A fluid bearing assembly well-suited for use as high performance, web handling roller includes a stationary inner component that extends coaxially within a rotatable outer component. The inner component includes a single conical member from which extends a narrow stem. The delivery of fluid into a nominal gap between the inner and outer components creates a tapered bearing, with the outer component capable of frictionless rotation relative to the inner component. A thrust plate is axially mounted onto the stem and is retained thereon by a threaded nut. By delivering fluid into a nominal gap between the thrust plate and the outer component, a thrust bearing is created which counterbalances the net axial force produced from the tapered bearing. Furthermore, precise adjustment of the tapered bearing air gap can be achieved through rotation of the threaded nut, thereby enabling certain performance characteristics of the fluid bearing assembly to be modified.

In many manufacturing applications, a continuous web is utilized as a substrate on which is deposited at least one layer, the web being commonly constructed out of a thin, flexible material, such as paper, plastic, foil, glass or a composite thereof. For example, one or more layers of film are commonly deposited, etched, embossed and/or printed onto a common web of thin, flexible material to produce, inter alia, microelectronic devices, microoptical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Web handling systems are well known in the art and are commonly used to transport, redirect or otherwise handle various types and thicknesses of webs throughout a manufacturing process. Web handling systems often rely upon an arrangement of rollers, such as nip or pinch rollers, to assist in the transport of webs between processing stations.
Throughout various manufacturing industries, higher web processing speeds are continuously sought in order to maximize productivity. However, one of the significant obstacles in improving web processing speeds is that web handling systems often rely upon commercially available rollers that experience direct solid-to-solid contact between moving parts. It is to be understood that web handling systems are required to apply a pulling force on a web to generate and maintain motion. The tension which must be applied to the web to affect its transport must be sufficient enough to overcome the internal friction experienced by the non-driven, or idler, rollers as well as the drag applied to the web during various processing steps (e.g., viscous drag resulting from the application of a coating). However, this threshold of tension that needs to be applied to the web can only be controlled to the extent that the level of friction for each mechanical roller is known.
Because the level of friction experienced by traditional mechanical rollers is not precisely determinable, excess tension is often applied to the web during transport which, in turn, can result in considerable distortion and stress to the web. With very sensitive webs, this distortion and stress can result in various types of irreversible damage, such as stress birefringence, crack propagation or, in certain circumstances, complete breakage of the web, which is highly undesirable.
Accordingly, the tension applied to a fragile running web needs to be precisely controlled to limit the likelihood of performance deterring effects. In the art, web tension control is most accurately achieved using one or more frictionless, or near frictionless, rollers in place of traditional mechanical rollers. Without internal roller friction, the web handling system can be designed to apply only the critical force that is required to transport the web through its various manufacturing processes, which is highly desirable. More specifically, by utilizing frictionless rollers, the tension applied to the web can be controlled by simply regulating the speed and torque of each motor that drives the system, thereby enabling the tension applied to the web at a certain processing station to be independently controlled by modifying the torque of the motors that drive the web through the particular processing station.
Frictionless rollers often incorporate the principal design characteristics of fluid film bearings to achieve contact-free movement between parts. A fluid film bearing, also commonly referred to in the art simply as a fluid bearing, is a machine part that is adapted to support a load. Traditionally, a fluid bearing includes two or more adjacent parts that rotate or otherwise move in relation to one another. A thin layer of liquid or gas is delivered into a nominal gap defined between opposing faces of the two or more parts. As a result, relative motion can be achieved between the parts in a contact-free manner. The lack of direct contact between moving parts of a frictionless roller is beneficial in not only limiting the tension applied by the roller to fragile webs during handling but also minimizing component wear, limiting heat generation and providing high stiffness capabilities.
One type of frictionless roller which is commonly utilized in web handling systems is constructed using the principal design features of a cylindrical air bearing. A cylindrical air bearing includes a cylindrical inner component that that extends coaxially within a cylindrical outer component, the inner and outer components being dimensioned such that a small, uniformly spaced gap is defined therebetween into which fluid can be delivered.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,513 to J. K. Ward, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, there is shown a low inertia, low friction roller, which is particularly adapted for handling relatively high speed, relatively fragile running webs. The roller comprises an inner tube that is disposed substantially coaxially about an inner tube and is rotatable with respect to the inner tube. An annular gap is defined between the inner and outer tubes and has a first portion that is supplied with a restricted flow of a pressurized compressible fluid and that is adjacent the portion of the outer tube about which the web passes. A second portion of the annular gap is circumferentially spaced from the first portion of the annular gap and communicates with a fluid exhaust passage in the inner tube. The dimensions of the annular gap are selected so that the fluid pressure in the first portion is greater than the fluid pressure in the second portion and so that the pressure of the fluid in the first portion of the annular gap will substantially balance the force exerted by the web on the outer tube as the web passes about the outer tube.
Although well-known in the art, rollers of the type described in the '513 patent that rely upon the principal design features of a cylindrical air bearing have been found to suffer from a notable drawback. Specifically, certain performance characteristics associated with such rollers, such as load capacity and stiffness, are largely defined by particular geometric properties of the roller that include, among other things, the angle and surface area of the opposing gap defining surfaces, the spacing of the gap, and the orifice size of its fluid delivery channels. Since these geometric properties are permanently defined, or fixed, upon completion of the manufacture of the individual components, adjustability of fluid bearing performance characteristics is typically unattainable once machined.
As a consequence, the degree of precision that is required in machining the various components of a cylindrical bearing roller has been found to be of critical importance. However, it is to be understood that because many of the determining dimensions are considerably small by design, the machining precision that is required cannot be reliably obtained (e.g., due to normal machining tolerances). In particular, it should be noted that fluid bearings are commonly designed with a gap spacing that is exceptionally small (often approximately 0.00015 times the radius of the inner component) in order to increase stiffness and thereby maximize performance. As a result of the challenges associated with accurately machining parts that define an exceptionally small gap, rollers of the type described in the '513 patent are commonly constructed using a larger scaling factor in order to achieve the stiffness and load capacity required to handle high speed and fragile running webs. However, this significant increase in overall roller size renders it considerably expensive to manufacture and rather difficult to integrate into relatively compact web-handling systems.
In view of the aforementioned shortcoming, frictionless rollers are also commonly constructed using the design characteristics of tapered, or non-cylindrical, fluid bearings, such as conical bearings. A conical bearing is similar to a cylindrical bearing in that a conical bearing includes an inner component that that extends coaxially within an outer component, the inner and outer components being dimensioned such that a small, uniformly spaced gap is defined therebetween into which fluid can be delivered. A conical bearing differs from a cylindrical bearing in that the inner component of a conical bearing includes a generally conical portion that aligns within a corresponding conical cavity formed in the outer component. Due to the angled, or tapered, design of opposing surfaces in a conical bearing, gap spacing can be adjusted by axially displacing the conical inner component relative to the outer component.
However, it is to be understood that the wedge-shaped interrelationship between opposing surfaces of a conical bearing creates a net axial force due to the hydrodynamic action of the fluid, the net axial force resulting in the axial displacement of one component relative to the other component. In other words, the delivery of fluid between the opposing tapered surfaces that define the gap creates a net axial force that naturally separates the opposing parts.
In response thereto, conical fluid bearings typically rely upon on design symmetry to counteract the axial forces that would ordinarily result in component separation. Specifically, a conical bearing is traditionally designed to include an inner component that includes a pair of mirror-image conical members that are coaxially joined, the inner component extending axially within an outer component that is shaped to include a similarly designed cavity for receiving the inner component. As can be appreciated, the inclusion of opposing, mirror-image, conical members yields a pair of axial forces that directly counterbalance, or cancel, each other. As a result, the net axial force for a fluid bearing that includes a pair of opposing, mirror-image conical members is effectively eliminated.
Although well known in the art, conical bearings that include a pair of opposing, mirror-image conical members have been found to suffer from a number of notable shortcomings.
As a first shortcoming, the counterbalancing effect of the opposing conical portions renders such bearings incapable of gap adjustment once assembled. Stated another way, the inner component is incapable of axial displacement relative to the outer component due to the fact that the opposing conical pairs will ultimately cause the inner component to reach a position of equilibrium relative to the outer component that yields a zero net axial force.
As a second shortcoming, conical bearings of the type as described above have been found to be considerably difficult and expensive to manufacture and assemble. In particular, the dual-conical shape of the inner component typically necessitates that the outer component be constructed as multiple, separate pieces that are subsequently fused together once the inner component is properly positioned therewithin. Furthermore, this multi-stepped assembly process requires that the inner and outer components be precisely aligned.
As a third shortcoming, conical bearings of the type as described above have been found to perform poorly due to the occurrence of resonance. Specifically, due to the low viscosity of certain fluids, such as pressurized gas, resonance between components can be easily introduced into the air bearing as the fluid enters into the air bearing gap.


A covering device for a high voltage part in an optical fiber fusion splicer includes a cover body, removably connectable to a support table, including an electrode holder adapted to removably hold an electrode rod. The covering device includes an electrode retainer removably connectable to the cover body, adapted to press the electrode rod against the support table.

The invention relates to an optical fiber fusion splicer configured to perform fusion splicing of optical fibers. The invention also relates to a covering device for a high voltage part of an optical fiber fusion splicer configured to supply electricity to electrode rods. More specifically, the invention relates to the covering device capable of removing and replacing the electrode rods easily.
Such a conventional optical fiber fusion splicer is configured to fit electrode rods to be removable (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications No. 11(1999)-316315 and No. 2000-137135). Specifically, the optical fiber fusion splicer includes a pair of support tables facing each other on a base table. Each of the support tables includes a V-groove on the top face for positioning an electrode rod. The optical fiber fusion splicer also includes electrode retainers provided to the V-grooves. Each of the electrode retainers presses the electrode rod and thereby positions the electrode rod in the V-groove. This electrode retainer is fixed to the top face of the support table by use of a fitting screw. The optical fiber fusion splicer further includes electrode covers each configured to cover the electrode retainer at the high voltage portion for safety.
When removing and replacing the electrode rod, the electrode cover is firstly removed from the support table. Then, the electrode retainer is removed from the support table by loosening the fitting screw. Thereafter, the electrode rod is removed from the support table.
To fit a new electrode rod, a new electrode is firstly engaged with and positioned in the V-groove on the top face of the support table. Then, the electrode retainer is placed on the top face of the support table and the fitting screw is tightened. In this way, the electrode rod is fixed onto the support table by use of the electrode retainer.
As described above, when the fitting screw is tightened to fix the electrode retainer, it is necessary to retain a space between the tips of the pair of electrode rods correctly. For this reason, the fitting screw is tightened while maintaining a state where the top of an electrode rod collar having a large diameter, which is provided on the base end of the electrode rod, is pressed to abut against the support table. Then, after fixing the electrode retainer, the electrode cover is fitted to the support table to cover the electrode retainer.
In other words, removal of the conventional electrode rods requires two steps of removing the electrode cover and then removing the electrode retainer. These steps are quite cumbersome. Meanwhile, when fitting the electrode retainer, the fitting screw is tightened while pressing the electrode rod collar of the electrode rod in a small space. Such a fitting process needs an improvement in terms of operability.

Optical fiber fusion splicer and covering device for high voltage part thereof


Biomarkers can be assessed for diagnostic, therapy-related or prognostic methods to identify phenotypes, such as a condition or disease, or the stage or progression of a disease. Circulating biomarkers from a bodily fluid can be used in profiling of physiological states or determining phenotypes. These include nucleic acids, protein, and circulating structures such as vesicles. Biomarkers can be used for theranostic purposes to select candidate treatment regimens for diseases, conditions, disease stages, and stages of a condition, and can also be used to determine treatment efficacy. The biomarkers can be circulating biomarkers, including vesicles and microRNA.

Biomarkers for conditions and diseases such as cancer include biological molecules such as proteins, peptides, lipids, RNAs, DNA and variations and modifications thereof.
The identification of specific biomarkers, such as DNA, RNA and proteins, can provide biosignatures that are used for the diagnosis, prognosis, or theranosis of conditions or diseases. Biomarkers can be detected in bodily fluids, including circulating DNA, RNA, proteins, and vesicles. Circulating biomarkers include proteins such as PSA and CA125, and nucleic acids such as SEPT9 DNA and PCA3 messenger RNA (mRNA). Circulating biomarkers also include circulating vesicles. Vesicles are membrane encapsulated structures that are shed from cells and have been found in a number of bodily fluids, including blood, plasma, serum, breast milk, ascites, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and urine. Vesicles can take part in the communication between cells as transport vehicles for proteins, RNAs, DNAs, viruses, and prions. MicroRNAs are short RNAs that regulate the transcription and degradation of messenger RNAs. MicroRNAs have been found in bodily fluids and have been observed as a component within vesicles shed from tumor cells. The analysis of circulating biomarkers associated with diseases, including vesicles and/or microRNA, can aid in detection of disease or severity thereof, determining predisposition to a disease, as well as making treatment decisions.
Vesicles present in a biological sample provide a source of biomarkers, e.g., the markers are present within a vesicle (vesicle payload), or are present on the surface of a vesicle. Characteristics of vesicles (e.g., size, surface antigens, determination of cell-of-origin, payload) can also provide a diagnostic, prognostic or theranostic readout. There remains a need to identify biomarkers that can be used to detect and treat disease. microRNA and other biomarkers associated with vesicles as well as the characteristics of a vesicle can provide a diagnosis, prognosis, or theranosis.
The present invention provides methods and systems for characterizing a phenotype by detecting biomarkers that are indicative of disease or disease progress. The biomarkers can be circulating biomarkers including vesicles and microRNA.

Caris Life Sciences Switzerland Holdings GmbH


A speech synthesis method for an electronic system and a speech synthesis apparatus are provided. In the speech synthesis method, a speech signal file including text content is received. The speech signal file is analyzed to obtain prosodic information of the speech signal file. The text content and the corresponding prosodic information are automatically tagged to obtain a text tag file. A speech synthesis file is obtained by synthesizing a human voice profile and the text tag file.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a speech synthesis mechanism. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a prosody-based speech synthesis method and a prosody-based speech synthesis apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
As the development of science and technology improved, communication requirements between humans and computers are not never like before that instructions are inputted only by typing and responses are received only in a text form on computers. Therefore, the development of a user-friendly voice communication mechanism between humans and computers has become a very important issue. For a computer, in order to converse human voice into an audio voice, technologies of voice recognition and speech synthesis are required. For instance, a text-to-speech (TTS) technology could be applied to convert a text input into a voice output.
Therefore, the synthesis of prosody speech has become an indispensable technology for most of the prevailing TTS technologies involving prosody speech. For instance, an interactive robot designed for children may need to tell a story which is full of human-like rhythm and emotional prosody. Different contents in a text could be combined with proper prosodic information such that the synthesized speech may become lively and vivid. The prosodic information is manually set in most cases; however, in order to accomplish a satisfactory performance, settings and adjustments of the prosodic information may require significant amount of time based on trial and error.

Speech synthesis method and apparatus for electronic system


Disclosed herein is a table 2 for use in a plasma processing system 1 that includes an electrically conductive member serving as a lower electrode 21 for plasma formation, a lower dielectric layer 22 (first dielectric layer) formed on the electrically conductive member so that it covers the center of the upper surface of the electrically conductive member, serving to make a high-frequency electric field to be applied to plasma via a substrate uniform, and an upper dielectric layer 24 (second dielectric layer) having a relative dielectric constant of 100 or more, formed on the electrically conductive member so that it is in contact at least with the edge of the substrate, in order to prevent a high-frequency current that has propagated along the electrically conductive member face from leaking to the outside of the substrate (wafer W).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a table on which a substrate to be subjected to plasma processing, such as a semiconductor wafer, is placed, and to a plasma processing system comprising the table.
2. Background Art
The process of semiconductor device production includes many processing steps in which a process gas is made into plasma and this plasma is used to process a substrate, such as dry etching and ashing. Of the plasma processing systems in which plasmas are used to process substrates, a processing system of the following type is often used: a pair of parallel plate electrodes are placed in a processing system with one of them positioned above the other; RF (radio frequency) power is applied to the space between the two electrodes to make a process gas fed to the system into plasma; and a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as a wafer), placed on the lower electrode, is processed with the plasma.
In the plasma processing, processing that demands "low-energy, high-density plasmas", i.e., plasmas having low ion energy and high electron densities, has increased in recent years. There is therefore a case where the frequency of RF power to be used to produce plasmas is extremely high, e.g., 100 MHz, as compared with that of RF power conventionally used, e.g., over 10 MHz. However, when the frequency of the electric power to be applied is increased, the field strength tends to become higher in the center of the electrode surface, i.e., in the region corresponding to the center of a wafer, and to become lower in the region around it. When the field strength distribution becomes non-uniform in this way, the plasma produced also becomes non-uniform in electron density, so that the rate of processing, etc. vary depending on the position on a wafer surface. This has been a cause of the problem that a wafer processed with plasma, excellent in within-wafer uniformity, cannot be obtained.
In order to overcome such a problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-363552, paragraphs 84 and 85 on page 15, proposes a plasma processing system in which a dielectric having a relative dielectric constant of about 3.5 to 8.5, such as a ceramic material, is embedded in the center of one of the facing surfaces of two parallel plate electrodes in order to obtain a uniform field strength distribution, thereby obtaining a wafer processed with plasma, improved in within-wafer uniformity.
The embedment of such a dielectric in an electrode will now be described with reference to FIG. 3(b). A high-frequency current that has propagated along the face of an electrically conductive member 21, serving as a lower electrode, from below it and reached above the member 21 flows along the wafer W surface toward the center of the wafer W, but part of this current leaks to the electrostatic chuck 23 side, passes through a dielectric 24 constituting the electrostatic chuck 23, and flows along the interface between the dielectric 24 and the electrically conductive member 21 (the surface of the electrically conductive member 21) to the outside. In the part in which the dielectric 22 useful for making plasma uniform is embedded, the high-frequency current can flow deeper than in the other part and causes cavity cylindrical resonance of TM mode. Consequently, the electric field in the center, which will be applied to the plasma from the wafer W surface, can be decreased, and the electric field within the wafer W plane becomes uniform. This discussion is made on the premise that the specific resistance of an electrode film 25 for the electrostatic chuck is high.
However, the high-frequency current that has propagated along the face of the electrically conductive member 21 from below it and reached above the member 21, and the high-frequency current returned to the edge of the wafer W from below the dielectric 24 of the electrostatic chuck 23 and from below the dielectric 22 embedded in the electrically conductive member 21 in order to create plasma uniformly partly leak to the outside of the wafer W. For this reason, the electric potential of the plasma existing above the edge of the wafer W becomes low, and the rate of etching the wafer W thus becomes lower at the edge than in the center. Because of such non-uniformity in etching rate, the etched wafer W has been poor in within-wafer uniformity.

Table for use in plasma processing system and plasma processing system


A lens module using electromagnetic force to drive the focus-adjusting lens is disclosed. The lens module includes a base, two steel plates, four springs, a bottom plate, a lens holder, a coil, a lens, a top plate, two magnets, a magnet housing and a top cover. The lens holder, the coil and the top plate are disposed outside the circumference of the lens to form a linked body and the coil is clipped between the lens holder and the top plate so as to reduce diameter and volume of the coil. By the two arc magnets disposed on right and left sides of the coil instead of general circular magnets, volume of the magnets is reduced. By the four springs vertically hooked between four corners of two steel plates respectively and four corresponding brackets of the lens holder, the lens is provided with axial traction for focus adjustment. Therefore, the lens with smaller volume moves steadily to adjust the focus.

The present invention relates to a lens module, especially to a lens module applied on digital cameras or mobile phones that uses electromagnetic force to driving the lens for adjusting focus.
Digital cameras or mobile phones with a shot function have a lens module with a focus-adjusting device. The lens modules available now are designed with features of light, think, compact, precision and durability. Traditional focus-adjusting devices also use electromagnetic force. However, the coil is disposed around a linked body with lens and a magnetic surrounding the coil is also a circular magnetic (like a ring) so that the parts occupy quite large volume. Moreover, traditional lens modules use spring blades to be balanced with the electromagnetic force. The spring blade is easy to be distorted by external force, such as vibration, returning back or after being used for a period of time so that the stability and the precision of focus-adjustment are influenced.


An exposure apparatus includes an alignment station where an alignment measurement process is executed, an exposure station where an exposure process is executed, and two stages, which can be swapped between the alignment station and the exposure station. A first blowing unit blows temperature-adjusted gas toward the alignment station, a second blowing unit blows temperature-adjusted gas toward the exposure station, and an air curtain unit forms an air curtain between the alignment station and the exposure station. The air curtain unit includes a third blowing unit which is arranged between the alignment station and the exposure station and blows gas so as to form an air curtain to partition the alignment station and the exposure station, and a third temperature adjusting unit supplies temperature-adjusted gas to the third blowing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus and, more particularly, to an exposure apparatus comprising two stages, which can be swapped between an alignment station and an exposure station.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, to improve the processing capability of an exposure apparatus, such as a semiconductor exposure apparatus, a high-speed positioning apparatus, such as an original stage device or a substrate stage device has been under development. In this positioning apparatus, the amount of heat generated by an actuator which drives a stage increases. The temperature of the optical path of a laser interferometer to align the stage fluctuates due to this heat generation. The dimensions of members involved vary due to the heat generation as well. These phenomena degrade the position measurement accuracy, as well as the positioning accuracy.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-505958 discloses an exposure apparatus comprising two stages, which can be swapped between an exposure station and an alignment station. The exposure apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-505958 can execute an exposure process in the exposure station and an alignment measurement process in the alignment station in parallel.
In an exposure apparatus which executes an exposure process in an exposure station and an alignment measurement process in an alignment station in parallel, when temperature adjusting gas is supplied from the exposure station to the alignment station, the alignment accuracy may degrade. The same applies to a case wherein the direction in which the temperature adjusting gas is supplied is reversed.
For example, assume that temperature-adjusted gas adjusts the temperature of a stage positioned in a measurement processing area in an alignment station after adjusting the temperature of a stage positioned in an exposure processing area in an exposure station. In this case, the temperature-adjusted gas flows into the measurement processing area after removing heat in the exposure processing area. This locally generates temperature non-uniformity or a temperature gradient in the measurement processing area. Therefore, the alignment measurement accuracy degrades in response to a variation in a dimension of a wafer, a wafer chuck, or a stage in the measurement processing area, or a variation in temperature of the optical path for position measurement. As a result, the alignment accuracy degrades. If the dimension or shape of the wafer in alignment is different from that in exposure, the alignment accuracy degrades as well.


A laminated roofing shingle is provided, having an anterior shingle layer and a posterior shingle layer. Openings exist in tab portions of the anterior shingle layer, allowing for visible front surface portions of the posterior shingle layer to be visible through the openings. Such visible portions can be of varying vertical contrast from at least some of the top edges of the openings to at least some of the bottom edges of the posterior shingle layer that are exposed through the openings, and are generally of consistent horizontal contrast between right and left edges of the openings. Front surface portions of the posterior shingle layer that are exposed through one or more openings have a different contrast that is in interrupting contrast to at least a portion of any of the varying or consistent contrast that are visible through the openings between tabs of the anterior shingle layer.

The present invention is directed to a multi-layer shingle, preferably one constructed of asphaltic roofing material and most particularly one having an asphaltic material provided over a base mat which then has granules applied to surfaces thereof.
The art of shingle manufacture is highly developed, and improvements in shingle manufacturing have been subtle, often being devoted to the simulation of wood, slate, tile or other natural appearing materials.
In the course of shingle development, some approaches have been made toward applying granules of various color, shading, tone and combinations thereof.
Some of these developments have involved providing a multi-layer shingle, of at least two layers, one being an anterior shingle layer and another being a posterior shingle layer. Sometimes, portions of the shingle that are adapted to be exposed to the environment when laid up on a roof have been provided with different areas of shading, at different depths or planes, whereby the visual contrast, upon viewing a roof comprised of such shingles from the front, is to provide to the appearance of increased depth, or thickness of the shingle.
Sometimes this increased depth or thickness is achieved by having darker portions of an underlying or posterior layer of shingle visible between or beneath adjacent tabs of the shingle. An example of this is in U.S. Pat. No. 6,523,316, the complete disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Another example of achieving different aesthetic effects that produce, in a manufactured shingle, the appearance of changes in texture, color or combinations thereof, are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,837, the complete disclosure of which is also herein incorporated by reference. Another example of a shingle wherein different granule applications are provided in order to achieve various aesthetics effects is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,361, the complete disclosure of which is also herein incorporated by reference.
Other laminated shingles wherein different color and contrast effects are achieved for laminated shingles having openings between adjacent tabs of the anterior shingle layer and with a backing or posterior shingle layer exist in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,900,589; 4,717,614; 6,289,648; 6,190,754; Des 344,144; 5,369,929; 5,611,186 and 5,666,776, the complete disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference. Some of these shingles, because of the opening configurations between adjacent tabs, are also referred to as "dragon's tooth" shingles.

Laminated roofing shingle with contrast zones providing variegated appearance


There is provided a technique that includes: a main controller configured to execute a process recipe including a plurality of steps to perform a predetermined process on a substrate so as to acquire device data when executing the process recipe; and a storage part configured to store the acquired device data, wherein the main controller is configured to: acquire the device data in a predetermined specific step among the steps constituting the process recipe; calculate a value of the acquired device data in the specific step; compare the calculated value with a value of the device data in the specific step calculated at a time of previous execution of the process recipe; and generate an alarm when the calculated value shows a predefined tendency.

In conventional processes, an influence by the conductance of an exhaust pipe was not so large. However, improvement of the exhaust performance has been regarded as important in recent processes concerning large area 3D devices. For example, there is provided a structure including airtight chambers (load lock chambers) which are air-tightly installed in succession via a process chamber and an opening, and an exhaust device (pump) directly attached to each of the load lock chambers to exhaust the atmosphere of the process chamber by the pump.
However, if by-products are adhered to and deposited on the exhaust device, the device may be stopped even during production. As a result, in some case, the product substrates may be out of lot, or the production process may be interrupted to disassemble and clean the exhaust device.

Substrate processing apparatus and recording medium


A method and apparatus for an adaptive video-aware streaming architecture are disclosed. The architecture may include cloud-based prediction and elastic rate control.

Field Of View (FOV) based Virtual Reality streaming is a very difficult exercise as it requires a very low delay response on the user end in order to maximize the user experience. For example, when dealing with 60 frames per second content that is sent as a FOV, it is required that the correct FOV mapping to the current headset position is rendered on time every 16 ms. A typical system with a server and a client, such as a typical virtual reality data streaming system, cannot guarantee less than a 16 ms time for communications so that typical virtual reality data streaming system have a technical problem. The technical problem is the lack of an architecture that is able to ensure less than 16 ms response times and the result of the technical problem is poor user experience including the user waiting for the VR system to download the FOVs.
Because standard round trip times between a server and a client cannot insure less than 16 ms consistently, it is important to design a network layer for VR that allows the user to not feel the delay incurred by the nature of the network between the server and the player's headset and it is to this end that the disclosure is directed.

Method and apparatus for an adaptive video-aware streaming architecture with cloud-based prediction and elastic rate control


A wafer for testing a manufacturing process for vias has a large number of vias (millions) formed into strings that have an open circuit resistance if the string contains a defective via and have a resistance of a few thousand ohms if the string is good. A multiplexor circuit is formed on the test wafer and scans the via strings and produces a binary output denoting that the addressed string is good or defective. The addresses are generated off the wafer by a compute and a defective string is readily identified.

A semiconductor chip is commonly formed as a multi-level structure that includes a layer of a vias, conductors that interconnect circuit nodes in the layers above and below the via layer. The layer above a via layer is a conductive film that is shaped to interconnect vias or to connect vias to other circuit nodes. The structure below the via layer may be a similar conductive film or it can be a surface of the substrate that has for example transistor terminals. A dielectric supports the vias and insulates the circuit nodes.

Semiconductor structure for testing vias interconnecting layers of the structure

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company


A “FirePOD” provides a self-contained, portable, standalone fire protection system that enables property owners, firefighters or others to mix and apply fire-protective gel or foam to entities such as structures, vehicles, vegetation, etc., to protect those entities from wildfire events or other external fire incidents. In various implementations, the FirePOD includes a recirculation-based mixing system for combining a mixture comprising a powder, liquid, or gel-based Thermal Protective Substance (TPS) with a volume of water or other liquid to produce the fire-protective gel or foam. By applying reconfigurable valves, one or more pumps are applied to both recirculate the mixture and, when sufficiently mixed, apply the resulting fire-protective gel or foam via one or more hoses or other dispensing mechanisms. In various implementations, the FirePOD is movable, and is manually or automatically propelled to locations suitable for applying the fire-protective gel or foam.

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) maintains statistics on wildfires in the United States. For example, the NIFC reports that there have been approximately 30,531 wildfires with over 3.7 million acres burned from Jan. 1, 2019 through Aug. 18, 2019. Similarly, for calendar year 2018, the NIFC reported a total of 58,083 wildfires with approximately 8.8 million acres burned. While such wildfires differ in size, it is significant that between 1997 and 2018, the NIFC reported approximately 200 wildfires each covering at least 100,000 acres.
Wildfires and other types of fires are typically engaged by one or more local fire departments using water trucks, fire hydrants, etc. Further, depending upon factors such as fire size, growth, danger to life or property, etc., firefighting efforts for wildfires or other types of fires may include air drops of water or fire retardant from helicopters or airplanes. Unfortunately, even with the rapid deployment of local, state, and federal firefighting resources, significant loss of life and property often occurs. For example, despite the deployment of firefighting resources from across the United States, a single well-known wildfire named the "Camp Fire," which began Nov. 8, 2018 in Butte County, Calif., was responsible for the loss of at least 88 human lives as well as the destruction of almost 14,000 residences and approximately 530 commercial structures. The Insurance Information Institute estimates that insured losses from the Camp Fire will total between $8.5 billion and $10.5 billion. Clearly, while such wildfires are eventually controlled, losses to life and property cannot be fully prevented by governmental firefighting resources.
As such, personal or portable firefighting equipment is sometimes deployed by homeowners or others in an attempt to protect individual structures (e.g., homes, offices, commercial buildings, etc.) from fires external to those structures. Examples of personal or portable firefighting equipment includes, but are not limited to, water or retardant-based fixed sprinkler systems designed to saturate the exterior of a building, chemical-based fire suppression units based on pumping systems powered by gasoline engines, electricity, or stored pressure, manual or automatic retardant-based systems designed to coat structures with a gel- or foam-based fire retardant, etc.


An image data file management system according to the present invention includes a plurality of inspection sections which acquire an image of a subject and acquire various kinds of inspection results by performing image processing with respect to image data of the subject, and an image server which stores respective sets of the image data acquired by the respective inspection sections in association with information of the subject.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data file management system and method for managing image data picked up by an inspection apparatus or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, as a defect inspection apparatus for a semiconductor wafer or the like, an apparatus which picks up an image of a wafer plane by an image pickup section, applies image processing to a picked-up image by a computer in order to extract a defect and records image data subjected to image processing in a storage section has been put into practical use.
Further, in such defect inspection apparatus, since the quantity of data processed in accordance with each image processing becomes very large, there has been considered that an image server having a backup function is connected and an image data file is recorded on the image server side.
In the method for recording the image data file based on the conventional idea, however, since the image data in the storage section of the defect inspection apparatus is stored in a backup section on the image server side as it is, a large storage capacity is required on the server side, which becomes economically disadvantageous. Furthermore, since management of the image data file stored on the server side is not taken into consideration, there is a problem that the backup data is rarely utilized advantageously.

Image data file management system and method


Frusto-conical needle-shaped light guide paths are implanted on the surface of a display panel such that output light from display elements propagate through the needle-shaped light guide paths through total reflection, while external light repeats reflections multiple times on wedge-shaped surfaces of the light guide paths, and attenuates. A light absorbing film is coated on the surfaces of the needle-shaped light guide paths to increase a contrast ratio. Thus, a higher contrast can be accomplished in a bright room, and cross-talk between adjacent pixels is reduced. A reduction in contrast due to display light is also alleviated by employing longer implanted needle-shaped light guide paths, and bringing light incident surfaces of the needle-shaped light guide paths into close contact with the surface of the display panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device which mitigates reduced contrast (bright-room contrast) due to external light when a display screen is viewed in a bright room in order to reduce blurred images, and more particularly, to a front plate which is integrally or separately arranged on a front surface of the display device to improve the contrast of viewed images, and a display device using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, for improving the contrast in a bright room (hereinafter called the "bright-room contrast) of a display device using a display panel having selfluminous pixels, arranged in matrix, which emit light in accordance with the Lambert distribution, the transmittance τ of a front plate arranged integrally or separately on a front surface of a display panel, such as a plasma display panel (hereinafter abbreviated as "PDP") or the like, for displaying an image is set in a range of approximately 35 to 70%, such that external light is attenuated while room light (hereinafter called the "external light") incident on the front plate is reflected back by an opposite surface of the front plate or the display panel (i.e., while the light goes to the front plate and back twice) to increase the ratio of output light from the display panel to the external light, thereby improving the contrast. Such a technique is disclosed, for example, in page 2, right column, paragraph number 0009 of JP-A-2000-206932.
Description will be made qualitatively with reference to a diagram shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, output light B from a display panel 2 reduces its value to B×τ (τ: transmittance) while it passes through a front plate 200. On the other hand, since external light b goes to and back from the front plate 200, the transmittance of which is τ, its magnitude changes to b×τ×τ during the reciprocal travel. When the transmittance τ is 0.5, the external light largely attenuates, and reduces to 0.25 times as high as when there is no front plate 200 for adjusting the transmittance. For this reason, a high contrast image can be viewed in a bright room.
Other means for improving the bright-room contrast include a technique for applying an anti-reflection film on an external light incident surface of the front plate 200 for preventing the external light from reflecting, a technique for forming miniature ruggedness to irregularly reflect external light, and the like. Either of them improves the bright-room contrast by preventing the glaring of external light. These techniques are disclosed, for example, in FIG. 4 of JP-A-2002-83548, JP-A-6-187924, JP-A-10-283939, and the like.
An anti-reflection film 210 in FIG. 10 prevents the glaring due to external light as mentioned above. The anti-reflection film 210 acts to largely reduce reflection of external light on the surface of the front plate 200. However, the external light which transmits the front plate 200 is reflected back from the opposite surface of the front plate 200 or the display panel, and exits from the front plate toward a viewer. In this event, if the external light transmitting the front plate 200 does not attenuate while it is reflected back, the external light reduces the bright-room contrast. Generally, the anti-reflection film is used in combination with an improving means for reducing the transmittance of the front plate, such that the external light transmitting the front plate is absorbed by the front plate with the transmittance τ to attenuate as mentioned above.
A further means for improving the contrast in a bright room involves forming an exit surface of a transmission type screen with conical protrusions, for example, circular truncated cones similar to wedge-shaped protrusions used on wall surfaces of an acoustic anechoic chamber, a radio anechoic chamber and the like for absorbing sound and radio waves without reflection, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-6-194741, JP-A-2003-50307, and the like.
Since the present invention is deeply related to JP-A-6-194741 and JP-A-2003-50307, reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2 of JP-A-6-194741 for describing the foregoing technique in detail.
In FIGS. 1 and 2 of JP-A-6-194741, as external light 23 is incident on an inclined portions 14 of a convex protrusion 12, the external light 23 repeats reflections multiple times as shown (indicated by dotted lines) between adjacent inclined portions 14 to attenuate.
On the other hand, projected light 21 from the back of a screen propagates within the convex protrusions 12 nearly in a total reflection condition, and is outputted from a peak 13 with less attenuation. Specifically, the reflection of the external light 23 can be reduced while maintaining the projected light 21 from the back of the screen at substantially consistent brightness without largely attenuating the projected light 21, so that the bright-room contrast can be satisfactorily improved.
In addition, the inclined portions 14 may be coated with a light absorption layer 15 or the like to absorb reflected light, resulting in a higher contrast ratio.
As described above, the technique using the convex protrusions demonstrates significant effects for improving the contrast of images in a bright room.

Front plate and display device using same


A method and a device for policy based routing are provided, which includes the device performing the steps of: setting interfaces of router(s) to be multiple redirection groups, wherein the redirection groups being ordered being according to a priority order; detecting interface states of interfaces in the redirection groups; and switching traffic among the multiple redirection groups according to the interface states of the interfaces in the redirection groups.

At present, with rapid development and extensive application of communication technologies, network size is increasingly enlarged, complexity and heterogeneity of a system are more prominent, and the amount of data information needing to be transmitted on a network is also significantly increased. For a router, functions of routing and forwarding need to be provided for a large number of messages.
A traditional routing method is to use a routing table for forwarding a message according to a destination address. However, if the traditional routing method is used, during a routing forwarding process, once a routing forwarding table is generated any change cannot be made arbitrarily. In this case, when traffic on the network is increased or a related outbound interface of the router is failed, load capacity and performance of the router may be limited by the routing forwarding table, and it is very difficult to change forwarding paths of traffic or forwarding paths of a part of traffic by means of routing at this moment, it is also difficult to realize load balance of various traffics at various interfaces.
In order to solve this problem, a policy based routing method with higher flexibility is mostly used in the prior art, which allows to forward data information according to a specified policy. For example, in a network architecture shown in FIG. 1, a user needs to access the internet through an operator C and an operator A. A router of the operator C is provided with three interfaces connected to a network of the operator A. Policy based routing is deployed by the operator C on the router of the operator C: input traffic is outputted by load sharing of the three interfaces connected to the network of the operator A; when an interface in the three interfaces is abnormal, traffic passing through the abnormal interface is shared to other normal interfaces; and when the abnormal interface is back to normal, load sharing is performed on the traffic again. However, this policy based routing method may only perform load sharing in one group of interfaces of a same router but may not perform load sharing and switching in multiple groups of interfaces of multiple routers shown in FIG. 2, and this policy based routing may only perform path switching and load sharing according to normality/abnormity of a physical state of a next-hop interface, but cannot perform path switching according to whether a whole path for arriving at a destination is reachable or not.

Method and device for policy based routing


A device relates to a semiconductor device. The semiconductor device includes a narrow-line bamboo microstructure integrated within a metal layer of the semiconductor device and a narrow-line polycrystalline microstructure. The narrow-line polycrystalline microstructure is integrated within the same metal layer as the narrow-line bamboo microstructure.

The present invention relates to semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to the presence of a narrow-line bamboo microstructure and narrow-line polycrystalline microstructure integrated in the same metal layer.
Generally, semiconductor devices include a plurality of circuits which form an integrated circuit fabricated on a semiconductor substrate. A complex network of signal paths will normally be routed to connect the circuit elements distributed on the surface of the substrate. Efficient routing of these signals across the device requires formation of multilevel or multilayered schemes, such as, for example, single or dual damascene wiring structures. The wiring structure typically includes copper, Cu.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Advanced copper interconnects with hybrid microstructure


The present invention provides an antistatic agent for vinyl chloride-based resins which can impart superior antistatic properties to the vinyl chloride-based resin, and which can thereby solve various problems arising from charging of the vinyl chloride-based resin with static electricity, a vinyl chloride-based resin composition containing this antistatic agent, and a method for manufacturing this composition. The present invention provides an antistatic agent for vinyl chloride-based resins which consists of silica particles containing at least 99.0% by mass of SiO2 and 0.00005% 80.5 ppm by mass or less of sodium, and which has such a particle size distribution that at least 98% by mass of the silica particles is occupied by the particles having a particle diameter in the range from 30 to 1,000 nm.

The present invention relates to an antistatic agent for vinyl chloride-based resins, which is superior in terms of antistatic properties, a vinyl chloride-based resin composition containing this antistatic agent, and a method for manufacturing this antistatic composition.
Vinyl chloride-based resins are superior in terms of moldability, and can be utilized in various types of molding methods. Furthermore, the molded articles obtained from such resins are superior in terms of flame retarding properties, weatherability, water resistance, chemical resistance and the like, and can be used in a broad range of applications, e.g., construction materials such as pipes, couplings, corrugated boards, films and sheets, window sashes and the like.
However, the surface resistivity of vinyl chloride-based resins is so high as to be 1013 to 1014 ohms, so that the surfaces of such resins tend to become charged with static electricity when rubbed; furthermore, once these resins have been charged, the charges tend not to leak from the surface, so that various problems arise. Examples of such problems include the following: for instance, in cases where vinyl chloride-based resins are used as base materials, the flowability of the resin may decrease and aggregate form blocks may be formed so that problems in conveying work such as clogging of pipes and bridging of hoppers occur. Furthermore, problems in molding and working may occur, such as obstruction of the uniform mixing of the overall composition containing such resins, and there may also be problems in terms of safety such as the triggering of ignition or explosion, and problems in terms of external appearance such as deterioration of the external appearance of the product due to the adsorption of dirt and dust.
Furthermore, when a vinyl chloride-based resin has been charged with static electricity, the bulk density drops, so that there are also problems from the standpoint of metering errors in terms of weight when a specified volume is metered.
Usually, a method in which antistatic agents are added to a vinyl chloride-based resin is used in order to solve such problems caused by static electricity in vinyl chloride-based resins. In most cases, surfactants are used as the antistatic agent.
For example, an antistatic vinyl chloride-based resin composition in which an anionic and/or nonionic surfactant, a perchlorate and a polyethylene oxide are blended with a vinyl chloride-based resin has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-179789.

Antistatic agent for vinyl chloride-based resins, vinyl chloride-based resin composition containing the same, and method for manufacturing this composition


Disclosed is a reflective mirror for solar thermal power generation comprising a metal film and provided thereon, a substrate, the reflective mirror reflecting sunlight entering from a substrate side, featured in that the substrate is a film composed of a resin containing microfibrillated cellulose. The reflective mirror maintains a light collecting ability, particularly a specular reflectance highly and stably against variation of weather conditions, when sunlight is collected outdoors, is usable over a long period of time, and has high durability.

As one of systems obtaining electric energy, a light-electricity conversion system employing sunlight has been studied.
As the systems employing sunlight, there are mentioned a sunlight power system generation system directly converting sunlight to electricity, and a solar thermal power generation (light collection type solar thermal power generation) system converting the heat of sunlight to electricity.
Of these, the solar thermal power generation has advantages in that it is less in environmental load, enables 24 hours' power generation due to stored heat, and is relatively high in energy conversion efficiency.
The solar thermal power generation is one in which sunlight is collected through a reflector such as a mirror and heat of the collected light is transferred to a thermal medium through which power is generated.
In the power generation, a thermal medium, for example, water, oil, a melted salt or the like is employed and heated and water is evaporated by the heated thermal medium, whereby a stream turbine is revolved to generate power.
The solar thermal power generation system has shortcomings in that a long sunshine duration and a vast tract of land are necessary and big equipments, which function with a stable performance even under severe weather conditions, are required, as compared with the sunlight power generation system.
As one of the big equipments, which function with a stable performance under severe weather conditions, there is a reflective mirror used for collecting sunlight.
As the reflective mirrors, there are generally known a glass mirror in which a reflector is provided on a glass plate and a film mirror in which a reflector is provided on a film other than glass, for example, a plastic film. They are properly employed depending on the usage.
As the film mirror, there is known a film mirror as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 2004-77643 which comprises a base film, a silver deposition film and a film for preventing corrosion provided on the base film in that order, and a back coat film provided on the surface of the base film opposite the anchor film.
As the reflective mirror for collecting sunlight, there is known a mirror as disclosed in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 2005-106432 in which a synthetic resin such as FRP is plated to obtain a mirror surface or a mirror as disclosed in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 2008-249166 in which a heat resistant resin such as a phenol resin, a fluorine-containing resin or a polyimide resin is vapor deposited or plated with aluminum to obtain a mirror surface.
A concave mirror as described later is known as an optical member (concave mirror), which is small in temperature variation of optical property, light in weight, and excellent in mass productivity.
A concave mirror is known which comprises a metal film with a reflective surface provided on the smooth surface of a base material prepared from a nano-composite as a raw material in which a microfibrillated cellulose assembly is impregnated with a plastic resin as a raw material (refer to Patent Document Nos. 1 and 2).
However, when these reflective mirrors are employed as a light collecting reflective mirror used for solar thermal power generation, light collecting performance greatly deteriorates under temperature or humidity variation in a place to be installed. Therefore, a reflective mirror having further stable light collecting ability has been required.
Specifically, when light is collected employing a heliostat, a reflective mirror with high specular reflectance has been desired, and further, a reflective mirror, which exhibits a high stable light collecting ability and particularly high stability of specular resistance under temperature or humidity variation in a place to be installed, has been desired.

Reflective mirror for solar thermal power generation


A level is provided that includes a body comprising upper and lower parallel walls and first and second side walls operatively connected with the upper and lower walls. The upper wall has first and second linear edges extending longitudinally along opposite sides and an opening therethrough. The first of the side walls has an opening therethrough such that the opening in the upper wall and the opening in the first side wall are contiguous with one another. The first linear edge is disposed at the operative connection between the upper wall and the second side wall and extends uninterruptedly from end to end of the body. A bubble vial is disposed in the body and is visible through the opening in the upper wall and through the opening in the first side wall.

Two conflicting needs regarding level vials (bubble vials) in levels generally pertain to visibility and the need to protect the vials against impact. Conventional "open center-vial" levels address the visibility concern by cutting away extruded material along the top surface of the level body that surrounds the vial. The disruption in the top surface of these devices, however, makes it difficult to use the entire top surface of the level as a marking surface or straightedge. Further, the bubble vials in these devices may be vulnerable to breakage by impact due to their wide exposure area.

Level with uninterrupted marking surface with high-visibility center vial


Assessing the quality of an electronic image comprises determining a quality rating for the electronic image, associating image quality thresholds with purposes for electronic images, selecting the purpose that corresponds to the electronic image, identifying an image quality threshold associated with the selected purpose, and determining whether the quality rating meets the image quality threshold. The electronic image is suitable for its intended purpose if its quality rating meets the threshold.

Many document processing operations exist that require an image of each document for data processing, archival, or other purposes. For example, in processing bank checks through the commercial banking system, it is desirable to digitally record images of bank checks for data processing and archival purposes. Additionally, it also is desirable to verify the quality of a captured image before the check leaves the possession of the image recording entity. In this way, documents which were not properly imaged may be re-recorded before being destroyed or otherwise taken out of possession of the entity requiring the image.
Electronic check images serve many purposes in check processing. For example, paper checks can be truncated early in the check clearing process if replaced by a suitable electronic check image. Then, the check can be cleared based in the electronic image rather than the paper document. Truncating the paper checks early in the process reduces transportation costs related to moving paper checks among the various banks and other check processors who participate in the process. Check images also can be archived electronically in place of paper checks for later retrieval, if needed.
A relatively new use for electronic check images is to produce a substitute paper check from electronic images of the original paper check. Under the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (the "Act"), a paper substitute check meeting specified requirements is the legal equivalent of an original paper check and includes all the information contained on the original check, and a receiving institution is required to accept the substitute check for payment. The Act facilitates check truncation by creating a new negotiable instrument called the substitute check, which permits banks to truncate original checks, to process check information electronically, and to deliver substitute checks to banks that want to continue receiving paper checks.
By agreement, banks also can accept electronic check images as proper presentment for payment. In that case, the check processor can accept image cash letter deposits and can create image cash letter presentment files from items deposited both electronically and physically for forward collection and return.
For an electronic image to be used for any of the previously discussed purposes, the check image must be of sufficient quality to provide the necessary information for each purpose. For example, a substitute check must meet the requirements of the Accredited Standards Committee ("ANS") X9.100 to be considered the legal equivalent of a paper check. Accordingly, check images used to produce a substitute check must be of sufficient quality to produce a paper document meeting that standard. Additionally, check images used for electronic check processing must meet the standards set forth in ANS X9.37 regarding the electronic exchange of check and image data.
Conventional methods exist for assessing the quality of a captured electronic image. According to one conventional method, an image quality analysis ("IQA") engine can analyze the quality of captured electronic images. The IQA engine 116 can produce a rating that indicates the quality of the electronic images. For example, the IQA may rate each electronic image on a quality scale of Blank or M or P or E or U or a range of 0 to 9. A Blank can indicate an image was present without a 54 record and the IQA engine analysis was not performed. An M indicates that an image was not provided to the IQA engine 116. A P indicates that an image was present with a 54 record reflecting a usable, acceptable quality image and the IQA engine analysis was not performed. An E indicates that an image was present with either a 54 record reflecting a usable, acceptable quality image or the 54 record was not available, and the IQA engine analysis failed. A U indicates that there was an image present with a 54 record reflecting either an unusable or unacceptable image. A rating of "9" can indicate a high-quality image, while a rating of "0" can indicate a very low quality image.
The image quality rating for each image can be compared to an accept/reject image quality threshold to determine whether the respective images are acceptable. Images having an image quality rating the meets the threshold are accepted, and images having an image quality rating below the threshold are rejected.
Conventional image quality analysis methods have several deficiencies. For example, all images are treated the same. The images are either accepted or rejected based on the same threshold value. Even if an image could be of low quality for its intended purpose, it is rejected based on the quality threshold set for all images. Thus, the conventional methods do not analyze image quality using different image quality thresholds based on the destination, intended use, or other characteristic of the image.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a system and method for assessing image quality of electronic images based on the destination, intended use, characteristic, or other purpose of the images. Additionally, a need exists for further analyzing rejected images to determine whether those images are suitable for their intended use.


Some embodiments of the present invention are directed toward nanocrystalline oxide-based phosphor materials, and methods for making same. Typically, such methods comprise a steric entrapment route for converting precursors into such phosphor material. In some embodiments, the nanocrystalline oxide-based phosphor materials are quantum splitting phosphors. In some or other embodiments, such nanocrystalline oxide based phosphor materials provide reduced scattering, leading to greater efficiency, when used in lighting applications.

A luminescent material absorbs radiation from one region of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum and emits radiation in another region of the electromagnetic spectrum, the emission generally being lower in energy than the absorption (i.e., Stokes shifted). A luminescent material in powder form is commonly called a phosphor, while a luminescent material in the form of a transparent solid body is commonly called a scintillator.
Two broad classes of luminescent materials are generally recognized. These are self-activated luminescent materials and impurity-activated luminescent materials.
A self-activated luminescent material is one in which the pure crystalline host material, upon absorption of a high energy photon, elevates electrons to an excited state from which they return to a lower energy state by emitting a photon. Self-activated luminescent materials normally have a broad spectrum emission pattern because of the relatively wide range of energies that the electron may have in either the excited or the lower energy states. Thus, any given excited electron may emit a fairly wide range of energy during its transition from its excited state to its lower energy state, depending on the particular energies it has before and after its emissive transition.
An impurity-activated luminescent material is normally one in which a non-luminescent host material has been modified by inclusion of an activator species (i.e., dopant), which is typically present in the host material in a relatively low concentration, such as in the range from about 200 parts per million (ppm) to 1 part per thousand. However, some materials require several mole or atomic percent of activator ions for optimized light output. With an impurity-activated luminescent material, the activator ions may either absorb the incident photons directly, or the lattice may absorb the incident photons and transfer the absorbed photon energy to the activator ions.
Luminescent phosphor materials find widespread application in fluorescent lighting applications, where UV emission from mercury (Hg) gas is absorbed by the phosphor material and emitted as visible light. Other applications for such phosphor materials include the tuning of light emitted by light emitting diodes (LEDs). Such tuning can allow for the generation of white light using a single type of LED.
The conversion of a single ultraviolet (UV) photon into two visible (vis) photons with the result that the quantum efficiency of luminescence exceeds unity is termed quantum splitting. Quantum splitting materials are very desirable for use as phosphors for lighting applications, such as fluorescent lamps. A suitable quantum splitting phosphor can, in principle, produce a significantly brighter fluorescent light source due to higher overall luminous output because it can convert to visible light that part of the UV radiation that is not absorbed efficiently by traditional phosphors that are currently used in commercial fluorescent lamps. Quantum splitting has been demonstrated previously in fluoride- and oxide-based materials. A material comprising 0.1% Pr3+ in a matrix of YF3 has been shown to generate more than one visible photon for every absorbed UV photon when excited with radiation having a wavelength of 185 nm. The measured quantum efficiency of this material was 140%, and thus greatly exceeded unity. However, fluoride-based compounds do not have sufficient stability to permit their use as phosphors in fluorescent lamps because they are known to react with mercury vapor that is used in such lamps to provide the UV radiation. Such reaction can form materials that do not exhibit quantum splitting. In addition, producing fluoride-based materials presents a great practical challenge because it involves the use of large quantities of highly reactive and toxic fluorine-based materials.
Lumen maintenance in halophosphate phosphors has been improved by the addition of cadmium (Cd). However, the high toxicity associated with Cd-containing materials has led to legislation precluding the use of such phosphors. The maintenance and lamp efficacy of phosphors such as Zn2SiO4:Mn2+ has been improved by coating with non-emitting, high stability, wide-band-gap materials, such as Al2O3 and Y2O3.
More recently, oxide-based quantum splitting phosphors have been developed that overcome the disadvantages of fluoride based materials in fluorescent lighting applications. See, for example, A. M. Srivastava et al., "Luminescence of Pr3+ in SrAl12O19: Observation of two photon luminescence in oxide lattice," J. Luminescence, 1997, 71, pp. 285-290; and commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,571,451 and 6,613,248. Such materials are generally aluminates or borates doped with Pr3+. A particularly good quantum splitting phosphor material is a strontium magnesium aluminate activated with Pr3+ and charge compensated with Mg2+. This phosphor is abbreviated: SrAl12O19:Pr,Mg.
While the above-mentioned oxide-based quantum-splitting phosphors overcome many of the limitations of halide-based quantum splitting phosphors, they generally have particle sizes large enough to scatter 254 nanometer (nm) radiation and would thereby decrease the efficiency of fluorescent lamps in which they are used.
In light of the above, a phosphor material with reduced scattering, due to smaller crystallite size (e.g., nanocrystals) and thinner coatings, would be of great benefit, especially if it were a quantum splitting phosphor.

Method to produce nanocrystalline powders of oxide-based phosphors for lighting applications


A pulse detector amplifier is disclosed. The pulse detector amplifier may have a detection switching leg that receives an input energy pulse. The pulse detector may have a mirror fast trigger including a trigger node and controlling a mirrored switching leg. The detection switching leg may trigger the trigger node in response to the input energy pulse. The pulse detector amplifier may also have a mirrored switching leg that controlled by the trigger node. The mirrored switching leg may control a voltage and/or current on the output node responsive to the input energy pulse. Thus, the pulse detector may generally include a cascode architecture, with a mirror fast trigger (which may include a FET) between the mirrored legs of the amplifier and enhancing the rapid triggering of the amplifier output. Thus the pulse detector may be power efficient, may have a small part count, and may be sensitive.

Pulse repetition frequency ("PRF") pulse detection amplifiers are frequently used in devices that measure distance, such as laser range finders and light detection and ranging ("LIDAR") systems. Similarly, PRF laser pulse detection amplifiers may be used in automated industrial process systems, such as assembly lines and sorting gates. However, at long ranges or in adverse industrial environments, the reflected light pulses are often very weak. A PRF pulse detector amplifier may be implemented to detect the reflected light pulses and amplify a resultant electronic signal. However, many such amplifiers such as those implementing transimpedence amplifiers and/or capacitive transimpedence amplifiers are schematically complex, such as implementing operational amplifiers, which are associated with numerous sub-components, consume significant electrical power, and may provide inadequate sensitivity.


An oil skimming apparatus for use in skimming oil, or hydrocarbons, or pollutants, from the surface of water. The apparatus includes a boat subassembly having left and right pontoons and a deck, an adjustable primary skimming wing portion suspended from the deck by hydraulic cylinders; a channel subassembly having a plurality of channels mounted on the top of the wing portion, a plurality of secondary skimming units respectively disposed at the outlet ends of the channels, and an oil collector and separator and storage subassembly.

1. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to an oil skimming apparatus and method, and, in particular, the invention relates to an oil skimming apparatus and method having a high speed boat subassembly and having a primary skimming wing subassembly and having a plurality of secondary skimming units.
2. Background of the Invention
One prior art oil skimming apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,889; issued Mar. 24, 1981. Related patents include U.S. Pat. Nos.
______________________________________ 3,664,505, issued May 23, 1972 3,703,463, issued November 21, 1972 3,822,789, issued July 09, 1974 4,057,498, issued November 08, 1977 4,111,811, issued September 05, 1978 4,151,081, issued April 24, 1979 4,304,668, issued December 08, 1981 4,623,459, issued November 18, 1986 ______________________________________
The prior art oil skimming apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,889 includes a ship subassembly, a first tank subassembly having an inlet opening with a flap and having an exit ramp and having an exit opening with an overflow flap, and a second collection tank subassembly.
One problem with this prior art oil skimming apparatus is that it is not suitable for relatively small, high speed boats. Another problem is that it is difficult to minimize the volume of excess water to be processed.


Embodiments of a method and an apparatus for beamforming are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method for beamforming involves transmitting, by a beamformer to a beamformee, a sounding packet that includes training symbols, receiving, at the beamformee, the sounding packet that includes the training symbols, deriving, at the beamformee, channel estimates from the training symbols included in the sounding packet, computing, at the beamformee, a feedback matrix from the derived channel estimates, transmitting, by the beamformee to the beamformer, a packet that includes two sets of symbols, where the feedback matrix is applied to at least one of the two sets of symbols, receiving, at the beamformer, the packet that includes the two sets of symbols, and operating the beamformer according to the two sets of symbols included in the packet.

In beamforming systems, beamforming devices, e.g., beamformers or beamformees, can exchange wireless information and execute various wireless operations in response to the wireless information. As an example, symbols may be transmitted via packets by a beamformer to a beamformee to help direct beam steering in subsequent packet transmissions. In such an example, an implicit beamforming technique or an explicit beamforming technique may be used to support beamforming between the beamformer and the beamformee. However, because the implicit beamforming technique and/or the explicit beamforming technique may not be able to easily support devices with large number of antennas (e.g., 16 antennas), beamforming systems may experience limited performance and range capabilities.


Means for improving the success rate of pregnancy on the basis of blastocyst transfer is disclosed. The means comprises an agent for promoting pregnancy in blastocyst transfer comprising the supernatant of the culture which is obtained by culturing a human embryo in a medium until the embryo develops into a blastocyst. Also disclosed are a method for production of the agent, as well as a method for promoting pregnancy comprising; culturing a human embryo in a medium until the human embryo develops into a blastocyst, injecting a composition comprising the supernatant of the culture into the uterine cavity of a patient who is to undergo blastocyst transfer, and then transferring the blastocyst to the recipient.

In humans, infertility is said to be observed around 10% of couples. Therefore, there have been substantial needs for fertility treatment, and by now, it is a common practice. Among different procedures of fertility treatment, those in which sperm cell or eggs are directly handled are known as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization, respectively. Artificial insemination is a technique to promote pregnancy by injecting sperm cells into the vagina at a position close to the cervix, or directly into the uterus or the oviducts, using an instrument such as catheter and the like, and it aims to increase the success rate of fertilization by avoiding obstacles that sperm cells might encounter until they could meet an egg. On the other hand, in vitro fertilization is a technique by which a patient is administered a fertility drug to induce generation of ova, which then are collected out of the body and mixed with sperm cells in a test tube (insemination) to have them got fertilized, and the fertilized eggs then are cultured and, on day 2 or 3 of culture in general, embryos at 4- or 8 cell stage are transferred into the uterine cavity in general, with a catheter. In order to make the implantation of the transferred embryos easier, administration of luteinizing hormone is usually conducted in order to condition the uterine endometrium.
A preimplantation embryo produces several factors during its development to signal its presence to the maternal organism. Interleukin-1 (IL-1), for example, is a primary factor which modulates cross talks between the embryo and the uterine endometrium of the maternal organism, and a complete IL-1 system is found in a human embryo at all the stages of its development (see Non-patent Document 1). With regard to human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), another one of the factors released by an embryo, the transcription of its gene can be found to occur already in a 2-cell stage embryo (see Non-patent Document 2). It also is observed that several embryonic factors, including the above factors, involved in the cross talks are released out of the cell when it is cultured in vitro (in a test tube). Namely, several embryonic factors that modulate endometrial receptivity are detectable in the supernatant of embryo cultures (see Non-patent Documents 3-9). It also is known that, in vivo, an embryo developing in the oviduct induces differentiation of the uterine endometrium (see Non-patent Document 10). All these facts, taken together, indicate that the cross talks are brisk at the early stages of embryonic development, between the embryo and the uterine endometrium via the factors produced by the embryo. In fact, it has been shown that not only a preimplantation embryo in the uterine cavity, but also even an early embryo still remaining in the oviduct has the ability to modulate certain molecules in the uterine endometrium to place its implantation under its own control (see Non-patent Document 10).
In recent years, blastocyst transfer, a new technique of in vitro fertilization, has been proposed and practiced clinically as a means of improving the success rate of implantation in human fertility treatment (see Non-patent Documents 11-13). In this technique, embryos produced by in vitro fertilization as described above are cultured for 5 to 6 days to let them develop into blastocysts and then injected into the uterine cavity. Employing the technique of blastocyst transfer, higher implantation rates result compared with the transfer of embryos at earlier stages, for the former allows physiological synchronization of the uterine endometrium with the developmental stage of the embryos, as well as relatively easier selection of embryos with higher ability for implantation owing to a longer in vitro culture (see Non-patent Documents 14 and 15). That the number of days required for implantation to occur after blastocyst transfer is as short as 1 day, in contrast with the 4-5 days required with 2-3 day-cultured embryos, reduces the risk of washout of embryos out of the uterus, and is therefore beneficial to implantation. Even so, however, the success rate of pregnancy by human blastocyst transfer actually remains at a low level of about 36.4%. Unsuccessful implantation after blastocyst transfer is thought to be due, e.g., to failure of the blastocyst to escape from the zona pellucida or to arrested development of the transplanted blastocyst in the uterine cavity. Thus, as there is still a majority of cases where blastocyst transfer fails to achieve pregnancy, further means is needed to increase the success rate of achieving pregnancy.    [Non-patent Document 1] De los Santos M J, Anderson D J, Racowsky C, Simon C, and Hill J A (1998) Biol Reprod. 59, 1419-1424    [Non-patent Document 2] Jurisicova A, Antenos M, Kapasi K, Meriano J, and Casper R F (1999) Hum Reprod. 14, 1852-1858    [Non-patent Document 3] Tazuke S I, and Giudice L C, (1996) Semin Reprod Endocrinol. 14, 231-245    [Non-patent Document 4] Simon C, Gimeno M J, Mercader A, O'Connor J E, Remohi J, Polan M L, and Pellicer A (1997) J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 82, 2607-2616    [Non-patent Document 5] Giudice L C (1995) Semin Reprod Endocrinol. 13, 93-101    [Non-patent Document 6] Sheth K V, Roca G L, al-Sedairy S T, Parhar R S, Hamilton C J, and al-Abdul Jabbar F (1991) Fertil Steril. 55, 952-957    [Non-patent Document 7] Baranao R I, Piazza A, Rumi L S, and Polak de Fried E (1997) Am J Reprod Immunol. 37, 191-194    [Non-patent Document 8] Licht P, Russu V, and Wildt L (2001) Semin Reprod Med. 19, 37-47    [Non-patent Document 1] Perrier d'Hauterive S, Charlet-Renard C, Berndt S, Dubois M, Munaut C, Goffin F, et. al. (2004) Hum Reprod. 19, 2633-2643    [Non-patent Document 10] Wakuda K, Takakura K, Nakanishi K, Kita N, Shi H, Hirose M, and Noda Y (1999) J Reprod Fertil. 115, 315-324    [Non-patent Document 11] Gardner D K, Schoolcraft W B, Wagley L, Schlenker T, Stevens J, and Hesla J A (1998) Hum Reprod. 13, 3434-3440    [Non-patent Document 12] Scholtes M C, and Zeilmaker G H (1998) Fertil Steril. 69, 78-83    [Non-patent Document 13] Milki A A, Fisch J D, and Behr B (1999) Fertil Steril. 72, 225-228    [Non-patent Document 14] Gardner D K, Vella P, Lane M, Wagley L, Schlenker T, and Schoolcraft W B (1998) Fertil Steril. 69, 84-88    [Non-patent Document 15] Edwards R G, and Beard H K (1999) Hum Reprod. 14, 1-4

Blastocyst culture supernatant as a fertility agent in blastocyst transfer


A system (100) and method for a touchless tablet that produces a touchless sensory field over a form (111). The touchless tablet includes a touchless sensing unit (110) for identifying a finger action above the form, and a controller (130) communicatively coupled to the sensing unit for associating the finger action with at least one form component on the form. The touchless tablet identifies a selection of a form component (122) based on a location and action of the finger above the form. A display (140) connected to the touchless tablet can expose a graphical application, wherein a touchless selection of a form component corresponds to a selection of a graphical component on the graphical application.

Tablets are devices which allow a user to visualize electronic text on a display. A user can interact with the tablet by touching the tablet with a stylus. For example, a user can fill out an electronic form by writing on the tablet much like writing on a piece of paper using a pen. The tablet can detect a physical pressing of the stylus on the screen and interpret the information written by the user. Tablets can vary in size but are generally approximately the size of a sheet of paper. Alternatively, a tablet can include a touchscreen which can be physically touched by a user. A user can touch the touchscreen in a manner similar to the way a stylus is used: that is, through a physical interaction.
Tablets, touch screens, and touch panels are typically pressure-sensitive (resistive), electrically-sensitive (capacitive), acoustically-sensitive (SAW—surface acoustic wave) or photo-sensitive (infra-red). Such displays can be attached as accessory devices to computers or communication devices. Tablets can be considered an electronic substitute to the pen and paper. Although tablets have proven useful, some consumer are interested in smaller display devices that are more portable. A need therefore exists for a compact device which provides improved portability and use.

Touchless tablet method and system thereof


A pneumatic radial ply tire for heavier load conditions having a reduced weight, high durability bead area. The pneumatic tire includes a tire bead and a carcass ply folded about the bead to define a main body portion and a turnup portion. The turnup portion is folded around the bead and located adjacent the main body portion radially outward of the bead. The turnup portion has a turnup height of approximately 35-45% of the total section height. A thin rubber strip associated with the bead is disposed between the main body portion and the turnup portion and has an insert height of approximately 25% of the total section height. The pneumatic tire further includes a chafer having a maximum chafer gauge of not more than approximately 1.5 times the thickness of the tire side wall.

A pneumatic tire typically includes a pair of axially separated inextensible beads having at least one carcass ply extending between the two beads. The carcass ply includes axially opposite end portions each of which is turned up around a respective bead and secured thereto. Tread rubber and sidewall rubber are located axially from and radially outward of, respectively, the carcass ply.
The bead area is one portion of the tire that receives considerable attention during the tire design process. Under conditions of severe operation, the stresses in the bead area can be especially problematic, leading to separation of adjacent components. In particular, the ply turnup ends are prone to separation from adjacent structural elements of the tire. For this reason, a variety of structural design approaches have been used to manage separation of the tire elements in the bead area. These design approaches typically include adding various polymeric materials within the bead area to increase strength and rigidity. In many tire bead designs, one or more fillers or apexes will be disposed between adjacent components. For instance, an apex might be positioned immediately radially outward of the bead and between the carcass main portion and the turnup portion. A second apex might be positioned between the turnup portion and the tire side wall. Many bead designs include additional elements, such as chafers, chippers, toe guards, and clamping members, all designed to improve the durability of the bead area.
Bead area designs including the above-mentioned strengthening elements have some drawbacks, such as increased material costs as well as increased tire weight. To address these drawbacks, tire manufacturers continue to strive for bead area designs that have reduced weight and volume characteristics, yet provide high bead area durability. For certain tire markets, such as the radial light truck (RLT) tire market, manufacturers have made some progress in providing bead area designs with reduced weight and high durability. By way of example, in tires according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,688, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a bead area having a locked bead construction includes a turnup portion that wraps around a substantially pentagonal bead without an apex between the main portion and the turnup portion and without a chipper or clamping member. This construction therefore eliminates many of the structural elements in many prior bead area designs, thereby reducing the weight but still providing high bead area durability.
For pneumatic tires used under relatively heavier loads, such as those for the radial medium truck (RMT) tire market, the volume of the various strengthening elements are typically increased to support the increased loads, thereby further increasing the material costs and weight of the bead area. Consequently, as with the RLT tire market, manufacturers desire bead area designs having reduced volume and weight characteristics that further provide high bead area durability. However, applying the teachings and techniques of the RLT tire market, such as that found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,688, to tires designed for heavier loads, such as RMT tires, often results in unacceptable stress concentrations in the bead area which may lead to ply separation and tire failure.
Thus, there continues to be a need for a simplified bead area design for heavier load radial tires that reduces the weight of the bead area yet provides high bead area durability.

Pneumatic tire with high turnup, locked bead construction


A network apparatus according to one embodiment is provided in a radio access network of a mobile communication system. The network apparatus comprises: a storage configured to store content data delivered from a server outside the radio access network; and a controller configured to recognize content data requested by a radio terminal, and to determine whether or not the requested content data is stored in the storage. The controller is configured to, when the requested content data is stored in the storage, deliver the requested content data to the radio terminal on behalf of the server.

In a mobile communication system, a radio terminal receives data (user data) transmitted from a communication destination via a radio access network (RAN). The communication destination of the radio terminal is, for example, a server or the like on the Internet. In such a data forwarding, from the viewpoint of a high-level layer equal to or higher than an IP (Internet Protocol) layer, the RAN is transparent to handling of data of the user plane (U-plane).
On the other hand, in a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, by increasing the RAN in sophistication, a delay time (that is, latency) of data forwarding to a radio terminal (that is, latency) is desirable to be reduced.


Herein disclosed is a prick-preventing shoe, in which is sandwiched between a grounding sole and an inner sole a prick-preventing metallic core shaped to match the shape of the grounding sole and having at least its portion made of a sheet of an amorphous metal. The prick-preventing shoe has its prick prevention and flexibility compatible with each other so that it is advantageous to enjoy the spongy step accompanied by the bendability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prick-preventing shoe and, more particularly, to a prick-preventing workman's split-toed heavy-cloth shoe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The workman's shoe of the prior art has its sole reinforced by a metal plate of steel, stainless steel or the like so that the shoe ma be prevented from being pricked by a nail or the like.
In order to increase the resistance to the prick thereby to enhance the safety, it is necessary to increase the thickness of the core of the metal plate. This increase in the thickness in turn makes it difficult for the shoe to bend so that the springy step is seriously deteriorated.
Taking both the safety and the deterioration in step into consideration, there has been proposed a workman's split-toed heavy-cloth shoe which incorporates a stainless steel plate having a thickness of about 0.3 mm for preventing the prick. This structure is a compromise between the safety and the springy step accompanied by the bending motions so that the prick prevention is neither as high as that of the safety shoe conforming to the Japanese Industrial Standards nor as bendable as the existing workman's split-toed heavy-cloth shoe.