The electronic audio connection system of the present invention provides an experience much like sharing a room with several involved parties, even though the parties are physically separated. Speech enhancement and speech emphasis processing functions ensure parties perceive the speech captured in the audio signals, typically the most important portion of the captured audio signals. To capture audio signals, each space is provided a plurality of microphones arranged in that space so that the sum audio signal captured by the microphones enables the creation of a sharable audio space. Each separate physical space transmits its captured audio signals to a central server via a bi-directional data communications medium. The central server processes the summed audio signals and in turn transmits playable audio signals to each separate physical space. Speakers located in each separate physical space aurally transmit the playable audio signals. This creates an audio space shared by each of the active separate physical spaces.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to personal communication systems, and more particularly to electronic audio connection systems that enable two or more geographically separated physical spaces to interact socially within a shared audio space.
2. Description of the Related Art
Social reasons are the primary motivation for both intra-household (room to room) and inter-household (house to house) aural communication. For purposes of inter-household communication, households are primarily linked to one another by telephones and by telephone-extension devices such as answering machines. Related technologies include speaker-telephones. For purposes of intra-household communication, baby monitors enable parents to eavesdrop on their resting children from another room and intercoms enable people to talk room-to-room.
Ongoing contact with significant others is a fundamental human need not fully met by current household technologies. First, there is no technological support for a household to have continuous background awareness of distant households that it cares about, in the way that it has some ongoing awareness of physically neighboring households (e.g., by noticing a car is in the driveway, a lighted window, or muffled sounds of a conversation). Such awareness would allow conversations to take place opportunistically that currently do not take place, and might allow certain currently unwanted conversations to be avoided if such background awareness was sufficient for feeling xe2x80x9cin touch.xe2x80x9d
The telephone (currently the primary technological support for remote conversations) embodies a model for initiating and disengaging from social interaction that is rarely found in everyday life. Disregarding for the moment non-basic elements such as busy signals, answering machines, caller-ID, etc., the telephone provides three states: disconnected, ringing, and connected. The model of social interaction created is akin to that created by a windowless room with a closed, locked, and soundproof door. Callers are forced to initiate interaction by knocking (ringing), without any advance indication of the callee""s situation within.
Similarly, the callee is forced to decide whether to unlock and open the door with very limited information (even more limited in the telephone case, as at least a knock can have a distinctive rhythm). Once unlocked and thrown open, the conversational partners confront each other at close range, with little ability to adjust social distance to a mutually desired level. Conversations end, with little subtlety or room for re-engagement, by shutting the door and returning to an entirely disengaged state. People have adapted to this model remarkably well, but a technology that offers a more flexible mutually negotiated approach would be highly desirable.
There are, of course, a number of conversational devices currently available for remote social interactions including telephones, videophones, online xe2x80x9cchatxe2x80x9d and audio/video-conferencing systems, and caller-ID devices. However, the production of high-tech communication devices for the home is an emerging field. For example, there has been some research moving away from PC-based applications towards small dedicated appliances designed to fit functionally and aesthetically into the home that can provide some form of remote social interaction.
The term xe2x80x9cmedia spacexe2x80x9d refers to the linking of a number of physically separated spaces to create a larger xe2x80x9cvirtual spacexe2x80x9d for communication between various individuals. Researchers have noticed that it is very difficult to document an objective gain from use of media spaces in workplaces, but also that the users nevertheless were unanimous about the usefulness of these systems
A stated advantage is the social awareness that is provided and which may be conducive to deciding when direct communication would be appropriate. The awareness issue is sometimes refereed to as the support for background communication, see for instance William Buxton""s GI (Graphical Interface) ""95-paper about foreground and background.
The present invention comprises a number of solutions for the aforementioned problems, which characteristically take the form of easy-to-use household communication appliances. These xe2x80x9cappliancesxe2x80x9d are fairly termed electronic audio connection systems, for they enable geographically separate physical spaces to share a single audio space. The appliances of the present invention are meant to complement existing household technologies (e.g. personal computers or PCs), rather than to replace them. They are primarily conceived of as being stand-alone appliances to best fit their form to their function, and to appeal to consumers who do not have or want PCs, but at least some could be sold in an alternative version as a software application.
More particularly, the present invention comprises a set of easy-to-use consumer devices for lightweight social awareness and/or conversation between households of friends or family members or similar applications. The family of devices/capabilities (and related services) that the present invention contemplates focus on both home-to-home and room-to-room social communication range. This aural communication may be supplemented through simple feedback devices, buttons and timing circuitry that aid in the negotiation surrounding the sharing of an audio space. Lightweight, ephemeral connections and communication characterize them with friends and family. The devices of the present invention are less intrusive and simpler than a telephone, hands-free and high quality, yet more intimate and immediate than email.
Appropriately configured, an electronic audio connection system of the present invention conveys the experience of sharing a room with several involved parties. Speech enhancement and speech emphasis processing functions ensure parties perceive the speech captured in the audio signals, typically the most important portion of the captured audio signals. To capture audio signals, each space is provided a plurality of microphones arranged in that space so that the sum audio signal captured by the microphones enables the creation of a sharable audio space. Each separate physical space transmits its captured audio signals to a central server via a bi-directional data communications medium. The central server processes the summed audio signals and in turn transmits playable audio signals to each separate physical space. Speakers located in each separate physical space aurally transmit the playable audio signals. This creates an audio space shared by each of the active separate physical spaces.

Electronic audio connection system and methods for providing same


The invention is directed to an electrical connector having an outer metal shell with an inner dielectric insert and a central contact pin received within the dielectric insert. The outer metal shell has a mating end with forward passageway. The outer metal shell has a dielectric insert receiving passageway which is narrower than the forward passageway. A shoulder is disposed along the inner wall between the forward passageway and the dielectric insert receiving passageway. The shoulder being angled towards the forward passageway. The shoulder is deformable over the dielectric insert to secure the dielectric insert within the outer metal shell.

A typical coaxial cable connector has a metal outer shell, an inner dielectric insert, and a central contact pin to carry the signal which is secured within the inner dielectric insert. The outer metal shell is crimped to the outer metal braid of the coaxial cable to provide an electrical connection between the shielding of the cable and the connector. The central contact is crimped to the central conductor of the coaxial cable to provide connection for the signal pathway.
In a particular coaxial cable connector, the outer metal shell has a wider internal forward end to receive the mating electrical connector therein. The outer metal shell also has a narrower portion into which the dielectric insert will be secured. There is a right angle shoulder between the wider mating end and the narrower portion for receiving the dielectric insert therein. Once the dielectric insert is inserted within the outer metal shell, it is staked within the outer metal shell. This is accomplished by a special tool which is pushed down within the outer metal shell to engage the shoulder. The tool has a special shape to deform the shoulder and to force portions of the shoulder over the end of the dielectric insert thereby securing the dielectric insert within the outer metal shell.
What is needed is a more reliable method for securing the dielectric insert within the outer metal shell.


In order to improve the cooling of an electrical machine, the invention proposes an electrical machine having a stator (4) and a rotor, wherein the stator (4) has a cooling jacket (10) over at least part of the stator (4), wherein the cooling jacket (10) has a motor jacket (3) surrounding the stator (4) and an outer jacket (1), at least sections of which are spaced apart from said motor jacket (3), and a hollow helix (2) is arranged in the section between the motor jacket (3) and the outer jacket (1) and has a predeterminable pitch (12), and wherein the inlet (7) and the outlet (6) of this cooling jacket (10) are located substantially on an axial plane of the electrical machine.

The invention relates to an electrical machine with a stator and a rotor, the stator having a cooling jacket over at least an axial part of the stator, the cooling jacket having a motor jacket surrounding the stator and an outer jacket, at least sections of which are spaced apart from said motor jacket.
In order to increase the power and to actively control the temperature of electrical machines, in particular cooling jackets and in this case especially cooling jackets through which liquid is flowing are used. The cooling solutions known to date for electrical machines are based on unidirectional radial or axial throughflows of cooling liquid through a cooling jacket or a cooling pipeline. The cooling liquid in this case draws the lost heat from the electrical machine, as a result of which increased capacity utilization of the electrical machine can be realized, i.e. the useful power which can be emitted by the electrical machine can be comparatively increased.
Cooling jackets are known from the sector of motor-driven pump drives, which cooling jackets have, in addition to a cooling spiral running around the motor, a cooling system arranged between the cooling spiral (U.S. Pat. No. 2,913,988 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,689).

Electrical machine having a cooling jacket


The problem addressed by the present invention is to provide a high heat-resistant phthalocyanine. The phthalocyanine is separated by mixing a phthalocyanine separation solvent and a phthalocyanine solution wherein a phthalocyanine starting material is dissolved in a solvent. The phthalocyanine is wherein having high heat resistance, the decomposition temperature of the separated phthalocyanine being at least 10° C. higher than the decomposition temperature of the phthalocyanine starting material. Also, the phthalocyanine solution may be the result of dissolving at least two types of phthalocyanine starting material in the solvent, the separated phthalocyanine being wherein containing a solid solvent of the at least two types of phthalocyanine starting material and by the decomposition temperature of the separated phthalocyanine being at least 10° C. higher than the decomposition temperature of a mixture of at least two types of phthalocyanine separated by mixing the phthalocyanine separation solvent and each of at least two types of phthalocyanine solution resulting from dissolving each of the at least two types of phthalocyanine starting material in a solvent.

A pigment, which is used in a paint, an ink jet ink, a color filter, and so forth, is a color material having better durability than a dye in light resistance, weather resistance, heat resistance, water resistance, and so on. However, especially with regard to heat resistance, for example, a pigment used in a color filter becomes coarse or aggregates in a certain instance during the time of heat treatment at high temperature of 200° C. or higher; and thus, existing pigments have not yet fulfilled the requirements from industries.
Accordingly, proposals have been made with regard to a method such as a method in which pigment's heat resistance is improved by coating around the said pigment particles with a metal compound in a gel form as shown in Patent Document 1 and a method in which a pigment is used as a mixture with a chloride compound as shown in Patent Document 2; however, a pigment having its heat resistance improved without containing a compound other than the said pigment is wanted.
A phthalocyanine pigment widely used in industries has the same problems as mentioned above. Moreover, a phthalocyanine is a material used not only as a color material such as a pigment but also as a charge generating material like an organic photoconductor (OPC), a semiconductor, a catalyst, a solar cell, and so forth; and thus, a phthalocyanine having its heat resistance improved are eagerly wanted.


According to an embodiment, a polishing device includes a stage, a polishing unit, and a strain measuring unit. The stage is rotatable together with a semiconductor wafer. The polishing unit polishes the rear surface of the semiconductor wafer mounted on the stage beside the stage. The strain measuring unit measures a first strain that is a radial-direction strain of the semiconductor wafer and a second strain that is a circumferential-direction strain of the semiconductor wafer during the polishing.

In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, rear-surface polishing is performed to remove an unnecessary film (burr) formed at an outer circumferential part of the rear surface of a semiconductor wafer. The polished state of the rear surface of a semiconductor wafer, for example, can be determined based on a change in the rotational torque of a stage on which the semiconductor wafer is mounted. However, according to such a technique, while the polished state of the rear surface can be roughly acquired in a macroscopic manner, it is difficult to perform a high-precision determination.

Polishing device and method of polishing semiconductor wafer


A cardiac rhythm management device in which amplitudes of electrograms from one or more cardiac sites are measured in order to ascertain the extent of hypertrophy. The device may then pace the heart by delivering pacing therapy in a manner that unloads the hypertrophied myocardium to effect reversal of undesirable remodeling.

Cardiac rhythm management devices are implantable devices that provide electrical stimulation to selected chambers of the heart in order to treat disorders of cardiac rhythm. A pacemaker, for example, is a cardiac rhythm management device that paces the heart with timed pacing pulses. The most common condition for which pacemakers are used is in the treatment of bradycardia, where the ventricular rate is too slow. Atrio-ventricular conduction defects (i.e., AV block) that are permanent or intermittent and sick sinus syndrome represent the most common causes of bradycardia for which permanent pacing may be indicated. If functioning properly, the pacemaker makes up for the heart's inability to pace itself at an appropriate rhythm in order to meet metabolic demand by enforcing a minimum heart rate.
Pacing therapy can also be used in the treatment of heart failure, which refers to a clinical syndrome in which an abnormality of cardiac function causes a below normal cardiac output that can fall below a level adequate to meet the metabolic demand of peripheral tissues. When uncompensated, it usually presents as congestive heart failure due to the accompanying venous and pulmonary congestion. Heart failure can be due to a variety of etiologies with ischemic heart disease being the most common. It has been shown that some heart failure patients suffer from intraventricular and/or interventricular conduction defects (e.g., bundle branch blocks) such that their cardiac outputs can be increased by improving the synchronization of ventricular contractions with electrical stimulation. Other conduction defects can occur in the atria. Cardiac rhythm management devices have therefore been developed which provide electrical stimulation to the atria and/or ventricles in an attempt to improve the coordination of cardiac contractions, termed cardiac resynchronization therapy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dynamically optimized multisite cardiac resynchronization device


Floor panels (1, 1′) are shown, which are provided with a mechanical locking system having a flexible tongue (30) in a displacement groove (40), which during a vertical folding motion is displaced. Moreover, a tongue blank (50), a production method and an installation method are shown.

Laminate flooring usually consists of a core of a 6-12 mm fibre board, a 0.2-0.8 mm thick upper decorative surface layer of laminate and a 0.1-0.6 mm thick lower balancing layer of laminate, plastic, paper or like material. The surface layer provides appearance and durability to the floor panels. The core provides stability, and the balancing layer keeps the panel plane when the relative humidity (RH) varies during the year. The floor panels are laid floating, i.e. without gluing, on an existing sub floor. Laminate flooring and also many other types of flooring are made by the surface layer and the balancing layer being applied to a core material. This application may take place by gluing a previously manufactured decorative layer, for instance when the fibre board is provided with a decorative high pressure laminate which is made in a separate operation where a plurality of impregnated sheets of paper are compressed under high pressure and at a high temperature. The currently most common method when making laminate flooring, however, is direct laminating which is based on a more modern principle where both manufacture of the decorative laminate layer and the bonding to the fibre board take place in one and the same manufacturing step. Impregnated sheets of paper are applied directly to the panel and pressed together under pressure and heat without any gluing.
Traditional hard floor panels in floating flooring of this type are usually joined by means of glued tongue-and-groove joints.
In addition to such traditional floors, which are joined by means of glued tongue-and-groove joints, floor panels have recently been developed which do not require the use of glue and instead are joined mechanically by means of so-called mechanical locking systems. These systems comprise locking means, which lock the panels horizontally and vertically. The mechanical locking systems are usually formed by machining of the core of the panel. Alternatively, parts of the locking system can be formed of a separate material, for instance aluminium or HDF, which is integrated with the floor panel, i.e. joined with the floor panel in connection with the manufacture thereof.
The main advantages of floating floors with mechanical locking systems are that they can easily and quickly be laid by various combinations of inward angling, snapping-in and insertion. They can also easily be taken up again and used once more at a different location. A further advantage of the mechanical locking systems is that the joint edges of the floor panels can be made of materials, which need not to have good gluing properties. The most common core material is fibreboard with high density and good stability usually called HDF—High Density Fibreboard. Sometimes also MDF—Medium Density Fibreboard—is used as core.
Definition of Some Terms
In the following text, the visible surface of the installed floor panel is called "front side", while the opposite side of the floor panel, facing the sub floor, is called "rear side". The edge between the front and rear side is called "joint edge". By "horizontal plane" is meant a plane, which extends parallel to the outer part of the surface layer. Immediately juxtaposed upper parts of two adjacent joint edges of two joined floor panels together define a "vertical plane" perpendicular to the horizontal plane.
By "joint" or "locking system" are meant co acting connecting means, which connect the floor panels vertically and/or horizontally. By "mechanical locking system" is meant that joining can take place without glue. Mechanical locking systems can in many cases also be combined with gluing. By "integrated with" means formed in one piece with the panel or factory connected to the panel.
By a "flexible tongue" is meant a separate tongue which has a length direction along the joint edges and which is forming a part of the vertical locking system and could be displaced horizontally during locking. The tongue could be for example flexible and resilient in such a way that it can bend along its length and spring back to its initial position.
By "flexible tongue blank" are meant two or more flexible tongues, which are connected to a one-piece component. Examples of such flexible tongue blanks will be described in more detail below.
By "fixing the flexible tongue" is meant that the flexible tongue should at least be sufficiently attached to the floor panel so as not to incidentally fall off during handling of the floor panel, at the factory, during transport and/or in installation. By "mechanically fixed" is meant that the fixing is essentially due to shape or friction force.
By "angling" is meant a connection that occurs by a turning motion, during which an angular change occurs between two parts that are being connected, or disconnected. When angling relates to connection of two floor panels, the angular motion takes place with the upper parts of joint edges at least partly being in contact with each other, during at least part of the motion.
By "vertical folding" is meant a connection of three panels where a first and second panel are in a connected state and where an angling action connects two perpendicular edges of a new panel to the first and second panel. Such a connection takes place for example when a long side of first panel in a first row is already connected to a long side of a second panel in a second row. The third panel is than connected by angling to the long side of the first panel in the first row. This specific type of angling action, which also connects the short side of the new panel and second panel, is referred to as vertical folding
Prior-Art Technique and Problems Thereof
For mechanical joining of long sides as well as short sides in the vertical and horizontal direction (direction D1, D2) several methods are used but the locking is always performed in 3 steps where angling or snapping are combined with displacement along the joint edge in the locked position after an optional side has been joined.                Angling of long side, displacement and snapping-in of short side        Snapping-in of long side, displacement and snapping-in of short side.        Angling of short side, displacement of the new panel along the short side edge of the previous panel and finally downward angling of two panels.
These laying methods can also be combined with insertion along the joint edge.
It is known that the locking system may, however, be formed so that snapping-in may occur by a motion which is vertical to the surface of the floor panel. Generally, the long side is locked by angling and the short side with a vertical angling which locks with a snap action. Such a system in described in WO 01/0248127 (Akzenta). The connection of panels is complicated and difficult since fibres must be compressed and a hammer with a tapping block must be used. The panels are locked in vertical direction mainly by a friction force and the locking strength is low.
It is known that floor panels may be locked on long and short side vertically and horizontally with one simple vertical folding action (WO 03/083234 Applicant Välinge Aluminium). This document comprises a part of this application. The object of WO 03/083234 is to provide a joint system and floor panels which can be laid with a vertical folding.
A floor panel with a vertical joint in the form of a flexible tongue and a groove is provided, the tongue being made of a separate material and being flexible so that at least one of the sides of the floor panel can be joined by a vertical motion parallel to the vertical plane.
This document also show how a joint system can be made with a flexible spring tongue which can be displaced and/or compressed horizontally in and out or alternatively be bent vertically up or down. It describes a separate tongue of, for instance, wood fibre material, which can be displaced horizontally by means of a flexible material, for instance a rubber paste. It also describes an embodiment with a tongue, which has an inner part that is resilient.
This known technology with a tongue, which during locking moves horizontally in relation to the adjacent edges, offers several advantages over the known installation methods. The locking is easy and faster since 3 steps are reduced to one step.
The invention described in WO 03/083234 does not however show the best mode of locking floor panels with a vertical folding. The production cost and the locking function could be improved considerably.

Mechanical locking of floor panels with a flexible tongue


An operational amplifier and method for making same, with predetermined common mode voltage gain, adapted to form an amplifier and a voltage regulator. The predetermined common mode voltage gain allows for substantially reduced differential mode gain and wider operating bandwidth with little distortion, compared to amplifiers and voltage regulators using operational amplifiers of the prior art. Further, examples of operational amplifiers, having the reduced differential mode gain and predetermined common mode gain, are given for implementation in CMOS and bipolar technologies.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to amplifiers in general, and, more particularly, to wide-bandwidth operational amplifiers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Operational amplifiers are the building blocks of many complex functions, such as analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters, instrumentation amplifiers, voltage regulators, etc. The operational amplifier (op amp) is commonly understood to have a differential input and a single-ended output. Ideally, the differential mode voltage gain (the amplification of a signal applied substantially between the differential inputs) of an op amp is infinite and common mode voltage gain (the amplification of a signal referenced to ground and applied to the differential inputs equally) is zero. Further, the bandwidth of an ideal op amp is infinite. Unfortunately, realizable op amps fall very short of this ideal. One consequence of less than infinite differential mode voltage gain and limited bandwidth is the distortion of signals passing through the op amp.
A conventional op amp 101, used as anon-inverting amplifier 100, is shown in FIG. 3. The input to the amplifier 100 is designated V.sub.IN and the output is designated V.sub.OUT. It is noted that the designations of the input and output of the amplifier 100 also refers to the voltage of signals thereon. The op amp 101 is powered by voltages V.sup.30 and V.sup.-. The differential inputs, labeled + and - for the non-inverting and inverting inputs to op amp 101, respectively, couple to the input of the amplifier 100, V.sub.IN, and to a feedback network of resistors 102, 103. Resistor 103, coupling to the output of the op amp 101, feeds back the voltage therefrom, attenuated by the voltage divider formed by the resistors 102, 103, to the inverting input to the op amp 101. Using R.sub.102 and R.sub.103 to refer to the resistances of resistors 102, 103, respectively, the gain (loss) of the voltage divider, K, is: ##EQU1## and the approximate closed-loop voltage gain of the amplifier 100 can be expressed as: ##EQU2## where A.sub.d is the differential mode voltage gain of the op amp 101 and the common mode voltage gain, if any, is neglected. If the op amp 101 is an ideal op amp, i.e., A.sub.d =.infin., the gain of the amplifier 100 is 1/K. However, when using a realizable op amp for the op amp 101, at low frequencies, the overall voltage gain of the amplifier 100 is not quite 1/K due to the finite differential mode voltage gain (A.sub.d). Still further, the gain of the amplifier 100 decreases from 1/K with increasing input signal frequency (applied to V.sub.IN). The reason for this is illustrated in FIG. 4 and discussed below.
In FIG. 4, a simplified gain (in dB) versus frequency plot (not to scale) of a realizable op amp is shown. Curve 110 corresponds to the differential voltage gain, A.sub.d, of the op amp 101 (FIG. 1). Note that the differential gain, A.sub.d, at low frequencies (zero Hz through approximately f.sub.OL) is very high, typically 80 to 100 dB, and drops off until the gain reach 0 dB (unity gain) at the frequency f.sub.m, commonly referred to as the gain-bandwidth product frequency. The gain-bandwidth product is a figure of merit used to measure the performance of the op amp. The f.sub.OL, or open-loop dominant pole frequency, results from a dominant pole (typically a capacitor internal to the op amp 101, not shown) introduced into the op amp 101 to insure stability of the amplifier 100 (FIG. 3) due to the high differential gain of the op amp 101.
As discussed above, the overall voltage gain of the amplifier 100 deviates from 1/K when the frequency of the input signal is increased beyond f.sub.OL. As can be demonstrated from above equation for the closed-loop voltage gain of the amplifier 100, when the differential voltage gain of the op amp 101 decreases, the gain of the amplifier 100 decreases from 1/K. This is illustrated by the dashed portion of the curve 111 shown deviating from the desired curve (solid line of curve 111). This decrease in gain in a source of distortion to wide bandwidth signals amplified by the amplifier 100. For example, pulses or high-fidelity audio signals amplified by the amplifier 100, will be rounded off and distorted. Further, voltage regulators, using amplifier 100 to regulate an output voltage, will not respond to load changes to the regulator as quickly as desired, requiring multiple and/or large high-frequency bypass capacitors on the output of the regulator. Hence, it is desirable to provide an op amp having wide bandwidth to minimize the distortion of signals amplified by the op amp without compromising the stability of the amplifier utilizing said op amp.


The present invention provides a toilet and/or a toilet and bidet combination having immediate reflush capability. Preferred embodiments comprise a tankless toilet and/or toilet and bidet combination and a bowl ventilation apparatus integrated therein. The tankless nature of the invention saves space over conventional toilets, allowing closer mounting to the wall and a lower vertical profile. More specifically, certain embodiments of the present invention comprise a motorized flush mechanism with an infrared sensor having immediate reflush capability, a on-demand motorized water spray cleansing system integrated therein and an integrated bowl ventilation apparatus with a proximity sensor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to toilets, and more particularly relates to a combination feature-rich tankless toilet and bidet system with a bowl ventilation apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventional toilets include a porcelain body defining a bowl and a toilet flushing mechanism. Known flushing mechanisms comprise a water tank reservoir mounted on a rear portion of the toilet in fluid communication with a water supply pipe, e.g., city water service or the like, and the bowl. This is the typical flushing mechanism found in home toilets. Other known flushing mechanisms comprise a valve directly in communication with the water supply. This is the typical flushing mechanism found in commercial toilets.
The water tank reservoir is to supply sufficient water under enough pressure to cleanse the debris, from the bowl. To accomplish this, a siphon effect is utilized. This requires a sufficient volume water running into the bowl with sufficient velocity to activate the siphon. As a result, normal house water pipe water pressure, without more, will not activate the siphon. Essentially, the tank acts as a capacitor, holding one to several gallons of water, which it takes perhaps 30 to 60 seconds to accumulate for storage until the next flush. Activation of the flushing mechanism results in all of the water in the tank rapidly pouring into the bowl.
Typical flushing activation methods include a manual lever connected to a chain that lifts a flush valve to uncover a siphon hole in the tank floor. Once the tank has emptied, the flush valve reengages the siphon hole, covering it so the tank can be refilled. During refill, some of the water goes down a refill tube and starts refilling the tank. The rest goes through the bowl refill tube, and down the overflow tube into the bowl. This refills the bowl slowly. As the water level in the tank rises, so does a float device. Eventually the float rises far enough to turn a valve off, shutting the refill water off, indicating the water storage tank is full and ready for another flush. As discussed above, during the refill time a proper flush is not possible, a waiting period is required.
The bidet is well known and is used for hand-free cleansing of the perineal and genital areas, either as a stand-alone device or in combination with the toilets described above. Generally, a conventional bidet is adapted to spray water from a nozzle. Stand-alone bidets take up much needed bathroom space. Toilet-bidet combinations require water in the water tank reservoir as described above, thus requiring space in the bathroom environment. Moreover, such toilet-bidet combinations may not have sufficient water reserves to provide satisfactory cleansing at certain periods of time, e.g., during a flush or during the tank refill period following a flush.
Bathroom fans are a primary method of removing odors in a bathroom environment arising from toilet usage. Typically, these fans draw air nonspecifically from the bathroom environment and either recirculate the drawn air back into the bathroom, sometimes through a filter, or disperse the drawn air in alternative locations or environments. As these fans are usually in ceilings or high up on the wall, it can take a significant amount of time for odors to travel or be drawn from the toilet bowl region to the fan for removal. During this time, the user and subsequent users of the bathroom are exposed to these odors, which can be unpleasant.
Because bathroom fans can take a significant amount of time to replace, recirculate and/or cleanse the air in a bathroom environment, the user often is forced to open a window to augment odor removal. Although opening a window can help cleanse the air in a bathroom environment, the opening of a window exposes the bathroom to the external environment, subjecting the bathroom and the user to possible extremes in temperature and humidity, depending on the geographic location and the season. Further, additional resources such as electricity or natural gas may need to be expended to heat or cool the bathroom. Further complicating this situation, opening a window could result in dust and allergens entering into the bathroom environment, which can be harmful to some users and/or require the bathroom to be cleaned more often.
Often, bathroom fans are electrically connected to the light switch such that when the light switch is activated, the fan is activated. This can result in a waste of electricity for the times when the bathroom light is needed, but the fan is not needed. Alternatively, there may be a second switch for the fan alone. However, this requires the user to both remember that there is a second switch to activate the fan, and to actually activate the switch.
A bowl ventilation apparatus is a more efficient alternative to the conventional bathroom fan. A ventilation apparatus may be mounted on or incorporated within the structure of a toilet bowl for the specific removal of odors therein. A proximity sensor may be incorporated into, or proximal, the ventilation apparatus to allow activation upon detection of a person approaching or occupying the toilet. Such an apparatus is described by the inventor of the present invention in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,550,072 and 6,678,900, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated in their entirety.
Thus, a tankless toilet having immediate reflush capability, without a waiting period is needed. Similarly, a tankless toilet and bidet combination having both immediate reflush capability as well as on-demand water cleansing spray availability before, during and alter a flush is needed. A tankless toilet and a toilet and bidet combination are also needed to save valuable bathroom space and allow installation in small areas. The addition of a bowl ventilation apparatus is needed to maximize efficiency. The present invention is directed to these needs.


According to one embodiment, a semiconductor storage device includes a first insulating film formed on a substrate and functioning as a FN (Fowler-Nordheim) tunnel film, a first floating gate formed on the first insulating film, an inter-floating-gate insulating layer formed on the first floating gate and functioning as a FN tunnel film, a second floating gate formed on the inter-floating-gate insulating layer, a second insulating film formed on the second floating gate, and a control gate formed on the second insulating film. The inter-floating-gate insulating layer includes a third insulating film and a fourth insulating film having a charge trap property which are stacked.

There is proposed a semiconductor storage device such as NAND flash memory in which floating gates at a memory cell transistor include a lower floating gate, an upper floating gate, and an intergate insulating film provided between the lower floating gate and the upper floating gate. The charge holding property can be enhanced due to such a structure.
However, in the semiconductor storage device with the above-described structure, the intergate insulating film provided between the lower floating gate and the upper floating gate is so thick that transmission of charges due to FN (Fowler-Nordheim) tunneling is dominant, and thus there is a problem that a tunnel current cannot be increased and the write property or erase property is deteriorated.

Semiconductor storage device and method for manufacturing the same


A two/four-wheel drive switching device capable of avoiding interference with other components as far as possible at the time of installation of the device. All portions of a two/four-wheel drive switching device which portions are connected to a final reduction unit for front wheels are positioned below an upper surface of the device body.

The present application claims priority under 35 USC 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-301133 filed on Sep. 29, 2001 the entire contents thereof is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a two-/four-wheel drive switching device for a vehicle.
2. Description of Background Art
In a certain conventional four-wheel vehicle for off-road travel it is possible to select two operation modes according to traveling conditions, one being a two-wheel drive mode-in which power is transmitted to only front wheels or rear wheels and the other being a four-wheel drive mode in which power is transmitted to both front and rear wheels.
For switching between such operation modes, a two-/four-wheel drive switching device or clutch mechanism is mounted in a power transfer path between an engine and the front wheels or between the engine and the rear wheels. Generally, the two-/four-wheel drive switching device is attached to a final reduction unit which is disposed between both front wheels and the engine, or between both rear wheels and the engine.
In mounting the two-/four-wheel drive switching device to the final reduction unit, a mounting portion is projected outwards from an outside of the body of the drive switching device, and likewise a mounting portion is projected outwards from an outside of a casing of the final reduction unit. Then, these face each other and connected together with bolts or the like.
However, in case of thus connecting the two-/four-wheel drive switching device and the final reduction unit with each other through such mounting portions projected outwards from the device body and the casing, problems occur.
Inside the vehicle, where the final reduction unit and the two-/four-wheel drive switching device are installed, suspension units for supporting the front and rear wheels, and a steering mechanism for steering the front wheels are provided. Thus it is impossible to ensure a sufficiently large space.
Therefore, if the two-/four-wheel drive switching device installed in the small space provided when the mounting portion projects outwards from the device body, interference occurs between the mounting portion and other components, and any attempt to avoid such interference will encounter a limited position for installation of the drive switching device.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of such a conventional problems and it is an object of the invention to provide a two-/four-wheel drive switching device for a vehicle capable of avoiding interference with another component as far as possible at the time of installation.
For achieving the above-mentioned object, the two-/four-wheel drive switching device described in claim 1 of the present invention is attached to a vehicle to permit and inhibit the transfer of power between a final reductions unit and an engine, the vehicle comprising a pair of front wheels supported on the right and left sides of a front portion of a body frame, a pair of rear wheels supported on the right and left sides of a rear portion of the body frame, a steering shaft secured rotatably to the front portion of the body frame, the engine which is mounted on a central portion of the body frame, and the final reduction unit which is disposed between the front wheels and connected to the engine, wherein all portions connected to the final reduction unit are positioned below an upper surface of a body of the device.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Vehicle with two/four wheel drive switching device


Provided is a system and method for providing location information of robot in real time using an artificial mark. The system includes: an image processing module for obtaining an image signal by photographing artificial marks installed at a predetermined space with a space coordinate and detecting an image coordinate of artificial mark from the obtaining the image signal; a location calculating module for calculating a current location by comparing the image coordinate of detected artificial mark and a pre-stored space coordinate of artificial mark; and an artificial mark identifying module for updating current location information by selectively using one of an artificial mark tracing process and an image coordinate estimating process.

A robot must recognize a current location of itself in order to automatically travel to a destination after defining a path to that destination.
An artificial marking scheme is generally used as a way of determining a location of robot. In the artificial marking scheme, artificial marks are used which are designed to be distinguished from a background. Such artificial marks are installed throughout an indoor place, and a robot finds the artificial marks to recognize the location of robot by obtaining images of artificial marks through photographing the artificial marks using a camera and processing the obtained images. The location of robot is calculated by referring the image coordinate of detected artificial mark and the indoor space coordinate of the artificial mark that is pre-stored in the robot. There were various methods of calculating the location of robot introduced.
The artificial marks are generally geometrical patterns such as a circle or a rectangle. In order to accurately recognize the current location of robot, the robot has to process images to recognize such a geometrical pattern. Since the image signal captured from the indoor space through the camera is seriously influenced by a direction of a light and a distance from the light to the camera, it is very difficult to stably recognize the artificial marks in the indoor space. Therefore, complicated calculating steps are required to improve the performance of recognizing the artificial marks in a general environment. However, the complicated calculating steps also increase the time of processing the image to recognize the location of robot. Therefore, it is impossible to calculate the location of robot in real time. Especially, it is almost impossible to recognize the location of robot at night since a camera barely captures images when there is not much light provided.
In order to overcome such a drawback, there was another conventional artificial marking scheme introduced, which uses a light source as the artificial marks that can be turned on and off. Such a conventional artificial marking scheme uses the light sources that emit a predetermined wavelength of light as the artificial marks. In order to capture the light sources, a camera having a filter passing the predetermined wavelength of light is used. Accordingly, an image processing is simplified and the reliability for recognizing the artificial marks is improved. Such a conventional artificial marking scheme is barely influenced by the light, and it can be used at the night to move the robot.
However, the light source artificial marks have no differences in their forms, generally. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish one from another. That is, the artificial marks are turned on and off in sequence to recognize each of the artificial marks. Such a recognition procedure requires a time in proportion to the number of light sources. Also, the robot must be stopped before performing the light source recognition procedure. Therefore, the location of robot cannot be calculated in real time, and it cannot be used while the robot is moving.
A robot must be capable of changing a traveling path to a destination in order to implement the robot in an indoor space. It is because there are many dynamic obstacles existed such as human. In order to avoid collusion with these obstacles while the robot travels to the destination, the robot must frequently change its path to the destination. In order to establish the new path, the robot must recognize the current location of itself. If the robot must be stopped and the light source artificial marks are turned on and off in sequence for calculating the current location, it is very ineffective to manage and to drive the robot.

System and method for real-time calculating location

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A vehicle operation authorization system includes a server that receives identification information, which identifies a first portable electronic device that is used as an electronic key for a vehicle, from the first portable electronic device, verifies the identification information, and transmits an operation permission signal to the vehicle to permit a vehicle operation in accordance with a request from the first portable electronic device. A key registration unit registers an encryption key, which is provided from the server, to the first portable electronic device. An access authorization unit uses the encryption key, which is registered in the first portable electronic device, to grant access authorization for accessing the server to a second portable electronic device so that the second portable electronic device functions as the electronic key authorized to operate the vehicle.

Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-310632 describes a remote engine starter system. When a vehicle is parked in a state in which its doors are locked and the engine is stopped, the engine can be started from a remote location with the remote engine starter system by operating an electronic key. The system includes a remote receiver, which is arranged in the vehicle to receive radio waves on the UHF band. When the electronic key is operated, the electronic key transmits an engine start request signal on UHF radio waves. The remote receiver receives the engine start request signal and authenticates the signal to verify the electronic key. When the electronic key is verified, the system starts the engine.


An acoustic tool that provides a reduced tool mode and enhanced accuracy for estimating shear wave propagation slowness in slow formations is disclosed. In one embodiment, the acoustic tool comprises: an acoustic source, an array of acoustic receivers, and an internal controller. The acoustic source excites waves that propagate in a quadrupole mode. The internal controller processes signals from the array of acoustic receivers to determine a peak phase semblance having a slowness value that varies with frequency. The minimum slowness value associated with the peak phase semblance provides an accurate estimate of the shear wave propagation slowness. The acoustic source preferably includes four source elements. The elements that are 90° apart are preferably driven in inverse-phase to obtain the quadrupole excitation pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for determining characteristics of a formation surrounding a borehole. More particularly, the present invention relates to an acoustic logging tool that provides enhanced performance through use of a quadrupole source configuration.
2. Description of Related Art
An acoustic logging tool typically includes an acoustic source (transmitter), and a set of receivers that are spaced several inches or feet apart. An acoustic signal is transmitted by the acoustic source and received at the receivers of the borehole tool which are spaced apart from the acoustic source. Measurements are repeated every few inches as the tool passes along the borehole.
The acoustic signal from source travels through the formation adjacent the borehole to the receiver array, and the arrival times and perhaps other characteristics of the receiver responses are recorded. Typically, compressional wave (P-wave), shear wave (S-wave), and Stoneley wave arrivals and waveforms are detected by the receivers and are processed. The processing of the data is often accomplished uphole or may be processed real time in the tool itself. Regardless, the information that is recorded is typically used to find formation characteristics such as formation slowness (the inverse of acoustic speed), from which pore pressure, porosity, and other formation property determinations can be made. In some tools, the acoustic signals may even be used to image the formation.
Logging-while-drilling (LWD) logging tools are generally located as close to the drill bit as possible, so as to minimize the delay between reaching a formation and measuring its properties. When implemented as LWD tools, acoustic logging tools must overcome a number of obstacles to perform successfully. These obstacles include drilling noise, and acoustic properties of the thick tool body. The drilling operation creates a continuous low-frequency noise that can interfere with acoustic measurements. For the most part, the noise of the drilling operation exists only in a range of frequencies below about 2 kHz. Accordingly, the drilling noise can be effectively screened out in tools designed to operate in higher frequency ranges.
The portion of the drill string near the drill bit is typically designed to withstand the large compressive force created by the weight of the drill string resting on the drill bit. Accordingly, the walls of the tubing in this region is substantially thicker than the average wall thickness of the drill string. The outer-diameter of the tubing is consequently increased, particularly for LWD tools, which have to accommodate the bulk of logging instruments in addition to an inner bore for fluid flow.
In acoustic tools, increasing the rigidity of the tool increases the amplitude of "the tool mode", i.e. the amplitude of the acoustic energy that propagates through the body of the tool between the acoustic source and the receiver array. It is desirable to minimize the tool mode because this energy can interfere with the desired measurements of the true formation shear wave velocity.
Increasing the outer diameter of the tool (relative to the borehole diameter) also increases the dispersion of interface waves. Interface waves are acoustic energy that propagates along the borehole boundary. For soft formations where the shear wave velocity is slower than the borehole fluid sound velocity, the interface wave velocity provides the best measurable indication of the true formation velocity. Dispersion of these waves reduces the measurement accuracy. Accordingly, it is desirable to reduce the dispersion of interface waves.

Acoustic logging tool having quadrupole source


A lens barrel, in one configuration, includes: a first barrel in which a cam groove having a shape curved with respect to a predetermined axis direction is formed to pierce through the first barrel; a second barrel capable of rotating around the predetermined axis along an outer circumferential surface of the first barrel, a straight groove extending in the predetermined axis direction being formed in the second barrel; a moving member that has a cam pin moving along the cam groove and the straight groove and moves in the predetermined axis direction while holding a lens inside the first barrel as the second barrel rotates with respect to the first barrel; and a damping mechanism that applies damping force depending on an angle of the cam groove to the predetermined axis direction to the second barrel.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a lens barrel and an optical apparatus.
2. Related Art
To allow a user to operate a zooming ring of a lens barrel with constant operating torque without feeling play, there has been conventionally suggested a method that arranges rubber member between the zooming ring and a fixed barrel to bias the zooming ring simultaneously in the optical axis direction and the radial direction of the zooming ring (see Patent Document 1, for example).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-169232


There is disclosed a method for screening drug candidate compounds for anti-epileptic activity, a method for screening drug candidate compounds for activity to prevent or treat symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and a method for determining cell viability and health of living cells inside polymeric tissue implants.

The maintenance of cell volume is a fundamental property of all eukaryotic cells. The cell membrane of animal cells is highly permeable to water, the cell volume will be determined by the cellular content of the osmotically active solutes and by the osmolality of the extracellular fluid. The intracellular and extracellular environments are significantly different. A combination of active and passive transport processes are involved in cell volume regulation. Viable and healthy cells maintain constant cell volumes under resting conditions and are capable of counteracting volume perturbations by performing volume recovery processes.
Swollen cells tend to reduce their volume often by losing KCl and by concomitant loss of cell water. This is known as a "regulatory volume decrease (RVD). Similarly, shrunken cells show the capacity to increase their volume to initial or normal healthy values by taking up extracellular KCl and the concomitant uptake of cell water. This is known as "regulatory volume increase" (RVI).
The process of volume regulation involves a large number of transport systems and signaling mechanisms. Now, the only way to measure the "health" of cells is to wait for cell death and measure live versus dead cells by dye exclusion or the ability to grow into colonies. Similarly, the only way to measure apoptosis has been through a difficult and cumbersome process of cell sorting. The process of cell sorting does not lend itself to high throughput mechanisms. However, there is a need in the art to develop high throughput screening mechanisms to measure cell "health" and not just cell death and to measure the beginnings of the process of apoptosis rapidly and inexpensively. The present invention, using an epilepsy screening model, developed a novel and inexpensive high throughput screening system for cellular health and apoptosis that is applicable to evaluate compounds for a variety of treatment indications wherein the underlying diseases and their pathology (on a cellular level) is caused by poor cell health of certain cell types and apoptosis.
Two primary features that characterize epileptiform activity are hyperexcitability and hypersynchronization (Schwartzkroin, in The Treatment of Epilepsy: Principles and Practice, E. Wylie, Ed. Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, 1993, pp. 83-98.). Although either of these features alone might be sufficient for the development and spread of epileptiform activity, it has not been possible to dissociate them in experimental models of epilepsy. Some studies have suggested that nonsynaptic mechanisms might be sufficient to produce hyperexcitability and/or hypersynchrony. For example, exposing hippocampal slices to calcium-free medium abolished synaptic transmission but produced synchronized burst discharges in a CA1 subfield (Jefferys and Haas, Nature 200:448, 1982; Taylor and Dudek, Science 218:810, 1982; Konnerth et al., Exp. Brain Res. 51:153, 1984; and Richardson et al., Brain Res. 294:255, 1984). Synchronized activity may be mediated by ephaptic interactions among the densely packed CA1 neurons (Dudek et al., Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsy's: Molecular and Cellular Approaches, Delgado-Escueta et al. Eds. Raven Press, New York 44:593-617, 1986).
A major component of volume regulation of the ECS (extracellular space) under normal and pathological conditions is glial dependent (Kimelberg and Ransom, in Astrocytes: Cell Biology and Pathology of Astrocytes, Fedoeroff and Vernadakis, Eds. Academic, New York, 3:129-166, 1986). A furosemide-sensitive Na-K-2Cl cotransporter plays a major role in cell swelling and volume-regulation of astrocytes in cell culture (Geck et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 600:432, 1980; Walz et al., J Cerebr. Blood Flow Metab. 4:301, 1984; and Kimelberg and Frangakis, Brain Res. 361:125, 1985). Changes in external K+ concentrations alter intracellular KCl concentrations in astrocytes. The changes are thought to act through furosemide-sensitive Na-K-2Cl cotransport, accompanied by osmotically-driven water movement. Furosemide blocks glial cell swelling (Kimelberg and Ransom, in Astrocytes: Cell Biology and Pathology of Astrocytes, Fedoeroff and Vernadakis, Eds. Academic, New York, 3:129-166, 1986; Geck et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta 600:432, 1980; Walz and Hertz, J Cerebr. Blood Flow Metab. 4:301, 1984; and Kimelberg and Frangakis, Brain Res. 361:125, 1985). However, the concentrations that furosemide acts are well beyond those than can be achieved in a clinical setting. Therefore, there is a need in the art to device a system, including hardware and software, that is able to screen for active drug compounds in culture in a high-throughput screening assay system. The present invention utilized furosemide to develop such a screening system.
Glutamate plays a vital role in the normal functioning of neurons. It is the main excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). The normal function of glutamate, as a means of communication from one neuron to the next, breaks down in certain disease states. Damage to the CNS associated with ischemia, most commonly in cerebrovascular embolitic disease or stroke, is a direct result of hypoxia or deprivation of metabolic intermediates. Glutamate is excessively effluxed during hypoxia by ischemic neurons, which in turn, activates pathways in post-synaptic neurons leading to acute cell swelling and later, cell death. Astrocytes maintain ionic, amino acid neurotransmitter and water homeostasis in the extracellular space of the brain. When applied to a culture of astrocytes, glutamate (at concentrations from 50 .mu.M to 1 mM) caused cell swelling (Juurlink et al., Can. J Physiol. Pharm. 70:5344-9, 1992). There is a need in the art to discover drug products administered as early as possible after the ischemic event, that can attenuate the damaging action of glutamate and decrease morbidity associated with stroke and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Necrosis and apoptosis are two distinct modes of cell death which differ in morphology, mechanism and incidence. Apoptosis plays an important role in embryogenesis and development and in tumor growth. Apoptosis is characterized by cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation and systematic DNA cleavage. Apoptotic cells are rapidly engulfed by phagocytic cells to prevent an inflammatory reaction to degredative cell contents. Apoptosis has not been identified in vivo due to problems of heterogeneity and short half life of an apoptotic cell. Apoptosis has been characterized in vitro using dyes and flow cytometry (Dive et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta 1133:275-85, 1992). However, flow cytometry is an extremely time consuming and labor-intensive process that cannot be used for high-throughput screening procedures that needs to investigate large numbers of candidate drug products. Therefore, there is a need in the art to find drug candidates from large libraries of compounds that appear to have therapeutic activity to reverse or prevent the apoptotic process and thus exhibit potential therapeutic utility in treating or preventing the progression of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases.
AD is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary degeneration, and accompanying neuronal loss. AD amyloid assembles into compact fibrous deposits from the beta amyloid protein (BAP), which is a proteolytic fragment of the membrane-associated amyloid precursor protein of 39-43 amino acids in length. The neurotoxicity of BAP has been observed in vitro in cell culture and it appears to induce an apoptotic death. Similarly, glutamate will cause cell death of neuronal cells in culture and first cause cell swelling.
There are new technologies being developed that involve creating functioning cells that secrets biologically active materials. Such cellular cultures are encapsulated in polymeric materials that avoid problems of antigen recognition and rejection. However, in manufacturing such "living" therapeutic devices, it is important to check on the quality of such devices by measuring the health and viability of the cells encapsulated during various stages of the manufacturing process and prior to use. Therefore, there is a need in the art to develop processes and devices for measuring the health and viability of encapsulated cells of living cellular implants.

Drug screening process measuring changes in cell volume


A method of controlling the relative humidity in an electrochemical conversion device comprises the steps of: providing a fuel cell stack comprising a plurality of fuel cells stackingly arranged, and at least one heater coupled to at least one end fuel cell; selecting a relative humidity setpoint for the at least one end cell; calculating an end cell membrane electrode assembly temperature setpoint using the relative humidity setpoint; calculating a heater temperature setpoint equal to the calculated end cell membrane electrode assembly temperature setpoint plus a computed temperature difference from the at least one end cell membrane electrode assembly to the heater; and adjusting the temperature of the end cell heater until it reaches the heater temperature setpoint and thereby achieves the relative humidity setpoint of the at least end cell membrane electrode assembly.

The present invention relates to electrochemical conversion cells, commonly referred to as fuel cells, which produce electrical energy by processing first and second reactants. For example, electrical energy can be generated in a fuel cell through the reduction of an oxygen-containing gas and the oxidation of a hydrogenous gas. By way of illustration and not limitation, a typical cell comprises a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) positioned between a pair of flowfields accommodating respective ones of the reactants. More specifically, a cathode flowfield plate and an anode flowfield plate can be positioned on opposite sides of the MEA. The voltage provided by a single cell unit is typically too small for useful application so it is common to arrange a plurality of cells in a conductively coupled "stack" to increase the electrical output of the electrochemical conversion assembly.
The membrane electrode assembly typically comprises a proton exchange membrane separating an anode layer and a cathode layer of the MEA. The MEA is typically characterized by enhanced proton conductivity under wet conditions. For the purpose of describing the context of the present invention, it is noted that the general configuration and operation of fuel cells and fuel cell stacks is beyond the scope of the present invention. Rather, the present invention is methods of controlling the water content in the electrochemical conversion cell, specifically by regulating the relative humidity of an end cell via a heater.
During operation, a fuel cell stack is susceptible to loss of heat to the environment (e.g., conductive heat loss through attached hardware), particularly at the ends of the fuel cell stack. This loss of heat results in the temperature of the fuel cell stack being non-uniform along its length, with the end cells of the fuel cell stack comprising lower temperatures than the rest of the cells. Due to the temperature drop, water passing through the fuel cell may condense in the relatively cooler cells at the end of the fuel cell stack.
Condensation of water within the fuel cells at the end of the fuel cell stack is problematic since water can block the flow channels and flood the fuel cell. Flooding decreases voltage by not allowing reactants to reach the reaction sites and overall performance of the fuel cell stack decreases. In addition, flooding may also result in dehydration in other areas of the fuel cell stack. As a result, there is a continuing demand to control the water content of a fuel cell stack and the individual fuel cells making up the fuel cell stack.
Regarding the general configuration and operation of fuel cells and fuel cell stacks, applicants refer to the vast collection of teachings covering the manner in which fuel cell "stacks" and the various components of the stack are configured. For example, a plurality of U.S. patents and published applications relate directly to fuel cell configurations and corresponding methods of operation. More specifically, FIGS. 1 and 2 of U.S. Patent Application Pub. No. 2005/0058864 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,974,648) and the accompanying text present a detailed illustration of the components of one type of fuel cell stack and this particular subject matter is expressly incorporated herein by reference.

Fuel cell stack end cell control methodology


Method for controlling a process for the production of a polymer by polymerization of a monomer and a comonomer. The process includes maintaining a substantially constant effective flow ratio (EFR), the effective flow ratio being defined as EFR=(Qcomo−Lcomo)/(Qmono−Lmono), Qcomo and Qmono being, respectively, flow rates of comonomer and monomer to the reactor, Lcomo and Lmono being, respectively, losses of comonomer and monomer.

The polymerisation of olefin monomers in gas phase fluidised bed reactors is well-known. Control of such processes is required to ensure stable fluidisation and stable production of polymer with desired characteristics. As well as control during steady-state it is also important to control the process during periods of non-steady-state operation, such as during transitions and during start-ups.
At non-steady-state conditions it can be especially difficult to avoid the presence of off-specification material because it is especially difficult to control the density and melt index of polymer it is desired to produce.
A number of applications have attempted to address such problems during start-ups and at steady state.
WO 99/31143, for example, relates to a process for starting-up a polymerisation process in a gas phase fluidised bed which uses a catalyst based on chromium oxide. In the process described in this document the start-up involves two separate stages, the first in which olefin is introduced so as to maintain a constant partial pressure in the reactor, and the second in which olefin is introduced at a constant flow rate.
WO 99/31142 also relates to a process for starting-up a polymerisation process in a gas phase fluidised bed, but this time using a Ziegler-Natta type catalyst. In the process described in this document the start-up involves increases in the partial pressure of olefin and the rate of introduction of catalyst, whilst maintaining constant the ratios of the partial pressures of the olefin to hydrogen and to any comonomers.
WO 02/51027 relates to a start-up procedure for processes using at least two different catalyst compounds. The procedure involves calculating a trajectory, from elements including catalyst deactivation rate constants (kd), for the rate of introduction of a catalyst system, into a reactor, and introducing the olefin monomer, a catalyst system, optional co-monomer, and optional chain transfer or termination agents into a polymerization reactor in a manner such that the catalyst system introduction rate is manipulated to follow the trajectory until a desired production rate is achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,607 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,792 relate to operation of processes operating at steady state.
In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,607 relates to a continuous process for polymerisation of an alpha-olefin using a Ziegler-Natta type catalyst in which the reactor is fed with alpha-olefin at a constant rate and U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,792 relates to a continuous process for polymerisation of an alpha-olefin using a catalyst based on chromium oxide in which the reactor is fed with alpha-olefin and catalyst at constant rates.


A clock tree design tool is described which receives input from a user via a graphical user interface (GUI) through a first window, the input including an indication of an output clock frequency. The tool also detects selection by the user of a soft control and, as a result of detecting selection of the soft control, generates a plurality of clock tree solutions. The tool further causes a graphical form of a highlighted one of the clock tree solutions to be displayed in a second window of the GUI. An algorithm for generating the various clock tree solutions is also disclosed.

Most digital electronic systems use one or more clock signals to control their operation. It is not uncommon for a digital system to use multiple clock groups. A clock tree may have multiple and different frequencies. Each frequency or the tree as whole also may have special requirements such as maximum jitter, holdover, spread spectrum, instant on (comes on with no programming), and many other requirements.
Clocking devices typically contain a source frequency which is divided down by dividers in order to generate additional frequencies. For some clock trees, these frequencies might all nicely divide into a single frequency that can be generated by a source such as a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) of a device, while others might require multiple sources. Finding the right combination of devices and the best way to configure such devices is often time consuming and overwhelming due to the availability of a multitude of clock parts.


The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and provides a service transmission method, a device, and a system, to resolve a problem that a service of user equipment is interrupted when a user plane network element is faulty. The method includes: obtaining, by a resource management node, an IP address pool; dividing the IP address pool into at least one IP address segment, and determining at least one tunnel endpoint identifier index based on the at least one IP address segment; and allocating the at least one IP address segment and the at least one tunnel endpoint identifier index to at least one user plane network element.

In a logical architecture of a next generation mobile communications network shown in FIG. 1, user equipment (UE) accesses the mobile communications network by using a local radio access network. A control plane (CP) or Core Control Function (CCF) network element is responsible for connection management, security authentication, mobility management, location management, and the like of the UE, and a user plane (UP) network element is responsible for forwarding of user service data. In actual network deployment, the user plane network element in FIG. 1 that is responsible for forwarding of the user service data may become faulty. In this case, a method is required to ensure transmission of the user service data when the user plane network element is faulty.
Currently, when the user plane network element in the next generation mobile communications network is faulty, usually, with reference to a processing method used when a packet data network gateway (P-GW) in a fourth generation (4G) communications network is faulty, a solution shown in FIG. 2 is used to ensure normal transmission of the user service data. Specifically, the solution shown in FIG. 2 includes: (1) After detecting that a user plane network element 1 is faulty, a control plane network element learns of affected user equipments, and instructs these user equipments to re-establish a data connection. (2) After receiving a notification from the control plane network element, the user equipment initiates a connection establishment request, requesting to re-establish a data connection. (3) After receiving the request from the user equipment, the control plane network element selects a new user plane network element 2 to establish a data connection. (4) The user plane network element 2 returns a connection establishment response, and allocates an Internet Protocol (IP) address to the user equipment. (5) The control plane network element returns the connection establishment response to the user equipment. In this way, the user equipment establishes a data connection to the new user plane network element, and the new user plane network element forwards service data of the user equipment.
Currently, when a user plane network element is faulty, user equipment can establish a data connection to another user plane network element to ensure normal transmission of user service data. However, during data connection establishment between the user equipment and the user plane network element, temporarily no user plane network element is available for forwarding the user service data, and a new user equipment IP address for communicating with an application is allocated. As a result, a service of the user equipment is interrupted, and user service experience is affected.

Service transmission method, device, and system


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a pixel circuitry, a method for driving the pixel circuitry, an array substrate, and a display device. The pixel circuitry may include a preset circuit, a storage circuit, a driving circuit, a compensation circuit, and a light emitting element. The preset circuit may provide a signal from a data signal terminal to a first node, and provide a signal from an initialization signal terminal to a second node. The storage circuit may store a voltage difference between the first node and the second node. The driving circuit may provide a driving current to a third node according to a voltage of the first node. The compensation circuit may compensate for a voltage of the second node according to a signal from a control signal terminal. The light emitting element may emit light according to the driving current.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relates to the field of display technologies, and in particular, to a pixel circuitry, a method for driving the pixel circuitry, an array substrate, and a display device.
Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) is one of the hotspots in the field of display research. Compared with liquid crystal display (LCD), OLED has advantages of low energy consumption, low production cost, self-illumination, a wide viewing angle, and a high response speed.

Pixel circuitry, driving method thereof and display device


A plasma processing apparatus includes a processing chamber having a plasma processing space therein and a substrate support in the processing chamber at a first end for supporting a substrate. A plasma source is coupled into the processing space and configured to form a plasma at a second end of the processing chamber opposite said first end. The apparatus further includes a magnetic grid having an intensity of a magnetic flux therein, a plurality of passageways penetrating from a first side to a second side, a thickness, a transparency, a passageway aspect ratio, and a position within the processing chamber between the second end and the substrate. The intensity, the thickness, the transparency, the passageway aspect ratio, and the position are configured to cause electrons having energies above an acceptable maximum level to divert from the direction. A method of obtaining low average electron energy flux onto the substrate is also provided.

Typically, during semiconductor processing, a plasma etch process is used to remove or etch material along fine lines or within vias or contacts patterned on a semiconductor substrate. The plasma etch process generally involves positioning a semiconductor substrate with an overlying patterned, protective layer, for example a photoresist layer, into a processing chamber and etching exposed areas of the substrate through the pattern.
Once the substrate is positioned within the chamber, it is etched by introducing an ionizable, dissociative gas mixture into the chamber at a pre-specified flow rate, while adjusting a vacuum pump to achieve a processing pressure. Then, plasma is formed when a portion of the gas species is ionized by collisions with energetic electrons. The gas may be ionized by direct current, radio frequency, microwave energy, or other energy sources known to the art. The energetic electrons dissociate some of the gas species in the gas mixture to create reactant species suitable for the exposed-surface etch chemistry. Once the plasma is formed, exposed surfaces of the substrate are etched by the chemistry at a rate that varies as a function of plasma density, average electron energy, and other factors. The process is adjusted to achieve optimal conditions, including an appropriate concentration of desirable reactant and ion populations to more selectively act upon various desired features (e.g., trenches, vias, contacts, etc.) in the exposed regions of a substrate. The exposed regions of the substrate where etching is required are typically formed of materials such as silicon dioxide (SiO2), poly-silicon and silicon nitride, for example.
While plasma etching has proven to be generally effective, process efficiency may be negatively impacted by a variety of factors. For example, undesirably high average electron energies tend to impede ion formation in the presence of process chemicals, and thus result in reduced dissociative attachment at the substrate. Attempts to attenuate the negative effects noted above have included the introduction of Multi Pole Magnet (MPM) assemblies and Dipole Ring Magnetron (DRM) assemblies designed to advantageously select low energy electrons near a substrate.
However, these attempts to select low electron energies by exposing plasma to magnetic fields have produced undesirable side effects. For example, in plasma processing chambers utilizing a microwave plasma (energy) source, previous magnetic assemblies yielded magnetic field profiles that bulge outwardly toward the plasma source and toward the substrate proximate the center axis of the processing chamber. This produces a strong magnetic field in the over-dense surface wave plasma ("SWP") region near the plasma source, as well as a strong magnetic field in the region of the substrate. The magnetic field lines produce complex wave propagation patterns in the SWP region, leading to plasma non-uniformity in the substrate region. Each of these side effects adversely impacts the uniformity of the semiconductor devices being processed. Apparatus and methods to reduce the bulging field in those critical regions are costly and complicated.
Therefore, an apparatus and method for uniformly applying low average electron energy plasma etch, while providing a highly controlled region of magnetic influence, is needed.


[Problem] To deal with interference in cases where a plurality of business operators perform testing at the same time at different MEG levels.

In recent years, there is increasing cooperation between telecommunications carriers and SIers (vendors who perform System Integration) and so forth. In accordance with this, there is an increase in situations where a plurality of business operators perform operations on the same line when a fault occurs or the like. Ethernet (registered trademark) OAM frames are often used for maintenance and management of such Ethernet (registered trademark) networks. Hereinafter, Ethernet (registered trademark) OAM may be referred to as "EOAM", or simply as "OAM".
EOAM is a necessary function to operate and maintain networks and services, and is standardized by the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication Standardization Sector) as international recommendation "Y.1731" (NPL 1). Further, The Telecommunication Technology Committee has issued a comment on EOAM such as in NPL 2.

Abstract: [Solution] A network device 2 includes a frame distinguishing unit 22a that, upon receiving a start instruction for a test from a control device 3, monitors whether or not an OAM frame of a preceding test of a different level from a MEG level of an own device has arrived at the own device, for a predetermined period, and a CPU 24 that, if the frame distinguishing unit 22a detects arrival of the OAM frame, and determination is made that its own test will affect the preceding test, notifies the result of the detection and determination.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


The invention relates to a data transmission arrangement between at least two apparatuses in a system in which part of the connection between different apparatuses is a wireless connection. The apparatuses communicate with method calls containing a service request. Service brokers direct the service request to a given server, which replies to the method call according to the required service by sending the information required for the service to the service broker which sends the information to the sender of the method call. The arrangement further comprises an adapter which is connected to wireless apparatuses and which adapts the protocol used in the wireless connection to the rest of the network. The adapter finds the server providing the requested service on behalf of the apparatus which sent the method call and operates in a wireless network.

In designing and maintaining data systems, attention has been attached to creating connections between various systems and to their fluent operation. Systems that are separate from each other are often implemented by various methods and different types of hardware which are not compatible. Making various systems compatible has been arduous and time-consuming, if at all possible.
This is why several hardware and system manufacturers have developed a common architecture, CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), with which computer systems of different type and implemented using different programming languages can flexibly communicate with each other. CORBA defines the GIOP protocol (General Inter-ORB Protocol), by means of which hardware of different type and programs programmed with different programming languages can communicate. The GIOP protocol is a common protocol, and on the basis of it, the IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol) has been developed especially for the Internet environment. Additional information on CORBA can be found in for instance "The Common Object Request Broker: Architecture and Specification," Revision 2.0, published by OMG (Object Management Group) that created the architecture. The specification can be found at www.omg.org.
CORBA has been developed for systems which have a fixed connection to each other through a non-specified network. When designing the protocol, attention was not so much attached to the possible capacity of the transmission path as to creating a flexible and safe protocol. Because the proportion of wireless communication has lately been increasing strongly, there has also been a tendency to use data systems and different types of software in computers and apparatuses whose only or primary connection to other networks is over a wireless network, such as the GSM, GPRS or UMTS. The ability of wireless networks to transmit information is considerably lower than that of fixed, wire networks. This is why the application of CORBA in wireless systems has not been wide-spread. Transmitting CORBA over a wireless transmission path has proven to be very slow due to the heavy signalling and the large amount of data to be transmitted.
In software applications in wireless apparatuses, the applications have usually defined their own interfaces and protocols, which have been directly connected to the actual data transmission. FIG. 1 illustrates this. The figure shows three software applications 100 to 104 operating in an apparatus using a wireless connection. Each software has its own protocol 106 to 110, by means of which it is in contact with the transmission layer 112 which manages data transmission using the wireless connection. In this solution, the applications have to be connected to the transmission layer, which makes application development difficult and awkward.

Data transmission method and arrangement using method calls


The present invention relates to cellulose fiber containing 500 to 2000 of filaments and having homogeneous physical properties and the multi-filaments according to the present invention is characterized in that the strength and the breaking elongation of the multi-filaments are 4 to 9 g/d and 4 to 15%, respectively. In particular, the present invention is characterized in that each mono-filament selected 100 strands from every three part divided from multi-filaments has properties as following: (a) 3 to 9 g/d in average strength, 7 to 15% in average breaking elongation and 0.035 to 0.055 in by birefringence, (b) the differences of the above three parts are below 1.0 g/d in average strength, 1.5% in breaking elongation and 0.7 denier in denier, (c) the CV (%) (coefficient of variation) of the above three parts are below 10%, and (d) the birefringence differences of the above three parts are below 0.004.

The present invention relates to cellulose fiber having homogeneous physical property, in particular cellulose fiber for using as industrial materials, preferably tire-cord produced as following steps: preparing a homogeneous cellulose solution by swelling a cellulose powder with a concentrated liquid N-methyl morpholine N-oxide (NMMO); extruded-spinning the cellulose solution through an air gap using a spinning nozzle with 500 to 2000 of orifices and then obtaining a multi-filaments after solidifying the spun cellulose solution; and winding the multi-filaments after water-washing, drying and treating with a finishing oil.
In particular, the present invention relates to cellulose fiber having 500 to 2000 filaments, and is characterized in that the strength of multi-filaments is 4 to 9 g/d, the breaking elongation is 4 to 15% and the multi-filaments have homogeneous physical properties. More specifically, the present invention relates to the cellulose multi-filaments for use of industrial materials, in which each 100 mono-filaments selected from each three parts divided from the multi-filaments have the properties as following; a) 3 to 9 g/d in average, 7 to 15% in average breaking elongation and 0.035 to 0.055 in average birefringence, b) the differences of three parts in average strength, breaking elongation and denier are below 1.0 g/d, 1.5% and 0.7 denier, respectively, c) CV (coefficient of variation) (%) of three parts in average strength, breaking elongation and denier is below 10%, and d) the differences of the average birefringence of three parts are below 0.004.
A cellulose fiber manufactured with cellulose and NMMO is utilized in various fields needing the cellulose fiber in the process of manufacturing, because all the solvent used in the process of manufacture of the cellulose fiber is recycled and therefore the manufacture of the cellulose fiber corresponds to a non-pollution process, and the produced fiber has high mechanical strength, and referring to EPO no. 0356419 a cellulose solution produced using amine oxide together with NMMO is described, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,221 discloses a method for producing a cellulose solution with a tertiary amine oxide, and according to the above U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,221 the cellulose solution is spun using a device for forming such as a spinneret as filaments and then the filaments are precipitated in a bath to pass a coagulating bath and finally the swollen cellulose containing water is produced. But the above method takes a long time from dissolving to spinning, and the degradation of physical properties results from the long time. And also the expense of energy is so much that the cost for manufacturing is non-avoidable.
On the other hand, H. Chanzy et al. produced a cellulose fiber with 56.7 cN/tex of strength and 4% of breaking elongation in a manner that a cellulose solution which a DP 5,000 of cellulose was dissolved by NMMO and ammonium chloride or calcium chloride was added and the resultant was spun through an air gap, but the method for producing the cellulose fiber has difficulty with being available commercially because the number of filament is only 1 strand and the fibril orientated in direction of axis is exfoliated.
Referring to other prior invention, U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,327 describes a cellulose fiber having 50 to 80 cN/tex (5.7 to 9.1 g/d) of strength, 6 to 25% of elongation and 1.5 dtex of mono strand fineness and produced in a manner that a aqueous NMMO solution into which DP 1,360 of cellulose is dissolved is spun through an air gap, but the number of filaments is only 50 strands. The cellulose fiber produced in the above manner has difficulty with being available commercially, considering that generally the number of filaments for using as industrial materials should be about 1000 strands (1,500 denier) because (a) the efficient remove of solvent is necessary in view of process and (b) the capacity of inner skin is enough maximized to resist the repeated fatigue in view of physical property.
In general when a spinning process is performed, in view of technology to spin with 500 to 2,000 of orifices per spinning nozzle is more difficult than to spin with 50 orifices per spinning nozzle. The reason is why that the adjustment of spinning pressure is more difficult in proportion to the increase of the number of orifices and thus it is difficult to design a spinning nozzle and a distributing plate, in particular to adjust the condition for cooling evenly in an air gap and for washing and drying homogeneously all the filaments of 500 to 2,000, and as result it is very difficult to make all the filaments posses physical properties above a certain level and the homogeneous physical properties, and therefore the physical properties of 50 strands according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,327 is not sufficient for reference to the application of industrial materials.
In particular, because the increase of the number of filaments affects the stability of process relating to adhesion to the filaments spun from the nozzle and the efficiency when a spinning is performed through an air gap, the number of holes in a distributing plate for dispersing evenly the cellulose solution on the nozzle, the space of the holes and the diameter of the holes as well as the outer diameter of the nozzle and the diameter and space of orifices are very important.
As described in the above, as the number of filaments increases a new design for spinning is necessary considering the length of air gap, the blowing condition of cooling air, the direction of the coagulating solution and the spinning speed, and the physical properties may be different according to the design.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,252,284 describes a cellulose fiber having 800 to 1,900 of filaments, however, from the spinning condition that air gap below 10 mm is too short and spinning speed, 45 m/min is too slow reveals that the 15.4% of elongation is sufficiently high, but the 47.8 cN/tex (5.3 g/d) of strength is not sufficient for use of a industrial material, in particular tire-cord and also the cellulose has disadvantage that the physical properties of each filament are not homogeneous.

Cellulose fiber for using as industrial materials


Ozone, preferably produced in an ambient air stream passed through a non-thermal hyperplasma reactor, is added to the hot exhaust gas stream from a lean-burn (oxygen-rich) combustion source. The ozone converts much of the NO in the NOx containing exhaust stream to NO2. The resulting NO2/NOx ratio can be controlled by the input energy density to the plasma reactor. Ammonia and/or urea is added to the ozone treated exhaust in proportion to the NOx content, and the stream passed into contact with a reduction catalyst, such as a base metal-exchanged zeolite, to convert the NOx to nitrogen.

Diesel engines are operated at higher than stoichiometric air to fuel mass ratios for improved fuel economy. Such lean-burning engines produce a hot exhaust with a relatively high content of oxygen and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The temperature of the exhaust from a warmed up diesel engine is typically in the range of 200° to 400° C. and has a representative composition, by volume, of about 10-17% oxygen, 3% carbon dioxide, 0.1% carbon monoxide, 180 ppm hydrocarbons, 235 ppm NOx and the balance nitrogen and water. These NOx gases, typically comprising nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), are difficult to reduce to nitrogen (N2) because of the high oxygen (O2) content and the water content in the hot exhaust stream.
It has been proposed to add gaseous or vaporizable hydrogen-containing substances such as ammonia, urea, or hydrocarbons to the oxygen-rich exhaust gas to provide reactants for the conversion of NOx to nitrogen over a suitable catalyst. The practice is termed selective catalytic reduction of NOx (SCR) and catalysts such as certain base metal-exchanged zeolite catalysts have been tested to accomplish this difficult chemical reduction task. Selective catalytic reduction of NOx by NH3 is one of the most promising technologies known for the control of NOx emissions from lean-burn engine exhausts. Due to the difficulties associated with the storage and transportation of NH3, however, urea has been widely used as a preferred source of NH3 for automotive applications, based on the fact that one molecule of urea can produce two molecules of NH3 through thermal decomposition. The NOx conversion performance of typical catalysts for NH3 assisted SCR is excellent over a wide temperature range above 250° C., but the low-temperature activity below 250° C. remains a major problem.
It is, thus, an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of reducing NOx in such oxygen-rich, nitrogen oxide containing mixtures, especially at temperatures below about 250° C. It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a method of modifying lean-burn, hydrocarbon fueled engine exhaust with ozone (from plasma treated ambient air) and ammonia (or the equivalent) before the exhaust is brought into contact with a NOx reduction catalyst.