An ornament hanger comprising an elongated loop shaped structure having an arcuate ornament supporting portion at one end and an attachment portion at the other end. A bendable closure member cooperates with the supporting portion to inhibit ornaments from disengaging from the ornament hanger. A part of the arcuate ornament supporting portion has an enlarged cross section with respect to other parts of the arcuate ornament supporting portion to provide strengthening of the supporting portion permitting heavy ornaments to be supported by the ornament hanger. The enlarged cross-sectional portion is dumbbell shaped. A part of the dumb bell shaped enlarged portion being asymmetrical such that one end of the enlarged portion in cross section is larger than the other end.

This invention relates to an ornament hanger of the type used at Christmas time to hang small ornaments from trees, wires or other supports. There are a large variety of ornament hangers which are available but if the ornament hangers are made out of plastic they tend if not extremely bulky to be insufficiently strong for some of the heavier ornaments which are currently being used. The result of this unfortunate circumstance is that valued ornaments tend to deform the ornament hangers such that the ornament is released, falls and breaks.
The invention herein described obviates the problems of the prior art by using polyethylene or polypropylene which are common and relatively inexpensive synthetic organic resins while at the same time due to the unique construction and design, the inventive ornament hanger provides increased strength while still maintaining dimensions which are relatively slender and are attractive for use in home decorations.


A fluid composition for refrigerators, which comprises [A] a halogenocarbon refrigerant, and [B] a synthetic lubricating oil comprising at least one carbonic acid ester selected from the group consisting of:. [I] a carbonic acid ester represented by the general formula (1) ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are each an alkyl or dihydric alcohol residue, R.sup.3 is an alkylene, and a is 1-30, PA1 [II] a carbonic acid ester represented by the general formula (2) ##STR2## wherein X.sup.1 is --H or ##STR3## R.sup.4 -R.sup.6 are each an alkyl, cycloalkyl or neopentyl type polyol residue, R.sup.7 is an alkyl, b is 1 or 2, c is 0 or 1 (b+c=2), d is 0-30 and e is 1-3, and PA1 [III] a carbonic acid ester of which alcohol moieties are (i) a monohydric alcohol, (ii) a dihydric alcohol, and (iii) a neopentyl type polyol or dimer or trimer thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a fluid composition for refrigerators and, more specifically, it relates to a fluid composition for refrigerators which comprises a halogenocarbon refrigerant and a synthetic lubricating oil comprising a specific carbonic acid ester as a major component (a base oil).
2. Prior Art
Generally, naphthenic mineral oils, paraffinic mineral oils, alkylbenzenes, polyglycolic oils and mixtures thereof, which have each a kinematic viscosity of 10-200 cSt at 40.degree. C., as well as said oils incorporated with suitable additives, have been used as refrigerator oils.
On the other hand, chlorofluorocarbon type refrigerants (CFCS), such as CFC-11, CFC-12, CFC-115 and HCFC-22, have been used as such for refrigerators.
Of these CFCS, those such as CFC-11, CFC-12 and CFC-115, which are obtained by substituting all the hydrogen atoms of their hydrocarbons by halogen atoms including chlorine atoms, may lead to the destruction of the ozone layer, and, therefore, the use of the CFCS has been restricted. Accordingly, hydrogen-containing halogenocarbons, particularly chlorine-free type halogenocarbons such as HFC-134a and HFC-152a, have been being used as substitutes for CFCS. HFC-134a is especially hopeful as a substitute refrigerant since it is similar in thermodynamic properties to CFC-12 which has heretofore been used in many kinds of refrigerators for home cold-storage chests, air-conditioners, car air-conditioners and the like.
Refrigerator oils require various properties, among which their miscibility with refrigerants is extremely important in regard to lubricity and system efficiency in refrigerators. However, conventional refrigerator oils comprising, as the base oils, naphthenic oils, paraffinic oils, alkylbenzenes and the like, are hardly miscible with chlorine-free type halogenocarbons such as HFC-134a. Therefore, if said conventional refrigerator oils are used in combination with HFC-134a, the resulting mixture will separate into two layers at normal temperature thereby to degrade the oil-returnability which is the most important within the refrigeration system and cause various troubles such as a decrease in refrigeration efficiency, the deterioration of lubricity and the consequent seizure of the compressor within the system whereby the refrigerator oils are made unsuitable for use as such.
In attempts to solve such problems, the present inventors developed polyglycolic refrigerator oils which have excellent miscibility with HFC-134a as compared with conventional known refrigerator oils, filed an application for a patent for the thus developed polyglycolic refrigerator oils and have already obtained a patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,525) therefor. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,316 discloses polyglycolic refrigerator oils which are compatible with HFC-134a.
On the other hand, refrigerator oils used in compressors of home refrigerators and the like are required to have a high electrical insulating property. Among the known refrigerator oils, alkylbenzenes and the mineral oils have the highest insulating property, but they are hardly miscible with chlorine-free type halogenocarbons such as HFC-134a as mentioned above. Further, the polyglycolic oils having excellent miscibility with HFC-134a raise problems as to their inferior electrical insulating property.
The present inventors found that esters having specific structures have excellent miscibility with chlorine-free type halogenocarbons such as HFC-134a and a high electrical insulating property, and filed applications for patents for the esters (Japanese Patent Applications Nos. Hei. 1-341244, Hei. 1-341245, Hei. 2-105772 and Hei. 2-121133. Hei. 1 and Hei. 2 are the same as 1989 and 1990 A.D., respectively.).
The known esters have various excellent properties as mentioned above, but they are hydrolyzable and therefore they are not necessarily suitable for use in apparatuses, such as cold-storage chests and car air-conditioners, which must be operated for a long period of time with high reliability. Accordingly, it has been desired to develop a refrigerator oil which has high miscibility with hydrogen-containing halogenocarbons such as HFC-134a, and also has a high electrical insulating property and high hydrolysis stability (or high stability to hydrolysis).
Further, conventional ester type synthetic oils have heretofore been known as synthetic oils having excellent heat resistance, but they are hydrolyzable as mentioned above, and therefore, it has been desired to develop an ester type synthetic having excellent hydrolytic stability.


In one embodiment, a method for receiving a plurality of data points of a contour wayline having a starting point and an ending point, the contour wayline describing a curved path; generating a description of a curve corresponding to a number of data points; providing curved extensions of the contour wayline based on the description of the curve; and using the curved extensions and the contour wayline for auto-guidance.

Recent efforts have been made to automate or semi-automate farming operations. Such efforts serve not only to reduce operating costs but also improve working conditions for operators and reduce operator error, enabling gains in operational efficiency and yield. For instance, agricultural machines may employ an auto-guidance system to reduce operator fatigue and costs. Auto-guidance systems enable traversal through a field based on waylines, which dictate a path the mobile machine is to take. Waylines are projected left and right based on implement width, enabling the mobile machine to cover the area of the field being worked.
When an operator wishes to use an auto-guidance feature today, the typical procedure is for the operator to navigate a mobile machine over an initial path (whether it is a straight A-B wayline, a contour, etc.) and then the system generates successive waylines based on the width of a coupled implement. Waylines are generated with starting and ending points, though an operator is often faced with extending the waylines given the geometry of the area of the field to be worked or because of other factors such as unfamiliarity with the borders of the field. One approach to handling the need for extensions beyond the wayline is for the operator to terminate the auto-guidance function and manually navigate the mobile machine, though such an approach increases the burden on the operator and may prove to be an annoyance over time. Another approach is adapted for straight A-B waylines, where the waylines are simply extended along a vector established for the original wayline. However, merely extending the wayline along the direction of a previous vector is insufficient for contour waylines, which by definition have curved paths.

Curved wayline extensions for contour path planning


High input impedance amplifiers are provided which reduce the input impedance solely to a capacitive reactance, or, in a somewhat more complex design, provides an extremely high essentially infinite, capacitive reactance. In one embodiment, where the input impedance is reduced in essence, to solely a capacitive reactance, an operational amplifier in a follower configuration is driven at its non-inverting input and a resistor with a predetermined magnitude is connected between the inverting and non-inverting inputs. A second embodiment eliminates the capacitance from the input by adding a second stage to the first embodiment. The second stage is a second operational amplifier in a non-inverting gain-stage configuration where the output of the first follower stage drives the non-inverting input of the second stage and the output of the second stage is fed back to the non-inverting input of the first stage through a capacitor of a predetermined magnitude. These amplifiers, while generally useful, are very useful as sensor buffer amplifiers that may eliminate significant sources of error.

Numerous sensors that generate electronic output signals representing a sensed physical condition undergo a variation in their output impedance with signal amplitude. This is a characteristic of the sensor "on-chip" amplifiers. The fundamental problem caused by these amplitude variations is that the output signal from the on-chip amplifier will give false indications of sensed physical conditions. An explanation of this result may be given as follows.
A sensor with its on-chip amplifier (herein referred to as the "sensor") may be viewed as composed of a voltage source in series with an impedance. The output of this circuit is likely to be in the millivolt to volt range and will require further amplification with what may be characterized as a pre-amplifier with an input impedance that is generally large with respect to the sensor impedance. When the sensor impedance undergoes a variation due to signal amplitude, the sensor output will not only indicate a variation due to changes in the sensed physical condition but also, because of the variation of the sensor impedance, an error component. The signal to the pre-amplifier, then, is derived from the junction of a divider composed of the varying sensor impedance and the pre-amplifier input impedance.
While sensor errors are caused by sensor impedance variations that are dependent on signal amplitude, errors are also introduced by the characteristics of the pre-amplifier or other signal processing amplifiers that follow the sensor on-chip amplifiers. The current technology generally employs operational amplifiers because of some positive characteristics that they possess for this application, such as high open loop voltage gain, low current noise, and small inter-electrode capacitance between the inverting- and non-inverting inputs. However, the use of operational amplifiers also introduces a primary negative characteristic that causes the introduction of errors in the form of a one-pole frequency characteristic which results in a boot-straped input impedance that is not constant with frequency, i.e., the input impedance varies with the frequency of the applied signal. This results in a configuration or equivalent circuit comprised of a signal source, including a voltage source and a series source impedance that varies with signal amplitude, which, in turn, is followed by another impedance, the amplifier input impedance, that varies with signal frequency. If the amplifier input impedance could be made constant with frequency and very high relative to the sensor source impedance, the effect of variation of the source impedance on error production can be minimized. In other words, the varying sensor source impedance would have a negligible effect on the network transfer function, from voltage source to the pre-amplifier, if the pre-amplifier input impedance is made very large. The prior art recognized the existence of the error sources but the solutions provided were partial.
The prior art, when employing these sensors, e.g., a CCD array where each CCD is followed by an on-chip FET amplifier, recognized that the sensors, due to the on-chip amplifier design, have a high source impedance characteristic. To minimize the effect of the source impedance variations that occur with sensor generated voltage variations, the prior art employed buffer circuits as input stages of the signal processing amplifiers. The buffer amplifiers, for example, employed single bipolar transistors, single FETs, as well as operational amplifier followers, as previously noted. However, while the buffers could provide a very large input impedance at low frequencies, they all suffer a reduction in input impedance with increasing frequency that may become rather severe at very high frequencies.

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


A semiconductor element chiefly serving as an anti fuse and a manufacturing method thereof, the anti fuse storing data by causing a transition from a high resistance state to a low resistance state by a current supplied when a voltage is imposed. The element has a three-layer electrode structure composed of an upper electrode, amorphous silicon and a silicon insulation film thereby to improve the stability and reproducibility of the programming voltage and current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor element and a manufacturing method thereof, and more specifically, to a semiconductor element which chiefly serving as an "anti fuse" and a manufacturing method thereof, the anti fuse storing data by causing a transition from a high resistance state to a low resistance state by a current supplied when a voltage is imposed.
2. Description of the Related Arts
An anti fuse operates such that when a voltage is imposed to an electrode of a semiconductor element and a current is supplied thereto, the current causes the electrode to change from a nonconductive state to a conductive state. More specifically, the anti fuse forms a semiconductor element which has a characteristic and function opposite to those of a "fuse", wherein, for example, a conductive state is conventionally changed to a nonconductive, state by breaking a wiring of polysilicon.
Conventionally, chalcogenide and amorphous silicon are known as materials used for the anti fuse, and examples of their practical applications are shown in the following documents. The feature of the anti fuse shown in these documents will be described below.
Document 1: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No 47-32944/72
The energy applied to a high resistance semiconductor material composed of amorphous silicon by irradiating an electron beam, a laser beam and the like cases a stable high resistance state of the semiconductor to change to a stable low resistance state.
Document 2: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 57-4038/82
A PROM device composed of high resistance polysilicon of which the resistance value is unreversibly changed by an imposed electric field.
Document 3: Japanese Laid Open Application No. 54-88739/79
An EEPROM device composed of tellurium-based chalcogenide having a high electric resistance in an amorphous state and a low electric resistance in a crystallized state.
This anti fuse is applied to a simple wiring connection switch in an IC, a PLA (programmable logic array) and a redundant circuit of a memory, and further to a PROM, and its application to these devices is under consideration.
FIG. 2 is a schematic partly cross-sectional view of a conventional semiconductor element used as the above anti fuse and of a type most closely related to the semiconductor element of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, 201 designates a semiconductor substrate, 202 designates an impurity diffusion layer formed on the surface the semiconductor substrate 201, 203 and 203a designated an inter-layer insulation film, 204 designates a wiring electrode, 205 designates an amorphous silicon region, and 206 designates an upper electrode formed on the amorphous silicon 205. Note, the amorphous silicon 205 is a high resistance member.
The upper electrode 206 is composed of a conductive material and is formed simultaneously when the wiring electrode 204 is formed.
In this arrangement, the wiring electrode 204 and the amorphous silicon 205 are formed substantially in contact with the opposite ends of the impurity diffusion layer 202 and the amorphous silicon 205 is inserted between the upper electrode 206 and a lower electrode composed of the impurity diffusion layer 202, wherein the amorphous silicon of high resistance serves as a chief constitutional portion of the above anti fuse. More specifically, when a voltage is imposed between the upper electrode 206 and the wiring electrode 204 coupled with the lower electrode 202 to supply a current, an unreversible transition from a high resistance state to a lower resistance state is caused in the amorphous silicon 205 between both the electrodes. That is, a memory element can be composed by making use of the fact that a portion of the amorphous silicon 205 is changed from a nonconductive state to a conductive state.
The conventional semiconductor element arranged as described above is preferably provided with a higher resistance value before transition, R.sub.off, and a lower resistance value, R.sub.on, after transition from the view point of the performance of the element. While the amorphous silicon is not preferable because the resistance value before transition, R.sub.off, thereof is a little lower than that of an insulation film composed of an oxide film, it is more reliable than an element using a breakage in an insulation film, and thus it has both advantages and disadvantages. Further, the conventional element is not preferably arranged, because the R.sub.off is considerably lowered in the state before transition although it is effective that acceptor ions, donor ions or the like are added to the amorphous silicon to lower the resistance value after transition, R.sub.on.

Semiconductor element having a resistance state transition region of two-layer structure


In one embodiment, radiotherapy treatment is provided to a target volume of a patient by configuring a multileaf collimator of a radiation treatment machine in a first orientation so as to form an actual aperture having a first orientation, delivering radiation to the target volume through the actual aperture while in the first orientation with a single pass along an arcuate path centered on the target volume, configuring the multileaf collimator in a second orientation so as to place the actual aperture in a second orientation that is different from the first orientation, and delivering radiation to the target volume through the actual aperture while in the second orientation with a single pass back along the arcuate path such that a relatively large cumulative dose of radiation is delivered to the target volume through a virtual aperture created by an area of overlap between the first and second actual aperture orientations.

Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, uses high-energy radiation to destroy target cells. In external-beam radiation therapy, photon beams emitted by radiation treatment machine, such as a linear accelerator, are focused on a target volume within the body. Circular collimators, often referred to as "cones," have been used to limit the breadth of the radiation emitted by the linear accelerator so as to limit the radiation exposure of non-targeted patient tissue. Such cones are normally attached to the linear accelerator immediately prior to radiotherapy treatment. Testing is required to ensure that the cone is aligned with the target volume with high accuracy. In addition, the linear accelerator must be properly configured to use the cone. Unfortunately, such testing and configuring is time consuming and errors in these processes can result in the misadministration of radiation to the patient.
Later model linear accelerators are typically equipped with built-in multileaf collimators (MLCs) that ameliorate the problems of cones and their use. MLCs comprise many thin "leaves" of a high atomic numbered material, such as tungsten, that can be independently linearly moved into and out of the path of a radiation beam in order to block it. Accordingly, MLCs can be used to conformally shape radiotherapy treatment beams.
While MLCs overcome the drawbacks of cones, the resolution of an MLC is typically insufficient for very small target volumes, such as those approximately 5 mm or less in diameter. In addition, configuration of the MLC is typically patient-specific and the calculation and measurement of the resulting dose distribution is complicated and fraught with difficulties that can result in errors.
From the above discussion, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have an alternative way to deliver very small radiation dose distributions using a radiation treatment machine equipped with an MLC.

Systems and methods for providing radiotherapy treatment


In a communication control equipment for transmitting data in an external predetermined memory to a network, there are provided a buffer memory unit for temporarily holding the data transferred thereto, a data transfer unit for performing a data transfer between the predetermined memory and the buffer memory unit, a unit for executing a protocol processing with regard to data held in the buffer memory unit, a control unit for controlling a transmission of the data processed by the protocol processing to the network, and a unit for producing a transmission start instruction at a start time instant within a range defined from a time instant when 1-packet data transfer from the predetermined memory to the buffer memory unit is commenced until a time instant when this data transfer is completed. The transmission start instruction is produced under a condition that the lower a data transfer speed from the predetermined memory to the buffer memory unit is relative to a transmission speed of the network, the later the start time instant is. A unit is also provided for causing the control unit to commence the transmission of the data processed by the protocol processing to the network at a later time instant during the time instant when the transmission start instruction is produced and the time instant when the protocol processing is terminated.

The present invention generally relates to a communication control equipment and a communication control method for connecting a computer or the like to a network. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a communication control equipment and a communication control method capable of performing a highspeed data transmission process from the computer or the like to the network. Also, the present invention is related to a data transfer equipment and a data transfer method used in the above-described communication control equipment and communication control method.
As the conventional method for reducing data transmission process time with respect to the data transmission request issued from the host layer (user), for instance, Japanese patent publication JP-A-3-125538 entitled "PACKET DIVIDING METHOD" is known. In this conventional method, when transmission data from the host layer is subdivided into a plurality of packets and then these packets are transmitted to the network, the data packet is sent out to the network at a time instant that the transmission data amount received from the host layer has reached the maximum packet length of the divided data packet without waiting for the completion of receiving all transmission data, so that transmission delay time is reduced.
Thus, in accordance with the above-described conventional method, the data transfer operation to the network is commenced before the reception of all transmission data is accomplished. When attention is paid to a certain packet corresponding to the unit of the data transmission to the network, the data is transferred to the network after 1-packet data has been received. As a consequence, this conventional communication control method becomes effective if such a network whose maximum packet length is short is employed. However, with respect to a network whose maximum packet length is great, the delay time measured until the packet is sent out to the network, is still long.

Communication control method and apparatus for performing high speed transfer of data by controlling transfer starting times


There is provided a method and apparatus for bacterial testing, in which a multiple-pin inoculation head picks up bacterial samples in a compartmentalized sample tray and transfers these to a compartmentalized culture plate for incubation. The culture plate contains a test media to which some bacteria are sensitive. An indicator material is also included, which changes color upon pH change due to bacterial growth. The result is a geometric pattern of color, which is entered into a computer storage. Additional culture plates are also inoculated in the same way, each containing a different test medium together with an indicator. After all plates have been incubated and data entered into the storage, a computer facility compares the pattern of sensitivity of the unknown bacteria with known sensitivity patterns of known bacteria to determine the most likely identification for each of the unknown bacterial samples.

Conventional microbiological laboratory techniques for the identification of a given bacterial sample are relatively complex and occupy considerable time on the part of the laboratory technician. The identification of a pathogenic strain on the throat swab of a patient presenting respiratory symptoms may be taken as an example. The technician must first culture the bacteria in the swab in order to produce enough of the bacterial sample to enable him to carry out the subsequent biochemical tests. Often, particularly in the case of swabs, there will be several bacteria present, not all of them pathogens. Various wellknown laboratory techniques are utilized to isolate and separate the different species one from the other. Generally speaking, each bacterial species can be distinguished from others by its particular reactions to certain known biochemicals. These may be sugars (dextrose, mannitol, lactose, etc.), amino acid preparations (lysine, ornithine, etc.), or preparations of specific substances such as urea, which certain bacteria can "use" for their growth, and others cannot. The procedure is to inoculate or streak the unknown bacteria into test tubes containing the biochemicals, or onto plates or tubes containing a gelled medium in which the biochemical is included. In most cases, particularly with the sugars and the amino acids, a test substance such as methyl red, bromthymal blue or the like would be included, these being substances which change in color with a given change in pH. Because of the relatively large number of test biochemicals which would normally be utilized for identification purposes (anywhere from about twelve to twenty-five or more, depending upon the nature of the symptoms caused, the location of the body from which the sample is taken, etc.), and due to the necessity that the inoculating needle or loop be flame-sterilized between each inoculation, a full program for a single species involving a typical number of biochemicals requires considerable time on the part of the laboratory technician.
After the various biochemicals have been inoculated in their separate test tubes and plates, these are then placed in an incubator or left to incubate at room temperature, in order to allow the bacterial sample to grow in the test medium if it is able to. If growth occurs, the indicator material will change color, and the lab technician is able to record the changes, and then by referring either to his own knowledge or to suitable reference texts, he attempts to establish a particular genus and species for the bacteria under examination. At this stage, human error can creep in. Confusion between the various sugar solutions or among the amino acid solutions occasionally takes place, and the result may be an incorrect identification, resulting in inappropriate treatment of the illness which may eithr prolong it or worsen the condition of the patient.

Method and apparatus for bacteria testing


An electronic device and a method for dynamically adjusting the output of a headset are provided in the invention. The electronic device includes a first connection interface, a processor and a storage device. The first connection interface is coupled to a detection device, transmits a plurality of detection-source signals to the detection device, and receives a plurality of groups of headset output signals corresponding to the plurality of detection-source signals from the detection device. The processor is coupled to the first connection interface, obtains gain information according a plurality of groups of measured headset signals corresponding to the plurality of groups of headset output signals, and dynamically adjusts the output of a headset according to the gain information. The storage device is coupled to the processor and stores the gain information.

Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a technology for setting the output of a headset, and more particularly, to a technology for setting the output of a headset by obtaining gain information corresponding to each volume level to adjust the output of the headset.
Description of the Related Art
In conventional headset technology, standards for the maximum headset output voltage of the electronic device are formulated to protect the user's hearing. For example, in the EN50332 standard formulated by the European Union (EU), when the detection source is −10 dB pink noise, the maximum headset output voltage must be lower than the save voltage (150 mV). In this standard, when the maximum source 0 dBFS is played, the output voltage is 300 mV.
However, in many conventional electronic devices, the output voltage set in these electronic devices may still be higher than the range of the save voltage. In addition, in different nations, different standards and verifications may be formulated to manage the electronic devices. Therefore, when a nation selling the electronic device has not formulated a standard, the maximum headset output voltage of the electronic device may be higher than the save voltage. As a result, the user's hearing may be impaired.

Electronic device and method for dynamically adjusting output of headset


A method for fabrication of metal film with nanoapertures is provided. The method includes the steps of providing a nanopatterned template including a plurality of nanostructures, depositing of the metal film onto the nanopatterned template, and thermally induced dewetting of the metal film to define the nanoapertures in the metal film by diffusion and reflow of the metal film.

Nanoapertures in metal films at the ten nanometer scale can aid strong plasmonic enhancements that are potentially useful for biological and chemical sensing. Such nanoapertures have also been shown to be applicable to a highly promising method for DNA sequencing and biological and chemical sensing. However, to reliably and cost-effectively manufacture these nanoapertures on commercially-viable scales remains challenging. Current approaches to create such nanoapertures in metal films falls into three major categories—(a) metal evaporation on nanopatterned templates defined by electron beam or photolithography followed by metal liftoff, (b) focused ion beam milling, and (c) wet or dry etching using a nanopatterned mask. There are significant limitations associated with each of these methods as all of these methods have limited throughput, yield and resolution. This is a significant impediment for the commercialization of such devices.
Thus, what is needed is a method for fabrication of nanoapertures in metal film which at least partially overcomes the drawbacks of present approaches and provides improved resolution, yield and throughput. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the disclosure.

Nano-aperture fabrication using template guided thermal dewetting

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


A new Iberis plant named ‘IBSZ0006’ particularly distinguished by its very large pure white flowers that are early flowering, grass green foliage and a compact, mounded plant habit.

The present invention comprises a new Iberis, botanically known as Iberis sempervirens, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'IBSZ0006'.
'IBSZ0006' is a product of a planned breeding program. The new cultivar 'IBSZ0006' has very large pure white flowers that are early flowering, grass green foliage and a compact, mounded plant habit.
'IBSZ0006' originates from an open pollination in a greenhouse in April 2010 in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands. The female parent was an unpatented, proprietary plant designated 'P1252-3' with medium size white flowers, darker green foliage and is less branched when compared to 'IBSZ0006'.
The male parent of 'IBSZ0006' is unknown. It was a cloud of pollen of all plants available. The resultant seed was sown in August 2010 in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
'IBSZ0006' was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in March 2011 in a greenhouse in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
The first act of asexual reproduction of 'IBSZ0006' was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were propagated from the initial selection in June 2011 in a greenhouse in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.


A contractible mine stopping adapted to be installed to extend as a vertical wall from the floor to the roof of a passageway in a mine, comprising a series of rows of substantially solid substantially non-compressible blocks of substantially fire-resistant material stacked one on top of another, and at least one row of contractible substantially fire-resistant block-like members adapted to contract without loss of structural integrity when the wall is subjected to a compressive load, as during a convergence of the floor and roof on the passageway. Each block-like member is preferably a hollow metal member which, when subjected to a compressive load, is adapted to contract heightwise of the member a distance corresponding to at least a major portion of the height of the member without loss of structural integrity of the member.

This invention relates to mine stoppings, and in particular to a contractible mine stopping adapted to accommodate the convergence of the floor and roof of a passageway.
So-called mine "stoppings" are widely used in mines to stop off flow of air in passages in the mines, a stopping being generally installed at the entrance of a passage to block the flow of air therethrough. A problem encountered with at least some of the prior art mine stoppings is the loss of structural integrity of the stopping upon the vertical convergence of the floor and roof of the passageway when there is a shifting and heaving of the mine in the vicinity of the passageway. Such temporary shifting and heaving can cause permanent deformation of the stopping, resulting in the creation of air gaps between the stopping and the passageway, and defeating the air-blocking function of the stopping. Furthermore, even where the convergence is permanent, the stoppings can deform so much under the compressive load that the stopping loses its structural integrity causing air leaks, and potential failure of the stopping.
It is believed that certain prior art mine stoppings have incorporated a yieldable material (e.g., expanded polysterene plastic) in an attempt to resolve the aforementioned problem, but such material is not fireproof, which presents a serious problem.

Contractible mine stopping and contractible block member for use therein

Jack Kennedy Metal Products and Buildings, Inc.


An imaging device includes a photoelectric converter that generates charge; a first charge transfer channel having a first end electrically connected to the photoelectric converter and a second end, and transferring the charge in a direction from the first end to the second end; a second charge transfer channel diverging from the first charge transfer channel at a first position and transferring a first part of the charge; a third charge transfer channel diverging from the first charge transfer channel at a second position different from the first position in the direction and transferring a part of the second part of the charge; and first and second charge accumulators that accumulate at least a part of the first and second part of the charge respectively. The imaging device does not include a gate that switches between cutoff and transfer of charge, in the first charge transfer channel.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an imaging device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a demand for an imaging device that can operate at high speed in performing distance measurement, ultra-high-speed imaging, or the like using fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) or time-of-flight method. For example, fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy involves applying a light pulse to a test sample and repeatedly detecting fluorescence emitted from the test sample at extremely short time intervals of several nanoseconds or so. It is expected that if the temporal resolution in measurement can be improved, new knowledge about the target to be measured will be obtained.
The temporal resolution in measurement using an imaging device depends on the operating speed of the pixels. For example, in detection using a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imaging device, a cycle consisting of the release of charge in photodiodes (the reset of the photodiodes), the accumulation of charge by exposure, and the transfer of charge to floating diffusion is repeated. That is, the temporal resolution in measurement depends on the time required by this cycle. In particular, the time required by the release of charge from the pixels and the transfer of charge to the floating diffusion in the cycle have a large effect on the high-speed operation of the imaging device.
K. Yasutomi, et. al., "A 0.3 mm-resolution Time-of-Flight CMOS range imager with column-gating clock-skew calibration," ISSCC2014, Dig. pp. 132-133 proposes a structure in which discharge gates are disposed between photodiodes and drains for releasing charge. In this literature, pixels having such a structure are referred to as "draining-only modulation (DOM) pixels." In the DOM pixels, the photodiodes release charge while the discharge gates are opened. On the other hand, the photodiodes can transfer charge to the floating diffusion while the discharge gates are closed. Since the time required to reset the photodiodes is made substantially zero, the DOM pixels have improved temporal resolution.

Imaging device including photoelectric converter and charge transfer channel

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


In one embodiment, a male coupling connectable to and separable from a female coupling (e.g., a female threaded port) is provided. The female coupling includes a receiving portion sized to receive at least a portion of the male coupling, where the receiving portion has internal threads provided therein. The male coupling includes a body having a passageway extending therethrough and a locking member disposed about the body and configured to move between locking and releasing positions. The locking member includes a retaining formation configured to engage the internal threads of the female coupling when the locking member is in its locking position. The male coupling further includes a locking sleeve disposed about and axially movable with respect to the body between first and second positions. After insertion of the male coupling into the female coupling and upon movement of the locking sleeve to its first position, the locking sleeve forces the locking member to move to its locking position causing the retaining formation of the locking member to engage the internal threads of the female coupling, thereby locking the male coupling and the female coupling together.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to fluid couplings and, more particularly, to fluid couplings that are configured to connect to a female threaded coupling.
2. Description of the Related Art
Coupling assemblies for the transmission of gases or fluids that may be secured together by axial movement of a male coupling into a female coupling are known in the art. In a typical application, a male coupling and a female coupling function as an adapter between a flexible conduit, such as a hose, and an apparatus, such as a pump. While several methods are commonly used to connect the male coupling to the flexible conduit, such as a barbed hose adapter, the female coupling is typically connected to a standard female threaded port in the apparatus.
Manufacturers of coupling assemblies have attempted to reduce complexity and cost by integrating the female coupling directly into their customer's apparatus (known as "direct porting"), thereby eliminating the need for the standard female threaded port. However, customers are oftentimes reluctant to integrate a particular coupling manufacturer's female coupling directly into the apparatus because doing so would make it difficult to convert to a standard female threaded port. Additionally, customers may be reluctant to integrate a particular coupling manufacturer's female coupling directly into the apparatus because doing so would require the customers to purchase all their hoses from the manufacturer of the coupling assembly. There are continual efforts to improve upon the current designs of coupling assemblies, particularly to reduce the complexity and cost of coupling assemblies as well as to design couplings that are compatible with standard fittings (e.g., a standard female threaded port).

Male coupling for connecting to female threaded coupling


A microwave PIN diode switch is provided with circuitry to achieve impedance matching at both input and output ports and for both "on" and "off" switching states.

This invention relates to microwave PIN diode switches, and more particularly to a technique for providing impedance matching in such switches.
PIN diodes consist of heavily doped p.sup.+ and m.sup.+ end regions separated by a lightly doped region which can usually be regarded as intrinsic. If this center region is thick, e.g., 10-100 microms, the device is useful as a high-voltage rectifier with a low forward drop at high currents because of the conductivity modulation of the i region by the large number of carriers injected from the end regions. It is also known to use the PIN diode as a variable resistance at microwave frequencies. Because of the relatively long recovery time of the i layer, microwave frequencies will be too high for rectification to occur. At zero or reverse bias the intrinsic layer will represent a high resistance and, under forward bias, the injection and storage of carriers reduces the resistance of the intrinsic region to a very low level. These diodes can be used as microwave switches when driven with abrupt bias changes.
FIG. 1a shows a PIN diode having an anode 10 and a cathode 12. FIG. 1b shows the equivalent circuit of the PIN diode of FIG. 1a. The RF resistance R.sub.D of the PIN diode is a nonlinear resistance which varies as a function of the applied bias. The effective resistance of R.sub.D can vary from 0.5 ohms at full forward bias to 10 k ohms at zero bias.
Shown in FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional reflective type microwave PIN diode switch. In order to permit the passage of RF power, the PIN diodes 14 and 16 should be reverse biased so that they represent open circuits. This is accomplished by supplying a negative potential at the DC bias input terminal. The DC bias is isolated from the RF signal by the .lambda./4 transmission line 18 which represents a short circuit for the DC bias current and an open circuit for the RF signal. The equivalent circuit for the switch of FIG. 2 when the PIN diodes are reverse biased is shown in FIG. 3a. A signal propagating along a transmission line having a characteristic impedance Z.sub.0 will encounter a .lambda./4 transmission line 20 having an impedance Z.sub.0 and the .lambda./4 transmission line 18 having an impedance Z.sub.1 with Z.sub.1 >> than Z.sub.0. Due to the its reflective RF termination through capacitor 19, the transmission line 18 will represent an open circuit to the RF signal and, consequently, the RF signal will effectively see only the .lambda./4 transmission line 20 with impedance Z.sub.0. The RF signal will propagate through the transmission line 20 and appear at the output of the switch. Since the input and output impedances of the switch are substantially Z.sub.0, impedance matching is achieved at both the input and output ports of the switch and the RF signal will propagate through the switch with little or no reflection.
When the conventional switch in FIG. 2 is used to block the RF signal, the diodes 14 and 16 are forward biased to represent short circuits on either side of the switch. This is accomplished by providing a positive DC bias signal through the .lambda./4 transmission line 18. The equivalent circuit of the switch of FIG. 2 and its RF "off" condition is shown in FIG. 3b. The diodes 14 and 16 are forward biased to represent approximately 0.5 ohms across the transmission path and the RF power on either side of the switch will be reflected by the severe impedance mismatch.
In some applications, this reflected RF energy could have a significant adverse effect on the surrounding circuitry. For example, in an 8.times.8 Microwave Switch Matrix (MSM), eight different RF input signals are simultaneously supplied to respective 8-way power dividers so that each RF input port is coupled to a respective row in an 8.times.8 array of power divider ports. At the output of the MSM are eight RF ports each connected to a respective 8-way power divider in a similar fashion as the input ports, and the output power dividers are arranged orthogonally to the input dividers. The 64 power divider ports are coupled through an 8.times.8 array of 64 PIN diode switches, so that any one of the eight RF input ports can be connected to any one of the eight RF outputs.
If conventional microwave switches such as shown in FIG. 2 are used in such a MSM, the "off" switches will reflect the RF energy back through the power dividers and the reflected RF energy will interfere with the RF signal at the corresponding input port. It has been discovered that this reflective energy will produce large insertion loss variations with frequency and an insertion loss scattering from path-to-path which are difficult to control over a wide frequency band. These insertion loss variations with frequency distort the communication signals of high capacity Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) carriers and produce intersymbol interference. Further, in Satellite Switched Time Division Multiple Access (SS-TDMA) operation, the insertion loss scattering from path-to-path would require adaptive gain control at the eight outputs of the MSM in order to insure a constant transmitted energy within a SS-TDMA frame.

Resistively matched microwave PIN diode switch


A wand with a plurality of ports is provided with vacuum and vibration and with controls therefor. Seeds are drawn to the ports by the vacuum and are singulated by a seed covering a single port. The singulated seeds are each deposited in one of a plurality of plug trays by release of the vacuum and assisted by the vibration of the wand.

This invention relates to a hand held seeder for singulating and dispensing seeds. More particularly, this invention relates to a hand held seeder for simultaneously delivering a plurality of seeds from a storage bin into a plurality of plug trays so as to deposit a single seed into a single tray.
Prior art devices for dispensing seeds into plug trays have involved complex mechanisms for singulating the seeds and thereafter dropping the seeds into the trays. For example, the rotating drum of Hamilton in U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,226 and the sliding plates of Hanacek et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,554 disclose singulating devices that are costly to produce and difficult to control.
It is an object of this invention to provide a hand held seeder to dispense single seeds into each of an array of plug trays. Another object is to provide a light weight seeder in which pick-up and release controls permit single handed operation of the seeder. Another object is to provide a hand held seeder to dispense seeds into at least one complete row of plug trays.


A record carrier (21;70) is disclosed on which a first information volume (VOL1) is recorded in sectors of a track (10), the sector positions on the track being denoted by logic sector address numbers LSN. The recorded information volume (VOL1) comprises control information (PT;DF) for use in controlling the search for information therein, the control information being arranged according to a predetermined format. A reference to the control information is accommodated in track sectors (VD1) in a predetermined address range. Following the first information volume at least a next information volume (VOL2) is recorded in the track (10), each next information volume comprising substitute reference information for use in controlling the search for information both in that information volume and in the previously recorded information volumes. The substitute reference information is accommodated in track sectors (VD2) in a recoverable substitute address range which is preferably the same as the corresponding address range in the first recorded information volume. Reading apparatus for such record carrier transforms a request for access to sectors (VD1) in the address range of the first information volume (VOL1) into a request for access to sectors (VD2) in the substitute address range of the last-recorded information volume. A method and apparatus for recording information in the predetermined format is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of recording information on a record carrier, in which method an information volume (i.e., a set of files of data and/or other information) is recorded as sectors in a track of the record carrier. The information volume comprises a reference to control information for use in controlling the search for information in the recorded information volume, which reference is accommodated in one or more sectors within a predetermined address range.
The invention also relates to a recording apparatus for recording information on a record carrier, which apparatus comprises a recording unit for recording information in sectors in a track of the record carrier; and formatting unit for composing an information volume in accordance with predetermined formatting instructions, according to which instructions the information volume is provided with control information for use in controlling the search for information in the information volume; a control unit for causing the recording unit to record the information volume and to also record a reference to the control information in one or more sectors in a predetermined address range in the information volume.
The invention also relates to a reading apparatus for reading a record carrier on which information is recorded in sectors in a track of the record carrier, which sectors have addresses that indicate the positions at which information is recorded thereon. One or more sectors, having predetermined addresses, comprise a reference to control information for use in controlling the search for information in the sectors. Such apparatus comprises an address generating unit for generating addresses of sectors to be searched and a control unit for searching for information on the basis of the generated addresses.
Finally, the invention also relates to a record carrier on which an information volume is recorded in sectors in a track of the record carrier, which information volume comprises control information for use in controlling the search for information in the recorded information volume, and one or more sectors in a predetermined address range comprise a reference to the control information.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method, apparatus and record carrier of the type mentioned hereinbefore are known, for example, by the name of the CD-ROM system which is described, for example in the ISO 9660 standard. In the CD-ROM system, a volume descriptor is recorded in an address range beginning with the sector having a logic sector number (i.e., LS.sub.N) 16. This volume descriptor comprises, for example, references to the sector address of a path table, which table comprises the directory structure and references to directory files. The path table and the directory files contain the necessary information for searching and reading the data files included in the recorded information volume, i.e., control information.
In the case where a record carrier of a write-once type is used for recording information composed in accordance with the CD-ROM format, a problem arises in that address information for newly added information cannot be located therein. For that matter, a reference to information necessary for controlling the reading operation with respect to the new added information cannot be included in the volume descriptor due to the fact that the record carrier can be written only once.

Record carrier, reading apparatus for reading a record carrier, and method and recording apparatus for recording information on a record carrier


The present invention relates to a flame-retardant resin composition having halogen content of 2 to 40% by weight basing on the amount of said composition, which comprises. (a) 100 parts by weight of a styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration, or a mixture of 99 to 50% by weight of said styrene-based polymer and 1 to 50% by weight of a thermoplastic resin (exclusive of tetrafluoroethylene-based polymer) and/or rubber; PA0 (b) 3 to 40 parts by weight of a flame retardant selected from the group consisting of halogenated polystyrenes and halogenated polyphenylene oxides and PA0 (c) 1 to 15 parts by weight of an auxiliary flame retardant, as main components. PA0 (d) 0.003 to 10 parts by weight of tetrafluoroethylene-based polymer and/or PA0 (e) 1 to 300 parts by weight of an inorganic filler.. In addition, the present invention contains the above components (a), (b) and (c) as main components, and further contains. The present invention provides a resin composition which is excellent in flame retardance and further in heat resistance.

The present invention relates to a flame-retardant resin composition and more particularly to a resin composition which is excellent in flame retardance and further in heat resistance. Thus, moldings obtained using the resin composition of the present invention are useful as home electric appliances, electronic parts, car parts, construction materials and so forth.
Styrene-based resins are widely used in a wide variety of applications, for example, as home electric appliances, construction materials and further as interior materials because of their excellent properties.
The styrene-based resins, however, are easily combustible and their moldings once started to burn continue to burn even if the flame is removed. Because of this disadvantage, the styrene-based resins can be used only in limited applications.
While polystyrenes already on market, that is, atactic polystyrenes, and polycarbonate resin and ABS resin are non-crystalline, the styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration used in the present invention is crystalline.
As flame retardants to be compounded with the styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration, accordingly, those which might hinder the heat resistance attributed to crystallization as the feature of the styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration (abbreviated as SPS), in other words, those which might lower the Distortion-Temperature under Heat (H.D.T.) of SPS composition are not proper.
SPS compositions are used at high temperatures, making the best use of the heat resistance attributed to crystallization that is one of the characteristic features of SPS.
To compound a flame retardant with SPS, it is required to select a flame retardant that has not only flame retardance but also is free from bleeding out, discoloration of moldings or lowering in mechanical properties in any circumstances, and to determine the amount compounded. Consequently, in this respect it has been insufficient to merely select as flame retardant a compound which is high in melting point and decomposition temperature.
As a result of further investigations to overcome the above problems, specifically using a styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration which was developed by employee of the present assignee (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 104818/1987), it has been found that a resin composition having the desired physical properties can be obtained by adding specified amounts of a specified flame retardant and auxiliary flame retardant to a styrene-based polymer having mainly syndiotactic configuration or a mixture of the styrene-based resin and a thermoplastic resin and/or rubber and, in particular, a resin composition containing a specified flame-retardant and an auxiliary flame retardant, polytetrafluoroethylene, in a specified ratio is effective in preventing melt dropping which is responsible for the spreading of fire of the resin composition.


This invention relates to a socket wrench which is capable of loosening or tightening a nut or bolt by either rotation of the wrench in a direction conducive to effect such tightening or loosening in a conventional manner or by rotation of the wrench handle along its longitudinal axis. The wrench provides a ratcheting action so that the initial positions of the wrench or the wrench handle can be reachieved during tightening or loosening.

1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a ratchet wrench having two modes of operation and which is characterized by a small head and simplicity of construction and operation. One mode is the conventional mode whereby the bar is swung back and forth to progress the socket holding means; the other mode shall be called "speed ratcheting" and is achieved by ratcheting the handle along its longitudinal axis. This is made possible by the coordination of a coupling gear and a tandem ratcheting mechanism between the socket holding member and the grip.
2. General Background
Considerable attention has been placed on the development of ratchet wrenches with smaller heads, which wrenches are thus capable of being used in close quarters. The limiting factor in reducing the size of the ratchet head in conventional ratchets has been the strength of the teeth and the pawls. State of the art conventional ratchet wrenches have smaller heads than older models even though the ratcheting mechanisms continue to be incorporated in the lead. This is made possible by the use of alloys with greater strength and proper positioning of the pawls.
Several patents have been granted for ratcheting devices which have the conventional mode of ratcheting facility combined with another mode made possible by gear action between the work engaging piece and a rotatable handle. This action enables the user to tighten or loosen a nut or bolt by rotation of the handle along the longitudinal axis. The introduction of these devices demonstrates that conventional ratchet trenches even with smaller heads do not meet all the requirements in working on modern congested engines. There is a need for the dual mode type ratchet wrench. However, these devices characteristically have very large heads and numerous working parts. The heads are much larger than the heads of conventional ratchets because both the ratchet mechanism and the mitre gears must be housed in the same area. In short, these tools are not practical to manufacture and/or operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,617 disclosed a ratchet wrench having two modes of operation as thus described. In this design the ratcheting mechanisms are in the handle making it possible to reduce the size of the head considerably. The limiting factor in reducing the size of the head in this tool is the strength of the mitre gears and the shaft. In conventional ratcheting the torque from the work engaging member must be transmitted through the gears and shaft to the ratchets in the handle. This tool went further than any prior ratchet wrench in achieving the dual mode of operation and featuring a small head. However, the numerous and complex parts make it expensive to manufacture. Also, the rotation of the handle along its center longitudinal axis is limited to rotation in one direction in a given setting as the torque in conventional ratcheting is transmitted from one pawl through the rotatable handle to the second pawl. The user must remove his or her grasp from the handle after each stroke and re-grip. The handle cannot be ratcheted along its center longitudinal axis.


A communication apparatus comprises a sound volume controller in which a speech signal is discriminated from background noise of a transmitting audio signal and the sound volume control is performed when no speech signal is present in the transmitting audio signal. The sound volume controller comprises an averaging circuit for averaging an amplitude of the transmitting audio signal, a discriminator for discriminating a speech signal of the transmitting audio signal by comparing the transmitting audio signal with the averaged amplitude, and a controller for controlling an amplitude of a receiving audio signal when no speech signal is present in the transmitting audio signal. A level of the averaged amplitude is determined by comparing the averaged amplitude with at least one predetermined reference level, and the amplitude of the receiving audio signal is varied according to the level of the averaged amplitude when no speech signal is present.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communication apparatuses such as a portable radio apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving an audio signal, and more particularly to a communication apparatus in which a sound level of a speaker can be automatically adjusted according to a surrounding noise.
2. Prior Art
Recently, a portable telephone set has been widespread with progressed mobile radio communication, and people have come to easily talk over the telephone at any place as well as specific places such as a telephone booth, etc. This is an important feature of the mobile radio telephone system. However, a noise problem arises in cases where the telephone is used in noisy surroundings.
In Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 4-82331 (publication date: Mar. 16, 1992), a portable telephone set is provided with a microphone for detecting a surrounding noise. The surrounding noise level detected by the microphone is compared with a reference level, and based on a result of the comparison, a sound volume is controlled according to the surrounding noise level so that a receiving speech can easily be heard.
In another telephone set disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 2-250455 (publication date: Oct. 8, 1990), a telephone transmitter is used to detect a surrounding noise, and the sound volume of a telephone receiver is controlled according to the surrounding noise level. In this telephone set, the surrounding noise level is detected from a transmitting signal including a transmission speech signal and a surrounding noise. Therefore, a transmitting signal is recognized as a surrounding noise when the telephone set is in its on-hook state where there is no transmission speech, and the sound volume is regulated according to the surrounding noise.
However, in the portable telephone set disclosed in the former publication (HEI 4-82331), since the noise detecting microphone is needed in addition to a telephone transmitter and a telephone receiver, the number of parts is increased and an extra space for providing the noise detecting microphone is needed. Therefore, it is not preferable that such a microphone used only to detect a surrounding noise is provided in a portable telephone set which is required to be reduced in size.
In the other telephone set disclosed in the latter publication (HEI 2-250455), the telephone transmitter is used to detect a surrounding noise, so the telephone set can be applied to a small-size communication device. However, since the surrounding noise is detected at the on-hook state and the sound volume is regulated based on the level of this detected noise, the sound volume cannot be regulated according to the surrounding noise at the off-hook state when taking is actually performed. Therefore, even if the level of the surrounding noise changes during talking, the sound volume is fixed at a certain level which was set while on-hook, causing a problem that the receiving speech sound is difficultly heard in noisy surroundings.

Device and method for automatically controlling sound volume in a communication apparatus


The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for correcting a speech recognition error based on artificial intelligence, and a storage medium, wherein the method comprises: obtaining a second speech recognition result of a second speech query input by the user; performing error-correcting intention recognition according to the second speech recognition result; extracting error-correcting information from the second speech recognition result when it is determined that the user has an error-correcting intention; screening error-correcting resources according to the error-correcting information, and using a selected best-matched error-correcting resource to perform error correction for the first speech recognition result, the first speech recognition result being a speech recognition result of a first speech query which is input before the second speech query. The solution of the present disclosure may be applied to improve accuracy of error-correcting results and reduce the error-correcting difficulty.

Artificial intelligence AI is a new technical science for researching and developing theories, methods, technologies and application systems for simulating, extending and expanding human intelligence. Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer sciences and attempts to learn about the essence of intelligence, and produces a new intelligent machine capable of responding in a manner similar to human intelligence. The studies in the field comprise robots, language recognition, image recognition, natural language processing, expert systems and the like.
As technologies related to speech and natural language processing develop, more and more application scenarios provide a speech manner for interaction with a user.
However, after the user inputs a speech query and when the user's speech query is recognized, an obtained speech recognition result probably includes an error. For example, wrong segments probably appear in a speech recognition result of a longer speech query. When the speech query involves a name of an entity, recognition of the name of the entity probably gets wrong. Or, when the user's input carries an accent, a slip of the tongue or a relatively special customary expression, a recognition error might be caused.
In the prior art, regarding the speech recognition result of the speech query input by the user, calculation may be performed by using background knowledge and a statistics method to find possible wrong places and replace them. However, this error-correcting manner produces a poor error-correcting effect, and errors cannot be recognized under many scenarios. For example, if the user inputs a search object " (Chinese pronunciation: Chen Yujuan)" through speech query, an error appears in the speech recognition result: " (Chinese pronunciation: Chen Yujuan)" is recognized as " (Chinese pronunciation: Chen Yujuan)". In this way, the current error-correcting manner cannot be used to correct such errors, and such errors can only be corrected manually by the user, which causes great inconvenience to the user. Particularly, in use of some devices such as wearable or vehicle-mounted devices which are small in size, word input is very inconvenient and therefore the error-correcting difficulty is increased.
It can be seen that use of the current error-correcting manner causes less accurate error-correcting results and increase the error-correcting difficulty.

Method and apparatus for correcting speech recognition error based on artificial intelligence, and storage medium

BEIJING BAIDU NETCOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A process for disposing of solvent-containing liquids so that they do not contaminate ground water. An absorbent blend is mixed into a water-containing solvent mixture at the rate of about 1 lb. of blend per gallon of liquid. The blend is made up of a swellable polymer, consisting of polyacrylamide/polyacrylate co-polymer salt or poly 2-propenamide-co-2-propenoic acid homopolymer salt which swells and absorbs liquid. The blend also contains a mixture of solid absorbents. The resulting mixture is stirred in the container until it becomes thick and then it is allowed to set to provide a disposable modeling clay-like solid. The resulting solid material, after curing, may be then simply added to solid trash, and thus, be freed from contaminating ground water.

The field of the invention is cleaning liquid disposal and the invention relates more particularly to the disposal of solid and solvent-containing liquids. Non-aqueous solvent-containing liquids are produced by many industrial and commercial cleaning processes and one particularly egregious problem results from the cleaning of paint equipment (i.e. brushes) since this is done on such a large scale throughout the country. Typically, the cleaning of paint from paint brushes and equipment is accomplished with the use of water-based cleaners and/or solvent-based mixtures, such as acetone, methylethyl ketone, toluene, or blends of hydrocarbons. Unfortunately, the typical painter dumps the paint brush cleaning water and/or solvent mixture onto the ground wherein it can seep into the ground water. Alternatively, sometimes the waste solvent from paint brush cleaning is poured down the drain into the municipal sewer system where it is a source of contamination and such dumping typically is prohibited by law, but unfortunately, it is a law that is very difficult to enforce.
There is, thus, a need for a process which will permit the painter, or other possessor of solvent-containing liquids, to economically and easily dispose of such liquids without breaking the law or contaminating the ground water.

Process for disposing of solvent-containing liquids


The present application discloses a resource determining method and apparatus, which relates to the communications field and can reduce co-channel interference between systems of different standards that share a wireless spectrum resource. The method includes: acquiring relationship information of interference imposed on a first cell by a second cell, where the relationship information of interference is used to indicate interference imposed on the first cell by the second cell in a time-frequency domain, and the second cell and the first cell have different standards; and determining time-frequency resource information of the second cell according to the relationship information of interference, where the time-frequency resource information of the second cell is used for the second cell to perform time-frequency resource allocation.

With rapid expansion of communications networks and rapid development of data services, a user requirement on a wireless spectrum resource increases accordingly. Because the wireless spectrum resource is limited, it is essential to properly plan and effectively use the wireless spectrum resource.
In the prior art, a method for sharing a wireless spectrum resource by systems of different standards is used to improve utilization of the wireless spectrum resource. However, a problem caused due to sharing of the wireless spectrum resource is co-channel interference between the systems of different standards. In the prior art, there is no effective solution to this problem.

Resource determining method and apparatus


Disclosed is an integrated electrode assembly having a structure in which a cathode, an anode, and a separation layer disposed between the cathode and the anode are integrated with one another, wherein the separation layer has a multilayer structure including at least one two-phase electrolyte including a liquid phase component and a polymer matrix and at least one three-phase electrolyte including a liquid phase component, a solid component, and a polymer matrix, wherein the polymer matrices of the separation layer are coupled to the cathode or the anode and the liquid phase components of the separation layer are partially introduced into an electrode in a process of manufacturing the electrode assembly.

As energy source prices are increasing due to depletion of fossil fuels and interest in environmental pollution is escalating, demand for environmentally-friendly alternative energy sources is bound to play an increasing role in future life. Thus, research into various power generation techniques such as nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy, tidal power, and the like, continues to be underway, and power storage devices for more efficient use of the generated energy are also drawing much attention. As these power storage devices, secondary batteries are mainly used. Among these, in particular, lithium secondary batteries are mainly used in portable devices, demand therefor increases due to lightweight, high voltage, and high capacity, and use of lithium secondary batteries continues to expand to applications such as electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and auxiliary power supplies through smart-grid technology.
However, to use lithium secondary batteries as high-capacity power sources, many challenges that need to be addressed remain, and the most important challenge is improvement in energy density and safety. In addition, uniformity of wetting due to large-scale area and reduction in manufacturing time are also one of the most important challenges to be addressed. Therefore, many researchers have put spurs to research into materials that have enhanced energy density and are manufactured at low cost and also put much effort into research on materials for enhancing safety.
As materials for enhancing energy density, Ni-based materials, Mn-based materials, and the like having higher capacity than that of conventionally used LiCoO2 have been studied, and research into materials for forming an anode through Li alloy reaction instead of conventional intercalation reaction using Si, Sn, or the like, not using existing graphite-based materials is underway.
To enhance safety, research into a stable olivine-based cathode active material such as LiFePO4, an anode active material such as Li4Ti5O12, or the like is underway. However, such materials for enhancing safety fundamentally have low energy density and do not fundamentally address problems in terms of safety, caused due to structures of lithium secondary batteries.
Safety of secondary batteries may largely be classified into internal safety and external safety and further classified into electrical safety, impact safety, thermal safety, and the like. In these various safety problems, temperature increases when problems occur and, in this case, contraction of generally used stretching separators inevitably occurs.
Therefore, many researchers have proposed all solid type batteries to address safety problems, but such batteries cannot replace commercially available batteries due to several problems thereof.
First, currently used electrode active materials are in a solid state and, when a solid electrolyte or a polymer electrolyte is used, a contact surface between the solid electrolyte or the polymer electrolyte and the electrode active material for migration of lithium is very small. As a result, although a solid electrolyte or a polymer electrolyte itself has a conductivity of 10−5 s/cm, which corresponds to conductivity of a liquid electrolyte, ionic conductivity thereof is very low. Second, for such reason, ionic conductivity occurring at an interface between solids or an interface between a solid and a polymer is inevitably further reduced. Third, adhesive strength is important in manufacture of a battery and, even if a solid electrolyte with high conductivity is used, it is necessary to use a polymer binder, which causes further reduction in ionic conductivity. Fourth, to manufacture a battery, only a separation layer does not require ionic conductivity. To enhance ionic conductivity of an electrode, cathode and anode active materials also require materials for enhancing ionic conductivity and, when a solid electrolyte or a polymer electrolyte is used as an electrode component, capacity is reduced.
Therefore, there is a high need to develop a battery that prevents short circuit due to contraction of a separator and excellent electrical performance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrode assembly having novel structure and secondary battery using the same


The light emitting device comprises: a substrate; and a first piezoelectric film held on the substrate and having one of a positive plane and a negative plane, the first piezoelectric film functioning as a light emitting layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light emitting devices and more particularly to light emitting devices having luminescent layers comprising piezoelectric material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Piezoelectric thin-films have been widely used in vibrators, such as piezoelectric resonators and piezoelectric actuators, and driving devices. In recent years, piezoelectric thin-films also have attracted attention as optical devices. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-262801 discloses a light emitting device which has a ZnO film formed on a sapphire substrate and emits ultraviolet light by the effects of excitons. Moreover, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-256673 discloses a light emitting device which emits ultraviolet light by laser oscillation.
Properties of piezoelectric films, however, have not been sufficiently known. In particular, properties of piezoelectric films suitable for light emitting devices and methods for making the piezoelectric films have not yet been sufficiently studied. Thus, piezoelectric films used in conventional light emitting devices do not have high luminous efficiency.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a light emitting device having high luminous efficiency and high luminous intensity. The light emitting device comprises: a substrate; and a first piezoelectric film held on the substrate and having one of a positive plane and a negative plane, the first piezoelectric film functioning as a light emitting layer.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for making a light emitting device comprises the steps of: preparing a substrate; and forming a first piezoelectric film having one of a positive (+) upper plane and negative (xe2x88x92) upper plane on the substrate, according to properties of the substrate.
When the first piezoelectric film has the positive plane, it is preferable that the substrate is selected from the group consisting of a c-plane sapphire substrate, an R-plane sapphire substrate, an m-plane sapphire substrate, an X-plane sapphire substrate, an a-plane sapphire substrate, a rotated Y-cut plate sapphire substrate, a double rotated sapphire substrate, a rotated Y-cut plate quartz substrate, a Z-plane quartz substrate, a LiTaO3 substrate having a negative Z plane of a rotated Y-cut plate, and a LiNbO3 substrate having a negative Z plane of a rotated Y-cut plate.
When the first piezoelectric film has the negative plane, it is preferable that the substrate is selected from the group consisting of a LiNbO3 substrate having a positive Z plane of a rotated Y-cut plate LiNbO3 substrate, a LiTaO3 substrate having a positive Z plane of a rotated Y-cut plate LiTaO3 substrate, a LiTaO3 substrate having a positive Z plane, a LiNbO3 substrate having a positive Z plane, a glass substrate, A Si substrate, a metal substrate, and a substrate having a metal film thereon.
The first piezoelectric film preferably comprises a material selected from ZnO, AlN, and CdS.
The light emitting device may further comprises a second piezoelectric film, the first piezoelectric film and the second piezoelectric film having different conductivity types.
In the light emitting device, the substrate may have a plurality of metal film stripes thereon, the first piezoelectric film covers the metal film stripes, and the first piezoelectric film has the negative plane.
According to the present invention, a piezoelectric film having a positive plane or a negative plane is selectively provided depending on the type of the substrate, and the piezoelectric film has high crystallinity. Thus, the resulting light emitting device has high brightness and high luminescent efficiency.

Light emitting device having a polar plane piezoelectric film and manufacture thereof


The purpose of the invention is to provide: a package for EVOH resin pellets which is capable of providing the EVOH resin pellets almost free from powder even in a case where the package contains the powder generated therein during transportation or the like after shipment; and EVOH resin pellets contaminated with very small amount of the powder in a case where a user uses the EVOH resin pellets as a molding material. A package, where pellets each having a substantially circular or oval cross-section are packed in a packaging container whose inner surface has a surface resistivity of 1.0×1014Ω or more, is capable of providing pellets to which 0.8 wt % or less of powder adhered relative to the weight of the pellets.

EVOH resin has a high crystallinity based on hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups in side chain thereof, and additionally has a strong intermolecular force in amorphous portion thereof. These provide EVOH resin film with excellent gas-barrier property,
For the purpose of utilizing the excellent gas-barrier property, EVOH resin is molded into film, sheet or a container such as bottle used for packaging food, pharmaceutical, industrial medicine, agricultural chemicals, and so on. A typical form of EVOH resin to be distributed as a molding material is in the form of pellet.
EVOH resin pellet is classified into a cylindrical pellet produced by strand pelletizing process disclosed in, for example, JP H3-61507A (patent document 1), and a spherical pellet produced by hot-cut pelletizing process such as underwater pelletizing and midair hot-cut pelletizing disclosed in JP2001-96530A (patent document 2).
EVOH resin pellet, in either shape of cylinder or sphere, is produced by cutting water-containing or molten EVOH resin strand at every given length, and rinsing the resulting cut pieces (i.e. pellets), followed by drying.
Drying pellets is performed with hot-air flow dryer system or the like, from the viewpoint of improvement of drying efficiency or preventing pellets fusion. In the case that pellets are forced to be flown, the pellets are rubbed each other, and therefore burr or edge of the pellet, which is generated in pelletizing process, is broken to convert into fine particles or powders.
For these reasons, EVOH resin pellets contaminated with the rubbishes or powder generated. in production of the pellets may be distributed and supplied as a molding material. Such contaminated EVOH resin pellets cause quality of a resulting molded article impaired. For example, JP2005-36115A (patent document 3) discloses problematic issues of prior art: feeding to an extruder is likely unstable, and when a multilayer film is produced by melt-extrusion, surface boundary between EVOH resin layer and its adjacent layer may become turbulent to generate gel or the like.
The patent document 3 suggests methods for providing EVOH resin pellets free from the powder. The methods include removing powder with sieve, classification with cyclone separator, cleaning up powder by rinsing with solvent and drying, or fusing powder by drying at relatively high temperature after water-spraying, thereby discreating the powder.
Various apparatuses for removing powder or rubbishes, such as sieve type separators, cyclone separators, and electrostatic removers are suggested.

Package for pellets of saponified ethylene-vinyl ester-based copolymer or resin composition thereof

THE NIPPON SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CO., LTD.


A method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three-dimensional space. The method comprises the steps of: (a) marking a plurality of feature points on a three-dimensional model and corresponding feature points on a two-dimensional query image; (b) for all possible subsets of three two-dimensional feature points marked in step (a), computing the four possible three-dimensional rigid motion solutions of a set of three points in three-dimensional space such that after each of the four rigid motions, under a fixed perspective projection, the three three-dimensional points are mapped precisely to the three corresponding two-dimensional points; (c) for each solution found in step (b), computing an error measure derived from the errors in the projections of all three-dimensional marked points in the three-dimensional model which were not among the three points used in the solution, but which did have corresponding marked points in the two-dimensional query image; (d) ranking the solutions from step (c) based on the computed error measure; and (e) selecting the best solution based on the ranking in step (d). Also provided is a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps of the present invention and a computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium for carrying out the methods of the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer vision and more particularly to the computation of the location and orientation (alternatively referred to as xe2x80x9cposexe2x80x9d) of an object in three dimensional (3D) space.
2. Prior Art
Apparatus for capturing 3-dimensional (henceforth, 3D) models of people""s faces are known in the art. These apparatus simultaneously capture pictures of the faces in registration with the 3D models that are captured. The 3D models consist of the 3-dimensional coordinates of a large number of points on the surface of the face, typically on the order of 640xc3x97640, along with the color picture value at each point. This provides the possibility of realistic computer graphics rendering of the faces from any vantage point. It is envisioned that this device can be used to capture a large number of face models. In some applications, this number could reach on the order of one million faces or more.
One application of this device is face identification, i.e., given a query consisting of an arbitrary two-dimensional (2D) photograph of a face, to search a large database of previously captured 3D models of faces to find the model which best matches the 2D photograph.
There are numerous obstacles to be overcome to accomplish this.
In general, there is no knowledge or control of the conditions under which the query photograph was acquired. Therefore, the pose (i.e. the position and orientation of the subject) and the lighting conditions of the query photograph are unknown.
There have been numerous approaches to the problem of face recognition. We focus on one class of paradigms for matching a query to a model in this setting, which begins with the task of determining the pose of the face in the query, where the xe2x80x9cposexe2x80x9d is defined as the 3D position and orientation of the face.
It is that task, pose determination, that the present invention, is concerned with. There is considerable prior art concerned with finding the pose of 3D objects given a 2D photograph. The present invention is interested in the case where a set of 3D models is available. The methods of the prior art for dealing with this problem can be divided into two classes:
1. Those based on xe2x80x9cfeaturesxe2x80x9d extracted from the 2D image which are compared to corresponding features in some 3D model; and
2. Those that use the image directly.
The methods of the present invention fall into the first class. Features that have been used by prior artisans range from hand-selected points, to automatically detected points such as xe2x80x9ccornersxe2x80x9d, extrema, lines, line junctions, and curves. The present invention deals only with the simplest of these methods, which takes as input 2 sets of points. The first set of points is marked by hand on a 3D model, resulting in 3D coordinates of the points. The second set of points is similarly marked by hand on a 2D image of a similar object. The correspondence between the 3D and 2D points is known, i.e., for each of the 3D points there is exactly one 2D point which is known to correspond to it, and vice versa. By saying that a 3D point xe2x80x9ccorrespondsxe2x80x9d to a 2D point, it is meant that the points represent the same feature of the object, e.g., the left corner of the left eye of some person""s face, or the left rear corner of the left wing of an airplane. The problem to be solved is to compute the rigid motion of the 3D point set, all points moving identically together, such that the perspective projection (i.e., the camera image) of the 3D point set will be the 2D point set. This is equivalent to finding the position and orientation of a perspective projection camera so that the picture it takes of the 3D point set will be the 2D point set. This is sometimes called the xe2x80x9cperspective n-point problem,xe2x80x9d where n is the number of points involved.
There have been many practitioners who have crafted solutions to the perspective n point problem. These range from relatively straightforward least squares solutions, to statistical selection techniques, through what is now commonly called xe2x80x9crecognition by alignment.xe2x80x9d
There are several problems with existing methods for this problem. The first problem is that when there are more than 3 pairs of corresponding points, it is not in general possible to obtain a closed form solution. For larger numbers of points, a least squares approach is required. In general, because of the nonlinear nature of the perspective projection (i.e., perspective contains a division by the z coordinate), and the nonlinear effects in the 2D image of rotations in 3D space, the least squares problem must be solved by iterative methods. Iterative methods are slow compared to closed form solutions, and in the applications of concern, it will eventually be required to solve this problem for up to hundreds of millions or more different sets of 3D points for each query, so that speed is important. It is further desirable that for graphic display purposes, the solution be so fast that it can be done in real time to provide a smooth graphic display of the effect of altering point positions on the resulting solution.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space which is fast as compared to the methods of the prior art.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space which is not only fast as compared to the methods of the prior art but also robust.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space which is well suited to an application, where a small number of manually marked points with known correspondences must be used to find pose.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space which does not require knowledge of a camera model, or need to solve for a camera model.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space which is computationally simpler than the heuristics and iterative solutions of the prior art.
Accordingly, a method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three-dimensional space is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) marking a plurality of feature points on a three-dimensional model and corresponding feature points on a two-dimensional query image; (b) for all possible subsets of three two-dimensional feature points marked in step (a), computing the four possible three-dimensional rigid motion solutions of a set of three points in three-dimensional space such that after each of the four rigid motions, under a fixed perspective projection, the three three-dimensional points are mapped precisely to the three corresponding two-dimensional points; (c) for each solution found in step (b), computing an error measure derived from the errors in the projections of all three-dimensional marked points in the three-dimensional model which were not among the three points used in the solution, but which did have corresponding marked points in the two-dimensional query image; (d) ranking the solutions from step (c) based on the computed error measure; and (e) selecting the best solution based on the ranking in step (d).
In a first variation of the method of the present invention, the method further comprises, after step (a), the step of computing a predetermined number of perturbed points derived from each of the feature points wherein the computation of step (b) is on all possible subsets of three two-dimensional points marked in the query image, and in addition on the corresponding perturbed points. Typically, the predetermined number of perturbed points are obtained by sampling from a spherical Gaussian distribution.
In a second variation of the method of the present invention, the method further comprises, after step (d), the steps of: (i) choosing a subset of the solutions from step (c) based on the ranking of step (d); (ii) computing a predetermined number of perturbed points derived from each of the subset of the solutions; (iii) repeating step (b) on the predetermined number of perturbed points; and (iv) repeating step (c) for each solution found in step (iii); wherein the ranking of step (d) is based on the error computed in both steps (c) and (iv). Preferably, the subset of solutions chosen is a predetermined portion of the ranked solutions, such as the top 10% of the ranked solutions.
Still further provided is a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform the method steps of the methods and variations thereof of the present invention and a computer program product embodied in a computer-readable medium for carrying out the methods, and variations thereof, of the present invention. Preferably, the computer program has modules corresponding to the steps of the methods and variations thereof of the present invention.

Method for computing the location and orientation of an object in three dimensional space