A sealed dispensing cup is prepared by forming a portion of a plastic sheet into a cup, adding dispensable material to the cup, placing a sealable closure over the open end of the cup and marginally beyond the periphery of the open end to provide an overlap area that includes a lateral rim section, sealing the closure to the lateral rim section, excising the lateral rim section, with its subtending cup, from the plastic sheet in a configuration that includes an elongated handle portion extending outwardly from the rim, and shaping the elongated handle portion into the form of a finger mount.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to finger mountable dispensing cups and, more particularly, to a method for preparing disposable, filled and sealed, finger mountable, dispensing cups for use in dental practice.
2. Prior Art
In one packaging format, dental polishing paste adapted for use in dental practice has been supplied to the dental profession in disposable cups, sized for individual patient usage. In this format, the dental paste cup generally comprises a cylindrical container having an open mouth which is continuous with an outwardly disposed lateral flange. A closure in the form of a thin cover sheet overlies the mouth of the container and is secured to the upper surface of the lateral flange. The closure includes a laterally extending, pull-open tab to facilitate complete removal of the closure at the time of use and thereby permit unimpeded access to the dental paste in the container.
The aforesaid dental paste cup is adapted to be used with a sterilizable and reusable, metallic finger-mountable holder. In an illustrative prior art embodiment, the holder, which is constructed from thin sheet metal, generally comprises a cylindrical member that is continuous with an upwardly, outwardly, and downwardly extending, finger-mountable member having its terminus in substantial spaced relationship to the cylindrical member. The finger-mountable member, in this embodiment, has an inverted U-shaped or horseshoe-like configuration. In use, the body of the dental paste cup is passed through the cylindrical member so as to engage the top of this member with the underside of the cup's lateral flange. The U-shaped finger mount is then passed over the finger which provides a support for the holder-cup combination. Thereafter, the clinician removes the closure from the dental paste cup and dips the tip of a power actuated applicator into the cup to thereby obtain a suitable quantity of dental paste for use in polishing a patient's teeth. A significant problem associated with the repeated use of dental cup holders incorporating U-shaped finger grips is that such holders tend to slip and slide about the finger upon application of a dipping force to the contents of the dental cup.
Other packaging formats for dental material cups are illustrated by the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,391 (Malm, 1967) discloses a disposable, clear acetate, dental material cup containing dental medicaments or pumices and provided with a cellophane cover that may be heat sealed to the outwardly projecting rim of the cup. The bottom of the cup is provided with a downwardly disposed projection that is adapted to be slip-fitted or snap-connected to a supporting, split, finger ring made of more permanent material since the ring is not considered to be disposable with the cup.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,379 (Hardgrove, 1961) discloses a sterilizable, vertically disposed and pivotally connected, two-compartment, finger supportable dental tray for holding plastic filling materials, dental cleaning compounds and medications wherein the upper compartment forms a closure for the lower compartment and the lower compartment is provided with a lateral rim that has a finger-engagable ring like member extending therefrom.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,057 (Porteous, 1988) discloses a disposable dental paste cup having an open mouth defined by an outwardly disposed lateral rim, a removable closure overlies the open mouth and extends beyond the rim, and a finger mount extends in a ring-like manner from the rim and terminates in an open end that passes through an aperture in the finger mount into alignment with the outer extension of the closure. The application of a vertical squeezing force to the finger mount permits the open end segment to bear against the outer extension of the closure and thereby effect displacement of the closure from the mouth of the cup.

Method for preparing finger mountable dispensing cups


The present disclosure relates to a device for automatically binding two or more printed textile panels along a lateral edge of said panels and/or binding a printed textile panel or panels with a flexible material strip along a lateral edge of said panel or panels, said device comprising a sewing head, a puller for pulling the printed textile panel or panels into the sewing head, and a gripper holding system comprising a plurality of grippers for gripping a portion of a lateral edge of the printed textile panel or panels to maintain alignment as the printed textile panel or panels are pulled into said puller.

Outdoor advertisements, for example billboards for hanging in a structure or wall murals for attaching to a wall, are typically manufactured by printing individual panels and using manual labour for binding these panels to form a complete image sheet. These panels need to be trimmed to have proper dimensions, and are then bound together, typically sewn together on a sewing machine. These images are typically large, having standard sizes that can reach many meters high and many meters wide. They are made of textile materials and may comprise many panels that need to be sewn together, typically longitudinally. Also, these textile panels may be fastened with a fastening structure having grooves for receiving flexible material strips which have been previously attached to the textile panels. This flexible material strip may be of silicone or another suitably flexible polymeric material. This strip is a long narrow piece of flexible material fastened to the textile panels which can be inserted into said grooves. The conventional method of sewing those panels requires at least two human operators to perform and typically takes a long time to finalize only one complete image sheet that is determined by not only the panel dimensions but also the ability of the operators.
Document US20040182210 discloses a system for transversely cutting and conveying elongated web, in which a gripper pulls a web off a supply downstream through upstream and downstream clamps. The upstream clamp is closed on the web and a piece is cut off its end. Document US20020026861 discloses a system for transporting and cutting elongated workpiece. Although both cited documents intend to solve the trouble of handling with elongated workpieces, both relate to cutting systems in textile industry trying to compact the device. Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,122 discloses an apparatus for feeding a textile piece to a sewing device. However, it is specifically to solve the problem related to rotatably sewing a collarette to a garment and therefore not suitable for elongate workpieces.
These facts are disclosed in order to illustrate the technical problem addressed by the present disclosure.

Device and method for automatically binding printed textile panels, or printed textile panels with flexible material strips


According to one aspect of the disclosure, the present invention provides methods and arrangements for the removal or reduction of divergence artifacts between a transmitting codec and a receiving codec.

Videocommunication equipment, such as videoconferencing systems and videophone devices, have enabled people to communicate visually without having to travel to a common location. As a result, communication participants can be separated by large distances.
A typical videoconferencing uses a video camera to capture a series of images of a target, such as a meeting participant or a document. The series of images is encoded as a data stream and transmitted over a communications channel to a remote location. For example, the data stream may be transmitted over a phone line, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) line, or the Internet. The encoding process is typically implemented using a digital video coder/decoder (codec), which divides the images into blocks and compresses the blocks according to a video compression standard, such as the H.263 and H.261 recommendations by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T). In standards of this type, a block may be compressed independent of the previous image or as a difference between the block and part of the previous image.
In a typical videoconferencing system, the data stream is received at a remote location, where it is decoded into a series of images, which may be viewed at the remote location. Depending on the equipment used, this process typically occurs at a rate of one to thirty frames per second.
In some videoconferencing applications, it is desirable to transmit a high quality still image. Until the image is completely received and decoded, the receiving terminal is often unaware of its content. Some decoders decode and display a block only after they have received the complete image. With the image being transmitted as a series of blocks, considerable delay is often involved in transmitting the entire image. For example, in applications where the available bandwidth for transmitting data is small, transmission of a 352.times.288 pixel image may require up to a minute. In order to transmit still images more quickly, the image may be highly compressed.
The above-mentioned Telecommunication Standardization Sector recently revised ITU-T H.263 recommendation by appending thereto Annex J: Deblocking Filter Mode. This annex describes an optional loop filter (also referred to as as block edge filter or deblocking filter) to be used within the prediction loop used for coding in each of the send and receive terminals in image communicating system. The main purpose of the loop filter is to reduce blocking artifacts. Such artifacts often appear at boundaries between different image blocks. The above-mentioned annex, not unlike other recommendations by the ITU, was adopted after much research and consideration for the purpose of providing communicating image terminals of various types and manufacturers the ability to communicate images accurately.
In connection with the present invention, a significant discovery has been made. After intense research, it has been discovered that respective implementations of two image communication terminals, each fully compliant with the above-mentioned annex to the ITU-T H.263 recommendation result in visually apparent artifacts which result from divergence between sending and receiving terminals. Such artifacts appear as long as the loop filter portion of Annex J is used, irrespective of whether the other portions of Annex J (Unrestricted Motion Vectors, 4MV) are also used. The response by the ITU-T was one of surprise.

Deblocking filter for encoder/decoder arrangement and method with divergence reduction


It is disclosed here that synaptotagmin I (syt I) and synaptotagmin II (syt II) are the cellular receptors for botulinum neurotoxin B (BoNT/B) that mediate the cellular entry and toxicity of BoNT/B. The BoNT/B binding domains of syt I and II are also disclosed. While syt I needs gangliosides for BoNT/B binding, syt II can bind to BoNT/B in the absence of gangliosides. Various nucleic acids and polypeptides that relate to the BoNT/B binding domain of syt I or II are disclosed. Further disclosed are methods of reducing BoNT/B toxicity, methods of identifying agents that can block the binding between BoNT/B and syt I or II, methods of identifying agents that can bind to the BoNT/B binding domain of syt I or II, methods of detecting BoNT/B or Clostridium botulinum and kits for use thereof.

Clostridial neurotoxins (CNT) are the most toxic substances known. There are eight related toxins—seven botulinum neurotoxins (BoNT/A-G) and tetanus neurotoxin (TeNT) (Schiavo et al., 2000; Simpson, 1981). BoNTs can cause botulism disease and are potential biological weapons (Amon et al., 2001; Mahant et al., 2000). Each of the BoNT and TeNT is composed of a heavy and light chain; the heavy chain mediates binding to the surface of specific nerve terminals. Once internalized via endocytosis, the light chain is translocated from the lumen of the vesicle into the cytoplasm where it functions as a zinc-dependent protease (Schiavo et al., 2000). The light chain cleaves one or more components of a conserved membrane fusion complex composed of syntaxin, SNAP-25 and synaptobrevin (syb), thereby blocking exocytosis (Blasi et al., 1993a; Blasi et al., 1993b; Schiavo et al., 1992; Schiavo et al., 1993). Because of their ability to selectively disrupt Ca2+-triggered exocytosis, the CNTs have emerged as important tools for the study of membrane fusion and synaptic transmission (Jahn and Niemann, 1994).
The first step in the action of CNTs involves binding to receptors on the surface of neurons. Current evidence suggests that the receptors are composed of gangliosides and proteins that cooperate to form high affinity toxin binding sites. Alternatively, gangliosides may constitute relatively low-affinity toxin binding sites that serve to capture CNTs to facilitate interactions with cell surface receptor proteins (Montecucco, 1986; Nishiki et al., 1996a). Gangliosides are ubiquitous glycosphingolipids in the outer leaflet of plasma membranes. They are classified according to the number and position of sialic acids present in their head groups. Polysialiogangliosides, which are present almost exclusively in neurons and neuroendrocrine cells, bind to CNTs with the greatest avidity (Halpern and Neale, 1995). While a protein component is also clearly involved in toxin-cell recognition, at present, a protein that mediates toxin entry has not been identified (Schiavo et al., 2000).
Biochemical studies have led to the identification of a handful of CNT binding proteins. In most case, these binding proteins do not appear to function as receptors that mediate entry of the toxins. For example, BoNT/A,B,E and TeNT were reported to bind synapsin I and adducin, respectively (Schengrund et al., 1996; Schengrund et al., 1993; Schengrund et al., 1992). Since neither of these proteins are exposed to the outside surface of cells, they are unlikely to function as cell surface receptors. TeNT was reported to bind Thy-1, a GPI-anchored plasma membrane protein. However, neurons from mice lacking Thy-1 are still sensitive to TeNT, suggesting that Thy-1 is not essential for TeNT entry into cells (Herreros et al., 2001).
Synaptotagmins (syt) I and II (Nishiki et al., 1994) are homologous synaptic vesicle membrane proteins thought to function as Ca2+-sensors for exocytosis (Chapman, 2002; Schiavo et al., 1998). Syt I and II were reported to bind BoNT/B in the presence of gangliosides; the dissociation constant for the syt I.BoNT/B complex was 2.3 nM and the dissociation constant for syt II.BoNT/B was 0.23 nM (Nishiki et al., 1996a). High affinity binding of BoNT/B to fibroblasts was reconstituted by expression of syt II and incorporation of exogenous gangliosides into surface membranes. However, binding did not result in the cleavage of the BoNT/B target protein, syb II, that had been co-expressed with syt II, indicating that the toxin was not internalized (Nishiki et al., 1996b). Although biochemical studies clearly established that syt binds to BoNT/B, evidence that binding mediates entry into cells is lacking. Thus, whether this interaction has any functional role remains unknown. More recently, BoNT/A and E have also been reported to bind syt I, albeit in a ganglioside independent manner (Li and Singh, 1998).
Syt II is a 422-amino acid protein that contains a luminal domain (a.a. 1-60), a transmembrane domain (a.a. 61-87) and a cytoplamic domain (a.a. 88-422). The cytoplasmic domain contains two C2 domains: C2A (a.a. 88-267) and C2B (a.a. 275-422) linked by a linker region (a.a. 268-274).
Determining whether any of the above proteins, or perhaps other proteins, serve as the BoNT receptor will be extremely useful for designing molecules that can reduce or completely inhibit BoNT toxicity. For the same reason, once a receptor is identified, it is important to map the BoNT binding domain because polypeptides containing the domain and peptidomimics thereof can be used to compete with the receptor for BoNT binding, thereby reducing or completely inhibiting BoNT toxicity.

Botulinum neurotoxin B receptors and use thereof


A device and method restricting water flow from a bathroom fixture is provided herewith. A preferred embodiment of the improved flow restrictor assembly comprises a metallic fitting or housing that accommodates an interior ring assembly and a flow-restrictor disk. The fitting is substantially tubular with a top section, a bottom section and an intersection. The top section of the fitting is defined by an opening, a hollow interior and a ledge upon which the interior ring assembly and flow-restrictor disk are positioned when the flow restrictor assembly is installed and in use. The bottom section features a pair of gripping planes which can be gripped by a specialized tool for purposes of uninstalling the improved flow restrictor assembly.

A number of tools and systems are designed for use in connection with the task of resisting or reducing water flow in showerheads. The concern over global warming and the potential for drought in some areas continues to draw attention towards conserving water and energy. Water consumed through indoor and outdoor appliances represents a considerable share of a household's daily water usage in developed countries. Specifically, domestic use ranges from ten to thirty percent of overall water consumption in developed countries, with shower usage being typically the third largest water use in a residence.
In addition to environmental concerns, the Federal government through the Energy Policy Act of 1992, has mandated that many household fixtures must reduce water flow. In particular, all showerheads manufactured or imported into the United States must meet reduced flow requirements of 2.5 gallons per minute (gpm) at 80 pounds per square inch (psi). Prior to this regulation, shower users could consume five to eight gpm.
In order to conform to the federal regulations as well as reduce water and energy consumption, flow restrictors have been utilized in showerhead fixtures. These restrictors are simple disks with small openings, wherein the disks are either incorporated into the showerhead or manufactured as "after-market" inserts, installed at a point between the shower arm and the showerhead.
Despite its proposed utility, this device suffers from a number of deficiencies. For example, because of the configuration of these restrictors, a user may easily remove the disk, resulting in an increase in flow rate to a level that exceeds the 2.5 gpm maximum allowable flow rate. This problem is encountered by landlords in particular who typically must also endure the added water and heating costs without being able to pass those costs on to tenants.
Previous devices have attempted to provide an "after-market" tamper-resistant external flow restrictor using a rotating sleeve to cover the set screw that locks the fitting in place on the showerhead arm. The rotating sleeve of these devices is held in place by an additional screw set. However, a user could easily unscrew the screw holding the rotating sleeve in place, rotate the sleeve, and remove the second set screw in order to detach the flow restrictor from the showerhead arm.
One solution to remedy this problem is provided in U.S. application Ser. No. 12/657,838 ("Schwartz"). Schwartz discloses providing a flow restrictor concealed behind a shower wall and using a tamper-resistant fitting that is curved on all sides thereby hindering a user from utilizing any tool to unscrew the fitting. Instead, a knowledgeable worker must first remove the flow-restrictor disk from a fitting and insert a tool into a tool-hole hidden behind the flow-restrictor disk in order to completely remove the remaining portion of the flow-restrictor assembly. However, in order to optimize flow restriction, it is desirable for the flow-restrictor disk to always fit securely and tightly against all walls of the flow restrictor assembly. A flow-restrictor assembly that utilizes a flow-restrictor disk that can be dislodged in some manner to create a gap between the flow-restrictor disk and fitting within which it is positioned may decrease the effectiveness of the flow restrictor assembly and potentially lead to increased water usage. Furthermore, another deficiency in the prior art is the current water flow restrictor devices are designed solely for use along with a showerhead fixture, with no corresponding water flow restrictor device designed for use with bathtub fixtures. Because usage of a bathtub faucet is typically associated with filling a bathtub to a desired water level while the drain of the bathtub is blocked with a stopper, there appears to be no incentive to use of a flow restrictor device in a bathtub faucet. However, many use bathtub faucets for other purposes, such as running water for use in bathroom or household cleaning. In these situations, the drain stopper may be left open while water flows from the bathtub faucet. Thus, there is a need for a flow restrictor device to be used with a bathtub faucet.

Water flow restriction device and method


Systems and methods for initial provisioning through shared Proofs of Knowledge (PoKs) and crowdsourced identification are provided. In some embodiments, a method of sharing a PoK between a first Relying Party (RP) server and a second RP server includes receiving, by the first RP server, a request from a client device by a user for sharing the PoK. The method also includes causing, by the first RP server, the PoK to be provided to the client device and receiving, by the second RP server, a request from the client device to use the shared PoK for authentication of the user. In this way, the user may be provided additional convenience by allowing the reuse of the shared PoK. Also, depending on the number of RP servers that accept the shared PoK, the user may also be provided a degree of crowdsourced identification.

User accounts are ubiquitous on the web. Often times, before using a new application or service on the Internet, a user has to create (or provision) an account. Advances in technology have made it easy for users to create accounts online, but how do the service providers know that the account they have just created is for the right person and not for a misappropriated identity? This is known as the initial provisioning problem and may include the verification that users who sign up for new accounts are indeed the people whom they are representing themselves to be. Also, having these multiple accounts often requires the use of multiple different passwords that may require differing lengths and complexities. Remembering and managing these passwords or other proofs of knowledge can be cumbersome and possibly lead to reduced security.
While all service providers would like to make sure that they are delivering content and services to the users who are indeed the people who they represent themselves to be, there are varying degrees of importance to the initial provisioning problem. For example, it may not be significant if a misappropriated identity is used to create a new account for an email newsletter. But it is another matter altogether if the misappropriated identity is used to create a new account for online banking, online health information, or other services involving sensitive information.
There are many current systems in place to address the initial provisioning problem. Some systems are simple, such as email verification. Email verification involves sending a link to the email address associated with the account to make sure that the owner of the email address intended for the account to be created. Other systems are more complex and involve physical identity verification. Some examples of this include the Trusted Traveler Program for business travelers or the Common Access Card (CAC) for Department of Defense employees. In those cases, the user must visit a designated center and have their credentials verified by an approved representative before the user account is created.
Systems like email verification are convenient but are not reliable in that they do not truly verify identity. Physical identification systems are highly reliable but can be very inconvenient. As such, there needs to be a system that is convenient and reliable. As such, there is a need for improvements for initial provisioning.

Initial provisioning through shared proofs of knowledge and crowdsourced identification


A belt press has a frame having horizontally extending and vertically spaced upper and lower plates defining a horizontally extending gap, respective upper and lower sets of drums rotatable on the frame, respective upper and lower endless belts spanned over the respective upper and lower sets of drums and each having a working stretch lying between the plates, and respective upper and lower sets of tubular rollers engaged between the working stretches and the respective plates. Respective upper and lower sets of rods traverse the respective rollers and are connected together as upper and lower endless chains. A drive connected to the drums advances the belts to move the working stretches horizontally in a transport direction to displace a workpiece in the direction through the gap and the plates are urged together with a pressure of between 300N/cm.sup.2 and 600N/cm.sup.2. Each tubular roller has a wall thickness greater than 2 mm, is formed of a material such that it is not substantially deformed when compressed diametrally between the respective plate and the respective working stretch, has a mass which is smaller by a factor of between 0.30 and 0.50 than a solid rod of identical material and outside dimensions, and has a geometrical moment of inertia that is smaller by a factor of between 0.50 and 0.65 than a solid rod of identical material and outside dimensions.

A standard belt press as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,417,866, 4,480,978, and 4,613,293 has a frame having horizontally extending and vertically spaced upper and lower plates defining a horizontally extending gap having an upstream end and a downstream end, vertically spaced upper and lower upstream drums rotatable about respective horizontal axes at the upstream end, vertically spaced upper and lower downstream drums rotatable about respective horizontal axes at the downstream end, and upper and lower endless belts spanned over the respective upper and lower drums and each having a working stretch lying between the plates and a return stretch. Upper and lower sets of rollers engaged between the working stretches and the respective plates can be recirculated as the belts are advanced to move the working stretches horizontally in a transport direction to displace a workpiece in the direction through the gap so that the working stretches are supported on the respective plates by these rollers. The entire press is also normally heated to activate a binder in the workpiece.
Typically the rollers have a diameter of between 15 mm and 25 mm, normally 20 mm, and are subjected to a pressure between 300N/cm.sup.2 and 600N/cm.sup.2 normally 500N/cm.sup.2. As a result the standard prior-art practice has been to use solid rods as the rollers. Such solid rods can be made to very tight tolerances of diameter, straightness, and the like. Nonetheless in a long press, which can exceed 50 m in length, this means that a huge mass of such rollers must be moved.
It has been suggested in German patent 3,534,996 filed Oct. 01, 1985 and in European patent 236,905 issued Apr. 03, 1991 and equivalent U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,525 to R. deBrock (based on DE 3,608,487 filed Mar. 14, 1986) to make the rollers tubular. These rollers are of extremely thin wall thickness, well under 2 mm, so that they deform in the press and act as spring elements. The service life of such rollers, which deform substantially in use, is therefore relatively short.


The present application relates to systems, methods, and devices for performing drilling operations, such as in a surgical setting. The embodiments disclosed herein include handheld drill apparatus configured to be used with guides for completing a specific operation. The drill apparatus is capable of receiving instructions either through programming, from a memory device, or from scanning a device located on an external item, such as a guide.

Many prior art devices used to achieve various drilling tasks or related activities suffer from significant disadvantages, such as poor stability and/or accuracy, difficulty in handling and operating in confined spaces, poor visibility and other disadvantages. For example, many drilling apparatus have fast moving parts, rotating parts and/or vibrating parts which prevent the drilling apparatus to be secured in a comfortable and fixed position while in use or which significantly impair the visibility and operation of the operable end of the apparatus. Furthermore, several prior art drilling apparatus have little or no depth control or accuracy measures with respect to over-drilling or under-drilling, as the application may tend to require. These problems and shortcomings are even more noticeable when considering prior art drills for use in surgical settings or which otherwise require precision.
In addition to the shortcomings with drilling apparatus, fixation devices can also suffer from various shortcomings. For example, pedicle screws are subject to relatively high failure rates, which is often attributed to a failure of the bone-screw interface. Screws for use in surgical settings may also be limited for use in only certain boney anatomies, or with only certain types of drilling apparatus.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved drilling apparatus that decreases drilling times, enhances depth control, as well as stability and accuracy when performing drilling operations, and which otherwise overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, there is a need for a drill apparatus that does not require the user to move the drill body during the drilling operation. There is also a strong need for a drilling device that improves patient safety, in part by reducing the risk of anterior breaches during certain surgical procedures requiring the use of drilling apparatus.
The prior art also fails to teach a system for creating a suite of surgical apparatus based on the data set derived from a patient's MRI or CT scan. For example, the availability of patient-specific data (for example, a vertebral body) may allow a surgeon to accommodate for subtle variations in the position and orientation of a plate, screw, or other bone anchor to avoid particular boney anatomy, or irregularities in the positioning and alignment of the adjoining vertebral bodies. As another example, the use of patient data may also assist a surgeon in selecting a desired trajectory for an implantable device so as to avoid, for example, crossing the pedicle wall and violating the spinal canal during a spine-related procedure. The use of patient-specific data permits the surgeon to avoid these types of mistakes by creating and utilizing customized tools and instruments, which may comprise specific orientation, end-stops/hard stops, or other safety related features to avoid over-torque or over-insertion of an associated device. This data also permits the surgeon to create a patient-contacting surface that is oriented to match one or more of the anatomical features derived from the data set, and thereby quickly and efficiently locate and place devices with corresponding patient-contacting surface(s) in the appropriate location and orientation.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide apparatus suitable for use with a surgical procedure that is adapted and/or configured and/or capable of conforming to a plurality of anatomical features of a particular patient, and/or to one or more additional apparatus to assist the surgeon in completing the surgical procedure(s) safely and efficiently, and that otherwise significantly reduces, if not eliminates, the problems and risks noted above. Other advantages over the prior art will become known upon review of the Summary and Detailed Description and the appended claims.

Drill apparatus and surgical fixation devices and methods for using the same


A first server is configured to receive an image from a first client device. The image may include an instruction to provide a second client device with a computer file. The first server is further configured to store the image, receive a task query from the first client device, and provide a task query response to the first client device based on receiving the task query. The task query response may include an indication that the first server is storing a task associated with the second client device. The first server is further configured to receive an image request from the second client device, communicate with a second server to identify whether the second client device is authorized to receive the image, and provide, to the second client device, the computer file associated with the image based on identifying that the second client device is authorized to receive the image.

Data images are sometimes used to install operating systems, software applications, or some other computer file on a client device, such as a desktop computer. Users of a client device sometimes build a data image, store the data image on a storage medium (e.g., a physical compact disk (CD)), and provide the data image to a client device in the form of a physical CD. A software application, associated with the client device, may read the data image to install operating systems, software applications, or some other computer file on the client device. Building a data image for storing on a compact disk and providing the compact disk to a client device is time consuming and can result in out-of-date applications being provided to the client device.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A mixing tee assembly suitable for phosphate acid attack reaction is described. The mixing tee assembly comprises an outer pipe having a mixing end and a tee end, wherein a tee structure is formed near the tee end to connect with additional piping; an inner pipe comprising a nozzle end connected to a nozzle and a open end; wherein the inner pipe is lined with a corrosion-resistant material on its inside surface; wherein when the inner pipe is assembled within the outer pipe, the nozzle extends beyond the mixing end of the outer pipe by at least ⅓ of the inside diameter of the outer pipe.

Phosphoric acid is a mineral acid having the chemical formula H3PO4. Phosphoric acid is an important reactant in many modern day manufacturing, such as anodizing, buffer agent in biology and chemistry, catalyst, or even electrolyte in fuel cells. Phosphoric acid is an important component in agricultural products such as fertilizer.
Phosphoric acid is produced industrially by two general routes—the thermal process and the wet process, which includes two sub-methods. The wet process dominates in the commercial sector. The more expensive thermal process produces a purer product that is used for applications in the food industry. A background of the various processes for preparing phosphoric acid is beneficial to understand the importance of the invention.
Thermal Process.
Very pure phosphoric acid is obtained by burning elemental phosphorus to produce phosphorus pentoxide, which is subsequently dissolved in dilute phosphoric acid. This route produces a very pure phosphoric acid, since most impurities present in the rock have been removed when extracting phosphorus from the rock in a furnace. The end result is food-grade, thermal phosphoric acid; however, for critical applications, additional processing to remove arsenic compounds may be needed.
Elemental phosphorus is produced in an electric furnace. At a high temperature, a mixture of phosphate ore, silica and carbonaceous material produces calcium silicate, phosphorus gas (P) and carbon monoxide (CO). The P and CO off-gases from this reaction are cooled under water to isolate solid phosphorus. Alternatively, the P and CO off-gases can be burned with air to produce phosphorus pentoxide and carbon dioxide. Due to the high cost related to preparing elemental phosphorus, the thermal process is less prevalent in the commercial sector.
Wet Process.
Wet process phosphoric acid is prepared by adding sulfuric acid to tricalcium phosphate rock, typically found in nature as apatite. The reaction is:Ca5(PO4)3X+5H2SO4+10H2O→3H3PO4+5CaSO4·2H2O+HXwhere X may include OH, F, Cl, and Br.
The initial phosphoric acid solution may contain 23-33% P2O5 (32-46% H3PO4), but can be concentrated by the evaporation of water to produce commercial- or merchant-grade phosphoric acid, which contains about 54-62% P2O5 (75-85% H3PO4). Further evaporation of water yields superphosphoric acid with a P2O5 concentration above 70%.
Digestion of the phosphate ore using sulfuric acid yields the insoluble calcium sulfate (gypsum), which is filtered and removed as phosphogypsum. Wet-process acid can be further purified by removing fluorine to produce animal-grade phosphoric acid, or by solvent extraction and arsenic removal to produce food-grade phosphoric acid.
The nitrophosphate process is similar to the wet process except that it uses nitric acid in place of sulfuric acid. The advantage to this route is that the coproduct, calcium nitrate is also a plant fertilizer. This method is rarely employed.
Diplo Process.
Improvement of the wet process has been developed to provide better crystallization and yield. The Diplo process is a variation of the standard Speichim Single Reactor process where phosphate rock is attacked in two stages within two reactors connected in series.
Phosphate rock is mixed with sulfuric acid in a reactor to create a phosphogypsum slurry. Agitation ensures high recirculation rate and mixing efficiency in order to obtain high yields and optimized crystallization. The heat of reaction is removed by air cooling with surface cooler-dispersers or other flash cooler apparatus.
Equipment for the acid-attack reaction includes, among others, mixing tee assemblies where the concentrated sulfuric acid is diluted and introduced into the reactor for easier handling. However, the dilution is accompanied by large amount of heat that makes the acid mixing tee assembly more vulnerable to the already corrosive sulfuric acid, especially at the nozzle that sprays the concentrated sulfuric acid.
The mixing tee has concentric inner pipe and outer pipe terminating in a nozzle where the fluid from the inner pipe and the concentric chamber created by the inner and out concentric pipe mix. The concentrated sulfuric acid is introduced through the inner pipe and is diluted with return or recycle acid recovered from the reactor that is introduced into the concentric chamber. It has been proposed to coat the nozzle with PTFE or using PTFE-lined pipe in the immediate mixing area to reduce the corrosive damage to the pipes. However, such modification still cannot avoid sulfuric acid trapped in the mixing end of the inner and outer pipes, because of the turbulent flow inherent with the nozzle spray. More specifically, the turbulent flow at the space between the inner pipe and the outer pipe makes it unlikely to discharge all the sulfuric acid from the nozzle, leaving at least some residual sulfuric acid trapped in the pipes that will eventually cause harm to the pipes.
Further, the conventional PTFE liner does not fit tightly enough with the inner pipe to prevent sulfuric acid from seeping into the gap between liner and the pipe. This problem is especially prevalent under high temperature caused by the dilution/mixing of sulfuric acid, where the gap would be further widened by heat expansion. These problems all result in quickly deteriorated mixing tee assemblies that require replacement.
Thus, what is needed is an improvement of the mixing tee assembly that has better corrosion-resistance and longer life cycle.


A stator includes: an annular stator core in which a plurality of slots opening radially inward are formed circumferentially; and a stator winding installed in the stator core. A sheet-shaped varnish supporting member is disposed so as to be placed in close contact with a radially-outermost surface of a coil end group of the stator winding around an entire circumference, and a varnish is applied to the coil end group from radially inside.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamoelectric stator such as for an automotive alternator, etc., and a method for manufacturing a dynamoelectric stator, and particularly to a stator and a method for manufacturing a stator wherein adhesion of varnish to radially-outer first and second axial end portions of a stator core is suppressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional automotive alternator stators include: a cylindrical stator core in which slots opening radially inward are arranged at a predetermined pitch circumferentially; and a stator winding installed in the stator core, and are mounted such that radially-outer first and second axial end portions of the stator core are held from first and second axial ends by a front-end bracket and a rear-end bracket. (See Patent Literature 1, for example.) Annular varnish supporting members made of a glass-reinforced epoxy resin are mounted radially inside coil end groups of the stator winding, and varnish is dripped from radially outside the exposed coil end groups. Here, the varnish is prevented from leaking radially inside the coil end groups by the varnish supporting members. Thus, problems such as the rotor sticking to the stator core, etc., which arise as a result of the varnish leaking radially inside the coil end groups, are prevented.
In conventional methods for manufacturing stators, air is also blown toward outer peripheral portions of the coil end groups (radially outward) while dripping the varnish so as to prevent the varnish from adhering to first and second axial end portion surfaces of the stator core. (See Patent Literature 2, for example.)
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-187469 (Gazette)
Patent Literature 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-194398 (Gazette)
In automotive alternators, only a slight gap is present between radially-inner surfaces of the stator and radially-outer surfaces of the rotor. Thus, when a varnish supporting member is disposed in a ring shape radially inside the coil end groups as in conventional automotive alternator stators, there has been a risk that a delay in the rotational action of the rotor may be caused if deformation or tearing occurs in the varnish supporting member. Furthermore, because the varnish is applied by being dripped from radially outside the coil end groups, the varnish also adheres easily to the radially-outer first and second axial end portions of the stator core, which constitute a stator supporting portion. Thus, there has been a risk that the stator supporting portion may lose its flatness if the varnish adheres to the radially-outer first and second axial end portions of the stator core, preventing the stator core from being held from the first and second axial ends by the front-end bracket and the rear-end bracket.
In conventional methods for manufacturing stators, because air is blown toward radially-outer sides of the coil end groups while the varnish is being dripped onto the coil end groups, varnish that has adhered to the first and second axial end surfaces of the stator core is blown off by the air, preventing the varnish from adhering to the radially-outer first and second axial end portions of the stator core. This varnish functions to fix conductor wires constituting the coil end groups to each other, and also enters the slots to fix the conductor wires inside the slots to the slots. However, because the air blows the varnish toward an outer periphery of the coil end groups, the varnish crosses the conductor wires of the coil ends and is less likely to enter the slots. As a result, another problem has been that the varnish must be dripped excessively, reducing varnish usage efficiency. Furthermore, because the varnish is blown off the coil end groups and adheres to the air nozzle and other equipment, yet another problem has been that maintenance is troublesome and expensive.

Dynamoelectric stator and method for manufacturing a dynamoelectric stator


A water-in-oil emulsion cosmetic free of stickiness and oiliness, having semi-transparent or transparent appearance to effect feel of freshness, and able to provide moisturized feel is provided. The water-in-oil emulsion cosmetic contains (a) a solid moisturizer, (b) a polyether-modified silicone, and (c) a silicone oil having a refractive index in the range from 1.380 to 1.420 at 25° C., wherein a moisturizer content is 22 mass % or more relative to the total amount of the cosmetic.

There are various types of emulsion bases including oil-in-water type emulsions, water-in-oil type emulsions, or composite type emulsions. Among them, emulsion bases for water-in-oil emulsion cosmetics are known to provide more superior effects, such as skin protection effect, softening effect, and moisturizing effect, than oil-in-water emulsion cosmetics.
Water-in-oil emulsion cosmetics, in particular, water-in-oil creams, however, have problems, such as dragging during spreading, stickiness, and oiliness, depending on the formulation. For this reason, transparent appearance is desired to provide freshness in appearance. For example, Patent Literature 1 teaches a technique to provide a transparent water-in-oil cosmetic by matching refractive indices of the inner phase and the outer phase.
Further, Patent Literature 2 teaches a water-in-oil cosmetic using a silicone oil containing a volatile methyl siloxane fluid and a certain type of polydiorganosiloxane polyoxyalkylene copolymer, and containing a polyol to provide a transparent emulsion.
Still further, Patent Literature 3 teaches that a water-in-oil emulsion cosmetic that combines an organopolysiloxane, whose side chains have a polypeptide structure, with a cyclic silicone and a polyol is highly transparent.


Members vote on which investments within an agreed upon list of investments they believe should be bought and sold. Members can be general members or experts. Records of each member's voting history are retained and compared against market data showing actual gains and losses associated with each investment. Members whose votes are consistent with actual performance (they made good selections) are given higher weights; members whose votes are inconsistent with actual performance (they made bad selections) are given lower weight. Investment assets are bought and sold based on the collective vote of the members. Members are rewarded for a good voting record by receiving an additional share of the incremental profit of the collective investment.

The present invention relates generally to an investment processing system for managing financial assets, and more particularly to an investment decision-making process using prior decision making information related to a group of individual investors.
Traditionally, individual investors have used investment brokers to invest in the security markets. Such brokers may provide individual investors with limited advice, however that advice often does not yield the desired investment returns. More recently, the Internet has allowed individual investors to make their own investment decisions through online brokerage firms. However, individual investment is difficult because the investor must wisely select stocks or investments to buy and sell from so many different securities in the stock markets. Additionally, the individual investor is exposed to higher risk because he or she does not have sufficient information about the stocks, or a thorough understanding of the markets, or the skills and knowledge to evaluate various investments from different industries and countries. As a result of these risks, some investors gain from their investment decisions while many other investors may lose, particularly in markets with volatile conditions.
In an effort to minimize risks in investment trading, some individual investors invest in mutual finds managed by investment professionals. Managed mutual fund investment purportedly reduces risks because the investment firm uses professionals to select diverse stocks based on such criteria as industry, economic conditions and risk potential. The fund managers have full responsibilities for managing and making trading decisions for the fund. Various fund managers have different research, financial knowledge and analytical skills. Accordingly, the returns for mutual funds vary depending on the fund managers. The individual investors, however, have minimal control over management of the funds. Thus, individuals investing capital in the mutual fund companies are disadvantaged. For example, the individual investor who possesses a good ability to select investments, but has no control over the management of the funds, will not utilize his or her decisions.
A collective trading system according to the invention creates an entirely new investment possibility for a group of individual investors to collectively and actively participate in an investment decision-making process which uses prior decision information to select investments or stocks. The stocks are bought or sold in the financial markets. Using the prior decision information of individual investors, the individual investors collectively select more winning stocks. Investors are more likely to get better returns with lower risks. The returns will benefit all participating investors and not just particular individual investors.
The collective trading system includes Weighted Winning Stock Selection (WWSS) coefficients which are used to represent historical decision information about past stock selection by member investors. The WWSS coefficients are then used to assist with future decisions and distribute related gains or losses which result from trading in the markets. The participating individual member investors in the system make decisions which are weighted according to each investor's historical performances in selecting stocks. In particular, past performances in decision making of stock selection are reflected in WWSS coefficients. For example, for individual participating investors who select more "winning" stocks which are traded and realize a profit, their WWSS coefficients will be greater than the WWSS coefficients of those individual investors who select less "winning" stocks. With greater WWSS coefficients, individual investors are rewarded more if their decisions select more winning stocks. WWSS coefficients provide rewarding incentives which encourage the participating investors in the system to enhance their knowledge and research abilities about companies and markets, and to develop a better understanding in financial investment such that decisions will result in improved returns for traded investments.

System for winning investment selection using collective input and weighted trading and investing


Disclosed are methods, systems, and computer program products for mixed-reality systems. These methods or systems determine a three-dimensional model for at least a portion of a physical environment in which a user is located; and present, by a spatial computing system, a mixed-reality representation to the user. In addition, these methods or systems determine a first object model for a first object in the mixed-reality representation and update, by the spatial computing system, the mixed-reality representation into an updated mixed-reality representation that reflects an interaction pertaining to the first object.

Modern computing and display technologies have facilitated the development of systems for so-called "virtual reality" (VR), "augmented reality" (AR) experiences, "mixed reality" (MR) experiences, and/or extended reality (XR) experiences (hereinafter collectively referred to as "mixed reality" and/or "MR"), where digitally reproduced images or portions thereof are presented to a user in a manner where they seem to be, or may be perceived as, real. A VR scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information without transparency to other actual real-world visual input, whereas an AR or MR scenario typically involves presentation of digital or virtual image information as an augmentation to visualization of the real world around the user such that the digital or virtual image (e.g., virtual content) may appear to be a part of the real world. However, MR may integrate the virtual content in a contextually meaningful way, whereas AR may not.
Applications of mixed reality technologies have been expanding from, for example, gaming, military training, simulation-based training, etc. to productivity and content creation and management. A mixed reality system has the capabilities to create virtual objects that appear to be, or are perceived as, real. Such capabilities, when applied to the Internet technologies, may further expand and enhance the capability of the Internet as well as the user experiences so that using the web resources is no longer limited by the planar, two-dimensional representation of web pages.
With the advent of MR systems and devices and the development therefor, MR systems and devices may bring about revolution to information technology and expand the applications of MR technologies to a new era beyond conventional applications such as gaming or mere Web browsing. For example, by hosting productivity software applications locally on MR systems or devices, by providing productivity software applications as services and/or microservices through, for example, a cloud-based environment to MR systems or devices, or a combination of locally hosted productivity software application(s) and cloud-based software services may simply revolutionize conventional ways of corporate work culture, office arrangement, the manners in which co-workers collaborate and/or perform their daily productivity tasks, etc. For example, a business entity may adopt MR devices to replace conventional desktop computers and/or laptop computers. Although the benefits may be numerous, management a fleet of MR devices and systems for enterprise applications of MR technologies is nevertheless lacking.
Therefore, there exists a need for methods, systems, and computer program products for mixed reality systems management.

Systems and methods for virtual and augmented reality


Cyclic nitramines of the formula ##STR1## in which R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are independently selected from the group consisting of H, NO and NO.sub.2, and acid salts of the compound in which R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are each H, are disclosed. These compounds are useful as components in energetic compositions, including rocket and gun propellants and explosives, and are of particular interest due to their combination of high energy output and insensitivity. Compounds in which R.sup.3 is H or NO are further useful as intermediates in the preparation of those in which R.sup.3 is NO.sub.2. Also disclosed is a method for producing such compounds involving the reaction between hexamethylenetetramine and nitroguanidine.

This invention relates to energetic munitions compounds, and in particular to cyclic nitramines.
The propellant industry is constantly striving for compounds that are both safe and have adequate performance characteristics for use in munitions, including both explosives and propellants. Some current high volume ingredients such as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) are very effective in providing impetus for projectiles. However, this compound and others like it are sensitive to shock and electric spark. Other less hazardous compounds such as nitroguanidine (NQ). for example,can be substituted for RDX. Unfortunately, nitroguanidine, despite having excellent spark and shock insensitivity, suffers in the performance aspect when compared with RDX. To date, there is no known cost effective compound which is both safe to handle and has performance characteristics adequate to replace the high volume energetic compounds.

High-energy insensitive cyclic nitramines


A transport tank with high capacity gas scrubbing includes a vertically extending interior wall horizontally dividing the transport tank into a gas scrubbing chamber and a fluid storage chamber. A floor grate is supported within the gas scrubbing chamber at vertically spaced distance from a bottom of the transport tank and defines a gas distribution space between the floor grate and the tank bottom. A gas distribution pipe is disposed within and longitudinally extends the gas distribution space. A gas inlet is fluidically connected to the gas distribution pipe and passes through an exterior wall of the transport tank. A gas scrubbing is material disposed within the gas scrubbing chamber above the floor grate. And a gas outlet is fluidically connected to the gas scrubbing chamber for venting scrubbed gases.

When hazardous liquid and solid materials are loaded into a transport tank for storage and shipping the materials often evolve a vapor or gas which are highly objectionable because of odor, flammability and/or toxicity. Often these vapors or gases include hydrogen sulfide and mercaptans which are extremely toxic to the environment.
As these materials are loaded into a transport tank the air within the tank including any vapor or gas that has evolved from the material is displaced from the tank and vented to the atmosphere. It is undesirable to directly vent this gas to the atmosphere due to obvious environmental concerns and to the risk of explosion from the gas being ignited.
There exist small scale gas scrubbing devices that are installed in line with the gas vent of the transport tank for the purpose of venting small amounts of evolved gas during transport. An example of such a device is described in Canadian published application no. CA2120899. Drawbacks to these devices include the limited volume of gas that may be scrubbed before having to replace the scrubber, the relative low flow rates within which they are operable, and being externally disposed and at risk to damage. Because of these drawbacks, these devices are not suitable for scrubbing gas vented during loading of the transport tank, and rather, they are better suited to scrubbing lower volumes of gas that are evolved from the material during actual transport.
Another gas scrubbing device includes a bath of liquid through which evolved gases are bubbled up so that harmful constituents may be reacted with the liquid and removed from the gas prior to venting. Liquid bath scrubbers have numerous drawbacks that have prevented wide adoption of their use. These drawbacks include the risk of spilling the liquid and thus creating an environmental hazard, having to frequently test the liquid for strength, and the relative high head pressures that must develop within the transport tank before any gas is able to pass through the liquid bath.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new gas scrubber that overcomes the disadvantages discussed above and other inherent disadvantages existing in currently available gas scrubbers.

Transport tank with high capacity gas scrubbing


A TFT including a gate metallic layer, a body layer doped with a dopant having a first polarity, a source layer and a drain layer doped with a dopant having a second polarity, a semiconductor layer formed between the source layer and the drain layer, and a contact coupling the gate metallic layer and the body layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved TFTs (thin film transistors) and a manufacturing method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to TFTs which obtain a high drain current at a low voltage, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a conventional n-channel MOSFET (metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor).
A TFT is a kind of MOSFET, wherein semiconductor thin films of amorphous silicon or polycrystalline silicon are formed on a glass substrate, and the FET structure is generated on the semiconductor thin films.
As shown in FIG. 1, electrical conduction on a current path (i.e., a channel) between a source, which corresponds to a cathode, and a drain, which corresponds to an anode, is controlled by a voltage VGS of a gate contacted at an oxide film on the channel in the MOSFET.
The source and the drain are formed by generating two n-type layers 20a and 20b on the p-type silicon substrate 10. The gate includes three layers of metal, oxide, and semiconductor, and an electrode 30 is formed on an oxide film 40 between the source and the drain on the substrate.
Basically, On/Off states between the drain and the source of the TFT are controlled by a voltage supplied to the gate, which is a third electrode. No current flows between the drain and the source in the Off operation, and the current flows therebetween in the On operation. When the gate voltage becomes greater than a predetermined voltage (a threshold voltage), the transistor is turned on.
The operation region of the TFT is divided into a linear region and a saturation region in the same manner as the MOSFET. When the drain voltage is small, the drain current is proportional to the drain voltage since the characteristics between the drain and the source give ohmic characteristics. When the drain voltage becomes large and the gate voltage is neutralized, the channel is pinched off from the drain, and the drain current no longer increases and has a constant value irrespective of increase of the drain voltage.
When the potential of the source n-type layer 20b is set as 0, and when the drain current is saturated, the drain voltage VDS corresponds to a difference between the applied gate voltage VGS and the threshold voltage Vth. Therefore, a high drain voltage VDS is required so as to obtain a stable saturation current in the drain region in the case of the polycrystalline silicon TFT on the glass substrate. However, power consumption also increases as the drain voltage VDS increases. Low power consumption of portable devices such as mobile stations or PDAs is an important technical target in the corresponding field, and it is essential to save the power for driving organic displays in the portable device.

Gate shorted to body thin film transistor, manufacturing method thereof, and display including the same


A fertilizer granule having a coating on at least of portion of a surface of the granule. The coating is made of one or more complexing agents and a coating agent of one or more of a fatty acid, fatty acid ester, organic oil mineral oil or combinations thereof. The coating may optionally include a surfactant and micronutrients. The coated fertilizer granules demonstrates a noted improvement in the utilization of the nutrients of plants and crops.

Fertilizers are generally compounds that are applied to soils or directly to plants to supply one or more plant nutrients essential for the growth of plants. A variety of nutrients, or elements, are all equally important for healthy plant growth. However, there may be a significant difference in the amounts of specific nutrients required. For example, the elements nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are generally referred to as primary nutrients due to the large amounts of each required for desirable plant or crop growth. Secondary nutrients are also important for plant growth but in certain circumstances are not required in amounts comparable to the primary nutrients. Secondary nutrients include calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S). Other elements are required in minor amounts compared to the primary and secondary nutrients. Such elements, often referred to as micronutrients, may include boron (B), chloride (Cl), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo) and zinc (Zn).
Solid fertilizers are often employed to distribute the essential nutrients to plants and crops. The fertilizers are generally processed into an aggregate of nutrients in granule, prill or powdered form. The granule materials, are ideally uniform in size. However, the fertilizers are prone to segregation and dusting problems especially when multiple nutrients are blended together in their various powder to granular forms. Segregation of the different nutrients leads to the uneven distribution of those nutrients upon application on fields and crops. The granules, powders or prills, are usually water-soluble for quick release to enable timely plant root uptake. The advanced large scale field applications of granules may not result in a combined nutrient offering that effectively addresses the plant growth requirements of all the inherent variation of soils.
Solid fertilizers may be inefficient at supplying plants or crops with sufficient nutrient demands depending on soil and other environmental conditions. There are several potential mechanisms that interfere with the nutrient delivery to the roots of a plant or crop for uptake. Upon dissolution and release of the nutrients from the granule form, the fertilizer may encounter nutrient delivery inefficiencies due to phenomena such as volatilization, denitrification, leaching, and immobilization through microbial and soil interactions. One of ordinary skill in the art understands the inefficiency dynamics of fertilizer loss. Nitrogen, in the form of urea, may volatilize at varying rates depending upon environmental conditions. Leaching of nutrients may contaminate groundwater sources or other pathways exiting the soil. Nutrient loss may also occur as run-off from rain water or irrigation. The run-off may create environmental concerns, such as eutrophication leading to hypoxia. Immobilization is the tie-up of available nutrients into forms unavailable for plants. For example, phosphate in its plant available form as an anion is strongly attracted to the cation calcium in the soil. These reactions begin to occur immediately once the P fertilizer is applied to the soil and thereafter becomes unavailable quickly to plants. Microbial activity can impact both positively and negatively the availability of soil nutrients.
Additionally, other minerals like zinc, iron, manganese and copper may not be readily available in the soil, not evenly distributed in the soil, or not accessible by the plant roots to affect the efficient uptake of the nutrients. Also, erratic rain or irrigation causing the wetting of the granule or the soil can negatively impact the uptake of the nutrients. For example, a rain event of as little as 12.7 mm over a top-dressed application of urea can exacerbate ammonia volatilization.
It is estimated that the delivery of macronutrients alone are only about sixty percent or less efficient and in some cases far less than thirty percent efficient at delivering crop nutrients in the first year after application. The loss of efficiency in fertilizing the soil and plants is due in large part to the above-noted factors. The inefficient use, or the resulting overuse of fertilizers due to such inefficiencies, has created economic, environmental and social concerns as the demand for greater crop efficiency continues to increase.

Coating for improved granular fertilizer efficiency


Disclosed herein are sensors that include: (a) a circuit board that includes an electronic processor; (b) a plurality of radiation sources, each source being attached to the circuit board; and (c) a spectral detector attached to the circuit board, the spectral detector being configured to analyze radiation derived from one or more of the plurality of radiation sources. During use, the sensors are configured to be worn on a portion of a body of a subject. The electronic processor is configured to cause two or more of the plurality of radiation sources to direct incident radiation to the subject, to cause the spectral detector to analyze radiation from the subject, and to determine one or more properties of the subject based on the radiation from the subject. Methods of making and using these sensors are also disclosed.

Near-infrared radiation can generally pass through layers of skin and fat to illuminate blood vessels in muscle tissues. The radiation can be absorbed by hemoglobin in red blood cells, myoglobin in muscle fibers, water, and other proteins in blood plasma. Radiation is scattered by both muscle fibers and blood cells, and the scattered radiation can be detected and analyzed to determine the wavelength dependence of the scattered radiation. The absorbance spectrum of the various absorbing components in muscle tissues can be determined by comparing the spectra of incident radiation delivered to the tissues and the scattered radiation from the tissues. For certain samples, particular spectral features in the absorbance spectrum can be assigned to particular components in the muscle tissues (e.g., certain spectral signatures can be assigned to absorption by hemoglobin and/or myoglobin).


An improved razor head for attachment to a razor handle comprising a pair of inwardly directed fingers for engagement with a pivotable razor cartridge is provided with a single button for attachment of the razor head to the cartridge. The button is positioned for ease of operation by the thumb when the razor handle is grasped by the user and pressure on the button is effective to move the fingers linearly outwardly along a line parallel to the cartridge width dimension, or razor edge. The fingers are locked in the outward, or open, position after release of the pressure on the button and are returned to the inward or engaging position through contact of the cartridge with a cam follower on the razor head.

The present invention relates to a razor handle for detachably supporting a pivotable razor cartridge and more particularly to an improved razor head having a single button to effect engagement and disengagement of a cartridge from the razor handle. The razor cartridge employed with the present razor handle may be of any type well known in the art having a pair of spaced lugs disposed on its rearward face provided with recesses for receiving a pair of fingers, about which the cartridge pivots about an axis aligned with the blade edge.
A number of razor handles are available on the market which are designed to receive a cartridge releasably attached to the razor and pivotable about an axis parallel to the razor edge. Razors of this type are to be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,026,016 issued May 31, 1977, 4,198,746 issued Apr. 26, 1980, 4,253,237 issued Mar. 3, 1981, 4,253,236 issued Mar. 3, 1981 and 4,253,235 issued Mar. 3, 1981, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention. While this type of razor has gained popularity and various modifications have achieved commercial success, a need has arisen for a razor of this type which is simple in construction, containing a minimum number of parts which substantially inhibits misloading and unintentional cartridge removal, and which is more simple to actuate than those of the prior art.
In the various razor handle constructions of the type under consideration, the pair of fingers which are urged outwardly or in the alternative, inwardly, to contact the blade cartridge are in many instances operated by a plurality of elements which may be difficult to assemble and susceptible to failure during operation. In the more simple constructions, the fingers are often moved arcuately into and out of engagement with the engaging recesses of the cartridge, often making it difficult for the user to determine whether there is a positive engagement between the razor head and the cartridge. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,904, issued May 7, 1985, a more simple construction is shown wherein the fingers are moved linearly along a line parallel with the razor edge. However, a pair of buttons are provided, one on each side of the razor heead to accomplish linear movement of the fingers. Such two button construction may provide difficulty in operation of the razor handle to attach or detach the razor cartridge by employing only one hand.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a razor handle having an improved razor head wherein a pair of fingers employed for attaching a pivotable razor cartridge are actuated along a line parallel to the razor edge for more positive attachment of the razor handle to the cartridge.
A further object of the invention is to provide a razor head of the type described which is operable by a single button allowing for one-handed operation of the razor handle in attachment or detachment with a razor cartridge.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a razor head of the type described containing a minimal number of elements for reliability and ease of assembly.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a razor of the type disclosed which is simple in construction due to the few parts necessary in assembly and therefore economical to manufacture.


Methods and systems are provided for on-demand entitlement monitoring. One exemplary method involves an on-demand application server obtaining, from a database, usage information for a resource associated with an entitlement offered by a resource provider to a user of a client device and generating a graphical representation of usage of the resource by the user based at least in part on the usage information obtained from the database. In exemplary embodiments, the on-demand application server provides the graphical representation to the resource provider for integration into a graphical user interface display associated with a virtual application provided to the client device over a network.

In various industries, providers of products, services and/or resources often allocate and monitor consumption of those respective products, services and/or resources by customers. For example, a mobile network operator may allocate a mobile phone subscriber a particular number of voice minutes or a particular amount of data usage over a particular time period. To manage different product and/or service packages offered to customers and the subscription to and/or consumption of those product and/or service packages by customers, a resource provider often utilizes a customized software solution to manage those customer entitlements, which can be costly. Additionally, the customized entitlement management software may be inflexible, requiring additional cost and development time to incorporate new products and/or services or modify existing products and/or services.

Monitoring entitlement usage in an on-demand system


A gas detection system, comprising: a humidity measuring apparatus that measures humidity; a transmitting apparatus that includes a light source which emits an optical signal of a plurality of wavelengths; and a receiving apparatus including: a light detection part that receives the optical signal from the transmitting apparatus; a discrimination part that determines whether or not condensation exists in at least one region of regions where the optical signal passes, based on the humidity measured by the humidity measuring apparatus and a light intensity of the optical signal received by the light detection part.

In recent years, emission of carbon dioxide, which causes environmental destruction such as air pollution and global warming, has become a problem. There are also concerns about a risk of gas leaks and explosions accompanied by aging of infrastructure. Under such circumstances, an importance of sensor(s) for detecting gas and gas detection system that pose a danger such as environmental load gas or explosion causing environmental destruction is increasing. In particular, in recent years, consumption of natural gas, which emits less carbon dioxide than coal and petroleum, has increased. With the increase of consumption of natural gas, the detection of gas leakage in a natural gas distribution network is regarded as important.
Here, the main component of natural gas is methane molecule (CH4). Semiconductor type sensor(s) are often used to detect methane molecules. Semiconductor type sensor can detect, as a gas concentration value, a change in resistance that occurs when the metal oxide semiconductor contacts gas. Furthermore, the semiconductor sensor(s) is not only for flammable gas, there is an advantage that it is possible to detect the various gases such as toxic gas.
However, since the power supply to a sensor part is needed for use of the semiconductor type sensor, the sensor part (sensor part which detects gas) is required to have an explosion-proof structure. Also, for reasons such as the sensor part has movable positions, administrative tasks such as requirement of periodic inspection and calibration work or taking time to gas detection because of measuring by contacting the gas, which are counted as problems.
Thus, for a safety use of semiconductor type sensor, there is much of problems and requirements, so that alternative means of semiconductor type sensor have been studied. For example, there are sensors using a phenomenon in which a light transmitting through gas is attenuated by infrared absorption, and gas detection systems using such sensors. In these gas detection systems, concentration by each kind of gas is estimated from absorption wavelength of light corresponding to the kind of gas and attenuation amount of the transmitted light.
Patent Literature 1 discloses a method of detecting gas concentrations at multiple locations. Patent Literature 1 discloses a multipoint gas concentration measurement method in which control method is simple and amount of optical fibers used may be small. Patent Literature 2 discloses a gas detection apparatus that detects gas at a plurality of locations. Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses an optical fiber type gas detection system.
In addition, Patent Literature 3 discloses a gas measurement apparatus, comprising a light source part and a light receiving part which are embedded in a same casing, and the light path is bent by 90 degrees. Patent Literature 4 discloses a gas analyzer, and describes that a partial pressure value is determined from a fluctuation amount of measurement light in gas to be measured. Patent Literature 5 discloses a gas analyzer and a technique to improve accuracy in detecting gas concentration using laser light.

Gas detection system, gas detection method and program


A circuit for controlling the speed of a magnetic tape reel motor of an audio signal recording/playing mechanism. The circuit is based on the fact that the reel revolution period varies at a constant rate per revolution. The circuit measures the frequency generating value of the tape reel motor running at the normal speed to generate the ideal pulse value of the normally running motor as the initial reference value. Then the tape reel motor is run at the speed of N times the normal speed. The output of constant value means is added to the initial reference value to obtain the ideal pulse value. The present frequency generating value measured is compared with the ideal pulse value, which result is used to increase or decrease the applied voltage of the tape reel motor.

The present invention concerns a circuit for controlling the speed of a magnetic tape reel motor of an audio recording/playing mechanism and method therefor.
Generally, a data recording/playing mechanism using a magnetic reel tape controls the running speed of the tape reel by using the capstan motor. When the tape runs at a high speed as in fast forwarding or rewinding, the capstan motor is not proper to use and a reel is used, instead. Meanwhile, the mechanism for recording/playing digital data on/from a digital audio tape (DAT) by using a rotational head should read precisely the data recorded on the tape running at a high speed so as to perform high speed search. To this end, the relative speed between the tape running speed and the peripheral speed of the rotational head must be constant both at the normal and high tape speeds.
Further, the tape must run at a constant high speed, so that the reliability of retrieving data from the tape is increased, and the peripheral speed of the rotational head is easily controlled to maintain a constant relative speed. However, to control the tape running speed through control of the reel, it must be first considered that the amount of the tape wound around the reel is continuously changing, and thus the tape running distance per reel revolution is also varying continuously. Hence, the speed of the reel revolution must be continuously changed to keep the tape running speed constant. To this end, the conventional reel control method changes the reel revolution speed so as to make constant the sum of the revolution periods of the supply and take-up reels. In this case, the reel tape running speed varies as shown in FIG. 2 (See the curve 23), so that the data retrieval reliability is worsened at the high speed than at the normal speed [See FIG. 2 (21)] and control of the drum revolution speed for keeping the constant relative speed becomes difficult.

Circuit for controlling the speed of a magnetic tape reel motor of audio recording/playing mechanism and method therefor


In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device, a lower electrode film is formed on a semiconductor substrate via an interlayer insulating film. A ferroelectric film is formed on the lower electrode layer while heating the lower electrode layer uniformly in the cell array region. An upper electrode film is formed on the ferroelectric film. Ferroelectric capacitors are formed in a memory cell array region. Each of the ferroelectric capacitors includes the lower electrode film, the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device which has a ferroelectric capacitor. More particularly, the present invention relates to the technique for achieving uniform operation characteristics over the whole of a memory cell array region of the semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor memory device which has a ferroelectric capacitor is conventionally known. An example of such a conventional semiconductor memory device will be described using a logic circuit embedded FeRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memory). FIG. 1 shows an example of the circuit layout of a macro of the logic circuit embedded FeRAM.
Referring to FIG. 1, the macro of the logic circuit embedded FeRAM has a plurality of memory cell arrays. Sense amplifiers are arranged to sandwich each memory cell array in a horizontal direction, and word line and plate line drivers are arranged to sandwich a set of the sense amplifiers and the memory cell arrays in a vertical direction. Moreover, an X decoder is arranged above the uppermost word line and plate line driver. A Y decoder is arranged on the left side of the sets of the sense amplifiers and the memory cell arrays. A space is provided between the memory cell array and the sense amplifier and between the memory cell array and the word line and plate line driver. The space is hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cconnection regionxe2x80x9d.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit diagram of FeRAM cells of the memory cell array. As shown in FIG. 2 as a unit cell of 2T2C, the FeRAM cell is comprised of two transistors and two ferroelectric capacitors. The FeRAM cell with the structure of 2T2C holds data by applying two voltages of different polarities to the ferroelectric capacitors. In case of reading the data, plate lines are biased from a ground voltage to a power supply voltage and the electric charge from the ferroelectric capacitor with the polarity inverted and the electric charge from the ferroelectric capacitor with the polarity non-inverted are outputted onto a pair of bit lines. Then, the voltage difference on the pair of bit lines is amplified by the sense amplifier and outputted outside.
FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the conventional logic circuit embedded FeRAM formed as mentioned above. The logic circuit embedded FeRAM has a 3-layer wiring line structure. The logic circuit embedded FeRAM has a memory cell array region where the FeRAM cells are arranged, a peripheral circuit region where peripheral circuits such as the sense amplifier, the word line driver and the plate line driver are arranged, and a connection region formed between them.
In the memory cell array region, the ferroelectric capacitor is comprised of an upper electrode, a ferroelectric film and a lower electrode and is formed on an uppermost aluminum wiring line layer containing third metal wiring lines. In the connection region, a dummy capacitor shown by slanted lines is comprised of the upper electrode, the ferroelectric film and the lower electrode. The dummy capacitor functions to prevent 2-dimension effects such as proximity effect and pattern sparse dense effect in a lithography process or a dry etching process in the connection region so that the ferroelectric capacitors are formed to have a predetermined size over the whole of the memory cell array region.
By the way, the logic circuit embedded FeRAM has the ferroelectric capacitors on an aluminum wiring line layer, as described above, and a contact plug is comprised of tungsten. The aluminum wiring line layer is damaged when annealing is carried out in a high temperature (600xc2x0 C. to 750xc2x0 C.) to form the ferroelectric capacitor. Therefore, a crystal growth method is conventionally adopted to form the ferroelectric capacitor at a relatively low temperature. In this case, it is essential to form the ferroelectric capacitor at the growth temperature of 450xc2x0 C. or below to maintain the reliability of the contact plug and the aluminum wiring line. Generally, when the growth temperature of a PZT (Pb(ZrX,Ti1xe2x88x92X)O3) film as a ferroelectric film is lowered, the crystalline of the PZT film is degraded and the ferroelectric characteristics are degraded.
The characteristic 1 (solid line) in FIG. 4 shows the ferroelectric characteristics when the PZT film is formed at the growth temperature of 450xc2x0 C. In this case, the ferroelectric capacitor with large polarization can be formed. Also, the characteristic 2 (broken line) shows the ferroelectric characteristics when the PZT film is formed at the growth temperature of 430xc2x0 C. In the case, the ferroelectric capacitor with small polarization is formed.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the bit line voltage difference of all the FeRAM cells of a test memory cell array which contains the cells for voltage measurement. In FIG. 5, the bit line voltage difference from 0 V to about 1.3 V is shown in a sparse dense manner of dots. A part of a darker color shows a larger bit line voltage difference. Each of the FeRAM cells has the PZT film manufactured at the growth temperature of 430xc2x0 C. The FeRAM cell has a larger bit line voltage difference or a larger operation margin when the bit line voltage difference is larger. Referring to FIG. 5, the operation margin of the FeRAM cell is large in a right end section and in the center section and the operation margin of the FeRAM cell is small in an upper end section and a lower end section. The operation margin depends on the characteristics of the ferroelectric capacitor, as shown in FIG. 4. That is, the operation margin is large when the polarization is large like the characteristic 1, and the operation margin is small when the polarization is small like the characteristic 2.
The deviation in the operation margin depending on the physical position of the FeRAM cell results from the difference in the characteristics of the FeRAM cells, as shown in FIG. 5. It could be considered that the deviation is based on the surface temperature of the lower electrode, which is generally comprised of platinum (Pt), of the ferroelectric capacitor when the PZT film is formed.
In conjunction with the above description, a semiconductor memory device is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 4-168765). In this reference, the memory device is comprised of a memory cell array region where a plurality of memory cells are formed, each of which is comprised of a memory transistor and a capacitor, and a peripheral circuit region where a plurality of peripheral circuit transistors are formed. The memory device is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A set of gate electrode films is arranged in parallel in the memory cell array region to have a predetermined space. Thus, using the gate electrodes, memory transistors are formed. A set of gate electrode films is arranged in parallel in the peripheral circuit region to have a predetermined space. Thus, using the gate electrodes, peripheral circuit transistors are formed. Dummy wiring lines are also formed in the peripheral circuit region. The space between the gate electrodes films in the memory cell array region is substantially the same as the space between the gate electrodes films or between the gate electrode and the dummy wiring line in the memory cell array region.
Also, a semiconductor device is disclosed in is disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP-A-Heisei 11-74482). In the reference, a plurality of semiconductor devices are formed on a semiconductor substrate in a memory cell region to have conductive films piled via insulating films. A dummy pattern has at least a conductive film and is formed on a position closer to the peripheral transistor region than any one of the semiconductor devices. An interlayer insulating film covers the semiconductor devices and the dummy pattern and has an inclined portion between the memory cell region and the peripheral transistor region. A part of the dummy pattern is exposed from the interlayer insulating film.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor memory device and a manufacturing method, in which memory cells with large operation margins can be formed over the whole of a memory cell array region.
In an aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device is achieved by (a) forming a lower electrode film on a semiconductor substrate via an interlayer insulating film; by (b) forming a ferroelectric film on the lower electrode layer while heating the lower electrode layer; by (c) forming an upper electrode film on the ferroelectric film; and by (d) forming ferroelectric capacitors in a memory cell array region, each of the ferroelectric capacitors comprising the lower electrode film, the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode film.
Here, it is desirable that the lower electrode film is formed of material containing at least one of platinum, iridium, iridium oxide, ruthenium and ruthenium oxide.
Also, the method may further comprise the step of (e) forming thermally conductive routes in the memory cell array region and a connection region outside the memory cell array region to pass through the interlayer insulating film to the semiconductor substrate, and to be connected with the lower electrode film. The lower electrode film is heated via the thermally conductive routes. In this case, it is desirable that contact plugs for the routes passing through a portion of the interlayer insulating film are formed each time the interlayer insulating film portion is formed. Also, the heating may be achieved by heating the semiconductor substrate.
Also, it is desirable that a density of the thermally conductive routes in the memory cell array region is substantially the same as that of the thermally conductive routes in the connection region
Also, additional thermally conductive routes may be formed in the interlayer insulating film in a peripheral circuit region outside the connection region to be connected with the thermally conductive routes in the connection region.
Also, the (b) forming step may desirably include heating the semiconductor substrate to about 450xc2x0 C.
Also, the (a) forming step may be achieved by forming the lower electrode film to extend outside the memory cell array region.
In another aspect of the present invention, a semiconductor memory device having a memory cell array region, a peripheral circuit region and a connection region between the memory cell array region and the peripheral circuit region, includes ferroelectric capacitors formed on a semiconductor substrate via an interlayer insulating film in the memory cell array region; and conductive films formed on the interlayer insulating film in the connection region. The conductive films are connected with the semiconductor substrate via conductive routes passing through the interlayer insulating film, respectively.
Here, a layer for the conductive films may be formed when a lower electrode layer for the ferroelectric capacitors is formed. In this case, the lower electrode layer may be formed of material containing at least one of platinum, iridium, iridium oxide, ruthenium and ruthenium oxide.
Also, the semiconductor memory device may further include MOS transistors formed on the semiconductor substrate in the memory cell array region and the connection region. Each of the ferroelectric capacitors may be connected with one of the MOS transistors formed in the memory cell array region and each of the conductive films may be connected with one of the MOS transistors formed in the connection region.
Also, it is desirable that a density of the ferroelectric capacitors is substantially the same as that of the conductive films.
Also, the semiconductor memory device may further include additional conductive films formed in the peripheral circuit region. The additional conductive films may be connected with any of the conductive routes in the connection region.
The semiconductor memory device may be a logic circuit embedded FeRAM, or a logic circuit embedded non-volatile SRAM.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device, may be achieved by (a) forming MOS transistors in a memory cell array region and a connection region outside the memory cell array region, wherein a density of the MOS transistors in the memory cell array region is substantially the same as that of the MOS transistors in the connection region; by (b) forming an interlayer insulating film to cover the MOS transistors while forming thermally conductive routes, each of which extends from one of the MOS transistors to pass through the interlayer insulating film; by (c) forming a lower electrode film on a semiconductor substrate via the interlayer insulating film to be connected with the thermally conductive routes; by (d) forming a ferroelectric film on the lower electrode layer while heating the lower electrode layer; by (e) forming an upper electrode film on the ferroelectric film; and by (f) forming ferroelectric capacitors in the memory cell array region, each of the ferroelectric capacitors comprising the lower electrode film, the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode film.
In another aspect of the present invention, a method of manufacturing a semiconductor memory device, may be achieved by (a) forming MOS transistors in a memory cell array region and a connection region outside the memory cell array region, wherein a density of the MOS transistors in the memory cell array region is substantially the same as that of the MOS transistors in the connection region; by (b) forming an interlayer insulating film to cover the MOS transistors while forming thermally conductive routes, each of which extends from one of the MOS transistors to pass through the interlayer insulating film; by (c) forming a lower electrode film on a semiconductor substrate via the interlayer insulating film to be connected with the thermally conductive routes; by (d) forming a ferroelectric film on the lower electrode layer while heating the lower electrode layer via the thermally conductive routes; by (e) forming an upper electrode film on the ferroelectric film; and by (f) forming ferroelectric capacitors in the memory cell array region, each of the ferroelectric capacitors comprising the lower electrode film, the ferroelectric film and the upper electrode film.
Here, the (b) forming step further may be achieved by forming additional thermally conductive routes in the interlayer insulating film in a peripheral circuit region outside the connection region to be connected with the thermally conductive routes in the connection region.

Semiconductor memory device with memory cells having same characteristics and manufacturing method for the same