in communication with the spray station conveyor passing underneath the dispenser for applying dry topping material to a surface of the baked goods.
An additional feature of the invention is a novel method and apparatus for delivering the dry topping material to the topping station. The apparatus for transporting the granulated topping material includes an elongate hollow wand having a proximal end and a distal end and vibration means attached adjacent the proximal end of the wand for imparting vibrational forces to the wand. Vacuun means coupled to the proximal end of the wand impart a vacuum force at the distal end of the wand and thereby draw material adjacent the distal end of the rod up through the rod to the proximal end. The vibrational forces at the distal end of the wand are transferred to the material adjacent the wand tip to prevent the buildup of peaks and valleys within the topping reservoir.

Method for applying dry toppings to baked goods


A walking supporter having a plurality of bottom frames with at least one curved element; a plurality of support frames connected to the curved element of the bottom frames; and at least one connecting element interconnecting the support frames. A user can stand up easily from a sitting position without exerting a force vertical to the ground because the walking supporter can be swung utilizing the bottom frame with a curved element. Furthermore, it is less likely that the walking supporter will get stuck even if there is a protrusion or a crevice on the ground because the bottom frame is formed of curved elements. The walking supporter is also appropriate for patients or the elderly who may not have enough arm-strength because it is possible to walk by pushing the walking supporter on the ground with a part of the bottom frame being in contact with the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a walking supporter, and more particularly, a walking supporter that comprises one or more bottom frames having a curved element.
2. Background of Related Art
While walking supporters including those for toddlers have been developed in the past, interest in walking supporters for the elderly has increased as the average age of population rises and the aging population increases.
Above all things, continuous product research and development to guarantee safety has been performed because the consumers for such walking supporters mainly correspond to patients, disabled people and the elderly.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional walking supporter 100 with four legs. As illustrated, the conventional walking supporter 100 comprises four support elements 120a, 120b being in contact with the ground where bottom part of the support elements may include rubber inserts 130a, 130b for preventing slipping or may adopt wheels 150a, 150b. In general, handles 110a, 110b are provided horizontal to the ground so that a user can grip the handles and walk by moving the walking supporter. However, disabled people and the elderly experience several inconveniences when using a conventional walking supporter 100.
First, when a user stands up using the walking supporter from a sitting position in a chair, the user has to bend their arms by ninety degrees and exert a force to the walking supporter vertically in order to stand up. That is, the user can stand up without slipping only by exerting a force vertically to the ground because the walking supporter stands vertically to the ground.
Second, where a protrusion or a crevice is on the ground, a user may fall down or be unable to continue walking when any of the four legs is hindered by the protrusion or crevice.
Third, patients or elderly people who have weak arm-strength have difficulty to use the walking supporter because they have to hold themselves up and move the walking supporter's four legs forward in order to walk.
Fourth, use of the walking supporter with four legs is restricted because it can't be used on stairs.
Fifth, a walking supporter with four legs can obstruct natural walking because it is stable only when the four legs are contact with the ground.


A stamp printing machine has print drum carrying print wheels which are settable by push buttons to print a selected value of postage charge. The drum is driven by a mechanical device such as tensator spring motor. The motor is manually primed and a trip lever operated by insertion of mail item releases the print drum to rotate through one revolution to print the stamp on the mail item. The stamp machine may include a calculator on which the postage value may be manually entered. Electrical contacts operated by the rotation of the drum are connected across the M+ button of the calculator to add the postage amount to its memory.

This invention relates to machines for applying a printed stamp to postal items.
When items are to be carried by a postal authority for delivery to a destination address, payment for carriage of the item is made to the postal authority by purchase of one or more postage stamps which are then affixed to the postal item. The stamps affixed to the postal item provide an indication during subsequent handling of the postal item by the postal authority that a postage charge has been paid and the amount or value of the postage charge paid.
The purchase and affixing of postage stamps is inconvenient particularly for regular senders of postal items requiring different values of postage such as small commercial users of the postal service. In order to overcome the need for purchase of postage stamps prior to despatch of postal items, franking machines were introduced. Franking machines are operated by persons or companies desiring to despatch postal items and are operated under licence from the postal authority. The franking machine is caused to print on the postal item a frank impression of a form prescribed by the postal authority which includes an impression of the value of postage franked on the item. In order for the user of the franking machine to be able to account to the postal authority for the value of postage used to the satisfaction of the postal authority, it has been necessary to provide the franking machine with accounting means to maintain an accurate record of the usage of the machine and the accumulated value of franking applied by the machine. Commonly, the postal authority requires prepayment for usage of the machine. Accordingly the machine includes a register to record the value of credit, purchased by the user from the postal authority, which remains available for usage in franking. The machine is constructed such that, when the registered value of credit decreases to a predetermined low limit, the machine locks and prevents further usage of the machine until additional credit has been entered in the register of the machine by the postal authority in response to payment by the user.
Modern franking machines utilise electronic circuits for carrying out accounting and control functions within the machine. These circuits include a micro-processor and memory devices providing registers for registering accounting values. The registers usually include a descending register into which the value of purchased credit is entered and which is decremented during usage of the machine by the value of franking used in each franking transaction. The registers also include an ascending register to register the accumulated value of franking used and an items register for registering the number of mail items franked by the machine. In order to maintain integrity of the values registered in the various registers, each of the registers is replicated, each replication storing corresponding values. Thus if due to a fault in the operation of the electronic circuits the value registered in one of the replications of a register differs from the value registered in the other replications of that register an indication is provided that a fault has occurred and the true accounting value can be retrieved from the other replications of that register.
If the electronic accounting circuits and the value setting mechanisms by which print elements for printing the value of franking are unprotected, the values registered in the registers and/or the values of postage printed in the franking could be changed by anyone with fraudulent intent. Accordingly it has been necessary to house the circuitry and printing mechanism in a secure manner such as to prevent unauthorised access to these parts of the machine.
The provision of replicated registers and particularly the provision of a secure housing for the circuits and print setting mechanism adds greatly to the cost of manufacturing franking machines. As a result franking machines are too expensive for purchase by users who despatch relatively small quantities of postal items and therefore users who despatch relatively small quantities of postal items are compelled to use postage stamps which may be inconvenient, time consuming and in addition are somewhat un-hygienic to use.


A plurality of flexible cylindrical members, termed flex-gears and having gear tooth type perimeters are located in an annular space between two concentric rotating gear members, one an inner gear member and the other an outer ring gear member, both of which have mutually facing toothed surfaces which engage the flex-gears. The flex-gears rotate and orbit around the annular space as planetary gears when the inner and outer gear members rotate with respect to one another. Pairs of these elements located in two mutually parallel planes and separated by insulators provide two electrical conductor paths across which an electrical signal source, AC or DC, can be connected and coupled to an electrical device. Alternatively, one set of elements including outer gears segmented into mutually insulated semicircles and inner gears segmented into mutually insulated quadrants can be used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices for transmitting both electric and mechanical power across an interface and more particularly to an electromechanical type rotary joint including gear type coupling elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Means for coupling electrical current or power across an interface typically includes such apparatus as electrical cables and/or transformers. Where transmission of current and power are further required across a movable, i.e. rotatable mechanical interface, slip rings or roll rings have been typically employed.
Slip rings are devices which are well known and have been widely utilized in space and industrial applications. However, it is well known that they do not in principle have smooth electrical transfer characteristics because since they are based on a sliding, friction process, they tend to hop and skip slightly as the members move with respect to one another. This adversely affects the signal to noise ratio of the system. It also adversely affects wear and reliability. Furthermore, for high speed rotating members where many rotations are involved, particularly in a vacuum such as in outer space, the problems with slip rings become greatly exacerbated.
With respect to roll rings, they cannot be fixedly located between two rotating members separated by a gap type of interface, as they tend to wander as the joint members move relative to one another. Consequently, if one or more roll ring is used, they can easily bump into one another, which in turn causes spikes in the conducting current. As a result, either separating techniques must be used, which in the past have proven much more involved than they are worth, or only a single rolling disk is used in any one orbit. Additionally, roll rings can only carry current. They cannot be used to additionally act as a mechanical power transmission system.
In robotic applications where rotary joints are located, electrical power transmission typically use electrical cables and transformers. Cables, however, are much too bulky and heavy and do not permit continuous rotations. Also, they are subject to being snagged and tearing. In certain circumstances, it can degrade as a result of continuous flexing. In every instance, particularly at a robot wrist, the cable must be looped around the robot structure in such a way that it can permit the wrist to turn .+-.180.degree.. Such arrangements are typically awkward, consume large amounts of space and are subject to snagging. With respect to transformers, such apparatus typically requires higher frequency AC power. Moreover, they are generally heavy and bulky. Furthermore, the coupling coils must be placed in close proximity to each other and this means extra precision in fabrication. Also there is generally significant electrical losses in the air gaps between the coils.
With respect to mechanical power transmission across robotic interfaces, state of the art anti-backlash gears have had wide utilization but do not include electrical transmission. Anti-backlash gears are normally comprised of pairs of counter rotating gears which are driven opposite each other and being intercoupled by a spring. This increases the size more than is desired and tends to be more complex and expensive than is necessary.

Flex-gear power transmission system for transmitting EMF between sun and ring gears

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


The present invention is characterized by including an aromatic vinyl-based copolymer, glass fiber, and zinc oxide, wherein the zinc oxide has an average particle size (D50) of about 0.5 to 3 μm as measured by a particle size analyzer, and a size ratio (B/A) of peak B, spanning the range of 450 to 600 nm, to peak A, spanning the range of 370 to 390 nm, of about 0.01 to 1.0 when measuring photoluminescence. The thermoplastic resin composition exhibits excellent rigidity, antibacterial properties, weather resistance, external appearance and the like.

Recently, with increasing interest in personal health and hygiene and increasing income level, there is increasing demand for thermoplastic resin products having antibacterial and hygienic functions. Accordingly, there is an increasing number of thermoplastic resin products subjected to antibacterial treatment to remove or inhibit bacterial growth on surfaces of household goods and electronic products. Therefore, development of a functional antibacterial material having stability and reliability (an antibacterial thermoplastic resin composition) is a very important challenge.
An interior of an air conditioner consists of a heat exchanger generating cold water vapor, a filter filtering out dust, a cross-flow fan creating a current of air to blow out cold air, a ventilation path, and the like. The interior of the air conditioner, which is at high humidity and is partially blocked from the outside environment, is susceptible to mold or bacterial growth.
Among the internal components of the air conditioner, the filter and the ventilation path can secure antibacterial properties using stainless steel materials or plasma sterilization. In contrast, since the cross-flow fan requires both antibacterial properties and mechanical properties such as high rigidity, it is difficult to find a material suitable for the cross-flow fan.
Inorganic antibacterial agents containing metals, such as silver (Ag) and copper (Cu), are sometimes used in manufacture of the cross-flow fan. However, since such inorganic antibacterial agents need to be used in large amounts due to low antibacterial activity and have disadvantages of relatively high price, difficulty in uniform dispersion upon processing, and discoloration due to the metal components, the inorganic antibacterial agents are used in a limited range of applications.
Therefore, there is a need for a thermoplastic resin composition which can provide good rigidity, antibacterial properties, weather resistance (discoloration resistance), and appearance characteristics.
The background technique of the present invention is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-21774 and the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Thermoplastic resin composition and molded article produced from same


The present invention relates to a method of making a paper product having improved printing characteristics. This is achieved by forming a fibrous substrate, and applying a surface treatment which comprises an aqueous composition. Notably, the aqueous composition includes surface enhanced pulp fibers, with the placement of the surface enhanced pulp fibers optimizing their functionality, with surface placement by use of a paper machine size press desirably facilitating a reduction in the typical starch usage. The present method comprising the steps of providing a aqueous slurry comprising a blend of cellulosic fibers and water and dewatering the aqueous slurry of cellulosic fibers and water to form a fibrous substrate. The present method further includes applying a surface treatment to the fibrous substrate, wherein the surface treatment comprises an aqueous composition including surface enhanced pulp fibers, to form a treated fibrous substrate, and thereafter drying the treated fibrous substrate to form a paper product having enhanced printing characteristics.

For many printing and writing grades of paper, a starch solution is applied to the paper surface to enhance the surface strength for end-use applications such as various types of printing. The starch is normally applied at the wet-end (internal sizing) of the paper machine operations and at the size press (external sizing) on the paper machine. The type and amount of starch applied can impact the physical-chemical properties of the paper and the properties of the ultimate end paper product. Thus, a part of the cost of paper manufacturer is related to the cost of the size press starch.
A key property of highly fibrillated surface enhanced pulp fibers is their ability to significantly increase fiber bonding. In this case, the desire is to utilize the strength enhancing and fiber coverage properties of the surface enhanced pulp fibers specifically on the paper surface. The resulting strength increase could then potentially allow a reduction in the amount of starch required while maintaining surface chemistry properties and surface strength. The reduced usage of size press starch would result in a significant cost savings. In the extreme case, an optimal amount of surface enhanced pulp fibers and a minimal amount of starch would be applied to the paper surface with all end use properties maintained.
Pulp fibers, such as wood pulp fibers, are used in a variety of products including, for example, pulp, paper, paperboard, biofiber composites (e.g., fiber cement board, fiber reinforced plastics, etc.), absorbent products (e.g., fluff pulp, hydrogels, etc.), specialty chemicals derived from cellulose (e.g., cellulose acetate, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), etc.), and other products. The pulp fibers can be obtained from a variety of wood types including hardwoods (e.g., oak, gum, maple, poplar, eucalyptus, aspen, birch, etc.), softwoods (e.g., spruce, pine, fir, hemlock, southern pine, redwood, etc.), and non-woods (e.g., kenaf, hemp, straws, bagasse, etc.). The properties of the pulp fibers can impact the properties of the ultimate end product, such as paper, the properties of intermediate products, and the performance of the manufacturing processes used to make the products (e.g., papermachine productivity and cost of manufacturing). The pulp fibers can be processed in a number of ways to achieve different properties. In some existing processes, some pulp fibers are refined prior to incorporation into an end product. Depending on the refining conditions, the refining process can cause significant reductions in length of the fibers, can generate, for certain applications, undesirable amounts of fines, and can otherwise impact the fibers in a manner that can adversely affect the end product, an intermediate product, and/or the manufacturing process. For example, the generation of fines can be disadvantageous in some applications because fines can slow drainage, increase water retention, and increase wet-end chemical consumption in papermaking which may be undesirable in some processes and applications.
Fibers in wood pulp typically have a length weighted average fiber length ranging between 0.5 and 3.0 millimeters prior to processing into pulp, paper, paperboard, biofiber composites (e.g., fiber cement board, fiber reinforced plastics, etc.), absorbent products (e.g., fluff pulps, hydrogels, etc.), specialty chemicals derived from cellulose (e.g., cellulose acetate, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), etc.) and similar products. Refining and other processing steps can shorten the length of the pulp fibers. In conventional refining techniques, fibers are passed usually only once, but generally no more than 2-3 times, through a refiner using a relatively low energy (for example, about 20-80 kWh/ton for hardwood fibers) and using a specific edge load of about 0.4-0.8 Ws/m for hardwood fibers to produce typical fine paper.

Surface enhanced pulp fibers at a substrate surface


A door lock assembly includes a housing having a hollow structure, a lifting shaft provided inside the housing, a driving spring, and a buffering device. A top end of the lifting shaft is configured for assembling a refueling or charging port flap, the lifting shaft being slidably engaged with the housing along a first portion and threadably engaged with the housing along a second portion. One end of the driving spring is fixed and the other end abuts against the lifting shaft for driving the lifting shaft to move relative to the housing. The buffering device provides a buffering function in the when the lifting shaft is threadably engaged with the housing.

A fuel vehicle is provided with a refueling port for fuel or oil supply, and an electric vehicle is also correspondingly provided with a charging port for electric power supply. The current refueling or charging port is covered by a flap, and a door lock is used to lock the flap on the refueling or charging port. When refueling or charging is required, the flap can open to expose the refueling or charging port, and then can close after replenishment of fuel or electric power. However, in the process of opening and closing the flap of the current refueling or charging port, the movement speed of the flap cannot be controlled, causing the flap to shake and fail to open at a constant speed and in a steady manner.

Refueling or charging port door lock assembly


An apparatus for harnessing solar energy that generates heat from solar radiation, which can be used in various applications. The apparatus for harnessing solar energy comprises a telescope reflector that projects a collimated beam towards a heat accumulator, wherein heat may be generated and used or stored for later use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of solar technology and relates to an apparatus for harnessing solar energy that enables heat generated from solar radiation to be used and stored for practical ends.
2. Description of the Related Art
Humans have long understood the benefits derived from harnessing solar energy. Indeed, solar technology is quickly gaining popularity and is rapidly evolving in an effort to meet ever growing energy demands at a time that many characterize as an energy and resource crisis. Given this, the importance of developing better solar technology becomes readily apparent.
Presently, there exist many devices and methods that enable solar energy to be harnessed for various useful applications such as heat and electrical generation. However, current solar technology is often limited to large scale applications and is oftentimes too expensive and/or inapplicable to the everyday needs of the average individual. Thus, while current devices and methods accomplish their respective purposes, there is a need for solar technology that is not only more accessible and cost effective, but also capable of being used in a broad array of applications that may be small or large in scope.


A switched mode power supply includes a multilevel buck power converter and a control circuit. The power converter includes a first buck circuit and a second buck circuit each having a power switch, a rectifier, and an inductor. The power supply may further include a resonant power converter coupled to the multilevel buck power converter. In some examples, the control circuit is configured to generate control signals for the first buck circuit's power switch and the second buck circuit's power switch to control the power converter, and adjust a switching frequency of the control signals to control the amount of reverse current flowing in the first buck circuit and the second buck circuit to achieve zero voltage switching of the first buck circuit's power switch and the second buck circuit's power switch. Other example multilevel buck power converters and power supplies are also disclosed.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Electric power supplies commonly include one or more power converter stages for converting an input current and voltage to an output current and voltage. The power converter stages may include, for example, a resonant power converter such as a multilevel LLC power converter or an interleaved resonant bus power converter. Switches in the power converter stages may be controlled with fixed or varying switching frequencies or duty cycles, and achieve zero voltage switching (ZVS).

Controlling reverse current in switched mode power supplies to achieve zero voltage switching


An optical module includes: a substrate; one or more light sources that produce light that is an optical signal; one or more light reflection units that change the direction of travel of the light to a direction substantially perpendicular to the substrate; one or more optical waveguides that optically connect the one or more light sources and the one or more light reflection units to each other; and a lid that is attached to the substrate to cover the one or more light sources, the one or more light reflection units and the one or more optical waveguides. The lid has one or more lenses that collimate light directed by the one or more light reflection units and transmit the light to the outside of the lid.

In general, a set of components (a light source, a modulator, a photodetector, or an electrical circuit associated with such a component) of an optical transceiver used for optical communications is integrated, mounted and packaged according to a form factor standard such as that represented by the CFP (Centum gigabit Form factor Pluggable) standard.
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of a conventional optical transceiver 100 (FIG. 1(a)) and a configuration of a communication device 110 incorporating the optical transceiver (FIG. 1(b)). The communication device 110 implemented in this way has an advantage that it is easy to maintain.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1(b), the communication device 110 incorporates a plurality of optical transceivers 100, each of which is a package of a set of optical components, in a front end part thereof. When a component of the optical transceiver 100 fails or has aged, such as when a transmission optical fiber 101 or a reception optical fiber 102 is broken, when an element in a photodetector 104 is damaged, or when a component of an electronic circuit of a control circuit 106 has degraded, the optical transceiver 110 having the failed or aged component can be selectively removed from the communication device 110 and replaced with a new normal optical transceiver to keep the normal operation of the communication device 110.
Also known is another process of implementing an optical module in a communication device referred to as an on-board optics (abbreviated as OBO hereinafter) process (referred to as an OBO process hereinafter). In the OBO process, a set of components to form an optical module is directly mounted on a printed circuit board in a communication device, instead of previously packaging a set of components to form an optical transceiver as an optical module and then mounting the optical module in a communication device as shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration of a communication device 200, which is what the communication device 110 incorporating optical transceivers shown in FIG. 1(b) would be if it is configured in the OBO process. With the communication device 200, optical transceivers are not previously packaged as integral modules, and sets of components including a modulator 213, a photodetector 214, a light source 215 and a control circuit 216 are mounted on a mounting substrate 210 and performs a function as optical transceivers.
A first advantage of the OBO process is that each of a plurality of optical modules does not have to be packaged, so that the number of components and thus the implementation cost are reduced, and therefore the communication device can be manufactured at lower cost.
Since the optical transceivers in the communication device 200 are not packaged as optical modules as shown in FIG. 2, attachment or detachment of an optical module to or from the communication device 200 cannot occur. Therefore, the set of components (the modulator 213, the photodetector 214, the light source 215 and the control circuit 216) of an optical transceiver does not have to be one-dimensionally arranged along one edge of the mounting substrate 210 in the communication device 200. That is, the set of components 213, 214, 215 and 216 of an optical transceiver can be two-dimensionally arranged in any part on the mounting substrate 210.
A second advantage of the OBO process is that since the two-dimensional arrangement is possible, the packaging density of the sets of components of the optical modules on the mounting substrate 210 can be increased and thus the communication device 200 can be downsized, and that arrangement of the sets of components of the optical modules on the mounting substrate 210 can be appropriately adjusted, and therefore the efficiency of thermal management of the communication device 200 can be improved and thus the power consumption of the communication device 200 can be reduced.
The OBO process has three technical requirements. A first technical requirement is that, in order to achieve two-dimensional surface mounting of a set of components of an optical module on a mounting substrate in a communication device, each component has to have a substantially planar part that allows mounting of the component such as a ball grid array (BGA) and that each component has to resist the heat in the reflow step or, in other words, have a reflow heat resistance.
A second technical requirement is that, from the viewpoint of preventing misalignment of the set of components mounted, accurate self-alignment has to be achieved in the reflow step.
A third technical requirement is that the optical coupling between the optical module and the mounting substrate has to be able to be achieved at low cost, as with the electrical coupling between the optical module and the mounting substrate, which is simply achieved in a packaging method using BGA or the like.
To meet the three technical requirements of the OBO process described above, a packaging method based on Wafer Level Packaging (abbreviated as WLP hereinafter) is used. The WLP-based packaging method is a packaging method that involves mounting a set of components on a semiconductor wafer and then cutting the part including the set of components as a semiconductor chip, rather than cutting a semiconductor chip out of a semiconductor wafer and then mounting a set of components on the semiconductor chip.
For example, a semiconductor chip on which an optical module is implemented can be produced by mounting a set of components of the optical module in an appropriate arrangement on a semiconductor wafer and then appropriately cutting the optical module out of the semiconductor wafer.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a package structure of an optical module 300 that is fabricated in the WLP-based packaging method and implemented on a mounting substrate 301 in the OBO process.
The optical module 300 includes an optical control circuit 333 and a Si optical circuit 330. The Si optical circuit 330 uses silicon (Si) as a semiconductor and includes the optical control circuit 333, which is produced by mounting a modulator and other components on a semiconductor wafer and then cutting the part including the components as a semiconductor chip. The optical module 300 and the mounting substrate 301 need to be electrically connected to each other.
On the mounting substrate 301, two electrical circuits 1 and 2 (denoted as 312) sealed with a resin sealant 310 are implemented as BGA packages including solder bumps or balls 302 and electrically connected to the mounting substrate 301.
A laser diode 320 for photoelectric conversion is electrically connected to the electrical circuits 1 and 2 (312) by electrical wiring passing through the resin sealant 310.
In order that laser light 321 emitted from the laser diode 320 can be input to the optical control circuit 333, the optical module 300 is bonded to the top of the resin sealant 310 with an adhesive 303.
The optical module 300 outputs an optical signal through an optical fiber 331. The optical fiber 331 is fixed by an optical fiber fixing structure 332, which is held between the resin sealant 310 and the Si optical circuit 330, and is optically connected to the Si optical circuit 330.

Optical module, optical wiring substrate, and method for manufacturing optical module

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


In a gas turbine, a plurality of burners, which are arranged concentrically to the rotational axis in a regular arrangement, each directing hot gas through an associated combustion chamber outlet into a turbine, at the inlet of which a second plurality of stator blades are arranged in a ring, uniformly spaced apart around the rotational axis. Cooling openings are provided, which are distributed over the circumference, through which cooling air is injected into the hot gas flow at the combustion chamber outlet. An improvement of the flow conditions in the hot gas is achieved by the cooling openings being divided into first cooling opening groups and second cooling opening groups. The arrangement of the first cooling opening groups corresponds to the arrangement of the stator blades, and in that the arrangement of the second cooling opening groups corresponds to the regular arrangement of the burners.

Gas turbines in their stationary form have had their permanent place in power generation for a long time. In this case, it concerns high performance machines, the efficiency of which is constantly being further improved. An example of the stage of development which has been achieved are the type GT24/26 gas turbines of the Assignee of the present application, which are equipped with 2-stage sequential combustion, and which are described for example in the article by F. Joos et al., "Field experience with the sequential combustion system of the GT24/GT26 gas turbine family", ABB review 5, p. 12-20 (1998). Inducted air is compressed in a compressor and fed to a first burner arrangement where it is used for the combustion of an injected fuel. This first burner arrangement comprises premix burners which among specialists have also been known as EV burners or possibly AEV burners. Such burners follow for example from EP-0321809 A1 and EP-0704657 A1 respectively, wherein these printed publications and also further publications which are related to this technology form an integrating element of this application. The hot gas which is created as a result of this combustion is first of all partially expanded in a high-pressure turbine and then introduced into a second burner arrangement (known among specialists as SEV burners), where the portion of unused air is used for a second combustion. The hot gas from the SEV burners is then expanded in a low-pressure turbine. The exhaust gases are then finally used for example for steam generation in a heat recovery steam generator.
On the outlet side of the SEV burner, the hot gas flow impinges upon the first row of stator blades of the low-pressure turbine. This configuration is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,962 or in EP-A2-1 505 254, the contents of which are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth, and is reproduced in a detail in FIG. 1 of the present description. In the gas turbine 10 of FIG. 1, the hot gas 12, which discharges from the combustion chamber outlet 11, impinges upon the leading edge of the stator blades 15 of the first stator blade ring which is arranged at the inlet of the turbine. The combustion chamber outlet 11 is bounded at the side by means of a delimiting element 19. Between the end of the delimiting element 19 and the first stator blade row 15 there is a gap 16 which is sealed to the outside by means of an annular seal 17. By means of purging openings 18 in the seal 17 and leakages, purging air enters the gap 16 and prevents ingress of hot gas. Cooling air is also injected through cooling openings 20, 21 in the delimiting element, as is described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,751,962.
As a result of the fast flowing hot gas, various effects occur at the transition to the turbine. For one thing, a rearwards directed bow wave 13 is created at the leading edge of the stator blades 15, which is superimposed upon the pressure drops from the suction side 24a, 24b, 24c, 24d to the pressure side 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d. On the other hand, as a result of the complex flow conditions in the burners or combustion chambers with swirl elements which in most cases exist therein, a characteristic pressure distribution is created at the combustion chamber outlet 11, which can be referred to as a burner wave 14.
The unequal distribution of pressure at the combustion chamber outlet 11 in practice can be of the same order of magnitude as the pressure changes which ensue as a result of the bow wave 13 on the stator blades 15. The superimposition of the two effects (bow wave 13 and burner wave 14) can therefore lead to a situation in which the amplitude of the bow wave is effectively doubled and so hot gas escapes from the hot gas passage. These flow conditions, both in gas turbines with one combustion chamber or in gas turbines with sequential combustion, that is to say via 2 combustion chambers (EV, or AEV, and SEV), occur in each case at the transition from the burners to the turbine.


Handheld electric beater-mixer includes a body (2) containing an electric drive motor (6), two rotary coupling devices (20, 33) which are connected to the shaft (8) of the motor and which are adapted to receive, via respectively two engagement passages (26, 43) opening from the body (2), a whisk (10) and, respectively, a mixer foot (45), and a safety device (55) adapted to prevent the simultaneous emplacement of the whisk and of the mixer foot. The safety device (55) includes a movable mechanical member (57) adapted to block selectively one or the other of the two passages (26, 43) for engagement of the whisk (10) and of the mixer foot (45).

The present invention relates to a handheld electric beater-mixer, particularly a kitchen beater-mixer, adapted to drive at least one so-called beating accessory such as for example a whisk or a so-called mixing accessory turning at high speed, such as for example a mixer foot, and comprising a body containing an electric drive motor, two rotatable coupling devices which are connected to the motor shaft and which are adapted to receive, via respectively two engagement passages opening from the body, the beating accessory and respectively the mixing accessory, and a safety device adapted to prevent the simultaneous emplacement of two accessories, respectively for beating and for mixing.
There is meant by beating accessory a working tool of the whisk or blender type, and by mixing accessory an accessory with a working tool turning at high speed of the rotatable helical mixer foot type, or else of the mixer bowl type with a rotating knife.
With such a kitchen appliance, it is known that the presence of a safety device preventing the concomitant emplacement of the two accessories, respectively for beating and mixing, is particularly useful to protect the user from any risk of wounding which would be due to the two working tools in movement simultaneously if the apparatus were started with the two accessories in place.
In a known kitchen device of this type, the safety device which prevents the simultaneous emplacement of the two accessories, respectively for beating and for mixing, comprises a strap slidably horizontally mounted in the body of the apparatus, of which one end is shaped as a hooked tongue arranged in the engagement passage for the mixing accessory, and whose other end is shaped as a fork with several teeth, which fork is associated with an ejection member displaceable vertically between a low position and a high position under the action of the beating accessory. The fork of the strip is adapted to free the movement of the ejector member so as to permit the emplacement of the beating accessory, the hooking tongue of the strip closing the engagement passage for the mixing accessory; following disengagement of the hooking tongue of the strip under the action of the mixing accessory during its emplacement, the fork of the strip is adapted to block, by one of its teeth, the ejection member in the lower position, thereby preventing the emplacement of the beating accessory. Such a safety device is however complicated and is relatively complicated to use by being subject to the good operation of the ejection member mounted in the apparatus.
The invention has particularly for its object to overcome these drawbacks and to provide a handheld electric beater-mixer, of the type described above, in which the safety device will be simple, economical, reliable and perfectly adapted to mass production.
According to the invention, the safety device comprises a mechanical member movable so as to block selectively one or the other of the two engagement passages for the beating accessory and for the mixing accessory.
Thus, thanks to this selective blocking member acting directly on the two engagement passages, respectively for the beating accessory and for the mixing accessory, it will be understood that the use of the piece is thereafter rendered independent of any movable member belonging to the apparatus, which permits simplifying the safety device by rendering it particularly reliable.

Electric hand operated rotary beater/mixer comprising a safety device


A power transmission mechanism includes a driving gear and a driven gear. The driving gear includes a teeth portion and a tooth-chipped portion. The driven gear is intermittently driven transitioning between a meshing state and a non-meshing state. An interval between a first tooth and a second tooth of the driven gear is wider than an interval between teeth of the driven gear that are, starting with the second tooth, on an upstream side of the first tooth in a rotation direction of the driven gear. When the non-meshing state transitions to the meshing state, the first tooth abuts on a tooth of the driving gear that is, in the teeth portion, on a most downstream side in a rotation direction of the driving gear, and the second tooth is the 2nd tooth counted from the first tooth toward the upstream side in the rotation direction.

The present disclosure relates to a power transmission mechanism and an image forming apparatus.
There is known a power transmission mechanism in which a tooth is provided on an outer circumference of a flexible portion formed on a tooth-chipped gear so as to restrict the gears from being stopped or broken due to collision between tips of the gear teeth.

Power transmission mechanism and image forming apparatus


Medical devices, systems and related methods for delivering a plurality of tissue anchors. The medical devices generally comprise a needle and an over-the-needle suture lock, employed via inner and outer sheaths. The medical systems include a plurality of tissue anchors and at least one biodegradable or resorbable spacer member positioned between adjacent tissue anchors in conjunction with the medical devices.

Perforations in bodily walls may be naturally occurring, or formed intentionally or unintentionally. In order to permanently close these perforations and allow the tissue to properly heal, numerous medical devices and methods have been developed employing sutures, adhesives, clips, staples and the like. One class of such devices is commonly referred to as tissue anchors, T-anchors or visceral anchors. Exemplary tissue anchors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,914, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/946,565, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/166,364, entitled "Tissue Anchors and Medical Devices for the Rapid Deployment of Tissue Anchors" to Ducharme, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Multiple tissue anchors may be used to close a perforation. Difficulties arise in sequentially deploying multiple tissue anchors because the distal-most tissue anchor is being pushed directly upon by an adjacent tissue anchor. Thus, as the distal-most tissue anchor is deployed, the proximally adjacent tissue anchor is already partially deployed and can easily fall out of the introduction needle. Moreover, deploying numerous tissue anchors individually can be tedious and time consuming due to reloading the various tissue anchors into the introduction needle and individually deploying the tissue anchors. There is also difficulty in maintaining the position of the device, while a new tissue anchor is loaded and placed back through the device.
Tissue anchors typically include a crossbar or some anchoring member connected to suture. The anchoring member and suture may take many forms, but generally a needle is used to pierce tissue and deliver the anchoring member on one side of the tissue, leaving the suture extending back to the other side of the tissue. The sutures of one or more tissue anchors are collected and connected together, such as through tying the sutures together. Manually tying suture strands together to close a perforation can be very complex and time consuming. For example, a significant level of skill and coordination is required by the medical professional, especially when the perforation and sutures are difficult to access within the body, such as in endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures. The numerous difficulties with manually tying sutures are well documented. In order to address these and other issues of manual suture tying, various automatic suture tying systems have been developed. Unfortunately, such automatic systems are often complex and costly, difficult to use, and limited to use in certain situations.

Medical devices, systems and methods for rapid deployment and fixation of tissue anchors


The oxidation of olefinic compounds generally using hydroperoxides, especially aqueous solutions of hydrogen peroxide, can be effected in high yield and with good selectivity in the presence of a titania-supported titanosilicate catalyst. Dilute aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions may be used with good results. The resulting epoxidation, even when carried out at modest temperatures and with dilute aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions, afford superior results in epoxidation relative to TS-1.

One of the most challenging and formidable tasks in preparative organic chemistry is the selective functionalization of hydrocarbons. Once a functional group has been introduced, the chemist has a rich selection of tools to achieve further transformations and transpositions, but the initial barrier of introducing a functional group is determinative of further chemistry. Not only is it necessary that a given functionalization reaction proceeds in good yield, but it is necessary also that it proceeds with specificity. One of the most chemically attractive entry points to functionalization of hydrocarbons is the carbon-carbon double bond in alkanes and substituted alkenes, for the carbon-carbon double bond undergoes many reactions which introduce functional groups onto one or both of the carbons, and the double bond also activates an adjacent C--H bond (i.e., allylic hydrogen) to still other reactions. Among the chemical reactions of the carbon-carbon double bond that of epoxidation occupies a special niche, because epoxidation is virtually unique to the C.dbd.C linkage, because epoxidation proceeds with great specificity, and because the resulting epoxide is a controllably reactive functional group which reacts with a wide range of reagents, schematically represented here as H--Y, to afford an equally wide range of difunctional materials according to the reaction, ##STR1##
Although epoxidation may be performed with several different reagents, that variation of greatest interest here is one where the reagent is a hydroperoxide, particularly where epoxidation is catalyzed by a titanium compound. A commercial process uses tertiary butyl or ethylbenzene hydroperoxide in combination with 2% titania supported on silica to epoxidize propylene to propylene oxide with greater than 97% conversion of, for example, ethylbenzene hydroperoxide and selectivities to propylene oxide formation approaching 90%. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,642,833, 3,923,843, 4,021,454 and 4,367,342, all assigned to Shell Oil Company. More recently an Italian group has developed catalysts, referred to as titanium silicalites, where small amounts of framework silicon in silicalite are said to be replaced by titanium [Taramasso et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,501]and has found such materials, conveniently designated as TS-1, to be effective in catalyzing the epoxidation of olefinic compounds by hydrogen peroxide in either the presence or absence of a solvent; U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,260. Subsequently this has been extended to the epoxidation of olefins with oxygen in air in the presence of a redox system of alkyl anthrahydroquinone and alkyl anthraquinone; EP 526,945.
Notari, B., Innovation in Zeolite Materials Science, Grobet, P. J. et al., Ed.,; Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 422-424 has speculated that the observed catalytic activity both of titania supported on silica and TS-1 arises from the high dispersion of titanium atoms in a silica lattice, that is, active materials are characterized by Ti(IV) isolated by a long sequence of --O--Si--O--Si--. This conclusion was supported somewhat by the observation that when titania is supported on alumina, magnesia, or zirconia the resulting composite is inactive in epoxidation, and also is supported by the observation that catalyst activity increases as manifested by an increase in epoxide selectivity as the concentration of titania on silica decreases.
What we have observed is that a catalytic composite of a titanosilicate on titania is demonstrably more active and more selective as a catalyst in the epoxidation of olefinic compounds than are prior art titanium-based catalysts which have been used in epoxidation. Whether the titanosilicate is analogous to the "titanium silicalite" exemplified by TS-1 may be open to dispute. What is not a matter of dispute is its greatly increased activity, selectivity, and reusability relative to TS-1. We believe that these characteristics make the catalysts of our invention uniquely suited for use in the epoxidation of olefins with hydrogen peroxide.

Epoxidation of olefins using a titania-supported titanosilicate


A new cultivar of Acer palmatum tree named ‘SONKOOT9’ that is characterized by its broadly spreading upright plant habit, its leaves with laciniate leaf lobes (dissectum-like), its young leaves that are orange in color, and its summer foliage that is yellow to yellow green in color.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Acer palmatum and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, 'SONKOOT9'. 'SONKOOT9' is a deciduous tree grown for use as a landscape plant.
The new cultivar of Acer arose from a breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands with the goal of developing an Acer cultivar with yellow or orange colored leaves that are dissectum-like. The new cultivar arose from a cross made in spring of 2012 between Acer palmatum cultivars 'Emerald Lace' (not patented) as the female parent and 'Orange Dream' (not patented) as the male parent. The Inventor selected 'SONKOOT9' as a single unique plant amongst the seedlings that resulted from the above cross in spring of 2016.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by stem cuttings by the Inventor in Kaatsheuvel, The Netherlands in late spring of 2016. Asexual propagation by stem cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A semiconductor device includes a substrate including an active region that extends in a first direction; a gate structure that intersects the active region and that extends in a second direction; a source/drain region on the active region on at least one side of the gate structure; a contact plug on the source/drain region on the at least one side of the gate structure; and a contact insulating layer on sidewalls of the contact plug, wherein a lower end of the contact plug is closer to the substrate than a lower end of the source/drain region.

The present disclosure relates to a semiconductor device.
As demand increases for relatively high performance, relatively high speed, and/or multifunctioning of semiconductor devices, so does a degree to which the semiconductor devices are integrated. In order to manufacture semiconductor devices having fine patterns corresponding to a relatively high degree of integration, equipment to produce patterns having a fine width or a fine separation distance may be desired. In addition, in order to overcome the limitations of the operating characteristics due to a decrease in a size of a planar metal oxide semiconductor FET (MOSFET), efforts have been made to develop semiconductor devices including FinFETs having three-dimensional channels.


An injector has a cartridge door movable between a fully closed position and a fully open position. A power supply is employed to power at least one power-operated component of the injector. A power supply circuit electrically connects the power supply with the at least one power-operated component. An electrically insulated arm is movable from a first state, in which the electrically insulated arm electrically disconnects the power supply from the circuit, to a second state, in which the electrically insulated arm connects the power supply with the circuit to provide power to the at least one power-operated component. The insulated arm is coupled to the cartridge door and initially positioned in the first state thereof in the fully closed position of the cartridge door, whereby movement of the cartridge door out of the fully closed position toward the fully open position moves the arm to the second state thereof.

The present disclosure is generally directed to a cartridge loaded injector, and, more particularly, to a cartridge loaded injector configured to electrically disconnect a power supply of the injector until a user is ready to use the injector.
An injector, such as, for example, a drug injector, is typically loaded with a cartridge containing therein a substance, e.g., a medicament or drug, to be dispensed. Typically, an injector includes an onboard power supply supplying power to power-operated components of the injector. In instances where the injector is not delivered and used by a user for a long period of time after the injector is assembled, the power supply may be at risk of discharging prior to using the injector. Conventional injectors, therefore, electrically disconnect the power supply via a directly removable pull tab which must be removed by the user prior to use to power on the injector.
One drawback of a user removable pull tab is that it must be pulled separately by the user. Finding and pulling the pull tab is not always intuitive and may result in user error. Moreover, utilizing a separately removable pull tab introduces an additional step that must be performed by a user to activate and use the injector.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to manufacture an injector electrically disconnecting the power source until a user intends to use the injector while reducing the number of user performed steps required to prepare the injector for use.


A semiconductor device which simplifies the manufacturing process while decreasing the width of separation between a first MOS transistor area and a second MOS transistor area, and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device. A first MOS transistor and a second MOS transistor configure a bidirectional switch. The first MOS transistor and second MOS transistor each have a vertical trench structure. A first impurity region abuts on the side wall of a first gate trench of a first MOS transistor element outside the first MOS transistor area and is electrically coupled to a first source region.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the same and more particularly to a semiconductor device having a bidirectional switch and a method for manufacturing the same.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 2004-274039, 2007-201338, and 2006-147700 each describe a semiconductor device having a bidirectional switch.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 2004-274039, 2007-201338, and 2006-147700, a vertical first MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) transistor element and second MOS transistor element which configure a bidirectional switch are alternately arranged in one chip.

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same


Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for receiving, by an operation controller, a call to trigger an operation, the call at least partially including an identifier associated with an operation signature, providing the operation signature based on the identifier, identifying, by the operation controller, an operation provider that provides the operation corresponding to the operation signature, validating, by the operation provider, one or more conditions for execution of the operation, and executing the operation to affect an entity within a landscape in response to the one or more conditions being valid.

Enterprise-level software systems have grown increasingly complex. This includes, for example, increasing application complexity at both the domain level, and the technical level, as well as multiple, combined various runtime environments. Further, multiple, different communication models can be employed. Such complexity makes it difficult to provide all-embracing lifecycle operations for enterprise-level software systems.

Model-based service registry for software systems


The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for intercepting data exchange requests and automatically imposing a hold period while the data exchange is evaluated for a user profile initiating the request. One example system includes operations to detect a data exchange request prior to completion of the attempted data exchange, the data exchange request including information defining the attempted data exchange and associated wherein the attempted data exchange is associated with a particular user profile. A portion of the information is transmitted to a data exchange analysis system for execution of a user profile-specific data exchange analysis based on the information and a status of the user profile. A hold state is initiated for the data exchange request while the analysis is performed. The results of the analysis are presented and a confirmation to proceed is required before allowing the attempted data exchange to be processed.

Digital personal assistants such as Apple's Siri, Google's Assistant, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and others provide solutions for performing tasks or services associated with an individual. Such digital personal assistants can be used to request and perform various data exchanges, including transactions, social media interactions, search engine queries, and others. Additionally, similar functionality can be incorporated into web browsers and dedicated applications.
Transactions performed by mobile devices, as well as non-mobile devices can be performed nearly immediately in response to user input when connected to a fast cellular or Wi-Fi network. When the user input is through a digital personal assistant, such input may be verbal without the need to review a screen or graphical user interface (GUI) before completing the transaction.

Automatic digital personal assistant interjection for delaying data exchange outcomes


A diffusion degree of a focusing screen is changed by applying voltage to the focusing screen since the focusing screen comprises liquid crystal material whose molecules are penetrated onto a polymer network. The diffusion degree is changed according to the selected exposure mode. Brightness of an object, measured through the focusing screen, is corrected on the basis of applied voltage, an open aperture value and an exit pupil length of a photo-taking lens. Furthermore, the applied voltage, namely, the diffusion degree is changed according to the object brightness.

[1] Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a camera having a liquid crystal focusing screen.
[2] Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an optical system of a single-lens reflex camera.
A light bundle passes through a photographing lens 10 and is divided into two parts on a main mirror 11. One is reflected by the main mirror 11 to the viewfinder side, and then, forms an image on a focusing screen 12. The formed image is observed through a pentaprism 13 and an eyepiece 14. Close to the eyepiece 14, a lens for light measuring 15 and a light measuring sensor 16 are provided. The lens for light measuring 15 and the light measuring sensor 16 measure the light bundle led from the pentaprism 13. The other light bundle which was divided passes through the translucent main mirror 11, and is reflected by a sub mirror 17, and then, is led to an AF module 18 which carries out focus detection. The photographing lens 10 represents lens groups consisting of plural lenses. An aperture 19 is usually provided among the plural lenses of the photographing lens 10. A film provided at the optical axis of the photographing lens 10 is not shown in FIG. 1.
The focusing screen 12 is a plastic plate and has a subtly uneven surface thereon so as to cause light diffusion. When a photographer observes an object through a viewfinder, an aperture of the camera is usually opened fully. This is for keeping the view finder bright and for achieving higher precision by strengthening output from the light measuring device (the light measuring sensor 16 in FIG. 1) in light measuring. However, when a shutter is released, the aperture is stopped down to the most suitable size in exposure control or the size selected by the photographer. Therefore, the photographer can not confirm the depth of field of a printed picture before the shutter is released. A method of stopping down the aperture with a preview button (not shown) to the practically controlled size in photographing so as to confirm the depth of field through the viewfinder is known. By this method, the viewfinder turns dark and it is hard to observe an object therethrough. Another problem is that the depth of field observed through the viewfinder varies when the open aperture value is altered according to a change of photographing lenses.
To confirm the depth of field of a printed picture through the viewfinder without decreasing the brightness of the viewfinder and the output of the light measuring device, a method of varying a light diffusion degree of a liquid crystal focusing screen has been proposed.
In case of using a liquid crystal member as a focusing screen, the following four points should be considered.

Camera having a liquid crystal focusing screen


A photonic crystal light emitting diode (“PXLED”) is provided. The PXLED includes a periodic structure, such as a lattice of holes, formed in the semiconductor layers of an LED. The parameters of the periodic structure are such that the energy of the photons, emitted by the PXLED, lies close to a band edge of the band structure of the periodic structure. Metal electrode layers have a strong influence on the efficiency of the PXLEDs. Also, PXLEDs formed from GaN have a low surface recombination velocity and hence a high efficiency. The PXLEDs are formed with novel fabrication techniques, such as the epitaxial lateral overgrowth technique over a patterned masking layer, yielding semiconductor layers with low defect density. Inverting the PXLED to expose the pattern of the masking layer or using the Talbot effect to create an aligned second patterned masking layer allows the formation of PXLEDs with low defect density.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to light emitting diodes, more particularly to light emitting diodes with a photonic crystal structure.
2. Description of Related Art
Light emitting diodes ("LEDs") are technologically and economically advantageous solid state light sources. LEDs are capable of reliably providing light with high brightness, hence in the past decades they have come to play a critical role in numerous applications, including flat-panel displays, traffic lights, and optical communications. An LED includes a forward biased p-n junction. When driven by a current, electrons and holes are injected into the junction region, where they recombine, releasing their energy by emitting photons. The quality of an LED can be characterized, for example, by its extraction efficiency that measures the intensity of the emitted light for a given number of photons generated within the LED chip. The extraction efficiency is limited, among others, by the emitted photons suffering multiple total internal reflections at the walls of the high refractive index semiconductor medium. As a result, the emitted photons do not escape into free space, leading to poor extraction efficiencies, typically less than 30%.
In the past thirty years, various approaches have been proposed to enhance the extraction efficiency of LEDs. The extraction efficiency can be increased, for example, by enlarging the spatial angle in which the emitted photons can escape by developing suitable geometries, including cubic, cylindrical, pyramidal, and dome like shapes. However, none of these geometries can entirely eliminate losses from total reflection.
A further source of loss is the reflection caused by the refractive index mismatch between the LED and the surrounding media. While such losses could be reduced with an anti-reflection coating, complete cancellation of reflection can be achieved only at a specific photon energy and one angle of incidence.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749, entitled "Light Emitting Device Utilizing a Periodic Dielectric Structure," granted to J. Joannopoulos et al., describes an approach to the problem of enhancing the extraction efficiency. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 a photonic crystal is created by forming a lattice of holes in the semiconductor layers of the light emitting diode. The lattice of holes creates a medium with a periodically modulated dielectric constant, affecting the way light propagates through the medium. The photons of the light emitting diode can be characterized by their spectrum or dispersion relation, describing the relation between the energy and the wavelength of the photons. The spectrum of a photonic crystal consists of two classes. Photons in the radiative class have energies and wavelengths that match the spectrum of photons in free space thus the radiative photons are capable of escaping from the light emitting diode. Photons in the guided class, on the other hand, have energies and wavelengths that do not match the spectrum of photons in free space; therefore, guided photons are trapped in the light emitting diode. The guided photons are analogous to the earlier described photons, suffering total internal reflections.
The spectrum of guided photons in the photonic crystal consists of energy bands, or photonic bands, separated by band gaps, in analogy with the spectrum of electrons in crystalline lattices. Guided photons with energies in the band gap cannot propagate in the photonic crystal. In contrast, the spectrum of the radiative photons is a continuum, and thus has no gap. The recombinative processes in a typical LED emit photons with a well-defined energy. If, therefore, a photonic crystal is formed in the LED such that the energy of the emitted photons falls within the band gap of the photonic crystal, then all the emitted photons are emitted as radiative photons as no guided photons can exist with such energies. As described above, since all the radiative photons are capable of escaping from the LED, this design increases the extraction efficiency of the LED.
In an effort to explore the usefulness of photonic crystals for light generation, U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 gives a partial description of a theoretical structure of a photonic crystal device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 describes an n-doped layer, an active layer, and a p-doped layer, and a lattice of holes formed in these layers. However, the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 is not operational and therefore is not a LED. First, electrodes are not described, even though those are needed for the successful operation of a photonic crystal LED ("PXLED"). The fabrication of electrodes in regular LEDs is known in the art. However, for PXLEDs, neither the fabrication of electrodes, nor their influence on the operation of the PXLED is obvious. For example, suitably aligning the mask of the electrode layer with the lattice of holes may require new fabrication techniques. Also, electrodes are typically thought to reduce the extraction efficiency as they reflect a portion of the emitted photons back into the LED, and absorb another portion of the emitted light.
Second, U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 proposes fabricating photonic crystal light emitting devices from GaAs. GaAs is indeed a convenient and hence popular material to fabricate regular LEDs. However, it has a high "surface recombination velocity" of about 106 cm/sec as described, for example, by S. Tiwari in "Compound Semiconductor Devices Physics," Academic Press (1992). The surface recombination velocity expresses the rate of the recombination of electrons and holes on the surface of the diode. Electrons and holes are present in the junction region of the LED, coming from the n-doped layer and the p-doped layer, respectively. When electrons and holes recombine across the semiconductor gap, the recombination energy is emitted in the form of photons and generates light. However, when electrons and holes recombine through intermediate electronic states in the gap, then the recombination energy is emitted in the form of heat instead of photons, reducing the light emission efficiency of the LED. In an ideal crystal there are no states in the gap. Also, in today's high purity semiconductor crystals there are very few states in the gap in the bulk material. However, on the surface of semiconductors typically there are a large number of surface states and defect states, many of them in the gap. Therefore, a large fraction of electrons and holes that are close to the surface will recombine through these surface and defect states. This surface recombination generates heat instead of light, considerably reducing the efficiency of the LED.
This problem does not result in a serious loss of efficiency for regular LED structures. However, PXLEDs include a large number of holes, thus PXLEDs have a much larger surface area than the regular LEDs. Therefore, the surface recombination may be capable of reducing the efficiency of the PXLED below the efficiency of the same LED without the photonic crystal structure, making the formation of photonic crystal structure pointless. Since GaAs has a high surface recombination velocity, it is not a promising candidate for fabricating photonic crystal LEDs. The seriousness of the problem is reflected by the fact that so far, to Applicants' knowledge, no operating LED with a photonic crystal near the active region has been reported in the literature that uses GaAs and claims an enhanced extraction, or internal, efficiency. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 does not describe the successful operation of a photonic crystal LED. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,749 does not describe the influence of the photonic crystal on the emission process, which can affect the internal efficiency of the LED.
While photonic crystals are promising for light extraction for the reasons described above, there are problems with the design. There are several publications describing experiments on a lattice of holes having been formed in a slab of a semiconductor. An enhancement of the extraction rate at photon energies in the bandgap has been reported by R. K. Lee et al. in "Modified Spontaneous Emission From a Two-dimensional Photonic Bandgap Crystal Slab," in the Journal of the Optical Society of America B, vol. 17, page 1438 (2000). Lee et al. not only shows the extraction benefits of a photonic crystal in a light emitting design, but also shows that the photonic lattice can influence the spontaneous emission. However, Lee et al. do not show how to form and operate a light emitting device with this design. A photonic crystal LED can be formed from Lee et al.'s light emitting design by including electrodes. The addition of the electrodes, however, will substantially affect the extraction and the spontaneous emission. Since this effect is unknown, it cannot be disregarded in the design of a LED. Since the Lee et al. design does not include such electrodes, the overall characteristics of an LED, formed from that design, are unclear. This questions the usefulness of the design of Lee et al.
Therefore, there is a need for new designs to create operational photonic crystal LEDs. This need includes the introduction of new materials that have sufficiently low surface recombination velocities. The need also extends to designs that counteract predicted negative effects, such as reduced spontaneous emission rates and reflection by electrodes. Finally, there is a need for describing techniques for the fabrication of photonic crystal LEDs, including fabricating electrodes.

LED including photonic crystal structure


A heating and cooling system for a vehicle having an internal combustion engine is provided. The system comprises at least one exhaust pipe conveying exhaust gases away from the engine, and a reactor vessel located in the exhaust pipe and containing an absorbent salt and a refrigerant fluid. A condenser is in fluid communication with the reactor vessel, and receives refrigerant vapour from the reactor when exhaust gases heat the reactor vessel in the exhaust pipe. An evaporator is locatable in a cab of the vehicle and is in fluid communication with the condenser and the reactor vessel. The evaporator receives condensed refrigerant from the condenser so as to cool the air surrounding the evaporator, and returning refrigerant vapour to the reactor vessel. A method of cooling a driver environment of a vehicle having an internal combustion engine is also provided, as is a vehicle incorporating the heating and cooling system.

It is known for vehicle heating, cooling and air conditioning systems to use the waste heat of the engine exhaust as part of an absorption system in order to provide dehumidified warm or cold air to the interior of the vehicle. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,341, which discloses an absorption system in which a refrigerant-absorbent mixture is heated by the exhaust gases from the engine of the vehicle. The refrigerant-absorbent mixture is contained within a reactor vessel, and the mixture may comprise a sodium thiocyanate (NaSCN) salt acting as the absorbent and an ammonia (NH3) solution acting as the refrigerant. The reactor vessel is heated by heat extracted from the engine exhaust gases which pass through an exhaust pipe.
The reactor vessel is remote from the exhaust pipe, with the heat from the exhaust gases transferred to the reactor by a plurality of heat pipes. Each heat pipe has an evaporator section which lies within the exhaust pipe and a condenser section which lies within the reactor vessel. The exhaust gases flow over and heat the evaporator sections of the heat pipes, which causes a volatile medium contained within each heat pipe to vaporise and flow towards the condenser section. The vapour condenses back into a liquid within the condenser sections of each pipe, thereby distributing the heat output into the refrigerant-absorbent mixture within the reactor vessel.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide an improved exhaust gas-driven absorption system for heating, cooling and conditioning air for the operator cab or driver/passenger environment of a vehicle.

Heating and cooling system for a vehicle


A heat shrinkable composite film comprises a core layer formed of (a) a straight chain, low density polyethylene having a density of 0.890-0.905 g/cm.sup.3 and a Vicat softening point of 60.degree.80.degree. C. and/or (b) a copolymer of propylene and one or more .alpha.-olefins with 2-8 carbon atoms having a Vicat softening point of 70.degree.110.degree. C., and two outer layers laminated over the opposite surfaces of the core layer and each formed of (c) a crystalline polypropylene resin having a melting point of 135.degree.150.degree. C., the core layer having a thickness of 30-80% of the total thickness of the outer layers and the core layer.

This invention relates to a heat shrinkable film useful for packaging applications.
Heat shrink packaging is a method in which an article to be packed is first loosely enclosed in a bag of a heat shrinkable thermoplastic film and, after sealing, the bag is subjected to an elevated temperature to cause the bag to shrink and to tightly encase the article under evacuation. Polyethylene resins, polypropylene resins and polyvinyl chloride resins are typical examples of the raw materials of such heat shrinkable films. Because of their clarity, gloss, moistureproof property and freeness of causing environmental pollution, polypropylene resins are especially widely used. However, heat shrinkable films of polypropylene resins require a higher temperature to effect heat shrinkage as compared with polyvinyl chloride resin films. Therefore, known heat shrinkable polypropyelene films have a narrow range of operativity, from the stand point of temperatures at which they must be shrunken.
To cope with this problem, attempts have been made to use a polypropylene resin in conjunction with another polymer in the form of a mixture or a laminate. For example, Japanese examined patent publication (Tokkyo Kokoku) No. 61-10483 suggests the use of a copolymer of propylene and ethylene. Japanese unexamined patent application (Tokkyo Kokai) No. 58-166049 discloses a heat shrinkable multilayer film having a core layer formed of a composition containing a linear low density polyethylene resin with a density of 0.910-0.925 g/cm.sup.3 and sandwiched between two outer layers formed of an ethylenepropylene copolymer. Heat shrinkable multilayer films are also disclosed in Tokkyo Kokoku No. 54-20549 and Tokkyo Kokai No. 54152282 and No. 57-8156. One problem associated with known heat shrinkable multilayer films is concerned with difficulties in stretching.
Heat shrinkable films formed of a polypropylene resin also has a drawback that thin articles such as notebook and cards are deformed or curled during the heat shrink packaging. This problem is not involved in polyethylene films or polyvinyl chloride films. However, polyethylene films are poor in clarity and gloss and polyvinyl chloride films give rise to problems of generation of a bad odor during fuse-sealing or generation of harmful gases when spent films are combusted.

Heat shrinkable composite film and packaging method using same


A method is for providing an aggregate algorithm for processing medical data. In an embodiment, a multitude of local algorithms are trained by machine learning. The training of each respective local algorithm is performed on a respective local system using respective local training data. A respective algorithm dataset concerning the respective local algorithm is transferred to an aggregating system that generates the aggregate algorithm based on the algorithm datasets.

In recent years there has been an upswing in interest and research in the areas of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Technologies such as deep learning enabled a significant quality leap in fully automated algorithms for segmenting and classifying image data, allowing such algorithms to be used in medical data processing and especially the processing of medical image data. The most common approach used in machine learning is supervised learning that requires training data to train an algorithm. Typically, it is necessary to manually identify at least the features that need to be detected and/or qualified in the training data and optionally also certain features that are evaluated by the algorithm to reduce the complexity of the data and make patterns more visible for the learning process.
In deep learning the algorithm itself learns the high-level features from annotated data in an incremental manner. Hence the performance of the algorithm depends to a large extend on the amount of data and the quality of annotations being used to train the algorithm. This is especially true since a multitude of variables need to be taken into account, e.g. an anatomical and/or pathological variability between the patients and/or a variability of the used imaging procedures or other acquisition protocols.
It is therefore a major challenge for the manufacturers of medical devices and other suppliers of such trained algorithms to assemble a sufficiently large and sufficiently well annotated set of training data. It can e.g. be necessary to use more than 10.000 or more than 100.000 sets of training data. In medical imaging there are also major privacy concerns, since medical image data and other medical data concerns highly private information. Therefore, an extensive anonymisation protocol needs to be implemented and it can be an elaborate process to gain access to large datasets that could e.g. be provided by hospitals. Once a sufficiently large dataset is acquired it is also typically necessary to manually annotate this extensive dataset by in-house experts or contractors. This might also require an acquisition of relevant knowledge.
Further the data processing can include the transfer of data across national borders and therefore additional requirements concerning data protection, especially considering a multitude of country-specific regulations. An inclusion of third parties for data processing typically requires the agreement of the original patients. These additional limitations limit the possibilities of outsourcing and data sharing.
The overall result of the issues mentioned above tends to lead to slow update and feedback cycles for products using machine learning.
From the document US 2014/0219548 A1 it is known to use local machine learning on an end user system. While this approach allows for an immediate improvement of the algorithm depending on user feedback, the algorithm can only profit from the local training. Since the pool of locally available training data is typically rather small, only a slow improvement of the algorithm is possible. The local algorithm can also not profit from any training performed in other locations. For processing medical data it is also desirable to perform a validation of the trained algorithm before the algorithm is released and used, to ensure that there is no unexpected behaviour of the algorithm. This is typically performed by the provider of the algorithm, e.g. the manufacturer of the medical device used. There is no simple approach for integrating such a validation in the approach used for local learning discussed in the mentioned document.
A different approach to using local data for training an algorithm is discussed in the document US 2018/0018590 A1. This document suggests to generate proxy data on the local system that has a similar distribution of data as the actual data. This proxy data is then aggregated from multiple systems and used to train the algorithm. While this approach improves the privacy compared to a direct redistribution of the local private data, transmitting information about the distribution of certain private data from e.g. a local hospital might already be problematic, especially if some of the data concerns a rare condition. Therefore, additional steps would be necessary to ensure that no privacy relevant data is accidently shared by the method proposed in this document. The creation of artificial data distributions that are similar to the true data distribution can also be problematic since algorithms used in machine learning, e.g. neural networks, can be highly nonlinear systems. A distribution that looks similar can therefore cause vast differences in the resulting trained algorithm. While the document suggests to check for this fact by using a local training using the real data and the proxy data and comparing the trained algorithms, it cannot be guaranteed, that this similarity of behaviour still holds true when multiple proxy datasets are merged and used for training.

Method for providing an aggregate algorithm for processing medical data and method for processing medical data