An occupant protection system for a motor vehicle includes at least one crash sensor for measuring a motion variable. The occupant protection system includes an occupant protection device, controlled by an ignition signal, and a control device for determining the ignition signal subject to an average time value of the motion variable measured by the crash sensor during at least one first time interval.

Airbag systems are described, for example, in the article "Hardware and Mechanics of Real Airbag Control Systems" published on the Internet page www.informatik.uni-dortmund.de/airbag/seminarphase/hardware_vortrag.pdf.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,583,771, U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,701 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,508 describe the triggering of an airbag by a neural network as a function of an output signal of an acceleration sensor.
German Published Patent Application No. 198 54 380 describes a method for detecting the severity of a vehicle collision, where the output signals of a plurality of acceleration sensors are supplied to a neural network. In the method, the start of the evaluation of the acceleration-sensor output signals is determined by a trigger signal, which is output by an acceleration sensor when it output signal exceeds a predefined threshold value. This acceleration sensor causes the other acceleration sensors to supply the specific output signal at one and the same time. It is also provided that the output signals of the acceleration sensors be integrated one or two times.
German Published Patent Application No. 100 35 505 describes a method, in which the future time characteristic of the output signal of an acceleration sensor is predicted with the aid of a neural network on the basis of the acceleration-sensor signals at least one defined time.
German Published Patent Application No. 100 40 111 describes a method for producing a triggering decision for restraining devices in a vehicle, where the difference of measured acceleration values is calculated and the magnitude of the difference is subsequently integrated. The integral is compared to at least one threshold value. If the integral does not exceed this threshold value by a predefined time, then the position of a triggering threshold for the measured acceleration or for a speed change derived from it is modified in such a manner, that the triggering sensitivity becomes lower.
Described in German Published Patent Application No. 101 03 661 is a method for sensing lateral impact in a motor vehicle; acceleration sensors, from whose output signals the difference is calculated, being situated on the left and right sides of the vehicle. The differential acceleration signal is integrated or summed up. For the purpose of side-impact sensing, the differential speed signal is compared to a threshold value, which is calculated as a function of the differential acceleration signal.

Occupant protection system for a motor vehicle


A receiver receives and front-end processes a plurality of component carrier signals, each carrier spaced apart in frequency. The digitized, baseband component carrier signals are inspected to determine estimates of timing offsets between the carriers. A control unit selects a first component carrier signal having data scheduled to the receiver. If data is scheduled to the receiver on other component carrier signals, the control unit generates timing and frequency offset adjustment control signals to time- and frequency-align each other component carrier signal having relevant data, to the first component carrier signal. All the relevant component carrier signals are then combined, and a single OFDM symbol, spanning all the relevant component carriers, is presented to an FFT for symbol detection.

With each generation, wireless communication systems are characterized by ever-higher data rates. While some increase in data rates may be attributed to improvements in modulation, coding, and the like, significant increases in data rates generally require higher system bandwidths. For example, the IMT advanced, a proposed fourth generation (4G) wireless communication system, contemplates bandwidths up to 100 MHz. However, the radio spectrum is a limited resource. Since many operators and systems compete for limited radio resources, it is unlikely that 100 MHz of contiguous spectrum will be free for such systems.
One approach to increasing bandwidth requirements in limited, fragmented spectrum is to aggregate non-contiguous spectrum, as depicted in FIG. 1. From a baseband point of view, this can effectively increase system bandwidth sufficiently to support up to 1 Gb/s, a throughput requirement for 4G systems. Transmitting data in non-continuous parts of the spectrum also introduces flexibility, as spectrum utilization may be adapted to existing spectrum use and geographical position. Additionally, different modulation and coding schemes may be advantageously applied to different portions of the spectrum.
A possible evolution of current cellular systems, such as the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), to support non-contiguous spectrum is to introduce multiple component carriers. In a multiple component carrier system, each separate portion of spectrum may be considered a Release 8 LTE system. A 4G mobile terminal will in such a case be capable of receiving multiple LTE carriers, of different bandwidths, and transmitted at different carrier frequencies, and in such a terminal new problem areas may be introduced.

System and method of receiving and processing multicommunication signals


A check valve for a combustion engine fuel system includes a polymeric poppet valve including a valve stem and a valve head that terminates the valve stem. A valve seat is adapted for cooperation with the valve head of the poppet valve, and includes a valve seat body and an elastomeric valve seat seal supported by the valve seat body and adapted for sealing against the valve head of the poppet valve. The check valve is particularly adapted for use with a fuel pump within a fuel system.

Fuel delivery systems typically include a fuel pump for delivering fuel under pressure from a fuel tank to an internal combustion engine. A check valve is usually positioned in line between the fuel pump and the engine to prevent back flow of fuel from the engine to the fuel pump when the fuel pump is deactivated. Fuel pressure is thereby maintained at the engine, resulting in reduced start-up time and improved starting of the engine. As depicted in FIG. 8, a conventional check valve apparatus 112 includes a screw-machined brass valve seat 144 and brass poppet valve 142 that has a rubber tip 143 molded thereto for sealing against the valve seat 144.
Unfortunately, however, the conventional check valve apparatus has several shortcomings. First, the screw machining process required to make the valve seat and poppet valve is particularly time-consuming and costly. Second, brass is a relatively heavy and costly material. Third, the process used to mold the rubber tip to the poppet valve is relatively expensive. Fourth, in fuel systems where fuel pump speed adjusts to engine fuel demand, a valve assembly having a brass poppet valve has relatively low responsiveness to rapidly changing fuel pressure and demand conditions such as when a vehicle is accelerating, decelerating, or shifting gears, because of the relatively high mass of a brass poppet valve.

Check valve apparatus for fuel delivery systems


Optical systems are provided. In one embodiment, the optical system includes a detector for detecting a light signal. A light signal gatherer and guider is optically connected with the detector for gathering the light signal and guiding the light signal to the detector. The light signal gatherer and guider has a check signal entrance location disposed along an outer surface of the light signal gatherer and guider. A check signal source is optically connected with the light signal gatherer and guider so that a check signal generated by the check signal source randomly illuminates the check signal entrance location on the outer surface of the light signal gatherer and guider.

The following relates to an optical system and its method of operation.
Today, a number of machines, such as medical analyzers and the like, operate or otherwise perform their functions by looking at or reading a signal. In some cases, this signal may be a light signal generated by a particular marker or label attached to an item of interest. In order to read this light signal, these machines may use an optical system which gathers the light signal and guides the gathered light signal to a reader, such as an element that produces an electrical signal in response to the gathered and guided light signal.
For such machines to operate as intended, it is desirable to check or to calibrate the optical system from time to time. Depending on the type of machine involved, this checking may be rather difficult. Also, the method or device used to check the optical system may not always accurately check the optical system. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved optical system.


A tire with a form ratio H/S between 0.3 and 0.8 has a carcass reinforcement (1) which is covered radially by a quasi-cylindrical crown reinforcement (3) and which is tangential at T to a holding circle C. The common tangent at T to the circle C and to the meridian profile of the carcass (1) makes an angle xcex1 of between +20xc2x0 and xe2x88x9280xc2x0 with respect to a line parallel to the rotation axis and passing through the tangency point T. In its portion located between the tangency point T and the point E of greatest axial width, the carcass reinforcement (1) is provided with a reinforcement armature (6) of circumferentially non-extensible elements. Viewed in meridian cross-section and when the tire is fitted and inflated to the recommended pressure, the carcass (1) has a meridian profile consisting of four circular arcs configured to improve the endurance of the tire while improving its rolling resistance.

The present invention concerns a tire with radial carcass reinforcement and more particularly a tire intended for fitting to vehicles carrying heavy loads and driving at sustained speeds, such as trucks, tractors, trailers or coaches.
A tire of the xe2x80x9cHeavy Dutyxe2x80x9d type generally comprises a radial carcass reinforcement formed of a single ply of metallic reinforcement elements anchored in each bead to at least one bead wire. The said carcass reinforcement is radially covered by a crown reinforcement formed by at least two working plies made of non-extensible metallic reinforcement elements, which are mutually parallel within each ply and crossed over from one ply to the next, making angles which may be between 10xc2x0 and 45xc2x0 with respect to the circumferential direction of the tire. The said working plies are generally completed by a so-termed protection ply made of extensible metallic reinforcement elements, and either by a so-termed triangulation ply of non-extensible metallic elements oriented with respect to the circumferential direction at an angle greater than 45xc2x0 in a known way, or by a ply of reinforcement elements oriented circumferentially, or by both the preceding types of ply.
xe2x80x9cHeavy Dutyxe2x80x9d tires have form ratios H/S, H being the height of the tire on its rim and S being the maximum radial width of the tire when fitted on its working rim and inflated to the recommended pressure, ranging between 0.65 and 1.0. However, xe2x80x9cHeavy Dutyxe2x80x9d tires are now appearing which have smaller form ratios H/S, for example of the order of 0.45.
Whatever the type of tire, it is known that a compromise between the various properties required is difficult to achieve, since unfortunately an improvement in one characteristic usually goes together with a degradation of one or more other properties.
Numerous attempts have been made to try and obtain the best compromise, more particularly in the case of cruising tires. With a view to improving comfort, resistance to punctures and the wear resistance of the tread, the British document GB 359 110 proposes to give the tire, during molding in the vulcanization mold, a shape very similar to its shape under load, while the tread is made circumferentially non-extensible by the presence of an armature of circumferentially continuous cables or wires. Thus, the tire is molded with a low form ratio, markedly incurving sidewalls, and a carcass reinforcement anchored on each side of the equatorial plane to a bead-wire such that at the point of tangency between the meridian profile of the carcass reinforcement and the bead wire arid with respect to a line parallel to the tire""s rotation axis, the common tangent to the bead-wire and the said profile makes an angle which is open axially towards the outside and radially towards the inside.
To achieve a very clear improvement of the compromise between comfort, road-holding and the stability of the tire, U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,547 describes a tire with a low form ratio H/S, which may be between 0.25 and 0.75, and in which the areas of the sidewall close to the edges of the rim are essentially parallel to the rotation axis of the tire, the said areas being reinforced by radially non-extensible rings and the said rings being of various constitutions. Such a structure entails fitting the tire on a rim whose width W is small compared with the maximum axial width S of the said tire, the ratio W/S being between 0.25 and 0.75.
A similar tire is also described in the patent FR 1 267 264, and is intended to enable a compromise between comfort, road-holding, low rolling resistance and high resistance to wear. In order to increase the structural flexibility of the carcass reinforcement assembly considerably while avoiding the disadvantages that automatically go together with such an increase, the said carcass reinforcement has very curved sidewalls and is covered by a cylindrical crown reinforcement which is circumferentially non-extensible and preferably formed of longitudinal reinforcement elements. Near-the anchoring bead-wires, the carcass reinforcement has portions with tangents that are horizontal or situated at radii smaller than the radii of the rim edges, the said portions being reinforced in the case described by circumferential reinforcement elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,029,139 also concerns a tire with a form ratio H/S preferably between 0.40 and 0.60 such that the ratio W/S of the rim width W to the maximum axial width S of the tire is smaller than 0.65. It describes a particular system for fitting the beads to the rim, such that the parts of the bead close to the rim are essentially horizontal.
The development of a xe2x80x9cHeavy Dutyxe2x80x9d type tire and the adaptation to the said tire of the principles mentioned above have proved disappointing. In effect, if comfort is improved the general endurance of the tire is not, whether this applies to endurance in terms of wear or the fatigue endurance of the tire""s various reinforcements.
The object of the invention is to improve the general endurance of this type of tire while at the same time improving its rolling resistance.
The tire according to the invention, which has a form ratio H/S between 0.3 and 0.8, comprises a carcass reinforcement of equatorial radius RSSxc2x1xcex94RSS, where xcex94RSS is equal to 1 times the minimum thickness of the said reinforcement, which is covered radially by an essentially or quasi-cylindrical crown reinforcement formed by at least one working ply, of circumferential reinforcement elements, the said carcass reinforcement, on either side of the equatorial plane, being on the one hand tangential to a circle C termed the holding circle, such that the common tangent to the said circle C and to the meridian profile of the carcass reinforcement makes at the tangency point between the said profile and the holding circle, and with respect to a line parallel to the rotation axis passing through the said tangency point, an angle between +20xc2x0 and xe2x88x9280xc2x0, and on the other hand, in its portion between the said tangency point and the point of greatest axial width, being provided with a reinforcement armature made of circumferentially non-extensible elements. It is characterized in that, viewed in meridian section, and when the tire is fitted on its working rim and inflated to the recommended pressure, the centerline of each half of the main portion of the carcass reinforcement has a meridian profile composed of four circular arcs:
a first circular arc TA of radius rxe2x80x2l, comprised between or equal to the quantities r1, and/or 2r1, which is on the one hand tangential to the holding circle C, concentric with the circle of the rim edge of radius r1, and located radially above and separated from the said edge by a distance eT at least equal to twice the minimum thickness e of the carcass reinforcement, and which on the other hand has a point of intersection A with
a second circular arc AE of radius rxe2x80x31, comprised between the quantities r1 and 2r1, which is tangential to the line perpendicular to the rotation axis passing through the point E of greatest axial width,
a third circular arc EF of radius r2, which is tangential to the second arc of a circle AE at the point E of greatest axial width and also tangential to a fourth arc of a circle FG, parallel to the quasi-cylindrical crown reinforcement, at a point F separated from the line parallel to the rotation axis and passing through the center OJ of the holding circle C by a distance d, where the quantities d, r1 and r2 satisfy the relationships:
d=r2+(r1+arJ+eT)cos xcex1 and r1=r2RSS/(RSSxe2x88x92r2)
xe2x80x83where xcex1 is the angle which the tangent at T makes with respect to a line parallel to the rotation axis, and a is a constant which can have the values xe2x88x921,0 or +1, and
a fourth circular arc FG of radius RTC equal to the transverse radius RT of the crown reinforcement, reduced by at most the minimum thickness of the carcass reinforcement,
and in that the width of the working crown reinforcement is comprised between the distance separating the two tangency points F of the said meridian profile to the crown reinforcement and the said distance increased by 2r2/3.
The term xe2x80x98quasi-cylindrical crown reinforcementxe2x80x99 is used to mean a crown reinforcement whose transverse radius of curvature is at least equal to 4 times its equatorial radius of curvature.
The carcass reinforcement is preferably formed of radial reinforcement elements, which may be made of a textile material because of the low stress supported by each reinforcement element, the stress supported being due to the internal inflation pressure and being a function of the meridian profile of the said carcass reinforcement.
It is an advantage for the crown reinforcement to consist on the one hand of an axially continuous ply formed of circumferential non-extensible reinforcement elements, for example metallic cables (elements are termed non-extensible if, under a tensile force equal to 10% of the breaking force, their relative elongation is less than 0.5%), and on the other hand, of the two plies of non-extensible reinforcement elements mutually parallel within each ply and crossed over from one ply to the next, which make an angle between 20xc2x0 and 60xc2x0, and preferably between 40xc2x0 and 55xc2x0 with respect to the circumferential direction.
The term xe2x80x98axial width of the working crown reinforcementxe2x80x99 is used to mean the larger of two widths: the axial width of the crown reinforcement ply formed of circumferential elements and the axial width of the narrower of the crown reinforcement plies formed of inclined elements.
On each side of the equatorial plane and in its portion comprised radially between the tangency point to the holding circle and the point of greatest axial width, the carcass reinforcement is completed by a reinforcement armature which is essentially circumferentially non-extensible, the said armature consisting of a simple bead-wire of known type (braided, xe2x80x9cpackedxe2x80x9d, with rectangular or other wires), or of at least one ply of non-extensible circumferential elements, preferable metallic, as known in its own right. The said reinforcement armature may be located either inside the carcass reinforcement, or outside it, or between its plies, or in all three of the above positions. The said armature is preferably positioned axially around the point of intersection A of the two circular arcs TA and AE.
Preferably, and in a my known in its own right, the axial distance separating the two tangency points of the meridian profile of the carcass reinforcement to the two holding circles is smaller than two-thirds of the largest axial width of the carcass reinforcement.
The tire is mounted on the rim, in a known way, by beads each of which comprises at least one bead-wire around which the carcass reinforcement is anchored by being folded back upon itself. The folded-back portion may be long enough to be considered an integral part of the reinforcement armature located in the lower position of the tire""s sidewall. Due to the meridian profile of the carcass reinforcement, the anchoring bead-wire may have a cross-section smaller than that of the bead-wires currently used in tires of normal shape and having the same axial and radial dimensions. Whenever a carcass reinforcement is folded back upon itself, it is advantageous for the folded-back portion to be located in a zone of low deformation, and it can be lacquered against the main portion of the said reinforcement without the presence of sections between the main and folded-back portions.
The carcass reinforcement can also be held fast in the beads by inserting its edges between two armatures of non-extensible and circumferential reinforcement elements, or between the rim itself and one reinforcement armature as above.
The characteristics and advantages of the invention will be better understood from the description that follows, which refers to the drawings that illustrate exemplary embodiments in a non-limiting way.

Tire with specified crown reinforcement and carcass profile

Compagnie Generale Des Establissements Michelin-Michelin and Cie


A display panel, a manufacturing method thereof and a display device are provided. The display panel includes a plurality of functional layers arranged on a base substrate. A portion of at least one of the functional layers is removed to form a gap portion. The display panel further includes a light-transmissible structure including the gap portion and configured to allow a light beam to pass therethrough to an optical sensing element arranged at a position corresponding to the light-transmissible structure. An orthogonal projection of the gap portion onto the base substrate overlaps an orthogonal projection of the optical sensing element onto the base substrate.

Internal space utilization of a smart phone increases along with the development of the industrial design and manufacture process and a size of the smart phone also increases. Currently, customers are focusing on a compact body while a large-size screen is provided. Due to hardware homogeneity, "screen-to-body ratio" has become a very hot phrase for the smart phone.
At first, it is able for a narrow-bezel smart phone to provide a higher screen-to-body ratio, i.e., provide a large display panel even when it has a small body size, thereby to improve the user experience in terms of videos and games, as well as the portability. In addition, it is able for the narrow-bezel smart phone to provide an optimum visual effect, i.e., provide a larger screen for a fixed body size or provide a small body for a fixed screen size.
Usually, the smart phone is equipped with a front-facing camera for a selfie, so it is necessary to provide a certain space at a bezel of the smart phone for the front-facing camera. However, for the smart phone with a large screen, there is an urgent need to provide a scheme for increasing the screen-to-body ratio.

Display panel, manufacturing method thereof, and display device

CHENGDU BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A wall resurfacing kit for allowing users to quickly and easily resurface a damaged wallpapered surface includes a plurality of rectangular mesh screen sheets. The plurality of mesh screen sheets are made of fiberglass and are directly attachable to the wallpapered surface. The wall resurfacing kit further includes a reinforcing member. The reinforcing member is applied directly onto the mesh screen sheets such that the reinforcing member penetrates through the mesh screen sheets. The reinforcing member directly couples the plurality of mesh screen sheets to the wallpapered surface. The wall resurfacing kit further includes a set of instructions indicating a decoration mode. The decoration mode is used to decorate the wallpapered surface.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to wall resurfacing kits and, more particularly, to a wall resurfacing kit for allowing users to quickly and easily resurface wallpapered walls.
2. Prior Art
Wallpaper is a well known covering that can selectively be applied to entire wall surfaces or to only select portions thereof. Sometimes, however, a person may no longer like the color or pattern displayed on the wall paper and may wish to change it. Also, in the even that a home is sold the new owners may not have the same affinity for the current wallpaper as the previous residents did. The conventional method of removing wall paper is rather time consuming, requiring a lot of patience and effort. At times the wallpaper can not be completely removed in certain areas, thus complicating the application of new wallpaper, or painting over the desired surface.
Accordingly, a need remains for a wall resurfacing kit in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings.

Wall resurfacing kit and associated method


In a method for a variable-length communications system including encoding a message and decoding a data bit stream, the message includes a plurality of message blocks. A message block of the message is encoded by generating a parity check bit stream, flipping the parity check bit stream, and appending the flipped parity check bit stream to the end of the message block. When a data bit stream is received, a guessed message block and a guessed flipped parity check bit stream are extracted based on a guessed message block length. A parity check bit stream is generated for the guessed message block and then flipped. If the flipped parity check bit stream is the same as the guessed flipped parity check bit stream, the message block has been identified. Otherwise, the guessed message block length is increased by 1 and the above step is repeated.

In a digital communications system, such as a CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system, a data bit stream comprising a stream of binary bits representing a message is transmitted by a transmitter, travels through a data channel, and is received by a receiver. The data bit stream is generally composed of a number of message blocks. If the length of a message block is not fixed, the system may be referred to as a variable-length communications system. In such a variable-length system, additional length information of each message block is generally required for the receiver to identify each message block and extract the message from the received data bit stream. A conventional method of a variable-length communications system designates a separate channel as a control channel for transmitting length information of each message block. Thus, when the receiver receives both the length information and the data bit stream, the receiver identifies the corresponding message blocks based on the length information, and de-blocks the data bit stream.
The conventional method also generally utilizes cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits for error detection purposes. In particular, a fixed number of CRC bits are appended to the end of each message block and have a predetermined relationship with the corresponding message block. The receiver receives both the message block and the CRC bits following that message block, and tries to re-establish the relationship therebetween. If the relationship is satisfied, the message block is considered without error. Otherwise, an error has occurred during the transmission of that block. This method is further explained in greater detail below.
First, a CRC generating polynomial, gl(x), of order l, is chosen. A common way of choosing the CRC generating polynomial is that gl(x) should satisfy gcd(gl(x),xi)=1 for each and every i between 0 and l, inclusive, wherein l and i are integers, and the function gcd(A(x),B(x)) is defined as the greatest common divider of polynomials A(x) and B(x). Examples of suitable gl(x) include g4(x)=x4+x3+x2+x+1 for l=4; g7(x)=x7+x6+x4+1 for l=7; g8(x)=x8+x7+x4+x3+x+1 for l=8; and g12(x)=x12+x11+x3+x2+x+1 for l=12. The information of CRC generating polynomial is stored in both the transmitter and the receiver.
For illustration purposes, a binary polynomial is defined for each binary bit stream as follows: if a binary bit stream A includes t binary bits, at−1, at−2, . . . , a0, wherein t is an integer, the binary polynomial of A is denoted as A(x) and A(x)=at−1xt−1+at−2xt−2+ . . . +a0. Also for illustration purposes, binary bit stream A is said to satisfy the CRC condition if A(x) is divisible by gl(x). Two binary bit streams A and B are said to satisfy the CRC condition if xsA(x)+B(x) is divisible by gl(x), wherein s is the number of bits contained in bit stream B. It is well known to one skilled in the art that when, for example, a polynomial A(x) is divisible by another polynomial gl(x), remainder of A(x) divided by gl(x) is 0, and it may be said that gl(x) divides A(x), denoted as gl(x)|A(x).
Next, for a message block M containing k bits of binary information, mk−1, mk−2, . . . , m0, a parity check bit stream P including l parity check bits, or CRC bits, pi−1, pt−2, . . . , p0, is generated such that M and P satisfy the CRC condition, or gl(x)|(xlM(x)+P(x)). A parity check bit stream may also be called a parity block, a parity check block, or a CRC block. For each message block M, it may be proved that there is only one corresponding parity check bit stream P. The proof is understood by one skilled in the art and is not discussed in detail herein.
According to the standard CRC method, parity check bit stream P may be generated using either hardware or software. Examples of hardware implementations are shown in FIGS. 1–2, and an example of a software implementation is shown in FIG. 3. Both FIGS. 1 and 2 assume l=8 and CRC generating polynomial gl(x)=x8+x7+x4+x3+x+1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a first hardware implementation of generating parity check bit stream P. Referring to FIG. 1, a feedback shift register circuit 100 is used for generating parity check bit stream P based on CRC generating polynomial gl(x)=x8+x7+x4+x3+x+1. Circuit 100 includes a plurality of delay circuits 102, which may be implemented as flip-flops. The number of delay circuits 102 is equal to the order of gl(x), i.e., l=8. Thus, in FIG. 1, there are 8 delay circuits, 1021, 1022, . . . , 1028. Several XOR gates 104 are inserted between delay circuits 102. Each XOR gate 104 corresponds to a coefficient of CRC generating polynomial gl(x). For example, as shown in FIG. 1, an XOR gate 1041 to the left side of the first delay circuit 1021 indicates that the coefficient of x0=1 of gl(x) is 1; the absence of XOR gate 104 between delay circuits 1022 and 1023 indicates that the coefficient of x2 of gl(x) is 0; and an XOR gate 1045 between delay circuits 1027 and 1028 indicates that the coefficient of x7 of gl(x) is 1. A clock signal (not shown) shifts register circuit 100 from left to right one bit at a time. Also shown in FIG. 1 is that the output of delay circuit 1028 is fed back to each of XOR gates 1041–1045. The parity check bit stream P is generated by feeding into the left side of circuit 100 the message block M followed by eight bits of 0. The output of delay circuit 1028 then comprises message block M followed by its corresponding parity check bit stream P.
A second hardware implementation of generating parity check bit stream is illustrated in FIG. 2. Similarly, a feedback shift register circuit 200 includes a plurality of delay circuits 202, each of which may be implemented as a flip-flop circuit. Several XOR gates 204 are inserted between delay circuits 202 according to CRC generating polynomial gl(x). However, as compared to FIG. 1, an XOR gate 204 is added to the right end of circuit 200, rather than the left end of circuit 200, and the message block M is input into the rightmost XOR gate 204. A switch 206 switches the output of feedback shift register circuit 200 between message block M and the output of the rightmost XOR gate 204. Feedback shift register circuit 200 first outputs message block M and then outputs the parity bits by switching switch 206 to the output of the rightmost XOR gate 204.
FIG. 3 illustrates a software implementation of generating parity check bit stream P. Rather than generating the parity check bit stream P bit by bit, a lookup table is used in the software implementation. The lookup table contains an entire list of CRC bit streams for all possible messages of a certain length. For example, when l=8, the lookup table includes 28=256 entries of CRC bit streams, each bit stream containing eight binary bits. As shown in FIG. 3, a message including 3 bytes (24 bits), Byte 1, Byte 2, and Byte 3, is encoded using the lookup table. At step 302, Byte 1 is considered and the lookup table is searched for a matching entry for Byte 1. An XOR operation is performed on the outcome of the search and Byte 2 at step 304 to generate an intermediate CRC bit stream CRC 2. An entry that matches CRC2 is looked up in the lookup table (step 306) and is XOR'ed with Byte 3 (step 308), to generate the CRC bit stream, CRC 3, of the message.
The above three implementations will be readily understood by one skilled in the art and, therefore, the details thereof are not further discussed herein.
After the parity check bit stream P is generated, the parity check bits thereof are appended to the end of the message block M to form a concatenated bit stream C including k+l bits, mk−, mk−2, . . . , m0, pl−1, pl−2, . . . , p0. In view of the above conditions, gl(x) divides C(x)=xlM (x)+P(x).
For each message block contained in the message, the above encoding process is repeated to generate a corresponding concatenated bit stream, and a data bit stream including the concatenated bit streams and length information of each message block are then transmitted through a data channel and a control channel, respectively.
At the receiver side, both the data bit stream and the length information are received. A received message block M′ and a parity check bit stream P′ are extracted based on the length information, wherein M′ includes k bits, m′k−1, m′k−2, . . . , m′0, and P′ includes l bits, p′l−1, p′l−2, . . . , p′0. The receiver then performs a so-called CRC test to determine if M′ and P′ satisfy the CRC condition. If the condition is satisfied, then the message block is received with no error.
A system using a separately designated control channel for transmitting length information as discussed above could be very inefficient when the data rate is slow. For example, in a standard UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) mode, AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) 12.2 kbps mode, the overhead for transmitting the length information may be as large as 3 kbps, or almost 25% of the total transmission rate of 12.2 kbps.
To reduce the overhead incurred by separately transmitting the length information, there has been proposed a CRC method (hereinafter "standard CRC method") that uses the CRC bits for message length detection, rather than transmitting the length information of each message block through a separate channel. According to the standard CRC method, the transmitter only transmits the data bit stream, and the receiver receives the data bit stream with no length information. Thus, the receiver may not directly identify the message blocks or extract the message. Instead, the receiver repeats a trial-and-error step to search the received data bit stream for a pair of message block and parity check bit stream that satisfy the CRC condition. First, the receiver guesses a number, for example, {circumflex over (k)}, as the block length, and treats the first {circumflex over (k)} bits of the received bit stream as the message block, and the following l bits as parity check bit stream. The receiver then performs the CRC test to determine if the guessed message block and the guessed parity check bit stream satisfy the CRC condition. If the result is affirmative, the receiver has successfully identified a message block and continues to identify the next message block. Otherwise, the message block has not been identified, the guessed block length {circumflex over (k)} is increased by 1, and the CRC test is repeated. Theoretically, after a few trials, the correct message block will be identified.
However, the standard CRC method has an inherent problem of probable false detection. Assuming a noise-free transmission and a uniformly distributed message, the probability of a false detection by the standard CRC method is given by Expression (1):
                                          P            F                                          (            i            )                          =                  {                                                    0                                                                                for                                                                                i                                        =                    0                                    ;                                                                                2                                          -                      i                                                        ,                                                                                for                                                                                1                                        ≤                    i                    ≤                                          l                      -                      1                                                        ;                                                                                2                                          -                      i                                                        ,                                                                                for                                                                                i                                        ≥                    l                                    ,                                                                                (        1        )
wherein i=k−{circumflex over (k)} is the message length offset. A brief explanation of Expression (1) is provided below.
Since the transmission is assumed noise-free, all the bits transmitted are received without error. Therefore, if i=k−{circumflex over (k)}=0, the CRC condition is satisfied and a correct message block is identified. No false detection occurs, i.e., PF(0)=0.
If i=k−{circumflex over (k)}=1, the wrongly guessed message block M′ includes k−1 bits, mk−1, mk−2, . . . , m1, and the guessed parity block P′ includes l bits, m0, pl−1, p1−2, . . . , p1. The CRC test therefore decides whether gl(x) divides
                                          C            ′                                          (            x            )                          =                                                            x              l                                                                  M                ′                                                          (                x                )                                              +                                    P              ′                                                  (              x              )                                                              =                                                            m                              k                -                1                                                                x                              l                +                k                -                2                                              +                                    m                              k                -                2                                                                x                              l                +                k                -                3                                              +          …          +                                    m              1                                                  x              l                                +                                    m              0                                                  x                              l                -                1                                              +                                                                                p                              l                -                1                                                                x                              l                -                2                                              +                                    p                              l                -                2                                                                x                              l                -                3                                              +          …          +                                    p              1                        .                              Because gcd(gl(x),x)=1, deciding whether gl(x)|C′(x) is equivalent to deciding whether gl(x)|xC′(x). Comparing C′(x) with C(x), there is xC′(x)=C(x)−p0. Thus, if p0=0, because gl(x)|C(x), then gl(x)|xC′(x), and g1(x)|C′(x). The receiver regards the wrong message block M′ as the correct message block, and there is a false detection. Otherwise, if p0=1, the CRC condition is not satisfied, the receiver concludes that M′ is not the correct message block, and there is no false detection. For a uniformly distributed message, the probability of p0=0 is ½, and, therefore, the probability of a false detection is ½.
Similarly, if 1<i≦i−1, the wrongly guessed message block M′ includes k−i bits, mk−1, mk−2, . . . , mi, and the wrongly guessed parity block P′ includes l bits, mi−1, mi−2, . . . , m0, pi−1, pi−2, . . . , pi. The CRC test therefore decides whether gl(x) divides
                                          C            ′                                          (            x            )                          =                                                            x              l                                                                  M                ′                                                          (                x                )                                              +                                    P              ′                                                  (              x              )                                                              =                                                            m                              k                -                1                                                                x                              l                -                i                +                k                -                1                                              +                                    m                              k                -                2                                                                x                              l                -                i                +                k                -                2                                              +          …          +                                    m              0                                                  x                              l                -                i                                              +                                                                                p                              l                -                1                                                                x                              l                -                i                -                1                                              +                                    p                              l                -                2                                                                x                              l                -                i                -                2                                              +          …          +                                    p              i                        .                              Comparing C′(x) with C(x), there is
            x      i                          C        ′                          (        x        )              =            C                    (        x        )              -                  ∑                  j          =          0                          i          -          1                                                        p            j                                          (            x            )                          .            Because the order of gl(x), l, is greater than i, gl(x) does not divide
            ∑              j        =        0                    i        -        1                                p        j                          (        x        )              ,unless p0=p1= . . . =pi−1=0. Further because gl(x)|C(x), and gcd(gl(x),xi)=1, gl(x)|C′(x) is satisfied only when p0=p1= . . . =pi−1=0. Thus, the probability of a false detection when 1<i≦l−1 is equal to the probability of p0=p1= . . . =pi−1=0, which, for a uniformly distributed message, is 2−i.
Finally, if i≧l, the guessed message block M′ includes k−i bits, mk−1, mk−2, . . . , mi, and the guessed CRC bit stream P′ includes, mi−1, mi−2, . . . , mi−l. Since there is only one possible CRC bit stream that corresponds to M′, the probability of P′ satisfying the CRC condition of gl(x)|(xlM′(x)+P′(x)), i.e., the probability of a false detection, is 2−l for a uniformly distributed message block.
FIG. 4 shows a simulation result of the probability of passing the CRC test for the standard CRC method with different guessed message lengths. The simulation conditions include that the order of the CRC generating polynomial is 8 and that the actual message length is 15. As shown in FIG. 4, as the estimated message size approaches the actual message length, i.e., the length offset i approaches 0, the probability of passing the CRC test increases exponentially.
In view of the large probability of false detection for a standard CRC method, a modified CRC method with a reduced probability of false detection has been proposed by NTT DoCoMo, Inc., and may be referred to as the DoCoMo's Modification of the CRC method. According to the DoCoMo's Modification, after the parity check bit stream P is generated, the parity check bits are appended to the message block in a reversed order, to form a concatenated bit stream, mk−1, mk−2, . . . , m0, p0, p1, . . . , pi−1. FIG. 5 shows simulation results for the DoCoMo's Modification as compared to the standard CRC method. The conditions are the same as those in FIG. 4, i.e., the order of the CRC generating polynomial is 8 and the actual message length is 15. As shown in FIG. 5, the probability of passing the CRC test, i.e., the probability of false detection is reduced to 2−l for all message length offset i>0.

Cyclic redundancy check modification for message length detection and error detection

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Skin-contact products with a transpiration function such as medical devices or medicinal products, of which face masks, aspirators, ventilators, breast pumps or wound dressings are examples are described especially a skin-contact product with a transpiration function with an improved microclimate at a patient interface material-skin contact area. In an embodiment a material system is described that comprises a hydrophobic silicone base material and a hydrophilic silicone material that is combined with the hydrophobic base material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to skin-contact products with moisture and microclimate control such as medical devices or medicinal products, especially user or patient interface devices of which face masks, respiratory masks, aspirators, ventilators, breast pumps or wound dressings are examples and, more particularly, to a skin-contact product with a transpiration function with an improved microclimate at a patient interface-skin contact area.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many medical applications which require gas exchange, e.g. pressure to be applied to the skin of a human or other animal over a long period of time where a microclimate is created that may be uncomfortable for the wearer. Examples are patient interface devices, respiratory masks, aspirators, ventilators, breast pumps, and wound dressings.
An exemplary medical application relates to a patient interface device used for ventilation for positive air pressure or oxygen delivery. Positive air pressure (PAP) is a method of respiratory ventilation used primarily for the treatment of sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. Each pause in breathing, called an apnea, can last from a few seconds to minutes, and may occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Similarly, each abnormally low breathing event is called a hypopnea. Sleep apnea is diagnosed with an overnight sleep test called a polysomnogram, or "sleep study". There are three forms of sleep apnea: central (CSA), obstructive (OSA), and complex or mixed sleep apnea (i.e. a combination of central and obstructive). In CSA, breathing is interrupted by a lack of respiratory effort; in OSA, breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite respiratory effort, and snoring is common.
A patient interface mask required to deliver PAP must have an effective seal and needs to be held on securely. A patient interface device is, for example, disclosed in the International patent applications WO2007/012140 and WO2008/070929. Many people find wearing the patient interface device uncomfortable to such an extent that use of the device is discontinued. Wearing a patient interface device, patients are reporting skin irritation, red marks and skin breakdown. The recovery time varies from minutes to hours but in extreme cases, longer-lasting skin damage and pressure sores can occur. These skin problems result in low patient compliance with patient interface devices and CPAP therapy.
The root causes for formation of red marks in the face of a person wearing a patient interface device are manifold and not yet fully understood. Common factors reported in tissue breakdown are excessive mechanical skin load by pressure, shear and friction.
In general, mechanical skin loading by pressure, shear and friction can lead to multiple effects:
                Ischemia: the occlusion of capillary blood vessels.        Reperfusion injury: after unloading, accumulated free radicals are released and cause inflammation and cell damage.        Lymphatic function impairment: occlusion and damage of the lymph vessels prevents the removal of metabolic waste, leading to tissue necrosis.        Mechanical deformation of tissue cells: cell membranes rupture, volume changes of cells leads to initial damage, and cytoskeletal reorganization occurs.        Moisture accumulation in the skin due to coverage of the skin decreases the skin strength to damage.
The materials of choice in current patient interface devices, such as PAP patient interface masks, are silicone rubbers because of the biocompatibility they provide. Silicone materials, a group of materials based on various types of polysiloxanes, are typically highly stable against chemical modification and aging and, therefore, guarantee for a long shelf life and time of use.
Silicone rubbers can be made via three different major industrial methods. The platinum salt catalyst induced method (applicable to vinyl and SiH containing silicone prepolymers) is the preferred method as it gives medical grade materials. The two other methods, i.e. peroxide crosslinking of vinyl-containing silicone prepolymers or tin salt catalyst induced crosslinking of silanol containing silicone prepolymers, are less preferred for skin contacting areas but can be option for other, non skin contacting parts of the patient interface. These materials are intrinsically hydrophobic and have very low water permeability, and, thus, do not provide a suitable environment for growth of bacteria and harmful bio-films. As a result of these properties, silicone materials can function as a tight seal in those areas of a person's face, where they are in contact with the skin. These are typically all areas in which a patient interface device contacts the face. While a tight seal is desired, the hydrophobic materials are not very suitable to allow transport of moisture and sweat, which attributes to the red mark formation and discomfort.
As another example, a wound dressing is known with which a screen is placed over substantially the whole surface of the wound. The size and configuration of the screen can be adjusted to fit the individual wound. It can be formed from a variety of porous semi-rigid materials. The material must be sufficiently porous to allow oxygen to reach the wound, and sufficiently rigid to prevent wound overgrowth, for example the use of an open-cell polymer foam is known. Some designs of wound dressing require direct connection of the screen to a vacuum pump through a flexible hose inserted into the foam. Such foam can vary in thickness and rigidity, although it is preferred that a spongy material be used for the patient's comfort if the patient must lie upon the device during its operation.
The molecular design and synthesis of hydrophilic silicone materials is a relatively unexplored area. Still, some hydrophilic silicone materials have been disclosed in the known prior art. For example, patent application publication No. US2002/0160139 discloses a surface modified polymer including a surface that is covalently bonded to a surface modifying compound. Formation of the covalent bond between the polymer and the surface modifying compound is achieved by a reaction between an intrinsic functional group that is present in the polymer and the functional group of the surface modifying compound. By using a polymer having an intrinsic functional group, a separate surface activation step is avoided. Thus, the material has a hydrophilic surface while the bulk of the material remains hydrophobic. Accordingly, this material does not allow for the uptake of moisture or diffusion of moisture through the material and moisture can, thus, not be removed effectively from a contact area.
Another known prior art example in the field of hydrophilic silicone materials is International patent application WO2010/905105, which discloses a novel microfluidic system having a substrate based on rubber material having polar side groups that are linked to the rubber polymer backbone via a spacer. This arrangement provides for a transport of water-based fluids such as blood or saliva by capillary forces. The provided material has a hydrophilic surface as well as hydrophilic bulk properties allowing for a beneficial use in microfluidic devices intended for use with aqueous solutions. The rubber material includes polar side groups that are linked with the polymer chain of the rubber material via a carbon chain (linker) comprising at least 6 atoms. The rubber material is made by a process including the step of radical addition of a suitable rubber precursor monomer with anionic precursor material. By doing so, the rubber material may be produced relatively easy. The step of radical addition may be performed, for example, by radical dimerization of alkene moieties or by any other known bonding technique in the field. It may be performed by a radical initiator, such as peroxides or tin organyls, or by UV-light. More specifically, the polar side groups may be ionic side groups such as —SO3-. For instance the material may be a silicone rubber modified with 15-20 w % sodium alkene C14-16 sulfonate. The silicone rubber may have a chain length from 1000 to 10000 Si—O units, and the modified silicone rubber may be made by radical addition of ω-alkenylsulfonic acids to siloxane units present in the polysiloxane chain.
More generally, many commercial polymers are not skin friendly as they do not absorb water or sweat from the skin.
Introduction of an alpha-olefin sulfonate surfactant into these polymers may provide a copolymer with an increased hydrophilic character which can be used to increase its biocompatibility and its capacity to hold water. For the manufacture of skin-contact products, this is especially relevant to biocompatible polymers such as, but not limited to, silicones, polybutadiene, polybutadiene-containing polymers, polybutadiene-polyethylene oxides copolymers, poly(meth)acrylates, and isobutylene-ethylene glycol copolymers.
However alpha-olefin sulfonate surfactants, although having a vinyl functional group, do not easily mix with the monomer of commercial polymers like polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polybutadiene, polyisoprene, polystyrene (PS), polyacetonitrile (PAN), silicones, poly(meth)acrylates, polyacrylonitrile, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymers (ABS) and styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers (SAN). This incompatibility can be due to differences in boiling points, making these non volatile surfactants nearly impossible to use in gas phase polymerizations. Even under liquid phase polymerization conditions, it is difficult to mix a hydrophilic surfactant containing a sulfonic acid salt with a hydrophobic monomer or pre-polymer. Only in a special case like the suspension polymerization of vinyl chloride in water, can the hydrophilic surfactant be dissolved in a part of the reaction mixture (water) and thus incorporated into the main polymer. However polyvinyl chloride is not regarded as a skin-compatible polymer.
Despite this effort, there is still a need for an improved microclimate at a device-skin contact area, which is well suited to reduce moisture accumulation in the skin, which decreases skin strength, and ultimately the formation of red marks. Further, there is also a need for a wider range of polymer materials, in particular silicone rubber materials, with hydrophilic bulk properties for use as an aid to moisture control, in particular for manufacturing devices with moisture control properties like face masks, such as patient interface masks for positive air pressure (PAP) therapy of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and wound dressings.

Skin-contact product having moisture and microclimate control


The present invention relates to a method for preparation of the trisaccharide 6′-O-sialyllactose (formula (I)) or salts thereof as well as intermediates in the synthesis and for the use of 6′-O-sialyllactose salts in pharmaceutical or nutritional compositions.

During the past decades the interest for preparation and commercialization of human milk oligosaccharides has been increasing steadily. The importance of human milk oligosaccharides is directly linked to their unique biological activities such as antibacterial, antiviral, immune system and cognitive development enhancing activities [1].
Sialylated human milk oligosaccharides such as disialyllacto-N-tetraose, 3′-O-sialyl-3-O-fucosyllactose, 6′-O-sialyllactose, 3′-O-sialyllactose, 6′-O-sialylated-lacto-N-neotetraose, 3′-O-sialylated-lacto-N-tetraose etc. are major components of human milk.
Among the above listed sialylated human milk oligosaccharides the sialic acid residue is always linked to the terminal 3′-O- and/or 6′-O— position(s) of D-galactose or to 6-O-positions of non terminal sugar residues via α-glycosidic linkages.
To date, access to large volumes of sialylated human milk oligosaccharides has not been possible by using isolation, biotechnology and synthetic methodologies. The chemical synthesis of sialylated human milk oligosaccharides is one of the most challenging fields of carbohydrate chemistry due to the nature of sialic acid donors themselves. In general, stereoselective glycosylations are achieved via neighbouring group participations but the lack of a substituent at C-3 position of sialic acid prevents such an option. Thus, stereoselective sialylation has to be achieved via careful selection of a sialic acid donor—acceptor match, kinetic and solvent effects. Furthermore, the presence of the carboxylic moiety at the anomeric position of sialic acid also creates unfavoured steric and electronic effects for stereoselective α-sialylations. The strong electron withdrawing effect of the carboxylic group initiates potential side reactions during the glycosylation via β-elimination.
Both the biological importance and the synthetic difficulties of sialylated oligosaccharides can be demonstrated via reviewing the background art of one of the simplest sialylated human milk oligosaccharides called 6′-O-sialyllactose (6′-SL, O—(N-acetyl-α-neuraminosyl)-(2→6)-O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-(1→4)-D-glucose, Scheme 1).

6′-O-Sialyllactose is one of the sialylated human milk oligosaccharides found in high concentration in mother's milk.
Several biological roles of 6′-O-sialyllactose such as its prebiotic, antibacterial, antiviral, immune system and cognitive development enhancing etc. effects [1] have been demonstrated. These important features make 6′-SL an attractive target for large scale production and product development for the nutritional and therapeutic industries. 6′-O-Sialyllactose has been synthesised by chemical [2], enzymatic [3] and biotechnological [4] methodologies or it has been isolated from natural sources [5]. However, these methodologies have not been attractive for scale-up due to lack of efficient purification methodologies, use of expensive and toxic reagents and the involvements of many synthetic steps.
Several chemical synthetic methods have been developed towards 6′-O-sialyllactose [2a-c], Na, K, Mg and Ca salts thereof [2d, e] or intermediates thereof [2f-j]. In summary, these strategies gives 6′-O-sialylated lactose via stereoselective 6′-O-sialylation of either 4′,6′-sugar diols or 6′-sugar alcohols using glycosylhalide, thioglycoside or diethylphosphite donor activations. The use of either very expensive or very toxic chemicals for the sialylation such as mercury cyanide, mercury bromide and silver carbonate is one of the reasons that make these methodologies less attractive for scale-up studies and production. Non efficient stereocontrol and/or yields likewise make(s) the strategies less suitable for large scale technology developments. Additionally, severe purification difficulties characterize all the listed synthetic strategies.
In case of enzymatic production of 6′-O-sialyllactose glycosyltransferases and sialidases are the preferred enzymes used [3]. These complex enzymatic systems represent very expensive methodologies for scale up productions of 6′-O-sialyllactose. Similarly, sialidases could not be used successfully in large scale production methodologies due to their lack of regio- and stereoselectivity. Low yields and difficult purification protocols are likewise a hindrance for industrial scale technology developments.
The isolation of 6′-SL from human and other mammals' milk is rather difficult even in milligram quantities due to the presence of a large number of similar oligosaccharides. To date, only analytical HPLC methodologies have been developed for the isolation of 6′-SL from natural sources [5].
Some biotechnological methodologies are also described using genetically modified bacteria, yeast or other micro organisms [4]. Such methodologies have serious drawbacks in regulatory processes due to limiting commercialisation opportunities.
The present invention represents the first commercial approach suitable for industrial manufacture of 6′-O-sialyllactose and other sialylated bioactive oligosaccharides. The successful strategy is based upon the introduction of novel sialic acid donor-acceptor pairs, novel sialic acid donors, novel diol-type lactose acceptors, relevant crystalline intermediates, the use of cheap and non-toxic activators and robust purification methodologies.

Production of 6′-O-sialyllactose and intermediates


In a vehicular control device, it is necessary to measure or calculate six physical quantities-forward-reverse speed, left-right speed, vertical speed, pitch angle, roll angle, and angle of sideslip-representing vehicular movement and to control the braking force of each wheel and/or the damping coefficient of each suspension shock absorber in order to further shorten braking distance particularly at the time of braking and to prevent spin at that time. In this case, it is necessary to furnish sensors to measure speed and angle directly. In the present invention, four radar sensors are used in order to directly measure the forward-reverse speed and the left-right speed. Also, the vertical speed, the pitch angle, the roll angle, and the angle of sideslip are indirectly measured from the output of the radar sensors. By using three or four radar sensors, six physical quantities—the forward speed, the left-right direction speed, the vertical speed, the angle of sideslip, the pitch angle, and the roll angle—can be measured. Also, by using two radar sensors, three physical quantities—the forward speed, the left-right speed, and the angle of sideslip—can be measured.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular travel control device using radar sensors.
2. Description of Related Art
An electric control device that is equipped with six different kinds of sensors—speed sensors, forward-reverse acceleration sensor, left-right acceleration sensor, vertical acceleration sensor, clearance sensor, and yaw rate sensor—for a total of sixteen sensors, calculates six physical quantities-forward-reverse speed, left-right speed, vertical speed, pitch angle, roll angle, and yaw angle—representing vehicular movement, and conducts control of shock absorbers is disclosed in JP-A-2001-47832.
In a vehicular control device, it is necessary to measure or calculate six physical quantities—forward-reverse speed, left-right speed, vertical speed, pitch angle, roll angle, and angle of sideslip—representing vehicular movement and to control the braking force of each wheel and/or the damping coefficient of each suspension shock absorber in order to further shorten braking distance particularly at the time of braking and to prevent spin at that time. However, there has been the problem that, in the prior art, speed and angle must be directly measured using many different kinds of sensors in order to obtain these physical quantities, and the burdens of cost, maintenance, adjustment, and control have been great.


A method of operating a compactor machine includes moving the compacting machine within a work area and determining a compaction response disconformity exists between at least two regions of the work area. The method includes generating a compactor navigation signal responsive to the compaction response disconformity. A method of compacting a work area may include determining a work material compaction response associated with at least one region of the work area is aberrant, and maneuvering the compactor machine within the work area responsive to a signal associated with the aberrant compaction response. A system for compacting a work area includes a compactor machine and an electronic controller configured via a compactor maneuvering control algorithm to detect an aberrant work material compaction response in a region of the work area and responsively generate a compactor navigation signal.

Many construction, road building and related endeavors employ compactor machines to compact work material such as earth, asphalt, gravel, mixtures, etc. so that the work material will be suitable for an end purpose. Compaction may also be used to reduce the volume of work material, as in the case of materials such as landfill trash. A traditional approach to compacting work material in a given work area is to pass a compactor machine uniformly across the work area, using operator judgment, ground-based visual markers, or electronic positioning systems to indicate the progress of compacting the work material. Such conventional strategies typically assume that uniform coverage of a work area with a compactor machine will result in uniform compaction of the work material. Many sophisticated compacting machines, systems and operating methods have been developed over the years in an attempt to optimize operating efficiency and avoid unnecessary travel of the compactor machine across regions already covered. Despite such improvements, operating compacting machinery remains an often expensive, unpredictable and labor-intensive process.
Approaches relying upon operator judgment and perception, and even visual cues such as markers placed about the work area, have the potential for human error as well as requiring substantial operator or technician preparation time. It is common for regions to be covered by a compactor machine more or fewer times than necessary in conventional approaches, wasting time and energy, and ultimately limiting work progress. As alluded to above, in more recent years relatively sophisticated compacting systems have been developed which utilize position signals from a source such as global positioning system satellites or ground-based laser positioning systems. Certain of these systems have provided substantial improvements over traditional approaches to compactor machine guidance.
Even the most advanced systems currently available, however, generally assume that compaction progress is closely correlated with compactor coverage. In other words, while more sophisticated electronic control and positioning systems can provide for more accurate information regarding the position of a compactor and, hence, its coverage of a given work area, they do not address irregularities, or general unpredictability in the work material's compaction response. Because different regions of a work area may exhibit varying work material compaction responses, there are limitations to uniform coverage approaches, regardless of the extent of positioning accuracy and precision.
In the context of asphalt compaction, variations in compaction progress among uniformly covered regions of a work area has been recognized by Sandstrom in U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,679. In Sandstrom's approach, a compactor machine is equipped with a variety of sensors, including temperature, compactor velocity, path changes and static mode versus vibratory mode detectors. A microprocessor in Sandstrom determines a position of the compactor machine in relation to a paving machine, and hence can associate certain of the sensed operating parameters with particular regions of an area being paved.
Sandstrom purports to integrate the sensed parameters into a compaction index number representative of a total amount of compacting work the compacting machine has performed in a particular area. Although Sandstrom may have provided a useful insight, the approach does little, if anything, to guide decision-making based on the data. In other words, while Sandstrom may be useful in gathering data, Sandstrom does not teach acting upon the data apart from the conclusions of a human operator or manager. Moreover, Sandstrom does not recognize certain characteristics of work material compaction response that may be useful in planning subsequent compactor work.
As discussed above, there have been various improvements in guiding the operation of compacting machinery in recent years. In addition, certain insights have been made which relate to varying responses of work material subjected to attempted compaction. Nevertheless, there remains room for improvement.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems or shortcomings set forth above.

Method of operating a compactor machine via path planning based on compaction state data and mapping information


A SRAM having its memory cell constructed to include transfer MISFETs to be controlled by word lines and a flip-flop circuit having driver MISFETs and load MISFETs. Plate electrodes of large area fixed on predetermined power source lines are arranged over the load MISFETs such that the plate electrodes over the offset region of the load MISFETs are formed with an opening. A silicon nitride film having a thickness permeable to hydrogen but not to humidity is formed over the transfer MISFETs and the driver MISFETs formed over the main surface of a semiconductor substrate and the load MISFETs formed of a polycrystalline silicon film deposited on the driver MISFETs.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and a technique for manufacturing the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique which is effective if applied to a semiconductor integrated circuit device having a SRAM (Static Random Access Memory). The SRAM is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,749 which was filed by us at the U.S. Patent Office on Nov. 22, 1988 and given Ser. No. 274, 490.
The SRAM as a semiconductor memory device is equipped at the intersections between complementary data lines and word lines with memory cells, each of which is composed of a flip-flop circuit and two transfer MISFETs (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor-Field-Effect-Transistors).
The transfer MISFETs of the memory cell have one of their source regions and drain regions connected with the input/output terminals of the flip-flop circuit and their other regions connected with the complementary data lines. Moreover, the transfer MISFETs have their gate electrodes connected with word lines so that their conductivity and non-conductivity are controlled by the word lines.
The flip-flop circuit of the memory cell is constructed as a data storage unit, which is composed of two driver MISFETs and two load MISFETS. One driver MISFET has its drain region connected with either the source region or drain region of one transfer MISFET and its source region connected with a reference voltage line. Moreover, this driver MISFET has its gate electrode connected with the source region or drain region of the other transfer MISFET.
The load MISFETS have their drain regions connected with either the source regions or drain regions of the transfer MISFETs and their source regions connected with the power source line. The load elements are formed over the driver MISFETs so as to reduce the area occupied by the memory cells thereby to improve the degree of integration. In the SRAM, a first conductive film formed on the main surface of a semiconductor substrate forms the gate electrodes of the driver MISFETs, and a second conductive film formed on the main surface of the semiconductor substrate forms the gate electrodes of the transfer MISFETs, the word lines to be connected with the gate electrodes and the reference voltage line to be connected with the source regions of the driver MISFETs. Moreover, a third conductive film formed over the first and second conductive films forms the gate electrodes of the load MISFETs, and a fourth conductive film formed over the third conductive film forms the channel regions, the source regions and the drain regions of the load MISFETs, and the power source line to be connected with the source regions of the load MISFETs.
In short, the SRAM, as disclosed in the above-specified U.S. Patent, adopts the so-called "complete CMOS structure", in which the flip-flop circuit of the memory cell is constructed to include the two driver MISFETs and the two load MISFETs so as to have its standby current reduced.
In order to eliminate the .alpha.-ray soft error of the memory cell, moreover, the SRAM is equipped with capacitance elements, in which the gate electrodes (i.e., the first conductive film) of the driver MISFETs are used as a first electrode and in which the gate electrodes (i.e., the third conductive film) of the load MISFETs formed on a dielectric film of an insulating film formed on the gate electrodes are used as a second electrode.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device having capacitance element and process of manufacturing the same


A light emitting diode includes an insulating substrate, a first MgO layer, a semiconductor carbon nanotube layer, a second MgO layer, a functional dielectric layer, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The semiconductor carbon nanotube layer has a first surface and a second surface. The first MgO layer coats entire the first surface. The second surface is divided into a first region and a second region. The first region is coated with the second MgO layer. The second MgO layer is covered by the functional dielectric layer. The second region is exposed. The first electrode is electrically connected to the first region. The second electrode is electrically connected to the second region.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode (LED).
2. Description of Related Art
LEDs are semiconductors that convert electrical energy into light. Compared to conventional light sources, LEDs have higher energy conversion efficiency, higher radiance (i.e., they emit a larger quantity of light per unit area), longer lifetime, higher response speed, and better reliability. LEDs also generate less heat. Therefore, LED modules are widely used as light sources in optical imaging systems, such as displays, projectors, and so on.
A typical LED commonly includes an N-type semiconductor layer, a P-type semiconductor layer, an N-type electrode, and a P-type electrode. The P-type electrode is located on the P-type semiconductor layer. The N-type electrode is located on the N-type semiconductor layer. Typically, the P-type electrode is transparent. In operation, a positive voltage and a negative voltage are applied respectively to the P-type semiconductor layer and the N-type semiconductor layer. Thus, holes in the P-type semiconductor layer and photons in the N-type semiconductor layer can enter the active layer and combine with each other to emit visible light. However, the material of the semiconductor layer is gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide, silicon carbide, or gallium nitride, thus an active layer is required to be located between the N-type semiconductor layer and the P-type semiconductor layer. The structure is complicate.
What is needed, therefore, is a light emitting diode that can overcome the above-described shortcomings.


A pipe coupling for coupling the ends of pipe sections together end to end, wherein the coupling includes a barrel member, at least one coupling member, at least one elastomeric sealing ring, a tangentially extending bolt and interacting members. The barrel member surrounds the ends of the pipe sections and the coupling member engages an end of the barrel member. The sealing ring is disposed between an end of the barrel member and the coupling member, and expands radially outward and inward to seal within the end of the barrel member and around a circumference of one of the pipe sections. The bolt couples the coupling member to the barrel member. The interaction members interact and progressively twist the coupling member along the barrel member to force the sealing ring into sealing engagement within the barrel member and around the circumference of the pipe sections.

In order to replace burst sections of such water supply pipelines, a trench or hole is dug down to and along the burst section of the pipeline. The burst section is then cut out from the pipeline and replaced with a new pipe section which is to be coupled at both ends to the ends of the existing pipeline by couplings.
Known, but not necessarily commonly known, couplings have a barrel section bridging and surroundings the ends of the old and new pipeline sections, with the barrel receiving at both ends elastomeric sealing rings to form a seal between the inside of the barrel and the circumferences of the existing and new pipe sections. The sealing rings are of an axially tapered configuration and are forced into matingly internally tapered ends of the barrel by annular cylindrical coupling members surrounding the respective pipe sections and axially connected by bolts extending through lugs in the coupling members at each end of the coupling and along the length of the barrel. The bolts when tightened progressively force the sealing rings into the opposite ends of the barrel whilst compressing the sealing rings to expand them radially outwardly into tight sealing engagement within the ends of the barrel and radially inwardly into tight sealing engagement around the circumferences of the pipe sections being joined. A similar coupling is used to couple the opposite end of the new pipe section to the adjacent end of the existing pipe section. Multiple axially extending bolts are utilised equally spaced around the coupling to provide an even distribution of force on the sealing rings. There may be up to sixteen, or even more, axially extending bolts.
However, because of the location of the connecting bolts with such known couplings, access to beneath the pipe sections is required when tightening the bolts, thus producing back strain, whilst, because of the number of bolts to be tightened, the task of installing the coupling can be time consuming.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a coupling which overcomes, or at least minimises, the above disadvantages with known couplings, whilst also accommodating different diameters of pipe sections to be coupled and also differences between the diameters of the existing pipe and the diameter of the new pipe section. For example the existing pipe may be a metal pipe and the new replacement pipe section may be PVC having a thinner wall thickness, but providing an internal diameter the same as that of the existing pipe but with a smaller external diameter.


A preparation method and use of a modified hydroxyethyl cellulose scale inhibitor for inhibiting silica scale are provided. The scale inhibitor is prepared by grafting reaction with hydroxyethyl cellulose as a raw material, ammonium persulfate as an initiator and N-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) methyl acrylamide as a graft monomer. The grafting reaction can introduce grafting chains containing amide group and tertiary amine group into a cellulose molecular chain, so that it can effectively disperse scale forming substances and obtain the efficient environment-friendly scale inhibitor. The scale inhibitor can effectively inhibit the generation of silica scale and prevent the increase of scale particle size, the scale inhibitor is used in a reverse osmosis system, which can effectively alleviate the decline of the membrane flux. The scale inhibitor has a good application prospect in controlling the silica scale on the surface of the reverse osmosis membrane.

Fresh water is an indispensable resource in production and life. However, the increasing scale of industrial and urban water use in recent years has led to the shortage of fresh water resources, and the traditional water-saving technology is also difficult to meet the water demand. Desalination of seawater and brackish water has become one of the important sources of the fresh water. Among the existing desalination technologies, the reverse osmosis has become one of the main technologies in the market because of its advantages of low energy consumption and high efficiency. However, in the process of reverse osmosis desalination, the scaling of inorganic salts will inevitably occur, mainly including alkaline earth metal insoluble salts (such as calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, etc.) and silicon dioxide (also referred to as silica). The generation of scaling problems will lead to the increase of transmembrane pressure and the decrease of membrane flux, and ultimately reduce the water production efficiency and increase the operation and maintenance cost. A scale inhibitor has the advantages of simple operation and low cost, so it is widely used in reverse osmosis desalination systems. According to there chemical compositions, the scale inhibitors can generally be divided into phosphorus scale inhibitors, synthetic polymeric scale inhibitors and environment-friendly scale inhibitors. The use of the phosphorus scale inhibitor will cause a large amount of phosphorus to enter the water, which may induce eutrophication of the water. Besides, the synthetic polymeric scale inhibitor is difficult to degrade after use. In recent years, with the increasing attention to environmental issues, non-phosphorus, environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and low-cost scale inhibitors are one of the hot topics in the research and development of scale inhibitors. In addition, due to the widespread of silicon dioxide in natural water, it is easy to scale and difficult to clean after the water recovery is improved, and different from the scale based on alkaline earth metal ions, silica scale can form amorphous scale through self-polymerization without obvious crystal structure. Therefore, the above-mentioned traditional scale inhibitors are difficult to inhibit the silica scale, so it is necessary to develop specific scale inhibitors that can effectively delay the polymerization of silicon dioxide or disperse silicon dioxide colloidal particles to inhibit the silica scale.
In recent years, natural polymers have attracted extensive attention because of their low cost and environmental friendliness. Common natural polymers, such as lignin, starch, and cellulose, among which the cellulose is the most abundant natural polymer material on the earth, with a wide range of sources and low prices. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to vigorously develop natural polymer modified scale inhibitors, especially cellulose modified water treatment agents. However, these natural polymers, including cellulose, have poor scale inhibition performance, which is mainly due to their poor water solubility and the lack of functional groups with scale inhibition in the polymer chains. They cannot be directly used as scale inhibitors. Different physical and chemical modification methods, such as graft copolymerization and etherification, are needed to introduce scale inhibition functional groups to make it have good scale inhibition performance. For silica scale, most of its surfaces are positively charged, which is different from alkaline earth metal salt scale. The surface of silica scale is negatively charged. Therefore, introducing an appropriate amount of cationic groups into natural polymer chains is conducive to improving its affinity and dispersion with silicon dioxide, which can further effectively inhibit the formation of silica scale.
In addition, among the different chemical modification methods, graft copolymerization is a common polymer chemical modification method. It can introduce various functional groups into polymer chains and construct a unique branched chain structure, which can make the polymer have the advantages of both raw material main chain and grafted side chain functional groups, and effectively improve its application performance.

Modified hydroxyethyl cellulose scale inhibitor for inhibiting silica scale and preparation method thereof


A semiconductor memory device includes a memory block and a peripheral circuit. The memory block includes normal pages and buffer pages. Each of the normal pages includes memory cells that store the N bits of data. Each of the buffer pages includes memory cells that store one bit of data. The peripheral circuit receives a first page data and performs a single level cell (SLC) program on the first page data in a first buffer page. In addition, the peripheral circuit receives a second page data and performs the SLC program on the second page data in a second buffer page. In addition, the peripheral circuit performs a multiple-level program operation on a normal page based on the first and second page data programmed in the first and second buffer page, respectively.

1, Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor memory device and a method of operating the same.
2, Related Art
A semiconductor memory device may be formed in a two-dimensional structure in which strings are horizontally arranged on a semiconductor substrate, or in a three-dimensional structure in which the strings are vertically stacked on the semiconductor substrate. A three-dimensional semiconductor memory device is a memory device designed in order to resolve a limit of integration of a two-dimensional memory semiconductor device and may include a plurality of memory cells that are vertically stacked on the semiconductor substrate.

Semiconductor memory device and method of operating the same


A fish hook with at least four barbs specially configured to neutralize the strike of the sheepshead fish, and increase the strike/catch ratio, is described herein.

The sheepshead fish is an edible fish found primarily in mid-Atlantic to southern waters. It feeds primarily on bivalves (e.g. oysters, clams) and crustaceans (e.g. barnacles and fiddler crabs), having a mouth specially suited to crushing hard-shelled prey. There are two key problems faced by fisherman trying to catch sheepshead fish. First, it is often difficult to find a hook that will accommodate the live bait preferred by sheepshead fisherman, namely, fiddler crabs.
Second, sheepshead fishes are notorious bait stealers. The sheepshead fish, unlike other fish, does not attempt to eat the entire bait in one gulp. Rather, the sheepshead fish bites the crustacean to expose its contents, and then sucks out the contents without consuming the shell. Thus, the sheepshead fish is such an effective bait stealer because it rarely bites the single barb upon which the bait is affixed.
The requirement to hold live crustacean bait, as well as the speed and precision of the sheepshead's strike call for a hook that is not currently found in the prior art. Also, there is a need for a special hook to address the bony structure and teeth in the sheepshead's mouth.


The various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to resists and, more particularly, to negative tone molecular glass resists, and their associated methods of fabrication and use. In one embodiment of the present invention, a negative tone molecular glass-based resist comprises: a molecular glass, comprising, a molecular glass core, wherein the molecular glass core is not a polymer chain, and a functional group bound to the molecular glass core and configured to provide a decrease in solubility of the molecular glass; and an initiating component configured to produce a reactive species upon exposure to radiation, wherein the reactive species facilitates the decrease in solubility of the molecular glass.

Generally, photolithography comprises deposition of a light-sensitive resist or photoresist material on a substrate, and a portion of the light-sensitive resist material is exposed to a source of radiation through a mask. As a result of exposure, the photoresist may become either more or less soluble in a developer solution. That is, the solubility of the exposed regions of the photoresist may be switched (i.e., solubility switching) and the soluble portions of the photoresist are removed during development.
In recent years, molecular glass photoresists have received significant attention as potential replacements for polymer-based photoresists in sub-65 nanometer (nm) advanced photolithography. Among the perceived advantages of molecular resists over polymers are at least: (1) they can be repeatedly synthesized with precise molecular weight, compositional, and stereochemical control, and (2) their much smaller molecular size and consistent molecular composition should improve dissolution inhomogeneity which can reduce line-edge-roughness (LER). Molecular resists have been shown, both in simulation and experiment, to provide improvements in LER compared to polymer resists.
Although molecular glass materials may offer many potential advantages over polymeric CARs, there are still many things that are unknown about this class of materials that could potentially cause problems. Removal and subsequent volatilization of protecting groups in positive tone molecular resists can cause a loss of up to approximately 50% of the mass of the resist, possibly leading to a loss of pattern quality. The small sizes of molecular resist compounds, and often correspondingly low glass transition temperatures, can also lead to problems, such as more significant photo-acid diffusion and reduced mechanical strength and integrity.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved molecular glass resists. It is to the provision and characterization of such molecular glass resists that the various embodiments of the present invention are directed.

Negative tone molecular glass resists and methods of making and using same